Takashi Iizuka Believes The Blue Blur Has "Turned A Corner" Following The Release Of Sonic Mania

Sega allowing a rando Aussie fan to make a game was the best thing they've done in a long while. Sonic Team should be disbanded and made to complete a Game of Thrones style walk of shame.

Wow... if there’s been feedback.... how the hell did they came up with that design for the finished product for the movie is beyond me.

Yeah, but Forces was lukewarm at best with a clear feeling of "they're out of ideas" and involved or not, the Sonic movie is part of the franchise and something people will bring out for years and years if it royally screws up (There's a chance it could be alright with the redesign if done right but thats a big IF.)

Least the racing game should be okay, but the next main Sonic has to do something big and game changing.

@JHDK I don't hold anything against them I feel like almost all the games suffer from lack of polish due to rushed development cycles. Even generations felt like they rushed it in some places imo.

Well... It took someone other than Sega to realize it.

Lol it wasn't even made by Sega. This should give them zero added confidence.

Time for Sonic Adventure 3, complete with multiplayer racing and the Chao Garden. You did say you've turned a corner! Time to make Sonic games that don't feature werewolves, Shadow with dual-wielding firearms, King Arthur knights, a bizarre interspecies human/hedgehog romance, custom hipster player avatars, or merchandise-marketing-first-good-game-decisions-last character designs with weird scarves in a game so bad that even the pre-rendered cutscenes have frame drops and half the game's obstacles are beatable by opening the pause menu repeatedly while jumping. You have the capital — take your time and develop a good, unrushed product the series' fans have been asking for since the early 2000s, because obviously the fans' vision for the franchise is what works, not Sonic Team's.

I believe that I forgot to buy TP at the store today, do I get a headline?

I've never seen someone try to distance themselves as hard as Iizuku did from that Sonic trailer

Seriously, he might as well have said "That's not Sonic"

Mania was without a doubt Sonic. The gameplay, the trailer, the soundtrack. Everything about it reminded us why The Blue Blur gave Mario a run for his money in the 90's.

IMO, to truly pay homage to Sonic and his reign at the height of video games, the movie should've been 2D animation. Sonic games NEVER worked in 3D, why would a movie? An 11 minute short made to advertise Mania got over 35 million views. Give the people what they want

There’s few games i would insta-buy, but a Sonic Mania sequel by Christian Whitehead and his team is an absolute no-brainer for me.

@ItsOKToBeOK I don’t quite agree with that, I had Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast and it’s excellent. Basically a 3D sonic platformer with RPG elements. It’s a shame the other 3D games haven’t been to the same standard.

Sonic never moved past 8-bit for me

If anything Sonic Mania to me prove that Sonic should had just died along with all the other third party mascot characters after the 16-Bit era (NiGHTS was suppose to be his replacement on the Sega Saturn). He's born in 2D and only work best in 2D. Unless Sega wants to keep him in 2D all his existence I don't see how any of his future games would evolve unless Sega return him to the Sonic Adventure formula which could be tricky and may likely suffer if not handle properly.

Sonic’s level design philosophy of multiple branching paths toward a final end really only works in 2D. In 3D it would get way too complicated and feel super confusing to navigate. Not to mention. A single play through would then only have the player moving through a fraction of the game world.

Mario 64 and Breathe of the Wild both proved that you can take a person that moves at reasonable speed and throw them into a 3D environment and it’s fun. But if you have your character moving super fast you either need to slow them down regularly or make the world largely flat and lacking in detail.

Sega should look into locking Christian Whitehead into a contract and have him pump out awesome 2D sonic games and rename Sonic Team and have them work on other franchises.

Sonic mania was great n all but nostalgia was a big selling force. some of the new stages just didn't flow that well and the bonus levels were a bit of a turd. I miss the master system games where you explored n collected rings other then just speed.

Sonic turned a corner...amazing what can happen when Sega isn’t making the game. Now officialize the Sonic Chaos remake!

