Sonic RPG to feature Big the Cat

By Ellie Gibson Published 14 March, 2008

You might even like him, apparently.

BioWare has confirmed some old friends will be making a comeback in DS RPG Sonic Chronicles - whether you like it or not.

"I think maybe the challenge there, if people are not as excited about having the friends, is making them worthwhile, making them a good part of the game," studio manager Greg Zeschuk told MTV.

"They're not going to be gimmicky. They're not going to be side things. It is actually a core part of the gameplay mechanic. It's actually, we think, going to revitalise the love of the Sonic friends, especially Big the Cat."

According to co-founder Ray Muzyka, it's all about choice - as with all BioWare games. "The choice is moment to moment; it's in the story, it's within your exploration. It's also within your choice of companion characters and sidekicks. You're going to have a different experience in BioWare games depending on who you bring with you."

So what about the fact many people hate all of Sonic's stupid friends, especially that moronic mutant fox? "One of the things we're trying to do is make people feel something, an emotional attachment. And it could be dislike. Dislike is an emotion," Muzyka said.

"If you provoke that kind of emotion and you're trying to provoke that, it's a good thing. Provided you allow players to enjoy the experience throughout. Hopefully they like some characters. Hopefully they dislike some characters. And if we can bring that and maximise that, it'll be really fun."

Great. Sonic Chronicles is out later this year.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (17) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • BBIAJ #1 4 years ago

    Hell yeah, I love Big the Cat!

  • jonsaan #2 4 years ago

    SOOOOONIIIIIC!? SOOOOOOONIIIIC?

    /sound of trigger being cocked

    Edited by 1 at 14/03/08 @ 11:52

  • sanctusmortis #3 4 years ago

    I was waiting for Shadow to assassinate him in his game.

  • magicpocket #4 4 years ago

    Bioware dudes, Bioware.

  • the_dudefather #5 4 years ago

    Tell me about the rabbits again froggy

  • Psiloc #6 4 years ago

    I loved the entire Sonic cast when they were all dialogueless 2D sprites that you had to personify in your brain.

    Now they are all dickheads. Big the Cat is actually a highlight.

  • underscore #7 4 years ago

    Presumably about 3/4 of the way through it'll turn out that Tails is actually the evil Machiavellian mastermind pulling the strings from behind the scenes, and Sonics fate is to save the universe by taking him down, by fair means or foul.

    Oh, and Green Hill zone is actually a hyperspace relay built to allow mind controlling robot(niks) into the galaxy.

  • Monkey_Puncher #8 4 years ago

    Big the Cat was a complete twat!

  • Muddtallica #9 4 years ago

    I'm actually rather looking forward to seeing these characters in a well-developed story; maybe it's because I'm a sap with a weakness for brightly-coloured, giant-eyed cartoon peppiness, but against my better judgement, I actually remain rather fond of the Sonic cast. Well, some of them, anyway. Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Rouge, Blaze, Cream and Eggman are cool in my book; the rest blow chunks to varying degrees, and can all go and die as far as I'm concerned. Big is a particularly egregious offender here; not only is he a fat, mentally deficient hick dullard, he also carries with him indelible memories of his horrific stages in Sonic Adventure, which eschewed high-speed somersaults for a irredeemably broken fishing minigame. Bioware will have to be at the absolute tops of their games if they're hoping to rehabilitate HIM...

  • Azazel #10 4 years ago

    "One of the things we're trying to do is make people feel something, an emotional attachment. And it could be dislike. Dislike is an emotion," Muzyka said.

    roflcopter

    Greg is a legend and If anyone can do likable (and dislikable) characters it's Bioware.

  • Cid #11 4 years ago

    I'm fortunate enough to have not played any Sonic game post-S&K, so my impressions of Sonic and his companions are still based entirely on the earlier games and Sonic the Comic strips. They all have a clean slate as far as I'm concerned.

    Saying that, I'm quite fond of the Chaotix designs. I hope Espio and Mighty are amongst the playable characters.
    Edited by 1 at 14/03/08 @ 13:29

  • Markusdragon #12 4 years ago

    Fwoggy?

  • Muddtallica #13 4 years ago

    Yeah, also, I do find his point about dislike being a valid form of emotional attachment interesting, because if there truly is a skill to establishing dislike, then I can't think of many people better at it than Nintendo. Just think of the likes of Tom Nook from Animal Crossing, or Tingle from Zelda; what Nintendo are good at is using your perceptions of them as a family-friendly company against you, subverting their own otherwise sanitised game worlds with characters who are deliberately antagonistic and who actively and repeatedly hinder your progress through the game, but all from beneath an infuriating and self-consciously superficial facade of cuteness and friendliness, which makes them ten times more frustratingly hateful. What I find clever about all this is the way that Nintendo clearly designs these characters deliberately to not be taken at face value; unlike the overtly villainous likes of Ganon, there is nothing within the reality of the Zelda universe that tells you you're supposed to hate Tingle, it's a connection they leave you to make for yourself, which makes the "attachment" far more lasting and memorable. After all, with all the things fficial&client=firefox-a" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">people have said about Tom Nook, the one thing you can't say is that anyone's going to forget him any time soon...

  • MaskedDave #14 4 years ago

    I always liked Tails, why does he get such a hard time?

  • samadriel #15 4 years ago

    More like Big the Deal!

    SERVED.

  • Vaxadrin #16 4 years ago

    I just hate Tingle so goddamn much...

  • catnames #17 3 years ago

    Big the Cat was a complete twat


    ______________________________________
    cat breeds