Yuji Naka - Sonic titles are NOT as fun, wants to return to Sonic Team in the future

[LoseR]

Yuji Naka wants to come back? Well that's pretty nifty. Maybe he'll help bring back some of that old Sonic "magic" which seems to be missing from more recent Sonic games... Not that they're bad though.

As for Sonic games being to easy recently, I really do agree. I had no real trouble with Generations, and only found Sky Fortress Act 3 and the final boss of Sonic 4 slightly difficult. I mean, even Special Stage 7 wasn't all that hard, I just never got that the boost could allow you to run on the ceilings... <.<

[TCB]

Naka returning would be a good opportunity to have some better 2D Sonic software. However, the games in recent years seem to have hit their stride for the most part. Still, a good (not saying Episode 2 is not good, it is to me) 2D Sonic game with Naka on board....buhbye Dimps.

And for the games being "too easy"....easy for some , not so for others.

Edited May 19, 2012 by TheChaosBlue

[azoo]

To all you guys who act like Naka left on a bad note or something, hear this out. From what I recall, he was getting smaller roles in Sonic Team as he went along, and whenever he couldn't do what he loved anymore (program) and was also shoved from director to producer to executive producer to advisor, he jumped ship.

And also, how could've he left on a bad note if he spent a long while hanging out with Iizuka and the director of GenerationsHD (as well as with Oshima, Yasuhara, and Senoue)? With how much they hung out (even apparently before the announcement of Gens), it's apparent that there seems to be no bad blood. So what's the big deal with Naka coming back?

(also about the "but wasn't he behind SA2, Heroes and Shadow?": from what I recall, almost all of that was essentially Iizuka's ideas.. even though it was with Naka's sayso. But either way, Iizuka pulled us into this rut and (with the push of Yoshihisa Hashimoto's direction in Unleashed) he pulled us back out of the rut.)

Edited May 19, 2012 by Azukara

[Megabox!]

Yuji Naka possibly coming back? That's pretty interesting, I wonder what types of new ideas he's come up with throughout the years for the Blue Blur. But Sonic games were never too difficult in the first place, Sonic 1 was truly the only challenging Classic game.

[Raxz]

Naka returning would be a good opportunity to have some better 2D Sonic software. However, the games in recent years seem to have hit their stride for the most part. Still, a good (not saying Episode 2 is not good, it is to me) 2D Sonic game with Naka on board....buhbye Dimps.

And for the games being "too easy"....easy for some , not so for others.

I think it would be best to have both Naka and Dimps. Dimps has their own unique style that I personally love -- the Advance and Rush games. Naka can stick to the more classic 2D, and I would love if Dimps made some more Rush games, because that's what they do best.

Edited May 20, 2012 by Raxz

[PerfectChaos]

Hmm, I think Colours was a good difficulty, and I'd love to see that kind of unique, fair challenge again.

One level sent you on a little quest for the Cube Wisp, and Terminal Velocity took a couple of tries.

But stupid IGN bashed it for difficulty, so Sonic Team will probably shy away from it

[Alice Twilight]

I'd love for a new NiGHTS game.

I played the PS2 version of the game on Sega Saturn and had really good fun. The game has a awesome soundtrack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxqq-I880-I

It would be cool if he came back to make Sonic too. But I'm more interested in NiGHTS at the moment. That series needs to return.

[lounge]

I think the new NiGHTS on wii did bad in sales sadly. That and it was pretty average.

[Boostitude]

Naka for 2D Sonic games + kill ties with Dimps.

Iizuka for 3D Sonic games, though maybe Naka can add something to it - maybe not.

Generations is easy until you want to go fast in it. Speed wasn't such a huge focus back in the day as it is now, so when you play the game slowly, it's literally like walking (or platforming) through a park.

Unleashed works the same, but it felt more challenging from pits stupid galore. It doesn't make sense to go slow in this game because of it's linear level design. Learning how and when to go fast seems key - and unlike Generations, there seem to be a lot more ways to do it.

Sonic 4 shouldn't have been made without Naka - period.

[ChaosXVI]

Not really sure how I feel about Naka possibly coming back to Sonic, but I guess it couldn't hurt, especially if he took control over future 2D titles. Though S4-E2 was an improvement over E1, there is still plenty more work to be done.

[UltDevilDoom]

Yuji Naka, we miss you.

[Vec]

I know why Naka would say Sonic games are easy nowadays...the thing is when a random game is hard it's "challenging". When a Sonic game is hard "cheap and unfair"

[Diogenes]

When a random game is hard it may or may not be fair difficulty. When a Sonic game is hard it's generally been because of poor design.

[UltDevilDoom]

After Naka left, the next Sonic game was '06. Enough said.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

After Naka left, the next Sonic game was '06. Enough said.

Technically he worked on the game, but left halfway through.

[UltDevilDoom]

Technically he worked on the game, but left halfway through.

Really? I guess that makes sense, since he left in early-to-mid 2006.

[Treacher]

Technically he worked on the game, but left halfway through.

For some time since around Shadow, he's been the 'Executive Producer', and he didn't do any hands-on work/programming on Sonic games since S3&K. It's been stated that his lack of involvement from his position attributed to his leave.

