Sonic Frontiers proved to be a step in the right direction for the Blue Blur’s 3D adventures, but its final boss is nothing short of a stumble. It turns out that Frontiers’ underwhelming finale was due to crunch culture at Sonic Team as the open-world platformer had tight deadlines to meet.
Finding out that a game was crunched out is always disappointing; it’s an unfortunate games industry standard these days. However, considering the positive reception the new game received from fans, it seems that Sonic Team did the best they could with what it was given.
During a Japanese Sonic Frontiers Q&A (via Sonic City), it was revealed that the game’s final portion was rushed due to time constraints. While years were spent on developing the core ideas of the game, little was left to actually realise them.
According to a fan translation, Sonic Frontiers had many trials and errors during production, with the devs doing what they could with the limitations placed upon them. Unfortunately, the exact limitations were not revealed.
MINOR SONIC FRONTIERS SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT
For those unaware, the latest 3D Sonic game ended up being a 2D shoot-em-up, literally copying Ikaruga by letting players switch colors to block certain bullets. While fun in its own right, this betrays everything that the game had set up at that point, not even mirroring the previous Titan bosses.
Luckily, more content is coming to Sonic Frontiers via free DLC next year. In addition to a new Challenge Mode and other updates, there’s also a new story coming with Amy, Tails, and Knuckles seemingly being playable characters.
Hopefully, the impressive roadmap of DLC will include some of the cut ideas from the main game. With enough time and care, this could become one of the best Sonic games
Sonic Frontiers is now available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Ikaruga is also readily available on most modern gaming systems.