The Making of: Sonic Adventure (New Iizuka Interview)

[Whatever the WhoCares]

Assign the characters to shoulder buttons or the D-pad. If possible, maybe even do the Forces thing and have characters do their thing at the press of a button. 

[Wraith]

1 minute ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

I'm not so sure it'd alienate anyone who originally liked it. I can't speak for anyone else aside from me, but, a heavy retooling, expansion, and refinement of that game is exactly what I'd want. That's ultimately what I'd feel the point of a remake for that game would be. 

Sounds like a dream. I've got an array of ideas for how it'd work from a new script, to new plot points, to a different handle on how the teams work. Perhaps something more simple when it came to mechanics.

Have them act more like a single character with attributes of all three rather than three different characters with three different movesets at once that switched with the stop and start mechanic of a press of a button. Or maybe structure it like SA2:B where each character goes through a stage individually but the Team aspect is just there as a story aesthetic.

A re-working of the stages and environments would be in the cards too. Perhaps change the order each team visits each area depending on how the story is re-worked. Utilize different times of day and different locations within the levels to make individual stages more unique.

If you already hate Sonic Heroes than I don't see why not. You're not worried about yourself leaving it behind the way it used to be after all. I just want to be able to have a version of it out there that I can say with confidence is a super good time. All the stuff I wanted to be better about Heroes when I played it as a kid could be a reality with something like this. And I also don't really see how making something new with the expectations of the old is a problem that only persists when it comes to things you consider to be bad.

What we're imagining might just be too different to accurately get onto the page here though. It might just be one of those "seeing is believing" situations. 

 

 

I don't see the point in making it an Adventure game-lite without the team structure but the streamlining of mechanics makes sense. Turning it into basically one big moveset would be difficult as far as picking and choosing what to take and what to leave off each character would be but I could see it being more satisfying to control. 

I'll admit that my initial post is soaked in bias. I just REALLY didn't have a good time with this game when I replayed it last year and it's clouding my expectations compared to SA1 and 2 which I was pleasantly surprised by upon revisit.  The game, at the very least, has top of the line environments. They're marred by the fact that they're probably the least interactive outside of the boost games and the platform in the sky aesthetic makes them feel more artificial than they should. Way back when I wasn't a cynical asshole re: Sonic I wanted a version of grand metropolis that was opened up and explorable to some degree so if I at least saw that I'd probably change my tune a bit. 

At that point I just don't see the point in limiting yourself with the Sonic Heroes label I guess? You could do a Sonic Heroes inspired thing and probably come out better in regards to baggage.

 

[Dr. Detective]

1 hour ago, Wraith said:

I don't see the point in making it an Adventure game-lite without the team structure but the streamlining of mechanics makes sense. Turning it into basically one big moveset would be difficult as far as picking and choosing what to take and what to leave off each character would be but I could see it being more satisfying to control. 

I'll admit that my initial post is soaked in bias. I just REALLY didn't have a good time with this game when I replayed it last year and it's clouding my expectations compared to SA1 and 2 which I was pleasantly surprised by upon revisit.  The game, at the very least, has top of the line environments. They're marred by the fact that they're probably the least interactive outside of the boost games and the platform in the sky aesthetic makes them feel more artificial than they should. Way back when I wasn't a cynical asshole re: Sonic I wanted a version of grand metropolis that was opened up and explorable to some degree so if I at least saw that I'd probably change my tune a bit. 

At that point I just don't see the point in limiting yourself with the Sonic Heroes label I guess? You could do a Sonic Heroes inspired thing and probably come out better in regards to baggage.

Perhaps. With regards to making it more Adventure-game-lite, it's mostly an idea that came about from considering these three games as one complete remake package. It might help to carry across the feeling of consistency a bit more. However, you're correct as far as the label of Sonic Heroes being a little too askew from what it originally was in that regard. Though, again, I personally don't have a problem with that. The idea of the remade Sonic Heroes being the new definitive version of its namesake leaves a lot open to me so long as it captures the spirit of what I originally loved about the game. And ironically, it wasn't the team mechanic. 

My posts come from an area of bias as well. More on the positive side of course. I'm probably the only weirdo in the world who wouldn't deny any of the problems people bring up about Heroes but in the same breath proudly make the claim to have played and replayed it over and over again. Specifically the Chaotix story (because of course I did). I grew up with the PS2 version on top of that. When I had a Wii and had enough money to buy the Gamecube version, I ended up falling in love with it again because it was so much better. I had never seen the orange water in the tubes in Grand Metropolis move before. It had actual flowing texture and I never knew that as a kid!

