Best/Worst Game Reveal

[BubbleButt TV]

which game do you think had the best reveal and which one had the worst reveal?

I'll go first 

Best - Sonic Adventure (1998)

this was Sonic's big 3D game. A new frontier for the franchise, they needed to let people know they meant business and I think they succeeded.

like... they had Yuji Naka appear on stage while a sick guitar solo played. that's the coolest thing ever

Worst - Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric (2014)

Never ever reveal your game with Bangarang by Skrillex.

Dishonourable Mention - Sonic Forces (2017)

i dunno if it's just because the game was ass but revealing your new game on this little powerpoint presentation screen at SXSW felt so... lackluster? felt lame as hell

[Josh]

The best in my book was Sonic Mania, and it's not even close. Five years on, it *still* brings a tear to my eye, especially the live version with the crowd reactions:
 

The worst reveal? Also not even a question to me: SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG. I don't know what's more tone-deaf: The tryhard edginess that was so en vogue in the industry in 2005, the sheer incredulity of the image of a Sonic character strutting up with a gun, the fact that Shadow put bullets in Sonic's legacy as if this was gonna be SO much better... I mean, there's a reason our first reaction was outright DENIAL, hoping it was just an elaborate April Fool's prank.
 

 

[BubbleButt TV]

6 hours ago, Josh said:

The best in my book was Sonic Mania, and it's not even close. Five years on, it *still* brings a tear to my eye, especially the live version with the crowd reactions:
 

The worst reveal? Also not even a question to me: SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG. I don't know what's more tone-deaf: The tryhard edginess that was so en vogue in the industry in 2005, the sheer incredulity of the image of a Sonic character strutting up with a gun, the fact that Shadow put bullets in Sonic's legacy as if this was gonna be SO much better... I mean, there's a reason our first reaction was outright DENIAL, hoping it was just an elaborate April Fool's prank.
 

 

wow those two are like complete polar opposites lmao

 

[batson]

It counts.

And if there was ever a time when the entire internet went wild with raw animalistic Sonic lust, it was this!

[___]

You could argue that Sonic Mania was one of the worst reveals, if only because of the awful audio quality of the event it was revealed at (brought to you by Totinos™).

Honorable mention goes to Sonic 06's deceptive demo that was less buggy and more polished than the released game.

But the worst in my view, in terms of sheer fanbase dismay, is a tie between Sonic Forces (for both the bad audio quality mentioned above and the deeply unwanted appearance of Classic Sonic) and Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice (for even existing at all; I remember one of the staff here going "WHAT THE FUCK?" in a status update at the time, which kind of said it all).

If we weren't just counting games, then the undisputed king would be the first movie trailer. The fact that the movie's reputation survived that is an absolute miracle. Movies have been buried for much less.

[batson]

1 hour ago, Gloved Animal said:

If we weren't just counting games, then the undisputed king would be the first movie trailer. The fact that the movie's reputation survived that is an absolute miracle. Movies have been buried for much less.

Even more amazing is that they managed to actually turn the absymal reception to the first trailer into something positive, as the immediate widespread "The Sonic movie is going to be the worst thing ever" notion managed to turn into the equally widespread "Sega has saved the Sonic movie by listening to the fanbase" notion once the redesign was revealed.

Which, once the film was actually released, turned into a "The Sonic movie turned out to actually be good!" notion. Which is something I very much disagree with since I think the movie is garbage, but thats beside the point.

[Covskin]

On 12/1/2021 at 4:21 AM, Josh said:

The worst reveal? Also not even a question to me: SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG. I don't know what's more tone-deaf: The tryhard edginess that was so en vogue in the industry in 2005, the sheer incredulity of the image of a Sonic character strutting up with a gun, the fact that Shadow put bullets in Sonic's legacy as if this was gonna be SO much better... I mean, there's a reason our first reaction was outright DENIAL, hoping it was just an elaborate April Fool's prank.
 

 

To go further, if my memory's right this was unveiled at the WALK OF GAME to celebrate Sonic being one of the first recipients. They turned what was meant to be some easy positive fluff PR into a laughing stock. SSMB was temporarily down at the time too with server issues I think so I was at a complete loss with so many thoughts and no one to share them with!

Whatever happened to that WALK OF GAME?

Quote

In February 2006, Sony sold the Metreon to The Westfield Group. With the departure of Sony, the Walk of Game was never again updated. In 2012, the area of the Walk of Game was converted to a Target store. The Walk of Game was removed, along with the walkway which it had occupied.

Well, that was worth it...

[JezMM]

Sonic Mania is definitely the biggest contender, but it does have the edge because of the crowd reaction that came with it.  Seeing everyone cheer louder each time a new highly-desired aspect was unveiled was just fantastic.

