To Far Away Times
Member
The moment they started calling Dr Robotnik "Eggman" outside of Japan is the when the games went to shit, plus Sonic came out in the US first, so I'm sticking with Dr. Robotnik.
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Sonic Team explains why Dr. Robotnik's name changed to Eggman
- Thread starter Tom Nook Sawyer
- Start date
3 days between the US and Japan release isn't really a whole lot of time =\
*1 month 3 days, enough time for Japan to get an entirely different build with added graphics effects.
IrishNinja
Member
robotnik
...well, she did sign it "peach"
wait, how's that now
sadly, a long-standing tradition at this point
this was the best!
damn, how have i not seen that one before
...i always forget that was the master plan, yeah
fuckouttahere
...well, she did sign it "peach"
wait, how's that now
sadly, a long-standing tradition at this point
this was the best!
I personally do prefer Robotnik over Eggman myself but I can't help but feel that a lot of the complaints against it kinda sorta remind me of Dobson's infamous comic.
damn, how have i not seen that one before
...i always forget that was the master plan, yeah
fuckouttahere
SliceSabre
Banned
That's nice to know, but the cat's out of the bag for me. I've always known him as Dr. Robotnik and called him Dr. Robotnik and I will continue to call him that.
MrCunningham
Member
I personally do prefer Robotnik over Eggman myself but I can't help but feel that a lot of the complaints against it kinda sorta remind me of Dobson's infamous comic.
Brooklyn Mario > Italian stereotype Mario
Also, this comic forgets about Bowser/ King Koopa.
But I always preferred Dr. Robotnik over Dr. Eggman, even though Robotnik did play on the 'Russians = bad guys' stereotype. Even the voice actor in the Sonic DIC Cartoon (the non 'serious' one) kind of put a bit of a Russian spin on the characters voice. Which was actually kinda awesome.
Valjean Lafitte
Banned
I feel like this thread wouldn't still be a thing if everyone had taken the time to read Nanashrew's post on page 2.
His name is still Robotnik.
His name is still Robotnik.
MrTroubleMaker
Gold Member
agreed!
breadtruck
Member
This.
Jean Valjean
Member
#TeamRobotnik
He was called Dr. Robotnik in Europe.
Azure Dream
Member
Not sure why people are posting pictures of clearly American cartoons and comics with "His name is Robotnik! Just look at him!" Well of course it's Robotnik in that fiction. But the games aren't the cartoons and comics. (In fact, the comics have adjusted to align with the games better in more recent issues.)
The games were not exactly text-heavy, and even still:
The games were not exactly text-heavy, and even still:
I've heard some hilarious explanations why this "doesn't count."
timetokill
Banned
Robotnik was always the better name. Eggman sounds like an insult Sonic would use to refer to Robotnik.
Oh and the US street fighter names are better too.
Oh and the US street fighter names are better too.
Darth_Caedus
No longer canonical
It's not like he is a cool or scary villain. Eggman matches more, plus it's Japan's series. I go with what they say they created it. i.e. Satoshi > Ash
Crazyorloco
Member
I wondered about this for years. Thank you for this.
Robotnik is better
Robotnik is better
stargateheaven
Member
"eggman" feels like an insult sonic gives dr robotnik.. so i'm fine with it!
Nope, nope I'm pro-Eggman to an I'm someone who's been with the series since its debut. Robotniks just a corny 90's villian name.
He's an over the top, flamboyant old man who throws temper tantrums and is willing to decimate and destroy entire planets for the sake of world domination in the shape of an amusement park. Eggman fits that persona, and the fact that he claims it with enough pride to name all his animal powered robots after himself ties it all together.
Robotnik could be any Saturday morning cartoon villain and doesn't do anything for his character, other than trying (and failing) to add some bite to a dude shaped like an egg. The fact that his parents named him Robotnik and he grew up to make evil robots is as silly as the Riddler being named Edward "E." Nygma and falling into the role of a psycho who spends all his time making elaborate and puzzle like ways to commit crimes. Just because it sounds cool doesn't mean it's a good fit for the character.
Robotnik could be any Saturday morning cartoon villain and doesn't do anything for his character, other than trying (and failing) to add some bite to a dude shaped like an egg. The fact that his parents named him Robotnik and he grew up to make evil robots is as silly as the Riddler being named Edward "E." Nygma and falling into the role of a psycho who spends all his time making elaborate and puzzle like ways to commit crimes. Just because it sounds cool doesn't mean it's a good fit for the character.
I know but the whole Sega of America did the right thing is stupid. Like Capcom USA did with renaming characters in SF...
This is a pretty good reminder of how 16-bit audiences would have even seen the character in different ways based on their country context: the goofy Eggman name matches the fairly light-hearted world the early Sonic games inhabit...he's in the same zone as Dr. Wily. By contrast, the more imposing (to English ears) Robotnik was also matched by America-only developments like the fairly dark take on the character and world in the Saturday cartoon and Archie comics.
Funny thing about all this is: Robotnik was clearly meant to be an equally goofy name. It's a nod to the gag-filled Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, and its references to the Russian villains as "No-goodniks." Thus, "Robotnik" and his robot army of "Badniks." But of course, few people of the 16-bit generation core had grown up watching the show, so the Bullwinkle-inspired name change ironically sounds less like a comical Eggman/Wily parallel, and more like a sinister Soviet madman.
Omnii-chan
Member
I always preferred Eggman.
Oh he makes robots... Robotnik! Nah.
