


Needlemouse" were rejected, leaving only Sonic's name visible, making him the only playable character in the game as was speculated the bonus was revealed to be concept art of Shellcracker, a badnik that previously appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and would be returning in Needlemouse.Also in the same blog post, Sega acknowledged fans' concerns about superfluous characters and the departure from the gameplay of earlier Sonic games. On each subsequent day, Sega updated the blog with a new image, in which two more names were stamped as "rejected".First to be excluded were Charmy and Chip, followed by Tikal and Vector, and then Shade and Amy Rose.In Friday's final update, Shadow, Big the Cat, Froggy, and "Sonic's new friend Mr. On each of the next four days, readers were invited to answer three trivia questions provided enough replies with correct answers to each question were achieved, an updated image with certain characters ruled out would be posted each day, until Friday when only those to be playable would remain.It was also stated that should enough posts above this threshold be achieved on at least three days, readers would receive a bonus in the form of information about the game. The countdown took the form of an image of the teaser video logo superimposed with a list of Sonic universe characters that may potentially have been playable in the game, and the proviso that "not all of them are going to make the cut". On January 11, 2010, Sega of America began a "character countdown" on their blog.
