Sega is teasing a new Sonic something reveal for SXSW 2018

[Badnik Mechanic]

2 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

And that logic is pretty silly. Sonic cast, like them or not, are memorable. People know them, people still look for a lot of the forgotten cast like Cream, Blaze, and such. SEGA IPs are not incredibly memorable for the main market because the majority of them haven't had a new game in forever. 

No they're not, they're really not, that's only the case for people who have an interest in Sonic or a very wide interest in gaming and I have first hand and second hand accounts of this.

Back when Svend used to work for Sprong, he once had to write up an article on a Sonic game, I think was either Riders or Shadows game. In that article he opened with a line which went along the following lines "My editor looked at what I'd written and said, 'you can tell you're a Sonic fan, you know who these characters are.'

I myself, have had stalls at conventions selling Sonic stuff, I've taken loads of Sonic items which are of the wider cast, every time I do, I get loads of people saying 'who is that?' once someone did it to an item with Chaos on it and I said "It's Chaos, from Sonic Adventure" the reply was 'Never heard of him.'

 

5 minutes ago, Celestia said:

We can only hope there's overlap between those 6 Charmy fans and the 6 NiGHTS fans.

Don't be daft... They're the same people.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Just now, Josh said:

You guys are comparing niche here, you know that right?

I honestly don't think the game's sales are going to be harmed significantly by either approach, since the Sonic games sell well on their own without Sega references in marketing. The All Star games were also successful with those characters.

No matter what approach they take, it's objectively fine. The game will probably be fine regardless. The Charmy Bee niche is probably as sizable as the Ulala niche. Yuo're just arguing over preferences at this point.

Pretty much the point to be made here. There's nothing objectively devastating with either option honestly.

[Your Vest Friend]

The arguing over appealing to niches seems daft to me when the first game had characters practically no one had ever heard of. Even the more hardcore SEGA fans were like "Who the fuck are Zobio and Zobiko??".

 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Let's put it another way. When Mania came out, I'm pretty sure more people recognised and got happy about Bean, Bark and Nack being in the game than several characters in ASR. Which VEDJ mentioned -

1 minute ago, VEDJ-F said:

The arguing over appealing to niches seems daft to me when the first game had characters practically no one had ever heard of. Even the more hardcore SEGA fans were like "Who the fuck are Zobio and Zobiko??".

 

 

[Badnik Mechanic]

3 minutes ago, VEDJ-F said:

The arguing over appealing to niches seems daft to me when the first game had characters practically no one had ever heard of. Even the more hardcore SEGA fans were like "Who the fuck are Zobio and Zobiko??".

Nah, they were more confused over what game Danica Pattrick was in.

[Chili Dawg]

The thing that would get me is making it Sonic only... But not making it a running race. Sonic drives in the All Stars games cuz you know, it's a car race, can't much have all those fine SEGA folks running on foot... But we gonna have Sanic's merry band of technicolor speedsters confined to cars just because? LAEM.

sonic drift tho- sonic drift is ass

Positive thought though is the potential to really pull from the Sonic world, assuming they go beyond Hills and Cities. Could be fun stuff there. And maybe I'll get to play as Froggy.

[Shadowlax]

3 minutes ago, Mayor D said:

No they're not, they're really not, that's only the case for people who have an interest in Sonic or a very wide interest in gaming and I have first hand and second hand accounts of this.

 

EHHHHHHHHH

I would actually argue that they are some of the most memorable and popular designs in video game history. And has allowed them to wisthstand shit game after shit game because of it .And maybe that's part of the reason so many oc's show up because of how memorable and influential they were to multiple generations of children. And sonic as an IP more than justify's spin off games by itself. 

[Tracker_TD]

8 minutes ago, Shadowlax said:

EHHHHHHHHH

I would actually argue that they are some of the most memorable and popular designs in video game history. And has allowed them to wisthstand shit game after shit game because of it .And maybe that's part of the reason so many oc's show up because of how memorable and influential they were to multiple generations of children. And sonic as an IP more than justify's spin off games by itself. 

I feel that’s less to do with the likes of Charmy Bee and Tikal and more to do with Sonic himself - well, him and the usual ‘Team Sonic.’ Particularly so since until Forces most of the other characters had next to no involvement in the series for a relatively long period of time - without the series particularly suffering for it.

