Rebooting the Franchise: Good or Bad?

[Kiah]

Reading this topic brought to mind the phrase "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Sure some tweaks and improvements are needed, but by no means is the Sonic series broken. The games recently have gotten better and have even gotten a positive outlook from the gaming community (give or take your haters, there will always be haters). Now if things such as the physics being tightened up, build some meaning into the characters at hand and patch up all the plotholes the series has produced, then that I feel would have a positive effect on the quality of the games. But enough of this construction/building talk.

As for a reboot, I really don't think that it is necessary. The series is fine just the way it is, it just can be better with a few changes here and there, as I've mentioned. I fear a reboot would destroy many if not all the things we have come to know and love about Sonic over the 20+ years he has been around. And that would prove to be very harmful, and a major step backwards if that happened. Sega has been working hard to get Sonic out of the rut he was in due to that period where his games were considered bad, so they should continue to move forward in the favorable direction they are currently going with Sonic, not some unknown direction via a reboot that could cause them to go backwards and be disastrous. That is way too risky, and an unnecessary risk at that.

[The future]

I am pro-reboot, as Eggman would say, Time for a change of pace.

This current canon is a monumental clusterfudge, every era effs up the previous canon in one way or another. I'm all for a table flip and restarting the canon after Sonic 3 and Knuckles, Sonic 4 was never meant to be Sonic 4 in the first place so it doesn't even count, it was supposed to be a series of downloadable mini-adventures but had the name changed to Sonic 4 for more sales.

I feel the same way. All the character post Genesis need to disappear (Marine, Big) or come from a different approach (Shadow, Rouge).

[sonfan1984]

I feel the same way. All the character post Genesis need to disappear (Marine, Big) or come from a different approach (Shadow, Rouge).

It's not like characters like Marine and Big appears that often in the games anyway so I don't see what's the problem or why SEGA should get rid of characters that don't appear as much.

Edited April 6, 2012 by sonfan1984

[Rusty Spy]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I believe that a 'proper' reboot, i.e one that's actually meaningful and fits the better definition of a reboot; going back and starting from square one again and taking everything in a new direction, is not something I want to see Sonic go through. All the ideas mentioned here are more along the lines of a series of retcons that could easily be accomplished in the current continuity, though I'd like to question why since the continuity is about as thin as a saltine cracker and only ever affects the story of the current game.

I honestly don't see any point in rebooting Sonic whatsoever. If it's to improve the story, again the story was never a subject of major concern.

If it's about characters, simply reestablishing it's characters is perfectly possible without such a drastic move.

If it's about gameplay, I'd hardly call revamped gameplay a reboot of a series. Sure, a long running franchise is largely defined by it's gameplay, but if the goal of the 'reboot' was to simply choose a different approach to achieve a better gameplay style while still keeping the genre intact (Resident Evil 4) then it's not so much a reboot as it is making a better game.

[Kiah]

It's not like characters like Marine and Big appears that often in the games anyway so I don't see what's the problem or why SEGA should get rid of characters that don't appear as much.

True. It's not like these characters that show up every once in a while does any harm.

I feel the same way. All the character post Genesis need to disappear (Marine, Big) or come from a different approach (Shadow, Rouge).

This wouldn't be fair to the fans of these characters that you want to disappear. Be it many or few, for each of these characters there are fans that like and appreciate them. Characters have already "disappeared" within the Sonic series (Mighty and Ray), and there has been fuss from the fans about it over the years. It would be no different here if the post Genesis characters were to be done away with.

[---]

I want a reboot because the canon is in such a mess and plus some stories like Shadow and Secret Rings (which unfortunately is canon) are utterly stupid. Also, we'd get redesigns, and as long as they're not like Spyro and Crash than I'm cool. Not only that, but then there's the question of where the heck Sonic 4 fits in, it says it's after Sonic 3andK as well as after CD, but it uses the Modern designs . Also, the moon in SA2, then theres the whole thing with Silver and Blaze.....yea.

[DGam'r]

If it reboots that means Modern, Dreamcast, etc. and Classic fans would be able to bond together because they'll be able to relate

[Cola]

I would hate a reboot right now.

