it's really nice to see sega actually taking into account what the fans want, since lord knows they haven't had any good ideas for sonic in the last decade (except maybe the first two sonic adventure games). Now the only question is: are they actually going to deliver?

sonic and the Black Knight:was really good, & unleash wasn't that bad. I just think, they need better writers, and better upper management, maybe we're getting that now.

You liked Sonic & the Black Knight? That surprises me. I mean, it was good, but nowhere near Sonic quality, and certainly nowhere near "Sonic with a SWORD"-level awesomeness. Personally, though, I really liked its predecessor Secret Rings, though apparently that too is an uncommon opinion. It's interesting. One thing I know, though: Sonic Adventure 3. Must have = very yes.

Yes

Would have if mine wasn't put up before yours. So, guess that means you should have read mine first.

[color=red][b][i] Question: Why is Sonic 4 episodic?

Answer:[/i][/b][/color]

[img]http://i.ytimg.com/ vi/tJ99Gx2B42M/0.jpg[/ img]

[color=red][b][i]We Got to have more... Money!!!!![/i][/b][/ color] :D

[color=red][b][i]But got to say, in all this "it's like on the genesis", then why the hell isn't it sprite based? as batshit insane as knotholeresident/ sonmaniac was in his rant. He did have some points![/i][/b][/color]

It's very simple, they are trying to avoid the complaints that it's not, three-dimensional, yet they're still getting the complaints that they're not using sprites, personally I think they're just to please everyone, which is impossible especially for the sonic fan base, God don't tell me how may times I've heard them pick out the most stupid and ridiculous things to complain about. For example I don't think voice acting would save sonic next generation.

In animated form!
http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=JoYWdHe4tQ4

In animated form ver. 2.0!
http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=xell1jadxFg

I actually don't mind that it's not sprite-based. Sure, it may not have hi-spec 2D art, but I'm starting to get a wee bit annoyed of this "retro" fad that's been going on.

That "fad" is in response to the style-over-substance crapfest that is the gaming industry right now.

Ask me if I want to play the latest GTA clone or Sonic 1 and you can pretty much guess what I'm going to pick every time.

As for Sonic 4, yeah in trying to please everyone they're going to ruin it. I don't like the homing shit AT ALL BTW, seriously why include something that both slows the game down AND makes it easier? I've never played a new sonic game that had the same flow as the original games do.

However, this episodic gaming fad better die off soon. $75 for a 5-episode game (@$15 anyway)? Then there's consistency issues (Episode 02 was better than Episode 03, you get the idea). Also The prospect of not having a complete game at the time of release makes me die a little inside.

In the end it would be nice if game companies, well all companies really, had their customer's best interest in mind and not the amount of juice they can squeeze from the wallet-fruit.

Yeah, because you know, game companies shouldn't make money on their games >_>

Why is this vid so down-voted? I think a bunch of butt-hurt sonic fans don't want to hear that their favorite game series is in reality a stinking pile of shit.

First off, this is actually a good thing, a lot of people say Sega is too busy, trying to get things out on deadline, the fact that this is all about feedback, it is good(let's just hope they ignore the crazy, like for example the ones that say' that the special stage, should be three-dimensional, you have to collect rings, while constantly being shot at by eggman, heatseeking homing missiles, and Spike balls and your controls are converted' or the ones that I most often see, which is I don't want homing attack, or something idiotic.) Also I hope they do bringing miles and knuckles. Personally I would love it story just goes up, to the start of sonic CD, that would be a great storyline function. And honestly I hope the special stages are relatively easy, I like the special stages in sonic heroes, maybe they should go to that formula, also sonic Was really fast on those special stages even though you can only get all the chaos emerald with Amy, but that's mainly because you have to keep the damn key, to unlocking the special stages should be different, personally a mixture of sonic2 unlocked system, and sonic heroes actual special state, where you race against the chaos emerald!

I see it as a good thing if only for Sega to check "fanservice" off their list so they can get back to finding a way to make a fun Sonic game. The character concepts and world are great, but gameplay just can't seem to catch up.

I wish they'd take another look at the Secret Rings design. When that game did what the engine was built to do, it was great. Only the adventure game trappings dragged it down.

[quote=Jackass Mask]That was such a load of crap. Sega just makes a quick re-hash of old Sonic, screws it up, gets a load of hate mail, makes some tweaks to the game and then acts like that was their plan in the first place. BULLSHIT!

Hey Sega! I have a suggestion! MAKE A COMPLETE GAME THAT DOESN'T BLOW!

I apologize for my overuse of caps here, but It really does piss me off. [/quote]


I have to agree.



I was going to go into details about why I agree. But then realized I can sum it up.

