Post your story ideas for the next Sonic game

[DaddlerTheDalek]

What kind of story would you like in the next Sonic main series game? What characters would it feature? Where would it be set?

Tell me your ideas!

[Polkadi~☆]

Welllll... I've always wanted a large-scale story with a bit of an open world to go with it.

It's just another day of fighting Dr Eggman as usual for Sonic, trying to stop his plans. But Tails has been finding a strange universal disruption in his readings and reports. More signs that something is going on appear as Sonic tries to help his friends and strangers and stop Dr Eggman at the same time. Then when it comes to the final showdown with him, Tails finds that the disruption is going off the charts, and Eggman announces he has been working with a certain someone and opens up a portal. Within it, comes out Eggman NEGA, or just Nega. He makes easy work of Sonic and he is out of action for a while. After that, he proceeds to work with Eggman to conquer Mobius.

Two months pass, and we see Sonic resting at Tails' Workshop. Nega has made massive progress in taking over Mobius, and Sonic and Tails want to stop him. They have to get the seven Chaos Emeralds in order to power up the Tornado for universal travel. They set out to find the Chaos Emeralds, ending up going to old places like South Island or newer places like the Lost Hex. Soon, the duo find that they are not the only ones looking for the emeralds. Nega is after the emeralds to power up a creation of his that he had not revealed, and G.U.N has started to join in to keep the emeralds away from anyone who is after it, causing Sonic to call them his enemies.

After a long and hard search for the Chaos Emeralds, Tails powers up the Tornado and the duo take off to the universe where Nega comes from, which is the Sol universe. They find Blaze the Cat, who they work with to find Nega's plans and his weaknesses, coming across several distractions on the way. They finally find Nega's plans, and they find he is creating a device capable of destroying an entire universe and the duo rush off to get to their own universe, but find the Tornado has been destroyed. Meanwhile, back on their home universe, Eggman is getting tired of being bossed around by Nega and comes up with a plan of his own to stop Sonic and Nega at the same time.

Blaze tells the duo that they can get to their universe in a certain way, but they will end up in the future. The duo decide that this way is the only way to get back and do it. The duo travel to the future, where they find the world has been conquered by Nega. They are tasked with finding Silver the Hedgehog, and after a bit of running back and forth, they finally find him. Silver helps to send them home, but he warns Sonic that Eggman is up to a plan of his own.

The duo get back home, where they find that most of Mobius has been enslaved, and that their friends are in hiding. Sonic and Tails looks around for help and run around looking for their friends, when they are found by Metal Sonic, which they fight until Amy Rose makes easy work of and brings the duo to her hideout. Here they find the rest of their friends, scared from the takeover. The duo announce that they have a way to stop Nega and take off with their friends to stop him. They find him and find a large cannon aiming at the sky, ready to blast and destroy the universe. Sonic stops Nega as fast as possible and attempts to turn off the machine. It goes into an overdrive and aims down at Sonic. Eggman comes out and reveals that he had a plan as well, leaving Sonic tasked with stopping Eggman, but the cannon starts to get unstable, ready to blow. Sonic stops Eggman and escapes from the area with all his friends. The machine blows, but it only damages Eggman's lair, leaving him having to rebuild.

Sonic and his friends celebrate, but not for long, as Eggman had already come up with another plan. Sonic and Tails take off to stop him ready for another adventure.

...Basically, in a nutshell. It ain't perfect, and I'm still working out the kinks.

[Nepenthe]

Sonic is a series where it's difficult to pinpoint specifics in settings and plotting versus establishing a range of acceptable ideas. It stems from the problem of its ambiguous identity, but I find it a good thing that Sonic can be as reasonably lighthearted or as serious within the confines of an animated universe since it allows a bigger exploration of ideas and tones than if we were otherwise confined to one single aesthetic style. So where we go, who the bad guy is, or what Macguffins we're tracking down doesn't concern me. But here are some things I feel must happen in the series' stories to be both endemic to the franchise and to be better than the ones we're getting.

 

Story and gameplay need to inform each other: If a cutscene ends with Sonic is falling off a helicopter then his stage should open with him falling from the sky. If that stage ends with him in a town square, the next scene should show he's still in the square if it takes place in the immediate time frame of his arrival. Simple continuity like this is easily achievable and gives the audience the impression that there's progress being made in a world that can be mentally engaging regardless of its obvious fantasy elements. It's this very foundation of world-building that makes animation a feasible form of entertainment and, in the best case scenario, manipulative of our emotions. It should be a standard for games that bother with any story elements at all.

