Will 2019 be a good year for Sonic?

[Rowl]

A new for year has began and I wonder if this one will turn out better for the Blue Blur. Let's be honest... Sonic hasn't really god a good year since... well Generations. Sure, we got Mania, but in the same year we also got Forces, so... yeah, that kinda killed of all the positive feedback from critiques. 

So, can be 2019 finally be the year for Sonic? I personally don't think that. First we have the upcoming movie and so far it didn't really left a first good impression. Everyone on the internet makes fun about it or already bashes the movie, even thought we didn't even god a real trailer yet. That kinda shows me, that this movie will not turn our good in the end. The only people that will watch this movie are die hard Sonic fans and people who want to watch this movie ironically. I'm not even sure if young kids will be interested in the movie.

And then we have Team Sonic Racing, which... well we can not really say much about this game, because Sega never really shows much gameplay of it. Also, now that Crash Team Racing was announced I do not see how TSR cam compete with it. CTR will run over TSR and crush it. I see no hopes for this game...

So... yeah... so far 2019 doesn't really look good for the blue hedgehog. At least in my eyes. What do you guys think?

[Riggo]

I mean, people like IDW quite a bit so far...? That’s good, right?

 

I don’t personally share their enjoyment, but it’s something.

[Whatever the WhoCares]

Hard to say how this year will go. Team Sonic Racing looks like a ton of fun if they can pull it off, I’m really digging the nods to obscure stages like Sand Hill. SA2 might get a Switch port, which would be fantastic and all they’d really have to do is bring over the widescreen version they made years ago. The movie will come and go, not really hurting the game series at all. Young kids will eat it up, and anyone old enough to see it for the dumpster fire it is will also know it’s far removed from any Sonic they see at GameStop. But TSR is still a pretty small game, and it’s too early to expect anything new on the Classic side.

Really the only way this could be considered anything close to a great year for Sonic, is if SEGA announces a new game and reveals increasingly promising gameplay/info throughout the year.  Bonus points for releasing the thing, but that’s just not likely at all. 

[Rowl]

12 minutes ago, Riggo said:

I mean, people like IDW quite a bit so far...? That’s good, right?

 

I always forget about the comics. IDW do not really talk much about them.

[Salamander]

TSR I think will continue to be inoffensive at worst, and while it's unlikely to get extraordinary acclaim I think it won't do too badly in terms of Sonic's reputation or anything.  IDW will likely be in more or less the same boat, only probably a little more obscure unless Sega actually bothers to advertise it for a change, which you'd think they'd do given that they're taking much more active control of it.  But the real determining factor will be just how bad the movie is.  The feature itself won't be out until the end of the year, but you can bet that it'll be providing more ammunition - sorry, promotion - over the course of many months, and could well end up defining the Sonic narrative, if you like, for the year, to the exclusion of all else.

The best you can say for core Sonic is that there's unlikely to be a new Sonic Team game (or, fingers crossed, Mania team) this year, so strictly speaking whatever happens won't necessarily reflect on the heart of the franchise; it's all spin-offs.  But that may not matter if the spin-offs are sufficiently attention-grabbing.  I wouldn't be surprised if what we end up with falls into the typical media Sonic narrative of "one step forward, two steps back" - TSR will be solid if unspectacular, but then the movie will horrify.

[Marco9966]

1 hour ago, Rowl said:

I always forget about the comics. IDW do not really talk much about them.

Neither does the Sonic official twitter and facebook pages.

[Rowl]

8 minutes ago, Marco9966 said:

Neither does the Sonic official twitter and facebook pages.

The internet also barley talks about IDW comics as well. I'm not sure what Archie did, but they manage to hold people's interest in comic from the beginning.

[SaturnWolf]

Will 2019 be a good year for any of us?

In a lot of ways, I want to say it's too early to tell, but we do have a pretty good map of the road ahead, at the very least, two major landmarks.

Team Sonic Racing will probably be decent at best and mediocre at worst. The delay in all honesty was probably the best news we could've possibly hoped for it, since yikes, the footage they showed off, the game doesn't look anywhere near ready.

