Sonic 30th predictions

[Slashy]

Let's be real all SEGA needs to do is add more characters to get people to buy this.

If they make it all the way to Cream it will be day one purchase for all of the hardcore Sonic fans.

[Kuzu]

1 hour ago, Soniman said:

I'm interested in seeing what the critics do think from a analytical standpoint. They always talked about how good Colors is in the past tense so I doubt many of played it again recent to reevaluate their stance. The waning reputation in the Fandom is already obvious so it'll be interesting seeing how it fares with the wider audience once again 

I doubt its going to drop all that much. Objectively speaking, there's nothing really wrong with Sonic colors as tends to be the case with most Sonic games, that alone is what earned it a lot of its good will. And the general public doesn't give a single fuck what the fans think, so I'm sure they'll be more lenient. 

 

I can't see the Metacritic score dropping anymore than like 70 in that case. 

[KHCast]

2 hours ago, Wraith said:

They released Bayonetta, Vanquish, Catherine, Persona 4, Yakuza 0, Project Diva and Panzer Dragoon all last year and Banana Blitz HD the year before that. These releases don't get a ton of buzz either way,

Eh, I’d say Persona 4 specifically drew a ton of buzz, it was one of the best selling steam games of that month it came out iirc. But yeah I get your point overall 

[Blue Blood]

2 hours ago, TheOcelot said:

Would be neat if they restored the original vision of having 2 acts instead of 6 on each planet and include the DS version, but I'm not expecting any new content. Just minimum effort with 1080p & 60fps.

Is there any known cut-content from the original release (apart from the original intention of having to 2 acts instead of 6)?

Not really. Some unused voice clips, a few unfinished Sonic Simulator layouts, nothing much of interest. The biggest thing is the fact that the acts were split up.

[Soniman]

I like the idea of having the DS version available to play as an alternate mode but idk how convenient or worth it that be to implement considering its DS origins 

Then again many people prefer that to the original so many it would be worth the effort 

[Jango]

27 minutes ago, Blue Blood said:

unused voice clips

Ah yes, I've waited a long time for this: bring back all these "that's what she said" lines.

[VO.SUPER]

Never played Colours myself, so I'm looking forward to an updated remaster. But we must be getting very close to a lot of announcements if we've gotten such a visible leak. Probably all of it is coming this month seeing as SEGA won't be at E3 this year.

[Slashy]

I hope we get Sonic 4 ports as well.

[Spooky Mulder]

19 hours ago, Slashy said:

I hope we get Sonic 4 ports as well.

I'm fine with leaving Sonic 4 in the dustbin. If it's included in like a Sonic Gems Collection kind of thing that's fine but I don't think SEGA should waste any more resources on reminding us about that game. It all just feels so incomplete. I'd rather move on.

[DaddlerTheDalek]

Well. At least It would be a great opportunity to finally play Colours.

[King Conne]

On 4/10/2021 at 10:17 PM, Slashy said:

I hope we get Sonic 4 ports as well.

And complete it with EPISODE 3 (and a new mini-episode like EPISODE METAL between EPISODE 2 and 3, then another final bonus episode for the true ending)!!...
And replace Sonic's sprites in EPISODE 1 by those of EPISODE 2!!...

[Sonicka]

Personally speaking, I would be 100% down for a HD remaster of Colours.

I can understand why this might be singled out considering it is the only one of the "boost trilogy" that never had any sort of High Definition release having only released on Wii (I'm not counting "Rush 3" here) - so it would be somewhat of a hot title for players to finally get their hands on outside of Nintendo's System. It was a really pretty game and the most fun I had from that particular generation of Sonic games.

Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Generations are "better" to some extent, but Sonic Colours was one of those games that felt consistently fun all the way through. It's just a shame they never quite nailed what made the wisp mechanic in this game enjoyable as (apart from Team racing) their inclusion made less and less sense and detracted from the core Sonic gameplay rather than added to it in Lost World and Forces. 

Anyway, in general though it would just be nice to at least get the "Boost Trilogy" as an "all in one" package with the other two upscaled and maybe running at 60FPS. Buuuuut a new game would be nice from Sega. I am still keeping my fingers crossed for something from Christian Whitehead and his team as Sega would be nutters not to follow Mania up. It doesn't even have to be "Mania 2" - but it feels like they should at least have earned the rights to be given more creative access to do what they want with the blue blur by now. 

 

[Scritch the Cat]

I'm going to feel really let down if a remaster of Sonic Colors is the only thing they have this anniversary.  In fact, if they have nothing else it would be more dignified for them to say something like "We tried, but the pandemic kept us from getting something done" than to try to spin this remaster as a remotely sufficient way to celebrate Sonic's 30th Anniversary. 

If the remaster is actually the only Sonic game they've been working on for multiple years, I've lost all faith in this company.  At that point, there's no way to see it as healthy caution or understandable delays caused by the pandemic; this is what SEGA not giving a fuck looks like.

