Prerelease:Sonic Frontiers

This page details prerelease information and/or media for Sonic Frontiers.

Morio Kishimoto, who served as director for Sonic Colors, Sonic Lost World, and Sonic Forces, returned to the series to direct Sonic Frontiers. Serving as producer would be Sachiko Kawamura, who served as art director for Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Generations and Forces. Lastly, Ian Flynn, a contributing writer of various Sonic media, wrote the script.

Reception for the game was mixed, but better received than Sonic Forces; the key open-world aspect was either seen as an interesting new idea for the series or not that much of a good fit. On the flipside, it did financially well, making it one of the fastest selling games in the franchise, selling over 3 million in a few months.

Developmental Timeline

2017

• Mid-Late 2017 - Development on Sonic Frontiers began in 2017 at Tokyo, with a team consisting of 60 people.

2019

• Mar - Takashi Iizuka confirms that the studio had begun production on the next major Sonic the Hedgehog game at the end of the Sonic panel at SXSW 2019.
• Nov - A user on 4chan claims they did an online survey gauging consumer interest in several game concepts, including Super Mario Odyssey 2 (likely a dummy placed to compare the general interest of other titles). The most significant concept detailed a new, open-world Sonic game set on the Starfall Islands, along with several prototype names, including "Sonic Titans", "Sonic Starfall", and "Sonic Rising".

2021

• Jan 6 - Another 4chan user claims to have participated in a focus test for the game, referring to it by its codename Sonic Rangers and describing the game up to the first boss fight. Some notable differences in their description include getting Chaos Emeralds by clearing the Cyberspace stages quickly enough and a "ghost girl" (presumably Amy, see Kishimoto's comments below) refilling Sonic's ring count during the boss fight.
• May 27 - The then-unnamed Sonic Frontiers was first teased at the Sonic Central live stream.
• Dec 9 - During The Game Awards 2021, the first trailer of Sonic Frontiers debuts, along with its finalized name.

2022

• Jun 1 - 3 - The first gameplay presentation of Sonic Frontiers is revealed at IGN, demonstrating the basic exploration and combat system.
• Jun 7 - 2022's Sonic Central shows a sneak peak of Sonic Frontiers Prologue: Divergence, along with a teaser for the 'Squid' boss fight.
• Jun 28 - Sonic Frontiers is shown at the Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase with the first proper showing of the Green Hill and Highway Cyber Space stages, Kronos Island's titan, and a new character named Sage.
• Aug 23 - The Story Trailer debuts at Gamescom, showing a few instances of Ares Island.
• Sep - The game's first ending theme, "Vandalize", as well as the main theme of the game, "I'm Here", are released on the official Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube channel.
• Sep 15 - 18 - Sonic Frontiers won the award for "Most Anticipated Game of 2022".
• Oct 19 - "Cyber Space DJ Mix" is released on the official Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube channel.
• Oct 22 - Director Morio Kishimoto announces that Sonic Frontiers has gone gold.
• Nov 8 - Sonic Frontiers is released.

Development Cycle

Sonic Frontiers was originally slated to launch in 2021 for Sonic's 30th anniversary, but for polish and quality assurance, it was delayed internally by a year.

SoJ's Internal Meeting

An internal meeting was held in 2021 that had a video which was subsequently leaked online in April 2023, showcasing unreleased Sega and Atlus titles such as the yet-to-be-named Jet Set Radio sequel, Persona 3 Reload, and Sonic Frontiers. This build contains many differences from the final:

