the bastardization of sonic......sad

[Elusive]

who experienced the epic genesis vs snes wars

Who indeed? Did you? Or were you, like many of us here (I'd wager), too young to have any 'gaming consciousness' besides what was shouted at you in TV ads?

I believe the whoring, or pimping of Sonic is the best way to describe what happened with SEGA's mascot.

Appearing in lots of different games, repping a certain team. I'd suppose that fulfils a mascot's job, yes?

Actually I think Nintendo fans really can be blamed for the bastardization of Sonic. The main reason Sega makes shitty Sonic games is because they can. Because there are so many people who just like the character and aren't picky about the gameplay.

Where did all these people come from?

Gaming generations; one group of people grew up playing one generation of video games, another is growing up playing another. These groups don't overlap, but one group seems to be mad at the other for supporting 'their' team (?)

Also, seeing Sega ignoring their diehard fanbase that's been buying all their crap and leeching off the successful designs of games with different gameplay is just... annoying.

Don't you get it? The 'diehard fanbase' are the ones pissing and moaning in Youtube comments about the 'other' fanbase - the ones actually going out and buying Sonic games. Guess which 'fanbase' I'd support. Guess which group of people, people with a whole different idea of video games, would return the most on an investment.


I didn't realise it was Angry Day! AAAARGH! RAAARGH!

[Lord Dilks]

This cannot come as any great surprise to anyone really, can it?

The image design of Sonic has been becomming more and more racid as the years have gone on, starting in Sonic 3, with it's subtle differences, and concluding in the Sonic Adventure series, which set the incredibly low standard of visual representation for years to come.
It was only natural that, in time, they would manage to lower the bar even furthur, and with this new obnoxious design, they have done just that.

Just wait, in 7 years time he'll be grey, wearing a white bath robe and will have wings. Just to please some other image-conscious cretins.

[Televator]

SEGA does what Nintendoes? Well seeing as how they no longer have a platform of their own... What else could they do?

[Pulstar]

Sonic is Sonic, don't read that deep into him.

I don't know why people keep on harping about the 2D Sonics. That was a different time and if Sonic is to ape Mario to stay relevant I find no problem with this.

[Baloo]

Sonic Colors looks pretty decent actually judging from that trailer! I like how they made the Sonic model a bit more pure, and not so EXTREEEME.

[Phosis]

I love Sonic but it is very clear what the games were right from the get go; a reaction to Mario, and a continuing franchise after the initial success used to keep the Genesis a step ahead of the SNES. After the console war between Sega and Nintendo was dead, and after Sega itself was dead in the console market, Sonic didn't have a real place anymore. The original games were great in my opinion, but they have not been able to effectively evolve Sonic to keep up with the successes of the Mario series. Once Sonic failed to impress in 3D the first time, especially in the wake of the success of Mario 64, it was too little too late, and Sonic officially lost that war.

The people behind recent Sonic games are continuing to aim it towards a younger demographic for the most part, whereas Mario has in a sense grown up with the player; while still keeping it's youthful charm that brought fans into it in the first place.

There is much more to it than that, but it amazes me to think how successful Sonic was in the first place. So it is not really dissapointing to see it sit in mediocrity. Even though I do hate any of the new games compared to the old ones, I still find many of the newer Sonic titles to be enjoyable. It continues in my mind to be an alright franchise where the odd game is worth playing. If you look at it, this has been one of the best years for Sonic in a long while; and if Colors is even a halfway decent platformer, it will certainly wipe the floor with every other Sonic game that has been released this generation.

Sonics success was bright, beautiful, but brief. That being said, for the detractors, the old games are not going anywhere; and they will still provide hours of fun, regardless of what garbage is released in the future. If we get another Sonic masterpiece one day, it will certainly be a nice perk, but it personally doesn't matter to me that much.

[MrX]

Sonic was created to combat mario, if sega could please mario fan boys well then it would be win-win for sega.. Just like in the early 90s when SEGA actually over took nintendo with market share with thanks to sonic and the megadrive.

