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  1. SPOILER WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS PLOT DETAILS AND SCREENSHOTS FROM THE END OF SONIC 2 When I went into the first Sonic movie more than two years ago, I wasn’t expecting much. I was incredibly cynical about the whole affair, in fact. “Sure,” I thought, “they made the design better. But plenty of terrible movies can still look nice.” Then, the Paramount and SEGA logos rolled, and the movie spent the next 13 minutes winning me over, before one moment finally sealed it. It demonstrated this movie was going to be more than pop culture references and Jim Carrey being Jim Carrey. This was a movie about a lonely kid that, shockingly, had a heart. Here, SEGA’s cool blue mascot was in a bad place, and desperately needed to find a way to move forward. By the end of it he did - and it all started at a baseball field. After giving the audience a tour of his adopted home, Green Hills, Sonic goes to a baseball game. A team wins, and they celebrate together, something Sonic is clearly envious of. Later, after nightfall, Sonic takes to the field and uses his speed to pretend to be an entire team. As a scene, there is a lot to like here: it features a creative use of Sonic’s speed, it shows what he’s capable of, and it also gives more screen time to establishing his character. The personalities Sonic gives his “teammates” are cute, and Ben Schwartz does a superb job bringing the whole thing to life. But then Sonic hits the ball, fails to catch it, “wins” the game by a hair, readies himself for the same sort of adulation he saw earlier only to experience…nothing. Because he’s alone. For a moment, his cheerful façade cracks, and Sonic does something he never does in the games: he loses his cool. Overwhelmed by his loneliness, he unleashes all his pent-up frustrations by running laps around the field. This leads to a power outage across the entire Pacific Northwest, which naturally gets the attention of the US government and leads to Sonic getting discovered. More importantly, it also starts Sonic on a two-movie-long journey to finally experience what he saw on that field. Two years later, Sonic was playing baseball again, but this time he wasn’t alone. He had an entire family to play with, celebrate with, and go off for ice cream with. As a scene, it acts as a very effective bookend to Sonic’s journey to end his loneliness and find his place in the world. Years after losing one family, he’s found another. The through line these scenes book end ultimately make up the emotional core of these otherwise fairly trivial popcorn flicks, which makes them probably the most important ones of the entire film series so far. As cool as any of the action sequences are, and as effective as the characterization is for Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails, it would all mean next-to-nothing without that emotional core. Enjoyable movies aren’t built on action, pop culture jokes, weird Jim Carrey antics and Olive Garden gift cards. They are built on character, more specifically making audiences care about those characters. Caring about Sonic and wanting to see him find that family he so desperately needs gives those action scenes weight. They make the bad jokes and Jim Carrey antics bearable. They make Sonic feel like a character and not a walking collection of dated references, and they give him a means to connect to characters like Tom, Tails, and Knuckles, creating the most effective and impactful scenes across both movies. Of course, plenty of movies do the “found family” thing better, with Pixar’s Luca and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy executing it more effectively. The concept is also nothing new for Sonic as a franchise. Tails is Sonic’s little brother in the games, and the Freedom Fighters are basically Sonic’s surrogate family in both SatAM and Archie. Regardless, if someone had told me a few years ago that I’d get a little emotional at a scene in a Sonic movie where Sonic called a human “dad,” I’d call you a damn liar. These movies had everything going against them from the beginning. From out of touch executives, to the terrible track record of video game adaptations, to how regularly terrible movies with cartoon animal sidekicks usually are! And yet, somehow, Sonic was able to find box office, audience, and (modest) critical success. Twice. Some will put the credit on the redesign and “listening to fans,” but the actual reason is much more fundamental: the movie’s writers were smart enough to give the characters heart, rooted in a game of baseball, that sprang forth into the most successful video game film franchise of all time. As we move forward into a wider cinematic universe, I can only hope the Sonic Movie Universe’s creatives don’t lose sight of this. That heart is something that must be built upon and expanded, in order to keep audiences invested in these characters and their adventures.
  2. SPOILER WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS PLOT DETAILS FROM THE END OF SONIC 2 I am a Knuckles fan. His name is my online handle, which I’ve been using consistently since the early days of the SEGA forums. I love his moves, his lore, and even his weird comic series. So, naturally, I was excited when Paramount announced a Knuckles-centric TV series a few months ago, starring the red, dreadlocked knucklehead. It wasn’t long before my worry over Sonic 2 fumbling things tempered that excitement with anxiety, but now that I’ve seen the movie that anxiety has given way to enthusiasm. Knuckles was the best thing in that movie and I am ready for a show about him. But…what exactly will the Knuckles series be? All we know about it is that it’ll be a live action series on Paramount Plus. I can’t imagine something like that being done without a sizable budget akin to Disney+’s MCU and Star Wars offerings. That is an assumption I will be running with for this article. What do I want from the Knuckles series? A lot, but I’d like to think my hopes are at least somewhat realistic (yes, including this first one.) Time to Go Off-World The Sonic movies have been consistently teasing us with a larger universe. We’ve been given brief glimpses of Sonic’s home and the mushroom planet, Tails has talked about a “village,” and Knuckles’ introduction was even preceded by strange masked aliens, initially introduced in the Sonic 2 Pre-Quill comic. It’s high time the Sonic Movie Universe make good on those teases and actually take us somewhere. A planet hopping space adventure would be the perfect backdrop for a TV show. Likewise, a TV show is a great place to flesh out multiple locations beyond Earth in the Sonic Movie Universe. I wouldn’t expect most of these locations to be especially fantastical or grand for purely budgetary reasons, but I will definitely take “generic desert planet” and “rusty cheap-looking backwater planet” over “Knuckles goes to New Jersey.” Make it About Knuckles, Sonic and Tails' First Adventure Yes, this is a Knuckles show, but that doesn’t mean Sonic and Tails can’t get in on the action! Sonic 2 served as an origin for the trio coming together as friends, but there is no better medium for their first proper adventure than a TV show. Explore their chemistry. Let them talk and explore their interactions outside of the context of a movie climax. Let Sonic be the fish out of water as he’s taken to places Knuckles is more familiar with. As fun as Knuckles is, I think he was at his best when he had Sonic and Tails to bounce off of, so it’d be a shame to separate them for his small screen debut. Let Knuckles have the main plot and the spotlight, but allow Sonic and Tails to tag along for the ride. Bring Back Knuckles' People (and Make Them Bad Guys) Look: I don’t care what Knuckles said, Longclaw didn’t wipe out his entire tribe. They are alive, and if they are meant to be dead, undead them, because they would make the perfect villains for this series. It is already firmly established in these movies that the echidnas are the power-hungry aggressors. They were the ones who created the Master Emerald, they were the ones who used it for war, and they were the ones who hunted down the owls and attempted to take Sonic’s power. They can certainly be three dimensional villains. Giving them a reason to be so power hungry would only make them more interesting. But ultimately, Knuckles needs to come down against them. So how could this work? Have them abandon Knuckles. When they went after Longclaw and failed to capture Sonic, they began searching the universe relentlessly for him and the map to the Master Emerald rather than return to him. This would not only demonstrate how far his people have fallen that they would rather hunt for power than go back for one of their own, it would also allow the SMU to explore a different kind of familial loss, and the differences between family by blood and family by love, and why one is more meaningful. Heck, Tikal could even be introduced as an unwilling pawn of her people. When the Master Emerald is used at the end of Sonic 2, the echidnas learn that Knuckles has it. Tikal is sent under the lie that she’s looking for their people. Knuckles, upon discovering they are alive, agrees to help her find them. Sonic and Tails won’t let him go alone. This gives us the motivation for the planet-hopping adventure as they go from planet to planet, searching for clues, Tikal subtly pointing them in the right direction. This was, in reality, done to separate the Master Emerald from its protectors. Some version of this, where the story potential for Knuckles’ people is utilized, and Knuckles is made to see the truth about them, feels like the perfect place to take this. It wraps up standing plot points, gives Knuckles a unique group of villains who are personal to him, strengthens his newfound bonds, and gives our tri-colored trio their first test as the Master Emerald’s guardians. If You're Going to Have Humans, Focus on the Wachowskis I am going to say something potentially controversial: Tom and Maddie Wachowski are the only decent human characters in the Sonic movies. Everyone else is an annoying cartoon caricature of a human, Jim Carrey worst of all. But even if I liked Carrey, he shouldn’t be here, as Knuckles ought to have his own villain. So since a live action Sonic tv series will inevitably need to spend time with humans on Earth for budgetary reasons, they might as well flesh out the best ones. Their plot? Well, jumping off my previous point: have them be the ones protecting the Master Emerald while the furballs are out in space. Maybe a few different parties, one of whom were hired by the echidnas, are after the gemstone and they need to go on their own adventure to keep it away from them. They can be hunted by those weird masked bird people from Sonic 2, some random humanoid aliens in make-up, and maybe eventually a certain…bat jewel thief. Alternatively, if Knuckles and co need a human companion, Maddie can go with them and get some much-needed screen time, and Tom can get paired with Rachel and they’re made to hash their whole thing out. Bring in Rouge So if you ignored this article’s spoiler warnings, chances are you already know that Sonic 3 will have Shadow, effectively setting it up to be an adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2. You know who you can’t leave out of any version of SA2? Rouge. Problem is, with Sonic 3 set up to be a story about Shadow, Rouge will almost certainly take a backseat, much like Tails did in Sonic 2. That’s why Rouge absolutely needs to be in the Knuckles series. There are multiple reasons to introduce Rouge here: she is the closest thing Knuckles has to his own adversary and rival in the games. They are both treasure hunters, and both have an interest in the Master Emerald. So bringing her in as a villain for Knuckles to eventually deal with only makes sense. With the Master Emerald and GUN now present in the SMU, Rouge also has something to do in regards to her own plotline. She has a jewel to hunt and a faction that can employ her skills for covert ops on Earth. Bare minimum, the Knuckles series ought to lay the groundwork for Rouge’s role in Sonic 3. Heck, Bring in Some Other Characters Too The great thing about TV shows is that you can give a character or group of characters a complete story in a single episode’s run time. The Knuckles series isn’t just a good place to set up some stuff for Sonic 3, it’s a great place to set up stuff for the franchise as a whole going forward. You know what would be cool? An episode where Knuckles just had to work with the Chaotix. While Sonic, Tails, and whoever else is with them go off to explore a planet or check out its local cuisine (mostly off-screen), Knuckles hires the bumbling detectives to find the next clue for finding his people or whatever he’s doing. Hijinks, of course, ensue. A few episodes just establishing characters while Knuckles is on his adventure is a stellar way to bring new Sonic characters into the franchise. Let the IDW Creative Team Work on an Episode You know who’s been consistently producing the best Sonic stories for the past four years? IDW. Yes, they’re busy people. Ian Flynn is working on a friggin game. I don’t care. Flynn has experience working in TV, Evan Stanley’s been doing great work at IDW for years, bring one or both of them in for an episode or two. I’m sure you all can work it out. Nothing would make the fandom more excited for the series than their involvement, and they’re input would be nothing but a net benefit for the show. Please make this happen! Dive into Chaos Emerald Lore Sonic 2 remained fairly vague on the details regarding the history of the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds. Since Knuckles is the character most directly connected to the gemstones, a series about him ought to dive deeper into their history. How did the echidnas get their hands on the chaos emeralds? How did they create the Master Emerald? What other sorts of conflicts were the emeralds involved in? Heck, where did the Chaos Emeralds come from? SEGA has always been cagey about the Chaos Emerald’s origins, but that’s no reason for the movies to not touch on that in some way. Whether its Tikal, Knuckles’ people, or a plot exposition fairy, the Knuckles series is the perfect opportunity to dive deeper. And if this does happen, Chaos and the chao ought to also be brought in, at least in some capacity. Chaos was the original Master Emerald guardian after all, and we know he wasn’t inside the Master Emerald in this universe. Maybe when the echidnas took the emeralds, he was imprisoned somewhere or something? Get Weird With It; A Sonic Adventure Adaptation in Space I mean, this is basically what this whole article has been leading to, hasn’t it? Sonic Adventure was, in many ways, basically Knuckles’ story. His people, home, and the Master Emerald all sit at the center of the game’s events. It is the perfect game to mine for Knuckles-centric plot elements, and the many changes the SMU has made to the echidnas makes the game’s plot elements all the more enticing for a Knuckles TV series. As I’ve been writing this, I’ve expected that Paramount already knows what it wants from a Knuckles series. So far, their Sonic writers have had a decent idea of what to take from the games. They’ve already grabbed bits and pieces from Sonic Adventure. I just hope they go back to that well again for this.
