The Sonic Team has decided to cut the storylines and progressions of the newest Sonic games out of the franchise’s continuity altogether, Sonic Unleashed lead designer Yoshihisa Hashimoto has told Official Nintendo Magazine.

Did they get tired of hearing how their fans felt about the new-gen attempts at Sonic goodness and decided to just forget it ever happened? Seems like every popular character or franchise is getting a rebirth of sorts these days, so why should Sonic be any different?

Speaking with the mag, Hashimoto said: “As a development team, we originally started off this project planning to create Sonic Adventure 3. In our minds, this game will have more in common with the older Sonic Adventure series. It has no relation to Sonic the Hedgehog [on PS3/Xbox 360] or Sonic and the Secret Rings.”

Hashimoto also took the time out to elaborate a bit more on the newly introduced werehog Sonic; while in this form, the Blue Blur will lose some of his trademark speed but gains some strength, letting him toss enemies and objects around like nothing.

A new Sonic game was first suspected to be in development after a trademark of the ‘Sonic Unleashed’ name was discovered. Last month, first screenshots and gameplay video of the game were mistakenly uploaded to SEGA’s server where they were discovered by active fans. Less than two weeks later, SEGA officially confirmed the game’s development and announced that it’s going to be available for the PS3, 360, Wii, and PS2 later this year.

[See also: Sonic Unleashed gallery]