Sonic and the Black Knight boxart suggests more storybook games

by JC Fletcher { Dec 23rd 2008 at 10:00AM }

Without making a big deal about it, Sega quietly began a new spinoff franchise with Sonic and the Secret Rings. The first Sonic Wii game put Sega's mascot into an Arabian Nights-influenced world. The followup, Sonic and the Black Knight, was announced as the second entry in the "Storybook Series."

New North American boxart for Black Knight found on Amazon shows that Sega has now decided to officially identify the game (and thus Secret Rings, retroactively) as a Storybook Series entry, right there in the corner of the label. And, really, the only reason to do that now is to set it up as an ongoing series. That means more Wii Sonic games in different worlds taken from classic stories. Hopefully for Sega, this initiative will work out better than Nintendo's Education Series.

Gallery: Sonic and the Black Knight

[Via GoNintendo]

Tags: sega, sonic, sonic-and-the-black-knight, sonic-storybook-series, sonic-team

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

ChrisCanberg @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:16PM

don't care what anybody says. that is one sick boxart.

kinda reminds me of the boxart for sonic 360 except it doesn't suck. :O

samfish @ Dec 23rd 2008 10:13AM

Bleh.
Not that I'm not excited for Sonic & the Black Knight (I'm one of the few who loved Secret Rings), but I *WISH* Sega would take the Secret Rings formula and put it in a classic 16-bit Sonic setting. It would be flippin' gorgeous, if the graphics and art direction in Secret rings and Black Knight are any indication.

mr nimblewick @ Dec 23rd 2008 10:44AM

I just bought Secret Rings used from Blockbuster, and I must say, it's crap. And I really wanted to believe the people on here who say that it's actually pretty good.

Forget about the terrible story, inept control scheme and wasted leveling, the main problem I have with it is the level progression - having to play on level and then do a bunch of challenges in that setting. I'm in the first area and I have no idea how to get out of it. All I know is that I have no interest in collecting 99 rings or breaking pots.

Sega can keep their storybook stories and shove it.

deaddays @ Dec 23rd 2008 10:51AM

lolz!

Hardy @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:45AM

You clearly haven't played the previous sonic games if your not interested in collecting rings.

I have secret rings too, and it's not a bad game...eventually. lol it has a horrible start. Why the HELL did they make you so slow and hard to control at the beginning and level up to make it playable....stupid design choice.

SephFinale @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:54PM

Sonic Unleashed is better than Secret Rings, hands down. I'll take being a slow werehog over crap controls any day.

Moptimus Slime @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:03AM

Wi-Fi connection? Hopefully it'll be used to save speedruns through levels

Mr Khan @ Dec 23rd 2008 1:07PM

prolly multiplayer battles, a la Sonic Adventure 2

I hope i hope i hope

Master Marik @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:06AM

Whether or not the games good or bad, that's an awesome boxart.

Jordan @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:50AM

Seconded.
Also, call me nuts, but I'm actually somewhat optimistic about this game. As far as I can tell, it's basically a combination of Secret Rings without the annoying controls and Unleashed without the werehog...
I'm trying not to get my hopes TOO high, though, because, well...we all know what happens with Sonic and pre-release hype. Don't tell me you weren't excited for Unleashed.

wiiluver135 @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:44PM

boxart = win
even more anticipation for this game!
keep it up Sega! I just can't wait for The Conduit though

Mr Khan @ Dec 23rd 2008 1:09PM

They know they struck gold with Secret Rings, the game hit 1.5 million in sales alone. Cultivating that into it's own spinoff franchise might work well for them.

milan @ Dec 23rd 2008 1:18PM

Why does Sonic stuff always have to feel so generic?

esposch @ Dec 23rd 2008 6:44PM

Probably because it is generic.

Matias @ Dec 23rd 2008 8:20PM

That boxart rocks.

And about th game, running around as sonic while swinging a sword doesn't sound so bad, I would like a running-only game like the old ones, but doing it with a sword isn't a bad alternative.

KeegdnaB @ Dec 23rd 2008 9:09PM

Hey, its better than a gun

see: Shadow the Hedgehog

SoniQ @ Dec 31st 2008 3:10PM

In my opinion, there are three things that Sega needs to fix for Sonic:
1. Speed: Sega has been so focused on introducing new concepts into the series that they have completely forgotten what makes a good Sonic game: Speed.
2. Combat: Personally, I feel that Sega just needs to drop combat in Sonic the Hedgehog altogether, but if they have to keep it, they can at least keep it light enough so that it doesn't ruin the rest of the game.
3. Voice Acting: Seriously, Sega. Sonic X ended 2 years ago. I'm getting tired of having to listen to these sucky voice actors.

Fix it, Sega. FIX IT!!

Darkness=Fun @ Jan 2nd 2009 7:40AM

I thought this was a given once Black Knight was unveiled.
I can't wait to see Sonic and the Legend of Zelda (similar to this game, actually)

And Sonic and the Secret Rings is better then Unleashed anyday. I'd take mediocre controls over 1/3 of a Sonic game.