  3. So, Sonic Frontiers gameplay has finally been unveiled, thanks to two videos this week that outlined two key concepts; exploration of the open world, and advanced combat techniques. Now that we’d had a chance to digest and absorb all the information, our gut reaction is… we didn’t… hate it? While Sonic Team seemed to have stumbled a little bit with its exploration video back on Wednesday, the community appeared to rally a little bit behind the game again with today's combat reveal. There's a bit more of a positive buzz around the upcoming platforming game now, and while it's still up in the air as to exactly what direction SEGA wants to take Sonic with this title, our team of expert Sonic influencers are in agreement that the right approach here is to be cautiously optimistic. Here are the impressions of the Sonic Stadium team, share your thoughts on the week's reveals in the comments section below. Dreadknux After watching both the exploration and the combat gameplay video, I am left a little puzzled as to what kind of fan Sonic Team is wanting to target with Frontiers. It seems to want to be a game that goes back to the heart/root of Sonic gameplay, but there doesn't seem to be any recognisable scenery, gimmicks or physics-based play at all. Classic fans looking for something like momentum-based world traversal won't be impressed with having to constantly use infinite grind rails and speed boost rings to get around. With an open world, it is clearly trying to satisfy Unleashed fans who enjoy simply running from point to point, but at this early stage the overworld feels sparse and it's difficult to imagine those particular fans wanting to stop in order to complete a puzzle for minutes at a time. Despite developer talk of wanting to reinvent the action, it appears like we're looking at Sonic Forces-style movement and abilities - with combat enhanced to take advantage of one-two punch combos and special attacks. That might scratch the itch for Forces (or Werehog) fans, but much like the puzzles I'm not sure if fans will generally want to spend their time punching a bubble robot sixteen times over to unlock a gate. Chances are many players will want to run right past these guys. That's not to say I'm feeling too down on the game as it stands - there are some interesting ideas in here. It's about time Sonic explored an open world and used his abilities to unlock more areas/zones and collectibles. I like the multiple ways a player can traverse the same area in the overworld, with rewards for trying out new pathways. And if Sonic's abilities can be upgraded in a way that enemies can be dealt with in only one or two hits, then maybe using the cool-looking mid-air dash attack and projectile moves won't feel too much like a chore. I have no doubt that there is way, way more to see than just this tiny morsel of gameplay, so as always I am going to reserve complete judgement until the final game is out and in my hands. Having said that, some of my concerns about Sonic Frontiers are unlikely to be addressed between now and release because I expect they may be conceptual in nature. For years now I've been hoping that Sonic Team would finally pick up design learnings from Sonic Mania (or even the upcoming Origins) and build a 3D environment that draws on the iconic art style that 90s Sonic games are known for, while integrating momentum-based physics play. It doesn't seem like Frontiers will be that game, sadly, so I will maybe have to wait another five years for that. All in all, for all the talk of drawing from past games, it's looking more like the game that Sonic Team is aiming to mimic the most here is Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, with its platform-combat style approach. Let's hope, with more reveals to come, it can make more of a success of that pitch than Big Red Button did. @Dreadknux Nuckles87 I have been coming at Sonic Frontiers from a place of trepidation since its premise was unveiled last year. “An open world Sonic game, huh,” I thought to myself, “that sounds like a fun idea that could go terribly, horribly wrong.” Three game play videos later and I’m feeling…somewhat more optimistic? On one hand, its not the complete retooling of Sonic’s moveset that I was hoping for. Rather than a brand new moveset tailor made for Sonic’s first open world experience, Frontiers seems to have instead retooled the moves Sonic’s had since Unleashed. The boost, stomp, and classic homing attack are all here, with Lost World-esque parkour also thrown in to the mix for the very first time. In addition to that, the landscape we’ve been shown looks kind of…plane. There are no loop-de-loops or any of the other sorts of wild, fantastical geography Sonic is normally associated with. Instead, it’s all more grounded, which is certainly not how I ever imagined an open world Sonic game to be. On top of that, the game seems to have a focus on puzzles, which mostly look pretty easy and basic. But…I’d be lying if I said it didn’t look fun. The boost games are among Sonic’s best after all, so having that moveset adapted to an open world isn’t exactly an awful thing. The game is also loaded with all the classic 3D Sonic traversal options, like springs, grind rails, and wallrunning segments. Putting aside how we’ve seen the game played, the world simply looks like a fun place to explore, and I’m itching to check out all the stuff the player zoomed by in the demo. And easy puzzles that only took a few moments to solve are probably a better fit for Sonic than longer, more involved puzzles. And the combat…this is the first time combat in a Sonic game has ever looked genuinely fun. There are loads of combat options, different enemies requiring different tactics, and this is clearly the deepest Sonic combat has ever gotten. This is also the first time Sonic’s combat in the games has ever been depicted as having real power behind it. The titan battles look especially impressive, both in terms of scale and game play! Ultimately…my feelings have gone from “this could be a disaster” to “this could be Sonic Forces-esque mediocrity.” The first game play preview certainly had its slow bits. I get why people think the game looks boring. Really, what I need to see is the game’s overall game play loop. We’re being shown a bunch of things out of context, when whats most important to the game is the interplay between all these different systems. How does it feel to run through this environment, explore, solve puzzles, and fight the various enemies all together? How does each activity flow to the next? Until I see that, I cannot make any bigger judgements. I can at least say its no Sonic 2006, though. @nuckles87 SSF1991 I'm loving what I'm seeing so far! There are a few graphical issues, like draw distance pop-in stuff, but nothing that really ruins the game for me. The gameplay is very ambitious, something I think Sonic has needed for a while now. Overall, I'm really hyped and can't wait to see more! @SSF1991 GX I didn't know what to expect from the broad concept of "Sonic Open World," but from what I've seen, I've been pleasantly surprised. Sonic himself is still very much in the moveset style of Unleashed/Colors/Generations/Forces, but removing the directed A-to-B path and filling the world with a bunch of tiny moment-to-moment challenges is very much my jam. Frontiers looks to have the three core elements you need in an open world game: a satisfying way to get around, lots of corners and alcoves to explore, and a variety of things to do at any given moment. I noticed plenty more paths and points of interest that the player in the video didn't go see, and when the focus did need to be a bit more directed, well, the comedic number of grind rails are certainly an effective way to get that done! It's not an aesthetic that immediately excites me, but it's still pleasant and interesting when you transition from sprinting through a field to a forest to a creek to a waterfall. It's the kind of thing that isn't... eyecatching in the same way Sonic Generations or Lost World were, but I can at least understand the choice. It's sustainable over many hours of play, and it sets a tone. I still have quite a lot of unanswered questions about the mechanics, but I'm certainly interested enough to see where they ultimately go with this new direction. I'm not ready to plop $60 down on the game right this second from the 15-ish minutes of unannotated footage, but I absolutely want to see more. @GX -The Spindash- Shigs I’ll admit, the exploration aspect didn’t sell me on the game initially. It felt like they just dropped Sonic and some assets onto a completely different game. That said, the combat has sold me on the game all on its own. None of the enemies are one-hit pushovers, and Sonic has a huge variety of abilities and ways of taking them out. Whether it’s that zig-zag air dash, his tornado from Sonic Heroes, or my favorite, the air blades, Sonic is given a wide variety of strategies and ways of taking them out. I love it! The animation and pop-in still needs some work, but the foundation of what Sonic Frontiers is becoming has gotten me hyped. @Jason Berry T-Bird Expectations have been high for the opening salvo of the Sonic Frontiers gameplay reveals via IGN. Fingers have been crossed that we would have been treated to an overflowing cornucopia of facets and features that would get the average Sonic fan salivating; after all, the function of these teasers should be to drive anticipation for a launch that fans have been waiting 5 years for. So far, we have received two rather underwhelming demonstrations of mechanics that appear unfinished, in a sprawling landscape devoid of features; more importantly, with an absence of elements that are intrinsically Sonic, excepting the odd ramp or spring. More fundamentally, there seems to be a lack of motivation or direction to this game play (to date the IGN footage has had little narration). Had this been a tech demo there might have been a more positive response, but this is a sneak preview of a title 6 months from launch. One would hope this might be an artefact of IGN’s drip-feeding of information across June and the best is yet to come, but in all honesty, I have a bad feeling this is not the case (I would be delighted to be proven wrong). Like the lazy kid who didn’t do his homework, SEGA have looked over the shoulders of their classmates, replicating their tower ascent challenges and alien puzzles, to create something they can hand in for a passable grade. The frustration here (as has been the case for too long now) is that Sonic is a franchise that has at its core some of the most recognisable aspects in all of video game history, from aesthetics to sound, and yet SEGA seem reluctant to expand upon this; instead we are once again seeing a reinvention of the wheel, in the hopes that gold will be struck with the next triple-A game brought to the table. In a year where it feels like a release of a tie-in title around the release date of the Sonic movie would have been such an easy win, and with no sign of a Sonic Mania follow-up, you have got to wonder what the strategy is here. That's what our team thinks about the game! What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments section below! View full story
  4. So, Sonic Frontiers gameplay has finally been unveiled, thanks to two videos this week that outlined two key concepts; exploration of the open world, and advanced combat techniques. Now that we’d had a chance to digest and absorb all the information, our gut reaction is… we didn’t… hate it? While Sonic Team seemed to have stumbled a little bit with its exploration video back on Wednesday, the community appeared to rally a little bit behind the game again with today's combat reveal. There's a bit more of a positive buzz around the upcoming platforming game now, and while it's still up in the air as to exactly what direction SEGA wants to take Sonic with this title, our team of expert Sonic influencers are in agreement that the right approach here is to be cautiously optimistic. Here are the impressions of the Sonic Stadium team, share your thoughts on the week's reveals in the comments section below. Dreadknux After watching both the exploration and the combat gameplay video, I am left a little puzzled as to what kind of fan Sonic Team is wanting to target with Frontiers. It seems to want to be a game that goes back to the heart/root of Sonic gameplay, but there doesn't seem to be any recognisable scenery, gimmicks or physics-based play at all. Classic fans looking for something like momentum-based world traversal won't be impressed with having to constantly use infinite grind rails and speed boost rings to get around. With an open world, it is clearly trying to satisfy Unleashed fans who enjoy simply running from point to point, but at this early stage the overworld feels sparse and it's difficult to imagine those particular fans wanting to stop in order to complete a puzzle for minutes at a time. Despite developer talk of wanting to reinvent the action, it appears like we're looking at Sonic Forces-style movement and abilities - with combat enhanced to take advantage of one-two punch combos and special attacks. That might scratch the itch for Forces (or Werehog) fans, but much like the puzzles I'm not sure if fans will generally want to spend their time punching a bubble robot sixteen times over to unlock a gate. Chances are many players will want to run right past these guys. That's not to say I'm feeling too down on the game as it stands - there are some interesting ideas in here. It's about time Sonic explored an open world and used his abilities to unlock more areas/zones and collectibles. I like the multiple ways a player can traverse the same area in the overworld, with rewards for trying out new pathways. And if Sonic's abilities can be upgraded in a way that enemies can be dealt with in only one or two hits, then maybe using the cool-looking mid-air dash attack and projectile moves won't feel too much like a chore. I have no doubt that there is way, way more to see than just this tiny morsel of gameplay, so as always I am going to reserve complete judgement until the final game is out and in my hands. Having said that, some of my concerns about Sonic Frontiers are unlikely to be addressed between now and release because I expect they may be conceptual in nature. For years now I've been hoping that Sonic Team would finally pick up design learnings from Sonic Mania (or even the upcoming Origins) and build a 3D environment that draws on the iconic art style that 90s Sonic games are known for, while integrating momentum-based physics play. It doesn't seem like Frontiers will be that game, sadly, so I will maybe have to wait another five years for that. All in all, for all the talk of drawing from past games, it's looking more like the game that Sonic Team is aiming to mimic the most here is Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, with its platform-combat style approach. Let's hope, with more reveals to come, it can make more of a success of that pitch than Big Red Button did. @Dreadknux Nuckles87 I have been coming at Sonic Frontiers from a place of trepidation since its premise was unveiled last year. “An open world Sonic game, huh,” I thought to myself, “that sounds like a fun idea that could go terribly, horribly wrong.” Three game play videos later and I’m feeling…somewhat more optimistic? On one hand, its not the complete retooling of Sonic’s moveset that I was hoping for. Rather than a brand new moveset tailor made for Sonic’s first open world experience, Frontiers seems to have instead retooled the moves Sonic’s had since Unleashed. The boost, stomp, and classic homing attack are all here, with Lost World-esque parkour also thrown in to the mix for the very first time. In addition to that, the landscape we’ve been shown looks kind of…plane. There are no loop-de-loops or any of the other sorts of wild, fantastical geography Sonic is normally associated with. Instead, it’s all more grounded, which is certainly not how I ever imagined an open world Sonic game to be. On top of that, the game seems to have a focus on puzzles, which mostly look pretty easy and basic. But…I’d be lying if I said it didn’t look fun. The boost games are among Sonic’s best after all, so having that moveset adapted to an open world isn’t exactly an awful thing. The game is also loaded with all the classic 3D Sonic traversal options, like springs, grind rails, and wallrunning segments. Putting aside how we’ve seen the game played, the world simply looks like a fun place to explore, and I’m itching to check out all the stuff the player zoomed by in the demo. And easy puzzles that only took a few moments to solve are probably a better fit for Sonic than longer, more involved puzzles. And the combat…this is the first time combat in a Sonic game has ever looked genuinely fun. There are loads of combat options, different enemies requiring different tactics, and this is clearly the deepest Sonic combat has ever gotten. This is also the first time Sonic’s combat in the games has ever been depicted as having real power behind it. The titan battles look especially impressive, both in terms of scale and game play! Ultimately…my feelings have gone from “this could be a disaster” to “this could be Sonic Forces-esque mediocrity.” The first game play preview certainly had its slow bits. I get why people think the game looks boring. Really, what I need to see is the game’s overall game play loop. We’re being shown a bunch of things out of context, when whats most important to the game is the interplay between all these different systems. How does it feel to run through this environment, explore, solve puzzles, and fight the various enemies all together? How does each activity flow to the next? Until I see that, I cannot make any bigger judgements. I can at least say its no Sonic 2006, though. @nuckles87 SSF1991 I'm loving what I'm seeing so far! There are a few graphical issues, like draw distance pop-in stuff, but nothing that really ruins the game for me. The gameplay is very ambitious, something I think Sonic has needed for a while now. Overall, I'm really hyped and can't wait to see more! @SSF1991 GX I didn't know what to expect from the broad concept of "Sonic Open World," but from what I've seen, I've been pleasantly surprised. Sonic himself is still very much in the moveset style of Unleashed/Colors/Generations/Forces, but removing the directed A-to-B path and filling the world with a bunch of tiny moment-to-moment challenges is very much my jam. Frontiers looks to have the three core elements you need in an open world game: a satisfying way to get around, lots of corners and alcoves to explore, and a variety of things to do at any given moment. I noticed plenty more paths and points of interest that the player in the video didn't go see, and when the focus did need to be a bit more directed, well, the comedic number of grind rails are certainly an effective way to get that done! It's not an aesthetic that immediately excites me, but it's still pleasant and interesting when you transition from sprinting through a field to a forest to a creek to a waterfall. It's the kind of thing that isn't... eyecatching in the same way Sonic Generations or Lost World were, but I can at least understand the choice. It's sustainable over many hours of play, and it sets a tone. I still have quite a lot of unanswered questions about the mechanics, but I'm certainly interested enough to see where they ultimately go with this new direction. I'm not ready to plop $60 down on the game right this second from the 15-ish minutes of unannotated footage, but I absolutely want to see more. @GX -The Spindash- Shigs I’ll admit, the exploration aspect didn’t sell me on the game initially. It felt like they just dropped Sonic and some assets onto a completely different game. That said, the combat has sold me on the game all on its own. None of the enemies are one-hit pushovers, and Sonic has a huge variety of abilities and ways of taking them out. Whether it’s that zig-zag air dash, his tornado from Sonic Heroes, or my favorite, the air blades, Sonic is given a wide variety of strategies and ways of taking them out. I love it! The animation and pop-in still needs some work, but the foundation of what Sonic Frontiers is becoming has gotten me hyped. @Jason Berry T-Bird Expectations have been high for the opening salvo of the Sonic Frontiers gameplay reveals via IGN. Fingers have been crossed that we would have been treated to an overflowing cornucopia of facets and features that would get the average Sonic fan salivating; after all, the function of these teasers should be to drive anticipation for a launch that fans have been waiting 5 years for. So far, we have received two rather underwhelming demonstrations of mechanics that appear unfinished, in a sprawling landscape devoid of features; more importantly, with an absence of elements that are intrinsically Sonic, excepting the odd ramp or spring. More fundamentally, there seems to be a lack of motivation or direction to this game play (to date the IGN footage has had little narration). Had this been a tech demo there might have been a more positive response, but this is a sneak preview of a title 6 months from launch. One would hope this might be an artefact of IGN’s drip-feeding of information across June and the best is yet to come, but in all honesty, I have a bad feeling this is not the case (I would be delighted to be proven wrong). Like the lazy kid who didn’t do his homework, SEGA have looked over the shoulders of their classmates, replicating their tower ascent challenges and alien puzzles, to create something they can hand in for a passable grade. The frustration here (as has been the case for too long now) is that Sonic is a franchise that has at its core some of the most recognisable aspects in all of video game history, from aesthetics to sound, and yet SEGA seem reluctant to expand upon this; instead we are once again seeing a reinvention of the wheel, in the hopes that gold will be struck with the next triple-A game brought to the table. In a year where it feels like a release of a tie-in title around the release date of the Sonic movie would have been such an easy win, and with no sign of a Sonic Mania follow-up, you have got to wonder what the strategy is here. @T-Bird That's what our team thinks about the game! What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments section below!
  5. The IGN coverage thus far has left a lot of unanswered questions. Unsurprisingly, ten minutes of lightly edited gameplay footage without narration or context hasn’t proven itself to be a great way to premiere this game for the first time. We’ve seen a bit of the combat, we’ve seen a little world traversal, and we’ve seen more sky grinding than Final Rush and Rail Canyon’s unholy lovechild. But there’s some BIG aspects we still don’t know about. Big aspects like what the game is. Before today’s IGN impressions and Sonic Central, writers GX and Nuckles87 are taking stock of the vitally important things that we still need to see from Sonic’s next big outing: The Story Premise (or at least some world building) Even if Sonic’s moveset is familiar, this is a big departure from previous games on many other fronts, and it needs to be grounded in something. The enemies look bizarre and abstract, the world is going for a more realistically detailed aesthetic, and while it’s implied that other characters are around somewhere, we’ve yet to see an Amy, Eggman, rogue AI, or reason for Sonic to be there at all. This genre is about establishing a world that the player builds a relationship with and cares about. There’s no opening mystery that should be held back at this point. SEGA, you got us excited with Ian Flynn on writing. Now show us the fruits of that decision. Exotic Environments (and bizarre landscapes) We understand there are supposed to be multiple biomes in the game, but we’re still kind of trapped in Nondescript Grass and Forest Land. This is the first showing, we need to be wowed by unexpected scenery, awe-inspiring landmarks, and in true open world fashion, a mountain that you should definitely not be on. Make the player want to be in that world and see every inch of it. Further, the geography we’ve been shown thus far has not been especially Sonic-like. Sonic games are known for their twisting, fantastical, completely unrealistic geography, yet everything we’ve seen from Frontiers has been so…mundane. We’ve seen landscapes we’d find in any open world game. Where are the loop-de-loops? The twisting, mobius-strip terrain? That half-pipes? The first Sonic open world game ought to have the sorts of geography iconic to the series! Challenge (and room to make terrible choices) One of the promises this style of open world makes is very little handholding, and the bedfellow to that is giving you the opportunity to get in way over your head. While it may be unintuitive, modern open world design thrives on showing you things that are way beyond what you can do with the promise that at some point you will achieve that which first seemed impossible. What here is meant to scare the player? What is meant to frustrate them? What challenge makes the player feel amazing when they finally get past it? We’ve only been shown some very basic button-mashy combat; is there greater depth later on using sidestep dodges and environmental positioning? And on a similar note… Strength & Abilities Frequent complaints thrown at the initial footage was that Sonic keeps boosting on and off, and enemies take an exhausting number of hits. I’m personally willing to put up with this if, over time, I upgrade to boost longer, get stronger, and discover more effective combat strategies. Sonic and combat very rarely mix well, and if every encounter takes minutes to resolve, it will completely bog down the game’s pace. By completing challenges and gaining new abilities, I want new ways for Sonic to navigate the island and dispatch once formidable foes with ease. That’s the basic ethos of Sonic, isn’t it? Learn the lay of the land and master getting through it? Progression & Goals Over the last week, Sonic Frontiers has been shown in a piecemeal format, showcasing various aspects of the game without the context of how they interact with each other and any as-yet unseen mechanics. All games have a game play loop, where systems interact and each activity flows into the next. Open world games in particular need a well tuned loop; it’s the distinguishing factor between an actual open world and a playground of mechanics. So what we need more than anything else is a clear cross-section of what it’s like to simply play Sonic Frontiers across its span. What is the player expected to do in these environments? How do exploration, traversal, puzzles and combat connect to one another? How will players be rewarded for playing the game play loop well? What sort of goals will these mechanics help the player achieve, and will those goals be satisfying to accomplish? One More Thing... Frontiers has some interesting ideas on how to augment Sonic’s tried-and-true boost moveset with his circle updraft and this ranged kick, but it just feels like there’s one big thing missing, some sort of unique mechanic that rethinks Sonic or connects him to the open world structure. Open world games like Forza Horizon and Elden Ring succeed through incredibly tuned mechanics, while others forge their unique identity through fresh and versatile mechanics. Breath of the Wild had its chemistry system, and Pokemon Legends: Arceus is built entirely around the concept of throwing. The mechanics shown for Frontiers thus far are just, well, Sonic. It needs a defining, differentiating mechanic. An identity. An element that slowly unwraps depth and demands creativity to master. It’s difficult to say if they’d reasonably keep a mechanic like that under wraps at this point. Usually it’s something you’d want to show off immediately. But on the other hand, it’s been an extremely chaotic and bizarre rollout, so it's anyone's guess what they're still holding onto. An Actual Trailer Seriously. I don’t know if they were hoping that the game would speak for itself, but the game really, really needed someone to speak for it. Transitioning to an open world structure is a difficult task for any developer, and while we’re cautiously optimistic from what we’ve seen thus far, SEGA’s secretive approach to this game has left us more confused than excited. Frontiers has quite a lot to prove to overcome it’s rocky debut, but perhaps this week’s events will help reveal the actual trajectory of this game.
