Sega Rejects Idea That Sonic Fans Are Hard to Please

[Logan Westbrook]

Sega Rejects Idea That Sonic Fans Are Hard to Please

Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog brand manager David Corless thinks that hardcore Sonic fans are passionate, not difficult.

Somehow, Sonic the Hedgehog fans have got the reputation that they are hard to please and will nitpick a new Sonic game to death because the physics don't look quite right or Sonic's eyes are the wrong color. Corless doesn't subscribe to that idea though, and thinks that there's just a lot of them, with their own ideas about what makes a Sonic game.

Corless said that the core fans were very vocal and got a lot of attention, but they were also incredibly passionate about Sonic. He said that their energy and love for the brand had made the creation of Sonic 4 all but inevitable, and that Sonic Team was committed to making a game that those hardcore fans would love. "The audience fit was right and has allowed us to develop a game as close to the classic games as we could make," he said. "And the reception for the game so far has shown it's been the right decision."

Sonic 4 is one of three games that Sonic Team is working on, each aimed at a slightly different audience, and Corless was confident that the future of Sonic the Hedgehog was bright. "Daft Punk put it well," he said, when asked where he saw Sonic in five years. "Better, faster, stronger."

Source: MCV [http://www.mcvuk.com/features/760/INTERVIEW-Making-Sonic-super]



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[The_root_of_all_evil]

"Daft Punk put it well," he said, when asked where he saw Sonic in five years. "Better, faster, stronger."

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.

I wonder why he left that particular word out?

 

[RatRace123]

I'm pretty sure he's wrong, Sonic has one of the most hard to please fan bases around, and that's just counting the fans who only play the games.

 

[Brad Shepard]

Sonic fans could or could not be hard to please, maybe if they dident put out crap like black knight, then we would be ok, the last great sonic game in my mind was SA2 (SA2B if you had a gamecube) i love it, great levles, they varied the gameplay us so you wouldent get bored, the only levle i dident like was the ones with that bat ><

 

[Cynical skeptic]

"Daft Punk put it well," he said, when asked where he saw Sonic in five years. "Better, faster, stronger."

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.

I wonder why he left that particular word out?

Well, if easy equals good...

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

Yeah that sounds about right... I'm not hard to please when it comes to Sonic.

Just give me a slightly better looking classic 2D Sonic and I'll snap it up.

However making Sonic turn into a 'Werehog' and I'll be lighting fire to your house...

 

[Delock]

"Daft Punk put it well," he said, when asked where he saw Sonic in five years. "Better, faster, stronger."

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.

I wonder why he left that particular word out?

Because that's Atlus' domain still. I kid, it's probably because they still do want to attrach new fans, and stuff like the pit, water levels (remember the music?), and more from the original series is hard enough for even some of the best sonic fan.

Anyways, it really will be impossible to please fans such as the ones complaining about the game before it's released, and hard to please those that have nostalgia clouding over their minds that makes Sonic games greater than they actually are for them. Never the less, it's good to see the Sonic team focusing on pleasing the fans rather than creating soulless monstrousities that indicate Sonic needs to die. Hopefully 4 is a step in the right direction, but I doubt it will be enough to fix all the years of pain Sonic fans have had to endure from you.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

The Sonic fans are coming to judge your game...RUN!

 

[Madara XIII]

No we are not hard to please.....JUST DON'T GIVE US CRAP GAMES!!!

Wtf happened to Sonic Adventure 1 and 2!? Those games might not have been the best but they were enjoyable! No instead Sega whores out sonic to every type of story there is and when they have the potential to make a Sonic game fun and enjoyable they throw in some lousy or crappy gimmick, such as Medievil Knights, or The God-forsaken Werehog, or sometimes they just fail all around to make the game bearable (I'm looking at you Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)).


When they make a Sonic that sticks to it's roots and only those roots we'll have a much more pleased fanbase rather than us getting our hopes up that they don't completely ruin that poor Blue Hedgehog again.

 

[mjc0961]

I think he's right. I either dislike or flat-out hate everything Sonic has been in since the end of the Genesis. Every game has had at least one thing wrong with it that makes even playing the good bits of the game somewhat an exercise in masochism. For example, I really liked the level design of Sonic Advance 3 and I'd probably play it again someday if not for the absolutely shitty overworld garbage where I have to run around these stupid mazes looking for "the game part of the fucking game" (go watch the Sonic Unleashed episode of ZP right now!). And it's completely pointless, it adds nothing to the game but frustration! Anyway, at this point, I don't think I'm actually a fan anymore... Would a fan rather see the entire series just die in a fire? I think not.

