The special event celebrating Sonic's 25th anniversary made quite an impression. Without exaggeration, it was like an E3 devoted exclusively to Sonic. Among the announcements, Sonic Mania was revealed to more than 25,000 online viewers and confirmed for 2017 on PS4, PC, and Xbox One. The game is a pure Mega Drive-style classic starring the blue blur, and longtime fans certainly felt very well served.
Sonic Mania was available to play across two different stages, one of them being Green Hill Zone, with new settings and routes. Tee Lopes, a composer and fan well known in Brazil, is contributing to the game's soundtrack. It does not appear to be developed by Sonic Team, but instead by SEGA in collaboration with Christian Whitehead, Headcannon, and PagodaWest Games. Tails and Knuckles are also playable.
Other announcements followed, including an update for Sonic Dash, with Green Hill Zone as a setting and "Pixel Sonic," as SEGA has called him this year, or "classic" Sonic to others, as a playable character.
It was also announced that Sonic Dash had already reached more than 2 billion downloads. It is one of the most downloaded games in smartphone history.
Next came announcements about Sonic merchandise, including shirts, action figures, and even a project pairing the character with Hello Kitty. The world debut trailer for Sonic Boom's second season was also shown, with the season set to air first on Cartoon Network. The series' first season was confirmed for the Hulu streaming service. The show's voice actors were also there, bringing their charisma.
That was not all: the people behind Lego Dimensions appeared to unveil an exclusive Sonic trailer for the game, emphasizing that players will be able to use the character in the universes of different franchises, such as Gotham City, for example.
A trailer for Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice was also shown, with the game confirmed for September 27, 2016, on Nintendo 3DS.
Finally, what Takashi Iizuka called the night's main announcement was saved for last. The game does not have a name and is only referred to as "Project Sonic 2017." It will be available for PS4, PC, Xbox One, and, surprisingly, NX, Nintendo's new console. The project was created by the same developers behind Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations. Here it is:
Celebrating 25 Years, Now with Excellence
The preparations were demanding. After more than a month promoting Sonic's major 25th-anniversary event, with a variety of announcements for the franchise across different media and products, the release of two new main games in the franchise was confirmed for 2017.
Despite the shouts at the event calling for Sonic Adventure 3, which would be a continuation of the classic 3D Dreamcast series, people could be seen utterly euphoric and happy about the announcement of Sonic Mania. SA3 was probably dispelled from fans' minds after the main 2017 project was revealed. Without a doubt, the event was impressive. And rightly so! We at Epic Play, Planeta Sonic, and Projeto SEGA Brasil wish the blue hedgehog 25 years of excellence. You earned it.
