For the most part, the cartoon looks rather faithful to the games, much to my amazement; I seriously thought Sega was gonna totally fuck this up. Aside from the color of Sonic's arms being blue and the clothing differences, I'd have thought I was looking at a scene from one of the games. The character designs are about the same (except for Knuckles, judging from the game trailer), the personalities are roughly intact (with some semi-humorous quirks added in it seems), and the voices sound like the same voice actors from the games.

Not sure what to think of Knuckles' new beefed-up design--that's about the only thing that strays a little too far from the original source IMO. At least he's not that much bigger like I feared he would be, but I don't understand why they felt it necessary to bulk him up at all; I understand he's strong, but he never needed to actually look like it.

As for Amy's new look, I'm glad they at least kept her anatomy the same, and she still wears some kind of dress, although now it looks less frilly and more 'sporty', which I guess I'm fine with if it makes her more appropriate to be a playable character. Also glad they kept her hammer.

Sonic having his blue fur extend to his arms seems a little out-of-place to me, but what looks even weirder are those things that appear to be bandages on his wrists and shoes... Why the hell does he have those? His neckerchief, fine; Tails' goggles, okay, he flies a plane; Amy's new dress, see above; but bandages? I don't see the appeal...

Tails seems to be about the same with the addition of goggles. Again, I'm okay with the goggles, but what happened to the Tornado? Is this a new model?

Eggman's lower torso seems to have narrowed a tad. Whatever, he's still a fat guy so he still's the same to me.

Overall, I'm pleased with what I've seen so far. If the producers can stay faithful to the formula that makes Sonic great, if the voice actors can maintain a good performance and if they can write the show well enough without making it look too silly, I can actually see myself supporting this new cartoon and game after all and even forgive the unnecessary changes. Here's to hoping.

BTW, as far as I'm aware the design changes are exclusive only to this cartoon and game and aren't expected to carry over to future Sonic media. It's kind of a spin-off.