However, Unleashed is definitely a close second.  I remember where I was vividly (prolly coz it was unusual - on a library computer while away without internet) and it was just so exciting to see such a high quality looking Sonic game.  I'm not sure if it WAS the actual reveal though, since I do see Unleashed trailers on youtube labelled as reveals that weren't what I saw - I saw the one of Savannah Citadel with an early version of the stage/music, and no game title or sign of the night gameplay whatsoever yet.

(EDIT: Checked, seems this was a leaked trailer).

 

Worst was probably Forces for me, in that it was just such a disappointment to see Classic show up when for a second it seemed like we were getting some kind of Sonic & Tails themed game or Sonic & anyone other than his goddamned self.  The fact that it came the same day as Mania's reveal made Classic's appearance even more redundant and really made it clear how little confidence they had in the modern Sonic brand... which really did a lot to dampen any excitement I might have had about the boost gameplay seemingly being back (which I was welcome to at the time after Generations fixed the issues I had with Colours - sadly it would turn out that Forces took on much more of Colours DNA in the end, naturally).

And... yeah while I was a teenager and didn't MIND much at the time (it still seemed weird), looking back that Shadow the Hedgehog reveal was embarrassingly bad.

[Wraith]

This nearly made me break down.

[batson]

12 hours ago, JezMM said:

However, Unleashed is definitely a close second.  I remember where I was vividly (prolly coz it was unusual - on a library computer while away without internet) and it was just so exciting to see such a high quality looking Sonic game.  I'm not sure if it WAS the actual reveal though, since I do see Unleashed trailers on youtube labelled as reveals that weren't what I saw - I saw the one of Savannah Citadel with an early version of the stage/music, and no game title or sign of the night gameplay whatsoever yet.

The funny thing about Unleashed is that when the game was first revealed, a lot of people believed that the Sonic sections of the game were going to be pretty much entirely 2D, and at the time this was actually widely appreciated. I remember how even the very site we are on now had a descreption of the game under the title of it's sub-forum that said something along the lines of "Go here to discuss Sonic's latest 2D adventure". Now a decade and a half later, most of the core fanbase consider 2D sections to be the bane of modern Sonic's existance.

[JezMM]

2 hours ago, batson said:

The funny thing about Unleashed is that when the game was first revealed, a lot of people believed that the Sonic sections of the game were going to be pretty much entirely 2D, and at the time this was actually widely appreciated. I remember how even the very site we are on now had a descreption of the game under the title of it's sub-forum that said something along the lines of "Go here to discuss Sonic's latest 2D adventure". Now a decade and a half later, most of the core fanbase consider 2D sections to be the bane of modern Sonic's existance.

To be fair to Unleashed, it was absolutely Colours and Generations that caused that criticism for the series overall.  The 2D sections in Unleashed were novel idea for a full-budget console title pre-launch and enjoyable and well-executed* in the final game.  Though I guess you could blame Unleashed as the start of it all in the sense that it was because they were so well-recieved that Sonic Team began using 2D as a crutch without enough thought going into how it was implemented or what was too much.

*Assuming you find Unleashed enjoyable in general of course.

[Kuzu]

Its pretty much what happens to every 3D Sonic mechanic. It gets introduced and is well received then Sega abuse it without making any real improvements (or actively making it worse) and eventually get sick of it and retroactively blame the first game started it. Happened with Adventure, and happened to Unleashed.

 

 

 

Anyway, best game reveal....yea fuck it, Mania. Its the only game in the last ten or so years that actually got a reaction out of me and made wanna play it.

[Iko]

The Shadow the Hedgehog trailer, I saw it now for the first time in my life; it was cringe and all, but I feel like today the series would need something like that (the concept expressed in the trailer, not the game itself) more than ever: "**** classic pandering, we're going to do something new which also has a proper identity for once".

I don't know I also like classics too (along with modern), but I felt a bit satisfied the moment they shoot at the screen like for saying "screw the past", sometimes Sonic would need to leave the past behind and live in the present, can't even remember when it was the last time this happend (probably at the times of Rush/Unleashed, definitely too long ago).

May Rangers/Frontiers be another attempt? I hope so.

[Kuzu]

1 hour ago, Iko said:

The Shadow the Hedgehog trailer, I saw it now for the first time in my life; it was cringe and all, but I feel like today the series would need something like that (the concept expressed in the trailer, not the game itself) more than ever: "**** classic pandering, we're going to do something new which also has a proper identity for once".