 

Settings need to make sense and have definition: The player should reasonably expect certain places to express certain features. This doesn't mean everything must be realistic; it means logic must simply exist. Sweet Mountain's a good example: Eggman's a bombastic character trying to take advantage of people with his theme park, hence an entire planet fashioned out of confectionery. So Sweet Mountain makes sense despite being a rare trope in Sonic games. Desert Ruins Act 3 in Lost World, as cute a pun as it is, doesn't work as well because the likelihood of an alien landscape being made entirely out of sweets invented on Earth is zero without some overriding explanation Lost World was never going to provide.

 

Furthermore, settings need definition to allow the player to understand not only where things are happening in the story, but also where they reside in the actual game itself. Sweet Mountain has ground and underground elements which gives you a reference point during gameplay and makes it safer to travel fast, because you know a fall will more than likely put you back on the ground. Desert Ruins doesn't have this considering it's in some weird, abstract, amorphous, sky desert dimension or something. Seriously, how does one even get to where Sonic is in that stage if the Tornado has been left behind stages ago?

 

Heroes need constant opposition: A big problem with how stagnant or tame recent stories feel is that the the villains either don't do anything to stop Sonic from progressing towards the end, don't follow through on previously-established threats, or they use an unnecessarily convoluted plan that prevents them from being more active pursuants of their own goals. So Sonic's to-do list gets checked off at every area's completion or boss's defeat, and the chances to present the necessary elements of adrenaline and danger to service action-adventure plots immediately shrink up. Without a handicap or secondary plot to contend with the story ceases to have highs and lows, no risk or excitement, and it's boring. At the very least, putting Eggman back as the active driver of every mecha would ameliorate this to a degree, or if we're going to have villains like the Deadly Six again then they need to prove a constant setback and catalyst for Sonic's movements. And again, this doesn't have to be difficult. Knuckles in Sonic 3 did a better job in this department and all he did was pull some switches and laugh at you.

 

Supporting characters need to be more active: Like it or not, three things Sega have established with Sonic are that: 1.) There are a lot of heroic animal characters aside from Sonic to help him save the day, 2.) Saving the day tends to amount to keeping the entire world from blowing up or transitioning to a state of physical decay or totalitarian rule, meaning 3.) These heroic animal characters have a vested interest in bringing something to the table- even if they don't like Sonic- because their lives are on the line too. Acting like they don't exist anymore or that it's fine that they've been reduced to passive support, plot hole-inducing boss characters, checklist fodder for Sonic, and overall cheerleaders is amazingly shortsighted, a massive disservice to one of the few things that was actually a standard concerning the franchise's identity. Even if they're never going to be playable anymore or if one doesn't care for that, it makes no sense to champion they awful way they've been handled. Seriously, this is like having an advertised Avengers movies where only Captain America does anything and everyone- including Ironman- rides his ego while sitting on the sidelines. What the fuck?

 

 

 

 

I may add more to this later, but tl;dr:

 

• Create a cycle where story informs gameplay which informs story. Review your game elements and know what's happening so there can be some continuity in the narrative and a sense that the world is complete to the audience. If Sonic steals a board from a shop for some reason in a cut scene, it should be the first gameplay element of the next stage with Sonic. Or if a stage ends with a boarding segment, the cutscene that happens after should begin with Sonic jumping off the board.

 

• People need to know where Sonic is in a given area and to be able to make logical assumptions about what's coming up in that area. This is not only in order to be more engaged with the story as a convincing fictional place, but to better understand how the gameplay in that area will function and to further force Sonic Team to stop making levels suspended in space for no reason in favor of more creative and world-building gameplay elements.

 

• Eggman or whatever the villain of the day is needs to constantly oppose Sonic throughout the narrative. There's that saying about a hero only being as great as their villain, and the recent stories explain why. With Eggman sitting on his laurels until the end, Sonic is essentially allowed to waltz through the game without actual conflict or blowback, thus there's nothing interesting ever going on for most of the time.

 

• The secondary cast needs to return to more relevant roles they were in once before, whether that be through gameplay roles, narrative roles, or both. Their current utilization as little more than game fodder or cheerleaders is a literal insult to all of them as characters with their own previously established agency and morals, as well as serves to throw away one of the few remaining things that was actually a consistent part of Sonic's identity. Seriously stop fucking them and their fans over, Sonic Team.