However, if I HAD to, I'd probably leave the classic games alone and pick up from there.

Stick some details from the Adventure games, Heroes, Unleashed, Colors, and Generations in as basic backstory, maybe.

Reintroduce Blaze and Silver, to be from another dimension and the future, respectively.

Make "Shadow the Hedgehog" non-canon. And fix up Shadzy's backstory quite a bit.

Basically - clean up the canon and reintroduce a bunch of characters.

[DGam'r]

I would hate a reboot right now.

However, if I HAD to, I'd probably leave the classic games alone and pick up from there.

Stick some details from the Adventure games, Heroes, Unleashed, Colors, and Generations in as basic backstory, maybe.

Reintroduce Blaze and Silver, to be from another dimension and the future, respectively.

Make "Shadow the Hedgehog" non-canon. And fix up Shadzy's backstory quite a bit.

Basically - clean up the canon and reintroduce a bunch of characters.

Why make ShTH non-canon? Also he does need a fixed story. It seemed like an endless question mark.

[---]

Why make ShTH non-canon? Also he does need a fixed story. It seemed like an endless question mark.

Making Shadow an alien was utterly stupid and the alien invasion thing was an awful cliche, at least in my opinion.

[Celestia]

The whole "Shadow is part-alien" thing just makes me sad. I don't know, I like the idea of Eggman's grandfather being able to create the ultimate lifeform! The fact he needed help from some alien dude kind of ruIns it for me.

[DGam'r]

Making Shadow an alien was utterly stupid and the alien invasion thing was an awful cliche, at least in my opinion.

Oh I get where you're going

[LoseR]

If it reboots that means Modern, Dreamcast, etc. and Classic fans would be able to bond together because they'll be able to relate

Or it could make everyone who liked the games how they were hate the new games because they're so different...

I hate to be the downer in this situation, and I'm usually not, but I can't think of ANY reason why they should reboot...

[JezMM]

To be honest I think the explaination for the Eclipse Cannon justified the Black Arms inclusion. Yes, good ole' Gerald needing help to make Shadow is a downer, but I think him developing the Eclipse Cannon, a weapon of utter mass destruction for... no reason at all? Is a little more disturbing.

Having it revealed that he developed it to destroy the Black Arms completely redeemed who was originally a final bad guy in Sonic Adventure 2, and made his arrest and Maria's death because of it all the more tragic.

The only real problem with ShTH's extra story additions to the original Sonic Adventure 2 backstory is the fact that Black Doom and the Black Arms were such shit as characters.

Edited April 6, 2012 by JezMM

[Diogenes]

To be honest I think the explaination for the Eclipse Cannon justified the Black Arms inclusion. Yes, good ole' Gerald needing help to make Shadow is a downer, but I think him developing the Eclipse Cannon, a weapon of utter mass destruction for... no reason at all? Is a little more disturbing.

To be honest I really don't see why this needed an explanation. It's not like Gerald was the only scientist working on the ARK, and it's not like he was doing things entirely on his own. I figured working on the Cannon was just part of the deal; GUN says help us make us this big laser gun, and in exchange we'll give you access to the most advanced technology and some of the most brilliant minds we have.

That the ARK has Gerald's/Eggman's face on it is far more baffling, to me. Wonder if that's a holdover from an earlier version of the story...maybe Gerald was originally supposed to be an independent mad scientist and the ARK was his Death Egg, or maybe there was no Gerald and this was simply Eggman's Death Egg 2.0...

[Kuzu]

Maybe Eggman's ego is just hereditary?

[Rusty Spy]

I think it'd be a little clearer if we knew WHO built the ARK in the first place.

It had to have been a collaberation of many engineers, who may or may not have included Gerald.

I just assume the design was pure coincidence. The "moustache" could just be fins to guide its flight path into orbit, the eyes I believe were windows, good enough explanation of how the characters are able to look directly towards Earth.

