"Multiple" new Sonic games planned for 2021

Shoutout to when he was alleged to have proudly boasted about how automated Sonic Forces is in a press preview. It’s very bittersweet that he sees the game for what it is and will still bear the cross of trying to present it in the best light possible.

I hope one day he gets to make the Sonic game he wants to, unbound by executive demands.

 

Yeah, I mean I'm not glorifying Iizuka. I think his idea to make Team Sonic Racing a team based racer was an awful one in all honesty, even if I can see where he's coming from. I just think his heart is in the right place and we could have someone far, far, far worse as head of Sonic Team.

 

Teeny tiny correction to this bit, the original game "Sonic Discovery" was pitched with (seemingly only) the brand-new zones alongside the full remasters of the old games. Taxman made a post on here a while ago about it and I believe that Stealth said somewhere (on one of his streams, I think?) that Studiopolis 2 was the first level they made. Taxman also mentions that Studiopolis would've been the first level in this video around 2:27:

So when people say things like "Mania would've been 100% original if it wasn't for Iizuka!" it's like...that's technically true? But from what it seems, we probably would've wound up with less "new" stuff out of the pitch if Iizuka didn't suggest to add the old levels. (Especially considering the SEGA higher ups' apparent view of 2D Sonic gameplay.)

 

No, you're right, that part is basically exactly what he said (now that I've read the post again)! I wasn't disagreeing tho, I just didn't notice how redundant that was when I was typing it, haha.

 

If we're saying Iizuka has a thankless job, imagine all the lower level developers who aren't in leadership positions and have to work double overtime every week just to churn out a mediocre game that a lot of the higher ups have lost passion for, on a crunched schedule because said higher ups wouldn't give them the time they need to develop. Mostly talking about certain... other companies here, but I'm sure SEGA's developers have their fair share of nightmare weeks. Thankfully Iizuka is bringing his own passion to the series, because it feels like he's one of the select folks who actually want to breathe new life into the franchise.

 

So....for the most part I've tuned out Sonic for the majority of the last year, particularly since the covid spike. I've been seeing chatter pop up about it on youtube and recently started paying some attention again.

If this rumor is true then tbh, good for them. Even though I'll be the first one to say that the classic era is the best version of sonic, I can see what sega might be trying to do with the franchise. The games haven't been selling well but there is a lot of engagement with younger fans particularly with the storytelling side of the franchise. With the recent success of the movie it makes total sense to try a develop a new generation around the movie and a new tv show which will feed into the games as well. Creating a new sonic ecosystem in which the products build off of one another. Tbh I've wanted Sega to do this for years and stop putting forth halfhearted confused efforts. I would prefer if the original sonic were the front man but it makes more sense to go with modern after the movie.

I also think on a more personal level, "classic sonic" more than being a relic of the past, even timeless as his design may be, doesn't really belong to this version of SEGA or sonic team (whatever that name means now). All they've had to listen to for the past 20 years is how great sonic was in the 90s when a completely different group was at the helm and the lot of their efforts have been trash. That could take a toll on anyone. Even iizuka, who has long been an advocate for the fans, he really wasn't a major part of the classic quadrilogy, only coming along towards the end. His babies are really the adventure games.

So if this is true, good for sega for nutting up and consolidating the brand and good for adventure fans for screaming enough to get what they want. I didn't buy forces because I decided I'm no longer going to be an automatic patron of the franchise like I used to be fr every major title. But if the games do end up in the gameplay direction I want and are actually good, I might give whatever comes out in the next year a try.

 

Wasn't iizuka the one who said he wanted to remake sonic adventure? If so, we can see where his vision for the franchise is...

So where does that leave the higher ups?

 

Some will probably see this as inflammatory, but I would like some honest responses to the following.

The whole notion of consolidating the brand in favor for Millennium and completely shelving Mega Drive beyond some merchandise stuff...I’d argue we’ve seen such efforts already with the 2000s, shortly after the first Adventure’s release in Japan. Even down to having multimedia efforts aligning closer to the main franchise with Sonic X and having the Western side of Sonic having more input on the series with the establishment of Sonic Team USA/Sega Studios USA. Say what you will about Chris and his family being the focus, the 3rd Meterex season and whatnot, but they made an effort to tie it into the the game canon with their arc adaptations of Adventure 1, 2, and Battle. Likewise, we also saw how Sega and Sonic Team set up an offshoot in San Francisco to develop at least three/four mainline games for the franchise, which was headed by Iizuka.

With the history in mind of where the series progressed for the rest of the 2000s decade as well as what also happened during the 2010s. What are some of you honestly expecting to be different from last time, if this indeed is what Sega is planning for the future?

 

That it's a good thing.

To paint it as "we've done it before and failed" can be said the same for many things in the series, and to act like it shouldn't be anything to be excited or interested in is a self-defeatist angle. That, and I wouldn't say this is just a retread of what 00s Sonic stood for either; this could very well be a new direction with new thoughts moving ahead just as much as it might reflect anything from that era (or before).

We have no evidence that what they're doing now could be the surefire shot, but we also have none to say it wouldn't either. We're already judging before even knowing what it is. Hell, we're judging it before we even know if this leak is real or not.

 

Tbh, I don't expect whatever comes to be full on 2000s sonic. I think sega was scarred very badly by that era and despite what younger fans think, they know better than to do a direct retread.

I do think they know they need something fresh and maybe they just want to refresh Sonic to include some of the more requested elements of that era but trying to build on the success of the Schwarz Sonic. I'm spitballing here, no idea really. Main point, people who are expecting SEGA to directly retread that territory will probably be disappointed but I would not be shocked to see a different gameplay style for sonic as well as a greater emphasis on multiple characters and a newish story/writing direction to boot. In that way, 2000s fans would be getting a lot of what they wanted, though possibly without as much nostalgia as they would like for their particular time.

