Retrospectives Happy 10th Anniversary to Sonic Boom, the Failed Reboot That Heralded Sonic's Lost Decade

[FReaK]

10 years? I have never even touched a boom game, lol. Was never a fan of this reboot and tbh I was glad when it was finally done. Hard to believe it's been 10 years already.

[Endoian]

In general, it is a subfranchise that I really liked in concept and I have many beautiful memories from my childhood, but I feel that it was not very well worked and it was a bit rushed, which caused it to not be successful for SEGA and Sonic Team, and it is not the only thing we can take as an example, but also the franchise in general, since it has the potential to make excellent games if they are not limited so much.

From my point of view, SEGA can change its rules to explore more how to develop its most recognized franchise and that can help them more financially and keep the fans happy.

[Metal]

Sonic Boom was a weird idea. Even if the games had been good and the reboot had been a total success, I just don't see most of the existing audience continuing to follow it. They were banking on replacing basically everyone who liked what the franchise was in favor of a brand new audience. I have nothing against the show, it was good for what it was, but I wasn't interested in it. And even if the game was good it probably wouldn't have appealed to anyone who liked the Genesis, Adventure, or Boost games.

 

If you want to make something new, make sonething new. Don't tell me it's something old and then change everything about it.

[Rabbitearsblog]

Wow! I can't believe it's been 10 years since this came out.  Honestly, I never really got into Sonic Boom when it first came out.  I never played the games or watched the show at the time.  However, afterwards, I did watch the show and I really liked it (although Knuckles' portrayal in this series still rubs me the wrong way). Even if this franchise had become successful, I still would have been put off by the massive changes with the characters and I don't know if I would have stuck around this franchise if it was successful in the first place.

[HavocTheTenrec]

Time slips by faster as you get older... but that still feels about right. Was an ok series, very Teen Titan's style humor.

[Cayenne]

The more I'm reminded of video game anniversaries, the more I feel old. These designs and the chaotic reactions from the fandom are still fresh in my mind.

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Shattered Crystal hold the trophy for the most boring Sonic games I've played. Rise of Lyric had very interesting ideas, but interesting ideas aren't enough to save a game. As for Shattered Crystal...well...it's good for people with insomnia.

I liked the cartoon and the comics, though. Had some good laughs with some episodes and issues.

[Phoenix]

I just don't know why they got it into their heads they the universe's cast needed rebooting. SA1, SA2, Heroes, they all did well. People had problems with Shadow and 06 because they weren't good games. How would changing Knuckles into a completely different character help anything?

[Cayenne]

1 hour ago, Phoenix said:

I just don't know why they got it into their heads they the universe's cast needed rebooting. SA1, SA2, Heroes, they all did well. People had problems with Shadow and 06 because they weren't good games. How would changing Knuckles into a completely different character help anything?

According to this article from Polygon, Sega wanted to make Sonic more appealing to Western audiences:

Quote

Veteran Sonic game designer Takashi Iizuka is overseeing the production of Sonic Boom, but main development is entirely in Western hands due to Sega's desire for Sonic to be more appealing to Western audiences.

Speaking with Polygon, Iizuka said the decision to give developer Big Red Button creative control over Sonic Boom and have Sanzaru Games work on the 3DS title was part of Sega's overarching plan to make a completely Westernized branch of the Sonic franchise.

"As part of completely thinking about the West, we wanted to make sure we had Western game developers and make it a part of Western television," Iizuka said. "We wanted to make sure it was developed best for Western audiences primarily; this was very important.

"The whole thing started with the television series," he added. "Our previous series, Sonic X, was made in Japan and influenced by Japanese anime; the main audience it was made for was in Japan, although it came to the West as well. So Sonic Boom is something made specifically for the Western audience. For the TV series to be successful, we pretty much had to make it for that audience, and the games tie into that strategy."

Man, Iizuka and Sega were completly lost at the time...Many western countries have people who like japanese animation and Sonic X turned many kids and teenagers into Sonic fans. Heck, Sonic was and still is much more popular on the west than Japan, having a gigantic and extremely passionate fandom here!

As you said, they failed to see that the problem at time was just bad games, not the western market.

Edited February 16 by Cayenne

[Phoenix]

God, I don't miss that era when Japanese devs became convinced that the West didn't like Japanese games for some reason. Then Bravely Default does well, and the entire county is surprised. Surprised by what? Japanese games have always done well, stop trying to westernise them!

[SadVlad]

I feel like what ruined this series as a whole was the design of Knuckles, or at least it was what did it for me. If he wasn't a towering doof it wouldn't of tarnished the atmosphere of the show. For what it was, it wasn't that bad. The comedy was some of the funniest in the franchise. 

[arieljosebs]

Actually, Sonic Boom It Was Never A Reboot, It Was An Attempt To Have A Franchise Alongside Modern Sonic