What are some mandates by Sega you don't agree with?

[Mountaindewandsprite]

On 1/14/2021 at 8:16 AM, SonicFan2832 said:

They need to keep the details consistent with the past games.

Wishful thinking. Expecting consistency from Sonic lore is like expecting Sonic to slow down. It just ain't gonna happen.

[Scritch the Cat]

On 1/7/2021 at 3:51 PM, Rabbitearsblog said:

Do you think it's possible for SEGA to change these mandates?

Of course it’s possible.  They mandated fishing in a Sonic game and people rose a big enough stink that they dropped that feature immediately.

Granted, it’s a bit different when mandates are just about what not to do.  But if there’s a huge backlash against these mandates and games as they are stop selling as well, SEGA might put two and two together.

[Eurisko]

The one that gets at me more than anything is the " Modern Characters can't be in classic games' WHY? 

If I ever met Izuka this is one of things I'd ask. I know the man has done some good stuff over the years but these silly little rules that he has do my head in. 

[Scritch the Cat]

3 hours ago, Eurisko said:

The one that gets at me more than anything is the " Modern Characters can't be in classic games' WHY? 

If I ever met Izuka this is one of things I'd ask. I know the man has done some good stuff over the years but these silly little rules that he has do my head in. 

Iizuka has worked on good games, but I must admit that I don’t see any game whose greatness can be specifically attributed to Iizuka.

[Mauro Fonseca]

Anything great can't be attributed to Iizuka, but anything bad can. Funny how it works.

[Scritch the Cat]

1 hour ago, The KKM said:

Anything great can't be attributed to Iizuka, but anything bad can. Funny how it works.

I feel like we’re getting away from the topic at hand, which is rating SEGA’s handling of this series on a strictly conceptual level, but I’ll answer this in the interest of getting it back.  Iizuka has put his name on one of the things I despise most about the series; using the Wisps deliberately to keep other characters from being playable.  But most of what he gets blamed for is lackluster execution of concepts, whatever they be, and as Hopper observed, the first rule of leadership is that everything is your fault.  It’s possible Iizuka is getting misblamed for all manner of things.  Maybe Wisps weren’t actually his idea, and maybe he pleaded for Sonic 06 to be delayed after the downsized team meant it couldn’t be finished by its original deadline.  Maybe he likewise pleaded to fix Sonic 4, that awful Game Boy Advance port of Sonic 1, and Rise of Lyric.  But the fact is that SOMEONE made the call to rush those all out blatantly unfinished, and since they’re presenting Iizuka as the big boss of Sonic, naturally he gets blamed for such failings.  Maybe people are wrong to blame Iizuka, but they’re not wrong to blame the authorities.  It’s not a problem if a game is a glitchy turd at multiple points in its development; most are, but a good leader is supposed to ensure it’s not still a glitchy turd by the time it’s released, or else not release it yet.

Also I don’t think it’s just the presence of Iizuka that has people riled, it’s the lack of Yuji Naka.  Of course the poster child is again Sonic 06; he departed while that game was in development, and it crashed and burnt—though from what I understand, he departed because he could see it was already destined for failure.  Still, whenever people think of Sonic games beginning to suck with 06, the switch in management is easy to blame, and on some level blaming it is almost certainly correct.

[Johnster4]

57 minutes ago, The KKM said:

Anything great can't be attributed to Iizuka, but anything bad can. Funny how it works.

I've been seeing people the exact opposite argument being made where people argue that he's just a PR guy and can't be responsible for any of the games that been panned since he became the head of Sonic Team, but at the same time he gets credited for being involved with Sonic Mania, I'll probably save my extended thoughts on this topic for another thread.

[Mauro Fonseca]

2 hours ago, Scritch the Cat said:

Also I don’t think it’s just the presence of Iizuka that has people riled, it’s the lack of Yuji Naka.  Of course the poster child is again Sonic 06; he departed while that game was in development, and it crashed and burnt—though from what I understand, he departed because he could see it was already destined for failure.  Still, whenever people think of Sonic games beginning to suck with 06, the switch in management is easy to blame, and on some level blaming it is almost certainly correct.

