Is the Sonic Cycle a Myth?

[Crabmaster2000]

The Sonic Cycle will probably go down as a brief period in Gaming History where Sega lost their shit and didn't know what to do with their icon. Assuming that Sega doesn't lose their shit again.

Eh, I don't think it's that handhelds aren't the same "class", it's just that Sonic is a console franchise. It's just like how people don't really count the console Pokemon games.

But in the Sonic games' case, the handheld games are better than the console games that people are associating with the series.

I completely agree with BurningDoom and ZeroAX in that for about a decade, the handheld titles were the only good Sonic games. However, they don't get the same attention as the console games. Not that they deserve to be cast aside, it's just that franchises such as Sonic have their console titles given a higher level of importance and attention. It's like this with Zelda, Mario, Jak, Ratchet & Clank, etc. This perception is probably the most prevalent with PC game franchises. I mean, how many people really talk about Duke Nukem: Time to Kill or StarCraft 64.

I REALLY enjoyed Sonic and the Secret Rings. I can't be the only one, can I?

I haven't played Sonic and the Secret Rings, but I have played its "sequel": Sonic and the Black Knight, which was fucking terrible.

I did not realize that Black Knight was related to Secret of the Rings. I'll have to check it out now.

[AppleQueso]

I don't have a lot of faith in how Sega handles their own IPs these days. They pretty much killed Valkyria Chronicles right out of the gate, so honestly I wouldn't be surprised (though I'd definitely be disappointed) if they completely kill the good will and momentum Sonic's finally managed to start building up again.

[MrPopo]

I don't have a lot of faith in how Sega handles their own IPs these days. They pretty much killed Valkyria Chronicles right out of the gate, so honestly I wouldn't be surprised (though I'd definitely be disappointed) if they completely kill the good will and momentum Sonic's finally managed to start building up again.

Mmm... VC was more a case of them not knowing how to sell it in the US, so the next two titles became Japan focused and released on the PSP. But I'm still pissed they never brought over 7th Dragon.

[ZeroAX]

I don't have a lot of faith in how Sega handles their own IPs these days. They pretty much killed Valkyria Chronicles right out of the gate, so honestly I wouldn't be surprised (though I'd definitely be disappointed) if they completely kill the good will and momentum Sonic's finally managed to start building up again.

I have not played the PSP games. How did they mess it up compared to the gem that was the original?

[AppleQueso]

I don't have a lot of faith in how Sega handles their own IPs these days. They pretty much killed Valkyria Chronicles right out of the gate, so honestly I wouldn't be surprised (though I'd definitely be disappointed) if they completely kill the good will and momentum Sonic's finally managed to start building up again.

I have not played the PSP games. How did they mess it up compared to the gem that was the original?

I haven't really played them either, but shoving a franchise like that over to the PSP was pretty much a surefire way to kill sales. Hence why we never even got the 3rd one in the US.

General consensus on the second one at least seems to be that it's nowhere near as good as the Ps3 original.

I'm pretty confident that if they'd done a sequel on the Ps3 instead and given it a good marketing push in the west, it would've done better than the original. All the great word of mouth and hype built up would've really worked in its favor.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I haven't kept up with Sonic at all.

The three most current games I own are Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast), Sonic the Hedgehog: Pocket Adventure (NGPC), and Sonic Advance 2 (GBA). They're all pretty decent.

Now I feel inundated with Sonic games and I can't separate the good from the crap. Maybe I should read through this thread.

[ZeroAX]

I'm pretty confident that if they'd done a sequel on the Ps3 instead and given it a good marketing push in the west, it would've done better than the original. All the great word of mouth and hype built up would've really worked in its favor.

I don't know mate. I'm afraid they would just have added needless "new" gameplay features instead of cutting out some of the fat that was plaguing the first game (like the way too many menus).

I think this series would have gone downhill like Advance Wars did after the first game. When the original is so well made, there's not a lot you can change for the sequel...

[AppleQueso]

I'm pretty confident that if they'd done a sequel on the Ps3 instead and given it a good marketing push in the west, it would've done better than the original. All the great word of mouth and hype built up would've really worked in its favor.

I don't know mate. I'm afraid they would just have added needless "new" gameplay features instead of cutting out some of the fat that was plaguing the first game (like the way too many menus).

I think this series would have gone downhill like Advance Wars did after the first game. When the original is so well made, there's not a lot you can change for the sequel...

Whether it would've been an improvement over the original is definitely up for debate, I'm just thinking in terms of success/sales/whatever.

[ZeroAX]

Whether it would've been an improvement over the original is definitely up for debate, I'm just thinking in terms of success/sales/whatever.

oh yeah, absolutely. I don't know what they were thinking with porting it to a portable. On the one hand it's turn based, but on the other hand the battles could last a long while, and a lack of an overhead view ala Advance Wars made it a chore to pause and continue a battle a couple of days later.

[MulishaSoldier929]

Not sure I 100% agree with the cycle starting in '96. Sonic 3d Blast was definitely when the series started to slip but I wouldn't go as far as saying that it was a terrible game, just not great. Same goes for SA 1 & 2. Sure they haven't aged great but at the time(especially SA 1) It was visually jaw dropping and a huge step for 3d gaming so you could look past some of the now more noticable issues we see today.