of wretchedness, with 2014's Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric.

"That was made for a TV show first and foremost, and a lot of the show's own animation team took the lead on the look of that game," he tells me. "I didn't really have a lot of control of that project. [But] post-Mania, I feel the character, and the games, have really turned a corner, towards where we want it all to go."

Sonic Mania / Credit: SEGA, Headcannon, PagodaWest

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And on the movie - which will star Jim Carrey as the Hedgehog's long-time nemesis Dr Robotnik, and Parks and Recreation's Ben Schwartz as the voice of a CGI'ed Sonic - Iizuka-san is clear that he's across fan feedback, and is relaying what he hears to its director, Jeff Fowler, andrefreshing - I have to ask about Nights Into Dreams.

Team Sonic Racing / Credit: SEGA, Sumo Digital

SEGA's ill-fated Saturn console of the mid-1990s never received a mainline Sonic game; instead, Sonic Team produced Nights, with Iizuka-san acting as its designer. Widely acclaimed, the game - that swapped Sonic's speedy platforming for elegant flight - is regularly regarded as one of the best of its 32-bit era; and while it's available on Steam right now, and received a Japan-only PS2 remake in 2008, it's the sort of title that'd fit right in with the contemporary trend for ground-up remakes of older classics.

Iizuka-san cracks his widest smile of our entire conversation: "So right now, Sonic is my main focus," he begins. "But at some point, I'd love to return to