It’s December 19th, 2003.

The cameras are put into place to start. It’s the set of the famous tonight with Rick Ravete show, the most popular Friday talk show on air. The stage has been equipped with the latest technology and the set itself has a very modern look and feel to it. Everything is about ready the only thing left is for the cameras to start rolling and the host to show up. At the signal from backstage the host of the show Rick Ravette enters the stage and the crowd cheers.

He sits down at his desk in front of him are a bunch of blank papers and a PlayStation 2. Rick even though surrounded by sleek and new technology, dresses and looks like the 70s never went away. An old suit with wide 70s trouser legs, a thick mustache and an outdated oddly shaped hairstyle. Rick’s fashion sense has been a big topic of discussion and has remained mysterious, even more so by the fact that Rick isn’t that old to be wearing that stuff. Many fans of the show argue the clash of new and old gives the show its aesthetic appeal.

Rick moves around a bit in his chair to get comfortable, crosses his legs, shuffles around a bunch of those blank papers in front of him and begins the show.

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen to those of you that have just joined us we have a very special guest tonight, those of you from my generation know him as the hero who saved the country from an evil mad scientist, the young and kids know him as their favorite video game character, give it up for Sonic the hedgehog!”

Sonic enters the stage as the crowd gives him a loud applause, he runs around a bit, giving waves like almost every guest does with a big smile on his face. Once he finishes his entrance, he sits down with a very confident posture across from rick. The format of the show isn’t at all that different from other shows of the same type. Rick starts asking Sonic some basic questions with of course a joke thrown in there every so often.

“Tell me Sonic, how long has it been since you’ve done some hero work?”

“I’m not sure rick, it’s been such a long time since I defeated Ivo Robotnik, was it 20 years ago?”

“Do you miss being a hero?”

Sonic paused to think, was he missing his hero work, did he feel happier then, or is he happy now doing the work he does. Sure, being a hero was probably more important and maybe even more fulfilling but doing video games came with its own set of perks.

Money and fame, now he enjoyed that very much. Why risk your life and potentially die when you can just make games about yourself. He never even was that keen on the hero job in the first place, a case of being at the right place at the right time. His circumstances made him into a hero and he happened to be the one there and the one to stop Robotnik, or as he is called in the video games, Eggman.

Now a retired hero, directing and designing video games loosely based on true events. He doesn’t miss his old life of poverty before transitioning to making games. It’s tough to imagine life without his luxurious penthouse. Did he feel guilty about monetizing his heroic deed and turning it into a video game franchise? Absolutely not, every superhero that saves the world at least once has turned that act into a profitable business be it movies, TV shows, games, etc. It would be stupid not to convert the goodwill you had with people into money and I was not the first nor the last hero to do such a thing. Besides I didn’t become a hero to make it into a profit, the rewards seemed to naturally follow.

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As he was deep within his thoughts he reminded himself that he was on an interview and it demanded an answer from him.

“I don’t miss it one-bit” Sonic answered firmly.

“Is that so, a lot of heroes like you tend to be nostalgic for better days?”

“Not me, I’m way more comfortable making video games than running around and fighting bad guys. I know my reputation is of the fastest thing alive but I haven’t run fast in quite a while in real life”

“Don’t say that aloud you are ruining some kid’s childhood”

The crowd chuckled and so did Sonic

“You have to know when your time for something has passed, you can’t be a boxer your whole life, for every job you take there comes the time when you have to hang up the gloves and leave,” Sonic said.

“So returning to being a hero is out of the question for you?”

“I am way past my prime, there are also plenty of superheroes out there these days.”

“Maybe even too much,” said rick making the crowd chuckle

“I don’t feel like the world needs Sonic as a hero”

Behind both of them was a large screen that so far displayed a generic image of a city. Rick turned to look at it and the screen changed to a promotional poster of Sonic’s new game, ‘Sonic heroes(2003)’.

“Plenty of buzz has been generating about your new game Sonic, care to tell us about it a little bit?”

Sonic turned to look at the poster and a sense of pride took over him. While he was very fond of the millions of dollars he made from his work and the opulent lifestyle that money allowed him to have, it was more than just work to him, he genuinely enjoyed making video games.

This project in particular was very stressful for all that were involved and the development had been pretty rocky. There were a lot of clashes amongst the staff and everyone was working with a very tight schedule. Thankfully it was done, now it was ready to be released and he felt nothing but pride and joy.

He always put parts of himself in all of his games, he saw it as his art. Although this was not a solo project, this was a massive collaboration between him, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Amy, Vector, etc. Even so, in his eyes, this game was his, he was chief director after all and he made it a point to insist on that. He justified it as him being the most popular he should get to have his name and his vision dominate the project. Being a successful and popular millionaire gets to your head and Sonic had built up quite a large ego. He and Rick started going on about released dates, features, gameplay, graphics… the usual batch of questions one does in these types of promotional interviews.

“I have to ask, does the future worry you?” rick said.

“Why would the future worry me?”

“Not long ago SEGA was a big deal in the console market, now the Dreamcast sits discontinued and they have made it clear that they won’t be making any new consoles. ‘Sonic Heroes (2003)’ will be the first mainline game in the franchise that was developed to be multiplatform, how does that affect you and the future of SEGA as a whole?”

“I don’t worry about the future at all, SEGA has always been primarily about making good games, whether it be making for our own consoles or consoles made by other companies.”

“But you must agree that the Dreamcast’s performance greatly damaged the company?”

“The Dreamcast was a failure by almost every metric however I feel a great passion for making games and I think I’ve never been stronger or more energized. Not just me but every single one of our developers feels the same way. The Dreamcast may be dead but Sonic team is here to stay.” Sonic responded with a look of fire in his eyes. His words were definitely sincere.

The interview continued for some time, things ran smoothly and after a while, it was time to wrap it up.

“Well there you have it ladies and gentlemen ‘Sonic heroes’ is releasing on the PlayStation 2, [REDACTED] and Xbox systems this holiday season. I know my kid will be wanting a copy on day one, it was a pleasure having you tonight Sonic and I wish you success”

“Thank you for inviting me rick it has been a pleasure”