Sonic Lost World

"Rise Against the Deadly Six!"

- The game's tagline.

Sonic Lost World (ソニックロストワールド) is an upcoming video game and the next main installment in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. The game is being released exclusively for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS on 18 October at Europe, 22 October at America and 24 October at Japan of 2013. The game is currently under development by Sonic Team for Wii U and Dimps for Nintendo 3DS, and is to be published by Sega (in Japan and America) and Nintendo (in Europe and Australia). This is the first out of the three titles of the SEGA and Nintendo exclusive collaboration, the other confirmed one being Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

Story
Sonic and Tails are chasing after their longtime foe, Eggman. They encounter a mysterious floating island known as “Lost Hex,” where he runs into the Deadly Six and learns that Eggman used them to harness their power. But after a reckless accident by Sonic involving him kicking away a shell which Eggman was using to keep the Deadly Six under his control, the Deadly Six rebel against the Doctor himself by taking over his badniks and threaten to destroy the planet. Sonic and Eggman are forced to work together in order to save the planet and put an end to their misdeeds.

Gameplay
The player controls Sonic the Hedgehog in an action platformer. The levels take place on tube-shaped worlds that shift in perspective, allowing for both 2D and 3D gameplay. Stages change and shift to use various gimmicks and aesthetics, from a candy-themed 2D level in Desert Ruins to a Snowball pinball area in Frozen Factory to a stealth-centered area in Silent Forest. The boost-integrated gameplay from the more recent 3D titles has been eschewed in favor of a new control style, more similar to the control style found in the Sonic Adventure titles. The game brings back a few moves from Sonic's past, such as the Spin Dash, Bounce Attack, and Super Peel-Out. The game introduces also the "parkour" system, which allows Sonic to maneuver across obstacles and run on walls. The game will also feature new and returning Color Powers, a returning element from Sonic Colors, with exclusive Wisps for each versions of the game. Similar to past installments in the series, the player has to reach to the end, where the single capsule, which contains animal friends that are ready to be released from the capsule. After pressing the large button on the top of capsule, the player has completed that act in the zone. Smaller capsules can be found within the stages as well. Red Star Rings from Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations make a return, which like before can be collected for unlocking collectible content.

Wii U Version
On the Wii U version, using the D-pad or left control stick will move Sonic at a moderate pace, whilst holding down the right trigger button will engage his running speed. Pressing both triggers allows Sonic to perform the Spin Dash. Sonic is also able to do a jumping kick attack that can destroy enemies the Homing Attack cannot. Miiverse is featured in the form of item-sharing, where players can obtain and share various capsules, such as Elemental Shields and Black Wisps that are exclusive to this feature, that can be used during gameplay. The Wii U version will offer both competitive and cooperative multiplayer, but there will not be an online multiplayer mode. When playing in multiplayer mode, one player will control Sonic using the Wii U gamepad while the other will use the Wii remote to either help (co-op) or race against the other player (versus).

3DS Version
The 3DS version of the game also contains fully 3D gameplay similar to the Wii U version. It is not a port, but rather a separate game with different level design and use slightly different controls due to the 3DS's button layout, compared to the Wii U Gamepad. Instead of the kick attack in the Wii U version, Sonic uses a Somersault attack which can stun enemies for a short period of time. . The 3DS version will also offer four player local and online multiplayer modes, and connectivity with the Wii U version of the game.

On the August 7 Nintendo Direct, it was announced that 3DS-Wii U connectivity entails using the 3DS to pilot contraptions, built by Tails, in the Wii U version, such as an RC helicopter.

Playable Characters

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Virtual Hedgehog
 * Various RC Vehicles

Non-Playable Characters

 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Amy Rose
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Doctor Eggman
 * Orbot
 * Cubot
 * Yacker
 * Omochao

Animal Friends

 * Flicky
 * Picky
 * Chirps
 * Pecky
 * Ricky
 * Rocky

Color Powers

 * Cyan Laser
 * Yellow Drill
 * Indigo Asteroid
 * Crimson Eagle
 * Magenta Rhythm
 * Black Bomb
 * Red Burst
 * Orange Rocket
 * Ivory Lightning
 * Gray Quake

Deadly Six

 * Zavok
 * Zazz
 * Zeena
 * Zik
 * Zomom
 * Zor

Levels
Sonic Lost World contains six zones for both the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS versions. Similar to Sonic Colors, each zone has six acts. For the first time in the series, most of the acts can have a completely different theme or atmosphere, which can have different gameplay styles with old or new gimmicks and features.

