Cautious optimism about Eggman's role in the 2020s
In the 00s, I was really dissatisfied with how Eggman was utilized in the series. I feel it was (SA2 aside, which was a stellar performance) easily his weakest decade in terms of appearances.
In the 00s, Eggman was sidelined by other villains repeatedly, and not even in a cool way that made him a playable character most of the time. From being imprisoned by Metal Sonic to getting slapped aside by Dark Gaia to (perhaps most humiliatingly of all) getting slapped to death by Shadow in the mopey miscreant's spinoff title. Non-canon ending or no, there's a certain indignity to the way the scene was (ahem) executed that no other game has sunk to. He did alright in most of the handheld titles, but the home console games were usually so bleak for Eggman fans.
So when I see the 2020s embracing the "darker" themes of the 2000s - much to the praise of fans who are nostalgic for that era - it gives me pause as an Eggman fan.
I have to remind myself that just because the series in the 2020s is leaning into "darker" themes again, it doesn't mean it's just going to be just like the 2000s.
Let's step back, and look at Eggman's performance this decade so far:
Sonic Frontiers (2022): Not the main villain, but important to the story. He gets a lot of character development through Sage, and I would argue Eggman and Sage's familial bond is the heart and soul of Frontiers' entire story. Also got those Egg Memos that delve into his psyche, which was super cool!
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (2023): Main villain.
Sonic Superstars (2023): Replaced as the final boss by a big ol' generic dragon. Not a fan of this appearance, as it doesn't really "make up for" Eggman's lack of final boss status by giving him some other cool thing.
Sonic Dream Team (2023): Main villain.
So far, Eggman in the 2020s has been the main villain of two games (Murder, Dream Team), and gotten extremely good character development in another (Frontiers). Of the former category, one of them even had a veritable "super form" (Nightmare Eggman) for him. It was cool as hell.
I genuinely don't think he's having a bad performance so far. So far, in his four game appearances this decade, he's two for two on being the main villain, and in one of the cases where he wasn't, the story focused so much on him that I don't even mind.
So even if the series is embracing some of the aesthetics of the 2000s, I don't think that Sonic is automatically going to be "2000s-esque" in the sense that the series just fails to utilize Eggman in cool or interesting ways. They've clearly demonstrated they can do that. I think Ian Flynn and even Takashi Iizuka realize that people like Eggman as a character, so I'm not expecting to just get a glut of games where he's completely sidelined with nothing interesting to do.
So yeah. Despite Sonic X Shadow Generations not looking like my cup of tea at all, I am still pretty optimistic for Eggman in the coming decade.
I'm hoping that next year, we get a game that's more for me. Hopefully Eggman plays a big role in it.
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