Everytime Sega has made a sonic game in recent years I feel my childhood die a little more after playing it.

I would rather ignore these new games and dust off my old gameing consoles. Playing Sonic, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic CD, ect.

I'm glad they tweaked the speed. I remember seeing an early video of Sonic 4, and I was flabbergasted by how slowly he moved, and how his jumps made him float like a Super Smash Brothers Brawl character. Even though they claimed to have fixed that, what the hell were they thinking?

I really don't understand the hate against the Sonic games. I never noticed anything wrong with them.
:whistle:
Are you people ever satisfied?

I just don't understand the hate. What is it with these fanboys who set their standards for these games so high that nobody can achieve them?

Satisfied? No. Spoiled hypocritical ingrates? Yes.

I don't hate the games, but I've never "got" them. I did like tooling around with Sonic 2 at friends' houses as a kid, but the most dazzling moments to me were ones in which the game basically played itself.

The design of the original games never grabbed me because it always felt like it couldn't decide between being a standard platformer or a speedster's paradise. The game's flow often seemed incredibly inconsistent. Some apparently enjoy mastering the games to the point where the levels are blurs, and that's great. But when I play a game marketed for its speed with a character named "Sonic," I expect even regular gameplay to keep me from standing still for too long.

I've heard the Sonic Rush games cater more to what I expect from a speedster game, but I've yet to check them out. If that is true, though, then I don't see how the return to (almost) basics Sonic 4 seems like a good thing.

Then you're not the kind of person that comment was directed at. It sounds to me like you actually dislike the old games rather than the new ones. Yes, Sonic Rush would be perfect for you. I don't think Sonic 4 will end the evolution, but rather be part of it. I have noticed a decline in series quality since Sonic Adventure 2, though, which seems to be what has turned the Sonic fanbase into a mass of raging morons.

Joe this is seriously one of your better interviews! Great job. I felt that you got a lot of info out of the Sega rep and looking forward to Sonic 4 when it is released. Does anyone know if this is going to be XBL only or is it a wide-release?

I know it's on WiiWare, too. Probably PSN as well.

[quote=Artemus_Cain] [quote=Lotus Prince] [quote=Artemus_Cain]Or you could just ax the franchise, stop subsisting off of nostalgia like a parasite, and try to do something new, but hey I'm not a game dev.[/quote]

They tried that. Except for Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, every single one of those games was HORRIBLE.[/quote]

I wasn't really clear, sorry. What I meant to say was "Get rid of Sonic."

I mean, I love Sonic 2 and Sonic CD, but after the abysmal Unleashed, boring Dark Brotherhood, and horrendous Black Knight, the Sonic franchise is so sick and diseased it needs .44 caliber brain surgery. To quote Yahtzee "Stuff [Sonic], mount him, and re-purpose him as a litter picking device."[/quote]

Fair enough. I find it strange that, based on what Spoony saw, Sonic 4 seems to be Sonic 1, but with tweaked graphics. Why not just release Sonic 1 to a virtual console and call it a day?

[quote=Lotus Prince] [quote=Artemus_Cain] [quote=Lotus Prince] [quote=Artemus_Cain]Or you could just ax the franchise, stop subsisting off of nostalgia like a parasite, and try to do something new, but hey I'm not a game dev.[/quote]

They tried that. Except for Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, every single one of those games was HORRIBLE.[/quote]

I wasn't really clear, sorry. What I meant to say was "Get rid of Sonic."

I mean, I love Sonic 2 and Sonic CD, but after the abysmal Unleashed, boring Dark Brotherhood, and horrendous Black Knight, the Sonic franchise is so sick and diseased it needs .44 caliber brain surgery. To quote Yahtzee "Stuff [Sonic], mount him, and re-purpose him as a litter picking device."[/quote]

Fair enough. I find it strange that, based on what Spoony saw, Sonic 4 seems to be Sonic 1, but with tweaked graphics. Why not just release Sonic 1 to a virtual console and call it a day?[/quote]
To make money. What Else? :(

[quote=drkhelmet77]Joe this is seriously one of your better interviews! Great job. I felt that you got a lot of info out of the Sega rep and looking forward to Sonic 4 when it is released. Does anyone know if this is going to be XBL only or is it a wide-release?[/quote]

It's XBL, PSN, WiiWare, and Iphone.

I refuse to spend so many Microsoft Points on an Episodic game, had it not been Episodic it might have been a must buy cuz I used to love the Sonic games. But no I will not give my money or my points to SEGA.

"Feedback is feedback, in general"? What the fuck does that even mean? This guy is bullshitting harder than a professional poker player!

It means that any feedback they get if someone likes something about a game or dosen't like something. They take it into concideration.

:0 Chill out guys.
its just sonic.

