Classic Sonic - US vs JP

[Tani Coyote]

Definitely JP. Glad they used him for Generations. He's got a smoother design and to me that's a huge plus.

 

Though really, normally I can't tell the difference between the two Classic Sonics unless they're side by side.

 

Enter the plot for Sonic Generations 2.

Edited February 2, 2013 by Ogilvie Maurice

[Chaos Incarnate]

Ugh,,,,,,,,, american is so fucking butt ugly.... Japanese Sonic is miles better. He manages to look cute, cocky, iconic, and badass at the same time. The less said about american, the better.

[Solly]

The Japanese design's a lot better. 

With that said, I don't really have anything against the US design for being Americanized or anything. SoA did what they felt they needed to, and as awful as he looked, American Sonic ended up influencing changes in his overall design, such as the lack of fangs, etc. 

But it really is awful compared to Sonic Team's final product. He's like a fat little punk who thinks he's cool, and also he's slightly melting for some reason. 

[GEO1452]

So, wait. Sega was planning the Archie crossover for... 20 years?

Lol, no, that pic was actually done to promote megaman wily wars on the sega genesis/megadrive.

[HeroMystic]

I never really felt a difference between the two, to be honest.

[iDEATH]

Am I the only one that doesn't think american is actually another design? Can't say I ever thought that was the  case as a child, my copy of sonic 1had japanese, sonic 2 had American, but seeing as it was just the cover art it never bothered me, I was more concerned with how sonic looked in the game....

 

So if

looks like

 

and

 

 looks like

 

 

then......

 

What's the problem?

Edited February 3, 2013 by Jake Bird

[Nepenthe]

Using two styles of art to represent the same in-game entity doesn't suddenly mean you only have art style. You would be hard-pressed to tell me this Megaman and this Megaman are not different designs just because the in-game sprite is the same. 

[Vertekins]

Am I the only one that doesn't think american is actually another design? Can't say I ever thought that was the  case as a child, my copy of sonic 1had japanese, sonic 2 had American, but seeing as it was just the cover art it never bothered me, I was more concerned with how sonic looked in the game....

 

So if

looks like

 

and

 

 looks like

 

 

then......

 

What's the problem?

 

Sonic's sprites in-game showed the back of his head with 3 rows of spines;

 

 

This is in direct contrast with his US art that depicts his spines in one row like a mohican, an aspect also prevalent in Sonic's AoStH, SatAM and early Archie designs.

[Blue Blood]

Classic Sonic clearly has two different designs. The biggest differences are a result of art style yes, but you can't argue that there was only one design.

Edited February 3, 2013 by Blue Blood

[Tornado]

Sonic's sprites in-game showed the back of his head with 3 rows of spines...

...starting with Sonic 2. Edited February 3, 2013 by Tornado

[Vertekins]

...starting with Sonic 2.

 

Except that pieces of some of the very earliest concept art that predate Sonic 2 showed the back of his head;

 

 

The History of Sonic book also states from the word of Yuji Naka that one of the purposes of the Sonic 2 Special Stage was to depict the back of Sonic's head.

 

The US design either ignores this established aspect of Sonic's design or interpreted his spines to be intended to be mohican-like.

[mikeblastdude]

I have to admit, I have a nostalgic fondness for the US "assface" design. It was what I grew up with, and, for a while, it was the only style that I associated with Sonic other than the in-game sprites.

 

With that being said, I think the JP design is much better and definitely more timeless. I'm glad that's what's being used with all of the new "classic" Sonic merchandise that's been coming out.

[Tornado]

Except that pieces of some of the very earliest concept art that predate Sonic 2 showed the back of his head;

 

 

The History of Sonic book also states from the word of Yuji Naka that one of the purposes of the Sonic 2 Special Stage was to depict the back of Sonic's head.

