Will Sonic's reputation ever be adequately restored?

[danidado]

"Will Sonic's reputation ever be adequately restored ?"

 

Theorically, yes. Only when SEGA/Sonic Team will start using their brains.

 

This franchise was turned from a cool series aimed at everybody, based on action and adventure, into a pathetic niche sect for demented manchildren who are either still living in the '90s or just pretend to be Sonic fans, while in reality they want Sonic to be exactly like Mario.

 

Here's a list of nonsensical misconceptions and commonplaces that MUST be eradicated :

 

1) "Sonic sells better on Nintendo". This nonsense statement was made by former PR Aron Webber. Sonic doesn't sell better on Nintendo consoles because of the brand. It sells better when the game is good or has an intriguing presentation.

 

2) "Sonic works better on 2D". Wrong, it worked good enough on 3D enviroments. 2D platforming is alienating, annoying, pointless and lazy game design.

 

3) "Sonic must get back to his roots"....But what the hell are these roots everybody is talking about ? Do they even know what these roots are ?

 

4) "Sonic is just a cartoon hedgehog fighting a fat scientist and freeing little critters. It doesn't have to be serious, dark and convoluted"

 

Really ? Then what about these ?

 

 

 

 

"Hurr durr How can I take seriously some cartoon animals that have just lost their parents ??? Lol"

 

What these retards (because they are retarded) don't understand, is the concept of "Balance between Light and Dark", something that has been absent from Sonic since 2010. The Adventure games worked because they had balanced tone, same for the Storybook games (Secret Rings and Black Knight), and somewhat to Unleashed.

 

5) "Gameplay first. Contents and story after."....No, you blind corporate slave. You can give me the best game in the world, with the best controlls ever, but if it's a Peppa Pig/Dora The Explorer/Sesame Street crossover, WHO THE HELL IS GOING TO BUY SUCH RIDICULOUS EXCUSE OF A GAME ?

 

6) "Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations saved Sonic/ were the right direction".....No. I mean, what is soooo special about this game ?

 

"But Dan, they were the first playable games after the Dark Age !" 

 

So what ? What kind of improvement is making two short games, with pathetic contents, repetitive and short-lived gameplay and ridiculous stories ? Does the general audience, the non-Sonic fans are interested in these games ? No, they weren't. Colors and Gens are FICTIONAL successes, they didn't sold much because they are boring looking and lazily made.

 

"But the low sales doesn't mean they're bad. And besides, the light-hearted stories are what Sonic has always been about. Just Sonic and Tails in a bromance while stopping Robotnik. We don't want another "Monster of the week" crap !"

 

Low sales doesn't mean a game is bad. It means the game is too specific to a certain audience, and it's alienating all the others. 

 

Sonic Colors : Nintendo fans, Modern fans (Boost to win gameplay) and Classic fans

 

Sonic Generations : Modern fans and Classic Fans

 

Sonic Lost World : Nintendo fans and Classic fans.

 

What about the Adventure fans ? Or the casual gamers that don't play Nintendo stuff ?

 

Then we have the "light-hearted, simplistic, comedic" route of the stories of Post-Colors games.

 

First, the writers of these games, Ken Pontac and Warren Graff, wrote blindly, with little to none information about Sonic's history. Their sense of humor is terrible, they abuse of their jokes like they're "such genius of comedy". Repeating "Baldy McNosehair" or "Clobbering" ad infinitum is stupid, unfunny and juvenile. 

 

Sonic in Colors and onwards (Boom included) is horridly uncaring for his "friends" (if he does still have friends, besides Tails, and if you can consider Tails a friend anymore) and don't give a damn to anything happening around him, he's too much down-to-earth, too invincible and overly smug and DISGUSTINGLY selfish, talks too much and says WAY too many jokes, too much bragging for the smallest achievements like he's God, too much bro behaviour, too much "don't give a shit" attitude towards his enemies, too immature, too annoying, whiny, hypocrite and incompetent. More flaws =/= better characterization. He's like a Gary-Stu, with no layers whatsoever.

 

He's not anymore the young teen hero in search of fun and adventure, fighting for justice and freedom. He's just a stupid stand up comedian, destroying all the action with these goddamn "don't give a shit" behaviour. And Roger Craig Smith demonstrates how UNFIT he is to be Sonic's voice. Besides telling jokes, sound whiny or bored, he can't do ANYTHING with Sonic. And these writers are only helping him to make Sonic sounds and act more stupid.

 

Tails has been changing slowly to the worse : in Colors, a cynical passive-aggressive wimp, who isn't even good as a walking toolkit. Generations, not much to say about.

 

Lost World : what have they done to him ??? Who is this little despicable bragging little prick impersonating him ?

What happened to the little cute, modest boy genius, in search of recognition from his best friend ?

 

Seriously, I really hate when I read that how Sonic and Tails are portrayed since Colors is good, because it isn't.

 

They don't look like best friends and heroes going on an adventure. The're just a couple of selfish, back-stabbing punks, with the sole purpose of trolling Eggman 24/7 even when he doesn't deserve it. Let's say, EVERYTIME !

 

In Boom, he looks so far like a mix of his walking toolkit/boring nerd persona from every Post Adventure game and his cynical persona from Colors...

 

Eggman has turned from the greatest evil genius in the world, with his bumbling moments yes, but still capable of being threatening and effective.

