Similar cases to Sonic

Sonic is not the only franchise dying, but he seems to be the only one (or the most) attacked from all.

First of all Megaman, what happened to him? It seems few people is paying attention to his new games on the DS, not to mention how he seems to have failed on 3D. However, Capcom have shown to care of fans with Megaman 9.

Spyro definetily died when Insomniac stop doing his games. I mean, it was a cute platformer and finish being some kind of beat em up. If you want a similar game to ol' Spyro, try Ratchet & Clank.

Bomberman just can't work on 3D.

I think Eartworm Jim lost his style turning on 3D.

And I don't wanna start with Crash.

Think about this, I know Sonic new games on 3D weren't that good, but he seems to be the most flamed franchise

It's hard to say why Sonic takes more flack than some other dying franchises, but for my money it's the insane amount of fandom for him mainly due to Sonic X introducing a whole new younger set to him and in fairness, there hasn't been an Earthworm Jim game in a long time (at least the original is downloadable) and usually only one Crash and Spyro game are crapped out each year.

And the saddest part is people remember the way Sonic USED to be. Most of you are too young to remember how it was back in the early 90s where he rivaled Mario and was as recognized as Mickey Mouse. If you weren't around in those times I can't describe how it was like which makes his fall from grace even more sad.

Truly it's amazing any franchise stays around as long as it has and still retains it's populairty. As well as his games sell, Mario's 3D games still don't have the outstanding numbers his 2D games have. (Compare Super Mario Galaxy's 9 million units to NSMB 20 million units) The Nintendo franchises are the lucky rare exceptions. Look at all the other once great franchises that have faltered over the years.

Remember when everyone wanted to play Mortal Kombat? Now it has to resort to a T rated crossover with DC.

Remember when everyone fantasized about Lara Croft? Now she's become a lot like Sonic.

Remember when Doom was the must have PC shooter? Doom 3 was a decent Halo clone at best.

The only thing sadder watching a franchise cut off in its prime is watching it decay slowly over the years because it still has its fans even though the mania it once had is long gone.

But Sonic's flack mostly come from the zealot fans (and sadly furries) who love to defend that the series is still good and that it's all bias from the critics. You never have the insane Spyro or Crash camps. Those series are now just bargain bin kids games that no one cares about and slowly Sonic is getting closer to that.

But also it come from the saddened Sega fans. The Dreamcast died 10 years ago and a lot of fans refuse to let go as they watched a company that meant as much to them as Nintendo means to me and chocolate slowly wither away like Atari did. Desperately searching through the garbage dump of Sega published games to find any shining gem reminscent of a time gone by as they watch as Sonic continues to be raped repeatedly.

The Sonic series' problem is that it is a high profile failure that has no reason to be.

Earth Worm Jim and Bomberman virtually disapeared after the 3D jump, Spyro and Crash were dropped by their creators and sent to talentless developers and Mega Man's creator left the series after Capcom demanded too much from him. Yet with all of their problems, the worst of these games are better than almost anything Sonic in recent history.

Sonic is like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen; it's a product that is just plain terrible, there's next to nothing redeemable about it, a textbook example of failure and yet you can see clearly in every shot and frame of the game that a lot of money went into it just for it to suck but still make its money back.

It's become a cash cow that doesn't care in the slightest about quality, only commerce, just like the other series. The only difference is that Sega doesn't even care enough to finish their games.

Yeah that's true and it was hard for Sonic to move to 3D as well.

Sonic was a god on the 90, but let me remind you Megaman was also popular, and he is also dead (but what do I know, I don't like Megaman games, I'm basing this on GS reviews)

And any little thing you say can be turned around and turned in a debate.

Well you know every company has to step up to the plate, if sonic didn't go 3-d what would happen to the sonic franchise? Woud the franchise be able to make it with just 2-d games? Or would the franchise fail?

Well you know every company has to step up to the plate, if sonic didn't go 3-d what would happen to the sonic franchise? Woud the franchise be able to make it with just 2-d games? Or would the franchise fail?

shadowchronicle

Well I recall Game Overthinker's episode that said there's two paths Sonic can take if he can survive. The Megaman and the Mario path.

If he takes the Megaman path, than it's fine and Sega just makes old school 2D sidescrollers for download and handhelds but there is the problem that it doesn't offer room for long term growth. Even if Project Needlemouse is a good game and everyone likes it, it won't allow Sonic to grow as a franchise or solve the problems of the series.

