Adventure features a stronger emphasis on storytelling and role-playing elements in contrast to previous Sonic games, while Yuji Uekawa redesigned the series' characters for their transition to 3D. Led by director Takashi Iizuka and producer Yuji Naka, the team strove to reinvent Sonic for the 3D era of video games.

Sonic Team began developing Sonic Adventure in 1997, after the cancellation of the Sega Saturn game Sonic X-treme. Outside the main game, players can play minigames like racing and interact with Chao, a virtual pet.

Sonic Adventure retains many elements from prior Sonic games, such as power-ups and the ring-based health system. Controlling one of the six characters-each with their own special abilities-players explore a series of themed levels to progress through the story. The story follows Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles 'Tails' Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, Big the Cat, and E-102 Gamma in their quests to collect the seven Chaos Emeralds and stop series antagonist Doctor Robotnik from unleashing Chaos, an ancient evil. Sonic Adventure is a 1998 platform game for Sega's Dreamcast and the first main Sonic the Hedgehog game to feature 3D gameplay.