Explain the Whole Sonic Issue to Me

[Bolivar]

But like I've said, its not just Sonic they're ruining. I would imagine Bolivar would agree, with the new Shining games in mind. A lot of us fans are almost afraid to admit we liked the Shining franchise, and have to point out how fun the original games were to justify ourselves. Pretty much the same for me and Phantasy Star as well. I hate all the new ones. I'm ashamed to be a Sega fan. I'd say I'm a retro Sega fan. But I would have loved to have these games updated, expanded upon, and kept going properly

/rant (sorry lol)

You're correct that I'd agree, but only that Sega is the manifestation of a company who extends their franchises a few entries too long.

But that's only their early IP's, I'm not afraid to say I'm a SEGA fan, today. The Yakuza games are still going strong, apparently, and Valkyria Chronicles is one of my favorite new IP's. And those are developed internally, I believe. As sad as it may sound, I think they should just cut their losses and think about making games for today, because that seems to be what they're best at developing, as well as publishing (like signing Platinum Games for Madworld, Bayonetta, Vanquish).

Their licensed games ain't all that great from what I hear, though...

[JKTrix]

I don't like Sonic at all, never really got the appeal (had better platformers and better 'go fast' games before Sonic 1 ever came out), and I wasn't gonna post in any Sonic thread.

But someone just mentioned Yakuza, Valkyria Chronicles and the Platinum games and I just come running like Pavlov's dog. I don't feel too bad about my apathy to Sega's flagship franchise when they just have so much other awesome stuff out there. Though they made some really, really disappointing steps with Sakura Taisen and Shenmue very recently, two other Sega franchises I like.

But this ain't a Sega thread. Carry on!

[Vyk]

I think looking at Sega as a whole is a worthwhile discussion as it kinda fleshes out the general ideas Sega has with more than just Sonic. Definitely some good points. I guess I'm missing out on enjoying Sega right now because their current best stuff are mostly PS3 games and I don't have that system. I have heard good things about Yakuza, and I desperately want to play Valkyria Chronicles. So I guess I probably still would be a fan. And they are pretty good at picking up worthwhile games to publish from other developers. Its just odd that they stumble so hard with things they should be so familiar with. I'd love to have old school Shining, Sonic, and Phantasy Star treated the way Square has done with their NES and SNES titles. And when you consider what Sega is still capable of; its just odd that they can't do it

I've never been able to enjoy a Sakura Taisen, as most of them are Japan-only and I'd never be able to slog through a foreign RPG. But I'd heard the Sakura Wars for the Wii was really well done. I know they've pretty much given up on Shenmue though. I should probably play the second one some day

[Levian]

something like this started happening after Sonic & Knuckles.

[Roto13]

That's not what happened at all. :P

[G13]

I like Eggman's theme a lot more.

wtf were these musicians thinking?

[KentaRawr!]

Sonic Advance is pretty awesome, guys. :3

[DarkBahamut]

Well to be honest, I'd rather play Sonic 2 than Mario at times. More action in it. Except Mario is really fun too, but Sonic 2 had a original difference in each level. While Mario is just going through each world defeating Bowser, except of course each world is obviously more difficult. But in Sonic there are many more different aspects per stage.

[Roto13]

That's... not true. At all.

[Heath]

I was discussing this this morning with a friend of mine. I think the problem with Sonic is that the Mega Drive games were of a very high quality, combined with a suitable nostalgia value and less than brilliant 3D games have meant that they served to disappoint many people over the age of about 20. I quite enjoyed all the Sonic games up, and including, Sonic Adventure 2, though I'd probably saw it was one of my least favourite games in the series. I played the Sonic Advance games but found that something didn't seem quite right about them. The four Mega Drive games (1, 2, 3 & Knuckles) are still among my favourite computer games to this day.

In the discussion this morning, we essentially reached the conclusion that Sonic hadn't made the transition to 3D as well as the Mario series had. The nature of the 'go fast' mould of platformers - although not impossible in 3D - is better suited to 2D, I think and Sonic failed to innovate or evolve successfully in this respect.

Though in truth, I think it's nostalgia and high expectations which cause a lot of discontent with the more modern Sonic games.

[Evastio]

Hmm... so from what I'm understanding, the Sonic franchise suffered from a fate similar to the Crash Bandicoot series, where the original creators are no longer producing the games, the new developers didn't capture the "feel" that the old games had, and the fans are disappointed because of that. From everyone's posts here, that's the conclusion I'm coming to.

I guess it makes sense, since I've experienced myself the transition from the old Crash Bandicoot to the new.

[Roto13]

It's not even just the feel, it's the fact that even if they weren't Sonic games are were a new series entirely, they'd still suck because they're just poorly designed.