If you could reboot the Sonic games, what would you do?

[Mountaindewandsprite]

Hi, I'm new to SSMB. No need for long introduction so I'm just going to cut to the chase.

I understand that the Archie Sonic comics went through a reboot some time ago and I thought to myself that if I had the power to reboot the Sonic games (not that I would, Sega should just continue), they'd be different. Here's my list.

1) The story would take place on Mobius

I know that Mobius is a future earth, but I would have it as its own planet with Mobians being the dominant species. I've always loved the concept of Sonic being an extraterrestrial hedgehog. 

2) Eggman would either be an animal or the only human

Now, I love myself some Dr. Eggman as he is, but if the series was rebooted, I'd have him be a Mobian and if not that he could be like an alien invader from planet Earth trying to take over Mobius.

3) Find a balance between lightheartedness and seriousness

From Sonic the Hedgehog 1 (Yay!) to Shadow the Hedgehog (Meh.), I think there should be a balance of a lighthearted demeanor and a serious tone in the stories. Ex: Gravity Falls blends lightheartedness and seriousness very well. Not saying Sonic doesn't try to do it, though.

4) Simple arrangement in characters

Sonic = Protagonist. Eggman = Antagonist. Tails = Deuteragonist. Knuckles = Tritagonist. Amy = Supporting. The rest of the cast = minor/ recurring roles. See? Simple.

5)  Fast paced gameplay again

Silver = Fail. Big = HELL NO!!!! It's a game about being fast.

6) Balance of species/ Characters

This is nitpicking but I wanted to get this off my chest. Amy can stay as she is, but Shadow and Silver have got to be different species. Four hedgehogs are too many. Silver would be a mink, as originally intended, and Shadow would be a either a tenrec or a mongoose. There also needs to be more strong female characters like Blaze, to balance out the cast.

Well, that's all I could come up with. What are you're ideas if had the power to reboot the sonic series?

[Lucid Dream]

Since when was Sonic the Hedgehog such a story engrossed game series? 

I'd just leave it be. I like the world in Sonic Unleashed (or what I've seen if it), and I don't see any benefit of changing the species of several characters. Sure it could be cool for the story, but that's so minor in the grand scheme of things. Same with removing Big, since technically you don't have to play as him. 

It's just not worth redoing games like Sonic 06, Sonic Heroes, etc. It would just make a lot more sense if they just made new games that had a new improved story and gameplay, instead of trying to fix irreparable or minor problems in old games. 

The only games I think may be worth rebooting are the game gear titles, mostly Triple Trouble. The games had a lot of hardware limitations after all. But its mostly just so that Fang is reintroduced. 

Sonic Comics have gone through a lot of shit that kinda forced them to reboot. It wasn't a particularly pleasant process. 

[Indigo Rush]

If I could reboot Sonic's story?

I'd love to make changes that reflect how I remember Sonic as I was a kid (Mobius, comics, cartoons, OVA) but how I personally remembered Sonic isn't necessarily how everyone else remembered the series growing up.

I think a retcon or a 'soft reboot' that trims out the poorly received games and inconsistent stories and retells the well loved games slightly so the existing canon is clearer. For instance, I'd like to keep the Genesis Trilogy & Knuckles, CD, the Adventures through Heroes but axe Shadow's game, Sonic Battle and Sonic Riders and instead have a new game that reveals Shadow's past in a much less contrived manner without relying on unnecessary aliens and edginess. Then I'd try to fit the Advance and Rush games in there somehow, axe the Rivals games but introduce a new game for Silver to be introduced in. 

Some here might not like that example, but there are other ways to do a soft-reboot. In short, just rewrite the existing canon so its less convoluted without necessarily changing everything about the series or having to completely start from scratch and make the games all over again.

[Your Vest Friend]

If I could, I'd make everything exactly the same except Sonic would find a brochure in Unleashed advertising a place called Mobius and Sonic would remark on how silly a name that is. 

[MetalSkulkBane]

There is no need for any reboot, everything can be done with "soft reboots"" one game at the time.

