Gameinformer conducted an interview very recently with some interesting names from Sonic Team. No new game info or anything, but it’s interesting to read about where these people’s journeys with the franchise started and what they like about Sonic. Interview Spoiler Something that piqued my interest is that Mr. Hiroshi Nishiyama was present in this interview. We know that he returned to Sega in 2019 and Gameinformer specified that he is an Art Director. He was the Field Art Director for all main series titles from Sonic Adventure to Shadow the Hedgehog, and Marza’s CG for the Sonic 2022 honestly reminded me of Shadow the Hedgehog’s CG which Mr. Nishiyama was apparently a supervisor for. At this point I would not be suprised if he is reprising his role for the 2022 game.
Fun read! I thought this was an interesting answer... I know he's just saying the two most recent best-rated Sonic games — but to read too much into it anyway, comments like this make me think there's definitely gotta be something Sonic in the works from the Mania team that we don't know about yet. Iizuka didn't have to say Mania, he could've said Sega Ages Sonic 2 or anything else, y'know?
If there’s another Mania related title in the works, I’ll be happy for you and other people craving that kind of Sonic game, but personally I won’t be too pleased.
My first instinct was to be cynical about that Iizuka quote too, but from what I've read it sounds like he's genuinely proud of how Sonic Mania turned out. Even if there is a Mania-style game in the works it's unfortunately gonna be done either internally or by some other team. People want the Mania devs to do the sequel since they have more than proven themselves. Anybody else has a lot to prove... especially Sonic Team. Imagine if Sonic Team released their own classic-style Sonic game and Sonic still handled the same as he did in Generations. I loved Generations at the time but that would not fly now.
I hope there’s nothing of that sort on the pipeline, and honestly, I wouldn’t be more worried about Sonic Team making it than some other unknown dev team. I say that because if they have good counsel on their side who understand the kind of game their making it would probably turn out as good if not better than a game primarily made by the Mania devs.
Iizuika is well known for speaking in corporate speak and plugging things when he talks. Sonic Mania was a well received and well reviewed game that got positive attention and sales. Of course he's going to mention that one. This talk about Mania 2 that's not happening is getting more desperate by the day. I was hoping Sonic Central would squash it but here we are.
It'll never be squashed in like 15 years (or whenever the last time someone genuinely asked for Sonic Adventure 3 was, probably 2016)
I've got a better idea. You make good Sonic games, and I'll pay you forever 40 to 60 bucks for them! How does that sound to you?
Who is your favorite Sonic the Hedgehog character other than Sonic? Uekawa: I am one of those people who really like Big the Cat. I appreciate his casual and relaxed attitude towards a slow life, which is in contrast to Sonic who is always so busy. "There's one is every family"
I'm sorry, but what honestly makes you believe this? I agree, but I'd also rather not have my chain continue to be yanked on whether a game like Mania is a true turning point for game production in this series, or yet another happy one-off accident in a unstoppable routine of mediocre misfires. ("Accident" in the sense of the game being greenlit, mind you; not in the sense of the game turning out good.) Although I think after four years of what has and hasn't happened since Mania's release, the evidence we do have does points towards a certain answer. I'm with Mana in the sense that I see Iizuka citing Mania as an response to that question as him trying to score PR Brownie PointsTM more than anything else, and I would advise not trying to gleam anything meaningful out of it. Happy to be proven wrong though.
S4E2 might not have been a good "classic" title or a worthy successor to S3K, but I still hold that it was a decent game taken on its own Using a speedrun video to make it look bad is kinda cheap.
Unlike E1 and Forces videos which are supposed to showcase the physics/glitches, the “speedrun” video is an example of showing how much of an absolute joke “classic” gameplay is in S4E2. I'm putting “speedrun” in quotes because what’s really happening in that video is somebody was able to start a hilariously overpowered/broken new mechanic introduced in that game eight seconds in, and use that mechanic alone (and a few timed jumps) to cruise throughout the remaining entirety of the stage. As for it being fun “in its own right”…well that’s all fine and good, but that’s not what it was marketed as, and the above conversation was specifically talking about classic-styled games, so…
Fella, that’s why I worded what I said the way I did. Sonic Team collabing with developers who understand the classics results in a decent product. Look no further than Sonic Pocket Adventure, Sonic Advance, or even Sonic Mania itself. Sonic 4 however is obviously a collab gone wrong in terms of capturing the charm of the classic gameplay (whether that’s due to the influence of Sonic Team or Dimps, I don’t know) but that’s what happens when you try to expand what was supposed to be a mobile game I guess.
Your examples where Sonic Team got the gameplay correct are two games they co-produced over twenty years ago; and a project they not only had minimal involvement in, but didn't even conceptualize. But for the sake of the matter, let's count those three games in their favor. There's just as many games which clearly demonstrate them and their collaborating partners getting the gameplay wrong. Those of which are more recent compared to the first two you listed, and one of which was the most deliberate and direct attempt at reproducing MD gameplay until Mania. That's not even getting into the numerous other games Sonic Team has made, where reproducing the MD gameplay wasn't a priority at all. So in light of that established history/track record, vs. the option of letting the Mania developers or another studio take a crack at a new MD Sonic game. I again ask what exactly is your belief that Sonic Team would end up doing the better job.
I had a feeling you might mention that haha. My rebuttal is that small involvement or not, Sonic Team was involved in some shape or form in said projects, and they had a solid partner to take their game in the right direction. But to answer your question, I have confidence in Sonic Team doing a good job because… well… I’m optimistic lol. In all seriousness though, they way Sonic is handled has gone through some changes that we have yet to truly see the effects of, and I have hope that it would help Sonic Team do something outstanding if they wanted to make, say, a classic styled game.
