Sonic Colours Discussion

[Sharky]

You got balls Barry, I like balls.

I know very little about the guy, but from what you say... Hes hit and miss just like everyone else. I think people just want someone to attach the blame onto.

[Aki-at]

Iizuka's past happened to coincide with the fact Sonic Team was one of the best development teams in the world and would only be mostly rivaled in excellence when put up against AM2.

Past glories is not one to cling onto, considering the fact some of those games he had serious help from the likes of Naka, Oshima and Yashura happened to work with him, Sonic Team's big 3 members. And I would like to state Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog would not have been alright even without the gimmicks, the game is buggy, unpolished, some terrible level design and outright mindboggling design choices.

You got balls Barry, I like balls.

I know very little about the guy, but from what you say... Hes hit and miss just like everyone else. I think people just want someone to attach the blame onto.

Yes, the guy who has said NiGHTS needed to be more mass market, so he included different gameplay times, the man who said 2D Sonic cannot sell at retail, the man who specifically designed Shadow the Hedgehog, the man who did not just direct two misses, but two downright terrible misses. One can go on about this man, he might have started off well, but the direction he is going in isn't pretty at all.

[TimmiT]

High quality scans (by Hero of Legend at Sonic Stadium):
Page 1: http://i45.tinypic.com/28bz3ps.png
Page 2: http://i46.tinypic.com/f3c1p1.png
Page 3: http://i49.tinypic.com/svjuom.png
Page 4: http://i50.tinypic.com/b61s49.png
Page 5: http://i48.tinypic.com/6jhcup.png
Page 6: http://i46.tinypic.com/1ik3rb.png

[Sharky]

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (1994) — Senior Game Designer
NiGHTS into Dreams (1996) — Lead Game Designer
Christmas NiGHTS (1996) — Game Designer
Sonic Adventure (1999) — Director, Character Game Designer, Chaos Game Designer, Level Designer
Sonic Adventure 2 (Battle) (2001) — Director, Game Designer, Enemy Game Designer, Level Designer

This more then makes up for his recent short commings, hes clearly a missunderstood genius.

[Orta]

And he lost his way in 10 years? Haha... He's just misguided, he can't lead. At all.

[Aki-at]

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (1994) — Senior Game Designer
NiGHTS into Dreams (1996) — Lead Game Designer
Christmas NiGHTS (1996) — Game Designer
Sonic Adventure (1999) — Director, Character Game Designer, Chaos Game Designer, Level Designer
Sonic Adventure 2 (Battle) (2001) — Director, Game Designer, Enemy Game Designer, Level Designer

This more then makes up for his recent short commings, hes clearly a missunderstood genius.

Yashura was the mastermind behind most of the design choices that made Sonic 3 & Knuckles good, in particular level design, Naka came up with the programming and Oshima did the art direction.

The same occured for NiGHTS into Dreams.

Sonic Adventure is a great game, rapture of applause follow, we may finally have found a good replacement for Yashura.

Sonic Adventure 2 however, is a complete downgrade from Sonic Adventure, different tone which, although occured in the original Sonic Adventure, was taken to a whole new level in Adventure 2, weaker level designs and more bottomless pits. Larger treasure hunting levels that was just a mistake, Skydeck was annoying as Knuckles in Sonic Adventure but Meteor Herd and Mad Space I have real gripes with, add to the fact they slowed down the shooting levels which were otherwise faster paced with Gamma from the previous game and you get a game that isn't quite as good as the first.

And then we have almost a decade of bad decisions featuring the likes of Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog.

Of course not that I am saying this game is destined to be bad as we know relatively little, but I don't think one could consider Iizuka one of the saving graces of this title.

[fluffymoochicken]

High quality scans (by Hero of Legend at Sonic Stadium):
Page 1: http://i45.tinypic.com/28bz3ps.png
Page 2: http://i46.tinypic.com/f3c1p1.png
Page 3: http://i49.tinypic.com/svjuom.png
Page 4: http://i50.tinypic.com/b61s49.png
Page 5: http://i48.tinypic.com/6jhcup.png
Page 6: http://i46.tinypic.com/1ik3rb.png

Thank you for sharing. This game is seriously looking fantastic. ^__^

[Sega Uranus]

The problem with NiGHTS JoD was NOT the controls at all. I could go on for literal hours about how much is wrong with the game, but I will not. The original game was designed for score attacking, JoD was designed to be closer to a platformer with horrendously stupid gimmicks and design flaws. It was also designed with mass market appeal in mind, when we all know that is as stupid as trying to sell DOOM to Bible Camps. These alone should tell you he is out of his damn mind.