Tone was bad? Next game have a proper tone. Shadow the game was bad? Then let's just not talk about it. Is Blaze from future or other Dimension? Other dimension, let's not dwell on the subject.

I would prefer if planet was Mobius, but there is nothing stopping Sega from calling it Mobius without any reboot.

[Salamander]

The series has already been soft-rebooted several times, and no doubt it will be again.

[andrewtuell1991]

8 hours ago, Mountaindewandsprite said:

1) The story would take place on Mobius

I know that Mobius is a future earth, but I would have it as its own planet with Mobians being the dominant species. I've always loved the concept of Sonic being an extraterrestrial hedgehog.

No, no, NO!  We finally got rid of Mobius with the Archie reboot, there's no need to drag it out of it's coffin and play Weekend at Bernie's with it.  Mobius has never been apart of the game's canon, it only exist in three cartoons and two comics that barely resembled the source material they were based on.

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2) Eggman would either be an animal or the only human

Now, I love myself some Dr. Eggman as he is, but if the series was rebooted, I'd have him be a Mobian and if not that he could be like an alien invader from planet Earth trying to take over Mobius.

I've never understood this mentality.  If Eggman exists they obviously other humans must exist as well.  If humans and anthros can coexist in Looney Tunes, Dragon Ball, and tons of other series then why can't Sonic?  Eggman's not some interplanetary conqueror, he's someone who wants recognition and praise on his own world.  We already have Sonic Boom for a one human, all anthro series and all the anthros look like DeviantArt rejects, no thank you.

Points 3-5 I agree with.

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6) Balance of species/ Characters

This is nitpicking but I wanted to get this off my chest. Amy can stay as she is, but Shadow and Silver have got to be different species. Four hedgehogs are too many. Silver would be a mink, as originally intended, and Shadow would be a either a tenrec or a mongoose. There also needs to be more strong female characters like Blaze, to balance out the cast.

Although I agree that we have too many hedgehogs, species-bending existing cast member would just draw ire from the fanbase.  That said, I wouldn't object to retconning Silver to being half-hedgehog, half-mink the same way Fang is supposedly half-weasel, half-wolf.

 

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Well, that's all I could come up with. What are you're ideas if had the power to reboot the Sonic series?

If I had the power, and if time, money, and resources weren't an obstacle, I'd go about it the same way Indigo Rush described.  Remake the critically received games and fill in the plot holes left by bad games that don't deserve a second chance.  Inafune (Mega Man's creator) wanted to remake the first six Mega Man X games one by one to fix plot holes but the project ended up dead in the water after the first game's remake sold poorly. I'd follow a similar route but instead of one by one, which would take too long for Sonic, I'd group games of similar era together. 

Ex:  Game 1 = 1-3&K + CD, Game 2 = SA1 & 2, and Heroes, Game 3 = Advance trio and Battle, Game 4 would try make sense of the Blaze, Silver, Eggman Nega nonsense, Game 5 = Riders and Riders ZG (the Rogues are cool and the Riders gameplay is worth tweaking, just stay far away from Free Riders story and gameplay), I wouldn't bother with Unleashed onwards because those games stories are so self-contained and inconsequential to whatever overall story Sonic originally had, it wouldn't matter.

[Wraith]

I see some worth in rebooting the series if it's to drum up some respect for it's characters and establish some strict direction goign forward so I'll post what I would do.

 

 

First of all I'd tweak the artstyle so it captures the look The classics/CD had. I remember people saying that they had to use modern Sonic because classic wouldn't look right in 3D when that's kind of clearly not the case.

 

 

This doesn't mean "no modern characters ever" but I'd tweak some of them to fit the new style. I've kind of always wanted to see what characteris like Shadow would look like if he was made back in the 90s, anyway. The music would be geared back toward the 90s trash it was before, too, but that's more personal bias.

