Awakening Fanned Flames – Sonic Team Staff Interested in Remakes

During a recent Sonic Fan event, key staff from SEGA’s Sonic Team discussed interest in revisiting games from Sonic’s past. The series is no stranger to revisiting familiar race tracks, with the recent Sonic X Shadow Generations being an example. But a full-on remake of a 3D Sonic game is new grounds for the franchise.

Sonic Team Staff Interested in Remakes

Originally reported by TailsChannel, they translated comments by Sonic Team Creative Director Kazuyuki Hoshino and Shun Nakamura. The former commented about ‘taking inspiration from past iterations of games’ while the latter directly expressed interest in remakes of prior 3D titles.

Nakamura has been the director of various Sonic releases for many years. Sonic’s latest mainline release, Sonic Frontiers was a game he directed and I immensely enjoyed. However, he also directed one of the most troubled games in Sonic’s long history.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2006.

Personal Thoughts on a Sonic 06 Remake

While Nakamura didn’t mention this game during the Q&A, the game being an implied suggestion caused the most uproar.

I gave the game respect while citing its failings, a few months ago. I stand by my comments made there. I appreciate what the game tried to accomplish and seeing both fan and official content done to honor the vision of Sonic 06, does tell me people do love what the game tried to accomplish.

However, it’s a deeply flawed experience that would benefit immensely from a remake, top-to-bottom. It’s not a Last of Us Part 1 remake situation, where you can take the core experience and make minor enhancements to the overall package. It’s a Final Fantasy VII Remake saga level up-lift you need to do to realize 06’s vision.

That could mean embracing the latest Sonic gameplay style, using the Boost, and having the current writing team and voice cast lend their talents to the project. While it may not be ‘faithful’, both Sonic Frontiers and Sonic X Shadow Generations prove Sonic Team has what it takes to make a remake that could shatter expectations.

Imagine hearing news one day, of SEGA making the bold announcement of a Sonic 06 coming to modern platforms. The gaming industry would lose their collective minds, as the game specifically has been weaponized as the reason Sonic ‘was never good’. If this game turned into a good, even great experience?

That would stun everyone.

The Eggman Project – Desire for Robotnick Family Spin-Off

Something mentioned during the Q&A, which Sonic Stadium has fully translated, was Nakamura expressing interest in a Robotnick-focused title.

According to the same transcript, he expressed an interest in exploring ideas for a “possible Eggman spinoff game” focusing on the extended Robotnik family introduced in Shadow’s latest game. Although it’s possible that Hoshino was just thinking out loud, and it will probably come to nothing, it’s nice to know that our favourite game developers are thinking about these kinds of things.

As someone who loved seeing more history about the Robotniks in Shadow Generations, a full game or even a visual novel like The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog would be fun to see realized.

Closing Thoughts

Seeing the backlash against the mere suggestion of a Sonic 06 remake disappointed me immensely. It’s a game I feel, rightfully, deserves a second chance. But I believe that creative changes for a troubled project, outway the idea of being authentic to the original experience.

The original narrative is deeply flawed, specifically Sonic’s. While one could argue Shadow and Silver had engaging narratives, Sonic’s was not. In many ways, Sonic’s story dragged down the entire experience. So completely rewriting that portion of the experience, alongside touching up Shadow and Silver’s adventures, sounds like a great plan.

But what about you all? Would you like a Sonic 06 remake? Or maybe remakes of other Sonic games like the Adventure series? Let us know in the comments below!