  6. Sonic has a…messy history with combat. Starting with Sonic Heroes, the franchise has made multiple attempts to make Sonic work in more combat-oriented games, often with disastrous results. Theoretically, having the player stop to fight enemies during a stage could be an effective way to add some variety to the gameplay while also extending playtime. In practice, however, focus on combat has served to do little more than break the pace of of any game they’re in, by forcing the player to stop and fight hordes of enemies with underbaked combat mechanics before they can progress. Sonic Frontiers is the first mainline Sonic game in more than a decade to have a focus on combat. Starting with Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Team (wisely) began to excise combat from Sonic’s platforming stages. By Sonic Colors, nary an enemy lifebar could be found outside of boss encounters, and that was how Sonic Team kept it until, well, now. As Sonic Frontiers seeks to yet again redefine what a Sonic game is, combat has again taken center stage, and for the first time ever…it is genuinely satisfying. Sonic Frontiers gets a lot right in its combat: it’s polished, discourages button mashing, has solid defensive options, makes use of Sonic’s speed, let’s Sonic feel powerful, looks cool, and most importantly it feels good to play. At its most basic, mashing the X-button for Sonic’s basic combo gets the job done, at least for the easiest enemies. But as enemies become more complex in their capabilities and moves, that very quickly becomes not enough. Aside from the basic combo, I personally like to divide Sonic’s combat options into four categories: offensive, defensive, ranged, and flashy. “Flashy” moves generally just add some visual variety and power to Sonic’s basic combo, such as the phantom rush (which happens automatically when the combo bar fills up) and wild rush. Ranged moves, like sonic boom, are good for hitting enemies from a distance while staying out of range of some of their attacks, and is good against enemies with area attack moves. The cyloop is the game’s offensive move: it allows you to quickly tear down enemy defenses, or delivery damage to multiple enemies without needing to hit them. It’s required for certain, defensive-centric enemies. Later, you can unlock an “auto-cyloop” which lets you pull off cyloops in the middle of combos to quickly take down a single enemy’s defense. Finally, we have the defensive moves: the dodge and the parry. The parry is easy to pull off, and can even be done in mid-air: just hold L1 & R1 and when the enemy attacks you’ll deflect them automatically. Dodges, meanwhile, let you avoid attacks all together, and when timed correctly, allow Sonic to dodge an attack, and move in quickly to deliver a combo attack. While there are certain situations which require these moves, the way you use these moves can also effect your overall playstyle. For instance, if you like to play offensively and risky, like I do, you can use the cyloop a lot to not just take down enemy defenses, but keep them vulnerable to combos while delivering damage. However, using the cyloop can leave you vulnerable to attack, which can make a fight harder if you make a mistake. Cyloops can also interrupted by uneven terrain, or by area attacks, making it difficult or impractical in certain situations. Likewise, focusing on dodging and parrying, and only pulling off cyloops or combos when an enemy gives you an opening, can be easier, but also slower. What I appreciate about Frontiers’ combat is that it gives you a decent amount of variety. It forces you to use all of its required moves, while also leaving you room for variety and strategy in how you approach any given enemy encounter. It feels like, for the first time ever, Sonic Team has genuinely put a lot of thought into how Sonic should fight. Even better: the encounters with the non-boss enemies are often quite short, once you rise above the base levels, meaning that combat rarely feels like a slog. And since it’s mostly optional, with none of the infamous enemy rooms of past games, you are largely free to set your own pace. So the combat has variety, some amount of depth, and FEELS GOOD. So why do I say “mostly?” Well…much like Frontiers as a whole, while the combat is a lot of fun, it also feels like the foundation for something better. While I’m not a huge fan of the Unleashed werehog, it does get one thing right about its combat: it maps two separate kinds of attacks to different buttons, which can be used for a multitude of combos. I don’t really think Frontiers needs anything on the level of the werehog, but somewhere between that and where it is now would be a good sweet spot for the game’s combat, I think. More depth, to keep things from getting repetitive, but not so much so that the combat becomes too dense for people who are here for the platforming action and open world. It seems pretty clear that one goal with the combat was accessibility, since there’s even an unlockable autocombo option for more casual players. As it stands, Frontiers has the most enthralling combat system I’ve ever experienced in a Sonic game. It blew away my (admittedly low) expectations, and I look forward to seeing what future Sonic games do with these mechanics. While I do think there is some value in keeping the combat more simplistic then, say, Bayonetta (this game doesn’t need to be an outright brawler), I do hope Sonic Team expands on this game’s combat with new moves and more complex combos in the future. Good on you, Sonic Team, you finally made Sonic combat fun! I will no longer look upon an enemy lifebar with dread.
  7. Sonic as a franchise has always been…strangely averse to DLC. In an era where a lot of single-player games can get loads of post-launch content, SEGA has remained rather stingy when it comes to Sonic. Maybe we get some level packs reusing in-game assets, or cosmetics, or if we’re really lucky, some new characters or a couple brand new levels, but we’ve never really gotten anything substantial, even when you’d think a game was built for it. I mean, who wouldn’t have wanted more classic levels re-imagined in Sonic Generations or Sonic Mania? With Sonic Frontiers, that needs to change. Frontiers needs - nay, deserves - some proper, substantial downloadable content. Especially if we’re going to be waiting five years for the next one. Of course, it’s one thing to just like the idea of DLC. But what should SEGA & Sonic Team actually do? I think there are some clear directions where Frontiers DLC could go: Quality of Life Improvements Depending on the nature of this, this probably shouldn’t be paid DLC, but there are definitely some smaller areas where Frontiers could improve. Like, how about a proper Boss Rush mode? There’s currently no way to replay the Titan bosses, which is a shame. A mode that lets you play all four back to back would solve this and introduce a new post-game challenge ala the game’s Arcade Mode. Heck, maybe go all in and also include the sub bosses in a separate part of that mode? Speaking of Arcade Mode, I was a little surprised there was no way to go straight from one cyberspace stage to another in that. Adding a button to lets me move on to the next stage like Sonic 4 would be nice. Though a marathon mode that will grade me on how many red rings I collect, and how much time I take to get through each of the 30 cyberspace stages would be even better. A cutscene viewer would also be nice, as would a way to look at the animated and comic tie-ins in-game. There are surely other QoL improvements people want to. Do it, SEGA! Post-Game Content Mode As things stand, Sonic Frontiers has no post-game content. While I don’t think the game needs it, as there is plenty to do in it already, I do think Frontiers is structured in a way that makes such a mode viable. Imagine a brief cutscene where Sonic returns to the islands, and something happens that causes all of the artificial structures to change. The landscape is unchanged, but the platforming challenges all change, the puzzles are made more difficult, and enemies are replaced with substantially more powerful variants. As things stand, Sonic begins to overpower the game’s toughest enemies long before his stats are maxed out. A mode like this could give those people with overpowered Sonics something to do, and a reason to pursue maxed out stats. On top of that, this DLC would do all this while recycling existing assets and areas! And heck…maybe this mode could even have some additional story content, that further elaborates on the lives of the Ancients! More Cyberspace Stages (and Themes) You know what would be cool? Having more than four cyberspace environments. You know what would be even cooler? New cyberspace stages built around some new themes, based either on original locations or locations that haven’t been realized in a boost stage before. Of everything I suggest here, this seems like the most likely thing to happen, if only because Sonic has already gotten downloadable level packs, and cyberspace stages can be played outside of the open zone areas. But something like this would only be worthwhile if the assets are genuinely new, and not built in the four existing themes we already have. Give me Studiopolis! Mystic Cave! Stardust Speedway! Or something completely original! Just please, something new! I will give you money for this, SEGA, I promise! Brand New Story DLC - With A New Character Alright, this is the big one, and the main reason I wanted to write this article: I want a brand new campaign, with a new island, new enemies, new final boss, new cyberspace stages, and most importantly… a new character. Truth is, there really isn’t much story to be mined from Sonic-centric DLC. So why not build a new, shorter campaign around another character? Like, say, Shadow the Hedgehog, or… maybe even Blaze the Cat? Sonic Frontiers is already perfectly built for this kind of DLC. Each island is disconnected, so adding a new one wouldn’t be difficult structurally. And there is certainly some interesting story potential to be mined from other characters! Like, maybe Professor Gerald investigated one of the outlying islands Sonic never visited, which could give us more insights into Shadow’s past! As it stands, Shadow as a character feels directionless in Sonic, with no clear motivations or interesting character traits beyond “stop Eggman” and “be edgy.” Some Shadow-centered DLC would give Flynn a chance to finally sort the character’s messy game canon out. Though heck, even more interesting than Shadow DLC would be Blaze DLC. She is easily the most criminally under appreciated Sonic character from the new millennium. She’s already had a character arc that’s dying for a follow up, and getting some insight into the past of the Sol Emeralds is a story that’s just begging to be mined. Putting aside the story potential, this sort of DLC would also give Sonic Team a chance to build a new biome, and cyberspace stages based around games Blaze and Shadow were in. Not to mention, both Shadow and Blaze could have significantly different combat from Sonic, using their own unique fire and chaos-based abilities. Look, SEGA: Sonic Frontiers is the best 3D Sonic has been in years. You guys are already doing some cosmetic DLC! Now is the time to finally give us a proper, sizable amount of DLC for a Sonic game. Frontiers has loads of potential for this sort of thing, please take advantage of it!
  8. I wandered Kronos Island for about three hours, defeating bosses, grinding on rails, and plucking collectables from the map. I periodically stopped at the Elder and the Hermit to convert my stash into gains, then popped over to an Amy or Sage point to get a few lines of characters self-reflecting. When I defeated the Titan of the region, I had to acknowledge a feeling that had been nagging me the whole time: “Is that all there is?” Thankfully, I felt a little better about Sonic Frontiers once I was able to approach the game on its own terms, but even now there’s a sprinkle of disappointment in my experience. Open game design, be it full open world like Breath of the Wild, Spider-Man, Forza Horizon, or less standard open structures like Mario Odyssey or Bowser’s Fury, light a fire in my brain. I want to chase tasks, I want to discover things I wasn’t expecting, I want to see cool places and meet interesting characters, I want to subvert the expected and find bizarre solutions. I want to feel curious and surprised and rewarded for my efforts. … and Sonic Frontiers has none of that. Kishimoto’s “Open Zone” doesn’t really feel like a zone. It doesn’t feel like a playable world map. And, honestly, it doesn’t feel especially “open.” There are a number of reasons for this, from the collectathon-driven progression, to Sonic’s limited and incremental upgrades, to the fact that they built a cosmetics system solely for purchase bonuses and marketing collaborations. But by far the biggest contributing issue is the one that has long dogged the series, automation. When Sonic entered 3D, it found itself in a constant fight between functionality and spectacle where spectacle most often won. Grind rails, directional springs, and the homing attack allowed for a pace of experience that felt like it could fall apart at any minute, but somehow still held together. Automating loops let the camera zip out to dramatic angles, and boost pads nudged Sonic along the expected path so that you could reasonably escape an orca or military truck while blindly running towards the screen. It’s a different type of experience: whereas Genesis Sonic asks you to master curves and momentum like a city-wide skatepark, 3D Sonic straps on a jetpack and asks, “Hey, you wanna see something cool?” But as a video game, the series struggles to find a solid balance between showing the player something cool, and letting the player do something cool. This imbalance comes to a head in 2017’s Sonic Forces, a game that would very much like to show you some mid-level cutscenes, and doesn’t really want you mucking them up with full player input. Sonic Frontiers is better about this, but it still can’t seem to abandon yanking the player by the hand, as if the gravest sin it can commit is letting the player ruin a perfectly good action sequence. This is a typical platforming challenge in Sonic Frontiers: You find a dash pad on the ground. It zips you to a spring. The spring bounces you to one of the many rails floating in the sky. The rail loops around dramatically and leads you to a boost ring, thrusting you ever higher so that you can homing-attack some balloons and land on a platform with a memory token. Challenge complete. What was your input in all of this? Well, you found a boost pad and pressed the homing attack button a few times. Perhaps you even held the directional stick forward throughout. There are a thousand variations of this across the span of the game, incorporating a few additional mechanics like wall jumping and air boosting, but it always comes back around to chaining basic inputs in flashy ways. Any challenge the game offers is very guided and very controlled, which feels antithetical to modern open design. This game may have copied Breath of the Wild’s homework, but where Breath of the Wild gives you a playground of mechanics and minimal direction, Frontiers is terrified to let you go outside the boundaries of what it wants you to do and how it wants you to do it. To give my most disheartening example, the third island contains a drawbridge you will eventually lower in a story event… except the raised end is on your side, giving you a massive ramp that you can absolutely boost off of. If you try to jump the bridge before that story moment, you'll hit an invisible wall surrounding the island on the other side and fall to your death. The game is clearly saying, "You will not go here until we tell you to go here, no matter how achievable it looks." Open game design is built around exploration and discovery, but the game quickly teaches you that it doesn’t have any secrets or surprises up its sleeve. It has springs that lead to grind rails that lead to tiny rewards, and there isn’t much emotional difference between spring-to-rail at the beginning of the game and spring-to-rail 30 hours later. Like I said, I eventually came around to the game for all its faults, and there are several bright spots. As the game progresses, the complexity of the level design starts to make up for its limited toolset, asking the player to chain more complicated actions to complete the micro-challenges. The wide plains of Kronos Island give way to negotiating cliffs and sub-islands on Ares and Chaos. Combat encounters are diverse and unique, with some enemies needing a strict beat-down and others demanding you to master a specific mechanic. Sonic’s dash and air control feel better tuned to balance pace and precision. And perhaps most importantly, Sonic’s Cyloop represents the best of open design: it’s an analog mechanic that plays into the character’s core abilities and can be used for multiple purposes throughout the game. There’s room to build more Okami-esque line drawing puzzles around it, but it’s a solid idea that makes sense for what Sonic games are about, and I hope it makes a return in future games. If we’re to believe Kishimoto saying that this is a generational change for the series, there is a solid foundation here that is going to need a lot of work to live up to its peers. For now, Frontiers is not the revolutionary jump it’s being pitched as, and in some places, it’s not evolutionary either. What we have feels more like a proof of concept. A successful proof of concept, but not a fully developed idea built around open game design. If the series isn't an A-to-B action movie anymore, then the franchise needs to get beyond leading the player by the hand, and instead build more open-ended scenarios around Sonic’s skills. There are certain aspects of this game that feel better than they ever have before, but Frontiers’ open world aspirations can’t shine while they remain shackled to the series’ automated sequences and repetitive challenges.
