How would you redesign Sonic the Hedgehog?

Looks pretty good to me. Different, but good. I'm honestly not much into giving the Sonic characters more anatomical structures, but it works fine here. It all depends I guess.

 

That makes me think of Fox McCloud with no clothes, odd proportions and lots of blue fur.

 

About the fur thing, that's another problem I have with this picture : the quills don't look pointy at all, maybe it's because he's old... but I don't see how he could destroy robots with quills as solid as normal hair... and I have the same problem with the last games' design, floaty banana quills that seem more funky than dangerous. That's a detail but a logically important one to me.

 

The fingerless gloves, probably.

 

I always thought it wasn't the spikes that destroyed stuff but the speed that he span.

 

I wouldn't really redesign him anything further than making him look more toon-ish with more simple cel-like shading. I never really like the devs decision to give Sonic a CG look. I figure since he's basically a toon, he should look like one.

 

Me too. The furry textures just don't look right with the giant quills, odd cartoon-like muzzle, monoeye and double-jointed legs.

 

This topic is old but I'll post in it anyway. :specialed:

I had a giant post written up before I looked back at the dates, and realized this thread is very old... But I just want to reply to a comment made by the OP a while back.

Nope, I know at least five people who will still draw it, and at least two that will even more so in that style. :v:

No, they'll still draw them. :specialed: In fact, you just made it easier for some people.

Anyway, I'm surprised (or rather, not surprised) at all the CD ripoffs that were done this year. They are all nice though. I think I like most of the art in the thread with the exception of obvious trolling (even the funny kind) and that gods-awful female Tails. It wouldn't have been so bad if its age weren't increased and she wasn't taller than Sonic with a creepy backstory and too much focus on the mechanics instead of the deformity and her ability with it, not bashing the artist or anything, I just think that would be a better original character or fan character instead of a redesign since it ripped away most of what I like about the character and his backstory... And the new backstory is a little creepy for Sonic, but I commend them on actually focusong on the species which is something SEGA has barely ever done for their characters and something I wish would be brought up in strengths and weaknesses or personality a little more.

Anyway, this thread got me thinking about how I'd redesign Sonic and I have a pretty good idea nobody's done yet, and I might as well draw something since I haven't really done very much in like a year or two. My idea is a way I'm surprised nobody else has tried yet considering the mentioning of several other anthro games throughout.

By the way, that old YuGiOh Sonic picture is epic, the back spines look a little weird, but otherwise, fuck yeah. If the entire tam was redesigned to look like that (with their respective personalities shining through, of course) I would totally love that style. It reminds me of Digimon for some reason.

Also that Tails redesign of his Heroes model was fantastic. I messed with it a little in Paint Shop Pro 5, so the quality is proably shot but Photoshop doesn't agree with my PC when Firefox is running (which it is 99% of the time I'm on it) so I hope my little editions aren't too bad.



I didn't do much to it, I just gave his eyes a blue tint and edited the smile a little (By three pixels) since someone said it was too open. It's a cute picture though, and I would like them to keep the eye color on characters. My only explanation for that is "Why DON'T characters have eye color?" It's just one of those things I think it makes sense to have. Plus, it's more expressive of the character's personality if done properly. I also think the soles of the shoes should be kept on since the original point was to find a happy medium between classic and modern and everything looks more classic now. Retrospect aside, what's the point in taking away the soles of the shoes and eye color anyway? Does Sonic really need to look toonish to be timeless or loved? I sure hope not, he had a little bit of it in his design so kids would recognize him but the fact he didn't go full-blown toonfag was always what I liked about him. I've always thought of that Disney crap to be more stupid and goofy than cool, most anime remaining on the spectrum of cool, but it's probably partly that attitude taken to the extreme that led to this poor state, and I can say that while I'd like Sonic to be more anime and cool, I thought he did that in the Adventure games and to a lesser extent the OvA just fine. He doesn't need to be taken to either extreme of the otakutards with their pretentious serious business dark emo coolness or the toonfags with their lighthearted whimsical bullshit that makes me lose my lunch to even be in the same room with, but should probably just stay where Adventure left them in terms of design, with a little inspiration from the classics for the world he lives in (I was never a fan of the fantasy modern earth thing in any series, it's just unimaginative and overdone to me) or some re-imagining of the things he sees (Kind of like where Colors is going, but I like what FN said about that: Why does Sonic need to go into fucking outer space to see a surrealistic world?) with a bit of a remotely serious character development and some backstory and purpose while keeping the coolness of the whole anime feel to it.

And really, I doubt anyone would object to some elaboration on Sonic's backstory if there were a writer in charge that knew what they were doing and respected the original intentions of the first three creators. I would love to know the real story behind how Sonic and Tails met instead of him just being there in Sonic 2, it actually showed how Knuckles met Sonic in Sonic 3, and I'd love another Adventure-like story that showed more of Knuckles' history of his people and a little hint or two of his past, without turning too serious, but making sense. And I would love to even know a little bit more about Shadow's experiences before the ARK tragety, and how Rouge came to love gems, and what made Robotnik evil, and something about the chao like their relation to the emeralds from the Adventure canon and how Big and Froggy met and how Amy came to worship Sonic and all the shit Tails had to deal with before he met Sonic, those little details could be used so well in a game with a decent writer behind it, but it just seems like SEGA is only interested in the usual bland, one-note shit they've been churning out. Story is more important in games than this fandom gives it credit for, it gives the world you're interacting with purpose and life, it makes sense of everything, it makes the experience more believable. Not everyone is happy getting high scores and speedrunning. I play games for a different experience and that experience is vastly improved with a sensible and well thought-out story. It doesn't need to be massively involving but just something like Zelda that does explain a bit of the characters and what you're doing.

