Sonic 30th predictions

[Wraith]

The PS3 is not a current gen console

[Tracker_TD]

I think it would've made more sense to bring up Unleashed being on Xbox One/Series X backwards compat, honestly...

I think Unleashed is technically on PS4 via PSNow too, but also PSNow is hot garbage.

[Kuzu]

15 minutes ago, Wraith said:

The PS3 is not a current gen console

True, but it;s still easier to access than a getting a Wii and a physical copy of Sonic Colors. 

[Wraith]

4 minutes ago, Kuzu said:

True, but it;s still easier to access than a getting a Wii and a physical copy of Sonic Colors. 

You'd have to jump through about the same amount of hoops. Unleashed has some advantages in that you can just download it off the store or play it on your Xbox One if you have the 360 version, but it's not ideal in either game's case.

[Tracker_TD]

I'd argue Colours actually has it ever so slightly better; while PS3/360 emulation is steadily improving, it's like pulling teeth compared to how easy it is to get Dolphin up and running with Colours.

I know, it's unofficial and therefore it shouldn't really count (nor does it replace the demand for an official release on major systems), but for those who're just looking for a way to play the games in question it bears consideration.

[McGroose]

37 minutes ago, Tracker_TD said:

I'd argue Colours actually has it ever so slightly better; while PS3/360 emulation is steadily improving, it's like pulling teeth compared to how easy it is to get Dolphin up and running with Colours.

I know, it's unofficial and therefore it shouldn't really count (nor does it replace the demand for an official release on major systems), but for those who're just looking for a way to play the games in question it bears consideration.

This is one of the reasons why I really want Unleashed ported to PC. I have a good hardware setup, I could emulate Unleashed if I wanted to, but that's a hassle for me to do. Meanwhile it took me no time at all to setup Colors on Dolphin with high resolution and framerate, while Unleashed on emulator is still in a slightly messy state (they've done amazing work with it, though!)

So we can just toss out the idea that Sega will want nothing to do with Unleashed in the future, right? The fact they made the game Xbox one compatible with an enhanced patch tells me that they're aware fans want the game. I wouldn't be too surprised if, for the upcoming anniversary, we got a compilation of games that included Unleashed. Expect reviewers like IGN to dock off a few points just cause Sega acknowledged what the fans want lol 

And yes, PSnow is hot gargbage and Xbone's backwards compatability is always something that will always kick the PS4's ass. One of the few things the console really has going for it in comparison. 

[Tracker_TD]

6 minutes ago, McGroose said:

The fact they made the game Xbox one compatible with an enhanced patch tells me that they're aware fans want the game.

I think that's more Microsoft's ball game than SEGA's; Microsoft probably just wanted any Sonic game they could get their mits on. 

[azoo]

A lot of the discussion right now seems to be about ports and remasters, but honestly (while those would be nice) I'm completely over it at this point.

I'm ready to see what a new game looks like. 

[Jango]

I do share the same feeling, especially because it feels like Sonic is always "remastering" stuff by bringing them back all the time. Gimmicks, levels, music, enemies, it's always in this zone of nostalgia. The last game that actually felt new was Unleashed, and that is crazy. 

But it's safe to say that SEGA has an eye on everything that's been going with remakes and remasters these last couple of years and how successful they can be. 

[iambitter21]

1 hour ago, azoo said:

A lot of the discussion right now seems to be about ports and remasters, but honestly (while those would be nice) I'm completely over it at this point.

the last comment I made wasn't even about remakes/remasters, and here we are.

[Waluigi Smash]

Yeah Boy!!!

[BadBehavior]

Oh boy new games! My predictions:

Sonic Mania 2, but it's all Green Hill Zone, as well as different Hill zones in different shades of green. (Turqouise Hill Zone, Moss Hill Zone, Shamrock Hill Zone etc)

Sonic Forces 2, but it's all Classic Sonic. But it plays like the unholy love child of Forces Classic and Sonic 4 Episode 1. If you try rolling down a slope, you are given a trophy called "As you truly imagined it" because this game is all about the memes.

If you have 100% completion save data for both, you are given the opportunity to play Azure Sunrise, an awesome as hell proof of concept level from a potential Sonic Adventure spiritual successor, but it was scrapped to focus on the projects the fans really wanted.

And if you beat Azure Sunrise, your reward is to watch the 1st episode of Sonic X, redubbed with the current voice cast.

[iambitter21]

1 hour ago, BadBehavior said:

Oh boy new games! My predictions:

Sonic Mania 2, but it's all Green Hill Zone, as well as different Hill zones in different shades of green. (Turqouise Hill Zone, Moss Hill Zone, Shamrock Hill Zone etc)

Sonic Forces 2, but it's all Classic Sonic. But it plays like the unholy love child of Forces Classic and Sonic 4 Episode 1. If you try rolling down a slope, you are given a trophy called "As you truly imagined it" because this game is all about the memes.

If you have 100% completion save data for both, you are given the opportunity to play Azure Sunrise, an awesome as hell proof of concept level from a potential Sonic Adventure spiritual successor, but it was scrapped to focus on the projects the fans really wanted.

And if you beat Azure Sunrise, your reward is to watch the 1st episode of Sonic X, redubbed with the current voice cast.

All of this is obviously not gonna happen as much as forces makes us think that it will, but I get the joke.

My predictions? they're a bit more grounded:

Sonic Mania 2: maybe with some re-used stages as well as some good looking new ones, but mostly the same game design philosophy as the first. another animated intro is sure to happen, with Tyson Hesse of course. mighty and ray may not return as in-game characters, and become DLC again. the music is gonna be fire as usual, and the visuals will be pretty good.

New 3d sonic game: if we're extremely lucky, we may be getting a sonic adventure-inspired game, having mostly semi-linear level design, average-good momentum-based physics, tails and knuckles (probably) as playable characters, and a decent script, plot and story. if not, than I predict it being a pretty good boost game akin to the quality of generations or colors, if a bit less, however. the story still most likely won't be written by Pontaff, since it's been rumored the 2 being removed from sonic team, so It may be written by someone else, probably better than most of the 2010 games. regardless of which direction the next 3d game will go, the voice acting is bound to stay the same, they simply can't switch voice actors on the fly when a game is still in production, as sad as that sounds to a lot a people gunning for the adventure cast to come back.

We may also get a spin-off of some genre if the word "multiple" has something to do with this. it isn't confirmed which one, though, so we can just wait and see for ourselves.

[HPX]

I predict Sonic will never be 3D ever again. I predict we will never see a return to the shonen vibes of the earlier games. I predict the characters will continue to be unimportant, peripheral, embarrassing self-parodies of who they used to be, and that the series will never again acknowledge the lore it abandoned fourteen years ago.

For the next year specifically, I predict they will churn out another boost game comparable to Forces, likely with less story or at least a worse one. Zavok will make a triumphant return, as will the fan-favorite wisps. Maybe there'll be a follow-up to Mania which will again be the only decent thing to come out of this franchise since the last Mania, convincing laypeople and SEGA themselves that Classic Sonic is the only Sonic people will accept. The future will look bright as SEGA realizes it can, without a doubt, indefinitely profit off of people's nostalgia for Sonic 2. Maybe another mobile game if we're really lucky!

I feel like I'm in limbo, just waiting furiously for the other shoe to drop so I can confirm beyond a doubt that this franchise just isn't for me anymore. I hate that there are so many caveats to my love for this series. I'm tired and I want to move on, but not before I see what this next game is.

[Kuzu]

You guys are a ray of sunshine, you know that.

[iambitter21]

7 minutes ago, Kuzu said:

You guys are a ray of sunshine, you know that.

if you're talking about HPX and BadBehavior I'm finna lose it.

[Jango]

We joke a lot but I get really anxious sometimes because that shit can actually happen xD Not most of it, but something like that. 

But hey, we were joking about a lot of terrible scenarios for the future of Sonic before Sonic Mania came around, remember? It was right after the whole Sonic Boom flop. Mania's reveal got even more intense because of that, it was like the second coming of Jesus.

I don't know, we MIGHT be surprised for what's to come in 2021. 

[expansivelovestories]

Yes; i think that they are aware that the past several games have been, you know, hedging, about returning to the actual core storyline of both timelines!!

To me something like that goes beyond being a players/fans concern and into the realm where everyone officially working with the Sonic world themselves also would genuinely like to create what happens next! 

Was Colors was the most recent true advancement of the story for the modern timeline??  Mania did bring some unique plot twists to the original timeline in the form of Mighty and Ray becoming active as reoccurring characters (playable or otherwise) again and Eggman having been transported somewhere else with no indication of where and for how long!  To me a full blown Mania 2 feels unlikely, if they have been able to get on solid ground in terms of what could happen next and where it would take place!!

[Peachy Owl]

I think Forces 2 could be a really cool game and I don't mind seeing it as the 30th (there were some pretty weak leaks about it some time ago). There is a lot to grow on, potential for many characters being used and returning and I loved the Avatar System. And with better writing it could be a really fun game. it just need polish and someone good to lead the project. 

But at the same time I'm pretty sure we should expect either something completely safe like a new Mania/2D game or something completely new and unpredictable like Forces was at the time. Sonic... *throws dart* Dota. 

I hope with my heart that it's not just a collection or a re-release. That would be really sad. 

[Natie]

Looking at how things have gone, they’re either gonna try to reinvent 3D sonic again or go another round missing the point and doing the same thing. They always bent to criticisms a bit, we can only hope they've been given a much clearer idea these days than "shitty friends" and "not enough fast". 

I think 2D Sonic will stay the same, as they found out how to make it successful.

[azoo]

Nobody wants to hear this but I'd embrace another 3D Sonic reinvention.

If it means getting away from the stigma of what "modern" or "classic" Sonic means in favor of doing something fresh (whether good or bad) I'd gladly take that. Yeah, I'll even take a LW-tier misfire at this point. Anything to shake it up because lord, the status quo they've put themselves in has made things boring to think of a follow-up to.

