The Super Sonic transformation from the video games almost appeared in the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, according to the film's director. The film performed remarkably well for a video game movie, even beating Harrison Ford's Call of the Wild during its second week in theaters. In the meantime, Jeff Fowler, Sonic the Hedgehog's director, has been discussing all of the fan-favorite characters and moments from the video game series that didn't appear in the movie, including Sonic's rival-turned-pal, Knuckles.
Sonic the Hedgehog is a beloved video game franchise (whose lead character is as recognizable as Mario or Pac-Man) that's spawned many animated series and comic book adaptations. Sequel games and animated shows introduced a plethora of new characters and mythology to the franchise's universe. The movie couldn't possibly include every element fans loves about the games, forcing Fowler to pick and choose what to include. While many fan-favorite elements of the franchise didn't make the final cut, the director still found a way to add a post-credits reveal of Sonic's beloved companion, Tails.
Fowler spoke to ComicBook.com about another popular element from the games that didn't make it into the film but was included in early drafts of the script: Super Sonic. The director defended his decision to cut the transformation because "it didn't make sense" to introduce that element in the first film. "I mean, there were very early versions of the script and the outlines where... because we knew that's something that's very important in the fan mythology, or the mythology that fans love," Fowler said. "And Chaos Emeralds are definitely a huge part, even going back to the first game in '91, and it was definitely something that we were kind of trying to see. Like, "Does it make sense to include one of these?" Ultimately, he felt the time was better spent trying to "nail" Sonic and Robotnik's relationship before opening the world of the film to "some of these elements from the games that fans know and love."
In the games, Sonic becomes Super Sonic when the player finally collects all seven Chaos Emeralds. The Chaos Emeralds are similar to Marvel's Infinity Stones, in that they are multi-colored gems that grant phenomenal cosmic powers to whoever manages to assemble them all in one place. In 1992's Sonic the Hedgehog 2, a 16-bit release for Sega's Genysis system, once the player has collected all the Emeralds, they can turn into Super Sonic. In this form, the player is invincible, has increased acceleration, and heightened jump capabilities.
It will be interesting to see how Super Sonic is handled in a Sonic the Hedgehog sequel, especially considering it's mostly a game mechanic designed to give the player a few moments of invincibility. While another movie is all but guaranteed at this point, no official word has been given. Until the sequel gets a green light, fans can only imagine what else Fowler has in store for future installments in the franchise.
Source: ComicBook.com