Why is Sonic considered a bad Franchise?

[CanofEpicSauce]

The reason is because there are more things that Sonic can't isn't allowed to do, than he can is allowed to do.

Whereas, there is nothing Mario can't do.

What I'm saying is; there is a very fine tolerance for what is deemed acceptable in Sonic games:

-Can't be to linear

-Can't be too fast

-Can't be too slow

-Can't have too blocky platforming

-Can't have to little platforming

-Can't drive a car (ASR proved all you disbelievers wrong)

-Can't have a sword

-Can't have too many bottomless pits

-Can't be too easy

-Can't be too hard

-Can't be "cheap"

-Can't have too many gimmicks

-Can't have too few gimmicks

-Can't be based on the real world, but with a fantasy twist

-Can't have Pixar-like humans

-Can't have Anime-like humans

-Can't have realistic humans

-Can't have humans at all

-Can't have too big hubworlds

-Can't have too small hubworlds

-Can't have hubworlds at all

-Can't have extra characters

-Can't forget/leave out characters

-Can't have a Monster as final boss

-Can't be too mature

-Can't be to childish

-Can't have an epic story

-Can't have a simplistic story

-Can't have 'x' voice actor

-Can't have voice acting at all

-Can't have 2D/3D perspective shifts

-Can't have too childish theme songs

-Can't have theme songs at all

-Can't have too much rock

-Can't have too much orchestral

-Can't have too much techno

-Can't have too much jazz

"Wait but aren't some of these statements contradictory?"

Well, that about sums up Sonic's situation right now.

Edited July 15, 2011 by CanofEpicSauce

[Dr. Crusher]

(i.e Chasethehedgehog, Spax3, All of the sick fucks that were on Sonic Passion, Chris Chan, and much others).

Every time I see a comment saying something akin to "Sonic ruins lives yet again", I curl up in the fetal position.

[ChikaBoing]

I wouldn't call that the problem. It's not people complaining about Sonic games, it's that fact that Sonic games before 2010 either mediocre of terrible with gimmicks that ruined the experience instead of compliment it that gave people ammunition to complain about a lot of aspects of Sonic games. For example Secret Rings was a good step, but then Black Knight came along and fucked it all up thanks to the waggle gimmick. To tell you the honest truth I understood why people flipped shits about Sonic having a sword because it just looked ridiculous, same with the Werehog.

The reason why people think Sonic is a bad franchise is because a lot of his games 2002-2009 have either been mediocre or terrible. A lot of the characters in the past were annoying, forgettable, and usually "come and go" characters. The various gimmicks in previous games have done nothing but ruin a lot of Sonic games (Unleashed I'm looking at you)

I don't get why people that say that gimmicks ruined Sonic game, always leave SA2 out. At least when you directly point out Unleashed with the Werehog. I guess you could say that standards were different, but really if the new game is set-up similary why don't people draw direct comparision to the supposedly last decent Sonic game?

Also 2002 isn't really to say the last good year for Sonic...2 Battle received rather average on the Level,or even under the Level of Heroes,that came ou the year afterwards. I think a thing that happened with Sonic is Identy Crisis when both DC games got mediocore reviews on re-releases. I always said Unleashed that scored the way it did because it was on the same level of Adventure 1 or 2, not because it was yet another some bad game that fails to everything that was on SEGA's consoles.

Edited July 15, 2011 by ChikaBoing

[Kuzu]

You know why people think we're bad, because we have possibly the worse fanbase, in the entire gaming community, is it any wonder why people laugh at us?

[batson]

You know why people think we're bad, because we have possibly the worse fanbase, in the entire gaming community, is it any wonder why people laugh at us?

Edited July 15, 2011 by batson

[Kuzu]

Maybe your'e right about that, but it's important to remember that it's Segas own damn fault that the fanbase is the way it is. People wouldn't be so pessimistic about the series if Sega hadn't spent over half a decade pumping out garbage with Sonic's name on it, and the fanbase would never have become a broken mess if it wasn't for Sega "reinventing" the Sonic series every two years and thus giving different groups of people entirely different expectations for future Sonic games (expectations which were of course broken as soon as the next reinvention came along, leading to lots and lots of crying and ranting).

Im not saying that any of this justifies the way that some members of the fanbase acts, but i think it's only fair to point out that the reason why Sonic fans might whine even more than most other fans natrually cant just be because it just so happens by sheer coincidence that there are many more people with whiny personalities in the Sonic fanbase than in other fanbases. The poor state of the fanbase in comparasion to other video game fanbases must be traced back to Sega handling the Sonic franchise more poorly than other game companies handle their franchises.

[ChikaBoing]

Personally I think SEGA should stop hyping their games, it brings in more eventual dissapointment. Colors is how every Sonic game should come out.

[Kuzu]

Personally I think SEGA should stop hyping their games, it brings in more eventual dissapointment. Colors is how every Sonic game should come out.

[SHAX Hedgefox]

It all depends on your perspective as to exactly HOW Sonic is considered a terrible franchise.

For some people, it's the awful 3D games (I mean the "awful" 3D games, not that every 3D game is awful) that make people think that Sonic is a bad franchise. For some, it's the more negative sides of the fanbase that you see on websites such as Deviantart, GameFAQs, Youtube or any Sonic related hentai website, that causes people to hate the fanbase and thus think that the franchise is bad. For another group of people (mainly those over the age of 12 but under the age of 17) they think that all kids franchises are "ghey aNd StOOp!d" like Gaming Misfit said. Finally, some people simply don't enjoy Sonic games. Nothing wrong with that.

But yeah, all of those reasons might not sound so bad, but if you put them all together, Sonic does NOT sound like the kind of franchise that some people would enjoy.