Sonic Heroes is one of the few games left where I seem to get like this. As someone whose gotten more cynical as well, there's less I'm able to hang onto and the few things I've managed to cling to are things that aren't largely considered to be very good by the rest of the fanbase either. Especially Sonic X. 

I'm always going to opt for the option that sees what I still love about the series have a chance to be revamped so that other people can love it too and I'm not too picky about how it's done either. 

So that's the dream for me. The Sonic-N'-Sane Trilogy, featuring the 2 Adventures and Heroes. 

 

[Kuzu]

I'm....kind of ambivalent towards a Heroes "remake", mostly because I don't see the point? The game isn't as fundamentally broken as Sonic Adventure 1 or 2, which actually could benefit from modern technology. So I'd kind of be wondering what would be the point beyond just nostalgia from the people who liked that game? I mean if they did it, fine. But I really don't care either way?

Even as a child, I felt that game was somewhat inferior to Adventure 1 and 2, but not in the "This game is broken" respect, but more in that the game just wasn't as enticing to play. It was fine for what it was, but I definitely played Adventure 2 and 1 way more. 

[JingleBoy]

Broke: Sonic Adventure Remake

Woke: Fully 3D Sonic Rush Remake/Re-imagining that takes advantage of a refined boost formula and is the last ever boost game thus serving as a nice little loop that ends the gameplay style with the very game that started it all.

[DabigRG]

9 minutes ago, JingleBoy said:

Broke: Sonic Adventure Remake

Woke: Fully 3D Sonic Rush Remake/Re-imagining that takes advantage of a refined boost formula and is the last ever boost game thus serving as a nice little loop that ends the gameplay style with the very game that started it all.

That'd be pretty cool. 

[UpCDownCLeftCRightC]

Dammit. I feel like I'm being worn down by diehard adventure fans. Now as the days pass and I see more chatter about remaking SA1, I get a little excited at the prospect of it. I do feel like more than any other game in the franchise it would stand to gain the most from a remake or reimagining and I flat out love it.

You bastards. You and your constant chatter has worn me down quite a bit. I still think Sonic would be a lot better off just focusing on how best to move forward in 3D rather than trying to make the adventure gameplay roulette thing work again but I have so much nostalgia over SA1 that I can't help but think how happy I would be to actually see it done well. It would be awesome, no lie. (One thing I do not want and would not be okay with though, is if ST decides to do a SA1 remake using the boost engine. I really like the boost games, but I would not want that at all. Sonic would need to get back to the Yuji Naka physics but refined to include better handling of slopes.)

….That said, I feel like after this interview people are getting way too far ahead of themselves thinking that Iizuka is telling us SEGA is going to actually do this. I would not take this interview as a sign of that at all. I doubt that any work has been done on it up until now and if it does happen, it probably isn't the next title they have in mind. I could be wrong but there's nothing that would indicate they're going in this direction as of now.

I will be looking out for it though, if there are some serious discussions going on about revisiting it. 

[Writer's Blah]

As someone ravenous for Adventure-esque Sonic content, I'll admit that finding out about Iizuka's interview did perk my ears up a bit. Not enough to get properly hyped, but enough to ponder its implications for an extended period of time. Speaking firstly from a personal perspective, I like the prospect of an SA1 remake, as it is probably the single Sonic game that stands to gain the most from a remake that addresses its myriad of bugs, collision issues, and animation oddities. I'd also love to see to see how that control scheme would translate on a modern engine, if only to see what modders can do with it. The inkling of a hope also exists within me that an SA1 remake would bring the franchise's more lore-specific elements like Tikal and the Chao back to the forefront of the general gaming public's consciousness, enough to maybe begin shifting back towards a tone that takes itself more seriously than Pontac and Graff have for the past decade.

Then I start to consider everything that could go wrong with a remake made by today's Sonic Team, without any of Yuji Naka's guidance. I worry whether they would even attempt to replicate the tone of the original game, or worse, try and embarrass themselves spectacularly instead. I worry whether elements like Big would be looked at with proper scrutiny, either copy-pasting his original gameplay back in, warts and all, or outright removing him from the game, neither of which I want. I worry whether Roger Craig Smith could even passably emote through a script more in-line with the Adventure games, because getting Ryan Drummond back is a nigh-impossibility. I worry that even if Sonic Team somehow, miraculously manages to make a remake that completely superannuates the original, the critical reception to it mirrors the more recent sentiments towards the Adventure games, just because that style of game isn't liked by the public anymore. That possibility taking fruition would likely make me begin to question whether I've gotten too old for video games, or if video games have outgrown me, but that's neither here nor there.

Sure, sign me up for the "I want this to be a thing" category, because why the hell not? It's not like I'm looking forward to much else from this franchise anymore.