How Sega Can Bring Sonic the Hedgehog Back To Its Glory
After my rant on How Sega All But Ruined Sonic the Hedgehog, I thought it would be most appropriate to expand on how Sega can actually transition Sonic into the next-gen consoles without making their down-slide worse. I figured the best way to go through this is to take the core elements that did work of all the past games and explain how they could be pieced together to build a new Sonic classic. (BTW: I’ve updated this post since it got submitted to Digg)
Make Sonic Fast
With a Sonic game, you obviously need speed, and while the 3D Sonic games were still faster than your other 3D platformers, they still did not have the same sense of speed of the 16-bit predecessors. One of the main advantages of 3D action games is the ability to roam around and have complete directional control of your character. In Sonic, however, I believe that really takes away from the speed of the game.
One flaw that seemed to more prevalent throughout the Sonic Adventure and Sonic Heroes series is the fact that when hitting the side of a track at full speed results in the character coming to a dead halt. This is aggravating, especially when it happens more often than it should. If a Sonic game was a bit more limited in terms of 3D control — maybe to the point of putting it on two-dimensional rails, you would be able to maintain more of the high-speed feel and bring it back to the old-school roots.
Stick With Two Dimensions
When Sonic is in 2D, players had limited vision when it came to their enemies and obstacles. While at times this brought frustration, it also required players to have quick reaction time, and also rely on either quick instincts or a bit of memorization in order to succeed.
Tying this back to the previous point about speed and the limited movement, I might be advantageous to completely bring the series back to a sideways view with limited 2D movement similar to modern games like Viewtiful Joe.
Viewtiful Joe was an interesting success story. It was a franchise that came out of nowhere in a crowded video game market. What made Viewtiful Joe so successful is that it was something completely different in addition to being simple and fun — all because it was 2D.
A two-dimensional environment works best for games like Viewtiful Joe and Sonic the Hedgehog because they thrive on the simplicity of 2D gameplay. When the gameplay basics are simple, it allows both the developer and the gamer to benefit. The developer can spend less time on getting all those 3D camera bugs and other complex issues taken care and focus more on developing beautiful landscapes, amazing speed, and killer boss battles. The gamer also does not have to learn a complex control scheme or all the little quirks of getting stuck in a 3D environment and focus more on quick response time and enjoying the actual game.
Viewtiful Joe enjoyed quite a buzz in the gaming community through both critical reviews and word-of-mouth as more and more gamers got their hands on the title. But why did a new beatemup get so much attention? Because it was different. It stood out. It was basically the only new, 2D action game on the market. It combined 2D gameplay with the capabilities of modern consoles.
Make Electrifying Bonus Rounds
For me, one of the most exciting parts about the classic Sonic games on the Genesis was the bonus rounds. As fun as the main game was, sometimes you were excited to have a chance at the bonus rounds. Back then, the bonus rounds were not only loads of fun, but also a showcase for sweet graphical advancements and trippy visual effects. With the power of next-gen consoles, developers have unlimited number of effects possibilities to create some incredible bonus rounds.
Sega is also well-known (or at least they were) for making some incredibly quirky but fun games. This is an opportunity to insert some of this quirkiness without worrying about messing up the main part of the game.
Bottom line: Fill bonus rounds with an insane amount of eye candy and quirky gameplay and gamers of all ages and skills will eat it up.
Make Monster Robotnik Bosses
Sonic has benefited from a number of incredible level design. But one of my favorite parts of each 16-bit level was making it to the end and seeing what type of mechanical creation Dr. Robotnik would bring to battle me.
The original Sonic Adventure game was a real let-down with its focus on the Chaos water creature. Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes returned a bit more to the more mechanical bosses, but I really think Sega could work a bit harder to create something that takes advantage of the current generation of consoles and would actually strike fear in the hearts of Sonic fans.
Bring Sonic Back to Mobius
Just like Mario has the Mushroom Kingdom, Sonic once had a magical place of his own. His unique planet was not detailed by name in the original games, but was later expanded on in Sonic comics and animation as Mobius.
However, once Sonic went into 3D, Sega felt that Sonic was better suited on Earth and had him and the other animal-like characters to interact with humans. While many video games should obviously be based around life on Earth and a realistic setting, games that have a more fantasy element such as Mario and Sonic should be treated to a unique world/universe the gives them more personality and builds on the specials strengths of the characters.
Have Creative Level Designs With Personality
The orignial Sonic games had a ton of creative level designs that were each very distinct and featured an interesting gimick. Many themes were repeated thoughout the series, but were always given a fresh flair. Examples are the fresh-but-fast Green Hill Zones, your colorful and zany Casino zones, and your don’t-run-out-of-air Underwater Zones.
Many of these unique zones were lost in Sonic Adventure and the later 3D games. Sonic Heroes brought back a handful of these themes, which was one if its few saving graces.
Resurrecting some of these colorful level designs could not only give the Sonic series its personality back, but it would also add new gameplay elements and strategy requirements to keep the gamer interested.
Limit The Amount of Playable Characters
When more people pick up a Sonic game, they want to play as Sonic. I don’t think they by it to play as Tails, or Amy, or some fat cat with a fishing pole. They like to be Sonic. Other Sonic-like characters like Knuckles and Shadow are ok as long as the play like Sonic for the most part.
Sonic and Knuckles on the Genesis was great when it let you play as Knuckles. He did run around like Sonic, but he also had some additional powers like the climbing and gliding capabilities. His levels were, for the most part identical to Sonic’s, but it allowed you to think differently about how to approach the level.
However, in games like Sonic Adventure 2, I dreaded playing as Knuckles because you had a completely different level that, instead of blazing though and exciting landscape, you were forced to fly around until you found a certain number of jewels. I only wanted to complete those levels so I could play more Sonic afterwards.
Don’t Let Sonic Talk
I have to admit, once I heard Sonic and the other characters talk in Sonic Adventure, I was embarrassed to have anyone else see me playing the game. Back in the Genesis days, I viewed Sonic and Knuckles both as being “cool” (for lack of a better term) while each having a distinct personality. Sega did a good enough job with their facial expressions and body language to make them into a character that we could relate to. Tails was once viewed as a dependable sidekick, but once he opened his mouth, he was nothing but an annoyance.
Nintendo doesn’t have Mario speak audibly very often for good reason. If he did, it would be absolutely grading on the nerves. (Unless you are really into the cheesy Italian accent for long periods of time). A few little phrases here and there (like those used in Sonic CD) are fine, but that’s about it.
Slick Graphics Are Fine
Even though I am an old-school fanatic, I still love high-end graphics as long as they are used properly and the game does not rely on them as a crutch. When it comes to many 3D titles, including Sega’s 3D Sonic games, it seems like developers use 3D “because they can” and its what is mainstream — not because it actually suits the game.
Sonic the Hedgehog on the XBox 360 looks phenomenal. I cannot deny that it has some real stylistic potential. But as I mentioned before, I truly believe that combining those graphical capabilities with a 2D gameplay engine could really turn into a landmark game in the Sonic series.
Focus On The Core Gameplay
You’ll notice that one of the biggest differences (besides the graphics) between the 16-bit Sonic games and their newer siblings is Sega tried to greatly expand what a Sonic game included. In the first Sonic Adventure, this was very apparent with the exploration mode after the first level. I can still remember the first time I played Sonic Adventure — I was blown away by the first level and all of its excitement and beauty. I couldn’t wait to jump into the next exciting, blistering fast round. Instead, I had to wonder around some town trying to figure out where to go.
Obviously, Sega toned that element down a bit, but they still have a tendency to drift away from the core Sonic gameplay we all love. Let me clarify to those that think I hate 3D Sonic games: I actually enjoy playing those Sonic levels. Obviously, I think they can be improved, but at least they are much better than many other parts of the game.
Sega (and any other game developer, for that matter) needs to take a look at what elements are actually working well for them. Then, examine the areas that aren’t working and throw them away. If you want to experiment with one or two things, that’s fine. But don’t keep that new thing around for the next installment if it’s a dud.
Take Your Time
If you take a look at the games that have the highest review scores over the years, you can probably think back and remember that those games were in development for quite a while. Perhaps there were even a delay or two before reaching the final release date. As disappointing as delays might be for fans, they usually mean that the developers are making sure the final product is as good as it can be.
To strengthen my argument, lets take a look at the 3D installments of both the Mario and Sonic franchises. The core Super Mario series has only had three console releases in a span of 12 years (Super Mario 64 [1996] , Super Mario Sunshine [2002], and Super Mario Galaxy [2007]). Sonic, on the other hand, has had six games (if you include Shadow the Hedgehog) in only nine years. Now consider the acclaim the Mario games have received (especially, the recent Super Mario Galaxy) in contrast to the ridicule the Sonic games have received.
What Is Your Opinion?
Obviously, this is a hot topic for anyone that is interested in Sonic games. I’ve already had a large number of people (usually in their early teens) that have criticized me for what I’ve said in my previous articles, and if they enjoy these newer games, that’s just fine. Perhaps Sega thinks it’s better to cater to the younger crowd. But I would like to think that I’m not the only one that thinks that Sega should put the effort to create a game that gamers of all ages can enjoy — much like Nintendo fans are with Mario Galaxy.
I’m not holding my breath for Sega to take these ideas into consideration. But until they do, I’ll be playing much more of Sonic Mega Collection and Sonic Rush than any of the newer console installments.
132 Comments:
I have to agree with you Sonic hasn’t really been the same since the Megadrive sonic and while I did enjoy the later iterations.
