A former developer at BioWare recently shared an unused, fully animated introduction to the often-forgotten Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood that could easily be the template for a 2D Mass Effect trilogy BioWare take on the lore of Sonic The Hedgehog and his colorful cast of ing characters as they reunited following the defeat of Dr. Eggman to take on a new enemy called the Nocturnus Clan.
Instead of the Sonic franchise’s traditional speed-based 2D platforming, Sonic Chronicles featured turn-based battles and branching RPG conversations, and special attacks were performed through timing-based minigames like the ones in Elite Beat Agents. While Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood saw mainly positive reviews from fans who were left jaded by Sonic’s less-fondly ed 3D offerings of the time, EA’s buyout of BioWare in the late 2000s ultimately led to a planned sequel being scrapped. As such, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood’s cliffhanger ending remains unresolved to this day, and the game itself serves as an interesting yet relatively minor footnote in the history of Sega’s iconic hypersonic hedgehog mascot.
Former BioWare animator Jonathan Cooper recently shared a never-before-seen intro animation for Sonic Chronicles on Twitter (via Fanbyte). This brief, 2D cutscene features a Loony Tunes-style battle between Sonic and Eggman in a desert landscape, set to Sonic Chronicle’s rocking instrumental theme. According to Cooper, this intro was “inexplicably” cut by Sega in favor of the gameplay footage sequence that players were greeted to when they booted up Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, but it was a “ion project” for Lead Artist Joel MacMillan and Animator Nick DiLiberto. Cooper also went into detail about the production of the intro, which was animated at home and colored at BioWare’s studio.
This new-to-the-public Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood intro cutscene has been unveiled during an exciting time for the Blue Blur, especially when it comes to his video games. During this month’s Game Awards 2021 livestream, Sega revealed a new teaser trailer for Sonic Frontiers, the latest 3D Sonic platformer. This new title will see Sonic race through an open world similar to the ones in The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild and Kirby And The Forgotten Land, and features a plot written by longtime Sonic The Hedgehog comics scribe Ian Flynn.
While it isn’t clear exactly why Sega chose to cut Jonathan Cooper’s fully animated intro cutscene from Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, there’s no doubting that the work he and his team put into it was well-spent. It has smooth and vibrant animation, an energetic tone befitting Sonic, and a concise look at the Blue Blur’s ongoing battle against Dr. Eggman. While this cutscene was ultimately left to the dustbin of things that could have been, it’s enough to make fans wonder what a fully-fledged 2D Sonic The Hedgehog game in this art style would be like.
Source: Jonathan Cooper/Twitter (via Fanbyte)
