"Where Sonic Went Wrong"

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Radkin
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"Where Sonic Went Wrong"

Post#1 » Thu Oct 20, 2016 8:58 pm

Pretty interesting article in this months issue of Game Informer. Was surprised to find this inside. Could not get page 3 to scan properly, my apologies. Hope this is readable to anyone interested. Enjoy.

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Last edited by Radkin on Thu Oct 20, 2016 9:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Roel
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Post#2 » Fri Oct 21, 2016 3:58 pm

Interesting read, thanks for sharing!

One thing struck me as hard to believe, though.

While the lack of a Sonic game on the Saturn was certainly problematic, I can't accept that it was the PlayStation's games library that made it outsell the Saturn. PlayStation was a new brand, no one could have known for sure if its library was going to be very good (and in my opinion, the Saturn's was in fact the superior one). And yet, PlayStation practically beat the Saturn before it was even launched. I can see only one explanation for this. Sony guessed - and they guessed right - that they didn't have to prove anything to make people believe. They could buy that belief. Their advertising was aggressive, outrageous, varied, nigh-ubiquitous and most of all, effective. That, and not the games library or the hardware or any other quality of the product itself, colossally overshadowed the Saturn, and made Sony emerge the victor.

At least, that's how I see it. But everyone is of course free to disagree.

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Bob Dobbs
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Post#3 » Fri Oct 21, 2016 9:09 pm

Agreed!
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Aleron Ives
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Post#4 » Sat Oct 22, 2016 4:43 pm

You also have to take into account that the failure of the 32X (and to a lesser extent, the Sega/Mega CD), already had soured people towards buying Sega hardware, so when Sony arrived as an alternative to Sega, people were more receptive to Sony's advertising, because they were worried about buying into another Sega console that Sega would then abandon a year later.

It's true that the lack of a Sonic title on the Saturn hurt the system in the West, but I doubt Sonic Xtreme would have solved the problem, because if you look at the alpha footage of the game, it looks like it would have been terrible. It has a fish eye perspective and requires you to run towards the camera, which is a huge no-no for 3D games, because you can't see where you're going unless you move at a snail's pace, which is exactly the opposite of the kind of gameplay a Sonic game should have.

In a way, the Saturn's Western failure might very well be the only reason we have Sonic Adventure, because if Sega had released Sonic Xtreme and subsequently destroyed the Sonic brand, they might not have had the resources or good will left to make Sonic Adventure.

As for what's killed Sonic since then, I would actually argue that Sonic Adventure was the start of the downfall, because it incorporated a bunch of non-Sonic (i.e. slow) characters and forced you to beat their scenarios in order to beat the game. Unncessary "something the something" friends and annoying gameplay gimmicks tarnished Sonic's reputation more than his rocky transition to 3D.
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Farmhouse
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Post#5 » Sun Oct 23, 2016 6:34 am

Over saturation and crappy spin-offs.

You can't make 70+ Sonic games without making some crap.

Out of those 70+ maybe 15 of those games are actually really GOOD.

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everynewday84
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Post#6 » Sun Oct 23, 2016 12:45 pm

Sonic Generations was my favorite entry in the Sonic franchise. I am very optimistic about the blue hedgehog's future.
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Post#7 » Sun Nov 27, 2016 1:38 am

I see Sega is giving Sonic an anniversary push, Sonic Mania, Sonic 3D (untitled) & Lego Dimensions Sonic Pack.
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Post#8 » Mon May 08, 2017 2:05 am

Good to read!

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Iron Dreamcast
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Post#9 » Tue May 16, 2017 2:57 am

I respect people's opinions unlike other's, but that's one of the main issues. I don't think the problem is the quality of certain games, I think it's just that the fans have no idea what they want aside from Sonic Adventure 3, and because of that if you don't give them SA3 they'll bash the game. The only games after SA2 to get above average reviews from fans and critics, and pretty much all of us agree were Colors and Generations but that may be because those games played it safe and didn't do something different like in Heroes or Unleashed. While I enjoyed Colors and Generations, I don't think they're as good as people say they are. Getting back to it, the fans don't know what they want, and when they DO know they change their mind 5 seconds later. Example: Sonic Lost World and Boom come out, people say they suck and they want the boost back. Forces gameplay is shown, and it uses the boost again: Everyone says that this isn't what they wanted and that the game is bad, but the game isn't even out yet.

You can have whatever opinion you want on the games, again I respect them but really when Heroes and Lost World were in development the developers knew what they were doing and they assumed the fans would calm down but NOPE NEVER GONNA HAPPEN

In terms of where it all went wrong, it's not that I think it's a bad game, I think it's brilliant but really things have been wrong since Adventure 1. How? They introduced things that shouldn't be in a Sonic game in the first place, like Big's gameplay or Knuckles' gameplay, and this would later get worse as the series goes on. Later on you'd find yourself playing as a gun holding Shadow in 2005's Shadow The Hedgehog, and have stupid motion controls in 2007's Sonic and the Secret Rings.