I don't know I also like classics too (along with modern), but I felt a bit satisfied the moment they shoot at the screen like for saying "screw the past", sometimes Sonic would need to leave the past behind and live in the present, can't even remember when it was the last time this happend (probably at the times of Rush/Unleashed, definitely too long ago).

May Rangers/Frontiers be another attempt? I hope so.

You know, while its easy to say this nowadays with hindsight, there's kind of a reason Shadow's game ended up being so controversial. Turns out, longtime fans don't like taking deliberate jab at your legacy that put you on the map to begin with. And it's especially eyerolling since Shadow's game was the beginning of Sonic's downward spiral into mediocrity. 

 

Sonic's use of nostalgia isn't the problem, it's using in a shallow way that is. Mania firmly establishes that people do in fact still respect Sonic's legacy and taking a dump on it is a good way to earn some backlash. 

[Diogenes]

ShtH was just a different kind of pandering, and just as muddled in its identity as the series has ever been.

[Roger_van_der_weide]

Bad idea in 2005 perhaps, but now I'd be cheering if the next Sonic game introduces itself by firing bulletholes into Green Hill Zone.
W00t.

[Kuzu]

I think the fact you feel that way is itself the problem. Not that you feel that way at all, but the fact that Sega have somehow managed to make the fanbase sick of Green Hill Zone. 

[KingMario05]

38 minutes ago, Roger_van_der_weide said:

Bad idea in 2005 perhaps, but now I'd be cheering if the next Sonic game introduces itself by firing bulletholes into Green Hill Zone.
W00t.

"I say we nuke it from orbit, even. It's the only way to be sure."

Spoiler

Mind you, this is Sega, so they'll fuck it up by having Tails do it after his defection to the Secret Two-Tailed Fox Nazi Society. /s

 

[batson]

53 minutes ago, Roger_van_der_weide said:

Bad idea in 2005 perhaps, but now I'd be cheering if the next Sonic game introduces itself by firing bulletholes into Green Hill Zone.
W00t.

"Let the past die. Kill it if you have to".

[BubbleButt TV]

5 hours ago, Iko said:

The Shadow the Hedgehog trailer, I saw it now for the first time in my life; it was cringe and all, but I feel like today the series would need something like that (the concept expressed in the trailer, not the game itself) more than ever: "**** classic pandering, we're going to do something new which also has a proper identity for once".

I don't know I also like classics too (along with modern), but I felt a bit satisfied the moment they shoot at the screen like for saying "screw the past", sometimes Sonic would need to leave the past behind and live in the present, can't even remember when it was the last time this happend (probably at the times of Rush/Unleashed, definitely too long ago).

May Rangers/Frontiers be another attempt? I hope so.

Nostalgia pandering in this franchise is funny because Sonic is not really the type of character who would sit around and get nostalgic about his past

I am also hoping that Frontiers will be something new and fresh with its own identity. I want Sonic to go back to feeling subversive and modern.

[McGroose]

This fucking trailer dude lemme tell you

The Sonic Generations reveal back in April 2011 was absolutely amazing. Sonic running through a barren, washed-out landscape, nothing really extraordinary, and then Classic appears out of nowhere. Thus marked the beginning of a new age of Sonic, for better or worse. I was still in grade school at the time and it was the most amazing thing I thought I'd ever seen from this franchise. All the crap from Sonic 4, people complaining that Modern Sonic was nowhere near as good as what his classic counterpart could offer, and now look. Now we have both versions of Sonic, running parallel in what looked like Green Hill zone. What could this mean? What were they going to do with Classic? Was Classic a separate character now or something? The level of hype I got from that game has never been matched. We got the first gameplay footage not too long after. It felt like a dream come true, the best part of Unleashed, with what we thought Sonic 4 should have been. All in one single game, Generations looked like it was going to be the complete and definitive Sonic package. Every single trailer was massive hype, and while I still really disliked the level selection they used, I cannot deny just how good of a job they did with the levels. Seeing Green Hill and Sky Sanctuary in 3D was absolutely amazing

Nowadays, I still definitely think Generations is a good game, but not great. My biggest critique is that the physics, just like in Sonic 4, were too glaringly inaccurate compared to the older 2D games and the level design had to compensate for this to emulate the sense of physics-based platforming that was entirely controlled by the player, which had to be done with scripts and speed boosters in Generations. Classic is by no means bad, it's still quite fun. The 2D half is, in my opinion, definitely the weaker gameplay style, however. On the other hand, calling the other gameplay style the 3D half is disingenuous, since that half of the game is 50% 2D in of itself. That means Generations is 2/3 2D gameplay. 2D Modern Sonic should have been a neat experiment with Unleashed that was discontinued after that, this game already has plenty of 2D to work with. My other critique was that the game's level choices were, from a diversity perspective, awful. Too many cities in the second half of the game, and the final level hardly felt like a final level.

