Longtime Sonic fans who have been consistently abused  by the hedgehog’s post 16-bit adventures have flocked to Project Needlemouse as the series’ savior. The famous trailer that dropped last year hyped the series’ return to classic 2D gameplay, and was seen as the great vindicator for over a decade of subpar Sonic offerings (despite any information being revealed).

Consider the Project Needlemouse hype machine in full blast. SEGA’s building excitement leading up to the grand unveiling of Project Needlemouse by recruiting fans to spread the word about the upcoming game. There appears to be a number of contests that will appear this week, which will lead up to the grand unveiling of the game’s playable characters.

Probably the most interesting news here is that Project Needlemouse doesn’t refer to Sonic himself; Sonic has a friend named “Mr. Needlemouse.” Color me a bit skeptical that there’s yet another  buddy added to the Sonicverse, but I have (stupidly or no) faith that SEGA has learned from its mistakes.

Note: Does anyone else find it odd that Knuckles and Tails aren’t listed in the image above?