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Sonic Mania Adventures

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by LukyHRE, Mar 30, 2018.

  1. Naean

    Naean

    Naean H.F. (Nez Man) Member
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    2D. Sonic Fan Game
    It would be absolutely criminal for SEGA to not greenlight a longer length animated Sonic series, considering the overwhelmingly positive reception and millions of views Sonic Mania Adventures has gathered so far.

    Hoping so badly that these shorts pave the way to a full series in future. Complete top marks to all involved with these fantastic animations. :thumbsup:
     
  2. Sparks

    Sparks

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    Sondro Gomez / Kyle & Lucy
    Finally, a scene that isn't Angel Island. :v:
     
  3. Boxer Hockey

    Boxer Hockey

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    Our BG budget was very limited...
     
  4. Tyson I gotta say, as a fan of yours since the Sonic Argh days nothin makes me happier than seeing you heading up an actual Sonic cartoon. Kudos to you and the team, I hope this isn't the last foray into animation for you.
     
  5. Roller

    Roller

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    If a small BG budget is the price we have to pay for this quality animation, audio, and storyboarding, it was a well-chosen trade-off. As always, ever-flowing kudos to you, Tee, and the team at Neko. It'll be sad to see the end to this phenomenal series for the near future, but y'alls deserve a well-earned break.
     
  6. big smile

    big smile

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    I hope that Sega gives the team the chance to do the next Sonic animation. If they did such awesome work on a tight budget, imagine what they could do on a project that was fully funded!

    Out of interest, how come video games don't have large 2D animation budgets anymore? Back in the Mega-CD days a lot of titles would have studio quality animations (e.g. like Sonic CD). Now it's rare to see 2D animations. I think the last Sonic game to have one was Sonic Riders (and I believe that was because Sega owned the animation studio).
     
  7. Laughingcow

    Laughingcow

    Resident Edgelord PHD Member
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    Am I the only one questioning why Sega is playing things so "Safe" in regards to this? Why does something as successful as Mania illicit such a small response yet only a couple years ago they spent who knows how much on Boom? This question isn't directed at Sonic Team but rather Sega corporate (because I believe Iizuka is on board already). Sure, it could be they already blew their load on Boom but I don't think that is the case. Was rebooting the franchise seen as better business then going back to the game's roots?

    I mean, think of it this way:
    They've had three games remade by Taxman and Stealth which were unquestionably successful thus continuing such a trend would make sense. They already had sales data to tell them all they needed to know with a team they KNEW could get the job done.
    Now compare that to Boom:
    A TV show meant to cash in on the Teen Titans Go formula in an attempt to re-invigorate the brand with two tie in games (one of which by a new developer). While I assume there was some sort of focus testing, there's no proper ratings data or (in the case of tie in toys) sales data to go by. Sure, Sanzaru has a decent record but....I've already forgotten the name of Rise of Lyrics devs because they were/are nobody.

    The worst part being that it wasn't like the later would have made back more money. The returns on investment are too chaotic to say one way or another but the smarter bet was clearly Mania. Only possible hitch is if Sega considered the failure of Sonic 4 & Runners as 2d Sonic faults which would mean they really have no fucking idea.
     
  8. Gestalt

    Gestalt

    Sphinx in Chains Member
    Reading the latest marketing/business/financial-news fills the decision makers with determination. Why not ask this during the upcoming panel?
     
  9. Plorpus

    Plorpus

    Hog Blue So What Member
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    To the general public and most likely corporate, Sonic is Sonic, whether it's Boom, classic or modern. If you were in charge of the business side of things, would you spend a bunch of money on the same franchise you just wasted a bunch of money rebooting? The quality of the product might end up great but that's not something you can be sure of until it's in production, and even then there's no guarantee it'll sell well. They took a risk with Boom, and it didn't pan out how they'd hoped. I'd love them to make, say, a full fledged Mania Adventures-style series but I don't think Mania's success is enough to encourage Sega to take that risk so soon.

