Takashi Iizuka Hopes to Spotlight More Sonic Characters After the “Year of Shadow”

During this year’s Brasil Game Show, Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka took part in a Q&A session where he discussed the future of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise and its characters. When asked whether Shadow was one of his favorite characters, Iizuka confirmed that he was, but also shared that he hopes to highlight other Sonic characters in a similar fashion to last year’s “Year of Shadow.”

“Last year, partly due to the influence of the third movie, we promoted Shadow under the theme ‘Year of Shadow,’” Iizuka said. “However, we plan to decide on a new theme each year and spotlight different characters. In the upcoming fourth movie, I think those who have seen the previous one can probably guess which character will appear next. We’re also hoping that this character will have a chance to shine.”

He added that characters appearing in future Sonic movies will likely play a major role in these yearly themes. When pressed on which characters could be next, Iizuka replied, “At the moment I can’t give any information about that, but I want to make other games with other characters as the main protagonists too.”

The comments suggest that Sonic Team plans to continue expanding the Sonic universe through themed initiatives that spotlight individual characters, tying in with SEGA’s growing multimedia approach across games, films, and merchandise.

If ypu know either Portuguese or Japanese, you can catch the snippet from the Q&A, or watch the full session below: