Saving Sonic: A How-To Guide
It's been a long time since Sonic busted out onto the 16-bit scene in summer of '91 with his impatient 'tude, spiky spikes, and total lack of Italian machismo. While we still see Mario jumping around to critical acclaim (with a few jeers about his sports games on the side), Sonic hasn't been so lucky. With the little blue guy selling over 50 million pieces of software with his name on it, I guess it was inevitable that his act would get old at some point.
Jim Sterling over on Destructoid has some handy tips for Sega to reinvigorate their lapsing mascot. Although I can't help but totally agree with most of Mr. Sterling's points, I feel that he doesn't go quite far enough on some of them. I mean, "No more new characters," really? How about no "new" characters at all? Like most people with some lick of sense to them, I think that Sonic reached his apex on the Genesis (with Sonic 3 and Knuckles being scientifically proven to be the best) and each installment added forgettably silly, yet game deluding characters like Charmy Bee, Blaze the Cat, Cream the Rabbit, and, perhaps the most offensive to the senses, Big The Cat.
If I was to add one thing to the list, I would mandate that there cannot be any more Sonic appearances for the next five years. No games, no shows, no nothing for five years. The character is so over exposed and stale that people are moving simple disinterest in the character to outright hatred. Just let the series rest for a bit and revisit it with a fresh perspective down the road. Come on, Sega. Just rethink your choices here and I'm sure you'll find another 15+ years of games just waiting to be made.
[How to save Sonic the Hedgehog] Destructoid
Game-Boy
Posted to Video Games on 27 October 2008
· Comments (10)
Other stuff like this: bad behavior, bad dialogue, bad games, bad ideas, bad practices, bad results, bad voice acting, crap, sega, sonic
I like Shadow.. That cunt Amy should get the boot.
I agree.
Shadow has a nice colour scheme going. But no one needs Amy or Cream.
I love Espio and Rogue, so not all the added characters are bad in my eyes.
And as a former fat person I also take exception to your seemingly singling out of the one fat character amongst the bunch as the most offensive (offensive? WTF).
The problems are allowing a clearly under-qualified team try and make Sonic in 3D.
Speed in singular character POV 3D just doesn't translate brilliantly to games, especially when they're poorly designed and badly implemented.
Also, drop every single character except Sonic, Tail, Knuckles and Eggman.
And go back to making interesting 2D awesome Sonic games.
That's the only thing that will save Sonic, there hasn't been a single even average 3D Sonic game, not even one.
I agree about cutting the extra characters. Although I actually liked Big the Cat, him and every character added since Knuckles has had a negative effect on gameplay, and voice acting.
I think the best thing that the Sonic series could do right now is a retro sequel like what Capcom did with Mega Man 9. An actual Sonic 4 with 16-big graphics? Count me in.
I don’t know. Being a casual Sonic fan who’s played most of the main series entries since its debut., I can’t say that the superfluous characters detract from the games especially. Like, Mario’s stable of regulars is bigger than ever, but I don’t feel like the big cast makes the games any better or any worse. (Of course, the “main” Mario games tend to ignore tertiary characters in favor of the core ones. There’s a reason Waluigi didn’t show up in Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy.) I feel like if the quality of the Sonic games was high enough, people would be fine with the various big-eyed critters Sonic tends to pal around with.
[QUOTE]I think the best thing that the Sonic series could do right now is a retro sequel like what Capcom did with Mega Man 9. An actual Sonic 4 with 16-big graphics? Count me in.[/QUOTE]
They actually did a pretty decent 2D sonic game on the DS. It wasn't 16 bit graphics but it was close.
I have to admit of Mario and Sonic, Mario's games have been a bit better alright but as far as characters go I still think Sonic is ahead by miles...................though that pic of Mario with the rainbow flag and leather gear on does make him a bit more appealing.
Tails is why I started playing the Sonic games in the first place, so not all the added characters are worthless.
Amy is, though.
I think they need to stop trying to cram 3 different gameplay types into the games all the time and focus on one type of game mechanic, and make that one type really good rather than 3 mediocre types.
@MME
Yeah, Sonic Rush on DS was great, I'd say the best Sonic game since Sonic & Knuckles (even if that isn't saying a lot). But Sonic Rush Adventure was a big step in the wrong direction. The controls were less precise and the story was not only forced, but introduced the single most annoying new character that the Sonic franchise has ever seen. That's not the direction Sonic games should be going in.
Sidenote: am I the only one that misses when the enemies were animal-shaped robots instead of generic looking ones? It added so much more personality to the games, and made levels much more memorable. I can still remember all the classic Genesis animal enemies and each triggers a different emotional response, but I can't remember a single enemy from any 3D Sonic game that has stood out as memorable.
I would love it if Sega would release Sonic 1, 2, and 3 as one big story, with the option to play in 2-D or in side-scrolling 3-D. A couple levels may have to be revamped to make the game flow smoothly, but I think it'd be worth it. They should also let you choose what music plays during each level, including a "playlist" feature, and the ability to unlock remixes. (Heck, VGL already plays an orchestral remix of several songs, and for the rest, look no further than ocremix.com!) I'd also like to be able to unlock other characters to redo levels as; Tails and Knuckles would be obvious once the story introduces them, but I'd also like to play as Shadow, Silver, and Espio. But that's just me. :)
Anyhoo, going away from my fansterbate here, I'd like to see better from the Sonic series. I thought Chronicles was gonna be fun, but after playing about 5 chapters, I'm a little disappointed. :(