[Boostitude]

Not really sure how I feel about Naka possibly coming back to Sonic, but I guess it couldn't hurt, especially if he took control over future 2D titles. Though S4-E2 was an improvement over E1, there is still plenty more work to be done.

The thing about episode 2 that irks me the most is that it literally borrows things from previous Sonic games and does them much worse. I'm not just talking about the things that it uses from the classics like the physics and the music, I'm talking about the ideas it took from more recent games.

-The concept of adding in a team mechanic was done right in games such as Sonic Heroes and Sonic Advance 3 because they didn't take the flow of the gameplay for granted, they maintained it. They controlled properly and there wasn't any automation tacked on to it.

-Springs and speed boosters that carry you from place to place is a legitimate 3D gimmick where in some situations you can avoid them to maintain flow, but in Ep2, it takes away the feel and adds no visual thrill for a 2D game.

Some people may find this okay, but when you think about it, how are these designs that stand out so much in Ep1 and Ep2 moving the series forward? It's funny when kids yell, "It's a new game." No, it's not. Sonic 4 Episode 2 literally moved backwards in just about every aspect except the graphics and the special stages.

Even if it wasn't a multi-million dollar project Generations was, Sega shouldn't have allowed the game let it's quality reflect it's budget. Naka and old Dimps proved that Sonic could be solid regardless of the hardware he was on, but Sega is on some prostitution-level gimmicks selling Sonic on non-console systems these days.

Edited June 10, 2012 by Boostitude

[Diogenes]

-The concept of adding in a team mechanic was done right in games such as Sonic Heroes and Sonic Advance 3 because they didn't take the flow of the gameplay for granted, they maintained it.

Like hell they did; Heroes had you switching from fast (but slippery) speed characters to slow and clunky flight and power characters every dozen steps, and SAdv3 takes a tire iron to your character's abilities in exchange for some dubious moves and tag actions that require charging up before they can be used.

-Springs and speed boosters that carry you from place to place is a legitimate 3D gimmick where in some situations you can avoid them to maintain flow, but in Ep2, it takes away the feel and adds no visual thrill for a 2D game.

If our 3D Sonics were designed properly they wouldn't need chains of springs and dash pads.

[Scar]

If our 3D Sonics were designed properly they wouldn't need chains of springs and dash pads.

Not sure, but I think he means they could be used as obstacles that hamper your progress or ruin your flow, rather than propel you to the goal. You know, like those Eggman springs that Unleashed introduced that act effectively like those springs on the Megadrive that bounce you backwards when you run full pelt at them.

Edited June 10, 2012 by Scar

[Amomynous]

Kind of interesting? I'd be interested to see how he will influence the games, but I don't know how it would turn out.

[UltDevilDoom]

Like hell they did; Heroes had you switching from fast (but slippery) speed characters to slow and clunky flight and power characters every dozen steps, and SAdv3 takes a tire iron to your character's abilities in exchange for some dubious moves and tag actions that require charging up before they can be used.

That sounds like the poor boost system and Werehog idea in Sonic Unleashed.

Edited June 10, 2012 by UltDevilDoom

[Yoko/葉子]

I only agree because the newer graphics hurt my eyes from time to time. The old Sonics did not.

[Boostitude]

Like hell they did; Heroes had you switching from fast (but slippery) speed characters to slow and clunky flight and power characters every dozen steps, and SAdv3 takes a tire iron to your character's abilities in exchange for some dubious moves and tag actions that require charging up before they can be used.

I'm mostly referring to activating the team mechanic itself, not the result of using the mechanic in those games. Regardless of the effect (because Ep2's team techniques aren't very praiseworthy, either), the act of performing them didn't freeze the action for a bit of overglorified animation.

If our 3D Sonics were designed properly they wouldn't need chains of springs and dash pads.

Not very convinced by that thought, but...

Not sure, but I think he means they could be used as obstacles that hamper your progress or ruin your flow, rather than propel you to the goal. You know, like those Eggman springs that Unleashed introduced that act effectively like those springs on the Megadrive that bounce you backwards when you run full pelt at them.

Yes

Hitting speed boosters for example propels Sonic at pre-determined speeds as not every one of them is made equal. In 3D, some are simply there to help Sonic change direction or take an immediate 90 degree turn with the direction of the stage and they are usually the least powerful ones. Some of the speed boosters in Unleashed wind up becoming obstacles you hop over or avoid because it's possible to get Sonic moving faster than the speed they'll push you, thus dampening the flow - and that can be a challenge in itself sometimes. Some of them shoot Sonic forward faster than his general boost speed (usually in 2D since he's speed capped even harder with the boost), but my point here is, it's not all forced automation and the boosters (combined with springs) don't force you into going forward or into a roll like they do in Ep2.

Really don't want to get off topic here, but I'm just saying, when Naka had these ideas for a game, in comparison to what we get now, especially from a 2D Sonic, he had good fundamentals. Not all of his ideas were executed perfectly in the end, but I don't believe he could do a much worse job than what the current team is doing with Sonic 4.

Edited June 11, 2012 by Boostitude

[...]

After Naka left, the next Sonic game was '06. Enough said.

Um... Naka was part of SNG's development team. he just left halfway during development.