How Sega All But Ruined Sonic the Hedgehog
Sega’s Blue Blur was a whirlwind of excitement in the early 1990’s. Nintendo had a magical formula in the Super Mario Bros series and every other developer had their run and jump Mario clones. Sega on the other hand, took the platforming genre to the next level by taking advantage of their new Genesis console (and it’s infamous “Blast Processing“) to introduce a new blazing-fast rodent by the name of Sonic the Hedgehog.
Speed, however was not Sonic’s lone gimmick. The landmark series on the Genesis also introduced unique elements such as the then jaw-dropping loops, super spin dash, psychedelic bonus rounds, and impressive boss battles with Dr. Robotnik’s mechanical creations.
While the Super Mario Bros. franchise was definitely colored with personality and great gameplay, the Sonic the Hedgehog titles on the Genesis and Sega CD offered an very exciting alternative to those that weren’t Nintendo fanboys.
Powered by the success of Sonic and their other cutting edge games, Sega had a great marketshare during the 16-bit era. However, they started to fall apart as they aimed to jump ahead of its competitors in the 32-bit market and beyond. The commercial failure of its newer hardware was unfortunately timed with the decline of the Sonic franchise.
While I love the Sega Saturn and its cult classic favorites, it never brought Sega fans the real Sonic game that it desired. Sega started with a Genesis and Saturn release of Sonic 3D Blast which turned out to be slow-paced and boring at times — quite the opposite of the Sonic games fans had been used to.
Sega had a great deal of inner conflict trying to develop a true 3D Sonic game (which was known as Sonic X-treme) and the closest substitute Saturn owners experienced was Sonic R, which was essentially a cart-racer without the carts.
Sega eventfully gave up on the Sonic X-treme project (and the Saturn for that matter) and set its sights on the possibilities that the Dreamcast held.
With Sonic Adventure, Sega fans finally had their fully 3D Sonic action game. Sonic Adventure had a tremendous amount of promise as the first level (which was playable on the pre-launch demo) was incredibly fast and was filled with breathtaking graphics that seemed to exceed how every Sonic fan had envisioned the Green Hill Zone would be in a 128-bit wonderland. (Nobody can forget the killer whale-bridge scene)
But all was not perfect with Sonic Team’s newest creation. In reality, very few of the subsequent levels even came close to living up to the high standards that the demo created. Instead, the game was filled with slow and annoying “exploration” areas that turned off many gamers that were expecting fast-paced action.
Sonic Adventure 2 ditched the exploration areas, but instead added more levels that required you to play as other less-interesting characters that had you perform more tedious tasks such as “find the lost emeraldsâ€. Not the idea of fun for a typical Sonic fan. To make matters worse, once words started coming out of Sonic’s mouth, the game was to the point of being an embarrassment to watch. Characters we all used to enjoy such as Tails and Knuckles all became an annoyance and a joke.
It was clear at this point that Sega had lost sight of what worked in the minds of Sonic’s most dedicated fans and had also failed to bring the sense of speed and tight control to the 3D world.
Once the novelty of Sonic Adventure’s slick graphics wore off, the more experienced gamers realized this wasn’t nearly the same game they had grown up with.
Gone were the intense sense of speed and the awe-inspiring loops. Instead, you were treated to a temperamental 3D camera that was more of an annoyance than a benefit.
The Dr. Robotnik we grew up with and his sweet robotic monsters had also experienced a peculiar makeover for the worse. Sonic Adventure ushered in re-branded “Dr. Eggman†and replaced his cool mechanical boss battles with strange creatures and dim-witted schemes to collect Chaos Emeralds.
Once Sega made its full transition away from the hardware business and developed multi-platform games, they unloaded a series of quickly-developed titles that pulled even further away from the core focus and did more to damage Sonic’s reputation.
Sega’s first original multi-platform Sonic game was Sonic Heroes. Heroes took some of the best aspects of the Sonic Adventure series and put a new spin on them. However, that spin consisted of forcing players to use teams of three characters at a time, when the entire time, fans wanted to play ONLY as Sonic. It also seemed to focus less on speed and reaction time and brought it more into the league of typical platform games as opposed to the high standards that Sonic was once known for.
