If developers today really cared about the consumer—nay, the gamer—there’d be a 2D NEW Sonic the Hedgehog title on the Wii, complete with mass marketing and viral advertising, akin to what Nintendo did with NEW Super Mario Bros Wii.
Just Sonic vs. Doctor Robotnik. No voice acting and no filler. No experimenting. No worthless online features or over-hyped, under-delivering multiplayer modes. I’d buy it in a heartbeat. Sonic was never about kissing or dialog or exploring Egyptian ruins. It was about mindless speed and not being able to tell what was happening on the screen.
The Genesis vs. Super Nintendo “battle” in the 1990s sold systems, plain and simple. A resurgent Mario vs. Sonic battle would sell some more—and I’m not talking about some insipid Olympic Winter Games mini-game collection. And no, Sega, MadWorld 2 is not the answer I’m looking for.
How about a 2D platformer starring Mario AND Sonic? Either seperate levels to complement each character's abilities, or well-designed levels that can be played by either. The Mario vs. Sonic Olympic games sold OK. NSMBWii is selling pretty well. You don't have to be Iwata to figure it out.
I was just thinking about this the other day while I was playing the GameCube Sonic Mega Collection. The same approach as NSMB Wii can be used–similar gameplay as the 16-bit era, but with 2-D graphics and effects that utilize modern hardware. It would be an incredible game–Mario does very well on Wii, but Sonic seems like a perfect game to take advantage of a system with more horsepower.
I dunno. I would think that it'd be better, if Team Sonic were to do that, to make it multi-plat. There's no inherent benefit to using the Wii, and the IP isn't bound to it. You'd make it PSN/Live Arcade/Wii Ware like Mega Man 9.
That being said, there's no indication at the moment what project Needlemouse is, or what it's being developed for, other than that it's allegedly 2d. You may be getting what you want.
You guys do get the joke of what a "needle mouse" is, right? It's a hedgehog. And I would absolutely love a pure-blood 2D Sonic game (no filler CRAP like story or bad voice acting or Shadow…). Part of the problem facing the creation of a pure Sonic game, though, is that Sonic's original game designer Yuji Naka no longer works for Sega. What would be an interesting notion is if Shigeru Miyamoto were to make an attempt at designing a Sonic game….
i'd still be skeptical of any sonic game without the original creator. perhaps he is the element that the franchise is missing.
Having just beaten NSMBWii (WOW what a feat that felt like!) I am definitely on the same page. I had the same thought myself, and as much as I like games I don't really follow who works on what and who is behind what. As such, I would love something as fun and addictive as NSMBWii, and would give them serious kudos if they could find a way to implement multiplayer. I know that's not likely, and probably not conducive to the fast pace of the Sonic games, but still. Oh, and give me things to collect/find/work for in each level, like NSMBWii.
Guys, Gene Roddenberry's been dead for some time now, and Star Trek was one of the best movies of 2009.
Also, more apt for gaming: New Super Mario Bros (DS) had little to no involvement with Shigeru Miyamoto. And look at her now.
So, long story short, I'm certain Sonic in 2D can make do without the original creator.
As a side note, I completely agree with you about Mario VS. Sonic.
Now that I think about it, the 90's sure had a lot of great corporate battles going on:
Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi
WWF vs. WCW
Nintendo vs. SEGA
Back then companies weren't afraid to outright diss the competition in their commercials either (i.e. SEGA does what NintendDON'T)
1). Consumers aren't that stupid. Back when I was seven I knew instantly Sonic was a one trick pony. Holding the right arrow gets old after 5 mins.
2). Sonic already had a couple "old school 2d" games on the DS. Unlike Mario Bros, they just did ok. Why? See point number one.
And by the way. How much of a cut is Malstrom getting for this post? It may not be plagerism, but the half baked buisness strategies from a rambling old man lost in a fog of nastagia are spot on in this post.
Thanks for the page view, Finland! Although, your top-notch vitriol is slipping a tad…usually your clever little diatribes are better spellchecked than this. What gives?
And I'm glad to see you read Malstrom often enough to know he was talking about the same thing today too! I'm sure he appreciated the hard-earned page view as much as I did.
so gene's been dead for 20 years and star trek was a great movie. did the movie convey the original ideas that gene had set forth? exploration of our world with intent to explain who, what, and why we are, tolerence of other cultures, some good old fashion action sequences, and a touch of romance for mr. kirk? well if it did then it captured what made gene's original work stand out.
the problem is most new sonic games don't capture the original concept and improve upon (maybe due to the lack of it's designer), so yeah i'm still skeptical, mostly from the track record, that this will be a fun, good, or worthy purchase. i normally don't follow who is behind what (outside of first party nintendo titles), but just as a thought it could be possible he is one of the missing elements. hey but sega could prove me wrong and it would still be a win-win for me 🙂
@Toker: The dude hooked up with a green woman. I'd say that the original ideas were well and good in the new version 🙂
But yeah, obvious your points about Sonic need to be addressed. I think if they are Sega has a winner.
