Sega: Sonic Quality to Be 'Fixed Over Time'

Ok, where can I get the job of fixing Sonic? As a Sonic fan and Multimedia graduate/MBA Graduated Marketing Professional - really, are you guys not paying atention?

Sonic, as many other characters from the 90`s platformers where simplified versions of the "hero myth"(read campbell here) with some symbols that served to form a characteristic shell where this hero resides. These characteristics are a semiotic network that - as in any construct - that cant be stretched too far if you want to keep things coherent. So, lets look at RAW Sonic from the 90s, in a quick simple look:

Is)

0) A Hedgehog.
1) Agressive. Thats why he is a hedgehog, not a bunny. The spikes here mean something. He even complains at the player if you make him wait.
2) An icon of freedom. He frees enslaved animals as his objective.
3) A nature icon. Hes an animal
4) Super-Sonic Fast.
5) Athletic/sporty.
6) Relies on Magic (chaos emeralds)
7) Modern/New/Urban. He wears snickers.

Opposes (Robotnik)

1) Old
2) Enslavement
3) Relly on technology. Sonic do everything on his foot, Eggman rides behind machines.
4) Aggression to Nature/Cosmos
5) Adulthood. Sonic is an youngster fighting a grown up.
6) In a certain way, sloth. Robotnik is a fat guy that presses buttons, Sonic run his way through things.

Looking at this, you can see what you can and you cant do with Sonic.

Now, it is absolutely ok that, every now and then, Sonic could be put in a situation that he doesnt quite belong. It would be interesting. The Werehog thing, for example: If it was just ONE SINGLE STAGE of the game, it would be amazing. People would think "how cool is that", and then go on playing with Sonic. Lets think of Mario for a second: he changes into a bee in Super Mario Galaxy, but whos complaining? Because you dont play half the game as a bee it goes as a feature - not as a distortion of the character.

If you want to make Sonic games BETTER, take the symbolic network and EXPAND it. For example:

He's super-fast/athletic. GET CREATIVE WITH THIS. Let Sonic go into bullet time by pressing one button and performing combo attacks, study Pakour and incorporate movements on the game play. Make a Sonic Boom effect that explodes things as he passes by - make him INTERESTING to be played with.

He rellies on magic. What if each emerald gave him temporary different kind of shield/power (like in Sonic 3).
Or put other mystic Gems/Whatever - you had Time Stones in Sonic CD... what if each time stone gave him the power to manipulate time in a cool Braid way? What I am trying to say is that you can make something NEW without making something WEIRD/NONSENSE.

Sonic games isnt about how freakin fast you can get. It is about an action filled dynamic platformer. Of course, Sonic IS FAST, so he cant BE SLOW, but thats not whats most important.

Sonic IS a Product, but if you dont take good care of this product, carefully choosing what it will be associated with, it loses value. What we expect from Sonic games nawadays is that they suck.

Now, I hope for the best. May you guys make an amazing, wonderfull Sonic game.

Davi Viana -

First of all, if Sonic was a werehog for only a single stage, then it would have been wasted development. A power-up (i.e. Bee Mario?) is not entirely the same as a one-stage gimmick, because a power-up is used at many points throughout the entire game, or perhaps even at any point in the game. (even then I might say that the justifications of powerups in games to begin with is overrated, and as opposed to, for example, an ability the character has by default)

It also goes against what the supposed purpose of the werehog to begin with, which is to lengthen the game, in other words make a full game while minimizing development. This is an issue due to the amount of development daytime stages supposedly require. Personally I think Sonic Team shot themselves in the foot by devising the Sonic Unleashed daytime stage. Personally I think that the Sonic Team people need to pull out and re-evaluate what style of Sonic stage they are going to make.

Davi Viana, you write: "Lets think of Mario for a second: he changes into a bee in Super Mario Galaxy, but whos complaining? Because you dont play half the game as a bee it goes as a feature - not as a distortion of the character."

^ Super Mario Sunshine

It's always hypocrisy when it comes to the Sonic series. It's ok when Mario does it but not okay when Sonic does it. You say werehog is "weird/nonsense". It probably isn't.

You write: "Sonic games isnt about how freakin fast you can get. It is about an action filled dynamic platformer. Of course, Sonic IS FAST, so he cant BE SLOW, but thats not whats most important."

That's the kind of perspective we need to see more of. How fast Sonic is conceivably capable of going was never the point. Sonic is the kinetic platformer. And still the only one. But the whole speed obsession is what might ruin everything. Because now perhaps the game is being made now with primarily that in mind, and why? only for its own sake. Rather than simply focusing on making a good SONIC game, Sonic Team people are instead making stupidly fast games, hoping they will be good Sonic games as a result. It doesn't work that way.

