[SpeedStarTMQ]

MastaSys, on 07 November 2011 - 06:14 PM, said:

SpeedStarTMQ, on 07 November 2011 - 05:56 PM, said:

If they hadn't oversaturated the market with The Secret Rings, Black Knight, All Stars Racing, Sonic Riders, Zero Gravity, Free Riders and the dozen Olympic Games, then people would probably feel as though the Sonic series wasn't so diverse and difficult to follow.

Oh please, even in the 90s Sonic had so much crap going on, so much spin-off and cartoons and comics.
Sonic was always the Sega's milking cow since the beginning.
It was probably worse in that regard, with "alternative universes", multiple canons...
And that didn't hurt the main Mega Drive titles in the long run overall, in fact are the most cherished titles out there

But no one really knew too much about the titles otehr than Sonic, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, Sonic and Knuckles, Sonic Spinball and Sonic 3D Blast. Seriously, anyone who played the Game Gear games at the time was lucky to play them, especially in the UK. Most people I knew hadn't even played Sonic CD, and I was the only one in my primary school to do so. I didn't know (and still don't know) anyone who owned a Game Gear. Sonic games averaged at about every year and half, which was hardly saturated. Yeah, you had the cartoons and the comics and such which complicated matters, but those were nothing to do with the games themselves. From 1991 to 1996 you had about 8 well known Sonic games.

From 2005 to 2011 we've had Shadow The Hedgehog, Sonic Rush, Sonic Riders, Sonic The Hedgehog 2006, Sonic and The Secret Rings, Sonic Rivals, Sonic Riders; Zero Gravity, Sonic Rush Adventure, Sonic Rivals 2, Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Free Riders, Chronicles, Sonic and The Black Knight, Sonic 4; Episode I, Sonic Colours on both Wii and DS and now Sonic Generations, not to mention the re-releases, All Stars and Olympic games. Pretty much all of these games have been pretty well known to gamers this generation. Hopefully they'll tone it down a little bit in future, after they release the next storybook game.

This post has been edited by SpeedStarTMQ: 07 November 2011 - 06:48 PM

[XCubed]

Caniad Bach, on 07 November 2011 - 06:35 PM, said:

It's slightly unfortunate that Sonic makes so much money for SEGA, making it impossible to retire him for an extended period, where a dedicated team can develop, refine and perfect a truly great game, which is then suddenly sprung upon people for a surprise "Fuck?! Where did that come from!" sort of thing. That's what I'd personally like to see. It's saddening that the only game that wasn't rushed out was Sonic 1.

Here is Sega's issue: Sonic is the only icon representative of the brand. Nintendo has a plethora of strong characters to choose from, which allows them the luxury of making only one or two main Mario games per console. If you think about it, they've been doing it that way since the SNES. I remember when Super Marion World 2 came out in 1995, everyone was amazed that it existed because SMW1 came out in 1990! The 64 only had Mario64, the Gamecube only had Sunshine, which then gave me a big surprise when I heard about Super Mario Galaxy 2.

Oh shit, I just proved a point for the wrong team. I still don't agree with the 5 year cycle for Sonic, unless there are other Sega characters (LOOKING AT YOU SHENMUE) to pick up the slack in between.

Btw, I'm not even a Shenmue fan.

[Caniad Bach]

The problem is that ever since things went tits up with the Dreamcast, they've lost that crazy sense of creativity and individualism which made me fall in love with SEGA in the first place. What happened to the SEGA that thought that mental games like Chu Chu Rocket, Seaman and Rez were a good idea. They've got plenty of IPs that I'd love to be brought back. I mean who wouldn't want more Jet Set Radio, or another Skies of Arcadia or Toy Commander? And don't even get me started on Ristar, Nights, Ecco, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe... To be honest I'm amazed that they haven't ported Seaman to the 3DS yet, it's surely the perfect console for such an idea.

[Tyty]

Werehog was Ristar 3D in a Sonic setting. Like, seriously, some of the moves Werehog does match Ristar's animations perfectly. If they made it separate from Unleashed and called it Ristar it would've probably sold well, and gotten rave reviews.

I wouldn't mind some of Sega's old non-Sonic brands coming back, as long as they do it right, and don't botch it like they did with Golden Axe. I do feel it would give them more time to make full on Sonic games, and then their attempts at Mario-Tennis-With-Sonic-Characters wouldn't look so plastered in for cash as before.

I want bass fishing with Big as an unlockable cameo character dammit :V

[Kogen]

Kratos is Ristar now, like, seriously. (except not)

Sonic Unleashed has nothing to do with Ristar and is fully a poor attempt at trying to ripoff God of War. The director even mentioned he was a huge fan of the game.

XCubed, on 08 November 2011 - 11:15 AM, said:

Caniad Bach, on 07 November 2011 - 06:35 PM, said:

It's slightly unfortunate that Sonic makes so much money for SEGA, making it impossible to retire him for an extended period, where a dedicated team can develop, refine and perfect a truly great game, which is then suddenly sprung upon people for a surprise "Fuck?! Where did that come from!" sort of thing. That's what I'd personally like to see. It's saddening that the only game that wasn't rushed out was Sonic 1.

