“The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”
-Mark Twain (famously misquoted from the author’s response to his supposed death in the New York Journal, dated June 2, 1897)
Love him or hate him, Sonic the Hedgehog has been a mainstay in gaming since his introduction on June 23, 1991. Whether you root for Team Sega, Team Nintendo or another developer, few underestimate the power and influence the hedgehog has had on pop culture. Alongside his eternal rival Mario, Sonic has transformed the gaming landscape, all while providing a near-endless amount of comparisons, memes and jokes at his expense.
Despite his success, some people just want to see the hedgehog burn. They’re tired of the same old story – a speedy, blue hedgehog with a bad-boy attitude created as a response to Nintendo’s greatest IP and the gaming industry’s saving grace. They’re annoyed that he tries so hard to be cool and that he has such sub-par games. They complain that he should just stop, roll over and be forgotten in the annals of gaming history like other mascots after him. Like Bubsy.
Sega’s Social Media team has been listening to the feedback and created a game that everyone has been wishing for. One in which the titular hedgehog meets his demise!
(Except TL;DR: Sonic’s not dead. Sorry, not sorry!!)
It’s a Secret to Everyone
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog was developed by the Sega Social Team, headed by social media manager Katie Chrzanowski. Conceptualized during the premiere of the Sonic The Hedgehog movie in 2020, Ms. Chrzanowski assembled a team of content creators and Sonic fans to create the game. Development of The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog was completed in a year. It was released on March 31, 2023, to coincide with April Fool’s Day.
The Game Begins
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is a visual novel-styled point-and-click adventure with an interesting auto-running minigame mechanic. You play as a quokka employed on the Mirage Express, a fully automated luxury train built to cater for special events. And there’s no event more special to the Sonic Team than Amy Rose’s birthday. For her special day, Amy decides to do a murder mystery party. Joining the game are Knuckles, Tails, Shadow, Vector, Espio, Blaze, Rouge and, of course, Sonic. Each character is assigned a role in the mystery game and is then dispersed around the train.
The conductor – a long-time employee who is retiring after this journey – instructs the player character to do whatever they can to ensure the guests have an amazing time. Following those instructions becomes difficult when, just as the game begins, the train mysteriously speeds up. The player character, along with Amy and Tails, gets knocked into a storage closet during this time and is rendered unconscious. Coming to their senses, the trio breaks out of the closet into the dining car where they see Sonic murdered (or, at least, severely injured). Amy goes on ahead (as she plays the role of a journalist), leaving the player and Tails (playing a detective) behind to investigate.
Investigation Phase
Players will explore the train cars with Tails to piece together the events leading to Sonic’s murder. Each car has a different theme – casino, saloon, piano bar, etc. During the investigation, players will examine objects in the car to gather evidence. They will then interrogate the other characters in the room and present evidence to either confirm or refute their alibis.
Occasionally during the interrogation, the player will participate in an isometric auto-running segment where they play as Sonic to collect rings and avoid hazards. This “Think!” minigame was inspired by Tails telling the player to ask themselves “What would Sonic the Hedgehog do?” (Incidentally, this should go on a T-shirt, but I digress.) Once the player gathers the required amount of rings, the interrogation continues to its next phase. The target amount and difficulty of the minigame increases as the game progresses.
Interrogations reveal some interesting and hilarious things for the characters. Examples include Espio trying his hand at poetry, Shadow hastily locking all the doors behind him because he was trying (and failing) to get concert tickets for Amy as a present, and Rouge and Blaze parodying Ocean’s 11 to steal a rare Fabergé egg.
The Train is a Badnik!
Once Tails and the player reach the conductor’s car, they learn that Espio was the murderer in the game. He used a blowdart to incapacitate Sonic. That dart was provided by the train itself as it revealed its identity as a product of Eggman Industries. The sentient train was distraught at losing the conductor after its years of service and sought to deliver the Sonic Team to Eggman in a bid to keep the conductor with it forever. To that end, it set Espio up with the “murder” weapon, transported Sonic back to the dining car using its robotic arms and provided misinformation to keep the others busy while it delivered them to their final destination. Seeing that the time for subtlety has passed, the train separates the group. It leaves a recovering Sonic with the player character in the dining car.
After a bit of positive encouragement from the blue blur himself, the player (through the auto-running sequence) helps Sonic storm through each car to free everyone before taking on the train itself. In the end, Espio frees the trapped Flicky and Amy destroys the train. The freed Flicky joins the conductor and his wife on his retirement. Sonic then buys a cake for Amy to wish her a happy birthday, ending the game on a happy note.
Keeping Things Easy
What makes The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog different from other visual novel-style games is how accessible it is. Most games in this genre don’t go out of their way to highlight examinable objects (looking at you, Phoenix Wright.). However, interactive objects in The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog have a distinct green aura, indicating that they can be clicked on. Furthermore, there are accessibility options available for the special stage minigame. These include granting the player invincibility, removing pitfalls and even adjusting the ring targets.
The Verdict
Despite its name, The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is a fun, light adventure filled with references, in-universe jokes and parodies that lampoon the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise in an easy-going manner. There’s even a sweet and heartfelt story behind it that you can’t help but feel good about at the end – that is, unless you’re cold and dead on the inside. The artwork is excellent and leans heavily into the murder-mystery theme without being overbearing. This is a title that I gladly give my stamp of approval for. It’s amazing that a Sonic game of this calibre is available for the low, low price of free-ninety-nine. It’s almost as good as getting away with murder!
PIXEL PERFECT
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Ryan Cheddi – our friendly, neighbourhood caffeine addict – is a man of many talents: an engineer, a gaming historian, a fiction writer and a streamer. He is also a self-avowed Sonic the Hedgehog fan. You can check out his cool beans at his site – Games with Coffee – or find him on Twitter as @GameswCoffee, and Instagram as @games_with_coffee. He streams on Twitch, also as GamesWithCoffee.