To give Sonic Heroes some credit, it did go back to the 16-bit roots in terms of level design and the overall look and feel. Sonic Heroes got a little bit closer on fixing some of these crucial things but still managed to screw up other aspects. It’s such a shame that things went downhill after that.
As much as everyone tries to forget about it, Sega somehow thought that the best way to solve the fact that the Sonic franchise was getting tired was to have a game centered around Shadow the Hedgehog. Shadow was supposed to be the Sonic for the hardcore gamers that needed a ro
ugh edge. (And I thought all this time, Sonic was the cool hedgehog with the attitude.)
As soon as everybody laid their eyes on the promotional artwork and screenshots filled with the pistol-packing hedgehog, the gaming community knew Sega was losing it.
Instead of renewing interest in the Sonic universe, Shadow the Hedgehog fell on its face and was mocked by reviewers around the globe. Again, some players enjoyed the game, but it really strayed from the Sonic formula.
Sega followed up Shadow with Sonic Riders, a racing title that was essentially “Sonic R 2.0â€. While I appreciate Sega trying to emphasize Sonic’s speed capabilities (even though the game was not as fast as it should have been), it wasn’t a true Sonic games and was way too rushed to be taken seriously. Instead, it turned out to be a shallow F-Zero clone thrown out on the marketplace to make some quick change.
As the new generation of platforms emerged, Sega used Sonic as a way to show off their newest graphical technologies. There is no doubt that the new Sonic the Hedgehog for the XBox 360 looks nice, but as the abysmal reviews indicate, graphics are not everything.
In order to push its cutting-edge graphics to the limit, Sega, in their infinite wisdom, felt the need to bring Sonic and his friends into a more realistic world, filled with life-like humans. As you can see from this video, there is something creepy about some giant hedgehogs interacting with humans.
My point is that Sega doesn’t seem to know what it wants to do with Sonic. It seems like Sega assigns various quick-and-dirty development projects in order to see what ideas sticks with consumers. Unfortunately, Sega fans have had to suffer through this process.
Sega’s one redeeming endeavor has been the portable titles. The Sonic Advance series has at least replicated the original Sonic experience about as much as the GBA could, and Sonic Rush on the DS was probably the best Sonic game in over a decade. (Although, the really botched the new Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis for the GBA)
Sonic Advance and Sonic Rush are essentially the only Sonic games since the Genesis (sans the initial buzz of Sonic Adventure) that the majority of hardcore fans have actually spoke positively about. One would think that maybe Sega would try to go back bringing the series back to its roots more in order to succeed. (Read How Sega Can Bring Sonic Back To His Glory)
As we turn back to look at Nintendo and what they did with the Mario franchise, you will notice that The Big N took their time developing the N64 (remember THAT wait?) and polished Mario 64 in order to maintain its magical feel and bringing a consistent experience to the third dimension. Even though Mario fans would gladly welcome more traditional Mario games, Nintendo kept the pace slow in order to keep the standards high.
Sega needs to take a long look at Sonic and decide where the games of the past really shine and focus on those aspects and those alone instead of doing even more damage.
Personally, I believe the Sonic thrives in 2D and the third dimension should be used on Sonic Team’s other fan favorite NiGHTS into Dreams. Once Sega stays focused on creating killer gameplay in
stead of the quick dollar, Sonic may be brought back to his former glory.
Part 2 – How To Fix Sonic
I followed this post up with my expanded thoughts on what Sega can do to make Sonic successful with both hardcore and casual gamers.
Related Posts:
Sega Still Commited To Reviving Old Franchises
Sega’s Best Genesis Moving To PSP and PS2
Getting The Most Out of Your Dreamcast
New Nights Into Dreams Coming To Revolution?
