Rumour: Sonic Team Is Working On A Brand New 2D Sonic Game

The last one we've had was Mania, right? That's hopeful.

@Obito_Sigma Sonic Mania had outside involvement from Head Cannon. The distinction here is that this supposed new game is developed by Sonic Team alone.

From memory, that might mean it’s the first game since the original Mega Drive games that they’ve fully developed in house. Sonic Advance, Rush etc were all developed by Dimps.

If sonic team are making it i don't have high hopes unfortunately

@RupeeClock agreed, this isn’t the most promising news based on their history!

I'll temper my expectations. In theory a sequel to Rush/Advance series would be cool but without Dimps I'm not sure what to expect. The 2D sections of the recent 3D games are nothing special.

Why not, might be able to crap out another movie or two, might as well see how many games you can release in the time frame too.

Who developed Sonic 4?

If it is true which maybe it is but also maybe not because Zippo has leaked some thing which were right in the past like Persona 4 Arena Ultimax.

It will probably be a 2.5D Sonic game probably. But maybe I am a little bit optimistic about 2.5 or 2D Sonic over like Sonic Frontiers (which I think won’t even be good)

I would rather the Sonic Mania team was working on it, I don't trust Sega themselves to make one as good as that game.

@gaga64 @moodycat Dimps made Sonic 4 along with Sonic Team. Dimps also made Advance/Rush before that so... take that however you want.

@smithpa01 thats fair lol

Unless they’re going for the Sonic Mania pixel art graphics, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s just more of the 2D sections from Sonic Generations.

Who’s making sonic frontiers - Sonic team? Or some other Sega team?

Believe it when I see it. I'm actually more interested in a follow up to Advance/Rush then a follow up to Mania. I'd take it as well and am sure Sonic fans would take any 2d Sonic style at this point. But I just feel that the handheld Sonic games have a more under explored gameplay. While Mania feels like a culmination of Classic Sonic. Also they need Christian Whitehead and Headcanon for Mania 2.

Wow this is interesting, I guess if Sonic Frontiers kept getting delay this may be a good one to bring out for Sonic fans to enjoy until that game is done. If that's the case then I'm all for it. Those who want ports could just buy Sonic Origins, those who want a new adventure could get this one and those who want the next big 3D Sonic could wait for Sonic Frontiers. The only red flag here though is why Sonic Team is working on this when they are still working on Sonic Frontiers, would that delay Frontiers even further? Maybe they could just let Headcannon handle the new Sonic 2D game after the Origins Collection.

I don't know who this Zippo guy is, and how accurate his track record may be, but I've been burned by leakers too much previously so I'm hesitant to believe them now. Besides, didn't former Nintendolife employee Jon Cartwright do a whole segment recently about how easy it is to fake a leak, and how we, as well as any news reporting outlets, should not put any weight into them?

@Obito_Sigma Sonic Mania had the advantage of being developed by a huge Sonic fan, who made his mark by making very skilled Sonic ROM hacks. I guess impressive enough for Sega to want to offer him a job making official Sonic games.

Zippo is not reliable lol

This is an OLD RUMOR. The initial rumor was that Sonic Team was developing "Sonic Mania 2" but scraped it during pre-production as they couldn't get Whitehead back (money reasons).

Sonic Team trying again isn't surprising as Sonic games have tend to launch with a 2d entry alongside a 3d entry (Sonic Lost World being the exception).

@gaga64 Sonic Team made it but Dimps port it to consoles. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is not really a main game, it's a mobile game called Sonic the Portable. Sega just had Dimps port that game in episodic formats to consoles, PC, and the Ouya and slap the Sonic the Hedgehog 4 name on it.

Sonic the Portable, the game that would eventually become Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episodes 1 & 2

I would have been excited...if this was made by the Sonic Mania developers!!

@gaga64 Sonic Team with help of Dimps.

i don't trust Sonic Team alone to make a 2D Sonic game, i was the Sonic Mania team making the new 2D Sonic, i would be less worried.