Now....He's basically a one man-Team Rocket. An incompetent clown with the sole purpose of being humiliated by the "heroes" (I find so difficult to call them so) and by those useless minions he still drag with him. In Boom, he's completely devoid of any of his "good villain" traits...Just a unbeareable walking stereotype/joke with the only purpose of "being funny"....And guess what ? He's not. Neither are the main cast.

 

And the 4th wall breaks ? At this point, they're abusing so much of those that you can't take ANYTHING seriously anymore "bcoz itz funneeh dat they kcnow dey're in a videogamez !1!". No it's not. It's detaching, it's anticlimatic, it's repetitive and it's constantly rubbed in your face.

 

And what the hell is with this overabundance of jokes, anyway ?

 

"Dan !!! The jokes are needed to tone down the action. You don't want Shadow and '06 SRSSS BSNSS all over again, right ?"

 

At this point, yes, I prefer having to sit through '06's story, at least it was epic, full of action and had mild humor here and there, despite all its flaws. And Shadow too. At least I'm laughing at the unintentional humor of the lines.

[Blacklightning]

2) "Sonic works better on 2D". Wrong, it worked good enough on 3D enviroments. 2D platforming is alienating, annoying, pointless and lazy game design.

 What the actual fuck? From what do you actually draw such a ridiculous conclusion from? 2D is just an approach, a tool, it's not something that is objectively bad in any feasible way the actual best games in the franchise are designed this way what is wrong with you

3) "Sonic must get back to his roots"....But what the hell are these roots everybody is talking about ? Do they even know what these roots are?

That these have been forgotten is just all the more reason that they need to be recovered again. By this stage Sonic is better known for flipping everything on its head every odd game and introducing pointless gimmicks than he actually is for moving fast via the environment, and that is just plain sad.

 

4) "Sonic is just a cartoon hedgehog fighting a fat scientist and freeing little critters. It doesn't have to be serious, dark and convoluted"

 

Really ? Then what about these ?

That a cartoon can be sad doesn't at all dictate the need to. I'd say more, but honestly I'm just baffled that you'd imply that "convoluted" is a positive trait in any meaningful way.

 

5) "Gameplay first. Contents and story after."....No, you blind corporate slave. You can give me the best game in the world, with the best controlls ever, but if it's a Peppa Pig/Dora The Explorer/Sesame Street crossover, WHO THE HELL IS GOING TO BUY SUCH RIDICULOUS EXCUSE OF A GAME ?

You tell me - people keep buying games about an overweight plumber jumping on turtles to save a princess because the games actually fucking work. People keep buying games about a crossover between Final Fantasy and fucking Disney of all things, because the games actually fucking work. People keep buying games in which monsters probably designed by 5 year olds are trained to beat the shit out of each other, because the games actually fucking work. Gameplay is literally what makes a game a game, and if a game is not fun to play as a game then what the fuck is the actual point of making or buying it? Do you have any actual idea of how a game is even made?

 

At this point, yes, I prefer having to sit through '06's story, at least it was epic, full of action and had mild humor here and there, despite all its flaws.

In what definable way can '06 actually be described as "epic"? This is actually a serious question, I'm wracking my brain trying to imagine any way it could be construed as that but all that comes to mind is hammy narm and trying way too damned hard to be something it isn't.

[Shaddy Zaphod]

People fail to realize that it's been almost six years since we got a bad Sonic game. Critics like to hang on the past, which is why they give Mario rehash games perfect 10s, and still think Sonic 06 came out last week.

[Blacklightning]

still think Sonic 06 came out last week.

Technically, it just came out last year.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbzyQQrZe8U

[Kittea]

I'm a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to stuff like this lol On one hand I think that as long as a franchise is enjoyable then popularity doesn't matter. On the other hand it's really great when a franchise is popular because it means that more people know about it

[Kenny_Glover]

People fail to realize that it's been almost six years since we got a bad Sonic game. Critics like to hang on the past, which is why they give Mario rehash games perfect 10s, and still think Sonic 06 came out last week.

 

The Black Knight was hot garbage, and that came out 5 years ago.

[Lisbon]

Approaching things from a logical standpoint, I think the best case scenario is that the franchise sees a slew of games that are as critically acclaimed as they are acclaimed by the fans of the series - both the longtime fans and the ones that spawn as the result of a good product.

Even then, though, people aren't going to just magically forgot about all the terrible games that are forever attached to this series. It'd just be viewed as a dark time in the franchise that would still draw the ire of many.

So will it be restored to its former glory? That's going to be a big nope. No matter how many good games get released, people aren't going to forget about all of the shit the series put out for that given period of time - and if they release a game that slips up even after all the good the series put out, people would instantly start drawing lines back to the time of Sonic 06 and Boom.

 

Sadly, the scenario I presented in my first paragraph isn't a likely scenario at this point. I'll still cling to my hope that Sega fixes their shit, though, because I'm that very special boy that you see in lame Christmas movies that says shit like "you just gotta believe" and whatnot. Yay me.

 

But back on the topic of being adequately restored, no, there isn't really a chance in hell. Can it be elevated from its current standing, though? That's still a possibility, me thinks.

[Dantemustdie00]

As soon as SEGA/Sonic Team get their shit together, than yes. I don't know what the hell they want to do with Sonic.