Classic Franchises That Actually NEED a Resurrection
Classic Game Franchises We May See Again Soon
The Best Graphics on the Dreamcast
Similar Posts From These Categories:
Sega
Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network or Amazon Associates.
duuuuude!!! i totally agree…..i have an idea
QUITE an idea on how to make sonic, back to himself while not sacrificing the actual adventure story lines and awsum 3D cutscenes I love
however….knowing sega…..my idea would take……3 years at least to make…..5 years to perfect but i know if my idea was taken….it would bring the world back to sonic and definately bring sum gamer edge to the wii and xbox 360
Email me if u want details
lol its funny how all the noobs dont even get HOW the new sonic games suck. its funny as fuck
…….i am saying this to you YOU RIGHT NOW SONIC ADVENTUR WAS ONE OF THE BEST SONIC GAMES OUT THER!!! yes sonic the hedghog *the 3D one* had its bad moments and its an ok game………pepol like you mess up sonic erging sega to fix him up when you know nothing about the blue streak sonic unleasd was just relesd and is AMAZING sega still has sonic under control…….you just want d=sega to fix him so badley that you dont relis if thay get back to the childish roots in sonic*wich are still ther* he will die off. sonic ruch and advanced are very good games….sega is one of the best videogame compony out ther so just SHUTUP ABOUT SONIC SUCKING
sonic team NEEDS to fix their problems with sonic. from what I’ve seen, the sonic unleashed DAYTIME levels look awsome, but the whole “werewolf” thingy totally destroys the game’s awsomeness. I must say, if they built a sonic game completely out of sonic unleashed daytime style levels, they’d bring back the good thing that was lost.
I just started a new online collection of Sega.
i say sega makes a game where u can just run around ‘finding’ adventure with sonic/friends
This is so simple, get Sonic OFF Nintendo
Wow so many opions here
My Opinoin Is Just Learn To Adapt Not All Games Are Perfect
LONG LIVE SONIC
i have to dissagree with almost all of this ive loved sonic ever since i was about 3 i prolly got carried away at times but i never played a “BAD” sonic game even sonic shuffel was fun with friends and shadow the hedgehog was a bit diff but different is somtimes good. and if you guys really wanna get all realistic with sonic and stuff theres no way a hott chick whould date a fat plumber in real life jus no chance ;[ sorry
I grew up with sonic. And i’ve NEVER, EVER played a “bad” sonic game. I agree 2 billon % wiht the guy above me. Me and my brother litural ACTED IT OUT! Think thats strange? Nope, i just love sonic games THAT MUCH. I EVEN LIKED SONIC AND THE BLACK KNIGHT/ SECRET RINGS! Though i herd about project needle mouse, and it is a 2d sonic, i just hope it can bring the awesomeness of 2d/(some)3d games.
Fav Sonic Games: Heroes, 3 And Knucks, 2, Unleashed
I want to kill who made this article.
Sonic Adventure was a classic game.
The haters are n00bs.
The game’s fans continued to like and play the game for YEARS, which is why they like it. The graphics are still SPOCIOUS.
The haters are n00bs who never own’d the games during their prime and start’d off with the inferior remakes.
This article is written by a n00b. He deserves to die.
gh
gh
Wow. You want to kill me for having an opinion on Sonic the Hedgehog. You must be one amazing human being.
i honestly think that sonic unleashed was one of its good games, i loved it, cept for the annoying long levels while being a wolf, it was stupid, plus that fairy was annoying as hell!!!
Die hard sonic fan!!!<3
It seems to me that easil half of this posts members cannot make a statment without incredible swearing and\or bias. I cannot, as a human being, allow myself to say anything about which Sonic I like better on here: there are too many insults flying around. Never at any time did Sonic post here, and until that happens, I will assume that he is a fictional videogame character. Albeit, my favorite. (Since Sonic 16 bit on Genesis, 1991) Carry on. I see now why my relatives don’t like popular media. (almost to the point of calling it evil)
“But all was not perfect with Sonic Team’s newest creation. In reality, very few of the subsequent levels even came close to living up to the high standards that the demo created. Instead, the game was filled with slow and annoying “exploration†areas that turned off many gamers that were expecting fast-paced action.”
This part proves that you, sir, can’t look at older games without rose-tinted glasses.