 

Doesn't matter. At that point your argument has gone from how the games actively contradicted the American artwork from the start (and thus was "wrong," I assume) to how Sonic Team might have intended Sonic to look a certain way in the games at some unspecified point but never actually implemented it notably until the second game. Most of the Sonic designs and world building as far as SoA continuity goes were done concurrently with Sonic 1's development, and were based off of things as they were seen in Sonic 1. I've seen Sonic 1 sprite sheets, and there's only one pose in the entire game (a blink-and-you'll-miss-it one in the ending sequence when he jumps at the screen) that it appears that he clearly has three rows of spikes. All of the other ones either look like one row or it is impossible to tell if it is three rows or just shading. Even the ones where he spins around to face away from the camera in the tubes in Labyrinth Zone look like one row of spikes with shading .

 

The US design either ignores this established aspect of Sonic's design or interpreted his spines to be intended to be mohican-like.

This isn't like Bad Box Art Megaman where it obviously was drawn by someone who had never seen the game. The SoA artists didn't ignore established aspects of Sonic's design because those aspects weren't clearly established when they committed to the art style that they used from there on out. This was something that was perfectly correct considering the context that the art style was designed for, but then made incorrect by later refinements of the design but was kept for whatever reason (likely for marketing consistency, or possibly because the original artist was just redrawing the original picture with minor changes as Caterkiller's GIF suggests, or maybe both).

 

 

 

 

Your argument is a bit like saying that the various awesome Shinkiro artwork for old SNK games:

 

 

Put together for a certain game:

 

 

Is wrong because games made later used completely different designs for the spritework:

 

Edited February 3, 2013 by Tornado

[batson]

Am I the only one that doesn't think american is actually another design? Can't say I ever thought that was the  case as a child, my copy of sonic 1had japanese, sonic 2 had American, but seeing as it was just the cover art it never bothered me, I was more concerned with how sonic looked in the game....

 

So if

looks like

 

and

 

 looks like

 

 

then......

 

What's the problem?

 

Yeah, i know what you mean. In my mind, the "real" classic Sonic is neither the one featured on japanese artwork or the one featured on western artwork. It's the one that's actually featured in the classic games. Granted though, the in-game version of Sonic do have a lot more in common with JP artwork Sonic than US artwork Sonic, but the technical limitations of the time made sure that in-game Sonic could never actually look exactly the same as any detailed, hand-drawn artwork.

[MamboCat]

Sonic's sprites in-game showed the back of his head with 3 rows of spines;

 

 

This is in direct contrast with his US art that depicts his spines in one row like a mohican, an aspect also prevalent in Sonic's AoStH, SatAM and early Archie designs.

 

This too used to bother me when I was a kid... (well not that much, but I did notice it in the game sprites then next time I'd see the cartoon I'd compare...) the single line of spikes in AoSTH etc I guess was down to either simplifying the character for animation or just a lack of knowledge of the source material. :/ That's what I'd assume anyway.

 

I think the Sonic 2 special stage model is where the STC design came from... well, the early Christmas Tree Sonic anyway...

[iDEATH]

I'm definitely a fan of japanese sonic over Americass, I've just never been bothered by him, some people seem genuinely bothered by him whereas to me he's just never been a problem.

 

There was a time when the artwork used to promote games was almost always radically different to what was in the games, mostly due to technical  limitations of the game, but these weird pieces of artwork are never described as another version of the character like assface seems to be referred to.

 

 

I've always just lumped assface in with these weird pieces of artwork.

[Nepenthe]

No one here has seriously said that the American design is a completely different entity or implied that the Japanese design is "true" or anything. This is merely a conversation about which design is preferential to you; nothing more, nothing less.

[Spin Attaxx]

I'm definitely a fan of japanese sonic over Americass, I've just never been bothered by him, some people seem genuinely bothered by him whereas to me he's just never been a problem.

 

There was a time when the artwork used to promote games was almost always radically different to what was in the games, mostly due to technical  limitations of the game, but these weird pieces of artwork are never described as another version of the character like assface seems to be referred to.

 

 

I've always just lumped assface in with these weird pieces of artwork.