  9. Editor’s Note: MASSIVE STORY SPOILERS are in this article. I loved Sonic game stories when I was a kid. I loved their bigness, the way they gave the game world a sense of history and tragedy. As someone who hadn’t yet played any JRPGs, they were unlike anything I had ever experienced in a game before. It was so cool being taken into the past and seeing Knuckles’ people, the chaos emeralds and the strange creature that once protected them, the young echidna girl who befriended that creature, and the tragic way it all ended. And while Sonic Adventure 2’s story didn’t dig nearly as deep into the world’s past, I loved the tragedy of Shadow, Maria, and Gerald, the mysteriousness surrounding the Ark and its own connections to Chaos and the emeralds, and how it ended with everyone coming together and putting a stop to a sympathetic revenge plot 50 years in the making. That was then, of course. These days, it’s much more difficult for me to enjoy those stories without rose-tinted glasses. And the stories that came after…never held the same magic for me. Heroes, Shadow, Sonic 06 were all terrible, and on the rare occasion they weren’t (such as the Rush games) they felt smaller. Maybe I was growing out of them, but I think the real answer is far simpler: Sonic’s stories never had cohesion or direction from game to game, and that ultimately caused them to fall apart. But just as Sonic games were hitting what felt like their narrative low point with Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, I was in the midst of being enthralled by Archie Sonic’s newest headwriter: Ian Flynn. Flynn worked some absolute magic with that comic. I had been a reader since 1995, but by 2006 I had dropped the comics due to my displeasure with where the stories were going. Ian Flynn managed to impress with his very first issue, 160, and from that point on he rarely produced a dud throughout his run. Over the course of a year, he repaired years of damage done to the comic’s narrative. He recontextualized poorly written characterization, retroactively turning it into part of a character’s arc, or using it to fuel drama that simultaneously makes it feel in-character and gives it a satisfying conclusion. Sonic, Tails, and Sally were all major benefactors of this, but nearly everyone in the comic’s cast got a moment. Archie Tails had been on the receiving end of some bad stories for a few years before this. I hadn’t seen these characters written this well in years, and I felt like I was welcoming old friends home. “Why can’t the games be written like this?” I began to ask myself, “Why can’t they just hire Ian Flynn?” Extraordinarily, 15 years later, I have finally gotten my wish. And just as I had hoped, Ian Flynn has done the same thing for the games that he did for the comics all those years ago. Sonic and company are back. No, scratch that: they have finally arrived. Sonic Frontiers is easily the most well-written Sonic game I’ve ever played. The dialogue has that patented Flynn charm, with solid interactions between Sonic and everyone he comes into contact with. We’ve got genuinely funny jokes, extraordinarily well-written heart-felt moments, and an overall tone that can still be light, but is often quite somber. On top of all that, every character aside from Sonic himself gets some sort of arc. Character arcs have never really been a strong suit of Sonic games. While they certainly happen, they can often be poorly written and are only occasionally well-executed. That Frontiers has five of them, and that they are mostly well done, is certainly a feat. They each leave the characters in a different place from where they’ve been for years, or even decades. At the start, everyone is more or less where you’d expect them to be. Amy and Tails are tagging along with Sonic, Dr. Eggman is focused purely on his next take-over-the-world scheme, and Knuckles just wants to guard the Master Emerald. Over the course of the game, through their interactions with the Koco and Sonic, Amy, Tails and Knuckles all go through a change. The Kocos, which are essentially spirits of an ancient race trapped and troubled by the struggles they faced before death, act as conduits for character development, their arcs reflecting the struggles of Sonic’s friends. Amy, who was once long characterized by her one-sided love-affair with Sonic, is driven to help a Koco find their lost love. By the end of it, she sees a love that transcended time, and decides she needs to share her own love with the world by going on her own adventure away from Sonic. Knuckles helps an army of Kocos trying to fight “the enemy.” Upon witnessing the destruction of their civilization he makes the connection between the Koco and his own people’s tragic past. For the first time I can recall, Knuckles expresses genuine regret over his lonely lot in life as the last of his kind. Sonic pulls him out of his funk by reminding him that he’s got his friends, leading to a truly heartfelt conversation that ends in Knuckles deciding to try out Sonic’s more adventurous lifestyle. Finally, we have Tails, who’s Koco…basically experiences Tails’ story in Sonic Forces. Yeah: this game’s story decides to deal with Tails’ worst moments in the franchise. I think it’s fair to say the games haven’t really done much with Tails since the original Sonic Adventure, which saw him overcoming his fears, facing down Eggman, and saving Station Square from him. Since then…Tails has more or less remained static, rarely leaving Sonic’s side after Sonic Adventure 2 and more or less returning to the “sidekick who follows him around” role. But then we had Forces, where we go from character stagnation to character regression. Here, Tails “lost it” after Sonic’s defeat and Eggman’s near total takeover of the planet, something which effectively reversed one of the only bits of development Tails ever got. So when it came time for Frontiers to give Tails his arc, Flynn pulled the same hat trick that worked so well in Archie: he took Tails’ decades of stagnation, his low point in Forces, and the many times he came through and melded it all together into Tails’ growth into a hero. This all ends up giving him the strongest and most defined arc in the game, and the plot’s best moments. Tails’ entire arc is him dealing with the fact that despite the strides he’s taken to be his own hero, he still messes up and can still fall back into his own comfort zone. Tails essentially experiences imposter syndrome, ignoring everything he’s done to earn his place by Sonic’s because all he can think about are his own mistakes. This just feels so right for Tails, a character who started out as a lonely bullied kid. It makes him feel more human and complex, something I don’t think I’ve ever seen in a Sonic game character before. The best and most interesting character arcs are the messy ones, the ones where characters get to mess up, regress, relearn lessons, and genuinely struggle to become the better version of themselves they want to be. With Tails’ arc put in that context, it effortlessly became the best part of Frontiers’ narrative. And what’s really wild is that this simply wouldn’t be possible without Forces’ terrible, terrible story. Outside of Sonic’s friends, the most well-defined arc in this game belongs to Dr. Eggman’s AI creation, Sage. While her arc is pretty thin and the weakest part of the entire game, she is able to do one thing no other Eggman companion has: bring out a different side of him. Indeed, I’d say one of Sonic Frontiers other major accomplishments is showing us a side of Eggman we’ve only gotten brief glimpses of before within the games. Dr. Eggman isn’t just a guy with designs of world conquest, after all. He is a world class genius, a man of science, history, and engineering. Sonic Frontiers lets us see this other side of him, largely through its unlockable “Egg Memos.” The Egg Memos are the best contributions any game has given to Eggman’s character: he marvels at the Ancient’s technology, figures out the Starfall Islands’ numerous technological and archeological mysteries, develops a fatherly affection for Sage, and he even gives his honest thoughts on Sonic, Amy, Knuckles and Tails. We get to hear him talk himself into accepting that Sage is alive, because of course he is smart enough to create life! He even talks about his cousin Maria, and the jealousy he felt over her being given love from his family that he was denied, despite her being gone. These memos manage to give Eggman more depth than three decades of games ever did. What’s even better about all this is that it feels very much in character for him. He still often talks about future schemes for world conquest, laughs maniacally, has a very high opinion of himself, disregards the insane risks his own plans pose, and even briefly, excitedly contemplates stealing a defenseless Master Emerald before remembering he’s trapped. His affection for Sage and feelings towards Maria and his own family feel like extensions of the Eggman we briefly saw at the end of Sonic Adventure 2, when he reminisced over his Grandpa Gerald and how he inspired him to become a scientist. Eggman was never a man totally incapable of love; it’s just something the games have almost never explored before. Unfortunately, as I said before, Sage’s own arc is thin. She shares just three-and-a-half minutes of screentime with Eggman, leaving their relationship feeling a pretty undercooked, though throwing the memos into the mix does help. But Sage’s relationship with Sonic fares a little better, as most of her actual development comes from observing and interacting with him. Sonic has brought many former adversaries into the fold, but Sage is one of the only ones whose change felt somewhat earned by the plot. Sage is consistently surprised by Sonic’s perseverance, moved by his friendships, and over the course of the game her interactions shift from cold indifference, to curiosity, to genuine respect. Unfortunately, the bulk of Sage’s interactions with Sonic still boil down to her telling him resistance is futile and refusing to explain anything to him, which can get a bit repetitive and boring. Sonic Frontiers is, in many ways, the Sonic game story I’ve been waiting for for decades. It’s got the lore building of the Sonic Adventure games, the quality vocal performances expected of a modern game, and the writing of Flynn-era Archie and IDW comics. It’s still not entirely where I want it to be: Sage’s story is a bit weak, the tone of the story overshoots and is a little too serious and somber, and the lack of a larger cast leaves the world feeling empty. Future games will need to be willing to have longer cutscenes that give non-player characters like Eggman and Sage the screen time they need. They need to more effectively balance darker, more serious scenes with lighter moments and humor. Finally, future games need to have a larger cast, with more supporting and secondary characters in a livelier, more populated world. Despite these issues, Sonic Frontiers truly feels like the start of a golden era of Sonic game storytelling. The potential this game opens up for future stories has me genuinely excited! Just stick with Ian Flynn, SEGA, and maybe bring other IDW writers like Stanley and Barnes into the mix too. Give Sonic Team the budget to realize a story with even greater scope. Let what’s been built here flourish and grow, and most importantly, follow through on what this game sets up and let these characters change!
  10. Editor’s Note: MASSIVE STORY SPOILERS are in this article. I loved Sonic game stories when I was a kid. I loved their bigness, the way they gave the game world a sense of history and tragedy. As someone who hadn’t yet played any JRPGs, they were unlike anything I had ever experienced in a game before. It was so cool being taken into the past and seeing Knuckles’ people, the chaos emeralds and the strange creature that once protected them, the young echidna girl who befriended that creature, and the tragic way it all ended. And while Sonic Adventure 2’s story didn’t dig nearly as deep into the world’s past, I loved the tragedy of Shadow, Maria, and Gerald, the mysteriousness surrounding the Ark and its own connections to Chaos and the emeralds, and how it ended with everyone coming together and putting a stop to a sympathetic revenge plot 50 years in the making. That was then, of course. These days, it’s much more difficult for me to enjoy those stories without rose-tinted glasses. And the stories that came after…never held the same magic for me. Heroes, Shadow, Sonic 06 were all terrible, and on the rare occasion they weren’t (such as the Rush games) they felt smaller. Maybe I was growing out of them, but I think the real answer is far simpler: Sonic’s stories never had cohesion or direction from game to game, and that ultimately caused them to fall apart. But just as Sonic games were hitting what felt like their narrative low point with Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, I was in the midst of being enthralled by Archie Sonic’s newest headwriter: Ian Flynn. Flynn worked some absolute magic with that comic. I had been a reader since 1995, but by 2006 I had dropped the comics due to my displeasure with where the stories were going. Ian Flynn managed to impress with his very first issue, 160, and from that point on he rarely produced a dud throughout his run. Over the course of a year, he repaired years of damage done to the comic’s narrative. He recontextualized poorly written characterization, retroactively turning it into part of a character’s arc, or using it to fuel drama that simultaneously makes it feel in-character and gives it a satisfying conclusion. Sonic, Tails, and Sally were all major benefactors of this, but nearly everyone in the comic’s cast got a moment. Archie Tails had been on the receiving end of some bad stories for a few years before this. I hadn’t seen these characters written this well in years, and I felt like I was welcoming old friends home. “Why can’t the games be written like this?” I began to ask myself, “Why can’t they just hire Ian Flynn?” Extraordinarily, 15 years later, I have finally gotten my wish. And just as I had hoped, Ian Flynn has done the same thing for the games that he did for the comics all those years ago. Sonic and company are back. No, scratch that: they have finally arrived. Sonic Frontiers is easily the most well-written Sonic game I’ve ever played. The dialogue has that patented Flynn charm, with solid interactions between Sonic and everyone he comes into contact with. We’ve got genuinely funny jokes, extraordinarily well-written heart-felt moments, and an overall tone that can still be light, but is often quite somber. On top of all that, every character aside from Sonic himself gets some sort of arc. Character arcs have never really been a strong suit of Sonic games. While they certainly happen, they can often be poorly written and are only occasionally well-executed. That Frontiers has five of them, and that they are mostly well done, is certainly a feat. They each leave the characters in a different place from where they’ve been for years, or even decades. At the start, everyone is more or less where you’d expect them to be. Amy and Tails are tagging along with Sonic, Dr. Eggman is focused purely on his next take-over-the-world scheme, and Knuckles just wants to guard the Master Emerald. Over the course of the game, through their interactions with the Koco and Sonic, Amy, Tails and Knuckles all go through a change. The Kocos, which are essentially spirits of an ancient race trapped and troubled by the struggles they faced before death, act as conduits for character development, their arcs reflecting the struggles of Sonic’s friends. Amy, who was once long characterized by her one-sided love-affair with Sonic, is driven to help a Koco find their lost love. By the end of it, she sees a love that transcended time, and decides she needs to share her own love with the world by going on her own adventure away from Sonic. Knuckles helps an army of Kocos trying to fight “the enemy.” Upon witnessing the destruction of their civilization he makes the connection between the Koco and his own people’s tragic past. For the first time I can recall, Knuckles expresses genuine regret over his lonely lot in life as the last of his kind. Sonic pulls him out of his funk by reminding him that he’s got his friends, leading to a truly heartfelt conversation that ends in Knuckles deciding to try out Sonic’s more adventurous lifestyle. Finally, we have Tails, who’s Koco…basically experiences Tails’ story in Sonic Forces. Yeah: this game’s story decides to deal with Tails’ worst moments in the franchise. I think it’s fair to say the games haven’t really done much with Tails since the original Sonic Adventure, which saw him overcoming his fears, facing down Eggman, and saving Station Square from him. Since then…Tails has more or less remained static, rarely leaving Sonic’s side after Sonic Adventure 2 and more or less returning to the “sidekick who follows him around” role. But then we had Forces, where we go from character stagnation to character regression. Here, Tails “lost it” after Sonic’s defeat and Eggman’s near total takeover of the planet, something which effectively reversed one of the only bits of development Tails ever got. So when it came time for Frontiers to give Tails his arc, Flynn pulled the same hat trick that worked so well in Archie: he took Tails’ decades of stagnation, his low point in Forces, and the many times he came through and melded it all together into Tails’ growth into a hero. This all ends up giving him the strongest and most defined arc in the game, and the plot’s best moments. Tails’ entire arc is him dealing with the fact that despite the strides he’s taken to be his own