Sonic & Humor

[Vertekins]

I'd say that shows with a long lifespan are particularly prone to Flanderization of the characters because the characters' personalities and mannerisms tend to get exaggerated in order to compensate for more outlandish plots because the show has exhausted quite a lot of storylines and/or the writers aren't as creative as they used to be, so characters take the slack and effectively turn into parodies of themselves.

 

Colours undoubtedly does this to an extent. Whether or not that's a good thing is a matter of personal opinion.

[Kareemadeem]

Well since this video kinda covers most of what I covered in this topic, I feel it should be posted here:

 

http://rogerregorroger.deviantart.com/art/Sonic-Dissected-13-1-379316549

 

Warning: Contains critical opinions on Colors` writing. If you're somebody that's enjoyed the writing for that game, don't watch this video, its only gonna piss you off and/or make you sad.

Here is the same video on Youtube:

Sonic Dissected 9-1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q2tLUN5DE0

[Kuzu]

I'd say that shows with a long lifespan are particularly prone to Flanderization of the characters because the characters' personalities and mannerisms tend to get exaggerated in order to compensate for more outlandish plots because the show has exhausted quite a lot of storylines and/or the writers aren't as creative as they used to be, so characters take the slack and effectively turn into parodies of themselves.

 

Colours undoubtedly does this to an extent. Whether or not that's a good thing is a matter of personal opinion.

 

I feel this tends to happen because they wanted to "breathe new life into the series"

 

I'd be more comfortable with this position if the writers actually knew how to make the humor work, but they don't.

[TheDanimator]

I have a few favorite humor related moments...
No particular order...

Sonic Adventure:  When Tails says..."It transformed again! Did you see that?"
And Sonic makes a face like "No Shit"

Sonic Adventure 2: When Knuckles takes control of the shuttle and Sonic freaks out.
I also love knuckles reaction to king boom boo

Sonic Heroes: When Sonic looks at one of the many objects Eggman modeled after himself and says something like..."That egghead sure has some problems"


I also quite enjoy the humor in colors, for different reasons.

Some of it is certainly forced, but there are legit funny moments also.

Edited July 5, 2013 by TheDanimator

[Vertekins]

I feel this tends to happen because they wanted to "breathe new life into the series"

 

I'd be more comfortable with this position if the writers actually knew how to make the humor work, but they don't.

I personally attribute it to not knowing the characters all that well

Or

Complete adherence to the tone of the story to the point of foisting that tone upon the characters. Which sidelines their other traits and has a large impact on the story because as you said, Sonic no longer takes Eggman seriously as a result of that.

I think we're getting off-topic at this point though...

So I'll just reiterate my views; Subtle humor is what appeals to me in Sonic as well as visual and not-overdone vocal instances of it that come off as comical i.e Sonic's deadpan snarky glance at Tails when he states the obvious on the Egg Carrier, Sonic jokingly commiserating if he should hand over the fake emerald for Amy in SA2, Sonic and Chip getting one over the other in the cutscene after the second temple's restoration. Running gags like Sonic's propensity for faceplanting. Sonic's visible horror/sadness at losing his Chili Dogs in BK and Generations.

[Super Sonic 7]

I agree with the guy who said attempts at humor in this series usually fails and appeals more towards little kids at best. My fav example of humor is the drunk Sonic in SA. Unintentional, yes. But that always made me laugh more than the writing/voice acting (I haven't played SA, I looked it up on youtube after a forumer told me it was good) whenever I see Sonic collapsing like that.

It's toward the end where he beats the boss if someone hasn't seen it.

[ArtFenix]

part 2

If I worked at SEGA and was higher than Iizuka, I would hire these guys to write for Sonic games. They are SO much better than the current sorry ass-writers.

Edited July 5, 2013 by ArtFenix

[Kuzu]

part 2

If I worked at SEGA and was higher than Iizuka, I would hire these guys to write for Sonic games. They are SO much better than the current sorry ass-writers.

Have you even seen any of his other videos?