With the Mario path, it allows growth but it means deconstructing the basic elements and reworking them. This has been difficult for a lot of franchises as we've seen.

See Sonic can work in 3D, The Sonic stages of the Adventure games as well as the day stages of Unleashed shows good examples of making Sonic work in 3D. Sega's problem has come from fear that a game with Sonic just running will be too short and keep throwing in gimmicks like playable friends, werehogs, swords that Sonic doesn't need. The old games didn't rely on gimmicks to make themselves good (aside from CD's time travel thing) nor were you forced to play as Knuckles and Tails. Friends can be playable but make them optional and make them fast.

When more info on Needlemouse comes out I plan to do a Blue Blur that expands on this.

Let's hope it does some justice for Sonic.

Here was the second half of the Gameoverthinker Sonic special where he discusses Sonic and what can be done to save him. Though some of you might not like what he has to say. Just warning you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YDrVRqmrLY&feature=related

The dash attack he mentioned was used in Unleashed's day stages and the slowing down time thing was a mechanic used in Secret Rings when things were moving too fast, you hit the d-pad down and it slowed time and Sega could take those aspects and refine them.

And while they shouldn't kill the cast per se, they don't have to shove everyone in every game just to please whiny fans. Any fan who's going to boycott any game that Shadow isn't in, isn't really a Sonic fan. Really, what would Knuckles and Shadow have added to Unleashed's story besides showing up, saying hi and doing a little song and dance. You don't see every Mario adventure shoving Wario, Waluigi, Daisy and Birdo into the story. That's what spinoffs like Mario Kart are for. (though God! do I have to listening to whining about how the players for NSMBWii are Mario, Luigi and two Toads and not having Wario, Waluigi or whoever.)

Here was the second half of the Gameoverthinker Sonic special where he discusses Sonic and what can be done to save him. Though some of you might not like what he has to say. Just warning you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YDrVRqmrLY&feature=related

The dash attack he mentioned was used in Unleashed's day stages and the slowing down time thing was a mechanic used in Secret Rings when things were moving too fast, you hit the d-pad down and it slowed time and Sega could take those aspects and refine them.

And while they shouldn't kill the cast per se, they don't have to shove everyone in every game just to please whiny fans. Any fan who's going to boycott any game that Shadow isn't in, isn't really a Sonic fan. Really, what would Knuckles and Shadow have added to Unleashed's story besides showing up, saying hi and doing a little song and dance. You don't see every Mario adventure shoving Wario, Waluigi, Daisy and Birdo into the story. That's what spinoffs like Mario Kart are for. (though God! do I have to listening to whining about how the players for NSMBWii are Mario, Luigi and two Toads and not having Wario, Waluigi or whoever.)

kbaily

I've seen that. It's true to a certain extent.

Here was the second half of the Gameoverthinker Sonic special where he discusses Sonic and what can be done to save him. Though some of you might not like what he has to say. Just warning you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YDrVRqmrLY&feature=related

The dash attack he mentioned was used in Unleashed's day stages and the slowing down time thing was a mechanic used in Secret Rings when things were moving too fast, you hit the d-pad down and it slowed time and Sega could take those aspects and refine them.

And while they shouldn't kill the cast per se, they don't have to shove everyone in every game just to please whiny fans. Any fan who's going to boycott any game that Shadow isn't in, isn't really a Sonic fan. Really, what would Knuckles and Shadow have added to Unleashed's story besides showing up, saying hi and doing a little song and dance. You don't see every Mario adventure shoving Wario, Waluigi, Daisy and Birdo into the story. That's what spinoffs like Mario Kart are for. (though God! do I have to listening to whining about how the players for NSMBWii are Mario, Luigi and two Toads and not having Wario, Waluigi or whoever.)

kbaily

noez Waluigi? dat sukz cuz he iz so asome and kreative!

Really, I heard whinny fanboys telling Waluigi is more innovative than Wario just because they say "Wa" means evil in japanese. So wario makes nosense as a name and Waluigi is the best idea since the hamburguers. Crap like that

Yeah that would work a lot better for Sonic.

Spyro definetily died when Insomniac stop doing his games.

And I don't wanna start with Crash.

nunchuk28

These two titans I remember playing all day on my PS1... and after they got dropped from their original creators, they both became franchises that, unlike Sonic, had absolutely no hope of improving.

