Summary of all Sonic Frontiers Update & Sequel leaks from Morio Kishimoto's tweets

Summary of all the updates on Sonic Frontiers DLC updates leaked by Morio Kishimoto's tweets, as well as its sequel, and minor info on future games and spinoffs.

These are in order from oldest tweets/info to newest. Some of this information will be stuff already released in updates 1 & 2, but there is plenty of info about update 3 and a possible update 4, as well as the next mainline Sonic game, a direct sequel. Update 3/4 will be pretty huge, including new playable characters, new story, filling out previously empty areas, adding more moves etc.

Please forgive typos or grammatical errors, this is waaaay more info than I realised when I started typing and its already taken fricken hours to watch all these videos summarising it (credit to The Sonic Show) and quickly type sketchy notes whilst doing so.

Hope this is useful to someone, feel free to share or re-use, no credit needed. If you want, check out my IMDb page, it helps me look more famous than I am to casting directors! https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3570526/

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He says that the response to the new revised ending for Frontiers inspired update 3 including new story.
A user sent concept art from the 16bit era showing how platforms and obstacles can fit more naturally as part of the surroundings. Kishimoto says they have inspired him for new open zone areas. (unlikely to get a new island for Frontiers so this presumably is more related to the design for sequel?)
He agrees that the drop dash needs to be improved, and the spindash needs to be added, pledges to do both.
He created the Switch Frontiers demo himself between updates, he doesn't think he will have time to make demos for other consoles.
He confirms "new story" from the roadmap is not just refering to the ending, but a whole new "story update" + "large update". Implies a new update after update 3.
While talking about expanding on the existing plans for anounced dlc, and possible dlc before that, he states that in playtesting, they had feedback from 200 people. Using Twitter and talking to North Americans through google translate allows him to get feedback from 20,000+ people, which is much more likely to give the "average user's" opinion, so this is why he is so inspired and working to tweak/improve the game as much as possible to fit the USA and Europe, which is the intended primary demographic, as Sonic has more fans in these areas.
Sonic was originally meant to have the drift ability that Super Sonic has (Left trigger + stick while boosting). He confirms this is a feature he wanted in the game but was removed (plans to re-add this later).
Kishimoto's goal for "third generation" (mainline Sonic games moving onwards) is to be considered AAA but its up to the userbase to decide if Frontiers meets that goal by the time he's finished improving it. Implies that there will also be smaller AA Sonic games such as spinoffs, ports/2d games? Sega have already put out a statement that implies as much for Sonic in 2023 (of course, nowadays we know about Superstars, this was all before the release).
The Giganto boss took over 4 years of development to make it convincing and work the way he wanted. Confirms that he didn't make the model but does a lot of the game's programming and tweaking rather than having a more passive director's role.
Update 1 is in production, but no schedule, won't be released until its ready. Same with dlc going forward, only locked date will be Sonic's birthday DLC (which originally was intended to be separate to updates).
An unused version of Treadmill challenge where you have to match speeds rather than max them out was made but cut, code is still in the game (could be modded in, maybe officially readded?)
During development, they were moving "recklessly" to hit release date, but many suggestions/complaints that users have had are "accurate and helpful" in polishing the game now released.
Everything in the roadmap is 100% coming, but there is a lot more planned, and this situation is constantly developing/expanding - the list of things he wants to add and fix is growing, but he is not sure which things will have to be saved for the sequel. The next mainline game will be in the style of Frontiers and expanding on what they've learned from making it and improving it through user feedback and testing.

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User requests more momentum based gameplay, more freedom and physics in the traversal (rather than just dash panels etc). Kishimoto agrees "this is an important issue that needs to be addressed" and will improve the movement in open zones.
In the next mainline game, its important not to simply rehash Frontiers, but to aim higher and have the completed form of the perfect version of what they were trying to do with Frontiers and its updates.
A user said to stop harassing Kishimoto, and that Sonic fans will never agree because they all want different things. But Kishimoto responds that all messages are a great help in referencing the overall feelings and helping him to decide which directions to take in the future rather than just keeping to his standard plan.
