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How Sega Ruined Sonic the Hedgehog
The always entertaining RetroGaming with Racketboy has a long post up railing against Sega for ruining Sonic the Hedgehog. The blue, spikey hero has had a rough time of it of late. Outings from the series like Shadow the Hedgehog, and even the next-gen title simply named Sonic the Hedgehog, have gotten simply terrible reviews. He longs for a return to simple, fun, not-creepy play. From the article: "As the new generation of platforms emerged, Sega used Sonic as a way to show off their newest graphical technologies. There is no doubt that the new Sonic the Hedgehog for the XBox 360 looks nice, but as the abysmal reviews indicate, graphics are not everything. In order to push its cutting-edge graphics to the limit, Sega, in their infinite wisdom, felt the need to bring Sonic and his friends into a more realistic world, filled with life-like humans. As you can see from this video, there is something creepy about some giant hedgehogs interacting with humans. My point is that Sega doesn't seem to know what it wants to do with Sonic. It seems like Sega assigns various quick-and-dirty development projects in order to see what ideas sticks with consumers. Unfortunately, Sega fans have had to suffer through this process."
Start the video at 00:34 to avoid the blithering asshat.
For the first time since the 2D Sonics, here is a really promising looking Sonic game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ruxm9D0p6P8
Some of the environments in the screenshots look fantastic too. The game looks just like the 2D games in 3D, which is probably what they should have done in the first place.
It would likely of been a big hit.
The demo is on xbox live if anyone wants to try it, and it is all I have played
But good luck, it is very very bad. Doesn't look the worst but it is impossible to control. The camera goes all over the place and the little bastard you are supposed to be controlling just flys about the place very quickly, yes that is what sonic is supposed to be, but it is not good when you have to follow him at this pace.
No idea how a modern Sonic game should go, I think it would be best if they just gave up on this one, maybe release a newer version of the platform game on the arcade services for the new consoles. I don't think anything else would work.
to whatever god she was praying to for sonic's revival is even creepier than the kiss. I want to convert to whatever religion it is where you can pray for the revival of giant anthropomorphic hedgehogs.
Monstar L
I have beaten almost every sonic game for genesis (3D blast being the exception.) I was also younger than 12 at the time, and all I can say was that despite recycling themes and gameplay for 3 sonic games, the first sonic trilogy was FUN. They had a formula that worked for level design, bosses were always different and creative, certain levels had other things to do(slots in casino night zone? checkpoint minigames?) Now, I'm glad they didn't make another sonic side-scroller back then, as it would have been simply milking for cash.
/.er's video of the Wii Sonic to come out, and I must say it looks closer to what a 3D Sonic should look like. Fast paced gameplay, ring collection, but in a 3D environment. Sonic should feel faster than Mario and other platformers.
But how should Sonic look and behave next-gen? (now, current gen?) It's simple.
-Keep sonic badass. Sonic has always been badass, but not OVERDONE. He always looked badass just by looking mean and shaking his finger. Tails should serve as a foil to his badassness. Shadow makes me cringe as a one-time sonic/sega fan -- way too overdone.
-Keep the former cast of Sonic. There was no need to create a slew of new characters, IMHO. With the comic book series from a few years back, plus minor characters from other games, was there a need for new characters? Guess the old ones weren't cool enough for 'next-gen.' Familiar characters would have kept old fans coming back. Sonic has even had love interests in the past! Don't tell me you can't work that into a game.
-Most importantly -- KEEP the feel of GAMEPLAY. The old Sonic games were easy to pick up and play. You couldn't really get lost, and there wasn't a myriad of moves to learn just to understand the game. Mario made the transition well into 3D; Sonic didn't. I saw another
So ends the rantings of a former fanboy. I must also admit, I haven't played many of the recent Sonic iterations, but if reviews (user and site) are any indication, I'm not missing out on much. Sonic needs to return to its roots.
"Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies." -Thomas Jefferson
Every day there is an argument as to why someone should care whether their gaming company of choice should turn a profit, and I think Sega demonstrates why it is important. Back in the Genesis days Sega was nearly as good as Nintendo was at producing a large number of high quality titles; as the Sega CD, Sega 32X, and Sega Saturn drained Sega of their profitability the quality of their product diminished because they could no longer afford to produce the high quailty games. The Dreamcast had many gems, but most of Sega's games demonstrated their problem in that they were reasonably unique but lacked the polish to get the most out of the game.
