Why doesn't Sega ever port Sonic Unleashed to the PC?

This. The costs aren't just in doing the porting, but in promoting it (which can get very expensive). It probably makes better financial sense to put those resources into new titles.

 

And... Unleashed was bad critically speaking. At a point it was de-listed from shops because of this. People like the daytime stages but forget that the nighttime stages were 70% of the game and they were very boring. So maybe Sega doesn't think it is worth it.

 

The game got a critical thrashing and Sega was surely pretty mortified about that. If it were rereleased there would be pressure to change it, but then there's the question of how, and then how much. Really doesn't help either that the main source of derision for a lot of people, the Werehog, is such a prominent part of the game. I imagine that Sega wouldn't want to release Unleashed unchanged, but they don't want to commit to a overhaul. Plus even if they did go through the effort, would it really be worth it for them? The game still has its fans (including me) but I would say that the stigma is still there.

And this is on top of what's already been mentioned about the challenges and costs of porting. Unfortunately I don't think this game is gonna get any further attention aside from stuff like the resolution and performance enhancements it apparently received through backwards compatibility on the Series X. I would like to be wrong but the situation feels like a dead-end.

 

Money is definitely the #1 reason. Some fans definitely want Unleashed on the PC, but Sega probably just doesn't see it as financially viable.

also the game sucks complete dick

 

What version of Sonic Unleashed is everyone playing lmao? Cause for me in the HD version (the one I assume we're all talking about) it was a pretty even split, and due to my own experience, I actually spent more time in the daytime stages trying to finish the game.

Like seriously- is it hyperbole? Or am I playing a completely different game from everyone else?

 

The unfortunate part is that rereleasing Unleashed would really only please hardcore fans. Its appeal can be considered relatively niche. On the list of games that are likely to come back if they decide to go forward with rereleases in the future... it's probably under Sonic Heroes, just due to people's familiarity with that game and the relative simplicity in its concept.

 

Those "main" night levels in the HD version tended to be pretty dang long, especially for first-time players that are exploring and looking for medals. I distinctly remember taking a whole half an hour in the Holoska one.

Lots of players found themselves tearing through the day stages quickly only to find themselves spending a lot more time in the night levels.

 

"The game got a low score" thing seems hollow when they ported SA1 and 2 to damn near everything for like a decade.

 

The Adventure games were both well-recieved at release, were released on a flagship console, enjoyed success again when ported to the Gamecube, and still retain a loyal following.

 

I suppose Sega knows about Generations Unleashed Project, and because the game got bad rewievs once it was released, they don't feel the need to re-release it?

I mean, the game was meant to be Sonic getting back to form after 06 flopped. Just look at the graphics, music and everything. It was last big budget Sonic release and from what I understand, it flopped for Sega.

I wish we could get a PC port. I'm currently planning to play all of Sonic games again, starting with main titles and unleashed is definitely on my list. Good thing I still have my PS3.

 

Yeah, I guess, but if you know what you're doing, you can get out of most of those stages pretty quick. Hell, some stages in Sonic Heroes take longer to beat on average than most levels across the board in Unleashed :p

 

Yeah it's most probably because of the critical reception. Unleashed is kind of like a fan darling nowadays but it's a laughing stock among critics and most of the general public.

The game is definitely 70% Nightime and 30% Daytime by the way. Maybe even more. You blast through the Boost stages in minutes but the Werehog levels often take 30 minutes each. Then you often have to replay them to pick up medals. Lol.

And on the topic of SA1 and SA2, I think SEGA would be more cautious about porting them now honestly. Both games originally had good reviews (and decent on Gamecube) so I think the trashing which SA1 got in the latest release was probably a surprise. Keep in mind that they haven't been ported in around 10 years.

Of course, in an ideal world Unleashed would be on Steam. I hate the game personally and am baffled by its revival among fans. But i think all games should be preserved if we lived in a world where they could be.

 

So we're counting on different measures, got it.