Sonic is a game from the 2d era and Sega have (logically) tried to modernise the series in a 3d game, however this causes control issues. Also expanding the game with fighting and sub-rpg sections is losing focus on what the game should be about.

The time is right to create a new 2D Sonic game with a fantastic graphical makeover. Viewed at a slight angle to give it a 3D type look. Top special effects, scrolling backgrounds, etc to keep it looking exciting in this very graphics-obsessive era - whilst retaining fantastic 2d gameplay. Forget about the rock music, and euro-pop but add some memorable melodies, leave out girlfriend Amy or Sonic's romance with a human girl (gross!) and you the series is reborn. It could be released as a disc based game or made available as a premium download on PSN/XBLA. Then Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt and the series is reborn and reloved!

-nice article James.

Wavy

"First of all, if Sonic was a werehog for only a single stage, then it would have been wasted development. A power-up (i.e. Bee Mario?) is not entirely the same as a one-stage gimmick, because a power-up is used at many points throughout the entire game, or perhaps even at any point in the game. (even then I might say that the justifications of powerups in games to begin with is overrated, and as opposed to, for example, an ability the character has by default)"

Im not arguing the functional reason of the Werehog, but the feeling many players got that it was something that didnt belong the character purpose. A power-up is something that comes and go, Nintendo did something great with by making some of his power-ups weareble, so it doesnt feel weird. There are other ways of making a game bigger without doing something off the hook. They could, simply, have put Knuckles/Tails missions instead of the Werehog, for example.

I have never played Super Mario Sunshine, I know though he wears a backpack through the whole game. Does it feel weird? I can`t really say.

I said the Werehog feels weird fot the fans because it is something tied to the concept of the character in that specific game that stretches too far from what we expect of him. When we think of Sonic he is a series of things in our minds - now, some people might be more open minded about this, specially kids that havent that doesnt have a Sonic set of characteristic build in their memories - so kids dont feel this like a "betrayal". But for most of the fans (and Sega should worry a lot about than because they are a rock solid consumer base) Sonic isnt a shapeshifter. Thats why fans were so angry.

Oh, and sorry for the poor english sometimes, I am Brazilian.

Davi: Your English is great, much better than our Portuguese I might add. :)

The Chao Gardens need to be brought back. I played in them longer than the actual game, I bought different Sonic games just for Chao features, and it gave me a reason to replay levels. I even base by choice of systems on Chao gardens, and that is why I will never buy a DSi and consider it inferior to the DS.

Davi has his ideas in very good order, I think Sega ought to give this person a listen.

Davi Viana -

Pretty much everything you're saying is indicating you don't think Sonic can be a werewolf merely from the perspective of character design. The fact that you would happily trade Werehog for Knuckles and Tails is a sign to me that perhaps your issue was never about gameplay to begin with.

And if I were to go by the supposed reasons you cite for your opinion, I might even infer that you believe Sonic was a-o-k this whole time up until the exact point he turned into a werewolf, or that Sonic Black Knight, with Sonic wielding a sword, might be a great idea according to your explanations since it's somehow more appropriate for Sonic's character. That might be all your pseudo-intellectual breakdown of Sonic is good for.

Don't get me wrong, I do think character design is important, and I do appreciate the ideas you have of things like bullet time, time manipulation, sonic boom, parkour.. because perhaps these are inspired ideas and perhaps because they were thought of out of love of Sonic. That's perhaps all that really matters.

You write "There are other ways of making a game bigger without doing something off the hook."

Why do you say it like it's a bad thing.

I'm not sure if I entirely comprehend the idea of making a mediocre game (Unleashed) as a buffer between an atrocious game (Sonic 2006) and a good game (the next one, hopefully).

In fact, that actually sounds like a fucking stupid idea.

Wavy -

Youre not getting my point here. What i am saying is that when you get stuck with something that is very distant to the core purpose of a character SIGNIC design (i am talking about the things he is beyond appearence, but appearence included), you get the impression or feeling that something is wrong. That was the problem of the werehog, sonic and the black knight and sonic kissing a human girl. I spoke about the replacement for knuckles because it wouldnt hurt the franchise while solving the technical issue you pointed.

Yes, I think the werehog is a bad idea the way it was executed. Sonic was placed in a complete different set for half a game, and the complaints about it amongst the fans were enormous. I even read on a gaming review website: "Sega is Threatning to bring the werehog back". When something in a game is pointed as a threat, there is something wrong, dont you think?

Personally, I never saw anyone excited about this kind of behavior from Sega. I never heard "WOW, look, he has a SWORD in medieval times, how cool is that?" What i heard was "How weird is that - thats not Sonic." Again, Sonic could pick up a sword in some point of some game and then drop it - as a feature, a power up... but not to be stuck to him for the whole time. I dont think this kind of thing is needed, though.

