Sonic the Hedgehog[a] (commonly referred to as Sonic '06) is a 2006 platform game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega. It was produced in commemoration of the Sonic series' 15th anniversary, and intended as a reboot for the seventh-generation video game consoles. Players control Sonic, Shadow, and the new character Silver, who battle Solaris, an ancient evil pursued by Doctor Eggman. Each playable character has his own campaign and abilities, and must complete levels, explore hub worlds and fight bosses to advance the story. In multiplayer modes, players can work cooperatively to collect Chaos Emeralds or race to the end of a level.
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Development began in 2004, led by Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka. Sonic Team sought to create an appealing game in the vein of superhero films such as Batman Begins, hoping it would advance the series with a realistic tone and multiple gameplay styles. Problems developed after Naka resigned to form his own company, Prope, and the team split to work on the Wii game Sonic and the Secret Rings (2007). As a result, Sonic the Hedgehog was rushed for release in time for the December holiday season. It was released for Xbox 360 in November 2006 and for PlayStation 3 the following month. Versions for Wii and Windows were canceled. Downloadable content featuring new single-player modes was released in 2007.
Sonic the Hedgehog is a 3D platformer with action-adventure and role-playing elements.[1] Like Sonic Adventure, the single player navigates through open-ended hub worlds where they can converse with townspeople and perform missions to advance the story.[2] The main gameplay takes place in linear levels that become accessible as the game progresses. The main playable characters are three hedgehogs: Sonic, Shadow, and Silver, who feature in separate campaigns titled "episodes".[3] A bonus "Last Episode", which involves all three hedgehogs and concludes the storyline, is unlocked upon completing the first three.[4][5]
Silver the Hedgehog's gameplay style was born out of Sonic Team's desire to take advantage of Havok's realistic physics capabilities. The first design concept for Silver's character was an orange mink; he attained his final hedgehog look after over 50 design iterations.[13] In designing Shadow's gameplay, the developers abandoned the concept of firearms previously used in Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) in favor of combat elements to differentiate him from the other characters. Shadow's gameplay was further fleshed out with the addition of vehicles; each vehicle uses its own physical engine.[22] The game also features several CGI cutscenes produced by Blur Studio. Animation supervisor Leo Santos said Blur faced challenges animating the opening scene due to the placement of Sonic's mouth.[23]
As development progressed, Sonic Team faced serious problems. In March 2006, Naka resigned as head of Sonic Team to form his own company, Prope.[24][25][26] Naka has said he resigned because he did not want to continue making Sonic games and instead wished to focus on original properties.[24] With his departure, "the heart and soul of Sonic" was gone, according to former Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske.[15] Sonic the Hedgehog was originally intended for release on all major seventh-generation consoles as well as Windows,[27] but Sega was presented with development kits for Nintendo's less powerful Wii console. Sega believed porting the game to Wii would take too long, and so conceived a Sonic game that would use the motion detection function of its controller.[28]
Therefore, the team was split in two:[26] Nakamura led one team to finish Sonic the Hedgehog for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 while producer Yojiro Ogawa led the other to begin work on Sonic and the Secret Rings for the Wii.[29][28] The split left an unusually small team to work on Sonic the Hedgehog. Sega pressured the team to finish the game in time for the 2006 holiday shopping season, so with the deadline quickly approaching, Sonic Team rushed the final stages of development, ignoring bug reports from Sega's quality assurance department and control problems.[2][26][15][30] In retrospect, Ogawa noted that the final period proved to be a large challenge for the team. Not only was the Xbox 360 release imminent, but the PlayStation 3 launch was scheduled not long afterwards. This put tremendous pressure on the team to develop for both systems.[30] Producer Takashi Iizuka similarly recalled, "we didn't have any time to polish and we were just churning out content as quick as we could."[15]