On 4/9/2021 at 4:24 PM, Meta77 said:

I truly hope colors is not the MAIN thing they planned for sonics 30th. While a pretty wii game it is also where the writing took a swift nosedive into the ground. Though those writers are now said to be gone from the series i believe. Sonics had some elements of silly story telling at times such as the commander and his grudge with shadow in shadow *granted had they actually flushed that game out more it could have worked out to explain his relationship with Maira more* but colors is when the series started to become meme folder. [sic]

Oh no; this series was meme fodder well before then, and absurdly enough those goofy things in ShTH were supposed to be taken dead seriously.  Colors is just when this series accepted that it would inevitably be meme fodder no matter what it tried so it might as well not fight it.

And it seems like the whole theory that SEGA is about to reboot, or at least retool this series, may have been an overreaction to them simply switching to a Canadian voice studio.

[User18091994]

It makes completely sense to re-release Sonic Colors. I know hardcore fans nowadays say Colors it's not a good game, but it isn't true and for Sega what matters the most is what general audience thinks not few hardcore fans.

Sonic Colors was successful because it's a pure Sonic experience, without alternative gameplay styles, without Werehog. I absolutely love Sonic Unleashed, the Adventure games and even some of the dark age titles as well. But, it's clear to me that when Sonic went to 3D the franchise lost a part of its appeal to the mainstream audience. In my opinion that happened because classic Sonic was about pure action and accessibility while most of the 3D Sonics aren't. They have Bigs the Cats, treasure hunting stages, werehogs, strange motion controls, etc. They feel bureaucratic.

Most of the people say Sonic Adventure 1&2 are good, but the speed stages are the better. Most of the people say Sonic Unleashed day stages are awesome, but the night stages are bad. People were asking Sega to have a pure Sonic experience for a while at that time.

Then, they released Sonic Colors. It's basically a Sonic Unleashed with only day stages with beautiful visuals and sound track.

Yeah, the story is bad, Sonic characterization ia terrible. But so is Generations' and people still say Sonic Generation is a good game despite that.

Sonic Colors gameplay is more simple than Unleashed and Generations because it's a Wii game and has more limitations, but it's still pretty good. The themes of the stages are all new to the franchise and they are all creative and beautiful.

Actually, I prefere Colors than Generations. Because Colors is 100% modern Sonic, it has more diversity when it comes to the stage themes and it has more stages. Sonic Generations has only 1 true act (modern Sonic) per world and the other ones are boring alternative missions.

Generations gameplay is better, but I prefere the whole package of Colors.

I'm happy with this news and it's pretty obvious that this is not the biggest game they are planning. Sega has already said there're multiple games coming.

[Razule]

Even if this and/or other remasters are all we get this year, it doesn't mean that this is the sole thing they've been working on for the past few years. That would be insane. That'd have to be a full-blown remake. 

[Jango]

Just thinking about how I spent days trying to find the best configuration to run Colors on the Dolphin emulator brings a sense of nostalgia to me. I remember I had a blast playing it, even at 20FPS at best on my old computer. The short levels in Colors are more fun and entertaining than any level in Forces, period. So I welcome this and other "Ultimate" editions / remasters with open arms, but like most of you, I do hope this isn't the ONLY type of game we're getting for the freaking 30th anniversary.

[HPX]

59 minutes ago, Raphael Martins said:

it's clear to me that when Sonic went to 3D the franchise lost a part of its appeal to the mainstream audience. In my opinion that happened because classic Sonic was about pure action and accessibility while most of the 3D Sonics aren't.

I'd argue that Sonic has always had a steeper learning curve than other platformers because of its core mechanic having been about slopes, rolling, and momentum. It was and continues to be wholly unique as opposed to how jumping, stopping to assess where to jump to next, then jumping again has become a universal language and expectation in game design. So there's always been a higher barrier to entry with Sonic than other platformers; Sonic Adventure was the logical next step mechanically, but the added dimension added new layers of complexity that continued to define Sonic as clearly apart from the norm. So they've made the games gradually easier, more automated, with fewer margins for error until we arrived at the boost formula which finally stripped the core mechanic of the series away entirely in favor of something simpler and more conceptually focused, though I think we may have different definitions of "pure."

I'm happy for Colors fans and anytime a game is made more accessible is a win, but I understand where the agitation from certain sections of the fanbase is coming from. Colors marks a clear turning point into the current era, which has been so preoccupied with alienating itself from Sonic's original core that it's left the fanbase wondering what Sonic even is anymore, and anxious about what it could be. Of course, pragmatically, it's Colors is a logical choice to port forward.

I just wish we could get back towards fleshing out those core elements again. Here's hoping.

[Scritch the Cat]

2 hours ago, Razule said:

Even if this and/or other remasters are all we get this year, it doesn't mean that this is the sole thing they've been working on for the past few years. That would be insane.

