SEGA has put the brakes on hopes for Sonic Adventure and its sequel getting remastered for the PS5. The Dreamcast classics, favorites by many, including this writer, won’t be returning in a shiny new form anytime soon, at least not according to Sonic Team’s head, Takahashi Iizuka.
Despite the nostalgic pull and ongoing fan requests, Iizuka explains the challenge bluntly: upgrading these games to meet current expectations would require as much time and effort as building a brand-new title. His exact words were, “I do hear [the requests for a Sonic Adventure remaster] a lot… but when I think about what it would take to kind of bring that game up to the standards and expectations of what the current gaming audience would want, I think it would be about as much time and energy as it would to make a new title.”
Yikes, right? It’s almost like the classic games are stuck in a time capsule, and breaking them out would be a monumental task. SEGA did port the original Sonic Adventure games to the PS3, but those versions aren’t playable natively on the PS5, leaving fans hoping for a current revival.
There’s been chatter about SEGA’s back catalogue lately, especially after they removed several retro titles from the iOS App Store and delisted the SEGA Mega Drive & Genesis Classics collection. Some speculate that this could mean new projects are brewing, perhaps something like an Arcade Archives lineup for SEGA’s retro gems on the PlayStation Store. That’d be neat, considering the publisher’s vast library rivals Nintendo’s in sheer quality and variety.
Still, Iizuka’s stance kinda makes sense. Instead of patching up old games, Sonic Team appears to be focused on creating fresh experiences, as seen in the recent Sonic Frontiers. I’d rather see them push forward with new ideas than get bogged down in remastering Big the Cat’s fishing escapades, though I know some of you might disagree!