The movie, well, I think it's pretty clear how that's gonna go.

 

Who knows, though? There could be other things around the corner.

[TheOcelot]

2017 & 2018 were both good years in my opinion. Mania in 2017 comfortably out-shown Forces. In 2018 we got IDW comics, Mania Plus & Sonic Mania Adventures. Also, the new SEGA Mega-Drive/Genesis classics collection for current-gen and the SEGA Ages for Switch. Not to mention the other SEGA games released including the Shenmue HD collection.

As for 2019. We have a movie which has received a lot of negativity thanks to the reveal of hairy-legs-hog. SEGA has continued their new policy of delaying games, this time with TSR. One would hope Sumo Digital will use the extra time to really polish up the game, make it as good as possible. Also, the SEGA Ages version of Sonic 2 (which will include Mania's drop-dash and has been teased might include originally cut-content) will be releasing in the first half of 2019. 

So, I can envisage 2019 being a weaker year overall.

 

This year also marks the 25th anniversary of 3&K, so I'd imagine Sonic social media will be celebrating. Since a new official release of 3K isn't likely, at least we have the "Sonic 3 AIR" hack/mod to look forward to which is giving Sonic 3 Complete a serious run for it's money.

[dbzfan7]

Reminds me of that Warp Zone sketch

But honestly....2019 ain't looking good. We got TSR which I'm pretty sure will not impress anyone,and the Sonic movie which will have Sonic be digging a deeper hole than he's already in. I can see some bright spots if we get more Mania cartoons, and if IDW becomes engaging for once. Otherwise....tune in for the same Sonic time at the same Sonic channel. Will definitely be full of reruns like Green Hill Zone XP.

[Sonic Fan J]

I want to be positive about Sonic going into 2019, but frankly, the IDW comics are about all that I see Sonic has going for him right now. TSR holds no interest to me and most of what I've seen discussed about doesn't make it sound like it's holding an audience at all. Of course then there is the movie, and honestly, the sooner that's forgotten the better I'll feel about it. Of course with it debuting at the end of the year it is going to have to be advertised for most of the year making it the image of Sonic this year. I know that they are people who genuinely like and are willing to give it a chance, but that imagery based on everything I know about it right now does not seem like the best product to put forth to represent Sonic for 2019. Honestly, this is the first time in a long while, if not ever, that I'd rather Sonic go a whole year without putting anything out asides the comic. I'm all for a surprise that could make me change my mind, but right now with what we have been shown the sooner 2019 is behind us the better it'll be for Sonic.

Boy though it would be nice to have a reason to be hopeful and optimistic for Sonic this year.

[Multikaris]

Not as bad as, say, 2013, but nothing special either. Unless something unexpected, either good or bad, occurs. SEGA have distanced themselves from the feature film as much as possible, to an even greater extent than IDW, and speaking of alternate media, it is almost certain Boom will end. TSR looks like it is nothing in the face of a certain Mr. Bandicoot remaking his own racer. Iizuka brought up the idea of an SA1 remake, but remember that Silver the Hedgehog spinoff that so far hasn’t happened?

 

And I must have forgotten the 800 ton ultrasaurus in the room, the live-Action movie... 

[Stephen Rodriguez]

I personally thought that 2017 and 2018 were good years for Sonic due to Mania, Mania Adventures, and the IDW comics. As for 2019, it looks to be a mixed bag. I'm probably the only one here who is still looking forward to TSR and not really pitting it against Crash Team Racing. To me, TSR will be good (but not GOTY-tier) at best, and average at the worst. But since they delayed the game (which I hope does help), we'll just have to see.

I'll still be following the IDW comics and can't wait for the annual to come out this month, so that's another thing. Still I wish SEGA gave it more attention.

