Sonic games of recent times have unfortunately never had the same amount of critical praise lavished upon them as Sonic games of the 16 bit era. Takashi Iizuka from the Sonic Team attempts to explain why.
How do you feel when you read old-school Sonic fans slagging off the Sonic franchise and what it’s become?
Takashi Iizuka: The fundamentals of both games, the 3D Sonic or the 2D side-scrolling games, are the same. Sonic is all about the speed and the platforming. It just comes down to how the gameplay differs when you’re playing in 3D and 2D side-scrolling.
I understand there are differences in the ways users interpret the 3D side than the fans who particularly like the 2D classic side of the game.
This is why we’re releasing two different types of Sonic games this year – to please the 2D classic fans who have been playing from the Genesis [Mega Drive]. Sonic 4 is more for those fans.
There are also fans who like the 3D Sonic games which have been released in the past couple of years. Sonic Colours is probably more for the users who appreciate the 3D side of Sonic.
But how do the negative comments make you feel? Do you ignore them?
Takashi Iizuka: It’s more that those fans are not positive towards the recent 3D Sonic games because we’ve been releasing only 3D Sonic games in the past couple of years.
It’s hard to please both 2D and 3D fans at the same time, in the same title for instance.
This is why the team decided to release two different types of Sonic games. It’s always hard to dodge every negative perception or make everybody happy with just one title. So we’re giving two options to the users.
– Takashi Iizuka, Sonic Team
Sonic Team has been making some bad Sonic games, I can’t really blame the fans.
HOWEVER, there are too many nitpickers and complainers for the record. A lot of people gripe and complain over everything in Sonic games. I do see that as a negative influence. If you can’t let the company develop how they want to, then you are better not playing anymore Sonic games.
That’s just my opinion.
Three, if you counts Sonic Colors for DS, an that is in 2D.
That doesn’t sound like blaming to me. As a long time Sonic fan, I’m inclined to agree with them here. The Sonic fanbase is rabid and UNPLEASABLE. I actually have high hope for Sonic Colors due to the fact it will be like Unleashed without the Werehog stages. Best of all, the gimmick to that game is apparently optional. However, it must be frustrating with the rabid nostalgia filtering fanbase ignoring everything that is not the 16-bit era.
Quite a few of the 3D Sonic games have been lackluster or just bad (Sonic 2006) but there are some good ones too. I liked Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 despite some of its flaws. Even the 16-bit Sonic games had faults and problems. It’s all about nostalgia filtering that out.
Great Move… Blame your Fans for the crappy Sonic Games.
WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU LOT COMPLAINING FOR IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE FUCKING GAME DEN DON’T EVEN LOOK OR EVEN PLAY IT….IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE SONIC GAMES THEN MAKE YOUR OWN AND STOP BOTHERING SEGA!!!!! IT’S BECAUSE OF YOU PEOPLE SONIC’S VOICE HAS CHANGED ALL OF YOU FAKE PIECE OF SHITS ARE FUCKING MEAN YOU JUST CARE ABOUT YOUR FUCKING SELF BUT NOT SEGA, SONIC TEAM AND SONIC!!!
I’M A TRUE SONIC FAN BECAUSE I DO NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT ANY SONIC GAME!!
BECAUSE OF YOU FUCKING PEOPLE YOU MESSED UP SONIC TEAM AND THE SONIC GAMES!!
AND SONIC TEAM SHOULDN’T LISTIN TO YOU STUPID PEOPLE DAT DOES NOT LIKE SONIC AND THE SONIC GAMES
YOU SHOULD SEE YOUR FUCKING SELF OUT AND DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SONIC IS THE BEST IN THIS WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rofl, furries.
don’t you think people should stop complaining about the sonic games? it’s pissing the true sonic fans (like me) off and they are also pissing sonic team off too.
I hate it when these people work to make ANY game and they get trashed about it.
It makes me mad.
Well I’ve been a Sonic fan since ’93…my first game being Sonic CD. it was the only 2D Sonic game I’ve enjoyed and still play it even after so many times I’ve completed it.
Thing is, I couldn’t stand the repetition from the 2D Sonic games… it’s the same thing…go through the zones and get to the end.
I cannot understand why people enjoy that.