 

 

 

The gameplay shouldn't be looking at any of the previous sonic games but be rethought completely. Sonic Utopia is a good starting point so look for that as for how the physics should work, but also look at making the levels a bit(way) smaller. That type of level design is something I don't think is sustainable for a full game. The levels would ideally be decently big enough that exploration and playing again with other characters is rewarded. They should take the Sonic 3/Adventure 1 philosophy of making one level work with Sonic, Tails and Knuckles at least. This isn't a small undertaking, but it'd be good in the long run to start thinking about this type of level design now, as it's all over the 2D games in the series. 

 

As for the writing, I feel like the premise isn't as important as the character interaction. Finding writers that really make these characters shine should be your first priority, I think, because no one's going to take the plot seriously if the characters remain as badly written as they have been pretty much since they started opening their mouths with a few exceptions. So for the first game, I propose a simple "stop eggman" plot that establishes the main characters(Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Eggman.) and universe as much as possible, while getting into more focused plots based around certain characters later.

 

 

[Diogenes]

Man, what wouldn't I do.

First off, roll things back to the Genesis era. Bits and pieces since then are salvageable, but overall the past 20ish years have done more harm than good. What's worth saving can be reintroduced over time, better integrated into a more coherent world and without all the baggage it has now. Aesthetically, draw from the classics again; bring back the surreal, stylized world, tweak the character designs to be a bit more like their classic versions. Maybe give Amy a redesign, I've never liked her classic design and I don't think her modern one would quite fit. Keep the tone fairly light. That doesn't mean no action, suspense, or tension, but we don't need the reality-destroying pseudogods, the genetic monstrosities, or the military conspiracies. For gameplay, well, basically all the stuff I've been saying for years. Bring back the momentum and slope physics as the major focus, maybe add some parkour-like abilities. I'd still be in no rush to make everyone playable, but if they could establish a solid baseline style with the first game I wouldn't be opposed to letting a few other characters in on it.

To start, maybe do a rough retelling of 3&K, expanded and tweaked to do the work of setting up the new canon. Have Sonic already know Tails, Amy, and Eggman, get them onto Angel Island to meet Knuckles, integrate Metal kidnapping Amy as in CD to replace Mecha Sonic, and have some scenes about the emeralds and the history of Angel Island. I think that's plenty enough material to tell a full story with, and it establishes pretty much all of the important classic elements.

From there there's any number of ways to go. They could make an all-new game from the existing materials or start working to bring in what they can salvage from the last 20 years. There'd be no need to reintroduce everyone in the same order or tell their stories in the same way; there really isn't any post-3&K character that couldn't benefit from at least a few tweaks and a better introduction IMO. Just try to make them fit within the style and tone that's been established to avoid the incoherence the series has been struggling with.

[Mountaindewandsprite]

7 hours ago, Sniper dreams said:

Since when was Sonic the Hedgehog such a story engrossed game series? 

I'd just leave it be. I like the world in Sonic Unleashed (or what I've seen if it), and I don't see any benefit of changing the species of several characters. Sure it could be cool for the story, but that's so minor in the grand scheme of things. Same with removing Big, since technically you don't have to play as him. 

It's just not worth redoing games like Sonic 06, Sonic Heroes, etc. It would just make a lot more sense if they just made new games that had a new improved story and gameplay, instead of trying to fix irreparable or minor problems in old games. 

The only games I think may be worth rebooting are the game gear titles, mostly Triple Trouble. The games had a lot of hardware limitations after all. But its mostly just so that Fang is reintroduced. 

Sonic Comics have gone through a lot of shit that kinda forced them to reboot. It wasn't a particularly pleasant process. 

Yeah, agree with you. SEGA should try to make the stories and characters more consistent though.

