But for months, this vague trailer was the only official piece of information about the forthcoming game. Sites and message boards speculated on every facet of the impending title, but for their part, Sega barely acknowledged the existence of the game. That is, until last week. On January 11, the company announced a contest: If enough fans could provide the (correct) answers to daily trivia questions, a list of potential characters would be weeded down to a final list. If each daily goal was met, fans would know which character(s) from the pool would contribute to the game.
Presumably, as speculated by most fans, Sonic would be the only playable character—lest Sega further alienate its older fans—with the possible inclusion of Tails and/or Knuckles (as they were notably absent from the contest’s roster). Given that a solo outing was speculated from day one, many assumed that this was simply a way for Sega to put fans into a tizzy about the game. Say what you will about the company’s ability to create games in this day and age, but, as pointed out by respected member of the Sonic community Tweaker, Sega has always possessed a masterful command of the marketing form.
Though jaded fans (including myself) expected little more than weeding the list down to only Sonic, the contest also provided an interesting caveat. If the number of the answers greatly exceeded the minimum requirement, the community would earn a bonus. Speculation went rampant, would it be gameplay footage? Perhaps a screenshot? Artwork? Anything? As the week wore on, anxious fans continued to swarm Sega with correct answers to the daily quizzes and on Friday, the diehards earned a worthwhile treat: Official character artwork.
Happily, the art featured a return to the series' roots, at least in terms of designing enemies. The artwork featured a slightly revamped version of the Sonic 2 enemy Shellcracker that, on first glance, looked like a faithful, yet more detailed, recreation of its original Genesis artwork. Some fans argued that the increased detail made the character ready for 3D modeling (speculating on 3D characters in a 2D environment), others feared that perhaps Sega intended to create a high definition remake of Sonic 2, a pursuit already undertaken by the fan community, while still others rejoiced on an apparent return to the Genesis era.
Regardless of these opinions, we still know very little about the game. That is precisely where this site comes in. Look, I'm not a Sega insider, I don't have friends in high places, I just wanted to compile all the known information about this game and occasionally provide my input. There's a lot of speculation on the Internet, which is fine, but a great deal of it is BS. I intend to wade through the BS for you. To that end, stay tuned for relevant updates.