Of course things aren't looking too good for the movie at the moment, and to be honest with you, I've been more looking forward to seeing Detective Pikachu ever since I saw the first trailer back in November. However, I don't think it will affect the series that much. If none of the mediocre to outright bad titles in the game series were enough to kill Sonic, what makes you think this movie will? If it fails, it'll just go down the garbage chute with the rest of the bad video game film adaptations. 

So yeah, those are my thoughts about Sonic in 2019. That is all.

[DabigRG]

But honestly, I just want for a fine year. And/or fun.

[PC the Hedgehog]

With what we have on the slate currently? Meh. TSR looks fun, but it's just a racing game. The comics haven't really done anything spectacular yet, but maybe year 2 will be more interesting. Other than those we have, what, just the movie? And we all know what a disaster that's going to be.

The only way I think this will be a 'good' year for Sonic is if Sega announces something downright amazing on down the line. As it is, and as much as I hate to say it, anything good that does happen this year will be undone by how horrible the movie will be. We all know it.

[Gumbit]

I hope so , being a good year for Sonic . I'm actually planning to buy both CTR and TSR .

[Soniman]

IDW and TSR being innofensive to good content for Sonic in 2019  means we aren't looking at another disaster at least. I have no doubt there's something unannounced bring cooked up though sadly 

[Osmium]

Well we're getting a movie that has a 100% chance of sending Sonic's reputation even further down into the shitcoated toilet for starters so I don't think it's going to be a terribly good year. 

[ThePrinceOfSaiyans]

Unless we get a Sonic Mania 2 to offset the Sonic movie, then Hell fucking naw.

[TideKai]

Eeeh...I guess it depends on your definition of a good year. I think Team Sonic Racing looks pretty good and is shaping up to be a fun game, so that's good. There's also IDW as others have noted, and I really like the comic so far, especially in the art department.

But at the same time, the movie will be coming out too. I guess it depends on how much the movie overshadows everything else. Maybe the movie will barely make a splash and be it's own little thing, seen as separate from the series and thus won't do too much damage to the other Sonic branches of media. That's just me being optimistic about it, though. Or maybe it will be funnier than expected or have at least one redeeming quality? But that's also me being optimistic.

I honestly don't know. If it wasn't for the film coming out, I would say it wouldn't be a bad year for Sonic. But I still have no idea how the movie is going to go down and affect everything. If I had to be truthful, I'd say I'm a little fearful of what's in store.

[Rabid-Coot]

If it was just a racing game and comics year I could speculate about it being a good but quiet year based on what we currently know.

Unfortunatly this is the movie year and that will be the thing that dominates with 2-3 trailers, character design reveals, vocal choices, interviews, tv spots, reviews, opening weekend, the drops in the following weeks and the staggered international release.

[DCFCSonic20]

I'd like to think so, first off we have Team Sonic Racing which is being released in May and got delayed. It looks pretty good, and very fun. The 6 month delay will probably let them encorporate things like the Transformed mechanic and fix glaring bugs. Sumo Digital tend to have a good reputation with racing games, and I would be extremely surprised if it got shat on to any degree. 

 

Then we we have the untitled mainstream Sonic game which is more than expected to be announced and released this year, due to criticisms Forces and most likely being developed alongside by the A Team (This is an assumption, just my common sense coming into play). They would have lots of stuff I would be excited for, especially if this 'Sonic Origins' rumour is true. Then this could see the blue blur become more likeable and acceptable again, as long as Graff and Pontac are gone. However, if these are good to go by, the release alongside of a certain movie will ruin everything this year has built up.

 

Oh boy, where do I begin? First off, the design is a joke. But hopefully the beta sitting on Chris Pratt's head Sonic is the one that they'll go for. It's still bad, but not as bad as the one that we currently have. It is almost certain that the film will bomb hard with critics, and will certainly do damage to the character. But Mario had a terrible movie back in the 90's which didn't ruin his reputation, because good games like 64 got released around the time of that. 

Hopefully that's the same case for this franchise, but I don't see it. Anything the games build up, the movie will almost certainatly ruin all the hype and momentum that Sonic has this year.

[Korke]

TSR will certainly be crushed by Crash, so I guess not.