Sonic Dream Team (New 3D Game from Hardlight, coming to Apple Arcade December 5)

Nothing annoys me more on this forum than the predictable and tedious snide comments which inevitably happen when conversation becomes actually serious.

 

I don't trust SEGA is where it's coming from. I have a fear that if Classic Sonic games don't sell well enough, that they scrap him for modern. I'm hopeful Superstars did good enough for them to continue with a new title that takes in our feedback.

 

For Sega to scrap Classic for Modern implies that hasn't been the case for decades. The latter is the default. The former is a special occasion.

The truth is that if Superstars doesn't do well (and it looks like it will), it'll just be a longer time for a new classic game, or it'll be more drastically different than Superstars or Mania.

 

Modern Sonic has been the default image of Sonic for over 20 years now. It's the design they use for almost all of marketing unless it's specifically being catered to Classic fans.

There's nothing to be replaced essentially. Modern is the primary design, Classic is the secondary one. It's been that way since 1998, it was the whole point of the redesign to begin with.

 

I dunno about that one, a lot of the Sonic merchandise that I see when j go to Wal-Mart is classic-themed. Last time I went there, I was greeted by the sight of this.


Not to say that Modern merchandise can't be easily found. This can be found in Wal-Marts across America as well as the hoverboards.

Spoiler

If you guys are wondering, yes, I do own this plush.

 

Well I did it. Today when I was Black Friday shopping for a new TV, I saw they had Apple TV HDs on sale and I bought one, having never personally owned an apple product before now. (Though my Uncle once gave us an iMac that we used for like a month back in 2008 before it died)

Lets see how good this game is come Dec 5th.

 

One store out of the myriad of Modern themed ones across the board does not invalidate my point.

 

No, but the point underneath it stands: I see every bit as much classic merch as I do modern, if not more. I think at least for merchandising, they're roughly equal branches of the brand.

Classic Sonic merch predates his revival in Generations by a couple of years, and I've heard it speculated that one reason he was brought back was because merch featuring him sold so well.

EDIT:

It is funny how fans of either one seem to be in constant fear of losing "their" Sonic (and I was there myself between Frontiers' release and the reveal of Superstars), but I don't think either branch of the brand is in any danger of being abandoned, and for exactly that reason. Both are iconic, both are successful, both are unique from each other, and both have more than enough of a base who prefer one over the other.

Iizuka talked about Superstars laying a new foundation for Classic, same as Frontiers did for Modern. So no matter which Sonic you like, I think you're eating good.

 

I think its stupid tbh. Brands are constantly changing and evolving and never stay the same, no matter how much fans bitch and moan about it.

And even then, they always eventually circle back anyway.

 

As someone who actually buys all this garbage, there's far more merch for Sonic than Classic. Classic mainly dominates apparel as its demographic reach ranges from kids to adults. The adult line targets the "omg so retro" audience so they can get away with selling adult sizes of the Classic cast. Sonic's apparel is mainly targeted to kids and teens. When it comes to everything else, Sonic absolutely dominates. There are Classic toys and gadgets, but they pale in comparison to the amount of options available to Sonic. Electronic peripherals, gadgets, food, school supplies, party supplies, cups, yadda yadda.

Classic does make money in the merch market, but as 5993 mentioned, Sonic's image has been set in stone for 20 years now. That is Sonic's image and that's the one splattered everywhere. Classic fills the other niche that Sonic can't reach.

 

Classic Sonic apparel is the best but the merch is cheeks. The quality is still from the early 90s. The hands always come off and the color chips off easily. Don’t ever buy your kids Classic Sonic Merch. It’s not worth it lol

 

They use classic for merch when they need something to be cute, and usually use modern sonic for everything else. Obviously there's lots of exceptions but from my experience with merch, that's generally the pattern I've seen.

 

I feel like this image alone tells you everything you need to know. Classic Sonic merch is branded differently as "Classic Sonic" which is what it says on that box. Modern Sonic is allowed to just be "Sonic" (the default branch).

not saying that one is more popular than the other, but this is pretty clearly how SEGA want things to be to avoid brand confusion probably. I think if any other franchise was in this situation of having two different versions of the same character, they'd probably do the same.

 

It's not about conversation becoming 'serious' or not, it's about the predictable and tedious way in which people authoritatively discuss things of which they can have very little or no knowledge. It doesn't help anything and ends up in people circularly discussing their opinions on how things might or could be.

 

For the past few days I thought I was going mad because the pages kept talking about the same few points over and over in the same fashion...

 

I’m excited to give it a try. I like when we get some mid tier games between platformers and the big 3D sonic games. We haven’t really had any since the 3DS so I’m pumped.
I don’t care much about the exclusivity thing, that’s how you get people to buy your stuff. If you have nothing to offer, why even enter the market yknow?
Gameplay seems entertaining from what I’ve seen. I am however expecting it to be on par with that Roblox game just to keep my expectations lower, can’t get too excited for sonic or I’ll get burned.

 

Oh wow! Seeing this footage is giving me Sonic Heroes vibes (in a good way!).

Sonic Dream Team is Sonic Heroes 2 confirmed

 

I saw a huge stack of these and a few other figures at a major city center's Marshalls just a few days ago, so don't count modern sonic merch out just yet. And I've seen kids sections in old navy and other retailers carrying both modern and classic designs. Generally, classic merch tends to be on material more aimed at adults, but I've seen plenty of both in just the past week.

I'm sure there's plenty of both "brands" to be found everywhere at this point, and I prefer it that way. I like being able to choose gifts from both eras for people if I need too. Different people have different tastes. Shadow, for example, will never be a "classic" character, but will be popular for many years to come (especially with the 3rd film in development).

All the same, there's tons of classic merch to be sold both by fan vendors and official merch stores these days. It's the best of both worlds, and consumers are figuring out their differences just fine.

 

A new interview has arrived! It has lots of juicy things, including the confirmation of post-launch content.

 

He said the pinball thing. It's so over.

Man this thing is just around the corner and we haven't really gotten a real significant look at it. My Apple TV is ready though.