The Sonic video game series has introduced all sorts of iconic characters over the years, but there's even more featured in the official IDW comic series.
Speaking to Sonic Stadium recently, Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka was asked if any of these other Sonic characters could one day appear in the games. His response was "hopefully there's a good chance" as he works closely with IDW on the designs and some are already in certain mobile games.
Here's exactly what he had to say:
Takashi Iizuka: "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."
Characters like Tangle the Lemur and Whisper the Wolf have previously appeared in mobile games like Sonic Dash.
Would you like to see more characters from the comics introduced to the Sonic video game universe? Tell us in the comments.
[source sonicstadium.org, via gonintendo.com]
Comments 43
If SEGA somehow gets the rights to the SatAM/Archie characters, I would be fine with that as well.
Yes more Sonic games with Sally Acorn and Bunny Robots please.
Yes please the comic series is high quality
When it comes to Archie, the only character I really would have liked to see in the games was Thunderbolt the Chinchilla. She was a hilarious evil villian imo.
As for the IDW characters, I don't have any particular faves but I wouldn't mind seeing Clutch the Opossum make a mainline game debut. He's more or less IDW Sonic's version of Marvel Comics' Kingpin and it would be interesting seeing a underworld criminal mastermind scheming plans and creating trouble for Sonic and co. whenever they are not dealing with Eggman.
It's been forever since I've read the Archie comics, but it would be pretty cool to see characters like Sally, Boomer, Antoine, and Bunnie. Well, they were kind of in Sonic Spinball, but it would be nice for them to play a major role.
“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.”
Man if there’s anything that sums up what Flynn’s impact is now it’s this, he’s obsessed with fixing things kinda like Dave Filoni. He can make some pretty obnoxious retcons in Shadow Generations too unless he’s kept on a short leash.
I just want less egg man.
This is a false promise. They will never bring the comic book characters to the main games, they'll just be cameo fodders.
@Servbot_EJ Archie Sonic is dead, bro. Its characters are now dead too.
@ClickBrick
You want more Robotnik?
Frontiers has already done this. Sonic mentions Tangle AND Sticks (?! Boom lives on somehow!) by name while you play through the story, and they have been canonized. It's not the exact same as them visually appearing, but there's absolutely no chance Sega would let that happen unless they were cool with it. They didn't let anything remotely similar happen during the Archie days.
As someone who got engaged to their partner while we were cosplaying as Tangle & Whisper from the IDW comics, I might be a little bit bias in saying I'd love to see the IDW characters appear in a mainline game.
@OstianOwl that takes a lot of courage to admit to a very honest video game forum respect
@Daimando Pretty sure Sega gave the rights to IDW to start fresh with a new comic continuity to avoid the legal mess that was the Archie Comics when Ken Penders decided to take Sega to court for some of the "original characters" he created. That whole debacle is the reason why we never see Archie Sonic characters anymore and also Sega wanted stricter guidelines on how Sonic should be portrayed.
Let us play as his siblings Sonia and Manic!
I used to read the Archie Sonic comics all the time back in the day. Still have a lot of the issues too. Unfortunately I haven’t read any of the IDW comics. Heard good things about it though.
@Daimando They already have the SatAM rights via SoA.
Problem is, they were made without Sonic Team's approval, and has lots of lore baggage with them, like giving Sonic an uncle when he's a free spirit with no real family in the games or tying him to a rebellious group of freedom fighters when he never ties himself down with such busy work and just fights his own way.
If they ever reintroduced those characters, they would have to completely reboot them to fit in with sonic's world rather than the other way around that was the norm in the 90s.
Please I want wisper and tangle so bad! I honestly think tangle has become one of my favorite sonic characters I did not expect to like her that much!
It would be funny to see not only comic book characters appearing in official Sonic games, but also some characters from the cartoons, anime, and films. I always wondered how Scratch, Grounder, and Coconuts would work as bosses.
Haven't checked the IDW comics yet (really should do so considering all the good things I've heard about them), but would love to see their characters also in games and if they somehow managed to bring back also the SatAM/Archie etc. ones it would be even better!
Need some Sonic the Comic characters like Johnny Lightfoot and Tekno!
Used to love reading those comics when my mum left me in the magazine aisle of Co Op while she did the big shop when I was little!
And being so young, I really had no idea about the separation of games and comic "lore" at the time. I just thought it was one big world. Same with the old cartoon, especially when I found the hench-badniks in the game as generic enemies, the chicken and the Mr greedy looking tank with a drill nose.
