Thanks to Hamada for helping with edits.
One of the longest and most negative editorials I ever wrote is my Sonic the Hedgehog 4 retrospective. But it was also a deeply rewarding undertaking. The misleading, unfulfilling marketing cycle backing SEGA’s misguided, weak duology made for a draining experience, one that was cathartic to cover. And, tragically, Sonic 4 wasn’t the first time SEGA disparaged the name of their internationally beloved mascot’s heyday. A worse, far more damaging example predates their episodic experiment by a mere three years.
Princess Elise the Third, seen moments before disaster in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) (Image: FCPlaythroughs)
The 2006 Xbox 360 / PlayStation 3 platformer Sonic the Hedgehog—which I’ll henceforth call “Sonic 2006” to distinguish it from the older, better games of which it shares its title—is infamous. Now, we’re nearly nineteen years removed from its release; the game’s many problems are well-documented and jabs at its expense are low hanging fruit. Though Sonic’s unfortunately continued to see dubious releases, there was a conscious effort on SEGA’s part to course correct after 2006: subsequent entries avoided oversized rosters and “epic” narratives. I don’t want to perpetuate the notion that 2006 represents Sonic today; it doesn’t. But…it’s still compelling. Plus, I have a long history with the franchise. Surely I’ve earned the right to discuss this bugbear at least once, right? Well, I’m going to do so through the character at its heart…
Princess Elise’s History
Sonic 2006 suffered through a chaotic, troubled production cycle. A leaked script from early in development revealed that newcomer Elise was originally named Oliga in tribute to the famed Russian singer; CG animator Juan Solís knew her as such. Then-Sonic Team writer Maekawa Shiro pushed for that name, though the powers that be forced the studio to change it. In another example of Aughts stunt casting, Party of Five star Lacey Chabert secured the role of Elise. According to then-SEGA of America Marketing VP Scott Steinberg, she suited 2006’s “deeper storyline” and delivered “the powerful emotional connection that gamers have grown to expect from Sonic titles.” Meanwhile, Maaya Sakamoto portrayed the princess in Japan.
An early rendition of the game’s opening cinematic featured someone else voicing Elise. (Image: FCPlaythroughs)
Ten years ago, the Duke of Soleanna, Elise’s widowed father, tried to harness the power of the time god Solaris. His unholy experiments fatally wounded him and split Solaris into two lesser deities, fire demon Iblis and shadowy schemer Mephiles the Dark. With his dying breath, the Duke sealed the former inside his young daughter and told her never to cry—lest the “Flames of Disaster” be unleashed.
In the present, Elise is the shy, 17-year-old figurehead of the Venice-inspired country and starts Sonic 2006 by attending its annual Festival of the Sun ceremony. The villainous Dr. Eggman crashes the party and abducts Elise, aiming to harness her world-ending power. World-traveler Sonic the Hedgehog comes to her aid, and the series staples basically spend the hero’s campaign trading her back and forth. Sonic’s story ends with her safely in his custody.
Since 2006, Elise briefly cameoed in Sonic Generations’ credits sequence, Sonic Rivals 2, the Archie comics, a Sonic Channel calendar after winning a poll, and is mentioned in Shadow Generations and a few other places. She received a modest redesign for Channel, making her proportionally similar to the Puyo Puyo cast. (Image: FCPlaythroughs)
In the final campaign, Mephiles shoots Sonic from behind, killing him. Elise cries, Iblis is freed, and it and Mephiles merge together. The surviving heroes then gather the Chaos Emeralds to revive Sonic, an ordeal Elise finishes by…kissing his lifeless body. After besting Solaris, Sonic and Elise travel back in time to the moment of Solaris’s birth. She’s hesitant to extinguish it, as then she would lose her memories of Sonic; it’d be as if they never met! With his encouragement, however, she pulls through and erases the sun deity. In the new, better future, Soleanna’s festival begins anew and Elise senses Sonic is nearby. Wistfully, she smiles.
So, what’re my thoughts on Elise?
