The event promises a look at the past, present and future of the iconic franchise.

Sonic The Hedgehog was arguably the first video game character to challenge the overwhelming popularity of Nintendo’s Mario. As its mascot, he came to define the tone and attitude of the Sega Genesis while providing some of the best and most influential games of the 16-bit era. Sonic turns 25 this June and to celebrate the milestone Sega have announced a 25th anniversary event at this year’s SXSW.

The event promises to commemorate the series’ past, examine its present state and look at where it will go in the future. The panel will include Sonic creator Yuji Naka, current Sonic Team head Takashi Iizaka and Sega of America’s director of product development Austin Keys. Also in attendance will be Roger Craig Smith and Mike Pollack, who provide the current voices for Sonic and Dr. Eggman/Robotnik. The panel will be moderated by Aaron Webber, the social media manager behind the hilariously subversive official Facebook and Twitter accounts (seriously, if you haven’t seen what Sega lets this guy get away with, you’re missing out). The event takes place Saturday, March 19 at 3:30 p.m. CT and will livestream on Twitch.

We’re big fans of Sonic at FACT, especially its music. In addition to including the series’ masterpiece Sonic 3 & Knuckles on among our list of the best video game soundtracks of all time, we went deep on the entire franchise’s music in our FACT Focus series.