They simply were not as good.
I totally get what you’re saying about the Sonic Adventure games too I wanted to play Sonic not them stupid exploration levels.
Sonic for Wii really doesn’t look like it’d be all that fun. Instead of having Sonic react properly as he collides with barriers, he still comes to a complete stop, without any sort of transition. Lame.
The problem with other Sonic games is that, as was stated in the article, Sonic Team seems to place Sonic in 3D games for absolutely no good reason. Furthermore, the team can’t even seem to prioritize when it comes to crafting an engaging gameplay experience.
Why does Sonic need to be in 3D? He doesn’t. His character really doesn’t translate well into 3D space, in my opinion. He looks like complete crap.
Why does Sonic need realistic physics (as in the Xbox 360 game)? He doesn’t. Making nearby piles of crates (Why are there so many piles of crates, anyway?) fall to the ground realistically whenever Sonic hits enemies in the vicinity is just…pointless. And throwing another hedgehog, this one with telekinetic powers, into the loop to justify the use of an advanced physics engine just comes off as desperate.
Since Sonic has gone 3D, I’ve developed a deep-seated hatred toward him. Sega and Sonic Team only keep him around to rake in some cash every once in a while.
Fans of the newer Sonic games tend to have some of the lowest quality expectations, and it’s a shame that fans of the series actually shell out money for this crap every single time.
I agree with you on Sonic’s voice, with one exception. His English voice in Sonic Adventure sucked, but his Japanese voice was much, much better. But if Sega brought Sonic back to his roots and ditched the RPG-esque “adventure” aspects, a voice track would not be needed.
How about you only play as sonic, and instead of limiting the playing field you allow people to see what is comming from further ahead but you can run really fast. That would be awesome, because unlike a car game you have to jump a well, so its like a car game/platformer where you run and jump and destroy enemies and collect rings, solve little puzzles to get on the good track (at full speed, or you just go to the less desirable track). That would be pretty cool. My problem with the 2d sonics was I could never see what was comming next, so putting the camera behind sonic and playing a 2d sonic game would be pretty neat.
I think you forgot the most basic element. The one element that made Sonic…Sonic.
Physics.
Physics is what differentiated Sonic from all other platformers. The fact that he could run so fast that he could go up walls, around loops, and run on water.
Because of the physics, he was able interact with gadgets in the level (another aspect that made Sonic unique). It wasn’t as simple as activating a gadget, but rather he had to push them, run into them (and use his inertia to get the gadget to do what he wanted), and jump on them to bounce off of (whether it be the springers, or the sort of bouncers you saw in Casino Night Zone).
In fact, this is one of the two things that I think that is hurting 3D Sonic games, as far as playability is concerned. Currently, the physics are hacked. There is no joy in going through a loop because of this. The other thing missing is a fixed camera behind Sonic. It would look and almost play like a racer/platformer, and with the current 3D controls, be much better than SonicR.
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me and my older brother both grew up on the mega-drive sonics and love them so, yet in his adult life he hasn’t kept up with his gaming whist i have. his view on the new sonic games however i feel summes up things better than i ever could “too much walking about, not enough jumping on stuff”
its all well and good to run stright for an hour but wheres the part that makes you think? also, i agree, no more freaking cats with fishing rods and no more “oh dear god, sonic does _not_ talk like that” moments please.
I don’t think Sonic Adventure was really all that bad- I don’t like Sonic’s voice, or the setting anymore however.
I know a lot of you are probably going to disagree, but I think the best Sonic voice has got to be Jaleel White (Adventures of Sonic, SatAm). It was high pitched, but had an attitude. It was realistic for the character. However, I think I can do without hearing Sonic talk.
I think Sonic Team needs to look at Sonic Rush as a foundation and build up on it. It was 2D, but had 3D elements. Are they afraid to do that on a console? They shouldn’t be. Sometimes I wish I could talk to them and just be like “Sonic Rush was the best Sonic game in years!” … I know the sales don’t show that, but that’s because it wasn’t advertised enough!
Regardless, I want my Sonic back! Being a Sonic fan is rough now, and it shouldn’t be.
I blogged about this some time ago. I think we’re on the same wavelength…!
http://www.gibbage.co.uk/2006/05/stop-getting-sonic-wrong.html
I’ve since decided “Keep him mute” should definitely be on that list, too.
It’s so achingly simple, it infurates me that Sega can’t see it…
I think it’s fair to say you all miss your 2D Sonic. However I can’t stand idally by and let you all diss the Sonic Adventure.
My reasons for this are quite simple. Sonic adventure was not intended to be anything like this prequals. I belive it’s fair to say that the “adventure game” achived what it set out to do. ANd people that were upset clearly didn’t have any interest in reading the reverse of the packaging or previews. Speech in the game, by the characters, closly mimiced that of those on the TV series. I think that’s good. However games to follow such as Sonic heroes did muck this concept up.
The adventure was indeed an adventure. Uncovering secrets of how the race of echidna dissapeared. Very deep and mystical, almost tomb raider ^^
The Chao. *cough* BONUS LEVELS. Though it’s not exactly using the characters of sega you should admit that this idea was amazingly good. Being able to create your own personalised tamagotchi and then play minigames on your memory card to further it’s growth.
I shall admit that the Sega team have rushed ideas quicker than Sonic runs but I am so passionatly in love with Sonic Adventure that I almost belive that you guys are afraid to lose the retro games you love. I think it’d be nice to accept something new. give sega time and they’ll give you what they want. change isn’t bad. I love the old and the new.
Hate mail @ mithryl_mithra@yahoo.co.uk
I agree with you on a lot of points in this article, but it troubles me how little credit you give Sonic’s 3D games. It’s going a little far to say that everything after Sonic CD should be scrapped. There are parts in each game that work extremely well.
For example: the mechanics for the spin dash in Sonic Adventure 1 were easily the best of the series. The slow acceleration of Sonic’s normal run gave you precise control when you needed it; and with a single button press you could spin dash to near-max speed, drop into a ball for downhill areas, pop out of the ball for extra traction in uphill areas, and even cut your jumps short to reduce air time for speed runs.
Sonic Adventure 2 effed that up majorly by mapping the new ground roll attacks to the same button as the spin dash, which basically made it either impossible or too risky (since accidentally going into a roll attack would bring you to a screeching halt) to attempt the maneuvers I listed above. But it did Sonic right in areas where SA1 just didn’t cut it. In short, SA2 made Sonic edgy again. No retarded cats, no sadsville Asimov robot arcs, and no pink hedgehogs with plastic hammers. The mood the game set in most of the speed levels was near-perfect in my opinion. The San Fran hill level where you snowboarded down the street, the jungle stage that didn’t let up, and the freaking space levels? And the music? Genius, that game oozed style.
Sonic Heroes took a step back in mechanics and edge, but it did offer much more in the department of level and enemy design; as well as the genesis of what I believe could be the ultimate game of co-op sonic (but that’s an article all it’s own :P). I mean, come on, it let you take Knuckles back onto the tracks again! This was a thinking man’s sonic game if ever there was one. The dynamic of how each character worked to complement the other’s weaknesses and the way they designed the enemies and obstacles around that were great.
The Sonic series doesn’t need to be taken back ten years to be saved. Sega just needs to put a good team and budget together and devote some serious R&D time into refining the design with all the elements that worked in their previous games. If they could just start using more than two buttons for character moves, re-harness Sonic’s “edge”, and put some work into revamping the mechanics for Knuckles and Tails so that they’re closer to Sonic’s (but still unique), then they could kick Mario’s ass all over again.
Thanks for your comments!
However, if you read my other article:
http://www.racketboy.com/retro/2006/12/how-sega-all-but-ruined-sonic-hedgehog.html?08316730
You will see that I mention many of the good points about them (many that you mentioned).
I actually enjoyed some parts of each a lot. It’s just too bad they weren’t that well-rounded.
Oh, and one more thing: Bonus levels in Sonic have always been BS. They’re too hard and require you to develop entirely new skills in what is essentially a minigame just to get the good stuff in the regular game. All I’m saying is I’d rather get my super sonicing abilities from goals achieved in normal gameplay. If they wanna throw in minigames, that’s always fine, but don’t make that the only way to get the damned emeralds.
the first game i had ever played in my life was Sonic 2 for Genesis and THAT is my favorite Sonic game.
Here are my pros and cons of some sonic games
PROS
-2d games good!
-3d the only one i thought was good was sonic adventure 2 battle for gamecube for the most part THE SONIC AND SHADOW LEVELS VERY GOOD EXCEPT that space level at the end and let me say that sonic vs shadow battle i thought was TIGHT
- Bonus levels (maybe try putting some in new games)
- maybe MAYBE give tails and knuckles, Shadow (THATS IT, no rouge)there own levels if and ONLY IF they are like sonic with there own spins on it like the old genesis era.
- MAYBE go back to the time and make a new game like when Knuckles was evil MAYBE I SAID but you know like the review said above not all crappy and tall versions.
CONS
-Not that fast anymore
-seems like sonic lost his speed and only gains it by BOOST PADS
- I HATE BOOST PADS
- Grinding i feel can be taken out, i like it in SA2B but not really in the others
- this is a side note I HATE CHRIS from Sonic X he is gay! Why are there humans
- Sonic next gen, i wanted it soooo bad but the game got reviews just like my desires for the game.
- Sonic looks ok in 3d mode
-Stop making RETARDED knuckles and Rouge levels they are gay you are imbarrasing them and yourselves sega
- for all you out there saying why dont you make the game yourself or help out or somethin like that I WOULD LIKE TO! And would get yall and my friends to help hive sega some ideas.
