Too old for Sonic?

[Rusty Spy]

At my country, game innocence is lost...

I see 5 year olds saying sonic and mario are kiddy and that they want to play GTA

WHAT!?

Haha, that's just little kids trying to act older than they are, to look "cool" to all their friends and stuff...... Which is why I hate this generation of gaming. People are never satisfied with a game unless it has a gun the size of a car and blood spatters every 5 seconds, and anything less is considered "kiddy" or even worse, "casual" and is immediately shunned off.

But in a way, it sort of proves a point about the general demographic and Sonic. The little kids are all gonna want to play this super awesome game because all the old kids are playing it, and they think it's awesome too, so it must be the hottest thing.

If Sonic were enjoyed and liked by older audiences, the little 5 year olds are eventually going to catch on, and be influenced by the older people's perception of "cool" and they too are going to think it's cool.

It's similar to how he was back in the day, he was seen as a more extreme version of Mario and all the older kids were drawn to him, and in turn, all the little kids followed suit.

Heh, doesn't bother me one bit on how old I get, Sonic's always been one of my favorites. Hell, there's a nice little lounge at my school with some nice big, flat screen tvs. Wanna know what I did? I hooked one of the nice little VGA cables to my laptop and started playing Sonic Riders =).

Hell, I made a good amount of people smile when I did that, nice crowds are nice. I even got at least 10 people talking about how much they like Sonic and what I myself thought of the series.

"There's good games and bad games, nothings perfect, it's all a matter of personal experience. I mean, I'm a Sonic fan, but even I have a few Sonic games that I don't like, nothings ever perfect, just go for what you like."

Then afterwards I joined the gaming club at my school =D

hmph, lucky bastard!

[Diogenes]

Are you sure you don't mean Ms. Pacman?

No, I'm pretty sure he's referring to the original. Though I think it was more that they wanted a game that would appeal to girls as well as guys (as at that point pretty much everything was either "kill aliens" or pong), so it's not really an example of the difference between who it's designed to appeal to and who it actually appeals to, because it was supposed to be gender-neutral from the start.

[Pelly <3's U]

Are you sure you don't mean Ms. Pacman?

Ms. Pacman meant to appeal to women and not men....are you kidding me???

Look at that sexual minx, she's meant to entice and ensnare. Blatantly targeting men with erotic imagery. That is one sexy woman.

I think someone around here has a quote from C. S. Lewis in their signature that I think applies pretty well here.

And yeah, I think Sonic can appeal to older people as well. The ones on the Genesis certainly did.

I didn't see it in anyones sig but it's basically my response to this thread so I might as well post it.

"When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."

[BlazingTales]

WOW! This person sounds quite (but not as horrible) like my older brother! Is he older? I get tired of when he gets on my case for the things I watch. Take the show Kirby Right Back at ya, for instance. Sure it was made to be educational and for little kids, but that doesn't mean we teens (or adults) can't appreciate it for it's simpleness and characters. Yeah, it's on a sadder level with my bro, he just can't stand me and my sis enjoying a show together. So he'll make a 'witty' comment for attention. And when I confront him about anything annoying he says, his delusional head says, "Aw, you two enjoy my comments, it gives you attention." ARRRG! One time we were laughing at Kirby and he said, "How can you two watch that SH*T! And the irony is his 30 year old friend watches Kirby like us, but has he said that to her? Probably not. He tries to use his "older authority" over me and thinks he knows better than me. Which is sometimes the case, but he can't recognize my individuality.

Yeah, he's several years older. He's definately like how you describe your bro. A few years back, I liked Linkin Park music, he would criticise me often about my taste. Then, when his girlfriend told him he liked LP, he became their biggest fan for a bit. XP

Exactly. Every time you make a comment like that I couldn't agree more. Once my bro walked in on me as I played Shadow. Shadow cursed, my bro was like "did he just say-" Then I say, "They made this game to appeal to older audiences." Then he walks away and says, "See? Sonic can be cool, too!" He thinks cursing is a sign of maturity, quite the opposite. There are many dynamics to it we've all thought of or read, so I won't continue.

