How did everyone reacted to the Adventure redesigns?

[TB100]

So we know that nowadays, the Adventure/Modern designs are a bit controverisal among critics and certain fans. mostly for adding a lot of details to the characters such as eye color, and the changes range from minor (Sonic, Tails & Knuckles) to major (Dr Eggman & Amy), whatever the reason, these designs were controverisal, but how did everyone reacted to them back in the day, when they were first revealed to the world, from what I heard, people were fine with them, but considering how controversial they are today, (Not really, but hopefully you get my point.) i'm curious as to how everyone reacted to them back in the day. was everyone bitching about them like today, or were people fine with them?

[Nepenthe]

I don't remember any widespread repulsion for any redesigns at the time of reveal, but granted at the time of reveal I wasn't as active in the Sonic community. When I did get into the online fandom around 2002-2003, people talked some shit about the quality of the models, but I don't remember much of a fuss about the designs themselves being an inherent detriment to the franchise's reputation.

[Your Vest Friend]

I came onto the internet scene around 2003-2004, and I do remember some people whining about the Chaotix being redesigned and not associated with Knuckles anymore. Bear in mind that the Chaotix at that point had only really appeared in an obscure game on an obscure add-on (save for two arcade games, one far more obscure than even that), so the Chaotix fandom of that time mainly had just the Archie comic and Sonic the Comic to see them on any basis. That said, it was definitely the Archie part whining about it more than the Sonic the Comic part. Wonder if it's because Sonic the Comic wasn't actually that far off from what the games did with them compared to Archie. 

[azoo]

I imagine there were some people really, really bothered by it. But at the same time, it's also likely that not much of the public (if anyone in a majority) was bothered by it at all. After all, Sonic's art style in the west had never been consistent in the first place until then. The games, the promo art, the cartoons and the comics all had different styles and variants in their look, so Sonic suddenly having yet another look probably was just business as usual and not a big deal to most.

It wasn't really until the designs became associated with a consistent stream of bad console games (and a further and further departure from the Sonic style, with ShTH and 06) that the negativity about it really spread.

[Pawn]

I don't remember them being controversial really, but obviously there were going to be some that weren't a fan. Myself? I saw them first in an issue of the official Sega Saturn Magazine and assumed that the character designs, due to the unusual poses, were art commissioned by the mag to promote the game. It wasn't as obvious that they'd changed just by glancing at the models, but looking further into the game it was clear that they were official. I liked them and was very pleased to see Sonic comnig back in such a loud, expressive way.

When I joined Sonic CulT in 2003/4, there would mainly be complaints about a couple of alternate gameplay styles before Heroes was out and discussion about Adventure's glitches. Some missed Amy's original design. I don't recall much else.

[Lord-Dreamerz]

I been with the Sonic series from the start and remember loving the Sonic adventure redesigns when they first came out. And I think most people back then seemed fine with them with even quite a few people thinking they were cool. Am pretty sure it wasn't the same back then as it is now where most fans in the communities online will freakout on the smallest changes.

[Sonictrainer]

IIRC, this was my first time seeing the Modern Versions of the characters.

I didn't have any problem with it and I still don't.

[SpongicX]

The redesigns never bothered me at all, although I never noticed the changes until playing the Sonic Mega Collection for Gamecube. I grew up with the Sonic series since the Genesis era, and was even born the same year as Sonic. When the Adventure games came out, and the characters had new designs, I was too young to really take notice, all I knew was that I still loved the games. Then Mega Collection came out, and actually showed the differences between the classic and Adventure era Sonic, and that was when I noticed there was a difference between the old and current Sonic. I personally grew to love the redesigns better, I think they're more expressive and stylish, compared to the short, fat, and colorless eyed Classic versions. I feel like I'm the only one from the Genesis era to actually appreciate the Modern Sonic designs a lot better. 

[Jetronic]

My reaction :

"Man, I can't wait to play that game".

I was 10/11 and I didn't care, what I saw was Sonic the hedgehog and I simply wanted to play the game now.

[Chris Knopps]

Confused, but definitely intrigued. It was a...

"Wow! Look at Sonic now!" thing for me in the end.

HATE the redesign for Eggman though. Always have. A d@$n shame considering how RIGHT they were getting his redesign at first.

THIS

FOREVER Better Than THIS

To me they went too far in casting out his original self.

