For about 26 years, I've been waiting for Sega to bring back the adorable pet simulation elements slotted into the two Sonic Adventure games. While mainline Sonic releases in the decades since haven't exactly let us raise, grow, or train cutesy little critters in quite the same way, one new indie game called Bobo Bay is brilliantly taking the baton from the Blue Blur and sprinting with it.
Bobo Bay has been in development for a good few years, but the wholesome pet-breeding and training sim finally launched late last month to near-perfect user reviews. On Steam, a whopping 96% of players gave it the thumbs up for an impressive 'Very Positive' score.
The game basically puts you in charge of looking after creatures called Bobo, who look a whole lot like the fairy-ish Chao from Sonic, only this time slightly shorter and adorably chubbier. You can dress them up, train them to compete in mini-games and competitions, and breed them to unlock "thousands of combinations" made up of different personality traits or eye colors.
While Sonic Adventure had you taking care of critters in between super-fast platforming stages, Bobo Bay lets you off the leash, too. Your blue-skinned protag can explore the town with a little Animal Crossing flavor, jetski around randomly-generated islands everyday, and sprint like she's running alongside the kids from Naruto or Weapons.
"This is something I have wanted for a long time, and always wondered why there was nothing to scratch that same itch from SA2," one player reviews reads. "I can tell that this game was made with love for the original source, and I really like all of the secrets you can randomly stumble across. Shoutout to the seedling I found at the top of a ridiculously difficult mountain."
Another player writes, "when a specific company accidentally pioneers one of the best creature collection minigames, of course its fans will beg for it to come back, but when those cries get ignored over the period of 25 years, it only makes sense that someone out there is gonna say, "Fine ill do it myself.""
In the meantime, check out the upcoming indie games of 2026.
