Sonic the Hedgehog's official YouTube channel just released a holiday-themed video that features a Chao as the protagonist. Sonic, the popular character from SEGA's best-selling video game franchise, is now in the spotlight thanks to new Sonic the Hedgehog movie from Paramount, set for release on February 14, 2020. The movie was one of the most anticipated in 2019, but its release was delayed because of design issues.
As soon as Paramount released the first pictures from Sonic the Hedgehog's film adaptation, the fans started to criticize the protagonist's look on social media. It's clear that the team behind the movie wanted Sonic to look more like a real-life hedgehog than a video game character, but they ended up skipping some of his most iconic physical assets, like the white gloves and the shape of his eyes. For this reason, the production company decided to perform a $5 million redesign of the main character, and released a new trailer last November.
While they wait for the release of Sonic's movie, fans of the iconic character can now enjoy Chao in Space, a short animation released on December 12 by Sonic the Hedgehog's official YouTube channel. The animation shows the Chao Garden from the classic video games Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2, where the beloved blue hedgehog is running after a sleepwalking Chao to avoid him putting himself in danger. In the meanwhile, the Chao dreams of fighting against a tiny alien in the open space.
In the end, while still sleeping and dreaming, the Chao actually defeats the Doctor Eggman dressed as Santa Claus. The animated short, created by the same team behind the web series Sonic Mania Adventures and Team Sonic Racing: Overdrive, definitely has a holiday feel. The palms of the Chao Garden are decorated with Christmas tree ornaments, and there are gift boxes under them. Plus, the closing credits show the cute Chaos singing a Christmas carol. The animation has been inspired by a "Chao in Space" poster, originally designed by Yoshitaka Miura.
The video already has 272,303 views and 48,225 likes, which means that fans are still very passionate about Sonic and the Chaos' adventures. The comments demonstrate that many gamers remembered the old poster about Chao in Space, and hoped that it would be turned into a video game back then. It's clear the fans want SEGA to bring back the Chao Garden in the next games of the franchise. Perhaps the renowned video game company will bear this in mind, just like Paramount did with the feedback from fans about the design of the movie.
Source: Sonic the Hedgehog/YouTube