Sonic Forces devs on the custom character system, development started before Mania, more
A new Sonic Forces interview has gone up on Nintendo UK’s website. Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka and producer Shun Nakamura participated in the discussion.
We have some highlights from the interview below. Iizuka and Nakamura spoke about how Sonic Forces isn’t a sequel to Sonic Generations, the custom character system, appealing to all types of players with this game and Mania, and fans comparing New Donk City from Super Mario Odyssey to Sonic Adventure.
On whether Sonic Forces is essentially Sonic Generations 2…
Shun Nakamura: Actually, it is not a sequel. Sonic Generations was an anniversary title, that’s the reason why we put all the past stages inside. Although some of the stages are from the classic games, like Green Hill Zone, Sonic Forces is a new title. In the world where Sonic Forces takes place, Dr. Eggman has already taken over 99% of the world. So this is a story where Sonic and his friends fight back.
We are also introducing a new character called Infinite. At E3 we’ve shown a new trailer, in which many famous Sonic enemies such as Zavok, Metal Sonic, Chaos and fan favourite Shadow appear to fight against Sonic, and near the end Infinite appears. I think it would be interesting to consider what role Infinite will play in Sonic Forces. We haven’t said anything about the new character yet but you may find a clue in his name.
On the custom character system…
Takashi Iizuka: Yes. When we were thinking about the concept of Sonic Forces, we received a lot of fan letters and messages from fans where they wanted to create their own characters. So we listened to that and wanted to make their dreams come true. So that’s one of the reasons why we created the custom character system.
On the component parts for custom characters…
SN: We can’t tell you the volume of the parts yet, but we do have a lot of parts that are ready. So players will be able to customise many variations. Not only do we allow you to change body parts, but we also have a gadget called the Wispon. It’s a gadget the custom Hero Character utilizes with various abilities to help players to play the stages differently. So we have a visual customisation and also have a customisation where the players can swap gadgets and play the game differently.
TI: Players will also have seven animal types to choose from: hedgehog, wolf, bird, rabbit, bear, cat and dog.
On releasing both Sonic Forces and Sonic Mania…
TI: We actually started development of Sonic Forces first, and during development we decided to target current Sonic fans and also casual gamers. However, in the Sonic fan base there are also those who started playing Sonic during the Mega Drive era. So we wanted to create a Sonic game that can also appeal to those old-school Mega Drive players, and that’s the reason why we created Sonic Mania. But we suspect there may also be many fans who enjoy playing both games. So for 2017, our aim is to please the entire Sonic fan base.
On fans comparing Super Mario Odyssey’s New Donk City to Sonic Adventure…
TI: Yes, when Super Mario Odyssey was announced, just like you said, the city stages kind of had some similarities to Sonic Adventure. Actually when Super Mario Galaxy was first revealed I also thought, “Hey this kinda looks like some stages from Sonic Adventure 2!”