[Scritch the Cat]

3 hours ago, azoo said:

Nobody wants to hear this but I'd embrace another 3D Sonic reinvention.

If it means getting away from the stigma of what "modern" or "classic" Sonic means in favor of doing something fresh (whether good or bad) I'd gladly take that. Yeah, I'll even take a LW-tier misfire at this point. Anything to shake it up because lord, the status quo they've put themselves in has made things boring to think of a follow-up to.

I for one am fine with hearing it, though as it happens I’m reading it instead.  

Boost Sonic’s moveset isn’t too far from Adventure Sonic’s moveset, but building levels around the boost has completely altered what Sonic is, and not for the better, in my opinion.  Granted, some of the bad trends in the boost games were already evolving in the Adventure games, whatwith their abundance of dash panels, automated segments and negligible use of momentum, but they could have changed that into something that played more like Classic Sonic just by removing things that weren’t really very crucial to the appeal of the Adventure games.  However, now that boost has been built into Sonic himself, I think SEGA doesn’t feel safe removing it, as to do so would make Sonic less good at what he’s marketed around doing.  At the same time, the boost being there actually keeps the games from doing what made the Classic games so special, as they make it unnecessary to use terrain to help accelerate Sonic.  They also make exploration less viable, as levels have to expand more forward at the expense of other directions.

All this wouldn’t be such a big deal if we had alternatives to boost games, but I’m not convinced we will.  As big a hit as Sonic Mania was and as good a display of how good Classic Sonic could be, the same year we got Sonic Forces to demonstrate that Classic Sonic could be bad, too.  Getting a DLC for SM was neat, but it seems like 2D Sonic games would be easy enough to make that we should have gotten an outright sequel now—yet we have not.  Then there’s Sonic Boom, which despite being a separate canon, was the first chance we had in a long time to play as other characters than just Sonic, and with that sub-series’ failure they might be once again afraid of doing that.  I could be very wrong, but it will take a major announcement to the contrary, with specifics, to convince me that there’s more in store for us than just more boost.

[Josh]

I remain, as always, optimistic about the future of the series. I mean, god damn, if my fandom survived 2004-2006, it'll survive anything.

I care way more about whether the concept is well-executed than what the concept actually is. So long as the gameplay is speedy, fun, and rewarding to replay a billion times, I'll be satisfied!

That said, Josh's ideal 30th anniversary games would consist of:

1) A brand new 2D game, created by the same team behind Sonic Mania, with plenty of promos (and opening/ending scenes) by Tyson Hesse. Whether it's pixel art, hand-drawn 2D art (think Sonic Freedom), or I guess even 2.5D models, as long as it's designed to the same standard as Mania, it'll automatically be one of my favorite games ever.

2) That proper, complete, focused follow-up to Unleashed/Colors/Generations that we never got. Combine the best elements of those three games, take this opportunity to modernize the boost gameplay, use the Avatar as a proof of concept for another playable character or two (Tails? Knuckles? VECTOR?), give me a slate of distinct zones, and if you're going to have any sort of real story/character focus, get Ian Flynn.

Neither game should feature any kind of throwback zones. I'm personally never gonna be tired of nostalgic levels. But I am tired of people whining about them, haha. And besides, the 20th anniversary was such a throwback, let's have the 30th set a new standard. So in lieu of looking back...

3) A 30th anniversary collection. I don't really want to say what it could include because who knows what the logistics are there, but if we could FINALLY get console versions of the Retro Engine remakes of Sonic 1 and 2, that'd be a nice start. I'd also be very happy with Unleashed/Colors/Generations being ported to current-gen, all enhanced and running at 60fps.

However things shake out, I can't wait to see what Sonic Team's been planning!

[Eurisko]

Bring it on...... New games.

Hopefully this prolonged development cycle will have had the desired effect.

[Red Hot Jack]

Here's my speculation updated to new thoughts:

- A brand new Classic title inspired by Mania but with a new unique artstyle, playable Amy and Honey, more than 1 story, one for Sonic and Tails, at least a different one for Knuckles, and one for the girls. Have Mighty and Ray as unlockable or DLC. All-new enemies as bosses. Brand new power-ups. And a higher budget than Mania.

- A new Adventure type of game, with SA nostalgia and new elements, Sonic and Shadow should be the main playable characters, with Tails, Knuckles and Silver as amigo types with few stages and smaller stories. Upgrades, Chao Gardens, hubworlds, I mean most elements from the Adventure series, plus visual customization. 

Then if they really wanted to flesh out the lore and the world(s), which I don't think they do, they could include elements and characters from IDW, this is my personal wish but since they never thought of focusing on the story, I don't think they will start now, but they could in theory use the Warp Topaz to soft reboot the franchise, retcon whatever they want and create a more unified universe. Would also explain the different portrayals of the characters, older places and events that no longer matter to the brand etc. As said in the latest Bumblekast, SEGA wanted the topaz intact for some reason. I doubt it's important but I wish, it's basically their new pocket genesis wave.

This is outside of making a good game, fast, fun and enjoyable, which should be the absolute priority.