A user says that Sonic having a "boost" button but not being fun to control when its not being pressed isn't good, and Mario has a "run" button, not Sonic. Frontiers feels more like an RPG with on rails segments than a true open ended Sonic game. Mentions red rings and parrying being too easy, Sailoop and homing being too slow, Boom being too strong. Kishimoto responds that it was a very helpful message, and he agrees that the non-boosting parts are an issue (and also an issue with all "boost" games), and its necessary to "make a large-scale effort" to improve this.
User asks if a story element of Sonic and Amy regretting their past and having unresolved conflict is confronted. Other users reply to say stop telling him what direction to take stories/characters in. Kishimoto responds that he will "comprehensively consider" everyone's opinions taking inspiration and making judgements as to whether they fit his direction. By asking for opinions, he is not simply going with the majority vote, but its helpful to get these types of feedback to give him things to consider if they fit his vision as director. Its his job to judge what people's expectations are, and to try and exceed them. He appreciates all opinions, even when people disagree with each other, and requests that users don't try and discourage others from stating something just because they don't agree.
He says he is the director of the next "film" but this is a translation mistake (that often comes up, from now on I'll ignore it) what he is refering to is the direction of the story in the mainline games, obviously not the movie series.
Someone made a fake screenshot saying you will be able to have s*x in Sonic Frontiers, and he jokingly responds that he didn't know about this feature and is surprised (!)
He confirms that (in universe) what Sonic sees as the final boss, is not what the player sees. The moon is just the default form and whoever looks at it sees a different vision. This is something he hopes to expand upon if he gets the opportunity. Implies that a "new ending" where we see Sonic's perspective is planned. (He expands on this later.)
He's aware Frontiers isn't perfect, wants to improve it, and use it as a "stepping stone" to making the next game perfect from the start.
The fishing parts of the game were intended for newcomers/beginners in Sonic games, so they could power up and not get stuck. However he isn't happy with it and thinks there is lots of room to improve this feature.
Again confirms that he isn't happy with the final boss "of course" and wants to improve it.
He agrees with criticism that there needs to be more "life" and structures added to the open zone areas, and part of the reason for this was spending too much development time concentrating on the leveling up and cyberspace parts. He hopes that this can be improved with updates as it doesn't feel "complete" at present, and this will definitely be a big focus in the next mainline game, especially because they will already have the main moves etc already down by then. He feels the current design of the open zones feels "bare" and in the next game would like to offer a similar game but in a more "sophisticated form", also considering improved traversal.
When asked about his philosphy for game design, he respondeds that Sonic games and stage clearing action games in general need a big change as games have matured but map/level selection
haven't progressed at the same rate. This is how he came up with the concept of "open zone" games but this is something that is new and still developing.
A user sent a video of all the extensive accessibility features of TLOU2. Kishimoto thanks them and said he will consider these things.
In contrast to Iizuka's statements, Kishimoto understands comparissons to Zelda and is "soothed" by them as a strong opponent means its rewarding to try and compete. Basically admitting that Zelda is in some ways an inspiration, even if only to up the quality of his game. When mentioning Zelda as a rival he says "lol I'll do my best"
Says to users "with your help, I would like to offer you the best game in the next title. Thats what this exchange is for".
A group of users got together and created a long detailled document with common praise and criticisms of Frontiers, trying to summarise overall feeling in a helpful way so he knows what elements to keep the same, and what to consider improving. I've personally looked at this document myself and its excellent, very detailled, clear, with images, bullet points etc. and it makes many unique points as well as the commonly tweeted out points. He seemed genuinely overjoyed and repeatedly stated how helpful it was and how much he appreciates it, and will study it like a "book of secrets" and will return to it regularly and will be helpful in shaping the future of the games moving forward.
Again confirms that the 2023 roadmap is the bare minimum and there are lots of surprises yet to come, even things that will surely be added that he doesn't yet know, because its constantly expanding/developing.
Confirms that there are unused parts of the tutorial level that were made but not used in the final game, but it is possible to reach them.

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They tried to incorporate a wide range of selectable difficulty levels, but it didn't work well with the cyber space levels. He wants to revisit this and improve it for DLC.
Confirms that Giganto was inspired by Evangelion and was planning a stage where unfinished mass-produced Gigantos were left unattended.
Again says that he agrees that the platforms feel somewhat randomly placed on to the open zone and do not feel encorporated into the landscape like previous Sonic games, and this is something that will be fully addressed in the next game.
