No excuse for Sonic on the Saturn...

[Tanegashima]

Okay, I picked up a Saturn game called Pandemonium about two months ago and never had the time to pick it up and play it.

It's a 2.5 platformer with completely 3D backgrounds and a rotating camera that can get a titch nauseating but it does its job nicely.

This game is extremely fast at points (the last several levels come to mind) and this game simply looks incredible and in many ways plays like a sonic the hedgehog game. This game is proof to me that Sega could very well have come up with a new Sonic game that was both very speedy, still maintained the simple elements of the original sonic games and had some newish 3D elements.

I love Sonic R and all, but it's painfully slow...they could have used the Pandemonium formula and had a winner I think...

take a look, doesn't this just scream sonic?

http://www.consolemad.co.uk/shop/seg...aturn-102.html

[MrMatthews]

Sonic would have made a fine 2.5D game. Sonic and 3D just don't seem to be good bedfellows - unless they want to turn it into a Crash Bandicoot game (*cough* Unleashed)

[nathanallan]

Shadow the Hedgehog looked nice on the Cube-- though I know this is a Saturn thread, had to throw that in.

Sega could have, but for some reason didn't work on a 3d Sonic very much it seems. It could have carried the system a bit maybe.

Nathan

[j_factor]

People would have trashed it, saying it doesn't compare to Mario 64.

[Rusty Venture]

Well, Mario 64 doesn't compare to earlier Mario games.

Blurry 3D is supposed to make me overlook Mario punching, kicking, and buttstomping his fat ass all over? Excuse me while I caress my copy of "Super Mario Brothers 3".

[MrMatthews]

Ooh, there's a good debate: Mario 3 vs Mario World . . .

Despite the fact that ALL early 3D games were shitty to some degree, people were right to compare every single game (unfavorably, for the most part) to Mario 64.

Before you simply dismiss my argument, let me first ask a question: don't you think everyone was right to compare all those animal mascots to Sonic the Hedgehog?

When a developer gets a formula "right," that game will be used to measure all subsequent efforts into the genre.

And as I recall, sonic Adventure was held against Mario 64 and was still reviewed favorably. A Sonic game on the Saturn could have fared just as well, especially since Mario 64 was basically the only weapon the N64 had for a long time.

[Genesis Knight]

Have you guys actually played pandemonium? Its nothing like sonic.

[retrospiel]

Pandemonium was ported to Saturn in 1997, when Pandemonium 2 came out for PlayStation.

Other than that, I really am not sure why people would want a 3D Sonic on Saturn. I think Sonic World in Sonic Jam shows the maximum of what's been possible and also why there was no Sonic Team 3D Sonic game: It would have been nowhere near as good as a 2D Sonic.

[Benjamin]

Other than that, I really am not sure why people would want a 3D Sonic on Saturn. I think Sonic World in Sonic Jam shows the maximum of what's been possible and also why there was no Sonic Team 3D Sonic game: It would have been nowhere near as good as a 2D Sonic.

Pandemonium isn't the apex of the "2.5-D" game though, and a Sonic game done in that manner could have been just as impressive as Klonoa using a good mix of polygons and sprites. I believe people just expected a 32-bit Sonic to be Sega's answer to Mario 64, and to be favorable meant adapting that horrible free roaming environment which just doesn't suit the typical Sonic game.

[MrMatthews]

Sonic would work perfectly fine in a 3D game. It's really only when the developers try to incorporate a sense of speed that the game flounders.

Gamers needn't bemoan a sonic game that forces them to slow down. Even in the first game, speed wasn't exactly heavily encouraged.

[0x15e]

Sonic Rush would've been awesome on the Saturn, IMO.

[j_factor]

Well, Mario 64 doesn't compare to earlier Mario games.

Blurry 3D is supposed to make me overlook Mario punching, kicking, and buttstomping his fat ass all over? Excuse me while I caress my copy of "Super Mario Brothers 3".

I actually don't like Mario 64. But people went nuts over it. A lot of people said it was the best game ever and crap like that. Mario 64 was a fully 3D, "wandering around in three dimensions" type game. A 2.5D Sonic game coming out around the same time would have been criticized as weak and passé in comparison. Even if it was an extremely fun game.

Then again, it would've been better than nothing.

[steve]

I love Pandemonium! Went though all 22 levels summer of 2003 and recall it as being one of those really memorable gaming experiences. I just clicked with the game; graphics, music, gameplay, atmosphere. Just a really cool, fun, pleasant game to play and take in

[Tanegashima]

I have decided though, that Elevator Action Returns is probably my favorite game on the entire system...none of the 3D titles with the exception of the graphic adventures like Enemy Zero come even close to the amazing 2D arcade ports/arcade sequels (like Elevator Action Returns...).

A 2.5 Sonic may have seemed passe, but it could have been damn fun.

[Phantar]

Sonic would work perfectly fine in a 3D game. It's really only when the developers try to incorporate a sense of speed that the game flounders.

Gamers needn't bemoan a sonic game that forces them to slow down. Even in the first game, speed wasn't exactly heavily encouraged.

But isn't the sense of Speed one of the trademarks of a good Sonic-game?
The reason while I heavily disliked the isometric "Sonic 3D" on the Mega Drive was because it felt too slow for a Sonic-Game. In my eyes, it just wasn't Sonic.