What DO the kids think?

[Annie-Mae]

Most of us are partly adults here (23 myself), and most reviewers are adults too. We judge TODAY Sonic based on what we like as kids (even if we didn't fallow the Genesis Sonic we still knew about the hedgehog back in he day). The main question would be is how often do those reviewers and older retro fans listen to what younger kids say about the new Sonic games?

Making this post because my brother just beat Sonic Heroes without my help. I did beat the main levels but he managed to get most of the Emeralds and beat the Last level while I had given up on the game. He's 10 and the target age Sega is going for. While he likes watching me play Sonic 2 and other retro games, he still likes watching the animation and cut scenes from the newer ones. I'd have him listen to the JP VAs if I could (he loves the things they say in SA2 for DC, like Knuckles when he digs), but for the most part he just enjoys hearing them talk like in a movie and TV show. I'm not sure if he can tell the difference between the old and new VAs yet (because we have Shadow too), but he sticks to the games and beats them where I get into an Angry Video Game Nerd mode and give up.

So what has your younger siblings or random children you know said about Sonic. We heard what kids think about Sonic and Black Knight but what are some other moments that you can recall? Should we be putting these games to the 7-13 age group test, rather then old and bitter gamers of the past (or Guitar Hero) mentality (There was a point in game history where pattern pressing games like Guitar Hero were a sin...PaRappa the Rapper anyone?)

Oi, fixed my bad grammar (internet died shortly after posting this).

Edited June 28, 2009 by Annie-Mae

[Badnik Mechanic]

I dont' know of any young kids directly who like Sonic...

But during the school holidays... or on a saturday, the typical reaction from kids who pick up a Sonic game would be the following...

"Cool!"

Yound kids today do seem to really like Sonic, even games that us older lot don't like. They love it. They care not for plotholes or references to the past, they just like Sonic and his games.

[BlazingTales]

I see little boys in my town wearing Sonic tee-shirts a swimwear. And I know plenty of young girls who think Sonic is 'cute'. I also know plenty of Sonic X fans. Last Christmas time, I went to a craft store and there were diamond-shaped fake rocks. Two kids walked up to them and said "Look! A Chaos Emerald!" and then held it in the air and yelled "CHAOS CONTROL!!" (it made me smile). If kids know who Sonic is, they like him. Otherwise, they are indifferent. But I can garentee there are plenty of little fans in the making out there!

[Rusty Spy]

This totally reminds me of this.

In the end were all thinking too deeply into the stories, characters, and gameplay than we are playing them.

[PSI Wind]

I may be 13 but I know Almost EVERYTHING about Sonic games. I know what song they reference, where its from, ect. Little kids like Sonic, but I don't know if they would like the old games.

[Meow]

My little sister (who is gonna be 7 soon) likes Sonic =). She liked watching Sonic X, and she watches me play Sonic all the time haha. She knows who the characters are, and she likes Tails xD! She calls Dr. Eggman though just simply "Dr. Egg" and that is his name, I can't get her to call him Dr. Eggman because she always for

My little brother who is gonna be 5 soon, he likes Sonic as well. Same deal with my sis. I dunno who he likes though haha. But yeah, they love watching me play on my 360, though they both play the games on the computer ;D

[Tombi]

Kids like Sonic, but I've never really saw it as that sort of "obsessive" fandom that, say; a lot of little girls who like Hannah Montana may have. If they see a Sonic game on the shelf and it looks cool from the cover, they will clamour about and want it for sure - but recently Sonic has never been a "fad" or the "new thing", he's just that character that looks cool, can run fast and has had games coming out since before you were born.

My little sister, for example; owns both Sonic Rush games along with M&S Olympics for the DS and seems to enjoy them often - and because she and most likely quite a few kids don't actually own any console games; the DS is really a great platform for Sonic to get exposure to the younger generation in particular. Sonic games are generally heavily advertised with some really campy spots on Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Jetix and all those channels so it's quite easy to discover him as she did.

I can't say much for anything outside my family, as I haven't conducted any interviews or anything like that; but the general feeling seems to be that he's a big cash-cow when it comes to the kids. The game shops nearby will always make sure to do loads of advertising towards Sonic whether the game is Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Riders, Sonic Rivals or just about anything with his name on it.