I would love Christian Whitehead to work on another Sonic game. At least let him do Sonic 3 & Knuckles, SEGA.

I remember when Paramount announced that they would be making animated movies. I didn’t have any faith in them then and I don’t to this day. With the likes Wonder Park and now this Sonic movie, they probably won’t be in the animation game ten years from now.

Maybe just disband sonic team and let other studios have a go? To go from Sonic mania to forces just proved to me that they have no idea what they're doing.

Sonic just proves to me how well Nintendo have done producing such good games year after year...

While it's true Sonic has mostly been rubbish since the 90s, Sonic racing transformed was great game. It was the first game I really played with my kids. We would turn down the lights, put it on the projector at about 100". Such good memories...

@mist Correct me if I’m wrong, but there’s never been an 8-bit Sonic game, has there? Mario and Mega Man were certainly alive and kicking in the 8-bit era, but I think Sonic was a generation late to the party.

@Maxz Sonic started in 16-bit, but there were plenty of 8-bit entries on Master System and Game Gear.

"Sonic the Hedgehog has struggled to live up to expectations for a long time now"

I give you the start of every article about Sonic.

A very dark and shady corner

...So like Sonic Generations before, we shall ignore what the fans want from a Sonic game and shove out poorly realized 3D rubbish.

@Maxz Yeah, there were a TON of 8-Bit Sonic games for the Master System and Game Gear.

@Knuckles-Fajita I mean, it's true.

That picture right there is Sonic done right, at least terms of his design (at the other characters too).

Lol yes Sonic turned a corner when a fan made game reminded everyone what could be. Meanwhile at Sega, I fail to see the lesson has been learned.

Dream Sonic game: Christian Whitehead produced hand drawn 2D Sonic with the style and scope of the Rayman Origins/Legends series. Or even just Mania 2 featuring mostly new level themes.

What we’ll get is Sonic Team making some awkward to control 3D game with a half baked gimmick and tiresome plot.

I wish I wasn’t this cynical but poor old Sonic is grinding me down.

@Maxz

Sonic was released on the Sega Master System and also the Game Gear.

More info here:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_(8-bit_video_game)

@Maxz

Sonic was very successful as 8-bit on the Master System and Game Gear.

The first game in 1991 was on Mega Drive, but only 4 month later the 8-bit version came out on the Master System.

The Master System version was my first Sonic game. And I loved it. I think many Europeans have played Sonic on the Master System before they tried it on the Mega Drive.

Personally I like the first Master System game better than any of the 16-bit games on Mega Drive. Although they are great too, and some of my favorites as well.

The first two Sonic Master System games were the best ones, and they had more focus on platforming than speed. And I really like that about them.

You should really try Sonic 1 for the Master System. A fantastic 8-bit achievement, I think.

I liked Sonic Mania. But I would rather see a real effort made in bringing Sonic into a more modern setting and doing it with some care. Again, I enjoyed Sonic Mania. But to be honest, I had played that type of Sonic game a million times before.

I genuinely loved Sonic Forces. I went in expecting it to be terrible because most Sonic games are and was blindsided by a really fun and enjoyable game. It definitely needed more time in the oven but I was shocked at how fun it was. It's one of three Sonic games I liked along with Mania and 3 & Knuckles. I've played a lot of Sonic games too.
(unpopular opinions incoming)

Sonic 1 isn't very good, 2 is okay but nothing special, 3 & Kuckles is great, 3D Blast is tedious, Adventure 1&2 were crap except for the speed stages, Heroes sucks, Shadow is awful, 06 is a farcical mess, Black Knight sucked, Colors is okay, Generations is decent but overrated, Lost world is confused, Mania is better than 3 & Knuckles, Forces is fun as hell, Pocket Adventure isn't bad, The Advanced trilogy is acceptable, and Rush 1 is cheap and frustrating.

