See that Sonic the Hedgehog on the first page of the current Fortnite Battle Pass? That’s not actually Sonic the Hedgehog. That is someone completely different who looks very similar to Sonic, because, according to Takashi Iizuka, head of Sega’s Sonic Team and lead producer of the video game series, Sonic would never hold a gun. He’s no Shadow the Hedgehog.
However, a completely different Sonic would have absolutely no problem doing that. It may feel like a bit of a stretch, but this reasoning helped Epic Games convince Sega to put Sonic the Hedgehog in Fortnite.
You see, the Sonic recently that was recently added to Fortnite is an android. That’s Android Sonic blasting fools in Epic’s battle royale game.
Fortnite is a relatively kid-friendly shooter. It has cartoon graphics with vibrant colors, and its battlefield is filled with fun points of interest, strange weapons, gimmicky items, and quirky NPCs. While reaching top 10 may still get your heart pounding and make your hands sweaty, it doesn’t feel as high-stakes as other games in the same genre. Regardless, it’s still a third-person shooter with all sorts of weapons, and your end goal is to eradicate everyone on the island and send them back to the lobby. This is why, even though there have been many collaborations over the years, some highly requested characters haven’t made an appearance in Fortnite.
Chapter 7 Season 4 is video game-themed, so several fan-favorite characters have joined the roster of skins available in Fortnite. And Sonic the Hedgehog is one of them, but he’s not just any character; he’s the first skin players get when they purchase this season’s Battle Pass. This essentially makes him the face of Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 4.
Takashi Iizuka explains the logic behind adding ‘Sonic’ to Fortnite
Players were surprised to see Sonic in Fortnite because, although there is some mild violence in his games, he’s a family-friendly hero. However, it seems it wasn’t easy. According to an IGN interview with Iizuka, Epic Games had been trying to collab with Sonic the Hedgehog for some time now, but similar to Disney’s Mickey Mouse and other friendly characters, Sega didn’t want to defile Sonic’s image by putting a gun in his hands, so it had to come up with an alternative solution.
“Epic Games came and spoke with us more than a couple of years ago about maybe putting Sonic in Fortnite, but Sonic is a character that will never hold a gun. And when thinking about the game design of Fortnite, it’s really hard to think about Sonic being in this game and playing in Fortnite, but this time, we took the creative liberty and created Android Sonic. And because we made this android version of Sonic, we were able to get this android Sonic into Fortnite, have him hold a gun, and have him be able to really play inside of the Fortnite gameplay, and be able to be integrated into Fortnite.”
Even though his skin is titled “Sonic the Hedgehog” in players’ in-game item lockers, players mustn’t be fooled, as that is none other than an android version of Sonic. The logic isn’t airtight, but it’s good enough for Sega to justify adding the face of the company to a shooter game.