I'm back after 6 months, I forgot about this corner so, i'm back!
2006—at first glance, you might not think this year was particularly significant. But in gaming, it was huge. We got the first installment of the God of War series, Xbox 360s were red-ringing like Valentine’s Day, and both the PS3 and Wii launched. And for this topic, it was our favorite blue blur’s 15th anniversary.
Unfortunately, that anniversary didn’t go as planned. Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)—or Sonic ’06—is widely regarded as one of the most hated games in both the franchise and gaming history. Its troubled development played a huge part in this. Core members of Sonic Team left during production, including co-creator Yuji Naka, while a large portion of the team was split off to work on Sonic and the Secret Rings (2007, Wii). Rushed to meet the 2006 holiday shopping season, the game shipped as a buggy, nearly unplayable mess.
Sonic ’06 was first announced at E3 2005 as the next mainline entry following that year’s Shadow the Hedgehog, which had already received mixed reactions for its darker tone. Expectations were high, but what players got in November 2006 was a disappointing launch on Xbox 360, followed by the PS3 version in December—just three days after the console’s launch. It also came shortly after Sonic Riders (2006, PS2), making it a busy and complicated time for the franchise.
Critical reception was overwhelmingly negative. Bugs, glitches, and unfinished mechanics dominated conversations online and in reviews. The backlash was so severe that the game was delisted in 2010, largely due to its below-average Metacritic score.
Yet, the story didn’t end there. In 2019, a fan named ChaosX released Project ’06, a restoration effort intended to fix and rebuild what the original game had tried to do. More recently, projects like Marathon Recompiled (GitHub link) have continued this work, proving that the fan community refuses to let Sonic ’06’s potential completely die.
Looking back now, it’s funny how time passes. What was once a disaster has turned into a lesson, a source of creativity, and even a little nostalgia.
See you next time!
—MCR
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