But then again….we have our own views and opinions, it’s not like EVERYONE has to love both 2D and 3D.
Heck, thing is, I enjoyed the Sonic Advance, and Rush series despite them being 2D!
I love the 3D Sonic games even if it has it’s ups and downs. Glitches, cameras and etc. but I still play the 2D games for nostalgic reasons. It doesn’t hurt to go back.
As for Sonic 4, I’m just as excited as I am for Sonic Colors.
As long as no little design detail affects gameplay (lol at you “NUUUUU SAWNIK HAZ GREEN EYEZ!!!” peeps), I’ll enjoy any kind of Sonic game out there.
P.S. I don’t believe in the whole “True Sonic Fan” thing.
This is less of “Blaming” the fans and more of pointing out how broken the Sonic fan-base is. On one side, we have the Retro fans, and on the other, we have the Next-Gen fans. The Retro fans want a “proper” Sonic 4, while the Next-Gen fans want fast, speedy, and smooth gameplay.
To be honest, it all boils down to Opinion. I myself like Sonic 2, but I admit it has some gaping flaws. (Blind runs that result in pain from spikes for example), and I like newer games like Unleashed, but I still think they need some improvement.
I’ve always loved Sonic.. 3D or 2D… but why blame it on us..
They really hit the nail on that. It’s about time the company realizes how goddamn ungrateful the vocal minority of their fanbase is.
He’s not blaming fans. He’s just giving a run of the mill response to questions that are designed to try and get a rise out of him.
“Takashi Iizuka: It’s more that those fans are not positive towards the recent 3D Sonic games because we’ve been releasing only 3D Sonic games in the past couple of years.
It’s hard to please both 2D and 3D fans at the same time, in the same title for instance.”
No, he is blaming the fans. And rightly so. They should stop bitching about the new Sonic games. Sonic and the Black Knight was awesome. If they really want those side-scrollers so badly, there are 3 billion released versions and re-makes and I’m sure even fan games out there.
He stated it perfectly! I so Agree!!
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I wouldn’t call this blaming, more like honesty. The fan base is really messed up, I’ve been a Sonic fan for ages, I wouldn’t say I love every game, but I’ve giving them all a chance. I like both 2D & 3D Sonic, the speed hasn’t really went anywhere.
Are you freaking kiddin’ me?! Sonic Team throws us 7 crappy games in the last 4 years and then blames the freaking fans?! Well, they can forget getting 50$ dollars from me for Sonic Colors.
Go ahead and bitch about it. This guy is talking about you. You’re just saying “SEGA! YOU SUCK! YOU’RE MAKING CRAPPY 3D GAMES! 2D RULES MOTHERFUCKER!” That’s your attitude right there.
Hey, to be completely honest with you. I’d love to play a GOOD 3D Sonic game. But Sonic Team just doens’t know how to bring Sonic into 3D properly.
Why can’t sega just kow when they have a good idea?
I’m surprised that they just wouldn’t let go of ideas like Sonic Unleashed and Sonic and the Black Knight when they knew that that wasn’t what their customers wanted.
I’m surprised that they never made another Billy Hatcher.
That idea could have gone more places in my opinion and is one of the only good games sega has made in the past decade.
I like good 2D games. I like good 3D games. These are not mutually exclusive.
You milk your franchise to death with experimental concepts that are more or less acceptable and you blame your fans for your poor sales?
It’s over, Mario won, let it go…
I’ll admit that I don’t like the 3D games nearly as much as the 2D ones.
Funny story: Sonic Heroes (sp?) was my first Sonic game. I hated it with every fiber of my being. So I became curious as to the story behind the “Blue Blur.” Several months and a freak acquisition of a Sega Genesis and Sonic 1-3, and I’ve enjoyed following the franchise since.
Sega needs to do what N-space does, N-space uses their facebook account to take in feedback on their games and use it to make better games
I only wish that Sonic games had a difficulty setting (and not like in Sonic Hereos with Team Rose = Easy, Team Sonic = Normal and so on), cuz I always seems to die cuz i’m too fast. or maybe i’m just saying that cuz i’m not so good in those “speedy”games. but I hope they would make a game where you can NOT be fast at will and more at a normal pace.