That covers the ones I've played. I have a weird relationship with Sonic because, while I don't like many of the games, I find them very interesting to play and criticize.

Can we finally please have a Sonic game where he is Madonna boyfriend?

@JHDK Sonic Team technically hasn't existed since 2014.

@jrpacman @mist @dres @Guru_Larry

Really fascinating, I had no idea. Thank you all!

@Crono1973 : I bet you could wipe together a better Sonic game than Sega have in the last couple of decades too.

@Deanster101 I loved that game too. It was cheesy and exhilerating, with only minor clunkiness, as I recall.

Unless Christian Whitehead and his team are making every Sonic game now,I don't see how anything will change

I'm not buying it. The fact that Forces was basically just Sonic Generations: bad edition, really doesn't give me much hope at all.

Unless Sega has some great, fully-realized, and handled with professional polish game in the pipeline, I don't really see what Sonic Mania has changed besides making us all certain that sonic was waay better before 3D and showing that sonic team has no idea what they're doing anymore :0

Sonic Mania proved that Sonic is better as a 2D platformer rather than as a 3D adventure game, yet I believe that Sega developers have said they view Sonic Mania as nothing more than a nostalgia trip and will continue to make Sonic games in 3D. If this is the case, then Sonic hasn't turned a corner at all.

I think Sega has to acknowledge Mania was a success and that was why he said that.

I've always thought 3D Sonic's problem was the level design...the hard part really is making a race track of a level but still allowing for exploration.

While this is definitely true, the main Sonic Team didn't make a very well received game. I haven't played it yet, besides a demo at E3 but Sonic Forces hasn't impressed many people. Now, if you let that little team who developed Sonic Mania take charge, I think we have a fighting chance at continuing to send Sonic in the right direction, in Sonic speeds!

@fafonio I bet it's like the Super Mario Bros live action film. where people behind Mario saw what they were making but had little effect on the final product I mean like Luigi hasn't got a mustache and was alot younger in it, like how Koopa/Bowser was a human for most of the film that said... Sonic Team should had more input, Sonic OVA had Sonic Team members helping and while not perfect it did seem like the recent games I know it was only a two episode series in japan but it should apply to films too like Pokemon did

@JHDK This "rando Aussie fan" is a professional game developer that happened to have studied how classic Sonic games work in every aspect and managed to replicate the first 2 games for mobile devices perfectly (or even better).

My point being, he isn't just a "rando Aussie fan", he's quite qualified for the job. Let's not pretend any fan can make a game as good as Sonic Mania.

I think they’ve taken Sonic so deep in the dredges of failure, they’re having delusions of grandeur over a single good 16-bit Sonic throwback.

Ya, Sonic Mania was good. But that’s all it was. One single decent eShop game. To think the entire franchise has now somehow “turned the corner” is irresponsible at best.

@ItsOKToBeOK "Sonic games NEVER worked in 3D, why would a movie?"

Wether Sonic worked in 3D games or not is arguable, but to say a movie can't work because it's Sonic + 3D is... quite literally the most close-minded thing i've ever read?

The 3D games """don't work""" supposedly because of budget/time issues that come from the fact that Sonic has to move at high-speeds, and many other design problems (which i'd rather call design challanges). But all of that is only applicable to games, none of this is even remotely an issue in movies, movies are a thing you watch, you can't say "this movie has bad controls" or "this movie has bad level design" or "this movie is buggy and has low framerates".

Honestly, your point about 3D Sonic movies not working just gives me the impression you haven't played or even watched a 3D Sonic game, which i wouldn't accuse you of, but that's how i feel.

I'm frankly so tired of seeing Sega churn out more Sonic games at the expense of all their other IPs (most of which we haven't seen in decades) that I honestly wouldn't care if they never put out another Sonic game again. I realize some folks love Sonic (and I used to back in the day), but I can't be the only one who feels this way, can I?