He says he feels the difficulty of the pinball areas are too high and apologises, but if you are stuck on them for 2 hours (!) then fall prevention bumpers will now appear.
Again states that momentum needs to be a bigger part of movment and level design should be made to make the most of this in the future, and he feels he relied too much on scenery to solve the problem (boost pads etc). This is mostly something to address in the next game, but he has stated that he wants to use DLC to fill out some of the more empty areas, so presumably will bare this in mind, especially as the moveset is tweaked.
Confirms that he originally wanted to include both Spindash and Boost and combine them, but he couldn't make them work together for the final game. But now that he sees everyone wants it, he will go back and try again (obviously we now know this has been added!)
Says that by making Sonic Lost World, and Sonic Forces (2 very different games with positive and negative aspects to both) he realised that Frontiers was "worth making" by not being discouraged at the negative feedback but trying to combine the positive lessons learned from both.
A user requests "New Game Plus", new difficulty levels, and Super Sonic in open zone areas. Kishimoto confirms all three will be coming in the DLC updates.
The reason attacks while boosting works differently in Frontiers to previous games is a remnant of when Spindash used to be in the game, and an attempt to combine elements of boosting and momentum. This is something they are still experiementing with evolving.
A user made a detailled document explaining how they think the movement of the camera could be improved in both open zone and cyber space. Kishimoto replies that they had trouble getting the camera to work well whilst still expressing Sonic's speed. He says the document's suggestions were "very helpful" for pointers as to how to improve it.
A user asks if its true that Sega really lost the code for boost games like Unleashed, and expresses that the old controls there were better than in the Cyberspace levels. He responds that he agrees that the cyber space controls have issues and they are being worked on, and he will consider what they've suggested.
A user says they were confused by the end dialogue in the final boss on hard mode. Again Kishimoto says that he isn't happy with the end boss, theres more to explore there as far as its avatar/other versions, and wants to further explore this if its possible. This would preferably be in game via updates, but if this isn't possible in time, perhaps by a cutscene, comic book, or other way to expand the story and explain further what they originally wanted to convey.
A user asks about Hyper Sonic. He replies that he heard in past interviews that Hyper Sonic was "sealed" and it would be "hard to revive" but he wants to provide an equivalent to Hyper Sonic that will give a "more spectacular experience". Basically again hinting he's unhappy with the end game and wants to include a new Sonic form.
A user asks about an unused/unfinished QTE of Supreme, Kishimoto explains that it was something he was working on but didn't feel it met the quality needed for the final game.
He says that he doesn't feel the full potential of Open Zone has been shown yet and he wants to use the 3 updates to add as much as possible to improve the situation and help users see his vision of what Open Zone gameplay could be, and is still "lying dormant" - basically he wants to use the updates to their fullest potential to improve and add back in as many features and fix as many issues as possible, making something more akin to what he hoped to achieve but couldn't get done in time for release date. He literally wants the "finished" game after all updates to be transformed almost beyond recognition. Again, states that the confirmed contents on the roadmap are the bare minimum and not really what he envisions. Each update will be bigger than the last.
He states that in previous Sonic games that he directed, he just thought about doing his best at the time, but didn't really consider the evolution of Sonic games as a whole considering the past games and what the current game might lead to in the future. With Frontiers he had a completely different approach thinking of it not as a standalone product, but as a way to shape the whole future of mainline Sonic games, hopefully incorporating the best elements of old games in a way that will work well evolving into something more modern and unique.
He states that the cylindrical levels of Lost World were initially an attempt at having a wider freedom than traditional Sonic games but ended up unintentionally being similar to Mario Galaxy and not quite the large free areas that he'd intended.
He states that he would prefer for as much of the "DLC" content to be added into the main game's campaign as possible, rather than having it just be a separate "dlc mode" from the menu. But for additions where this is not possible because it would break the game / change the story too much, some of the new content may be accessible by menu. Basically saying the DLC is primarily about expanding the main game to more of what was originally intended, fleshing it out and making it feel more complete and polished, rather than adding it as a separate area/mode/campaign.
He mentions that work on the sequel to Frontiers is already in development because he is making prototypes, and planning on "secretly" including some of the prototype features in the DLC updates to test them and get user feedback, so that this can be used to both expand Frontiers but also ensure the next game will play well and users like the movement/features from the beginning. To me, this implies that Sonic's movement and combat will be significantly changed and improved over the coming DLC and the additions he's hoping to include are pretty major.
