Sonic and Sega Retro Message Board: Solid SOAP - Viewing Profile - Sonic and Sega Retro Message Board

These last couple of days of summer have been fantastic for me, bar the discovery of something dire; Sonic Adventure 2, one of my favorite GameCube games and the reason I became such a big Sonic fan, is utter shit. Now, keep in mind, I'm not one of those fans who hates every past the Genesis games; I loved Colors and Generations and I think there were a few okay titles sprinkled in between. However. my friend and I have been getting high and playing through classic GameCube and N64 games such as Luigi's Mansion and Majora's Mask, and loving every minute of it. However, when we attempted Adventure 2, to our chagrin we just... hated it. Now, everything I remember loving was still there; the fantastic soundtrack, wonderful sense of style, campy yet great script, etc. It's a game you could tell the devs loved making, however, we had absolutely NO FUN playing it.

It's been a few years since I played it, so my Sonic experience for the past few years has consisted of not much else than Colors, Generations, the CD port and Sonic 4. Maybe Generations' and Colors' spot-on controls through me off, but Sonic controls abysmally. At top speed it's near impossible to make a proper turn without careening into a wall, the lack of lock-on for homing attack makes attempting the move very difficult and nerve-racking. As for the rest of the game's levels, they're worse than I remember. Something that caught me by surprise is how much level design is reused throughout the game. I remember each character having their own unique levels, but so many share various level set pieces and textures and such that many of them feel more like "Part 2" or rehashed versions of a previous level (ie; Metal Harbor to Weapons Bed, Wild Canyon to Dry Lagoon, etc).

I still am in love with the soundtrack, story, and characterization of every character, don't get me wrong. It has its share of defining features and moments that make it easy for me to understand why I liked it so much as a kid, it's just extremely disappointing that one of my favorite games of all time just has overall awful level design and rehashed ideas throughout. Perhaps it's simply dated, because I don't remember being so jaded regarding the game's controls and level design, but I find it hard to enjoy now that I've played so many quality platformers. This isn't supposed to be a troll topic or an angry letter or whatever, but I'd like to know what the public's opinion of the game is now, 10+ years later.

I downloaded the demo for the new SSX game last night on my 360, and it suddenly hit me how after reading everyone's pining for more sloped environments, momentum-based physics, no bottomless pits, etc, that this is precisely what you guys have been asking for. Now, keep in mind I could be entirely wrong, but I feel that if Sonic Team's next idea for Sonic had him traversing environments ala SSX, that'd be pretty damn cool. More focus on maintaining momentum and picking up speed than doing tricks (Although they could still fit in a slightly less complex system ala Generations' trick system), and more whimsical environments than the realistic cities and landscapes we've seen as of recent, I think this would be a killer idea for a 3D Sonic game. In SSX there are multiple paths, grind rails, etc, all these fun environmental things that would not feel out of place in a Sonic game. Who agrees?

Despite all the Episode II drama, what, exactly, about the franchise as of now makes you happy to be a fan? Is there anything about the new games that you genuinely like, or even love? Talk about that here, be it big things like the level design and overall appeal of the games, or even little things like the tone or style of the games.

Frankly, I'm happy that Sonic's darkest days are over. I know '06 is considered a current gen game, but it's long behind us now in favor of games like Colors and Generations. It absolutely bewilders me that after getting shit-after-shit game one after the other ever since Heroes, and after seeing games like this:



and this:



get green-lighted, that the franchise is heading more and more back to its roots, even if only on a superficial scale. Not even necessarily in a return to form way, but the fact that SEGA have been pumping out multiple 2D titles (For better or for worse), more lighthearted and fun games, games that are ACTUALLY GOOD, and others, makes me really happy to be a Sonic fan. Be honest, on image alone you can tell that current SEGA/Sonic Team are composed of more people who actually care about the franchise than they were about 10ish years ago. Just looking at screens of Sonic Colors, Sonic Generations, and even Episode II, isn't it nice to see how stark the contrast is between what the franchise was during the Gamecube era and now? Seriously, just looking at what we've seen above, and comparing it to this:



this:



and even this:



You have to admit that the franchise is in much better shape than it once was. It makes me happy to know that even if Sonic 4 hasn't exactly been a hit, that SEGA are even attempting to make a classic-type game as opposed to churning out more ridiculously putrid crap like Shadow and Sonic '06.

This being a Sonic forum, obviously we all love the Sonic franchise (To some degree, I'd hope). The original Genesis games are unbeatable, and as of recently I like to think that the franchise has picked itself off its feet and has become something special again. However, what if SEGA pitched a spin-off that completely changed everything? Now, keep in mind that this would, in all likelihood, be terrible for the franchise. SEGA haven't really proven themselves to make high quality games that deviate even a little bit from the basic formula, and even the somewhat better ones haven't been anything special. However, it's nice to think about what could be if pulled off properly.

I've always thought that a Dr. Eggman game that played like Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts would be pretty cool. The concept of said game has you making your own vehicles and contraptions to solve puzzles and just do crazy shit, I think it'd be a perfect fit for the doctor. A Robotnik themed RTS I think would be kind of cool as well, commanding badniks to take over various parts of Mobius/the Earth and whatnot I think would be kinda cool.

These aren't really fleshed out or anything, but they're just ideas I've had.

Hear me out, this isn't a "suck Taxman's dick" topic or Sonic 4 bashfest, but I just have wondered what Sonic 4 may have been like had SEGA gotten their hands on Taxman's 'Retro Engine' even so much as a year or less earlier. Do you think if SEGA knew that they had a great engine capable of playing classic Sonic games flawlessly, that they would have used it to their advantage by making it the engine that Sonic 4 runs on, as opposed to Dimps'? Hell, do you think that it's even possible that Christian Whitehead would have had even more involvement in the Sonic 4 project at all, had they discovered his engine sooner? This is a completely hypothetical topic, I'm not trying to say that this will/could have happened, just questioned whether it could have in the first place and see what possibilities it would have opened up in the first place is interesting.


What do you all think?