What i personally think is that Sega should lay Sonic off a little bit, Maybe launch a Sonic The Hedgehog (1991) HD that so many people wants right now. This could be easily distributed via web in almost any platform without the costs of physical produce. I know he is a milking cow for the company, but for how long if it stays this way? Sega needs to develop other franchises since it lives upon software sales... maybe make an Alex Kidd game in the same "mood" of Little Big Planet. If you want a werewolf... do an amazing job bringing Altered Beast back. Gunstar Heroes is another great franchise. And then open space for more unique, artistic, interesting games. Sega doesnt have the worries about hardware anymore - and now, more than ever, thats a good thing. I think in a few years from now the gaming hardware will become some sort of family multimedia central computer and the brand on it wont matter that much. If properly directed, the company could step ahead on cloud gaming, develop amazing titles and get back the trust of the fans.

And while this Sonic lay off... think of what he is - his clear definitions and stick to it. Design, my friend, is a concept beyond form - it is born as a good, easy to interpret concept. Sonic has lost his original design and not in a good way. Dont get me wrong - i think Unleashed was a step in the right direction despite all my argument here, but not even close the comercial potential of a really well built, inovative, true to the character Sonic title.

Oh, and I would give my right arm to be involved in this process... I love the character and the company means a lot to me. But I am one among millions...

Wow, I made an account for this website just to throw my bit, so please appreciate it. And yes, this is a TL;DR post but I will try to keep it as short as possible.

Quick background about myself (I believe it's relevant): I am Brazilian, but live in Florida, moved in 2001; my first console was an Atari if I remember but didn't truly care about it. Then I got my SEGA Genesis with Sonic the Hedgehog bundled and history was made (for me at least). It's when my gamer identity was established. It's very possible had I picked up an SNES that I wouldn't be the hardcore gamer that I am today, so I have Sonic to thank for it.

Now, the importance of my childhood and where I was born/grew up. First off, obviously, English is not Brazil's native language. And back then, games weren't multi-translated; you either had English, Japanese, or something in between (Engrish). Brazil still doesn't get Portuguese games except soccer ones but I'm going off-topic. The point is, we didn't play games because we liked the dialogue; in fact, I don't think anyone played Sonic because of the dialogue, BECAUSE THERE WAS NONE. The minimal story in the first Sonic was told all through actions and facial expressions, and I repeat was very minimal; you'd have to read the manual to actually know what kind of personality Sonic had or why animals are trapped. You basically pressed start and the game started; no "New Game" "Continue" "Options". Those got added later but were very simple even a Brazilian could understand.

Now, I personally liked Sonic 3 & Knuckles the most out of the Genesis titles. I liked the fact that the story was in-depth but more than anything, I have to admit it wasn't so much the story itself but HOW IT WAS TOLD. It wasn't text bubbles and beep beep beep beep, Press A. Beep beep beep beep, Press A. In fact, just to be in contrast, Super Mario World already had that. Good game, don't get me wrong; but although the story was kept to a minimal like it should be, for someone who doesn't speak English fluently and didn't know certain words or puns, I didn't care about the story, WHEN IT WAS TOLD LIKE THAT.

Wow, 2 paragraphs on the same crap: story. Anyways, the rest is more obvious though. I chose Sonic over Mario because it was fast, and had an easy to learn, hard to master approach (I know the game wasn't hard per se, but it was more challenging than Mario, definitely.) Sonic had Super Sonic starting on Sonic 2 and his share of power-ups, but NONE were necessary to complete the game, VERY IMPORTANT. In Mario, yea you could go through the whole game was Mario, not even Super Mario but to access hidden stages and the such, you needed power-ups. In Sonic, there were no hidden stages, other than the "secret stages" where you collect chaos emeralds (which weren't a secret at all), but in terms of secret spots in a stage, you didn't need power-ups; sometimes you just had to be clever on how to get from point A to point B.

I am just saying, not that Mario was WRONG in having power-ups like that, but it's one of the main ways they differentiated and I liked the simpler way of doing things. And there's that too, with Sonic, one button does all you can do, Jump or Spin Dash, and on Sonic 3+ you also had shield abilities, but nothing else. Simple, simple, simple; focus on speed and simplicity. And also, Sonic levels in the Genesis era were some of the best level design you can ever find; they were cool to watch and had your moments where you had to slow down, take a breath and time your jumps; but for the most part, you had 2 options: either run forward and enjoy the scenery and coolness of the stage as if you were in a roller coaster ride, or actually pay attention if you have gone through it before to look for hidden spots. Replay value guaranteed.