Sorry, but in my opinion, that statement is just hogwash. What I see post-Mania are a bunch of web-toons that milk the popularity of the game dry, a somewhat divisive "3D" game that wasted its potential, a recurring fighting game reappearance, a racing spin-off that hasn't been released yet, a small cameo from a somewhat unrelated movie, a trailer for the franchise's own movie that evokes more cries to redesign its titular character than anything positive, and a new start at the franchise's comic run. Save for a few bits, how exactly is that a turn for the better for the franchise? Plus, last time I checked, Mania, the one getting the praise, is a glorified fan-game made official by Sega, while Forces, a game created by Sonic Team, is the one that's getting criticized for understandably justified (and some unjustified) reasons. Shouldn't they feel embarrassed that they've been outdone by that? Unless the idea here is that they're implying that they've found a way to improve the franchise that doesn't involve milking 2D gameplay and nostalgia too much, something that's been happening way too often in the franchise during the 2010s, I don't consider anything after Sonic Mania to be a good thing. Or, to put it simply, one great game doesn't turn the fortunes for a franchise if the things afterwards don't follow that. Frankly, I can only imagine that such statement would me more convincing if the next game is an actually great one that's not only ambitious and well-made, but also finds a good 3D gameplay foundation for the franchise to use for both speed, exploration, and platforming, and doesn't use nostalgia and 2D as one of the things going for it.

@Maxz

And by the way. All the Sonic 8-bit games are not just ports from their 16-bit cousins. They are totally unique games with their own levels and music.

And the 8-bit Sonic games also have a different approach to Sonic 2d gameplay. Mostly because the Master System hardware wasn't able to run a full speed Sonic game, so they had to change the formula a bit, and focus more on the platforming parts. And the results were pretty good.

The first game is the best one, though. The second one quite good, and then the rest were just decent.

Yeah, yeah...
SONIC MANIA 2, WHEN?

And why is it so hard for Sonic Team to do 3D Sonic well?
They've done it before with Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations.
Even Sonic Heroes was pretty decent.

Maybe Sega should give outside developers more shots at 3D Sonic instead.
Think of what PLATINUM GAMES, for example, could do with Sonic if they have a decent budget and development time.

He is crediting a game not made by sega for turning the corner for sonic?

Sonic Mania was good for nostalgia, but if they make a sequel, improve the graphics, make it more modern looking. Doesn't have to be in 3D, but they could spice up the graphics for 2D.

Honestly, as a fan. I feel the series is fine as I've enjoyed most of the games in the series. Looking forward to Team Sonic Racing, and the movie even if it's not accurate to the games.

Sorry if I disappoint anyone with my opinion, I just love this series and tend to be positive about it. Both classic and modern style of Sonic games.

@Jacadamia
True we have to see what this change brings which is so far nothing, I don’t see Sonic Team making a 2D game that would live up to Mania’s standards as the 2D segments in their recent games rely on heavy scripting and wonky physics. The chance that needs to happen is renaming Sonic Team to something else and keeping them away from the franchise, their inability to just make Generations 2 after the failure of Lost World is all the justification needed otherwise they’ll continue to go in odd random directions that aren’t in line with what the public want.

@Dman10 That game already exist, it's called Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and it sucks.

I'll just say it since everyone's giving their super biased opinions on Sonic games.

Heroes is one of the best 3D Sonics, I've played it through 4 times since it came out. Each time felt like I learned a new skill, it felt rewarding to master.

When playing Generations it just makes me want to play the original levels instead, especially the dumb 3DS version.

Colors feels like I'm playing a licensed game, it's a cheap experience, the 3D part of it, you could compile every 3D section and you would get like 5 minutes of gameplay, cool. This game also ruined Sonic for me thanks to all the dumb forced jokes.

