Your Unanswered Sonic Questions

[Mysterious X]

SEGA had a fixation on Islamic culture in the mid-2000s. You had a villain named after the Islamic Devil, a villain called the Ifrit, and even a game based on Persian lore. The two Ifrits are entirely different; one's in a book and one's an actual being. It's sort of like how Erazor Djinn mentions "Iblis" in Secret Rings, but he's not talking about the creature from 06; he's talking about Satan.

 

Excuse me but there is something I need to clear out, there's a huge difference between the Islamic culture and the Arabic culture, the name 'Ifrit' is not after the Islamic Devil, in fact Ifrit means demon.

Now the one that appeared in 2006 is different, but yeah, in Sonic and the Secret Rings, 'Iblis' have been mentioned, whom is (like it were) the Islamic Devil, if you look up either the word Devil or Satan in an English Arabic dictionary, the Arabic word you'll find for both, is Iblis.

 

Why does the government pay Rouge in jewels instead of cash that'd allow her to more readily spend it on jewels of her choice?

 

In many titles, rouge clearly didn't show much interest in a jewel's color, beauty or value, maybe that's why she didn't care about choosing by herself, however, she showed sometimes that she had an interest in the size itself, and that's why she's always after the Master Emerald.

 

Has Sonic ever been in space without either 1, being Super, or 2, being in close proximity to a space station?

 

vvv okay, in anything anyone actually cares about?

 

Actually yes, like Omega said, I mean OmegaXCL not the robot, in Sonic X, they had a few adventures in outer space with the new character Cosmo (a new annoying character if you ask me, she's not useless but I can't stand the fact that Tails almost fell in love with her), he (or Shadow too) was shown several times standing outside Tails' spaceship, there's also a cannon in that spaceship that Sonic didn't need to go super to launch himself through it, but as far as I can recall, he needed a ring to power it up, but it has nothing to do with breathing in space, and anyway, when they saw that Shadow was about to get damaged in a new incident they decided to help him, Sonic and Amy were clearly standing on a tiny spaceship (outside it) that Chris was flying, and since Chris is a human he had to keep himself inside with the cockpit closed.

[Tani Coyote]

How does Silver travel through time in Rivals 1/2? In 06 he had Mephiles' assistance, but since 06 never happened he couldn't have kept his knowledge of Chaos Control that he got from Shadow. So exactly how is it that he's able to do that?

 

Excuse me but there is something I need to clear out, there's a huge difference between the Islamic culture and the Arabic culture, the name 'Ifrit' is not after the Islamic Devil, in fact Ifrit means demon.

Now the one that appeared in 2006 is different, but yeah, in Sonic and the Secret Rings, 'Iblis' have been mentioned, whom is (like it were) the Islamic Devil, if you look up either the word Devil or Satan in an English Arabic dictionary, the Arabic word you'll find for both, is Iblis.

 

I didn't say Ifrit meant the Islamic Devil; I said Iblis did. I also did not mention Arabic culture in my post...

 

Anyway, sorry for the misunderstanding but just figured I'd clear that up.

[Mysterious X]

No there wasn't much misunderstanding really.

I know you haven't mentioned the Arabic culture, but what I meant was that the Ifrit was not taken from the Islamic culture, you said: "You had a villain named after the Islamic Devil, a villain called the Ifrit".

 

Edit: Also note than there's a difference between saying "the Islamic Devil", and "the Islamic name of the Devil", because really, when we say Iblis, we mean the same Devil.

________________________________________________________________________________________

 

So I have this question.

In Sonic Heroes, Special Stages, we have the boost gauge that can be used to accelerate, so when I press the boost button (Button 4 as I set it on my gamepad), the camera goes back giving a feel for the boost, so I tried pressing the button repeatedly, it felt like it gave seriously crazy speed, while the gauge goes down slower than when we keep it pressed. But I wasn't sure so I wanted to make sure in Emerald Challenges, it didn't feel like I'm getting much closer to the Emerald, but when I tried it the proper way (keeping it pressed) it seemed like I got closer and got the Emerald in no time.

 

So the question is, is pressing the boost button repeatedly really gives us more boost?

Edited March 24, 2013 by Mysterious X

[Tani Coyote]

No there wasn't much misunderstanding really.

I know you haven't mentioned the Arabic culture, but what I meant was that the Ifrit was not taken from the Islamic culture, you said: "You had a villain named after the Islamic Devil, a villain called the Ifrit".

 

Oh, that was just poor juxtaposition on my part: I mean there was a villain named after the Islamic Devil and another villain called the Ifrit. 

