Trivia / The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog

• Descended Creator: Sonic social media manager and executive producer of the game Katie Chrzanowski is the one saying "THINK!" during the game's mini-game segments.
• Development Gag: The early designs of the Conductor and player character are included in the IDW comics one-shot comic, Winter Jam, as cameos on Eggman's TV.
• Dummied Out: Three music tracks and one jingle exist in the game's files that aren't used; Knuckles' remix of Mirage Saloon Act 2 from Sonic Mania^note Present in the Lounge Car files, so likely related to Knuckles' interrogation, Spagonia Night from Sonic Unleashed^note Present in the Conductor Car Interrogation files and definitely a placeholder track and an original composition and related stinger.
• Fandom Nod: The ending features two cameos with both Sage and Metal Sonic, who are both wearing "Let's go dad" T-shirts, hoping Dr. Eggman had succeeded in his plan. This is based on the fandom's popular idea that Eggman treats his creations like a family, with Metal Sonic and Sage being "siblings".
• Inspiration for the Work: According to Katie Chrzanowski, there were a number of influences:
  • The Ace Attorney series was the primary inspiration for the gameplay, as seen with segments where Tails and the player character interrogate the other characters.
  • The Murder Mystery aspect was inspired by Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, which also had a mysterious crime that was committed a train (which in turn was inspired by Murder on the Orient Express, which Chrzanowski credits as the visual novel's "main" inspiration).
  • The "THINK!" platforming segments are a nod to Sonic the Hedgehog 2's Special Stages.
• Meme Acknowledgment: Likely anticipating the response of fans recognizing that Sonic's "death" pose is based on the "fallen down" pose from Family Guy, the game's director, Michal Shafrir, released a backgroundless render of the image, asking fans to "go nuts" and make their own memes.
• Milestone Celebration: The visual novel was released nearly thirty years after the release of Sonic CD, Amy's debut in the games. Fittingly, the visual novel takes place on her birthday.
• Promoted Fanboy: More like promoted fan team. A lot of members of the development team (the Sonic social media team) are huge fans of Sonic the Hedgehog.
• Shipper on Set: DEEGEEMIN, the game's artist, ships player character Barry the Quokka with the default avatar of Sonic Forces, Gadget the Wolf.
• Sleeper Hit: Being a free game that was released on Steam, that also had the premise of "Sonic being murdered," along with it being on April Fools day, some might have written it off as another joke game like Big's Big Fishing Adventure 3: The Trial. However, it got an immense amount of praise from fans and critics for being a full-fledged and well-written Visual Novel spin-off focused on the characterization of the cast. It ended up getting over 1 million downloads within its first week, became one of the highest rated Sonic games on Steam, and even managed to become the 61st highest-rated Steam game for a bit.
• Surprise Release: The game was announced and released on Steam for free on March 31, 2023 (April 1 in other territories including Japan), with the franchise's official Twitter teasing "a new direction" for Sonic the Hedgehog a couple hours prior, which turned out to be... "he's dead."
• Viral Marketing: Being a game that was released on April Fools' Day, with the main premise being "Sonic has been murdered," and that the game was a free Visual Novel was part of the reason why many decided to check out the game.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Cream and Charmy were originally meant to be in this game according to this article, but the development team decided not to use them as they feel like a six-year-old is too young of an age to deal with a murder mystery party.
  • For the murder mystery roles, Vector and Espio were originally envisioned as a cook and a doctor respectively (instead of a butcher and poet). Vector wouldn't change much, but Espio's scenes would likely be a lot more different due to him taking his poetry gimmick seriously.
• Word of Gay: The game's artist, DEEGEEMIN, headcanons that Barry the Quokka is bisexual, with a preference for men. They note that they ship Barry with fellow player avatar, Gadget, from Sonic Forces.
  DEEGEEMIN: I’ve been very much influenced by all the Barry x Gadget shipping lol. Honestly such a good pairing tho..
• Word of God: Related to the last scene of the game, the game's artist explains that Sage was the one who made the "Let's Go Dad" T-Shirts to support her father, and was also the one who convinced Metal Sonic to wear them.

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