Sonic the Hedgehog 35th anniversary animation celebrates the best of the series

In a new 13-minute animation, Sonic and his friends face off in a battle against Dr Eggman and Metal Sonic that reminisces over the blue blur’s best moments.

Sega has been celebrating the 35th anniversary of Sonic the Hedgehog for much of this year since the original game came out in June 1991, and today brought another heartfelt addition to that celebration in the form of an animation written by Takashi Iizuka and produced by the Sonic Team.

The animation was posted on the Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube channel today. It’s 13 minutes long and features a battle with the forces of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, and Rouge facing off against Dr Eggman and a Metal Sonic powered by the Chaos Emeralds. However, when Eggman’s latest machine transfers Sonic’s power to Metal (including his emotions and memories), the team realizes the way to win is to bring up Sonic’s good memories in hopes of changing Metal.

It results in a trip down memory lane as Sonic’s friends remember the moments that brought him into their lives, evoking memories of Sonic 2 with Tails, Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic CD with Amy, and the Sonic Adventure games with Rouge and Shadow. It’s also an incredible-looking fight as the Sega team shows off an exhilarating battle between Sonic’s friends and Eggman. It thanks fans for 35 years of memories and ends in saying, "Let's race forward together and create many more."

Watch the whole animation for yourself above and stay tuned to the Sonic the Hedgehog series topic for more news and updates.

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