Don't like the new Sonic character models? Sega prototyped even wilder designs

The new Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy character designs revealed yesterday alongside the announcement of Sonic Boom could have looked a lot different. Sega tried some "really wild designs" before settling on the images shown yesterday, developers told CVG in a new interview.

"We have reams of drawings that we explored. It was quite a journey," developer Big Red Button CEO Bob Rafei said. "That's one of the things that, as a character designer, I live and breathe."

"We went in many different directions to discover the boundary of what Sega was comfortable with, what we wanted to do for our projects," he added. "There were some really wild designs, and ultimately in the end we decided they're not well suited for the franchise, because they were just too out there."

"I'm glad that's something that Sega reined us in on, because ultimately the character would have felt a little different."

As you can see in the image above, Sonic now has long legs and wears a brown scarf, which is said to demonstrate his adventurous spirit. Meanwhile, Tails has a new utility belt and Amy wields a hammer. The most dramatic change, however, is for Knuckles, who is now depicted as a hulking heavyweight.

Sega of America producer Michael Frost stressed that the publisher did not make changes to the designs just for the sake of changing things up. "We spent a lot of time agonizing over and thinking about every single detail. There was a lot of thought, a lot of discussion, a lot of collaboration on every single aspect," he said.

Sonic Boom launches this year for Wii U and 3DS. It's not a single game, but rather a transmedia Sonic initiative that aims to breathe new life into the franchise through games, an animated TV show, a toy line, and various licensing partnerships.

You can check out the debut trailer for Sonic Boom below.