Sonic the Hedgehog Boss Wants to Make a Sonic RPG

Sonic the Hedgehog has been in a lot of different video game spin-offs over the years, including racing games, multiplayer action games, and even fighting games. While the vast majority of Sonic’s adventures have been 2D and 3D platformers, the fact is, Sonic is actually pretty versatile, and he can be used in a lot of different ways. In a new interview with Good Vibes Gaming, Sonic Team boss Takashi Iizuka revealed the game that he’d most want to see Sega tackle is a Sonic RPG. However, Iizuka was quick to note that this is not currently something in the works. 

“Personally, I like role-playing games,” Iizuka told Good Vibes Gaming. “The RPG game format is a lot of fun and I’ve even thought to myself, ‘you know, for the past 30 years we haven’t done a Sonic RPG’, and I’m questioning myself, ‘why haven’t we done a Sonic RPG in all this time? How have we gotten to 30 years with no RPGs?’ I’d like to hopefully work on a Sonic RPG at some point before I retire from Sega. But, you know, that’s just a dream right now, there are no concrete plans at this point.”

While Iizuka is correct that Sonic Team has not made a Sonic RPG, there has been one in the past. In 2008, BioWare developed Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood on Nintendo DS. That game received mostly mixed reception, and resulted in a lawsuit by former Archie Comics scribe Ken Penders, who accused the game of copyright infringement. While that case was dismissed, it did lead to Penders suing over the rights to his work on the Sonic comics, which he ended up winning. As a result, the vast majority of original characters created in the early comics are now owned by Penders. Given that, it’s easy to imagine Sega might not have a lot of fondness for the game! 

It’s been more than 15 years since Sonic Chronicles, and it’s probably safe to assume a lot of fans wouldn’t mind seeing a second attempt at a Sonic RPG. The Sonic franchise has quite a bit of lore, and there are a lot of past characters Sega could use to populate a vast world. It actually seems like the franchise would be a great fit for an RPG, but It remains to be seen whether it will actually happen again. At the very least, Iizuka’s interest seems to bode well! 

Would you like to see a second Sonic RPG? Have you ever played Sonic Chronicles? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

[H/T: Video Games Chronicle]