It's going to be a big year for Shadow the Hedgehog. The fearless anti-hero is at the forefront of this year's Sonic brand marketing campaign, he's about to make his big-screen debut, and he's leading the pack in an upcoming re-release of Sonic Generations with a new and exciting 'Shadow Generations' campaign mode.
This weekend, the spotlight was firmly on Sonic X Shadow Generations, and the response from fans across this community has been extremely positive. From what we've experienced so far at Summer Game Fest Play Days, we can definitely say there's a lot to get hyped about. But our impressions will come later.
Because we were very lucky to be able to sit down with Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka, aka the 'father' of Shadow the Hedgehog, to talk about the return of the Ultimate Lifeform and the overall scope for Sonic X Shadow Generations. We also offered some questions from the community, which Iizuka-san was very gracious in answering for us.
Read on for our full interview, where Iizuka-san reveals the existence of 2D Shadow stages, discusses the approach to Sonic X Shadow Generations' level design, reflects on Shadow's motivations as a character, and speaks about the interesting choice to use 'Terios' as a bonus in the game...
TSS:Hello, everyone! I am Nuckles87 of Sonic Stadium, and with me today is the head of Sonic Team, Takashi Iizuka. Hello, Mr. Iizuka, it’s been a while.
Takashi Iizuka:Hello, yeah. Nice to meet you.
TSS:So you’ve got a new game coming out of course, Sonic X Shadow Generations, and our questions are mostly about this, but we’ve also got some others including some from the community. So let’s get started. One of my big questions for this is, when did this game first enter development?
Iizuka (via interpreter - Austin Keys):So I’m sure as everyone knows, [Sonic] Movie 2 ended with a wonderful reveal of Shadow, and we knew moving into [Sonic] Movie 3, Shadow was gonna have a nice spotlight for the movie. So we also wanted to make sure we had a game that would be out that would also spotlight Shadow as a character
Iizuka (in English): 2022.
TSS:So [this game] was in development around the same time as Sonic Frontiers then?
Iizuka (in English): Yes.
TSS:How does Sonic Team manage the workload between that project and this one?
Iizuka (via interpreter):So the Sonic Team has expanded greatly over the past years, and it’s now large enough that they can handle multiple projects all at the same time. So even though we do have a big team working on Sonic Frontiers at that time, there are enough people that they can also start working on Sonic X Shadow Generations, while also having another team work on Sonic Superstars.
TSS:So, this question is from @superguy551: How have you approached designing Shadow’s levels, and how does that differ from modern Sonic’s level design?
Iizuka (via interpreter):So Shadow, as you know, has the ability to stop time with Chaos Control, and so one of the ways [we] wanted to differentiate the Shadow gameplay was to use Chaos Control and be able to have the players stop time and find different ways of doing the platform action in that level. So a lot of the level design does have Chaos Control incorporated in it as part of the fun.
But [we] didn’t want to stop just there. [We] also added in brand new actions for Shadow in the form of Doom Powers, and these Doom Powers are going to allow Shadow to do lots of different actions in the game. And when [we] were making the levels and designing everything, [we] made sure, not only could the players use the Doom Powers in various ways, but also Chaos Control. And all of that would differentiate the Shadow gameplay from the Sonic gameplay.
TSS: Now this next question is from Svend Joscelyne (or Dreadknux, my boss): Are the stages and White Space in the Shadow side using an adapted version of the Frontiers engine, or is it running on the same engine as the original Sonic Generations?
Iizuka (via interpreter):Even with White Space involved, when we talk about the 'Sonic Generations' portion of Sonic X Shadow Generations, that was all originally created with an older version of the Hedgehog Engine. And so for this game, [we] kept that older version but, kind of, made some improvements - but kept it in that older version. For the 'Shadow Generations' portion, that was used with a version of the Hedgehog Engine that was many versions more advanced. So both versions of the Hedgehog Engine are powering this game, but it’s using different versions of the Hedgehog Engine.
TSS:Can you tell us how many hours the main campaign will take, and how long to 100%?
Iizuka (via interpreter):We can’t talk yet about all of the content.
TSS:Alright. So, I noticed that Act 1 is playable out there. That presumably means there’s multiple acts; is there any kind of gameplay difference between the different acts of a level?
Iizuka (via interpreter):'Shadow Generations' is a different game from 'Sonic Generations', like both do exist on the game in one package, but because they’re both Generations games, we wanted to have a similar format. So just like how Sonic Generations has a 3D level that you get to play with the high-speed action, there’s also the side-scrolling gameplay for Sonic Generations... and for Shadow, [we] wanted to make sure [it] had 3D gameplay as well as 2D gameplay.
TSS:What can you tell us about Shadow’s motivations as a character? Like, why does he fight to protect the world?
Iizuka (in English): In this game?
TSS: In general.
Iizuka (via interpreter):As I’m sure you guys know, Shadow was created and was being used to get the retribution that Professor Gerald had on the world; he was going to destroy the world, but then remembered that Maria really loved the world, and so instead of destroying it, he actually saved the world. And ever since that, what he wanted to do is, for the memory of Maria, Maria loved the planet as it was, so it’s not really like he wanted to save individual people on the planet. He wanted to preserve the entire planet, because that’s what Maria loved, and he wanted to really preserve that.
TSS: Moving away from Shadow for a minute... What can you tell us about Sonic’s current mobile strategy, particularly the focus on exclusives for subscription services?
