Sonic the Hedgehog won't be kissing any more humans if Sega veteran Takashi Iizuka has his way.
Iizuka has worked on the franchise since 1994's Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and told Axios what the two critical rules for a project featuring the Blue Blur are – alongside an additional, unofficial one regarding the infamous smooching scene from 2006's Sonic the Hedgehog.
In the game, the very human Princess Elise the Third used the Chaos Emeralds to save Sonic's life and kissed the anthropomorphic hedgehog as she did. Though he didn't work on that particular entry, Iizuka said "I don't think we'll be doing that again".
The other rules are more on brand, with the first simply being "speed". Iizuka said the games need to be built around Sonic moving quickly - he quite literally "gotta go fast" - while the second rule is that he cannot swim. Even in the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games franchise, Iizuka pointed out, Sonic has to use a flotation device in swimming events. The more you know!
All of these rules will, of course, be applied in Sonic Frontiers, the latest entry in the franchise and first with open world elements. First teased in May last year, it also features extensive combat that was actually based in part on the Sonic Movie,
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