    As far as focusing on Mania goes, just because it's a success doesn't mean going all in on it is a great idea for them. Forces sold well too, and the general public that doesn't have nostalgia for the old games might not react much differently. I'd love to see them go in this direction more but you have to realize that your perspective as a classic Sonic fan is different from the average dude in corporate, or even your average cinsum.
     
  10. 360

    360

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    Sonic Neon
    Really awesome move by Sega to have a new episode coincide with Mania Plus' launch. Hopefully it'll catalyst launch sales even if the impact is only modest.
     
  11. big smile

    big smile

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    Safe is very polite. I'd say stupid. They should be signing the Mania Team on for a full time project (which we know they haven't because the Mania posted that they were looking for work).

    And look at how they are handling the remasters. Sega hasn't done a good job of maintaining them at all, as the new versions are riddled with bugs.

    They should be porting them over to home consoles. Instead, they are getting M2 to do yet another emulated port of Sonic 1 for Switch.

    And then they took all they learned from the success of Mania to produce... A car racing game. Worryingly, given how they tied it into Sonic R, it seems that the only lesson Sega learned is that nostalgia sells. Just drop in some 90s classic Sonic game references here and there and you'll have a hit.

    I can give them a pass for Team racing, because it's aimed at the Modern Sonic kids audience. But the way they have handled the remasters and the lack of a new project for the Mania team is silly.

    To be this daft takes ages, no sorry Sega.
     
  12. 360

    360

    Light Vision Overdrive Oldbie
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    Sonic Neon
    Whilst I'm not going to ardently defend the continual fuck-up that is Sega - to be fair to them they've made some much better moves lately and seem to be heading in a better direction than ever before thanks to their new CEO. Regarding Team Sonic Racing given it's due for release later this year and is almost complete it very probably was green-lit either at the same time Mania was or (more probably) during Mania's actual development - meaning it's not a consequence of Mania's success. The development timeframes don't align for that to be true.

    I think seeing what Sega decide to do following Plus' release will give us a much better gauge as to where Sonic is headed. Hopefully Plus will sell well and that'll encourage them to keep going with more Mania. Though I will agree with you that it was a disastrous decision to respond to Mania's success by not actually immediately green-lighting a sequel. The Mania Team should absolutely not have been cut loose so quickly after they produced such a hit game. Sega are always going to Sega I guess - but there has been positive signs recently that they're heading for a better trajectory than say five years ago.

    The Sonic panel is rapidly closing in and happening next week - so we should have a better and more enlightened perspective on what Sega have planned then.
     
  13. Gestalt

    Gestalt

    Sphinx in Chains Member
    If only it was clear who this mysterious bunch of Classic Sonic fans are. How come they don't like the new games? Admittedly these are not very helpful thoughts because I can't recall why 3 year old me liked Sonic the Hedgehog in the first place. I guess it was just what I wanted without knowing what it actually was. Now I'm 27, I've been at a point in my life where I figured that it was about time to face it: I'm only good at things I'm truly interested in. Now apply this rule to SEGA, Sonic Team and the fans and you'll find an answer to life, the universe and why they do what they do. And why that's not always in our favor.
     
  14. Beltway

    Beltway

    The most grateful Sonic fan of all time this week Member
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    Sega of Darkest Peru
    Artwork and classes
    Sega has said as much about Forces doing well, but based on the minimal information we have, there's not really much reason to believe that. The UK is the only place it charted for weeks/months on retail; it really didn't go anywhere otherwise for the rest of Europe, Japan, NA/US, or even the new market in China; on both retail and digital storefronts. Esp. Japan, Iizuka said people there got excited for Forces because of the Custom Avatar and darker story, and it had the best debut for a Sonic game in years in that territory...and it still megabombed.

