Sonic Unleashed/Development

Back to: Sonic Unleashed.

Sonic Unleashed went through many ideas and changes during the development process. What follows is a collection of items related to the game's development.

Development process

Sonic Team gives a presentation on the Hedgehog Engine during Unleashed's game development.

In the aftermath of the commercial and critical failure that was Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Sega wasted no time in creating a successor that would not only make people forget about their previous effort, but also embrace the game series as they once did back during the Mega Drive days. Using not only the in-house Sonic Team, Sonic Unleashed gathered talent from the United States and Europe to assist with the Japan-based team to help reinvent the franchise. Initially intended to be the next installment in the Sonic Adventure series, the team decided to give the game its own identity, feeling that the style of game was far enough removed from what the pair of Adventure games had done.

Yoshihisa Hashimoto, the Director and Lead Game Designer of Sonic Unleashed stated that "the whole development team is aiming to make Sonic Unleashed the best Sonic game ever, and that includes the Genesis-era titles! We hope that even people who haven't played Sonic games will feel 'Wow, Sonic is back!'"

With that same mindset, Art Director Sachiko Kawamura looked at redesigning the Sonic character model, aiming to create the 'ideal' Sonic that fans around the world would recognize. Moving away from the lanky model of Sonic 2006, she tried to find a balance between the modern design of Sonic the Hedgehog and his classic appearance in the original titles. One of the many noticeable changes to the Sonic model was the placement of his mouth, which appeared on the side of his face when used in cutscenes to resemble the look of the original model art for the character, rather than the center as had become the norm in previous 3D games. As for the level designs, each was based on a real life locale, the idea being "what if Sonic were in the real world?" Even though its cues were taken from reality, the game still strove to be more cartoony than the previous effort.

It was also decided early on that Sonic the Hedgehog would be the only playable character in the game, so they could focus on the game mechanics for the hedgehog and not worry about numerous other characters and how they would control. This desire to illuminate what made the character of Sonic so appealing inspired the team to come up with the concept of the Werehog gameplay. Trying to think of a way to bring in players who had never touched a Sonic the Hedgehog game and let them experience the world of Sonic, it was decided this alternate playstyle would be implemented. Even though Yoshihisa Hashimoto knew from the get-go it might cause friction with the existing fanbase, he hoped that the fans would be open enough to understand why he would introduce this new form of Sonic, carefully designing Sonic the Werehog to appeal to both newcomers and avoid alienating the pre-existing fanbase.

Not wanting to leave the Wii out of this reinvention, Sega also developed a port the game to the Nintendo system as well as the PlayStation 2. Instead of being a direct port, however, the level designs for the game were completely different between the two, the HD version released on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 becoming the one with more content.

The main theme song "Endless Possibility", was composed by Tomoya Ohtani and sung by Bowling For Soup's lead vocalist, Jaret Reddick. The ending theme "Dear My Friend" was composed by Mariko Nanba and Takahito Eguchi and sung by Brent Cash.

Concept art

Character concept art

Sonic/Chip/Werehog

Various designs of Chip.
Various designs of Chip surrounding Sonic the Hedgehog.
Sonic the Werehog and Chip. From Gurihiro Studios.
Concept art of Sonic the Werehog.
Concept art of Sonic the Werehog.
Concept art of Sonic the Werehog.
An early design of Sonic the Werehog.

Non-playable characters

A collection of NPC sketches used in Apotos. From Gurihiro Studios
A seagull. From Gurihiro Studios.
A collection of NPC sketches used in Shamar. From Gurihiro Studios.
A collection of various NPC sketches, including Wentos. From Gurihiro Studios.
A collection of various NPC sketches. From Gurihiro Studios.
The female ghost from Sonic: Night of the Werehog. From Gurihiro Studios.
The cast of Night of the Werehog, sans Sonic and Chip. From Gurihiro Studios.
Wentos Concept art. From Gurihiro Studios.
Professor Pickle.