 

Really this raises another question:

 

Why did SEGA take such an interest in Middle Eastern culture in the mid-2000s? There are no less than three counts of them making use of Arabic and Islamic terminology during this time.

[Chaos Incarnate]

Sonic X.

Sonic x isn't canon to the games.

[Aquaslash]

Holy skagsack, I had no idea Iizuka spoke on Nega.  Thanks for that info, that pretty much just confirms that the Rushes happen after each other but before Rivals 1.

[Tani Coyote]

Holy skagsack, I had no idea Iizuka spoke on Nega.  Thanks for that info, that pretty much just confirms that the Rushes happen after each other but before Rivals 1.

 

The fan questions segment at Sonic Boom 2012 was certainly pretty enlightening; it let us see into the guy's head to some extent or another. Really helped clear up a lot of ambiguities, while also creating some new ones. Have to keep the fans guessing.

 

I dunno how exactly they chose the questions (I suppose from the most popular ones or randomly from Twitter), but I'd definitely suggest we take questions from this thread and send them to him for this year's event(s). Who knows, we could get an answer from (who is basically in terms of the franchise) God himself.

[Mysterious X]

Oh, that was just poor juxtaposition on my part: I mean there was a villain named after the Islamic Devil and another villain called the Ifrit.

 

Oh thanks foe clearing that out, and as for your question, I have no idea!

It's not like SEGA was one of a kind, Ubisoft showed a huge interest through the Prince of Persia franchise, then in 2008, in Assassin's Creed.

[Tani Coyote]

It's not like SEGA was one of a kind, Ubisoft showed a huge interest through the Prince of Persia franchise, then in 2008, in Assassin's Creed.

 

My guess would be that eventually Western culture gets kind of dull and monotonous, so naturally franchises like to branch out. Middle Eastern culture is one of the largest besides European or Hindu, so it's a wonderful choice if one wants a lot of variety simply because the sheer amount of nations that it covers.

 

Who knows, maybe it was to try and make it easier to spread the franchise into that part of the world as it continues to develop; as time goes on the area will become a better market for gaming, and SEGA and a few others will be able to proudly state they were the first developers to actually take the local cultures into account in their titles.

[Mysterious X]

I wouldn't say Western culture got dull,but it's rather hard to make an enjoyable game based on it, unless it's a Shooter game, Bethesda did so well in Fallout New Vegas.

Now I don't think that the reason for SEGA was that they wanted the franchise to get spread in that part, but yes, they wanted to add some variety to their games before the usual repetitive styles get boring.

 

I personally loved what they did to Sonic Unleashed, the continent Chun-Nan was something like ChinaJapan... It was obviously based on East Asia, Holoska was based on Alaska (as a name) as it was the icy continent, and Shamar represented Middle East.

While each of the continents had music similar to their real world cultures, which was quite enjoyable.

But I have no idea what Eggmanland was standing for in the real world. xD

[Tani Coyote]

But I have no idea what Eggmanland was standing for in the real world. xD

 

Presumably not a country but a mentality: the fetish for industry, technology and reckless self-indulgence (carnival) over the beauty of the natural world.

 

Really I think it's safe to say Sonic might be somewhat bigoted and be a Luddite.

 

Speaking of Unleashed, where were the Latin American cultures? North America's represented, Asia's represented, Oceania's represented, the Middle East and Africa are represented, and Europe gets TWO countries for itself even (I can smell the Western bias from a mile away), so why weren't the Latin American cultures considered? There's a large variety there, many of them an interesting blend of aboriginal culture and that of Europe.

[Semi-colon e]

Probably a lack of time to create a level for it, and have an emerald altar or try and justify it in the story. I mean even Skyscraper Scamper doesn't have an emerald altar and contributes NOTHING to the story (though I'm glad it's in the game as it's one of my favourite stages).

[Mysterious X]

Aha, the

 

Presumably not a country but a mentality: the fetish for industry, technology and reckless self-indulgence (carnival) over the beauty of the natural world.

 

Really I think it's safe to say Sonic might be somewhat bigoted and be a Luddite.

 

Speaking of Unleashed, where were the Latin American cultures? North America's represented, Asia's represented, Oceania's represented, the Middle East and Africa are represented, and Europe gets TWO countries for itself even (I can smell the Western bias from a mile away), so why weren't the Latin American cultures considered? There's a large variety there, many of them an interesting blend of aboriginal culture and that of Europe.

 

I liked the part where you described Eggmanland as a type of mentality.