[Badnik Zero]

Mobius is not necessary, however I believe "Mobians" are. The cast would be mixed human and animal. They wouldn't live in the modern world, I think an OVA fantasy settings with hints of our world existing in the past would do well. I'd kill a lot of the shonen anime aspects that arrived in Adventure. Characters shouting out special moves (chaos control!) would go. Characters would have defined roles and additionally would not go "soft" over time, like Shadow being a not-so-bad gun for hire, or Eggman becoming an occasional friend. I'd try to keep consistent with major character threads, like Knuckles being confined to his island or not. The series would retain its '90s style, with a feeling of cool and fun for all ages, without crossing into the dark or mature. More Badniks. More side bad-guys with their own thing going, while keeping Eggman relevant. I'd like to establish some lore around the Emeralds and Master Emerald, because the series is not really clear on what they are, actually.

[Baconjack]

Remove Sonic 2006 and Shadow the Hedgehog from canon. That's all.

[Potada]

I'd like to establish some lore around the Emeralds and Master Emerald, because the series is not really clear on what they are, actually.

This I can definitely get behind. There wouldn't necessarily have to be a complete history, but certainly some more fleshed out rumors and legends. Personally, I've always liked the idea of the Emeralds being tied to the "Power of the Stars" mentioned in Sonic Rush Adventure.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Well the core thing I'd keep in mind is that this franchise has a huge audience that goes beyond what I like and don't like. Even if I don't like it, such as a character like Big the Cat (although Archie has since changed my view of the character), there is an audience for it, so rather than be selfish about what I'd do, I'm willing to work with elements I'm not that big a fan of. So there's rarely anything I would do away with, but that being said, many things will need retouching.

The most drastic changes I would do is rewrite the entirety of Heroes, ShTH, Sonic 06, and Lost Worlds from the ground up to be more coherent, fitting in the universe, and flesh out weaker parts more. ShTH would receive the most drastic narrative changes while Sonic 06 would retain the crux of its Flames of Disaster plot but told in a way that isn't stupid, and Lost Worlds and Heroes would just have better context (and more characters in the case of Lost Worlds). Might do the same for Colors and Generations, but they're less offensive on that aspect. But every story from Sonic 1 and beyond would basically be written with the same heart and care you'd find in a Disney/Pixar or Dreamworks animated film, and flexible enough to work with mature subjects and intense material (still gets me how heavily political Zootopia was when I watch it, bravo Disney!).

Aesthetic-wise would be Disney-esque as well from the get go, bringing the same lush, detailed style that was brought in Unleashed through Generations. 

Continuity and context would be kept in mind at all times -- no more Knuckles shirking off his duties as the Master Emerald guardian, no Blaze being from the future and ending in an alternative dimension or such, you get the idea. I'd rather the cast mix and work together than be restricted to teams based on seniority, because no fan should have their favorite character importance be determined by the date the were introduced into the franchise.

Speaking of major characters, the central characters would be Sonic and Eggman, and everyone else rotates in relevance. Think more like how they did the cast of Justice League and JL Unlimited, or Young Justice. Sonic and Eggman being the central characters doesn't prevent others from having top billing with them, but for the most part, it'll he these two characters taking the lead in of things.

Beyond that, I'd basically be fleshing out the settings more. Gameplay would be tricky and require some experimentation for certain characters--Characters like Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, Blaze, Cream, Tails, Espio and Amy (not that that's all of them) have similarities that don't require any drastic thinking if you can get the core mechanics right but others like Silver and Big would require an overhaul to work.

It's really just a general idea of how I'd do things. Delving deeper into the other intricacies would probably max out the word count of this post.

 

EDIT- Oh, and keep the humans. Just add more Anthro NPCs to the world to balance things.

[Fr0zenanus]

i say, throw out anything that has to do with. Classic. Adventure. Modern. Colors. and make the entire series an shameless ripoff of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.

that, or i be satisfied if the Sonic series was made more in the same plot, as the Dead OR Alive : Xtreme Beach Volleyball. series!  

[Mountaindewandsprite]

1 hour ago, Conquering Storm's Servant said:

Well the core thing I'd keep in mind is that this franchise has a huge audience that goes beyond what I like and don't like. Even if I don't like it, such as a character like Big the Cat (although Archie has since changed my view of the character), there is an audience for it, so rather than be selfish about what I'd do, I'm willing to work with elements I'm not that big a fan of. So there's rarely anything I would do away with, but that being said, many things will need retouching.

