Sonic Is Putting His Most Bizarre Behavior To Rest

The future of "Sonic The Hedgehog" games looks bright. While the actual next game in the series, "Sonic Frontiers," has received some backlash for its gameplay reveal, the Sonic Team boss has made it clear that the blue blur won't be repeating some of his past mistakes. In the Axios newsletter (and reported by IGN), the Sonic Team studio head revealed that there are two official rules when making Sonic games, and one very important, unofficial rule.

That rule stems from the infamous "Sonic the Hedgehog" (2006), sometimes referred to as "Sonic '06," where human princess Elise the Third uses the Chaos Emeralds to save Sonic's life (acceptable behavior) and then proceeds to kiss the blue hedgehog (unacceptable behavior). Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka said, "I don't think we'll be doing that again." While that scene probably sent the Sonic fandom down an irreversible path, it seems as though the current team working on Sonic games will be avoiding making a similar mistake in the future. Of course, if Iizuka decides to leave the team or retire in the future, whoever takes over his role might not have such a puritan view of how Sonic should behave. As for the two official rules, those shouldn't surprise any fans of the series.

The two official rules laid out by Iizuka should make sense to anyone who has played a Sonic video game. The first rule is that Sonic games must be built around speed, quite literally following the catch phrase "gotta go fast." The second rule is that Sonic can't swim. Note that the rule doesn't state that Sonic isn't able to go into water. Iizuka pointed out that in the "Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games" series that if Sonic participates in a water-based event, he will have a floatation device.

All of these rules apply to the upcoming "Sonic Frontiers," which Iizuka has made clear will not be delayed due to fan feedback. In an interview with Axios, Iizuka revealed more information about "Sonic Frontiers," including what the term "open-zone" means compared to something that is open-world. Iizuka said that the reason it's called open-zone is that the game features multiple themed islands, each one filled with activities to do. You can't seamlessly move between the islands, so it's not an open-world game. Iizuka also stated that the team has only shown footage from the first island in the game, so fans should look forward to seeing more environments.