[Solly]

I feel like Sonic, being both an action game and a series with a cartoonish tone, doesn't really lend itself to comedy that's mainly centered around dialogue. This was one of the main problems I had with Sonic Colors' writing (the other problem being that it simply wasn't funny most of the time.)

 

If anything, I think that if they're going to take a comedic approach to the series, situational irony and physical comedy are probably the way to go. While one-liners can be funny, a scene can't stand up on them. 

[Vertekins]

Wait...I thought that Ken and Warren wrote Madworld? So why are these people struggling to discuss their other writer credits due to so-called 'obscurity'? That video has the same problem as the last, making really farfetched and convoluted conclusions :/ and you know, I don't so much agree with their view that story affects gameplay as much as I would if they said that 'story is unimportant' is in itself a notion that is holding back quality in games, which it is.

 

Oh, and they actually make a small error regarding the SA2 example as you aren't immediately dumped into Crazy Gadget after Eggman takes Amy and Tails hostage, Meteor Herd and Rouge come first, which mitigates the 'suspense' quite a bit.

[Jolt_TH]

I always thought that cutscenes was misplaced due to the time increasing between that cutscene and Meteor Herd

[GoldenSpikes]

For me, the humour in Sonic (and story in general, to be honest) should be a bit more visual based and should happen mostly during gameplay.

While I do enjoy having cutscenes and voice acting, one of my favourite stories in the franchise is Sonic 3 & Knuckles'. In terms of humor, this game has one of my favourite moments in the franchise, it's when you get to the end of Flying Battery and find Eggman has rebilt the boss from Wing Fortress Zone, but actually tried to improve it by making the lazer bigger, shrinking the room and removing the platforms Sonic used to destroy the first lazer. The problem here was that Eggman ends up blowing up his own ship due to firing the giant lazer at the floor too many times. I love this moment, if it's your first time encountering this boss you'll likely be stressed, you can't reach the lazer, you can't bust through the walls, the room is constantly shrinking and when you barely have room to dodge-Bam! The fortress blows up due to the lazer. It's an awesome twist, you suddently fell relieved to survive that seemingly unbeatable boss and then you just can't help but laugh at how Eggman overlooked something like this, and the fact that this happened in-gameplay adds to the emotions you're feeling during this situation. If it was cutscene, you wouldn't be worried about dying, and you wouldn't feel as relieved when everything blows up.

Again, in Sonic 2 or in Sonic CD, after beating certain bosses you find Eggman outside of his machines, and most likely, you'll try to chase him, only to find that despite you're super peel-outs and spindashes you can't catch him. Which resulted in a much better moment than when in say, Sonic 4, where they take control away from you in the E.G.G. Station and have Sonic run automatically after Eggman. Sure, you know Sonic is fast from what you've been playing, but because you didn't gain the speed in E.G.G Station from tricks you've learned from you're adventure like in Sonic 2, you're not really as surprised as in the 16-bit games.

They also had the "Troll Post" at the end of Classic City Escape in Generations which I did find pretty awesome. As well as the GUN Truck, but even then while it is still in-gameplay, it's a lot more automatic say the Flying Battery lazer so I'd say it does end up being more of a cutscene in the end, granted not to the extent as the Sonic 4 example I gave.

So yeah, this is the type of humor I look for in Sonic games, which I guess ends up based around the ridiculousness of the spectacle in most cases and not so much in terms of dialogue. Though I do want to echo the praise for the PA Announcements from Colours a lot of people have already mentioned.

[FromASloth]

I've always believed that Sonic humor is hit or miss. Most fans get a good laugh out of the unintentional humor rather than the jokes written. However, Sonic's sense of sarcasm, like in this bit always makes me laugh:

Dr. Eggman: "This amusement park was constructed entirely out of a sense of remorse for my past transgressions, and is in no way associated with any sort of evil plot or premeditated misdeeds."

Sonic: "Well, that's a relief."

Also, the PA system messages from Dr Eggman are a RIOT. You won't hear them much in the game, but I promise you, they are gems.

Edited July 5, 2013 by FromASloth