Tragic as this is, at this point I'm not sure it would.  With so many other IPs held in higher regard and making them loads of cash, I'm not sure SEGA has to care about Sonic anymore.  Maybe them closing down Sonic Team and absorbing its employees into their other divisions was a worse sign than we thought of which way the wind was blowing.

[Iko]

On 4/10/2021 at 6:51 PM, Slashy said:

Let's be real all SEGA needs to do is add more characters to get people to buy this.

If they make it all the way to Cream it will be day one purchase for all of the hardcore Sonic fans.

It's something that I've said since when Colors was originally released on Wii: since it's set in an amusement park, having characters like Cream and Charmy around should have been a natural thing... so if they add them somehow, it would be only for the better (playable or not). Overall, one of Colors' biggest flaws (at least conceptually) IMO is that it's supposed to represent an amusement park, but there's almost nothing that suggests it really is one, aside of a couple of level gimmicks and that Tropical Resort boss.

[HPX]

1 hour ago, Scritch the Cat said:

Tragic as this is, at this point I'm not sure it would.  With so many other IPs held in higher regard and making them loads of cash, I'm not sure SEGA has to care about Sonic anymore.  Maybe them closing down Sonic Team and absorbing its employees into their other divisions was a worse sign than we thought of which way the wind was blowing.

This is almost certainly alarmist, but tbh the continued radio silence just does not inspire confidence at all. On the other hand, maybe the next game gets outsourced to a developer who actually gives a shit like with Mania, especially since there's no Sonic Team anymore. 

Honestly, when's the soonest we can reasonably expect any sort of official statement regarding the next game? June? 

[Scritch the Cat]

43 minutes ago, HPX said:

This is almost certainly alarmist, but tbh the continued radio silence just does not inspire confidence at all. On the other hand, maybe the next game gets outsourced to a developer who actually gives a shit like with Mania, especially since there's no Sonic Team anymore. 

Honestly, when's the soonest we can reasonably expect any sort of official statement regarding the next game? June? 

June being Sonic’s debut month, that would be an ideal time to, if not release a 30th anniversary game, at least reveal it.  But an anniversary game released this year should ideally be awesome enough that it could have been revealed earlier.

[Salamander]

7 hours ago, Razule said:

Even if this and/or other remasters are all we get this year, it doesn't mean that this is the sole thing they've been working on for the past few years. That would be insane. That'd have to be a full-blown remake. 

It is technically possible for this to be all we get if they were working on another project which was cancelled.  To be clear, there's no reason to believe this whatsoever, I'm just pointing out that it could happen in theory.

3 hours ago, Iko said:

It's something that I've said since when Colors was originally released on Wii: since it's set in an amusement park, having characters like Cream and Charmy around should have been a natural thing... so if they add them somehow, it would be only for the better (playable or not). Overall, one of Colors' biggest flaws (at least conceptually) IMO is that it's supposed to represent an amusement park, but there's almost nothing that suggests it really is one, aside of a couple of level gimmicks and that Tropical Resort boss.

One of the strengths of the DS version which this remaster will presumably entirely ignore!  DS really has one of the better uses of Sonic's extended cast, and they make the park feel lived-in.  For the mainline version it would make more sense to say that the park hasn't officially opened yet.

[Red Hot Jack]

Remasters and ports or collections may be all we are getting this year, not for the whole anniversary, if we are to believe Zippo, this is just the appetizer while they work on the big stuff. But due to the world's situation, they may have postponed everything so that these old games are the only thing for 2021.

On the topic of more content, what would you have? If they were to get all the side cast for missions like the DS version, and even the secret final boss, how would that work for the story and voice acting? Roger left, Kate Higgins has left as Tails for a long time, so how would they add more? Re-dub or something? Replacing Roger would be really sad considering this was his first game, unless he already recorded lines for more content. 

Or there is not more story content, there must be something though because the leaked name was Sonic Colors Ultimate.

[Salamander]

35 minutes ago, Jack-ted said:

Or there is not more story content, there must be something though because the leaked name was Sonic Colors Ultimate.

The "something" will almost certainly just be prettier graphics than the Wii was capable of.  I'm not personally expecting anything more than that.

Supposedly insiders have indicated more substantial added content, though?  Does anyone have an actual source for that, because all I've seen is second-hand reporting of insiders having allegedly said this, not the actual insider statements themselves.

[Red Hot Jack]

1 hour ago, Salamander said:

The "something" will almost certainly just be prettier graphics than the Wii was capable of.  I'm not personally expecting anything more than that.

Supposedly insiders have indicated more substantial added content, though?  Does anyone have an actual source for that, because all I've seen is second-hand reporting of insiders having allegedly said this, not the actual insider statements themselves.

"There must be something" is pure speculation on my part based on the name Ultimate and the fact that it's big enough to warrant a limited edition with gadgets 

Well, Zippo said there is "some extra content", should not be too much, but I assume this is his assumption too.