It’s hard not to have a strong opinion about Sonic the Hedgehog, but let’s all be honest for a second: the Sonic series has never been particularly concerned with maintaining an internal logic. They’re usually more focused on high-speed action, fun characters, and stunning platforming spectacles.
But Sonic Frontiers is a little different from the games that came before it. With a bigger emphasis on storytelling comes a greater need for things to make sense, and by adding lore that builds upon the games before it, Sonic Frontiers delivers. At least, for the most part. After all, it wouldn’t truly be a Sonic game if there weren’t little things to nitpick or poke fun at.
8 Why Are Platforms, Springs, And More In Weird Places?
This particular question has puzzled long-time fans of the Sonic series for ages. In prior games, platforms and springs would just exist in midair, and enemies would hover over gaps just small enough to Homing Attack across. Frontiers is no different. Springs are buried in the ground or hidden in boxes, ready to launch you onto grind rails and platforms inexplicably suspended in midair.
In all fairness, Frontiers does a better job of justifying their existence than previous games. Platforms hover with The Ancient’s technology, and springs have little propellors on them to keep them in the air. And who knows, maybe putting springs inside boxes was an old Ancient tradition. But it still doesn’t explain why there are enemies and platforms laid out in just the right way for Sonic to perfectly get across. Talk about convenience.
7 How Can You Fish Up All These Things?
Fishing is the most relaxing of activities you can do in Sonic Frontiers. That is, if you don't stop to think about how strange these lakes really are. They may seem inconspicuous at first glance, letting you catch a huge variety of fish, but then you’ll start to notice that some are freshwater fish, while others can only live in saltwater.
This alone should be impossible and begs the question of what type of water you’re really fishing in, but the mystery deepens once you start catching things that aren’t even fish. They’re mostly references to classic Sonic games, but amid them are Gold Cards and Fast Travel Scrolls, both of which shouldn't able to stay intact while underwater. Just what kind of water is this cyberspace meant to be simulating?
6 Why Are So Many Collectibles In The Ground?
By creating circles with your Cyloop over and over again, you can generate infinite rings from the ground. Not only is it a great way to refill your rings when in a pinch, but you also have a chance of getting free Memory Tokens and Skill Pieces. This is all fine and good, but at some point you have to wonder where all of this stuff is coming from.
We know that The Ancients left a lot of things behind, and it would only make sense for most of it to be buried under centuries of erosion. But this trick still works on solid floating platforms, and even on the backs of bosses. It’s a lot harder to explain where those rings came from.
5 How Did Big Get Into Cyberspace?
Even Sonic himself thinks it’s weird when he randomly encounters Big the Cat in a Cyberspace portal. When asked about it, Big says he doesn’t know why he’s here either, or even where he is to begin with. All he knows is that he was looking for somewhere new to fish, and found his way to one of Cyberspace’s many virtual lakes.
At the very least, this isn’t too unusual for Big. He’s often finding himself where the main heroes are, completely unaware of the ‘Fate of the World’ struggle taking place. The world may very well be on the brink of disaster, but these fish aren't going to fish themselves.
4 Where Does Sonic Keep All His Items?
Sonic has always been able to hold a questionably large amount of rings, but it’s never really been worth questioning until now. In Sonic Frontiers, there are more collectibles than ever before to grab. This includes the standard rings, Seeds of Power and Defense, Vault Keys, Memory Tokens, Chaos Emeralds, giant dimensional gears, and up to potentially hundreds of Kocos.
To make matters even weirder, when collecting a Chaos Emerald, Sonic has an animation that makes it look like he’s putting it in his pocket. What pockets?! Sonic doesn’t wear pants…or does he?
3 Why Does Big Sell You Kocos?
As if Big’s presence in this game wasn’t already enough of a mystery, the rewards from his fishing mini-game bring up even more questions. By catching lots of fish, you can earn Treasure Tokens and purchase various things from Big, such as Egg Memos for more lore insight, Memory Tokens to progress the story faster, and even Kocos.
Yes, Big has hundreds of these little rock-people, and will only give them to you in groups of 20 in exchange for three fishing tokens. Kocos aren't just regular rocks; they're living, sentient beings. And Big is just selling them to you? Something about this doesn't feel very ethical.
2 Why Do The Titans Always Take The Purple Chaos Emerald?
Titans are powerful living machines that Sonic faces off against at the end of each island. Each one is powered partly by a Chaos Emerald, and you have to climb up its body to take it from them and become Super Sonic. In a late-game cutscene, you’re shown that they can use any Chaos Emerald they want, and yet, for some strange reason, they always go after the purple one specifically.
Maybe purple is their favorite color, or maybe they just think it goes better with the whole ‘big bad boss’ vibe they give off. Whatever the reason, it’s odd that they all seem to gravitate towards the same Emerald.
1 Why Do Koco Children Carry Bombs?
Early into the main story, you'll be tasked by Amy to help a Koco mother gather her children. To do this, you'll play a short mini-game where you have to herd a bunch of Kocos back towards their mom. Sounds simple enough, but there's a catch: they drop explosives.
These are children we're talking about. How have they gotten their nonexistent hands on bombs in the first place, let alone know how to and are willing to use them on Sonic as he chases them? Kocos have never been shown to defend themselves before, especially not with bombs capable of killing Sonic in three hits, regardless of how many rings he has. Then again, there's a lot more to these little guys than meets the eye.