Sega admits their Sonic games suck

http://www.gamnesia.com/news/sega-admits-recent-sonic-games-quality-hasnt-been-acceptable-and-will-retur

SEGA Admits Recent Sonic Games’ Quality “Hasn’t Been Acceptable,” and Will Return to its Roots

The Sonic games have had a rough time transitioning from 2D to 3D, to say the least. While some gems came through this transition, such as Sonic Generations and Sonic Adventure, we have also received disasters such as Sonic Boom and Sonic the Hedgehog '06. SEGA Europe's marketing director Jon Rooke recently spoke with Marketing Week, and he, like many others, wants to see the Sonic games return to their glory. During the interview he promised that upcoming games “will be more inspired by how [the series] played in its heyday.”

He also acknowledged the difficulty of bringing a game into 3D:

“Sega has publicly apologized to the fans as the quality of console games in the Sonic franchise hasn’t been acceptable over recent years. It’s been tough translating that iconic side scrolling 2D experience from the 90s into 3D but Sonic is still huge for us so the new games will be more inspired by how it played in its heyday.” — Jon Rooke

Hopefully SEGA is able to hold up Rooke's promises, and we can all bring Sonic games back up to the high pedestal they once stood on.

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What do you think, SW? Will we ever see a good Sonic game again?

Sonic Lost World was good, so i think so. Plus they did Sonic Colors which was good, i dont see why not.

Sonic was never good to begin with.

Good....now they can fix the series.

Well, at least they admitted it, right?

@ladyblue: Bollocks. Sonic 2 and 3 was one of the best platformers in its day. A little on the easy side, though.

Finally the cocaine high is over for Sonic and Sega both. Took them long enough. Thought they would say partying like it is 1990. They been riding that high too long if you ask anyone.

Being aware of that there is a problem is the first step to making a positive change.

The Counter Strike Surf maps are closer to the old Sonic games than even the Sonic Adventure titles. :P

Took them awhile to realise.

I don't know why they didn't stick to a Sonic Colors formula, they were just like "oh we nailed it we can go back to making shit games... oh, Platinum, you'd like more money for Bayonetta and Vanquish sequels, **** you 'cause we don't need you anymore, hahaha, go back to Crapcom see if they'll let you make games now... oh, you're going to make games Nintendon't will you, hahaha, good luck there, without you all they'll be making is 2D platformers, they'll be begging you to make the next Star Fox for sure".

Agweed.

Hopefully with this, long overdue realization they will return to the drawing board, take their time, and rip off Mario 64.

SEGA did something similar by disowning any Sonic games with low scores on MC and GR. Despite that, considering LW and Boom's quality after Colors and Generations, I'm going to call politics.

Are they ever going to admit that Sonic has always sucked and will always suck?

They should hire Mark Cerny to help with the next Sonic game. He helped create Sonic 2.

About a decade too late.

all their games been shit so can they admit that as well?

I hope they don't just give up on 3D sonic, because Colors and the daytime stages in Unleashed (Wii) were quite good at times. Their problem is they just keep adding unnecessary shit instead of perfecting what those games do well.

what's worse is even though they acknowledge the games suck, their solution isn't to make better games, it's to simply market their shitty shit better...

Pretty much this. And how many times have they said Sonic is going back to its roots now?

Sonic Maker would fix their problems. Let everybody else make the game and the levels.

Good, now they can fix the series.

After Knack, I'm not sure that's a good idea.

Sega could redeem two IP's they messed up, kill two birds with one stone...

A new PSO with Sonic themed characters. lol :P

There haven't really ever been that many decent Sonic games.

The biggest lie ever perpetrated is that either of the Sonic Adventure games were good.

I really don't care for Sonic at all. I'd venture as far as to say the Genesis titles weren't all that good.

So, he is saying what they said when Sonic 4 came out.

Mark Cerny helped with business support and some programming assistance, but he played no creative role in its development... But still, Sonic 2 is an incredible game to have on his resume, regardless of what his role was.

Hell no! I picked up Mario 64 again in recent months... and it plays like crap compared to Sonic Adventure 2... Mario 64 was good for its time, but it's aged horribly, whereas Sonic Adventure 2 has aged far better, and is still just as fun as I remember (minus the Knuckles/Rouge levels).

sonic games have been trash for over a decade I remember they said the same thing with sonic 4 but it was a piece of shit too

I find it odd after hitting the sweet spot with generations they took such a weird turn. You had it sega why change it.

