Later this week, Ben Schwartz reprises his role as Sonic in Sonic the Hedgehog 3. It’s a part that Schwartz has played since the first Sonic the Hedgehog film in 2020. But when it came time to pick one of his favorite video game characters of all time, Schwartz didn’t go with Sega’s blue hedgehog. Instead, he choose a supporting character from Square Enix’s 1995 RPG Chrono Trigger.
While speaking with IGN, Schwartz cited Chrono Trigger’s anthropomorphic hero Frog as his favorite. He recalled Frog’s giant broadsword as “one of the coolest things of all time.” Schwartz went on to call Chrono Trigger his favorite video game.
“It’s an extraordinary game with an extraordinary soundtrack and story,” recalled Schwartz. “Each character was unique. I feel like sometimes when I’m playing [Final Fantasy games] there will be some characters that you’re like ‘I guess I’ll level this person up.’ But in Chrono Trigger, every character you were emotionally invested in.”
In 2021, Schwartz praised former Sonic voice actor Roger Craig Smith before revealing that he was not approached to take over the role in the games. Schwartz’s Sonic 3 castmate, Keanu Reeves, voices his character, Shadow, in the recently released Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Movie Pack DLC for Sonic x Shadow Generations. Sonic 3 director Jeff Fowler also indicated that Reeves was serious about researching Shadow’s character before he took on the role for the movie.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will be out in theaters on Friday, December 20.