Holy crap, I could write a book. I gotta summarize quick; I went through so much depth with the Genesis era that the Dreamcast+ Era will be quick to compare. Now, starting with the Dreamcast, you get the following: 1 - Sonic speaks (Did I like it? Yes, in fact I played Sonic Adventure so much I knew some dialogue back to back) but when I played Dreamcast, I KNEW ENGLISH; imagine if I didn't; 2 - All other characters speak (This is where it meets its demise, in my opinion. They should have sat down and decided to make Sonic speak only if the other characters were just as cool, not even acceptable, but "COOL", because Sonic games were designed to be COOL, and with Tails, Knuckles, Amy, etc... The majority of their voices ruined it). I would prefer a 3D Sonic game where no one talks, than what we have today; Sonic talking is cool in my opinion, but not worth the extra baggage; 3 - Characters; too many. Sonic needed a villain; check. Sidekick? Didn't need one but it's cool; check. Rival? Alright, a cool guy needs to show off that he's cooler than his rival; check. Girlfriend? Eh, a character this cool would have chicks screaming for him, so yea, I will accept with a grain of salt; check. BUT STOP PLEASE. You only need one common villain, you don't need babies, or clones, or the zoo. QUALITY > QUANTITY SEGA. 4 - 3D transition. As important as Sonic's redefinition of a character, the Sonic 3D levels started out good, not as memorable as Genesis but acceptable; but it started going downhill when they started adding gimmicks, which brings my most important and final point; 5 - GIMMICKS! Sonic in Genesis era; simple. #5 deserves its own paragraph.

Power-ups were not permanent and weren't necessary for game completion. Sonic Adventure changed it all. Now if you wanna see Super Sonic, you gotta get through all the characters, even the ones you hate. In Sonic 2, you could play as Tails, BUT YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO! And back then, I liked playing as Tails; which is the irony. Now, if you wanna beat a Sonic game, Sonic's shoes or Sonic himself must go under the knife every installment basically and add a gimmick to make "brand-new" (read "NOT ORIGINAL") gameplay. Sonic Adventure 2 added the ability to play as Eggman, but on a machine (yea makes sense), except to pull that off with the whole Hero/Villain premise, they had to match him up with TAILS??? ON A MACHINE AS WELL??? NO! Eggman wants to DESTROY SONIC, NOT TAILS; only if Tails stands in his way TOWARDS SONIC! And to make it worse, Tails had to be in an equivalent machine to match up their gameplay. Fail. Now Sonic isn't about speed; it's a shoot-em-up. I liked the gameplay but I'd like it even more if it wasn't named after SONIC. Because it's NOT SONIC! Knuckles/Rouge, same thing. Not speed, but Hot/Cold games which are creatively called "Treasure Hunting" but have nothing to do with Sonic! Then Sonic Heroes with teams (unnecessary), Sonic Riders (racing - cool, hoped to be better than Sonic R - which wasn't bad either, but on a BOARD??? Sonic can run on his feet, thank you very much, and NO ONE CAN BEAT HIM, not even Tails, LET ALONE some chicken ON A BOARD!), Shadow the Hedgehog (too obvious), and it goes on and on. The point here is GIMMICKS; trying to change Sonic from something he had established and held the crown for into a guinea pig in a fail laboratory. The point is clear: SEGA wants to try new things and that's fine with me. But DO NOT PUT SONIC'S NAME OR CHARACTER IN IT! Start from SCRATCH: make new characters and stories for that purpose. It's okay to add a Sonic cameo; Phantasy Star Online had them, and the game was good in its own right. But let me conclude.

If you survived this suicide note-like post, thanks. My conclusion is if SEGA wants to make Sonic COOL and good again, they have to go back to its roots LITERALLY. There are things that cannot be taken back, like his voice, which I like and isn't too bad. You can talk Sonic, but keep your dialogue to a minimum and also WHO YOU TALK TO. Aside from Tails, Knuckles, Eggman, and perhaps Amy (with a GRAIN OF SALT), EVERYONE ELSE NEEDS TO DIE. Bye bye Big, E-series robots that talk, Shadow, Rouge, Cream and Cheese, Chao (or maybe not - those can stay if not too focused on), etc... They gotta go, who cares if the kids ask for them? Make them shut up and realize they didn't need them in the first place. Also, the GIMMICKS GOTTA GO MORE THAN THE CHARACTERS. No Sonic shoes that changes color or grinds on rails, or guns, or machines to control, or any weird ideas your gray matters come up with. Sonic should run, Spin Dash, or Jump. That's it, and the occasional boxes. And make Super Sonic available to play on any stage after it's unlocked; ONLY make it a final stage gimmick if you can still play as Super Sonic on the other stages; otherwise, it's best to even leave Super Sonic out of the game. And last but not least, LEVEL DESIGN. Remind us that Sonic is an adventure, not a reminder of how much we suck because we are not as fast as the character we play as; let Sonic run like a roller coaster ride without bumps on the way. And that's how you make history.