Let’s travel back in time to the early Aughts. A phrase SEGA commonly used when promoting upcoming Sonic games was how they were bringing the star “back to his roots.” Seriously, it cropped up to hype up nearly every game: Sonic Adventure 2 for dropping three gameplay styles and the hubs of its predecessor, the 2D Sonic Advance titles, and 2004’s Sonic Heroes for its aesthetic callbacks to the SEGA Genesis entries (mercifully, no such claims undergirded the firearm-focused, motorcycle-fueled mess that is Shadow the Hedgehog). Those games were important to me, helping turn me into a huge Sonic fan. Even as a kid it felt silly seeing SEGA trot that phrase out so often, though. How many tries does it really take to yield a title on par with Sonic’s pedigree? Still, I didn’t contemplate it much and simply enjoyed the games.
Making the original Sonic the Hedgehog was a challenging, complicated procedure. A lot was riding on its success, after all! (Image: SEGA)
By 2005, though, a pervasive feeling was growing among critics, my friends, and—though I denied it—myself that Sonic was spiraling awry. Spin-offs were (and are) hit or miss, but the console platformers were sharply declining in quality. I remember bitterly trying to convince myself and others that Heroes was fun while silently burying the feelings of frustration and boredom it evoked. It was an alien, upsetting feeling for little Cart Boy—Heroes was the first core Sonic game whose launch I could anticipate, to the point where I even dreamt about it! Heroes was “my” cool, new Sonic game! For Shadow…well, I couldn’t maintain this act for long; that game’s irrevocably revolting. Even Sonic Adventure and Adventure 2, which felt like a bold new direction for 3D platformers, began showing their age (though I still adore the former and harbor lingering affection for the latter).
Surprisingly, SEGA seemed to agree. Yes, the company wasn’t outwardly denouncing its lackluster Sonic games; that’d be bad business. But 2006’s announcement was telling: it’s a “reinvention,” the “rebirth of Sonic!” Series steward Yuji Naka and Sonic Team were tackling it as if it were the groundbreaking Genesis original, re-interrogating what made the character and series special. That this Sonic was inheriting the original’s title made sense; Sonic the Hedgehog was meant to be a soft reboot divorced from the preceding misfires that’ll simultaneously show how far SEGA’s flagship franchise has come—this time we’re going back to his roots for realsies, right? The fact 2006 was the franchise’s first foray in high definition made it sound all the sweeter. Really, I couldn’t tell you how many times I watched its tech demo teaser, desperate to play it.
Although I had misgivings with the art direction even this early on, this screen shot still hyped up high school-era Cart Boy immensely. It’s Sonic boldly leaping head-first into a new hardware generation, promising playgrounds vaster than anything earlier games could muster. (Image: SEGA)
A simple, elegant “nature vs. technology” theme powered Sonic 1: our woodland hero is out to stop Dr. Eggman and his malicious misuse of technology (Sonic CD, one of its direct follow-ups, beautifully explored this theme further). Several concepts were scrapped during development to get there, though. One of the more eye-catching ideas is Madonna, a buxom blonde who would’ve been the hedgehog’s girlfriend. Madonna’s a clear riff on Jessica Rabbit of Who Framed Roger Rabbit; both women are romantically involved with talking animals and dress similarly. The notion that Sonic openly coexists with “normal” humans was also present through the “Original Story,” where the heroic ‘hog rescued a girl from a fiery explosion.
None of those questionable concepts came to pass, thankfully. As the story goes, SEGA of America was instrumental in “softening” Sonic, one aspect of which involved removing Madonna. Well, Naka—who, to be clear, has a poor track record telling the truth—offered another explanation: Mario games are about rescuing dames, so they decided to go in a different direction. Sonic’s meant to be the plumber’s cooler alternative, after all.
