Sonic Adventure 3 Potential

The "Sonic the Hedgehog" series of video games has had a strong and sturdy fanbase for nearly the character's entire career, as proven with the recent release of "Sonic Origins", but no games outside of the original trilogy of games within the series ever hit fans as hard as the "Sonic Adventure" games. The "Sonic Adventure" games, especially for their time slightly played upon the open-world concept, especially compared to the other Sonic games that were released before the first "Sonic Adventure". Recently, in an interview with IGN, the head of Sonic Team Takashi Iizuka stated his interest in a third game in the "Sonic Adventure" series of "Sonic the Hedgehog", but the statement was followed by another from Team Sonic that stated, "no plans" in reference to a possible sequel. Below, we've gone into detail on the original "Sonic the Hedgehog" games, the overall influence, and love behind the "Sonic Adventure" series, as well as the potential for "Sonic Adventure 3".

Sonic the Hedgehog

The "Sonic the Hedgehog" series, first released in 1991 for the Sega Genesis, has gotten near-unlimited play and love from fans since its release and has even expanded to the point of two "Sonic the Hedgehog" films, various video games across several franchises, comic books, and more. The first Sonic games, up until "Sonic Adventure", used a mostly platformer approach with each game playing similar to a Super Mario game, until "Sonic CD" and eventually the entirely 3D game of "Sonic Adventure".

Sonic Adventure

"Sonic Adventure" was not only the first "Sonic the Hedgehog" game to fully incorporate 3D graphics but also include various other new features, for Sonic and a large portion of games at the time, especially those once considered strictly a platformer, such as cutscenes, deep storyline, additional modes, the virtual pet system, Chao, and more. The overall plot of "Sonic Adventure" consists of Dr. Robotnik learning of the existence of Chaos, the guardian of all Chao and the seven Chaos Emeralds, which Knuckles' ancestral family has long been attached to protecting, something that was explored in the latest "Sonic the Hedgehog" film that introduced the character to the cinema. "Sonic Adventure" has also been released a number of times, since its initial release in 1998, from its original release on the Sega Genesis to the Nintendo GameCube and even last PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

Sonic Adventure 2

Following "Sonic Adventure", "Sonic Adventure 2" was yet another monumental game within the Sonic franchise, but somehow outplayed the original "Sonic Adventure" in terms of multiplayer, varying character options, Chao system, storytelling, graphics, and overall gameplay but didn't feel as forward as the original "Sonic Adventure" had a much more linear story and gameplay in comparison, with the rerelease. If for nothing else, "Sonic Adventure 2", later called "Sonic Adventure 2: Battle" when re-released for Nintendo GameCube, will always be remembered as the game that introduced fan-favorite character Shadow the Hedgehog. "Sonic Adventure 2" was monumental in several ways but the inclusion of 6 playable characters throughout the story, and across several different teams and perspectives showed a side of "Sonic the Hedgehog" games that have felt missing since.

Sonic Adventure 3 Potential

The potential for "Sonic Adventure 3" would be absolutely huge, although most consider the upcoming "Sonic Frontiers" to be the solution, following the retraction of the statement towards a possible "Sonic Adventure 3" from the studio itself doesn't raise much hope. While "Sonic Frontiers" will indeed be either a giant flop or another huge Sonic Adventure-like hit, "Sonic Adventure 3" would be the ultimate appeal to fans with it being, without a doubt, the most monumental series throughout the entire franchise. With today's technology, just between PC or PlayStation 4 and Xbox Series X|S, "Sonic Adventure 3" could not only increase the potential of previous "Sonic Adventure" games and implement new but could also introduce some new features that fans may have missed or may want when "Sonic Frontiers" has arrived. As "Sonic Adventure 2" added Shadow the Hedgehog to the Sonic universe, and several other playable characters that have become fan-favorites since "Sonic Adventure 3" could bring yet another fan-favorite character that fans will want more of for years to come. Although famous Sonic villain, Metal Sonic, never got his own game or spinoff, Shadow the Hedgehog on the other hand has, and it was a beautiful gory, alien-involved plotline that involved guns and secret government conspiracies and the dark nature that explored the true origins of the character. Even if Sonic Team re-released or remasted "Shadow the Hedgehog" for modern systems fans would likely be very pleased and held off until a potential "Sonic Adventure 3" gets official word.