Here is Sega's issue: Sonic is the only icon representative of the brand. Nintendo has a plethora of strong characters to choose from, which allows them the luxury of making only one or two main Mario games per console. If you think about it, they've been doing it that way since the SNES. I remember when Super Marion World 2 came out in 1995, everyone was amazed that it existed because SMW1 came out in 1990! The 64 only had Mario64, the Gamecube only had Sunshine, which then gave me a big surprise when I heard about Super Mario Galaxy 2.

Oh shit, I just proved a point for the wrong team. I still don't agree with the 5 year cycle for Sonic, unless there are other Sega characters (LOOKING AT YOU SHENMUE) to pick up the slack in between.

Btw, I'm not even a Shenmue fan.

Being wrong is cool, huh?

http://en.wikipedia....te:Mario_series

This post has been edited by Kogen: 08 November 2011 - 05:27 PM

[Tyty]

Kogen, on 08 November 2011 - 05:24 PM, said:

Kratos is Ristar now, like, seriously. (except not)

Sonic Unleashed has nothing to do with Ristar and is fully a poor attempt at trying to ripoff God of War. The director even mentioned he was a huge fan of the game.

Because God of War has tons of platforming based off of climbing things with stretchy arms.

It plays like something in between the two and everything I said about it being well received if it wasn't Sonic is true. It would have. It wasn't well received because reviewers innately hate Sonic when it isn't Sonic only running in one direction. Apparently they can't seem to decide if they want boost to win or actual platforming either, so *shrug*

[Kogen]

Tyty, on 08 November 2011 - 05:58 PM, said:

Because God of War has tons of platforming based off of climbing things with stretchy arms.

Yes, it did! Instead of stretchy arms it had chained swords. They work exactly the same.

[Tyty]

Kogen, on 08 November 2011 - 11:24 PM, said:

Yes, it did! Instead of stretchy arms it had chained swords. They work exactly the same.

So then Ristar in 3D would be God of War without fighting.

So Kratos is Ristar.

[SpeedStarTMQ]

Tyty, on 08 November 2011 - 05:58 PM, said:

Kogen, on 08 November 2011 - 05:24 PM, said:

Kratos is Ristar now, like, seriously. (except not)

Sonic Unleashed has nothing to do with Ristar and is fully a poor attempt at trying to ripoff God of War. The director even mentioned he was a huge fan of the game.

Because God of War has tons of platforming based off of climbing things with stretchy arms.

It plays like something in between the two and everything I said about it being well received if it wasn't Sonic is true. It would have. It wasn't well received because reviewers innately hate Sonic when it isn't Sonic only running in one direction. Apparently they can't seem to decide if they want boost to win or actual platforming either, so *shrug*

The Werehog platforming sections were dull, repetitive and far too long, no matter how you slice it. If it were released as another game, it would also be dull, repetitive and far too long. Mario Galaxy it ain't.

[Metal Man88]

I think the major issue is SEGA goes through phases. What we're seeing and what we critique is the result of those phases. SEGA doesn't know what will happen until AFTER they make something, however, so they cannot use the hindsight-based wisdom we as customers like to give them.

This is why things like Sonic 4 didn't quite meet the expectations SEGA wanted for it. They aimed to please but without any real asking of the fanbase directly and releasing various demos, they really had no clue. That and it was made by freaking DIMPS, which never really knew what it was doing post-Rush anyway.

The main takeaway from Generations is they have finally learned how to debug these things while making them. If they keep this sort of behavior up, then they can use the fanbase as a gyroscope, a compass, with which to ensure they don't go off center into another Werehog or worse yet Sonic 06-style debacle.

Of course they should also know when to disregard the fanbase, as it can be just as dysfunctional as insular corporate-based research based on sample groups at times.

[Chimpo]

Tyty, on 08 November 2011 - 11:54 PM, said:

So then Ristar in 3D would be God of War without fighting.

So Kratos is Ristar.

Just because his arms stretched doesn't mean it's Ristar.

It plays nothing like Ristar. Kogen is correct in that it plays like God of War. The combo system, the move list, the QTEs, the platforming. It's God of War 4 Kidz.

Actually known what you're talking about before you spew bullshit like this. You'll just end up looking like an idiot.

[TimmiT]

New interview from Games Reactor:

The answer to the last question is the most interesting. He says we'll probably see Sonic go into other genres and other media.

[Metal Man88]

Color me skeptical, I get the feeling he's just kind of saying these things to make it seem like Sonic is this dynamic Mario-like character you can use anywhere.

I mean, they've used Sonic in wildly different genres in the past, but it seems like an unusual idea to try it again today.

[SomeSortOfRobot]

Metal Man88, on 09 November 2011 - 01:40 PM, said:

Color me skeptical, I get the feeling he's just kind of saying these things to make it seem like Sonic is this dynamic Mario-like character you can use anywhere.

I mean, they've used Sonic in wildly different genres in the past, but it seems like an unusual idea to try it again today.

It seems post-'06 they've been going in more Mario-like directions with Sonic.

[TimmiT]

Well this is interesting. A job offer for senior/executive producer for "a high quality product based on a reimagining of one of Sega's most beloved IP's."
http://tbe.taleo.net...A&cws=1&rid=351

Related?

This post has been edited by TimmiT: 19 November 2011 - 08:24 AM