Says the "Puss in Boots" movie everyone was raving about is not yet available in Japan but he's very much looking forward to it (possibly for inspiration for action fight sequences etc? Maybe I'm reaching, but seems a very specific thing to state when usually he only tweets about Sonic)

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Confirms Frontiers is the first game in what he considers the "third generation" of 3d Sonic games. He doesn't mean that previous generations were bad, and also not all future games will be "third generation" (for example spinoffs, AA games etc) but Frontiers and the AAA sequels to it will be all using this same Open Zone style and mix of momentum and evolved boost gameplay that he is trying to perfect. There may still be new games using "first generation" (like Adventure) and "second generation" (Boost games) but these won't be the mainline titles - I'd imagine he might be refering to remasters or complilations of old games, but also not entirely ruling out "Adventure 3" in the future for those wanting something more similar to those games.
States that the pandemic caused a lot of problems in development (possibly contributing to what he has said about having to release when there were lots of missing features and things he wasn't happy with) but that very positive things came from it - remote working meaning that team meetings could be called easier and with less notice, so new ideas could be discussed and incorporated faster, and the fact they were all working remotely meaning more opportunities to gain inspiration from new surroundings and watching media etc. His "3 hour comute" (!) to the office instead became time he could be working on the game or thinking about it, and the fact he was working from home allowed him to instantly start trying out ideas when he had them.
Confirms that there are numerous Sonic games in development from different directors and that not all of them have such a serious/realistic tone, and implies that games with a more classic/cartoony feel are in development. Of course we now know about Superstars, but he specifically states multiple games and multiple directors. I personally hope this isn't just refering to the new mobile games, and there are AA or spinoff Sonic games coming down the line that we don't yet know about. The sequel to Frontiers is confirmed as the next "mainline" game, and is being directed by Kishimoto, so that doesn't count.
A user asked about online multiplayer or co-op, and Kishimoto says that its always in his mind as something to add in the future however he feels its much more important to first perfect the single player experience. He feels Frontiers single player mode still has a lot of issues that need to be addressed before even thinking about adding more players (which would just amplify the issues). He doesn't state so directly but given his other responses as to tweaking Sonic's movements, I feel sure that its extremely unlikely for him to be able to add multiplayer in time for Frontiers and is more likely to be something in future games once he is 100% happy with how Sonic moves/controls, plus the camera, level layouts etc are as he initially envisioned.
When a user presses him about the "other directors" working on current Sonic games simultaneously, saying that Kishimoto is the only director of a Sonic game in 10 years, he responds by mentioning Sonic Boom, Racing series, Mania, Origins, so this confirms what I said about the "other directors" working on spinoffs or non-mainline AA titles, and confirms that several similar games are in development from other teams.
Says the "next step" (presumably after improving the movement of Sonic) is to add more playable characters.
He also says the "next step" is to "make combat more robust and exciting". Whether that is before or after adding more playable characters is debatable, I'd imagine before makes more sense.
Says that "Darkspine Sonic" is tied to the storybook games and can't eally be used in mainline titles. But he also says that he actually created the character and he was inspired by the Dutch Viper racing stripes. Similarly "Dark Sonic" from "Sonic X" probably won't be included in mainline games as its a different universe... but some things from Sonic X have actually made it to mainline Sonic games previously.
Says that the spindash, rolling into a ball, and drifting are planned to be added "by the third update"
Says that the movement and playstyle will be brought closer to "Sonic Adventure" style in the "very near future" and they will be experimenting all the way up to the third update
Says he is thinking about lessening the need for boosting and the "next game" might "try" removing boost entirely if he can get the momentum based control style working in a satisfactory way. The "secret" additions of moves in the DLC updates for Frontiers as a way of playtesting and getting user feedback strongly implies that the moves we will get will mean you can play in a way that doesn't require boosting, if you wish. A lot of users responded saying "please don't remove boost" and he replies that of course they will also experiment with combining both styles of gameplay, but personally he sees the Adventure games as legendary and would like to challenge himself into making modern levels with non-boosting Adventure style level design. This got a dedicated article on a website that got a very positive response from people responding to it, and he was very excited/happy that so many people were excited about a more Adventure style gameplay with less/no reliance on boosting. He does say that he wants to do his best to meet everyone's expactations, however, and I think its likely that a mix of momentum and boosting will be the future and the DLC for Frontiers will be a way to experiement and find the right balance for moving forward, which he can then use for much tighter level design to make the best use of the final moveset and physics in future games.