The problem with Sega is that they keep trying to "reinvent" the series. Just when Sonic Team found a great formula with Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations, Sega decided to "reinvent" the series again with Lost World and then outsource the series with Sonic Boom. All Sega needs to do is just stick to the Colors/Generations formula and work on refining it rather than "reinventing" it.

Sonic 1, 2, and CD were good and that's it.

1) Just make it 2D. with a cool art style ... e.g not the kid-level crap used in the 2d reboot ... more traditional spirtes/methods of animation.

2) MUSIC ... honest to god... even my little cousin said the music in the 2d crappy reboots on arcade was "annoying" ... Sonic 1/2/3/knuckles had awesome music, not kid-pop real world.... not overly childish ... just fitting to "another world" which what the damn original ones were...

3) Which leads me to SET IT IN THE SONIC UNIVERSE NOT IN THE HUMAN UNIVERSE - ffs I dont want sonic to run down godamn highways, or talk to human boys and girls in a damn house.... I want the original fantasy enviroments and the crazyness that came with it.

why is it so hard... what f*cking moron at sega decided to take sonic into the real world... have kid pop music..... and and.... oh f*ck it... seriously....

@ladyblue: oh really? I beg to differ

Who gives a shit? Kill this franchise. Someone put Sonic out of his misery. The only way for the next game to succeed would be to not release a Sonic game in 5-6 years, which would cause fans and gamers to miss the game, and want another one. But even then, the actual released product will probably suck. This franchise sucks and has been not-fun for like 12 years

I guess the failure of Sonic Boom rightfully hit them hard. I don't know how hard it is to make a 3D Sonic title, but Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations were fantastic games. Do more of that, Sega, you have a template with the boost formula. Why they needed to change that is beyond my comprehension, Lost World was a mediocre mess with potential and Sonic Boom was a straight up horrible title.

Sega will need an extended vacation from the Sonic franchise. Hell, we could do with reboots of the following:

• Comix Zone
• Vectorman (Hell, I'd buy a 1:1 remake outsourced to some random indie dev)
• Golden Axe (Is Sega still in good terms with Platinum?)
• Dinoland (Digital pinball machine, anyone?)
• Streets of Rage
• Whip Rush
• Gunstar Heroes

And while they're at it, they should also get the 40K license for Relic.

No. Just no.

@flashn00b: I think Golden Axe would be the only title that could get a "full" release, as in $60.

The problem with beat'em ups, is how do you keep them from getting stale? It's not 1992 anymore, beat'em ups have to have some depth. I found Castle Crashers to be a pleasant surprise.

I think maybe those titles could work as downloadable titles, let some indie devs do something with them.

The best way to fix the series involves a shed and a shotgun

What are they supposed to do? Lie?

Was a sad day when I finally got over my Sonic fanboyism, little blue rat made me a gamer.

Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast) and Sonic Adventure 2 are good though! :O

Sega needs to give Sonic that great 2.5D treatment with the guy that made that demo a while back. Hire that guy. He gets it, you don't. Do the smart thing for once Sega. Also, get to work on those older IP's. Do the full remaster treatment. I would kill for a Panzer Dragoon remake collection. I might actually, that scares me to think that. Sega is sitting on a gold mine of IP's that they are doing squat with. I know they are not that stable financially, but something gotta give here. Get hungry, get ravenous, be the Sega that we all want you to be and all that jazz.....

Beat 'em ups never died. They just evolved into 3D brawlers we today call "hack & slash" games. DMC, GOW, Bayonetta, MGR, etc. are all beat 'em ups in everything but name. If Sega handed Golden Axe and Streets of Rage over to Platinum Games, I'm sure they'd do a great job reviving those franchises in 3D.

Actually, Sega is very financially stable. Sega Sammy have been making a ton of cash from Pachinko gambling machines. But they're just too stingy to invest some of that Pachinko goldmine into AAA video game development.

@Jag85: Huh, I honestly was not aware of that. Thank you for the information. I just stick to the gaming side of things I guess. Which franchise(s) would you like to see from Sega?

@mems_1224: Sonic 1/Sonic 2, Sonic and Knuckles, sonic adventure 2, and Sonic colors would like a word with you.