That's what you think? Because I think that the whole thing with Green Hill and Chemical Plant was always about establishing concrete, set locations. It's great for marketing to have a location that audiences can instantly identify with the good guys and an another one for the bad guys, which is something that this series has lacked ever since Knothole Village and Robotropolis disappeared from the public consciousness (assuming they ever were there in the first place).
I don't think this is an unpopular opinion. Everyone is just sick of what feels like lazy nostalgia baiting and a stark lack of imagination when the series had previously been endlessly creative with its environments. Green Hill, Chemical Plant and Sky Sanctuary are at the centre of this problem, but really it's just that since Generations it feels like we've revisited old zones almost as often as we've been to new ones, if not even more so. After Forces and Frontiers shamelessly recycled assets from Generations and Shadow Generations took us on another trip down memory lane with memory lane, I'm just exhausted. Not too mention all of the absolutely shameless story references we get now too. Although it would be preferable to see old locations revisited for an actual reason relevant to the story and lore rather than just nostalgia baiting, I don't want that right now. Can we simply get new content instead?
Generations came out 13 years ago. We've been living off its assets since then. We're fucking starving here. I'll even accept some bamboos from Chun-nan at this point.
They can't do that in Generations and they can't do it in Frontiers either. Sonic Forces...for instance, for what it was trying to do should've been a culmination of sorts. Had locations from every past adventure and the world map sells that by showing where these locations are in relation to each other. If a new game decides to have Angel Island as a setting or just a place that pops up for relevant reasons...we see a new theme with old iconography in the background or a fresh take on an old theme?
I don't mind them establishing set locations, but I would prefer if they used all of South Island instead of just Green Hill. The same goes for Chemical Plant—there are so many other locations, yet they always default to that one. There were was this Hollywood Reporter article about Lucasfilm where someone says this: But I think this issue isn’t unique to Star Wars—it’s a problem across media in general, including Sonic. I believe it would be beneficial for the creators behind Sonic to impose a restriction on themselves: avoid excessive callbacks (e.g., Sonic doing the Adventure pose for the millionth time, recreating scenes from the Shadow opening, or characters repeating lines from older games etc etc) in every piece of media. Let the new content stand on its own for a while. Create new nostalgia—otherwise, it risks cannibalizing itself, much like what’s happening with Star Wars. Now this doesn't mean there can't be a continuity, or every once in a while reuse old locations. But I would prefer if they would just stick to new stuff for a while.
On its own Stardust Speedway JP is best. As a metal Sonic theme, stardust jp < stardust US (especially forces rendition)< Sonic 4
Honestly that's why I was almost completely fine with Mania's reused levels; there is an actual sense of where these levels are in relation to each other (minus Phantom Ruby warping). A lot of the modern games give very lackluster or no explanation at all about why we're in this level. In Forces, seemingly whole continents were Green Hill and Chemical Plant. It's really annoying in games like Sonic Rumble where they have so many choices of level themes throughout the franchise, but instead they once again pick Green Hill, Chemical Plant, and Sky Sanctuary for the nth time.
You're talking about US Bad Future, right? Because it was technically never meant to be a Metal Sonic theme. Because in the North American release of the original Sega CD game, the Metal Sonic race doesn't have music assigned to it; It just keeps playing the theme of whichever future you're in. That goes to explain why both future tracks have a tense vibe fit for a race, because either track could play during it. Whitehead didn't get this right for his 2011 remaster, though, and the Bad Future track plays in it regardless of which soundtrack you use. It's a yet another thing that Origins could've fixed, but instead Sega decided that removing all voice lines and screwing up the main menu was more important.
Is it a hot take to say this is the only weak / flawed part of Carnival Night? Because besides that, everything else is good to me. I've always liked it, but the more I play it, the more I like, not my favorite stage, but still.
Honestly there was no good option there. Now that we can play either soundtrack and change between them freely, it would be super weird for the American OST to play either the good or the bad future, but then upon switching to the JP soundtrack you only get the bad future OR you risk having a tune that doesn't fit (even though it may as well be my favorite piece of Sonic music ever). It's a strange inconsistency either way, and I guess they kinda took the opportunity to officialize both bad future themes as Metal Sonic's?
It's just that I really prefer the US Good Future theme for the race, and it's a damn shame that there's no way to hear it play during it in the most accessible and polished version of the game. There's not even any mods that fix it as far as I know.