Windy Hill
Windy Hill is the first zone in Sonic Lost World. It takes place on planetoids similar to Green Hill Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog. Classic badniks such as Motobug and Chopper appear in the stage as well. There is a tutorial mode that takes place on this stage. The Cyan Wisp returns alongside the new Wisp, known as the Indigo Wisp, in this zone. There appears to be a afternoon-time/night-time stage that appears only on the Nintendo 3DS version.

Desert Ruins
Desert Ruins is the second zone in  Sonic Lost World. Three levels of the Wii U version have been shown so far: a candy-theme act similar to Sweet Mountain from Sonic Colors, a Tree-like Mach Speed segment act similar to the Knuckles' Chaotix Special Stages, and a third that takes place in a wide-open desert, with a sand-tornado chase sequence. The Nintendo 3DS version has one taking place in Egyptian styled ruins, as well as a level in the same vein as the desert one from the Wii U. The Yellow Drill returns in this zone.

Silent Forest
Silent Forest takes place in a deep jungle. There are numerous small rail sections where minecarts and dangerous crocodile-type enemies are seen. There is also a second night-themed act that takes place in higher sections of the jungle. In this act, large Owls are sleeping in the night background while the player is hanging on rocky ruins with thorn vines above the jungle.

Frozen Factory
Frozen Factory takes place in a snowy region filled with various machinery, hence the name. Frozen Factory features rotating gears, snowboarding sections and Sonic being able to utilize (and even turn himself into a large, moving one in one act) snowballs. There is also a separated casino-themed act, that bears a strong resemblance to the Casino Night Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Casino Park from Sonic Heroes.

Tropical Coast
Tropical Coast has one act taking place inside a giant underwater tube filled with rails that Sonic can grind on. The level is in an underwater tube-based styling with mechanical 2D sections as well. Giant eel-like badniks and minecarts can get in the way for the player, making grinding and proceeding through the level more difficult.

Other Known Zones

 * Untitled volcano-themed Zone.

Multiplayer
The Wii U version of Sonic Lost World contains versus races, where the player controls different colored Virtual Hedgehogs, who are previously seen in the Wii version of Sonic Colors. Numerous Zones are possibly redesigned for multiplayer modes. These multiplayer modes can have two players only, as the one of players can use the Wii U GamePad. Their gameplay is shown on the Wii U GamePad's screen. Another player is able to control his/her playable character with a Wii remote, while his/her gameplay is shown on the TV screen.

In Nintendo 3DS version of the game, there are versus races for four players, which can be played locally or online. Both versions are known to be sharing own unique power ups to be used during the multiplayer gameplay.

Development
Before the Wii U was announced, development for a PC version of Sonic Lost World had begun. Sega eventually decided it would be best to develop the game for a Nintendo platform, considering Sonic's success on Nintendo consoles, and started to develop a Wii U version of the game, taking advantage of the Wii U's dual-screen capability and Gamepad.

After the positive reception of Sonic Color's Color Powers, Sega decided to bring back the Color Powers for Sonic Lost World. The Color Powers were implemented from the outset. No other specific elements from Sonic Colors were brought into Sonic Lost World, as the game was intended to focus on pushing Sonic forward.

The combination of forward-view and side-view platform-action gameplay had been established as a staple of the series. But this time, Sega wanted to try something completely new with Sonic Lost World and provide a new experience by giving the player a different twist on the level design. One of these twists was cylindrical-shaped stages. The development team, however, had had no experience with this sort of level design. Just the first stage had to be created, broken down, recreated, and broken down again for half a year in order for the level to reach its finished state. A parkour system was also designed specifically for the game, as it fit the level design nicely.

At the Summer of Sonic 2013 convention, Takashi Iizuka stated that SEGA wanted "Mario fans" to play Sonic Lost World, due to the slower-balanced platforming used in Sonic Lost World. Iizuka also revealed that the game had been under development for a full two and half years, starting during Sonic Generations development as a prototype of the different geometries.