LMAO, it’s cuz of the speed that i’m stuck at all the sonic games I own (Hereos and Unleased)
Both Nintendo and Sega have over milked their biggest franchises. I think Mario really took the upper hand with super Mario 64. The way the sonic franchise was built up just wasn’t as right for 3d gaming. I think Sega is just still trying to get back on their feet with 3d sonic games. It was a good idea on their behalf to do what Nintendo did with Mario in 2010 and made a classic 2d and a next gen 3d game, both of which kicked ass. But I think Sega is taking a really slow, crappy approach to 3d gaming to experiment what their broken fanbase wants to get 2d gamers to play 3d sonic games. Some of their Sonic games have nothing in common with the actual franchise. I think Mario has definitely won an irreversible victory over Sonic.
I don’t care what other fans think Sonic te hedgehog and I grew up since Sonic Adventure. Sure I never grew up with Sonic but my first sonic game I ever bought was Sonic Mega collection. It’s nice to have a side scroller every now and then. Then again I am not a follower I’m my own person of my own mind. I say there is no bad sonic game. Sonic team don’t feel bad and keep on racing you to Nintendo:)
I agree, there is some flaws in sonic games but ehh there ok to play
It’s not like they (sonic team) are new at making games. They should have a good idea of how to please fans and if they don’t, that probably means they’re trying new things that haven’t been proven. Of course, you can’t just regurgitate old content forever, can you? Maybe experiment slowly by keeping the core attributes plus a little extra. It seems to have worked for Mario, Halo, Resident Evil and other franchises that stuck to their roots and slowly expanded even in the face of rapidly developing gaming technology and new consoles.
WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU LOT COMPLAINING FOR IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE FUCKING GAME DEN DON’T EVEN LOOK OR EVEN PLAY IT….IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE SONIC GAMES THEN MAKE YOUR OWN AND STOP BOTHERING SEGA!!!!! IT’S BECAUSE OF YOU PEOPLE SONIC’S VOICE HAS CHANGED ALL OF YOU FAKE PIECE OF SHITS ARE FUCKING MEAN YOU JUST CARE ABOUT YOUR FUCKING SELF BUT NOT SEGA, SONIC TEAM AND SONIC!!!
I’M A TRUE SONIC FAN BECAUSE I DO NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT ANY SONIC GAME!!
BECAUSE OF YOU FUCKING PEOPLE YOU MESSED UP SONIC TEAM AND THE SONIC GAMES!!
AND SONIC TEAM SHOULDN’T LISTIN TO YOU STUPID PEOPLE DAT DOES NOT LIKE SONIC AND THE SONIC GAMES
YOU SHOULD SEE YOUR FUCKING SELF OUT AND DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SONIC IS THE BEST IN THIS WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes I think sonic team should blame the fake sonic fans because they messed up the sonic games!!!!! i never complain about the sonic games…….i love playing sonic games, i love everything about sonic…sonics the best :)
Sonic the Hedgehog (360/PS3) was a terrible game because of the fans perception. Yup, obviously. All their fault. It had nothing to do with the crappy camera, loading times, plot, characters, broken/anti-fun gameplay, or glitches. Definitely. Besides, at 60 bucks, what a steal!
WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU LOT COMPLAINING FOR IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE FUCKING GAME DEN DON’T EVEN LOOK OR EVEN PLAY IT….IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE SONIC GAMES THEN MAKE YOUR OWN AND STOP BOTHERING SEGA!!!!! IT’S BECAUSE OF YOU PEOPLE SONIC’S VOICE HAS CHANGED ALL OF YOU FAKE PIECE OF SHITS ARE FUCKING MEAN YOU JUST CARE ABOUT YOUR FUCKING SELF BUT NOT SEGA, SONIC TEAM AND SONIC!!!
I’M A TRUE SONIC FAN BECAUSE I DO NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT ANY SONIC GAME!!
BECAUSE OF YOU FUCKING PEOPLE YOU MESSED UP SONIC TEAM AND THE SONIC GAMES!!