P.S.: I left music out because in my honest opinion, both Genesis and Dreamcast+ Era Soundtracks were great in their own right. Genesis music was more legendary, but Dreamcast+ represented Sonic's cool factor more, which is why I don't compare them. My solution to the music problem is to either make covers of the Genesis tunes in Dreamcast rock style, or to make a brand new, never seen style of Sonic music in a game. Perhaps techno. Just throwing it out there.

Wow guys. We are getting into the realm of tl;dr posts, but we love the enthusiasm. Keep it up!

tenchibr

Blza cara? Como vai a Florida?

Man, i could go on with this conversation forever. Well, I can clearly see your point. But let me put this in perspective.

If you pay atention, Sonic games have a tradition of adding a new characters on each game.

Sonic 2 - Tails
Sonic 3 - Knuckles
Sonic CD - Amy (though not playable)
Sonic Rush - Blaze
Sonic Adventure - Big the Cat, e-Series
Sonic Adventure 2 - Rouge, Shadow
Sonic 2006 - Silver

And so goes on. I also think its time to stop, its enough already. There are plenty of characters that you can use... use them. I wont go for wich one is good or not, but its quite enough.

Sonic gameplay was (and still is, i think) very intuitive, easy and simple. But gameplay evolves... the problem is when it evolves in the wrong way. Lets take homming attack, for example. It didnt exist in pre-adventure games, but was very necessary because it would be too hard to hit an enemy without it.

I also dont think the different kind of gameplays in adventure series were a mistake (Maybe tails on tornado... ). That were added to increase the replay value - and i think its interesting to see that each character have a specialty. Giving my personal opinion, In Sonic 3&K i really didnt care about playing with Knuckles/Tails since it was almost a repetition of everything i already did with Sonic. In Adventure it made more sense, since they each had a different storyline and gameplay. For the ending of the game, i also think its ok that you only play as Super Sonic if you beat them all - you need some kind of reward-value after you beat all the characters, and better be a good one. What is better than SS and the game Gran Finale?

Also, for the so called Gimmicks. just like the characters, this Sonic trend of adding movements to the character and different Power-Ups comes from Genesis age.

Sonic 1. He could jump, and turn into a spike-ball by holding down while in movement.
Sonic 2. Spin dash was added.
Sonic CD. There was spin dash and regular dash.
Sonic 3. There was a shield that made him invincible for a fration of a second while jumping. Also, the 3 different attacks from water, thunder and fire shield. The only one that lived through other series was thunder.

The adventure series added objects in order to unlock new movements. I think that your revolt feeling is "Sonic dont need all this shit. He is a good on his own". These power-ups came from the RPG/adventure trend of evolving characters, such as Zelda, wich i think held great influence on Sonic Adventure. If you played later games, youll see they turned sonic shoes back to "normal" and the object gathering stopped.

About the story factor. Sonic is an action game. Compare action games to action movies. Different from RPG (role playing games) where you focus on character development, action games such as movies trend to sacrifice character development in order to focus on action. Thats why the story is so minimalistic. Now, good action movies have an interesting story to keep the action going, and mild chacter development, but not in a way it gets between the explosions and stuff.

Mario (and I keep bringing him up because its the best example of a game thats been around renewing itself since the 80s) have done a very good job keeping it simple. He is the same heroic proto-character he was back in 1984. A plumber in a Mushroom world that saves a princess from a monster. But man, so much has changed in the gameplay since that... and also, in the story factor. But we still dont know squat about Mario, and never will.

To dont develop the character is a very good strategy if you want to keep it going forever. We dont know who Bugs Bunny mother is, or what are the emotional conflicts of James Bond before Casino Royalle. If you start developing a character or a story line, it closes the oportunity of people to pick up the train after he left, is kept attached to old tedencies and will contradict yourself later. Super Hero comic books suffer from this a lot.

Sonic Unleashed did this with honors. It is a good story that dont get in the way of things. Sonic 2006, not so much. It was a Final Fantasy-ish attempt of making Sonic what he never was: dark, complicated, dramatic. I my opinion that game tried so much to be dramatic and emotional it passed the line of ridiculous with the whole "sonic snow-white" scene.

Dave, sorry for the long posts! Will try to keep them short!

Ha ha, no worries Davi. Hope you're enjoying the site!

This has to be the best discussion I've seen on a video game site in recent years. I'm enjoying just watching the action.

I will try to be short too, but while you liked Sonic's story, I actually preferred 2006's (up to the kiss part of course). I liked that in SU, you see Sonic as Super Sonic right off the bat, the only other time that happened was in Sonic 3. But, I hated the little animal thing that follows you around. It was Tails minus being useful.