I think it's why I had such a hard time adjusting to Sonic Adventure being set on earth when I thought everything was set on Mobius! I began to understand reinterpretations a bit more when Sonic Underground came out though
I'd rather not. I can't stand the likes of Sally Acorn and co. Heck, I even despise some of the supporting characters that SEGA themselves have created from Sonic Adventure onwards. The cast of Sonic really needs to be stripped back to the bare minimum.
@BLAZINOAH It did and everyone hated it. Hell, the "meta era" as fans call it is one of the most narratively despised Sonic eras, with that bare-boneness being one of the many reasons.
Why are they trying to add more characters when they don’t even use the characters they already have? All they ever use are Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Eggman, and Shadow. We need to see more of Team Chaotix
Yes... if it makes sense to include them. If they ever have the courage to attempt an RPG again that would be a wonderful opportunity.
@SalvorHardin I mean unlike filoni, the Sonic franchise DOES have a lot of holes that need to be fixed storywise. And Ian is really good at filling those holes without just disregarding what came before. Part of the reason frontiers story was so good was how well Tails was handled ans how his insecurities in Forces were addressed.
The IDW comics are absolutely fantastic so I wouldn’t mind seeing some of the characters pop up.
Every fan of Archie Sonic: Ken Penders is a ... Wait, is there a swear filter in this site? I don't think I can put the whole Eggman Moon copypasta here.
@MirrorFate2 Yes, they were erased by Ted Bundy after their last comic got canceled. Talk about a sketchy ending for those poor ink creatures!
@Zeebor15 Ken Penders is also a creep towards Dan DeCarlo and it is a creepy obsession.
The Archie comics era from 2003 to 2016 was my jam, once they rebooted the series and shortly cancelled it to reboot it yet again in IDW I lost faith in the comics.
Because of that I have quite a hard time accepting new characters like Tangle and Whisper.
I dunno, to me they're kinda over-designed, for Sonic characters at least.
@BLAZINOAH Please no. Not even Mario does that.
@nitwit ???
Tangle is coming. I’m ready.
Thankfully Knack the Weasel made a comeback in Superstars…which I still have to beat.
@fpcreator2000 Fang is his actual name.
The IDW comics are already canon, so crossover with the comics is certainly possible. Though I'm not the biggest fan of the new character designs (except for Belle the Tinkerer: she fits the universe well), the comic is well-written. Ian Flynn, Evan Stanley, and the other writers have a good handle on the continuity.
@nitwit Penders is a creep to everyone
I would absolutely love this, Tangle, Whisper, Surge, Jewel, Lanolin, and Starline, would be great to have them in a mainline Sonic game as well as other IDW characters
@SalvorHardin It would be better to go to Bermuda Triangle,Bridgewater Triangle,Bennington Triangle,Project Stargate,Project Montauk,Philadelphia Experiment,CERN,John Titor,John Zegreus,Andrew Carlssin,Edward Cameron/Alfred Bielek,Duncan Cameron,John Titor.
This is of what Sega should do. As for Mobius/Mobotropolis/Robotropolis and Micromobius/Micromobotropolis/Microrobotropolis this is of what should be done in the first place. Including Freedom Fighters and Wolf Pack Freedom Fighters. So no more any more Live and Learn because that’s more like That’s No Good. Time Machine/Time Travel is possible forwards and backwards in time.
Besides wouldn’t it be Yuji Naka instead of Takashi Iizuka Archie Comics instead of IDW Publishing.
@RareFan I could see the trio as being the former right hand bots of Eggman/Robotnik before he created Orbbot and Cubebot. As for their roles, I can see them being minor villains whenever Eggman is busy cooking up his schemes. Something to keep Sonic busy between his regular "Save the world from Eggman/what ever pandora's box said person opened this time" activities.
@ottoecamn They really should try to fit in the current humans and "Mobians" (Which I use to describe all anthropomorphic bipedal animals like Sonic and Co) into a main line story rather than be in a youtube video. (The current explanation is that the humans live on continents while the Mobians mostly live on smaller islands.)
@Druidsbrook Kind of want to see something from Atlus, but they should have a team of lawyers ready, just in case a certain Penders tries to sue.
In my honest opinion I think that if Sega does in fact bring in the comic book characters of either the Archie Characters which would just be Sally and The Freedom Fighters and also the IDW Characters which would be Tangle, Whisper, and ETC, That it would First be to put them in as playable characters in Sonic Mobile games for the time being and to see whether or not if the fans have great feedback and reception with these characters then Sega would think about having these comic book characters in the mainline games then.
@NatiaAdamo yeah, I'm hoping that, with Shadow Generations, we'll start seeing humans pop up again. Humans are a major part of Shadow's story and there was recently a Sonic Channel art showing Elise with Silver. It's good to see Sonic Team becoming more confident about the franchise's history again.
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