Still, as much as my bro condemns me, he still TRIES to show interest and I know he's not a horrible person so I should be thankful. Has your sib treated you like that?

Yeah. When I first got Shadow, he played it like it was no ones business! Then, when I showed him another Sonic game, he realized I liked the series (don't know why he hadn't realized it before)... and then he started 'hating' it. It's hilarious though, because he sat there and watched me play for HOURS, always letting out an occasional criticism letting me know he still hates it for being too 'kiddy' and 'gay'.

P.S. As for the floating platforms, SO WHAT? That's just a video game gimmick. Mario has floating platforms everywhere. And those aren't in Sonic cartoons or anything.

I think his problem was that he thought everything looked 'too real'. But think about it: Looney Toons has a 'France', real forests and humans, but it also has talking animals. So why can't Sonic?

[Chaotix Prime]

Yeah, he's several years older. He's definately like how you describe your bro. A few years back, I liked Linkin Park music, he would criticise me often about my taste. Then, when his girlfriend told him he liked LP, he became their biggest fan for a bit. XP

My sister laughed when she read this.

Yeah. When I first got Shadow, he played it like it was no ones business! Then, when I showed him another Sonic game, he realized I liked the series (don't know why he hadn't realized it before)... and then he started 'hating' it. It's hilarious though, because he sat there and watched me play for HOURS, always letting out an occasional criticism letting me know he still hates it for being too 'kiddy' and 'gay'.

I don't believe effeminism has anything to do with immaturity. I hate how people use the "gay" thing to insult a personal taste, when you're obviously not gay, it's just a crude attack by saying you're crude.

P.S. As for the floating platforms, SO WHAT? That's just a video game gimmick. Mario has floating platforms everywhere. And those aren't in Sonic cartoons or anything.

I think his problem was that he thought everything looked 'too real'. But think about it: Looney Toons has a 'France', real forests and humans, but it also has talking animals. So why can't Sonic?

I forgot to mention some of my points. Just because something isn't passing off as real, doesn't mean it can't have real standards or a standard at all. Mario had games where you breathed and shot fire underwater, but now Mario has a breath meter. Same thing.

[Mau]

Well, I must be a kid at heart then. I'm 24 and I love Sonic. Always have, always will. Well, at least I've loved Sonic since I was 9 years old. Haha.

And what the heck does liking a video character have to do with sexual orientation? I'm straight as an arrow, my love for Sonic has nothing to do with it.

Edited August 14, 2009 by Mau

[Unholy Sonic]

Heh I experience this almost everyday of my life.

Like... everyone is into bloody shooter and gangster games like GTA, deep sport gamers like Fifa, NBA or football games.

Some are even into street racing games like granta foto whatever its name is...

If a game doesn't fill those requirements... they will treat it as crap.... Hell because soooo many people consider Mario as the Game king, they bow down to it and those that don't do the same they will look down on 'em.

Seriously.... what is the main goal of any game?

To prove your the best

To show that you like the same thing as all the others

To tell people that the new games are what "in"?

Naw.... thats not the goal of a game... the main, true, pure and golden goal of any freaking #

[Tori Himemiya]

Heheh...

When I downloaded Sonic the hedgehog via Wii Ware I was jumping up and down like a little kid. And I was just as annoying as one. =.=

But that's the charm of old school Sonic. Makes you feel like a kid again with no worrys at all without a care in the world. Ah... I miss those times...

[Super Lombax]

Play what you want to play, watch what you want to watch, read what you want to read, and so on. I don't see why age has to come into it at all.

Nor do I understand why other people care. What the fuck business is theirs what you're playing?

That is so true. You took the words out of my mouth.