I think, for the kids, Sonic is just like Mario in that he's a recognisable character and some distinct traits that kids think are super awesome (runs fast, wears nice shoes, has spiky hair), but the main difference is that Sonic is on every console and there's a little less restriction. I don't think the idea that kids will literally eat anything up as a good game is true; but they are a bit more forgiving most of the time; so the stuff that we get really nitpicky about no doubt goes over their heads.

[Faded Echoes]

I remember reading a kids magazine and in the letters section, I read a letter from a 10 year old boy saying "Shadow the Hedgehog is the maddest game ever!" I'm 20 years old, And I like all Sonic game regardless. I also remember some kids at EB Games saying they couldn't wait to play the latest Sonic game, which at the time was Sonic Riders. Kids just play the games because they're Sonic. They don't care for voices or plotholes. Oh and I remember walking around with my 15'' Sonic plush I imported from Japan. A kid walked past saying "It's Sonic X!"

[Phos]

I came upon this kid playing the Sonic Unleashed demo on a 360 in a best buy. He was trying to jump on that first group of enemies that you have to beat to get the pulley to drop. He was unable to hit them. I told him how to use the homing attack, and he was able to progress.

Someone on Sonic Retro was talking about how rather young cousin of theirs wasn't able to figure out how to get past the first level on Sonic Unleashed. They could beat it, but couldn't figure out how to get to the second level.

But enough about Unleashed. Fairly often I have a few minutes to spare, but not enough time to make it worth it to go back to my dorm (this is at college), and this is often in the vicinity of a nearby Gamestop, so I'll hang out in there for a few minutes. It's right on the edge of a neighborhood, so lots of kids come though there. Listening to them, I've come to the conclusion that kids have no idea how to tell the difference between a good or bad game as long as they can figure out how to play it. I also found out just how much a movie license can help sell a game.

[Miko]

none of the kids around here know him. Some preschoolers in our school's teaching program could sing the Sonic X song, but I think it's a stretch to say Sonic's as popular with people as he used to be.

[hekturr]

My best friend's little brother is such a gamer.

He recently got an Xbox360.

He'll go through games like it's nothing.

I remember seeing he has Sonic Unleashed for PS2.

He didn't like it much.

Hasn't even heard of Sonic before that game.

He's 7 years old by the way.

I asked him what his favorite video game characters were and he replied,

"Wolverine, X-Men, and Nazi Zombies."

owch.

[azoo]

Well, for the most part, I don't ever see anybody ever play Sonic games around where I live; young or old. They're too busy playing Wii shovelware, First-Person Shooters / Army games, (American) football games, First-Person Shooters / Army games, Guitar Hero, First-Person Shooters / Army games or shoddy PS2 games which weren't worth playing when they were first released.... and did I mention First-Person Shooters / Army games?

It's hard to get Americans to remember what a platformer is, and it's even harder to get them to remember what Sonic CD, Unleashed or Sonic 3 & Knuckles is.

"Where's the guns? I can't hurt anybody if I don't have weapons! Wait, what? Jumping kills enemies? WOAH my character's too fast! Actual skill involved that doesn't require holding the R Trigger? ARGH BLASPHEMY! Screw that crap, give me my Call of Duty!"

AAARRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH.

However, on the bright side, I think I've spread a little bit of fandom on my best friend, and I obviously have on my girlfriend (she goes here lol), and I guess I've brushed it on my siblings some. Also, I have another close friend that is interested in the characters and storyline, but he claims "it's not my type of game". He goes back to playing Halo and Prototype all day...

..Which I guess is good. In a series like Sonic, it's not the best to be a fan of only the characters and storyline, because everyone should know it's the gameplay that counts. Oh well.

Edited June 28, 2009 by Azukara

[Rusty Spy]

Well, for the most part, I don't ever see anybody ever play Sonic games around where I live; young or old. They're too busy playing Wii shovelware, First-Person Shooters / Army games, (American) football games, First-Person Shooters / Army games, Guitar Hero, First-Person Shooters / Army games or shoddy PS2 games which weren't worth playing when they were first released.... and did I mention First-Person Shooters / Army games?