Oh he makes robots... Robotnik! Nah.
Not sure why people are posting pictures of clearly American cartoons and comics with "His name is Robotnik! Just look at him!" Well of course it's Robotnik in that fiction. But the games aren't the cartoons and comics. (In fact, the comics have adjusted to align with the games better in more recent issues.)
The games were not exactly text-heavy, and even still:
I've heard some hilarious explanations why this "doesn't count."
It doesn't exactly leap out at you.
His name is Robotnik. Maybe his middle name is Eggman, but Robotnik is the evil villain in Sonic's life.
MegaSackman
Member
No one plays Sonic anymore so his name is Robotnik of course. Doesn't matter what they do now.
katsubento
Member
No no no no no no.
RecRoulette
Member
Sonic Generations had a pretty good bit about that. The only good thing about the last 3rd of that game to be honest.
There it is.
There it is.
Lupin the Third
Member
"Bowser Koopa" is never really used in the games. In fact, even the SMB1 manual that first named him called him "Bowser, King of the Koopa" (Koopa being the name of his turtle tribe), not "Bowser Koopa." So of course, a trooper of the Koopa tribe would be a Koopa Troopa and so forth.
"Bowser Koopa" and "Princess Peach Toadstool", outside of a few lines in the DiC cartoons in the case of the prior, are more of a fanon/wiki thing than anything official. The only exception I can think of is that Mario 64 letter where she says "Yours truly, Princess Toadstool....Peach" And they couldn't run away fast enough from "Toadstool" after that.
In my mind, he's just Koopa or King Koopa. The end. No Bowser, please.
But I'm okay with "Peach" despite peaches being unaffiliated with mushrooms. "Toadstool" sounds ugly anyway.
As for Robotnik vs. Eggman, Eggman makes more in-game sense because that's the name the developers had in mind when they designed everything, which is why the egg theme is so prevalent. He also looks pleasantly plump in his original form. I see a real argument for calling him Robotnik in his newer form...his "eggy" look is long gone. I'd say Robotnik is his real name, with Eggman as the obnoxious Sonic-given nickname as seen in Sonic Adventure.
daTRUballin
Member
Sorry if this was already mentioned here (I didn't read the whole thread), but for those who don't know, the word "robotnik" means "worker" in Russian. Although it's pronounced a bit differently. I wonder if this was intentional? I've always thought naming him that and making him the main antagonist could've been some sort of jab at Communism. 
The fact that his first name Ivo sounds eerily similar to Ivan doesn't help matters either.
The fact that his first name Ivo sounds eerily similar to Ivan doesn't help matters either.
I am Christina Aguilera
Member
The Sonic games definitely came out roughly around the same time that Nickelodeon was actively airing Rocky & Bullwinkle reruns. I know that I caught plenty of episodes of it, and kind of simultaneously understood Boris & Natasha and Dr. Robotnik to both be of some sort of vaguely-characterized light Cold War Soviet flavor. "Robotnik" was, I think, a product of its time, and just as Russian villains in American action movies have all but disappeared in the post-USSR era, I don't think he would have been named as such if Sega of America were aiming for a localized new name for Eggman today.
I still think that Eggman sounds kind of silly and childish for an archvillain, but it's not my decision to make!
RobbieNick
Junior Member
So let me get this straight.
We got a thread complaining about Dr. Robotnik's name change to Dr. Eggman which happened 17 years ago and another thread comparing the graphics of Super Mario World vs. Sonic 1.
I think both arguments are kind of a moot point after nearly 20 years.
The name change mainly happened due to Sonic and co now being able to speak in games like Sonic Adventure and making it less complicated for translation purposes.
We got a thread complaining about Dr. Robotnik's name change to Dr. Eggman which happened 17 years ago and another thread comparing the graphics of Super Mario World vs. Sonic 1.
I think both arguments are kind of a moot point after nearly 20 years.
The name change mainly happened due to Sonic and co now being able to speak in games like Sonic Adventure and making it less complicated for translation purposes.
Link1110
Member
Its ok, sega of america ruined the Saturn. Japan had to get revenge somehow
Mr. Smiley
Member
So let me get this straight.
We got a thread complaining about Dr. Robotnik's name change to Dr. Eggman which happened 17 years ago and another thread comparing the graphics of Super Mario World vs. Sonic 1.
I think both arguments are kind of a moot point after nearly 20 years.
The name change mainly happened due to Sonic and co now being able to speak in games like Sonic Adventure and making it less complicated for translation purposes.
It's Sonic's 25th anniversary
daTRUballin
Member
Ehhh. Not really.
petran79
Banned
So let me get this straight.
We got a thread complaining about Dr. Robotnik's name change to Dr. Eggman which happened 17 years ago and another thread comparing the graphics of Super Mario World vs. Sonic 1.
I think both arguments are kind of a moot point after nearly 20 years.
The name change mainly happened due to Sonic and co now being able to speak in games like Sonic Adventure and making it less complicated for translation purposes.
Sonic 1 still has better graphics than most of todays pixel art platformers and 2.5d Sonic games
As for the name change, I'd still prefer the mute 16-bit games where not even the character names are mentioned
Valjean Lafitte
Banned
Except the character's name is literally still Robotnik.
http://web.archive.org/web/200401241...=nakainterview
People know this, but it doesn't change the fact that 99% of the time he is now referred to as Eggman.
SatoAilDarko
Member
But didn't Yuji Naka leave a decade ago?
ResidentDante
Member
First reply nails it.