Edited April 6, 2012 by Rusty Pete

[neezTHEhuman]

The gameplay needs a reboot in my opinion if Sega want to increase sales of Sonic games. The Unleashed formula is a sight to behold when watching skilled speed runners on youtube but the 'ultra high speed dodging' which is what the majority of the 3D gameplay consists of has an incredibly steep learning curve which could potentially cause newcomers to the series and casual gamers to rage quit and move on to something else. Basically unless you are already a fan of the series and therefore feel obligated to practice the stages over and over until you have memorized all the quicksteps, rail switches, where to boost/where not to boost, and sharpened your reflexes so that you can homing attack anything with a green cursor in the blink of an eye the games are very unforgiving (lots of hits and deaths) and frustrating. This describes my experience the first few times I played Generations Modern stages because having not played a modern game since completing Unleashed HD in 2009 I was somewhat akin to a newb even though I had some experience with the modern gameplay style.

Sonic was originally intended to be just a simple pick up and play game (Naka insisted that only one button should be required to play the game) which is one of the reasons it was so popular and I feel a slower paced gameplay style is needed especially for 3D to make the games less challenging and encourage more non Sonic fans to give the games a try after first playing a demo. Before I get flamed, Generations was a baby step in the right direction and modern gameplay is exhilarating and very satisfying once you are reasonably skillful and experienced enough to go fast from start to finish.

[Nepenthe]

My brother isn't a hardcore Sonic fan, hasn't played most of the 3D games much less knows how many there even are- even when he's the one that buys them for my birthdays- and he survived the now-apparently Nintendo-hard death traps that are Unleashed stages just fine. Hell, he held our in-house record for Chun-Nan for awhile that I, as the actual seasoned Sonic fan, had to actually work to beat.

The original Sonic games were simple to pick up, but at the same time they were hard to master and beat. Lost lives and game overs were a constant obstacle in completing not only Sonic games, but many many other games and series in our childhoods. People today still find the classics very challenging, but that doesn't stop the public from holding them in any high regard. Reducing the difficulty is the last thing that needs to be done. Hell, I'd rather games that are Unleashed hard or worse.

[Chaos Rush]

I really hope this is just a rumor. Sonic is already way too kiddy, and rebooting it for an even younger generation is going too far. If that happens, fuck this series. What happened to Sonic being all badass and stuff? In Sonic Colors they made him all nerdy and awkward.

[sonfan1984]

I really hope this is just a rumor. Sonic is already way too kiddy, and rebooting it for an even younger generation is going too far. If that happens, fuck this series. What happened to Sonic being all badass and stuff? In Sonic Colors they made him all nerdy and awkward.

You mean before he went 3D?

[Chaos Rush]

You mean before he went 3D?

Sure, I guess. I mean, how could you go from this:

to this:

What the hell happened? Seriously, Sonic needs to either start acting cool again or just shut the fuck up.

Edited April 6, 2012 by Chaos Rush

[Octarine]

What the hell happened?

He started doing that stuff in space.

[sonfan1984]

Sure, I guess. I mean, how could you go from this:

to this:

What the hell happened? Seriously, Sonic needs to either start acting cool again or just shut the fuck up.

What's wrong with it? I dunno, I'm not seeing what's the big problem here or how he's acting all awkward or 'nerdy'. He did something cool like that in the Unleashed opening if you want to see him smashing up robots and acting all cool.

Oh, that's one of my favorite cutscenes in Colors btw. Sonic is pretty tame in that compare to some of the other cutscenes in the game or series. I've seen worse.

Edited April 7, 2012 by sonfan1984

[Chaos Rush]

He started doing that stuff in space.

That was actually pretty awesome

But my point that Sonic is a nerdy dork now still stands.

What's wrong with it? I dunno, I'm not seeing what's the big problem here. He did something cool like that in the Unleashed opening if you want to see him smashing up robots and acting all cool.

I guess it's just that Sonic didn't talk in the older games. But once Sonic started talking he constantly spews out awkward lines that just make him look stupid.

"Yeah, this is happenin!"

"WE'RE SONIC HEROOOOOOOOEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!"

"Did someone order a clobbering?"

"Excuse me giant killer robot? You wanna do this the hard way or the easy way?"

...he just sounds so lame to me.

Edited April 6, 2012 by Chaos Rush