So, I had this idea for a Sonic game... (Gameplay idea)

[Original_Name]

Usually a thread about this subject matter involves some weird furry ad-libbing some asinine Sonic plot involving Cheese the Chao and Rouge the Bat's bastard love-child or something, but my idea is more focused on a style of gameplay I conjured up which I think retro gamers and other such people who've becomed disillusioned with recent Sonic games might enjoy. So you might want to skim through before you dismiss this, assuming I'm some insane weirdo who writes as though he only received a 2nd-Grade Education and still lives with his mother at the age of 46.

Alright, so I was playing Sonic Adventure a couple weeks ago and I realized that the Sonic segments of Sonic Adventure are in many ways similar to Panzer Dragoon, or other on-rails shooters such as Rez or Sin & Punishment, in that the action that occurs is largely cinematic and it is left up to the player to complete little, often repetitive action sequences in order to progress towards the next exciting semi-cinematic action sequence. Now, of course, Sonic is granted much more mobility, particularly in platforming segments, than the Solo Wing, but generally the way in which the player is funneled into semi-cinematic action sequences, despite an apparent sense of depth when observing the large, open levels, is very similar. The memorable gameplay sequences are semi-cinematic segments such as Sonic being chased by the killer whale - the player rarely speaks of more independently-controlled actions such as homing-attacking a stream of enemies to reach a high platform or finding a particular switch, let alone the openworld sections ala Super Mario 64.

Anyway, a couple days ago I was in a Target waiting for my girlfriend to pick out a Hello Kitty case for her DS (since she's Asian), so I played through a demo level of Sonic Unleashed to pass the time and was completely blown away by how awesome it was! If not for my pre-acquired knowledge of the game's shitrocious werehog levels, addition of the putrid Chip, and awkward overworld sections, I would have plunked down the money for an Xbox 360 and a copy of the game. So I realized this: Sammy (I refuse to call the company Sega) has developed a gameplay engine which actually manages to feel like a modern Sonic game, without relying on the Panzer Dragoon-style gameplay, forming into something that more closely resembled the sort of platforming game which Sonic fans enjoyed on the Genesis. What to do, then, about the outrageously clunky transitions between levels? About the inherent lack of replay value which a Sonic game entails when compared to his (former) contemporary, Mario, which enjoys a slower pace of gameplay, allowing the player to more comfortably enter an overworld to select stages in any order one pleases, as opposed to Sonic's more linear fashion of progression?

Then it hit me! If Sonic Adventure was Sonic the Hedgehog meets Panzer Dragoon/Super Mario 64, leading to problems with gameplay segments being so awkwardly broken up by story and level selection segments in order to lengthen gameplay, then a logical fix would be Sonic Unleashed meets OutRun. It makes perfect sense to me.

A Sonic game largely uninterrupted by story (it could have some story at the beginning, then some story at the end) and lengthy transitions between levels (or, God forbid, inclusion of other characters' levels) would feel too short and lacking in substance. Add in seamless level transitions, several branching pathways selected by split-second decisions and performance, and a strong focus on points, however, and these problems are resolved in a way that would feel fresh to the modern consumer. There could be some (edit:) 25-ish condensed individual levels, but a player would only see about 7-ish (for enough Chaos Emeralds, you see) on a regular playthrough, with mandatory (but skippable, if such an action is desired) bonus rounds for loading purposes scattered amongst the levels. The game's ending could be dependent upon how fast the player gets Sonic to the final level and which path he takes along the way. There would be a ton of replay value in much such the ways that OutRun or Guardian Heroes has a ton of replay value: the branching levels. Say the gameplay enters the 3D, behind the back gameplay ala Sonic Unleashed; there's a platform that can be jumped onto, a tunnel underneath, and pathways to the left and the right: the players decision of which path to traverse here will determine which level will be played next - let's say he goes up, that'll lead to a Sky Sanctuary-esque Zone; down = Sandopolis-esque; left = Oil Ocean-esque; right = Chemical Plant-esque. Of course the pathways wouldn't be quite that obvious, but that's the general idea.

(EDIT!: This is where I get into a completely tacked-on story just for the sake of having a somewhat complete idea. Not that this idea is complete at all in the first place. Don't take it too seriously. And yes, Nack the Weasel.)

Story would involve Dr. Robotnik capturing Tails and Knuckles and being all like, "You better come before I roboticize them. I already left a shit-ton of traps and robots to get you. Plus, I contracted Nack the Weasel to kill your ass, which he'll attempt from time to time since this game needs boss fights and I'll be all the way over here the whole time. Oh yeah, and Metal Sonic's after your ass too, because Metal Sonic totally kicks ass," and Sonic being like, "Oh shit, I have to sprint all the way across Mobius to save my friends, and FAST!". And plus, for GOD'S SAKE, the game needs a brutally awesome HARD mode. I know that Sonic has been largely marketed towards little ones for quite some time now, but that doesn't mean the game has to be marketed to them exclusively. Put an easy mode in for the kids, medium for the casual gamers, and hard for the sort of people who beat the whole Death Egg Saga and stuff like that because we're so goddamn rad. Hard mode would have guh-trillions of enemies, obstacles, and missiles with Robotnik's face on them being fired at the player, and be tough as nails, but generally look awesome from a distance if you were watching someone skilled play it.