Sonic 1 and 2 had FAR LESS fast-paced areas than SA1. Look at Sonic 1, it had only 3 “speedy” zones (GHZ, SYZ and SLZ) and 3 slow ones (MZ, LZ and SBZ). That means that ONLY HALF of Sonic 1’s stages were fast-paced and speedy.
You could say that it’s justified, as Sonic 1 was the first game in the series and they still weren’t sure what Sonic should play like exactly. Fair enough. But then we have Sonic 2.
Sonic 2 had only 3 speedy zones (EHZ, CPZ and CNZ), the rest were all slow and boring stages (ARZ, HTZ, MCZ, OOZ, MZ, SCZ, WFZ). That means that the speedy stages in Sonic 2 were the MINORITY. And for a Sonic game to have only 3 “fast” stages out of 10 is PATHETIC. That’s why Sonic 2 is the most overrated Sonic game ever (I CRINGE when people call it the best game in the series. I find it hard to think of someone who thinks the perfect Sonic game is one where only 30% of it is about speed, as a real Sonic fan) and why I can’t stand playing it anymore (%70 of it bores the crap out of me, and with the “slow” stages taking more time to complete than the speedy ones, if feels like they take up MORE than %70 of the game).
Then we have Sonic CD. The stages put much more emphasis on exploration than speed: you had find time-travel posts, go to the past, then locate the machines and destroy them in order to get the good ending. And even if you choose to collect the Time Stones instead of bothering with the machines, most stages weren’t created to allow for speed, and the few ones that were (PP, CC and SS) were too short.
So don’t BS me about SA1 having too much exploration (you only spent about 10% of the game in Adventure Fields, for pity’s sake!) and not enough fast-paced areas when Sonic 1, 2 and CD were FAR WORSE.
As usual, I’m the only one who likes both 2D and 3D, sees the GOOD in all of his games, and thinks the 3D games rock… Sonic Adventure Freakin 2 (I know that is not the exact title) is not the only good 3D game he has! Why is it so hard for people to like his new games? What’s the big problem that is SO BAD? I don’t feel or see it. Look at Crash Bandicoot! Now he went DOWN HILL! He fell down from the top and up Brokeback Mountain (Sorry Crash fans) If you want to play a BAD game, play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Battle Nexus and Pacman World 3… Those games were horrible, well to me. Oh well, everyone has their own opinions, I’m just sharing mine, as all. I just think people hate on the new Sonic games and praise S3&K and SA2 just to fit in with the crowd. “Yeah, look at me! I hate Sonic and believe only his adventure games and his classics are the only good games he has ever had! I am so cool!” Lame. Maybe not ALL of you are doing that, but some of you are, I’m sure…
“So don’t BS me about SA1 having too much exploration (you only spent about 10% of the game in Adventure Fields, for pity’s sake!) and not enough fast-paced areas when Sonic 1, 2 and CD were FAR WORSE.”
And then Sonic Colors managed to strike a balance between exploration and speed, and all were pleased.
I have to disagree a tad…
Sonic Adventure was…okay…
Sonic Adventure 2 is absolutely AWESOME.
Sonic Rush is a very nice fame.
Shadow the Hedgehog is ONE of my favorites.
Sonic 06 is my FAVORITE GAME EVER. I just wish the princess would keep her lips off of Sonic.
Etc.
Opinions. <:3
Oops. Typo.
Fame needs to be Game. ^^’
why if i watching television i can’t watch a sonic episode?
Oh, SEGA. Why did you have to ruin Sonic X-Treme by attempting to make its entire game engine like the boss battles? You had a good thing going on, and you fucked up big. Kirby Adventure not being released i could get over, but this game looked promising. Well Kirby Adventure became Kirby’s Return to Dreamland, this game became scrapped just two years ago, with only one copy of it existing in the entire world (most likely destroyed by now though). It sorta makes you think; what would have happened to Sonic if Sonic X-Treme was never thought of, or was actually released?