 

On top of this, Generations also had the context of there not being a better example of "classic" gameplay for like a decade, so people were more inclined to look past how honestly rather jank Classic feels in that game. Forces came out after Mania, so on top of "why is he back", he is also getting blown out of the water by a better playing and looking alternative.

 

I'm not so sure. there was a lot of terror in the fandom because it was interpreted as a reboot of the series - sega was certainly pushing it hard, and it didn't really abate until it became clear that its very first game was an '06-level disaster that they pulled back on it a bit

 

I have no reason to expect anything good from these supposed rumors; Sega have done nothing to instill confidence in the brand, and these recent changes aren't really doing anything to quell those feelings. Call me cynical, but trying to retool the series again into something else is going to have the same mixed results as the last two times it happened.

Now granted, against all odds, things MIGHT improve...but that's a big "if" because none of Sega's recent output has made me think they've learned anything. I want to be excited, I really do. But I'm 27 now, I'm so passed the blind optimism phase of my life. I need something concrete to latch onto if I'm to have faith.

I agree that the series needed some type of adrenaline shot to revive it, but you don't need to jettison everything that came from before to do that.

One of the FIRST things Sega confirmed is that Boom would NOT replace the main series, and that was long before they released ROL. On some level, they knew Boom was doomed to fail and pretty much gave themselves an out with that statement.

If Boom succeeded, well that's just another brand. If it fails, then you can just can it.

 

As far as instilling "confidence" goes... No one should be confident of anything sonic related right now. I think it was clear even before this rumor that SEGA is in a transitional period with the blue blur, trying to figure out what to do next rather than having a successful template to build on after Forces. Mania would be the only strong success they've had but others have already addressed why we may not get a follow up in some form. If we don't, I'm going to laugh A LOT at how petty that is, and how it confirms almost everything I've ever read about this company. It really is on brand, even though I'm hoping not.

The only source of optimism should be from the fact that they really are taking their sweet time with whatever this game is. Yes, they did that with Forces too but I think the feedback of the last few years has probably been as strong as it's ever been for 3d sonic. Even with projects like Sonic utopia... there's no way Sega of America didn't see that.

I'm not expecting whatever it is to cater towards me, but for some reason I don't expect another half hearted dud like forces for the next title. Have no idea beyond that. I think it'll swing on either side of clearly bad or clearly good (if that sounds weird) because they are actually trying this time rather than what they coughed up in 2017. So either they'll muck it up properly or they'll have made a nice redeeming effort, but elbow grease is being applied in either case. Just my feeling.

 

Even if I personally think that Iizuka's passion for Sonic hasn't really shined through in the latest games, if there's any truth in him being the man keeping the ship afloat, then holy shit is Sonic gonna skydive into a dumpster when he retires. Get your Dark Age nostalgia in now folks, there's a bigger storm on the horizon.

 

Boom was an odd one in that Sega definitely did try to assuage fears that it was going to be in its own corner and not replace the existing canon, shortly after it was announced. But it's multimedia support (clothing merchandise, toys, the Archie comic, mobile games, collaborations with other brands, etc.) and Sega's emphases on bringing in newcomers and giving Boom a global launch were enough for fans to be convinced that Boom was something Sega was banking on for the long haul; and if successful could had mounted a real challenge towards what was already there.

It was established enough that even when the first signs of trouble reared their heads on the brand's launch in late 2014, with both the damning reviews for the games and the bad timeslot/lack of advertising for the show. It was only until 2020 last year when Sega could officially dispose of Boom for good, long after everybody involved had since moved on to other projects. Point being that enough resources had been poured in that Sega couldn't quickly cut their losses like with other garden variety Sonic spinoffs. I imagine the only reason there was a third game and a second season of the show at all was strictly due to existing contractual obligations.

 

But I thought Ambition & Passion & Drive were just meaningless buzzwords used to praise the games we like and dunk on the games we hate?

 

I remember when Sega decided they wanted to tap into "90's Sonic Nostalgia". The ride from Sonic 4, through Sonic Generations, to Sonic Mania, was painful, grueling, and oftentimes fun. But, ultimately, I finally got exactly what I asked for from it. If Mania was the last officially licensed entry to aim at being a Billiards-Platforming game and nail the landing, then that's that.

There's not much you can do to expand Sonic's MD-era gameplay without shaking things up anyway, and I would not trust most people to do that task justice were it ever laid out. Sonic's MD-era gameplay is notoriously ill-understood, just in general. I don't trust someone to "evolve Sonic 3 to the next stage in design" who didn't understand what evolved in order to reach the "Sonic 1 stage in design" in the first place, if that makes sense.

If Sega's now moving onto tapping into "00's Sonic Nostalgia", well, oh boy. They'll be in for a rough time if they try for "Sonic Adventure 3, As You Truly Imagined It" (or, "Sonic Adventure 1, As You Truly Imagined It"). Sega possibly spending the better part of a decade fumbling around, struggling to even grasp, let alone land, the idea, and giving multiple different studios their shake at it, before it really begins to measure up to the two decades' worth of exceptions that have built up in peoples' heads?

Gonna be a fun mess, everybody. Get ready.

 

I won't speak for everyone, but ambition and passion and drive, in my opinion, are always good, whether it is in Mania, or Sonic 06. I won't dunk on 06 for being ambitious, but I will dunk on it for not ultimately realizing that ambition into something focused and polished.