[Diogenes]

Not that I have any hard numbers or anything, but regarding obscure Sonic characters vs obscure Sega characters, I feel like most of the people who would get excited about Fang or Charmy or Big or whoever would already have an interest in the game because of the more popular and relevant Sonic characters, but the guys who are apathetic towards Sonic but really into Nights or Super Monkey Ball or whatever are a lot more likely to take interest if they see representation from whichever series they're into. Whether there's enough people like that for it to be worth it I couldn't say, but there is logic to casting a wider net like that.

[Celestia]

If the argument is really about which would reach a wider audience...I think it's fair to say Sonic fans are a pretty large group. Obviously you can't deny that the different franchises was a factor in their success, but I wouldn't expect a Sonic racer that's as well made as the ASR games to do worse by any means.

That said if this rumour pans out and it really does come across as "ASR but without the non-Sonic IPs" then that'd (understandably) piss off some of the general SEGA/Sonic fanbase who would otherwise not mind a Sonic racing game, so...hopefully it differentiates itself.

[Roger_van_der_weide]

If they're interested in the Japanese market, throwing in Sakura Wars characters will double sales over there.
I'm surprised they haven't so far. Of course most of us in the west will only raise a confused eyebrow.
I suppose Sonic Sega all stars games never seemed to be made with Japan in mind, considering I read rumors Japanese fans had to import the first game.
Still, if I was Sega, I'd definitly throw in a Persona or Yakuza character in there at least. Those finally seem to be gaining traction in the west, while still bringing in the Japanese crowd.

Dunno if I really care about a Sonic only racer. Generations, Lego Dimensions and especially Forces and Mania's detached Meta aproach to just throwing in random locations and characters on a pile with little to no Story context completely cheaped the thrill of seeing Sonic's past return. I want the real characters and locations to matter, not another parade of meaningless fanservice. At least seeing old Sega characters get some time in the limelight still has a bit of a thrill.
I suppose if it's a on-foot Sonic R style Racer I'll be interested in it in terms of gameplay, but if it's just a generic fanservice driven Kart racer, then eh. Just give me Sega Fanservice then.

[Multikaris]

29 minutes ago, Roger_van_der_weide said:

If they're interested in the Japanese market, throwing in Sakura Wars characters will double sales over there.
I'm surprised they haven't so far. Of course most of us in the west will only raise a confused eyebrow.
I suppose Sonic Sega all stars games never seemed to be made with Japan in mind, considering I read rumors Japanese fans had to import the first game.
Still, if I was Sega, I'd definitly throw in a Persona or Yakuza character in there at least. Those finally seem to be gaining traction in the west, while still bringing in the Japanese crowd.

Dunno if I really care about a Sonic only racer. Generations, Lego Dimensions and especially Forces and Mania's detached Meta aproach to just throwing in random locations and characters on a pile with little to no Story context completely cheaped the thrill of seeing Sonic's past return. I want the real characters and locations to matter, not another parade of meaningless fanservice. At least seeing old Sega characters get some time in the limelight still has a bit of a thrill.
I suppose if it's a on-foot Sonic R style Racer I'll be interested in it in terms of gameplay, but if it's just a generic fanservice driven Kart racer, then eh. Just give me Sega Fanservice then.

Yeah, i’ve Kinda had enough of the piling everything into a seven-layer dip fanservice. But they might be getting better at it; the cameo of the Master Emerald in Mania made sense location-wise, and it even played a small role. But the fact Baldy McNosehair ignores it is weird. Even some of the stuff in Forces might make sense in light of deleted sub-plots. And the fact that Chaos and Zavok crop up without associated characters is justified with them being illusions. But the Death Egg’s small role doesn’t feel the way it was supposed to when you realize it is actually Little Planet being destroyed. That’s why I kinda appreciate Boom, because their meta-humor has a very different flavor than what happens in the main games, moreso targeting the fandom than the past. 

[Swing]

6 hours ago, Jovahexeon Ghost Trick said:

And frankly, most of those other SEGA IPs have one or two at best characters for roster potential, so the Sonic and slight company avenue makes sense anyway.

