World-Building in the Sonic series

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Throughout this entire series, we've had stages like:

 

Green Hill

 

Chemical Plant

Grand Metropolis

 

City Escape

 

Chun-nan

 

FUCKING Eggmanland! (Image is too large to show)

 

...and many other level tropes you could think of. Sonic has essentially explored them all, and more.

 

So we've all talked about things like Gameplay and Story/Narrative for the Sonic series. What about Worldbuilding?

 

This series has a world, a universe. Something that, although completely different everywhere we go, is still a part of Sonic's world. Now while the upcoming Lost World may shake things up a lot as far as this new location goes, it no less made me think of how much more this series can grow. No, we don't have to have a codex that gives a whole info-dump of the world Sonic exists in, but I would really love to see how these different locations connect and interact with the other locations of the world in a more subtle and flowing way.

 

This by no means would deny us from having new worlds or settings, but it feels like a loss that we have such awesome looking places in the games only to visit them one time, twice if we're lucky (baring Green Hill Zone). And what was perhaps most upsetting for me is how Eggman finally builds Eggmanland...only for us to never see it again.

 

Playing through the Paper Mario Series like that of Thousand Year Door and Super Paper Mario sparked my mind and made me upset how Mario doesn't always capitalize on the world he has with locals such as the Mushroom Kingdom and Yoshi's Island being in the same world as Rogueport. I'd like Sonic to do otherwise and really do what Nintendon't often with Mario past the RPGs.

 

This was attempted to whatever success in Sonic Chronicles. Now I want to see that really done well in the main games. What do you guys think?

Edited May 29, 2013 by ChaosSupremeSonîc

[Faseeh]

This honestly how I think the world connects to this point. (Going by console only)

South Island, Christmas Island, Westside Island, South Island is in the middle and they are all not too far but not too close.

Angel Island is just somewhere high up, but near Westside Island.

On the other side of Westside Island, we have Station Square and all the SA stuff.

City Escape and all that are just part of Station Square but if they aren't, they're the US to the UK.

Heroes happens in the South Island, Westside Island-esque places, those places have gotten a huge technical upgrade at those parts (explains Grand Metropolis) but some parts are still as old as ever (Hang Castle, Aquatic Ruins explained).

06, it happened in another state that is pretty developed and since the game was going for Rome, yeah, that kinda thing.

Then Unleashed, we all know.

Colours is far removed and Lost World should be connected to those planets.

Well, that's what I think. (hope that made sense lol)

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While it'd be nice to just keep on building, I feel that visiting Station Square again BUT different places of it with maybe similar gimmicks would be nice. Sorta like Colours wisps' in Lost World.

I honestly won't mind either direction.

Edited May 29, 2013 by Faseeh

[The Sunheart]

Sonic is one of the most beautiful game series in existence and I can't wait to see what the future holds for its level design.

 

As for continuity concerning levels, it always used to bother me until a point was brought up by another member (forgot who and where, exactly).

 

If they made a concrete world and had levels connect, it would definitely feel more like a real place, however, we would lose the freedom to invent new areas. We'd just have to keep shoving everything side by side until the whole world was completely crammed, and even then, where do you go from there? Just push out to new planets? I feel like this is a valid point: eventually you’ll run out of space.

 

I have a fan-girlish "ultimate sonic game" that I made up in my head that has the solid continuity, complete with an overworld map like Colors.

 

You can unlock remastered levels from previous games while collecting red star rings, for example Azure Lake and Radical Highway. They have nothing to do with the story and are purely for some extra multiplayer fun and nostalgia. I would love to see this (and everything else in my fan game  ) in future games.

[Diogenes]

They're really, really bad at it.

Sonic's had so many different styles, gone to so many different locations, seen so much different shit, that it's just so incoherent. It's a giant wad of random shit that probably mostly exists but maybe not all of it? And there's basically no sense of anything being related to anything unless they both came from the same game.

