Sonic 25th Anniversary - Offical Topic.

[Team Andromeda]

Sonic was always meant to be with Humans, he was at one point meant be with a rock bad and have a human girlfriend

[Tad]

Sonic was always meant to be with Humans, he was at one point meant be with a rock bad and have a human girlfriend

Huh. I didn't know that.

I knew there were humans on their planet, but for some reason (maybe Sonic X), I always thought after Sonic 3, they got transported to "Earth" by some means (Emeralds?) and were trying to get home. Don't ask me why, I was only young lol.

[Phantasos]

Sonic was always meant to be with Humans, he was at one point meant be with a rock bad and have a human girlfriend

Which was thankfully snapped back then cause it was fucking stupid.

And then stupid came full circle in 2006.

[Phantasos]

Actually, these last few pages should be added as a case study for how fucking schizo the Sonic fanbase is. You have fans of every single, completely distinct game facet that Sega pulled with Sonic these last few years so no decent amount of fans can agree with one another so you almost always end up in these backs and forth that go nowhere...to just have Sega say that they aren't doing anything that every splintered fanbase wants and do something completely different.

It's fucking astounding how Sega can be so completely out of touch with their own series, which is even more fucking ridiculous considering Sonic is like THE Sega character. Just taking a small look at Valkirya Chronicles and you see the same schizophrenia again. You have a game that ends up a cult hit since just about every aspect about it is liked by a very loyal fanbase...just to have a sequel that has shit to do with the first game to then have a threequel that is as different from the sequel as it is from the original game to THEN have a "spinoff" that is so completely detached from the main series, you might as well call it something else entirely. Really, the Valkyria Chronicles series is so fucking disjointed that at this point, you might as well call the original game the spinoff.

Thinking about this, it's surprising how Yakuza can be so consistent with itself.

[crackdude]

Isn't that why we love Sega in the first place tho? The unrelentless quest for the new and fresh?

[Barry the Nomad]

Plenty of franchises are segmented. Its not particularly a bad thing. If anything, it says plenty about the longevity of the franchise when you have so many different interpretations that each have their own segments of fans. TMNT, for example, began in 1984 and since seen dozens of different takes on the franchise. Is their fanbase segmented? Hell yeah. Are they united? Not particularly. Does it matter in the end? Doesn't appear that way given the franchise is still going strong.

SEGA will never satisfy ever division of the fanbase, nor should they have to. They simply need to stay true to the franchise's roots, focus on quality, and continue to do what works. In my opinion they have been doing just that, on the SEGA of Japan Sonic Team end, since 2011.

I see no problem with fans not agreeing and going back and forth. Nearly every fanbase has that: Star Wars, Batman, Superman, etc.


What I find particularly interesting is that several members of the Sonic fanbase appear really hung up on this aspect and moan about it constantly. Sonic Adventure, Classic Sonic, Sonic Boom, Archie Sonic - they all have their fans, and the different groups don't agree! OH NO! Who cares? I find it so silly that some Sonic fans on twitter with large followings constantly talk about this. It is nothing new in pop culture.

[Tad]

True, but I can see why their are issues with that. Spinoffs etc are okay, but after a while too much can dilute the core franchise. Sonic is a good example of that really.

[Centrale]

It's fucking astounding how Sega can be so completely out of touch with their own series

Sorry, but this attitude is the core of the problem. I'm not sure how fans convinced themselves that they are the ones who decide what a series is or isn't, should or shouldn't be. If I were in Sega's shoes, I'd politely disregard everything the fans say because it's all just a bunch of contradictory, hysterical noise.

[Phantasos]

Isn't that why we love Sega in the first place tho? The unrelentless quest for the new and fresh?

In some cases, it's less a quest for the new and fresh and more of flinging shit at the wall and see what sticks.

Sorry, but this attitude is the core of the problem. I'm not sure how fans convinced themselves that they are the ones who decide what a series is or isn't, should or shouldn't be. If I were in Sega's shoes, I'd politely disregard everything the fans say because it's all just a bunch of contradictory, hysterical noise.