Once my bro walked in on me as I played Shadow. Shadow cursed, my bro was like "did he just say-" Then I say, "They made this game to appeal to older audiences." Then he walks away and says, "See? Sonic can be cool, too!" He thinks cursing is a sign of maturity, quite the opposite.

I laughed my head off when you said that. I sometimes get my older sister to play Shadow the Hedgehog because I am totally useless at it. She finds some of the things Shadow says funny because they're pathectic or cheesy and so do I, but usually ends up handing me the controller because she's just lost a life and can't be stuffed continuing. Like many people, she says Sonic is gay(Just for a joke) and doesn't take an interest in him, but she doesn't mind if I play the games and sometimes even tells me that I can go and play Sonic because she's just finished playing Simpsons Hit and Run or something like that.

At my country, game innocence is lost...

I see 5 year olds saying sonic and mario are kiddy and that they want to play GTA

WHAT!?

I'm actually surprised about how many people didn't know that. Though to be honest, that one always freaks me out. I used to know children of about eight who knew all the cheats codes for GTA 3, used them frequently and then got annoyed when they screwed up the save file by using so many cheats after killing 1000 in-game people.

Heheh...

When I downloaded Sonic the hedgehog via Wii Ware I was jumping up and down like a little kid. And I was just as annoying as one. =.=

But that's the charm of old school Sonic. Makes you feel like a kid again with no worrys at all without a care in the world. Ah... I miss those times...

I know what you mean. Many years ago, my sister(yes, my sister) played roms of Sonic games on my Dad's computer (we didn't have any game consoles) and I used to watch her. Many years later, I got back into Sonic by playing Sonic Rush on my DS, and was amazed by how many things about my past with Sonic I remembered (I'd pretty much forgotten that I had ever had anything to do with it until then). The first thing I actually remembered was some music, and then I actually started to remember what the zone the music was from looked like. However, I didn't know which Sonic game it was from or what zone it was, so I set out on a voyage across the internet to find out what it was. Eventually, after I had given up, I went to Wikipedia and looked up "Sonic the Hedgehog" to catch up with what had happened (It was a case of "Shadow? What the heck?".) and found my answer to the "Unknown zone" problem though a screenshot. It was Green Hill Zone from the original Sonic the Hedgehog. So I started yet another journey to find this game, and found it in Sonic Mega Collection Plus at Gamestation,and can't stop playing it. Due to my age, this just proves you can never be too old for Sonic unless you want to be, BlazingTales and friends.

Super Lombax

[Marcello]

Play what you want to play, watch what you want to watch, read what you want to read, and so on. I don't see why age has to come into it at all.

Nor do I understand why other people care. What the fuck business is theirs what you're playing?

Thats very true. I'm very used to people saying I'm childish because I like video games and anime/mangas, but I just ignore it, because my life doesn't turn around these peoples opinions about me. My friends also make fun of me, lol.

[eXtaticus]

At my country, game innocence is lost...

I see 5 year olds saying sonic and mario are kiddy and that they want to play GTA

WHAT!?

I also have personal experience of this: for example, chavs scoff when I emulate the older Sonics on the computers at my school (which, by the way, have a huge range of unexplored gaming possibilities) claiming that: "Sonic is like, well babyish, Fifa on PlayStation free [because we all know that chavs - ESPECIALLY those from Essex in England - lack the ability to say the word "three"] is da SHITZ!" and "dat game has well shit graffiks, innit". Note that they refuse to stop reiterating the latter comment, EVEN WHEN I turn bilinear filtering on!

Another time when I was in Game, I looked at a copy of Sonic Adventure 2 Battle for GameCube, and saw two children (definitely under the age of 10) pick up a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV. Does anything seem wrong with this picture?

[Ebby]

A load of barnacles, if you ask me. Sure, the target audience for most Sonic games is (apparently) young, but I'll be damned if I give up being a Sonic fan once I turn 20.

Heehee, I turn 20 in December. And I have 20 year old friends.... and guess what?

