Big the Cat is officially retired

[Kuzu]

But is anyone really surprised though? The last major game Big was in was a racing a spin off and before that he just made cameos, hell if any character got the boot I'm not surprised it was him because when you get down to it, he didn't really add much to the series and his following is more cult than anything substantial about the character.

This at least proves that Sonic Team are willing to trim down the cast if need be.

Edited June 8, 2012 by The Batman

[Nepenthe]

It's the potential for these kinds of announcements that make me distance myself from getting too attached to the newer characters, especially in a climate where most everyone is hostile to them. But even without that, this isn't that great a blow to me. His most important role to date was in SA1 fourteen years ago. Beyond that, he was basically either fairly negligible, roster padding, or an in-joke. I don't feel like much of value was lost with this decision.

[Sean]

Hebert said he recorded lines for Big. Didn't say which game though, I believe.

[Kuzu]

I liked Big for the fact that he was one of the rare characters like Storm that Sega actually didn't base off of Sonic's body type.

Also, this sorta sucks for Kyle Hebert. He only recently got the role for Big and barely got to do anything with him as far as voice acting is concerned.

The real reason they scrapped him is because Kamina voicing a manly man like Big would be too much for the universe to bare.

In fact, when Kyle recorded his lines for Big in Generations, the recording exploded because it couldn't contain the sheer concentration of manliness in one environment.

[Ichigo Storm]

If this is true then not cool. I was pretty disappointed when he didn't appear in Generations. I was hoping he'd at least return to his awesome cameo status from SA2 and Secret Rings. If this turns out to be real I'll be a real sad panda

[Kiah]

Why do I get the feeling that the first thing certain groups are going to scream after seeing this are "GOOD JOB SEGA! NOW GET RID OF EVERY OTHER CHARACTER EXCEPT SONIC AND EGGMAN SO WE, "THE TRUE SONIC FANS", WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER MORE!

I was thinking the same thing. I hope Sega doesn't take this idea and run away with it, getting rid of more characters.

I figured something was up in regards to Big when:

When Vector replaced Big in Team Rose in Sonic Free Riders.

That's not canon you say? Okay, well explain this then:

Big wasn't present among Sonic's friends in Sonic Generations

I honestly didn't think anything of either instance until now. It seemed odd for Big not to be present in the major celebration of Sonic Generations of all things when all Sonic's other friends were there, minor appearance or not.

In the end if this is true I didn't care too much for Big, but I feel bad for the people out there that did like him. Generally speaking, getting rid of a character in any series makes people in the fandom both happy for those that didn't like the character and sad too for those who did.

[goku262002]

C'mon guys really need I remind you that this man has lied to us on several occasions. Sure he has no reason now that hes got his Episode 2 blood money from us, but thats not stopping the fact that this could be a mis-translation that he took differently?

SEGA hasn't retired a character in eons. Mighty, Ray, Fang were all before the 1998 reboot besides I think its because SEGA doesn't have the rights to use them anymore game-wise. I remember that I heard something that the creator of those characters ran off before Adventure was made and took the rights with him. was that ever confirmed true?

Todays moderns that arn't seen as much are either killed off or have been in TBD limbo. Eggman Nega, Chaos Gamma, Gemerl, Shade are 4 examples of being in TBD limbo, they are still classified as current roster characters but have been put in a grey area where SEGA doesn't quite know what to do with them. Maybe Big is heading there, He is an awkward character after all...

Edited June 8, 2012 by goku262002

[Diogenes]

That's a shame, Big was one of the more unique characters in the series.

I can understand that he's really not suited for Sonic gameplay, but I kind of hoped he'd get some NPC roles, or at least cameos, and show up in some spinoffs.

[Vec]

And nothing of significant value was lost.

Seriously, his gameplay was one of the terrible aspects in Sonic Adventure and didn't do much in the series anyway and his personality doesn't go beyond that of a dimwitted cat with a pet frog with an annoying voice. Though the underlining question is who will be next? *Glances over to Cream the Rabbit

If I remember right, Cream is the most popular in Japan...so I don't think they'll get rid of her that easily

[Kuzu]

C'mon guys really need I remind you that this man has lied to us on several occasions. Sure he has no reason now that hes got his Episode 2 blood money from us, but thats not stopping the fact that this could be a mis-translation that he took differently?

SEGA hasn't retired a character in eons. Mighty, Ray, Fang were all before the 1998 reboot besides I think its because SEGA doesn't have the rights to use them anymore game-wise. I remember that I heard something that the creator of those characters ran off before Adventure was made and took the rights with him. was that ever confirmed true?

Todays moderns that arn't seen as much are either killed off or have been in TBD limbo. Eggman Nega, Chaos Gamma, Shade are 3 examples of being in TBD limbo, they are still classified as current roster characters but have been put in a grey area where SEGA doesn't quite know what to do with them. Maybe Big is heading there, He is an awkward character after all...

Considering that he's generally one of the least liked characters, was scrapped from Generations despite being planned, and wasn't in Free Riders despite being apart of Team Rose, its really not that hard to assume that he'd be given the boot.

If I remember right, Cream is the most popular in Japan...so I don't think they'll get rid of her that easily

Really? I mean I understand the Japanese love their moe, submissive characters but I would have never thought she'd be one of the popular characters over there.

[Indigo Rush]

Ken Balough is a massive Big the Cat fan. He would make sure to get this kind of thing straightened out.

Anyway, I wasn't hoping for Big to be playable so much to make cameos ala SA2 and Secret Rings. I'm hoping that this is truly a short term decision on Iizuka's part and that he'll be back in a likable NPC role.

