Topic: Sonic, the Epic Fail

Being a gamer for almost 18 years, I can say I have seen what was, is, and will be. One name stands out above the rest though when it comes to games that were amazing and have done nothing but a spiral downfall. I know many loyal Sonic fans out there will probably not like this thread too much but oh well. Ever since the end of the Sega Genesis era Sonic has had a pretty bad track of games. They progressively get worse. I read in an article not too long ago about how developers should quit while they are ahead. Needless to say that Sonic was on the top of that list. Seriously, what has happened to our beloved Sonic from the old days?

I don't want to talk too much about this so I will get to the point. STOP MAKING SONIC GAMES. Let us old gamers reminisce the glory days of Sonic.

Why not just make better Sonic games? Sonic 4 might be just the game fans of the Mega Drive games have been waiting for.

I understand what you are saying, but the thing is that all these years have past at attempts to make another great Sonic game and it seems to fail everytime. I have hopes for Sonic 4 but I do still have my doubts.

I look at it this way, Sega releasing new Sonic games hasn't effected my feelings and love for the Mega Drive games one bit. At least there's always a chance that the next Sonic game will be the next great one. Until then, I'll keep popping the original carts in my X'Eye and enjoying them for all their worth.

Best thread ever, I totally agree! Any other franchise would have been buried long ago but they just won't give up. I have Sonic the Hedgehog on VC to remind me of the fun I had playing it as a lad, and I'll probably download 2 & 3 at some point. But everything else has been pap. The only other high point was Adventure, and that wasn't very high at all.

And now we are going episodic!? I feel sorry for that little hedgehog. Sega... leave him alone!

I can respect that. I know I still pop my old Sonic games into my dusty Genesis every now and then as a reminder that he was once a great video game Icon.

YOU are the Epic Fail here. You're finally getting an old-school Sonic game and now you're complaining about how Sonic should die. If this were after Sonic 4 and the game completely failed to become an old-school Sonic game, then I understand the argument. But you're making assumptions about a game that you haven't played nor any other person outside of Sega has played. Stop being a 5-year-old and enjoy what you're getting.

18 years? pff I've got 20 hehe.
Anyways I was never a huge Sonic fan back in the day(however I did have 1 and 2 for the Genesis)....the platforming felt 2nd rate, and the whole bad ass 'speed gimmick' was just flash since you didn't exactly have any control over it.

But really, you say there hasn't been any good Sonic games since Sonic 3/Knuckles on the Genesis?....You have played Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 havent you? if you've played the actual levels with Sonic and Shadow than you were in for a good time, the rest of the levels where you played as Tails, Knuckles, that Fat Cat, Aimy, ect were just horrible...And of course the boring exploration parts....But again, the Sonic and Shadow levels were great.

Also, Sonic Rush seems to get decent feedback from the Sonic fans, yet those games are more 'watch than play' if you ask me and are way too fast. Speed and flash are definitly the gimmick regarding the Rush Series. The Boss Battles are decent at least but I just don't care for them at all.

Anyhooo, hopefully Sonic 4 for WiiWare will be good....I may even actually download it ;p

...that we should have got ten years ago... wow!

I don't want them to stop making Sonic games, the 3D console versions may be average at best, but Sonic is still a great franchise on the handhelds, episodic Sonic makes perfect sense to me, sure they could do a retail release, with hundreds more levels, but we'd have to wait years, wiiware seems the ideal place for Sonic, and with Dimps working on it I'm sure it'll be great, so more Sonic please, just keep it 2D and preferably let Dimps handle it.

I was talking about Brennan, not you Machu. It's true that the games should've kept a consistent amount of quality, but try to see my logic for a second; he says that the old-school, 2D games are better than the newer, 3D ones and now he starts complaining about how there's going to be an new old-school 2D Sonic game. Quite hypocritical, no?

Yeah I guess so. And don't worry I wasn't having a go Ninjadude, just quoting you.

I too am glad to see a return to the old ways, but find it amusing that a) it took so long, and b) they will drip feed the fans with episodes. I know why though... they aren't confident enough to put it on a disc, because if it did fail that really would be it for the hedgehog. This way, they can get feedback from each episode and basically have the fans do their job for them. A few episodes in they may well re-capture the magic, but from the brief trailer I saw, the physics looked all wrong.

Also, I dislike episodic gaming and find it quite cynical of Sega to release a game like this, especially one that the fans are desperate for. This will be the only Sonic game in recent times that won't be discounted shortly after release. But only because they can't.

I did enjoy the Sonic Rush games, which had some tricky levels (especially the first one). Sadly, my skills aren't good enough to play the early Sonic games without the ability to save anywhere. I beat the first two on my PC (actual legal copies being sold through Real Arcade at the time) by saving frequently and reloading whenever I messed up!

