The TV series of Sonic Boom may have been a success, but the games on the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U have been far from it. Former SEGA America producer Stephen Frost still believes that the whole package has been a success. Frost mentions that there are people that loved the game and appreciate that they were trying to take Sonic in a new direction. Here’s some choice quotes.
- Suggestion that Sonic had to re-invent itself because the fanbase was getting smaller. Gives Call of Duty as an example/comparison.
- Boom was made to appeal to non Sonic fans. — This is stated multiple times.
- Suggestion that people/retailers are bored of Classic – Dreamcast era Sonic. States you can only do so much with these eras/characters. He does go on to suggest this is from a retailer standpoint.
- Claims multiple times that Boom (franchise) is a big success.
- Admits Boom (franchise) could have been better.
“Could the games have been better… yes, any game can be made better.” - Suggestion that part of the reason why Boom (game) isn’t that good is because the team didn’t know what Sonic was about/lack of experience.
- “In focus tests, we heard all the time, people were sick of speed, Sonic was too fast, they wanted to slow down.”
- “People really liked the Co-Op” — Hopes Sonic Team will do that in the future.
- “The biggest mistake in Boom (gaame) was adding too many features to it.
- “It was too much to ask of the/any development team” — In terms of different characters, combat, features etc.
- “I was tasked (by Sega) with creating an experience that appeals to an audience which doesn’t play Sonic.”
- “If I could do it again, I would remove features and speed would be the main focus from the start.”
- “Speed was shelved because we were under the impression people didn’t want it.”
- “Speed is always a Sonic thing, we didn’t focus on that.”
- “The goal of Boom was to reach new people.”
- “As a branch of Sonic, Boom is a success in many ways.”
- Suggests that due to how much content you need to make for a Sonic alone game, it’s too much work. You need additional characters to spread the burden of content.
- “Multiple characters resonate well with people”
“Solo Sonic games, I don’t know how long that can last there isn’t enough variety to sustain it.” - “The future of Sonic games needs to be Co-Op, it worked really well in Sonic Boom, community and online play, that sustains it.”
Say’s he’d love to see a Sonic level design game. - “In general, you need to do multiplayer and add online multiplayer aspects, that will sustain and keep the franchise alive.”
- Says that the reason for the change in release date was likely a number of reasons, cartoon air date, Nintendo release dates, Sega release dates.
- When the decision was made to change Boom’s release date, Sega did not know when Smash was coming out.
Thanks, Alex
or you could just face the facts, your game was horrible and probably turned even more people away from sonic
Yes, yes, yes, yes. Touch me, dad!
Shit can also be better. Anything can be better.
Of course, you can be better.
No, I can’t. I’m perfect.
your the perfect imperfect.
it’s not mine. It’s my brother’s.
“Speed was shelved because we were under the impression people didn’t want it.”
This game was probably trash because Wii U is too weak to handle it. Good thing the NX is coming out.
The WiiU was not too weak to handle it. The game fucking fails on a basic game design level for god fucking sakes!
I still blame it on Wii U for being too weak.
It looks like a PS2 game and the Wii U is about 2x more powerful than the Xbox 360 and PS3 was. Trust me, it’s the game.
don’t feed the troll
“Wii U is about 2x more powerful than the Xbox 360 and PS3 was.”
Proof?
It’s the game, not the system. I mean, have you seen the First Party Nintendo games and even the Third Party games look good. If you want a Sonic game to compare to, then Sonic Lost World looks pretty good. If the NX is related to a home console, then even then, it would only be out after the normal Nintendo console lifespan of 5-6 years
Then you’re a moron. Game design 101, don’t fuck up the basics of an established franchise like Mario’s jumping or Sonic’s speed gameplay. This POS failed because the studio has no fucking idea what or who Sonic is.
Bayonetta 2 strongly disagrees with your poor statement, sir. It doesn’t matter what hardware it its, what is matter is how they use it. Having better hardware doesn’t save your game from being shit if the concept is already trash.
“In focus tests, we heard all the time, people were sick of speed, Sonic was too fast, they wanted to slow down.”
GOTTA GO FAST
They need new focus groups… ;_;
All this says to me is that Sega truly doesn’t know what they’re doing with Sonic.
How many times must it be reminded that this was BigRedButton’s fuck up, not SEGA’s?
