It was early morning and Sonic was getting ready to go to work. He knew by the time he would arrive at the SEGA HQ the review scores would be published and he could see the reception of his new game. If he had the power he would speed up time, he wanted to receive that closure. He wanted to know if had he saved his reputation.

Tails was praying that the game would be well received, he knew how depressed Sonic would be if the alternative would happen. He remembered the days of ‘Sonic Heroes(2003)’ and ‘Sonic 06’. He remembered how inconsolable Sonic was.

Shadow seemed unbothered by the launch of the game. Even though he worked on it too, to him it was just a job he did on the side. The game and its reception did not affect him.

As Tails drove Sonic in his red Saab, he noticed the anxiety in Sonic’s eyes. He tried to talk to Sonic and said:

“Try to relax. It’s not the end of the world, whatever happens, happens.”

“I won’t be able to relax until I see those review scores.”

Realizing that continuing this conversation was futile, Tails drove Sonic the rest of the way in silence. Outside the sky was gray, and the clouds block almost all sunlight. To Sonic this was a very bad omen.

Sonic arrived at the SEGA building, at the entrance the news was posted. ‘Sonic Revelations’ averages between a 6 and a 7 out of 10. It received lukewarm reception. Soul crushing news for Sonic. The game did end up selling beyond expectations.

However, the good sales were not going to cheer Sonic up. He was devastated. Thinking to himself, I should have never accepted this offer to return to video games. I am embarrassing myself yet again. I should have walked away like Kiryu. I should stop with this fixing my reputation business.

Clearly, I am not good enough and I never will be good enough. The few games I made that did get good scores like Generations were just flukes. I have lost my touch and I will never make a game like the ones in the 90s. I will never be a star again. I should just tell Polanzo that I don’t want to make the next game.

Ugh, I signed that contract and with these good sales, he is bound to make me do it. I guess it is just one more game. I will sleepwalk through that one, put out some garbage game, and leave this life behind. Time to hang up the gloves like I did my hero business a long time ago.

I honestly want to disappear right now.

Sonic walked to the company lounge, sat at a table, ordered some coffee, and was on the verge of tears thinking about his current situation.

Knuckles was already in the lounge and he noticed how sad Sonic looked. He came to make fun of Sonic for the average reviews the game got.

“I guess ‘Sonic Revelations’ didn’t set the world on fire huh?” Knuckles said wanting to gloat at his former friend’s defeat.

Before Sonic could say anything Polanzo approached Sonic from behind and said, “Excellent work blue boy, the game is flying off the shelves, it has stronger opening sales than your three previous games combined. Even though our media analysts said there was a good profit potential, they couldn’t have predicted this.”

After giving the congratulations to Sonic, Polanzo snapped his fingers at Knuckles commanding him to leave the lounge with him. Knuckles obeyed without saying a word and Sonic was left alone.

The words of praise meant nothing to Sonic. He was still sad about the scores and how much of a poor game director he felt he was. However, he would not be sitting alone for long. Kiryu approached his table soon after Polanzo and Knuckles left.

When Sonic saw Kiryu coming, he groaned. Right now he wanted to be left alone and just sulk by himself.

“You look really down what’s wrong?” Kiryu said.

“What the fuck is right is a better question.”

“Well if it’s a long story I can listen.”

“You wouldn’t get it.”

“Listen,” Kiryu said in a stern tone, “I can sit here and you can tell me what the problem is, I have time for whatever time it takes for you to tell me. I can try to give advice and try to help so we can find a solution together. Or I can walk away right now and you can continue being edgy by yourself.”

Sonic was surprised by Kiryu’s tone. He was used to getting babied by Tails whenever he was in a bad mood.

“Okay, if you are willing to listen sit down, it's going to take a while,” Sonic said.

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Kiryu sat at the table across from Sonic and ordered coffee as well. So began Sonic’s retelling of his journey to Kiryu so far. He told him about his downward since ‘Sonic Heroes(2003)’ and how it affected him, the break up with Amy and most of his friends, losing his wealth, reconnecting with Tails, and finally the making of ‘Sonic: Revelations’.

Kiryu had listened to Sonic without saying much waiting for Sonic to finish his story. Once Sonic had finished Kiryu spoke:

“I feel like I understand. I did know a lot about you and your history but it was good to hear it from your perspective. I will ask the same question I asked you a while back. Why are you making games?”

Sonic took a deep breath, “I wanted to prove to everyone that I can still be good at it.”

“Was that really the only reason?”

Sonic was confused, he wasn’t sure what Kiryu was getting at.

“How did you feel when you came back to directing games after your long pause?” Kiryu said.

“I felt happy, I was having a lot of fun, and making it was very fulfilling to me.”

“I think that is the core of why you want to make games. Any creative work you do should be done because you want to do it. You want to do it for the sake of doing it. Art can be made as an expression of an emotion, it can be to make the audience think or it can be just for entertainment, hell it can even exist without any purpose.”

Sonic lightly nodded and waited for Kiryu to continue.

“You loved making video games more than anything else. Shouldn’t the fact that you feel like you want to make more games just because you want to do it be the thing that motivates you.”

“But you walked away, didn’t you? You walked away while you didn’t tarnish your reputation.”

“I didn’t walk away because I had a reputation to uphold or because of some review scores. I walked away because I didn’t want to make games anymore. That was that. If you feel like you don’t have any passion for the creative work you do, you shouldn’t do it. You clearly show so much passion. Your eyes light up when you talk about the parts of the games you are really proud of and you are ecstatic when you are designing levels and so on.”

Sonic grabbed his head, “Even if I love doing it what good does that mean if all I get is criticism and ridicule? All the critics judge me to be making awful or average games.”