See, this is just absurd to me. Because I remember when Naka was being blamed for Sonic games beginning to suck with Heroes, and cheered for leaving.

[thumbs13]

Are we sure that money mandate doesn't just mean they can't visually show money onscreen? Because that's the only thing that really makes sense.

[Diogenes]

16 minutes ago, thumbs13 said:

Are we sure that money mandate doesn't just mean they can't visually show money onscreen? Because that's the only thing that really makes sense.

The most sensible theory I've heard is that not bringing up money means people are less likely to wonder how all these jobless, seemingly-parentless children get food, shelter, and shiny new sneakers. Which would be a reasonable thing to address, but "money doesn't exist" is kind of the nuclear option of solutions to it.

[Scritch the Cat]

One person on Twitter who works on the series says money exists, but only certain characters are allowed to act as if it does.

5 hours ago, The KKM said:

See, this is just absurd to me. Because I remember when Naka was being blamed for Sonic games beginning to suck with Heroes, and cheered for leaving.

I can’t speak for Naka’s ideas always being good ones.  But he certainly was the star technical player on the series.

[Roger_van_der_weide]

To me, the biggest difference between Yuji Naka and Takashi Iizuka is that Naka has a very distinct presence and Iizuka doesn't.
I played Rodeo the Skysoldier and look at Balan's wonderworld footage and I immediatly feel the life force of Billy Hatcher, NiGHTS, Sonic Adventure, all present.
While Iizuka's Sonic games don't have a distinct flavor to them at all and jump all over the place.
Not helped by the fact that WHILE Sonic was changing direction all the time under Naka as well, at least it felt like an evolution. (Not necesairely a good thing with Shadow and 06, but I can see where they came from) where with Iizuka it feels like the series is much more madly changing direction every other game.

Now, these observations are not meant as a "Good/ Bad" thing. I ain't going to argue Rodeo the Sky Soldier is immediatly a better game for breathing distinct Naka DNA. In fact, i found that game a bit dull. And history will tell where Balan Wonderworld will end up.
But it does make Naka more of an Author, a leader, someone with a distinct flair and flavor. Someone with the finger on the pulse and a direction he wants to go to.
Where Iizuka just goes with the wind.
So much so that I sometimes wonder how much of a director he even is, or if he's just a Yes-man following orders.
I find reading interviews with him endlessly fascinaitng, I just don't get any grip on what his vision or direction for the series is at all.
What he says tend to be what the interviewer wants to hear or what specifically connects with the game he's currently promoting but completely contradicts anything he said before or after.
And reading him describe the games he's working on constantly makes me wonder if there's an entirely different game that exists in his head barely related to the one on storeshelves.

Of course, that's not unique to him, I remember Bill Freiberger also mention his memories of Sonic Boom episodes start to get vague as multiple episodes are in development at the same time and details are shifting all the time. But Iizuka's one of the more extreme cases I've ever seen.


So from that perspective, I can see why a lot of fans want Naka to return. If only so the distinct flavor of older Sonic returns.
Which is not a guarantee that the game will be good, but at least a comforting feel of nostalgia I guess.
And for me, at least the feeling there's a direction the series is growing too with a captain at the wheel, rather then the series madly resetting and rebooting itself for every new game, while still dragging the obsolete elements of the past along regardless.
Ironic since Iizuka is constantly relying on Nostalgia, but nostalgia in a litteral way. Here's Green hill Zone again, here's Classic Sonic again.
Rather then the return and evolution of the spirit and soul of the past.


Pfft, as for Sonic and friends surviving without a job;
Tails is an inventor. Boom, done. Sonic can leach of off him.
Knuckles is a hermit living in the wild and don't need no money.
Everyone else has a job. Except Amy I guess.
Fine, just make her a reporter who uses the adventures she keeps getting herself into as fodder for newspaper articles. Easy peasy.
But no, we always have to go with some kind of weird crazy alternative dimension time travel space utopian future world space magic solution for every problem.