To be fair, it was Sega that went out of their way to put BRB on the project.
So while BRB did do most of the screwing up, it was Sega that opened the door for them to do it.
It would have been smarter to petition Nintendo for help from one of their internal teams.
We might have gotten a better game out of it if they had…
You could blame BRB for fucking up the game yet Sega still had a say in this saying to create a game that “appealed to non-sonic fans” and also fucking up in choosing a dev team that had stated had little to no experience in Sonic games
B I g Red Sega who cares. With lack of power the game sucked. Nintendo’s the fault.
Sure blame Nintendo for everything /s
It’s also Sega’s fault for believing this POS was actually good enough to be approved for production. Sega can’t even handle Sonic IP themselves anymore so what makes you think that they get a pass on this WHEN ITS THEIR IP THAT THEY APPROVED FOR PRODUCTION/RELEASE? That’s like saying Nintendo didn’t fuck up Metroid with Other M. It’s was only Team Ninja. Uhh, no. They were involved with the game as much as Sega was with Boom because it’s THEIR IP.
NOT MADE BY SEGA, IDIOT.
No but they do say when the game is good to go out. They are the publishers who have to make sure the end product reflects what they initially intended to do.
APPROVED AND PUBLISHED BY SEGA, you idiot.
I have no words….
I think this guy should see some of the videos that people have put up about the games.
The Wii U version, specifically, is filled with bad editing, glitches, and overall lacks a lot of polish necessary to be considered a competent game.
This was a disaster right from the start.
They should have just left the development of the title almost entirely to an internal Nintendo team instead of Big Red Button.
At least then we would have gotten a half-way decent experience instead of a train wreck…
Glitches? On Wii U version? Weak console right? Poor big red couldn’t get on PS4 level because with little Powe they had.
The Order 1886 failed because the PS4 is a shit console.
Don’t feed troll
Don’t bother responding to the guy above me (not you, smash link).
He’s clearly just another Nintendo troll. >_>
You haven’t been on this site for very long then. He always bashes Sony/Ms
It’s either the same guy who got bored of bashing MS/Sony, or an imposter who is just using his name. Still a troll either way…
Sega died in 2000.
And WarioPaint will die on March 21st, 2015! Oh wait… Maybe I shouldn’t have told you that… hehehehe… Hehehehe… HEHEHEHE… Ok I’m done now.
(/*-*)/ …..WAT!?!
No! No! No! No! No! No! No!
Sonic boom only failed for 3 things: sonic, who rose to fame as the fastest thing alive, was slowed to a painful crawl, and that isnt fun. Instead of blasting off at the speed of sound, we got wave after wave of enemies that just would not die, and that’s not fun, and we got a painfully written story that leaves nothing to come back to. Stephen, you know nothing about business, even less about GOOD games, and less than nothing about why sonic was so loved to begin with. Industry-polluting imbecile.
theyre just trying to produce a game that sells well so they turned to focus groups… people don’t know what they want. when the developers start running out of ideas and no longer work because they want to its a pretty solid indication the game isnt going to be good
I never thought I’d have to do this, but:
Even as a Nintendo fan myself I’d have to call bullshit on this.
The game sucks badly and it was a failed experiment… the original design before the re-redesign looked much better than the designs we got and it looked like it would have been better gameplay wise and graphics wise.
“Multiple characters resonate well with people”
“Solo Sonic games, I don’t know how long that can last there isn’t enough variety to sustain it.”
Pfft. At this point, I would rather have had a Sonic as if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it as Mario over the “variety” of Sonic games in the last decade or so. My wish for a Sonic game is a game that takes the best ideas from the Sonic/Shadow stages (forget the shooting and hunting stages) in Sonic Adventure 2 and perfects them. Would it really be that hard?
Also, drop Sonic’s lore altogether. In fact, I hope for a Sonic game that has NO TALKING AT ALL. I’m tired of seeing this series try to appeal to children and be edgy and serious. Don’t get me wrong, maturity in something that primarily targets children is not something that hasn’t been done before, but it seems whenever a Sonic game half-assedly tries to do this, the result is completely ridiculous.
Mario at least has amazing gameplay whilst trying to add something new each time.
Sonic just keeps dying each time, we only get like 1 or 2 (if we’re lucky) good sonic games every full moon, the rest of the time we just get crap.
Mario is never innovative.
