Honestly, I wanted it at least to be the remastered version of Sonic 3 & Knuckles (I can dream, right?).
I'm guessing it'll start with discussing the big event that happened this year (Mania and Forces). I'm on the fence about whether or not they'll bring up sales numbers; I'll lean towards no. I think a good chunk of the panel will be dedicated to Aaron interviewing Iizuka (with someone playing Forces on the screen behind them because they have to keep pushing it or maybe more concept art), a segment dedicated to the comic with probably some new art revealed for issue #1 with Tyson Hesse discussing it. End with roughly 15 to 20 minutes of Q&A. They'll also probably push Sega Forever, that Sonic CD is now free on mobile, and Sonic Runners Adventure because we aren't likely to see anything else game related this year, especially not an announcement. People need to not expect anything pertaining to a new game this year. With Forces getting such mixed reception, I don't envy Aaron having to field some of the questions that will probably come up during the Q&A.
I'll honestly be astonished if we get a game announcement - it seems to be way too soon for that. I'd like to think that Sonic Team will take their time with the next game and actually learn from the catalogue of errors that was Sonic Forces (I'll not hold my breath, though). As for the nature of the questions that will crop up at the Q&A - I was at the IDW Sonic panel at NYCC and some of the audience questions literally made me recoil into my seat ("Who do you ship Sonic with?", "Is Sally coming back?" [which was asked several times], "What about Ken Penders?"...)
At least IMO? Pretty good. I think it's actually held my attention longer than the proper game has. Just wish they used some different music tracks throughout the game. Each level uses the same track from Modern Sonic's Green Hill. Also always found it odd that one of the level themes in the mobile game is based off of Sky Sanctuary, yet that's no where to be seen in the proper game. Cut content perhaps?
Cut content? I doubt it. Sky Sanctuary in the mobile game uses assets lifted directly from Generations, with no signs of any changes for Forces. Chemical Plant and Green Hill however received fairly significant revisions for Forces.
Were they directly from Generations? Huh I thought they received some edits, maybe it was the lighting differences that made me think they changed. Still odd they used Sky Sanctuary though and not one of Forces actual levels (Metropolis might have been nice).
While I don't know if Mania 2 would directly get announced here, I do think this panel would give us an idea of whether we'll actually get a 'proper' sequel at some point, and that's just as important as the announcement itself. As for next gen 3D Sonic, that I WOULD say it's too soon for. Mania 2 could be produced much, much quicker, as the original 2D classics were (though we all know what rushing Sonic 2 led too...). A November/December 2018 would be almost the exact same gap as the original Sonic 1-2 release gap. I still haven't bought Forces, but I'm willing to give 3D Sonic a chance when they finally get it right again. May still pick it up as a disposable budget title later this year. I'd be fine with Boom S3. But we shall see.
I would be surprised if they announced any sort of actual new main series game here. Seems like they'd reserve that type of announcement for either TGS, E3, or some other event to ensure maximum coverage both from fans and industry. I think the Mania Plus thing will either be a limited edition physical release with bonus content, or some other attached project. I just don't have the optimism or hope to believe they'd announce a sequel to Mania this soon. As for the comic, I honestly couldn't care less. I just hope that the comic series doesn't end up becoming a basis for the game series, since apparently it's going to continue where Forces left off. Or, that's what I've heard.
Thanks man. Really appreciate you saying that. I did work pretty hard on that post in terms of generating a summation of our collective expectations here. As for chiming in further - I agree with most of you that a mainline 3D Sonic from Sonic Team is very unlikely - possible - but unlikely. Sonic Team would have had to have had the dual-project thing going on in secret, which whilst within the realm of possibility just seems a bit too out there. I'd say Mania news which is very probably going to be Project Plus unveiled as DLC/an enhanced re-release with potentially new levels should definitely be on our radar because given how insanely well Mania sold, smashing Sega's expectations to sell literally millions of copies, it's extremely probable Sega would have pushed hard for more Mania, hence why this Project Plus "leak" even happened on the first place. And this I agree with a hundred percent. I think we'll definitely get an indication on the future of Sonic at this event. Even Sega's PR about the event itself pretty much outright confirms this. Whilst major game announcements may or may not be there, we definitely are going to get a gauge on Sega's future plans for Sonic and they're bound to say something that'll determine where Sonic goes from here like "Sonic Mania beat our expectations so we intend continue the series" or something to that effect. We might not get an outright Sonic Mania 2 announcement, but I think we will get an indication on whether a sequel is going to happen in the future. So consider me hyped.
