@samuelvictor I'll quote my father when I was playing a pixel-art game "how OLD is that game?"
There is a certain perspective that people have that pixel art is either low-budget, or dated. Compare the GBC/GBA Shantae games with the last two, where the they went from the pixel art style to the cel-style animation with only the background layer being 3D. Not that I would prefer that at all for sonic, but part of the appeal of the "pixel art" is that it's less information overload for people. After a point, you either stick to the pixel art out of painful nostalgia for that style, or you do the logical thing and redraw the sprites at a higher resolution and frame rate. We have not had a "high resolution 2D sonic" other than what we were given in Sonic Generations for Classic Sonic which were both 3D.
Remastering to keep the pixel style here, is the correct thing to do, but if they're going to go through the effort of "remastering", they should have gone the Cave Story+ route where you could switch between original style and a higher resolution style without necessarily having to go all-or-nothing. You can mix the original and higher resolution sprites, you can mix the original music or the remixes, and so forth.
That said, Sega has such a checkered history with Sonic that I don't expect anything that wasn't already in the game. Like playing as just tails or knuckles in Sonic 2, was already possible, just before you needed the lock-on cart, which, given has never "really" been possible legitimately. Tails alone however was never exactly possible before.
It is interesting that they are trying to sell these as remasters, it's like they missed the memo that you have three types of players.
Nostalgia players, who want to play the original game, bugs, warped aspect ratio, low frame rate, limited palette, poor sounding music, and all. Sometimes even asking for CRT filters.
Nostalgia+ players, who want to play the game as it was intended, square-pixel art, 30/60/90/120fps, intended palette, remastered (non-PSG/non-FM) sound and music (but not orchestrated/multi-timbral remixes), no filters.
New players, who are expecting something else entirely, and would find the original game's speed, art and music to be "ugly" because it's not 3D like Sonic Boom. Where there are tutorials and quick-save style mechanics to avoid the gitgud mechanics.
The smart thing to do would be to iterate, like with the NES to SNES, and GB to GBC/SGB to GBA to DS, and GC-Wii-WiiU
The GB thru DS migration was actually pretty good for the platform, the loss of the GBA slot on the 3DS was a large disappointment. But being able to play the original GB games on the DS, gave it such a long life. It was also a super disappointment that the GB/GBA/DS/3DS games could not be used on the switch in any shape, despite the device having the power to do so.
So the right path forward is that whatever comes out next is an iteration of the Switch. Add 4K while docked, add a second USB-C port next to the headphone jack to support USB-C headphones or HDMI-out on the device itself without the dock.
Put 4 USB ports on the dock so that you can have 4 local players use whatever controller they want and play party games wired instead of playing for an hour on the joycon/switch pro controller and then having nothing to play it with when the batteries die.
Speaking of controllers. Fix the joycon/analog stick drift on all the controllers. I have a 15 year old Xbox 360 controller that works nicer than the joycons. I have a vintage NES and SNES pads that work better than the joycons and the SNES pad is far more comfortable. Please, just release NES/FC, SNES/SFC "controllers" instead of joycons. The joycons are the most uncomfortable "innovation" Nintendo has ever made.
I doubt Nintendo would read this, or take any suggestions from western fans, seeing as how out-of-touch Nintendo routinely is with it's own fans.
Comments 3
Re: Sega Shares Another Extensive Overview Trailer For Sonic Origins
@samuelvictor I'll quote my father when I was playing a pixel-art game
"how OLD is that game?"
There is a certain perspective that people have that pixel art is either low-budget, or dated. Compare the GBC/GBA Shantae games with the last two, where the they went from the pixel art style to the cel-style animation with only the background layer being 3D. Not that I would prefer that at all for sonic, but part of the appeal of the "pixel art" is that it's less information overload for people. After a point, you either stick to the pixel art out of painful nostalgia for that style, or you do the logical thing and redraw the sprites at a higher resolution and frame rate. We have not had a "high resolution 2D sonic" other than what we were given in Sonic Generations for Classic Sonic which were both 3D.
Remastering to keep the pixel style here, is the correct thing to do, but if they're going to go through the effort of "remastering", they should have gone the Cave Story+ route where you could switch between original style and a higher resolution style without necessarily having to go all-or-nothing. You can mix the original and higher resolution sprites, you can mix the original music or the remixes, and so forth.
That said, Sega has such a checkered history with Sonic that I don't expect anything that wasn't already in the game. Like playing as just tails or knuckles in Sonic 2, was already possible, just before you needed the lock-on cart, which, given has never "really" been possible legitimately. Tails alone however was never exactly possible before.
Re: Sega Shares Another Extensive Overview Trailer For Sonic Origins
It is interesting that they are trying to sell these as remasters, it's like they missed the memo that you have three types of players.
Nostalgia players, who want to play the original game, bugs, warped aspect ratio, low frame rate, limited palette, poor sounding music, and all. Sometimes even asking for CRT filters.
Nostalgia+ players, who want to play the game as it was intended, square-pixel art, 30/60/90/120fps, intended palette, remastered (non-PSG/non-FM) sound and music (but not orchestrated/multi-timbral remixes), no filters.
New players, who are expecting something else entirely, and would find the original game's speed, art and music to be "ugly" because it's not 3D like Sonic Boom. Where there are tutorials and quick-save style mechanics to avoid the gitgud mechanics.
Re: Reggie: Nintendo's Transition From Switch Will Be A "Significant Challenge"
The smart thing to do would be to iterate, like with the NES to SNES, and GB to GBC/SGB to GBA to DS, and GC-Wii-WiiU
The GB thru DS migration was actually pretty good for the platform, the loss of the GBA slot on the 3DS was a large disappointment. But being able to play the original GB games on the DS, gave it such a long life. It was also a super disappointment that the GB/GBA/DS/3DS games could not be used on the switch in any shape, despite the device having the power to do so.
So the right path forward is that whatever comes out next is an iteration of the Switch. Add 4K while docked, add a second USB-C port next to the headphone jack to support USB-C headphones or HDMI-out on the device itself without the dock.
Put 4 USB ports on the dock so that you can have 4 local players use whatever controller they want and play party games wired instead of playing for an hour on the joycon/switch pro controller and then having nothing to play it with when the batteries die.
Speaking of controllers. Fix the joycon/analog stick drift on all the controllers. I have a 15 year old Xbox 360 controller that works nicer than the joycons. I have a vintage NES and SNES pads that work better than the joycons and the SNES pad is far more comfortable. Please, just release NES/FC, SNES/SFC "controllers" instead of joycons. The joycons are the most uncomfortable "innovation" Nintendo has ever made.
I doubt Nintendo would read this, or take any suggestions from western fans, seeing as how out-of-touch Nintendo routinely is with it's own fans.