Higround reveals 90’s-inspired Sonic the Hedgehog capsule drop

Design studio Higround has revealed its latest capsule, with a stunning suite of Sonic the Hedgehog and retro Sega-inspired designs.

Known for its boutique, streetwear-inspired keyboard designs and collaborations, Higround, has just announced a new collaboration with Sonic the Hedgehog. This comes hot off of the heels of its translucent PRIX collaboration keyboard just a few weeks ago.

Higround X Sonic The Hedgehog capsule drop

Higround announced the collaboration with a swanky booth at Zedd in the Park.

The retro-inspired Sonic the Hedgehog collaboration was revealed by Higround at Zedd in the Park on July 8, and good god, it looks incredible. The drop contains the following:

• Three keyboards
• Two mousepads
• Two keycap sets (65% & full-sized)
• Three shirts
• One Jelly Bag
• One set of Pants

Inspired by SEGA’s iconic Blue Hedgehog, the capsule walks through eras of Sonic games. The first board is outfitted in a Green-Hill Zone 16-bit look. This board also houses some of the coolest keycaps that we’ve ever seen. The second keyboard is inspired by Sonic Adventure 2. This keyboard has a diagonal split in the color blocking, and artwork of Sonic and Shadow, along with silhouettes of Sonic’s friends on the right-hand side.

Finally, the last keyboard features an incredibly special-looking Dreamcast-inspired look, for those who really want to take it all the way back to 1999. Our personal favorites are the 16-bit maximalist design, as well as the monotone Dreamcast board, which harkens back to old-school 90s nostalgia, where beige ruled the land.

It’s such a breath of fresh air to see gaming keyboard designs that are not just yet another aggressive black and RGB showcase. The careful design and color blocking across all of the boards shown at Zedd in the Park showcases careful attention to detail. Not only in terms of aesthetics but functionality too. Each keyboard board sports Higround’s now-iconic 65% form factor.

You should expect to see premium features like silicone dampening across their boards, as we saw in their previous release, in addition to a hot-swappable board to change up the switches, and flushed with RGB. But, no official specifications have been announced.

You can check out the entire collection on Higround’s website.

Higround X Sonic the Hedgehog capsule release date

The collab will be released on August 5 at 12PM PT. You will be able to get early access for the drop by signing up here, and you might want to, since this drop is looking extremely hot. You’ll have 15 minutes to grab it.

Working with SEGA “A childhood dream come true”

Speaking exclusively to Dexerto, Higround CEO and co-founder Rustin Sotoodeh stated the following:

“Being able to work with SEGA on Sonic Adventure 2 and Dreamcast is a childhood dream come true, and that’s what I think this collection is all about: turning dreams into a reality.”

Sotoodeh continues to reminisce on some of his favorite memories of playing Sonic during his childhood:

“Some of my fondest memories came from playing Sonic Adventure 2 with my cousins every day after school. We were obsessed, spending hours exploring both campaigns. We would trade and race our Chao’s in the Garden. I’ll never forget the night we beat the game going Super Sonic and Shadow to save the world; we were jumping with joy.”

The most unusual product in the lineup is the Dreamcast-inspired board, which is a throwback to Sega’s ill-fated console. The Dreamcast was famously released on 9.9.99, just before the turn of the millennium.

“The Dreamcast was a mythical console to us. Our oldest cousin had one and we’d watch him play and gather Chaos for us to use on the VMU cards. That tech was so ahead of its time.”

Higround? More like Hypeground

We’ll be honest, Higround is a niche name in the keyboard scene, however, the things that this design studio is doing are clearly resonating with a new audience. Hypebeasts.

We’ve seen gaming culture bleed into high fashion before with mixed results. However, Higround is built from the ground up (no pun intended) by bringing boutique style and concepts into the gaming peripheral market.

It’s young and disruptive if the 100Thieves acquisition didn’t tell you everything. This new collaboration is emblematic of what you can come to expect from them in the future, as Sotoodeh continues:

“At Higround, we believe video games are art and we want to shine a light on the innovators that built their dreams into a reality. Sonic was the first gaming mascot to break into the mainstream with style and the Dreamcast was the first broadband console featuring a unique memory card system. I hope this collection ignites fond memories for older fans as well as introduces new fans to these historic gaming products that set the standard for our culture.”

The 90’s nostalgia, infused with designs that put bigger, much more established brands on notice is something to take note of. You should absolutely be keeping an eye on Higround. We cannot wait to get our hands on one and put these boards to the test.