Iizuka (via interpreter):As I’m sure you know, we have Sonic Dash as well as Sonic Forces Speed Battle, both out for mobile, and they’re these really long selling, long running games. I think Sonic Forces Speed Battle has just topped 300,000,000 downloads, and so it’s one of these really great titles that gets a lot of people to come in and experience it and have fun with the characters. And in addition to those very mobile games, we also have the Apple Arcade Dream Team that released on Apple Arcade as a way to provide more games outside of the [console] consumer, providing games that will reach a different target audience outside of just the usual console games that we release. And hopefully we can continue doing this in the future.
TSS:The community has expressed a lot of interest in seeing mobile titles like Sonic Dream Team and Sonic Rumble on PC and consoles. Is there any chance of seeing these releases launch outside of mobile?
Iizuka (in English):Outside of mobile for Sonic Dream Team and Rumble…
Iizuka (via interpreter):Sonic Dream Team is an Apple Arcade exclusive title, so that’s going to be the only place it will be offered. But for Sonic Rumble, we do know it’s releasing on mobile, and we’ll kind of see as it releases, as people pick up on the fun, it may start going to other places outside of it.
TSS: I’m a big fan of NiGHTS into dreams and Journey of Dreams, and with SEGA doing so many revivals lately, is there potential for a new NiGHTS game or port in the cards?
Iizuka (via interpreter):I would really like to do a brand new NiGHTS or remaster, I would like to see that content come out, but right now I’m in charge and the leader of all the Sonic branded content coming out, so I can’t really take the resources or development resources from Sonic and use it for something that’s not Sonic.
TSS:Alright, now this can be a yes or no... do you have any ideas for a new NiGHTS game?
Iizuka (via interpreter):[laughs] ...I have an image of what I would like it to be, yes.
TSS:So this question is from Acquainted Guy: Any chance of other Sonic characters getting a focus in spin-off media or games?
Iizuka (via interpreter):So before, we didn’t really have lots of resources to bring to the audience, but things have kind of changed now, and we have a lot of different media resources that we can use to bring content to people. The Knuckles TV show on Paramount+ is one of those ways that we can spotlight a character and spend the time to really bring something new to the audience. Even our short-form animation that we released for the Chao is a way that we can deliver fun character moments to people in a way that’s outside of just the limited game resources that we have. And moving forward, hopefully we’ll have more media opportunities to bring more characters to the forefront for everyone to really enjoy.
TSS:Now this question’s from Dustin Phillips: What are the chances of IDW characters like Tangle and Surge appearing in the games?
Iizuka (via interpreter):I do work closely with the team at IDW when they’re making their new characters, and really making sure we’re having lots of fun in making really good characters. And I know in the mobile games we have released or will release the IDW characters. So as far as the potential future of IDW characters appearing in games, hopefully there’s a good chance.
TSS:So one new announced feature for Sonic X Shadow Generations is character skins, such as the Sonic Adventure Legacy Skin and Terios. Terios in particular is a very deep cut, what made you consider this?
Iizuka (via interpreter):So it’s really Sonic Superstars that was the catalyst for this idea coming out with the Rabbit skin that Oshima-san wanted to see playable inside of Sonic Superstars. When he put it in there, he really liked that; when we released it, the fans also really liked that. And so when we were thinking about the Digital Deluxe Edition, what kind of content we should put in there, the whole idea of “Ooh, what if we put Terios in there,” as in, “we” being [myself] and the team, [when we] created Sonic Adventure 2, [we] were always calling the character “Terios.” [We] were very familiar with the character, so putting him in the game as “Terios” was a great idea that came from Sonic Superstars.
TSS:How are skins implemented in Sonic X Shadow Generations? Are they purely promotional, or will there be additional skins that players can unlock in the game itself?
Iizuka (via interpreter):So the Sonic Adventure skin is something that if you’re pre-ordering the game, you will get that skin, and the Terios skin is for anyone who buys the Digital Deluxe Edition, they will also get that skin. And once you have that skin, you just go to the menu and select that you want to play as that character.
TSS:Will we see the return of prior bonus features like the figurine gallery or the Sonic 1 Mega Drive game?
Iizuka (in English): In Sonic Generations?
TSS: Yeah.
Iizuka (via interpreter):So Sonic 1 has been removed from Sonic Generations portion of the game, but the Casino Night game has been included so everyone will get it.
TSS:Now final question, this is from Arsene: How did the Eggmans escape White Space at the end of Sonic Generations?
Iizuka (in English): [laughs] Good question!
Iizuka (via interpreter):Great question.The writer for the 'Shadow Generations' content is the same writer from Sonic Frontiers. I’m sure you know him, Ian Flynn. He did the writing for Shadow Generations and the new storyline. He asked the exact same question of [me]! Like, 'how did they get out?' Because he wanted to write in some more story, [wanted] to tell the story, but we couldn’t get into changing it. Sonic Generations ends with that ending, and so we want to leave it up to everyone’s imagination and guess how Eggman—the Eggmans—got out of White Space.
TSS:Thank you for your time sir, and thank you, and we appreciate everything!
Many thanks to Iizuka-san for his time, as well as Austin Keys for interpreting - and our sincere thanks and appreciation to SEGA PR for kindly arranging the interview. Sonic X Shadow Generations will be releasing on PS5, PS4, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC on October 25.