WE PLAY SONIC!!!!

I'm still going to play Sonic! And listen to the music in the games (I'm about to hit 100 songs by the way, I need 2 more)! And I'll still tell people, "Sonic is love!!!!!!!!" XD

[redmenace]

If people of all ages play Mario, then why not Sonic? There's really not much of a difference in targeting.

I'm old as f*ck (I'll only say >20 so I'm not made fun off) and I find Sonic much more interesting than Halo.

Edited August 17, 2009 by redmenace

[batson]

If people of all ages play Mario, then why not Sonic? There's really not much of a difference in targeting.

I'm old as f*ck (I'll only say >20 so I'm not made fun off) and I find Sonic much more interesting than Halo.

I'll be 23 this winter, and i've never felt ashamed of being a Sonic fan. Err, well, not among other gamers, that is. Among people who dosen't normaly play video games it can give you a "loser" stamp to mention that you play video games at all, and i guess some of those people would consider lighthearted, cartoony games like Sonic to be even more childish and/or geeky than FPS's and shit.

On a side note, in order to actually have been old enough to play video games when Sonic made his first appearance, in other words to be able to be among the Sonic fans who have been with the hog since day one, one have to be 20 or older at this point...

Edited August 18, 2009 by batson

[MirageDark1]

Play what you want to play, watch what you want to watch, read what you want to read, and so on. I don't see why age has to come into it at all.

Nor do I understand why other people care. What the fuck business is theirs what you're playing?

Exactly. So what if you're playing Sonic or any other game even by the time you're like in your 80's it's what you were either raised on or you just like it it's none of their business anyway.Do what you want to do.

[Blazey Firekitty]

The funny thing is that when I was a teenager, I used to shun things like Mario and Donkey Kong for not being "badass enough."

Now I'm older and realize how silly that was.

[Machenstein]

I really don't understand the argument your sibling was trying to make. First his/her argument was that Sonic sucks because it's not realistic enough. Then he/she tries to turn this argument around by saying Sonic sucks because it tries too hard to be realistic. He/she even goes so far as the use the Mario argument against you, as if suddenly Sonic is obligated to abide by the same standards as Mario, what with the "mushroom people" and all.

I think your sibling was just trying to get a rise out of you.

But this subject still bothers me no less. In this era of Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty, it's acceptable to like Mario but it is somehow unacceptable to like Sonic, even though Sonic is just as kiddie as Mario. Why? Is it because Mario's been around longer? Or is it because Sonic's an animal character and is thus expected to be kiddie, whereas Mario is a human character and thus his kiddieness can be attributed as artistic surrealism. Let's admit it, the only reason we find Sonic remotely interesting is because we look at the series from artistic perspective. That's why Sonic CD is so revered among the fanbase. Well, that, and because it's a great game. We're the same crowd who can feel comfortable playing something like Katamari Damacy because not only can we tolerate the over-the-top visuals, we embrace them. The same can be said for other "kiddie" franchises like Kirby or classic Mega Man.

Oh, and I wouldn't use Sonic 2006 as a representation of the series of any kind, not to your sibling nor anyone. It's no wonder your sibling made the conclusion that Sonic is for "gays" after seeing those scenes of Sonic and Elise. I would too if I had no clue about Sonic's legacy. And as much as I like Sonic Unleashed, it's not the perfect way to represent the series either.

[BigC]

I'm never too old for sonic.

[Sean]

BigC, may I ask that you put more effort into your posts? So far, both of them have consisted of insignificant one-liners, and if you want to participate in discussion here on SSMB, you'll have to write more to involve yourself in them. Thanks.

[Thirsty Pocket]

Responding to the first post...

About Sonic being appealing at any age, I do think that you can like Sonic at any age. But the thing is, if you never tried Sonic when you were young, there is a great chance that you won't get the appeal. An older gamer who never played Sonic before is not that likely to enjoy the game. But some one who is familiar with the characters from his childhood is likely to want to keep his childhood hero in his life.

