Would you have preferred it if Sonic 2006 never happened?

[Phoenix Flame]

I don't mean in terms of canon, because it never happened, whoops (top-quality story telling at its best). 

 

No, my question is: would you rather the game Sonic 2006 was erased from existence and was never released.

Now stay with me, this question isn't as baffling as it first seems.

 

On one level, it's absolutely understandable to want this game erased from the very fabric of the universe. It is undeniably awful, and even people who like it admit the game is simply terrible. Sonic 2006 is a major factor for Sonic's reputation heading straight into the gutter. What's the most embarrassing moment? SonicXElise, Sonic getting stabbed in the back, the mind-blowing amount of bugs, the godawful story, the horrific hub worlds, the ridiculous side-missions, the excruciating load times, the outright broken and meager multiplayer, the downright pathetic bosses (with Silver's boss fight contender for worst moment in any game) and many, many more.

 

I think it's hard to argue against one fundamental point: Sonic 2006 is one bad game. In fact, I'd go as far to say it's overrated by critics.

 

However, would it be better if the game never happened?

 

Let's be honest, SEGA was not exactly having a great track record. Sonic Heroes was okay to mediocre, and despite being more focused than either Adventure game, never reached the peaks of either. Shadow the Hedgehog was an absolute travesty and already tarnished Sonic's reputation considerably. The Sonic Riders games weren't exactly fantastic either and both Sonic Rivals titles had massive problems. Whilst Secret Rings was released after 2006, it was in development at the same time. That game was also very, very poor.

 

To put it simply, Sonic had a hard time for a very long time, and if it wasn't for a complete trainwreck like Sonic 2006, would the Blue Hedgehog have ever risen from the dead?

 

Now I'm about to say something very controversial..so here goes.

 

Sonic 2006 killed the Adventure formula...and that is a good thing.

 

Let's be honest, both Sonic Adventure titles have aged very poorly. Sonic Adventure has aged better, but it is still ridden with many problems. I think most would agree there are some very good ideas, but they are not fully fleshed out and the game is incredibly flawed.

 

Sonic 2006 is essentially a very bad Sonic Adventure 3. It's not my vision of what a Sonic Adventure 3 should be...but it is basically Sonic Adventure 3. Many reviews compared the game to Sonic Adventure and it was clear for everyone to see. The game was so bad, it left many scarred from the game philosophy. SEGA knew they fucked up, and that they desperately needed to change the Sonic formula.

 

Enter Sonic Unleashed and Sonic 4. Both games coming off as an intentional movement to get away from Sonic 2006's gamestyle. Sonic Unleashed and Sonic 4 were definitely not perfect (and I would call both very poor games) yet arguably both have led to Sonic Generations because, for the first time since Sonic Adventure, both games had an excellent idea to build off of(sans Werehog). Sonic Generations has lead straight into Sonic Lost World, which could potentially be the best Sonic game since Sonic and Knuckles

 

So, I would go as far as to say that Sonic 2006 ended the dark days of Sonic. If it wasn't for such a trainwreck it is highly possible that Sonic Team would forever put out mediocre titles, because they were never threatened enough to radically change the formula. Sure, Sonic Heroes, Shadow and 2006 play very differently to the Adventure titles, but they have the same basic gameplay engine and game-style. Just done very badly with stupid gimmicks (Team-Play, guns e.t.c). Sonic Team seemed to be stuck on making mediocre games based off of Adventure 2's game-style.

 

So, despite the fact Sonic 2006 was utterly awful, would we truly be better off without it?

 

Also, as a sidenote, imagine living in a world without the unintentional comic brilliance of Sonic 2006. I wouldn't want to live in that world!

[Yoko/葉子]

I personally think it needs to have happened so that Sega would know to not rush games under any circumstances, after all, Sony and Microsoft pressured them. Sega was going to make a commonly hated game eventually, so it was inevitable that it would be learned from.

[Diogenes]

Ideally they would've realized how much they were fucking up without needing '06 as a wake-up call. But unfortunately it kind of seems like it was necessary, yeah. Not having such an obvious failure might've led the series into a slow death.

[Phoenix Flame]

Ideally they would've realized how much they were fucking up without needing '06 as a wake-up call. But unfortunately it kind of seems like it was necessary, yeah. Not having such an obvious failure might've led the series into a slow death.

 

Good point. In an ideal world, it never should have needed to happen!

 

Thanks for your input .

[Nepenthe]

We don't generally allow other Sonic 06 topics to flourish here, not only because we already have an official thread for that game's discussion and thus subsequent threads would be duplicates, but also because they are just magnets for lots of drama. I would ask you to please direct this particular topic and continue discussing it there please. Thank you.