It's hard to get Americans to remember what a platformer is, and it's even harder to get them to remember what Sonic CD, Unleashed or Sonic 3 & Knuckles is.

"Where's the guns? I can't hurt anybody if I don't have weapons! Wait, what? Jumping kills enemies? WOAH my character's too fast! Actual skill involved that doesn't require holding the R Trigger? ARGH BLASPHEMY! Screw that crap, give me my Call of Duty!"

AAARRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH.

Ugh, tell me about it! All they ever talk about. It was such a relief to see a guy at my school playing The Legendary Starfy and Pokemon one day.

[azoo]

Ugh, tell me about it! All they ever talk about. It was such a relief to see a guy at my school playing The Legendary Starfy and Pokemon one day.

Wait, you know people that play platformers and retro-ish games? Blessed is the school you go to.

The only person I know in real-life that plays platformers as much as I do is my girlfriend.

[Chooch]

My nephew is 10 years old now and he's been hooked on Sonic for years. I didn't really help the situation either.

Like people have said before, kids have the tendency to enjoy games that other older fans may not really like. Personally, I can't stand Sonic Heroes, but sure enough my nephew asked for me to play it with him one day. He really enjoys it, along with every other Sonic game in existence. I don't think there's a single Sonic game he's played that he hasn't liked and as far as I know he loves all of them equally.

[Miko]

I think many people online especially take for granted Sonic's ability to be a household name at one point despite being a video game character. Video games are far from a pastime the majority can play and may people will never be able to afford them. More than likely though if you've money to spare on Sonic games other people in your community do too.

[Annie-Mae]

Yeah it seems to be where games are at now a days. Boys want the army/1st person shooter games. They want games that are really close to reality or games that put you right there. Most game designers probably don't believe there are female gamers out there so they don't make games for them. They make kiddy games for parents who don't want to guy the GTAs or spend the money on Rock Band. I was surprised to see two parents actually tell their kid to get an E rated game one day, I thought most people didn't pay attention to those ("No you can't have that, go find an E game").

Sonic appeals to younger boys but because the cast is mostly men (and mature females like Blaze and Rouge in present games), it starts to appeal to girls at an older age because they're the precursor to boyfriends (thus causing Yaoi fanart XD). When it comes down to it though, what the media is shoving in the kids throats today is not the same thing as what they were doing back in the 90s. Shows like Total Drama Island, Naurto, ICarly, and (while I really hope it's getting poor ratings) the dreaded CN Real line up are pulling girls away from the furry and cute fandom, leaving Sonic's main appeal still to the 7-13 year old boys (and it weirds me out that CN isn't showing Sonic X reruns, and yet they fill have the day with 6teen and Johnny Test, blah!).

So this leaves game designers with a problem: young inexperienced audience WILL want these games regardless, retro gamers will complain if in a repeat of Sonic 2, reviewers influence the average gamers, parents want something safe for their kids. So you have to make a challenging game, easy enough for kids, that plays the way it's ment to, mature enough for the retro gamers, and keep it all under budget and on on time....we should all cut these guys a little slack (even if they made three Sonic 2006 in a row...)

[-Mark-]

Well, I don't really know anybody under the age of 18 anymore, so I can't say I know what kids today in my area think.

That said, however, it does make me smile whenever I see a customer come into work wearing a Sonic T-shirt. Seen a fair few of both adults and kids with them, so he still must be at least fairly well-liked among kids.

[Daisoku]

I may be 13 but I know Almost EVERYTHING about Sonic games. I know what song they reference, where its from, ect.

Same. I may have been born when SA1 came out(I remember my dad playing it on the DC. Ahhh, that whale.) but I still know the franchise. Very well. I have a Mega Drive(And S&K. I wanna get more Sonic games off eBay or something...Like S3. So I can get S3&K.), a Dreamcast, SA1, and SA2:B. Anyway, my sister loves Sonic, and one of her school friends is obsessive over Shadow. I've also got my best friend into Sonic. Bean's(Robyn) fave chara, actually, is Knuckles.

Her fave games are SRA and Sprung. M&S@TOG coming in third.