What about Rayman? The only games I see now are Rayman and some rabbits, which only consists of minigames. I gotta admit some of them are fun but the rest are a bit boring. Rayman seems to have lost his touch on really great adventures like Rayman 2: The Great Escape on PS1, which I really enjoy playing since I was 7koolkat14

Sadly Rayman got upstaged by the Rabbids when Rayman Raving Rabbids became the surprise hit of the Wii launch. Now the Rabbids are getting their own adventure in Rabbidsgo Home. Not to mention Ubisoft is a company who whenever they get a hit will milk it for all its worth. It would be nice if they made a Rayman 4 as a platformer with him fighting against the rabbids as the first game was supposed to be.

But if you recall good 3D platformers not based on kids' cartoons are far and few nowadays. Mario and Rachet throw us a bone now and then. Banjo ditched it to drive cars and the rest are on life support. We have yet to see Jak or Sly make a PS3 appearance. (yes I know Jak has a game coming out on the PS2 and PSP). This is because platformers are seen as "kids" games thus meaning not worthy of quality and everyone just wants to make FPSes and sandbox crime games.

[QUOTE="koolkat14"]What about Rayman? The only games I see now are Rayman and some rabbits, which only consists of minigames. I gotta admit some of them are fun but the rest are a bit boring. Rayman seems to have lost his touch on really great adventures like Rayman 2: The Great Escape on PS1, which I really enjoy playing since I was 7kbaily

Sadly Rayman got upstaged by the Rabbids when Rayman Raving Rabbids became the surprise hit of the Wii launch. Now the Rabbids are getting their own adventure in Rabbidsgo Home. Not to mention Ubisoft is a company who whenever they get a hit will milk it for all its worth. It would be nice if they made a Rayman 4 as a platformer with him fighting against the rabbids as the first game was supposed to be.

But if you recall good 3D platformers not based on kids' cartoons are far and few nowadays. Mario and Rachet throw us a bone now and then. Banjo ditched it to drive cars and the rest are on life support. We have yet to see Jak or Sly make a PS3 appearance. (yes I know Jak has a game coming out on the PS2 and PSP). This is because platformers are seen as "kids" games thus meaning not worthy of quality and everyone just wants to make FPSes and sandbox crime games.

don't they get bored of so much FPS? I mean they are all the same, the only one that deserves my attention at the moment is Metroid Prime Trilogy

[QUOTE="kbaily"]

[QUOTE="koolkat14"]What about Rayman? The only games I see now are Rayman and some rabbits, which only consists of minigames. I gotta admit some of them are fun but the rest are a bit boring. Rayman seems to have lost his touch on really great adventures like Rayman 2: The Great Escape on PS1, which I really enjoy playing since I was 7nunchuk28

Sadly Rayman got upstaged by the Rabbids when Rayman Raving Rabbids became the surprise hit of the Wii launch. Now the Rabbids are getting their own adventure in Rabbidsgo Home. Not to mention Ubisoft is a company who whenever they get a hit will milk it for all its worth. It would be nice if they made a Rayman 4 as a platformer with him fighting against the rabbids as the first game was supposed to be.

But if you recall good 3D platformers not based on kids' cartoons are far and few nowadays. Mario and Rachet throw us a bone now and then. Banjo ditched it to drive cars and the rest are on life support. We have yet to see Jak or Sly make a PS3 appearance. (yes I know Jak has a game coming out on the PS2 and PSP). This is because platformers are seen as "kids" games thus meaning not worthy of quality and everyone just wants to make FPSes and sandbox crime games.

don't they get bored of so much FPS? I mean they are all the same, the only one that deserves my attention at the moment is Metroid Prime Trilogy

Well thankfully there are signs that people are tiring of FPSes. More and more there are articles complaining abou the trend of "shooters with a gimmick." Where people just copy the Halo formula, and make an 8 hour campaign with a tacked on multiplayer that's supposed to "make up" for it starring overblown space marines comparing penis sizes.

Haze- Halo with drugs

Turok- Halo with dinosaurs

Fracture- Halo with moveable ground.

The Conduit- Halo on the Wii (joke)

And all of these got mostly medicore scores. The Turok on the N64 was one of the few FPSes I liked though the new one was awful and like anything, the libraries are getting overpopulated with samey FPSes and people are getting burned out. I already talked to several folks who were unhappy with Halo:ODST because it was only 3 hours long. Though remember, that it was originally going to be DLC but they changed it to milk more money out of Halo fans.

I may like Halo, but I think its overrated like a lot of other series as well.

Yeah it would be nice to see Naughty Dog make another Crash game.

Yeah it would be nice to see Naughty Dog make another Crash game.

 

macrules_640