I played Super Mario Galaxy and if you haven't played, you'd see Mario in terms of story has changed a lot. It has an opening movie followed by hundreds of boxes (most are optional but still there), but then when the princess gets kidnapped, bla bla bla, bla bla bla for 10 minutes before you can get to the tutorial part of the game, which after it's more bla bla bla, that has to explain everything.

When you put into perspective that Sonic 2 added the spin, and 3 added the shield abilities, yes you are right, new styles of gameplay. But let's assume Sonic 2 and 3 had the exact Sonic from Sonic 1; he can only jump, run, or spin in the ground when enough speed is built up. YOU CAN STILL BEAT THE GAME! You don't need to use the dash or the shields. In Mario, it's possible that you don't need it at the last boss, but as far as I know, you need power-ups to proceed at certain points. Point is, they were there but not necessary. Genesis Super Sonic, optional. Bee Mario, necessary. Speed Boots, optional. Werehog, necessary. Tails' flying, optional. Light Speed Dash, necessary. etc...

The stages in Sonic are built up for the gimmicks more than the simple moves that made Sonic into who he was, and that's why they fail today. Make it so you can beat the game with just Sonic running and jumping with default boots, and you've got a winner in my opinion. Power-ups can be in the game if they are OPTIONAL.

P.S.: Davi is using Brazilian slang, so either he knows a Brazilian or is one too. Which leads me to believe that Brazilians "prefer(red?" Maybe it's different today) Sonic over Mario for the most part. If he's discussing this with me, we probably had a similar life in that aspect. If I remember correctly, most kids got a Genesis because they were too poor to get a SNES, but in my opinion, it was the BEST DEAL. ;-)

And in Brazil, they are called Mega Drive, just like in Japan, just like it should have been in the first place.