- Voices (GOTTA GO)
- No more Tails behind sonic? (that was goodness)
- Tails used to be good but he suks now his voice is wierd and he is allways in a MACHINE, TAKE HIM OUT
I HAVE ALOT MORE BUT IM BORED OF BEING BORED AND BORED OF THESE LET DOWNS…and i will tell you all i am deeply disapointed in myself i just recently bought a PSP and got Sonic Rivals for it and WHAT A MISTAKE its SOOO SLOW!
yes i know i have bad spelling
I’ve been hyping about this for YEARS, and I’m so relieved someone finally sees that these new games just aren’t Sonic! I grew up with Sonic the Hedgehog, and being young and enamored with the games, I naturally absorbed the “feeling” or the essence of the sonic games which gave them their magic. But playing game after game these days, they just feel so fake, amateurish, and disappointing. Instead of keeping to roots and branching off of that, Sega consistently ruined the game by creating a monstrosity based off of bad programming, cliched storylines, gimmicks, and worst of all, changing everything in its attempt to just CONFORM to other mainstream videogames.
First off the running mechanics. The new 3D games have no physics involved in them whatsoever. Basically, Sonic team has resorted to having sonic run on train tracks, with a few gimmicks strewn in here and there, and all the player has to do is press “forward”. Has the Sonic team become retarded? Yes it’s nice to WATCH sonic slide down some rail or run down the tube, but if the computer is gonna do everything, why play?
Second…THE FEET. Personally the rush I got was seeing sonic’s feet spin insanely fast when he was running at top speed. Running with sonic these days feels slow and cumbersome. He seems to be ice skating when running, and the long legs flopping everywhere…blech.
Third, I feel sonic was mainly made for ROLLING. I’m surprised they haven’t introduced any ball mechanics ala monkey ball into the sonic series. That was the main concept in the first sonic anyways and that’s how super fast speeds were obtained - by rolling down hills or what not and using gravity.
Fourth, the graphics are too “glossy” and fake to me. I know Sonic is a cartoon, but something about the graphics makes me feel like i’m in a plastic world. Because of that, the immersion level isn’t as great.
Finally, Sonic’s faith to it’s original story is long gone. It was the fuzzy animals being attacked by creatively insane mechanical monstrosities, not thousands of mediocre “sonic pals”, water monsters, and super dragon ball z powers. Sonic has become way to pretentious. I would love to see a game with ONLY sonic…battling giant metallic machinery in huge landscapes…rather than restricted to simple runnning tracks. Sonic was meant to RUN FREE! so LET HIM!
Unfortunately, my ideas are meaningless, but I’m still waiting until someone revives videogames into something meaningful and bring out the TRUE sonic.
I agree there should be no humans - what the hell is with that? They add nothing to the games and in fact make them look stupid.
I think being able to move freely rather than on rails is required, but they could implement a turning system whereby the more speed you have, the more you sway left to right instead of having him do sharp turns.
you are so right with all of this. SA2B kept us hooked with the chao idea, and that was cool, but it gets boring after a while. the best sonic game ever was probably sonic mega collection. bring all the good ol’ games back! YEA!
What the hell were they thinking when they created the soundtracks to the 3D Sonic games? The music is totally lame! Sonic 2006’s soundtrack is slightly better than his previous 3D outings but it’s not good enough. They should use the same formula used in the Sonic 3D Saturn Game but modernize the music and ditch the crappy jazz and stupid casino music. Honestly, which of todays gamers listens to jazz and blues? Get rid of those 80s synthesized sounds too and bring in the modern.
The team who worked on the soundtrack to the F-Zero game for Gamecube should be working on the Sonic Soundtrack.
Emphasis on PHYSICS DAMMIT! They need to take advantage of the technology instead of just being flasy with the graphics. What happened to the jump mechanics? Why does he float all the time? Why are there all these useless special moves? Why don’t they make sonic roll anymore? Why do Sonic’s feet move so slow? ARHGH!
Maybe one day I’ll join the Sonic team and show them what sonic’s really about
Personally I loved Sonic Adventure. As much as people gripe about playing as other characters, or the “horrible” adventure parts of the game, it wasn’t that bad.
Sure Knuckles plays nothing like Sonic. Don’t like it? Don’t play as him. You started the game as Sonic and didn’t need to play as anyone else to play level after level with Sonic. You DID have to play as everyone else to unlock Super Sonic, but that was optional.
Sonic Adventure 2, in forcing you to swap up gamestyles constantly was a pain in the butt.
As for the adventure mode, you weren’t timed, nothing was hard to find, it was pretty much just there to add a little depth. Consider the menu in Mega Man. SA1 let you return to any stage you liked as much as you wanted, but without being so flat and dull. The only “challenge” was not running off a cliff.
Style: Sega wants Sonic to go from a happy world where no one dies, filled with cheerful music to gritty, cities destroyed (AS1), unsure if you’re the good guy or bad guy (Shadow). “Attitude” has gone from a smirk (and possible unsaid snide remark) to trying to ape current pop culture. No we don’t want to look at a bunch of bird skate punks. The series is trying to grow up, but comes across like a young child trying to act older than they are. Start of SA1, before anything happens, Sonic hops from building to building then says “Now THIS is happening!” Random drop-ins of seemingly “cool” phrases out-of place doesn’t work.
Interacting with humans? What’s Robotnik? How did he come to live in Mobius? Perhaps Sonic’s still in Mobius now, but moved to the big city from out in the country.
Physics, less scaffolding / dead stops please. If you’re steering drunkenly, you should bounce drunkenly off the walls. Non-stop chances to fall to your death that take several times of trial and error to figure out how many enemies you can spin dash to land on the next platform without over / undershooting is frustrating, not fun. In 2-D Sonics you died, but took in the whole scene as you did. With the new movie style environments, trying to run across an environment that’s falling INTO place you don’t know if you overshot, undershot, had your timing off or missed sideways. Now you can go too fast, and will die if you do. (Demo level of the 360 Sonic) Using the homing attack on too many enemies can also make you miss your platform, as well as using it freely on the boxes sitting on tiny floating platforms. (Also 360 demo) Sonic’s world’s seem far less solid than they used to be.
Griping aside, the best “attitude” I’ve seen from Sonic lately was also in the 360 demo. Tearing apart a dozen robots at once, lightly tapping the last remaining, struggling to balance itself robot off the edge and bending over to watch it with a grin that just screams “hit me!”
Speech is hard to get right, but Sega could do better. Bowser has forever lost all credibility. Robotnik is still cool, Tails comes across well for what he’s supposed to be. Unfortunately when you have people trying to write for an age and culture they aren’t, what do you expect? want to groan? Pop in the 3DO Mario game or a CD-I Zelda game. The opening scenes will make you cry. “I’m so hungry I could eat an Octarok!”
Eventually, in spamming out games trying everything possible, they’ll get it right. Hopefully they’ll do so while there’s still people left who are willing to buy the games.
I agree with a lot of this rant.
I grew up on Sonic the Hedgehog games. The speed was mind-blowing and just… amazing. Sonic can’t continue to be about missions and crap like that.
The bonus rounds could be much better like you said. But then again, they were never really my favorite part of the game to begin with…
And please don’t call Sonic’s unnamed world “Mobius”. I’m a Sonic GAMER and I don’t particularly enjoy the comics/television shows.
I do like alot of level designs from Sonic Adventure and Heroes, but the Sonic Adventure 2/ Shadow the Hedgehog/ SONIC the Hedgehog ‘06 were pure shit.
My favorite Sonic character actually isn’t Sonic. I don’t want to play as him all of the time. I like to see a bunch of characters fit in there. A lot of them are very interesting.
But I agree with what you are saying about the gameplay of each character. If they were all playing through the levels like Sonic does (each with different abilities), then peace will be restored between me and Sonic Team.
I didn’t mind the voices back in the Sonic Adventure Era. But, like everyone says, when Sonic Team fired those actors and replaced them with the 4kids, I got pissed.
And there’s no harm in good graphics!
Damn man, where the hell do i start. it pains me, it really does. what happened to sonic? my childhood memories are filled to the brim with the creative tallent and refreshing games that were sonic 1 and 2. everything about those games was what any “game” should strive to be, unique, cool, fun to play and really really momorable. i do like adventure, as im a dc fanboy, but the flaws are evident throughout, namely the horrible camera angles. the only character that should talk is eggman. its so true what they say about just putting him in 3d, just because they can, even though it hurts the game. i have a copy of sonic rivals, free with my psp, and i just cant bring myself to play it, it really really upsets me. sonic cd is as good as i will ever be as long as sega keep up this trend. bad mistake.
Its funny that I found this page because I was actually doing a search for “fanmade” sonic games. These are games that are created by sonic fans like you and me who realize that 3d was a bad move, so they use the engines of sonic2 and 3 from the genesis. Its a shame that I have to do these searches, and I am not stuck in the past. Sega MUST realize what a hit Sonic would be if they launched a “back to basics” advertisement ploy. No dialogue, simple story , Robotnik, sweet levels with 2 or 3 acts, Even though some people might not like this, Knuckles is a thing of the floting island, bringing him back was like having a sequal to the matrix, cool but not needed. And to take advantage of the new hardware out today, huge 2.5d levels, great visuals, and bosses that lose limbs , arms,etc, like those in sonic cd. I mean , what do you have to lose sega? Youve tried everything already.
hhmm.. i was just looking up my daily news and there’s another article on how sega can save sonic.
http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3157060
anyway, i just thought i’d revisit this blog entry and compare the two. I like this one better.