Sega registered the trademark and the web address of the game's website on May 16, 2013, a few days before the game was first announced at a presentation of Nintendo Direct on May 17, 2013. According to Nintendo's Satoru Iwata, it was announced that Nintendo itself had entered into a worldwide partnership with Sega regarding the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

The first teaser image was revealed during the Nintendo Direct, showing Sonic and Tails flying with Tornado to the new main setting of the game, later being revealed and named as Lost Hex. A week later, Sega uploaded another teaser picture to the Facebook account, which showed silhouettes of mysterious new characters. On May 28, 2013, the debut trailer was released by IGN, revealing the Deadly Six and showing the first gameplay clips. The next day, story details, new gameplay mechanics and collectible contents were revealed.

On June 7th, 2013, Richard George of IGN showed a walkthrough tutorial of Windy Hill and Desert Ruins with Aaron Webber. While Takashi Iizuka has revealed to be producer of the game, he revealed that the game is directed by Morio Kishimoto and Heido Bayashi, while the game's soundtrack is composed by Tomoya Ohtani, who has done music for Sonic Unleashed.

On July 16, 2013, new coverage of Sonic Lost World was revealed. This included the first quote of Zavok, the new zones, including a new desert-themed act for Desert Ruins and Silent Forest, and two new Color Powers: the Crimson Eagle and the Magenta Rhythm. Several days later, Frozen Factory was revealed via screenshots, and shortly afterward, GameSpot previewed a new stage demo trailer featuring coverage from Windy Hill, Desert Ruins, and Frozen Factory.

On August 7, 2013, Nintendo Direct revealed minor coverage about both versions of Sonic Lost World, including an item-making swap: the player can make items in the 3DS version and then swap it onto the Wii U version and vice versa.

Music
The music director for Sonic Lost World is Tomoya Ohtani, who previously was the music director of the soundtrack for Sonic Unleashed. This might explain why some of the background music in Sonic Lost World sounds somewhat similar to some of the background music in Sonic Unleashed. The main theme of the game is called "Wonder World", performed by the Japanese Philharmonic Orchestra.

The official soundtrack of the game is set to be released by Wave Master in November 27th, 2013.

Release
Both the Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS versions of Sonic Lost World will be released first in Europe on October 18th, 2013. The US release of the game will be on October 22nd, 2013, while both versions of the game will be released in Japan on October 24th, 2013. Because Nintendo and Sega are working cooperatively, Sega will release the game in US and Japan, while Nintendo works as the distributor of the game in Europe and Australia markets.

Sega will also launch two accessory kits as collector items during the Japanese release on October 24th. The first kit contains a protection cover for Nintendo 3DS XL models and a small Sonic-themed storage bag. The kit also contains a bonus soundtrack CD for the game. The second kit contains two blue colored earphone jacks and two small keychains: a pair of Sonic's Speed Shoes and Tails' set of tails.

Deadly Six Bonus Edition
The extented Gamescom trailer reveals the game having "Deadly Six Bonus Edition" (Known as Deadly Six Edition in PAL regions), that includes DLC content. This is exclusively for the Wii U and can be pre-ordered for a limited time only.

This bonus edition contains different boss fights from the original version that take place in the world from one of Sega's best-known franchises NiGHTS into Dreams. These boss fights are featured in the extra level, where all Deadly Six members are riding boss characters from NiGHTS game. By pre-ordering the exclusive version of the game, the player is able to obtain the Black Wisp, that is only found at Miiverse.

Comic Adaption
In Sonic Super Special #9, an adaption of Sonic Lost World is presented. Not much is known about this adaption yet, other than that it will contain an In Another Time, In Another Place-esque story within the issue. The game adaption in the issue is 20 pages long, making it to this day the longest game adaption featured in Archie Comics.

Before the release of Sonic Super Special Magazine Issue 9, this single story alone is also featured as separated free comic in many comic shops across America. It is part of “Free Comic Book Day” event, that is held during the Halloween season. The six page long preview is featured in the website.