@SamuraiPanda as interesting as that would be, there would be no story and would probably have a ton of gimmicks, remember what Miyamoto did to Paper Mario after all!
https://kotaku.com/miyamoto-convinced-the-people-behind-paper-mario-stick-5964444

So they know what to do with Sonic now? Until I see what the next new mainline game offers, I can't be assured that they have learned from their mistakes.

Yes it certainly has turned a corner....For about 5 seconds with Sonic Mania before it drove into a brick wall and off a cliff with Sonic forces and the horror that is the sonic movie XD

Ehhhh....

Sonic Mania is a old-school remix. It in no way determines the future of the Sonic franchise, unless Sega intends for future Sonic games to remain old-school remixes forever.

Sonic Mania was great, everything else Sonic related continues to be naff. I hope to be proven wrong though.

We really turned a corner with Sonic Mania, by following it up with Sonic Forces and the amazing Sonic movie. We know what the fans want!

@JaxonH "I think they’ve taken Sonic so deep in the dredges of failure, they’re having delusions of grandeur over a single good 16-bit Sonic throwback"

Correction: A single good 16-bit Sonic throwback MADE BY SOMEBODY ELSE!

Now make a sequel with proper co-op and more money will be yours SEGA.

Sonic hasn't turned any corner yet. Much like Sonic 2, a big part of the excellence and success of Mania has to do with the west. Forces was mediocre, which was a step up from broken mess. But that game...like is not even a case of "struggling to live up to expectations"...of the 3(!) level designers 2 never worked on any Sonic games before, and one did on Lost World. That's your big 3d Sonic game and Sega can't be bothered to "struggle to live up to" anything. Then you got Sonic Team racing, which gets delayed to crappy performance and still isn't looking so hot now (the concept is great tho) and now all this movie stuff is...Remember the Mania game could have been SO much better but Sonic Team forced Christian to pack the game with old levels.

Eh That game was good but not perfect there some bugs.. some stuff breaks and debug mode destroys crap so I would give it a 4 Sorry Sega..

All I can see hypothetically; is outside studios stepping up to the plate like Evening Star, or Sumo Digital getting closer to become more involved with mainline games, not borderline taking over development as some might hope. At this rate; Sonic will (as Bill Freiberger of Sonic Boom/Comedy Chimp puts it) have a brand identity akin to Batman, or in a semi-related sense to me; the Hatsune Miku-brand, with that fan-driven content, and the creators involved shaping its identity. Granted, it won’t go as many people want, as Sonic fans have each their own vision of how it SHOULD be:

• Rehashing old games or sequels, just with a 2 or higher, or having “Remaster”/or “HD” in it’s title (Sonic Adventure 3 fans, I’m talking about you!)
• Or as people would accuse Sonic Team of doing (or not doing); rehashing game styles, adding or rehashing gameplay styles and features, just to shoehorn them in to appeal to a niche audience(s).

@fafonio It's quite a shock 100 - 200 people working in an animation studio said yes this Sonic is fine and it wasn't some sort of calculated effort for publicity and then they replace Furnic with Sonic. He just looks so fugly compared to every other CGI made movie.

The message should be that companies who are massive fans of Sega franchises make better franchise entries than Sega

Not yet he hasn't as Sonic Mania was more of a side game not a main entry in the series the main entry around that time got slated so he has far from turned a corner yet however Team sonic Racing could go a way into repairing Sonic's damaged reputation along with a quality 3D main entry in the series. I personally think Sega should bring Alex Kidd out of retirement as he would be better suited for a 3D game as they don't have to worry about him having to run at high speed and all the camera problems that comes with it.

@MimoDX2 but... you CAN.

A movies setting just from a trailer allows people to be engrossed into the world, whether their familiar with it or not. Just look at Detective Pikachu- they went WAY over the top to bring you into the world of Pokémon... and it was AMAZING. Then you look at Sonic, and it looks like they just plopped him into the real world.

There’s no connection at all to the rich history of Sonic- the sprawling level design, the wide variety of enemies, even the design looks like some 3rd party knockoff that couldn’t afford to buy a license to use Sonic.

