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Sonic the Hedgehog is 18 years old today. Lets look back, then forward. (no, 56k, no)

Sonic the Hedgehog is 18 years old today.

It was 18 years ago that Sonic the Hedgehog was released on the Sega Megadrive/Genesis. The game was marvellous. It looked great, sounded great, played great, and fronted a character that resonated with gamers. Sega had struck gold and created their own Mario, a mascot that would carry their brand through the ages. As Sega's fortunes boomed, busted, and were born-again as a software house, Sonic's games have been equally as turbulent, magnificent highs and dismal embarassing lows.

This thread exists to celebrate the Eighteen years of ups, downs, and for GAF to proclaim where Sonic should be for his 21st birthday. But first, lets remind ourselves where we are at:

Ages 1-3 (The wonder years)

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Ages 4-7 (Those quiet, soul-searching years)

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Ages 8-11 (The hyper pre-teens, liked to play with his friends)

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Ages 12-18 (The ugly ugly teens)

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What do I see above? Some magnificent highs (Sonic CD, Sonic 3K, the entire golden era of Sonic) which have alongside the Mario franchise, instilled in me what makes a good platformer. Its also interesting to note that Sonic had more concentrated awesome in his first three years than any of the next fifteen put together.

I also see a franchise that has so badly lost its way, but is trapped in a paradox: the repugnant Shadow the Hedgehog remains popular with the young of today, those buying Sega's latest and greatest disasters want more and more, and the elements that repulse me (story, homing attacks, rollercoaster gameplay where control is reduced, lack of precision) are selling points for the market Sega has enraptured.

So then, looking forward. What can Sega do to make Sonic's 21st birthday a happier occasion? And how can they do this while still making money with their new market?

Is there a solution?
 
Sonic 3 & Knuckles is still the greatest 2D platformer ever made. It has it all.

Perhaps with those nasty teenage years almost over he can be in a good game again.
 

Firestorm

Member
Oh god seeing all the screens all laid out like that really puts how far he's fallen into perspective.
Dammit.

I'm depressed now.
 

agrajag

Banned
He's like that promising kid that was on the honor roll in grade school, but then he started experimenting with drugs and now whores himself out to buy his next hit.
 

Danthrax

Batteries the CRISIS!
I love your threads, Mama Robotnik.

And for the record, I liked Sonic Chronicles quite a bit.

As for as the next three years, what more is there to say that we haven't been saying for the last six? Sonic needs to go back to his 2D roots, reduce the shitty friends to virtually nil and stop trying to tell epic stories.

I'd suggest we all stop buying Sonic games out of hope and nostalgia in order to convince Sega we're done with the 3D bullshit, but I fear they'd misconstrue that as a signal we're done with Sonic generally. =(
 

alistairw

Just so you know, I have the best avatars ever.
I think we should all write some fan-fiction to celebrate. Mine's going to be about Sonic's 18th birthday party, where they all go out to Mobius Tavern and get slaughtered and then Cream is all like, 'Ohhhhh Sawwwwnic' and then Amy is all like, 'Back off, bitch' and then Tails is like, 'All of you better step the fuck back from my Sawwwwnic' and then they all have sex.
 

Catalix

And on the sixth day the LORD David Bowie created man and woman in His image. And he saw that it was good. On the seventh day the LORD created videogames so that He might take the bloody day off for once.
agrajag said:
He's like that promising kid that was on the honor roll in grade school, but then he started experimenting with drugs and now whores himself out to buy his next hit.
Ever since he started hanging around those shitty friends, our boy was never the same again...
 

G-Fex

Member
alistairw said:
I think we should all write some fan-fiction to celebrate. Mine's going to be about Sonic's 18th birthday party, where they all go out to Mobius Tavern and get slaughtered and then Cream is all like, 'Ohhhhh Sawwwwnic' and then Amy is all like, 'Back off, bitch' and then Tails is like, 'All of you better step the fuck back from my Sawwwwnic' and then they all have sex.

Yeah but that's every fic.

Happy birthday to you Sonic, keep kissing them human girls.
 

Blueblur1

Member
GitarooMan said:
Sonic Unleashed does not deserve to be lumped in with Sonic 06 or Shadow, it's far, far, better.
I second this.