ARE YOU ALL BLIND!!!??? SEGA NEVER RUINED SONIC!! I AM TRULY ASHAMED AT THAT ARTICLE FOR INSULTING SONIC 3D GAMES!! EVERYTHING THAT ARTICLE SAID WAS JUST PLAIN WRONG!!! AS A TRUE SONIC FAN, I COMPLETELY DISAGREE WITH IT!!! I LOVE SONIC 3D GAMES!!!!
GOOD FOR YOU!
ive been a sonic freak since the megadrive and the 360 sonic game felt like a kick in the balls. im working on a 3d montage of all the reasons im hating where the franchise is going. im hoping to get you all to have a look wen its finished, you tube or veoh or where ever. hoping to have it complete sometime april or june this year! watch this space!
Hi! I’m a friend of jack, and I’m an immature idiot like he is.
I’M A GRAPHICS WHORE WHO DOESN’T CARE ABOUT QUALITY GAMEPLAY
DEAL WITH IT!!!!!!!
If they would just make Sonic in 3D with the old levels almost identical, that would be great. I enjoyed the Green Hill level in Sonic Adventure 2.
Sonic sense of speed was there in Sonic the Hedgehog Next-Gen, the fastes. Sonic in a game alone in boring brcause there is no variety. Adventure feilds need to be included, again fro more variety. If the made a #D remake of all the old games that would be cool like GHZ in SA2. The Sonic franchise was better than Mario to me always because Mario is sometimes boring since there’s hardly ever a story or any scenes and you definately cannot count on them for music. If sonic keeps the loops, make big loops as well that Sonic can go through really fast, that would be good. The robots of Eggman were the same when they went to 3D except in Sonic The Hedgehog Next’Gen, but the redigned robots of that game was an improvement. If they had levels of the old school sonic design and the new style as well I would like it more. Shadow and Sonic are equaly cool in their own ways, but Shadow is not hardcore to me, he’s calm, sly, intelligent, and talented. Chaos Spear was just an attack in 2-p mode just like all the other characters so i really dont think it was worth it to continue only his attack in other games and the show. In Sonic Next-Gen they should have made Shadow not as fast as Sonic but almost as fast as him and kept the spin dash and homing attack normal, and if they were gonna keep Chaos Spear then only use it by jumping and the using it. The boss battle are ok to me, they just need to do more to seem more exiting. They have a short pattern that meeds to have more and a random order. Sonic DOES need to be 3D because every game is 3D now unless it one of the rare hand held 2D games, plus the 3D effect is to move 3D as in left, right, AND forward and backwards. There was ALWAYS a scheme to collect the emeralds, that’s why they were in the very first game. Sonic Adventure is also the game that got some of the most popularity, notice that it is still in stores some places, and some took them off and brought them bach with a special. Shadow the Hedgehog was a little boring but it made a smart move. It tested out a new style to see how it would go. And they found out that people like using vehicles, that people want more of shooting but only from the robots because the characters have their own abilities and robots with different kind of shooting power makes them “better”, in which people now want more of Omega. It would have been better if Sonic, Shadow, and Silver werent the only main character. Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, Omega, and Blaze would have been better if they werent just side characters. But THEIR gameplay style was improved, except for Tails and Rouge who had everything right except their attacks which copied Sonic Heroes. If they reshowed Super Tails and Super Knuckles while at the same time looking like an actual super form, plus Shadow being less yelloy and more the color as in SA2, the everything would be interesting. A game including the Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Rouge, Eggman, Omega, Cream, Cheese, Big, Vector, Charmy, Espio, Jet, Wave, Storm, Silver, Blaze, Metal Sonic, Metal Knuckles, and an actual robot of Tails would cause a massive story and variety that would really get people to play because everyone would find their favorite character in the game somewhere. Sonic isnt really damaged, there’s just always someone picky to complain, and fans do not suffer because the games are giving them EXACTLY what they want, because it’s just a game, and suffering means extreme problem. You cannot suffer from and itch, you CAN suffer from breaking an arm, or brain damage, or mental illness, but not from a bad smell or a nsty cup of coffee.
Wow this is long.
Me again. My fav sonic is Sonic 2 and Sonic Adventure 2. I wish they’d give Tails more physical credit instead of using machines and bombs. Flying the plane ONCE IN A WHILE is alright. It’s always been like that. NOw, how can you hate speed pads if they’r in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, look at the 2nd and 3rd levels. THey’re everywhere. Their taller designs are better, not too silly and crappy anymore. He actually LOOKS like he’d be fast. Rouge should stay, along with all the other characters, just without crappy gameplay, but not like Sonic, then Sonic wouldn’t be special. Let Tails and knuckles run fast just not as fast as sonic, let tails not get tired when flying, give him is old attack like sonic’s back in exception to the homing attack, let knuckles gilde and climb and dig and all he could do in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Next-Gen just without havind to look for emeralds, have them run through the level like normal slightly different from sonic. Shadow should be way faster than tails and knuckles but slightly slower than sonic and have all hims normal gameplay abilities of spin dash. homing attack, speed, gringing (only like in SA2 though). Why take out the voice and talking? It makes it more interesting. Many people want to see more CG cutsenes and that can’t happen if there arent any voices. Plus the freaks who pair characters up together (even though it’ll never happen) cant do that if they’re just animal objects running around like clever idiots. Sonic is an actual CHARACTER now, with a personality. That’s why on YouTube, people watch the group of videos that are just the cutscenes. I am making a series (cartoon and game) so I know a lot of the correct flaws of the game and there are many, but not enough or big enough to complain about.
I may not see eye-to-eye on all of your solutions, but I understand your reasoning. But the one thing I do agree on by far is putting Sonic back on Mobius. If done right, it could make the story as good as Star Wars or Halo or Splinter Cell. Come to think of it, the series you mentioned does have alot in common with Star Wars. Not only are they both Sci-Fi, but they also have alot of similar plot elements. Both of them are nothing short of epic.
So to shake things up, I have decided to create a project that will do for Mobius Sonic what Star Wars 1, 2, and 3 did for 4, 5, and 6 (hopefully without the Jar-Jar Binks effect.) If you’re interested, we can talk about this later.
I agree with your comment about the Knuckles levels in Sonic Adventure 2. I found myself thinking as I was playing through the game “Come on, I want to be Sonic again already! I want to get this over with!” I really enjoyed Sonic Advance, though it was the only “real” Sonic game I have played. I think if Sega wants to stay true to the “true meaning” of Sonic games, yet still have some element of 3-D, they should go for one of those “2.5-D” things like New Super Mario Bros: as in side-scrolling like the original games but with 3-D characters and enemies.
Hey there. I’ve been playin Sonic games since, well, it all began! So nice to see a site with veiws like my own! the haters of this place can shove it because it’s all true!!
I have to agree with the “Bring sonic back to Mobius” thing. When i heard a new Sonic game (Sonic adventure) was coming out, i was so exited! I really wanted to see what Mobius would look like in a 3-D world, but Sega decided to destroy that dream by making it all happen on earth. and contrary to what Erry said… no. I believe most of the old games said it was mobious… the Anime movie(Made by Sega!)called it the Land of the sky…so… um… yeah.
I also miss the old fashioned “Robotnick” and his machines (Really miss sonic calling him Buttnick…ok so it only happened in DiC Cartoons, but that was still cool!) I also think that they should bring back the Robotasizing machines… it made it more fun to watch little animals pop out and then see Sonic go and try to save the day. And i swear,if i have to fight aother alien, lizard, or stupid water blob… someones gonna die!!
When it comes to sonic talking… i’m a little ok with it, though they really need a voice actor so that he sounds a bit more serious and not like some little kid. Even worse… Tails voice drives me nuts! Seriously! He sounds like he is five and um… a little “lovingly attracted” to sonic. Knux is ok… but i think they changed his voice actor too much… my point is that they should find better voice actors
As for Playing as sonic more: Sounds great, but let us play as others too, but only if we want to.
I also agree with Knuckles having a better mission than finding emeralds… HE’S SUPPOSED TO BE AS FAST AS SONIC… USE IT! Also, if we want to play as tails… i’d really like to play as tails, and not tails in his “Torpedo”
When it comes to the emeralds though, i enjoyed not having to worry about getting them, but rather have them in secret levels like before, posing more of a challange than Knuckles digging around for them…
And, um, as far as i have been concerened…. Robotnick is the only human there… this G.U.N crap is kind of annoying.
And as for everone that claims Sega hasn’t killed off the sonic franchise: Yes, they have… can you honestly think of the last time you heard how awsome the new sonic games where from someone other than all your freinds? I cant even talk about Shadow the Hedgehog without people saying that it seemed like a Racist game!
Um… i’d better stop before i end up writing a novel. Hehe: “When Sonic was good!”
real quick blurp on the new Wii game.
Ok, i admit it, i like it.. a little. But the voice actors still sound like crap… and i don’t like the controls much. i can’t help but think that the game would be a little better if Sonic was moved with the Nunchuck instead of constantly moving forward, so that you can explore more of the areas at breakneck speed.
Another game that was fun to play, but the story line wasn’t very good(I think) was Sonic Rivals. The speed was nice, but i didn’t like what the big threat was: Losing the race and then Robotnick (I will always call him what he should be) takes a picture of you and you’re turned into a card. Whoopdy doo.