Second time I’ve heard of this. I wonder if they’re just parroting what that 4/1/2022 4chan leak said. This leak had a lot of things listed, with two things of note shortly before they were announced/reported:

Jet Set Radio, and the exact studio for the Sonic Origins animations.

Among other things, was the mention of Sonic The Hedgehog 5.

I'm listening.

@Serpenterror that doesn’t fill me with hope…

If it's Sonic Team and not the Mania devs, then it'll suck. It will be awful and will miss the point of what made Sonic so interesting.

I still remember Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and being excited for that oh how wrong was I

Nintendo consoles didn't get "part 2" of Sonic 4, did they?

Personally, the only game in the Dimps developed Sonic games I enjoy is Sonic Advance, it feels like a true Sonic 4 before Sonic Mania and the actual (and disastrous) Sonic 4: Episodes I and II. If Sonic Team makes it more akin to Advance and doesn't suck I'm game. But who am I kidding? That won't be the case.

From what I played of them, Advance 2 and 3 feel like a prelude to the Rush games and the eventual Boost mechanic seen in Unleashed, Colors, Generations and Forces. In all honesty, I don't like the boost mechanic. My mind only thinks "what's the point of platforming if you're mostly running as fast as ****?".
A lot of people criticize Lost World, but I actually enjoyed that more than any other recent Sonic game, almost as much as a Sonic Adventure game.

A follow-up to Sonic Advance and Rush, two beloved games in the franchise? Count me in!

I’m in… but I think I’d have rather had Mania 2

That’s actually interesting, Make a 3d open world sonic game, then make a 2d collection on top of a new game, so if the 3d one turns out to suck 2d sonic will still thrive.

I don’t know.. I just thought of Sonic Boom Shattered Crystal.. not overly inspiring

@LEGEND_MARIOID Yeah but that was clearly Nintendo's fault, Wii Ware only accept software 40mb or lower. Sonic 4: Episode 2 is larger than that so the game wasn't approve for Wii Ware.

@RupeeClock
What was the last Sega inhouse game, that is not yakuza, any good . I would not put my hopes to high here.

Might be interested if it's a decent price

I'd prefer Mania 2, though last I knew, Sega shot that down.

@Serpenterror Ah I see. I always wondered what happened to "Episode 2". I wouldn't mind the complete Sonic 4 released on the Switch eShop

Sonic Team is ready to take a big steaming Dimps.

Sonic Team alone doesn't give me hope, nor them + Dimps (but if just Dimps, that's better). It's been said already who can clearly make a good 2D Sonic, so I'll leave it at that.

I'm surprised they didn't time something like this with the movies. I can see why they wouldn't want a big 3D game to come out the same day the movies opened because that kind of locked in schedule is how you get a Sonic 06 fiasco. But timing a more modest 2D Sonic project with levels inspired by the locations in the movies seems like it would have been great marketing. And thinking about all those poor parents getting bombarded with, "I WANT THE NEW SONIC GAME!" immediately after walking out of the theater brings joy to my heart.

SOLELY by sonic team? If this turns out to be true insant pass

Is there any reason at all to think this is legit? Does the "leaker" have a previous track record? Comicbook.com is filled with baseless rumors. I used to get articles recommended from them all the time with titles like, "New Smash Bros. Ultimate Fighter Leaked!" and then you click it, and they're just citing some baseless Reddit post. I don't know much about the website, but I get the impression they're like a wiki where any Joe Schmoe can write an article.

I’m playing through Sonic 3 & Knuckles right now (it’s a yearly ritual for me) and it’s most certainly and will always be my favorite. The way the levels flow together, the soundtrack, the graphics… it’s the Sonic formula perfected. If they were to somehow continue this story with the new entry they’re working on, that would be great.
I know they made a Sonic 4 part 1 and 2 but it was seriously flawed. The gameplay itself was there but the movement and some other things just felt … OFF. Please redo those games, hell, give them a “demake” treatment with 16-bit graphics and I’d be happy.
The Sonic 3 and Knuckles storyline is just so cool.

