Sega: Trying to Take Sonic Back to Where it Used to Be Quality Wise - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 24 June 2016 / 9,965 ViewsThe team developing Sonic the Hedgehog titles is focused on quality following the failure of Sonic Boom: Ryse of Lyric. The game has a metascore of just 32.
"Sega is really - as of this last year - putting a huge emphasis on quality," said Chief brand officer Ivo Gerscovich.
"One of the things about Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice is that we held the title for a year, which is not something Sega has traditionally done, but this focus on quality is really about trying to take Sonic back to where it used to be."
Sonic the Hedgehog just celebrated its 25th anniversary.
Thanks MCVUK.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Why can't they just pull a Nintendo and put out something like "New Sonic The Hedgehog"? Enough with the 3D Sanics, start with the basics going back to your 2D platforming roots, and build up some trust in the consumers and your fanbase before you decide to greenlight another abomination like Sanic Boom or Sanic Unleashed.
They tried that with Sonic 4 episodes 1 and 2 and they were received generally well but not to the point of former glory. I heard that there are 2 sonic games in development, 1 2D game and 1 3D game for the anniversary. Maybe we'll get 2 decent sonic games?
There's been a lot of 2D Sonic though. There have been three Sonic Advance games, 2 Sonic Rush games, Sonic Boom on 3DS, Sonic Colors on 3DS, at least half of Sonic Colors on Wii, Sonic the Hedgehog 4, the upcoming Sonic Boom game, and half of Sonic Generations. A return to 2D would just be confusing. They never left.
Here's how you make a good Sonic game: when it's about to release, and it doesn't look good, DELAY IT.
We're going to need more convincing than Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice. Bring back classic Japanese style sonic and give us Sonic Adventure 3 with Chao. Problem solved.
Thing is that a lot of Sonic Adventure's problems are the same as the problems in later games.
Sonic and Shadow's levels in Sonic Adventure are really fun, and hold up pretty well today. The rest of the characters range from decent to awful. Same problem as games like Unleashed where the daytime segments are and the rest is painful.
They've been saying that for years. The problem is, if they're really going that direction, 1) Why is it on a Nintendo console? 2) Sega is gonna have to make the Dreamcast 2, which means breaking off of Sega Sammy. Sonic was about the attitude. Therefore, it's impossible for Sega to accomplish this. Impossible.
First no more boom games. Than no more boom games, and make a decent game like Generations. Finally add Chao garden! BAM you got a great sonic game.
Easy. Get the original team back together and by original, I mean the guys who made the first four Genesis games. Put them in a room, pay them whatever they require and tell them to forget everything released after Sonic and Knuckles. Then tell them to make a direct sequel to that game, using Genesis assets which will later be rendered in HD.
Problem solves, Sonic is fixed and all is right with the world.
So they want too take it back to the 90s?
Put Sonic's eyes black again. Changing his eyes to green was the first big mistake they made. It's like if Mario's moustache went blonde.
Here's how you do it.
Pick a formula, whether it's the Adventure series, the Boost formula from Unleashed/Colors/Generations, the Park-our formula from Lost World (I actually liked that game and think the formula has potential if the refine it further), or something entirely new, just stick to it, that's no. 1.
No. 2 Take your freaking time with it! One of the main reasons why Sonic has had to suffer through mediocrity, besides the constant changes to the formula, is that you put a half-ass effort into refining and perfecting it as best as you can because you're trying to rush it out in time to meet the deadline that guarantees the most sales.
Sega is on a very difficult position. No matter what they do, they can't make a good Sonic game.
Going for nostalgia makes people complain that they don't manage to get stuff like physics right.
Trying something new turns out too gimmicky and fails badly.
Here's an idea: pick one of your well received games - Sonic Adventure series, Sonic Colors, Sonic Generations - and actually try to push that concept forward. Jim Sterling did a great video on this. Sonic will never find stability if they rewrite the rules every other game.
You could consider having Nintendo make a Sanic for you...
They could learn something from Nintendo, seeing as they've managed to keep Mario relevant for so long...
If you demand having an expanded cast, bite the bullet and partner up with Archie Comics and use their early continuity and characters, SEGA.