"Multiple" new Sonic games planned for 2021

Those modern Sonics definitely have an Adventure vibe. Especially the one where he's got headphones on.

(the fact that those headphones are completely useless for him makes me smile ngl)

 

Ya know, if we got a 2D game with artwork that looked like this 2d modern Sonic with the sorta painted bgs, I'd be perfectly content with that.

It's interesting though normally this promo stuff is all 3D renders, but here they're taking a back seat to the 2D stuff. Which I prefer the renders are mostly garbage (although these one's aren't too bad, certainly not Forces garbage)

 

I wish I could be so sanguine, haha. I've been fretting about it for the past few days, especially, and like... that's very uncharacteristic of me. I'm usually more optimistic than this. But between losing the voice cast, losing the boost, and ESPECIALLY losing Classic Sonic, the contents of that leak suggest that a *lot* of my favorite things about the series might all be going away at once... and right now, I have no real idea what we're getting instead. And yeah, the leak is probably not even accurate, but still. Change is scary, but uncertainty is worse, and that's why I'm looking forward to just having a clear vision of where we're headed!

 

I really do think that the series has needed a more 2D-style aesthetic direction for years. Even 3D Sonic should have the dynamism and energy of 2D Sonic art. I really wish they'd stop going for big shiny lighting engines when black outlines and cel shading seem like such a more obvious choice for a series like this.

 

These are modern Uekawa pieces, right? It would be so nice to have his art actually used to promote a game for the first time in ages, rather than relegating him to just random promo arts and Sonic Channel drawings.

 

Yea, the 2D art has always been way better at portraying the cast than the CG models, there's just way more dynamic poses and expresses that the CG models lack. I'm really glad that they're using 2D art more outside of 3D images.

Yea, I'm kind of miffed about this myself if I'm being honest because there was really no reason they had to get rid of all of this. All of these elements should be able to co-exist with each other and satisfy everyone, but asking for consistency from this series is a tall order. So at this point, I can only hope what we get going forward is actually good to justify these changes...and that later games don't ruin it as tends to be case.

 

Not even on the subject of the classic and modern identity-split debate we've already been through, but I'm honestly more than open to seeing them drop the boost gameplay if they can pull off a good replacement.

Unleashed and Generations have some of the best levels in 3D Sonic yet, sure, but I kinda like SA1 & 2's even more, and there's a potential in how the Sonic Adventure games controlled that I think wasn't ever expanded upon far enough. That and it's been about 15 years since we've been allowed to play as anybody but Sonic, so I think this kind of decision is for the best.

 

Yea, but I hate the idea of dropping shit for the sake of dropping it.

Hate with Pokemon, and I hate it here.

Still mad they never brought back the VS Seeker or DexNav.

 

Boost gameplay didn't really give room for expansion, and that's easy enough to see in how little it changed (if not straight-up regressed rather than evolved) with each new title. That lack of room plus how it played into the power-creep of how fast Sonic is supposed to be kinda also locked out other characters from playing the same too, as it would come off nonsensical in-universe.

It's a lot of fun to play, but if replacing it's for the better of the game design, then so be it.

 

Ironically I think that everything changing so suddenly is why I'm (emphasis cos others might not feel the same way) more optimistic now than I was in 2020, when I was just paranoid that something was going to eclipse Forces in raw suckage, cos the next game was obviously just gonna be Forces 2 right? There was that uncertainty in how Sonic Team would respond to all of the critics scathing, harsh, CRITICAL... 5/10 reviews and the resounding "meh" that the entire fanbase uttered. Would they just think "Well, people didn't hate it, Let's fart out another one"? Well, that's looking less likely by the day and that's exciting. Of course, I could eat my words and what we're gonna get in 2064 (or whenever the hell it's gonna finally be announced) could be a nuclear garbage meltdown that IGN will give a 6.9/10, but still.

 

Yeah I'm excited that the next game might not be another hallway simulator.

 

Y'know, normally I would see this art and say "well that's just modern Sonic, the art style doesn't mean anything"...

....but I can't help but find it a LITTLE bit interesting that they have a promo image which very clearly separates Adventure sonic from Modern Sonic, and then we see all this art (some of it reused/recolored - good eye, Gestalt!) featuring specifically the Adventure design alongside Classic Sonic. It's not the Adventure Sonic art by itself, but the fact that we can pair it with this image which distinguishes him from the other 2 Sonics as his own entity

I'm not saying it means "zomg Adventure 3!!!", but it is an interesting choice and it's really got me scratching my head here.

On the subject of the boost, if they drop it I'm fairly certain they aren't just dropping it for the sake of dropping it. And I'm saying this as someone who has gotten plenty of enjoyment out of the boost games. From what I know, boost levels are developmentally taxing, expensive, and time-consuming, and the player gets a relatively small amount of playtime for the amount of assets they need to create. Look at how beautiful and detailed Apotos was in Unleashed, and you fly right by it. You can blaze through an entire Bob-omb Battlefield's worth of level assets in 15 seconds. I think this is why they need to reuse so much of it, and there's been a trend of creating side missions using the same assets or level layouts as prior stages. They can't possibly keep creating these huge sprawling levels that you finish in mere minutes, and also expect the game to be free of any padding or artificial replay value. It feels like they fall back on 2D sections and new gimmicks as a way of slowing the player down, because the drawback to blazing by the scenery so insanely fast is that you need to make a LOT of scenery. I'm sure it's possible, but with the time and budget they've got I would not blame them if they take a step away from the boost gameplay.

