Now that Sega has released this year’s Team Sonic Racing last month, the next thing to do is look ahead as the next major installment in the Sonic the Hedgehog series is currently in the works. Sonic Team Head Takashi Iizuka revealed that the developer is already working on the next title back in March at this year’s South by Southwest event.
Now fast forwarding to this year’s E3, Game Informer’s Brian Shea spoke with the Sonic Boss on the unannounced title and discussed what’s planned for the Blue Blur’s next project. Side stepping the question, Iizuka brought up 2017 released Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces along with a minimal tease on the next game.
The next big year for Sonic is 2021. That’s the 30-year anniversary for Sonic. We are now preparing.
Adding on to the sense of commemorational titles such as Sonic Generations for 2011, Iizuka stated that the coming title “maybe” to the same caliber as the one for the series’ 20th anniversary.
While on the discussion of Sega’s mascot, Shea questioned the addition of the drop dash move that is evident in Sonic Mania as well as Sonic Forces and the recent Sega Ages for Nintendo Switch. Revealing that he personally requested the mechanic to be present in the titles following Mania seeing the popularity of it upon fans, as well as himself. Iizuka continues by sharing that future games will also accrue the gameplay mechanic from how well received the drop dash became following the decision.
Concluding the conversation, Iizuka shared that Sonic Mania Plus’ Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel alike the drop dash were also fan-requested to be included in the newer iteration of the 2018 title. “Very fan-requested to me, so that’s why we decided to use those characters.”
As for the name of the upcoming Sonic title or what platforms it will be available for, Sega has yet to release information on the subject for now.
Source: Game Informer