“When you are making any kind of art or creative project there is only one judge’s opinion that you should care about.” Kiryu raised his index finger.

“Who?”

“You,” Kiryu pointed at Sonic. “You should be the ultimate judge of your own work. Your own opinion of your work is what should matter most to you. Are you proud of the games you made?”

“Almost all of them.”

“Then that should be enough. You need no one else’s approval.” Kiryu said. “Now obviously I don’t mean this literally, you should listen to constructive criticism so you can improve your work. Also, in our business of video games, we have to make something that’s going to sell well if you want to keep making more games.”

Sonic began to lighten up, “You’re right. It is pretty simple when you think about it. I do truly love making video games. It should be enough for me if I’m proud of my work. I was also so obsessed over the score itself that I didn’t even think what the substance of the critiques was to try to improve. I can’t believe I didn’t understand something like this for so long.”

“Another thing I noticed, you tend to overlook the contributions of others. Making video games is very much a team effort. A big reason many of your friends started to resent you is because you didn’t appreciate the work they put in. A lot of them cared just as much as you did about the project. Even in the projects you did ‘solo’ you still didn’t make the game alone.

“For example, ‘Sonic Unleashed(2008)’, a game you made without your friends. I think one of the best qualities of that game was the soundtrack. In my opinion, it’s probably the best in the series. The songs that played in the hub worlds complimented the environments beautifully, the daytime and nighttime songs brought a very different vibe and feel to those places. The stage music was also on point, the fast-paced songs were perfect for the running levels and the jazzy songs made the combat levels very relaxing when you are platforming.”

Sonic nodded. “I do agree the music is fantastic in that game.”

“Who was the composer for the music in ‘Sonic Unleashed(2008)’”

Sonic squinted his eyes trying to remember, “I think the credits listed 6 composers but unfortunately I don’t remember their names.”

“I think those people deserve more credit and in your new game, Shadow was a part of it too right? You should be more mindful of the contributions other people bring to the games you make with them. It’s easy as a director to see it as your game but the reality is everyone puts a little bit of themselves in the work they do, your part is probably the biggest but don’t look over everyone else.”

Sonic felt like a lightbulb in his head had turned on. He had been told many of these things before, but now for the first time, he was willing to listen. Everything Kiryu said was making sense to him and he now felt really good about his new game despite the disappointing reviews.

“I hope it's not too late to change course now,” Sonic said.

“I don’t see why it would be too late. The Revelations game is selling well, you have a new game coming up because of the contract you signed. Everything is working out in your favor. One last thing I would like to say. You obsess over the ridicule you receive online but under all of the memes you still have a dedicated fan base that is looking forward to the new things you make. Keep that in mind.”

Kiryu looked at his wristwatch and stood up. “Sorry, I have to leave right now. I hope I was able to be helpful.”

Sonic smiled and said, “Thank you, you really were a big help.”

Kiryu walked away and Sonic was left to drink his coffee. Sonic had to go do his work soon too.

***

After working hours were over, Sonic was waiting for Tails to pick him up in front of the SEGA building. Sonic’s day was mostly spent on paperwork and other similar bureaucratic work. The sky had cleared up and it was sunny and bright outside.

Tails arrived and Sonic got into the car. What Tails expected was to see his friend depressed and in a horrible mood, instead Sonic had a smile on his face and he was very cheerful. Tails saw the less-than-stellar reviews and expected Sonic to be his usual depressed self on these occasions.

“You seem in a good mood?” Tails said.

“I feel good.”

Tails was happy and pleasantly surprised. Sonic sat in the car and Tails drove them home. On the way, Sonic told Tails about the talk he had with Kiryu and how that changed his perspective.

“I’ve been thinking,” Sonic said while looking out the window. “Since the ‘Sonic: Revelations’ is selling well right now and it turns out to be a great success I might have some negotiating power in the company again like I used to.”

“Okay?” Tails wasn’t sure where Sonic was going with this.

“I can maybe demand them to include you too. I know you said you have no desire to go back but I figured you might have said that so that I don’t feel guilty over the offer. I couldn’t fight for your inclusion but now I think I can. With the profit I brought the company, I can make demands like I did in the past. They can still reject me but I can try if you want to. It could be used to, it can be like old times. I promise I won’t be a jerk this time around though.”

Tails thought about it for a moment. While he never considered going back to video games he did remember the fond memories he had from when they made ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2(1992)’ together. “You know I would actually love that. I have a few more exams left and I will finally get my degree. I would love for us to make a game together again.” Tails smiled at Sonic.

“The game won’t be anytime soon. There has to be a pause between releases if you remember. We will probably start early development in like 6 months or something.”

“Will Shadow be a part of the next game?”

“I don’t know if the higher-ups have plans to include him next time. I will ask Shadow if he wants to do another one and if he says yes, I will demand the same as I will for you.” Sonic looks at Tails through the rear-view mirror. “Is it a problem if Shadow is with us?”

“Why would it be a problem?” Tails raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t know I thought you might hate him working with us considering how against you were him moving in with us?”

“I don’t hate Shadow. He still denies genocides but I think fundamentally he is a good guy. He is good at heart and he is a lot of fun to hang around. It’s just that he is getting poisoned by these horrible videos online and dumb social media posts.”

“I agree. He makes me mad sometimes with his brain-dead politics but I guess nobody is perfect.”

On the drive home, Sonic and Tails were in high spirits and talked about video games and movies on the way. They were both excited about the future and the prospect of making a game together.

Finally, this time I will do it right. I won’t make the same mistakes I’ve been making all of my life, Sonic thought to himself.