Sonic Generations Megathread

The way I see it, consider the sequence of events that plays out in the trailer.

Our first shot is, basically, of nothing. There are vague, extremely basic shapes of what might be mountains, but it's essentially a blank void. And who emerges from this nothing? Why, it's Sonic!

The shot changes. The world around Sonic is beginning to take shape. The occasional untextured rock formation zooms past him now! The camera pans around to show us that one of these rock formations has a few splashes of color on it. Sonic leaps up the cliff face and lands on the ridge above.

The endless void of nothing has given way to a halfway-textured road laid out before him. Sonic follows it, and finds things to interact with! Rocks to jump over, a halfpipe to slide across, and a winding S-curve leading in to a loop-de-loop. Why, it seems the further along this path Sonic gets, the more detailed this environment is getting.

Sonic takes a flying leap off of a ramp - and hey, he's not alone! The pair flash each other a smile and head deeper in to the zone, which, by now, has practically surrounded the path with untextured trees, flowers, grass and rocks. As the Hedgehogs zoom forward out of frame, the level is almost complete, but it's not quite there yet...

It's totally metaphorical.

 

I'm not sure if this has been posted or not, but if it is, you can trash my post.

It appears that SEGA have also registered sonicgenerations.co.uk and sonic-generations.co.uk, I believe they usually register a few other localised domains too, but I have only tested the UK side right now. All lead to the same white page like the .com addresses.

 

I'm pretty surprised no one has pointed out the soles yet.


red circle: the obvious, people didn't want to see green irises on a classic sonic model.
yellow circle in small shots: people wouldn't like blue eyelids on a classic model, so they gave him tan eyelids.

green circle: notice how the new model has more realistic, white/grey soles,
while the classic model has red/dark red soles, just like the classic design.

I say SEGA really did think this model through, so to me the butt-face is nothing but a throwback to the old American art.

 

This is possible. I tried sleeping on it and the matter still itches at me. Regardless, seems like Sonic has yet another possible friend here, and so it's probably a matter of time before we see Classic Robotnik making friends with Modern Eggman. That would be interesting, but until we know more this is all we're left with, sadly.

 

Well.. I'm not exactly sure its necessary to point out things like that with both the Sonic's. To be fair, even modern Sonic use to have tan eyes up until Sonic Adventure 2 (and then I think this changed in SA2B, correct me if I'm wrong). Not really sure either what you meant with 'American' art. Sonic in general was always designed from Japan; except the minor changes that America made with him. These things you've spotted out have always been a factor since Sonic Adventure.

 

Okay fellas, let's break this down. You have nothing more to talk about at this point. We've all seen the model and pretty much everything to be said concerning why or why not has been stated by different at least twice now. Nothing on the background, so I don't see why there's baseless speculation when one of the reasons so many people got suspended in the Sonic 4 thread was for, well, baseless speculation. Since this is a game to commemorate Sonic's 20th, as well as acknowledging the past, of course Green Hill is going to exist in some incarnation. The gameplay is likely going to be just like Unleashed daytime, as it set a strong precedent with the response it received from all "game journalists" and fans and blah blah blah, plus it fits in with Iizuka's notions of wanting "speedy gameplay", and I'm pretty sure he's head cheese on this whole game. This is what we pretty much "know".

So! With that in mind, the focus is that what zones would best accommodate that gameplay? What kind of new gimmicks do you think they'll add, if any? Any new functions to existing gimmicks? They'll obviously have to increase the length of zones like GHZ to get any real gameplay out of it, along with fitting in all the bells and whistles in layouts that come from Unleashed. How well do you think the old layouts will blend and interact with new gameplay elements?

There's a lot more you guys could potentially discuss than talking about his design which isn't going to do a damn thing for anyone.

 

I have a high feeling we'll see Chemical Plant Zone in this game. A high speed level from the classics in a Sonic Unleashed style game would make a mind blowing combo.

On that, if SEGA is pulling levels from 1 to Adventure 2, I have a feeling the order each level appears will be chronologically (so basically an ARK level would be from SA2, rather than City Escape, and thus one of S3Ks later stages as well).