With 2D animation, EVERYTHING is left up to the artists creative process. Every frame scripted, designed, put in a storyboard, then animated. How characters move and interact with others and their surroundings can be totally organic. If something doesn’t look right, it’s almost tangible, and is changed during the designing process. It’s why 2D animated features age far better than 3D animations or live action CGI.

Just from the trailer you can tell- the movie DOES control Sonic badly (Sonic can grab missiles out of the air but can’t dodge a tranquilizer dart???), the level design (setting) is empty and lifeless, then the CGI is just piss poor (not just Sonic, all the CGI looks second rate). Seriously, How does Wreck It Ralph have a better Sonic than the Sonic Movie?

The movie LITERALLY makes all the mistakes a 3D Sonic game does, which could’ve mostly been avoided by just not being 3D. Eyes that connect across the bridge of your nose is TOTALLY FINE if it’s animated. A creature that flies by spinning its multiple tails... how would that even work with CGI?

3D Sonic games mostly haven’t worked. IMO it’s because Sega has tried to put incredibly unrealistic characters into realistic settings and scenarios. Now the movie has exasperated that to the 9th degree. That’s just how I see it.

@ItsOKToBeOK 1st Paragraph: There seems to be a misunderstanding here, i wasn't talking about the Sonic movie, i was talking about your argument of Sonic not working in a 3D movie, which is an argument that makes no sense imo. Also, the Sonic Movie isn't a "3D movie", it's a "Live-Action + 3D Hybrid movie". There's a clear difference between the two. A 3D movie is something made by Pixar, a Hybrid is something like Alvin and the Chipmunks.

2nd Paragraph: Fair enough, i just want to make it clear i wasn't talking about the movie we're getting, i was reffering to a hypothetical 3D Sonic movie. I admit i should have understood you were talking about the Paramount movie we're getting, and i apologize about that.

3rd Paragraph: It's completely fine if you prefer 2D movies to 3D movies, but 3D movie makers do have full control over their movies as well, if something can be changed in 2D animation, it can almost certainly be changed in 3D as well. Honestly though, i have no idea why you are bringing this up at all.

4th Paragraph: You are really, really, really stretching your argument here, but before i continue, i want to make it clear i'm not defending the movie.

"Sonic can grab missiles out of the air but can’t dodge a tranquilizer dart???" 1. That's because the movie makers wanted it to be this way, i agree it's lazy though. 2. The movie, actually, NO MOVIES have bad controls because movies are not an interactive medium at all, the viewer has no control whatsoever on what's happening in front of his eyes. It's not controllable, period.

"the level design (setting) is empty and lifeless" I admit i haven't watched the trailer out of fear, but once again, movies are not an interactive medium, since you have no control over what's happening in the screen, you can't interact with anything, and level design is something you have to interact with, therefore, the movie has no level design.

5th Paragraph: Here's what it seems you don't realize: The movie is bad, because Paramount made it bad. Any and all of your arguments against the movie are because the movie makers screwed up during the process. A 3D Sonic movie can absolutely work, and there's proof of that in the Sonic Unleashed intro (i also want to point out that the direction of that intro would have to be totally changed in order to work in 2D, proving that 3D animation is equally as valid as 2D animation), but before you watch that (if you haven't), i want to make what i'm trying to say very clear:

The Sonic the Hedgehog movie made by Paramount does not work, and there is in fact a reason why it doesn't. 3D + Sonic is NOT the answer to this question, the answer is no more complex than the fact that the movie makers simply not only misdirected the movie, they also executed said direction poorly. The problems with the movie have nothing to do with the problems Sonic games have, recent games have suffered because of bad level design, bad controls, and a sense of high-speed that's just too much for the developers to handle with the provided budget and deadline. The movie seems to be a mess because the story is generic, Sonic's design is bad, and, from what i've heard, the CGI is bad.