In perhaps one of the most bizarre examples of ‘video game remake censorship’ seen in the medium’s entire history, leaked footage has revealed that Sega has covered up Rouge the Bat’s bare back – while at the same time taking no action against Amy Rose for sporting the same look – in their upcoming Sonic X Shadow Generations.
This design change for the winged jewel thief was confirmed just a few days ahead of the ‘upgraded remake’s official release date courtesy of the game leaking early, in its entirety, to the wider internet.
Seizing upon this leak, a number of excited fans voluntarily proceeded to dive into Sonic X Shadow Generations‘ contents, therein exposing them to everything that the game had to offer – including its full cutscene offerings.
And it was in one of these cutscenes that a number of fans, including Twitter user @krack932, discovered that where once the original Generations depicted Rouge with her bare back, as featured in all of her appearances since her introduction in Sonic Adventure 2 and originally included in her design to both emphasize her ‘femme fatale cat burglar’ character and allow for her to freely use her wings, her latest outing saw her leotard extended to fully cover up this same area.
Further, this same design change has also been applied to Rouge’s appearance in the currently-airing-on-YouTube anime tie-in series, Sonic x Shadow Generations: Dark Beginnings.
Notably, according to her depiction in the series, while her back is now covered up, her shoulder line still remains exposed (though this small detail still does nothing to help explain how she can still use her wings through her clothing).
However, while the idea of Rouge showing any amount of ‘suggestive’ skin was seemingly deemed too risqué by Sega, curiously enough the company did not give the same attention to Amy Rose.
As highlighted by fellow Twitter user @bullniku, in Sonic X Shadow Generations, the pink-hued hedgehog continues to sport the standard ‘red, open back dress’ she has worn ever since making the leap to 3D in the first Sonic Adventure.
To this end, while SEGA has yet to officially address either their censorship of Rouge or the discrepancy in their treatment of her and Amy (and who knows if they ever will), current speculation suggests that the jewel thief received this treatment and not the rightful wielder of the Piko Piko Hammer because, simply put, her character is intentionally and inherently more ‘sexy’ than her younger friend’s.
Sadly, such ‘remake censorship’ is not unheard of from Sega.
Upon its release earlier this year, Persona 3 Reload, as developed by Sega subsidiary Atlus, was found to have completely removed and replaced an entire social encounter wherein the player’s party discovers Junpei has been hitting on a male-to-female transgender woman, ostensibly due to its contents being handled primarily in service of humor.
In Reload, Junpei is instead shocked to find that the sun-bathing woman he has been hitting on is not trans, but rather an over-the-top conspiracy theorist.
Ultimately, while said censorship is confirmed for Sonic X Shadows Generations, whether this change to Rouge’s design is temporary or her new standard remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, the game itself is currently set to officially start warping timelines on October 24th, 2024.