After blazing onto the scene in the early '90s and launching Sega to stratospheric heights, it's no secret that the "Sonic the Hedgehog" games have been in something of a slump over the past few years. But is a money-gouging mobile game truly the answer?

I guess we are going to find out one way or another because Sonic Team, the main developer of Sonic games, has announced "Sonic Runners" as a free-to-play mobile game featuring 2-D side-scrolling stages.

While the announcement video, which you can see below, does not show us any gameplay footage, the image at the top of this post gives us some idea of how it will look.

Japanese magazine Famitsu tells us that the game can be played with one hand as Sonic moves forward on his own and you can tap the touchscreen to make him jump. As with most mobile titles, the game has been designed to be played in short bursts, with stages lasting one or two minutes.

The official "Sonic Runners" website states that "premium items" will available, likely meaning the dreaded in-app purchases will be prevalent. An iPhone 4s/5/5s/5c/6, iPod touch (5th-gen or later), iPad 2 or later, or Android OS 2.3 or later will be needed to play.