hero, he still messes up and can still fall back into his own comfort zone. Tails essentially experiences imposter syndrome, ignoring everything he’s done to earn his place by Sonic’s because all he can think about are his own mistakes. This just feels so right for Tails, a character who started out as a lonely bullied kid. It makes him feel more human and complex, something I don’t think I’ve ever seen in a Sonic game character before. The best and most interesting character arcs are the messy ones, the ones where characters get to mess up, regress, relearn lessons, and genuinely struggle to become the better version of themselves they want to be. With Tails’ arc put in that context, it effortlessly became the best part of Frontiers’ narrative. And what’s really wild is that this simply wouldn’t be possible without Forces’ terrible, terrible story. Outside of Sonic’s friends, the most well-defined arc in this game belongs to Dr. Eggman’s AI creation, Sage. While her arc is pretty thin and the weakest part of the entire game, she is able to do one thing no other Eggman companion has: bring out a different side of him. Indeed, I’d say one of Sonic Frontiers other major accomplishments is showing us a side of Eggman we’ve only gotten brief glimpses of before within the games. Dr. Eggman isn’t just a guy with designs of world conquest, after all. He is a world class genius, a man of science, history, and engineering. Sonic Frontiers lets us see this other side of him, largely through its unlockable “Egg Memos.” The Egg Memos are the best contributions any game has given to Eggman’s character: he marvels at the Ancient’s technology, figures out the Starfall Islands’ numerous technological and archeological mysteries, develops a fatherly affection for Sage, and he even gives his honest thoughts on Sonic, Amy, Knuckles and Tails. We get to hear him talk himself into accepting that Sage is alive, because of course he is smart enough to create life! He even talks about his cousin Maria, and the jealousy he felt over her being given love from his family that he was denied, despite her being gone. These memos manage to give Eggman more depth than three decades of games ever did. What’s even better about all this is that it feels very much in character for him. He still often talks about future schemes for world conquest, laughs maniacally, has a very high opinion of himself, disregards the insane risks his own plans pose, and even briefly, excitedly contemplates stealing a defenseless Master Emerald before remembering he’s trapped. His affection for Sage and feelings towards Maria and his own family feel like extensions of the Eggman we briefly saw at the end of Sonic Adventure 2, when he reminisced over his Grandpa Gerald and how he inspired him to become a scientist. Eggman was never a man totally incapable of love; it’s just something the games have almost never explored before. Unfortunately, as I said before, Sage’s own arc is thin. She shares just three-and-a-half minutes of screentime with Eggman, leaving their relationship feeling a pretty undercooked, though throwing the memos into the mix does help. But Sage’s relationship with Sonic fares a little better, as most of her actual development comes from observing and interacting with him. Sonic has brought many former adversaries into the fold, but Sage is one of the only ones whose change felt somewhat earned by the plot. Sage is consistently surprised by Sonic’s perseverance, moved by his friendships, and over the course of the game her interactions shift from cold indifference, to curiosity, to genuine respect. Unfortunately, the bulk of Sage’s interactions with Sonic still boil down to her telling him resistance is futile and refusing to explain anything to him, which can get a bit repetitive and boring. Sonic Frontiers is, in many ways, the Sonic game story I’ve been waiting for for decades. It’s got the lore building of the Sonic Adventure games, the quality vocal performances expected of a modern game, and the writing of Flynn-era Archie and IDW comics. It’s still not entirely where I want it to be: Sage’s story is a bit weak, the tone of the story overshoots and is a little too serious and somber, and the lack of a larger cast leaves the world feeling empty. Future games will need to be willing to have longer cutscenes that give non-player characters like Eggman and Sage the screen time they need. They need to more effectively balance darker, more serious scenes with lighter moments and humor. Finally, future games need to have a larger cast, with more supporting and secondary characters in a livelier, more populated world. Despite these issues, Sonic Frontiers truly feels like the start of a golden era of Sonic game storytelling. The potential this game opens up for future stories has me genuinely excited! Just stick with Ian Flynn, SEGA, and maybe bring other IDW writers like Stanley and Barnes into the mix too. Give Sonic Team the budget to realize a story with even greater scope. Let what’s been built here flourish and grow, and most importantly, follow through on what this game sets up and let these characters change! View full story
  11. It's the bedtime story that you tell to your kids in bed, or the scary ghost story you tell your brother or sister in a tent. That fabled story of when SEGA was a respectable console manufacturer. And the most interesting chapter - the Dreamcast saga - where the company bailed out from their fans and went third party. There was outrage. There was disappointment. There were even death threats to the arcade company being mumbled under most irrational people's breaths. But for SEGA to survive, they needed to make this move. Ultimately, the fans should understand that, otherwise how can they be fans of the company? The alternative was to soak in the epitaph of one of the greatest games developers in the industry. Two or three years down the line, and we see that SEGA could well be double-backing on itself and what they said, although some well-built relationships have been formed within the company. Smilebit have been shaking hands with Mr. Bill Gates™ of Windowsland™, with AM2 not far behind (despite the Xbox's constant failure to make a stand in Japan, which is most ironic), making games destined to be exclusive to Microsoft's big money box for the foreseeable future. You can also see the majority of SEGA studios teaming up with the casual gamer's no-brainer option: making exclusive games for the PlayStation 2. Finally, we have the Nintendo Gamecube's support network. Plenty of SEGA games (although paltry compared to the exclusive luxuries that the other two consoles get pampered with - Beach Spikers anyone? *Yak*), sure, but at least Nintendo have become good exclusive pals with Amusement Vision and Soni- ... Erm. Was I going to say Sonic Team? Backtrack to the very morning, I decide to write this: hanging at my reliable Gamecube news site, checking out the latest screenshots of Sonic Adventure DX. "Tasty," I thought - although it was really nothing I hadn't seen (or completed) before. I would most probably get SA:DX just for the sake of being one of the most avid collectors of the blue blur out there. Exactly the same reason I bought Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, in fact (another port from an old Dreamcast title). Then something caught my eye. SEGA's E3 list for May 2003. Perfect, I thought, as I read with glee, the latest Sonic game information caught my eye. Heart thumping with immense excitement for the official word on "Sonic Heroes" (that's what it's gonna be called, natch), I read something that might shake up the fury meters of some Nintendo/Sonic fanboys: "SEGA's legendary mascot Sonic The Hedgehog makes his historic PlayStation 2 and Xbox debut!" Port-o-bingo? Let's take a short history lesson. When SEGA split from the console market and onto third party production, it was made quite clear that Nintendo would be Sonic Team's mainstay. Because of that, Sonic fans have been happy that they can get all their Sonic games on one console. Meanwhile, Nintendo fans have a chance to not only see what Mario's former arch rival is capable of, but they also get some exclusive 'ammo' in the rather over-exaggerated and over-publicised console war. Because, besides Nintendo's own games, there aren't not a lot of exclusives on Gamecube to attract casual gamers. Sonic was seen as one standout reason to get a Gamecube over a PS2 or Xbox. And Sonic Team, quite frankly, seem to exclusively be on something of a porting job. The first Gamecube "exclusive" was in the form of Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, which was nowhere near as exciting to play as the original Dreamcast counterpart (and is actually a worse version). But it was an enjoyable game nonetheless. I certainly didn't mind Sonic Team working on one port just to make themselves known on Nintendo's new console. I was certain that the big Sonic gaming guns would come after SA2:B. What came next? Sonic Mega Collection. Good value for those who have never experienced Sonic before, but I could have played any of those games without shelling out £40 - and would have definitely been better off without the cack Archie scans and boring-as-hell movies, cheers Japan VRI. Then we had Phantasy Star Online. Ah yes, Sonic Team's chief cash cow. A very very good game in it's right, but why did it have to be ported to every single console in existence? Rather than just making a proper sequel that wasn't repetitive to play on your own? A few months ago I was beginning to worry about the state of Sonic Team - never before had they been so dependent on bringing out rehashes of old Dreamcast games. After PSO, here comes the inevitable - what everyone had been predicting since day one - Sonic Adventure 1 ported and tweaked in some obscure way to make it a "Director's Cut". While in my opinion SA1 was better than SA2... I don't think there was really any need to bring this one out on Gamecube? When they could have been concentrating on original games? Not to Worry... My point thus far is that most people (including Sonic fans that have become Nintendo fans) could feel like they have been mistreated by Sonic Team. Who can blame them really - the studio could have made one or two exclusive new Sonic games on Gamecube before dipping their toe in the water for other consoles. It wouldn't have been at a loss either - seeings as pretty much every Sonic fan had taken heed of Naka-san's apparaisal of Nintendo's machine and bought a Gamecube. In this respect, the main question those people will be asking is "Will Sonic Team just leave Gamecube now that they're looking at Xbox and PS2? Leaving all of the real Sonic fans behind while the studio tries to appeal to non-Sonic-fans?" And my answer to that would be: Not a chance. Yes, it does seem that Sonic fans have been given a bit of a raw deal - Sonic Team has only up to this point [in this generation of consoles] provided ports of games we pretty much already own. I am slightly dubious about Sonic Team's outreach to non-Sonic fans, as that would mean even more ports and perhaps - worst comes to worst - a complete departure of "true Sonic gameplay" in later games. Looking at SEGA's E3 list, it seems that only Sonic Heroes is destined for a multi-platform release. The other games are sticking with Gamecube and Game Boy Advance, which is an echo of what Naka-san was talking about a few years back when he said "If you're a fan of Sonic Team, it's best to get a Gamecube". Which is a huge relief. And to be honest, Sonic is the mascot of SEGA after all - and perhaps the best way of getting the entire company known is to let the hedgehog stretch his feet on more than one platform. As has been said many times before, Sonic Team has some kind of crush on the Gamecube, so if there are any Sonic games being released soon, you can bet your bottom dollar they will at least head to Nintendo's console first. You know, the console you bought because you were led to believe that the newest Sonic games would release there. You see? He wasn't lying, was our Naka-san. Quite why Sonic is heading to different platforms now probably has to do with a SEGA-controlled decision to gain a bit more respect for its company name. Or, it was Naka's idea of 'dipping a toe in the water' in order to spread the name and popularity of the blue blur. Besides, take a look at what's to come to reward loyal Sonic Team fans - exclusive to Gamecube. Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg looks set be a true-to-form comeback of the innovative Sonic Team that we knew back in the NiGHTS into dreams... days. Phantasy Star Online Episode III, being a possible Ninty exclusive, leaves loads of room for Game Boy Advance and e-Reader connectivity (what with the game being based on cards and all). And let's not forget what's a given anyway - Sonic Heroes. Even if that one isn't exclusive, Gamecube owners are still getting it. The only fear anyone should have with this multi-platform Sonic business is the fact that Sonic Team may not be used to making multiple versions of the same game. The studio's only experience so far has been working on Phantasy Star Online Episodes I & II. But we sense, like PSO, that Sonic Heroes will be made for each console with their unique strengths in mind. Which could mean that the Gamecube and Xbox versions shouldn't have terrible PS2 graphics, etc. So no, Sonic Team is not turning its backs on us loyal fans, but rather reaching out to potential new fans. This is the 'Year of Sonic' in full swing. Funnily enough, all this fuss about GC ports, and Naka-san hasn't even made a Saturn remake of NiGHTS yet!
  12. Dear me. Deary, deary me. Sonic Team are all over the shop about this one. Let's start where it all began... a few months ago, Sonic Team announced (along with Sonic Advance 2) that they would be making a Sonic the Hedgehog compilation game for the Nintendo Gamecube. Fans of the blue hedgehog jumped for joy - and rightly so. Sonic Team, attempting another 'Sonic Jam'? Sign us up! This time, imagine how many games they could fit on one Gamecube DVD! If Sonic Team tried, they could fit every single Sonic game known to man (excluding the Dreamcast Sonic games) onto one single 3" DVD. At least, they could if they didn't put any other features in, like Sonic Jam had. No-one really cared for extras anyway - they helped pad out Sonic Jam, but even if it came with no movies and just the games (some were even contemplating the appearance of Sonic X-Treme and Sonic Championship/Sonic the Fighters on the DVD) that would make any Sonic fan cry in delight. However. Later on, there were rumours that Sonic Team had 'announced' the tentative list of games to be included on the 'Mega Collection'. These were: Sonic the Hedgehog - Mega Drive Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Mega Drive Sonic the Hedgehog CD - Mega CD Sonic the Hedgehog 3 - Mega Drive Sonic & Knuckles - Mega Drive Sonic 3D Blast - Sega Saturn Sonic R - Sega Saturn Sonic Shuffle - Sega Dreamcast Sonic Drift - Game Gear [Unconfirmed] It was a bizarre list of Sonic titles, sure, but at least the public would have been satisfied if the compilation did come out with those games as well as a list of extras (like movies). As long as the sodding loading times in Sonic Shuffle were removed entirely, that is. A little while later, Sonic Team launched their official website... and a quick translation reveals that the developer were clearly not planning to consider any post-Mega-Drive games at all! The confirmed list featured: Sonic the Hedgehog - Mega Drive Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Mega Drive Sonic the Hedgehog 3 - Mega Drive Sonic & Knuckles - Mega Drive Sonic 3D Blast - Mega Drive Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine - Mega Drive Sonic Spinball - Mega Drive It later occurred to me that the reason for Sonic 'Mega' Collection not having more than this was in the title - Mega Collection. As in, all the games featured were at one point released on SEGA's 16-bit console. A few weeks later, some other Sonic sites thought they'd cracked the 'mystery' of the pretty obvious name pun... I just couldn't be bothered to tell anyone, I thought they all knew in the first place. Anyway, the sudden drop in game volume and the focus on Mega Drive made us fans mad, it did. We complained like mad fish being eaten by ferrets in heat (erm... yeah). And, I guess we're still complaining. Is it all doom and gloom though? Not quite... A revelation came, in the form of an American Electronics Boutique (EB's changed to GAME again in the UK... EB only exists in the US now) website, and a page description of the game. This page not only filled us all with confusion that EB somehow knows more about Sonic Team's own games than the developers themselves, but it also proved a vital information source that got us all excited again. Here's the exact EB description, as it was displayed: You hear that? Ristar. No? Again? OK. Ristar. Maybe I'm not getting through to you. RISTAR!!! Although it seems weird games like Ristar and Flicky are hidden additions to the game list, they're more than worthy additions. Also, before we heard of any of this Sonic Jam style extra goodies, Sonic Team only mentioned Box-Art and Archie Comic Scans as extras. So, this has come as a surprise to us all. So. What have we learned? That this isn't exactly the ground-breaking Sonic compilation that many fans had hoped it would. But, given Yuji Naka's intentions to present the collection to people who are new to Sonic the Hedgehog, it is admirable of Naka-san to add exclusive features like Sonic Jam once did to entertain us hardcore fans too. I was a little upset about all the confusion, but now that the fog is clear, I'm well behind it. Go Yuji!