He says his favourite giant bosses are the first and second, presumably because when running out of time he front loaded the polish into getting the early stuff as good as possible. We already know he's very unhappy with the final boss.
He adds lore that Cyloop is an ancient technology in Starfall, and Sonic is able to use it because another character (presumably Sage) is mentally controlling him.
A user sent detailled diagrams of their plans for ideal controls for a revved up spindash, a boost that you have to earn (similar to in arcade racing games), and a more satisfying and varied bounce/dropdash. Kishimoto says they are great ideas that he will consider.
He states that Sonic's quill length in Frontiers was adjusted to bring the look closer to the "loveliness" of Classic Sonic's look to a modern design. Presumably meaning adjusting the modern design to be more cute and appealing. He then starts a conversation with a Japanese user about how "foreigners" are starting to criticise the "modern" design and prefer the classic look, and modern Sonic should be made more appealing. I know this is a contentious issue but I very much agree. I think the Frontiers version of Sonic is more appealing than the standard model/render we see on lots of merchandise etc which is pretty tired and uninspiring. Evolving it is a good idea. Perhaps they are saying that Japanese audiences prefer the more teenage and anime proportions of "modern" Sonic but they've noticed that foreigners (the target demographic and the largest fanbase) prefers rounder, cuter designs, such as the one in the movies. I'd certainly LOVE a modern Sonic game with movie Sonic, he strikes a great balance between classic and modern design proportions.
A user stated that many fans are starting to get tired with Green Hill, Chemical Plant and Sky Sanctuary being reused over and over and asks if he wants to make more original environments like was done in Colours. He responded that of course he wants to make original areas but the decision was made to reuse the old areas in cyber space to contrast the original and very different feel of the open zones. He now sees that users "don't like" the old zones, which then people responded saying that he had misunderstood and its not that users don't like them, but that certain styles and areas have become overused and there should be a mix of brand new areas and maybe if reusing an old environment they could try areas that haven't been revisited as many times.
There was an unused enemy featured in the art book. Kishimoto says that he actually created it, but couldn't fit it into the game due to the memory limitations because of the multiplatform release (Switch cart?), but he sees this as a good thing as that created extra time to improve the existing enemies. But being that he created the model and wanted to include it, perhaps it might be used in DLC or future games.
He says that Blaze the Cat is one of his favourite characters and its possible she will be added.
Someone asked about making a new Sonic model closer to Yuji Uekawa's art style, and also if more work could be done on the anaimtion and posing of Sonic. Kishimoto agrees that these are areas where there are currently issues and room for improvement, but probably in the next game rather than DLC.
Someone messaged him expressing concern that he was replying to so many people, wanting to please them, and was it really possible to add all these changes and improvements for DLC in such a short period of time, expressing concern for his mental health and saying that if he needs more time or to defer additional features/improvements, its ok and the fans won't mind waiting. He replies basically saying that what can't be included in the DLC in time will be moved over to the next game. In many of his tweets its not entirely clear whether things he says he WANTS to include will actually make the DLC and I think this is because he's not clear on this himself yet - he sees development of the DLC and starting to work on the sequel as kind of fluid and crossing over each other. So he intends to include as much as possible in the DLC to make the game as finished/polished as possible, but is also happy to bring ideas that there aren't enough time to include into the sequel, which will of course also include all the DLC improvements from the start.
A user requests a survival mode, like hidden palace in Devil May Cry. He responds that he is going to add a combat based survival mode in DLC.

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He says "I wouldn't be surprised" if Infinite returns in future mainstream titles (he's previously also hinted that Infinite is somehow releated to Sage)
He says user created avatar characters (like in Forces) won't be added to Frontiers or its sequels yet because they are still giving priority to getting the issues with movement, control etc perfected. However "they will continue to be created in second generation titles". This basically again implies that another "boost" style game is in creation - though it could be refering to a mobile only game using that style - like adding avatar creator into Sonic Dash or similar, they've just anounced a new Dash game based on the Sonic Prime tv series, for example.