Also, i don’t think that additional character are ruining the franchise (not that anyones said that yet.) though i do remeber watching a quick spoof on Newgrounds where they were trick or treating and sonic was dressed up as tails. someone got mad at him and said that Tails ruined the franchise. Um, no. Tails was the first addition. If he ruined it… then game and the others would cease to exist. (though his stupid machine might ruin the franchise)
In the end of things, i will continue playing Sonic games… even if some of them are not that good. Sonic is and always be fun to play… but if Sega is not carefull enough- the gameplay (Storylines) might get worse and Sonic might be no more than a memory of a once good game that killed itself.
i honestly think that sonic needs to be faster than in recent ones, but i think they should stick with the large cast, 3d environment, full voice overs(but sega could atleast hire some better ones),while at the same time make everyone in these games who were once fast, fast again
Hmm.
I agree and disagree.
Make Sonic Fast: Uhh… depends on how you look at it.
One of the reasons I can tolerate Labyrinth Zone is because of the drag. Underwater, Sonic is painfully slow, and this emphasizes his weakness to water, which I feel can be elaborated upon. It’s such an unorthodox weakness, and really adds to Sonic’s equally unorthodox personality. But back to the speed, I can tolerate Labyrinth Zone because of the incredible feel of speed and freedom you get when you escape the water. It’s also the reason Star Light is my favorite zone in Sonic 1.
However, I got the feeling I was going faster than in the 2D games a lot while playing Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, and sometimes in the incredibly underrated Sonic Heroes (I’ve never played Adventure). I especially liked Metal Harbor because of its speed, and it certainly adds to the feel of the game. HOWEVER. People place too much value on what the expect Sonic to be, and don’t pay as much attention to the merits that some games have. F’rinstance, Sonic Heroes is actually one of my favorite Sonic games. Just because it’s not the quickest Sonic ever made, doesn’t mean it isn’t good. Anyone else feel thrills on Egg Fleet? … Anyone?
Emphasize reaction time with 2 dimensions: Uh, sure, as long as you can see where you’re going. When I was playing Chemical Plant Zone, I felt blind. If you, say, create a blur effect with Sonic’s speed, you would be able to test reaction time without making the player blind. Or, possibly, test reaction time by having the player move really, really, really, really quickly so it would test your reaction to obstacles you can barely see coming. Oh, and make Sonic go faster in 3D, while making trickier obstacles. But not those walls. It would be really sweet if Sonic could suddenly turn and run up those damn walls.
Make Electrifying Bonus Rounds: WHOA yeah! I liked the Sonic Heroes style of chasing the Emeralds, but if you put that in a Sonic 2 style Special Stage, it would be PARADISE. The only thing wrong with Sonic Rush (other than the music) was the Special Stages.
Make Monster Robotnik Bosses: If Eggman is gonna be a villain, make him a villain! He needs to play a bigger part, without being the stereotypical princess-kidnapper he was in that curse called Sonic Next-Gen. On the other hand, there’s nothing wrong with other villains, like Chaos, Black Doom, and (especially) METAL SONIC AND EGGMAN NEGA. Just give Eggman a role other than being a clown, and have HIM come up with a sinister plot sometimes. And Eggman Nega and Metal Sonic were GEMS of villains. Keep them, but Eggman has got to step up.
Bring Sonic Back to Mobius: What about some dimension hopper that had stages on Earth and Sonic’s original world/Mobius? Or maybe even Blaze’s world? Just don’t put Blaze in the future. Anyway, Mobius is fine, and a rarity of humans made Sonic special. Make Eggman the only human again. And DON’T REVIVE THAT CURSED ELISE!!!
Make Creative Level Designs With Tons of Personality: Sure! Underwater zones help emphasize Sonic’s weakness to water. Why don’t they let Sonic go underwater in the 3D games? Casino zones are classic, colorful, and wonderfully represent what Sonic stands for. Maybe some jungle, or *gasp* Don’t-get-burned-before-you-get-to-the-goal FIRE zones? Since Rush, the idea has been perfect. Try lighting the characters on fire when they’re hit by a certain, and pushing their speed to the limit as they try to go as far as they can before they lose their rings, or move quickly enough to lose the flame. Maybe the abandoned fire would become some sort of enemy…? I can imagine it in Marble Zone now.
Limit the Amount of Playable Characters: So long as we emphasize playable. It’s fine to have lots of characters–don’t forget the fanfic writers, people–just limit those you can play as, or rather, have to play as. You should only be forced to play as Sonic. If you want to play as someone else, feel free.
Don’t Let Sonic Talk: Nah. Put dialogue in the cutscenes, but by the Rift of Existence, change the voice actors! Leave them the way they were in Heroes and the Advance games (better an actual 8-year-old boy like Tails is supposed to be than a female adult!). Drummond fits Sonic much better than Griffith does. But, when playing, scrap the talking and put up text boxes for the hints, or something.
Slick Graphics Are Fine: Of course they are! But Sonic’s legs in Next-Gen look demented. Keep it Adventure/2/Heroes style and I’m fine (the other two look like dorks).
You are so right about the new Sonic games. I feel almost ashamed of liking the classics because of how the new 4kids-esque games and franchise have colored the enire series. I grew up with the 2d games and played them almost every day. And I’d have to say that Sonic Rush for the DS was the best Sonic game since the classics, sans the plotline. Actually, since finishing the game I don’t remember any of the plotline, just the great level (oh, and gay 5-year old Tails yelling at me during boss battles). What I’d like to see is a Sonic game that uses the old graphics engine and design style while using time travel ideas from Sonic CD and maybe the trick system from Sonic Rush (but no grinding rails).
Well, I may as well post in a comment, Ive nearly played every Sonic game out there. I like some of the old like Sonic 2 and 3, and of course Sonic and Knuckles. But some games in there just suck. Dr. Robotniks Mean Bean Machine was pretty lame, Sonic isnt even in it and the story lacks everything.
ROBOTNIK: I will rid of those fun-music-loving critters! Muah ha ha!!
This bad story also makes me dislike the Flicky Game and Sonic 3D. Sonic 3D was neat for its time, really. But hey, I dont like wandering about collecting helpless moronic birds. They fly, they get around better than Sonic can. And the music in those games are embarrasing to hear… I actually like to Jam out to the newer songs from Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Sonic the Hedgehog (360). I really enjoy the main themes, but dont get me wrong, I dont like Amy or Knuckles music… I dont like everything. The controls in Sonic Adventure 2 really impressed me, and that quickly made it my favorite. Having Sonic in the city seems more normal. Other than the fact hes about 3 feet tall (Which I actually like) he fits in pretty well. It also seems to give Sonic more of a heroic sence. He isnt just saving little birds from a guy who morbidly obesse and has nothing better to do but find ways to take energy out of little animals and use them to specifically take down Sonic, but he is saving the whole dang planet! As for Mobius? You can still see your favorite animal planet in your Sonic Comics available at nearly any smoke stack or comic shop. I enjoy Sonics voice and most of the time Knuckles too. They all vary from game to game. Tails had an interesting voice in Sonic Adventure 2, it was child like but hes not like a baby as he sounded in Sonic Heroes… Gee, sounded like he just learned to talk. I like Knuckles with a deep voice, and Sonics American accent. And Im glad theyve softened up Amys voice. Ass for the name Eggman? I welcome it. He is still the same guy, but now he is a little more scary as he is serious about world conquest. I like the ARK better than the Death Egg, it has much more creativity and its not embarrasing to say what the ARK is. Death Egg sounds like a bad meal. As for adding in characters like Big? I welcome them. I believe its neat to have the option to play as them, but I dont think it should be nessasary. Silver is a real neat addition. Play the game, its very origional and exciting to figure out. The biggest caviot about Sonic the Hedgehog (360) is the sloppy controls. Its much too sensitive, the kind where you try to just turn Sonic and he goes flying off a cliff. But hey, Sonic CD also had bad controls. The burn-out command seemed usless, and I didnt like holding spin dash for a set amount of time. I liked tapping the button to charge and release as quickly as I could. And I saw a comment on the new Sonic being too much like DBZ, well clearly you didnt beat Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and above. Super Sonic (and in one case Hyper Sonic) has been around since 1992. Quite a while ago. Its not some lame feature, although I woul like to see Super Sonic as a playable character who isnt a last resort in story mode. Im saying GIVE IT TO ME, of course, you have to work to get some emeralds. I like how the emeralds are more involved with the story, but I miss the Gold Hedgehog. Speaking of Gold, Silver the Hdgehog takes a lot of shots from critics. Want to see a lame character? Look at Cream the Rabbit. You know what? I could go on for hours, but then nobody will even glance at my comments. Im just going to say, I like the old and I like the new. Those who cant accept the new are just afraid to let go of thier childhood blankie. And if the 2D aspect is a priority and you want new… play Sonic Advance and Sonic Rush. Im out. Peace.
I have to agree on most of your points, racketboy. Sonic is not the same character I grew up with. The Genesis titles were something special, because they were able to offer BREAK NECKING SPEED and other mechanics that other platformers failed to provide. Now I compare then to now, the difference is huge and vast. It seems that Sega cares nothing but to make a quick buck off of young gamers that don’t know any better, hence Sonic Next-Gen and Sonic Riders. The 3-D Sonic is slow, and the mechanicals needed for a 3-D game are lacking. Why Sega can’t make a camera work right I don’t know.
