How would the Sonic series be different if Sega had never lost the console wars?

[Blazey Firekitty]

Would it have made a difference in the franchise's direction if Sega were still making their own hardware? Would Sonic games still have declined in popularity to the degree that they did over the course of the past decade?

[Kuzu]

I think the series would've tanked if it stayed in the league, and then went to shit in the 21st century.

I mean imagine if Mario made about as many mediocre games as Sonic did, and he's supposed to be the best gaming franchise of all time.

[Scar]

I think the series would've tanked if it stayed in the league, and then went to shit in the 21st century.

I mean imagine if Mario made about as many mediocre games as Sonic did, and he's supposed to be the best gaming franchise of all time.

[Vulpine]

Well, the series would've been more successful if SEGA never lost the console wars nor left the hardware business, but a decline would've happened eventually as well. But what you need to understand is that change does happen in life once in a while, and pretty much all game developers or publishers make their own decisions, SEGA included. The decisions they make also depend on their budget as well. Making a new console can be very expensive at times, and some people think it's easier to develop software rather then hardware from what I have seen, don't know if that is true or not.

I'm okay with SEGA being in the software business and making Sonic (and other franchises) games for all consoles, but I would not be surprised if they want to re-enter the hardware business anytime soon. Then again, it was fun to see Sonic as a guest fighter in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

[Drunk Michael Myers]

No stupid Shadow The Hedgehog. All the Gamecube kiddies loves him. That's his fanbase.

Though, he's pretty much gone now, thank God.

If SEGA still was still intact, with all it's profiles from the 90's, i think Sonic would have been re-imagined somehow, without beastiality and hoverboards.

Edited January 7, 2011 by Michael Myers

[ChikaBoing]

Sonic would stand among flagship titles like Bayonetta and Vanquish.

[Badnik Zero]

Sega'd need a much stronger 32-bit run to deal with keeping the DC on the market. They lost so many people to Sony and the N64 in those years. This probably means Sonic Xtreme and more NiGHTS and more support for good IPs on that system! We'd probably have a very awesome SA3 in 2003 instead of the dumbed down Sonic Heroes. Who knows what else.

[ChikaBoing]

We'd probably have a very awesome SA3 in 2003 instead of the dumbed down Sonic Heroes.

Not so sure about that. Heroes(in concept) was a direct response to Adventure 2 reviews.

[Badnik Zero]

And it wouldn't have taken different directions if Sega was still working with its home console? Not trying to grab the Mario demographic, etc...

[Rusty Spy]

If there's one thing I'd be most certain about, it'd be that the quality of the games most likely wouldn't have dropped so low, and there probably wouldn't be so many since he'd still need to be pushing consoles, and the devs would most likely have much less restraints on development time and budget. I doubt the games themselves would differ much from what they are today, but chances are they'd probably be a lot more carefully handled to ensure they'd sell well.

But if Sega were still in the console business wouldn't the Advance titles/Rush titles not exist, since Sega didn't (and most likely wouldn't) have a handheld system to expand Sonic on? Or would they have showed up on their home console? Would M&S@TOG exist today, given Sega and Nintendo would still be competitors? WOULD SONIC BE IN BRAWL?!?! (chances are he would since Snake was in it)

[Badnik Zero]

WOULD SONIC BE IN BRAWL?!?! (chances are he would since Snake was in it)

But Konami is a multiplatform developer man. There's nothing about Snake that belongs to Sony.

[Chaosmaster8753]

Sometimes I think the problem with Sonic is that the series might've declined along with the publisher that owns it. I mean, they must've lost a LOT of money during the Saturn and Dreamcast eras, and getting all that back wasn't going to be easy. I think that when Iizuka mentioned that Heroes was trying to appeal to a wider auidence then Adventure 1+2, that was probably because they needed a title that would sell a lot of copies to help get their money back, and making it multi-plat really helped, but unfortunately Sonic Team was inexperienced with multi-plat development at the time, and I guess I don't blame them seeing how they were originally used to developing for one console. Anyway, Sonic probably would've turned out differently if SEGA didn't make so many dumb moves in the 90's.