Not to mention, some games indicate Rings are currency (Shadow, 06 and Dark Chronicles off the top of my head). So they can get "paid" by just playing the levels, RPG game style.

[SBR2]

On ‎1‎/‎7‎/‎2021 at 2:33 PM, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

Sonic losing isn’t anywhere near the same thing as Sonic dying. I don’t know where in the world you got that idea out of what Rogue said over that mandate.

And “Sonic can’t lose” risks making Sonic boring. I don’t want to know if Sonic is going to turn out okay, I want to know how he will succeed in the end or how badly he fails and how that will impact him going forward to set things right. That’s no where close to saying “I want Sonic to die.”

Can I be honest? I really think people exaggerate the "Can't lose" mandate. I would not call what Sonic was doing for a good chunk of the Metal Virus saga "Winning" for example. I've honestly always read it more like "Sonic has to win in the end which is just y'know basic narrative structure. 

[Wraith]

5 hours ago, Roger_van_der_weide said:

To me, the biggest difference between Yuji Naka and Takashi Iizuka is that Naka has a very distinct presence and Iizuka doesn't.
I played Rodeo the Skysoldier and look at Balan's wonderworld footage and I immediatly feel the life force of Billy Hatcher, NiGHTS, Sonic Adventure, all present.
While Iizuka's Sonic games don't have a distinct flavor to them at all and jump all over the place.
Not helped by the fact that WHILE Sonic was changing direction all the time under Naka as well, at least it felt like an evolution. (Not necesairely a good thing with Shadow and 06, but I can see where they came from) where with Iizuka it feels like the series is much more madly changing direction every other game.

Now, these observations are not meant as a "Good/ Bad" thing. I ain't going to argue Rodeo the Sky Soldier is immediatly a better game for breathing distinct Naka DNA. In fact, i found that game a bit dull. And history will tell where Balan Wonderworld will end up.
But it does make Naka more of an Author, a leader, someone with a distinct flair and flavor. Someone with the finger on the pulse and a direction he wants to go to.
Where Iizuka just goes with the wind.
So much so that I sometimes wonder how much of a director he even is, or if he's just a Yes-man following orders.
I find reading interviews with him endlessly fascinaitng, I just don't get any grip on what his vision or direction for the series is at all.
What he says tend to be what the interviewer wants to hear or what specifically connects with the game he's currently promoting but completely contradicts anything he said before or after.
And reading him describe the games he's working on constantly makes me wonder if there's an entirely different game that exists in his head barely related to the one on storeshelves.

Of course, that's not unique to him, I remember Bill Freiberger also mention his memories of Sonic Boom episodes start to get vague as multiple episodes are in development at the same time and details are shifting all the time. But Iizuka's one of the more extreme cases I've ever seen.


So from that perspective, I can see why a lot of fans want Naka to return. If only so the distinct flavor of older Sonic returns.
Which is not a guarantee that the game will be good, but at least a comforting feel of nostalgia I guess.
And for me, at least the feeling there's a direction the series is growing too with a captain at the wheel, rather then the series madly resetting and rebooting itself for every new game, while still dragging the obsolete elements of the past along regardless.
Ironic since Iizuka is constantly relying on Nostalgia, but nostalgia in a litteral way. Here's Green hill Zone again, here's Classic Sonic again.
Rather then the return and evolution of the spirit and soul of the past.


 

Are you aware of which game Iizuka has actually directed? You attribute Shadow to Naka here when Iizuka directed it, along with SA1, SA2 and heroes. 

He serves as a producer on modern Sonic which is a key role but not the same thing as director. The current director (Kishimoto) definitely has his own style, just as Naka, Hashimoto and even Iizuka did before. 

All this drama over Iizuka genuinely feels like its only happening because hes the only name people know regardless of his influence on the brand. 