Just cause something takes longer doesn't mean there's more to do. I'm sure most people in here will agree that 5 minutes of a single, boring werehog puzzle is less total game content than 1 minute in rooftop run. Sure, rooftop run goes by quicker, but you can't convince me that rooftop run day is less content than the night one just cause the night stage takes barely longer to beat.

And btw, never once in my playthrough of unleashed did I ever have to backtrack for medals in order to progress. Nor did I use a guide to find any until I was down to like, the last 10. I don't know what everyone's problem with the medals is, considering how many of these fuckers are just laying out in the open, but having to redo something cause you didn't do it right the first time is not extra game content.

People who try to add medal backtracking time to the night stages ratio are lying to themselves. I'm sorry, that's where I stand.

 

What the heck, dude? People aren't lying to themselves, or the internet, about their own experiences.

I loved Unleashed's daytime stages, and based purely on them, Unleashed is WAY up there on my tierlist. But everything else about it was an absolute CHORE for me, *nothing* moreso than the medal hunt. I don't tend to enjoy exploration in games, and as such, I'm not very good at it. Additionally, because I loved Sonic's gameplay so much, my goal in the Werehog stages tended to be to get them over with as fast as possible, in hopes that I might unlock another day stage.

Because of this, Sonic Unleashed took me almost THREE YEARS to finish. I got it when it came out, and finished it when I was hyped about Generations' impending release. And like, I booted it up and replayed the day stages I'd unlocked CONSTANTLY, then every six months or so, I'd slog through another hub mission, or replay another night stage, looking for medals.

If I couldn't take my time and focus on the one aspect of Unleashed I actually enjoyed, if I imagine a reviewer on a deadline, forced to judge the campaign as a complete package, then those 4 out of 10s start to make a lot more sense. Because if you're only trying to complete it, you really will spend 70-80% of your playtime in Unleashed NOT playing the good part.

And unfortunately, nobody who's not ALREADY a diehard Sonic fan is going to judge it on any other metric. That's why it got the reviews it did even though there were ALWAYS a ton of fans who appreciated it (seriously, this sentiment in the fandom is nothing new, it's just gotten more nostalgic), why Sega delisted it to protect the brand, why the SECOND mainline boost game is getting a remake instead of the first, and why, much as I'd have loved to see it happen because then we could've modded the medal hunt OUT of it, it never got that PC port.

 

Fair, but the one thing I still want to point out is that playtime =/= total content. Just because 70% of someone's playtime was in the nighttime stages, that doesn't 70% of the actual game itself is nighttime. Those are two unrelated concepts.

Just because I spend more time slogging through Sandopolis in S3 doesn't automatically mean that there's objectively more Sandopolis than my favorite zone, Launch Base. Again, those are unrelated. It all comes down to design and execution.

But I'm probably not making sense right now anyway, I need sleep.

 

I've tried making this point before, but Retro won't have it. Save your breath.

 

Basically this yeah.
While it's "objectively" true that the game has an equal 50/50 split of Daytime/Nighttime stages, in reality, you're gonna spend most of your time playing the werehog stages and it draggggggggs.
That's why I'm hoping they go back to this game and remake it one of these days; its boosts stages are second to none and every subsequent boost game frustrates me by missing the point of them entirely and adding useless platforming sections and blocky 2d sections that can just go to hell lol.
But the werehog, the medal collecting and the hub world stuff is just...beyond boring. I finished the game years ago and never, EVER started a new fresh save; I just use the level select to play the day stages when I'm in the mood to play it.
And I can't think of any other Sonic game I only played trough once. Shit, I have a good 3-4 playtroughs of 06 and Shadow under my belt. I think that's a testament to how unfun most of Unleashed is lol.

But most of this goes beyond a simple Steam port, so yeah, that's probably why they haven't done it and probably never will.
Putting aside its niche nostalgia revival in a relatively small part of the fanbase, most people (including Sega highers-ups) know that this game is just not very good.