AND SONIC TEAM SHOULDN’T LISTIN TO YOU STUPID PEOPLE DAT DOES NOT LIKE SONIC AND THE SONIC GAMES
YOU SHOULD SEE YOUR FUCKING SELF OUT AND DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SONIC IS THE BEST IN THIS WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes I think sonic team should blame the fake sonic fans because they messed up the sonic games!!!!! i never complain about the sonic games…….i love playing sonic games, i love everything about sonic…sonics the best :)
MOTHER FUCKERS
MOTHER FUCKING FAKE ASSHOLE SON OF A BITCH SHIT!
There’s no doubt that the 3D games are pretty bad. Both Sonic Unleashed and Sonic and the Secret rings were pretty bad. SatSR kept giving you annoying repetitive missions like “get through the level without taking damage” or “spin dash on these robots to get to the other side” There were not that many levels so they tried to milk it in anyway possible.
The problem with Unleashed is that the wherehog controls weren’t intuitive and sometimes unresponsive and the day levels were short and you hardly had to press anything. plus they did the same recycled level bullcrap they did in SatSR.
What sega needs to do to make a good sonic 3D game is stop focusing on the story and start making better levels, controls, and features.
Ha. I let my bro read this and he just laughed. I even posted about it on my blog because it was so laughable. Nitpicky fanbase or not, the games had flaws that haven’t been perfected still in nearly a decade. They are blaming the fans. The average fan does not care if it’s 2D or 3D-that’s what Sega fails to understand tremendously. If they would gain to cut out the fat (gimmicks), useless characters, and add a good storyline or no storyline at all-they could do something great. Oh and the current Sonic music is either subpar,uninspired,rushed, or just plain awful.
I think what Sega needs to realize is that they are no longer the top dog, they need to take in advice not just from their current fanbase filled with 8yr olds. Also, Sega and its fanbase need to stop comparing Sonic to Mario. The rivalry is over, and Sonic is slowly dieing off. Sega needs to focus on being Sega, and making a good game-not worrying about it’s “competitor” . Why? Because I am anticipating a new Beyond Good and Evil game over some silly new Sonic game that’s meant for children (Sonic Colors) and oldschool brats (Sonic 4). I would love to see a new Rayman, and I am waiting for the new Zelda game, along with the new Donkey Kong game & Kid Icarus. If they want to play kamikaze with comments like this then be my guest-I haven’t purchased a Sonic game since Heroes so it’s no skin off my back. I don’t even like Sonic anymore anyways . Ratchet & Clank could give Sonic a run for its money at this point. Hell almost any game is better than Sonic if you compare how long the two have been around and how good or bad they’ve been doing since. They need to take some humble-pie, rabid fanbase or not..unless they like losing money.
The fanbase needs to grow up.
Sonic games obviously aren’t perfect. No matter how hard SEGA tries, they aren’t going to be able to make that perfect game that will tie all the fans together and stop the bickering. We will always have our obsessive Genesis Fans, our Unappeasable Fandumb, the n00bs who love everything, and the fans who love Sonic because it’s Sonic (don’t even get me started on the fans of the Archie Comics and SatAM). Nothing SEGA makes will be able to please all of them -nothing ANYONE makes will be able to please everybody with every aspect. It’s just not possible. And SEGA needs to realize that and stop focusing so hard on making a game that everyone will love, and just make a game that they want to design.
The Genesis games were fun. They were simple and beautifully created, but they weren’t perfect. I love the genesis games, but even I know that they get way more credit than they deserve. Other Sonic Games, “Next-Gen games” as they were called, still have good aspects. They develop these 2D characters we saw, they give them voices, they give them life. They have plot lines, as random and weird as some are. They are not all awful. Yes, SEGA adds in new characters all the time when they could easily use characters they already have, and the scripts can be horribly cheesy, but that doesn’t automatically mean they suck and that they’ve ruined the games forever.
That’s the most annoying part. The little cry babies that shout “Ruined forever!” every time a new game comes out. They don’t even have to know what it’s about to know that it will somehow destroy what’s left of the fanbase.
My point is -SEGA is not perfect, and neither are the Sonic games, past or present. But that doesn’t mean that they all suck, or that the entire fandom sucks. The fanbase needs to accept that Genesis is not coming back, that not every 3D game is complete crap, and just grow up.
And in the end, even if you hate everything since genesis or all of Sonic completely- it’s just a video game. So get over it.