Which shows me how much Sega as a company sucks! Nintendo, Square Enix, heck, even Rare, who were just a software developer, created way more memorable characters than Sega. They only cash cow is Sonic. This is the only company I know that depends on just one IP.

Also, I have another reason why this game is will not be as good. I mean, is it possible, that this game will have quality in it? The reason why buggy and unfinished Sonic games like Boom or 06 exists is, because Sega knows, that fans will just buy and praise anything with Sonic in it, not matter what quality it has. 

[Marcello]

If this game really is Sonic only or mostly Sonic with a couple non-Sonic characters, then I don't really care about this anymore. But I guess that's par for the course at this point.

[Jango]

Big reminder that having other SEGA IPs in the play, gave us not only racers, but tracks, music styles and aesthetics, my children. 

How else would've we got an awesome stage from Burning Rangers? I didn't knew about this game, but I loved the aesthetics, the music. What's not to like, tho'? This goes to the people saying "but people didn't even knew who those old characters are!". So you wanna live in a box? You're not open to knowing something new? What a closed minded point of view... It's sad.

I saw more people recognizing the old SEGA IPs in All-Stars Racing than I know I will ever see recognizing Blaze the Cat, for example. Do you know how folks will remember Blaze? "Aw, she is the cat from those awfull Sonic games they played on GameGrumps!". I've never heard the term "Shadow kid" or "Blaze kid", but I'm sure as heck hear "SEGA kid" all the time. The old SEGA IPs are popular, guys.

And again, diversity is great, 'member when people complained that the PlayStation All-Stars cast was all "angry white dudes"? It's the same thing.

[Gabz Girl]

If this ends up being true, I’ll be disappointed and perhaps less interested in the game even.

I’m sure it’ll be a very good game, I mean this is Sumo Digital we’re talking about! My problem is that they’re getting rid of something that made these All Stars Games so special, and that is the brilliant celebration of Sega’s past. It was nice seeing all these characters and stages and hearing remixes of games from Sega’s good ol’ days, and now with the acquisition of Atlus they could’ve added a character or two from Persona! Or even a stage!! 

What’s funny is I’m saying this as someone who was never a big Sega fan to begin with, hell I only knew of these franchises in 2004-2005, but it was nice being introduced to them and going back and trying out some of these games like NiGHTS and Jet Set Radio. Now that it’s seemingly focusing on just Sonic & Friends, I’m definitely not as excited. Again, im sure it’ll be fine but...I wanted the (mostly) abandoned Sega cast back. 8(

[Red Hot Jack]

12 hours ago, Mayor D said:

But most of the Sonic cast are naff.

That's... Kinda a shitty reason and self entitled, to be honest. I could say the same about the Sega cast and people would be upset, so I won't. But yeah, it's sad when people bring this as an "argument".

They might not be memorable but surely they are more known and iconic to kids than old Sega Ips, and that is the main audience, and yes, they do deserve a chance to shine, just like Vyse, NiGHTS, Ristar, etc. got their own game.

[Sonikko]

My big gripe with this if it turns out to be true is that the SEGA characters not only bring more variety to the characters roosters, but also to the stages included.

I'm honestly tired of seeing old Sonic locales return, or be reimagined, we've done this song and dance hundreds of times.

Also, what stages do you think they'd pick if this is a Sonic only game.

Lost World from SA1? Hang Castle/Mystic Mansion from Heroes? Starlight Zone? Ice Cap?

No, it's gonna be Green Hill, Chemical Plant, City (what a nice name btw) from Forces, Death Egg, Seaside Hill! 

It's not like I'm a huge Skies of Arcadia fan, but seeing those characters and stages in ASRT made me smile for instance. And the same happened with all the other franchises.

EDIT: It looks like I'm negative about this game from this post, but I'm not, I'm just a bit disappointed. I'm sure it'll play great and it'll be lots of fun, I can't wait for the announcement and the actual release. I'm excited!

[Jango]

I get upset just imagining the reveal trailer showing Sonic and co. driving on not-Green Hill/Windy Hill, shouting one liners... Sigh.

I really wanna be proven wrong tho'. If it is a Sonic-only racer, at least give us different zones. Imagine if they pick Studiopolis or Press Garden? Or Launch Base, Egg Fleet, Final Rush... That would be truly amazing. But I fear for the worst, which is a concern: Same. Tired. Zones. Again.