Interesting points all round, but I've got a different idea for what Sega needs to do with Sonic and any other Mega Drive/Genesis era game franchise it might be planning on trotting out for some more exploitation. (Altered Beast, Shining Force and Golden Axe I'm looking at you...) What they need are HD remixes.
Capcom have proven with style that the current download market on Xbox Live and the Playstation Network is composed mainly of 20-something men with disposable cash and an interest in anything nostalgic. Mega Man 9, Street Fighter HD Remix, Bionic Commando and most recently Marvel Versus Capcom 2 have all sold by the truck load. By industry standards these games cost very little to make, not nearly as much time or manpower and with digital distribution have a far easier time of cutting a profit.
So, to Sega, and Sonic specifically. Sonic is caught between two audiences, the old school and the young pretenders. The old school dwell in nostalgia land and as such will not be happy with the 3d Sonic game almost regardless of what's in them, they simply don't play at all like the originals and are too laden with nonsensical plotlines. The youngsters grew up with 3d Sonic, for them Sonic requires a plot and his cast of sidekicks. The success of the Sonic X cartoon series shows that Sega are listening to their fans when it comes to the content of the 3d Sonic games, just not the ones with the most money. Presumably they're thinking about the long game in terms of cultivating a fresh fan base but this tactic is doing nothing to milk the cash cow that is the adult gamer.
My suggestion is that Sega take a two pronged approach. It's as simple as making, over time, Sonic 1, 2, 3 and Knuckles HD. Re-draw the sprites, res up the backgrounds and don't change a thing. Now consider the work required; a team of artists, a team of coders using the Mega Drive code as a base. Cheap, small and efficient. Low outlay, big return. This makes business sense and, let's face it, that is the bottom line in any decision a company makes. After proving to themselves (i.e. the investors) that 2d Sonic can still sell it's not hard to imagine Sega finally making Sonic 4. Fans serviced, money made, everyone's happy.
And why stop there? As I mentioned, there are a lot of Sega properties that would benefit from this and are sure to sell. Streets of Rage anyone? Golden Axe? Ristar? Phantasy Star? Shining Force? Heck, even Altered Beast, as awful as it is, would sell on nostalgia alone. The download scene is easy money for big companies with established franchises that aren't suited to $10 million dollar extravaganzas, it's time Sega saw this.
But I said two pronged approach didn't I, and that's where the 3d games come back in. Whilst Sega milk their old franchises and make easy money they can remain loyal to their new fan base by bringing out more 3d fare.
What they need to do though is prune back the excess of characters and bring things back to basics. I for one was shocked and genuinely a little pissed off when I played Sonic Unleashed only to find that Super Sonic is defeated in the first scene and the werehog made out to be more interesting immediately. Simple as the design is, Super Sonic is iconic. He's the secret in the old games that was talked about in the playground, he was the cool extra in what was already a complete game and in the cases of Sonic 3 and Knuckles was key to really "finishing" the game. Now he's fodder for a game director bent on hyping a character change that basically amounts to Knuckles with Ristars stretchy arms. Sonic has had his coolness drained and needs a new motivation, and nothing involving saving the human race. Sonic + humans is no good Sega, even with the current canon.
I say bring it back to basics and you'll have to excuse me as I venture into fan fiction territory for a moment. If Sega insist in making the plot key to these games then this has to be taken into account and I think there might be a way of pleasing both the old and new fans and maybe even bring the two together a little.
Start the game at a point where Robotnic has already won. He's caught all of Sonics pals, he's mechanized half the planet and he's not stopping. Sonic has been recovering after his last battle, during which he was defeated. Sonic got too cocky, messed up, Robotnic got the emeralds and couldn't be stopped. Ass thoroughly kicked, he was whisked away by Tails at the last moment and taken to one of the last surviving organic areas, Green Hill Zone might be a good place to start combining the new and old, it is Sonics home presumably. Tails ventures back out in order to fight against Sonics wishes, angry at Sonic for his mistake and the price everyone has paid. This takes one cut scene and little dialog, all we need to see is that Sonic was close but because he was cocky, messed up and couldn't get those all important emeralds. He failed.
From here the game need only follow Sonics quest to , redeem himself, save his friends and beat Robotnic (or Eggman, whatever they feel like calling him this time). The game follows a similar progression to Sonic 1 and 2; start in a lush almost untouched green zone, progress through caves, ice, casino (please), lava and finally technological nightmare zones. Each stage Sonic must fight a mid-level boss based on one of his captured friends (not only providing an interesting plot point but also broad opportunities for boss design. Robo Knuckles anyone?) and at the end of every stage Robotnic himself. And only Robotnic, in some variation on his egg ship just like the originals. Make them simple, make them as goofy as they ever were and follow in the foot steps of the old school, just don't make every one of them about running quickly to defeat it, timing and attack patterns are key.
At then end of the game Sonic makes it to Robotnics stronghold, chasing his burning ship into the compound and narrowly missing an opportunity to finish him before he slips behind a closing blast door. Sonic ventures into the base and finds the machine Robonic is using to harness the Chaos Emeralds. Que boss fight versus Mecha Tails. Cut scene in which Sonic must force himself to fight, boss that can fly out of Sonics reach (maybe in a circular room so Sonic can wall run to reach him?) and finally a moment of redemption after the fight where Sonic can confess that he's ashamed of his bragging nature, apologize to Tails, ask forgiveness then regain his inner fire.
Sonic destroys the emerald harnessing machine, grabs the gems and then it's time to kick some ass. Having found a new level of maturity in himself he finds he can harness more power from the emeralds and proceeds to fly at high speed through the base tearing everything up as he passes by. He finds Robotnic just in time to see him launching himself into space, an established last ditch move for the old bastard. Time for a Sonic 3 style chase as we see Robotnic enter an asteroid belt with Sonic in fast pursuit, and this time it is about speed to defeat the boss.
Sonic is a hero again, Super Sonic is badass again, Robotnic seems beaten, the status quo is restored. Show me a 11 year old boy who wouldn't find that cool and I'll show you a kid that simply isn't Sonics audience.
Now I just came up with that off the top of my head. It took zero effort. I started typing and that's what came out. Seriously, Sega need to stop hiring the guys with marketing degrees and the other suits with no idea what the fan base, new or old, wants beyond what they glean from selective focus groups and just get anyone with some passion for the franchise in. Like me. :)

i think that sonic needs 4 things. 1) give up on 3d just go back to 2d or 2.5d. 2)he needs to slow down(omg i know) but think about it, in the old games it took him a while to get up to top speed and evven then you could see what was coming and the only really fast bit was going downhills and they made him look fast by pretending the screen couldnt keep up with him, 3)+4) as tenchibir said level design needs to be improved with more secret passages and stuff and also kill half the characters and leave just sonic tails knuckles and robotnik and also bring back the badnicks like buzz bombers and them fish things not these shitty roboys we have now.