Because Super Mario Bros. NES and Super Mario 64 were complete rehashes.
True, except Super Mario Bros and all sequals always sell better than 64 and Galaxy 1 and 2.
Not everyone likes the Sonic adventure games.
I actually don’t like them that much either… And I actually think 1 is better than 2…
I’m not a fan of Adventure 2 as a whole either (I haven’t played SA1). I do, however, think the Sonic/Shadow stages had the right idea of what makes Sonic work: fast platforming, something Sonic: Colors and Sonic: Lost World failed at because they split it in two (running along a stretch and stopping for some forced 2D block platforming, and a Sonic that often wasn’t fast at all, respectively).
Voice acting doesn’t have to go, I like Sonic’s voice and I like story. Hell, the best Mario game has quite a bit of story.
Every Sonic game with story has taken itself too seriously. When Adventure 2’s story is the best and most believable the series has to offer, there’s a problem.
He obviously hasn’t seen GameGrumps’ playthrough of this.
Sick of speed?!? That’s what made him famous! If I wanted a game that wasn’t fast I’d play Mario games.
Well you know what they say dude-making-excuses-for-this-crap-franchise:
Excuses are like buttholes; everyone’s got one.
Not everyone liked the Boost gameplay.
I wonder how many of the people who want Sonic to be fast are actually talking about the boost gimmic.
I’ve never played any of the Sonic Boom games and don’t intend to either…the Sonic games were great in the 90’s and then it went downhill from there imo.
Sonic Generations so far is the only thing to even compare to the old games… Lost World was pretty good though.
Trying way too had to defend it. If you’d actually FINISH the game before releasing it and not firing half of the staff months a head, it could have been “GOOD”. But no, currently it’s below that.
Fired the staff huh? Got frustrated making this game on a weak console huh?
Only fun Sonic games I can remember are for me, on Sega Genesis, and then there’s Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. Good times those was. THEMS GOOD WORDS!
Not everyone likes the Adventure games, not everyone says they’re good.
They didn’t age well, I agree with that…
The company went half bankrupt.
The first game I ever played was the original Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast, it still remains one of my favorites to this day. So what this guy is saying kinda hurts. Is it that hard to make a true Sonic game?
“Sonic is too fast” what that’s the whole point of sonic
The irony in those words
It’s because some people didn’t like the Boost gameplay of Unleashed, Colors, and Generations, which were the fastest.
Above all else, my problems with it were:
1. The glitches
2. The game as a whole just fell disjointed.
3. The dialogue was atrocious, probably even worse then Sonic 06.
4. The portrayals of Knuckles and Shadow. Knuckles is not supposed to be that dumb and they turned Shadow into a brat.
It’s an alternate universe, so they portray them however they want.
And Knuckles IS dumb. He’s the strong guy.
Strong guys don’t have to be dumb
He’s always been the strong guy, but before he was more naive than dumb.
Knuckles was never “dumb” before Sonic Boom. He was just really, really gullible and was tricked by Eggman frequently.
Sonic Boom Knuckles can’t even tell his left from his right without a visual aid.
How exactly did people get bored of dreamcast era sonic if there was no dreamcast era sonic made after the dreamcast?
My thoughts exactly.
the clregy of the church of sasori will take actions on this
praise you high priest chris chan, king of kings
DON’T CALL ANYBODY
Dafuq is a “clregy”?
“Suggestion that Sonic had to re-invent itself because the fanbase was getting smaller. Gives Call of Duty as an example/comparison.”
So….in what way does COD reinvent itself? I understand the small additions every game, but it never, EVER strays from the main COD gameplay many have grown to get bored, yet the fanbase is as huge as ever with millions of squeakers online daily…..It’s clear at this point that fanboys will drool for anything remotely similar to a “nostalgic” game in a series, Mario, Megaman and even Sonic’s fanbases are excellent examples of this. I mean, look at how much love Generations continues to get, even though it was released some time ago. Sega and their affiliates need to get it into their thick skulls that feeding that nostalgia sweet tooth so many people seem to have nowadays is the way to go, just continue with the formula that sold well in the first place, stop kicking these poor fanboys while they’re down.
I get the feeling that this guy never played/watched the game. It’s a broken mess. There is no going around that. The game is broken. That is where the game’s downfall was.
