Sonic the Hedgehog discussion thread

Sonic Mania: Metallic Madness.


I was warned Sonic CD had bad level design. I was warned. And the miniboss is the worst part.

 

I only played Sonic Adventure 2 and it was ok, not the best game in the world. The cartoon, as far as I can tell, is a good cartoon and Iso far like the story in it.

 

Can I rant about Sonic here? I feel like ranting about Sonic right now, but I also don't want fans of this series to get angry at me and accidentally start a flame war. Especially since I've never actually played a Sonic game in my life and I'm just an outsider looking in.

I'm gonna put this in a spoiler tag just in case. So if you don't want to hear me rant about Sonic, you can just ignore this.

Spoiler: I'm an optimist. But I'm also a realist.

I think Sega has forgotten how to make good video games.

Sonic Forces was released last year with... mixed success, and that doesn't paint a very good picture compared to Sonic Mania. If your core game sold less than a game made by a completely different group of developers, you're clearly doing something wrong. And the problem is simple: Sega doesn't put gameplay first. After all the delays Sonic Forces had, most of that time was spent on concept art. Just concept art. And when they forced a release date for it to come out shortly after Mario Odyssey to contest it, the gameplay suffered for it.

The flow of a video game is very important, and should always be a game developer's top priority. Everything else should just be an afterthought. This is why Nintendo makes so many good games nowadays. They think of a core idea and fit the gameplay in around it first so it flows well and plays smoothly. For example, Nintendo wanted to make a shooter game, so they built the gameplay around that, fit some other ideas into it, and BAM. Splatoon was born. And it sold so well, it even got a sequel.

Sonic Mania had the right idea. People loved it because the game was fun to play. The nostalgic pixel art was just a bonus.

But Sega did the exact opposite and made the same mistake, again and again... Instead of focusing on the flow of gameplay first, they focused solely on what would make fans happy and shoved nostalgia down everyone's throats. And what resulted was a choppy, unpolished game.

Sega really needs to put the flow of gameplay first if they want Sonic to be more successful. Nostalgia can only get a series so far, and at this time, people are already sick of it. What Sonic needs is an identity. A core idea to fit the gameplay around. Otherwise they're just going to keep repeating their mistakes and lose more and more fans.

 

@SnowboundBecca you took the words out of my mouth and put them in a very understandable and elegant way. I'm a fan of Sonic, however I can point out several flaws in recent games ('recent' as in 2005 and onwards) and despise the current state of the 'fandom' and the way the series has been going.
Several of these flops could have been great if they took the time to work on gameplay or story instead of the graphics (I'm looking at you, Sonic 06 and Sonic Boom). To date, the only Sonic game I would play past the main story is Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. The story, despite some oddities, is interesting and world building; the levels are fairly vibrant with few game-breaking bugs. With the Chao there is a reason to collect items such as Chaos Drives (from Mechanical Enemies) or Animals (wandering around the level or in boxes), and more than just a handful of Rings to survive a hit.
To this day there are several fans of the Chao pets (*raises hand*), and it's amazing how several are still 'fans' just because of something that was only playable within the Adventure/Advance series. Some fans claim that returning the Chao will boost game sales, however it's honestly the gameplay and such that needs to be fixed for sales. Making Chao a mobile game with optional Micro-transactions would be much better, if you ask me.

Games played: Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic CD (I actually have a physical CD-Rom copy), Triple Trouble, Sonic Advance, Sonic Advance 3, Rush, Adventure DX, Adventure 2 Battle, Heroes, Unleashed, Colors, Generations (I managed to get a promotional poster with my pre-order), Drift, Drift 2, R, All Stars Racing, Fighters, Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, Spinball, Tails' Skypatrol, Tails Adventure, Sonic Battle, Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Sonic Gem Collection (has CD, Fighters, R, Drift, Drift 2, Tails' Skypatrol, Tails Adventure, Triple Trouble, Sonic 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Mean Bean Machine, Spinball)

 

Personally I don't like playing Sonic games, I just like a bunch of the characters. Not that they are anything revolutionary, but they have a special charm that is hard to replicate. Which is why I am upset about Sonic Boom. It ruined Knuckles. I was never the biggest Knuckles fan, but I far preferred the fun but honorable echidna who was responsible and strong, albeit a little naive at first, to the new version who is that awful dumb jock stereotype. Also he just looks so awkward in his new design when compared to everyone else. Honestly I am not hardcore Sonic fan, so I don't know extensive amounts about the series. That is probably why I remember Sonic '06 as the game that introduced Silver as opposed to the worst Sonic game in existence like most of the fans. But what do I know? I was only first introduced to the series via the Olympics crossover series with Mario.