He might be turning 35, but there are no signs of slowing down from Sonic the Hedgehog. We love this speedy blue guy at Pocket Tactics, as his adventures over the years have captivated our imaginations in one way or another. Be it crossovers with Mario at the Olympics or the shredding guitar licks of the Sonic Heroes theme, there's a lot to celebrate. With the Sonic birthday livestream penciled in for Tuesday, June 23, 2026, there could be a few surprises to look out for.
If you missed the initial announcement, over on the official Sonic the Hedgehog account on X, it encourages players to swing by a special livestream. Sega promises that it'll be full of "special guests, gameplay, activities, music, and more to celebrate 35 years of Sonic." Among the growing guest list, you can expect to see Twitch streamer and Team Sonic member 'GamesCage' co-host the event alongside Honkai Star Rail voice actor Jacki Jing and pop culture content creator 'RogersBase'. On those aforementioned surprises, perhaps a look at new Sonic games could be on the cards.
We got a glimpse of Sonic Pico Park during Summer Game Fest, a 2D puzzle game offering a different spin on the hedgehog's antics. It wouldn't be out of the question to see some forthcoming Sonic Racing: Crossworlds content, either.
However, there is one thing I know Pocket Tactics' Kayleigh Partleton is eager to see, and that's the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Sonic Frontiers. Yes, the Sonic title that fans refer to as 'Sonic Death Stranding'.With a description like that, it's definitely worth giving it a try.
Opting for an open-world game format, Sonic Frontiers tasks you with collecting all the Chaos Emeralds across the Starfall Islands. Packed with a variety of biomes to race through, it's a far cry from the open-ended hub worlds featured in 2006's Sonic the Hedgehog. As this is a considerably bigger announcement, it's possible that this could appear in an additional stream down the line instead.
In a follow-up post on social media, Sega says that "we know many of you are eager for future Sonic updates. We won't be covering everything in this livestream, but we're excited to hang out with you on the 23rd."
Either way, we'll be tuning in. If you want to watch the livestream, you can head over to the Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube channel or Twitch page at 9:30 AM PDT / 12:30 PM ET / 5:30 PM BST. Looking for a watch-along buddy or want to discuss the stream as it happens? Make sure to run over to the Pocket Tactics Discord server.