I don't think they should give up on Sonic. I think they've gradually been realizing that the series needed to return to its roots. As long as they don't come up with any stupid gimmicks this time, Sonic 4 should be awesome. If not, I've got plenty of other games to play, so I'm not too worried.

Sonic is not aging too well. Blue hedgehogs must not have long lifespans

@Machu A little clarification would be nice next time, but everything's cool. I do also despise the whole episodic thing they're doing, but for all we know the game could have 10 worlds per episode (very doubtful, I know, but it's possible). Let's just instead complain about the height of the character and what his eye color is.

@Moco_Loco You got them on your PC?!
V8 Ninja begins to Google search "Real Arcade".

@lz2010 No, they have long lifespans, it's just that %50 of their lives are spent taking a dump.

At least there are no friends in this one!

A ranter is me!
Sonic is not dead yet, but he has been a long time since his glory days. Sega cared about Sonic because Sega saw Sonic as Mario's rival and wanted to surpass him [which I think they did during the Genesis days]. Since Sega left the console market though, Sega and Sonic Team see Sonic as a moneyhog.

Sonic Adventure 1 was good, but the Adventure Fields were not that fun, and Big and his levels were horrible. Sonic Adventure 2 is fantastic though, this is the only time I feel like that Sonic Team actually transitioned Sonic into 3D right. Sonic Heroes has some intresting ideas, but was way too repititive and had way too many characters, what Sonic Team should have done was just only made Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles playable and made twice as many levels for them. Shadow the Hedgehog's branching paths and multiple endings in a very intresting concept [and it actually something that was scrapped form being used in Sonic Adventure 2] but the game is so bad it epically failed. Of course, ALL Sonic games look awesome compared to Sonic 06. Oh, how did Sega and Sonic Team failed when they released Sonic 06! Horrible story, horrible gameplay, tons of glitches, Silver, and Sonic's relationship with Elise made this game one of the worst games I have ever played. It was obvious that Sega finally realized they need to get their act together when they made Sonic Unleashed. It was a lot better, and I need to give it another try and play more of that game and finish it [it's been awhile].

Now on the handhelds, Sonic has been a lot more successful. Sonic Advance 1-3 are the only Sonic games that actually come VERY CLOSE to being as fun as the Genesis Sonic games. Sonic Rush was good, and Blaze was actually a good addition to the series [unlike most new Sonic franchise characters]. Sonic Rush Adventure was good, but I did not care for the ocean minigames and the Adventure Fields, it slowed the game down. As for the countless spin offs that ranged in the Sonic franchise, I have not played most of the modern ones. I played Sonic Chronicles, and to be honest, it felt dull and boring after a certain point. I never even bother to finish the game, which is a shame, considering Bioware developed the game.

As for Sonic 4, I have high hopes for this game. This is basically Sega's last chance to redeem Sonic to me. If Sonic 4 fails, then I'm not going to worry about any future Sonic games after Sonic 4 [unless an actual good game comes out]. But, I think Sonic 4 has a very good chance. With Dimps and some members of Sonic Team [including the senior level designer from Sonic 3 & Knuckles] working on the game together, the game has a chance to be just as fun as the Genesis Sonic games. Someone from Sega said last year that Sonic's games will get better over time, and that Sonic 4 is that first step. Let's hope that's true. But, I think the episodic format of Sonic 4 is for the best. After all, since you are getting a game that is going to be at least as long as Sonic 3, each episode is basically it's own game. I just hope that Tails and Knuckles will be added in future episodes as playable characters, because they were a lot of fun to play as in the Genesis Sonic games. But, why are people complaining about Sonic 4 when it is not even out yet? It does not make any sense. Also, every Sonic franchise character that has been added starting from Sonic Adventure needs to go except for Shadow and Blaze. End of rant.

@Token Girl-Haha, that picture showing the Sonic Cycle is SO true.

@Token Girl:
Best pic ever.

I don't know if the Real Arcade service is around anymore or not (they were mostly casual, from the same people as RealPlayer and Rhapsody), but they took the Sonic games off their service before I unsubscribed. It was a shame, because I had wanted to get the other Sonic games they had (3, Knuckles, and 3D Blast, which I only later found out was one of the early turkeys of the series).

Sonic's not going anywhere. Despite the sometimes awful reviews, the games still do shift quite an amazing amount of copies. Some companies would consider 400,000 copies sold to be a pretty great amount, and Sonic games often surpass that. Recent Sonic games like Secret Rings (which actually, I liked :3) sold over 1.2m, Unleashed sold over a million, Sonic and the Black Knight sold about 500k, even Sonic the Hedgehog '06 sold over 200k apparently(...). Not to mention all the collections they've made, I'm sure those rake in a good amount or they wouldn't keep making them.

If you want to stop Sonic, you've got to stop the fans first, and it doesn't seem very possible at this point. o_o I bet Sega has fun making these games and seeing how ridiculous they can make them while still being able to churn in a profit though.