Sonic the Hedgehog was announced in a closed-doors presentation at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in May 2005.[40] Later that year, at TGS in September, Naka revealed the game's title and said its release would correspond with the series' 15th anniversary.[17] A demo version of the game was playable at E3 2006.[21] A second demo, featuring a short section of Sonic's gameplay, was released via Xbox Live in September 2006.[41] Sega released several packages of desktop wallpaper featuring characters from the game,[34] and American publisher Prima Games published an official strategy guide, written by Fletcher Black.[5] Sega also made a deal with Microsoft to run advertisements for the game in Windows Live Messenger.[42]
The Xbox 360 version of Sonic the Hedgehog was released in North America on November 14, 2006,[43] followed by a European release on November 24.[44] Both versions were released in Japan on December 21.[45][46] The PlayStation 3 version was released in North America on January 30, 2007,[47] and in Europe on March 23.[44] The game is often referred to by critics and fans with colloquial terms that reference its year of release, such as Sonic 2006 or Sonic '06.[48][49]
Sonic the Hedgehog was well-received during prerelease showings.[68][69] Reception to prior games Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog had been mixed; after a number of well-received showings and demos, some felt Sonic the Hedgehog could be a return to the series' roots.[68] GameSpot said the game "showed a considerable amount of promise" after playing a demo at E3 2006,[21] and GameSpy praised its graphics and environments.[69] In 2008 GamesRadar said that it had looked "amazing" before its release.[68]
GameTrailers and GamesRadar considered Sonic the Hedgehog one of the most disappointing games of 2006.[74][79] GamesTM singled out the game when it ranked the Sonic franchise at the top of their list of "Video Game Franchises That Lost Their Way".[70] The A.V. Club,[2] Kotaku,[26] Game Informer,[48] and USgamer called the game the worst in the Sonic series,[80] and the staff of GamesRadar named it among the worst video games of all time.[71] The game remains popular for "Let's Play" walkthroughs, with players showing off its glitches.[2][80] In 2019, a video gained popularity in which a group of voice actors dub over the game's cutscenes in a single take, creating a nonsensical, improvisational storyline about video game culture.[81] The official Sonic Twitter account also mocks the game.[2] The failure of Sonic the Hedgehog led to the direction of the series being rethought. The next main Sonic game, 2008's Unleashed, ignored the gritty and realistic tone of its predecessor. With Unleashed's sequel Sonic Colors, The A.V. Club wrote that "the series rediscovered its strength for whimsical tales with light tones."[2]
Sonic the Hedgehog introduced Silver the Hedgehog, Princess Elise, Mephiles, and Iblis to the franchise;[76][82][83] most have made few appearances since.[77][82] Silver is a playable character in Sonic Rivals (2006) and its sequel,[84] in Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (2007),[85] and in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games and its sequels,[86] and is a minor character in the Nintendo DS version of Sonic Colors (2010) and Sonic Forces (2017).[87][88] He also appeared in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series published by Archie Comics.[89] The main theme of Sonic the Hedgehog and the theme of Sonic, "His World", was sampled in Drake's 2017 song "KMT".[90]
Some time after stopping Dr. Eggman once again, Sonic the Hedgehog grows restless, deciding to do what he does best - travel the world, looking for adventure. Climbing into his trusty biplane, the red-and-white Tornado, the blue hedgehog begins flying the skies, looking for places unknown. On nothing more than an impulse, Sonic decides to land on an unassuming island, called West Side Island. Deciding to kick back and explore the isle, Sonic is completely oblivious to the legend connected to the island, and the similarities it has in relation to his adventures on South Island. According to legend, there was once a great and prosperous people who lived on its shores, who achieved their greatness through the use of mysterious, powerful stones. Their peace could have been everlasting if not for a select few who desired to use the stones for their own selfish gains, causing the gods to take away the stones and hide them away on the island...
A few days after landing, Sonic realized that he was being followed by someone. Looking behind him, Sonic spotted a young fox, who immediately hid from the blue hedgehog when he looked his way. Not thinking much of it, Sonic ran off, the fox once again following. The young fox's given name, Miles Prower, was overshadowed by his nickname, "Tails," derived from the fact that he possessed not one but two tails behind him. Often being ridiculed by his peers, "Tails" outlook on life changed immediately once he spotted Sonic running around his home, deciding that he had to follow and emulate his new hero, wanting to be just as cool and confident. No matter where Sonic would go, Miles would try and follow, Sonic eventually accepting the near-constant trailing of the young fox. 2ff7e9595c
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