Sonic the Hedgehog's 35th anniversary exhibition opens in Ikebukuro
Sega's archive of scripts, design documents and 35 years of games goes on show at PARCO FACTORY in Tokyo from 9 October, alongside 16 commissioned artworks and a new run of anniversary merchandise.
Sonic the Hedgehog turns 35 this year, and Sega is marking it with a full exhibition rather than a merchandise drop. SONIC the Exhibition -ACROSS GENERATIONS- opens at PARCO FACTORY on the seventh floor of Ikebukuro PARCO in Tokyo on 9 October 2026 and runs until 1 November, covering the series through games, characters, design, music and art.
What goes on the wall
The centre of the show is an archive of the series' history. Game titles from across the 35 years are represented alongside scripts, design documents and the development material used to build them, and the organisers say some of it will be shown publicly for the first time at this exhibition. For a franchise that is usually encountered as finished software, that is the part of the show with the least precedent.
Sixteen artists, one hedgehog
Sega has also commissioned new work from 16 artists, curated by the creative studio R11R, each reinterpreting a different era of Sonic. The line-up includes the illustrator Yusuke Nakamura and the composer Taku Inoue, alongside TSCR, HUKANZEN, Panasony, BRIDGE SHIP HOUSE, SIO (The TOMODACHI!) and move nao, among others. Some of the pieces will be sold by a method the organisers say will be published later through PARCO's art site.
Tickets, times and what is for sale
Admission is 1,500 yen, including an entry bonus and a bonus for PARCO Members; children of primary school age and younger get in free, and a carer accompanying a visitor with a disability certificate is admitted free while the visitor pays. The exhibition is open from 11:00 to 21:00 with last entry at 20:30, and closes at 18:00 on the final day. Timed tickets for the opening weekend of 9 to 11 October were sold by lottery and that sale has already closed. The shop carries exhibition-original goods, 35th-anniversary items and the Arita porcelain anniversary figure, five of which are sold at the venue first come, first served.
Greetings, and a signed poster
Sonic himself is scheduled to appear at the venue on 17, 18, 24 and 25 October, with the timings still to be announced. Anyone who follows the official Ikebukuro PARCO accounts on Instagram or X and comments is entered into a draw for one of five B1 posters signed by the series' creative director, Kazuyuki Hoshino; the campaign runs for the whole exhibition. The show is organised by Ikebukuro PARCO with the cooperation of Sega, and the series' general producer Takashi Iizuka and Hoshino have both contributed comments to the announcement.
Our opinion
Anniversary exhibitions are usually nostalgia with a gift shop attached, and the interesting thing about this one is where the emphasis sits. Sega is putting development documents, scripts and design material on the wall, not just the finished games, and promising that some of it has never been seen in public. That is the part a fan cannot get from a re-release or a documentary, and it is also the part that will look thinnest if the archive turns out to be a handful of sketches behind glass. The artist commission is the more revealing signal. Handing Sonic to sixteen artists, several of whom have a following well outside games, argues that the character is a design object rather than a mascot, and it is the same argument the Arita porcelain makes with a far larger price tag. It works as long as the art is treated as the main event rather than decoration between display cases.