Additional Sonic Runners Info Revealed

Coming fresh on the heels of an official teaser trailer, we now know even more about what to expect from Sonic Runners thanks to the Sonic Stadium and a rough translation of a Famitsu interview with Takashi Iizuka. According to the translation, the game will be a 2D side-scroller with 3D graphics in which the characters will move forward automatically, but the player will be responsible for jumping. Stages will clock in at around one to two minutes apiece, and the game should contain about 50 of them at release. Controls will be designed to accommodate one-handed gameplay, and Dr. Eggman will appear as a boss. Color Powers may be making a return as well.

The interview also revealed some of Iizuka’s thoughts on the smartphone market as a whole. In the interview, he stated that he had been aware of the free-to-play model for several years and that he “kept a fairly early eye on the smartphone market.” Sonic Runners continues to fulfill the team’s vision of bringing Sonic to mobile platforms, a vision they started executing on with Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1. He says the game is also built to be a very inclusive, pick-up-and-play experience that people can enjoy in their spare time, much like many other mobile game offerings today.

It appears that Famitsu also went hands-on with the game in late January, and while they could not reveal any gameplay footage or screenshots, they claim that it is “quite finished.” The Sonic Stadium also believes that it may be released as early as this month in Japan, so it sounds like the game is much farther along than we thought. We thank AM for bringing this information to our attention.