This is not news really,

[Rusty Venture]

I fail to see how this is worse than Sonic running around with a talking sword or turning into a friggin' werehog.

I'm just glad Sonic has some focus again.

[Doktor D]

Don't you get it? The 'diehard fanbase' are the ones pissing and moaning in Youtube comments about the 'other' fanbase - the ones actually going out and buying Sonic games. Guess which 'fanbase' I'd support. Guess which group of people, people with a whole different idea of video games, would return the most on an investment.

Did I offend you? Sorry, not my intention.

I could talk all day about my feelings on the whole Sonic 'issue' but I doubt anyone cares. I just want to address a few things here.

First, the 'diehard fanbase' I was referencing are people who grew up with one of the classics and have been waiting and hoping for a good new Sonic game for a while now. For the record, I hate the people who piss and moan about every detail and can't be pleased. I'm also not against a new style of Sonic games as long as they're good.

I'm aware there's a younger fanbase that doesn't care about the classics as much. If the new games are fine for them, great. But, at least speaking for myself, I've been hoping they'd be able to take some of the elements that made the classics what they are and make a good 3D game with them. Now, I intend on picking up Sonic Colors pretty quickly, it looks pretty good. But it doesn't look like the kind of Sonic game I'd hoped for. And yeah, there's Sonic 4 trying to emulate the old skool style, but I'd still like to see them try it in 3D. They got pretty close with the Adventure series, ran into gameplay and design issues with several of the games after that, and now they're upping the quality by straying farther from the older designs. Not bad, but not what I'd hoped for. Hope you can see where I come from on that end.

Second, about them taking ideas from other games... I wouldn't care if they were just making the games up to modern standards. But like I said, they're straying farther from what I had hoped for, so there's going to be some animosity from me as they change the design according to games I didn't want them to make. And to top that off, it sounds like Sega's changing their designs according to what's popular in order to please people who aren't in the Sonic fanbase at all. As in they don't care about the older or younger generations of Sonic fans. As in they just want to make money off the game not caring who they cater to. As in selling out. That's why I said it's annoying.

Still, I'm not saying the newer-style games are bad. I liked Wii Unleashed (haven't played HD), Sonic Colors looks good. I was just hoping for a different game than what they're making and I'm kind of disappointed that they're essentially quitting that route.

I fail to see how this is worse than Sonic running around with a talking sword or turning into a friggin' werehog.

True dat.

[Cornholio857]

I fail to see how this is worse than Sonic running around with a talking sword or turning into a friggin' werehog.

I'm just glad Sonic has some focus again.

Yep yep!

[Why-Disciple]

Is this why he has long legs now?

[Jesse813]

I fail to see how this is worse than Sonic running around with a talking sword or turning into a friggin' werehog.

I Agree w/ Rusty

[kool kitty89]

Umm, that statement in the article is a bit contradictory since Nintendo platforms have been Sega's strong point after leaving the DC, especially for 2D games. (ie on handhelds)

That and that the original Sonic was designed more or less as a direct response to Mario, and in particular Yuji Naka wanted to make a game like SMB but with the sort of speed and action feel he loved.

Is this why he has long legs now?

He got long legs about 10 years ago, though that peaked (more or less) with STH'06 while more recent stuff has been more moderate.


And to me, it's not a whole lot different than Sony pushing mario other than Nintendo being bigger in the media and getting more mass-market interest.
I haven't really liked Nintendo's newer mario games (or the platformers at least) any more than Sega's 2003 and onward Sonic titles. (I know I'm in a minority, but I can't have fun with Mario Galaxy -if you include spinoffs liek some of the RPGs/adventure games it's a bit different, but the main 3D and 2D platform games I haven't cared for -albeit I never loved most of the classic 2D Marios and even the Sonic games I didn't like as much as the first 2 3D platformers, and SM64 and Sunshine were great in that genre, though I like SA2 in particular more in some areas)