The stage also progressed at high speed!　Report on Tokyo Game Show 2017 "Sonic Force Stage" where Aoi Yuuki was also in high spirits from start to finish.

Tokyo Game Show 2017 took place at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan, from Thursday, September 21 to Sunday, September 24, 2017. At the Sega booth on the 23rd, the first day of public participation, a stage event was held for the 3D action game "Sonic Force" (scheduled for release on November 9, 2017) for PlayStation4/Nintendo Switch/Xbox One/PC.

This game is the latest in the popular series featuring Sonic, Sega's iconic supersonic hedgehog. The game uses the "Hedgehog Engine 2," created by Sega's development division, Sonic Team, for this title, and features beautifully rendered stages with high-speed action. In this game, Sonic and his allies who have fought alongside him in the past form a resistance against Eggman, the arch-enemy who has taken control of 99% of the world, and other enemies from the past in the series.

Taking the stage this time were Takashi Iizuka, producer of the Sonic series, Shun Nakamura, producer of Sonic Force, and popular voice actress Aoi Yuki, who voices the female avatar. In addition, Sonic himself made an appearance!　When Sonic appeared on stage, the audience cheered loudly, showing that even after 26 years since his first appearance, Sonic is still very popular.

One person who was particularly excited was Yuuki, who is a hardcore fan of the Sonic series. When he saw the PV at the beginning of the event, he was even more excited by the appeal of the game and asked Sonic to "marry me! and even high-fived Sonic.

During the general introduction, one of the main points of the show was the introduction of "avatars," which are characters created by combining various parts of the player. There, Yuuki, who prides himself on his love of animals, also showed off an avatar he had created.

It was a cute, albeit slightly odd combination of a pure white cat-type character and a gas mask, and it had the pattern of Yuuki's favorite character "Shadow" on its body and was carrying "Chao," an ancient life form that appears in the series.

Finally, the actual game play began! First, Mr. Nakamura showed us how he plays the game. As one would expect from the producer of this title, he easily cleared the stage with a high score.

It was exhilarating to watch Modern Sonic break through obstacles at high speed and run through the city in the midst of a blazing fire. The stages are composed of a mixture of 3D view and traditional side-view parts, with the side-view part in particular reminiscent of the days of the Mega Drive and Game Gear. The side-view part in particular reminded me of the Mega Drive and Game Gear days, and I was unintentionally very excited by the presentation.

Next, Yuuki played the tag-team stage, in which Avatar and Modern Sonic team up. He was able to clear the advanced route with ease, saying, "That was a piece of cake! He cleared the advanced route with ease. This drew applause from the audience.

Next was the announcement of the "Shadow Story" downloadable content. This is an alternate story to the main story, allowing players to play as "Shadow," the second most popular character after Sonic, and learn the story of the enemy side that was not told in the main story. When Mr. Iizuka announced that this downloadable content would be distributed free of charge to those who purchased the game on the day of release, the audience was very excited. Yuuki, who has a strong love for Shadow, was in high spirits throughout the event, and even after it was announced that the content would be free, he shouted, "I want to pay for Shadow! even when it was announced that the event would be free of charge.

Other announcements included merchandise, a hands-on event, and a collaboration with HOOTERS, a casual Americana dining and sports bar. The two "Miss Hooters Japan 2017" also made an appearance. The stage was filled with excitement and the event came to an end.

(Reporting and writing by Daisuke Shiki at TRAP)