During The Sonic Central Livestream last week, fans of the speedy blue hedgehog were shown a ton of new content coming to the franchise, including the all-new Sonic Superstars, Sonic Origins Plus, and an update for Sonic Frontiers. The update celebrated Sonic's 32nd birthday in Western Territories, by adding all sorts of things into the update.

Today, a new video released showcasing everything there is to the Sonic Frontiers Birthday Bash Update.

New Game +

New Game + is now available. For those who don't know, New Game + (or NG+) allows you to replay a game with all the upgrades from your previous completed playthrough.

Upon beating the game, you'll be asked if you want to turn your saved data into cleared game data. Then, in the main menu, you can choose New Game + and choose which cleared data you'd like to use. You can then enjoy the full game with all the upgrades you received in your first playthrough.

NOTE: If you play and beat the game in Extreme Difficulty, stats will NOT be carried over. Therefore, if you want to do a NG+ run, play the base game on Easy, Normal, or Hard.

Sonic Birthday Outfits and Content

The first thing players can do before even starting their game session can go to the Extras page, where you can change Sonic's outfit to his Birthday Bash one. You can also change the outfit of Sonic's friends as well as Koco he collects. The island's appearance can also be changed to “Party Details”, which will change many objects within the world to be more Party-themed.

Additionally, a DJ mix of Sonic Songs from previous games will play throughout your experience. This includes music from Knuckles Chaotix, Sonic Advance, and Sonic R.

Another big update is the inclusion of 32 new different types of Koco that have been added to the game. You can use the map's Koco icon to discover their locations, which can be turned in to increase your Boost Guage. Some Koco are also worth more than others when redeemed. More platforming sections are also being added.

A new move, called the Spin Dash, has been added. It's unlocked after completing certain conditions and does take energy from Sonic's Boost Guage. In this move, you can constantly stay in the hedgehog's ball form. It can be activated by standing still or when running, and you can charge the ability while in the air. The move also acts as an attack that can damage enemies.

The new Action Chain Challenge is like Score Attack. You have a limited amount of time to pull off special moves and skills to earn points. Additionally, you can get yellow orbs scattered throughout to increase your score multiplier.

Quality of Life Changes

Here are some of the big quality of life changes coming to Sonic Frontiers

  • New options to adjust the deceleration rate when jumping and stomping has been implemented
  • Maintain Sonic's Boost while Jumping
  • Dramatic Camera, which occurs during battles and cyberspace missions, can be turned off
  • Extra songs added to jukebox mode
  • Players can now see the overall completion percentage of each area in the game on the island select screen
    • 100% Completion will yield rewards for players
  • In Arcade Mode, Time Records for Cyberspace levels can be deleted
    • Marks will also be added next to time indicating which abilities had to be used:
      • White Mark – Homing Dash
      • Red Mark – Spin Dash
      • Yellow Mark – Deceleration
      • Blue Mark – Power Boost

Sonic Frontiers Birthday Bash Update Video

The end of the update video seemed to indicate that more will be coming down the road. You can watch the full video for the update below to see for yourself:

Sonic Frontiers released on November 8, 2022 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam.

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