How did Sonic Boom get a Japanese release?

[Badnik Mechanic]

That doesn't validate the guys claim at all.

[Chris Knopps]

That doesn't validate the guys claim at all.

Basically all i know is that Mr. Iizuka's words were no, very clearly no, and SEGA were the ones who were yes about the whole thing.

I've really yet to hear anything from Mr. Iizuka regarding his personal acceptance of BOOM whatsoever.

[FriendBot]

I've really yet to hear anything from Mr. Iizuka regarding his personal acceptance of BOOM whatsoever.

Considering that most people have seen him be completely baffled by Rise of Lyric, I'm pretty sure he would be on good terms with the Sanzaru Boom games and the show.

[Dizcrybe]

My question is who in Japan would even bother with Boom? They don't even care about the mainline series, why would they give a crap about a spinoff made specifically for the West?

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

No one in Japan cares about Sonic Boom. they just think its good to have the show in many laungages thats all.

[Badnik Mechanic]

Basically all i know is that Mr. Iizuka's words were no, very clearly no, and SEGA were the ones who were yes about the whole thing.

I've really yet to hear anything from Mr. Iizuka regarding his personal acceptance of BOOM whatsoever.

So you have nothing to back it up then?

[Dizcrybe]

No one in Japan cares about Sonic Boom. they just think its good to have the show in many laungages thats all.

But if no one is watching the show, like, what's the point? It's such a waste of time and money that could be going to other projects.

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

But if no one is watching the show, like, what's the point? It's such a waste of time and money that could be going to other projects.

thats true.  plus it was nice for the US to have exlusive for once. 

[Chris Knopps]

I remember him running his hands through his hair which looks like he had his head in his hands which was a funny to point out at the time.

I Certaily don't remember this being him saying that he was totally against the game... can you elaborate on that one please?

You have to keep in mind the development staff clarified his disgust with the game during its conceptualization even. That combined with him repeatedly making it clear "only for the west" during the franchises development it's obvious it wasn't meant to have anything to do with Japan and he was going for that, but then again, SEGA had other plans in the end and his head was flown over.

[Badnik Mechanic]

You have to keep in mind the development staff clarified his disgust with the game 

... ... Yeah this never happened.

Stop making stuff up.  

[Chris Knopps]

... ... Yeah this never happened.

Stop making stuff up.  

He was repulsed by the designs, this is fact from interviews.

"We experimented with different colors and surface features on the characters, such as fur or scales, and quickly Sonic Team came back with their discomfort of that. They were great guardrails for us to understand when we were deviating too far from the character. Without their input, the character would have been a lot more alien and different from what Sonic is known for." Discomfort may be putting things mildly, particularly in the case of Takashi Iizuka, the current head of Sega's Sonic Team in Japan. As Rafei recalled, "Early on, when we had our first review of all the crazy things we wanted to try, Iizuka-san came down to Los Angeles and looked through all the different concepts."

"I felt sorry for the guy because sometimes he couldn't actually look at the screen--it was too traumatic seeing all the crazy stuff we wanted to do. Over the course of that meeting, when we were coming up with new ideas, we had a very sincere--just two adults talking--conversation about why a character should or should not wear pants, and that was a very surreal moment in my life and my career," Rafei continued. "But it helped us understand the rules of clothing in this universe. Any small adjustment went a very long way, so we had to be very careful."

 

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/sega-explains-sonic-and-knuckles-new-look/1100-6418328/

 

You should have a better memory, this is pretty recent stuff.

Edited November 30, 2015 by Chris Knopps

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

Hes right. with some help I found these:

https://www.vg247.com/2014/03/16/sonic-booms-early-designs-were-traumatic-for-sonic-team/

http://www.kdramastars.com/articles/17609/20140317/sonic-boom-discomfort-character-design.htm

 

[Salamander]

Those matters are very different from how the game ended up, however.  So we know that Iizuka disliked some of their very early, scrapped designs for the games; so what?  What does that mean for the games as they were finally released?  Absolutely nothing, because the final release included none of that nonsense.

Honestly, while it's a reasonable suspicion that Iizuka probably isn't fond of the Boom games, I think you'll have a hard time finding a concrete statement that the head of Sonic Team personally dislikes a Sonic game that just got released and which is part of a major marketing push.  The franchise's PR isn't that bad.

[Badnik Mechanic]

He was repulsed by the designs, this is fact from interviews.

You should have a better memory, this is pretty recent stuff.

lol I was waiting for this and honestly hoping you'd come up with something better.

They (Sonic Team,  no individual was named) didn't like the concept designs.  Which is why they were changed.

That is well known.

However... There is absolutely nothing to support the claim that Iizuka or anyone at SOJ felt disgust towards the game which is what you are claiming.

My memory works fine.

[LeTreuBleu]

Minimalism (though not in a good way) and tedium make up a pretty good portion of Rise of Lyric's gameplay, so it doesn't surprise me that they would rate it higher.  It really might explain the quality of recent games, where even the better titles seem to suffer from some odd quirks that bring the experience down a little. (i.e. the inability to easily move in four cardinal directions that's been trending since Unleashed)  But you would think since Sonic is mostly targeted towards the west, they would focus on western reviews.  Plus, the lack of popularity for the franchise in Japan, one would think, would be an indicator that Japanese review scores are not a viable source of information about their brand.  Like, if it's really that good, but it's not selling, you would think there would be a reason for that.  Maybe.

I'd prefer if we didn't take the whole "minimalism in japanese culture" thing for granted when discussing an explanation for the quality of sonic games... because that would never make any sense.
Game Designers cares far more about actually having intuitive, satisfying controls and intuitive design (it's just not always easy to do).  Those "odd quirks" have nothing to do with something as irrelevant as "japanese minimalist culture".  In fact, that seems to make so little sense that i'm starting to wonder if i'm completely misunderstanding what you've said... o_O

(sorry, I know this was posted back in June, but I still feel really strongly about this, for as someone who studies game design, that argument makes me cringe)

[Tara]

I'd prefer if we didn't take the whole "minimalism in japanese culture" thing for granted when discussing an explanation for the quality of sonic games... because that would never make any sense.Game Designers cares far more about actually having intuitive, satisfying controls and intuitive design (it's just not always easy to do).  Those "odd quirks" have nothing to do with something as irrelevant as "japanese minimalist culture".  In fact, that seems to make so little sense that i'm starting to wonder if i'm completely misunderstanding what you've said... o_O

(sorry, I know this was posted back in June, but I still feel really strongly about this, for as someone who studies game design, that argument makes me cringe)

Your response makes so much less sense that I'm not even sure we're having the same discussion.

Especially since I would hardly call this an "argument" as much an "observation."

[Badnik Mechanic]

Game Designers cares far more about actually having intuitive, satisfying controls and intuitive design (it's just not always easy to do). 

Where are you studying game design? 

[LeTreuBleu]

Where are you studying game design? 

I took some courses while in community college.  Though while i'm not actively in college anymore right now, I still conduct personal studies in my own time.

[Gabz Girl]

Random question but...do we know who is going to replace Chikao Outsuka as Dr Eggman? Far as I know the cartoon hasn't been released in Japan and that's where we should hear his new voice (and next year's game of course). 

[LeTreuBleu]

Random question but...do we know who is going to replace Chikao Outsuka as Dr Eggman? Far as I know the cartoon hasn't been released in Japan and that's where we should hear his new voice (and next year's game of course). 

I think we still have to wait for that.

[Gabz Girl]

I think we still have to wait for that.

Ah, thought so. Guess we won't find out until the release of next year's Sonic game or SOJ announces it themselves. =I