He states that if Sonic Frontiers had not been a success, he would have quit as director of Sonic games. But also that Frontiers itself was his attempt to use all of his experience and gaming knowledge to envision the future of AAA Sonic games going forward so if he can make it a sucess and a critical hit, he's happy to keep directing games in this style and improving on them over time.
He states that originally the parry controls were meant to be more manual but in playtesting people kept failing and couldn't progress so they were made more automatic. However he's now aware that some people complain that its too easy because of this. He's considering adding back manual parrying as a difficulty level or similar to make it more challenging for advanced users.
He originally experimented with using a health bar instead of the ring system but felt that this made it feel more like a generic action combat game and removed from the unique feel of Sonic.
He says that he agrees that the drop dash movie is unecessary for the gameplay but it was just included as a tribute towards Mania and is there for those that want to use it, rather than being necessary to progress "so far", implying perhaps in future level design he may consider making it more useful, but its mostly just there for fun.
There "may" be more outfits and cosmentics in future updates, but its still a "secret".
Kishimoto states that he previously considered Eggman being the final boss in Sonic games as a matter of course, but is reconsidering that for future games. Both Kishimoto and Iizuka have stated that Infinite and Robotnik are linked so perhaps that is a hint at a future story for a future game.
A user asked if Sonic's air tricks were inspired by Sonic Advance / Rush series. He says they were inspired by the trick board in Sonic Colours, but Colours was inspired by Unleashed, and Unleashed may have been inspired by Rush.
Some translation confusion/discrepancies as to exactly which Sonic games he considers "first generation" and "second generation", but confirmation that by "third generation" he means Frontiers and all AAA mainline games moving forward with Open Zone gameplay.
Says that Blaze is his favourite Sonic character, adding to the fact he'd previously said that its possible she will be added to Frontiers or its sequel and that more playabel characters are coming to Frontiers.
Asked about what kinds of non-Sonic games he'd like to direct, he essentially says he only wants to concentrate on Sonic for now, but if he ever made a non-Sonic game it would be another reflex/action based game, and he wouldn't want to do something like an RPG or simulation.
The music player dlc is complete.
In future games, Open Zone gameplay could be used in an action-adventure style with side stories, similar to the Adventure series.
Daisuke Sato from Yakuza games has previously expressed interest in working on Sonic titles. He was asked about this but didn't respond to this directly and talks about it later.
He states that in the future, having multiple playable characters working together at once (like Sonic Heroes) would certainly make the combat more fun and is one possible direction for evolving open zone games in the future, either playing multiple characters at once with co-op multiplayer or having the player control multiple characters at once.
He is asked about why the gameplay has to be split between the open zone and cyber space levels and says it would be cool to have more retro inspired areas like cyber space but with a modern playstyle like open zone. They include a video of Spark the Electric Jester 3. Kishimoto is impressed with the game, and says he can imgine the open zone gameplay evolving in this direction in the future.

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It is possible that Mephiles from Sonic '06 will appear in future mainstream titles and '06 is referenced in the Frontiers storyline.
He decided to add the titan bosses because he originally decided he wanted a "Super Sonic" battle with multiple bosses, and this decided that the bosses in the game should be stronger than the ones you normally fight in Sonic games.
Kishimoto's favourite villain is Metal Sonic. He feels that he's been weak in recent iterations but he has the potential to be made much stronger.
He's said he'd like to see a third Storybook Sonic game. But I don't think he was seriously hinting at this happening anytime soon.
Different Sonic games can have very different tones. The next Sonic game to be released will have a very different tone, and be from a different director (presumably this was Superstars) sidenote: Kishimoto said back in February that Dimps were making a new 2d Sonic game. Of course Superstars is Arzest. Either he was confused, the game changed hands, or there is another 2d Sonic game in the pipeline?
Again confirms that he is paying attention to user feedback of Frontiers to tweak and improve the "combat and movement".
A user mentioned that a lot of quite obscure characters like Tangle, Whisper and Sticks have been referenced in Frontiers, and asked about more obscure characters from comics and old games including the Freedom fighters, Honey the Cat, Mighty and Ray and Kishimoto responded "Yes, I'm very interested in seeing those characters appear". Which might at first just sound like he's just appeasing a fan but being the amount of obscure hardly referenced characters he's bringing into the Frontiers storyline, thats very interesting.