Jack, eh. Star Trek was a great film, but it really really didn't capture what the TV shows were about at all. It gets a pass on this, because the whole thing was an obvious set up for a series reboot, and there just wasn't time for anything else. But on a deeper level it really didn't *say* anything. I'm looking forward to the next one, and I hope they do more with it, but it's definitely not Gene's vision of Star Trek.
New Sonic the Hedgehog Wii. 4 players co-op! Play as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. I like the sound of that. NSMBW was a great combination of the old school Mario games with new graphics and new features.
A NSHW would be a great idea for the Wii taking the same concept of NSMBW by combining the old games with new graphics and features. Great idea.
Now I'm all excited and its only an idea, not even a rumor =(
@Kale: I agree! Great notion you've got there! 😀 I think it would be interesting if Shigeru-san made a Sonic-game.
can i take credit for first entering the word "vitriol" into the infendo lexicon? ah well, i will anyways. also, I really want to take credit for this series of articles, which I consider an homage.
star trek was great but predictable. red shirt dies, seducing green ladies, etc. good movie. not great, but good. i feel like '10 is the year of over-rated movies. up in the air was SO over-rated.
anyways, i'm not sure I get the whole 'if they cared about consumers' part. what do they care about? if they care about their own artistic vision, then that seems legit. If they care about making money, well then that follows the consumer anyways- and we know that traditionally hardcore games aren't the wayt o do that on the wii. so anyways, i'm not sure i get it. unless it;s just a 'developers just like totally dont get us" adolescent-seeming sentiment.
anyways, keep up the good work. i like seeing my handle in titles.
And a note to all future Sonic games,
Remember, ROBOTNIK is not spelled EGGMAN.
And a note to all future Sonic games,
Remember, ROBOTNIK is not spelled EGGMAN.
And a note to -_Q (and everyone else stuck in the past):
ROBOTNIK was nothing more than a name that Sega of America came up with. It doesn't matter that you grew up calling him that. You could have called Sonic "Speedy McPorcuspine" when you were young, but that wouldn't change the fact that he is called Sonic. The name ROBOTNIK does not appear in any of the classic Sonic games, but the name EGGMAN does (Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Wing Fortress Zone). ROBOTNIK does not have a large, planet-destroying space craft built in his likeness but EGGMAN does (The Death EGG). ROBOTNIK is a cartoon character, a ghost, a fading memory born of poorly-written instruction booklets, old DiC cartoons, and non-canonical ports of Puyo Puyo.
You and all the other crusty old gamers who *still* can't accept the changes brought on by Sonic Adventure can complain about it all you want, it won't change the character's name. There are still people who call Peach "Princess Toadstool" but I don't see Nintendo of America reverting back to "Toadstool" any time soon.
But I'm glad you know how to spell "ROBOTNIK". If you work at it, you and the other 99% of old Sonic fans can learn how to let go of trivial matters, too!
@ Poochy
Hey, thanks for informing me (not sarcasm). I never watched the cartoons, but I really liked Sonic when I was a kid and I did not know that stuff about the history. My apologies for the vitriolic comment. Eggman it is, then. You learn something new every day.
A little disappointing though still, just because Robotnik is such a cool name… But hey, I guess the dude's name is Eggman. He's probably not in love with it either.
I wouldn't consider myself stuck in the past though as I haven't cared for anything Sonic related since I was a child, so no skin off my back. ^__^
>Just Sonic vs. Doctor Robotnik. No voice acting and no filler. No experimenting. No worthless online features or over-hyped, under-delivering multiplayer modes.
Sounds great, but why does it have to be 2D? 3D Sonic is excellent, but we haven't gotten a full game of it where they haven't managed to fuck it up somehow. I'd like to see that at least once. The daytime stages in Sonic Unleashed were brilliant, can't we have a game of just that?
@ -_Q
It is I who must apologize for the vitriolic comment. 😛 But you accepted that criticism with such grace that I must concede: you are the better man.
@ Hugbox:
3D Sonic is excellent, but we haven't gotten a full game of it where they haven't managed to fuck it up somehow.
It's called SA2 (Sonic and Shadow stages), bro.
@Poochy
They fucked SA2 up pretty horribly, actually. It wasn't even like SA1 where you could just skip the crappy treasure hunting and mech shooting stages and pretend they didn't exist, though you still had to navigate the crappy adventure field between stages.
@ Hugbox:
Yes, well judging from the sales data of that game along with the vast number of kids that were brought in to the fandom from that game, you're absolutely right. /sarcasm
@Poochy
Because sales = quality, and children aren't easily amused. /sarcasm
@ Hugbox
Because quality = relative to the individual experience
and children = not as dumb as you must think they are, you smug asshole
/truth