If Sega only cared about pandering to YOU, what kind of Sonic game would they make?

Yea, but different isn't necessarily bad. Sonic's games have been in need of a stylistic overhaul for a while.

 

"Hit different" is Gen Z slang for "it'd be great"

 

I'm an out of touch older millennial idk young people slang lol. Idk I thought hit different could be good or bad

 

I'm elder gen Z and I don't even have a fucking idea what most high schoolers are saying

 

I'm definitely intrigued by the prospect of a Mania 2 featuring exclusively hand-drawn assets, but the concept alone doesn't sell me on it. For me at least, the appeal is heavily dependent on and limited by the art style employed and the reference material used. Ultimately as far as Sonic sprites go there is no shortage of excellent choices from the 16-bit or 32-bit eras, leaving only the artist's interpretation to make or break it. Assuming the passion was there, then it would be well worth putting the effort in to pull it off. Worst case scenario they receive unflattering feedback and swap in the assets that served as the foundation/inspiration.

Given that it'd be a sequel to Mania, I figure the assets would be based on 3K and Chaotix. That'd be my ideal choice again, but this isn't my dream so perhaps Grantpa had a different foundation in mind. I'm curious to know what foundations proponents of this concept would prefer, as well as if anyone had some art style in mind.

 

Read it slightly more literally. Something that hits different hits (affects) you different (in a way new or unusual to you; different from what you know or are used to). It's a versatile expression that can mean a lot of different things contextually and needs to be read contextually, like is the case for a lot of Black slang. But also like a lot of Black slang, people start using it wildly differently and defining it wildly differently after it gets rolled up into general "internet talk".

EDIT: I guess I'll actually add to the thread topic, too. If I got a Sonic game pandering to me, it'd be a 2D search action/metroidvania game that starts Sonic off with his Sonic 2 moveset and slowly gives him more abilities that let him use the terrain to explore greater areas. It'd handle interacting with slopes the way the Mega Drive games do, which would lead to some natural and tight sequence breaks, but the design goal of the game would be to give Sonic more and more tools to do crazy jumps and air stunts to have a wider berth of places he can reach.

 

Sonic Advenure 1.0 + 2.0.

 

It Does (Not) Matter?

 

The introduction of the Freedom Fighters done in Sonic Adventure/Open world-ish gameplay. Can have boost gameplay too. I don’t have any issue with it.

Story/Plot: Robotnik discovers Mobotropolis and tricks everyone into believing he’s there to help restore the Kingdom that’s fallen on hard times. Sonic and Tails receive a distress signal from an unidentified location. They travel in the Tornado and track it to somewhere in a forest. They meet Sally Acorn and the others who explain what’s happened.

Gameplay: Sonic, Sally and Bunnie would be the 3 playable characters (maybe include Tails, Rotor and Antoine but not sure how that’d work).

Sonic - speed/linear. Sally - sneaking/similar to Sly Cooper. Infiltration of bases. Bunnie - Similar to Werehog battling large groups of enemies (her robot limbs stretch too).

Collect robot parts for resources. NOT “Emerald Hunting”. Automatically collected along the way. Parts are given to Rotor who is building a machine used in a later stage/fight. I said open world-ish because Knothole would have to be your main hub but you’d open more land as you progress.

Art Style: 3D/Modern/Realistic. Freedom Fighters have their SatAm designs. Tweaking them a bit to fit the Modern format is fine. Probably needed.

 

@Crappy Blue I love the idea of a Sonic metroidvania. There's a fangame made by LakeFeppard that explored that concept it was interesting

 

Something similar to this for me. A Metroid-like is what I'd like to see done. Though, I'd start well before Sonic 2's moveset. Because I'm a crazy person who is fascinated with how the moveset and movement in 2D platformers evolved and grew to become that of Sonic's, I'd really like to see that evolution play out within the confines of a single overarching gameplay experience.

You would play as a Gizoid, learning how to be like Sonic. Or something. I'd start the player more-or-less with the moveset and movement of 1981's Donkey Kong. You can walk, you can jump, and you can duck/crouch. Real basic.

Early game upgrades would make the player as athletic as they are in Super Mario Bros.: one would give you the ability to dispatch enemies by landing on them; another would give you the ability to vertically bounce off of enemies you land on, if the jump button is held down. One would give you the ability to build up speed into a sprint (crouching from a sprint would allow the player to slide under tight spaces), another would give you the ability to leap high or far depending on what sort of running start you have and how long you hold down the jump button.

Subsequent upgrades would see you effectively acquire the not!Morph Ball (replacing the slide with a roll) and not!Screw Attack (giving you the Spin Jump), bringing you to Sonic 1's moveset. From there you'd get the Spin Dash, and by the end of the game you would have Flight, Gliding, Drop Dash, etc. Maybe elemental shield abilities? Or maybe a version of the Insta Shield that behaves differently in different biomes. I haven't thought that far ahead; it's the DK-to-Sonic-1-pipeline section in particular that lives rent-free in my head.

