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

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by John Chrysler, Aug 25, 2021.

  1. Overlord

    Overlord

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    PC games are highly pirated, and a lot of the back catalogue is critically panned. You're not getting a Sonic 06 release on PC from Sega no matter how hard a few people want it.
     
  2. Deep Dive Devin

    Deep Dive Devin

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    That didn't stop them from including the bad genesis and game gear games in collections. Nowadays, you just can't emulate shit past the PS2 without running into big problems, even though Sonic 06 is more than twice as old now as 3D Blast was when Mega Collection came out.

    I think it'd be hilarious if SEGA made a "Sonic Adventure Collection" of SA1, SA2, Heroes, Shadow and 06 right after the (hopeful) success of Origins. Hell, fans have done a fuck-ton of work on quality-of-life updates and changes to those games on their own, they'd score some good PR with a couple "SEGA and Fan cooperation finally fixes Sonic's most infamous title" headlines.
     
  3. Forte

    Forte

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    Is Sonic Lost World considered a bad game? It got a PC port a few years after WiiU premiere. Why they did this is beyond me, maybe because it was one of the newest titles at the time?

    As for 06 porting, I would love to see 06 on PC. I'm all about preserving the classics, even the bad ones, but the chances are 0 to none. Unleashed port chances are slim, but it's still an option somewhere in the future - in some collection.

    Now why Sonic Heroes didn't get a remaster? Not even a GOG download, and even Ubisoft gave Rayman a chance with older entries on the platform. The only thing we got is a PS2 on PS3 classic, and considering the love for heroes stages that games like All Star Racing had, it's sad.
     
  4. Deep Dive Devin

    Deep Dive Devin

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    If I recall correctly, Lost World was originally going to have a PC version, they were just held back by the Nintendo exclusive deal.

    As for "is it bad", welcome to every conversation about Lost World ever. I think it's pretty neat.

    The OTHER cool way I'd like to see 06 make a comeback is if SEGA pulled a Black Mesa and just made the ChaosX fangame an official remastered product. I hear he's not doing the cutscenes or hub missions, but restoring those would be a considerably smaller project for whichever group picked it up. Misguided as I feel an effort to recreate a poor product so faithfully it is, I know a lot of people really like that game and say it changes 06 to a product they'd genuinely recommend. You could even play really coy and say it's not remastered -- it's redeemed. You'd look like a pompous fucking dork but it would be hilarious to see a game company try that.
     
  5. Overlord

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    In fairness, the work was done for the good games in the collection(s) - by that point, the effort required to put a few more ROMs in and test them against the already-existing code is negligible. Porting 3D games isn't, because as you note, they're not emulated.

    Here's the crucial difference with a Black Mesa comparison - the original was a game that pretty much everyone liked from the get-go. I say again: anyone thinking Sega is going to do a port of a game that is notorious for being terrible in just about every way bar the soundtrack is deluding themselves.
     
  6. BadBehavior

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    Again: Mega Man X collection. Half of it sucks. Capcom re-released it anyway.

    The only delusional ones are the people who think the only Sonic games worthy of being rereleased are Da Classics and Colours.
     
  7. The Joebro64

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    That's different. Those are all old SNES/PlayStation games, which are far easier to rerelease since they can be flexibly emulated.
    No one is saying this.
     
  8. Forte

    Forte

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    Um... not really. Half of the collection consist of PSX & PS2 titles. People jokingly say that they split it between good and bad games :V

    So, "Sonic Origins Collection Part II" could include SA, SA2, SH and StH.
     
  9. Deep Dive Devin

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    Well again, I said it would be funny, not likely.

    Still, I'd draw a distinction between SEGA "doing a port" of the game and them jacking someone else's. ;)
     
  10. Aerosol

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    Sonic (?): Coming summer of 2055...?
    An argument for the likelihood of Sega porting Unleashed to PC is weakened when you use an entirely different company as your example.

    Capcom re-releasing terrible games and Sega re-releasing terrible games is not equivalent and you're laughing if you think it is.

    Can someone remind me what this thread is about again? I thought it was about why Sega hasn't ported Unleashed to PC yet but it hasn't been about that in a while...right?
     
  11. It was a thread predicated on a simple question. Not much discussion to be had.
     
  12. BadBehavior

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    Then please enlighten me as to the specifics of why, O exalted one? Archon of knowledge and Bastion of logic? Keeper of the keys and watcher of the sacred tomes?
     
  13. Only for viewing

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    those games were released as part of a larger collection cashing on nostalgia and reputation of the series (which admittedly is iffy even for mega man x), unleashed cannot be ported standalone (or I guess it can since sonic lost world also got released standalone and that’s as bad)
     
  14. Aerosol

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    Sonic (?): Coming summer of 2055...?
    Going further, Capcom is an entirely different company with different practices when it comes to the preservation of things like...code? Or even just developing a game in the first place? Why would you even begin to make the assumption that because Capcom ported some unliked PS2 games for re-release, Sega should port an unliked X360/PS3 game?

    Drop the dumbass snark. It's an argument predicated on a dozen baseless assumptions about a lot of things and it's hella ignorant. Just say you want Unleashed on PC, accept the reason why it's unlikely to happen anytime soon and go.

    For the record, I too would like to play Unleashed with a native PC port.
     
  15. Overlord

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    Yeah, what Aerosol said. You've been cropping up more and more on my attention radar of late, and not for good reasons.
     
  16. The Joebro64

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    I felt like since we've kind of veered off a little bit I'd just go back to the opening question of this thread to summarize why Unleashed PC hasn't happened:
    1. It would cost too much. Sega would have to go through the trouble of developing it (unlike Lost World, the port probably doesn't exist already), and combined with promotional costs, it's likely way too expensive to make a profit. Not to mention that PC games are easily pirated.
    2. Like it or not, Unleashed wasn't all that well-received to begin with. It has a Metascore in the 60s/50s, and it still doesn't rank highly in retrospectives. Compare that to the classics, Adventure 1/2, and Colors, which were very well-liked at release and are still remembered fondly today.
    3. Unleashed is certainly popular among Sonic fans nowadays but it's still pretty much a laughingstock to the general public. Outside the Sonic fanbase, it's known as the shitty Sonic game where he turned into a werewolf. There isn't much demand for a port outside of the hardcore fanbase.
    4. Even ignoring all that, it's possible that a port plain and simple isn't feasible. The source code may be lost, the development tools may not work on newer computers, you name it - a new port could have to be built from the ground up for all we know.
    I thought this would be a good way to bring this back to the point of this thread. I don't think there's all that much to discuss here anymore since the question has pretty much been answered. I'll also note that I say this as someone who'd love to see Unleashed on PC and would totally buy it if it does come out.
     
  17. Dark Sonic

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    I'm curious what they did to get Unleashed running at 60 fps on the newer Xboxes though. Wouldn't that require access to the source code?
     
  18. Mana

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    No? It's just emulation. That's why if you put the disc into your Xbox it'd download a copy of the game instead of just booting from there. It uses frame boosts in the same way that emulators have for decades now.
     
  19. Dark Sonic

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    I legit have no idea how Unleashed works on the modern Xbox
     
  20. Frostav

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    Unleashed runs at an unlocked framerate (up to 60FPS) I think. The game just stresses the 360 enough that it almost never gets above 30. Since it's unlocked though the game just sucks up the extra power of the Series X/S and spits out higher framerate, hitting the cap.