Today we’re gonna talk about Paramount’s Sonic The Hedgehog. When I found out that this particular movie essentially saved the franchise from being canned, I was surprised.
Surprised To Know
Being someone who spent well over a $1000 in my youth time of not having their own money to spend on Sonic, you can imagine how shocked I was to find out he wasn’t keeping momentum going into my adulthood.
I brought up the four figure amount because that was definitely a bunch of money relative to what youth in my generation would experience. That felt like it would for sure be something that’ll never decline in the foreseeable future.
It goes on to explain another feeling that I actually felt about this information.
My Childhood Heavy Hitter Was Turning Into a Has Been
I’m sharing one of the most childhood defining characters that I absolutely loved playing their games and making new ones up with friends. Ever since I was playing games on Gen 1 consoles and so forth, you could bet I’d have a Sonic game on there. Sega Genesis was maybe my first canvas, GBA, PC, Dreamcast, GameCube, and there’s plenty more. I’d get my friends in on the action and encourage them to get the games too! It felt like a true Sonic world that I was in a state of bliss being able to live in it.
There was a point I started falling off with the video games though. I’d say it was closer to around high school. That meant I left the world of Sonic too. There wasn’t much that I had to keep up with it either. If anything, that’s when anime might’ve intercepted me. The only thing that kept me somewhat in tune with the Sonic world was Sonic X. And even then, that was only short lived.
Fast forward and I’m out of college as a new Young Adult in the world. So you can imagine again what nostalgic feelings were starting to surface when I found out Sonic The Hedgehog was getting a Live Action movie. But then, that first draft pissed me off so bad, I lost all hope. Luckily, enough people complained and it proved that with the right amount of complaining, you can get real change to happen. From there we got a much better looking Sonic that would have success and the rest is history that’s continuing to be made.
I’m here though because word travels whenever something scandalous surfaces. And the scandal surrounding Sonic besides that monster first draft of a movie they were gonna release initially was that this movie franchise saved Sonic from going away for good.
It makes sense too because when I reflect on what I think Sonic’s reputation was during my time I was away from the games wasn’t much of one.
That Sonic X that I mentioned didn’t really make it past 4KidsTV. When the game reached PlayStation 3, it was getting Mad Hate that I just in the loop with understanding why exactly. If anything it reminded me of a more refined Sonic Adventure game, but the reception spoke for itself. I’d say that it was the beginning of Sonic’s fall off.
Hot Take: A Great Sonic Game Beats Most Rockstar Productions
It’s more personal if anything when I make this claim, but I’d pick a great Sonic over most Rockstar games. The only exception of game that I would be insane to go against is the GTA series. But come on! Midnight Club? Those cars aren’t even faster than The Blue Blur we’re talking about, and I invite you to throw out another franchise that could compare! Sonic just activates more of the imagination receptors that people who depend on having a smooth transition from youth to adulthood could benefit from. I mentioned my friends liked playing the Sonic games, but I didn’t mention that a great majority of them were actually older than me. That’s impressive for me to think of because it just showed the generational reach he had. I’m not saying it applied to anyone outside of mine that was older, but it influenced more than just the youth of my Millennial generation. That’s just a cool thing for me to nerd out about in thought.
Way To Go Takashi
I didn’t know any of the execs that were on the development team for Sonic, but it was impressive also to find that essentially the fate of my childhood’s relevance rested in the hands of a single individual. His name is Takashi Lizuka! I put myself in those shoes and could instantly see where this is the case of betting on yourself when things seem to not be in your favor. He had to essentially figure out a way to remix something that’s been around for over 35 years and revive the same spark created among a new generation that probably didn’t hear anything about a super animal. It’s not the easiest task to produce a basic concept and make it cool for such a demanding audience at that. This is what Takashi did, and I speak on behalf of all 90s babies and so in saying, “Thanks for not giving up on us.”
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