[ThePrinceOfSaiyans]

I'm honestly pretty easy to please when it comes to something as ridiculous as Sonic the Hedgehog. That being said, I want something a little darker than what we've been getting lately. As for the villain I want, I'm not sure. Eggman never disappoints, but part of me wants to see Metal Sonic again. Perhaps have Metal Sonic develop a conscience after an upgrade and have him betray Eggman at the beginning of the game. Make it his goal to wipe out all life with an army of robots. Metal Sonic would constantly obstruct the progress of Sonic and his friends with said army. I'd like the game to build Metal Sonic up as a massive threat by having the player lose to the upgraded Metal Sonic at the beginning of the game. Have Sonic and Tails rush into one of Eggman's bases to try and prevent him from using "the ultimate weapon", as Eggman would describe it. The 2 would fail, and they would be beaten badly by Metal Sonic. They'd manage to escape with Dr. Eggman, though, and I'd also like to see Eggman begrudgingly help Sonic and friends take down Metal Sonic. 

[Multikaris]

First and foremost, Robotnik needs to be made a threat again as opposed to comic stupidity. Considering how far he's gone in clownishness starting from Lost World, we need him to do something threatening at the start of the game. This game must show this is not the Baldy McNosehair of Boom right from the onset. Perhaps have him bust out the Death Egg again? Battle evidences he has at least one still floating about, and Lost Hex might be Little Planet/Death Egg 2. And speaking of Lost Hex...

 

Little Planet/Death Egg 2/ Lost Hex I see as being Sonic's equivalent to the Cartoon Wasteland, filled with the unused bits of junk that never quite made it.  Upon the Lost Hex, I see many possibilities for more story as opposed to just filler. Perhaps we can finally meet Tiara Boobowski and co? Or explore the Cray Castle? Or find out about 06 Blaze's final fate? The Deadly Six might not merit another chance, though...

 

I'd also incorporate a strong moral ambiguity to the game. You know how Sonic said he was willing to be the bad guy? Maybe he could consider a full Face-Heel Turn for some reason? This turn won't be permanent, however.

[The Chairman Of The Board]

I don't want to make this long so just do a line for line scene for scene game adaption of World's Collide (The first Sonic/Mega Man crossover).

[Drawloverlala]

well as the way that Sonic is going.. (a pretty colourful path)  i would like "The Wizard of Oz" storybook game..

you know. the yellow brick road .. it would be nice for Sonic to follow only the yellow rails and stuff..

  just imagine this but with Sonic shoes enstead

 

EDIT:err..... second though my idea was very a miss..... but i guess that picture and the idea speaks more than all my messy story thing ehhehe

Edited June 2, 2015 by Drawloverlala

[Goro Man]

Like in this…

With sane setting, interesting plot. About the relationship to Sonic with Eggman (perhaps even with the murder and resurrection of Eggman), or about the disclosure Sonic''s past (and maybe show it - my mother, who is - a true Ultimate Life Form)! And I personally for the second option. The story of the Sonic's past will help this game to sell at 2-3 million copies. After all - "WOW! In this game, there is the showing past of Sonic?! This news decade!! I do not need spoilers, I will definitely buy the game to find out myself!!". (And the script was written to Ian Flynn).

And I would add more Amy, Eggman and this new character as playbele characters.

And for Sonic - weapon - guitar-laser axe-blaster gun.

[Eomercin]

Game Concept & Characters: A Sonic Collect-a-ton where you can change between 4 Characters (ala DK64) (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy) set in the Classic Sonic Era, and play like Donkey Kong 64 but Way Faster, Sonic plays like the Sonic Adventure games, but if you go fast enough you'll enter a Boost mode wich works just liek the boost from the modern games, except you cannot do it at will, you have to go REALLY fast, Tails plays the same but no boost mode, he can Fly and Swim, Knuckles plays slower than the Sonic & Tails but still fast paced, and more Beat-em-up-ish, with the ability to Punch, Dig, Glide and Climb, this time only Certain Walls, and Amy wich pays more like your tradicional Platformer (like Mario 64 to be excact), he's better for more percise platforming.