[Kuzu]

5 hours ago, Roger_van_der_weide said:

To me, the biggest difference between Yuji Naka and Takashi Iizuka is that Naka has a very distinct presence and Iizuka doesn't.
I played Rodeo the Skysoldier and look at Balan's wonderworld footage and I immediatly feel the life force of Billy Hatcher, NiGHTS, Sonic Adventure, all present.
While Iizuka's Sonic games don't have a distinct flavor to them at all and jump all over the place.
Not helped by the fact that WHILE Sonic was changing direction all the time under Naka as well, at least it felt like an evolution. (Not necesairely a good thing with Shadow and 06, but I can see where they came from) where with Iizuka it feels like the series is much more madly changing direction every other game.

Now, these observations are not meant as a "Good/ Bad" thing. I ain't going to argue Rodeo the Sky Soldier is immediatly a better game for breathing distinct Naka DNA. In fact, i found that game a bit dull. And history will tell where Balan Wonderworld will end up.
But it does make Naka more of an Author, a leader, someone with a distinct flair and flavor. Someone with the finger on the pulse and a direction he wants to go to.
Where Iizuka just goes with the wind.
So much so that I sometimes wonder how much of a director he even is, or if he's just a Yes-man following orders.
I find reading interviews with him endlessly fascinaitng, I just don't get any grip on what his vision or direction for the series is at all.
What he says tend to be what the interviewer wants to hear or what specifically connects with the game he's currently promoting but completely contradicts anything he said before or after.
And reading him describe the games he's working on constantly makes me wonder if there's an entirely different game that exists in his head barely related to the one on storeshelves.

Of course, that's not unique to him, I remember Bill Freiberger also mention his memories of Sonic Boom episodes start to get vague as multiple episodes are in development at the same time and details are shifting all the time. But Iizuka's one of the more extreme cases I've ever seen.


So from that perspective, I can see why a lot of fans want Naka to return. If only so the distinct flavor of older Sonic returns.
Which is not a guarantee that the game will be good, but at least a comforting feel of nostalgia I guess.
And for me, at least the feeling there's a direction the series is growing too with a captain at the wheel, rather then the series madly resetting and rebooting itself for every new game, while still dragging the obsolete elements of the past along regardless.
Ironic since Iizuka is constantly relying on Nostalgia, but nostalgia in a litteral way. Here's Green hill Zone again, here's Classic Sonic again.
Rather then the return and evolution of the spirit and soul of the past.


Pfft, as for Sonic and friends surviving without a job;
Tails is an inventor. Boom, done. Sonic can leach of off him.
Knuckles is a hermit living in the wild and don't need no money.
Everyone else has a job. Except Amy I guess.
Fine, just make her a reporter who uses the adventures she keeps getting herself into as fodder for newspaper articles. Easy peasy.
But no, we always have to go with some kind of weird crazy alternative dimension time travel space utopian future world space magic solution for every problem.

Not to mention, some games indicate Rings are currency (Shadow, 06 and Dark Chronicles off the top of my head). So they can get "paid" by just playing the levels, RPG game style.

....So are you aware of the fact that Iizuka directed almost every game from Sonic Adventure until Shadow right? 

So this "consistent direction" you're referring to was because Iizuka, not Naka...who was in a Producer position by then.

In fact, Naka has not directed a single Sonic game, period. He's been either a programmer or a Producer. 

 

 

There's so many layers of irony to people who "wanna go back to how Sonic was" and then say they hate Iizuka in the same exact sentence, almost completely ignorant of the fact that "what Sonic was" was literally because of Iizuka. 

[Mauro Fonseca]

And, again, that literally every argument being used now with the name "Iizuka" was used with the name "Naka" in 2005. Literally grab Roger's post and replace "Iizuka" for "Naka" and it's the average Sonic forum post 15 years ago.

[Wraith]

I mean, I won't lie and say I don't miss Naka's influence since I think he used the medium of game design/mechanics better than most of the people who stepped up to work on Sonic since then. The dreamlike aesthetic is another quality I enjoy, though I think too many people attribute that quality to him when it was more likely Oshima's influence. If he wanted to make Sonic again I would welcome him back with open arms but I'd understand completely if he had no desire to return to being under SEGA's thumb too. 