Someone suggested a difficulty mode where you can't recollect rings that are dropped, and he said he was very interested in the idea and would create very strategic gameplay.
He confirms this is the first Sonic game to sell 3 million copies since Sonic Heroes, and did so at the fastest pace ever. Also confirms this exceeded Sega's expectations.
Again confirms that Sonic '06 is canon in Frontiers universe and says he "loves and wants to affirm past titles".
He says he thinks the continued release of DLC and improving the game will lead to even higher sales, and he will do his best to keep the updates regular and as good as possible.
He's considering adding different abillities from the Chaos emeralds in gameplay for future games.
Confirms in lore that the Chaos Emeralds were brought to earth by the ancients. More information will be explained "when the time comes"

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The main purpose of the updates is to solve as many problems as possible in the limited amount of time given, and help users to further the the future potential of open zone gameplay. Anything they don't have enough time to include will be improved for the next game.
The 2d gameplay was not originally planned to be included in Frontiers but was added later to add variety. He is very aware that the 2d gameplay in Frontiers is "by no means convincing" when compared to Sonic Mania. He confirms that he plans to include 2d sections in future 3d Sonic games but wants to improve them significantly.
He refused to answer which is his favourite 3d Sonic game, because he's aware no answer will please all of the fans.
Again more confusion about what people consider "first" and "second" generation games that doesn't matter in the context of "third generation" being Kishimoto's term for Frontiers and its Open Zone AAA sequels/follow ups.
Again he's asked about the Yakuza producer wanting to get involved in Sega, this time he responds saying its the first he's heard about it. This is irrelevant moving forward though as that producer is no longer at Sega.
Kishimoto states that although he wants to include lots of characters in Frontiers and its sequels, he will have to propose each idea to Iizuka and the other higher ups for approval for each.
Before Sonic Colours, Kishimoto was lead game designer and level designer. He talks about how he gets ideas for levels and environments, playtesting, and proprietary level design software that they have for making Sonic zones. The current level editor has been in use since Unleashed, and improves with each game. Before that, a different level editor was used from Adventure to Dark Knight, again, improving each game.
Someone said they would prefer that rather than looking backwards at old character they would want new ones and he replied that hes aware some people feel that way and he'll bare that in mind. But being that Frontiers already has brand new characters and legacy ones too, I think theres the best of both worlds going on.
He responded to someone he appears to know in real life saying that he would like to meet up with him to discuss characters soon.
A user showed him a video of a Spider-Man game with interesting kinetic moves and combos, and had stylised things like breakdancing and surfboards. Kishimoto said he liked those elements and could see something similar working for Sonic.
Again confirms that the next game released will be a side scrolling game.
He says that he doesn't believe in current lore that Blaze is dead.

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Confirms Birthday mode and says it was planned at the same time as the first DLC update. So DLC 2 (which we just got) was originally planned to just be the birthday DLC, but he added the extra moves, new games plus etc to it making it a full update. Spindash was rumoured to be included in this release earlier than planned, turned out to be true.
User pointed out an error with the scaling of Sonic's skin texture which he hadn't noticed, and says he will fix.
He confirms that Sonic is single but may have "lovers" and suggests Amy. (!)
Apparantly a Sega executive previously said only male hedgehogs can go super, which Kishimoto says he hadn't heard before, but he would think it depends on whats best for gameplay. Of course since here we've seen Super Amy :)
When choosing what characters to include in what specific game, he thinks of the gameplay first, and then what characters would fit the gameplay best. Again confirms that Dark Sonic from Sonic X could possibly appear, in the right game at the right time.
Confirms additional characters in DLC 3 and each will have unique skills (not just reskins), similar to how each character does in Heroes.
He says that Frontiers is his favourite game that he has directed so far, but describes his next game as his "masterpiece" - again confirming that development is underway (he mentioned prototypes and testing for movement and environments before) and he's very confident that it takes everything great about Frontiers and improves on all the areas that people have disliked before by tweaking and adjusting based on feedback and adding most requested features and things he didn't have time for for Frontiers.
Sega are increasing the salary of staff by 30%. He confirms this.
Since a user showed it to him previously, he actually did go and try Spark the Electric Jester 3 like they suggested. He said it was very helpful, he was able to take some ideas from the videogame's design philosophy, and is going to incorporate some things inspired by it in a Frontiers update "without waiting for the next game" if possible!