To some extent, to keep the series flexible to help it continue indefinitely, that's understandable. But I think they overdo it. They're too set on making every game about something completely new. About the only main games that have built on elements of a previous game in a meaningful way are SA (the history of Angel Island) and ShtH (which tied itself into Shadow's business, although it was shit and they felt the need to slot aliens in there). While there's nothing wrong with games introducing new things, I think they should stop seeing that as the first choice and try making more stories out of existing elements, to give them stronger grounding in the series.

[JaidynReiman]

This honestly how I think the world connects to this point. (Going by console only)

South Island, Christmas Island, Westside Island, South Island is in the middle and they are all not too far but not too close.

Angel Island is just somewhere high up, but near Westside Island.

On the other side of Westside Island, we have Station Square and all the SA stuff.

City Escape and all that are just part of Station Square but if they aren't, they're the US to the UK.

Heroes happens in the South Island, Westside Island-esque places, those places have gotten a huge technical upgrade at those parts (explains Grand Metropolis) but some parts are still as old as ever (Hang Castle, Aquatic Ruins explained).

06, it happened in another state that is pretty developed and since the game was going for Rome, yeah, that kinda thing.

Then Unleashed, we all know.

Colours is far removed and Lost World should be connected to those planets.

Well, that's what I think. (hope that made sense lol)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While it'd be nice to just keep on building, I feel that visiting Station Square again BUT different places of it with maybe similar gimmicks would be nice. Sorta like Colours wisps' in Lost World.

I honestly won't mind either direction.

City Escape is Central City. That's something Shadow the Hedgehog actually built up a bit by establishing Central City and the United Federation. Station Square is mentioned in SA2, but its not the same city, if it was Station Square they'd have just said "Station Square" rather than the "capital city."

 

The president appears in the "capital city" in SA2, he appears in Central City in Sonic Battle (Central City is significantly smaller here mind, seems you only visit a small part of it), and in Shadow the Hedgehog the president again appears in Central City. Here its also confirmed that Central City is the capital, therefore the capital in SA2 is Central City as well, which is where all the SA2 city stages are located.

 

It is possible that Station Square is that smaller area located northeast of Central City on the SA2 map. Its got almost the same shape. Since Station Square was destroyed in SA, it would make sense and they just haven't finished rebuilding (all the bridges under construction might also be explained by this), but its not really confirmed so we don't really know where Station Square actually is, but the assumption is its near Central City.

[Mr Useful]

I always pictured Sonic to take place on Earth(with real places) with the 3d games taking place mostly in the Americas.

Station Square is in the Southmost part of the US while the Mystic Ruins are in Mexico.

City Escape, Radical Highway, Mission Street, and the Cities in ShTH take place in California.

The Desert Stages from Sa2 are in Egypt(obviously)

The pumpkin hill stages are where the Real Grand Canyon would be.

All of the stages but Grand Metropolis and Power Plant from Heroes take place in the South American/Central American countries.

Unleashed is already done to death.

[G-Force]

Personally, I think it would be interesting if they revisited South Island and Westside Island and made them part of a larger island chain with an interesting history.  Maybe come up with "North" and "East" islands to complete the set.  Christmas Island could also be there somewhere in there, and I'd like to see it someday.

 

I've been figuring for a while now that Station Square, Central City, and Westopolis would logically all be part of the same country as Empire City.  Though I'm sure everyone else already figured that.  The Mystic Ruins would also be on that continent, though, and this country would also be the one responsible for the ARK and Project Shadow.

 

I'd like to know more about the Little Planet, maybe even how it came to be.  What's the deal with the Time Stones and such.

 

The general history of the Chaos Emeralds would be interesting to explore in more games, though actually explaining their origin might not be a great idea.  I also wouldn't mind the Chaos Rings being brought back and linked into things somehow.

 

Since it's been established that aliens exist in Sonic's universe, I wouldn't mind encountering more alien species.  To be honest, Sonic X's idea of a race of humanoid plant beings was a pretty cool idea to me, because it made an interesting parallel with Sonic's world of humanoid animals.  The rest of Sonic X's ideas were pretty weak, though.

