The unexpected success of the 2020 movie Sonic the Hedgehog all but guaranteed that more films would be made. Sonic is a character who has been around since 1991 and has had almost as many videogames as his contemporary, Mario, so whether there would be more movies depended entirely on whether the first one would do well. The addition of Sonic’s foxy sidekick Tails and his favorite frienemy Knuckles were also all but guaranteed when the sequel was announced. The two have been around almost as long as Sonic, and since their introductions in 1992 and 1994, respectively, the three have become an almost inseparable trio of speedy, chaotic adventurers.
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If a sequel and more of Sonic’s furry friends were all but guaranteed with the success of the first one, then it stands to reason that if the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 2 does just as well, this will not be the last we see of the blue blur and his furry friends. On the subject of the rest of Sonic’s friends, however, whether they should be included in any of his future movies is a subject that should not be discussed lightly.
Not counting any of his spinoff games or the animated TV shows from the early ’90s and 2000s, the animal cast of the mainstream Sonic games has steadily increased since the blue hedgehog’s transition from 2D to 3D in 1998 with the release of Sonic Adventure for the Sega Dreamcast. That game saw the introductions of Big the Cat, Tikal the Echidna, and the entity known as Chaos. The game’s sequel, Sonic Adventure 2, in 2001 saw the introductions of fan favorites Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat, with many more to come with each new game released since then. It has gotten to the point where there are more animal characters than humans despite the mainstream Sonic games taking place in what could arguably be called “the real world” (as ridiculous as that sounds). Not only that, but the quality of Sonic games has sadly declined with the transition from 2D to 3D, with many of the games that feature these new animal characters having very well-known reputations for being the worst games ever made. There are, however, good reasons for both why the rest of Sonic’s animal cast should and should not be included in any of Sonic’s future movies, so the topic does warrant some discussion.
Why They Should Be in Future Movies
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Despite the decline in quality of Sonic games, Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 are still remembered fondly by fans, if only for nostalgia purposes. The character Shadow the Hedgehog is a fan favorite, so there is potential for story and marketing reasons for why some of Sonic’s friends should be included. The trailer for the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 2 shows both Sonic and Knuckles fighting in front of what is unmistakably the Master Emerald from the games. If the producers want to delve deeper into that story, they could show the origins of the Master Emerald, the history of the Echidna tribe that guarded it, and the entity Chaos that resides within.
Suppose they want to go in a different direction and introduce Shadow. They could then potentially touch on the history of the Robotnik family with Ivo Robotnik’s (yes, that is really his name) grandfather Gerald Robotnik and his quest to create what he called “the ultimate life form,” which turned out to be Shadow. Sure, those stories may not have been presented in the best of ways in the games they originated from, but in the hands of a talented writer, a good director, and a dedicated team, they could easily put bodies in seats with them.
Why They Should Not Be in Future Movies
The poor quality of recent games aside, the simple reason why the rest of Sonic’s animal cast should not be included in future movies is that there are too many of them, and most are simply not well liked for one reason or another. At all. The best example of this is the character Big the Cat, who is almost universally despised for a few reasons. His fishing segments in Sonic Adventure were not fun, as he is not that interesting of a character and had no reason to be in the story. He is also a terrible representation of intellectually disabled people. At the very least, Big the Cat is from a game that fans fondly remember. However, the same cannot be said of Silver the Hedgehog, whose game of origin, 2006’s Sonic the Hedgehog, was so terrible that most fans would rather forget it exists than remember it. That game specifically has been universally regarded by most critics as one of the worst videogames ever made.
More important than whether these characters are well-liked is that too many of these characters would cause too many distractions for the audience, and as a result, the plots of the movies would be unfocused and lack real direction. More or less, the films would suffer the same fate as the games, which is something no one wants. Given that movies are much more heavily story-focused than videogames, the story is something that very much needs to come first, before the characters. If producers want consistent returns on these movies, then this is something that they will need to very much consider.