I'd rather have another sequel (of sorts) to the classic line-up from the Genesis / Mega Drive days.

Zippo does not have a good track record. Not gonna fall for this one.

@Linker2A03 Zippo talked about a new 2D Sonic before that.

@jojobar Sakura Wars, PSO2 New Genesis and Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 would be the two most recent brand new games that were good if we're arbitrarily excluding RGG Studios, Atlus or any of their western studios like Creative Assembly (so most of their workforce). Apparently the 2 different Tokyo Olympic games were alright as well.

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Let me guess, Sonic Team was jealous after the superlative Sonic Mania?

Zippo has shared tons of "leaks" that all turned out to be false. Every site reporting on this is validating his lies with attention.

I'm pretty sure his last leak was that Sonic Mania 2 was being worked on before getting cancelled because SEGA and the devs had a bitter falling out. Yet, look who's working on Sonic Origins.

@Galgomite
Mania was some brutal vindication, to have this game come that cements what classic 2D Sonic is shortly followed to the mess that is Classic Sonic in Forces with his screwed up physics and heavily scripted bottomless pit filled levels wouldn’t have gone unnoticed inside the bowels of Sega, in the history of this industry events like this either lead to epiphanies bringing positive changes or irrational doubling down. I think Sonic Team is comically tonedeaf about this to the point that their reaction to Mania would be to work with Dimps to make another Sonic 4 style game.

Colors, Origins, Frontiers, and now this. Seriously, does Sega have ANYTHING in-house that ISN'T tied to Sonic anymore (and has anyone been keeping a count to see if, just maybe, he's getting more articles here on Nintendo Life than most Nintendo IPs)?

Sega included surveys in every Sega Ages title on the Switch (it's in the menu), and I filled out every single one whenever I bought one of them...and then they abruptly pulled the plug. For the past two years running I've received e-mails from Sega early in the year asking for "Most Wanted" game recommendations from their other IPs (this year's didn't include Shining Force by default, which I made sure to address in my reply), but so far they seem to be just lip service.

And don't get Panzer Dragoon Remake, House of the Dead Remake, or any other outsourced IPs confused with genuine in-house Sega games; the quality just isn't on the same level. Nor should we count Shenmue 3 or any other Kickstarters as coming about due to Sega's effort; it required money paid upfront by determined fans to even exist. Yakuza may be profitable (and if it is then it's unfathomable how they can't see the likes of Skies of Arcadia or Shining Force as being potentially at least equally so) and Monkey Ball may be "safe", but they're every bit as "niche" as the mountain of other IPs they've left to collect dust for decades.

I've said it before and it still stands: I couldn't care less how many Sonic games and remakes Sega releases so long as they still give some love to the rest of the IPs I and many other longtime fans care about. And that shouldn't be too much to ask, but the longer this goes on, the more I see A) Sonic as being in the way (meaning I've come to DESPISE the IP), and B) that Sega themselves are a has-been, washed-up former AAA publisher, once one of the very best and most prolific in the industry, but who've now circled the wagons and are endlessly running out the same tired mascot to "play it safe" until the inevitable day they finally close their doors for good.

If anyone at Sega is reading this, PLEASE give some of those other franchises a chance again, that's all I ask.

I'm both optimistic AND shaking about this news. One hand, MORE 2D SONIC which means maybe a return to Advance and Rush in the smallest caps possible. The other, it'll end up like Sonic 4 since that was "supposedly" the last true Sonic 2D game they worked on.

What if this game was directly connected to Frontiers, like how Mania was connected to Forces? I think that would be really neat!

Seems strange to make a sequel to advance/rush with only the trio payable. Advance had a playable Amy(please Sega) and later added cream. Rush also had Blaze, so hopefully there'll be more than just the trio