On a completely unrelated note, I found it really funny that Slingerland laughed when that Polygon reviewer called Stealth and Taxman 'legends' :p . It gives an insight into how absurd (in a funny way) the Mania team find the whole hero-worship thing. In fact, the whole Mamia Team probably find the whole love for Mania pretty unbelievable and overwhelming. Then again, we still bitch about tiny tile errors, so they aren't immune to the bizzare sides of this fanbase! It must be hard for the other Mania devs though, as their work is vital for Mania, but they know that Stealth, and especially Taxman, are like Messiahs of the Sonic fandom xD . And it must also be hard because, as huge fans themselves, they probably worship Stealth and Taxman too :p .
Speaking of how the world and fans view Tax/Stealth right now, I'm still curious as to how Sonic Team/Iizuka feel about the Mania team. Happy because they're keeping the brand at a high point and showing love for the IP which might result in more Forces sales? Or instead are they throwing darts at photos of Whitehead knowing that (in their eyes) some upstart kids from the internet are getting more hype than their home grown next-gen offering, especially when they tried to do just that and fucked up with Sonic 4? Maybe a Tax v Iizuka punch-up is needed once both games are out.
Considering Iizuka is ultimately the reason Mania is happening and is also involved in the project, I really don't think that's the case.
Yeah, I think if Iizuka hated team Tax/Stealth, he could have done a lot to derail the project. Iizuka has said before that he thinks Classic Sonic is a niche product, so I don't think he feels threatened at all. In his eyes Sonic Forces is the main game. (Which is why I think the success of Mania will be a bit of an eye opener for him). I'd also be surprised if Iizuka feels any shame about Sonic 4. It's only the fans who dislike it, it was mostly positively received by the press. It also was originally only supposed to be a mobile game, it was SOA who added all the "Sonic 4" branding to it, so Iizuka can easily put any "shame" at their feet. If anything Iizuka will probably pat himself on the back over Mania's success for thinking out of the box and hiring fans to make a new title. It's not something a lot of companies would do especially with an IP as important as Sonic (which makes the Mania's Team success even more special).
Remember that Iizuka's head of Sonic Team and arguably the face of the Sonic brand. If Mania does well then it reflects really well on him and the Sonic brand in the eyes of the big wigs at SEGA. I really hope the Mania Team get a sign up offer to go permament with SEGA after this. They definitely deserve it.
Iizuka: "Nothin Personnel… Kid…” *sheathes OC* (keep up the youthful looks Stealth, I was almost gonna I.D you for a pack of beer ) Still, it's good to hear a bit more about the relationship between the teams. I've only thought about it recently but I'm glad it's not turning into SEGA's good ol' 'East vs West' behaviour that I've heard about in the past.
Speaking for myself, the day I sign on to work on one franchise and one franchise forever is the day I quit. edit: A comment like this one probably bears a little more elaboration. The nice thing about being freelance is that I've had the opportunity to work with a lot of folks, absorb and impart, and leave (hopefully) a positive impression on all the different things I've worked on. This is the big reason I'm still working with my own music production company on a contract basis rather than applying to one of half a dozen companies, where personal acquaintances have hinted about open positions. I love gaming as a whole and working on games as a whole too much to give that up. Now obviously this view is not representative of anyone other than myself. Backing out to the slightly larger picture though, I understand the essence of your comment essentially meaning 'I hope we get to see future projects from this group of people'. I think the entire community would love that. Who on a forum called "Sonic Retro" wouldn't love to see more official retro Sonic? I think I can safely say everyone involved in Mania are fans of the franchise to some great degree or another, but I feel like right now the focus is on getting Mania out the door and the best game it can possibly be. Anything beyond that, really isn't worth worrying about right now, and feels like putting the cart before the horse. And before I say anything that has SEGA PR bearing down in my direction with glowing red eyes, I'll leave it at that.
Talking about Iizuka, I quite like him. While he's not a really perfect PR manager, he does like interacting with Sonic fans and likes what he does. I have been playing New Super Mario Bros 2 recently and I can see why Sonic 4 is a thing. If they had more time/budget the game would be a milestone on the franchise, much like New Super Mario Bros was to Mario.
I think that Sonic 4 could have been a good game, had it tried to be its own thing and not a throwback to the classics that it just couldn't be. Oh, and they also shouldn't have tried to make its music sound chiptune-y. That really irked me.
Plot: Somari seeks revenge on the one that is fatter and more moustached than him. Eggman seeks revenge on the fat moustached guy that isn't bald as he is.
Gotta give Iizuka credit since he's one who pitched the idea of doing something different. If he'd just gone along with SoA's proposal we would have gotten more ports of Sonic 1, 2 & CD (and no Sonic 3 remaster). Instead we have a new game with new and remixed stuff and Sonic 3 content. Mania? YES Sonic 4? lol NO
Mania's dev story is pretty neat actually, and I'm sure we'll discuss it in the fullness of time but the short of it is this: Our initial proposal was actually to do a rather modest little original 2D game & bundle in the remasters to sweeten the deal. Iizuka-san then suggested the "Mania" concept of re-imagining the classic Zones along with our new Zones as one cohesive game, and our team went to work coming up with a new story and ideas to go with it. So yeah, we've really been able to run with it, and produce something considerably more grandiose (classic zones have new BGs, layouts, bosses & gimmicks after all). Anyway, it's back to work for me!