 

So now we're separating designs by dimensions now huh.

Because why is 2D Modern art suddenly "Adventure" Sonic? What's the difference.

Are we really gonna start this arbitrary division again?

 

For what it's worth, 2D Modern Sonic art isn't prominently used as much anymore. Some moments I can think of where it's been used as main game art after Sonic Adventure 2 were for the Game Boy Advance games, Rush games, and compilations of Classic games. I do agree that it's probably not a representation of "Adventure/Dreamcast" Sonic, but the fact that they wanted to showcase that 2D art prominently could mean something. Especially considering the last time they did three Sonics on a poster like that, it actually was three distinct designs (Classic, Modern, Boom). More importantly though, I don't think @Hanging Waters' "division" of Adventure and Modern was malicious or anything.

Anyway, about the Boost, "Boost Sonic" has some of my favorite Sonic levels, but if Sonic Forces was any indication, they may not have the resources or time or desire to develop many in-depth levels for that type of gameplay anymore. I wouldn't mind something a bit closer to SA1 Sonic gameplay for the next game. But I probably wouldn't mind much whatever approach it takes as long it's good, haha. To be honest, I think there are more commonalities between the cores of the Classic, Adventure, and Boost gameplay styles than people give the Sonic series credit for. Boost is almost without a doubt the most resource-intensive though, so maybe they'll find a good way to incorporate some elements of that with a slower type of gameplay.

 

I think trying to read that as "Adventure Sonic" or another separate Sonic is reading way too hard into it.

I'm pretty sure that if that leak/rumor has any weight (it does), it's just representative of each upcoming major release this year. Classic Sonic sprites = classic games collection. 2D Uekawa Sonic = 2D modern Sonic game. 3D modern Sonic = 3D Sonic game. Nothing more than that.

 

Somebody with clout should had recognized the design of Boost Sonic gameplay does not mesh well with the platforming genre and spun it off into a different department a long time ago. The changes they've made to make it more of a platformer (increased 2D platforming/puzzle sections, adding 3D platforming sections that require slower/careful movement,etc.) usually shows the gameplay's weaknesses more than anything else; and the only option they've done to address the game length is to pad out the content, either by throwing in more playstyles and/or breaking the 3D levels up into small, shorter chunks. The Boost gameplay has historically shown to be incapable of carrying an entire platforming game by itself.

/brokenrecord

 

I loved Adventure 1, as buggy of a mess as it was. It was a high budget, ambitious project that pushed tech boundaries as far as they could at the time and had the classic era's visual and imaginative spark in the art design. That made it work for me, even if it did introduce the weird "Sonic in the real world" vibe I was never quite a fan of.

Sonic Adventure 2 took that vibe much further, and I never liked that, but the engine was solid as all hell (for the era) and a ton of fun to play. I collected every emblem at least twice and Green Hill SA2 is a very, very good map that shows the engine could easily do classic styled levels. The team brought out their A game and it was rightly and critically acclaimed upon initial release. Sonic was still largely considered good in that era, and it was only upon the demise of the Dreamcast and the porting of SA2 to Gamecube and the subsequent reviews did his reputation really begin to plunge. The Nintendo reviewers bashed what was a (mostly) superior port of a game released only a year later. Fans loved it anyway and it sold very well, to the point where almost every existing game ended up on the gamecube (save chaotix and pocket adventure... even the advanced games could technically be played with an addon) before its demise. Sure, earlier efforts like 3D Blast, Chaotix, and R were considered more iffy, but they were still playable decent titles in their own right that filled the gap until we had the next major release. It was Heroes onward that really pushed Sonic downward in the eyes of the general gaming public.

If the next game honestly returns us to an expanded "open world" version of Adventure gameplay, I'd welcome it. I'm honestly not even sure if that's 'possible', given that Sonic's speed makes developing large maps to traverse in 3D extremely difficult, hence the entire reason for those games being "hallway simulators". SRB2 still remains a shining example of excellent classic to 3D design, but its controls don't necessarily translate well to modern consoles control schemes, so that's still best left as its own thing.

Obviously, the lack of a direct Mania followup is frankly mind numbingly stupid, but oh well. I'm still going to hope that they learned from the game and can make a great 2D title using classic styled physics. I don't care what Sonic himself looks like if you can just make a game with Mania style stages and momentum based gameplay.

As for "the fans" taking care of the brand, I'd feel better about that if mania's mod scene was more actively updating their own broken outdated mods. There's a few gems that don't even work anymore on the latest iteration, and that puts a big kink into the best means by which to play new "classic sonic" content.

 

I absolutely love Uekawa's current art style, and I would love it the rumored 2D modern game used his artwork for the cover and the promotional material.

 

.....not a single crumb of Sonic 3 representation huh? Not a sprite or Blue Spheres (even the movie referenced that) or anything? No mention of Mania either? lol

like, they have the Sonic 2 halfpipe in this one (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EuDjBVrWQAI5ikM?format=jpg&name=large), so it's not just that they're using only Sonic 1 to represent it...