No, fans of Sonic are people who bought and loved Sonic Unleashed and truly thought it was a great game. Those people are clearly not hard to please and will love Sonic 4 no matter its faults (such as being an episodic game that costs $15 for episode one which is coming out next week and yet as of right now SEGA has no fucking clue how many more episodes will even be coming out; that is NOT how you do proper episodic content!).

 

[Woodsey]

Does this mean they accept the fact that they're Sonic games are shit then?

 

[Madara XIII]

I think he's right. I either dislike or flat-out hate everything Sonic has been in since the end of the Genesis. Every game has had at least one thing wrong with it. At this point, I don't think I'm actually a fan anymore... Would a fan rather see the entire series just die in a fire? I think not.

No, fans of Sonic are people who bought and loved Sonic Unleashed and truly thought it was a great game. Those people are clearly not hard to please and will love Sonic 4 no matter its faults (such as being an episodic game that costs $15 for episode one which is coming out next week and yet as of right now SEGA has no fucking clue how many more episodes will even be coming out; that is NOT how you do proper episodic content!).

I can agree with this. I loved Sonic Unleashed....THe daytime stages anyway, but I definitely feel that Sonic 4 will be a success and since Ive seen the game play, I gotta say that this is one game worth getting.

People say that Sonic fans are clouded by nostalgia and it is true a good majority of them are, but the real fans who try to find the good in every game kinda get discouraged everytime SEGA trys a new gimmick and doesn't focus on just Sonic. Simple as that, I mean SA 1 and 2 involved other playable characters but at least they made it fun and interesting.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

The problem is that most hardcore sonic fans are to easy to please. Even the worst of the worst of the recent disasters (Sonic 06) still sold well enough to get one of the Xbox 360's "platinum games" lists.

 

[mjc0961]

I can agree with this. I loved Sonic Unleashed....THe daytime stages anyway, but I definitely feel that Sonic 4 will be a success and since Ive seen the game play, I gotta say that this is one game worth getting.

People say that Sonic fans are clouded by nostalgia and it is true a good majority of them are, but the real fans who try to find the good in every game kinda get discouraged everytime SEGA trys a new gimmick and doesn't focus on just Sonic. Simple as that, I mean SA 1 and 2 involved other playable characters but at least they made it fun and interesting.

I submit that Big and Amy were not fun or interesting. Big was just completely pointless and Amy was the same kind of stages as Sonic, but half as fast. If they cut the speed in half for Sonic 3, I'd think it'd suck, and I think the same of the Amy stages in Sonic Adventure.

And I'm not buying anything with "Sonic" in the title based on gameplay trailers. SEGA is only showing us what they want us to see. Sorry but I just don't trust them.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

It isn't that the Sonic fans are hard to please. I think it just seems that way since the last decent Sonic game was released on the Dreamcast (this isn't counting the RPG on the DS). There have been what, a half-dozen games since Sonic Adventure? I lost count and am not much of a Sonic fan to begin with but, I remember Sonic Team Heros (I think) being terrible. The Sonic wii-titles looked sad, Sonic the Hedgehog on the PS3 (and I think 360, I really don't remember) was crucified then, Sonic Unleashed came out and made StH look like KotOR.

It looks to me like the best games featuring Sonic which have been released are the games in which Sonic is making cameo appearances like Brawl and, the Mario/ Sonic Olympic games.

Lets say they take Megaman and put him in a similar position: releasing a ton of games where relevance gets pushed farther and farther away. Games where 'new friends' take up all of Megaman's screen time. Where the core gameplay mechanics become a liability. Then you insert Megaman into a fighting game and, a game made up of mini-games. I would think the Megaman fans would get a bit pissy after a few years of that which would make them look as though they are 'hard to please.'

If anything, the Sonic fans are jaded and lacking in optimism but who can blame them? From what I've seen of Sonic the Hedgehog 4, I think it looks good but, as I've said, I'm not a fan of the series. I may pick it up once the price drops but I'm far more likely to get that then say, Sonic vs The Black Knight.

 

[FalloutJack]

I think that a company that does not believe that its fans are hard to please...does not know its fanbase. There is always an unpleasable fanbase, as regular and consistant as Newton's First Law. Silly companies and their delusions.

 

[Sean Strife]

I give Sega 10 bonus points for referencing Daft Punk, but as long as Sonic 4 meets "Face to Face" with my enjoyment of the past Sonic games, I will have no complaints. Also, I'm surprised Sega hasn't tried to make a game based on the storyline of the Sonic SatAM cartoon back in the day.