Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka sat down with Good Vibes Gaming for an interview where he shared that he wants a Sonic RPG. Read on to learn more about his thoughts, and details about the upcoming Sonic X Shadow Generations game!
Sonic Team Head Laments 30 Years With No Sonic RPG
Before He Retires From Sega, Iizuka Said
Takashi Iizuka, head of Sonic Team, shared that he hopes to see a new-gen Sonic RPG one day. In an interview with Good Vibes Gaming, one of their community members pointed out that SEGA has some of the best RPG developers in the industry, and that while there was Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood back on the Nintendo DS, it was outsourced to Bioware—might we one day see another attempt at a Sonic RPG?
In response, Iizuka said that he’d love to try a hand at a Sonic RPG, and that he himself is a big fan of role-playing games. "The RPG game format is a lot of fun. And I’ve even thought to myself, ‘You know, for the past 30 years we haven’t done a Sonic RPG.’ And I’m questioning myself, ‘Why haven’t we done a Sonic RPG in all this time? How have we gotten to 30 years with no RPGs?!’" he exclaimed. "So I’d like to hopefully work on a Sonic RPG at some point before I retire from SEGA, but you know, that’s just a dream right now…there are no concrete plans at this point."
With SEGA having phenomenal RPG masters such as Atlus (Persona, Shin Megami Tensei) and Ryu Ga Gotoku (Like a Dragon/Yakuza) under their wing, it is a surprise that SEGA hasn’t jumped onto the RPG craze with a well-known franchise such as Sonic. Fans have shared their sentiments in the comments of the YouTube video that these studios "could make an amazing Sonic RPG" and that "a sonic rpg developed by ATLUS with the style and music that the Persona series had would be pretty amazing…"
Others have said that Sonic is "LONG overdue for a proper RPG game" and that other big franchises such as Super Mario have already dabbled into the RPG sphere without sacrificing the series’ identity. Surely, SEGA could do so for Sonic as well. "Sega! Let Atlus or RGG make a Sonic RPG and my life is yours!" a fan declared. Only time will tell if Iizuka and the fans will get their wish.
New Content In Sonic X Shadow Generations
Iizuka also shared some details about the upcoming Sonic X Shadow Generations title releasing on October 25, 2024. The title is a remaster of the original 2011 Sonic Generations, with added content such as the addition of the fan favorite dark hero, Shadow. Players will have the option to play as either Sonic or Shadow at the beginning, to which Iizuka claimed that "they’re kind of like two separate games" but also "tied to the same story" as their plots are parallel to each other.
New gameplay mechanics such as Shadow’s Doom Powers will add an extra spin to the Sonic formula, as the team wanted Shadow to have something that Sonic couldn’t do. There is also a new “white space area” with the 3D open zone format of Frontiers that allows people to jump and play around it, which he said is "kind of unique and different and interesting" about Shadow’s storyline.
He also acknowledged that the character Shadow has been garnering attention as of late, and that it’s about time that he had the spotlight to himself. "We knew when they were making Sonic 2, at the very end, you would see the reveal…we knew there was going to be a spotlight put on Shadow."
Fans can look forward to Shadow sticking around for longer, as he is a “really important character for the Sonic franchise.”
Source:
Good Vibes Gaming’s Interview with Takashi Iizuka