[Sky]

City Escape is Central City. That's something Shadow the Hedgehog actually built up a bit by establishing Central City and the United Federation. Station Square is mentioned in SA2, but its not the same city, if it was Station Square they'd have just said "Station Square" rather than the "capital city."

 

The president appears in the "capital city" in SA2, he appears in Central City in Sonic Battle (Central City is significantly smaller here mind, seems you only visit a small part of it), and in Shadow the Hedgehog the president again appears in Central City. Here its also confirmed that Central City is the capital, therefore the capital in SA2 is Central City as well, which is where all the SA2 city stages are located.

 

It is possible that Station Square is that smaller area located northeast of Central City on the SA2 map. Its got almost the same shape. Since Station Square was destroyed in SA, it would make sense and they just haven't finished rebuilding (all the bridges under construction might also be explained by this), but its not really confirmed so we don't really know where Station Square actually is, but the assumption is its near Central City.

Isn't City Escape supposed to be San Francisco?

[Sparky]

Isn't City Escape supposed to be San Francisco?

Central City = San Francisco.

[Splash the Otter]

Isn't City Escape supposed to be San Francisco?

Central City didn't exist until Sonic Battle, and wasn't the capital until ShTH, so it's likely that City Escape was part of San Francisco before being retconned.

 

On the subject of Station Square and the Mystic Ruins, I have my doubts that they're part of the Federation.

Edited May 30, 2013 by ElectroKyurem

[Sky]

Central City = San Francisco.

Oop, sorry, I didn't know those two are the same exact place. I'm not very good with geography...

[G-Force]

On the subject of Station Square and the Mystic Ruins, I have my doubts that they're part of the Federation.

Well, Station Square always came across as an American city to me, so I don't see why it wouldn't be part of the Federation.

 

The Mystic Ruins really only needs to be on the same landmass, and close enough to be linked to Station Square via train.  The other details aren't terribly relelvant.  Although, in hindsight, that train link doesn't really make much sense to me.

Edited May 30, 2013 by G-Force

[Thirsty Pocket]

Sonic's world is really weird. Like, we got surreal places like Green Hill, Hilltop, Hydro City... And then we got some more earthly stuff's still somewhat of an oddity, like Pumpkin Hill and Mushroom Hill... more realistic parts of the world like Soleanna and pretty much all of unleashed, Countless Casino and Carnival themed cities, civilization of varying technology such as Central City Vrs. Grand Metropolis, more ruins than you can shake a stick at, more highways in the sky than the world of F-Zero, and things that don't even seem like you're in the right dimension anymore, like Hang Castle.

 

They all just seem like video game level tropes to me for the most part, but I do like when things come together to give you a sense of a real world, like Sonic 3, where we actually see our characters getting from location to location, or the Sonic Adventure where the worlds are literally connected. We even see signs of a connected world in Sonic Adventure 2, with the world map, and pumpkin hill structures being view-able from Rail Canyon.

 

I'm pretty content with most of Sonic's world. I just wish it would do more with the people in it. Do more with the animal friends maybe... dare I say, make them speak? I thought the animal friends were supposed to be the same kind of creature as Sonic, despite size differences.

 

Not that I dislike the humans in Sonic's world or anything, but they don't give off any kind of charm like a more colorful race of talking animals would.

[Mr. Taxi]

Sonic doesn't have a world to call his own.

 

Dio has already sorted out most of the problem. Too many styles, too much novelty. Sonic Team doesn't have to connect places with stories and unnecessary explanation - keeping the essence and applying it to different tropes and stories would do even if the style changed slightly.

 

Even recurring elements have lost their power of world-building. Chaos Emeralds, until Sonic Adventure, indicated principles of something, connecting prophecies, in-game power and replay value, ancient civilizations, places, a reason for Eggman to do whatever he's doing etc. After that, it became just about everything and nothing about the games. Need some cheap and stupid replay factor? Chaos Emeralds!