Today Sega's games are (pretty much) released 'on schedule' whether or not they're complete or not; this means that Sonic the Hedgehog and Shadow the Hedgehog are terrible games that never stood a chance of being good in the first place.
Sonic goes super saiyan! Does the 360 game have Freeza in it?
there is something creepy about some giant hedgehogs interacting with humans.
:D
Boy, I bet Disneyland is going to give you a heart attack.
Actually, it'd be really funny if we could have a "Grand Theft Sonic" game, or Ico with Sonic, or "Metal Gear Sonic". Putting a giant blue hedgehog into a realistic, serious game = comedy gold. I'd love to see Sonic beating up hookers or sneaking up on a guy and snapping his neck.
Seriously, though, the clip looks like they combined Sonic with Final Fantasy and Dragonball Z. WTF? The realistic humans I don' care about, but it looks like they took some of the cheesiest parts from the "kid's anime epic playbook" and put it in Sonic.
And despite what the title of the video says, no Sonic does *not* get an erection in the clip. That's his hand, maybe his thumb, which is on the other side of his body. Too bad, it'd be *awesome* if it was
I have a younger brother who is only plays the new 3D sonic games, and loves them. Its horrible, seeing his mind being warped into thinking that somehow these are games that we should welcome into our consoles.
I've only ever passed the first level in these games (heroes and shadow) once, and never EVER felt the urge to play again. You can't see what your doing, but your sure to do it fast. And if the gameplay wasn't enough of a reason to ignore these games, the whole repulsive attitude thing is, as it will make you wish death upon whatever mentally deficient sub-human thought it would be "cool".
Then Shadow comes along, and makes the gameplay and story somehow worse by adding broken and aggravating objective, non-aimable guns, not to mention the idea of a large, anthropomorphic, amnesiac animal in love with a disproportioned eight year old is enough to drive one mad. The guns themselves are the equivalent of adding a dating simulation to Half-Life 2, only instead of courting Alyx, you court headcrabs.
Then, they have to go a prostalatize it with Racers and other spin-offs.
Sonic is the gaming equivilent of Star Wars. The old ones where fun, but the new ones rape all my old memories, leaving me feeling hollow and jaded.
Please Sega, if you have any shread of decency, they will kill him instead off leaving him in this tormented existence that is worse then death.
These days, the only new Sonic game I really want is Project S. It's a fan project that aims to complete the infamous cancelled Saturn title Sonic X-treme . And here's the most interesting bit: the project is being led by Sonic X-treme's own director, Chris Senn.
Circumcision is child abuse.
Hard to tell, but looks like he has his 360 hooked to a standard definition TV :|
I keep telling myself I'm not the desperate type.
Do people make out with the cartoon mascots at Disneyland often? I must have missed that.
Gamertag: WyleType
He should roll up the humans in a large ball and give them as an offering to the King of the Cosmos.
"Trademarks are the heraldry of the new feudalism."
Why is there a need to make a Sonic game in 3d? It was a classic the way it was. To me the whole idea sounds a bit like trying to make 3d pac-man.
Warning: Opinions known to be heavily biased.
Revisiting old video games while minimizing the impact of decade+ old prejudice yields fascinating insight into the mechanics of electronic entertainment from the past. The original Sonic the Hedgehog games were very tightly designed, fast-paced action games with emphases both subtly and distinctly different from Nintendo's action roster. A non-verbal, edgy-looking character in a surreal universe having to balance his strengths (i.e. going really, really fast and being nearly invincible when attacking) with the demands of the game world in which he lived (sometimes having to be patient and waiting for an opening) made for memorable and challenging experiences. Initially the addition of new characters didn't detract significantly from the gameplay; it was sorta cool for Sonic to have a sidekick, and both Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 allowed you to get rid of the little guy if you wanted to. Playing as Knuckles forced you to re-evaluate old choices and visit parts of levels previously inaccessible - in a way, it was like getting a new lease on the same old game.
