Ahead of the hotly anticipated release of the forthcoming video game adaptation film Sonic the Hedgehog 2, of which the first trailer dropped Thursday night at the Game Awards, eagle-eyed fans of the franchise are spotting a few visual callbacks to a classic game.
The sequel to the 2019 surprise hit features many returning cast members, including Ben Schwartz’ Sonic, Jim Carrey’s Dr. Robotnik, and James Marsden as the blue blur’s human friend, Tom Wachowski. Director Jeff Fowler is also returning to helm the upcoming film.
One of the biggest hits with fans for the new movie so far has been the debut of Idris Elba as Knuckles, the red echidna who in the games is is sometimes Sonic’s enemy, and sometimes his friend. Fans were blown away by Knuckles’ brief but impactful appearance, with his one-handed halt of Sonic in the middle of a spin-dash move being very much apropos to his badass nature in the video games. Basically, Knuckles is the Vegeta to Sonic’s Goku.
In the film, Knuckles is teamed up with the villainous Eggman as characters from all sides of the moral compass clamor for the powerful Chao Emerald. There was a great variety of scenes and action-packed set pieces in the trailer as well — ranging from an urban street’s manholes bursting with water to Sonic dodging Robotnik’s deadly drones snowboarding down a powdery slope.
And while many scenes looked familiar to gamers in general, there was one game in particular that seemed to have a lot references. That game is none other than the highly acclaimed 1998 Sega Dreamcast platformer Sonic Adventure. A diligent fan on Reddit put together all the side-by-side image comparisons, which you can view right here.
Some of the familiar motifs include the look of the Chao Emerald itself, the ancient temple where it is found, and Sonic and Tails dodging Robotnik’s missile attacks while navigating the red biplane Tornado.
We’ll have to see what other Easter eggs are in store when Sonic the Hedgehog 2 zooms into theaters on April 8, 2022.