This. Also, I'd expect some news/promotion of the upcoming IDW comics (hence Tyson's inclusion in the panel) and discussion on how successful Mania has been and how well shit Forces has done. If the Mania Plus edition is anything, I guess it could be mentioned, but not getting my hopes up. I don't for a second think we'll get Mania dlc. Actually, I don't want dlc. I'd much prefer a new 2d game. I'm not expecting any new game announcements. Perhaps we're getting more PC ports? It's about time they announced a PC port for Sonic Colors People expecting Mania 2 to be announced really need to keep their expectations in check.
After The Pokemon Company announced Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon there was a lot of whining, "Why aren't they making a new Pokemon for Switch?". Shortly afterwards, at E3 I believe, they had a special message that was essentially "Calm your tits, of course we're working on a Switch Pokemon". Similarly, Nintendo made sure to reveal Metroid Prime 4 on the same day they announced Metroid: Samus Returns, even though MP4 is still a long way away. Basically, as a way to preemptively shut down a backlash, not letting anything sour the marketing for Samus Returns. (They'd previously gotten a lot of backlash from "Metroid Prime: Federation Force", because it wasn't Metroid Prime 4. Which must have been frustrating for Nintendo, since Samus Returns and MP4 were both almost certainly in development at the time of MP:FF's announcement.) Sega have used this tactic before with Sonic. "Project Sonic 2017" was announced the same day as Sonic Mania, even though they only had a brief CGI teaser to show for it. Basically a message of "Don't worry, we're working on a 3D game as well, enjoy this 2D Sonic for what it is". Here we are in 2018 and the tables have turned, Sonic Mania was a critical and commercial success, Sonic Forces was a critical dud and didn't exactly light up the charts. The obvious thing to do would be to make a sequel to Sonic Mania, but the consumer base is nervous because Sega and Sonic Team have a long track record of making bad decisions and not doing the obvious thing. So now they're in a position where no matter what they announce, the loudest response will be "Where's Sonic Mania 2?". With that in mind, even if they have nothing to announce directly about Project Plus or a Sonic Mania sequel, it wouldn't surprise me if they said something like "We're working on a new project with Christian Whitehead and the team, stay tuned for more info later in the year". Then again, this is Sega and Sonic, so who knows.
That's pretty much my point on the matter. I don't want to suggest that a sequel is in active development for a 2018 release, but to at least acknowledge the idea of making one in the not to distant future (2019, lets say) would be reasonably possible at an event like this. I think we just want some sort of sign that they listened to those sales numbers and acknowledged our desires to make more of what worked. There's plenty of ways to do that too. 1. Port the mobile remakes to consoles/PC 2. Verbally confirm Mania to be a smashing success and say that a followup title is likely, even if one isn't being made now. 3. The whole project plus possibility 4. Sonic 3 remaster? If only... We'll see. I don't expect a new 3D game by the year's end either, so we're only getting teasers at best here.
Colors -Announced May 2010 -Released November 2010 Generations -Announced April 2011 -Released November 2011 Lost World -Announced May 2013 -Released October 2013 Boom -Announced February 2014 -Released November 2014 Forces -Announced July 2016 -Released November 2017 Forces was the first game to break the cycle of announcing around Spring and releasing in the Fall of the same year, though really they could've saved the announcement for Spring considering the drought of news until around E3 2017. There very well could be another main series Sonic title announced at SXSW and released in November.
The reason of course that they announced Forces that early was to fend off the inevitable screeching from the SA-era diehards when Mania was revealed, though. No other reason.
I remember that they did a single Forces back in Halloween 2015 and then several stronger teasers starting in January 2016. It seems like it was supposed to be released earlier and then got pushed back, but because of all the teasing they had done, they showed something at the July 2016 event.
My forecast. 100% chance of IDW discussion. 70% chance of Sonic Boom season 3 discussion. 35% chance of movie discussion. 20% chance of Project Plus tease and that's it. 20% chance of new Forces DLC announcement.