The game should have been games pre 7th console generation, including levels from 06, Unleashed and Colors was such a dumb idea that I still hate to this day. I wanted to see levels from the older games remade from scratch, to have a modern interpretation on what their 2D or low-poly 3D counterparts were able to provide at the time. There was no need to see games released on the 360/PS3, they would look hardly different. Celebrating all of Sonic should not have been followed literally, and it honestly felt like laziness for Sega to just make 2 of their 9 levels come from Unleashed and Colors. I imagine that making those levels took considerably less time than the earlier levels, considering that they had a few more modern assets to work with or copy. I was hoping for a full level from Sonic CD, I wanted to see more levels from Sonic Adventure remade and maybe even a level from one of the spinoffs. But nah, we had to be reminded that Sonic 06 existed for some reason, which just further buttfucked the continuity of this franchise's canon. Not like it was in the most consistent state to begin with, but Generations is where this really started to make no sense. The story also feels incredibly underwhelming. I didn't need something like 06, but Unleashed mastered the type of Story a Sonic game should have. Generation's story didn't come anywhere close. The story is by no means a major complaint, such as the level choices, but still another disappointment. 

Of course, my issues with the level selection could have been. This still baffles my mind, Sega could have charged stupid amounts of money for this and people would have still bought these levels in droves. But all we got was a pinball. Genius move on Sega's end. Unleashed and even 06 got boatloads of DLC and Generations gets next to nothing.

Mania is, in my humble opinion, easily a better game than Generations and I have more fun replaying Mania than Generations, even though both are good games. Mania's reveal trailer also had me really excited, and while I think it's better than Generations, the excitement it generated paled to the hype that Generations created at the time. I'm hoping that, one day, another 3D Sonic game can generate similar levels of hype with different ideas... but I'm doubtful. 

Years later, can I say that Generations definitely deserved the hype? I would say it mostly did. All of the critiques I have were hardly ones I developed recently. They almost immediately came to my mind when I finished my first playthrough a decade earlier. It was a great time, but subsequent playthroughs weren't as mesmerizing. 

 

[BadBehavior]

RE: The Shadow trailer: I guess an equivalent reaction for Adventure fans would be if the very first thing we saw of Forces was Classic Sonic one-shotting Perfect Chaos, as if to say "that thing you like sucks, you're gonna like this thing or else."

However unlike the Shadow trailer, that happened in the actual, final game.

[Wraith]

13 minutes ago, BadBehavior said:

RE: The Shadow trailer: I guess an equivalent reaction for Adventure fans would be if the very first thing we saw of Forces was Classic Sonic one-shotting Perfect Chaos, as if to say "that thing you like sucks, you're gonna like this thing or else."

However unlike the Shadow trailer, that happened in the actual, final game.

in Shadow the Hedgehog you can literally kill Dr. Eggman

[Milo]

I can't decisively say worst because at the time it was revealed, people were genuinely split with disappointment and excitement. Hell, I was even one of the yaysayers at the time.

But looking back in retrospect, the Sonic 4: Episode I "official" reveal was if not the worst game reveal, was unarguably the most insulting.

Can you imagine your PR team spent five months of hyping your audience up with "we're revisiting the roots" platitudes, community countdown games, posting assets like music and concept art. et. al. only to reveal three seconds of gameplay footage?

The first trailer for the Sonic Movie is up there as a worst contender too. If the near-universal backlash against the original design didn't seal the fate, the studio declaring they were going to make changes to the design in just 48 hours definitively did.

In terms of exciting trailers, well, the obvious ones (Sonic Joins the Brawl, Unleashed, Generations, and Mania) have already been covered. So I'm probably gonna go with one here that might get some disagreement here: the E3 2006 trailer for Sonic 2006.

Yeah, in retrospect of the "finished" game that was released, this probably just looks sad to see. Or even vindication to people that "yeah, whatever they were trying to do here [with the story and aesthetics] was always going to be a circus." But truth be told, this did look really exciting to quite a lot of people at the time, myself included. Even if for me, it might solely be just because of the His World instrumental used for the trailer. (Which still remains to this day my favorite version of the song.)

 

[Blue Blood]

On 12/4/2021 at 1:03 AM, Wraith said:

This nearly made me break down.

Anyone remotely interested in Sonic or 2D sprite-based games went weak at the knees for that gif. Anywhere you went, that gif was making headlines. It was an incredibly powerful way to end a fantastic trailer for a game that people had been asking for since the mid 90s. The animation is just so smooth, so eye catching and so full of character.