Some people complained that the 4th island is too difficult (its not but whatever) one user suggested adding fishing to make it easier. He responded "thanks for letting me know".

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Confirms DLC 2 release date with Sonic's Birthday.
Confirms that rolling and more momentum style controls will be in "future updates" after DLC 2.
Confirms spindash will be in Update 2. Believes that the new momentum based movements he's developing make the open zone gameplay much better, which surprises him.
He says he wants to make a Chao garden in open zone. Says its probably too difficult to implement in an update, but he's "actively considering" it for the next game
A user sent him a speed run video using homing shots dashing. He says he likes seeing people playing the game in whatever ways are fun to them. He's added a mark in DLC that will show if you completed a area using it or not.
Ian Flynn will be writing the new story for Update 3 and its based on a storyline they wanted to include in the original game but didn't have time.
Confirms the development name was "Sonic Rangers", but this was based on the concept for the game before he took over as director. They changed the name because it no longer fit the released product. This is especially interesting because we didn't previously know that he wasn't always the director of Frontiers, and was potentially essentially "fired" after Forces wasn't recieved well. But then he was brought back and this makes even more clear the statement he made before about if Frontiers had failed he would have had to retire from making Sonic games.
"At first, we thought that the evolution of Open Zone would be separate from the update and in the next game, but after talking with everyone here, we are starting it with an unplanned update. You will be able to check some of them in the second update."
So, possibly a fourth unanounced update, or the size and scope of updates 2 & 3 being vastly increased.
He talks about the previous Sonic games he's directed, which ones were critically successful and which ones weren't, and he understands why. He was convinced that Frontiers would be well recieved, and he knows exactly what he wants to do to make the follow up (the next mainline game) even better and to be an even bigger success. He still needs to run everything by the higher ups at Sega but he feels so sure that he knows exactly what needs to be done, that if he is not allowed to do so, he feels he will step down as director because he feels so passionately that his plan is the right one.
Cronos was originally one large island, but it was too sparse and samey so they split it into 3 smaller ones to give more variety inbetween and move all the interesting elements closer together.
He agrees that the largest island "lacks excitement and becomes repetitive" "We are working on an update for this issue as well!" Again this confirms that either update 3 will be enormous, or there will be a 4th update.
He is embarassed by the original version of the game with the large version of Chronos and Giganto in the Supreme area. It didn't playtest well and he is embarassed to talk about that version.
He was sent a video of gameplay using community mods including flail falling physics, tricks during homing attacks, stomp reset, disable hit stop whatever you attack, dropdash on double jump, tighter jump rotation, retain momentum when jumping, disable jump board paths. He described it as "amazing" and was surprised at how freely Sonic moves. He will consider implementing some or all of these tweaks in official update / sequel.
A user sent him a document with suggestions as to how to improve the combat for larger battles, and he found them "very inspiring" and will consider them when working on the next game.
He originally considered Sonic being able to run on water like in Unleashed and Colours. But then he wanted to make an underwater "adventure stage" so gave up on the idea of running on top... but the underwater stage didn't make it to the final game.
He sees people discussing improvements to the combat and is actively trying to do so, but warns that it shouldn't become an entirely battle based game, its still a platform / movement game series at heart. Some users suggestions, while cool, would be more suited to fighting games or RPGs. However, he considers the idea of a spin off Sonic title that is fighting / battles only.
He confirms that everyone who worked on the game, "even a little" is named in the credits (this isn't true of lots of big games). He thinks the total people on the team for this game & the updates (or possbily the sequel, unclear) is about 300 people.
He hints "it sure would be nice to enter Eggman's base & explore it". This currently unused area could perhaps be used for something in the future - maybe a cosmetics store?
He didn't really understand Twitter before joining, but did so to gain feedback on how to improve the game. He's found it a fun and exciting experience.
He mentions more types of Coco will be in the updates and that there may be new play mechanics attached to them.
Frontiers has sold 7-8 times higher in Japan than previous Sonic games he's worked on. Its still a very small fanbase when compared to Europe and America, however.
The majority of Sonic Team are currently working on the next game, while a smaller team of 60 people are working on the updates for Frontiers. He of course is overseeing both projects.