Those snazzy pair of grinding sneakers that the world’s favorite blue hedgehog first wore in Sonic Adventure 2 (2001) make a return in Sonic Frontiers (2022).
How can I get a pair of SOAP shoes in Sonic Frontiers?
Fortunately, for those who missed out on the early-bird newsletter sign-up, SEGA made the SOAP Shoes available for Sonic Frontiers as free DLC. For those on PC, you can get them by heading to the Steam page here.
Originally, all you needed to do was sign up for the official newsletter from SEGA by January 31, 2023, and include your preferred platform, name, date of birth, and country. After you entered your fan details, you received a code once the game launched via email.
What are SOAP shoes?
Founded in 1997 under the brand name SOAP, now a subsidiary of Heelys, the shoes have a plastic concave in the soles.
This allows the wearer to grind on various objects like they normally would with a skateboard. Examples include handrails, stone ledges, and pipes.
As part of product promotion and to support the new gameplay features of their upcoming title at the time, SEGA featured Sonic and Shadow wearing different variations of the shoes in the commercially successful Sonic Adventure 2.
They are what let the two hedgehogs ride down the rails of the San Francisco-inspired setting, including the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. Also, they are probably what allowed Sonic to mount a broken plane wing like a snowboard at the very beginning of the game.