As for your question, I think that they wanted to leave some difference between the Sonic Unleashed world and the real world, so they chose Latin America to be out.

On a second thought and after reading Semi-colon e's post, there wasn't a need for a seventh continent, because they wanted the Seventh Chaos Emerald to be in Eggman's Eggmanland, so let's merge this with the point I already mentioned, that should make some sense.

 

Now if we give more thought into it, since Latin America is missing in the equation, and Eggmanland is added to it...

Then Eggmanland IS Latin America! O_O (just kidding...)

[theMaster]

My question:

 

Why is SEGA making Sonic look so selfish and such a glory-hunter that they aren't putting other playable characters in?

Edited March 25, 2013 by theMaster

[Mysterious X]

Could you please explain more? In most new Sonic games, he wasn't the only one playable.

In Sonic Adventure DX, each of the six characters had their own story that their stories were linked together in a really nice way. But in the end he turned into Super Sonic and took all the glory.

In Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, there were two stories, Sonic never had obviously more stages than the other characters, in the end, Sonic and Shadow turn super together, so he didn't sound very selfish to me.

In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), there were three characters with three stories that appeared to be one story, in the end... All three characters go super, Sonic, Shadow and Silver.

 

In my opinion, Sonic is SEGA's successor, if didn't have at least one game with him being the only playable character, then I think that would make him lose some reputation.

[Abominal SnowTaz]

Could you please explain more? In most new Sonic games, he wasn't the only one playable.

In Sonic Adventure DX, each of the six characters had their own story that their stories were linked together in a really nice way. But in the end he turned into Super Sonic and took all the glory.

In Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, there were two stories, Sonic never had obviously more stages than the other characters, in the end, Sonic and Shadow turn super together, so he didn't sound very selfish to me.

In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), there were three characters with three stories that appeared to be one story, in the end... All three characters go super, Sonic, Shadow and Silver.

 

In my opinion, Sonic is SEGA's successor, if didn't have at least one game with him being the only playable character, then I think that would make him lose some reputation.

He's banned dude. No need to continue that discussion.

[Mysterious X]

Oh...

He wasn't banned when I posted.

[Chariot]

Why doesn't the Super Sonic rolling physics for Sonic 2 and 3 alone work.

[Spin Attaxx]

I've heard that Super Sonic wasn't fully bug-tested in 2, and it shows (sometimes he'll fall through the Metropolis Zone teleporters, for example), so that might be why.

 

As for Sonic 3 alone, that game's so glitchy they tried to justify it in the manual.

Edited March 25, 2013 by Spin Attaxx

[NocturnalTwilight]

Sonic x isn't canon to the games.

 

It was never mentioned that it was supposed to be Canon, last I checked it was asked if Sonic had ever been, not just game canon wise. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

[Tani Coyote]

If Tails is immortal, why does he insist on stealing your air bubble in Hydrocity Zone? It's rather trollish.

 

Why are there giant Choppers patrolling Seaside Hill but not Jungle Joyride?

[Chaos Incarnate]

It was never mentioned that it was supposed to be Canon, last I checked it was asked if Sonic had ever been, not just game canon wise. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

I assumed the person you were responding to was talking about the game continuity. When you said sonic x, my canon sense was tingling, and I went into correct mode. I don't know if he was speaking overall, however, so you can correct me all you want if he didn't mean just the games.

[Bubbles]

I've heard that Super Sonic wasn't fully bug-tested in 2, and it shows (sometimes he'll fall through the Metropolis Zone teleporters, for example), so that might be why.

 

As for Sonic 3 alone, that game's so glitchy they tried to justify it in the manual.

Watch out for Robotnik's dastardly traps!

[SenEDDtor Missile]

If Tails is immortal, why does he insist on stealing your air bubble in Hydrocity Zone? It's rather trollish.

Kids like to try to pop soap bubbles whenever one floats through the air after it's been made, so maybe the same applies here. Besides, I'm pretty sure that Tails was only about 4 at the time, and genius or not, would still have child-like qualities, like popping bubbles .

Edited March 28, 2013 by 743-E.D. Missile

[Tani Coyote]

Kids like to try to pop soap bubbles whenever one floats through the air after it's been made, so maybe the same applies here. Besides, I'm pretty sure that Tails was only about 4 at the time, and genius or not, would still have child-like qualities, like popping bubbles .

 

Y'know what?

 

This doesn't reflect on Tails' intelligence at the time... so much as Sonic's. What was he thinking bringing a kid along, not only into deep water with a high chance of drowning, but who'd take an interest in bubbles he didn't even need?!