Even Sonic the Hedgehog’s original creator thinks character’s live-action movie design is ugly

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Video game designer Yuji Naka only needs two sentences to explain what’s wrong with this weird-looking version of the Sega star.

It’s been a rough couple of days for Yuji Naka. First, the veteran game designer, who’s most famous for creating Sonic the Hedgehog, stopped by his soon-to-be-demolished former office, where his kids were less than impressed with his mention that it was the site where he developed the Sega mascot’s original games. Then he thought some loyal Sega fans had shown up to take commemorative photos, only to find out they were there for a Nintendo-related reason instead.

And now comes yet another emotional kick in the gut, courtesy of brand management firm Hamagami Carrol, which briefly leaked a number of images of Sonic as he’s set to appear in the upcoming live-action/CG Sonic the Hedgehog movie.

The Internet got a silhouetted glimpse of a trim and toned Sonic back in December, which didn’t have fans feeling confident that the live-action movie is going to be able to convey the video game hero’s cocky yet charming persona, and if fan reaction to the leaked images are anything to go by, those fears were entirely justified, as the overwhelming majority of reactions have been some mixture of fear and disgust.

OK, so Sonic’s preexisting fans seem to hate the design, but what does Sonic’s daddy, Naka, think? According to a tweet he sent out:

“Looking at this Sonic’s full-body visual, it makes me realize the importance of the character’s head-to-body ratio and the roundness of his stomach. Couldn’t they have created a design with a better balance than this?”

He’s definitely got a point. Sure, Sonic was always supposed to be the cool and edgy counterpart to Nintendo’s Mario, with more ‘90s “attitude” than his mustachioed rival, but he was still very much a cute, cartoony design. Aside from the proportional balance that Naka talks about, video game Sonic’s overall aura was a balance between snarky tough guy and huggable animal buddy, but pretty much all of that approachable cuteness is gone in the movie’s design.

▼ Among other things, fans are confused as to why Sonic, who’s been wearing gloves in his video games for the past 28 years, suddenly has white hands.

▼ One fan even whipped up his own version of the character (seen on the right) which greatly scales back the attempted realism seen in the leaked images, such as the one on the left.

Fans who’re creeped out/dissatisfied with how Sonic looks in the leaked images can at least take heart in the fact that they’ve since been pulled from Hamagami Carrol’s website, and also that there’s a chance that they’re not the final version of how the character will look when the live-action Sonic movie opens on November 8. Still, unless the visual effects team are working as fast as Sonic runs on a complete redesign, odds are his appearance in the movie is going to be closer to the leaked images than anything fans fondly remember from his games. And if the movie turns out to be a bust, he can always drown his sorrows with another trip to Hooters in Tokyo.

Sources: Twitter/@nakayuji, Polygon
Featured image: Twitter/@nakayuji
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