[ChikaBoing]

What do you mean hype? That's what you're supposed to do, overhyping it is wrong though, Sonic 4 was overhyped and look how that came out.

Yeah overhyping is basicilly what I mean. And it was kind of silly to hype Unleashed that much, since it was based on a flawed concept.

[Shawn7]

I just wish they would stop blaming sonic's friend's for the bad games in the series

[Kuzu]

Yeah overhyping is basicilly what I mean. And it was kind of silly to hype Unleashed that much, since it was based on a flawed concept.

True. to be fair, Unleashed did put Sonic on the road to succession

[Balding Spider]

I just wish they would stop blaming sonic's friend's for the bad games in the series

The whole Sonic friend bashing thing stems from the 3D games alternate playstyles(mech shooting, treasure hunting, ect.), and them being shoehorned into multiple game titles.

[sonfan1984]

The whole Sonic friend bashing thing stems from the 3D games alternate playstyles(mech shooting, treasure hunting, ect.), and them being shoehorned into multiple game titles.

That's the reason why Sonic's friends haven't been playable characters or had a decent/important role and Sega isn't showhorning them in a main series game since Sonic 2006 but yet people still feel the need to bash them.

[Dejablue]

Two immediate things pop up in my mind. The fans are too fickle and the games lack consistency. But the lack of consistency might be an illusion brought on by our fickleness.

[Hypermystics0nicHMSX]

Because of mediocre games that have stained the franchise so badly.

Namely Sonic 06.

[The Weeb with No Name]

I would not call 06 mediocre.

[Nintendoga]

One thing that pisses me off is that half of the people bashing 06, and unleashed, have never even played them before. I'm sorry, but your opinion means shit to me if you've never played the game. People go like "Yeah well I've seen enough gameplay to tell that it sucks," There's a huge ass difference between watching a game, and playing it!

[Dr. Crusher]

Don't worry, not everyone is like that. I played 2006 from start to finish, from Wave Ocean to Solaris, so my opinion about the game being a piece of shit is at least justified.

[ChikaBoing]

I actually thought 06 was better than what people described it. I was expecting one of the worst game ever by any standard. But it just was one of the most dissapointing ones.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I actually thought 06 was better than what people described it. I was expecting one of the worst game ever by any standard. But it just was one of the most dissapointing ones.

It kinda is the worst game by any standard regarding the Sonic series. I was lucky to not have a glitchfest compared to how most people said it was (still had sticky Rouge and Knuckles on the walls), but ShTH had a lot more replayability to it after beating the game, even if it's just playing the game ten times for the ending.

Silver was pretty boss tho. That much I can't lie. And it's for that potential that I want to see him again.

[Nintendoga]

It kinda is the worst game by any standard regarding the Sonic series. I was lucky to not have a glitchfest compared to how most people said it was (still had sticky Rouge and Knuckles on the walls), but ShTH had a lot more replayability to it after beating the game, even if it's just playing the game ten times for the ending.

Silver was pretty boss tho. That much I can't lie. And it's for that potential that I want to see him again.

[Silencer226]

About those glitches, most of the glitches I've heard of are ones that people have found by looking for them, which I think is just unfair. Yeah games have glitches, but you can't look for one and call the game shit after YOU find it.

Well life is unfair, and the glitches were there. Sorry to put it bluntly but its true, and there were a number of glitches in the game that you didn't have to look for. In Sonic 06 you don't find glitches, glitches find you.

And 2 ports with minor graphical updates, 1 mediocre game, and 3 crap games in a row don't make for a good franchise. Now if you're wondering if the franchise can bounce back, maybe, I mean they've finally figured out a formula that could actually work for them, and it only took them 10 fucking years.

Oh and as for the the overrated Sonic Adventure series, here's why i personally think they suck, any time you see a game with the title Sonic Adventure, one would think you'd spend most of the time playing as Sonic/other speed characters but no... 2/6 of SA1 was fun (tails and Sonic levels), SA2 improved but not by much, you still have to get through all the boring junk before you can do the fun stuff, and Sonic Unleashed oh god, it was so bad medal collecting and then you had to play as a cheap beat'em up character *shudder*

Edited July 19, 2011 by Silencer226

[novelty]

Yeah overhyping is basicilly what I mean. And it was kind of silly to hype Unleashed that much, since it was based on a flawed concept.

ChikaBong is right. The only reason why Sonic Colo(u)rs came up to our expectations is because of the lack of advertisements and public relation hype. If memory serves me right, Sonic Colours came out of nowhere, with a gimmick that was "iffy" at a time where doing gimmick games (SatBK, SatSR, Unleashed) were killing the franchise; and fell into the most pessimistic of public critics.

Actually, if humbleness got Sonic to where he is, then Humbleness will get him back into that place again. Like SA2, the advertisements were scarce and the expectation was low because it pointed out to the "child" demographic. SA2 focused on what mattered to the child (a fun, cheezy story with action elements that rarely interfere with the gameplay and a niche in the market that even when they grow up into adults, they would revisit the story and find even more jokes pertaining to their newer demographic)

The situation with this franchise is similar to Cartoon Networks. As they both:

• Changed their demographic
  
• Uses one-angle jokes
  
• lack of artists
  
• Use of reality shows as a "social relation filler"
  
• Even ignores the power of humble releases (like MLP:Friendship Is Magic, which is cartoons done right)
  

TL;DR: Sonic is also in the post-90's bind. We (as a fanbase) shouldn't take it like an offence, but as a pretense for something much greater.

Edited July 19, 2011 by Loelita

[batson]

Actually, if humbleness got Sonic to where he is, then Humbleness will get him back into that place again.

lol, no i didn't.

Sonic originally got to where he is with perhapes the most boastfull commercial campaign ever seen in the video game medium. (That's certainly not saying the same would work today though...)

Edited July 19, 2011 by batson