  13. I wandered Kronos Island for about three hours, defeating bosses, grinding on rails, and plucking collectables from the map. I periodically stopped at the Elder and the Hermit to convert my stash into gains, then popped over to an Amy or Sage point to get a few lines of characters self-reflecting. When I defeated the Titan of the region, I had to acknowledge a feeling that had been nagging me the whole time: “Is that all there is?” Thankfully, I felt a little better about Sonic Frontiers once I was able to approach the game on its own terms, but even now there’s a sprinkle of disappointment in my experience. Open game design, be it full open world like Breath of the Wild, Spider-Man, Forza Horizon, or less standard open structures like Mario Odyssey or Bowser’s Fury, light a fire in my brain. I want to chase tasks, I want to discover things I wasn’t expecting, I want to see cool places and meet interesting characters, I want to subvert the expected and find bizarre solutions. I want to feel curious and surprised and rewarded for my efforts. … and Sonic Frontiers has none of that. Kishimoto’s “Open Zone” doesn’t really feel like a zone. It doesn’t feel like a playable world map. And, honestly, it doesn’t feel especially “open.” There are a number of reasons for this, from the collectathon-driven progression, to Sonic’s limited and incremental upgrades, to the fact that they built a cosmetics system solely for purchase bonuses and marketing collaborations. But by far the biggest contributing issue is the one that has long dogged the series, automation. When Sonic entered 3D, it found itself in a constant fight between functionality and spectacle where spectacle most often won. Grind rails, directional springs, and the homing attack allowed for a pace of experience that felt like it could fall apart at any minute, but somehow still held together. Automating loops let the camera zip out to dramatic angles, and boost pads nudged Sonic along the expected path so that you could reasonably escape an orca or military truck while blindly running towards the screen. It’s a different type of experience: whereas Genesis Sonic asks you to master curves and momentum like a city-wide skatepark, 3D Sonic straps on a jetpack and asks, “Hey, you wanna see something cool?” But as a video game, the series struggles to find a solid balance between showing the player something cool, and letting the player do something cool. This imbalance comes to a head in 2017’s Sonic Forces, a game that would very much like to show you some mid-level cutscenes, and doesn’t really want you mucking them up with full player input. Sonic Frontiers is better about this, but it still can’t seem to abandon yanking the player by the hand, as if the gravest sin it can commit is letting the player ruin a perfectly good action sequence. This is a typical platforming challenge in Sonic Frontiers: You find a dash pad on the ground. It zips you to a spring. The spring bounces you to one of the many rails floating in the sky. The rail loops around dramatically and leads you to a boost ring, thrusting you ever higher so that you can homing-attack some balloons and land on a platform with a memory token. Challenge complete. What was your input in all of this? Well, you found a boost pad and pressed the homing attack button a few times. Perhaps you even held the directional stick forward throughout. There are a thousand variations of this across the span of the game, incorporating a few additional mechanics like wall jumping and air boosting, but it always comes back around to chaining basic inputs in flashy ways. Any challenge the game offers is very guided and very controlled, which feels antithetical to modern open design. This game may have copied Breath of the Wild’s homework, but where Breath of the Wild gives you a playground of mechanics and minimal direction, Frontiers is terrified to let you go outside the boundaries of what it wants you to do and how it wants you to do it. To give my most disheartening example, the third island contains a drawbridge you will eventually lower in a story event… except the raised end is on your side, giving you a massive ramp that you can absolutely boost off of. If you try to jump the bridge before that story moment, you'll hit an invisible wall surrounding the island on the other side and fall to your death. The game is clearly saying, "You will not go here until we tell you to go here, no matter how achievable it looks." Open game design is built around exploration and discovery, but the game quickly teaches you that it doesn’t have any secrets or surprises up its sleeve. It has springs that lead to grind rails that lead to tiny rewards, and there isn’t much emotional difference between spring-to-rail at the beginning of the game and spring-to-rail 30 hours later. Like I said, I eventually came around to the game for all its faults, and there are several bright spots. As the game progresses, the complexity of the level design starts to make up for its limited toolset, asking the player to chain more complicated actions to complete the micro-challenges. The wide plains of Kronos Island give way to negotiating cliffs and sub-islands on Ares and Chaos. Combat encounters are diverse and unique, with some enemies needing a strict beat-down and others demanding you to master a specific mechanic. Sonic’s dash and air control feel better tuned to balance pace and precision. And perhaps most importantly, Sonic’s Cyloop represents the best of open design: it’s an analog mechanic that plays into the character’s core abilities and can be used for multiple purposes throughout the game. There’s room to build more Okami-esque line drawing puzzles around it, but it’s a solid idea that makes sense for what Sonic games are about, and I hope it makes a return in future games. If we’re to believe Kishimoto saying that this is a generational change for the series, there is a solid foundation here that is going to need a lot of work to live up to its peers. For now, Frontiers is not the revolutionary jump it’s being pitched as, and in some places, it’s not evolutionary either. What we have feels more like a proof of concept. A successful proof of concept, but not a fully developed idea built around open game design. If the series isn't an A-to-B action movie anymore, then the franchise needs to get beyond leading the player by the hand, and instead build more open-ended scenarios around Sonic’s skills. There are certain aspects of this game that feel better than they ever have before, but Frontiers’ open world aspirations can’t shine while they remain shackled to the series’ automated sequences and repetitive challenges. View full story
  14. Sonic as a franchise has always been…strangely averse to DLC. In an era where a lot of single-player games can get loads of post-launch content, SEGA has remained rather stingy when it comes to Sonic. Maybe we get some level packs reusing in-game assets, or cosmetics, or if we’re really lucky, some new characters or a couple brand new levels, but we’ve never really gotten anything substantial, even when you’d think a game was built for it. I mean, who wouldn’t have wanted more classic levels re-imagined in Sonic Generations or Sonic Mania? With Sonic Frontiers, that needs to change. Frontiers needs - nay, deserves - some proper, substantial downloadable content. Especially if we’re going to be waiting five years for the next one. Of course, it’s one thing to just like the idea of DLC. But what should SEGA & Sonic Team actually do? I think there are some clear directions where Frontiers DLC could go: Quality of Life Improvements Depending on the nature of this, this probably shouldn’t be paid DLC, but there are definitely some smaller areas where Frontiers could improve. Like, how about a proper Boss Rush mode? There’s currently no way to replay the Titan bosses, which is a shame. A mode that lets you play all four back to back would solve this and introduce a new post-game challenge ala the game’s Arcade Mode. Heck, maybe go all in and also include the sub bosses in a separate part of that mode? Speaking of Arcade Mode, I was a little surprised there was no way to go straight from one cyberspace stage to another in that. Adding a button to lets me move on to the next stage like Sonic 4 would be nice. Though a marathon mode that will grade me on how many red rings I collect, and how much time I take to get through each of the 30 cyberspace stages would be even better. A cutscene viewer would also be nice, as would a way to look at the animated and comic tie-ins in-game. There are surely other QoL improvements people want to. Do it, SEGA! Post-Game Content Mode As things stand, Sonic Frontiers has no post-game content. While I don’t think the game needs it, as there is plenty to do in it already, I do think Frontiers is structured in a way that makes such a mode viable. Imagine a brief cutscene where Sonic returns to the islands, and something happens that causes all of the artificial structures to change. The landscape is unchanged, but the platforming challenges all change, the puzzles are made more difficult, and enemies are replaced with substantially more powerful variants. As things stand, Sonic begins to overpower the game’s toughest enemies long before his stats are maxed out. A mode like this could give those people with overpowered Sonics something to do, and a reason to pursue maxed out stats. On top of that, this DLC would do all this while recycling existing assets and areas! And heck…maybe this mode could even have some additional story content, that further elaborates on the lives of the Ancients! More Cyberspace Stages (and Themes) You know what would be cool? Having more than four cyberspace environments. You know what would be even cooler? New cyberspace stages built around some new themes, based either on original locations or locations that haven’t been realized in a boost stage before. Of everything I suggest here, this seems like the most likely thing to happen, if only because Sonic has already gotten downloadable level packs, and cyberspace stages can be played outside of the open zone areas. But something like this would only be worthwhile if the assets are genuinely new, and not built in the four existing themes we already have. Give me Studiopolis! Mystic Cave! Stardust Speedway! Or something completely original! Just please, something new! I will give you money for this, SEGA, I promise! Brand New Story DLC - With A New Character Alright, this is the big one, and the main reason I wanted to write this article: I want a brand new campaign, with a new island, new enemies, new final boss, new cyberspace stages, and most importantly… a new character. Truth is, there really isn’t much story to be mined from Sonic-centric DLC. So why not build a new, shorter campaign around another character? Like, say, Shadow the Hedgehog, or… maybe even Blaze the Cat? Sonic Frontiers is already perfectly built for this kind of DLC. Each island is disconnected, so adding a new one wouldn’t be difficult structurally. And there is certainly some interesting story potential to be mined from other characters! Like, maybe Professor Gerald investigated one of the outlying islands Sonic never visited, which could give us more insights into Shadow’s past! As it stands, Shadow as a character feels directionless in Sonic, with no clear motivations or interesting character traits beyond “stop Eggman” and “be edgy.” Some Shadow-centered DLC would give Flynn a chance to finally sort the character’s messy game canon out. Though heck, even more interesting than Shadow DLC would be Blaze DLC. She is easily the most criminally under appreciated Sonic character from the new millennium. She’s already had a character arc that’s dying for a follow up, and getting some insight into the past of the Sol Emeralds is a story that’s just begging to be mined. Putting aside the story potential, this sort of DLC would also give Sonic Team a chance to build a new biome, and cyberspace stages based around games Blaze and Shadow were in. Not to mention, both Shadow and Blaze could have significantly different combat from Sonic, using their own unique fire and chaos-based abilities. Look, SEGA: Sonic Frontiers is the best 3D Sonic has been in years. You guys are already doing some cosmetic DLC! Now is the time to finally give us a proper, sizable amount of DLC for a Sonic game. Frontiers has loads of potential for this sort of thing, please take advantage of it! View full story
  15. Sonic has a…messy history with combat. Starting with Sonic Heroes, the franchise has made multiple attempts to make Sonic work in more combat-oriented games, often with disastrous results. Theoretically, having the player stop to fight enemies during a stage could be an effective way to add some variety to the gameplay while also extending playtime. In practice, however, focus on combat has served to do little more than break the pace of of any game they’re in, by forcing the player to stop and fight hordes of enemies with underbaked combat mechanics before they can progress. Sonic Frontiers is the first mainline Sonic game in more than a decade to have a focus on combat. Starting with Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Team (wisely) began to excise combat from Sonic’s platforming stages. By Sonic Colors, nary an enemy lifebar could be found outside of boss encounters, and that was how Sonic Team kept it until, well, now. As Sonic Frontiers seeks to yet again redefine what a Sonic game is, combat has again taken center stage, and for the first time ever…it is genuinely satisfying. Sonic Frontiers gets a lot right in its combat: it’s polished, discourages button mashing, has solid defensive options, makes use of Sonic’s speed, let’s Sonic feel powerful, looks cool, and most importantly it feels good to play. At its most basic, mashing the X-button for Sonic’s basic combo gets the job done, at least for the easiest enemies. But as enemies become more complex in their capabilities and moves, that very quickly becomes not enough. Aside from the basic combo, I personally like to divide Sonic’s combat options into four categories: offensive, defensive, ranged, and flashy. “Flashy” moves generally just add some visual variety and power to Sonic’s basic combo, such as the phantom rush (which happens automatically when the combo bar fills up) and wild rush. Ranged moves, like sonic boom, are good for hitting enemies from a distance while staying out of range of some of their attacks, and is good against enemies with area attack moves. The cyloop is the game’s offensive move: it allows you to quickly tear down enemy defenses, or delivery damage to multiple enemies without needing to hit them. It’s required for certain, defensive-centric enemies. Later, you can unlock an “auto-cyloop” which lets you pull off cyloops in the middle of combos to quickly take down a single enemy’s defense. Finally, we have the defensive moves: the dodge and the parry. The parry is easy to pull off, and can even be done in mid-air: just hold L1 & R1 and when the enemy attacks you’ll deflect them automatically. Dodges, meanwhile, let you avoid attacks all together, and when timed correctly, allow Sonic to dodge an attack, and move in quickly to deliver a combo attack. While there are certain situations which require these moves, the way you use these moves can also effect your overall playstyle. For instance, if you like to play offensively and risky, like I do, you can use the cyloop a lot to not just take down enemy defenses, but keep them vulnerable to combos while delivering damage. However, using the cyloop can leave you vulnerable to attack, which can make a fight harder if you make a mistake. Cyloops can also interrupted by uneven terrain, or by area attacks, making it difficult or impractical in certain situations. Likewise, focusing on dodging and parrying, and only pulling off cyloops or combos when an enemy gives you an opening, can be easier, but also slower. What I appreciate about Frontiers’ combat is that it gives you a decent amount of variety. It forces you to use all of its required moves, while also leaving you room for variety and strategy in how you approach any given enemy encounter. It feels like, for the first time ever, Sonic Team has genuinely put a lot of thought into how Sonic should fight. Even better: the encounters with the non-boss enemies are often quite short, once you rise above the base levels, meaning that combat rarely feels like a slog. And since it’s mostly optional, with none of the infamous enemy rooms of past games, you are largely free to set your own pace. So the combat has variety, some amount of depth, and FEELS GOOD. So why do I say “mostly?” Well…much like Frontiers as a whole, while the combat is a lot of fun, it also feels like the foundation for something better. While I’m not a huge fan of the Unleashed werehog, it does get one thing right about its combat: it maps two separate kinds of attacks to different buttons, which can be used for a multitude of combos. I don’t really think Frontiers needs anything on the level of the werehog, but somewhere between that and where it is now would be a good sweet spot for the game’s combat, I think. More depth, to keep things from getting repetitive, but not so much so that the combat becomes too dense for people who are here for the platforming action and open world. It seems pretty clear that one goal with the combat was accessibility, since there’s even an unlockable autocombo option for more casual players. As it stands, Frontiers has the most enthralling combat system I’ve ever experienced in a Sonic game. It blew away my (admittedly low) expectations, and I look forward to seeing what future Sonic games do with these mechanics. While I do think there is some value in keeping the combat more simplistic then, say, Bayonetta (this game doesn’t need to be an outright brawler), I do hope Sonic Team expands on this game’s combat with new moves and more complex combos in the future. Good on you, Sonic Team, you finally made Sonic combat fun! I will no longer look upon an enemy lifebar with dread. View full story
  16. Sega has had its ups and downs - more downs than ups, but that was due to its consoles, not the games created for them. Sega tried to make the most out of every console they made (including the Sega Saturn, which was a mongoose to program for). So I believe that Sega is pretty good when it comes to making games. Just look in your local arcade for Christ's sake! How many Sega cabinets do you see? Most of the games are made by them! Whether they are very good programmers or not, the Dreamcast has been going downhill, after a strong start. Compare that to the success of the Mega Drive and Master System (which seem to be Sega's only successful machines). If you hadn't noticed, then I may as well tell you that every Dreamcast made and sold loses Sega about £60, due to price cuts. Not great at all. But, of course, the games for Dreamcast are practically THE FINEST. Ever. Full. Stop. No doubt about it. Sega may not be the finest console manufacturers, but their dedicated programming team makes them the BEST developers in the WORLD. It's just a shame that to appreciate their great work, you need to buy one of their consoles, which no-one seems to want to do (due to their past consoles being absolute dump). Now you are starting to see why Sega is producing games for rival consoles and basically donating Dreamcast technology to set top boxes and mobile phones and so on. As well as part of the world-share plan, the deal is to not only get them out of the red and into the black, but also win them something else: RESPECT. Sega isn't stupid. It knows it will never reach the mainstream quite like Sony, because of the public's current faith in them. But as well as making games for others, Sega is still being true to its fans - the ones that actually bought a Dreamcast. Sega realises that the real fans are at home with their Dreamcasts, not PS2s or whatever. This is where Sega is being extra generous: ensuring it keeps its hardcore fans happy, other-console fans happy and itself as a company happy. It will make old Dreamcast games for other consoles and people will yell out 'JESUS CHRIST! CRAZY TAXI ON PS2' - these games will no doubt be massive hits. You must admit, Sega IS very smart for making this move, and this is an ingenious plan. Giving rival console owners a piece of Sega action will get them money, while still providing to the fans who have stuck with them. Meanwhile, stopping production of the Dreamcast won't lose them any more money. In no time, Sega will have gained a ton of money worldwide, masses of console owners' trust, and shoots them right at the top of the world shares with their planned 25% of the market. Sega going third-party, as well as staying loyal to Sega fans, is a bit of a handful - but it can pull it off because hey, it's SEGA! Any problems that EA will 'tell' them shouldn't bother the company, because these guys programmed for the Saturn, and EA didn't. Sega will be dominant! Sega fanatics: be proud, not sad - your favourite company is soon to be everybody else's favourite company too. There we go, that was the first Feedback Forum. This space is where you can send in your thoughts on any subject found from the news section (or, the subject I am talking about in Dreadknux's Forum). Post a thought by clicking HERE and clicking on the 'Feedback Forum' board.
  17. Dreadknux

    OPINION: Dreamcast Dead?

    Heard a rumour that the Dreamcast is dead? At first glance this may all seem like some sort of self-destructive pattern on Sega's part , and that may make you lose your faith in the company as a fan. But, as this massive news special will soon explain, the odds are all in the favour of the Dreamcasters. First off, let's address the rumours and stories and whatnot (that sounds SO English. Wait, I AM English). The Rumours For a while now, people have been hammering on that the Dreamcast won't live much longer. Faithful DC owners (like me) have been hoping for this rumour to just blow over. But, what came instead was the ultimate insult; an announcement that Sega will be making games for other consoles and killing support for the Dreamcast. "NOOOOOOO," was the cry of many across the globe. The rumour mill is really having a field day on that one, with stories that the Dreamcast will be obsolete come March and everyone will lose interest. But calm down there, don't worry. Here is the truth, as it seems to be at this moment in time. The news that the Dreamcast won't live much longer IS true. But Sega is only discontinuing the manufacture of the console, not killing support for it. The truth of the matter is that Sega lose a lot of money on each Dreamcast sold across the world, due to continuing price cuts. So, Sega will stop making the consoles, selling them until the very last one is off the shelves. That will be phase one of their debt-destroying plan. Another matter is the story of Sega making games for other consoles. Well, if the world-share dominance plan has eluded you, then here's the scoop: a while back Sega told the world that they will distribute Dreamcast hardware to companies making general electrical equipment, such as set top boxes and mobile phones. One such product is even Nintendo's Game Boy Advance, due out this summer. While the Xbox at the moment doesn't seem to be getting the Sega treatment, the PlayStation 2 and possibly Nintendo Gamecube will get some software ported from the Dreamcast. Do not fear, these will be old titles - the first being Crazy Taxi on PS2 - so don't expect the likes of Shenmue for a good few years, if ever. Now the rumour concerning Sega's dropping of Dreamcast support. THIS is completely false at present, with Sega developing at least 100 new titles for the console such as Jet Set Radio 2, House of the Dead 3, ToeJam & Earl III and Shenmue 3. If anything, Sega sees the Dreamcast as its number ONE priority at the moment, with conversions to other consoles a great time AFTER the original Sega game has hit DC. Dreamcast Not Deserted Now you're probably wondering how all this will affect Sega. Well, get the low-down right here... If anything, this will benefit Sega - their rise from largely-ignored first-party hardware company to a popular third-party publisher (that treats its loyal Dreamcast fans like first-class customers) will net it a lot of good will from fans. Anything that was a hit on Dreamcast is sure to be a massive success on more popular consoles. The thought of a 'Sonic Adventure Advance' on Nintendo's new Game Boy console is a very promising one. Be sure to check up with Sonic Stadium for news on this rumoured game. To Dreamcast? Absolutely nothing will change. So don't worry about that. Dreamarena will still be active, Sega will still be loyal to its fans, as it will undoubtedly put them FIRST, and also the 100-plus titles scheduled for it means that the Dreamcast will still be around for a good while. The only difference is that there will now be no Dreamcasts to buy, but anyone stupid enough not to buy the console by now (unless they could not afford it) quite frankly deserves to miss out on Sega's lovely goods. Here Come The Games You see, have faith and the Lord bringeth... erm, the goods. Here is a list of the new announced titles by Sega Japan, which just proves that the Dreamcast is far from dead. *Deep Breath* House of the Dead 3, the third in the fantastic zombie shooting arcade game Dynamic Golf, promising realistic graphics and online capabilities Get Bass 2, the sequel to the great fishing game Sega Bass Fishing. Time to prepare your Fission rod... Alien Front Online, which is expected in the summer in the US As Snow, which is its development name at present, is a love simulation which is due spring, which sounds about the right season to... *SNIP* Outrigger, a game looking fantastically good, due out '2001' Project Propeller Online, ONLINE DOGFIGHTS ONLINE! From the excellent AM2, expect many a good thing... Derby Owners Club Online, a horse racing stats game - only scheduled for good old Jap land at the mo Power Smash 2, don't worry about the name, the original Virtua Tennis was called Power Smash in Japan, therefore... VIRTUA TENNIS 2!!! Crazy Taxi 2, now this should be class. Apparently set in Chicago and with a new cast of drivers, this seems every bit as good as the first! Let's Make A Monster, No Kidding! A kind of Pokémon do, raise a monster and fight it with others. Kewl. Victory Goal 2001, from AM2, the Dreamcast's first decent football game hopefully Derby Tsuku 2, a sequel to the Japanese horse-racing game Guru Guru Onsen 2, another sequel, only to a kind of 'Planet Ring' kind of thing in Japan Sonic Adventure 2, now there is NO reason at all to not get excited about this Bikkuriman 2000, have NOT A CLUE what this is all about, first released in Japan at some point 'New Space Channel 5', the first was so good and funky, there HAD to be a sequel K-Project, only a working title, is said to be a kind of shoot-em-up. sounds promising Toe Jam & Earl III, now THIS is what I've been waiting for! AND will be released by Sega hopefully sometime this year NFL2K2, NBA2K2 and NHL2K2 was inevitable to reach DC, and here they are. Not imaginative names though... Far Nation, another Multiplayer Network RPG release in Summer, and apparently, ONE server can handle THOUSANDS of players online! Wow. Not including others such as Shenmue 2 and 3, Bomberman for DC and many others, but if I go on about the rest, I'll be here all day. Now are you satisfied with Sega's 'mutiny'? "You Talkin' To Me? EH!?" Electronic Arts, more commonly known as EA, has decided to 'warn' Sega about it's decision to go third-party. What? Ah, I see. EA’s president says that Sega will struggle to survive if it abandons its own console, and also that Sega will be confused with the programming requirements and development cycles of certain consoles. OOOOOOOH! Although this was said in a ‘polite’ way, I think it was just the company being jealous. Well, EA is currently PS2's top developer in the USA, but Sega going third party could just change this, as their games are second to none. NONE, I TELL YOU! EA could lose it's title as 'top developer', which gives Sega even more attention and respect. Third-party geezas beware, cos Sega's coming to town!!!
