Detective SSMB & The Case of the Sonic 25th Anniversary "P.g. 100 is the best... food discussion started."

[Indigo Rush]

Big's appearance and mention in spin-offs are proof that he's not "retired," or at least not any more "retired" than the Chaotix or Rouge the Bat.

[Forte-Metallix]

6 minutes ago, Mikyeong said:

Keyword: spinoffs.

He's not going to be in any main series games:

Due to his poor reception and apparent uselessness, Sonic Team decided to remove him from any future games starting in 2012, although head Takashi Iizuka has since stated that a game starring Big is a possibility. Big has, however, made additional cameo appearances.

If he were to be in a game, is gonna be strictly cameos and (playable) spinoffs.

...Do you really think that article is real? Would Iizuka really play with the idea of Big getting his own game? And "removing him from any future games" doesn't work with his cameos in Smash, Runners, and M&S Olympics.

By that logic, the entire cast save for the core four, Eggman, and Orbot & Cubot have been retired.

[Zaysho]

11 minutes ago, Mikyeong said:

Due to his poor reception and apparent uselessness, Sonic Team decided to remove him from any future games starting in 2012, although head Takashi Iizuka has since stated that a game starring Big is a possibility. Big has, however, made additional cameo appearances.

Is there a source for this? This sounds like something that comes off of TV Tropes (which rarely sources anything) or a random trivia section in a wiki article, and I don't believe I've ever seen official word about Big's status, especially since he does get cameos, though not very frequently these days.

[Tara]

Far be it for me to accuse Iizuka of fibbing, but I have to agree that with his appearances being roughly about the same as every other character that isn't Sonic, Tails, Eggman, Knuckles, and Amy mean that his "retirement" from the games isn't quite as rigid as the statement on the matter would lead you to believe.

[Nepenthe]

Retired probably just means will not be up for consideration to be used in a canon role, not that they will literally never be seen again. After all, Mighty, Fang, Ray, and Bean are by all counts retired characters but had visual cameos in Generations, so I wouldn't use Gens as a point to argue that they're in actuality not retired. Granted, in the context of the extended cast, it does feel like at this point that they're being phased out anyway so I wouldn't blame anyone for making the argument that a lot of them are retired in roughly the sense that Big is retired.

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

8 minutes ago, Zaysho said:

Is there a source for this? This sounds like something that comes off of TV Tropes (which rarely sources anything) or a random trivia section in a wiki article, and I don't believe I've ever seen official word about Big's status, especially since he does get cameos, though not very frequently these days.

Found it. I knew it was this video but I had to sit through this whole thing to find the exact point he says it.

[Kfarc]

43 minutes ago, Mikyeong said:

Big is cut from the main series, so I don't think so unless it's a flash game.

That will do. I think/hope that whatever will be in BBFA3, will tease us a next game.

[Enesephus]

Wouldn't it be something if SEGA actually released Big's Big Fishing Adventure 3, and a hint to the next Sonic game was hidden in the game?

[Tara]

6 minutes ago, Hyper Enesephus said:

Wouldn't it be something if SEGA actually released Big's Big Fishing Adventure 3, and a hint to the next Sonic game was hidden in the game?

Honestly, if the Big's Fishing Adventure 3 game ever turned out to be real, I'd assume it would be used as a meme-based marketing tool and nothing more, not as a serious product.  Like how Arkham Asylum had a mock website made to promote the game.

[Marcello]

Them making a Big's Fishing Adventure 3 Flash game with an absurd difficulty level akin to Pooh's Home Run Derby would be fun.

[Guest]

People still use Flash to make games?

[Hero of Legend]

It's like this year is a Big deal or something.

15 minutes ago, TimmiT said:

People still use Flash to make games?

You'd be surprised what game can have Flash in it.

*Game is ZombiU on Wii U.

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, Detective Hero of Legend said:

You'd be surprised what game can have Flash in it.

*Game is ZombiU on Wii U.

That game is three years old. :V

But I mean more that HTML5 has pretty much replaced Flash at this point.

[Hero of Legend]

Ah.

I'm sure there's an indie game very recently that's been made on it, surely.

[Tara]

2 hours ago, TimmiT said:

People still use Flash to make games?

HTML5 is quicky becoming standard, but I still see a lot more flash content than HTML5, especially since the animation industry still uses prominently Flash as opposed to anything else.