I will agree that he is good at level design (even if JoD was significantly worse than the first game in every possible way in this category) but that is not the issue with Sonic the Hedgehog 4 or Sonic Colors. He is just bad at ideas and should not be allowed to lead anything. Even basic stuff like how he demanded Backbone (a terrible developer, but lets look past that for a moment) change Sonic Rivals into a racing game, even though it was originally supposed to be a platformer.

Like I said previously. It was him who changed the style, art and general attitude of the whole franchise. I can understand some may like the new designs more, but it is a cold hard fact that this, along with many other of his concepts have not only significantly hurt the franchise, they have broken it beyond complete repair. Misunderstood genius my fucking ass.

[Barry the Nomad]

Like I said previously. It was him who changed the style, art and general attitude of the whole franchise. I can understand some may like the new designs more, but it is a cold hard fact that this, along with many other of his concepts have not only significantly hurt the franchise, they have broken it beyond complete repair. Misunderstood genius my fucking ass.

And here we are back at "my opinions are not opinions at all, but instead are cold hard facts". I agree that SEGA and Sonic Team hurt the franchise over the past few years (not simply Iizuka as you said), but will have to disagree wholeheartedly that "they have broken it beyond complete repair". If that's a "cold hard fact", then every Sonic game to come out from this year to eternity will be broken and unplayable, which is not only extremely pessimistic but also impossible. Good Sonic games are to come and there will be an excellent Sonic game someday (we may even have one or two this year).

[Sega Uranus]

I said complete repair, you fish fondling fruitcake. Meaning it can never reach the status it was in the Genesis or even Saturn era. That is not my opinion, that is the truth.

[Suzuki Yu]

i noticed something from the lizuka interview . when he answered the question regarding the team that is handling the project right now , and he said :

their teams (he means the Wii & DS ver) are primarily comprised of the planners , designers , and programmers who worked on Sonic Unleashed & Sonic Black Knight .

that means that sonic team staff are working together now after the merger .  

so it's not by SR/BK team . it's not by Unleashed team . it's just the big Sonic Team from now on .

[Happy Cat]

did you guys miss this part of the interview?

"In addition to the power ups, we're working on several new features that I think are really going to surprise you!"

that's like a death wish coming out of Iizuka's mouth =P  That's like, the last thing you would want to hear him say.

[Team Andromeda]

e if you are going to sit here and try to defend Iizuka, Sonic Adventure was originally supposed to be closer to a 3D version of the Genesis games - art included - until he came up with the brilliant idea of his that Sonic games should be about story and realistic worlds, only to be worsened more with Sonic Adventure 2

I will defend Sonic Adv all day long . Not only is the game the most compete Sonic game I have ever played, it still remains the best fun and most enjoyable 3D Platformer that I ever played, that I still play again and again even now

To me it captured everything SONIC was about, and what should be in a  Sonic game . The Adventure Hub system was a work of pure genius (how SEGA got it so right 1st time around , only to then screwed it up ever since,  I'll never know) , the countless set pieces like the Killer whale , the ride on the Helicopter , running down the side of a Sky Scraper pure coolness and what Sonic is all about .
Then there the stages, and its doesn't get any more Sonic... than Speed Highway or Windy Valley imo. The game was brilliant and the amount of work and money spend on the music track alone un-imaginable (the Lost word track is Epic)

I think its the greatest 3D Platform game ever made.

Shadow and Journey of Screams should be enough for you to know this man isn't fit to lead a team. He lacks passion. I know, JoS is not a Sonic gam

Its because of the man's passion that you even got a sequel to NiGHTS. Sure Ikuza deservers to be knocked for Shadow and Sonic Rivals . I'm sure some may point out, that  Shadow wasn't a Sonic game at all, like luigi mansion isn't really a Mario game, but  that doesn't help Much . And it was Ikuza that stopped the original Plan of putting Sonic Advanced on the PSP for Rivals, bit with NiGHTS JOD SEGA Japan is far more to blame .

