“We know there are sometimes opinions about control from core gamers, but we’re intending Sonic Colours to be played by children of probably between six and twelve years-old,” said Iizuka.

“So, with Sonic Colours we have aimed to make a game that everyone can control and have fun in. So, it’s not really a game for the core gamers. If you take the rail grind, it’s something that’s fast, not difficult but is fun to do and looks great. It’s about making a game that’s right for the core audience of the game.”

He continued: “I think that there are two types of Sonic players,” he said. “One is the people who have played since the MegaDrive, who are mainly fans of 2D Sonic games and didn’t really play the 3D Sonic games so much. For those gamers Sonic Team will be giving them Sonic 4 so they can pick the Sonic game they want to play.

“The other is the ones who have played 3D Sonic games and felt that the game was too difficult. Sonic Colours is the game for those types of players. It’s still a 3D Sonic game but the controls are more user-friendly; it’s an easy to pick up and play type of game. So through the two Sonic games I feel the needs of both of the two core groups of Sonic fans are being addressed.”

More information on this matter later.

SEGA has already announced two upcoming Sonic games, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and Sonic Colours, both of which look very promising. But as if that wasn’t enough, SEGA has also announced that it will be releasing some “franchise changing” news about Sonic on Thursday.

Sega’s community boss posts under the handle ‘ArchAngelUK’ on the NeoGAF forum. Sonic Colours is mentioned separately from the ‘franchise-changing’ news, so it’s safe to assume this will be something brand new.

What do you think will this “franchise changing” announcement will be?