Lot of Sonic threads lately... Meh.

evilromero said:
But still pretty shitty. Too much tutorial and cut-scene nonsense.
If you prefer no tutorials go play Sonic 2006 then. :p And I believe Unleashed is the 3D Sonic with the least amount of cutscenes.
 
Mama Robotnik said:

the awesomeness of 2D Sonic on the Gensis was being able to tell a story WITHOUT WORDS and WITHOUT TEXT.
The transitions from the end of one Zone to the begining of the next Zone was just right... especially in Sonic 3 + Sonic & Knuckles

then in the 3D games they gave them voices and it went downhill from there
 
The ONLY way to get a happy medium of recapturing the older Sonic players like myslef AND keeping the idiots of today is to take the DAY levels of Unleashed, and flesh it out into a full 10 hour game with NO main world HUB.

Just go old school Sonic 1 style level after level of Sonic Unleashed DAY level awesomeness.
 
Soniccccccccccc he can run and moveeeeee
Soniccccccccccc he's got an attitude!
Soniccccccccccc he's the fastest thing aliveeeeeeeeeeeeeee

:)
 

Catalix

And on the sixth day the LORD David Bowie created man and woman in His image. And he saw that it was good. On the seventh day the LORD created videogames so that He might take the bloody day off for once.
Unleashed is Sonic's community college phase. It shows good effort, but his standards can be so much higher.
 

TreIII

Member
Mama Robotnik said:
Is there a solution?

Sure!

The "easy" solution? Sega needs to find a way to get Oshima, Naka and Yasuhara back. Only once we get all 3 back together, along with any and all prima donna attitudes kept in check, could we even have a chance of getting Sonic back to where he's supposed to be.

I mean, let's be honest. Sonic was only as great as he was, because it was definitely the first instance of the "Chrono Trigger" effect: it was simply magic that resulted when those three were together, and making great games. The moment they separated, Sonic went to hell in a hand-basket.


Barring that, I say, give Sonic over to Sega's long time BFFs at Treasure. Maybe the same guys who brought us Dynamite Heady would be able to bang out the most interesting Sonic game in years.
 

alistairw

Just so you know, I have the best avatars ever.
G-Fex said:
Yeah but that's every fic.

Happy birthday to you Sonic, keep kissing them human girls.

Nah, mine'll be different cause there'll be a new hedgehog to compete with Sawwwnic for Cream's affections. His name will be "alistairw" and he'll b the fastest and smartest and best.
 
Loved 1 and 2 and still like to play them occasionally....lost interest in everything else that came after. I had Sonic CD and I wanted to like it, really I did. Which I found myself trying to do with a good deal of titles on Sega CD. But honestly, the levels play kinda crappy. Just seeing the words Collision Chaos on screen gives me a migraine. I'm not sure why it seems the majority of fans like it so much. Sure, the graphics and animation were up to their usual snuff, and the sound was very nice. But I hate most of the level designs and the whole future/past stuff. It got in the way IMO and chopped up the blazing speed aspect the series used to be known for. Ah well, to each their own I suppose.
 

Porridge

Member
Sonic the Hedgehog is truly one of the best.

Sonic sort of kick-started gaming in the 90s. That game was the real beginning of the 16-bit era in my opinion.

Sega should make the inspired and mature decision to make Sonic as a beautiful HD side-scroller. The games simply haven't been better in 3D.
 

Slavik81

Member
alistairw said:
Nah, mine'll be different cause there'll be a new hedgehog to compete with Sawwwnic for Cream's affections. His name will be "alistairw" and he'll b the fastest and smartest and best.
You're pretty good at this. Have you been practicing?
 
Giard said:
HD remakes with 3d backgrounds of Sonic CD, 1 to 3 on PSN and XBLA

Scrap Sonic Team afterwards.

This with a few tweaks. Please give Sonic CD the spin move. And add levels to those games.

It would cost less and sell more than those crappy 3D Sonics games.

Any Sonic game that is not 2D should die and burn in hell. ALL OF THEM.
 

ZAK

Member
I see no reference, pictorial or otherwise, to Sonic Rush in this thread. This seems inappropriate.
 

Everdred

Member
Guybrush Threepwood said:
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Why do these pictures exist?
:lol I have been purposely ignoring Sonic games this gen but strangely this has me intrigued. Which game is this? Was it awful? Sonic looks so out of place.
 