[goku262002]

Considering that he's generally one of the least liked characters, was scrapped from Generations despite being planned, and wasn't in Free Riders despite being apart of Team Rose, its really not that hard to assume that he'd be given the boot.

The scrapped thing was all down to time consumption, many MANY things were cut from that game. And again, he wouldn't have fit in a game like Free Riders, a game that supposed to be all about physical fitness, using the kinect, etc. and a fatty like Big would just have been ironic. Vector was a better choice for it but I don't think hes a replacement.

Edited June 8, 2012 by goku262002

[Jeffhog]

...

...

...well, damn. D': And another one bites the dust... And one of my personal favourites at that..

[SenEDDtor Missile]

You know, if every other character except Sonic got axed, I can think of this possible chain of events:

"TRU SAWNIK FANS" proclaim the franchise is saved thanks to their "true" devotion.

Fast forward a few years, and people are screaming about how bored they are of Sonic Vs Eggman, and want other characters again...

AND I'm willing to bet some of those so called "TRU SAWNIK FANS" will be amongst them, pretending they had nothing to do with the axing.

Of course the more likely result of such an axing is that Sonic becomes stale and fades into obscurity, due to not having the support of the fans who did like the other characters.

[Shrek]

While I hate to see Big go, it's good that Sega is actually making progress and getting rid of some of the characters that have earned the animosity of the fandom. It shows that they're making an effort to try and respond to some of the most frequent complaints from the fans and earn the respect of the average gamer again; if this information is to be trusted. Now, if we can only get rid of Cream the Rabbit. God, I hate her so much.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

While I hate to see Big go, it's good that Sega is actually making progress and getting rid of some of the characters that have earned the animosity of the fandom. It shows that they're making an effort to try and respond to some of the most frequent complaints from the fans and earn the respect of the average gamer again; if this information is to be trusted. Now, if we can only get rid of Cream the Rabbit. God, I hate her so much.

Honestly, to me it seems like they are just trying to sweep all their issues under a rug as opposed to making them better. Then again, I'm not part of their staff, so I don't know the thought process.

[jeremycarrier]

I was hoping Silver would be the next one to go, but for some inexplicable reason he's kept around.

But yeah, let's go with Cream. Just die, Cream.

[Balding Spider]

I was hoping Silver would be the next one to go, but for some inexplicable reason he's kept around.

It's a mystery really why they keep him around. Doesn't he get like some of if not the most amount of hatred from casual and hardcore fans of the series alike?

[Shrek]

Honestly, to me it seems like they are just trying to sweep all their issues under a rug as opposed to making them better. Then again, I'm not part of their staff, so I don't know the thought process.

To be honest, this is the most professional thing to do. Wouldn't you agree that it's much simpler to just pretend an event didn't happen instead of directly remedying the problem? This is a pretty common practice, and Sega has been prone to do this in the past. Note how they've rarely mentioned Sonic '06 again since it was released. Just look at Generations, a few select people were opposed to a level from Sonic '06 appearing again. Now, think about how people would react if they included Big in another game. The conclusion is, no matter how much you change a controversial product, it still has a lingering shadow that sometimes cannot be repaired.

[Tails spin]

The only thing that I dislike about Big was his voice. " Duh FROGGY WHERE ARE UUU". My ears would bleed.

[Jeffhog]

To be honest, this is the most professional thing to do. Wouldn't you agree that it's much simpler to just pretend an event didn't happen instead of directly remedying the problem? This is a pretty common practice, and Sega has been prone to do this in the past. Note how they've rarely mentioned Sonic '06 again since it was released. Just look at Generations, a few select people were opposed to a level from Sonic '06 appearing again. Now, think about how people would react if they included Big in another game. The conclusion is, no matter how much you change a controversial product, it still has a lingering shadow that sometimes cannot be repaired.

Yes, people being opposed to seeing anything from '06 again in Generations was a known issue, but that was quickly put to rest seeing how Crisis City came about, wasn't it? It definitely doesn't go back 6 years ago and "repairs" the issue, but it made it tons better.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

To be honest, this is the most professional thing to do. Wouldn't you agree that it's much simpler to just pretend an event didn't happen instead of directly remedying the problem? This is a pretty common practice, and Sega has been prone to do this in the past. Note how they've rarely mentioned Sonic '06 again since it was released. Just look at Generations, a few select people were opposed to a level from Sonic '06 appearing again. Now, think about how people would react if they included Big in another game. The conclusion is, no matter how much you change a controversial product, it still has a lingering shadow that sometimes cannot be repaired.

I suppose you have a point there. Still, I feel that trying to at least make something good out of the wreckage might have generated some goodwill, if not because they are at least trying to improve upon their mistakes.

Edited June 8, 2012 by Enigmatus

[Ruby Havoc]

I never really liked Big all that much so him being axed, while surprising, means very little to me.

[Nepenthe]

Even if Sega sweeps everything controversial under the rug, the public isn't suddenly going to get off their backs about years' old mistakes simply because people are adamant on always taking them to task for said mistakes any chance where it's remotely appropriate. With the public being so cynical all the time, you might as well turn that around on them and have some tongue-in-cheek fun, like with putting Big in ASR for example.

[goku262002]

Again, I'm not buying any of this until I hear or see Iizuka say this with his own words. Then I'll start getting scared about which characters are being axed next or if SEGA is just going to nuke everything and revert back to Sonic 1 and repeat that for the next 20 years.

Until then, Not listening to the allways-lies-through-his-teeth-about-Sonic 4 PR guy.

Edited June 8, 2012 by goku262002