 

What's that last one from?

[batson]

What's that last one from?

 

I think that's Master Higgins from the Adventure Island series, but i could be wrong.

 

EDIT: And indeed i was wrong. See the reply below mine for the truth, as i stay here and hang my head in shame, never to dare to refer to myself as a retro-gamer again.

Edited February 3, 2013 by batson

[iDEATH]

Alex Kidd on the megadrive

 

spoilered for size

 

Pretty different huh?

Edited February 3, 2013 by Jake Bird

[KHCast]

I think it's silly that I'd have to like the American design just because I grew up in America looking at that one. I might have not even like that design as a kid. We all have different opinions on this. What's wrong with liking the Japanese design more? I think the Japanese one just looks more natural. He looks more goofy,wacky and a cute as well as well as looking like a badass when needed. And it's been able to show sonics personality and expressions much better IMO. I you like American sonic, cool. Just please don't tell us what we should like.

no the person who made sonic wanted him to be an American character and the Jap version came after made there own sonic and copied Sonic the Hedgehog the first sonic game made
He's a cartoon character he looks the same in every picture because thats his pose and quite calling him "assface" bugs bunny, mickey mouse, daffy duck,... the list goes on and on of American characters that have that all you that call him that are retarded and if your American why the heck do you like Jap sonic retards it should be Americans like American sonic and Japs should like Jap sonic

[LATER BUDDY]

no the person who made sonic wanted him to be an American character and the Jap version came after made there own sonic and  copied Sonic the Hedgehog the first sonic game made

He's a cartoon character he looks the same in every picture because thats his pose and quite calling him "assface" bugs bunny, mickey mouse, daffy duck,... the list goes on and on of American characters that have that  all you that call him that are retarded and if your American why the heck do you like Jap sonic retards it should be Americans like American sonic and Japs should like Jap sonic

 

Hi.

 

Don't call my members retards. Instead, learn how to communicate like a human being and respect others' opinions or I guarantee you won't last long here.

 

If you got any questions, read this like 5 times over

[Rexeljet]

As for my thoughts on American Classic Sonic, I personally think that there are far too many things about him that needn't have been done. For example, I understand why his more "angry" expression was added in, but why did they feel the need to give him bandy legs? why did they decide to make him chubby? why do his limbs look so thin compared to his body? was it for comedic purposes? as in "Hey, isn't it ironic that this character with bandy legs that barely support his massive gut can run at the speed of sound?" or did the artist not realise that he was meant to be a fast character, or did he/she just not care either way?

[Spin Attaxx]

Yeah, calling people retards just because they like something that's not from the country they grew up in is just low. I find the JP design pretty cool, and US is just... eurgh. And I'm a Brit.

 

EDIT: And thanks to Diz, that made absolutely no sense because the context is removed.

 

was it for comedic purposes? as in "Hey, isn't it ironic that this character with bandy legs that barely support his massive gut can run at the speed of sound?"

 

Funnily enough, that would apply to Eggman.

Edited February 17, 2013 by Spin Attaxx

[-Mark-]

I'm definitely a fan of japanese sonic over Americass, I've just never been bothered by him, some people seem genuinely bothered by him whereas to me he's just never been a problem.

 

There was a time when the artwork used to promote games was almost always radically different to what was in the games, mostly due to technical  limitations of the game, but these weird pieces of artwork are never described as another version of the character like assface seems to be referred to.

 

 

I've always just lumped assface in with these weird pieces of artwork.

 

Holy crap I never noticed that before. 

 

Does Assface Kidd Alex Kidd there have his right ear coming out of the top of his head?

 

CANNOT UNSEE. 

 

Also, do bear in mind the whole 'promotional artwork looking nothing like the actual game' was very much an American/ Western thing. Alex Kidd's boxart bore a much stronger resemblace to his games, especially for Miracle World;

 

 

EDIT: Partially ninja'd by Jake Bird. D:

Edited February 17, 2013 by -Mark-