An appalling Sonic 2006 demo hit that summer, and I decided against buying the “finished” game after trying it (years later I bought a cheap used copy). That would’ve been unthinkable in 2005—I partially bought my Xbox 360 for 2006! 2006 was a miserable year as a Sonic fan and made me reevaluate if I even was one. (Image: FCPlaythroughs)
Both are excellent reasons for dropping the Blue Blur’s bae. The giant elephant in the room is that pairing a hedgehog with a human just looks strange. Remember, Who Framed Roger Rabbit is part comedy; ideas that work there won’t necessarily mesh with the hip, rebellious image SEGA was cultivating for Sonic. Creating art is immensely difficult, especially when it’s meant to be commercially viable at a global scale; reining in Sonic Team’s more outlandish impulses was necessary. Or if they did cut Madonna out of a desire to distinguish their namesake from his competitor, that’s also smart. Sonic’s a free spirit who travels wherever the wind takes him. Tying him down to a girl is antithetical to that.
And that all finally brings us to Elise, a resurrection of those scrapped ideas twisted through 2006’s hideous “what if Sonic were real?” lens. Now, I don’t care for Madonna conceptually, but at least she’s a cartoony caricature, not a Final Fantasy reject. Visually, it cannot be understated how absurd Elise looks next to Sonic; he’s roughly half her height and his head’s, what, twice as big as hers? His lankier proportions in 2006 do nothing to help and only serve to make his model look ridiculous. The “romance” between the two yielded some of the most stilted and bizarre cutscenes I’ve ever witnessed by that point in my life. And what’s really regrettable is that angle wasn’t even necessary; having the timid teenager simply befriend and learn from him would’ve effectively evoked the fairy tale-esque energy Sonic once tapped into. He also has a history of helping people mature into more confident, sociable versions of themselves (a quality Sonic Frontiers leveraged).
Gameplay-wise, Elise adds a gimmick in two levels where she lets Sonic run over otherwise lethal surfaces (which, notably, is the only time his energy gauge has any use). A love-themed minigame also forces you to choose between her or Amy. (Image: FCPlaythroughs)
Forsaking Sonic 1’s simple yet snappy plot, Elise gets abducted no less than five times (to say nothing of the oppressive melodrama that fuels the other three campaigns). One time Elise even surrenders herself to Eggman! That should be a poignant, heroic sacrifice, and I suppose it technically is, but it just loops back into the cliché. Surprisingly, Elise manages to escape captivity once (albeit with Amy’s help), which is nice. But it’s glossed over too quickly and is too short lived to register as a real victory. People joke about how Princess Peach is always “in another castle,” but she’s still likable, Super Mario Bros. never pretends it’s some grand epic, and Sonic playing that trope straight betrays so much of his Genesis-era spirit. It’s telling that Amy’s sort of an inverse of Peach, too—she’s chasing Sonic, not the other way around!
Although the chronic kidnappings might imply otherwise, Elise isn’t just a plot device; she’s the game’s emotional fulcrum. She has an arc about learning to open up, live in the moment, and savor the niceties in life. Sonic, who admits that he’ll leave the country after the day is saved, acts as its catalyst. On paper, it sounds kinda nice, bittersweet. But it falls flat because investing in the demure dame is nigh impossible. She has little connection to anyone or anything besides Sonic and her vaguely-defined royal responsibilities. It’s also tough to take the whole “no crying” thing seriously; a teenager in her heavy situation will get misty-eyed now and then, y’know? Not to mention that it bluntly telegraphs Sonic’s temporary death and, by extension, Iblis’s release. Sonic Rush of one year prior also makes for an unflattering comparison: its flagship newcomer, fellow princess Blaze, spends the game learning the value of friendship. To be clear, they are distinct characters—Blaze acted more as a rival to Sonic, an equal—but she’s simply much more fun and engaging.
Elise has a leitmotif and a sappy theme, “My Destiny,” that plays over the credits. The latter easily ranks among the series’ worst vocal tracks. (Image: FCPlaythroughs)
The Soleanna sovereign is primarily remembered for one cutscene, a moment the franchise has regrettably never been able to live down. People still bring up the kiss to Sonic Team, even to people who were completely uninvolved in it. And, yes, it’s awful. I winced when I first saw it. Many burst into laughter; others seethed. We all wondered how such a scene wormed its way into a Sonic game. How did we go from rescuing hapless woodland critters to this? And the kiss answers that teaser’s Super Sonic sequence, where the hero’s triumphantly revived, in the most unsatisfying way possible this side of a Zach Synder superhero film.