But ever since the last Genesis and Game Gear games (including the Sonic & Knuckles pack, which took the entertaining Sonic 3 and turned it into a weird little epic), the series has completely lost its focus. This is somewhat surprising since one of the series' original founders left Sonic Team. bersl2 pointed out that a good deal of this is due to the desire to balance the needs of young and older gamers. Frankly a choice should have been made a long time ago: cater to the needs of younger children by rounding out characters in squeaky-clean fashion, or just go abstract and sophisticated, introducing complex new techniques and making the games artistic little masterpieces of old-school design with creative new wrinkles.
Compromised game designs lead to compromised games. It's not complicated.
Since when are hedgehogs rodents?
Web consulting +
You might give the DS sonic game a try. http://ds.ign.com/articles/666/666139p1.html 2d Sonic + solid polished design = great sonic game.
is it just me or is this very much like the game wipeout 2097 except with legs?
Sorry, its a bit late for Sega to make a good Sonic game for me. I plan on never buying another of those game again. Sega has proved one too many times that they just don't want to make one worth my time, so I lost all interest. Even my memories of the old games are tarnished. Sonic, that cool guy who once rivaled Mario (in my mind), can just die and burn in hell for all I care. [/jaded rant]
I'm so sorry people, but I beg to differ on the issue of Sonic the Hedgehog 2006. I may not be a hardcore gamer - I do have somewhat of a life - but I still own the 360, the Wii, and all the last-gen consoles, counting the ½last-gen Dreamcast. And I ENJOYED Sonic2006. Read that again. I ENJOYED Sonic2006. Why? It's pretty plain and simple. I played the game without looking back at the old ones. Sure, it doesn't have the same feel. Sure, it demands a little getting used to. Sure, it's not perfect (I did swear at the pitiful memory usage and lagginess that's apparent). Sure, sometimes it feels like a hyperlushed StdXbox game. But come on. It's playable, it's enjoyable, and the game itself is cool. If you want to piss on a game, at least piss on it relative to the current titles and the current development trend (stories galore). I will not compare a Current-gen game to a 16bit-gen game. Fck, stories weren't even worth implementing back then.
This is my opinion. Everyone has a right to my opinion.
In the last few years after sonic adventure and sonic advance, Sonic carrer was almost dead and hanged. Well now that Sega has worked on a discent Sonic game, Sonic the hedgehog for x box 360 is guarntee worth playing. Old and new charcters a good story line, mad core graphics. I have to addmit Sega must of worked really hard on this game to get Sonic fans back into playing it.
If you cant get this game I'd get it because its for any Sonic fan you could wish for. So go ut and buy Sonic the hedgehog on X box 360. But there 2 more Sonic games to be released Sonic rivals for PSP and Sonic the hedgehog and the secret rings for the nintendo Wii.
I see no glitches, and the emerald that transports you saved Sonic's blue butt from when I first fought that Silver punk (No offense) My friend had the emerald and let me play whatever I wanted to play. I love everything, except how Sonic dies. And how Princess Elise falls in love with Sonic. I do hate one part of the game though, Princess Elise KISSES Sonic, in order to bring him back to life it was GAY I actaully puked it scared me so much. Silver is mildy slow, Tails' bombs were awesome, Knux is cool in this game. Shadow's enemy is friggin' sweet. The Graphics for the game are the origanal next gen graphics (Awesome) Shadow Has better gameplay then ever before, Sonic is as fast as he should be, like the other games made him seem slow, like in Sonic Riders he could only run 150, and so COULD EGGMAN!! IMPOSSIBLE!! But, the game could probably even make a none-Sonic fan like him. Trust me, its awesome, but I am a huge fan since I was two. Owned, and beet every Sonic game, but, sadly, can't remember all endings.
.. and it was great.
e nture/review.html
http://www.gamespot.com/dreamcast/action/sonicadv
Why they haven't been able to replicate that success is puzzling.
Many people are pointing out the very good Sonic Rush for the DS. The developer deserves credit for that game, not SEGA: http://www.dimps.co.jp/pro/list-hard.html
Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way...
I love Sonic, but all the recent console games suffer from one big flaw: Too many options. Sonic was meant to be fun and fast. These recent RPG style Sonic games just plain suck. The control sucks. The puzzles are extremely easy or extremely hard. Don't get me started on some of those platforms that you have to hit just right or die and lose the *entire* game. If you want to make Sonic RPG, make Sonic RPG games and get rid of the timer/rating system.
