LOS ANGELES — It started as a title that was meant to be an April Fools' joke: "The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog." The team behind the funny idea had a hook, but did they have a game?
"We would have meetings together: 'Who killed Sonic? How did any of this happen?' We knew that the headline was 'Sonic is dead,' but how did any of this happen?" says Pasadena-based game developer Greg Batha of the early gatherings he had with a small team that developed the game. "The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog" was surprise-released on March 31 for PCs and Macs. Developed in relative secrecy over the last few years, "The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog," available for free, turned out to be more than a clever, joke-ready title.
"The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog" is a relatively earnest game about friendships and boundaries, the ones we set — or fail to set — with those who are close to us. It also has some things to say about the parameters we negotiate with our profession and how we treat those in the service industry. The game manages to be a family-friendly mystery adventure with a few grand ideas sandwiched into about two hours of play time — likely more, if you, like me, struggle with the run-and-jump minigames. And it does so by toying with one of the most popular video game characters ever created.