Yes, this is actually shorter than what I had originally. :specialed:

 

It may be so, but it's not as horrid to look at.

Tails looks like retard with that mouth. It needs more tweaking, otherwise I expect drool to come out of it at any given time. Don't particularly care about blue tint but I agree that he looked better in orange (as I like the colour, obviously), though I don't mind him being yellow.

But they did wrote backstory :v::

http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_the_Hedge...it%29_JP_Manual

 

Too funny to pass up.

I think Sonic would be best redesigned with better levels and slightly higher levels of snark and old gamer humor we can enjoy.

 

I will respectfully disagree... But I'm not posting references.

I'll have to load up Photoshop and see what I can do, the angle is probably what the problem is. (I like Tails being orange because the yellow makes him look "brighter" and doesn't reflect his shy nature as well as the subdued reddish-orange does, not to mention orange is more vulpine, but I suppose this is just where we differ in opinion.)

I meant to see it elaborated on in the games, like they did for Knuckles in some ways. Just to have that depth of story. (Also that manual upsets me. I liked the story of a poor little kid being bullied by others for something he can't help and then being taken in by one kind soul and rising up with him to do great things. The Japanese story is so bland and nonsensical compared to that, plus, it leaves no explanation for why an 8 year old boy just wanders off with a stranger, but maybe I just don't understand Japanese culture at all.)

Edit: Actually looking at a lot of the Sonic pictures, they remind me of the Screen Saver animations, which look the best of classic designs IMO.

 

Indeed. Perhaps they didn't give too much of a shit about backstory at the time. It was just a game, and it still is.

 

Personally I don't want my Sonic games to have a back story that is irrelevant to game-play. What's next; we learn about the Dinosaur Revolutions on Yoshi Island?

 

Before I assume anything and take your post out of context, are you saying that Sonic doesn't need a story or "It's just a game" is an excuse/reason not to have a story? And if so, why?

 

He runs fast and gets rings and loop-de-loops his way into your heart.


Sonic has always had a story, and I think some semblance of a plot is always needed in a Sonic game. What I think MegaDash was trying to say was Sonic characters don't need a backstory, unless it's explicitly relevant to the story at hand. Putting it as a few paragraphs in the manual is a nice touch; filling up half of the game's cutscenes with it is just horrible.

I mean, we don't even have an official backstory of Sonic himself, other than "he's a hippie dude".

 

Well, *I* would like Sonic characters to have a backstory that could be mentioned in a game where something links it to the game's story. Sonic just needs a good writer. Not every game that has a story goes all MGS4 about it. More information about his world and the characters that reside in it would be really appreciated, since I've been wondering about it forever anyway.

And not every game has to be Mario with shit for story. Not to mention Sonic is nowhere near Mario-grade with game design and everyone here knows it. (Or else we wouldn't be bitching about it for the past upteen years.) I think the majority just blames bad gameplay on story when the real solution lies in "Sonic needs a good writer."

Edit: And a good writer would make the game's story relevant to the character's backstory. That's what a good writer does.

And I know I say this everywhere but I would love to see Level 5 make a Sonic game since their writers are phenomenal.

 

It's not so much the idea of having a story as it is delving into Sonic's past. Sonic is a lot like Mickey Mouse, it's more the personality and behavior of the character that interests us and not the background.

Mario's the same way, too.

 

Wait... what?

What the fuck does gameplay have to do with story?

 

These desires and requests for Sonic to have a backstory seem to stem from the desire for Sonic to be more interesting and fun. As a videogame character, he should be more interesting and fun in gameplay first and story and plot later. If you want to do it all at the same time, fine, but do it right and maintain priorities. Case in point: Kirby's Epic Yarn. Pure fun, pure outside-the-box thinking, all Kirby.

Let it be known that I'm not against good writing or compelling narratives with epic pasts. I'm well aware that one of Sonic's distinguishing characteristics is the context and fabric of his world. All I'm saying is he doesn't need them to be a great and appealing videogame character. People don't give a shit about Sonic's backstory, especially kids. They just see Sonic and think COOL or FUN GAMES, or in the case of the more bitter and unapologetic, GARBAGE.

Just for the hell of it, though, go read the backstories in the US and Japanese manuals for the old Sonic games, and you'll see more or less what I'd like to see SEGA focus on in terms of backstory and continuity in Sonic games.

 

It's just the impression I get, it seems like every time I say something related to "I want Sonic to have an involving story with fleshed-out characters and more substance to it" someone comes along and says "SONIC DOESN'T NEED A STORY" and references that retarded song or poem or whatever and usually uses '06 or whatever as an example of why Sonic doesn't need a story.

And Sonic isn't Mario. And doesn't need to be.

And Mario doesn't have 4 cartoons and 3 comics 4 comics and several manga based on him and having an elaborate world so people expect a lot less from his story than Sonic naturally anyway. If anything, I'd just like to see some of those representations made canon via games.

Edit: I was never really suggesting a gigantic Elder Scrolls sized story (Seriously, I've read almost all the books in Oblivion and I love the devs for thinking too much but that's a lot, on any scale, even RPG. (Except for MUDs...)) or that SEGA's current writers could ever pull it off. Everyone knows they're idiots. What I meant was something with substance that doesn't feel shallow... And what I'm seeing lately feels shallow (and Unleashed felt like an insult to my intelligence - and this is coming from someone who can still mildly manage to enjoy really old anime that looks like bad super hero manga to the most extreme.)