Sega’s handling of the Storybook Series is puzzling. Sonic and the Secret Rings eventually received a half-hearted digital release on the Wii U eShop (now defunct), but Black Knight has never been re-released anywhere. Not on PlayStation Now. Not on Xbox backward compatibility. Not on Steam.
Why? Likely a combination of factors:
However, Sega has recently shown a willingness to mine its past. Sonic Origins gave new life to the Genesis classics. Sonic Superstars was a new 2D game. And the PC port of Sonic Colors: Ultimate (despite its bugs) proved that Sega sees value in bringing Wii-era Sonic games to modern hardware. Sonic and the Black Knight is the logical next step. sonic and the black knight pc port
Why hasn't SEGA done this themselves? There are three major hurdles: Sega’s handling of the Storybook Series is puzzling
The original game had “galloping” sections where you had to shake the Nunchuck to make Sonic run faster. On PC, this should simply be a “sprint” button (e.g., holding Left Shift). However, Sega has recently shown a willingness to
Currently, the only way to play Black Knight on PC is via the Dolphin Emulator. And while Dolphin is a marvel, allowing 4K upscaling and anti-aliasing, it is still emulating a 2006-era Wii architecture. A native PC port would be transformative.
Sonic and the Black Knight ran at 30 frames per second on Wii, with frequent dips during busy combat. For a game that requires split-second parries and "just guard" mechanics, this was problematic.