• Kronos Island was initially a lot bigger compared to its early height map left out in the Switch and PS4 releases of the game, containing an addition structure not found in the aforementioned height maps.
• A fog effect is used in an area within Kronos Island, possibly where Giganto's boss area was, it was removed from the final game when Kronos Island was redesigned
• The games effects were a lot more impressive than in the final, this is evident when Sonic becomes Super Sonic.
• Caterpillar utilizes an unused attack in the forest area of what would become Rhea Island, spouting a black color scheme as well. Caterpillar would later be used in Ouranos Island after the island split happened.
• Giganto's boss arena is designed differently compared to the final, with it being surrounded by trees compared to it being a crater in the final. It also had a skybox that was completely removed in the final game.
• A different camera angle is used in a QTE segment of the Giganto boss fight, while in the final it is positioned on Super Sonic's left side, here it's located within Giganto's mouth.
• When Giganto lands after a jump, a shaking effect is used on the camera. In the final, while it is similar, the camera shake effect was removed from the boss state.
• While Giganto's pillars are up, the lasers were not, it's seems that the lasers were added after Sonic Team got feedback from play testers.
• The music used is an unused track that is not found in the final release, with it sounding similar to the track "Break Through It All"
• Giganto's roar sounds completely different compared to the final.
• The CG used is a slightly more extended version of what would be used during The Game Awards 2021, it however only shows the Sonic running segment as it then cuts into gameplay. As such, the remaining parts of said CG sequence would later be used during The Game Awards 2021 and supplemental promotional materials.

2021

May

30th Anniversary Teaser

On May 25, 2021, a promotional video celebrating the 30th anniversary of the franchise gives us the first official tease of the new Sonic game, showing a few seconds of the teaser trailer that would debut two days later.

Sonic Central 2021

Sega reveals the first teaser of Sonic Team's new mainline Sonic title at the end of the Sonic Central presentation on May 27, 2021. The CG teaser features Sonic running through a lush, green forest before boosting with a strange looking energy, which would later be identified as the Cyloop. The loop that Sonic creates forms into an alien symbol written in stone.

Sonic Rangers

After the release of the teaser, Sega's press site made mention of a game titled Sonic Rangers, which was reported by TheGamer and Polygon, before the articles were all edited to remove reference to it. The metadata of the teaser also makes reference to the "Rangers" name. The files in the final game reveal that "Rangers" was indeed the working title for the game.

October

According to a Facebook post on October 11, a survey sponsored by Sonic Team asks participants of what they think of a game titled Sonic Frontiers.

November

A trademark for Sonic Frontiers was discovered on November 8, though the name was itself trademarked October 21.

December

The Game Awards 2021

The logo shown December 2021.

On December 9, 2021, during the 2021 Game Awards show, Sega debuted the first official trailer of the game, as well as its official title, Sonic Frontiers. The trailer gave scenic shots of what would come to be known as Kronos Island, Rhea Island, and Ouranos Island, with a handful of major differences:

• The build presented in the trailer has no objects, such as Rings, enemies, or the floating platforms and rails that line the map in the final game. This includes objects created for puzzles. The terrain of the world, however, is largely identical to the final build.
• The build is before Ouranos Island was split from Kronos / Rhea Island in the final game, as one can see the pyramid found on Ouranos Island while Sonic is overlooking Kronos Island.
• Giganto, the titan that nearly squashes Sonic in the trailer, is much larger than he is in the final game. He has a more purple-ish hue than in the final game. Finally, the area they are in has a tower and is more forested than the empty plain of their first encounter or the water-logged marsh that the proper boss battle takes place in. This is more consistent with the earlier version of the game, where Giganto is fought in the area that Supreme is fought in the final game, as well as with leaks that claimed that the titan is fought in a forested area.
• An early version of the logo is presented, using plain trailer text for the font.

Polygon Leak

On December 9, shortly after the release of the Game Awards trailer, Polygon released a synopsis of Frontiers that made mention of Dr. Eggman discovering the Starfall Islands and uploading his AI program Sage. The article was quickly edited to remove the synopsis.

2022

June

The final logo.

IGN First

IGN had the exclusive privilege of demonstrating the first proper gameplay footage of Frontiers with two videos: one released on June 1, 2022, showing off basic exploration and puzzles on Kronos Island, and the other released two days later, demonstrating the combat. This build, which was later clarified to be an earlier build recorded internally at Sega and not the build that Michael Staltzmann of IGN had played in private, is notable for being after Kronos Island was split apart, as Ouranos Island is nowhere to be found.

The build is close to the final build, with major key differences as shown below.

Exploration Video

To do: Does the object layout match the early joined island from the Switch files?