Maybe Sonic shouldn’t be cocky. Confident, yes. But bragging or making constant light of things and not taking threats seriously, maybe not. It was an idea I had heard before, and was mostly neutral towards. His doing stuff like that was exactly the reason that Sonic as portrayed in IDW, especially the initial issues, annoys me so much, but that was just because of how much he did it and the fact that his quips sucked. But now, I think I am maybe starting to agree that maybe Sonic shouldn’t be cocky…. …at all. Was watching this one livestream on YouTube. Dude was asked what he’d want out of a Classic Sonic themed animated series. And he said something like the anime “Kino’s Journey.” Well, I finally looked into what that show actually is recently. It sounded appealing. So I decided to start watching it, starting with the 2003 anime. I am a good way through that. And as far as my thoughts on that… …you know what, I think I am going to take it even further than that YouTuber did. He was just saying he thought it would be cool for, like Kino, Sonic to just be some guy traveling the world, running into all types of different people and situations and stuff, helping them out if he sees the need, and then continuing on. Basically by himself, with few reoccurring characters. I think this is well displayed in a concise form where Kino stumbles across a city where a girl has dreams of being able to make a plane, technology mot yet invented, despite extreme opposition from the government, and Kino decides to help her with her plans. I am going to say yes to that, but I’m also going to say that even characterization wise, I think Kino might be pretty close to what I want out of Sonic now. She’s rightly competent of her abilities as a marksman and stuff. But from what I have seen so far, she doesn’t brag or anything like that. Actually, generally, her personality is a bit more on the serious side. She may laugh or smile and stuff as situations comes up, but she’s generally pretty straight faced, almost seeming detached, and it’s honestly really…. it really works for me in a way for some reason. And that thing about Sonic not necessarily being a hero, just a guy who is good hearted? That is also exemplified perfectly in Kino. Like, yeah she helps people as she sees the need and won’t harm others when not necessary… …but that’s when not necessary. i don’t think when most people think “hero” they would think of someone who could shoot 3 dudes in cold blood, killing then, and then have basically no reaction to it at all, just brush it off. Even if it was a case of self defense. But that’s exactly what we see Kino do in one of these episodes. It’s… intriguing to see a good hearted character like Kino still value their self-preservation to the point they could do that and have no qualms with it. To be selfish in that way. To just… …do what they want, living by their own ideals and interest, regardless of how it might seem to others. Am I… sounding a little familiar here? Honestly, I look at a character like this and, in the context of why I started watching the anime, I can’t not think Classic Sonic. That is, Classic Sonic as portrayed in the CD opening. Yeah, he has some fun every now and then with what he’s doing. But if you look at his expressions and the way he is moving throughout the MAJORITY of those cutscenes in CD, he comes across quite serious and focused on what he’s doing. Not cocky. I have long recognized it as something that was lost over time. Now I am starting to really think it should not have been because this really works for me. By the way, this show is EXTREMELY weird. It feel so surreal to watch for so many reasons
Was the YouTuber Pariah695? This sounds very much like his taste, which I usually align with, but I don’t normally keep up with his streams. If not, let me know who it is because I’ll check them out. Also, will have to give this show a watch when I have time.
Yeah, it’s Pariah. Him and Retropolis Zone when he uploads are basically the only “Sonic”tubers I watch these days. Uh… Yeah, Kino has some things about it I like, such as what was mentioned. But honestly, so far, my primary impression of the show is that it’s just weird. Not even just the things that happen or the extremely illogical actions and ideologies some places have, but the presentation itself. It’s music, it’s style, it’s color pallete, it’s camera and dialogue pacing and stuff. It’s just… I have no real words for it. It’s just weird. It’s captivating in a wayz
Retropolis is quite good too. I haven’t seen anything Sonic from him in a while though. I mostly get suggested his Ninja Gaiden stuff (which I also like) to the point that I almost forget I originally found him from Sonic content lol. Hmmm… back on topic. I don’t think I really have any truly unpopular Sonic opinions - at least not ones I haven’t seen shared by others. Just the typical weeby, “Don’t let non-Japanese people touch it,” stuff (which I’ve softened a bit on after Shadow Gens) and liking the OVA characterization and world building more than anything we’ve seen since - but I’m pretty sure I’ve said this here before. I will say that I think Naka may potentially get too little credit in the Sonic community. When I was interviewing old SoA staff like Kalinske, Nilse, Diane Fornasier, etc., for my MSc. thesis, they made him sound like he really did have involvement in all aspects of the character/games and was not just a self-aggrandizing, yet admittedly extremely gifted, programmer. I know Balan got a bad reception, but his output really has been pretty consistently great throughout his career with the exception of some of the Sonic games he wasn’t as involved in. That’s not to say we should discredit Yasuhara to ANY extent, as he really made those games what they are. Wish he’d come onboard to make a Superstars follow-up as I’m pretty positive Naka and Ohshima are finished as a duo, and Naka was likely the one who’d object to Yasuhara being involved. I don’t think I’ve seen Iizuka ever mention him like Naka and Ohshima would get mentioned however.
I love learning about the history and development of sonic. I'm not as knowledgeable on it as most everyone else here, but every story I hear about it is fascinating. You really dont get stories about characters like this from, say Mario or Zelda. Like you have Miyamoto, Aonuma, etc. but you don't really get as much insight into the internal drama like you do with sonic team. Like you could honestly make a movie out of the development of the genesis sonic games, and I'd watch it. But how games like mario were made is basically a black box to me. The closest you have at nintendo is like, Sakurai and Iwata. Basically what I'm saying is nintendo needs a bad boy whos willing to commit tax fraud.
the impression i get from nintendo is they're very much a "i've said what i've needed to say" company, where if you want to get any information you have to sift through magazines or tv interviews from some japanese station whereas sega developers can reiterate story time and time again (which was how we found out fujio akatsuka threw an ashtray at R&D2 staff). with nintendo you have to really dig for that stuff
On that note, Mario Wiki's a bit on the everything side. While we typically cover all facets of a game if possible while listing its history, it seems that the Mario Wiki begrudgingly had to consult academic sources because one of the licenced Mario games just so happens to touch on Mario visiting historical figures (and in a pretty sloppy manner, if that) and there's a whole section on Frederick Douglass and other adjacent people and correcting that game's errors. Not gonna lie I feel jealous. The closest we have on our end is the Mega LD's Goku which touches on the seven wonders of the world. But I digress... To steer back I think the chao incorporation on the sonic 3 movie so far rubs me the wrong way because it brings too many questions on how the chao exist in that universe. Are they just mascots? Are there real Chao? Is there an Omochao? If Pikachu is a thing, how does Smash exist? It'd be easier if they just had the Chao be a real thing tbh but i respect the tribute
This reminds me of how there's a scene in The Sopranos where Gilmore Girls is playing on the TV and one in Gilmore Girls where somebody mentions Tony Soprano, creating a paradoxical link between the two series where they both have to and cannot coexist with one another.
