"Multiple" new Sonic games planned for 2021

"What would a Sonic game by the Yakuza team look like" is a question I didn't know I needed answered until now.

 

I'm okay with this because the Yakuza team will actually understand that the appeal of Sonic is partly from its cast and flirting with hilarious absurdity juxtaposed with weirdly serious story-telling (AKA exactly what Yakuza is, only Yakuza actually, like, does it good).

 

Sonic unleashed is the closest you will get to yakuza produced sonic anyway.

Even a music track from yakuza 4 feels like a remix of empire city stage music

 

Let him make it. He couldn't make a worse game than what the actual team named after the character of Sonic have already made with Forces.

 

My problems with the Sonic series right now right now are multi-layered and complicated. A new development team, director or producer wouldn't necessarily solve all of them, but I'd love to see the outcome from someone who's interested in the series. Morio Kishimoto was lead game designer for Secret Rings, Black Knight and Colours, and also director for Colours, Lost World and Forces. He needs to go. Colours was the best of the bunch and as I very often say, Colours just ain't that good. The direction that the series has taken under his leadership is rubbish. Generations and Unleashed are far from perfect and ideal too, but they're much better than any of the games that Kishimoto has headed up. And whilst I've not played Yakuza (it's on my list I swear), the Classic Monkey Ball games are great and Yakuza's reputation is glowing. Sonic is stagnating is with a series of uninteresting, mediocre games. If Daisuke Sato actually wants to work on the Sonic series, I seriously hope that SEGA would hear him out. He specifically said that he'd create something different, and that's exactly what I want.

The thing is, I don't think at this point that Sato's comment going to lead anywhere or that he actively wants to work on Sonic. It was an off the cusp answer in an interview. That's very different to actually persuing it. He's been at SEGA for close to 25 years and hasn't been involved with any Sonic games to date. It would just be interesting to see. But again, I'm more fussed about seeing Kishimoto being ushered out than anyone specific to replace him.

 

Kishimoto also directed 06.

Why the fuck he wasn't fired the moment that game released is beyond me. But Japanese companies are infamous for never firing long-runners and just letting them stay forever, so really, that's part of the main issue. Once you've established yourself in the company you stay there unless you have some massive scandal, die, or leave willingly (which barely anyone does because Japanese companies are extremely reticent to hire anyone who willingly quit their previous job).

 

???

Shun Nakamura was the director of 06, not Kishimoto.
https://segaretro.org/Shun_Nakamura

He wasn't fired, but he hasn't directed a game since, at most just being the producer for Sonic Forces.

 

that and, Sonic 06 was extremely kneecapped by the repeated leavings and dividing of its team, basically having something extremely ambitious being made by a dwindling team - stuff coming from those above the director's control or say. if Sega had not done that, we might've gotten an ambitious if ill-advised game with decent gameplay as opposed to........what we got

 

I do agree with Blue Blood though, Kishimoto needs to go. I have nothing personal against the man, but his direction for the series has been lifeless and dull. I'll gladly welcome a new director who actually wants to do something new with the series, so as long as we can get rid of Kishimoto.

 

I think Colors is fun enough and Lost World has its moments but I agree that Kishimoto has lost his touch and shouldn't be director anymore. I think iizuka and SEGA might like Kishimoto as director because he's bankable. He makes boring games but he's undeniably good at making sure they actually get made, aren't buggy messes, and are shipped on time. With the state of Sonic they probably have such a low bar that they like his reliability and consistency. But that bare level acceptability lately is what's turned some people off...

There are other people within Sonic Team they could use.

I'd pick Hiroshi Miyamoto because he was the director of Generations and they've had him dicking about on the Olympic games for some reason. It would be good to have him and the level designers who went with him to the Olympic games to come back. But they might want him there for some reason? Maybe they just think he's really good at making Olympic games. But know that series' novelty is starting to wear off they might bring him back.

I'm not sure what to think of Jyunpei Ootsu. He's the lead level designer of Forces and worked on Colors and Lost World. They could promote him. The level design in Forces was dreadful and he was responsible for leading the junior and inexperienced designers, but then he might have just been following Kishimoto's instructions. I think Lost World at least had some moments of fun and he worked on that. Maybe if he had the chance to be director he'd do a better job. No way to know for certain but I'd honestly take the gamble with him (since he's still at Sonic Team) than with Kishimoto again.

I'm not sure about other people they could promote. The lead level designer of Generation, Yoshinobu Uba, I think has gone missing in action after Lost World so might not be at Sonic Team anymore. But if he's still around I'd give him a chance to work as a director. I think he did good work on Generations and, as I say, I actually think Lost World had some passion in it, and I'd like to see the next game actually have some drive beyond just getting the game done. So I'd trust him to work on the next game, at least more than Kishimoto.