+ - I'm still taking caution in my posts, since these are just my thoughts, and hope they don't borderline on baseless speculation.  

 

I'd love to see Mystic Cave Zone as a stage just for the remix of that amazing music. I'm also surprised at how much effort SEGA has put into the model of Mr.Needlemouse Classic Sonic, it's great that it's not half-assed.

+ - And Mystic Cave Zone's music? Seriously, I love it. Probably the best track in Sonic 2  

 

I don't know about Chemical Plant, sure it's pretty high speed, but Flying Battery is also a very fast level, and it would fill Sonic Team's bottomless pits quota :v:

Speaking about S3&K levels, are they just going to put in the levels as they would be by the time of Colors, like a deserted Launch Base, or a ruined Death Egg/Flying Battery, or are they going to put them as they were in Sonic 3&K, cutscenes and all?

 

I sincerely hope it's not just like Unleashed daytime. The classic games were more than just running really fucking fast with a few quick time events, they had a strong emphasis on platforming. Honestly, most of Unleashed's daytime stages felt more like Stardust Speedway 3 than anything else to me: an obstacle here and there, but for the most part you're just running forward. It's sacrifices depth for speed, and while it can be fun in its own way, it's not even almost a return to roots.

 

If we're on the discussion of returning zones, I would love to have a 3D version of this boss:



I find myself playing that boss over and over.

 

Hydrocity zone, with the Unleashed daytime game play, would be pretty awesome. I always liked Hydrocity's lay-out, and just imagine what it'd look like in 3D...

Also, if they'd give classic Sonic a voice, who would you want to be?
Personally, to me, I'd be overjoyed if they'd cast Jaleel White as Sonic. To me, that voice defined his character in SatAM, and Jaleel's pretty much still got it.

 

I'm pretty sure that in this case it would be best neither incarnation of Sonic had any sort of speaking role in this game. I don't like my image of Classic Sonic, which I have kept separate from all the non-gaming incarnations, talking. It just feels dirty.

If any of your bring up Sonic's Schoolhouse, I will murder you in the most brutal ways I can think of.

 

Sonic CD's Sonic had a voice. The "I'm outta here" gameover and the "YES!" extra life.

 

Forgot about those. And after listening to them, they sound really weird. Do not want.

 

It'd probably be more accurate to say Sonic Colors rather than Unleashed; they showed a strong effort at including a lot of platforming elements and gameplay variety. The effort could arguably have been better (and the 3D sections in Unleashed were undoubtedly stronger than the 3D sections in Colors), but if that game's any indication of the direction they're taking Generations, it'll probably be far superior to Unleashed on just about every front.

By the way, there has been no mention of a "return to roots," so let's not read that into Classic Sonic's appearance here, shall we? If they open their big fat mouths with that promise again, have at it, but not a moment sooner. Agreed?

 

What? No one has said anything regarding last November's meet-up between Naka, Oshima, and Iizuka yet? Surely, I can't be the only one looking at this trailer and thinking this was a side effect developed for the Anniversary.

 

Heh, if there's one thing about C.Super Sonic I'm expecting it's that he'll have his S2 black eyes instead of the S3 green ones. I love green eyes on any version of Super Sonic, but it would be confusing in this game.

 

I'm most interested in seeing the 3D/2D split. I've been playing Unleashed for the last few days (after beating Colors) and to me, the Werehog sections are the best example of where I don't think pure 3D works for Sonic anymore. Its just so how hard to judge distances in 3D. So I'm hoping that we're going to be doing mostly 2D like Colors.

As for the model they are using for classic Sonic, I think it looks great. Much better than the other 3D Sonics we've seen (Jam and Saturn 3D Blast SSs). As for the eyes, as long as he has them, I'm cool. :-D

 

Please no. Of all things that Colours did right and well, the excessive use of 2D was certainly not one of them. Plenty of titles in the past have shown how Sonic can work in 3D and the Werehog is hardly the best example of Sonic gameplay.