In terms of this article there's a lot that wasn't mentioned, they didn't mention 2008's Sonic Chronicles the Dark Brotherhood (I don't blame them lol) 2006's Sonic Riders and etc. Not only that, but they didn't state their opinion on Heroes, and only briefly mentioned Sonic '06. Tbh there are only a few Sonic reviewers I can really trust 100%. Game critics don't really have my trust because they pretend like Sonic '06 came out yesterday, it was 10 years ago guys, get over it not EVERY game in the series will be good. I know they're infamous enough already but IGN has no credibility no matter what we are talking about. In their Sonic Unleashed HD review they made the game look bad on purpose like he killed himself on purpose and then in the review he said "THAT'S TRIAL AND ERROR" and they gave the SD version a good review, while SOMEHOW giving the HD version a .3 lower than '06. That's like saying that Spider-man 3 was better than Spider-man 1. The reason why I trust only a few people is because they review the games without letting what other people think affect their opinion. Example: Somecallmejohnny said that Generations was the best 3D game in the series. While I disagree I respect his opinion, and can see why he thinks so. Premydaremy thought '06 was one of the best games in the series, and doesn't care what others like ClementJ64 tell him; tbh I kinda agree with Premy PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!

There are perfectly decent people out there don't get me wrong but that doesn't change what I just said. There are also other YouTubers related to Sonic that I watch but I can't trust them 100%. As random as this theory is, what if ClementJ64 actually liked '06 but just did that 3 and a half hour review to tell people it's bad, and give people a treat. There was this one part of the review where he said so terrible REALLY sarcastically and I think I'm the only one who noticed this. And I actually watched that review 5 times just to dissect it and see what his problem is, and... HE NEEDS TO CALM DOWN. I will not lie, I enjoyed the review but something about it really bugs me. I can't really place it, I plan on dissecting the review on YouTube but that's for another day. Imo there are only A FEW good '06 reviews on the internet. Everyone just nitpicks and complains about everything, in pretty much every '06 review I've seen aside from everyone's complaints goes like this: EEEHHHHHHH THE LOAD TIMES, THE GLITCHES, THE FRMERATE, THE STORY, AAHHHHHHHHH And they don't have any other reasons to back up their opinions, which is why Volcanothebat is working on a Sonic '06 PC Remake. Apparently "fixing" Sonic '06 will make it a good game.

About SA3, let's make this quick SA3 will NEVER happen. The last time Sega took a shot at the adventure formula was in Sonic '06 and we all know how that game turned out. '06 was released in 2006 so it's been 10 years since they've done something, so I think they lost their touch. They should just stick to the Boost since people say has worked well, Unleashed's Day-Time levels were praised as the best 3D levels in the series, it was the Night-Time levels that divided people, and divided we fall. I've been made fun of on YouTube for liking the Night-Time levels, but that's really just how I feel the Night Time stuff was a decent beat-'em-up. Colors got some good reviews, and Generations was all the rage. Anyway getting back to SA3 if it DID happen everyone will hate it. Where's my proof? Two words; Sonic 4. Sonic 4 was released in 2010 on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Wii Shopware. They released it Episodically and it was the sequel to 1994's Sonic 3 & Knuckles. People complained about everything in Sonic 4, they complained about the physics, the momentum, the green eyes YES YOU READ THIS CORRECTLY THEY COMPLAINED ABOUT THE COLOR OF HIS EYES!

The closest thing we have to SA3 are Heroes, Shadow, '06, and Unleashed. I disagree with Shadow and Unleashed, but I see why Heroes and '06. This is just what I think but I think Heroes is the closest we got. Think about it, it used the original voice actors, it didn't have any hub worlds like SA2, the story was like a Saturday morning cartoon, like SA1 and 2, and the soundtrack was similar to SA1 and 2. '06 just didn't feel the same, '06 is the opposite of what I just said. '06 had the voice actors from Sonic X and Shadow The Hedgehog, it had hub worlds, the plot felt more like a movie instead of a cartoon, and it had a unique soundtrack which is my favorite in the series btw. People constantly call '06 the closest to SA3, it really wasn't.

I'm really sorry for eating up you're time, but I just wanted to share my thoughts, I hope you liked what I had to say.

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Post#10 » Wed Jan 03, 2018 3:46 am

Good read! Sonic boom may be the worst, imo.
All I need is some time. Thit thing worth it. I'm glad because this week bookofra play com presented new bonuses. Nothing else matters now.

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