One day it will all come out...  but Ikuza-san plan was to have it all the 360 and PS3 Full on Big Budget Next gen productions as those systems could really handle the dream world concept (which Ikuza came up with) . SOJ thought NiGHTS was more a Kids game, and that meant a Wii game and all the pre Production plans and vast area's killed in an instant, worst still the development time and Budget was reduced to reflect it was a Wii Production  .  
SOJ just refused to accept that the Kids that played the Original  Nights were now Adults and would be more inclined to buy a 360 or PS3 .

Classic Top Management screw up, If ever there was one

Kodama was at least producer to Altered Beast therefore she wasn't actually directing the team with her own ideas, unlike Iizuka, who was director to some of the worst abominations SEGA sprouted out during the last decade

A Producer is the most important roll in a Games Development . A Games Director is just some little Japanese Terms, for a what a Western Games Producer would normally do.
 Even some of the best staff in the business will produce games that are just shocking and rubbish . I think Yu Suzuki and AM#2 are about as good as it got, but to me G-Loc was utter crap, Sword of Vermilion one of the worst Mega Drive games I ever played, and both Daytona USA II and Fighting Vipers II huge lets down and disappointments

[Aki-at]

A Producer is the most important roll in a Games Development . A Games Director is just some little Japanese Terms, for a what a Western Games Producer would normally do.
Even some of the best staff in the business will produce games that are just shocking and rubbish . I think Yu Suzuki and AM#2 are about as good as it got, but to me G-Loc was utter crap, Sword of Vermilion one of the worst Mega Drive games I ever played, and both Daytona USA II and Fighting Vipers II huge lets down and disappointments

Yes, but none of those games were as bad as Sonic Heroes or Shadow the Hedgehog. And even then you are overlooking the fact AM2/Suzuki still managed to make excellent games during that tenure with some of those poor games, whilst Sonic Team and Iizuka are going over a decade since the last great Sonic game.

Again this man made a decade of bad choices, yes he wanted NiGHTS on HD consoles and everyone knows this by now, but that would have been an even bigger flop then it was on the Nintendo Wii, at least it didn't manage to crush and burn so much, on the HD consoles a purple flying jester in dreamland would have cost SEGA millions. The closed door demo wasn't even recieved well.

And even taking that into consideration, the NiGHTS gameplay was changed that annoyed many of the fanbase, which didn't have to change solely because it was on the Wii. Key hunting and stopping you continually chain your links is not something many fans apperciated. Another mistake by Iizuka.

Just because of the man's passion we should be thankful? Not when Orta, who is a major NiGHTS fan, cannot think of many redeeming qualities from the title.

[Orta]

The Adventure Hub system was a work of pure genius

Except the part where everybody genuinely disliked it and found it utterly pointless. As it is in any game.

Its because of the man's passion that you even got a sequel to NiGHTS.

Are you saying I should be grateful? :lol:
 

Sure Ikuza deservers to be knocked for Shadow and Sonic Rivals . I'm sure some may point out, that  Shadow wasn't a Sonic game at all, like luigi mansion isn't really a Mario game, but  that doesn't help Much . And it was Ikuza that stopped the original Plan of putting Sonic Advanced on the PSP for Rivals, bit with NiGHTS JOD SEGA Japan is far more to blame .

One day it will all come out...  but Ikuza-san plan was to have it all the 360 and PS3 Full on Big Budget Next gen productions as those systems could really handle the dream world concept (which Ikuza came up with) . SOJ thought NiGHTS was more a Kids game, and that meant a Wii game and all the pre Production plans and vast area's killed in an instant, worst still the development time and Budget was reduced to reflect it was a Wii Production  .  
SOJ just refused to accept that the Kids that played the Original  Nights were now Adults and would be more inclined to buy a 360 or PS3 .

Classic Top Management screw up, If ever there was one

I personally never wanted a sequel, mostly because I knew they would fuck it up in a grand manner. As they did. Changing platforms would be part of the excuse if the god awful uninteresting gimmicks had anything to do with technology and management. Unfortunately they are just due to that "genius". All other "concepts" you refer to are just speculation on your behalf.

If Journey of Screams would've been released on PS360, it would have bombed even harder. At least management was wise enough to save money in this poor sample of fan service.

P.S.: I bet voice acting in JoS was also his idea.