• No HUD is present, including the notifications for button presses or moving the control stick, with the exception of the puzzle and treasure indicators.
• While the pop-in in the build is roughly the same as the final game, what is unique is that most if not every objects have a unique effect when they are loaded in, an effect saved only for a handful of objects in the final game (specifically, objects that are properly revealed through the completion of a puzzle). Enemies have a similar, red-tinted effect that is not seen on any enemy in the final game.
• The sparkles that indicate when Sonic is able to do Air Tricks only appear when Sonic is doing a trick, instead of throughout his "trick" state.
• Neither the Tower guardian nor the springs that launch Sonic up to the floating diamond structure are present on the mirror web area.
• The falling animation is different from the one used in the final. Sonic assumes a more static pose with only his quills moving up and down, similarly to previous titles.
• The speed lines coming off of Sonic when he boosts are a lot less common, only appearing occasionally.
• As seen when Sonic observes the island from the top of the tower, the wall-running cliffside of the water-logged ruins have two boulder-like objects where there are none in the final game.

Combat Video

• Sonic's basic attacks lack the golden sparks.
• Sonic is able to perform the Cyclone Kick, a skill that is only available after freeing Knuckles in Ares Island in the final game, despite Kronos Island not being completed (as seen by how the Chaos Emeralds are still within their vaults).
• The panel puzzle near Portal 1-4 has yet to be implemented, as neither the panels nor the puzzle indicator are present.
• The Sonic Boom move seems to have a finite distance, as it ends in an impact particle.
• The basic punch attack uses the Homing Attack sound effect if used after a Homing Attack hits.
• The NIS when Sonic walks in range of a miniboss is present, but the UI element displaying its name (in the one case shown in the video, "ASURA") is absent.

Kishimoto's Comments

Director Morio Kishomoto became very active on Twitter following the release of the game and has revealed some insight into the game's development.

• Sonic was originally intended to be able to drift anywhere in the open-zone, but this functionality was removed because he wasn't satisfied with it. Cyber Space 3-5 is a leftover of this mechanic. You can technically still do this in the final game, but only as Super Sonic, and you need to also be boosting.
• Giganto took four years to fully develop.
• The plot of the game was inspired by a Japanese folktale called Rabbit in the Moon.
• There was a segment planned where you explored an abandoned factory that mass-produced copies of Giganto. This can be seen in concept art for Chaos Island.
• The Drop Dash was originally an unlockable skill, before being moved to Sonic's base moveset.
• The Cyloop was inspired by a 1981 arcade game called Qix, where you drew rectangles to claim territory.
• All of the Titan bosses used to have rings, instead of just Wyvern in the final.
• The dev team discovered the "Homing Dash" bug during development, but chose not to fix it, instead leaving it for players to discover.
• Concept art feature unimplemented variants of Soldier, Tower, Eagle, and other enemies. These were in the game at one point but were removed due to file size concerns. Kishimoto believes this was ultimately the right choice, as it provided more time to create new content.

Additionally, he appeared on a Supersonic Gamers livestream in early December 2022 and revealed more information:

• Ninja was apparently too strong at first, to the point where only a few team members were able to defeat it.
• Kishimoto had the idea of giant Super Sonic enemies as far back as Sonic Lost World's development in 2013.
• Amy originally appeared during the fight with Giganto, and would replenish the player's Rings while Giganto fires lasers. This was removed because it was a pacebreaker. This corroborates with a leak of Sonic Frontiers prior to the game's initial announcement, which cited a "ghost girl" that refilled your ring count.
• During the fight with Wyvern, Sonic ran directly on Wyvern's body, instead of the red path in the final game.
• The scene of Sonic slicing Knight in half was inspired by Goemon Ishikawa from Lupin The Third.
• The fight with Knight was completely different. Knight would speed around the entire island using its wheels, with Sonic giving chase. This idea was scrapped as it felt too similar to previous Super Sonic fights.
• The Tank Guardian was inspired by a similar gimmick in Asteroid Coaster from Sonic Colors.
• The End is perceived differently by everyone who views it. The player sees The End as a moon because it's a common symbol of death.
• Sonic Team did not have much time to create the endgame, which is likely why everything past Rhea Island is pseudo-reused content.