Sonic the Hedgehog Co-Creator Comments On New Trailer and Updated Design

Paramount showed off an updated design for its Sonic the Hedgehog movie this week as the speedy blue hero returned with a look people are much more confident in. People weighed in on the new look with generally positive approval following the backlash from the first reveal, and Yuji Naka, one of Sonic’s co-creators, has joined the conversations with his take on the design. He seems to be fonder of the update compared to the movie’s original design, but he still noticed some parts he would’ve changed.

Naka was one of the main figures involved with the creation of the original Sonic games as the former head of the Sonic Team, so his opinion on the movie is one that’d naturally carry weight. After the trailer above was released, he offered his take on the new design and said that he appreciated the gloves being added to the character but still found it odd that the eyes weren’t connected.

“This is the new trailer with Sonic’s new design,” Naka said in a translation from DualShockers which lines up with Twitter’s rough translation of his comments. “The design is much more Sonic-like now that he’s wearing gloves. However, his eyes still aren’t joined together, as expected. I can’t help but feel weird about that one point. But I’m looking forward to the movie’s release.”

Another tweet shared around the time the trailer was released saw Naka pointing out that it seems as though the references to the old version of Sonic that Paramount originally released have been deleted or removed wherever they may have existed. Sure enough, if try to find the older trailer like you’d see in our previous coverage of the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, you’ll see that the original trailer has been made private. Naka noticed the purge of this older version of Sonic and said that it was “too bad” and that he wished he could see a special release of the movie where the old design was used.

Naka’s comments are more positive even if he’s not completely sold, but the Sonic community seems to be more strongly behind the new design. People reacted to it online after the trailer dropped and shared their appreciation for work that went into the new look, a design which was helmed by a familiar Sonic creator.

Sonic the Hedgehog is scheduled to release in theaters starting on February 14, 2020.