The most drastic changes I would do is rewrite the entirety of Heroes, ShTH, Sonic 06, and Lost Worlds from the ground up to be more coherent, fitting in the universe, and flesh out weaker parts more. ShTH would receive the most drastic narrative changes while Sonic 06 would retain the crux of its Flames of Disaster plot but told in a way that isn't stupid, and Lost Worlds and Heroes would just have better context (and more characters in the case of Lost Worlds). Might do the same for Colors and Generations, but they're less offensive on that aspect. But every story from Sonic 1 and beyond would basically be written with the same heart and care you'd find in a Disney/Pixar or Dreamworks animated film, and flexible enough to work with mature subjects and intense material (still gets me how heavily political Zootopia was when I watch it, bravo Disney!).

Aesthetic-wise would be Disney-esque as well from the get go, bringing the same lush, detailed style that was brought in Unleashed through Generations. 

Continuity and context would be kept in mind at all times -- no more Knuckles shirking off his duties as the Master Emerald guardian, no Blaze being from the future and ending in an alternative dimension or such, you get the idea. I'd rather the cast mix and work together than be restricted to teams based on seniority, because no fan should have their favorite character importance be determined by the date the were introduced into the franchise.

Speaking of major characters, the central characters would be Sonic and Eggman, and everyone else rotates in relevance. Think more like how they did the cast of Justice League and JL Unlimited, or Young Justice. Sonic and Eggman being the central characters doesn't prevent others from having top billing with them, but for the most part, it'll he these two characters taking the lead in of things.

Beyond that, I'd basically be fleshing out the settings more. Gameplay would be tricky and require some experimentation for certain characters--Characters like Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, Blaze, Cream, Tails, Espio and Amy (not that that's all of them) have similarities that don't require any drastic thinking if you can get the core mechanics right but others like Silver and Big would require an overhaul to work.

It's really just a general idea of how I'd do things. Delving deeper into the other intricacies would probably max out the word count of this post.

 

EDIT- Oh, and keep the humans. Just add more Anthro NPCs to the world to balance things.

Cool beans. Not a bad idea. Excellent!

[Potada]

Count me into the "Chuck out Shadow's game" bunch. Personally, I've always thought Sonic Battle had a better potential for his origin story since Gerald studied Emerl's ties to Chaos Energy on the sidelines.

[Wraith]

Shadow's game hasn't really been referenced in 10 years. Chucking it out would be meaningless at this point

[Diogenes]

It's still part of his backstory, though, regardless of whether or not they bring it up. And considering the topic at hand, if they were actually going to reboot the series, they might as well take the opportunity to make his backstory less of a trainwreck.

Man, the things I'd do to Shadow if I was in charge of a reboot...I expect I'd end up changing more than I'd keep.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

The main problem with Shadow's game was the aliens coming out of left field as part of his backstory. If they wanted to expand on his past or develop the characters more than they did, they could have done something more along the lines of what Pokemon did to Mewtwo (the original one from the first movie, not the one in Gensect) given their very similar origins--heck, they could have fared better with a Mewtwo Returns-esque plot for his game's narrative. Them using aliens was without a doubt one of the most wtf way they went about it.

 

[Wraith]

5 minutes ago, Diogenes said:

It's still part of his backstory, though, regardless of whether or not they bring it up. And considering the topic at hand, if they were actually going to reboot the series, they might as well take the opportunity to make his backstory less of a trainwreck.

Man, the things I'd do to Shadow if I was in charge of a reboot...I expect I'd end up changing more than I'd keep.

I mean, as far as reinventing Shadow goes yeah I'd make some drastic changes too, but just removing his game from the canon and leaving everything else as is woulnd't be changing much of anything is what I was saying.

[Lord-Dreamerz]

Well while I don’t believe a reboot is really needed and more hope for future games to just have better thoughtful work put into them… However If I rebooted the game series what would I do huh?