If you want to keep the original fun of Sonic then put the 3d look on rails. It doesn't have to be completely limited like Panzer Dragoon. But, your games need limits. If a fanboy bitchs that I can't go to the top of some mountain then let him. He can go play something Sacred and be happy. Everyone else will enjoy your Sonic game and sales will increase.
Sonic Rush is it guys. Its 3d and 2d, polished, on rails, and fun! If you don't believe me about Sonic Rush look at New Super Mario Bros. 3d look, a nice mix of 2d and 3d play, again lots of fun.
You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
In Soviet Disneyland, cartoon mascots make out with you!!!
Did anyone see Star Trek when Spok nailed this green bitch?
Penny Arcade has already handled this topic.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/03/11
To a noob, root is like a gay bar...and he's wearing assless chaps
Even in Slashdot, Sonic's appearance is in a minor topic...
Maybe if the series followed Mario and added baby versions of every character, it would work again.
V O T E F O R M O G
Wasn't this on something like Charmed or one of those silly witch TV shows???
We're all hypocrites. We all have hidden parts, it's the contrast between them that make us more a hypocrite than others
There is a Sonic fan game called Sonic Robo Blast 2 available at http://www.srb2.org/ . It's a 3d game based on the doom engine, and, to me, it feels exactly how Sonic should in 3d.
I'll tell you what ruined sonic. in two letters
3d
Hey guys -- thanks for posting my article on Slashdot.a n-bring-sonic-hedgehog-back.html
I've followed up on the original article with my thoughs on what Sega could do to bring Sonic back to his former glory while making the most of the modern consoles
http://www.racketboy.com/retro/2006/12/how-sega-c
That the article in its rant simply ommitted the excellent Sonic on the Nintendo Ds, this is probably the one all the Sonic fans have been waiting for.
Yet another article hating on Sonic because it's cool.
One of the many arguments is that it should be like the older games, and then they reference the GBA games. Uh, they aren't like the older games. Sure, they're 2D, but are they well designed? It doesn't seem like it. Sonic has a kick move that brings him to a full stop, he can grind on rails, but only for about two times in the entire game. In general, the games seem to try to make you go as fast as possible, with boosters all over the place.
Sonic Adventure was a great game that admittedly had some bugs, especially with the camera. It was great to be able to go where you liked, and the story was nice. The game should be commended on how well it weaved together the viewpoint of six characters together. Though I admit that Big's fishing games weren't that exciting and didn't belong in there.
Sonic Adventure 2 did away with the exploration, focusing on levels. The gameplay was enhanced, but still with a somewhat dodgy camera. I thought it was great fun to play. I enjoyed E-102 Gamma's levels in the original, so imagine my joy to see expanded levels based on that premise. I'll admit that the treasure hunter levels regressed, though. Now you could only search one fragment at a time. Bummer.
Sonic Heroes went back to the roots, and I thought it was a great innovative game, using three characters instead of one. I enjoyed every bit of it. The camera wasn't that bad in this game, but then again, I played the EU version, which might have had some fixes. I didn't experience the popular "falling through the floor" bug. The problem was going so fast that until you learned to adjust to it, you would often run off a platform or make a bad jump.
I haven't played Shadow the Hedgehog, but I do intend to. However, at a lower price, because this game genuinely seems to have real problems. For example, the enemy can shoot farther than you.
Looking forward to Sonic on the Wii.
OMG......i wish i was sonic for that moment...lol...and omg beastility?
Owning both a DC and a N64, I can tell you with some authority that you are the first person I've ever seen make that claim.
The DC games weren't particularly bad - especially compared to modern 3D Sonic games. But they had quite severe flaws (especially during the non-sonic stages). They simply can't compare to Mario 64.
It looks ok. The graphics are really cool, but it seems that they've come a long way from the classics. The only new one I've played is Sonic Heroes. I never finished it, but what I've played of it is good. It kinda sucks that they've put this new one in a really different looking world.
How is this much different than Sonic Heroes? A little more open landscape, but I actually found SH somewhat fun to play.
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
The only comment in the teaser rant that seems out of place is the one about humans, really. All the comics, SonicX tv show, etc have Sonic and pals hanging out with humans... so it should be OK if he hangs out with humans in the new games. The only problem is that with the possible exception of Sonic Rush, the games aren't well-done or fun to play.