Trivia

 * Sonic's original Tornado is seen in the concept artwork but is slightly altered from the last version seen in Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II.
 * This game shares its name with an action stage from Sonic Adventure.
 * Interestingly, one of Sonic Lost World's stages is Windy Hill, which is the same name as a segment from another Sonic Adventure stage, Windy Valley.
 * Most of the stages in Sonic's story of Sonic Adventure were cleared by pressing the button of a Capsule which Sonic Lost World follows this trait.
 * The music used in the debut trailer is a instrumental version of "Cinema" by Benny Benassi. The Nintendo 3DS trailer of the game uses instrumental version of "Gameboy" by Invigilators x Ceezlin.
 * The Super Peel Out makes a return in the game as Sonic's standard running animation, which was last seen in Super Smash Bros Brawl.
 * This will be the first 3D Sonic game since Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) to feature item boxes in 3D stages. In addition, this is the first 3D Sonic game since Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) that allows Sonic to charge and perform a Spin Dash. This is also the first 3D Sonic game since Sonic Adventure 2 where Sonic automatically grabs on to the edge of ledges.
 * The game shares some similarities to Sonic X-treme, a cancelled game for the Sega Saturn. Both games have a story where six creatures get out of Eggman's grasp (which was one of several stories for the latter), both have a first stage inspired by Green Hill Zone (the former Windy Hill and the latter Jade Gully Zone), both have freely floating level structures and both have gravity playing a key role. Despite  Sega of America employee  Aaron Webber noting the game was an influence, Takashi Iizuka has claimed that the developers of Sonic Lost World did not know about Sonic X-Treme, meaning it had no influence on Sonic Lost World whatsoever.
 * It also shares some similarities to Super Mario Galaxy, another game that has freely floating, circular level structures, traveling between several planetoids, and has gravity playing a key role. Windy Hill Zone, Act 1's segmented structure resembles the levels from the Super Mario Galaxy series and Super Mario 3D Land.
 * Interestingly, Takashi Iizuka admitted that Sonic Lost World had "...ended up a bit too close to [Super] Mario Galaxy"
 * The Badniks in Sonic Lost World bear cartoonish designs rather than their more menacing designs used in recent games like Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations.
 * This is the second main series Sonic game to feature a double jump after Sonic Colors. The handheld version will also be the second game in the handheld series to feature the double jump, the first being Sonic Blast.
 * The Invincibility's and Speed Shoes' theme is an instrumental version of "Sonic Heroes".
 * Large floating cannons in this game are similar to ones from Oil Ocean Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
 * Likewise, elevated platforms similar to that of Oil Ocean return as well.
 * This is the first main Sonic game to be on the Wii U. However, it is the second main Sonic game to be on the Nintendo 3DS, the first being Sonic Generations, and the second Sonic game overall on the Wii U, the other being Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed.
 * Bonus Points from the original Sonic the Hedgehog will return in the game.
 * This is the second main series Sonic game to be released exclusively for Nintendo platforms (the first being Sonic Colors).
 * Like the Wii version of Sonic Colors, the player does not earn an extra life upon collecting 100 rings in the Wii U version. However, the player does get an extra life in the 3DS version.
 * In the Wii U version, the lives counter, timer, animal counter, and Red Ring counter only appear when Sonic is at a completely dead stop, but occasionally show up when Sonic destroys an enemy, gets rings or an extra life, or collects Red Rings.
 * The Wii U version has a countdown time limit in each stage, as the player has a limited time to complete each stage much like some of the Super Mario adventure platforming games. However in the Nintendo 3DS version, it's a stopwatch timer counting up just like the Sega Genesis video games.
 * When Sonic is Parkour Running on walls on the Wii U version, you can see Sonic's after-images when doing so. In the 3DS version, red and white stars are shown.
 * This is the fifth Sonic game to be rated E10+, following Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, Sonic Unleashed, and Sonic and the Black Knight. However, if one counts the HD release of Sonic Adventure 2, this is actually the sixth Sonic game to get an E10+ rating.
 * This is the first Sonic game that Eggman actually calls Orbot and Cubot by their names, as in Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Colors, Eggman never spoke their names.
 * This is also the seventh Sonic game where Sonic and Eggman are forced to work together to stop a major threat. The others were Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Advance 3, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). However, in those games, Sonic and Eggman joining forces happen later towards the end of the story. As in Sonic Lost World, they join forces much sooner.
 * Sonic Lost World is the second game to feature the Wisp "Yacker" from Sonic Colors.