Sonic Team head wants to make a Sonic RPG before he retires from Sega

Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka would love to make a Sonic RPG before he retires from Sega, though that's just a dream.

Iizuka was interviewed by YouTube channel Good Vibes Gaming for a preview of the forthcoming Sonic x Shadow Generations and discussed whether he'd ever work on a Sonic RPG in future.

"Personally, I really like role-playing games," he said. "The RPG game format is a lot of fun and I've even thought to myself 'you know, for the past 30 years we haven't done a Sonic RPG'. And I'm questioning myself. 'Why haven't we done a Sonic RPG in all this time? How have we gotten to 30 years with no RPGs?!'

"So I'd like to hopefully work on a Sonic RPG at some point before I retire from Sega. But you know, that's just a dream right now. There are no concrete plans at this point."

Of course, there has been a Sonic RPG in the past - Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood released on Nintendo DS - but this was developed by Mass Effect and Dragon Age studio BioWare.

But Sonic Team making an official Sonic RPG would be huge. There's precedent there too, as the studio have worked on RPGs in the past, in particular the Phantasy Star series.

And that's before you bring in the long-running Mario rivalry - if the moustachioed plumber can star in Square Enix's Super Mario RPG and the ongoing Paper Mario series, why can't Sonic try his hand at turn-based battles?

Could we explore a fully open Sonic world? Would Sonic transform into Super Sonic for powerful moves? Would Knuckles summon the Chaotix crew? How would speed affect battles? Would there be classes, or romances? There are so many possibilities!

I recently went hands-on with Sonic x Shadow Generations myself and spoke to Iizuka about why Shadow has become such an enduring character, how Sonic Frontiers has influenced the remaster, and whether Shadow will wield a gun.

Also, could there be a secret fourth playable character?

Sonic x Shadow Generations is set for release on 25th October across PlayStation and Xbox consoles, and PC (Epic and Steam).