I also don’t agree with most of this I loves sonic adventure 1 and 2 and really the only horrible sonic games were sonic 06 and i guess sonic and the secret rings. I still fully support sega and yes i do trust them with a new nights games they have made so many great games
and now with generations and pso2 comeing ya sega and sonic rocked and i love them all good and the bad
It’s a good thing that this side of the Sonic fanbase posts articles like this somewhere where SEGA can see them. It’s a good reminder of why there’s just not very much point in trying to do anything for them other than throw them a bone or two every once in a while. They’ll never be pleased, and the things they tend to criticize the games for are just not reasonable.
It’s not reasonable to criticize the games for having dark overtones – Sonic has always had an edge to it. This franchise isn’t meant for Nickelodeon or Disney fans. The kids that the series is primarily marketed to like dark and edgy stuff better, anyway. There doesn’t have to be anymore guns or cursing, but the plots should never try to be anymore lighthearted than Unleashed… and that wasn’t a very good lighthearted, it was just something you had to put up with. Colors and Generations are even worse, to the point of being not tolerable.
It’s not reasonable to criticize the games for having humans in them when the main villain of the series is human himself – there doesn’t have to be anymore romantic relationships between anthro characters and human character (even though it wasn’t all that bad, especially when compared to the unholy Amy), but the plots do need to use real world-based settings and they do need to include humans as a part of the storyline. And besides, people were fine with it or they even straight out loved it when it first came out back in the Adventure games. It’s too little, too late to make a successful case out of it now, try as one might.
It’s not reasonable to criticize the games for having voice actors – almost every other video game franchise has them, and there’s nothing about Sonic that means he shouldn’t have them, too. The voices haven’t always been perfect, but they haven’t ever been nearly as bad as some people would like to make it sound sometimes. And Roger Craig Smith sounds absolutely horrid in the role of Sonic.
It’s not reasonable to criticize the games for having HUB worlds – if done right, they add a lot more to the experience. Adventure, 06, ad Unleashed had their issues with this, but they were ALL better than Generations’ cheap, dead, empty, lifeless, boring HUBs. And it’s not like it would take all that much to fix what’s wrong with the HUBs in Sonic games.
It’s not reasonable to criticize the games for having more than one gameplay style – again, because many games do. It’s repetitive and boring to do the same thing over and over again. And no matter what a person’s opinion is of the two recent games, the fact is that you just don’t get to do very much interaction with the Unleashed day stages, Colors, or Generations. It’s not even possible to die or do any exploring. And without any other playable characters (or any other styles of gameplay), there’s nothing to relieve the tedium. And it makes the games WAY too short, as well.
It’s not reasonable to criticize the games for having situations where you must stop running and platform or explore – if all you want to do is go fast, go and buy yourself a racer. Sonic is a platformer first, and a speedster second. There’s just no way to make blend platforming with speed like Sonic’s. It only worked in the Genesis games because SONIC WASN’T VERY FAST IN THOSE GAMES. 2D or 3D doesn’t matter. It just can’t be done.
And finally, it’s not reasonable to criticize the games just for being set in 3D to begin with – if it were any other franchise, there would be no need for me to explain why. But because it’s Sonic, I feel the need to point out the (very basic) fact that video gaming works in 3D now. There’s no reason no matter what anyone says that Sonic should be one of the… what, two or three franchises that doesn’t make 3D games. Especially not just because some people such as the author of the article “don’t get the same feeling playing Sonic in 3D” or are upset because “this isn’t the game we grew up with.” Doesn’t matter what it was like back then. That’s not the way things should (always) be now.
In any case, Takshi Iizuka – the head of Sonic Team – has said that he would like to work with the 3D Sonic gameplay formula again. And before Colors even came out, the CEOs of both SEGA of America and SEGA or Europe have said that they will be making games to try to cater to both major sides of the Sonic fanbase. So which Sonic games are good and which ones are bad or not is a moot point – everybody’s being considered.
And, really, if anybody seriously thought that SEGA were just going to dump that entire fanbase with wallets full of money and kids full of demands down the toilet… they weren’t. If anybody thinks that, then perhaps the Sonic fanbase may have just discovered the most unreasonable and counter productive-business thinking of all.
Frustrated rant from pointing out what seems so obvious to me over now…