14 DAY TRIAL // SEGA has revealed that the upcoming title starring its Sonic character will have the well known hedgehog running around without any of his usual companions. In fact, the development team has confirmed, after one week during which it crossed out a variety of companions, that players will only be able to control Sonic and that it's unlikely that other characters will be unlockable in Project Needlemouse. The company also offered a piece of concept art related to the new title.
For a long time, fans of the Sonic the Hedgehog character have claimed that adding a lot of sidekicks to his videogames only reduced their value, offering the developers less time to focus on the blue runner.
Characters like Tails, Knuckles, Charmy, Amy, Big the Cat or Shadow frustrated players who were not able to relate to them and pushed them to think less of the videogames. The only titles in which Sonic made an impact lately have been those where he partnered up with Mario in order to tackle events from the Olympic Games.
When Project Needlemouse was initially announced, Ken Ballough, who is a brand manager for Sonic at SEGA, stated that “Tails and Knuckles, to me, are essential to Sonic. They bring the perfect blend of personalities to the mix.” He also misdirected fans by saying that “I think the one character that has yet to find his place is Bark the Polar Bear. I hope he does eventually - it'd be nice to have a cool bear character.”
SEGA hopes that listening to the fans will bring them back to the franchise, which seems to be undergoing a kind of reboot at the moment. Project Needlemouse is set to again be 2D, as the first Sonic titles, and will be released for the Xbox 360 from Microsoft and for the PlayStation 3 from Sony at some point during 2010. The game experience will be delivered in HD graphics.