Everything We Saw On Today's Sonic Central Stream

We’re nearing the end of 2024, but it’s still gonna be a big year for Sonic the Hedgehog. Between the upcoming Sonic X Shadow Generations remaster, the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie, and the rest of its Year of Shadow celebration, fans of the blue blur are eating. Sega held a Sonic Central stream today, September 24, to give updates on several ongoing projects within the series. If you missed the show, you can watch it below, but if you just want the highlights, we’ve got you covered.

The show started with updates on the Sonic mobile games, including the Fall Guys-esque party game Sonic Rumble (which looks to be in much better shape now than it seemed in its first trailer earlier this year), new characters in Sonic Dash and the mobile version of Sonic Forces, and the announcement that they’re bringing Shadow to Sonic Dream Team. We are in the best timeline.

After a montage highlighting the Sonic in-person events over the past year, Sega announced Chao Tales, an eight-episode animated series that will follow Sonic as he visits a Chao garden and takes care of the weird little alien guys.

Next up, Sega spotlighted several crossover promotions between Sonic and other games. This includes a Roblox event that has you playing as Sonic and fighting Metal Sonic that is available now, new Sonic-themed skins in Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble, and Sonic-themed cosmetics for Two-Point Museum so you can create a museum that will teach the kids about the history that really matters, like Shadow’s sacrifice against the BioLizard in 2001's Sonic Adventure 2.

As we pivot from games to merchandise, we get an extended (and pretty funny) bit about the upcoming Sonic Lego packages. This includes sets featuring Shadow, Knuckles, Rouge, Sonic, Tails, and much more. Jakks Pacific is also making a new Shadow toy based on Shadow Generations, complete with weird Sephiroth wings. First 4 Figures also announced it is creating a new statue based on Shadow’s winged appearance in the game. Those are only a few of the many pieces of merchandise shown off during the show.

Topgolf, the gamified driving range, is adding a digital golf game based on Sonic in locations around the country. The game features Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy as playable characters who will move through obstacle courses based on your golf swings. It’s “coming soon.”

After a tease earlier this week, Sega has finally properly announced a Sonic and DC Comics crossover that initially showed Shadow dressed and acting as Batman. This will apparently be a long-term partnership between the two that’s kicking off with a five-part comic series starting in March 2025. The comics will be written by long-time Sonic writer Ian Flynn and feature Knuckles as Superman, Amy as Wonder Woman, Sonic as The Flash, Silver as Green Lantern, and Tails as Cyborg. The collaboration will extend throughout the year with merchandise in the fall, and more crossovers are planned for 2026.

Next we had a story trailer for Sonic X Shadow Generations, which put the spotlight on several villains Shadow will have to face again in the new storyline. We had already seen Black Doom from Shadow’s 2005 self-titled game, but we got our first look at Mephiles from Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). It also looks like Shadow will see Maria Robotnik again after her death in his tragic backstory. Or a facscimile of her, at least. Generations’ whole deal is about reliving memories, and so if Shadow is going to retread his past, it only makes sense that he’d see her again when the game launches on October 25.

In the lead up to Sonic X Shadow Generations, Sega is rolling out the Dark Beginnings animated mini-series. This three-episode animated series will follow Shadow’s origin story and include appearances by his teammates Rouge the Bat and E-123 Omega. We saw some new footage featuring those characters and the whole thing looks pretty sick. The first episode will be released tomorrow, September 25, with the second and third to follow on October 3 and 10, respectively.

Because the Sonic team loves a bit, they put together a retro commercial for the Gerald Robotnik journal that will be packaged in day-one physical copies of Sonic X Shadow Generations. This artbook documents the creation of Shadow from the perspective of Doctor Gerald Robotnik, Eggman’s grandfather and the mastermind behind the events of Sonic Adventure 2. The commercial is tongue-in-cheek, but has some references to Gerald’s descent into madness revealed at the end of Sonic Adventure 2. But the real important thing is that it’s the best look we’ve gotten at the book that will be included in those early copies, and it seems like it might reveal new truths about Shadow’s past fans have long speculated about.

It wasn’t too surprising that we didn’t get much about Sonic the Hedgehog 3, given they only just released the first trailer at the end of August. Instead of a new trailer, we just got a short hype piece with creatives from the films talking about how excited they are for the movie to premiere on December 20.