I use to love Sonic, including the TV shows, comics, merchanise, and other sorts of media that he was in. It’s really depressing how far the franchise has fallen, when it was once on the road to success, once Nintendo’s biggest threat. Shadow the Hedgehog is still one of Sega’s worst creations, because it lacks everything that made the Sonic franchise special. I actually had hopes for Sonic and the Secret Rings, but it turned out to be a disappointment once I found it was on-rails and I couldn’t go where I wanted to. Clearly the only good thing going are the portable titles. Sonic Rush was a pleasent surprise, maybe if Sega fit that formula into their 3-D games it may actually work. Then again who knows.
It seems like Sega’s only starting to wake up and realize why we liked sonic.
Heres my two cents:
Minimize Dialogue. Don’t remove it completely, just find better voice actors, and avoid the lines that make us all cringe. Probably the second greatest injustice to the sonic series (aside from 3D mechanics), is the terrible voice acting. The same goes with the music, make some scores of your own, no singing please.
Back to your roots, I think sonic the hedgehog fell out of the mainstream somewhere between 95-97, as a result of multiple poor decisions made by sega on several fronts. Im not going to go into that, but what i think is necessary is a complete reboot. A remake of the first three sonic games on a next gen platform would be excellent, I can only speculate as to how awesome those final boss battles would look on my 360. No humans, no ultrarealistic eggman, and take us back to mobius please.
Fix the 3d. My two greatest frustrations with the more recent games are the way the third person camera keeps away from the player like it has a disease, and just the design of the levels in general, while the originals felt more like platformers, the 3d ones feel like racetracks. What really needs to be fixed are the camera angles, they just suck theres really no other way to put it, and theres really gotta be a better way to incorporate sonic into a 3d world.
Fix the playable characters. Theres just too damn many of them. Nobody ever became a fan of sonic because of the now-ridiculous multitude of introduced characters. Keep the list short and simple. I absolutely hate playing as a goddam robot or machine, and i definetly do NOT want to play as a cheap sidekick of shadow or an obscure character in the sonic universe. The only characters i can stand playing as are Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, The Tornado, and possibly Shadow.
I wish someone at SEGA would read this. If you are going to make any more games like the last few, just give up. Everyone either misses the old sonic or has totally given up on you. Back in it’s heyday, sonic had so much potential, a character like that is instinctively much more likable than one like a certain italian plumber. But because of a series of stupid blunders, the potential has been lost and I can only imagine how things could have gone otherwise. Please hear me out, its not too late to bring sonic back.
Regards,
A longtime SEGA fan
I totally understand where you’re coming from, Segawillriseagain. As I said in the topic “How Sega All But Ruined Sonic the Hedgehog,” Sega’s problem was trying to push ahead of their competitors with their hardware systems, rather than concentrating more on their games. I admit, they were ahead of their time, but they did terrible in sales (Sega Saturn, Sega Nomad, Sega 32X, Sega CD, and Sega Game Gear). This is perhaps why Sonic X-treme was never released, and I would of been dying to play a game that introduced Sonic into the 3-D world.
But his success in 3-D has been all for naught. You would think that after dropping out of the console race, that Sega would try ever harder to satisfy longtime Sega fans, like they did back in the early 90s. But that wasn’t the case. I mean, how hard is it to have a camera working right in a 3-D game? If Nintendo could do it with ease, shouldn’t a big company like Sega do the same? What they need is a complete overhaul of what they’ve done with 3-D and think of something better, maybe follow Nintendo’s path. I do agree with you on Mobius. Since Sonic Adventure the plot has been placed on Earth and that doesn’t really go for an interesting concept. Oh, and I almost forgot, change Eggman back to Robotnik.
The playable characters in the recent Sonic games are just ridiculous. Hell, I loved it when it was just Sonic, Tails and Knuckles. Sega should make a Sonic game that includes and ONLY includes these characters. I don’t want Rouge, Shadow, Silver or any other character that tends to be more of a disappointment than one with potential.
I’ve been a fan of Sonic since the early 1990s, and I know how you feel. Sonic was SO much better back then, in fact I hold a collection of his cartoons on DVD and Archie Comics when I begin to feel nostalgic. I only wish that he went into a different direction for the better, instead of the mess that he’s in now. Sega has only made him worse and worse since they began to lose control of the console market. Like so many others here, I want the old Sonic back.
Personally I like both. Yeah the originals rock and so does the gameplay but think a moment SEGA just wants to make money ther near backrupsy heck sonic team is just barely keeping it alive but personnaly I love rthe 3D graphics I enjoyed sonic heroes. I loved shadow the hedgehog. but the camaras bad its not that the game sux its just the camara angle but If i were SEGA and sonic team Ild hook back up with travvlers tales just tell them to this time make it playable and fast that would solve our probloms
Yeah. Kinda agree. I don’t really like all the weird characters and storylines in the new Sonic games. I like it better when it’s a simple storyline and just Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. Shadow suks!!!
I liked it when Knuckles was actually Sonic’s nemesis during the Genesis days. But now, he’s nothing more than a walking joke.
What Sega should consider doing is remaking the original Sonic games, with a new twist. Heck, Nintendo has done it countless times with their Super Mario Bros. series, so why can’t Sega do the same? The original Genesis games is what made Sonic so great in the first place, which then spawned numerous continuties, including comic books and TV shows. If they can actually incorporate most of the elements that made the original Sonic games special into the next-gen consoles of today, the games in return may actually be successful.
I really enjoyed the Genesis games,and found a number of great cheats such as super sonic and debug mode for Sonic 2..after a while of experimenting with these cheats,it got boring.I was dissapointed with the ending for Sonic the hedgehog 2,all it really was were a few pictures and Sonic changes into super Sonic.Overall I enjoyed the game and even managed to turn Tails into Super Tails!
Basically, it’s my opinion that what Sega needs to do is look at their recent portable Sonic games. The Sonic Advance games were damn good for GBA games, Sonic Rush was awesome, Rush Adventure’s gameplay was great (story was meh), and Sonic Rivals and Rivals 2 look great (I haven’t played them, so I can’t say anything beyond that ^_^;)
What they need to do is make a 2.5D game with the rails system from Rivals, nice looking 3D backgrounds, Rush-style 3D bosses, 3-to-4 playable characters (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and maybe Blaze), speech kept to a minimum… basically all the stuff you mentioned in your articles.
And, of course, everyone involved in the production, from the level designers to the music staff, should be made to play through Sonic 1, 2, 3&K, CD, the Advance games, and Rush, to get the feel of where Sonic came from.
well i got a idea you should make more Sonic levels give the levels fun and very fast and please dont put tails in the game i say just make more Sonic levels and make them very fast
I read this and I have to say that, while I understand that the game started as a 2d game, but I think the reason they changed it is because they thought they needed a change. So what if Sonic startedas a 2d, do you really think it’d be that great if they did that forever?
Yeah, I understand what you’re saying. I’m not saying they can’t use 3D techniques. Viewtiful Joe is techincally a 3D game, but it has 2D gameplay.
I also think that a fully 3D Sonic game would be fine every now and then, but when they keep pumping out mediocre 3D games multiple times each generation, that’s a bit much.
As for Sonic talking, I think he should talk. It would be like copying of Mario if he didn’t. I certainly would want Sonic being only able to nod and make grunt noises like Mario.
And then there’s the fact of Robotnik. He’s human, Mobius is a land of animals. It didn’t make sense how only one human lives there. So they moved it to earth. I know this raises up the question as where did sonic and his friends come from, but honestly, if you think about that, you’re way too into this series. Those kind of things really don’t matter. What I mean is, so what if they moved it to Earth, who cares?
Naturally they would bring in some other bosses other than eggman. Mario couldn’t continuously fight Bowser could he. No. sonic needed some more evil, and villanous things to really test his skill out on. Fighting Eggman alone is boring.
As for the 3D stuff, it makes sense if you think about it. They would do it and change the course of Sonic alltogether. For example, Luigi’s Mansion. Completely different from the other Mario games. You couldn’t jump, which is totally unlike the Mario games, you used a vacuum cleaner to catch ghosts, yet that game was a hit. Sonic needed some kind of thing like that. A big change to change the course of everything.
The amount of playable characters. Oh, come on! Boo-hoo, you don’t play as only sonic. What about the other characters? Do they not matter? And the fact that they have different objectives and movements different from Sonic is really annoying to you guys? Do they not have their own lives. Knuckles collecting pieces of the master emerald? Not a bad change. Knuckles is a different person who needs a different objective. Sure Big is a total veer away from the other characters, and has a weird storyline, but in a lot of stories there’s that one guy who doesn’t know anyone but some how gets involved.
The main things I’m seeing is that changing the Sonic games from what they were is bad. Well, for many it’s not. The Sonic games are very popular, despite what some of you say, sure, a lot of people don’t like them, but a great many do! Sonic was only 2D because that was technolgy’s limits. finally they made a 3D game which I assume was very popular. So what if sonic is changing from 2D to 3D. So what if you can’t play as much as sonic and just blast through each level and just fight Robotnik. So what if there are different levels, so what?
As for the animation, I can’t say anything. You know why? I don’t animate. I don’t anything about animation. If you all are animators then you can say these things about the animation. But if you don’t, you’re not in much place to talk.
All in all, I think the Sonic games are pretty good. The rest of you just don’t think so because it’s not what you grew up to. I don’t see anyone complaining about Mario, who also went from 2D to 3D. I think you all are just making too much of a big deal about this. Who are you too say that the Sonic games are that bad, just because that not what you grew up to? Things change. Next I suppose you’ll be complaining that Sonic’s character design is to different! Geez, grow up.