 

But lets be real: The games Kishimoto and Iizuka have delivered as director and producer are way more polished and have reviewed better than the last decade of Sonic games despite being developed under similar circumstances. There might have been a unanimous decision that a reliable anchor was what the brand needed over an auteur. One that's hard to argue with given the circumstances. I don't like most of his games but I'll give credit where it's due. 

[Eurisko]

On 1/17/2021 at 1:18 AM, Johnster4 said:

he's just a PR guy

I think Aaron Webber would strongly disagree with that. 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

On 1/17/2021 at 9:18 AM, SBR2 said:

Can I be honest? I really think people exaggerate the "Can't lose" mandate. I would not call what Sonic was doing for a good chunk of the Metal Virus saga "Winning" for example. I've honestly always read it more like "Sonic has to win in the end which is just y'know basic narrative structure. 

Which is fine—bittersweet endings are great to make characters less perfect and their victories seem scarring even if worth it, and they’re my favorite type of endings for long running series.

I think the reason people have a bad impression of that mandate is because Sega themselves don’t seem to have a good grasp on how to work with their characters, and so they fear that bleeding into works written by those who have a better clue. At the very least, they don’t want Sonic winning to the point of being boring.

[StephTheFox]

On 1/6/2021 at 12:11 PM, Johnster4 said:

They can't call Sonic's home planet Mobius

What? I've always called it Mobius! They need to change that back ASAP

[Rabbitearsblog]

5 hours ago, StephTheFox said:

What? I've always called it Mobius! They need to change that back ASAP

Exactly!  I don't know why they wanted to change that all of a sudden.  Although, the fact that the planet was called Mobius in the first place was because of the cartoon series at the time and I don't know if that was what they called Sonic's home planet in the original games.

[King Scoopa Koopa]

On 1/7/2021 at 9:36 PM, Mountaindewandsprite said:

I hate the whole "classic dimension" mandate that restricts the use of characters like Bean, Bark, Fang, Mighty, and Ray. I don't mind them not appearing in the games, but because of that stupid ass mandate they can't even make an appearance in the IDW comics. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

I'm not entirely against this idea, so long as they actually do something with it. Like if IDW did a Classic Sonic comic, I think I like the idea of distinct casts as you move away from the core characters. 

Like where Modern has Blaze, Silver, Shadow, Rouge, Omega, Big, and the Deadly Six, Classic could have Mighty, Ray, Bean, Bark, Honey, Nack, and the Hard-Boiled Heavies. Give each a distinct feel.

Of course, the exception is the Chaotix have to be in both. Bring back Classic Vector, Classic Espio, and Classic Charmy!
 

On 1/17/2021 at 10:18 AM, SBR2 said:

Can I be honest? I really think people exaggerate the "Can't lose" mandate. I would not call what Sonic was doing for a good chunk of the Metal Virus saga "Winning" for example. I've honestly always read it more like "Sonic has to win in the end which is just y'know basic narrative structure. 

I thought that's what Ian said all the way back around Sonic 175, that Sonic basically has to rebound and win in the end?

On 1/16/2021 at 11:31 PM, Diogenes said:

The most sensible theory I've heard is that not bringing up money means people are less likely to wonder how all these jobless, seemingly-parentless children get food, shelter, and shiny new sneakers. Which would be a reasonable thing to address, but "money doesn't exist" is kind of the nuclear option of solutions to it.

As for the money thing, something might just be lost in translation. Like maybe they said "when we look at their world, we try to pretend money doesn't exist" for reasons like those cited above.

[Tracker_TD]

49 minutes ago, Rabbitearsblog said:

Exactly!  I don't know why they wanted to change that all of a sudden.  Although, the fact that the planet was called Mobius in the first place was because of the cartoon series at the time and I don't know if that was what they called Sonic's home planet in the original games.

Mobius was a localisation thing, so I'm not exactly arsed on them returning to it. In fact, Spinball's Japanese plot summary attempts to bridge the gap - it establishes Mobius as a separate planet in Sonic's solar system, called "The Star of Peace"; Ristar vibes, man. Would also handily explain why the cartoon characters never show up again, I suppose. 