Well, when you slice my entire post and reduce it to that single quote, I'm sure you'd be making a great point there. Problem is that I've said a little more than just that.

It's one thing to have a really divided fanbase that bitches incessantly since they don't get what they want and then it's another thing when you have Sega making game after game after game that none of those fanbases want, even when they reach a decent level of quality overall. I'm personally satisfied with either Adventure games or Boost to Win games or even Classic games. I'm covered in 3 styles of games they've made. And Sega somehow managed to make none of those in the last 4 years. Just Lost World blandness and Sonic Boom atrocities. It's just ridiculous.

[Happy Cat]

So this is floating around on the internet. I wouldn't read too much into it either way. Just seems to be a promotional Sonic licensing image.



it's still news though sorta

[Radrappy]

In an attempt to steer the topic in a more constructive direction, seeing these three Sonic's next to eachother really makes me realize that Modern Sonic's design is kind of. . .a mess.

I don't like what Boom did to Sonic's proportions, but even Boom Sonic manages to have a pretty nice silhouette with his face and spines that make logical sense.  Classic is obviously the king of this with a perfectly circular head and three sleek easy to manage spines.  Modern is neither here nor there with freakishly long ears, a weird body shape, and spines that jut out with no rhyme or reason and with so much volume that they start to resemble creepy alien head tails than actual spines.  I never thought I'd say this but maybe Modern Sonic needs a redesign to make his head a little simpler and easier to manage? 

[FlareHabanero]

>350 million games sold.

I'm calling bullshit on that. Not because of bias, but that would imply the series is outselling stuff like Call of Duty and Pokemon, and last time I checked that wasn't the case. Granted the estimates are outdated, but even then I highly doubt the Sonic series sold 210 million more games in only a few years, especially when recent stuff is tanking financially.

[Happy Cat]

In an attempt to steer the topic in a more constructive direction, seeing these three Sonic's next to eachother really makes me realize that Modern Sonic's design is kind of. . .a mess.

I don't like what Boom did to Sonic's proportions, but even Boom Sonic manages to have a pretty nice silhouette with his face and spines that make logical sense.  Classic is obviously the king of this with a perfectly circular head and three sleek easy to manage spines.  Modern is neither here nor there with freakishly long ears, a weird body shape, and spines that jut out with no rhyme or reason and with so much volume that they start to resemble creepy alien head tails than actual spines.  I never thought I'd say this but maybe Modern Sonic needs a redesign to make his head a little simpler and easier to manage? 

You should read the Polygon interview if you haven't. Iizuka says modern Sonic is here to stay and won't be getting redesigned or replace anytime soon. It's gonna be interesting to see what eventually happens to Boom Sonic. I get a feeling Iizuka isn't a fan of Boom Sonic.

[Barry the Nomad]

A 25 year old franchise with dozens of games spanning main series, spin offs and rereleases? 350 million sounds right.

[Aki-at]

>350 million games sold.

I'm calling bullshit on that. Not because of bias, but that would imply the series is outselling stuff like Call of Duty and Pokemon, and last time I checked that wasn't the case. Granted the estimates are outdated, but even then I highly doubt the Sonic series sold 210 million more games in only a few years, especially when recent stuff is tanking financially.

It says "sold or downloaded"

Sonic Dash is over 100 million downloads, so that leaves us with 250 million.

Sonic Jump, Sonic Jump Fever, Sonic Dash 2 and Sonic Runners probably are about 20 million between them, now we're down to 230 million. Take away another 30 odd million for the Mario & Sonic series and we're down to 200 million.

200 million for a series that's been around for 25 odd years and keeps getting re-releases of its old games doesn't seem like a stretch. The original Sonic the Hedgehog sold 6 million on iOS alone, so imagine how many more sales it's racked up thanks to being on Playstation Network, Virtual Console, 3DS remake, Xbox Live Arcade etc and THEN we have collections like Mega Collection that have done over a million.