I loved Sonic adventure 2,mainly cuz of the chao,but it was awesome.(Expesially with cheats to go super fast and to fly)But i see your point.It would be nice to do some of the things you said,but i think sonic should stay 3D.I havnt beaten it yet,but i got the sonic next gen for ps3.I like it,because it has exploring levels,and super speed levels.IT has levels where you do nothing but run,evade,and jump on stuff,and its awesome.But i beleive sega does need to do some improvement.
O my god yes!!! finally someone who understands this….lol
i hav did a sonic fan for my entire life and it stinks to see him slide down to mediocore games.
After playing New Super Mario Brothers, with its familiar but modernized gameplay, a similar Sonic title might work really well. Just make simple cool levels in 2d, make Sonic at least as fast as the Genesis era, and make it remind us of our childhood but challenge our current skills.
I liked the old Sonic games a lot more than the new ones. Even the DS Rush series is better than the 3D versions, in my opinion.
It isn’t about the graphics capabilities of the systems, if you can pull off the feel and mechanics, and have a camera which doesn’t constantly hinder the game, more power to you.
As far as the multiple playable characters go, I don’t really mind that, BUT I would rather be able to play each character in the same levels, maybe having the special abilities allow you to go to areas in the same level that other characters couldn’t go. (AKA Knuckles in the 2D games.)
If using 3D, make the physics feel more classic sonic. (For those who remember…Blast Processing…yeah I know “blast processing” was just a gimmick…but heck it was catchy, and yeah Sonic games always used to stand out because of the seemingly fast they went. The 2D levels were huge, fast, and had a unique feel to each level.
I remember the buzz that used to go round when there was a new sonic game coming out. Sonic 2 was great and the countdown to sonic 3 had me buying anything that reviewed it. The original sonic games always had new creative designs whilst keeping to the core structure of what the game was. Once Sonic started talking and having loads of other characters involved in the game I left it. I got a DS last year to play Sonic in 2d but it was no way near as good as the old games and felt cheap because none of the original beauty was there. A well developed 2D sonic franchise with no voices, just Sonic and Tails vs Robotnik in some fast non puzzle style game play would have me buying the console that launched it.
i have to totally agree with you. i loved the old sonic games on the megadrive (genesis)(though i never managed to finish sonic 1 until i took an emulator with save functionality). once i tried one of the 3D-games, sonic was lost for me.. now i am even unable to name most of the new characters.. The only sonic game i liked in 3D was Sonic R. And it was rubbish and full of bugs (i can not explain why i like it)
oh the memories.. i would like to play dead egg zone in Sonic 3 right now.. i have to search my old megadrive (thought only one gamepad still works)
Man, I’ve been saying this for years. Glad I’m not the only one out there who thinks this. I’ve been hoping to see another side moving sonic for a while. In fact just 2 days ago I was talking to my friend about games today, and how they are all losing what made them great, such as sonic, and I figured that the point sonic began to suck was when they branched into 3D games. completely loosing out on the whole ‘feel’ of the game. 2D vector, or 2D plane with 3D graphics would make the game so much better, going back to its roots.
All your points are well taken. The old 2D games were great, and the recent 3D games just fall flat. Sonic Adventure 2 has a few fun courses, but the Knuckles and Tails levels are terrible and boring. Since Sonic, Knuckles and Tails are each a third of the game, it means that 2/3 of the game was crap.
The Genesis was the last console I purchased, and the last time I ever really enjoyed a Sonic game. If they were to successfully incorporate all the points you made, they would have a killer -must have- game.
It’s a very good point, and it’s very true. Since Sonic Adventure 2, pretty much every Sonic game sucked. The only reason I can’t see Sonic truly “Coming back” is because the little kids still buy into the whole thing. Every time, even though the gameplay gets worse each time, and the story is nothing short of ridiculous… the kids buy it.
To bring fans of the original stuff back, I think you hit the nail on the head, a Viewtiful Joe type 2d/3d game would be perfect. And yes, he should STFU.
A good article.
As far as moving Sonic “back” to Mobius, it’s not going to happen in the games. The original Japanese games were set on Earth; it was only the English translations that came up with Mobius (and later adopted by the comics and cartoons). Sonic Adventure just made the world name more consistent.
So unless you can convince Sonic Team over in Japan to change the name to one they didn’t even think of, it’s not going to happen.
They need to hand this franchise to another studio. Since DC its been the same crap time after time. Music that gets old way to quick, unlikeable characters, the dreaded rail system, overall games that don’t feel like they were finished in the first place. If they can’t think of anything remake sonic2 for the next gen consoles and put some effort into it.
The following need to be adressed:
-Mobius does not exist in the Sonic video game universe, Sonic lives in planet Earth since the very first game;
-Regardless of how Mario games are made, the true 3D Sonic game are normally released with a 3 or 4 year difference, while spin-offs, understandably get released every year;
-Contrary to popular belief, Sonic 360/PS3 is the only Sonic game in existence to have received a bad rating, Sonic games are normally within average(for spin-offs) to very good;
-Oddly, most critics of Sonic Adventure 2, back then, never had a problem with the fact that Sonic only had 6 playable levels out of the 30 available, the bad camera system also didn’t stop them to rate ths game as one of the best platform games ever;
Just needed to point this out.
I’m well aware of all of them — except that you are wrong about the 3 or 4 year difference issue. I’m not sure where you got that.
Also, many reviewers had issues with the cameras. And even if they didn’t mention it, it doesn’t change what I felt about the game.
As for the Mobius/Earth issue, I know the background behind it, but even if it was technically on Earth the whole time, how Sonic Team portrayed earth has changed.
I have to really agree that Sonic needs to look back at his older, orignal days.
Sonic is about the speed, not anything else. And I agree with you, 3D speed is not as impressive as the speed in a 2D enviroment, unless your getting to the point that the player can’t react.
Sonic really could use a return to his 2D days. Mostly because his original style of gameplay, which SEGA has tried to stick too, worked for 2D but not 3D. When Mario went 3D the gameplay style changed dramatically. (No supermushrooms or breaked bricks over your head). The only 3D Sonic level I have played which I believe captures the original feel of Sonic is Final Rush from Sonic Adventure 2.
And yes, SEGA needs to STOP churning out a Sonic game every year. I’d rather play fewer quality games then more horrible games.
Most of the points you mentioned are captured by the Sonic-Fan Game makers these days.
I can’t play Sonic to save my life. But it is a really awesome game. And I have the anime.
heck yeah the old cartoon was great (non abc)
I agree and disagree with many of these points(gee what a surprise).
Let me start by saying I like the 2-D and 3-D version of Sonic. However, I believe that 2-D and 3-D should completely seperate. That way if they seperate then Sega can vocus seperately on each type of game to make both 2-D and 3-D outstanding. Let me give everyone an example, old Zelda type games(Minish Cap, Four Swords etc) and new Zelda type games(Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess etc). When they seperated old from new they managed to make fantastic games. Try it Sega! You have nothing left to lose!
Put Sonic back on Mobius: No, only because whenever people say Mobius I picture Sally Acorn(and I hate her). Maybe in the 2-D versions of Sonic though. But not 3-D Sonic.
Make Sonic defey gravity: Yes, in both 2-D and 3-D.
Talking Sonic characters: Only if the voice acting gets better and consistant. Stop changing the freaking voice actors! Oh, and give Sonic back his attitude and stop making Shadow freaking angry and depressed!
Bonus stages: Bonus stages should be given back to 2-D and never enter 3-D ever again. For the 3-D games, Sega should come up with something original.
Bring back the old Tails and Knuckles: Yes and no. I’m not going to go into details(it would take too long, Strengths of a character/ weaknesses of a character and how they should properly be incorperated).
One last thing, stop trying to impress new or future audiences. Sega is losing their original fanbase. Fast.
Sorry in advance for the wall of text…
Oh, man I completely agree with you and your opinions.
Tails should have his own 3D game for Wii.
Amazing, simply amazing. I agree with you all the way, you have some great points, and took the words out of my mouth. (And gave them a manicure.
if you know what I mean.)
While I do agree that Sonic has to return to his roots, focus on fast pace gameplay and eye bending environments, I can’t help but wonder maybe the adventure formula could’ve worked better as a side franchise (like what paper mario is to mario.)
And perhaps a competant team behind sonic team. It kinda seems that the quality behind their games has kinda taken a pitfall since yuji naka and Naoto Oshima left.
your right. they killed sonic. He was much more likable in his old games.#1 He was fat!#2 He wasnt a jerk!#3 He had better games!! Same goes for tails. i dont mind his new look, but he looked a lot cuter back then. Seriously, sega. Get a life. Jeez.
PS This is coming from a kid too(me)
Absolutley agreed. The new games are fun, sure, but I’d much prefer Sonic Team just take their time, and make some good games. Sonic Rush and Sonic Advance are good too, but they need to, as you’ve said, make atleast one solid 2-D game on the console, like Viewtifull Joe.
My advice to Sega:
Fix the camera’s
Take your time, delay if you must
No more glitches.
Wow, thank you so much for that insightful rant! I completely agree with you on all points. The newer games make Sonic look so retarded with him trying to be “cool” and everything. I just want Sonic to SHUT UP with the cheesy lines.