  18. The IGN coverage thus far has left a lot of unanswered questions. Unsurprisingly, ten minutes of lightly edited gameplay footage without narration or context hasn’t proven itself to be a great way to premiere this game for the first time. We’ve seen a bit of the combat, we’ve seen a little world traversal, and we’ve seen more sky grinding than Final Rush and Rail Canyon’s unholy lovechild. But there’s some BIG aspects we still don’t know about. Big aspects like what the game is. Before today’s IGN impressions and Sonic Central, writers GX and Nuckles87 are taking stock of the vitally important things that we still need to see from Sonic’s next big outing: The Story Premise (or at least some world building) Even if Sonic’s moveset is familiar, this is a big departure from previous games on many other fronts, and it needs to be grounded in something. The enemies look bizarre and abstract, the world is going for a more realistically detailed aesthetic, and while it’s implied that other characters are around somewhere, we’ve yet to see an Amy, Eggman, rogue AI, or reason for Sonic to be there at all. This genre is about establishing a world that the player builds a relationship with and cares about. There’s no opening mystery that should be held back at this point. SEGA, you got us excited with Ian Flynn on writing. Now show us the fruits of that decision. Exotic Environments (and bizarre landscapes) We understand there are supposed to be multiple biomes in the game, but we’re still kind of trapped in Nondescript Grass and Forest Land. This is the first showing, we need to be wowed by unexpected scenery, awe-inspiring landmarks, and in true open world fashion, a mountain that you should definitely not be on. Make the player want to be in that world and see every inch of it. Further, the geography we’ve been shown thus far has not been especially Sonic-like. Sonic games are known for their twisting, fantastical, completely unrealistic geography, yet everything we’ve seen from Frontiers has been so…mundane. We’ve seen landscapes we’d find in any open world game. Where are the loop-de-loops? The twisting, mobius-strip terrain? That half-pipes? The first Sonic open world game ought to have the sorts of geography iconic to the series! Challenge (and room to make terrible choices) One of the promises this style of open world makes is very little handholding, and the bedfellow to that is giving you the opportunity to get in way over your head. While it may be unintuitive, modern open world design thrives on showing you things that are way beyond what you can do with the promise that at some point you will achieve that which first seemed impossible. What here is meant to scare the player? What is meant to frustrate them? What challenge makes the player feel amazing when they finally get past it? We’ve only been shown some very basic button-mashy combat; is there greater depth later on using sidestep dodges and environmental positioning? And on a similar note… Strength & Abilities Frequent complaints thrown at the initial footage was that Sonic keeps boosting on and off, and enemies take an exhausting number of hits. I’m personally willing to put up with this if, over time, I upgrade to boost longer, get stronger, and discover more effective combat strategies. Sonic and combat very rarely mix well, and if every encounter takes minutes to resolve, it will completely bog down the game’s pace. By completing challenges and gaining new abilities, I want new ways for Sonic to navigate the island and dispatch once formidable foes with ease. That’s the basic ethos of Sonic, isn’t it? Learn the lay of the land and master getting through it? Progression & Goals Over the last week, Sonic Frontiers has been shown in a piecemeal format, showcasing various aspects of the game without the context of how they interact with each other and any as-yet unseen mechanics. All games have a game play loop, where systems interact and each activity flows into the next. Open world games in particular need a well tuned loop; it’s the distinguishing factor between an actual open world and a playground of mechanics. So what we need more than anything else is a clear cross-section of what it’s like to simply play Sonic Frontiers across its span. What is the player expected to do in these environments? How do exploration, traversal, puzzles and combat connect to one another? How will players be rewarded for playing the game play loop well? What sort of goals will these mechanics help the player achieve, and will those goals be satisfying to accomplish? One More Thing... Frontiers has some interesting ideas on how to augment Sonic’s tried-and-true boost moveset with his circle updraft and this ranged kick, but it just feels like there’s one big thing missing, some sort of unique mechanic that rethinks Sonic or connects him to the open world structure. Open world games like Forza Horizon and Elden Ring succeed through incredibly tuned mechanics, while others forge their unique identity through fresh and versatile mechanics. Breath of the Wild had its chemistry system, and Pokemon Legends: Arceus is built entirely around the concept of throwing. The mechanics shown for Frontiers thus far are just, well, Sonic. It needs a defining, differentiating mechanic. An identity. An element that slowly unwraps depth and demands creativity to master. It’s difficult to say if they’d reasonably keep a mechanic like that under wraps at this point. Usually it’s something you’d want to show off immediately. But on the other hand, it’s been an extremely chaotic and bizarre rollout, so it's anyone's guess what they're still holding onto. An Actual Trailer Seriously. I don’t know if they were hoping that the game would speak for itself, but the game really, really needed someone to speak for it. Transitioning to an open world structure is a difficult task for any developer, and while we’re cautiously optimistic from what we’ve seen thus far, SEGA’s secretive approach to this game has left us more confused than excited. Frontiers has quite a lot to prove to overcome it’s rocky debut, but perhaps this week’s events will help reveal the actual trajectory of this game. View full story
  19. SPOILER WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS PLOT DETAILS FROM THE END OF SONIC 2 I am a Knuckles fan. His name is my online handle, which I’ve been using consistently since the early days of the SEGA forums. I love his moves, his lore, and even his weird comic series. So, naturally, I was excited when Paramount announced a Knuckles-centric TV series a few months ago, starring the red, dreadlocked knucklehead. It wasn’t long before my worry over Sonic 2 fumbling things tempered that excitement with anxiety, but now that I’ve seen the movie that anxiety has given way to enthusiasm. Knuckles was the best thing in that movie and I am ready for a show about him. But…what exactly will the Knuckles series be? All we know about it is that it’ll be a live action series on Paramount Plus. I can’t imagine something like that being done without a sizable budget akin to Disney+’s MCU and Star Wars offerings. That is an assumption I will be running with for this article. What do I want from the Knuckles series? A lot, but I’d like to think my hopes are at least somewhat realistic (yes, including this first one.) Time to Go Off-World The Sonic movies have been consistently teasing us with a larger universe. We’ve been given brief glimpses of Sonic’s home and the mushroom planet, Tails has talked about a “village,” and Knuckles’ introduction was even preceded by strange masked aliens, initially introduced in the Sonic 2 Pre-Quill comic. It’s high time the Sonic Movie Universe make good on those teases and actually take us somewhere. A planet hopping space adventure would be the perfect backdrop for a TV show. Likewise, a TV show is a great place to flesh out multiple locations beyond Earth in the Sonic Movie Universe. I wouldn’t expect most of these locations to be especially fantastical or grand for purely budgetary reasons, but I will definitely take “generic desert planet” and “rusty cheap-looking backwater planet” over “Knuckles goes to New Jersey.” Make it About Knuckles, Sonic and Tails' First Adventure Yes, this is a Knuckles show, but that doesn’t mean Sonic and Tails can’t get in on the action! Sonic 2 served as an origin for the trio coming together as friends, but there is no better medium for their first proper adventure than a TV show. Explore their chemistry. Let them talk and explore their interactions outside of the context of a movie climax. Let Sonic be the fish out of water as he’s taken to places Knuckles is more familiar with. As fun as Knuckles is, I think he was at his best when he had Sonic and Tails to bounce off of, so it’d be a shame to separate them for his small screen debut. Let Knuckles have the main plot and the spotlight, but allow Sonic and Tails to tag along for the ride. Bring Back Knuckles' People (and Make Them Bad Guys) Look: I don’t care what Knuckles said, Longclaw didn’t wipe out his entire tribe. They are alive, and if they are meant to be dead, undead them, because they would make the perfect villains for this series. It is already firmly established in these movies that the echidnas are the power-hungry aggressors. They were the ones who created the Master Emerald, they were the ones who used it for war, and they were the ones who hunted down the owls and attempted to take Sonic’s power. They can certainly be three dimensional villains. Giving them a reason to be so power hungry would only make them more interesting. But ultimately, Knuckles needs to come down against them. So how could this work? Have them abandon Knuckles. When they went after Longclaw and failed to capture Sonic, they began searching the universe relentlessly for him and the map to the Master Emerald rather than return to him. This would not only demonstrate how far his people have fallen that they would rather hunt for power than go back for one of their own, it would also allow the SMU to explore a different kind of familial loss, and the differences between family by blood and family by love, and why one is more meaningful. Heck, Tikal could even be introduced as an unwilling pawn of her people. When the Master Emerald is used at the end of Sonic 2, the echidnas learn that Knuckles has it. Tikal is sent under the lie that she’s looking for their people. Knuckles, upon discovering they are alive, agrees to help her find them. Sonic and Tails won’t let him go alone. This gives us the motivation for the planet-hopping adventure as they go from planet to planet, searching for clues, Tikal subtly pointing them in the right direction. This was, in reality, done to separate the Master Emerald from its protectors. Some version of this, where the story potential for Knuckles’ people is utilized, and Knuckles is made to see the truth about them, feels like the perfect place to take this. It wraps up standing plot points, gives Knuckles a unique group of villains who are personal to him, strengthens his newfound bonds, and gives our tri-colored trio their first test as the Master Emerald’s guardians. If You're Going to Have Humans, Focus on the Wachowskis I am going to say something potentially controversial: Tom and Maddie Wachowski are the only decent human characters in the Sonic movies. Everyone else is an annoying cartoon caricature of a human, Jim Carrey worst of all. But even if I liked Carrey, he shouldn’t be here, as Knuckles ought to have his own villain. So since a live action Sonic tv series will inevitably need to spend time with humans on Earth for budgetary reasons, they might as well flesh out the best ones. Their plot? Well, jumping off my previous point: have them be the ones protecting the Master Emerald while the furballs are out in space. Maybe a few different parties, one of whom were hired by the echidnas, are after the gemstone and they need to go on their own adventure to keep it away from them. They can be hunted by those weird masked bird people from Sonic 2, some random humanoid aliens in make-up, and maybe eventually a certain…bat jewel thief. Alternatively, if Knuckles and co need a human companion, Maddie can go with them and get some much-needed screen time, and Tom can get paired with Rachel and they’re made to hash their whole thing out. Bring in Rouge So if you ignored this article’s spoiler warnings, chances are you already know that Sonic 3 will have Shadow, effectively setting it up to be an adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2. You know who you can’t leave out of any version of SA2? Rouge. Problem is, with Sonic 3 set up to be a story about Shadow, Rouge will almost certainly take a backseat, much like Tails did in Sonic 2. That’s why Rouge absolutely needs to be in the Knuckles series. There are multiple reasons to introduce Rouge here: she is the closest thing Knuckles has to his own adversary and rival in the games. They are both treasure hunters, and both have an interest in the Master Emerald. So bringing her in as a villain for Knuckles to eventually deal with only makes sense. With the Master Emerald and GUN now present in the SMU, Rouge also has something to do in regards to her own plotline. She has a jewel to hunt and a faction that can employ her skills for covert ops on Earth. Bare minimum, the Knuckles series ought to lay the groundwork for Rouge’s role in Sonic 3. Heck, Bring in Some Other Characters Too The great thing about TV shows is that you can give a character or group of characters a complete story in a single episode’s run time. The Knuckles series isn’t just a good place to set up some stuff for Sonic 3, it’s a great place to set up stuff for the franchise as a whole going forward. You know what would be cool? An episode where Knuckles just had to work with the Chaotix. While Sonic, Tails, and whoever else is with them go off to explore a planet or check out its local cuisine (mostly off-screen), Knuckles hires the bumbling detectives to find the next clue for finding his people or whatever he’s doing. Hijinks, of course, ensue. A few episodes just establishing characters while Knuckles is on his adventure is a stellar way to bring new Sonic characters into the franchise. Let the IDW Creative Team Work on an Episode You know who’s been consistently producing the best Sonic stories for the past four years? IDW. Yes, they’re busy people. Ian Flynn is working on a friggin game. I don’t care. Flynn has experience working in TV, Evan Stanley’s been doing great work at IDW for years, bring one or both of them in for an episode or two. I’m sure you all can work it out. Nothing would make the fandom more excited for the series than their involvement, and they’re input would be nothing but a net benefit for the show. Please make this happen! Dive into Chaos Emerald Lore Sonic 2 remained fairly vague on the details regarding the history of the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds. Since Knuckles is the character most directly connected to the gemstones, a series about him ought to dive deeper into their history. How did the echidnas get their hands on the chaos emeralds? How did they create the Master Emerald? What other sorts of conflicts were the emeralds involved in? Heck, where did the Chaos Emeralds come from? SEGA has always been cagey about the Chaos Emerald’s origins, but that’s no reason for the movies to not touch on that in some way. Whether its Tikal, Knuckles’ people, or a plot exposition fairy, the Knuckles series is the perfect opportunity to dive deeper. And if this does happen, Chaos and the chao ought to also be brought in, at least in some capacity. Chaos was the original Master Emerald guardian after all, and we know he wasn’t inside the Master Emerald in this universe. Maybe when the echidnas took the emeralds, he was imprisoned somewhere or something? Get Weird With It; A Sonic Adventure Adaptation in Space I mean, this is basically what this whole article has been leading to, hasn’t it? Sonic Adventure was, in many ways, basically Knuckles’ story. His people, home, and the Master Emerald all sit at the center of the game’s events. It is the perfect game to mine for Knuckles-centric plot elements, and the many changes the SMU has made to the echidnas makes the game’s plot elements all the more enticing for a Knuckles TV series. As I’ve been writing this, I’ve expected that Paramount already knows what it wants from a Knuckles series. So far, their Sonic writers have had a decent idea of what to take from the games. They’ve already grabbed bits and pieces from Sonic Adventure. I just hope they go back to that well again for this. View full story
  20. SPOILER WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS PLOT DETAILS AND SCREENSHOTS FROM THE END OF SONIC 2 When I went into the first Sonic movie more than two years ago, I wasn’t expecting much. I was incredibly cynical about the whole affair, in fact. “Sure,” I thought, “they made the design better. But plenty of terrible movies can still look nice.” Then, the Paramount and SEGA logos rolled, and the movie spent the next 13 minutes winning me over, before one moment finally sealed it. It demonstrated this movie was going to be more than pop culture references and Jim Carrey being Jim Carrey. This was a movie about a lonely kid that, shockingly, had a heart. Here, SEGA’s cool blue mascot was in a bad place, and desperately needed to find a way to move forward. By the end of it he did - and it all started at a baseball field. After giving the audience a tour of his adopted home, Green Hills, Sonic goes to a baseball game. A team wins, and they celebrate together, something Sonic is clearly envious of. Later, after nightfall, Sonic takes to the field and uses his speed to pretend to be an entire team. As a scene, there is a lot to like here: it features a creative use of Sonic’s speed, it shows what he’s capable of, and it also gives more screen time to establishing his character. The personalities Sonic gives his “teammates” are cute, and Ben Schwartz does a superb job bringing the whole thing to life. But then Sonic hits the ball, fails to catch it, “wins” the game by a hair, readies himself for the same sort of adulation he saw earlier only to experience…nothing. Because he’s alone. For a moment, his cheerful façade cracks, and Sonic does something he never does in the games: he loses his cool. Overwhelmed by his loneliness, he unleashes all his pent-up frustrations by running laps around the field. This leads to a power outage across the entire Pacific Northwest, which naturally gets the attention of the US government and leads to Sonic getting discovered. More importantly, it also starts Sonic on a two-movie-long journey to finally experience what he saw on that field. Two years later, Sonic was playing baseball again, but this time he wasn’t alone. He had an entire family to play with, celebrate with, and go off for ice cream with. As a scene, it acts as a very effective bookend to Sonic’s journey to end his loneliness and find his place in the world. Years after losing one family, he’s found another. The through line these scenes book end ultimately make up the emotional core of these otherwise fairly trivial popcorn flicks, which makes them probably the most important ones of the entire film series so far. As cool as any of the action sequences are, and as effective as the characterization is for Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails, it would all mean next-to-nothing without that emotional core. Enjoyable movies aren’t built on action, pop culture jokes, weird Jim Carrey antics and Olive Garden gift cards. They are built on character, more specifically making audiences care about those characters. Caring about Sonic and wanting to see him find that family he so desperately needs gives those action scenes weight. They make the bad jokes and Jim Carrey antics bearable. They make Sonic feel like a character and not a walking collection of dated references, and they give him a means to connect to characters like Tom, Tails, and Knuckles, creating the most effective and impactful scenes across both movies. Of course, plenty of movies do the “found family” thing better, with Pixar’s Luca and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy executing it more effectively. The concept is also nothing new for Sonic as a franchise. Tails is Sonic’s little brother in the games, and the Freedom Fighters are basically Sonic’s surrogate family in both SatAM and Archie. Regardless, if someone had told me a few years ago that I’d get a little emotional at a scene in a Sonic movie where Sonic called a human “dad,” I’d call you a damn liar. These movies had everything going against them from the beginning. From out of touch executives, to the terrible track record of video game adaptations, to how regularly terrible movies with cartoon animal sidekicks usually are! And yet, somehow, Sonic was able to find box office, audience, and (modest) critical success. Twice. Some will put the credit on the redesign and “listening to fans,” but the actual reason is much more fundamental: the movie’s writers were smart enough to give the characters heart, rooted in a game of baseball, that sprang forth into the most successful video game film franchise of all time. As we move forward into a wider cinematic universe, I can only hope the Sonic Movie Universe’s creatives don’t lose sight of this. That heart is something that must be built upon and expanded, in order to keep audiences invested in these characters and their adventures. View full story
  21. CharulzTheHedgehog

    Looking for Sonic related YouTube channels

    First off, hello everybody. I am new to the forum and this is my first post. I am coming over from the SEGA forums because they do not have a "General Chat" area on that forum. Now on to the question, do you guys know of any YouTube channels that talk mostly about Sonic? I am not interested in gaming channels, just channels where people share their opinions, do game reviews, read fanfics and/or talk about Sonic news. Here's a list of channels that I currently know of and I would like you to share yours: TailsChannel: http://www.youtube.com/tailschannel StephenKnux: http://www.youtube.com/stephenknux SuperPrincessDaisy64: http://www.youtube.com/SuperPrincessDaisy64
  22. http://sonicstadium.org/articles/the-spin-why-abhor-sonic-4 Call it a counter-opinion piece, if you like. We like to cover all points in the Sonic world, and clearly Sonic 4 has been one of the most controversial game reveals in years (at least for Sonic). As much as Brad outlined potential negatives with using the Sonic 4 name, so too do I bring forth the argument that there's really nothing to worry about until we see some more concrete gameplay footage and evidence to the fears some fans have. If you think there's something going on between me and Brad, by the way, don't. We're chill dogs. So, er, debate/opinions. Go.