In my opinion, the Sonic games haven't really had a good one since Sonic Adventure 2. I tried most of the games after that, and didn't enjoy any of them, except for the Day stages of Sonic Unleashed; those were pretty cool.

Personally, I'd be happy if they stopped making Sonic games. I'd be happy with my nostalgia and if they must resort to using the older games' exact structure and adding a couple of new things, it's obvious to me they have run out of ideas.

Of course, these are just my opinions. Anyway, nice interview Joe. Even though I'm pretty apathetic about this, I still kind of want to hear what the developers have to say.

Sonic 4 is everything I ever wanted, but I'm no purist, I like the 3-D games, the storybook series, the racers, even the RPG, why didn't you ask him if they're going to make Sonic Chronicles 2!?

As for price, Megaman 9 & 10 were only 10 bucks, 12 if you count downloading the extra character, but since they used 8 bit graphics and Sonic 4 will use modern graphics, I think 15 is pretty fair.

I really really REALLY hope this follows some kind of story that links in with the ending in sonic 3 and knuckles. :woohoo:

And even tho i know most of you loathe Sonic's little league of woodland creatures, i hope that Knuckles is in it, cause he added a nice feat to the storyline. :)

LOL they will listen to the feed back.

Taking into account what the fans want sounds like a good idea... Until you realize the last time they did that, Shadow the Hedgehog was released.

And then you realize that it could have been really cool if Sega weren't lazy. Only time will tell if they have truly changed their ways.

Everyone's so excited about Sonic 4, about how it's Sonic's big return to 2D platforming, about how it might actually not suck. What I think is sad, is that no one seems to care about Sonic Rush.

Sonic Rush was Sonic in 2D, and it added to the formula for what made the original genesis games great. No one seems to even remember it exists. I think that's very sad, as it's been getting Sonic right long before the announcement of Sonic 4. I own Rush and Rush Adventure, and both are more than decent. I recommend picking them up if you're looking for something to sate your desire for a new Sonic game while waiting for Sonic 4.

By the way, don't be intimidated by the cat on the cover. Yes, that's Blaze from Next Gen, but Rush's take on the character is completely different than Next Gen's, and honestly this version of her is probably the best side-character the Sonic series has seen, next to maybe Knuckles.

[color=green]As a big big Sonic fan I am hoping this is successful, I am getting pissed off at sonic team for making sonic games that fucking suck[/color]

I actually think that Joe got more streight answers from this guy than from guy in XCOM interview.

[color=green]If this fails sonic team should stop making sonic games and leave it to another game company to do it, like insomniac games or even Way Forward, you saw what they did with Contra 4, that game was awesome.[/color]

sonic team did do that, they left it to BioWare,and that game was excruciatingly terrible, because they didn't understand two a key things, one don't overuse certain controls, you not as Sega doesn't overuse the touchscreen system, on the DS, yet brotherhood did that very thing. And number two sonic gameplay is supposed to be faster, they could of use the touchscreen and in a better light,but instead decided to go overboard, and do stupid thing. Instead of doing a quick select system. Also the equipping system was stupid as hell. And these guys were experts on making RPG.

Wow...just wow...

These comments, along with others on other message boards prove to me once again that most Sonic "fans" are just a bunch of raging, always butthurt, whiny fanbrats who will never be satisfied no matter what.

So, first the series have to be "innovative" and original, yet that pisses them off, and then the series has to "return to its roots" and Sega has to "listen to the fans more" and that pisses them off as well.

Seriously, Sega just can't win, can it? >_>

[quote=Pinkemon] Wow...just wow...

These comments, along with others on other message boards prove to me once again that most Sonic "fans" are just a bunch of raging, always butthurt, whiny fanbrats who will never be satisfied no matter what.

So, first the series have to be "innovative" and original, yet that pisses them off, and then the series has to "return to its roots" and Sega has to "listen to the fans more" and that pisses them off as well.

Seriously, Sega just can't win, can it? >_>[/quote]
I'm doing a facepalm just reading these. I just want a good game. Doesn't matter if it's 2-d or 3-d, just a GOOD game. The only Sonic game that actually "sucked" was Sonic '06, the rest were just mediocre at best. And no one mentioned about the DS titles.

Sonic Fans will never be pleased. Spoiled brats...

I totally agree, this is what I've been saying that some fans will just say idiotic comment, to be honest I feel like Sega is, well that their Kenny McCormick from South Park,during the early seasons, only instead of getting back to life, stands up and get stabbed in the chest again, showing no mercy. That's what a lot of the fan base is, and I'm sad to say it truthful. And you will find fans that will pick on even sonic CD, and adventure & adventure two,trust me on that one. And by the way for everyone who says sonic the hedgehog and the dark brotherhood, is a terrible video game. Just remember that one was not made by sonic team, that one was created by a totally different team, from a game series that was, more or less on Sony. Yeah let's face it, we all know that was bad from the start.