[Guest]

On 1/7/2021 at 4:45 PM, Roger_van_der_weide said:

I hate mandates that indicate Sonic Team doesn't understand what alternative universes are, like when Black Doom wasn't allowed to appear in Archie "because he died in the games". Ignoring the fact he never showed up in the comics yet.
As if indicating everyone who died in the games also automatically died in every possible Sonic spin off media and Black Doom's corpse is present somewhere in AOSTH, Sonic Boom and Sonic the movie as well somehow.

Or Sonic Boom Rise of Lyrics's initial concept of being an origin story for Sonic being shot down because "Sonic Team wanted to explore Sonic's origins themselves" (HAH. Like that would happen.)
Source: https://sonic.fandom.com/wiki/Sonic_Boom:_Rise_of_Lyric

Yo, smarty pants, Sonic Boom is a side series, it's origins has no effect on the main series, right?
But somehow they don't get it, and as such Boom was denied to have any kind of proper introduction and all characters and settings are just plopped down with no fanfare whatsoever.
And I suppose with Sonic just being HERO MAN and Eggman being EVIL SCIENTIST MAN, that works well enough.
But it would have been nice if Sticks had a proper introduction rather then just going "Hi, find shinies!" in Rise of Lyric in a cameo and voila, there she is. Not to mention Shadow the hedgehog being a more morally complex character requiring at least SOME kind of a backstory or context, but nope. he just shows up and we're supposed to cheer and clap like he's anything more then an empty shell.

Especially confusing considering Sonic did get an origin in SATam, Underground, Sonic the Comic and in the movie. I guess the first 3 were created before the mandate and the movie got away with it because the executives at Paramount probably used all of Sonic Team's suggestions as toiletpaper.

While I don't have any evidence for this, I strongly believe this is also why Shadow never got any kind of explanation in Sonic Boom and just randomly shows up as if we're supposed to know who that guy is. "His origin was already told in Sonic Adventure 2" I guess, so now Sonic Boom has to roll with that.
Granted, I'd pay good money to see Sonic Adventure 2 and especially Shadow the Hedgehog's storylines retold within the Sonic Boom universe, that'd be a sight to see.


And looking at that  Rise of Lyric page again, what about this:
" Cliff for example was originally an inventor, but Iizuka said that only Tails and Eggman could be inventors.^"
It's stuff like this why Sonic's universe feels so small and empty. The main characters are everything and the world around them can't contain anything of value. It's just Sonic, Tails and Eggman in an empty cardboard world, Green hill Zone floating in an empty void.
Assuming characters like Wave the Swallow or Sonic X's uncle Chuck are left out to keep it simple, or retconned out of existance, does this mean litteraly every piece of technology in the series has been created by either Tails or Eggman? So both or either is the main manufactorer of all technology in Sonic's world? No wonder they renamed their planet "Sonic's world", the main characters really are the center of their entire universe.

And then Sonic Team breaks their own rule barely 4 years later with Dodongopa anyway. Oops. They can't even keep up with their own stupid mandates.

Wait, so that's why that storyline got scrapped? Good grief SEGA, this was an alternate timeline. ALTERNATE. As in NOT THE MAIN SERIES. Sheesh.

Anyway, as for me. Mandates that I hate. Here they are in list form.

- No backstories/past properly established. Aside from Shadow, and even then, only the essentials, we hardly know anything about any character's past. Where do they come from? What drove them to become who they are today? (I miss the old cartoons. At least they gave us backstory)

- No family at all. Apart from Cream, who seems to have disappeared of of the face of the planet (Replaced by Omochao in Team Rose? REALLY?)  who has her mother Vanilla, no character has any family whatsoever. Now I'm not saying they should be in the spotlight or anything, but at least allow them to exist. Have Sonic and co. mention them once in a while, like when Rouge says something along the lines of "Mama always said there would be days like this!" in Team Sonic Racing. Like I said, they don't have to be in the spotlight, but just let us know they're there for them. I mean, Tails is apparently supposed to be 8 years old. JUST 8 YEARS OLD! Where the heck are his folks? Did they die? Abandon him? Where are they? ...Unless SEGA wants us to think that the characters all just spontaneously popped into existence. Do they? Is that what they want us to think? Hmm. :/