Story: Sonic was chilling in Green Hill until Eggman came and turned every animal into a robot, as usual Sonic defeats him then Eggman after getting tired of being defeated, he accidentally finds out about a Time Traveling Stone (not related to the Time Stones) and uses it to build a Time Machine, then Eggman goes to the past just to literally kill Sonic's Past Self in Central City, then Sonic of the future realises he starts vanishing, then goes chasing Eggman when he sees Tails being attacked by a few of Eggman's Warbots, he defeats him and saves Tails just to realise his Vanishing, Tails helps Sonic and joins him, after attacking Eggman's base, they find the machine but accidentally, one of the robots destroys the stone powering it, making Sonic unable to go back unless he finds the pieces scattered trough the world, they later find Amy in central city and battle aganist Knuckles since he was tricked again, and along the way we also fight Fang the Weasle, who wants to sell the Stone shards you must collect in the black market and become rich, ater it's revealed that Eggman's also building a new set of robots to rule over the world, the Metalix Project, and thus they get the pieces and use the time machine to travel back in time and rule over everything, Sonic fights emperor Metalix, gets the last shard and goes back in time and saves himself, then Eggmann from the Past fights Sonic from the present, and then Eggman from the future realizes that his plan failed, the Game ends in a fight aganist the Egg Dragon and then after defeating Eggman, Eggman runs away seeing his Base destroyed, and then Sonic & Tails celebrate eating some chili dogs.

Also it takes place based off the early Sonic games (Sonic 1 - Sonic R so Sonic has his classic form, the earth is called Mobius, and there's almost no sign off humans, almost sice Eggman's one)

Collectibles: It isn't a Collect-a-ton Platformer without collectables, now, in every World, there's 10 Stone shards, 5 Animal Friends & 6 Red Star Rings wich you can use as currrency for special upgrades & weapons, there's also special Cards containing artwork & sprites from previous Sonic games, you also find the 7 Chaos Emeralds by getting every Animal Friend.

Shopping & Upgrades: In every Stage, often near the Starting Point there's a special monitor that when hit, it Spawns an Omochao Shop nearby, where you can exchange for Upgrades, you can also buy normal Power-Ups such as Shields

Upgrades:

Sonic:

Light Speed Dash (Allows to traverse rings)

Jet Boots (Gives you a Triple Jump, and allows for lighter falling)

Sommersault Ring (Allows you to Sommersault and go trouhg really small edges

Magic Glove (Allows you to turn enemys into Balls and throw thm at other enemys)

Tails:

Jet Anklet (Makes Tails fly faster)

Rythm Badge (Allows Tails to perform the Tails Attack)

Ring Bomb (Allows Tails to throw explosive rings at enemies)

Robo Buddy (Tails summons a robotic buddy that enters trough small spaces & is able to solve puzzles, Requires 10 Red Rings)

Knuckles:

Shovel Claw (Allows Knuckles to dig on the walls or the ground)

Sunglasses (Allows Knuckles to see invicible objects)

Hammer Glove (Allows Knuckles to break steel containers)

Explosion Slam (Allows Knuckles to cause massive explotion)

Amy:

Sage Feather (Allows Amy to perform the Spin Hammer Attack)

Long Hammer (Makes Amy's Piko Piko Hammer Longer)

Fire Hammer (Allows Amy to set his hammer on fire and thus burn his enemys)

Tornado Hammer (Allows Amy to charge his Spin Hammer Attack and thus cause tornados, perfect to propulse you upwards

Stages:

Green Hill Gates (Tutorial)

Eggman's Lair (Hub World)

Green Hill Zone (Zone 1)

Chaotic Carnival Zone (Zone 2)

Sunken Atlantis Zone (Zone 3)

(Have no more ideas, please see later)

[Eomercin]

On 16/3/2018 at 10:16 PM, Eomercin said:

(Have no more ideas, please see later)

Im back, and i got more stage ideas:

Sunset Empire Zone (Zone 4) (Japanese Temples in the sky)

Stardust Speedway Zone (Boss Zone 1)

Radical Canion Zone (Zone 5) (Military Base in the middle of a cannion)

Hunted Heist Zone (Zone 6) (Scary House)

Volcano Factory Zone (Zone 7) (Factory in a Volcano)

Computer Base Zone (Zone 8) (Gigant Eggman Mech)

Central City Zone (Boss Zone 2)

Ice Palace Zone (Zone 9) (Ice Summit)

Special Zone (Zone 10) (Based of CD & Mania Special Stages)

Space Carrier (Zone 11) (Like the Egg Carrier, but adapted into a space ship)

Death Egg (Boss Zone 3)