If a time-traveler from the 90s suddenly developed an incredible curiosity to see how the world looks like in the early days of June 2013, he would certainly be surprised by a whole lot of things. He would surely judge the way we dress to be outrageously ridiculous, and unless such adventurer had somewhat of an open mind, he would undoubtedly attribute the Internet and all of its features to some insane sort of witchcraft. However, if our traveler were to be an avid gamer, nothing in this world - as technological as it might be - would cause an impression on him as huge as reading headlines that say "Nintendo and Sega Joining Powers to Develop Sonic Titles". It's a piece of news that would go against everything he had ever learned about the gaming industry, and not only would he have to come into terms with the fact that Sega no longer produces systems of their own, he would also have to wrap his mind around the fact two historical bitter rivals are now working together.

In the eyes of the modern gamer, though, this new duo should not come as such a significant surprise. Both companies are products of the same gaming era, and everything they have gone through has somehow reflected on rather similar philosophies. Back when Nintendo and Sega were learning the quirks of the still young industry, hardware power was awfully limited, and - as it has so often happened in human history - difficulty and constraints are the perfect breeding grounds for creativity, which caused both companies to produce games that besides covering a huge amount of genres, presented the fantastic unreal element that had to be taken advantage of in an era where realism was out of the question. As time went by, and Sony and Microsoft arrived on the battlefield with an horde of franchises grounded on reality, Sega and Nintendo remained solidly faithful to their original core of games, which ended up developing into a more family-friendly branch of the industry.

The two companies that created franchises with somehow parallel spirits always had an angry river between them that stopped the construction of any possible bridges, but that river ended up settling down when Sega dropped out of the console race in order to focus on its game-making magic. Aside from the fact Sega no longer manufactures any kind of hardware, another huge difference separates the modern version of the two giants. Sonic and Mario battled over the gaming market for over a decade like two legendary heavy-weights fighting for the boxing crown during the course of many title matches, with the belt always alternating between one and another. However, on the transition to 3D, Mario was able to maintain his top-notch shape, while Sonic struggled to find direction and motivation, leaving Mario without an equal. This distinction, much like Sega's withdrawal from console production, served as the initial supports for the connection that would be built between Sega and Nintendo.

Sega's fumbling created gigantic opportunities for an approach, and - as of today - the approach is being performed. Though the recent Sonic Colors was an undeniable peak to the hedgehog on the aftermath of Sonic Adventure 2, it was still not even close to reaching the level of modern platforming masterpieces, which is a standard a character like Sonic should always aim for. If outside the gaming industry it is a good practice of the market for a company to seek the aid of third-parties whenever there is trouble in the deploying of some new technology, then there is no reason whatsoever why Sega should not try to use the same strategy to achieve the goal of finally giving Sonic the game he deserves. And this seems to be precisely the case with the partnership that has been revealed a few days ago.

Though the development of the recently announced Sonic Lost Worlds is accredited solely to the always polarizing Sega Team, it is not very hard to see that Nintendo might be more involved than it seems. The first evidence is visual; Sonic Lost Worlds looks like a faster version of Mario's two greatest games of his thirty-year career, the two Super Mario Galaxy titles. The second, is political; Sega has announced a set of three Sonic games that will be exclusively released exclusively for Nintendo platforms, and no company in the world would make such a decision without any sort of return, given that going multiplatform is always more profitable. As a consequence, it is not far-fetched to narrow it down to two possibilities: either Nintendo has given Sega a huge amount of cash, or there is some technical and creative support effort going on behind the curtains. Given how Nintendo has constantly stated that it refuses to make deals with third-parties based on handing out money, it is likely that the reason Sonic Lost World will be a Wii U exclusive for life is that people from Nintendo EAD are in direct contact with developers from the Sonic Team sharing expertize and creative input.

How can Nintendo aid Sega then? Well, in endless areas. For starters, the environments present on Super Mario Galaxy are mostly very complex, and they require an extensive amount of camera work to be playable. While Nintendo's automatic camera for Super Mario Galaxy was not flawless, it was still a major technical achievement, and given how much trouble Sonic Team has had with cameras on a multidimensional plain, the help is certainly welcome. Secondly, Nintendo seems to know quite well how to do storytelling on platformers without falling into a pit of juvenile and cringe-worthy situations, and that is a corner the Sonic games have always inadvertently walked into ever since it was wrongfully established they were in need of some extra layer of plot development. And finally, no company has as much knowledge on the Wii U's hardware than Nintendo itself, and that partnership could end up unlocking enough bits and processing power on the Wii U in order to turn Sonic Lost World into a graphical juggernaut that could compete and surpass Pikmin 3 on the graphical achievement scale.

More relevant than the initial benefits brought to the Sonic franchise, though, is what could be in store for the future of this joining of forces. At first, Sega and Nintendo's teamwork has a set deadline and limit of three Sonic games. However, it is impossible not to sit down and imagine what else we might end up getting if these three initial projects, out of which Sonic Lost World is bound to be the highlight, wind up being judged as productive by both Nintendo and Sega. It could open the door for the reworking of a large number of franchises and the creation of some gargantuan IPs born out of this merging of creative forces. And it could all start right here. The Wii U is off to a very slow start, and while this exclusivity could pump some oxygen into Nintendo's system, the partnership could also work in the benefit of both Sonic and Sega. We could be witnessing the birth of quite a monster.