- The 'Two worlds' thing. This has never made any sense to me. To me it just seems to tear at any of the established lore we have, and that's not much. If there are two worlds, how is there Echidna ruins on the human world? How did Angel Island get there, if it's supposed to be in Sonic's world? How are Sonic and co. even going to and fro to begin with? The Warp Rings? Then again explain the angel island thing. Was there just a great big warp ring made just for that? But from what I hear, I may be wrong, but apparently Angel island can't warp, so what the hey? Why can't we just have a world where humans and mobians/anthros just live together, like in the Archie comics. having just one world would also really help with world building. Create a fantastical world where these characters live. Green hills, Station Square, Soleana; they could all exist in one world. If I recall, there was actually a world map shwon in 'Shadow the Hedgehog'. It looked similar to ours, that is, Earth's, but changed and modified here and there. Just take that, or the world map from 'Sonic Unleashed' and merge it all together! A world where you could travel from Capitol City and go to Green hills for a holiday with nature. Where you could explore the ruins of the Marble Zone, and return safely home to Sunset Heights.  Looking at their architechture and weather, I'd hazard a guess that the 'Water Palace' zone from 'Sonic Rush' and Atopos are located somewhere near each other. Soleana could also be somewhere near there. See? Already I've built a little map of an area. All in one world. Why can't you SEGA? Please make it just one world. It'd be so much easier to handle and build. Speaking or worlds...

- No calling the world Mobius. Now they, that is SEGA, may not want to call the world that. I can understand that. But anything is better than just calling it 'Sonic's World'. Does Sonic own that planet? Did he get to name it? Some imagination there hedgehog. Anyway, the 'Human world ' and 'Sonic's world' don't have names. If they don't have names, how are we, the audience/players, supposed to get involved and attached to them, especially when they keep changing every other game... No names, and no world building. *sigh* Why SEGA why?...

- No letting Sonic lose. This one I find a little odd, and honestly I may not understand it properly. Anyway, In my opinion,  Sonic's always lost here and there to Eggman in the past. In Sonic Adventure, he got cocky and lost an emerald to Eggman by a surprise sleep gas attack. Furthermore, in Adventure 2, he got trapped and almost blown up by Eggman when he fell into his trap. Do these not count as losses? They do to me, and that's what keeps the whole fight between Eggman fun. These little victories for Eggman help us feel that for all his heroism, Sonic's still just a guy. Not perfect, and prone to mistakes. Having him win everything would get boring eventually. In my opinion anyway. Like I said, I could have misundetood this mandate, if it's even a mandate at all XD

- No emotion/hardly any. HUGE EDIT: As pointed out to me, I was quite wrong about this XD Clearly I need to look at more media haha. Still though, I want to see characters emoting more. More emotions shown + more fun right? maybe? I don't know...

I probably have more irks and the like, but this post is long enough as it it is XD Thank you for reading my ramblings all haha!

[Tracker_TD]

I don't think the name of the world is really all that necessary to get invested in it. I'm not losing sleep over whether the planet in Mario Odyssey is called Earth or not, because what matters are the locales and people in it, rather than its name. Two Worlds has its own impact on that sure, but the name of the planet? Eh. It's never even really brought up in the games anyway. 

As for emotional stuff, people seem to forget that Sonic's lack of tears aren't new. It's not that Sonic can't get sad, it's that he's just doesn't like tears. I'm guessing he sees himself as the kind of guy who's gotta keep the positive face going even if things look bleak, and that in of itself is a character trait.

From the mouth of his creator, even : 

Checks out to me, anyway. Seeing those scrapped Archie panels where Sonic's a blubbering mess... it just looks extremely daft for the kind of character Sonic is.