Sonic Central shows off more Sonic Frontiers, Sonic Origins and Netflix's Sonic Prime

Sega has held its latest Sonic Central event with fans being given further looks at upcoming projects for Sonic the Hedgehog, such as Sonic Frontiers, Sonic Origins and the Netflix Sonic Prime TV series.

Hosted by Sonic chief brand and business officer Ivo Gerscovich as well as creative officer Takashi Iizuka, the 10-minute livestream rattled through numerous announcements across the world of video games and entertainment. With no new reveals or major details of any consequence, it was hard to not come away from the event disappointed. 

Sonic Origins, the classic collection that is set to remaster the first four Sonic games for modern consoles and PC, kicked the presentation off. This looked to be just a general trailer reminding players that the game is set to launch soon with no new information present. A Sonic Speed Simulator for Roblox then followed with music from Sonic Unleashed accompanying, briefly giving me hope of a remaster that never came to light. Why, Sega! Why toy with my emotions?

The full Sonic Central presentation can be watched below in full:

Sonic Forces and Sonic Dash on mobile were then revealed to be receiving "special movie-themed characters" from the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 movie... I guess that's exciting for some people out there. Shadow the Hedgehog then took the spotlight momentarily, making his first appearance in a new teaser trailer for Sonic Prime on Netflix. The short clip sees Shadow spindash through some rocks in Green Hill Zone. The show sounds interesting but we've yet to see anything of significance.  

One thing that actually did snap me out of staring into the void was that the Sonic Symphony is set to return as part of a world tour. More details regarding tour dates will be announced in future – and yes, I will be going. 

The remaining notable (and I say notable lightly) announcements were a Sonic collaboration with Fall Guys and a very quick clip of an animated prologue from Sonic Frontiers featuring Knuckles standing in front of the Master Emerald in the pouring rain. 

Sonic Central then wrapped up with more gameplay of Sonic Frontiers, showing the Blue Blur facing off against various enemies across the new open world land. IGN has the first-hands on impressions, though the impression it's given off is not what Sega will have been hoping for with lots of fans now calling for the upcoming platformer to be delayed across social media. It has potential but definitely needs more time, so a delay might be the right move.

Check out the footage below:

In comparison, Sonic Central last year unveiled Sonic Colors Ultimate, Sonic Origins and the first tease of Sonic Frontiers, so it's hard not to be disappointed by 2022's presentation. With nothing of real significance to announce, was this even necessary? For me, you needed something like a Sonic Mania sequel, a remaster of a 3D game (like Unleashed) or even the rumoured Sonic Adventure remake. Something that makes this whole thing worthwhile.

Sonic Origins will launch across PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X / S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC on June 23rd, 2022. Meanwhile, Sonic Frontiers is scheduled to launch sometime in 2022.