 

As has already been pointed out, Kishimoto's first game at SEGA after the Sammy merger was Secret Rings. He's been one of the most prominent contributors to the Sonic series since then, but wasn't a part of it before. He was very much part of the supposed "B Team" who worked on the Wii games whilst the "A Team" supposedly worked on the bigger games ('06, Unleashed, Generations...).

Speaking of '06, one of the game designers there was Hiroshi Miyamoto. That was his second second Sonic game, the first being Riders (although as both released only months apart he was clearly working on both projects at once) and he later went on to direct Generations. Since then he worked on a couple of the 3DS M&S Olympics games and hasn't had a hand in the Sonic series ever since. He's flown under the radar for sure. I'm not sure what he's doing now or if he's even still at at SEGA, but I've more confidence in him than Kishimoto.

 

Y'know... I know I'm playing my Oldbie card here, but I feel like we've been here before. This period sort of feels like an echo of 1994-1998. Assuming the next mainline game is coming in 2021, they're both a four-year gap between major releases.

In the interim, we've had an offshoot of Sonic gameplay made by a third party (3D Blast/Speed Battle), a mediocre racing game with incredible music (Sonic R/TSR), and some compilations of older titles (Jam/Genesis Collection).

The fandom has sustained itself by digging into what ongoing media we have (SatAM/Archie then, IDW/movie now), arguing about what the most genuine direction for the series is (Western vs. SegaSonic then, Classic vs. Millennium vs. Modern now), and creating some really incredible fan works.

And now, just like then, expectations for Sonic's big return are through the roof, though I will say people are way, WAY more cynical after 20 years of ups and downs a̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶a̶r̶o̶u̶n̶d̶s̶! However it turns out though, at least those of us outside of Japan aren't likely to have to wait yet ANOTHER year to get our hands on it this time!

 

I think the worst gap we've had was the one from Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric to Mania's announcement in 2014-2016. It wasn't very long, but with the financial situation SEGA was in, and Runners being the only Sonic Team game between 2013 to the 2016 announcement, it was all very worrying. Especially when we consider that many worried Boom would be the direction of the series going forward.

1994-1998 was a long time but no one seriously thought that Sonic would be gone for good after how successful he'd been. But in 2014-2016, there was serious concern about what was going to happen.

 

We're not alone in wondering where our favourite hedgehog has disappeared to.

It's Been Three Years - Where's Sonic?

 

Its funny to see other people realize that adult fans are never going to be satisfied with this series. Its like they know how insufferable we are.

 

Ah, yes, TheGamer. Gotta love 'em.

Absolutely fantastic.

 

Don't like it when people praise 06?

 

Dood, I've praised 06. But there's a big difference between saying, "This game that's often considered the downfall of the entire series actually has some redeeming qualities and flashes of potential, and I like Sonic enough that I seem to enjoy it more than most players seem to," versus saying, "This game that was so poorly-received that it turned Sonic into a laughingstock didn't deserve the critical thrashing it got, and everyone else was wrong." What I see among a lot of fans, both lately and historically, is an unwillingness to view the series through the lens of anything but their own preferences.

I enjoyed Sonic 06! My expectations were so unfathomably lowered by how scorned and disappointed other fans were, that even IT managed to exceed them in some areas. I played it a lot, and I still do sometimes.

But it was still a fundamentally unfinished game that stubbornly doubled-down on everything critics and fans were complaining about at the time, and executed those elements far worse than anything that came before. Claiming a game like that didn't deserve to be critically thrashed comes across like willful ignorance to me. If you hate the Adventure-style games and don't want them to ever return, that's 06's silver lining. And if you DO wish those elements had never gone away, you have 06 to blame. It's not the fandom's fault or the fault of critics for "not appreciating" the game right, it's Sega's fault for letting their most important IP put out a game that would garner that kind of reception. And for better or worse, Sega has endeavored to never make anything like it again.

 

Ahh ok, yea, that is a much more understandable opinion and I wholeheartedly agree. Fans are often very reluctant to call out the flaws of the things they like, generally due to nostalgia or feeling like said games get "underserved hate" and feel like they have to fight back against the negative reception. I get it, because if you are someone who likes elements from 06, it's frustrating that people refuse to see it as anything other than bad, which will force them to double down on "praising it". It's a toxic mindset, and yea, Sega are ultimately the ones to blame but it's easier for fans to point fingers at the critics for "not understanding".

 

The same if Sega tries something else cos Forces killed the boost formula. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm gonna be coffin dancing on that games grave in absolute euphoric joy if the next game tries something better different.