Sorry for the double post, but I just looked it up and according to Japanese Wikipedia at least, it's indeed called the カオスエネルギー砲 in Japan, which translates as "Chaos Energy Cannon" or "Chaos Energy Gun".
We'll have to track it down in-game at some point. I think Professor Pickle mentions it: we need to check as misinformation over here can feedback to Japans side, as we learned trying to trace the Oracle of Ages/Oracle of Seasons placement quote source over in The Legend of Zelda fanbase.
I think it's unlikely that they changed its name for English. Ever since the noughties, Sonic localizations tended to keep the original Japanese names. Even Unleashed, despite change the game title and the stage names, kept the in-universe names of the places and characters the same. But I agree that we can't be sure without a reliable source. The cannon's name is mentioned in Professor Pickle's "The shattered planet" hint. Unfortunately, I don't think there's any Japanese text dump of the game to look it up.
Once I get a chance, I'll try and get to it and grab the quote with my capture card, unless someone else does so prior.
Another bit of this recent mystery. 25:00 - Do you think there was some kind of ancient connection between echidnas and hedgehogs? Like, between the echidna's connection to the Master Emerald, which has a connection to the Chaos Emeralds, which can only be used by male hedgehogs... I can't help but feel there's a missing piece to this puzzle we haven't gotten yet. - Oh there's a piece and I can't talk about it.
I'm gonna be honest, I'm not sure stuff like this will be explored outside the movies. Those seems eager to the Sonic mythology but the games haven't really looked back to the Chaos Emerald mythos since Unleashed. Totally happy to be wrong on this, but I feel like this info moreso exists internally to better inform how certain things in the canon should be approached.
Or maybe Ian can't talk about it precisely because it is going to be in Sonic Frontiers and he can't talk about the game at all.
It would be hilarious if, after 15 years or so, they would go straight into Chaos Emerald lore out of the fucking blue. I have no reason to assume they're going to, and I'm not going to start making assumptions about Flynn's words. That said, a game focusing on Sonic, Knuckles, and Shadow would be the perfect game to explore that given they're the most connected characters to the Chaos Emeralds.
Yeah, going back to the Chaos Emeralds arc after so many years would be rather unexpected. That said, Sega has stated that they're planning to explore Sonic's origin at some point, so anything is possible with them. Come to think of it, Sonic's backstory and the origin of the Chaos Emeralds seem to be two major lore details that Sega has mapped out but is keeping under wraps for some reason. Makes me wonder if they're related...
I asked Ian if he knew something about Sonic's origin. 28:53 - Do you know anything about Sonic's canonical origins/childhood? Would it be something like the movie version, being raised by Longclaw? - I have heard that there is an internal official origin, but I do not know it. I would be very surprised if was analogous at all with the Longclaw's story, but I don't know any details myself.
I think they’ll eventually give the origin but probably not while the movies are in the spotlight. It’s nice to know they have one internally or at least a concept for one.
Seeing Ian say all this "I can't talk about it" makes me wish people would have something else non-sonic to ask him. Just feels like it's turning into a very dangerous game of battleship.
Ian has done a lot of work outside of Sonic, but of course when you write Sonic books for 15 years that is what your social media followers are mainly going to be. I want to eventually finish reading the Mega Man book so I can start submitting more Mega Man questions but I haven't even finished his Mega Man 2 adaptation yet.
Someone should ask Ian if he thinks IDW will try and get the Mega Man comic rights... But this is off topic. I wonder if Ian would use the nexus he established with the Worlds Unite thing to do comic crossover with the continuities...
If there's one thing Sonic fans are good at, its hyperfocusing on Sonic. I wonder how much does Flynn know tho. He's only been getting more involved in the creative process as of late.