What Sega/Sonic team need to do to make the games that extra bit better:
*GET THE OLD VOICE ACTORS BACK! for gods sake! For example Ryan drummond was so much better than that 4Kids actor Jason! or at least new voice actors! cuz atm sonics voice sounds way too cheesy
*CUT BACK ON THE CHEESY LINES! I hate the way they always make sonic say crappy cringey stuff! Like ’started the party without me?’ etc, I mean, making him act cool if fine, but there is such a thing as being ott…
*TAKE THE STORYLINE OUT OF THE HUMAN WORLD! please, it was so much better before chris + elise etc got involved… a LOT better…
And Finally…
*GET RID OF AMY ROSE! Ever since I first saw her on sonic cd all those years ago i knew she was going to be one of the most annoying clingy characters…
Apart from that the games are great! I really hope someone from sega reads this…
It’s my dream to join sega/sonic team when im older and take over sonic and make him what he should be…
Keep going Sonic
I have just realised what sega/sonic team should do to get the old original fans back…
REMAKE THE MEGADRIVE GAMES INTO 3D FOR NEXT GEN CONSOLES
and do it well,mabye in a sonic + the secret rings kinda style, that would be amazing, i know a lot of sonic fans, including myself, that would definantly like to finally see those classic levels in 3d
I have LOVED each and every sonic game (other then dr. robotnic’s mean bean machine, which is kinda fun) I know what you mean about how they talk (OH MY GOD! SHUT UP TAILS!!) And I would say knuckles has been the best voice actor out of them all, and I can see everything you’re talking about, but……it’s sonic (to me)
wow you guys really know what you’re talking about. i wish i could’ve been around for the original Sonic games, but i was only a toddler! ^_^ !!! ok i’ll make this quick:
- get rid of Amy. she’s annoying and only gets in the way; Sonic cant delay saving the world to save her!
- Tails can be cute without being annoying, right? RIGHT?!
- i grew up with the 3-D Sonic games for the Dreamcast (unfortunately), so naturally im more sympathetic with them. i actually liked Sonic Adventure 2, especially Sonic’s and Shadow’s levels. but… why do i have to do each level five times? i liked them, but not enough to do them five times, and get all A rank!!! i like 3-D, but the levels could be a little more interesting. i said interesting, not confusing!
- i believe Sega still has a chance, but only if they listen to their fans/consumers. really though, who are they really making the games for?
- i also like Knuckles with a deep voice. he comes off as a tough guy, so shouldnt he sound like one?
- Eggman could be a little more… ummm… menacing. i showed one of the games to a friend, and she laughed at him! she said he was a complete joke! i dont know about you, but the Eggman i’ve come to know is NOT a joke!!!
- i have a suggestion for the voice acting. ad-lib. think about what THE CHARACTER would say in those situations, and just kind of make it up as you go along. it will make it sound more natural and less rehearsed.
- you dont need all those characters in the mix!!! all you need are Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Eggman, Shadow, and that’s it. Chaotix is ok, though. personally, im a HUGE espio fan! ^_^
- the game really needs a good, upbeat attitude. after all, isnt that what Sonic is famous for? it needs someone who actually cares about what happens to the games.
- for me, the anime killed it. i just hate it when they branch out of a game. the game falls behind after that.
- keep them short. overgrown hedgehogs are creepy. oh, and they really dont need to interact with humans. at all. it’s just awkward.
- i love Shadow and all, but does he have to be so…. emo?
- can you have a female who isnt annoying, or a flirt?
ok, i guess that’s it for now. if i think of something else, i’ll be back. ^_^
long live Sonic the Hedgehog!!! ^_^
i forgot to mention, i still love Sega! even if they’re screwing up my favorite game of all time, i still love them and believe they have a chance. by the way, are they ever going to put out a new console, or are they going to continue to release games on the 360 or Wii or something like that?
Sega is NOT dead!!!! at least, not yet anyway…
this is coming from someone who has been a fan all her life, BTW.
long live Sonic the Hedgehog!!! ^_^
OMG SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME THE TRUTH!!!!!!!!!!!!
PLEASE TELL ME THAT SHADOW IS NOT IN LOVE WITH AMY!!!!!!!!!!
… i dont wanna read fanfiction ever again that stuff is just wrong!!!
waaah…
Nice points racketboy (you are the one talking about this right?) I personally don’t mind the voices. They just need good voice actors and less “cool slang” that sonic uses now. Maybe even going to the point where cutscenes are short and to the point. As for the 3d games. I don’t know about some of you but as long as the camera is right behind sonic and facing forward I don’t mind the gameplay. Any unfair deaths that some fans call don’t exist with me, i just call them “mistakes on my part”. And when you said when sonic hits a ledge and stops completely, sometimes thats realistic. I mean if Sonic goes head first into a wall or ledge, hes gonna stop i’m sorry. but having him bounce of the sides of the tracks and retaining hes speed may solve your problem.
My dream is to become a video game developer and get Sega’s permission to make a few sonic games myself. I’m still in highschool but im on my way. You said earlier that Sonic Team should take more time. Well in case my dream comes true i’ve already started on how my games would work so i have something to work with. i have a camera thing in mind and i’m curious on how you would do a camera if you had to do a 3d game?
Finally i don’t really mind playing as the other characters either, they are all “Sonic Heroes” in my opinion. But i agree mith some that tails and knuckles gameplay should be different.
Example: tails can fly so his levels should be similar to the gameplay of NIGHTS without being too similar.
Knuckles should maybe be more based on blasting threw obsticles with overwhelming power to get to the chaos emerald instead of the goal ring. (and no he doesn’t have to look for it)
Finally Sonic should return to his roots like you said but with some really super crazy acrobatics at the same time. And i’m not talking about sonic riders kind of crazy. The stuff I’m imagining makes sonic riders look like a few roles in a grass field. (I dreamt of play a 3d sonic game like that and it was incredible, better than any 2d sonic game, which is one major reason why I want to make a sonic game.)
But how do you feel about how the gameplay should be if 3d was the only option. I just know that a 3d sonic can be done after i dreamt that amazing expirience.
I agree with Jemma, SORT OF. Get rid of Amy Rose! SHE SUCKS!
Shut your mouth! I like the new games. Just go play your Genisis.
I agree with you on most areas.
Sonic was and is supose to move through zones disigned with for speed and action. Bring back the special zones, or bonus stages as you refer to them. Robotnik needs to push the doublecrossing and often hyped one time bosses out of the way and return to being a credable villain.
I agree with you on most areas.
Sonic was and is supposed to move through zones designed for speed and action. Bring back the special zones, or bonus stages as you refer to them. Robotnik needs to push the double-crossing and often hyped one time bosses out of the way and return to being a credible villain.
I’d say the only true disagreement is that I want to play as other characters. Sonic is a major factor but a unique play style for Tails and Knuckles to me is a must. maybe treasure hunting is to slow and the game as a whole needs to be fast paced. But, that doesn’t mean I want a bunch of character’s that duplicate Sonic’s style. I’d say there need to be less mirror characters. Example would be Sonic Adventure Two marketed as play good or bad guys. I don’t want Robotnik’s style same as Tails, Shadow same style as Sonic and Rouge same as Knuckles, all just with evil intent. But I’d like the option to play as them.
The points you made are exactly what needs to be done. The classic Genesis sonics (1-S&K, including sonic CD) were absolutely fantastic. But after Sonic Adventure, at least for me, the Sonic series lost it completely. I havent truthfully enjoyed a Sonic game since SA. The classics had a certain charm and essence to them that sega cannot seem to recapture. Its almost as if Sega losing their power in the console market also made them lose their power behind their chief mascot. I would LOVE to see a revamped sonic (in 2D) that captured the magic that the originals had that made me fall in love with them growing up.
Wonderfull artical.
So, my opinion. Yes! don’t let Sonic or anyone else talk. Drop the extra characters! Only keep the core group. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, shadow. with the exception of Amy and Marine as the “ONLY” supporting cast. Sonic has Amy, and Tails has Marine as his love intrest. Thats it.
Hi there,
Maybe forward your article and all the reader comments to Sega at some point, to see what they have to say? Sadly, I think we will be very lucky to ever see anything like a “Sonic Galaxy”, but I live in hope. Meanwhile, I’m so glad I still have my Mega Drive and Mega CD! 
I’ve been a Sonic fan since his debut. I totally agree with almost all that you say. You clearly have the same love of Sonic as myself, and you talk a great deal of good sense. If only Sega would listen to you my friend, oh how happy that would make me!
All the very best,
Pete.
accually I agree at what you say…but 3-d games are…good,okay,but they should AT LEAST MAKE ANOTHER CLASSIC SONIC GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
but the game I really don’t like in 3-d is shadow the hedgehog.I mean it does have violence that is good but
it hides the original sonic totaly! but I still have(and love) the original sonic!
kayla
I think, from all of what I’ve read, I agree about Sonic games being different from the 90’s and all of the changes throughout the years. I grew up playing the Sonic the hedgehog series, still today. Sonic’s roots are 2D ,like many other popular games were, such as Zelda, Metroid, Castlevania etc.. But playing those games in 3D wasn’t the same just like Sonic wasn’t. I think, the changes from 2D to 3D were to experience our old favorite game characters more realistic. But, maybe game developers ‘forgot’ that, that ‘new’ change is in the past. I would love to see a good, fun, fast pasting, less character prologues, more action Sonic with today’s technology. What if they made a Sonic game fully 3D and completely played in 2D, like Killer Instinct was in 1994. Keep all of the game’s true aspects alive without killing it’s first true reasons of being here today. Picture a fast pasting, Side Scrolling, beautiful Unique enviroment Sonic game designed with today’s technology (such as in Ps3 and Xbox 360’s Sonic) where all you can go is up, down, le