Oh yeah, plus the OutRun Ferarri could totally be an unlockable character to play through the game as. Totally awesome. Plus it covers the whole fan-service thing nicely.

It's time I got super rich, hired back all of Sega's old employees and development houses, and the name "Sega" back from Sammy and fixed this whole "Sonic/Sega/Video Gaming in General Sucks" thing that's been going on.

Anyway, I just had this idea and figured it would go well here. Tell me what you think!

[Paul_B-C]

I was ready to come in here, thinking it would be exactly as you described in the first paragraph, but damn that sounds 100% awesome.

[Anayo]

I gotta hand it to you, that would rock. It saddens me that the current Sega administration isn't interested in that kind of thing.

[alienjesus]

Nack the weasel?! Pass on that thanks.

Whilst the rest sounds OK, i struggle to see it being likely. The 10 or so sonic levels on sonic unleahsed are HUGE, space guzzling, development time wasting 30 game mile longs levels of epicness. Fitting 50 of them onto a disc, or, more importantly, paying enough people enough money to develop that many LONG stages, seems unlikely. Nice idea though for the most part.

[newt42]

Damn... Very nice idea. Sounds like a plot setup similar to Star Fox Command. That would make a beautiful platformer.

[Original_Name]

Nack the weasel?! Pass on that thanks.

Whilst the rest sounds OK, i struggle to see it being likely. The 10 or so sonic levels on sonic unleahsed are HUGE, space guzzling, development time wasting 30 game mile longs levels of epicness. Fitting 50 of them onto a disc, or, more importantly, paying enough people enough money to develop that many LONG stages, seems unlikely. Nice idea though for the most part.

Bahahaha, the Nack the Weasel bit was a bit tongue-in-cheek. I actually thought he was a pretty interesting character back when my neighbor and I played Sonic Triple Trouble back in like, 1995, but he was added in almost more for the ridiculousness of it than anything. Still, I wouldn't mind seeing him pop up in a Sonic game. Hell, if Charmy the Bee can make a return appearance, why not Nack the Weasel?

And yeah, 50's a rather insanely large number, but I was thinking the levels would be much more condensed than those in Sonic Unleashed. I don't know, this OBVIOUSLY isn't a complete concept, I just liked the idea of Sonic Unleashed + OutRun.

Anyway, I edited the OP to make those portions of it easier to swallow. I mean, it's a complete pipe dream anyway, but at least now it's a slightly more realistic pipe dream.

[LCDSCREEN]

That sounds like a really great idea, though Sega would never actually put, you know, effort into their games. Even if they did make it, it would probably have too much emphasis on speed like the Rush games. I think Sega should give an American/European developer a shot at a Sonic game (No, not Bioware). Maybe make a downloadable game that plays like the old ones for the people that like good games, and Sega can keep pushing out their new Sonic shit for the millions of fans that love that stuff... Oh who am I kidding, it'll never make money anyway.

[Filtymcnasty]

I've never played Outrun, but I did play some of Sonic Unleashed (2nd Werehog level and I was literally bashing my face against a brick wall... 3 stitches ><). Your proposal sounds like an excellent idea though, but maybe you should tone it down to about... 25-30 levels. 50 would be great, but I think players would be exhausted after 50, and the more levels there are, the more of a chance there is that some of them will suck ass. The inclusion of Nack and Metal Sonic would be great. Honestly, what they really really need to do is that, after you get the 7 Chaos Emeralds, allow you to play the rest of the friggin' game with the ability to change TO Super Sonic like you could in the Genesis games. And you could have 2 different storylines, one with Sonic and one with Shadow... but without the guns. In Sonic's storyline, Knuckles and Tails are kidnapped, and in Shadow's, its Rouge and E-102 or something. And his arch-enemy would be... I dunno, Chaos and Metal Shadow or something? That way, you get replayability but mainly with a simple change of character models and maybe abilities (Sonic Wind, Chaos Spear, etc.) Btw.... bring back Hyper Sonic.

Generally speaking, Sega...Sammy...Segammy... should either get someone else, such as Square-Enix. You can't deny that they come up with some damn good story-lines. Or just kick it old-school, without any text/voice driven story. People got kidnapped, run really fast, blow shit up, save the day, you win.

[BoringSupreez]

I gotta hand it to you, that would rock. It saddens me that the current Sega administration isn't interested in that kind of thing.

Same.

[DaGamingMonkey]

Actually one of the better ideas I've seen for the Sonic franchise.
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