Pinkemon, I think you're missing the point of what everyone is asking of Sega.

When people are asking for the series to be innovative and original, they're asking for things that expand upon the Sonic formula. What Sega has done instead is incorporate a lot of things like the werehog and the treasure hunting that are lackluster, slow and tedious. An example of an innovative feature that's [i]good[/i] would be like in the Sonic Rush series I mentioned, which gives you a boost bar that you can use for bursts of speed to pick up momentum or plow through enemies.

When people are asking for Sega to return Sonic to his roots, they're asking for a Sonic game that plays like one of the old Genesis games, yet also feels like a new game in the series, and not a quick title that's spit out to cash in on the recent retro gaming/nostalgia fad.

When people are asking Sega to listen to the fans, they're asking them to stop including mechanics like the werehog and jewel hunting I mentioned before and focus on what everyone wants - speed platforming levels. What pisses them off is that, in this case, it feels like sega's only listening to them because the early footage they showed us made the game look like a cash-in, and they were called on it, and now they're trying to save face.

I get that a lot of people liked the recent sonic games. Yes, everyone knows the Sonic levels are good. The problem is that the excellent Sonic levels are broken up by incredibly boring and frustrating gimmick levels that have us doing things that go against what Sonic is supposed to be about - speed, reflexes and platforming. And a good chunk of the development time is put into those levels, and thus half the game's length is comprised of them, when all of that development time could have been spent in making the entire game nothing but the Sonic levels.

What that ultimately boils down to, is paying full price for half a game, and periodically having someone come in and pulling the plug and forcing us to play through the drudgery levels just to unlock more of what we wanted to play in the first place. We already spent the money on the game, having to do extra just to unlock the fun part is like a slap in the face.

I agree that they need to improve, but I also think that alternate characters with different gameplay is very good [b]if done right[/b]. Personally, I don't want to play a game that lacks variety--the important thing is for it to be done well, yes?

TrollBerzerker, it's like asking for Dreamworks to make a Pixar film, it's impossible.
[quote]When people are asking for the series to be innovative and original, they're asking for things that expand upon [u]the Sonic formula.[/u] [/quote]
You do know that there is more than one "Sonic Formula"...right?
[quote]An example of an innovative feature that's good would be like in the Sonic Rush series I mentioned, which gives you a boost bar that you can use for bursts of speed to pick up momentum or plow through enemies.[/quote]
I haven't seen ANYONE who liked that in Rush. Why? Because they don't like change! Most Sonic fans don't.


[quote]When people are asking for Sega to return Sonic to his roots, they're asking for a Sonic game that [u]plays like one of the old Genesis games[/u], [u]yet also feels like a new game in the series[/u], and not a quick title that's spit out to cash in on the recent retro gaming/nostalgia fad.[/quote]
Let's face the facts. That will NEVER happen. You've got to remember that most of the original Team that worked for the "Genesis days" have left the company already. You also have to keep in mind that there's an all NEW generation of Sonic fans to impress, and most of them have different opinions on how a Sonic game "should be like". You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Plus, how do you even know it will be trash? Have you "played" this game yet?

[quote]When people are asking Sega to listen to the fans, they're asking them to stop including mechanics like the werehog and jewel hunting I mentioned before and focus on what everyone wants - speed platforming levels[/quote]
And that's what Sonic Unleashed had, and the same thing will be done for Sonic Colours. Most "people" I heard from HATED the platforming levels, and complained that Sonic "went too fast". Sorry, but the only person who wants that in Sonic 4 is you.

[quote]What pisses them off is that, in this case, it feels like [u]sega's only listening to them[/u] because the early footage they showed us made the game look like a cash-in, and they were called on it, and now they're trying to save face.[/quote]
Pisses who off?

[quote]I get that a lot of people liked the recent sonic games. Yes, everyone knows the Sonic levels are good. The problem is that the excellent Sonic levels are broken up by [u]incredibly boring and frustrating gimmick levels[/u] that have us doing things that go against what Sonic is supposed to be about - speed, reflexes and platforming.[/quote]
And what makes you think this game doesn't have that?

[quote]What that ultimately boils down to, is paying [u]full price for half a game[/u],[/quote]
Trust me, if it was full price, it would way more than $20. Don't you mean Half price for half the game...sounds good to me.

[quote]and periodically h...

Well these "Fans" awlays take their favorite things for granted nowandays.

Give me sonic adventure 3.

YES. With Chao Garden.

I'm not buying this. I have Sonic Mega Collection so I'll just play that.