Has anyone seen screenshots or video clips from Sonic X-treme? That's a game that looked awesome. I guess we'll never know if it was fun to play or not, but when you compare X-treme to 3D Blast, X-treme would seem to be the clear winner for gameplay and plot/bosses etc. This may be were Sega started heading the wrong direction, Sonic X-treme seemed to be fast enough at times, and also included "lush" 3D worlds. Sonic 3D Blast is slow, boring and repetitive. Other than Sonic Adventure, and Sonic Heroes, I haven't really played any of the new Sonic games. I would love to see a new side scrolling Sonic game, and I'm sure lots of people would. Sonic Advance was side scrolling, who says that the younger gamers wouldn't like a side scrolling Sonic game? Sonic 3&Knuckles was my favorite game as a kid, it seemed to have just the right blend of speed, hidden levels, and power-ups. I would love to see a new Sonic game released that was along the lines of Sonic 2, CD, and 3&K. This is essentially what Nintendo has done with The New Super Mario Bros. Wii. It's all the power-ups from the old side scrolling Mario games (plus a few new ones), levels that are familiar, and you can play as Mario, Luigi, or Toad. Sonic games should stick with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. To have a strong brand you need to focus on a few core characters/ideas, not tons of them. You could almost compare what Apple did in 1998, (focusing on 3-4 core computers) to what Sega should do with the Sonic series (focus on the core characters, Sonic, Robotnic, Tails, and Knuckles) and see how gamers respond to it. What's the worst thing that could happen? They've put out enough bad Sonic games that one more flop isn't going to end the series forever.

I think that they should go for a game similar in game play to the original sonic.
That will be more interesting one.

Xanax

According to me i think that Sonic is for kids and i really don't think that SEGA is designing games with the players who grew up with it in mind. I think they need to look at that more.

Xanax

I'm sorry warde, but did you just say that Sonic is for kids? For the record, Sonic was made to rival Mario, Mario is for ALL ages. So, naturally, Sonic has to be for all ages, and he succeeds at least in that department. In fact, most of the people who complain about the new games are the adults who played the originals, and that is how this "lack of quality" started. maybe 7-10 years ago, the Sonic franchise was turned to the 3d world via Sonic Adventure (not Sonic 3D Blast, that was isametric) and the Adventure series was a hit; it had beutiful graphics for it's time, it was fun and creative, using different play styles in each story or level, depending on the game, and they had few imediate flaws except the present glitches.

Then alone came the 2d fans. When they first layed eyes on these games they thought, "this is crap! we want something more original Sonic!" And Sonic team tried to answer their calls with heroes, but they didn't want that either. Then came Shadow the Hedgehog, the Rush series, and it just kept going until it led to f#@%*$% Sonic 2006, and we all know how THAT turned out. The game was utter crap! There were glitches all over the place, your comrades did jack all (Tails in Sonic 2 did more) gameplay was retarded, and the famouse hedgehog was SLOW!!!!!!!! What the f#%@?!?!?!?! And even more, the story was bad, the voice acting was bad (except that of Mephiles), and it had beastiality! There were only two good parts: music and Mephiles. And do you know what?!?!?! Some of the fans anctually LIKED IT!!!!!!!!!!!! The only way you could like that load of dren is if you were heavily stoned!! And it was caused by those fricking old school fans! It wasn't Sonic Teams fault, they were under so much pressure they couldn't think straight. And now with Unleashed, Black Knight, and the soon to come Sonic Colors, we are actually beginning to go back uphill, but the old school fans don't want these good games, they want everything to be the same as 1991!!! What do you think happened to the Mega Man series?! It stayed exactly the same as it was when it first came out, the main series any way, and look what happened! It has driven into hiding in WiiWare! And the same thing is happening with Sonic! I wanted to play the new Sonic 4, but I can't because it decided to take place in WiiWare. People, do you really want that to happen? Last night I thought about this problem for a long time. In it I came up with this...

Green Hill Zone began all that is happening today. It is their ancester and their connecting root. It looks upon them and then upon the fans of the Sonic series and thinks "Why do look upon my decendants and balk because they are unique? Each was made in a way that separated them from the other so they aren't all the same. I appreciate that you fanboys and fangirls wish for them to be just like me because you love me, but you miss the point. The point in a game is to create new ways to enjoy the franchise we already love while keeping the things that make us great. Tell me, do you want such a thing as all being the same? If everything was exactly alike, nothing new would happen and it would get boring. You balk at my children because they have separating gimmicks: Unleashed had a side that craved for violence, Black Knight grew to deal exquisedly with melee weapons suck as swords, and soon, my great grandson, Colors, will have the gimmick of power-ups. Tell me, do you enjoy the Mario series just as much as you do mine. Well if you are to insult Colors simply because it has power-ups you are a hippocrit of a Mario fan. No, judge my grandson not because he has power-ups, but judge him for the quality of these power-ups: do they work right, how are the controls, are they glitchy, things like that. So maybe Sonic '06, Labrinth, and others weren't the greatest of kids, that doesn't mean the next one will be bad."

In conclusion, that article above didn't have the whole story. It forget to mention the old school fans and... you know what. No, I will not go further. I can't tell you how to think, I merely put in another side of the story. And for the record, I'm not the only one who thinks this way. Watch Hellfirecomms playthrough of Sonic '06 on Youtube to hear FTA agree with me.