Does anyone have that jpeg showing all of the changes to Sonic's character design over the years?

I still remember going round to a friends and seeing Sonic for the first time. I sold my NES the next day (something I still regret) and pooled all of my savings with my brother to buy a Mega Drive (something I definitely don't regret). Why is it that no game has ever been as good as the best 2D platformers? Can GAF answer that? It can't just be nostalgia; I finished Sonic 2 again last month and I played SMB3 all day yesterday. They're as fun to play as they ever were.

In summary, I don't care how much of a sullen, angst-ridden, pock marked, awkward teen he's become, he was a beautiful little baby.
 

Blueblur1

Member
APZonerunner said:
We need a game where he looks, moves and animates like he did in Brawl. How sad it is that since Sonic Adventure 1 only Nintendo have gotten it truly right.
Sakurai did a great job. He and the Brawl team actually captured what made classic Sonic great using the modern Sonic design. I'd love for them to helm the art and animation duties of a new Sonic game.
 

mr jones

Ethnicity is not a race!
seattle6418 said:
This with a few tweaks. Please give Sonic CD the spin move. And add levels to those games.

It would cost less and sell more than those crappy 3D Sonics games.

Any Sonic game that is not 2D should die and burn in hell. ALL OF THEM.

OMG YEAH RITE?! And they should put it on the Dreamcast when it comes out in Septembuuuur....

As much as you'd want to be otherwise, Sonic in 2D is dead. DEAD. Sonic Rush obviously wasn't enough, because the only 2D Sonic I see is re-ports of the first 4 in various collections or downloads.

I'd just like to see a Sonic 3D game done well. I honestly don't know HOW they'd do that, since I haven't really seen a 3D sonic I've liked since the first Sonic Adventure, and I'm not a game designer. All I know is that I liked the early Sonic games because I could either play them for exploration, or I could play them for speed. When I first had Sonic 2, there was SO much to do and go find. But if I wanted to just go for shortest time to go through a level while getting 50 rings, I could do that. That's what made them so replayable.

These new games... man. Dark Sonic... with a gun? Sonic... with a human chick? Sonic... turning into a monster??? WTF is this shit???

As far as I'm concerned, Poor Sonic is done. He was a kid with oodles of potential, but he lost his way, and ultimately, has managed to make me loose interest in Sonic games altogether...

...and I used to be such a Sega fanboy...

*sob*
 
mr jones said:
These new games... man. Dark Sonic... with a gun? Sonic... with a human chick? Sonic... turning into a monster??? WTF is this shit???
Seriously! Is there like one board member going "What an angle!" at every meeting where they pitch shitty Sonic ideas?

Here's your fucking angle: He's a goddamned fast hedgehog that needs to save the world from some fatass doctor JUST BECAUSE. Ta-dah!
 

sonicmj1

Member
Does this mean that Sonic can finally be tried as an adult for the murder of my childhood memories?

About damn time.
 
grap3fruitman said:
Seriously! Is there like one board member going "What an angle!" at every meeting where they pitch shitty Sonic ideas?

Here's your fucking angle: He's a goddamned fast hedgehog that needs to save the world from some fatass doctor JUST BECAUSE. Ta-dah!

I dunno.

People for whatever reason want plotlines in their platformers. Why? I have no idea but in a SMG2 thread, people seemed irked at the thought that storyline would be reduced to almost nothing.

Personally, I want plot the fuck away from games. If Sonic, Mario, whomever is in a jungle level first and an ice level second, as long as the gameplay is good, it's all good. I think storylines killed platformers or at least beat them down to the anemic state they are today, where the only thing carrying platformers is name recognition and even that is fading.

I wouldn't mind a Sonic 4 that would be 2.5D that essentially recycle Genesis gameplay ideas. Recycling might seem offensive but recycling Genesis gameplay ideas beats the hell out of beastiality, werehogs, and shooting shit up with a gun because you are just a gangsta like that.
 

G-Fex

Member
alistairw said:
Nah, mine'll be different cause there'll be a new hedgehog to compete with Sawwwnic for Cream's affections. His name will be "alistairw" and he'll b the fastest and smartest and best.

Pfft I'll put a mario crossover in my fic. It'll be ultimate.
 
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