The Sonic the Hedgehog Continuity Thread of Love and Timelines

Spoiler

A script would be a lot less work, but honestly I'm curious to see what your full take would be.

 

First of all, you have all my respect to whatever you and the rest of the team have done (I haven't watched the video leaks), but, while I find what BlackHole is doing is a bit rude precisely because of that, it's also very interesting that you've engaged in this conversation and I can see the train of thought of both sides. Now, if you excuse me...

Spoiler

How about Knuckles coming out from Hidden Palace and finding Robotnik outside? Extra seconds probably, I know, but it would keep the secret a bit and you could use that radar from Mania Adventures to indicate Eggman detects emerald power sign when Doc and Knux meet. Knux leaves the emerald and the cave, finds doc outside, doc is looking at the emerald radar, they talk to each other and shake hands.

 

Spoiler

That's the impression I always got from the cutscene at the start of Sonic's Mushroom Hill Zone Act 1, that Knuckles was using Super Rings to warp to Hidden Palace and check on the Master Emerald.

 

Eh, I don't hide how I feel. If I feel something is immensely disappointing, I'll say as such. No point in lying about it: I think the cutscenes are wonderfully animated, but I hate the unnecessary changes they bring when they could easily get the same details across without.

I've got most of the animatics drawn, I'll add colour so everything can be seen then edit it into a video tomorrow.

 

Not judging you, not too much at least, but him being the professional in charge of doing all that, I wouldn't approach him like I was talking to my roommate on a boring weekend (random example, don't know even if it really fits the bill).

 

I appreciate the thought but don’t stress about it. No one has to talk any certain way to me.

 

@Boxer Hockey if there had been no restrictions to the production of the cutscenes...
How would you have liked them to end up like?

 

Spoiler

I think all I would really want on my end is more runtime. Even with the exact same scripts, "Sonic saves a flicky" can either be 5 seconds or it can be 30 seconds. I had such a talented team at Powerhouse to work with, I just wish we could have made more of a meal of each sequence. But even with more time to play with I still wouldn't re-do any in-game cutscenes. What's in the games stands on its own, imo. And yes even if that means there aren't things like animated Mecha Sonic fights, those moments never needed big flashy cutscenes to me. Really all I would want to do is make each sequence more of an event, since there are a few that lean utilitarian because of how little runtime we had.

 

Spoiler

Here we go, I've done the animatic. Sorry for the bad drawings, but it's mostly to get what I'm thinking of how the story should have gone (again, don't fault the animation, it's the story I've issue with, the animation is fantastic and I especially love the shot of the Death Egg falling toward Angel Island).



Here's how I'd have handled it, albeit I'm sure a team with talent, unlike me, would be doing the animations better

 

There is no continuity, the monkeys who write the stories for the games probably use wikipedia articles to get info. The split between modern and classic is kinda cool, because of how different the games are and how they don't really connect as much as they should. I also loved what they did with Generations, and they could've done so much more with it. But hey, I'm just another ape trying to make sense of the Sega God's artifacts

 

I disagree, and also should point out Classic and Modern are still connected: Sonic Mania was supposed to be an alternate timeline, rather than alternate dimension, so the Classic Saga still happened on the Modern Timeline, until something happened and Sonic Mania split off for it's own timeline.

Just awaiting to hear Sonic Mania's been reforged back into a single timeline, honestly.

 

8:30
- Two worlds is gone and that’s great. BUT I would like to know (if possible), is there any insight or discussion you may know about on what changed SEGAs minds on this? I am wondering if this was to further distinguish the Movie Universe from the Main Universe or just something that was re-thought after being presented with all the reasons as to why it didn’t make sense (within the games themselves)


- It's something I can't talk about right now. This is a hashtag #KnowingSmile thing.

 

Clearly, he saw my ranting and whinging, and the evidence I supplied, and showed SEGA.

You're welcome

(I'm joking)

 

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There are some solid ideas here, and it certainly is closer to the JP manual. There are still some things that I think the in-game version does to make a better introduction to Knuckles' character, but I can respect your dedication to the original.

 

I have respect for the fact that you were able to articulate your vision into this.

 

Spoiler

Might I pick your brain on which aspects? I did try and keep the changes to a minimum from the actual animation (otherwise I would have had it start with Robotnik scouting the area for the Master Emerald, rather than removing himself from the wreckage), so I'm curious as to what I've missed.

Thank you very much.

I just couldn't resist

I tend to scatter little easter eggs like that in things. Like with the screen, notice how the yellow Chaos Emerald has a crack through it, and the bottom half is showing it orange, to reference that weird little change in Sonic Jam's Special Stage mode.

 

@BlackHole would you like to try other scenes as well?

 

What, the other scenes in the collection? Depends: am I trying to keep as close to those as possible (and Ian Flynn's scripts) like I did with that one, or am I free to do as I wish?

I should probably also look to sound mixing, since I was just grabbing stock sounds. Also the Executor crashing into the Death Star II for the Death Egg.

 

Spoiler

While I'm really surprised by @BlackHole 's animation, and despite it being somewhat closer to the manuals, I think the official animation works better in the sense of introducing the Master Emerald. Like I said, I don't give much fuck for S3's manual because it makes no sense considering the current lore. Showing the Master Emerald right away is a good way to introduce it to new players (or old players who don't remember quite well this part of the lore) while making clear it is not an ordinary Chaos Emerald.