Sonic 25th Anniversary - Offical Topic.

[Tad]

I wonder what they mean by other franchises? Some of them just wouldn't sell that well now as times have changed or perhaps SEGA don't want to because they're not sure what to do with said title next. Crimson Dragon is the closest thing we've had to a Panzer Dragoon and it was seen as "okay" and I expect other SEGA titles would get a similar reception. Some could come back fine like Jet Set Radio, Outrun etc, but the only real way I can see some of them coming back is if they were retooled. Project Diva could be considered an evolution of Space Channel 5 for example.

If I could retool some of them mind...

[CrazyT]

I'd rather we drop vocal songs completely for Sonic games, the only good part about them is that a few of them have a half decent instrumental version (Usually always for the final boss)

But I'm not fond of Crush 40, or Jun in general. Ohtani is definitely the man for me and I've been saying he was a great musician the moment he scored Sonic Rush Adventure.

Because from Sonic Advance onwards (Until Colours anyway) there was a steady decline in sales for handheld Sonic games.

A shame really. But then again, im not sure if fire and ice is gonna set the world on fire. Its also a huge waste too because sonic generations on the 3DS had the best controls for a 2d sonic game made by sonicteam since... sonic advance 1?


I also share the sentiments with everyone about Tomoya Ohtani. He does a better Jun senoue than the man himself lol. A great example is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vtd6mp2t_o

And one of my favourite works of his are actually the werehog tracks in sonic unleashed.

Also a shoutout to Kenichi Tokoi. Is jun senoue even needed when we have these guys?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLb2JYMfqjw

[Tad]

Those do sound rather good.

[FlareHabanero]

I've noticed on Twitter, whenever I (or George) Tweet out about Sonic's 25th we get a few people moaning about how SEGA is celebrating the anniversary instead of focusing on other franchises and I really do not understand the logic. Yes, SEGA (of America, Europe AND Japan) need to show all their franchises much more love. But it is not a trade off. Sonic is popular. Sonic sells. Sonic's 25th is a big deal. Suck it up and deal with it. Sonic is getting a proper 25th anniversary celebration.

It's not like SEGA is going to go "whelp, I really think we should ease off this 25th thing for Sonic in favor of another franchise." Let SEGA, and fans, celebrate Sonic's 25th. If anything, fans wishing SEGA were giving other franchise milestones some acknowledgement should respectfully reach out to folks like Aaron Webber and Sam Mullen and see what could be done. Sure you may have to take some matters into your own hands, but these guys care and can be very helpful. Even if it ends up being a contest giving away 3D Classics codes, with SEGA sharing some graphics on social media on the anniversary date, it's something. Simply complaining about Sonic's 25th would lead to far less.

I think what they're trying to convey is that Sonic shouldn't really be celebrated. Like, with how dismantled the community is because of the stream of games that range from mediocre to terrible, I can why people would think that. In other words, people want something else instead of being reminded of how badly the Sonic series has gotten. Granted, this wouldn't be a problem since there are other stuff being released in 2016. Puyo Puyo is also having it's 25th anniversary, there are two Valkryria Chronicles games coming out, Yakuza 6 is gonna be released, Hatsune Miku Project Diva X is gonna be released, Phantasy Star Online 2 is gonna get a PS4 version released plus the 4th episode, and whatever else is in the pipeline that hasn't been announced. The problem is that SEGA of America/Europe likes to pretend they don't exist, so for those that live outside of Japan they're gonna get the short end of the stick with a bunch of mediocre Sonic games.


I mean if Sonic fans are gonna have fun, fine. But remember that there are still problems with Sonic's 25th Anniversary that would rightfully make people uncomfortable. For Sonic fans it's a time of desperation for something good to come out of it, while for those outside of that group it's a reminder that the company relies too much on Sonic despite the bad press.

[Barry the Nomad]

Thing is though, with a milestone like the 25th anniversary, SEGA would be idiots to ignore it. And honestly, its not like the franchise is in the gutter. Sonic Boom was mediocre to terrible for sure, with the only bright spots being the comic books and the TV show (which can be hit or miss). But when it comes to the actual Sonic Team output, it hasn't been bad. Since 2011 we've had Generations, Lost World, Transformed and the Olympic Games. Of those we've had some very well received titles (Generations, Transformed), decent titles (Lost World) and the Olympic Games which improved since past releases and have been selling well thanks to the license and Mario's inclusion. On the licensing side of things, we've had some great First 4 Figures statues, Jazwares last hurrah with the brand in the form of the Generations line of toys, quirky stuff like Sonic Monopoly and the Archie Sonic comics underwent a reboot which did away with a lot of the past crap and embraced the games which lead to some great arcs (Genesis, Sonic the Fighters, Sonic/Mega Man crossovers).

So with that all in mind, I really can't label the series as being in a bad state nor can I label the games output as being mediocre to terrible. If people are still festering over the stuff in 2006... they need to get over it. It has been 10 years since then and there is a lot more to celebrate than to be down about when it comes to 25 years of Sonic.

Again, the problem is people thinking that Sonic needs to take the blame for America/Europe not embracing other franchises, though the last 6 months have seen a shift with stuff like Miku, Yakuza, and Valkyria Chronicles getting the spotlight in the West.

