BioWare is a studio not needing any introduction, being responsible for some of the greatest western RPGs of the last 20 years. Producing entries in massive franchises like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Star Wars: The Old Republic, to crafting its own universes in the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series, BioWare has shown time after time it knows how to create sprawling RPG worlds with strong narratives. With Sonic Chronicles, then, BioWare tried translating the spirit and whimsy of the Sonic series into an RPG, and in some ways it worked, while in others it did not. Most praises were given to the game’s art design and narrative, with its sound design and combat receiving most of the criticism.
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Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood’s original opening has been discovered, showing what appears to be a completed animation. Former animator on Mass Effect plus many other series, and the author of GAME ANIM: Video Game Animation Explained, Johnathan Cooper, shared the Sonic Chronicles cinematic on Twitter. The fast-paced video is of a fight between Sonic and Dr. Eggman, with Sonic attacking Dr. Eggman’s hovercraft and running away from a barrage of missiles. “This has never been shown before in its entirety,” Cooper writes in the tweet, with previous production footage showing the cinematic while it was work-in-progress.
Cooper provides some additional details and insights in accompanying posts. “This fantastic 2D work was inexplicably cut by Sega so the game shipped with the same song backing gameplay footage,” Cooper explains, including a GIF of some of the animation’s original line tests. According to Cooper, the animation was done at home by the game’s lead artist, Joel MacMillan, and lead animator, Nick DiLibert, with coloring and rendering being done at the studio. Sonic Chronicles was supposed to receive a sequel but was ultimately canceled when BioWare was acquired by EA.
Considering the tumultuous history of this game, and its general mixed reception, it is amazing to see such a clean piece of the game’s production that was never used. As far as the animation itself is concerned, it captures the essence of Sonic and his relationship to Dr. Eggman, but unfortunately does not seem to relevant to the game it was meant to be used for. Sonic Chronicles, while being built off of the already existing franchise continuity, introduced many new characters, enemies, and locations which would have been great to include in the cinematic.
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood is available on the Nintendo DS.
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