[shdowhunt60]

Flash seriously needs to be dropped though. It's so incredibly rife with security flaws. It seems like every other month there's some brand new 0-day exploit. If you ever wonder how botnets get made, it's through Adobe Flash.

[Chris Knopps]

Flash is still a thing? I figured that was only in some CN shows and fan animations.

[Nepenthe]

Almost every modern traditionally animated show on western TV does NOT use Flash; they use Toon Boom Harmony. The only exception I can think of right now of is Superjail, however the base Flash package has been so modified with extensions by that company that it doesn't really function like Flash anymore.

Overall, Flash is still good for hobbyists and small projects due to being cheap, easy to learn, and easily modifiable with free extensions out there. After all, the "Ghost" animated music video is Flash and it doesn't suffer for it. The same goes for browser games as well even though HTML 5 and Unity and other more robust programs are on the scene now.

[Chris Knopps]

15 minutes ago, Nepenthe said:

Almost every modern traditionally animated show on western TV does NOT use Flash; they use Toon Boom Harmony. The only exception I can think of right now of is Superjail, however the base Flash package has been so modified with extensions by that company that it doesn't really function like Flash anymore.

Overall, Flash is still good for hobbyists and small projects due to being cheap, easy to learn, and easily modifiable with free extensions out there. After all, the "Ghost" animated music video is Flash and it doesn't suffer for it. The same goes for browser games as well even though HTML 5 and Unity and other more robust programs are on the scene now.

Huh... I thought they were more flash based, they had that flash look, like Johny Test.

Never heard of Toon Boom Harmony but I'm not that knowledgeable about such things admittedly.

[shdowhunt60]

That's because it's a fundamentally similar concept. It's a non-linear timeline based editor for 2D animation. 

[Chris Knopps]

2 minutes ago, shdowhunt60 said:

That's because it's a fundamentally similar concept. It's a non-linear timeline based editor for 2D animation. 

I still miss the more traditional days of shows like Rugrats and Cat Dog.

The series released nowadays are fine and all plot wise, but I miss that old school charm.

[Nepenthe]

Toon Boom has the same puppet capabilities as Flash, which is where characters are composed of rigs of individual parts and are posed and moved across time versus being drawn every frame. However, it has a multitude of tools that allow for much better deformations of characters than you can get in Flash in a timely manner, thus you can more easily get different styles within the overall umbrella of "traditional puppet animation." Teen Titans Go doesn't look like The Lion Guard which doesn't look like Archer which doesn't look like Gumball's 2D.

[Tara]

49 minutes ago, Nepenthe said:

Almost every modern traditionally animated show on western TV does NOT use Flash; they use Toon Boom Harmony. The only exception I can think of right now of is Superjail, however the base Flash package has been so modified with extensions by that company that it doesn't really function like Flash anymore.

Overall, Flash is still good for hobbyists and small projects due to being cheap, easy to learn, and easily modifiable with free extensions out there. After all, the "Ghost" animated music video is Flash and it doesn't suffer for it. The same goes for browser games as well even though HTML 5 and Unity and other more robust programs are on the scene now.

Ah, my mistake. I didn't even know there were any Flash alternatives that didn't, you know, suck, so I must be a little out of the loop. XD

[Nepenthe]

xD Toon Boom is far more unknown because it's not as ubiquitous within people's homes (You're gonna pop down $300 for the student version), and Flash had the advantage of coming out at a time where amateur animation on the Internet and Flash websites were all the rage. I just like trying to advertise Toon Boom and keeping people up to speed, as well as to keep people from ganging up on Flash because of bad output. Yeah it's rusty, but it can still get the job done!

[Tara]

5 minutes ago, Nepenthe said:

xD Toon Boom is far more unknown because it's not as ubiquitous within people's homes (You're gonna pop down $300 for the student version), and Flash had the advantage of coming out at a time where amateur animation on the Internet and Flash websites were all the rage. I just like trying to advertise Toon Boom and keeping people up to speed, as well as to keep people from ganging up on Flash because of bad output. Yeah it's rusty, but it can still get the job done!

I had heard of Toon Boom through Steam I think, but I must have thought it was one of those animation tools which make use of very limited presets, like those various "make your own MANGA!" art programs that aren't as powerful as, say, PhotoShop.

And yeah, I don't think Flash is inherently better than traditional animation or that one guarantees quality any more than any other.  I'd rather a consistently non-bad looking Flash cartoon than some of the wonky off-model moments of the hand-drawn moments in Sonic X or Sailor Moon Crystal. XD