Fortnite is getting Sonic in Override, so I can use a retro gaming excuse to join in

I don’t cover a huge amount of Fortnite here. That’s not some grand editorial stance against one of the biggest games on the planet, I just generally leave it to people who know considerably more about its battle passes, islands, skins and whatever else is happening in there at any given moment.

But then you put Sonic the Hedgehog in it and, well, here we are.

Epic Games has officially confirmed that Sonic is heading to Fortnite as part of Chapter 7 Season 4, otherwise known as Override, which begins on August 20.

A tiny teaser has been released showing Green Hill Zone, complete with its instantly recognisable loop, before Sonic tears through it at the sort of speed you’d expect. Peely then attempts something similar, looking considerably less aerodynamic in the process, before the whole thing ends with the tagline “Break the Rules, Change the Game.”

It’s only nine seconds long, but apparently nine seconds of Sonic is enough to make me write about Fortnite and that stupid banana thing.

What is Sonic actually doing in Fortnite?

That bit remains slightly less clear.

The teaser confirms the crossover, but Epic hasn’t yet properly detailed exactly how Sonic will feature in Override. Given Fortnite’s long history of turning virtually every recognisable pop culture character into something you can run around its island with, cosmetics seem a fairly safe expectation, although it is worth waiting for Epic to actually show us what we’re getting before declaring Sonic himself a conventional character skin.

Green Hill Zone appearing in the teaser also suggests the collaboration could go beyond somebody simply flogging us a Sonic backpack for V-Bucks, although that will surely happen too.

There’s plenty of speculation surrounding Override in general, with Fortnite leakers previously pointing towards Chapter 7 Season 4 being heavily based around video game crossovers. Sonic had been mentioned before the official teaser appeared, alongside franchises including Kingdom Hearts and Vampire Survivors, while Tetris, Persona and Minecraft have also subsequently been thrown into the rumour mill. There are quite a few of my favourite games in there. I’m going to be playing Fortnite next aren’t I?

Some fans have even spotted what appears to be a suspiciously Tetris-shaped cloud hiding in the Sonic video, although until Epic starts ticking these franchises off itself, keep the salt shaker within reach.

Fortnite already has its Gaming Legends Series for video game collaborations and has previously absorbed characters from Resident Evil, Street Fighter, Metal Gear Solid, Halo, Tomb Raider, God of War, Doom and Cyberpunk 2077, among many others. VGC reckons almost 70 characters from other games have now made an appearance.

So a gaming-focused season certainly wouldn’t be much of a stretch.

Authored by Paul McNally

Paul McNally has been around consoles and computers since his parents bought him a Mattel Intellivision in 1980. He has been a prominent games journalist since the 1990s, spending over a decade as editor of popular print-based video games and computer magazines, including a market-leading PlayStation title. Paul has written high-end gaming content for GamePro, Official Australian PlayStation Magazine, PlayStation Pro, Amiga Action, Mega Action, ST Action, GQ, Loaded, and the The Mirror. He has also hosted panels at retro-gaming conventions and can regularly be found guesting on gaming podcasts and Twitch shows. Believing that the reader deserves actually to enjoy what they are reading is a big part of Paul’s ethos when it comes to gaming journalism, elevating the sites he works on above the norm.

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