    When your big Sonic game in four years only has unofficial "estimates" on how well it did (apparently over one million, for those curious)....not a great look, esp. considering Generations was the last retail Sonic game to pass one million units. Even Mania at least got a sales record in an interview; and that was a then-digital exclusive game without as much marketing push (at least initially). Forces IIRC has also been on sale for quite a bit, while Mania seems to be selling fine with barely any discounts (and the few that did happen were pretty obscure and only offered price scratches rather than price slashes).

    As for the future, I'm just hoping Mania [Plus] is at least successful to keep the classic Sonic half of the series around on a more permanent basis, instead of being revived as a one-time thing and then discarded again. Ideally I'm hoping we get one or two proper original 2D sequels, and then the team can (with some appropriate additional help) finally get the chance to make the fabled 3D classic Sonic game we've been teased with during the Saturn days, but ultimately never received.
     
  15. Laughingcow

    Laughingcow

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    When it comes to Mania and its success, I'd say mind the old saying: Strike while the iron is hot.

    While it is completely in reason to assume the failure of Boom would make Sega very sheepish in their decisions on Mania, the question still stands on what drove them to take the massive risk on Boom in the first place? The three games before Sonic Boom were Sonic Colors, Sonic Generations, and Sonic Lost World on which the first two did well with the third one being uncertain. Did these three games cause the franchise to bleed money that a risk like rebooting the franchise what necessary? I don't think so and guess the Boom initiative was pushed by someone in corporate with a lot of pull but no brains.

    And this also forgets about Sonic Runners, Sonic Team's foray into mobile which under performed. It was chasing a trend sure but the fact it wasn't a Boom games tells me Sonic Team/Iizuka wanted nothing to do with Boom.
    https://sonicretro.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/SonicRunnersFailure.png

    As for the subject of Sonic Forces, it selling well just means the meat grinder keeps going which is fine. But going to the initial point: Why risk a reboot if Modern Sonic is doing fine too?
     
  16. Plorpus

    Plorpus

    Hog Blue So What Member
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    I could be misremembering this, but I think I remember reading that Boom was either lead by or proposed by the American side rather than Sega of Japan. And while we call it a reboot, it was always meant to be an additional branch of the franchise to appeal to the west.

    ANYWAY how about them Sonic Mania Adventures?
    Do you think it'll end with Sonic getting sucked into a portal to lead in io Encore Mode, or is this noncanon? Or perhaps the start of an overly complex Zelda-style timeline.
     
  17. SpaceyBat

    SpaceyBat

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    Freedom Planet 2
    Here you go:
    [​IMG]
     
  18. Boxer Hockey

    Boxer Hockey

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    I would argue that paying for a series of YouTube animations at all would not be the safe option. Please don't take for granted how rare it is for any game company to spend money at all on something like this. They coulda just.... not.
     
  19. Laughingcow

    Laughingcow

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    .....You have no idea how many jokes that line sets up.

    But on what you said, Yeah. I'm certain you know a LOT more on the inside situation so I'll just drop out.
     
  20. Boxer Hockey

    Boxer Hockey

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    I don't mean to silence you or disregard what you said. I think it's a pretty natural reaction to see how well this went and come to the conclusion "Why didn't they do something more?". I just think it's important to remember that in such a situation we're looking at the end to justify the beginning. By that I mean, conversely this could have ended up a disaster and then we would all be saying "Why did they waste money on this at all."
    The real truth of it is, no other game company is doing something like this aside from Blizzard. And Blizzard spends millions of dollars on their shorts on TOP of them actually having their own animation studio and full-time production crews lol (and they still only do like, 2-3 a year). Sure these shorts are (hopefully) doing their job of advertising the game but there are a lot of cheaper, easier ways to advertise something. So yeah, they coulda just not bothered, and nobody would have been saying "Why aren't there any cartoon shorts for this game?"

    It's the kind of situation where by sticking your leg out you can open yourself to criticisms of greater expectations than just by doing nothing. They took a risk and it worked out, and IMO I think it's worth celebrating the seed instead of lamenting the lack of a forest. BUT I AM PRETTY BIASED I GUESS