“Suggestion that Sonic had to re-invent itself because the fanbase was getting smaller. Gives Call of Duty as an example/comparison.”
Sonic didn’t have to reinvent itself, it just needed to make a good game, look at Super Mario, it has never changed drastically and yet it still enjoys tons of popularity, the one difference: Consistent quality.
No, i’s because Mario never changes its gameplay.
Sonic changes gameplay constantly, and the audience is divided because of it.
To the people posting,
1. Are you even a part of the fanbase?
2. You know how many people argue over which game or era is better?
3. Don’t bash the series. Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric was bad. Sonic Boom the show, the comic, and the upcoming Sonic X Megaman X Sonic Boom X Megaman X comic is good.
Well this guy is purely a fucking idiot as well as the minority of dumbass Sonic fanboys/girls defending this POS.
“The biggest mistake in Boom (gaame) was adding too many features to it.
typo.
(Gaame)
I dont think anyone really cared about the direction or the style choices. If they did, they probably wouldnt have bought the game or looked twice at it. The problems people have with the game have to do with it being buggy, glitch ridden and, depending on how you play, completely broken.
If youre a director and cant distinguish between attainable features and pipedreams while understanding the buying audiences expectations, i’m not 100% sure you should be directing anything.
Dude cant even lie right. One comment he says if he could do it over again he’d make a proper speed centric sonic game, then goes on to say that sega wanted to appeal to people that dont play sonic games becahse of their speed mechanics.
Cant both be right…
The style was an issue for many, as soon as knuckles’ new art style was shown many friends of mine and myself instantly knew we weren’t getting it. I don’t know a single person who got this game. So the style did cost them a lot of people. And on facebook and plenty of websites I’ve seen people say the same thing, so it’s just not my circle of friends and I.
He doesn’t have a clue about what Sonic fans and consumers want.
I wonder if we should have expected any more from the head of a team that has made one good game in the past ten+ years.
lol Anyone else enjoying a really good laugh reading this or is it just me?
“Boom was made to appeal to non Sonic fans. — This is stated multiple times.”
Apparently wrapping Sonic in toilet paper brings in a broader audience.
“Speed was shelved because we were under the impression people didn’t want it.”
Sonic IS SPEED, YOU FOOLS! (forgive my outburst). Seriously, whoever is saying Sonic needs to be slow needs to be fired.
“The TV series of Sonic Boom may have been a success”
Please tell me you’re kidding. The TV show was awful.
Everyone loves the show, especially the SONIC fans.
I’m a Sonic fan, and I hate the crap out of the cartoon as well.
$30 it’s now worth. Not my thing but with the huge update and such, no longer such a huge loss for those who want to give it a go. No thanks though.
What did you expect from a company full of fired people? Have you ever considered that maybe, just maybe, they were fired for a reason?
The demo I played wasn’t too bad, but I’m waiting til it’s a $20 title. I love Sonic games, but this one didn’t make me wanna spend $60 right away like Colors and Generations did. This guy doesn’t seem to take criticism too well though, he defends everything with an excuse. We get that it was a new title and you took risks, just admit they didn’t work and move on.
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I am surprised the defender didn’t state he recognizes the game glitches and such. No matter what kind of game you plan to put out, make sure it functions when it releases. That is the one thing gamers will never forgive; a broken mess.
“c’est comme mettre de la chantilly sur de la merde, ce sera trés presentable, mais je vous conseille de pas en manger.”
-joueur du grenier
“it’s like put whipped cream on poop, it will be verry presentable, but i warn you, dont eat it.”
-french AVGN
They should try to return to the same formula as Sonic Rush for handhelds, and make a better version of Sonic Lost World without the parkour system or any of that… (SEGA acts like they change their games to be innovative, unlike CoD, but historically, CoD has wowed me more than at least half of all Sonic games… Every once in awhile, they get it right, but then it goes back to being horrible again… SEGA needs to just stay the same I guess, because people aren’t happy with the horrible decisions SEGA makes whenever they make a new Sonic game formula… Or maybe SEGA just can’t innovate yet they feel as if it’s necessary for every Sonic game that comes out… Also, using a dev team that basically got fired from Naughty Dog wasn’t a good choice… I can’t say if they could make game better/worse than Sonjc Boom, but still… Sanzaru should have just developed both versions…)
I don’t think this will satisfy anyone though :c
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