[segafan1984]

SEGA barely talk about Sonic in 2015. They gave the Sonic series a whole year break, used that time to focus on themselves and release other non-Sonic games, and waited till 2016 to announce their upcoming games. As soon as they're finally ready to talk about Sonic again, people moans about how they're not 'paying attention' to their other franchises. I'd thought they have paid attention to some of them.
Outside of the Boom titles, I'd thought the Main Sonic titles from Sonic Team are doing better in recent years with a few hiccups here and there. I'm cautiously optimistic about the 25th anniversary, and expecting it to be a better year for SEGA then 2014 and 2015.

[Radrappy]

two things:

a) Things aren't so bad when you take a step back, but a normal gamer has just seen two big sonic games in a row be critically panned even though SLW didn't quite deserve it imo.

b) Are they really planning on having an anniversary game every 5 years?  I'll accept it this time but if they try to have another big celebration for the 30th, it's going to start coming off as pretty tacky. 

[segafan1984]

Yeah, seems like it.

5th anniversary = ?
10 anniversary = Sonic Adventure 2
15th anniversary = Sonic 06
20th anniversary = Sonic Generations

[Tad]

SEGA barely talk about Sonic in 2015. They gave the Sonic series a whole year break, used that time to focus on themselves and release other non-Sonic games, and waited till 2016 to announce their upcoming games. As soon as they're finally ready to talk about Sonic again, people moans about how they're not 'paying attention' to their other franchises. I'd thought they have paid attention to some of them.
Outside of the Boom titles, I'd thought the Main Sonic titles from Sonic Team are doing better in recent years with a few hiccups here and there. I'm cautiously optimistic about the 25th anniversary, and expecting it to be a better year for SEGA then 2014 and 2015.

We don't know what the Sonic Team are cooking, but it's pretty clear at this point that they've been working hard on this next title. I'm quietly optimistic about it.

It could be a refined Generations 2 for all we know, but that would still be great.

As for the gaming community as a whole, I try to distance myself from them. They're just ridiculous and so are their expectations.

[Berto]

Yeah, seems like it.

5th anniversary = ?
10 anniversary = Sonic Adventure 2
15th anniversary = Sonic 06
20th anniversary = Sonic Generations

5th anniversary = Sonic 3D Blast
Western version though, since the Japanese version came out 3 years later after the western version.

[Barry the Nomad]

Generations is the only real "anniversary" game in my opinion. Sure there were games released ON anniversaries, but only Generations capitalized fully on that fact.

SA2 was going to release anniversary or not, and the only real ways the game was shaped by the anniversary was the release date, the Birthday Pack, and the Green Hill Zone stage.

Sonic 06 felt, to me, like a need to reboot the series and they rushed the release to capitalize on the 15th anniversary. A rushed release feels like the only thing they did to celebrate the 15th, which as we all know totally backfired.

I'm interested to see if the 25th anniversary brings us just another main series title or if it will, like Generations, be a game that was fully intended to stand for Sonic's 25th. I'd be fine with either direction, but personally would prefer a game that isn't a throwback celebration. I'd rather see new stages and new story ideas. Past gameplay is the only thing I'd like to see as being a throwback. No need for returning stages and enemies.

Sonic Adventure 3 would be insane, and I think its a bit too late for such a title, but you never know...

[Sharky]

Sonic Adventure 3 would be depressing... The only thing I would salvage from those games is Chao Garden. Shooting, hunting, fishing and so on don't belong in a Sonic game... I buy Sonic games for Sonic gameplay, that being fast paced platforming. I don't mind playing as other characters so long as they too have fast paced gameplay similar to Sonic... Like the classics or Advance series.

[Barry the Nomad]

Given the development time, they could easily release an epic 2D only Sonic game for next gen platforms. Dropping the boost would mean shorter and smaller stages to design, and making it 2D obviously takes less work than fully 3D games.

---

My dream Sonic game has always been one that returns to the environments seen in the Genesis originals. I want the return of biplanes, tropical islands, machinery taking over naturalistic settings. The Adventure games and Unleashed sort of touched on this, and Generations obviously came closest just because it was straight up remaking the classic setting. But what I would love is an overworld map that is traversed via the Tornado. It could play out like Skies of Arcadia where mini-games and bosses take place in the sky, and you can set down on new islands that contain full on 2D stages. Could toss in some 3D stages, but I'd prefer more 2D than 3D and would be happy if 3D was relegated to a mini-game or something (like Lost World's Honeycomb Highway).

[Tad]

Sonic Adventure 3 would be depressing... The only thing I would salvage from those games is Chao Garden. Shooting, hunting, fishing and so on don't belong in a Sonic game... I buy Sonic games for Sonic gameplay, that being fast paced platforming. I don't mind playing as other characters so long as they too have fast paced gameplay similar to Sonic... Like the classics or Advance series.

Just a thought, but they could actually take all that out of an adventure game and make it about Sonic. An adventure game doesn't mean fishing etc as such.

They could go with a refined Generations gameplay and add adventure elements through hub world, in stage puzzles etc.

[Moody]

(hears the term "Sonic Adventure 3" again and dies)

But for real though, there's no point. Sonic Team has refined the gameplay so, so much better than the Adventure titles ever were. Going back to the Adventure formula would be a step backwards for the series, imo.

As for the "controversy" of Sonic's 25th, I can see where people are coming from and why some are cautious or outright vehemently against it, but it's a moot point. I can get behind the sentiment of wanting other SEGA franchises to have a chance at an anniversary celebration, at least. It doesn't need to be extravagant, like a new game, but just something, because anything is better than the anniversary being outright ignored like the multiple SEGA anniversaries were last year.