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Sonic Central stream shows new Sonic Frontiers footage and more

Cristina Alexander
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This story is part of the Digital Trends Summer Gaming Marathon series

Sega held a Sonic Central livestream today where chief brand and business officer Ivo Gerscovich and Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka gave some updates on existing Sonic the Hedgehog games, merchandise, and other multimedia projects. Projects discussed included Sonic Frontiers, Sonic Origins, and Sonic Prime.

Sonic Frontiers Prologue First Look Teaser [HD 1080P]

Sega showed off a clip from Sonic Frontiers in which Sonic battles a cybernetic dragon that leaves behind a trail for him to run on and shoots out fireballs along the trail. The company also revealed through a hands-on preview from IGN that there will be a skill tree in the game, filled with new combat skills that Sonic can buy with EXP he collects from defeating enemies in the game’s open-zone areas.

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In addition to the new gameplay footage, Sega shared a sneak peek of a new Sonic animated short called Sonic Frontiers Prologue. The short takes place before the events of the game, with the preview showing a foreboding scene of Knuckles guarding the Master Emerald against a thunderstorm.

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Speaking of sneak peeks, Sega gave another one for Sonic’s Netflix animated series Sonic Prime, featuring the appearance of Shadow the Hedgehog. A release date for the series was not revealed as the trailer just says it’s “coming soon.” The Sonic 30th Anniversary Symphony concert is going on a world tour, which can now be attended in person. Tour dates have yet to be announced, but it will perform at the Brazil Game Show in October. The Sonic Central stream also presented a new trailer for Sonic Origins, which mostly reiterated information we knew but also revealed its island-based UI.

The rest of the presentation showed off a sneak preview of Sonic the Hedgehog 2’s Blu-Ray release as well as some new merchandise. Upcoming Sonic-based collaborations include the Knuckles G-Fuel energy drink, Tails and Amy Rose resin figure from First 4 Figures, the Egg Mobile battle set from Jakks Pacific, a Sonic Xbox controller with accompanying charging stand from Razer, new posters from Moor Art, and Sonic apparel and accessories from Hype.

Sonic Frontiers will be released later this year.

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Cristina Alexander
Cristina Alexander
Gaming/Mobile Writer
Cristina Alexander has been writing since 2014, from opining about pop culture on her personal blog in college to reporting…
Even while moving forward, Sonic Frontiers never forgets the series’ past
Sonic and Knuckles (Cyber Space form) on Ares Island in Sonic Frontiers.

Throughout my nearly 20 hours of playing through Sonic Frontiers, running through Starfall Islands, and getting to the bottom of Sonic's friends getting stuck in digital purgatory, I kept getting blasts from the past. The newly released adventure is filled with wonderful callbacks to previous games, both in terms of gameplay and story canon. It may be a brand new "open-zone" game, but it beautifully blends modern open-zone gameplay mechanics with classic side-scrolling ones. Some of the previous Sonic titles have sort of done that before, including Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colors, and Sonic Forces, but Frontiers stands out in how respectfully it treats the rest of the series.

What stuck out to me the most during my playthrough is how Sega uses the game to reflect on some of the best (and worst) moments in the Sonic series in some cutscenes. Despite marking the beginning of a new era for the Sonic the Hedgehog series, the Blue Blur's latest outing never forgot to honor where he and his friends have been in the last 31 years (or how long they’ve actually been together and fighting Dr. Eggman canonically since time passes differently in their world).
The wheel comes full circle
All the references that Sonic Frontiers made to previous installments are thanks to writer Ian Flynn's wealth of lore knowledge that spans back decades. Flynn famously wrote the Blue Blur's comics at Archie and IDW (the latter's comics start after the events of Forces, after all), with each mention being what he terms a Flynn-ism. Case in point, the game makes several references to the Knuckles’ history in the series, including Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic Adventure.

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The best skills in Sonic Frontiers
sonic frontiers release date

Sonic has tried his hand at many genres over his career. He's obviously most well-known for his 2D and 3D high-speed platforming but has also starred in racers, sports games, fighters, and even pinball games. Sonic Frontiers is another 3D adventure, but with a heavier emphasis on RPG mechanics than ever before. Not only will you be leveling up Sonic's stats, including his speed, but you will also unlock new abilities via a skill tree.

The skill tree itself in Sonic Frontiers is not too complex. You have a starting point and two main branches, but the number of skill points each skill costs goes up exponentially. This makes selecting what skill to get first far more important since you likely won't get your next one for quite a while if you don't like it. Rather than pick a dud, here are the best skills to unlock in Sonic Frontiers.

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Sonic Frontiers beginner’s guide: 5 tips and tricks to get started
Sonic looks surprised in a Sonic Frontiers trailer.

Grab your chili dogs and start blasting some Crush 40 because Sonic is back in action in his latest 3D adventure. When Sonic Frontiers was originally shown off, many people classified it as a Breath of the Wild-like game due to it being set in a massive open world. In some ways, that comparison is correct, but approaching this game like it's another Zelda title will only trip you up. While it doesn't reinvent any individual mechanic, Sonic Frontiers puts its own spin (dash) on many open-world tropes.

Fans of Sonic games - either 2D, 3D, or both -- will be in for some major surprises when starting Sonic Frontiers. The open world, or open-zone as Sonic Team has classified it, is easy enough to understand, but all the new mechanics and systems can be overwhelming and confusing when put together. Before you break out into a sprint across this new adventure with the blue blur, here are some important tips and tricks to get started in Sonic Frontiers.

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