Do you think that the Sonic Rush games will ever get an HD re release?

[Mangoaxe5]

I love the Sonic Rush games, but they are stuck on the Nintendo DS. Do you think that Sega will ever release an HD version of the Sonic Rush games for modern day consoles?

[The-Aman20]

I don’t know how Rush would be optimised for new devices. An HD Port would be cool I guess, but SEGA’s not one to tackle all the licensing needed to bring them over to modern devices (I could be wrong though, with 3&K coming to Origins and Advance 1 on mobile a long time back). That’s not even including the whole two screens dynamic. They’d need to rework most of the game, and hey, at that point why not make an entirely new entry in the Rush trilogy? 

[Salamander]

It would seem a little odd to modernise the graphics without also in some way modernising its now-obsolete dual-screen presentation, but I have to assume that the latter would require quite a bit more work.  It's a problem.  But the Rush games (plus Colours DS) are well-regarded titles alongside the Advance games, so if SEGA intends to make a habit of producing rerelease collections then I wouldn't have thought the Nintendo portable platformers were the back of the queue.  The Advance games made it to the Wii U eShop back in the day, after all.

[Mangoaxe5]

25 minutes ago, The-Aman20 said:

 but SEGA’s not one to tackle all the licensing needed to bring them over to modern devices 

What licensing problems are there? I'm pretty sure that Sega outright owns the rights to the Sonic Rush games.

[Diogenes]

I think the dual screen thing makes it pretty unlikely. No current or forseeable future screen setup is well suited to (3)DS games and they're not like games where one screen is just a map or menu and the "main" screen can be prioritized. It's not impossible to play the Rushes on a standard screen but I can't think of any way that doesn't significantly compromise the experience, and I don't think they'd be too interested in releasing "lesser" version of games that there isn't exactly a high demand for in the first place.

[The-Aman20]

40 minutes ago, Vampfox said:

What licensing problems are there? I'm pretty sure that Sega outright owns the rights to the Sonic Rush games.

Yeah, that’s true. I think the only issues they’d have actually making it happen would be… well, the overall game design and (maybe?) hideki nagamura’s involvement (because if we can’t have him return to remix the OST, what point is there?)

[Indigo Rush]

It wouldn't be impossible, but it would have to involve seriously messing with the source code or rebuilding it from the ground up. 

The Sonic Rush games (and Colors DS) are also designed with the vertical screen in mind, so the camera will have to be altered for widescreen, too.

There's also the touchscreen aspect, and the special stages stages simply won't be the same switching to analog controls; the touch controls are infinitely more responsive and the speed and layout of these stages will need to be altered to make it possible to play with a standard control setup. There's also sequences where you have to drag and tap the stylus across the screen to hit targets and they need you to do it fast.

Basically, it would be a bigger investment to port Rush than can be taken for granted. I'd be down for ports of the DS games, but I'm just not expecting them to do it. 

 

[Salamander]

Capcom managed to figure out a way to present DS games for their Mega Man Zero collection; but the second screen and touch controls were rather less integral there than they are to Rush.  A port would be awkward to play, but not impossible.  ...It partly depends on whether SEGA's going to be putting more money into Sonic games again; other series get remakes and port collections all over the shop, but with Sonic then coverage is much patchier.

Also, I think it's the Advance games, not Rush, for which there are some weird licensing issues; the publishing rights in the west are apparently somewhat confused - which is why, I now recall, they only made it to the Wii U eShop in Japan.

[Mangoaxe5]

7 minutes ago, Salamander said:

 

Also, I think it's the Advance games, not Rush, for which there are some weird licensing issues; the publishing rights in the west are apparently somewhat confused - which is why, I now recall, they only made it to the Wii U eShop in Japan.

The Advance games were published by THQ in western countries. THQ went out of business which I think means that the publishing rights default back to Sega.

[JezMM]

Would the two-screen really be that big a deal?  Most of the time you were only looking at one or the other, I think just having the camera zoom out for areas of the level where (originally) seeing both screens at once mattered.  Alternatively, as long as it's on an HD console, they could have it so the zoom level always shows the full vertical length, and now the camera would simply be extended out to the sides as well.  Might make the game a bit easier, but tbf running into obstacles you didn't see coming was never all that well received in the original either.

They'd prolly have to re-do the way backgrounds worked, since they seemed to take advantage of the split to hide the transition between upper and lower backgrounds, but that's about it.

Special stages would definitely need reworking, but I could see some solutions - rather than using a control stick to move him left and right like a traditional half-pipe special stage, the direction of the stick would determine his location. Like the original, he zips over to whatever direction the stick is pointed in, like controlling the cursor on a radial weapon select menu etc.  Seems like one of those things that would be uncomfortable, but playing around with a joycon in front of me I can see it working for the short-term gameplay of a special stage, and while it's a bit unintuitive, it's nothing a tutorial couldn't fix.  The tapping QTEs could involve quickly pushing control stick directions between nodes (so a 1 2 3 4 QTE shaping a square with the numbers starting at the top left and going clockwise round, would require you to tap the control stick four times - north west to node 1, east to node 2, south to node 3, west to node 4).  Just an example, you could also just replace them with button presses.  Hell, you could make it optional or even just disable them entirely as an accessibility option - making hitting the QTE trigger token enough to get the ring bonus.

 

Either way though, definitely a game that would need a 100% overhaul of the visuals.  Even if you increased the poly-count on all the models and redrew all the textures in HD, the 3D/2D combo would look AT LEAST as garish as Sonic 4 Episode 1, best case scenario.  Gotta make the whole thing 3D for a Sonic 4 Episode II-like appearance, I think, but a little stylisation would definitely suit the game's style - something that evokes that jagged, low-poly Sonic look without actually being low-poly, y'know? (Though just doing it vanilla modern Sonic style wouldn't look awful - I think Episode II's a very pretty game, and Rush was never MEANT to be stylised really, was just the limitations of the system).

[FabianTheHuman]

It would require for these games to be completely remaked to work on other devices, as they're pretty much tailormade for the Nintendo DS.

[Mangoaxe5]

One of my biggest fears is that a lot of good DS(and 3DS)games are forever trapped on hardware that was not designed to be future proof.

[Sonictrainer]

Honestly, it would probably be better to make 2 Sonic Generations style Boost Remasters for Rush & Rush Adventure.

Although I don't know how different Water Palace would look from Windmill Isle...