However, for all the problems that still plague Sonic, Elise mouthing the corpse of her crush remains exclusive to 2006. We’ve all made jokes at its expense (same for the game’s countless other issues). And we shouldn’t forget Sonic 2006 lest SEGA dare publish another franchise-derailing dumpster fire on its level. But it’s been well over a decade and the humor on this point is dried up. Sonic Team undoubtedly got the message, and we’ll probably never watch another human smooch a torpid hedgehog. We can let this talking point rest.
Chabert argued in an interview that Elise’s crush is harmless. History certainly didn’t agree. (Image: FCPlaythroughs)
Sonic 2006 occupies a strange position within the franchise. Sonic’s social media makes jabs at its expense and it was delisted from digital storefronts in the west, but SEGA as a whole never exactly buried it. Elise’s stablemate Silver the Hedgehog became a recurring character, though he always had more going for him and isn’t intrinsically chained to its most notorious cutscene (Mephiles, Iblis, meme darling Sonic-Man, and levels Crisis City and Kingdom Valley didn’t make out poorly either). As apathetic as I am to both, though, it was shockingly pleasant to see them ice skate together in that Sonic Channel calendar. This isn’t to say that I’d be excited to see Elise properly return or that she has untapped potential, to be clear. Giving her an occasional nod is already plenty. However, I’ve reached the point where I’d be fine if she scored a weightier encore, assuming it’s handled tastefully; the mere sight of her doesn’t drudge up painful memories anymore.
SEGA takes feedback to heart, even if they regularly trip over themselves trying to “fix” Sonic. That’s undoubtedly aggravated by underlying management, scheduling, and budgetary issues, too. Nevertheless, their handling of Sonic as of late does convey a somewhat greater level of confidence and care. Frontiers firmly embraces the legend’s legacy (sometimes in clunky ways, admittedly), including the aggressively dumb Black Arms aliens of Shadow. And they managed to reappear in Shadow Generations alongside Mephiles! Even Elise gets a shoutout therein, one that reveals she’s befriended Big the Cat. Not only is that kinda charming, but it shouldn’t be offensive to anyone who still dislikes her. She’s simply going about her life, albeit off-screen.
Fresh defenses of Sonic 2006 have sprung up in recent years. If I may be indelicate, the game will always be an abject train wreck (fan remakes notwithstanding). But it’s interesting seeing its fans age up and champion their nostalgic favorite. I mean, I’m no stranger to defending Sonics! (Image: FCPlaythroughs)
Whether the quality of the franchise steadily improves or not, Sonic’s been around for over three decades. For good and ill, it has plenty worth remembering, and nobody forgot Elise. She’s emblematic of Sonic 2006, the franchise’s crowning failure. That she’s reemerged at all shows SEGA has grown comfortable acknowledging what’s likely their mascot’s single most maligned moment. And where Sonic’s always running towards the future, towards his next adventure, it seems his corporate overlords are no longer running away from their past mistakes. Much like how newer Star Wars media can apparently “redeem” the joyless prequel trilogy’s iconography, the talent working on Sonic today—many of whom are fans-turned-pros—are working miracles with the mammal’s worst, too. After Shadow Generations, I’m eager to see where Sonic goes next!
Congratulations, Elise! May we always continue to have peace.
Following 2006, only once have I found myself excited for a new Sonic without reservation. Although that defense mechanism will likely never subside, I’m also no longer so burned from 2006 that I’d staunchly object to seeing its iconography again. And since people still rag on this lass, nobody else could use any potential rehabilitation more. (Image: SEGA)
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Wait what? “My Destiny” is considered to be a pretty good song nowadays.
Maybe this one’s just me falling outside the norm (as I often do), but I never cared for it. Glad that people do, though.