Fifteen years on and Sonic's still running around. Despite some harsh criticism from fans of the franchise, Yojiro Ogawa and the Sonic Team are still optimistic that the North American debut of Sonic and the Secret Rings will please fans, delivering that next-gen Sonic experience that'll satisfy their cravings.

Kikizo recently caught up with Yojiro Ogawa and asked him a few questions regarding his thoughts on the game. One of the more interesting things we read was the decision to base the game's story on "Arabian Nights". According to Ogawa, they though that they would like to "revolutionise Sonic as well" in a sort of nod to the Wii's "Revolution" codename. He went on to say that he "thought it would be very interesting to have Sonic go into a storybook, that would be a very new concept for a Sonic game."

Of course, Ogawa also addressed the fans' criticisms of Sonic's appearances on Xbox 360 and PS3, pointing towards time constraints as the main culprit. "We did want to launch the title around Christmas, and we had the PS3 launch coming up, but we had to develop for Microsoft's 360 at the same time and the team had an awful lot of pressure on them," he said. "It was very hard for the team to try and see how we were going to come out with both versions together with just the one team. It was a big challenge."

Fans of 2D Sonic may also be getting their wish. According to Ogawa, the possibility that they will be making a 2D Sonic game - a sequel to Sonic Rush, perhaps - still exists. They just "don't know when" and "don't have any details yet," but they just "might."

For the full interview, click on the "read" link below.