I don’t care what they call the planet Sonic & Co lives on… But I almost always want the world/environment itself is to be a pure surreal fantasy dreamland master art piece such as from Sonic CD and other similar concepts… just NO MORE of that based after real life locations semi-realistic BS from Sonic 06/Unleashed. And the world should be populated mainly half with Unleashed styled humans and half amphomorphic people, not counting exceptions like monsters/aliens/whateverz also living on the planet.

I think I like the idea of merging concepts from different games together... for example making Sonic 1,2,CD,3&K into 1 or 2 big streamlined games for the reboot.

I'd want to see Metal-Sonic established among the reoccurring main villein character cast better. Next is I'd include Blaze early in the series… maybe even make her 1 of Sonic’s best friends nearly from the start... so we can have a cool female among the main group. I'd want Amy established among the main group better too.

I think each game should rotate between the cast of playable characters… and not just between Sonic/Tails & Knuckles every time for crying out loud. Most games would have 3 to 5 playable characters with maybe a overall main reoccurring cast of 10 common playables across the series that swaps out often with which are playable. No more tossing everybody who isn't Sonic/Robotnik away as pure side cast/cameo material forever…

I like story so more focus on story would be nice... But maybe just streamline it into the game better instead of long boring cut scenes that take you out of the game. And please don't focus the stories for kids around 5 anymore... Sure keep a kid friendly vibe and PG rating or whatever... but try to make it enjoyable much as possible for adults too.

The main gameplay and physics regardless of 2D or 3D levels should be like Sonic Utopia mainly across the games I think. Except with far more stuff to do… and other gameplay elements and gimmicks that work well from across the series. I’d like Hub worlds similar to Sonic’s world in LEGO dimensions, it gives you a small fun open world to explore and mess around in between stages… and is a very nice place for Mini-games.

I think I’ll leave my thoughts at that for now.

[Frobman]

If we're being honest, the series has been soft rebooted every now and again. (Adventure, 06, Unleashed, Lost World, Boom in a more direct way) and the less you think about canon & how things connect story/character wise, the better you might enjoy things. (Mind you, growing up with comic books that always (soft)reboot every five years & having lots of different canons makes it easier to get used to)

Otherwise, I think how things going on now is fine as is. Not the best ever in terms of video games, but better than what we've been having beforehand in terms of all things Sonic. The use of realistic backgrounds, reinventing the gameplay, implementing stories aimed to keep in the older audience who grew up with Sonic instead of attracting more kids the same way the old games have, trying to do more and more in one go instead of focusing on one thing, what have you.

I'd probably do two types of games. One modern style ala Unleashed/Generations, focus on that gameplay style and add to it bit by bit, and another Classic style, because everybody still loves that style of gameplay. (Do how Mario does his games, I suppose). Boom I leave that as is because it seems to be doing better now. Story I'd rather be simpler than convoluted. Simple in the sense of not doing too much in the story department when you're playing the game and not being too simple for simple minded people to understand. Nor too serious as that can sometimes alienate the core audience, the children.

More or less what they're doing now, so I see no reason for another soft reboot just yet.

[Meta77]

For me the world of 06 was my favorite.  take that. The control scheme of adventure and unleashed mixed. Bring in madonna or princess sara. Make Eggman just a tad funny but way more evil. But honestly the games are fine even if way to joke heavy

[Lucid Dream]

Taking out Shadow the Hedgehog would probably be a great idea. Sonic Battle gives him a pretty decent backstory (although I still find the whole idea of Shadow having Maria's personality and soul really weird), and it's all he really needs. 

I'd just want the games to have similar dialogue, story and comedy as SatSR and SatBK. They were pretty fun and good. Sonic Battle and Rush were all pretty nice modern stories, that probably should have really set the mood for the rest of the series as well. 

Honestly, people are really exaggerating with how bad the modern stories were. There's not really much need to change most of them. Make a few characters like Amy more consistant, Kill Shadow the game and Sonic 06 and hire adequate professional writers for the new sonic games (Sonic colours+) and done.