To be fair, in spite of my earlier protests, I do think they would be better served improving Sonic's gameplay than putting Chao back in the main games. I'd be perfectly fine with it as a side project of some kind.
I'm pretty sure this is the first time any Sonic media has ever shown Chao other than the three neutral breeds! This really makes me think something Adventure-related is happening soon because the various non-neutral breeds really only have ever appeared in Adventure and Sonic media usually ignores that they exist entirely...
OMG that was soooooo cute! ^.^ I had forgotten how much I loved Chao. It kinda makes me wanna boot up SA2 and check out my garden. I never did get around to evolving my one Chao into the Angel variant...
Nice and cute animation. I always though Adventure 2 did Chao best. Adding chao keys to the levels made it easy for me to go to the Chao garden between levels - and I actually enjoyed it. I never went to the Chao Gardens in Adventure 1 at all. Spoiler Just you. Star Wars didn't invent floating spirits.
That was the best cartoon yet! But I already love Chao, so I didn't need a cute short to remind me of how adorable they are. I fully believe we'll be getting an Adventure remake as the next project with how much attention its gotten since the release of TSR. I certainly wouldn't mind just getting a standalone Chao garden though, even if it were just on Android.
It should be said, I'm certain Sega's well aware of how beloved the Chao Gardens were, and that the reason they haven't been revisited since Naka left the company is out of some Japonesque notion of respect, seeing as the A-LIFE system was his #1 baby and he's thrown tantrums about sharing his IP several times before. The Nightopian Garden in NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams was probably just a special exception (How was that garden, anyway? Nobody talks about it).
Yeah, as awesome as Naka was, at Sega he was known for being extremely protective of his work and causing many headaches. Ever heard about how the Sonic 2 development was marred by conflicts between the Americans and Japanese? Craig Stitt says Naka was pretty much the sole cause of that discord because he hated working with Americans. Naka's also basically the reason Sonic X-treme was canceled because he wouldn't let the Americans use the Nights into Dreams engine. It sort of makes sense Sega's not touching Chao Garden nowadays...
If Naka is to blame for Sonic X-Treme being cancelled than I like him even more. That game looked awful imo.
I saw the animation earlier today and I loved it! I don't know if this is leading up to a new game or if it's just a one-off, but either way more of these animated bits is always good!
I think it's kind of interesting though that they changed the design of the neutral chao garden to match the series current aesthetic though, kinda like what they did with the pyramid levels in TSR. Seems weird they'd use a different design just for a one off (not just the Christmas stuff but there are more patterns and such on the walls that weren't there before)
Likely just to match the aesthetic. It shouldn't surprise me that Sonic fans are so desparate for any hint of a new game they'll take a 3 minute cute animation as a sign that a related game is coming, but somehow it still does.
According to Geoff, Sega pulled whatever Sonic thing was supposed to be at the Game Awards. And thus, the prospect of Chao's return goes back into hibernation.
While it's a shame, it's probably for the best that Sonic was not associated with that dumpster fire of an awards show. What the fuck even was that.
I thought this was going to be an update to that series with the sonic underground characters and sonic's mum in her knitted sweater and the chaotix gang and all the other characters. I probably should remember better details than that and the name of the guy who was doing them, but I think you all know what I mean. Even though I enjoyed this, I'm a little disappointed.
That'd be "Christmas With Sonic", and yeah Baleena Productions has been quiet about that this year... I'm assuming it's not happening, which is a shame.