  23. It's the bedtime story that you tell to your kids in bed, or the scary ghost story you tell your brother or sister in a tent. That fabled story of when SEGA was a respectable console manufacturer. And the most interesting chapter - the Dreamcast saga - where the company bailed out from their fans and went third party. There was outrage. There was disappointment. There were even death threats to the arcade company being mumbled under most irrational people's breaths. But for SEGA to survive, they needed to make this move. Ultimately, the fans should understand that, otherwise how can they be fans of the company? The alternative was to soak in the epitaph of one of the greatest games developers in the industry. Two or three years down the line, and we see that SEGA could well be double-backing on itself and what they said, although some well-built relationships have been formed within the company. Smilebit have been shaking hands with Mr. Bill Gates™ of Windowsland™, with AM2 not far behind (despite the Xbox's constant failure to make a stand in Japan, which is most ironic), making games destined to be exclusive to Microsoft's big money box for the foreseeable future. You can also see the majority of SEGA studios teaming up with the casual gamer's no-brainer option: making exclusive games for the PlayStation 2. Finally, we have the Nintendo Gamecube's support network. Plenty of SEGA games (although paltry compared to the exclusive luxuries that the other two consoles get pampered with - Beach Spikers anyone? *Yak*), sure, but at least Nintendo have become good exclusive pals with Amusement Vision and Soni- ... Erm. Was I going to say Sonic Team? Backtrack to the very morning, I decide to write this: hanging at my reliable Gamecube news site, checking out the latest screenshots of Sonic Adventure DX. "Tasty," I thought - although it was really nothing I hadn't seen (or completed) before. I would most probably get SA:DX just for the sake of being one of the most avid collectors of the blue blur out there. Exactly the same reason I bought Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, in fact (another port from an old Dreamcast title). Then something caught my eye. SEGA's E3 list for May 2003. Perfect, I thought, as I read with glee, the latest Sonic game information caught my eye. Heart thumping with immense excitement for the official word on "Sonic Heroes" (that's what it's gonna be called, natch), I read something that might shake up the fury meters of some Nintendo/Sonic fanboys: "SEGA's legendary mascot Sonic The Hedgehog makes his historic PlayStation 2 and Xbox debut!" Port-o-bingo? Let's take a short history lesson. When SEGA split from the console market and onto third party production, it was made quite clear that Nintendo would be Sonic Team's mainstay. Because of that, Sonic fans have been happy that they can get all their Sonic games on one console. Meanwhile, Nintendo fans have a chance to not only see what Mario's former arch rival is capable of, but they also get some exclusive 'ammo' in the rather over-exaggerated and over-publicised console war. Because, besides Nintendo's own games, there aren't not a lot of exclusives on Gamecube to attract casual gamers. Sonic was seen as one standout reason to get a Gamecube over a PS2 or Xbox. And Sonic Team, quite frankly, seem to exclusively be on something of a porting job. The first Gamecube "exclusive" was in the form of Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, which was nowhere near as exciting to play as the original Dreamcast counterpart (and is actually a worse version). But it was an enjoyable game nonetheless. I certainly didn't mind Sonic Team working on one port just to make themselves known on Nintendo's new console. I was certain that the big Sonic gaming guns would come after SA2:B. What came next? Sonic Mega Collection. Good value for those who have never experienced Sonic before, but I could have played any of those games without shelling out £40 - and would have definitely been better off without the cack Archie scans and boring-as-hell movies, cheers Japan VRI. Then we had Phantasy Star Online. Ah yes, Sonic Team's chief cash cow. A very very good game in it's right, but why did it have to be ported to every single console in existence? Rather than just making a proper sequel that wasn't repetitive to play on your own? A few months ago I was beginning to worry about the state of Sonic Team - never before had they been so dependent on bringing out rehashes of old Dreamcast games. After PSO, here comes the inevitable - what everyone had been predicting since day one - Sonic Adventure 1 ported and tweaked in some obscure way to make it a "Director's Cut". While in my opinion SA1 was better than SA2... I don't think there was really any need to bring this one out on Gamecube? When they could have been concentrating on original games? Not to Worry... My point thus far is that most people (including Sonic fans that have become Nintendo fans) could feel like they have been mistreated by Sonic Team. Who can blame them really - the studio could have made one or two exclusive new Sonic games on Gamecube before dipping their toe in the water for other consoles. It wouldn't have been at a loss either - seeings as pretty much every Sonic fan had taken heed of Naka-san's apparaisal of Nintendo's machine and bought a Gamecube. In this respect, the main question those people will be asking is "Will Sonic Team just leave Gamecube now that they're looking at Xbox and PS2? Leaving all of the real Sonic fans behind while the studio tries to appeal to non-Sonic-fans?" And my answer to that would be: Not a chance. Yes, it does seem that Sonic fans have been given a bit of a raw deal - Sonic Team has only up to this point [in this generation of consoles] provided ports of games we pretty much already own. I am slightly dubious about Sonic Team's outreach to non-Sonic fans, as that would mean even more ports and perhaps - worst comes to worst - a complete departure of "true Sonic gameplay" in later games. Looking at SEGA's E3 list, it seems that only Sonic Heroes is destined for a multi-platform release. The other games are sticking with Gamecube and Game Boy Advance, which is an echo of what Naka-san was talking about a few years back when he said "If you're a fan of Sonic Team, it's best to get a Gamecube". Which is a huge relief. And to be honest, Sonic is the mascot of SEGA after all - and perhaps the best way of getting the entire company known is to let the hedgehog stretch his feet on more than one platform. As has been said many times before, Sonic Team has some kind of crush on the Gamecube, so if there are any Sonic games being released soon, you can bet your bottom dollar they will at least head to Nintendo's console first. You know, the console you bought because you were led to believe that the newest Sonic games would release there. You see? He wasn't lying, was our Naka-san. Quite why Sonic is heading to different platforms now probably has to do with a SEGA-controlled decision to gain a bit more respect for its company name. Or, it was Naka's idea of 'dipping a toe in the water' in order to spread the name and popularity of the blue blur. Besides, take a look at what's to come to reward loyal Sonic Team fans - exclusive to Gamecube. Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg looks set be a true-to-form comeback of the innovative Sonic Team that we knew back in the NiGHTS into dreams... days. Phantasy Star Online Episode III, being a possible Ninty exclusive, leaves loads of room for Game Boy Advance and e-Reader connectivity (what with the game being based on cards and all). And let's not forget what's a given anyway - Sonic Heroes. Even if that one isn't exclusive, Gamecube owners are still getting it. The only fear anyone should have with this multi-platform Sonic business is the fact that Sonic Team may not be used to making multiple versions of the same game. The studio's only experience so far has been working on Phantasy Star Online Episodes I & II. But we sense, like PSO, that Sonic Heroes will be made for each console with their unique strengths in mind. Which could mean that the Gamecube and Xbox versions shouldn't have terrible PS2 graphics, etc. So no, Sonic Team is not turning its backs on us loyal fans, but rather reaching out to potential new fans. This is the 'Year of Sonic' in full swing. Funnily enough, all this fuss about GC ports, and Naka-san hasn't even made a Saturn remake of NiGHTS yet! View full story
  24. Dear me. Deary, deary me. Sonic Team are all over the shop about this one. Let's start where it all began... a few months ago, Sonic Team announced (along with Sonic Advance 2) that they would be making a Sonic the Hedgehog compilation game for the Nintendo Gamecube. Fans of the blue hedgehog jumped for joy - and rightly so. Sonic Team, attempting another 'Sonic Jam'? Sign us up! This time, imagine how many games they could fit on one Gamecube DVD! If Sonic Team tried, they could fit every single Sonic game known to man (excluding the Dreamcast Sonic games) onto one single 3" DVD. At least, they could if they didn't put any other features in, like Sonic Jam had. No-one really cared for extras anyway - they helped pad out Sonic Jam, but even if it came with no movies and just the games (some were even contemplating the appearance of Sonic X-Treme and Sonic Championship/Sonic the Fighters on the DVD) that would make any Sonic fan cry in delight. However. Later on, there were rumours that Sonic Team had 'announced' the tentative list of games to be included on the 'Mega Collection'. These were: Sonic the Hedgehog - Mega Drive Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Mega Drive Sonic the Hedgehog CD - Mega CD Sonic the Hedgehog 3 - Mega Drive Sonic & Knuckles - Mega Drive Sonic 3D Blast - Sega Saturn Sonic R - Sega Saturn Sonic Shuffle - Sega Dreamcast Sonic Drift - Game Gear [Unconfirmed] It was a bizarre list of Sonic titles, sure, but at least the public would have been satisfied if the compilation did come out with those games as well as a list of extras (like movies). As long as the sodding loading times in Sonic Shuffle were removed entirely, that is. A little while later, Sonic Team launched their official website... and a quick translation reveals that the developer were clearly not planning to consider any post-Mega-Drive games at all! The confirmed list featured: Sonic the Hedgehog - Mega Drive Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Mega Drive Sonic the Hedgehog 3 - Mega Drive Sonic & Knuckles - Mega Drive Sonic 3D Blast - Mega Drive Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine - Mega Drive Sonic Spinball - Mega Drive It later occurred to me that the reason for Sonic 'Mega' Collection not having more than this was in the title - Mega Collection. As in, all the games featured were at one point released on SEGA's 16-bit console. A few weeks later, some other Sonic sites thought they'd cracked the 'mystery' of the pretty obvious name pun... I just couldn't be bothered to tell anyone, I thought they all knew in the first place. Anyway, the sudden drop in game volume and the focus on Mega Drive made us fans mad, it did. We complained like mad fish being eaten by ferrets in heat (erm... yeah). And, I guess we're still complaining. Is it all doom and gloom though? Not quite... A revelation came, in the form of an American Electronics Boutique (EB's changed to GAME again in the UK... EB only exists in the US now) website, and a page description of the game. This page not only filled us all with confusion that EB somehow knows more about Sonic Team's own games than the developers themselves, but it also proved a vital information source that got us all excited again. Here's the exact EB description, as it was displayed: You hear that? Ristar. No? Again? OK. Ristar. Maybe I'm not getting through to you. RISTAR!!! Although it seems weird games like Ristar and Flicky are hidden additions to the game list, they're more than worthy additions. Also, before we heard of any of this Sonic Jam style extra goodies, Sonic Team only mentioned Box-Art and Archie Comic Scans as extras. So, this has come as a surprise to us all. So. What have we learned? That this isn't exactly the ground-breaking Sonic compilation that many fans had hoped it would. But, given Yuji Naka's intentions to present the collection to people who are new to Sonic the Hedgehog, it is admirable of Naka-san to add exclusive features like Sonic Jam once did to entertain us hardcore fans too. I was a little upset about all the confusion, but now that the fog is clear, I'm well behind it. Go Yuji! View full story
  25. Sega has had its ups and downs - more downs than ups, but that was due to its consoles, not the games created for them. Sega tried to make the most out of every console they made (including the Sega Saturn, which was a mongoose to program for). So I believe that Sega is pretty good when it comes to making games. Just look in your local arcade for Christ's sake! How many Sega cabinets do you see? Most of the games are made by them! Whether they are very good programmers or not, the Dreamcast has been going downhill, after a strong start. Compare that to the success of the Mega Drive and Master System (which seem to be Sega's only successful machines). If you hadn't noticed, then I may as well tell you that every Dreamcast made and sold loses Sega about £60, due to price cuts. Not great at all. But, of course, the games for Dreamcast are practically THE FINEST. Ever. Full. Stop. No doubt about it. Sega may not be the finest console manufacturers, but their dedicated programming team makes them the BEST developers in the WORLD. It's just a shame that to appreciate their great work, you need to buy one of their consoles, which no-one seems to want to do (due to their past consoles being absolute dump). Now you are starting to see why Sega is producing games for rival consoles and basically donating Dreamcast technology to set top boxes and mobile phones and so on. As well as part of the world-share plan, the deal is to not only get them out of the red and into the black, but also win them something else: RESPECT. Sega isn't stupid. It knows it will never reach the mainstream quite like Sony, because of the public's current faith in them. But as well as making games for others, Sega is still being true to its fans - the ones that actually bought a Dreamcast. Sega realises that the real fans are at home with their Dreamcasts, not PS2s or whatever. This is where Sega is being extra generous: ensuring it keeps its hardcore fans happy, other-console fans happy and itself as a company happy. It will make old Dreamcast games for other consoles and people will yell out 'JESUS CHRIST! CRAZY TAXI ON PS2' - these games will no doubt be massive hits. You must admit, Sega IS very smart for making this move, and this is an ingenious plan. Giving rival console owners a piece of Sega action will get them money, while still providing to the fans who have stuck with them. Meanwhile, stopping production of the Dreamcast won't lose them any more money. In no time, Sega will have gained a ton of money worldwide, masses of console owners' trust, and shoots them right at the top of the world shares with their planned 25% of the market. Sega going third-party, as well as staying loyal to Sega fans, is a bit of a handful - but it can pull it off because hey, it's SEGA! Any problems that EA will 'tell' them shouldn't bother the company, because these guys programmed for the Saturn, and EA didn't. Sega will be dominant! Sega fanatics: be proud, not sad - your favourite company is soon to be everybody else's favourite company too. There we go, that was the first Feedback Forum. This space is where you can send in your thoughts on any subject found from the news section (or, the subject I am talking about in Dreadknux's Forum). Post a thought by clicking HERE and clicking on the 'Feedback Forum' board. View full story
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