[Dwapook]

 

7 hours ago, Azoo said:

I imagine there were some people really, really bothered by it. But at the same time, it's also likely that not much of the public (if anyone in a majority) was bothered by it at all. After all, Sonic's art style in the west had never been consistent in the first place until then. The games, the promo art, the cartoons and the comics all had different styles and variants in their look, so Sonic suddenly having yet another look probably was just business as usual and not a big deal to most.

It wasn't really until the designs became associated with a consistent stream of bad console games (and a further and further departure from the Sonic style, with ShTH and 06) that the negativity about it really spread.

That pretty accurately sums it up..

It was clearly Sonic, I thought it was cool and just took it as Sonic being aged up a bit.. o.o; The Sonic 2006 design looked kinda bad to me, it got better with Unleashed but hasn't been consistently good..

[shdowhunt60]

I think the difference is, is that unlike Boom the modern designs were really not bad redesigns in any sense. If anything they just gave even further clarity of character and different body types.

[King Scoopa Koopa]

Yeah, I don't remember much backlash until it began being associated with the "fall" of Sonic. I always liked the designs, Eggman especially (though that earlier art that makes him look like he has no mouth or lower jaw didn't work for me).

[doctorbenMD]

It's weird how it affected me. My very first video game anything was a Genesis with Sonic 2. I got some of the children's books, some of the comics, Sonic and Knuckles, watched some of the Saturday morning cartoon on days we didn't go to synagogue...but I fell out of it because I couldn't make any progress in Sonic 2 or S&K. It demanded me to sit in front of my TV for long periods of time and other people wanted to use it. And plus...I just wasn't good at games lol.

So I fell out of it. I'd maybe pick up the comic here and there whenever my parents would take us to a book store, but there were definitely long gaps that I just didn't care because I didn't feel any strong attachment to the character due to me not really investing time into the games. The Internet wasn't really a thing at this time, Power Rangers and Pokemon came into my life and they basically dominated whatever I was thinking about. I basically had forgotten about Sonic. 

And then I turned on the TV and saw a commercial for the Dreamcast. It had a bunch of characters partying and Tails was the only one I could recognize. One day, we were in Best Buy, and I saw the opening for Sonic Adventure at the Dreamcast they had set up--and it blew me away with how much things had changed. And I thought "wow, I love the vibe and attitude they're going for, I'm definitely in." 

The redesigns and everything about them is what pulled me back in and made me a Sonic fan, basically.

[mikeblastdude]

Being an older member myself, I remember being around in what would be considered the Sonic community at the time, when the modern redesigns first appeared on the net in 1998. The general reception was extremely positive and people seemed to love the new designs, for the most part at least. I remember a few of the old Sonic fansites on Geocities, Angelfire, Tripod, etc. would have “Anti-Sonic Adventure” banners to express how much they hated the new designs (the community as a whole was a lot younger back then), so it definitely wasn’t quite universal admiration.

As for me personally, when I first saw the modern designs, I absolutely loved them. At the time, I even thought that they were an improvement over the classic designs. The "extreme" look definitely appealed to my 13 year old self. After a few years though, I went back to preferring the classic designs, although I still think the modern designs are great too.

[CottonCandy]

I was really young at that time but I do remember being aware of the sudden design change. Being such a little child in 1998, I easily accepted it and it never bothered me.  

[StaticMania]

Had nothing to compare styles to other than Sonic 2's title screen and Mega Collection's boxart...and thought they looked pretty similar. But ended up not really caring.

[BubbleButt TV]

I was introduced to the franchise through Sonic Advance but I remember watching SatAM on TV and playing the classics in Gems Collection and Mega Collection and really just... genuinely not even noticing that the characters had different designs. Maybe I was just a stupid kid but to me Sonic was just "Sonic". That's why it bugs me so much when I see people talking about Sonic Mania and referring to Sonic as Classic Sonic. It's a real head-scratcher. 

All of that being said, there is one character redesign that really irks me. Amy's.

She's such a product of her time. Blatantly designed to fit the whole late 90's Spice Girl aesthetic:

 

She doesn't even look like a hedgehog!

[StaticMania]

Saying she doesn't look like a hedgehog doesn't really mean much when half the cast barely resemble the animal they're representing. Better than being a pink Sonic again, eh.

 

Eggman, Rouge, Blaze, Silver, Knuckles...it doesn't even matter.

[batson]

I didn't really think much of the redesigns back in the day. I was like "huh, Sonic is skinnier now". I did think Amy got pretty hot though (I was 12 goddammit, gimme a break).