It is the 25th anniversary of SEGA's blue, crime-fighting hedgehog, Sonic. To celebrate the momentous occasion, it looks like developers are doing everything they can to regain the glamor it had as their own version of the phenomenal "Super Mario."
According to Twinfinite, SEGA held a special event last July during the San Diego Comic-Con to commemorate the milestone. A trailer was released teasing a new game dubbed "Project Sonic 2017," showcasing both modern and classic Sonics. Takashi Iizuka, head of Sonic Team, emphasized that the said project won't be a sequel to the previous installments, but it will be a brand new game.
In more recent events, Iizuka attended the release of "Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice" and participated in a live stream with fans. He teased during the event that they will be adding one more hedgehog to the existing roster, much to the delight of the franchise's avid followers.
If that's not enough to create hype for Sonic, there have been news circulating about a possible Sonic film in the future. Tim Miller, director of the critically-acclaimed "Deadpool," will be working on the new Sonic movie together with director Jeff Fowler and executive producer Neal Moritz, Engadget has learned.
Miller and Fowler are both part of Blur Studios, the team responsible for the awe-inspiring cinematic trailers for "Doom," "Titanfall 2," "Dishonored 2," and "Mafia III" just to name a few. The team will be collaborating with Sony Pictures and Marza Animation Planet for the said movie.
The aggressive steps being taken by SEGA is indeed a necessity. As per Kotaku, the 2006 3D version of "Sonic the Hedgehog" was, by far, the worst. Complaints on the controls, gameplay, and storytelling were all over the place, thus, redemption for the 25th anniversary of the blue hedgehog is critical.
No definite news has been gathered, but "Project Sonic 2017" is expected to be released in December 2017.
