Sega has announced a free downloadable content (DLC) for the recently released "Sonic Forces" platform video game. With the free add-on, players of the game will be able to have their custom character wear a t-shirt that features Sanic Hegehog, the "Sonic the Hedgehog" copy that was created and popularized by video game fans out of humor.
The news was announced by Sonic the Hedgehog's official Twitter account. It posted a photo of a custom character from "Sonic Forces" wearing a t-shirt with the iconic funny drawing. The caption said, "Get ready to go fst. The 'Sanic T-shirt' is now available for free download in Sonic Forces! (Yes, it's real.)"
For those who are not familiar with the inside joke, Sanic is a poorly-drawn illustration of Sonic the Hedgehog made using Microsoft Paint. It was originally posted on YouTube as a tutorial video titled "How 2 Draw Sanic Hegehog."
Since it was posted, the video went viral and became very popular among gaming circles. Many people found it very funny and became a sort of inside joke among fans of the franchise. Unsurprisingly, it inspired others to post their own poorly-drawn versions of Sonic.
The "Sonic the Hedgehog" franchise was very popular decades ago, but has not been good for a number of years. On this note, Sanic can also be viewed as a reflection of how the fans and the gaming community perceived the quality of the franchise titles, resorting to humor and mockery of the franchise' lead character.
However, Sega proved to be a good sport by taking the mockery, embracing it, and turning it into a gift for fans. With the addition of Sanic as a DLC, it can be said that Sega has now made the poorly-drawn character canon.
The DLC is now available for free for all players for "Sonic Forces." It can be downloaded through the PlayStation Store, the Nintendo eShop, and the Microsoft Store.
