Brief Opinion On The Topic Of A Sonic (2006) Remake

 

During a special Sonic Fan Meet Event in Indonesia, members of Sonic Team were present to chat to friends, including Kazuyuki Hoshino, Katsuyuki Shigihara, and importantly, Shun Nakamura. Shun Nakamura has been at SEGA since 1997, working on several titles tied to Sonic Team, and is a key member of franchises like Samba Da Amigo, Rhythm Thief and Billy Hatcher.

However, his most famous, and infamous role was the Director of Sonic The Hedgehog 2006. This game left a major mark on the status of Sonic Team and SEGA and is still talked about today. Since then, 06 has been explored in games, shows and official artwork, with Iblis appearing in the Knuckles Show, to artwork of Princess Elise skating with Silver and Crisis City remade in Generations, and this also appears today, as Kingdom Valley and Mephiles appeared in Sonic X Shadow Generations.

Why do I bring this up? Well, the team was asked at the event what games they’d like to remade or remastered. In a post regarding the questions by Tails Channel, it was stated that Shun Nakamura previously stated he’d like to remake 06.

Now, you may be saying, why remake Sonic 06? Well it’s an easy choice, if you have big balls. If SEGA and Sonic Team could transform one of the most infamous titles into a declaration of their desire to be seen as a world class studio, would end up being the best stories to be seen in the industry. But what decisions could be taken to help transform the title?

Firstly is the graphical fidelity of the title. When 06 released it was one of the first major titles to release on PS3 and Xbox 360, it was a project built on spectacle and impressing players. Nowadays, there are segments of the game that really need an improvement, and the opportunity to provide this big adventure in 60fps in 4K is very inviting. But the decision will come down to the engine Sonic Team would used. Would it be Hedgehog Engine 2? Building off the updates seen in Frontiers and Shadow Generations? Or will we see Sonic Team jump to a external engine like Unreal Engine 5 or Unity? RGG Studio, the sister studio to Sonic Team used US5 to remake Like A Dragon: Ishin and used Unity for Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania, and rumours suggest that a internal discussion within Sonic Team has taken place on the topic.  

The second point to bring up is the voice cast. As you well know, the voice cast from Sonic 06 in English is not the same to the current cast. The only actor to carry over is Mike Pollock, but that’s it. Will we see the original brought back to reprise these roles for this title? I’d say no. We’ve seen a recent example of this take place, as Sonic Generations cast was updated to their current voice cast, Blaze The Cat was voiced by Laura Bailey, but was replaced in Sonic X Shadow Generations by Erica Lindbeck, who first voiced for her back in 2019 for Team Sonic Racing.

Instead of Team Dark voiced by Jason Griffith (Shadow), Kathleen Delaney (Rouge) and Maddie Blaustein (Omega), we’d instead have Kirk Thornton, Karen Strassman and Roger Craig Smith. Speaking of Roger, he’d be voicing Sonic in one of the most cinematic and Final Fantasy like stories this franchise ever had, and despite voicing him for so long that he is the longest running voice actor for Sonic in English territories, this would be unique territory for him.

The third point I want to discuss is the story, something that many have shown a distain for. The problem that rises is some character inconsistencies and the use of time travel. I personally believe it should be fully rewritten. The plot points and locations are all the same but the substance and characterization is changed to better reflect the story and the brand currently. The themes and characters chosen are really good, but it was the pacing and writing that did harm it. For example, Blaze never really get’s much of substance to do, and I feel a rewritten script and some changes to the game’s structure could provide a opportunity to flesh out the beloved character. It could also redo the introduction of Silver, a fan favourite who didn’t catch on with general audiences, given new life and a chance to land gracefully for fans and casuals alike.

However, the biggest point of interest is the kiss, something that many want to keep or throw away. For me, I understand why Elise would show that level of affection, Sonic impacted her for the better, and her doing the same for him is a simple but effective development, yet I would not have a proper kiss take place, but a kiss on the forehead. It’s a small change that would avoid the controversy, and would not take away from fan interpretation, as a kiss on the forehead shows affection, and can be platonic or romantic. It’d keep the same impact but futureproofing it from bad faith scrutiny.

To put this simply, this is the perfect example of "high-risk, high-reward". If Sonic Team succeeded in remaking 06, it'd be like striking gold. We've seen Sonic Team produce good will and improved sales and critic scores since Frontiers, and this could accelerate their efforts to be seen as a major studio. Alternatively however, if the remake was rushed and mismanaged like the original, I really believe the Sonic series would be significantly damaged to a degree that a majority of the progress made to the brand image would be lost, but despite that, if the team managed to make a acceptable remake that makes the bare essentials work, would that be enough to appease people?

There’s a lot I could talk more about but I’ll leave it here. Thanks for reading.