 

Many years ago I thought about that concept of a Metroivania Sonic game, but without Sonic. A Knuckles game in which you gain abilities like gliding, climbing, breaking the ground, as you progress into the game.
I don't think Sonic would fit in this kind of game, because it is usually slow-paced, but if you make clear that it is not a Sonic game, it could work.

 

Honestly would be hard-pressed to call any of these hypothetical games pandering to one person, tbh. Both of these are broad concepts that a lot of people would be happy with. (Not that I'm arguing against these happening, just thought it would be amusing to point out.)

Here's my two cents for a Sonic game that I suppose would directly pander to my tastes and my tastes alone:

A Boost Sonic game that downplays the platforming elements (the 2D sections, and the slow areas where you have jump around platforms/bottomless pits), in favor of putting emphasis on the bombastic, the style, and the spectacle. It also adds (more) playable characters, multiplayer (local/online), and adds in a handful of mechanics from the series' racing games, namely Sonic R and the first Riders game.
From the former, hidden tokens/emeralds/whathaveyou in the stages (that unlock characters, game modes, et. al.), and having ring gates that lock away shortcuts. From the latter, a greater emphasis on ramps (where you perform tricks and can reach different paths), the "transport setpieces" where you can replenish your boost gauge while being carried from one part of the course to another, and the speed/flight/power based shortcuts for different characters.
It also has an "Advanced Boost", where instead of collecting rings/Wisps/"insert boost gauge equivalent here" as you normally would to build up the Boost gauge, you enter and maintain the Boost state by consistently moving fast--essentially bringing back the Boost state from Advance 2 as an alternate hard mode for more experienced Boost players.
In game structure, it would have the following game modes. A "Story Mode" which plays out how you would expect; where there is a general campaign of levels with a story/cutscenes interspersed between (maybe have it split between characters, which have a few unique courses like the Sonic games of the 2000s era). A "Grand Prix" mode where you would have multiple "cups" styled around groups of courses like in racing games, with varying levels of difficulty. A "Mission Mode" where you have specific challenges to complete for each course. And of course, "Versus" modes where you could race between two-four players.
The game would also have a "Mario Kart" content structure where it would be split halfway between Boost levels from the Story Mode (a campaign of mostly if not entirely all-new/original levels), and a mix of old Boost stages from past games in it ("remastered" for the streamlined format) and older Sonic levels newly recreated for Boost gameplay.
And to top it all off, a "Rush" extra game mode where it's nothing but 2D Sonic Boost stages with a parallel (or separate) storyline, styled more around the Rush titles and the 2D sections from Unleashed in its design.

I have a few other requests, but I've spent a lot of time writing the above concept down as it is, and I think the other request toe the line between something that appeals only to me and something that could get general support. Will probably add them later.

 

@raphael_fc Lake liked giving Sonic kirby esq abilities and this fan game was no exception. So it worked a bit better than you'd expect.

Clearly they loved Sonic and Kirby because that combo essentially became Spark the Electric Jester (then the 2nd one throw in some Metal Gear Rising Revengence)

 

Sonic Chronicles 2, as originally intended :P
Other more fleshed out ideas I've had are a game that consists entirely of the Werehog sections in Unleashed except instead of Werehog it's Chaos on Angel Island, and a game that plays like a technically sound version of the Adventure games, has some of the moves from Lost World 3ds, but has all the physics explosions and stuff from 06 and basically is 06 in every other way as well, while looking like a higher definition of what's seen in Team Sonic Racing.

 

Aight, time to shake things up.

While watching everyone list off their dream games essentially, I'm sitting here having a horrible realization. When Sega panders to a specific target audience for Sonic as of late, it tends to go awry. So now I propose a question to you all. Imagining current Sonic Team (post forces) is tasked with making your dream game, how would it turn out if they pandered to you in all the wrong ways (lost world and forces come to mind here again)?

 

They never messed up once to begin with so I can't answer your question. I have liked all of their games especially Sonic 1 for the GBA. I want classic osnic to be replaced by the Werehog for good. Sonic Team is better than any game dev ever. Even AM2.

 

THIS... but for MY fantasy I’d also incorporate Princess Sally and Ant into the plot. I feel like a medieval game is a good opportunity to introduce a princess and a cowardly knight.

Ngl if evening star ever made a low poly 3d sonic I think it would be kinda funny/interesting if the special stages were in 2d. Would be a way of providing Mania-esque levels while reversing the status quo of 2D games having 3d special stages.

I would love this. Heck I just want another 2D game by the mania team whether it’s classic or modern. Stealth’s work on Sonic Megamix shows that cool things can be done in 2D w/ the modern movesets.

This sounds interesting. Can you elaborate on how the gameplay would work?

I would LOVE for the Cuphead devs to make a Popeye beat em up taking HEAVY inspiration from EC Segar’s original comic strip in terms of characters and locations but taking visual inspiration from the cartoons. I know this ain’t sonic but a dreams a dream