 

 

[Red Hot Jack]

If the game really is Sonic only, I would not worry about the zones, because there should be lots of tracks, either brand new like Mario Kart does, or reused from past games. Obviously Green Hill and Chemical Plant will be there, but along with other zones, if those specifically annoy you, well, you will be disappointed.

[JezMM]

To be honest as someone with no real nostalgia from childhood for SEGA stuff in general, I found Transformed's Sonic content kinda underwhelming (though for what little non-Sonic SEGA interest I DO have, I also found it annoying how such nothing franchises like Billy Hatcher and Samba Di Amigo got courses again while a long-runner like Phantasy Star Online, a non-Sonic franchise I am interested in, got nothing), so I'm all for a racer that gives him full attention.

At the same time though it's gonna be another kind of "celebration" game if they use old locales, and probably have a lukewarm reception if they're all original locales like Sonic Riders.  Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

[Splash the Otter]

I'd like to see some tracks that represent general areas instead of specific levels. Like what if there was a track based on Angel Island? Sky Sanctuary would likely be part of it, but there would also be Lava Reef, Mushroom Hill, the Emerald Shrine, etc.

6 minutes ago, JezMM said:

At the same time though it's gonna be another kind of "celebration" game if they use old locales, and probably have a lukewarm reception if they're all original locales like Sonic Riders.  Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Why does it have to be one or the other?

[Salamander]

I don't really like racing games, so I say this as somebody whose only stake in this is as an interested observer.

It would be a shame if other SEGA franchises didn't get represented.  I would completely understand if they didn't, because frankly I'd never heard of any of them before the All-Stars games and they have surely sunk back into that obscurity once again by now through SEGA's undernourishment.  But fans of old SEGA material have little to no places they can go to to actually enjoy new content from those old franchises, whereas the groaning Sonic cast manages to continue to pop up in Forces cutscenes, sports spin-offs, mobile games and the like.

I also think it would be regrettable to do a Sonic-only kart racer when the prospect of another on-foot racer like Sonic R sounds far more interesting - but given that the main games are essentially just a weird racing game by now, there might be some serious cognitive dissonance with a racing spin-off that might honestly be more of a platformer than the non-racers.

Well, well.  As an interested observer who's only going to look at it, I just hope they come up with an interesting selection of levels that aren't just the same old, same old.

[PickleBrows]

I can see and understand why people don't want the "SEGA" side of things getting cut out but at the same time I don't think it's entirely fair that a Sonic racer from Sumo Digital is almost by default due to be a cross-over game. Like I'm curious if this would've been half an issue if this news was coming from pretty much any other developer.

Six years since ASRT, eight years since the last non-mobile Sonic Racer (Sonic Free Riders) and ten years since the last Sonic Racer without some sort of control gimmick (SR Zero Gravity I believe). For me, as much as I love seeing these classic IPs coming out to play, I feel we're far enough from what came before where it doesn't feel, at least to me, that they're getting the short straw for not coming back this time. This issue comes from SEGA not giving them any proper attention in their own right in years. The fact that we need them here because it's the only major attention they're getting these days says far more about their treatment in general than it does about this game being a step-back from what came before.

Yes it does suck, and yes I personally would've done ASR 3 if it were me making the choice but I think Sonic's perfectly entitled to his own racer and of course SEGA were gonna go to the guys that made the previous games given how reliable they've proven themselves. Again, I don't think it's a downgrade simply by wanting to make a Sonic racer this time rather than an All-Stars.

 

I hate to pull the wait-and-see card but given that is IS probably just Sonic for the first time in a while, "kart-racer" could mean a range of things. Sonic R and the Riders games fall under that category even though they're different from the typical Mario Kart-esque setup. If we are racing in any way other than standard cars then I think the comparisons to ASR/T will be far more underplayed. Also note that the last time we had a solo-Sonic racer there was practically no nostalgia pandering at all so it's not impossible to see something other than the green, city and space levels we're expecting.

[Badnik Mechanic]

1 hour ago, Jack of Tangles said:

That's... Kinda a shitty reason and self entitled, to be honest.

It's not self entitled at all.

Most of the Sonic cast are naff.

I get nothing out of the fact that they're naff.

They're naff.