Heck, you know how there are people who loved Sonic 1 through 3 and haven't played Sonic since. They may still love Sonic, but they don't play his games anymore... and if they did, they may not enjoy them. You can love something, but not love what it's become. I myself am 21, Love Sonic, but I am definitely not a fan of Sonic 2006 or black knight. I definitely don't enjoy the characters and settings as much as I used to, But as long as I have memories of when Sonic is good, I too will be 50 years old playing Sonic the Hedgehog 1, or Sonic Adventure 2.

As for the realism... that's a strange topic for me. I love the abstract environments that Sonic got his start in... but I absolutely hated the environment that had looked like a planet that had melted that they used in the AoSTH cartoon... on the other hand, the more realistic, yet cartoonish environments in the SatAM cartoon appealed to me a lot. And that SanFransisco like city setting they used in SA2 really put a smile on my face... but I never really have smiled at any of the city-type levels in Sonic since then. It's all been ..."whatever" to me. Sonic 2006 and Shadow's realism was just horrid. While I won't say that Sonic Unleashed had "Perfect" settings... the people were much better than any previous humans featured in Sonic. ( I am all for humans in Sonic... but really, do they have to be the only intteligent life in Sonic's world? Or does talking animal automatically mean playable super powered character these days? ) And Sonic Unleashes levels I guess were good, but still a bit too "real" ...They really ought to Sonic-ify the town a little, to make it look like Sonic belongs there. Look at the cities in the Mario Kart games... those are perfect examples of what I mean. But I guess Sonic just has a lot less iconic structures and symbols in his world than Mario does. ( Seriously, they got mushroom houses, Wiggler Buses, Pipe Towers, Star spangled suspension bridges, and much more. Sonic's got... the Sega Logo in neon lights... and that won't work in the day time. )

[Dr. Good Girl]

Sibling: "In Sonic the Mayans made bouncy pads and rings, what the heck? That's so stupid!"

Me: "No, I was talking about the buildings."

Sibling: "Why the heck are there floating platforms anyway! The Mayans didn't have that "

It's sad how your sibling has no sense of an imagination. Expects all games to not lack any logical explanation in regards to building "bouncy pads" in the ancient ages.

And referring to something or anything about gays playing Sonic purely reflects the meaningless value of his arguments due to his immaturity.

[eXtaticus]

If people of all ages play Mario, then why not Sonic? There's really not much of a difference in targeting.

I'm old as f*ck (I'll only say >20 so I'm not made fun off) and I find Sonic much more interesting than Halo.

It's really not hard for something to be more interesting than Halo...

[MobileChicaneX]

It's really not hard for something to be more interesting than Halo...

Actully halo has a very deep story, it has a few novels and a huge variety of characters and the kids going through the training in the Sparton project.

And halo obviously is interesting since it's one of the most known fps ever made.

[Bubonic Craig]

Actully halo has a very deep story, it has a few novels and a huge variety of characters and the kids going through the training in the Sparton project.

And halo obviously is interesting since it's one of the most known fps ever made.

and Yet I still still find my keyring more interesting than Halo...

but I Know what you mean, Sonic instantly reminds my friends of Me since they know me to be a hardcore fan...but they say thats bad. I need to grow out of Sonic...

Its a shame because one of these friends used to love Sonic aswell, but has recently "Grown out of games" too move on with life (His version of saying, Chicks don't dig games, so i'm ditching my personality for girls)

but Oh well

[123654]

I apologize in advance for this, but you're brother is kind of a moron. I'm sorry, but I really, really hate the mentality that anything is "for little kids" just because it's not stereotypically "mature" (read: full of unnecessary blood, gore, swearing and sex bordering on narm). It enrages me when someone tells me I'm too old for something I enjoy. Setting arbitrary age limits on stuff is just idiotic.