She says SR is too hard. XD

We're going to Thorpe Park on a school trip, and for the journey, we're bringing our DSs. I'm bringing SRA, SR, and something else I haven't decided on, and she's bringing SRA, Sprung, and something else she hasn't decided on.

Help me out with this, if it's allowed.

[PSI Wind]

Yeah it seems to be where games are at now a days. Boys want the army/1st person shooter games. They want games that are really close to reality or games that put you right there. Most game designers probably don't believe there are female gamers out there so they don't make games for them. They make kiddy games for parents who don't want to guy the GTAs or spend the money on Rock Band. I was surprised to see two parents actually tell their kid to get an E rated game one day, I thought most people didn't pay attention to those ("No you can't have that, go find an E game").

Sonic appeals to younger boys but because the cast is mostly men (and mature females like Blaze and Rouge in present games), it starts to appeal to girls at an older age because they're the precursor to boyfriends (thus causing Yaoi fanart XD). When it comes down to it though, what the media is shoving in the kids throats today is not the same thing as what they were doing back in the 90s. Shows like Total Drama Island, Naurto, ICarly, and (while I really hope it's getting poor ratings) the dreaded CN Real line up are pulling girls away from the furry and cute fandom, leaving Sonic's main appeal still to the 7-13 year old boys (and it weirds me out that CN isn't showing Sonic X reruns, and yet they fill have the day with 6teen and Johnny Test, blah!).

So this leaves game designers with a problem: young inexperienced audience WILL want these games regardless, retro gamers will complain if in a repeat of Sonic 2, reviewers influence the average gamers, parents want something safe for their kids. So you have to make a challenging game, easy enough for kids, that plays the way it's ment to, mature enough for the retro gamers, and keep it all under budget and on on time....we should all cut these guys a little slack (even if they made three Sonic 2006 in a row...)

Kirby games are these examples.

[Dark Qiviut]

It's right on the edge of a neighborhood, so lots of kids come though there. Listening to them, I've come to the conclusion that kids have no idea how to tell the difference between a good or bad game as long as they can figure out how to play it.

I don't know what this means, but if it's liking all the Sonic games out there, "good quality" or not, then more power to them. They don't care about "glitches," "crummy story," or whatnot. As far as I know, they only want something fun to play, and that's that.

Now, I'm not around kids as much as I used to, but at Disney World, I talked to a rather young Sonic fan (about ten years old), and he loved the series and the games, including Unleashed and Black Knight.

[Rusty Spy]

Wait, you know people that play platformers and retro-ish games? Blessed is the school you go to.

lol I wish. It was only one guy who had that game, and about three others who brought in Pokemon. It was most likely the only games they could bring in since I still heard some talking about said FPS/Army games on their Ecsbawks.

EDIT: Scratch that, I do remember there was one guy in one of my classes who was actually a die-hard Sonic fan, almost to the fanboy level, though. Even a student-teacher said he liked Sonic. And I've seen two people once, one I'd see wearing a Sonic jacket, and another, on one occasion, was wearing a Sonic T-shirt. So I could assume there are a fair amount of people who recognize Sonic and possibly have played the games.

Edited June 28, 2009 by VirgoTheCougar

[Picchi]

When my cousin was younger, I'd play Sonic games for him, and then he got to playing just about every Sonic game that came post SA on his own. Eventually when he became 13-14 though he lost interest and went to other things. I think he still likes Sonic, but not the direction its going so much. I guess as they grow kids get their hands on more things and their standards change. Some kids in my neighborhood don't even know who Sonic is.

Edited June 28, 2009 by Picchi

[batson]

I dont really know any kids under the age of 17, but when i talked to one (i think he was 9) about a year ago and i mentioned that my favorite video game series is Sonic, he mentioned that he had played a Sonic game once on a "really, really, REALLY old console". I thought he was talking about one of the 2D games on Mega Drive, but it turned out he was talking about... Sonic Adventure 2 on Gamecube

[Legendary Emerald]

I know a few children the go to the church I help out at, and they are big Sonic fans. They love Sonic Heroes and are somehow big fans of Silver, despite NEITHER of them having played any of the games he's in.

To conclude this post, I think you are all taking children's opinions too seriously.