Enemy concept art

Dr. Eggman's Robots

Concept art of Thunderball.
Concept art of Aero-Cannon.
Concept art of Gold Aero-Cannon.
Concept art of Mole Cannon.
Concept art of Interceptor.
Concept art of Aero-Chaser.
Concept art of Aero-Chaser.
Concept art of Egg Launcher.
Concept art of Egg Fighter Spring.
Concept art of Egg Fighter Knight.
Concept art of Egg Fighter Shield.
Concept art of Egg Fighter Shooter.
Concept art of Egg Shackles.
Concept art of Egg Burst.
Concept art of Egg Blizzard.
Concept art of Egg Flame.
Concept art of Egg Typhoon.
Concept art of Spinner.

Dark Gaia's Minions

Concept art of Dark Bat Sniper.
Concept art of Dark Bat.
Concept art of Dark Bat Thunder.
Concept art of Dark Eel.
Concept art of Killer Bee.
Concept art of Spike_(enemy).
Concept art of Dark Master.
Concept art of Fire Master.
Concept art of Lightning Master.
Concept art of Nightmare.
Concept art of Deep Nightmare.
Concept art of Big Mother.
Concept art of Rex.
Concept art of Dark Fright.
Concept art of Titan.

Bosses

Concept art of Egg Devil Ray.
Concept art of Dark Moray.
Concept art of Dark Gaia.

Hub World/Level concept art

Concept art of Apotos.
Concept art of Apotos.
Concept art of Apotos.
Concept art of Windmill Isle. From Massive Black.
Concept art of Windmill Isle. From Massive Black.
Concept art of Mazuri.
Concept art of Mazuri.
Concept art of Mazuri.
Concept art of Spagonia.
Concept art of Spagonia.
Concept art of Spagonia.
Concept art of Spagonia.
Concept art of Spagonia.
Concept art of Spagonia.
Concept art of Spagonia.
Concept art of Spagonia.
Concept art of Spagonia.
Concept art of Rooftop Run.
Concept art of Rooftop Run.
Concept art of Rooftop Run.
Concept art of Chun-nan.
Concept art of Chun-nan.
Concept art of Chun-nan.
Concept art of Chun-nan.
Concept art of Chun-nan.
Concept art of Dragon Road. From Massive Black.
Concept art of Shamar.
Concept art of Arid Sands.
Concept art of Arid Sands.
Concept art of Arid Sands.
Concept art of Skyscraper Scamper. From Massive Black.
Concept art of Adabat
Concept art of Jungle Joyride.
Concept art of Jungle Joyride.
Concept art of Eggmanland.
Concept art of Eggmanland.

AOKI studio concepts

In 2007, SEGA commissioned studio AOKI to produce concept artwork for settings for Sonic Unleashed. Geoffroy Thoorens made 17 pieces and eventually posted them online.^[1]

Cutscene concept art

Sonic landing on Dr. Eggman's fleet.
Super Sonic and Dr. Eggman facing off in the first cutscene. From Massive Black.
Concept art for the laser in the intro cutscene.
The planet breaking apart from the power of Dark Gaia. From Massive Black.
A closer image of said breaking. From Massive Black.
Concept art of the planet post-breakup. From Massive Black.
Eggman's fleet. From Massive Black.
Dark Gaia breaking apart the world. From Massive Black.

Other concept art

Dr. Eggman's control room.
Another angle of the room.
Professor Pickle's study.

Night of the Werehog

Sonic: Night of the Werehog Storyboards.

Game developer images

A collection of images of the people behind Sonic Unleashed working on the game, among other things.

Promotional screenshots

External links

Director Blog - The official blog for Sonic World Adventure by Yoshihisa Hashimoto. Written in Japanese.
Hamaidashi Blog - A secondary blog for Sonic World Adventure run by Natsuha Matsubara and Utako Yoshino. Written in Japanese.