Saturday night booze crew Generations 2 was an obvious direction, but I and others where probably thinking - yeah that was good, now show us what you can really do
Of course and I think that's their end game here, that's why Bubsy's silhouette exists. They want to play it safe but experiment at the same time. It's not as dumb of a strategy as some may think.
Sonic is what sells for Sega. It's basically their biggest franchise over here, and they know it. They didn't shell all of those games out because it was fun. And even if the Kirby games do "fine", do you think Nintendo banks on them? Pokemon, Zelda, Mario. Those are the top priority, and they're treated as such. Kirby gets to stay in such a nice humble spot, because Nintendo doesn't have to worry about taking risk with it. I'm not asking Sonic to compete with Mario again, I'm asking for the series to stop being lame. Just flipping your arms up in the air and going, "welp", is the exact reason the series is in the shithole it's in now. Sega didn't care, Sonic Team doesn't know what to do, and everyone's upset. Is there a simple solution, no of course not, there never is. But the steps to improve the series aren't shrouded in fucking mystery. And I'd rather the series not die, because for all the shit I give it, I still like Sonic. I like the concept, the character, and there are even elements of the recent games I've liked, but there hasn't been the diligence to bring it all out in a way that doesn't suck shit. Sonic Mania isn't proof that the series should just "stick to 2D". It's proof that the series has life and potential, and that it's just waiting to be brought out. And as for pleasing the fanbase, yeah people are always going to have preferences, but I think everyone just wants a really good game at the end of the day. Almost everyone likes Colors, almost everyone likes Generations. Even if I don't prefer the gameplay, I don't think they're bad games at all. We just don't want to be fed crap and expected to like it because it's good enough. And who says they have to completely give up on the boost gameplay? Who says they aren't allowed to keep making 2D games? They can do both of those things. Trying to improve the franchise is not a waste of time. A waste of time is just making shit because it's okay, and everyone being okay with it being okay.
You know you have a ticking time-bomb on your hands when even your "fans" don't want to play your games...
- They have been pretty successful with mobile games. - Phantasy Star Online 2 is big in Japan though non-existant in the west. - Sega Europe's one of the biggest RTS game publishers. - Basically all Hatsune Miku video games are Sega. - The Yakuza franchise is huge in Japan and seemingly has stated being more successful in the west with Yakuza 0. - Persona is now one of the biggest JRPG franchises with Persona 5 having shipped 1.5 million copies worldwide. It was also the #1 best selling game on PSN in the US last month. So yeah, Sonic's not really the only major seller Sega has now. We're not reflective of the entire fanbase. Not sure how much the rest of the fanbase is looking forward to Forces. Also Sonic Mania is a thing.
You know, that gives me an idea. After Mania comes out and inevitably does well, Sega calls StealthTax into their offices. "OK guys, Mania was great. Now we're gonna let you take a crack at a 3D Sonic. Something mainstream audiences will enjoy. You will have complete creative freedom. Good luck." That might be our best option other than going 2D only.
I imagine that replaying the same levels can be made appealing to people. Other games like Geometry Wars have done so in the past by using leaderboards. There the next best score by someone on your friends list is always a part of your HUD, making the main goal getting a better score than your friends. Just saying: it's possible, it's been done before, and a similar system could probably be applied to boost Sonic. Sonic Generations almost had it right I feel, but had leaderboards like that as a separate mode, making it not visible enough to players.
They could definitely make score attacking the core reason to replay boost Sonic, like any other action game. And that would be pretty dull. If that's the selling point for replaying a game it pretty much belongs on a touch screen. It's like saying "Not really fun to play again without outside influence." The classics had tonnes of replayability, for the same reasons Sonic Utopia's single demo level does. Exploration, increasingly enabled by mastery of the game's controls and physics. Utopia's GreenHill has the giant trees area, the underground crystal room, the hidden Labyrinth... there's one hidden path that goes really far just to put you up on the clifftops. Finding whole new areas is plenty fun for replayability. Working out new ways to pull off a move to get more access, also fun (like getting into the Labyrinth section via the exit).
If that's what Tax and Stealth want to do then so be it, but speaking only for myself here - GOD. NO. We've waited two decades for a return to what Sonic always should have been, a momentum-based 2D platformer with gorgeous pixel art, and you want to throw all that away for YET ANOTHER gamble in the third dimension? We JUST got classic Sonic back for real, don't even THINK about taking him away from me again!
And yet Mario has a jump, crouch, walljump, longjump, triple jump, backflip, spin attack, and even a fucking homing attack in Galaxy, as well as needing to point at the screen to collect star bits. 6 abilities is not too much for most people, else Mario wouldn't sell.
I didn't mean permanently. I meant the idea of Sega putting their faith in devs who actually can please audiences. And that's just if we continue 3D Sonic. I'd be perfectly fine going 2D only.
Taxman was creating a 3D engine for a new 3d game/new IP he was working on (supposed to be inspired by Dreamcast elements or something) before he started work on Mania. Would be intriguing to play a 3d game (regardless whether it's Sonic or not) designed by him. You can't expect him to stay working on 2d Sonic forever. Besides, there are plenty other talented developers who could work on future 2d Sonic games.
The difference with Mario is that the levels in galaxy are often like playgrounds, giving the player a chance to play around with these different abilities without pressure. the Sonic boost games require the player to know and use these skills as obstacles come at them otherwise they'll fail, usually by being slowed down (which isn't fun) or just straight up falling off needing a restart.
You know, besides Platinum's games, I don't think there are that many action games anymore where score attack is the main incentive to replay. And even then what I'm talking about is making leaderboards more prominent. And There are games entirely designed around score attack/speedrunning that were pretty popular because they made leaderboards so prominent. Like I said there's Geometry Wars, but the Trackmania games are a good example of that as well. There are also games like Spelunky or Flinthook where there are modes where you have to get the best score on a daily or weekly challenge. The goal then isn't just getting the best score. It's getting a better score than people on your friend list, who are trying to get a better score than you as well. And for Boost Sonic, besides collecting red rings, getting the best rank on a level is supposed to be the main incentive. Having prominent leaderboards with the best time or score would be the natural next step from that.
Oh, I didn't mean there are lots of action games that do it; I meant any action game can do it. Imo the implementation of score attack is something to focus after finding ways to improve the game itself. Anything can have a good score attack implementation, but if that quickly becomes the biggest reason players return... ergh. I would guess that not turning modern Sonic into a score attack is the reason they're still trying to find other things to help it carry a game.
So, when the first Sonic Forces trailer came out, there was a theory that Dreamcast Sonic was going to be a playable character because there was an extra space for a third Sonic to join the other two at some point during the video. Anyone thinks this makes sense?
