New Sonic game for 2015

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Yami CJMErl
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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by Yami CJMErl »

Word is SEGA has decided to bring this stuff to Japan after all! Thing is, it's being called "Sonic Toon" instead of "Sonic Boom".

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big_smile
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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by big_smile »

http://www.tssznews.com/2014/06/16/sega ... g-forward/

US Sega reps had an interesting comment
"We see a two-tiered focus going forward, with a retro look for older consumers and the Sonic Boom look targeted to a younger, new generation of fans."
Does that mean we will see classic Sonic return for the next main Sonic game. Personally, with Sonic's 25th coming up, I hope they give innovation a miss and just do a Sonic Generations sequel.

Although I have to wonder, how profitable the older fans are. I hope Boom's release in Japan isn't a sign that regular Sonic is on the way out.

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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by Neo »

Spoiler: the "retro look" is modern Sonic -- it has now been around for almost 17 years compared to classic Sonic's 7-year run. You are no longer a part of Sega's audience.

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Jingles
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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by Jingles »

Here's some more gameplay footage.

I'm already disappointed in this thing. Some of these sections look like an early alpha build, not a demo at E3. Seriously, look how the camera is fighting to keep up with Sonic during those high speed sections, and could those character models get any jerkier?

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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by Wombatwarlord777 »

I'm actually a bit more impressed with this footage. That speed level that looked so bland a couple of weeks ago looks way better here. I don't know if they added some textures or if the colors are more properly saturated, but at least that looks good.

But the dialogue between the characters... oh god, the dialogue... It's light-years behind Eggman's PA announcements in Colors. Hell, even Heroes's banter was at least instructional half of the time, and nowhere near as annoying. I lost it when Eggman spontaneously uttered "Sonic smeeelllls...". Isn't this supposed to be tied into the cartoon that's nothing but half-clever quips and inside gags?

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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by Esrever »

On the subject of "retro" Sonic merchandise, I saw this today at Walmart.

Image

It's a children's shirt. It was right next to another shirt with green-eyed Sonic.

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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by Dash »

It does make me think a bit of how you might see merchandise for comic book Spider-Man, movie Spider-Man, and cartoon Spider-Man all next to each other. I think kids are usually able to tell the difference... but maybe don't care as long as its a version of the cool character they like?

But yeah, everything going on in these videos seems pretty lame. Not awful, but lame. It's too bad they can never get that in-level chatter concept done nicely, as it could be really cool if you were smart about it. I still remember Knuckles' Mushroom Hill comment in the beginning of the Jungle level in Heroes as a neat little touch, and the dialogue during the last Eggman fight in Unleashed had a lot of character. Not an awful idea, just y'know, use it when it's cool guys.

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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by Jingles »

I see a lot of Classic Sonic shirts at clothing shops like Old Navy, usually grouped in with those arcade game shirts with Pac-Man and Frogger.

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Popcorn
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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by Popcorn »

There's a lovely bit in a Jeffrey Brown book where he brings home a new Smurfs DVD for his 3-year-old kid and the kid rejects it entirely, demanding "real Smurfs". "It's from one of the later seasons! He can tell!"

Kids can tell the difference. By the time I was 8 or 9 (long into my childhood career of drawing Sonic obsessively) I had developed a religious adherence to the Sonic of the PAL Sonic 1 cover over the pudgier, smarmier Sonic of the Sonic 2 cover. I felt the same way about Tom and Jerry (MGM vs HB), and Peanuts (older comics vs later comics), and I'm sure loads of other shit. Of course, I was a nerd.

Sega is obviously happy to split the branding to tap into the smaller irony retro market. You'll find the "modern Sonic" shirts in the kids' section and the retro ones in the ironic college student section.

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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by big_smile »

Seeing as Sonic Adventure and Heroes are over 10 years old, wouldn't today's college student have grown up with modern Sonic.

I've also seen a lot kids merchandise with classic Sonic, so I don't think Sega are targeting Sonic at different age groups. They are just giving the license to whoever is happy to pay for it.

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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by Popcorn »

big_smile wrote:Seeing as Sonic Adventure and Heroes are over 10 years old, wouldn't today's college student have grown up with modern Sonic.
In which case, maybe the irony retro crowd is a little older than college age, now.

edit: I completely misread you. edited my response so it makes a lick of sense.
I've also seen a lot kids merchandise with classic Sonic, so I don't think Sega are targeting Sonic at different age groups. They are just giving the license to whoever is happy to pay for it.
Well, yeah, it isn't Sega literally masterminding this, I just mean the retro t-shirt manufacturers will buy the old Sonic and Sega will license it to em.

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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by big_smile »

Popcorn wrote:In which case, maybe the irony retro crowd is a little older than college age, now.
They've had kids and are inflicting their passion on their unprotesting offspring:
1746119_1.jpg
1746119_1.jpg (3.12 KiB) Viewed 13759 times
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/sonic-h ... ct-1746119

(It's a classic Sonic hat for 1 to 3 year olds).

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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by Esrever »

Just to echo Pop, I was 10/11 for 1992/1993, and I was, like, HYPER aware of all the different versions of Sonic and had STRONG OPINIONS about all of them! Japanese airbrush art Sonic was my favourite, too. (We got the euro Sonic 1 manual in Canada because it had french in it.)

Of course, it didn't hurt that there were basically four entirely distinct Sonic continuities running at that time -- the game (which I assumed had the 'Kintobar' plot like in the Disney Adventures comic), the two TV shows and the comic book. You couldn't really NOT know the difference. On some level, I kind of liked it though. Like those posters with all the different historical designs for Mickey Mouse! I always thought it was cool when a character had lots of different versions.

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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by Rob-Bert »

Having four different versions of the character right from the beginning turned out to be kind of unhealthy for the franchise in the long run, didn't it?

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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by big_smile »

None of the kids I grew up with could tell the different versions of Sonic apart. My arguments about the games, comics and TV show being different were dismissed as nonsense and then completely derailed with the release of Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine.

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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by Popcorn »

Are you suggesting the posters on the Green Hill Zone forums are somehow "different"?

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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by Yami CJMErl »

Image
Well, I guess this was inevitable, really, (more details)

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Gaz
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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by Gaz »

Meet the other Sonic Boom characters.

I actually think most of them look OK. They just look kind of generic like most of them could have been designed for any old cartoon show rather than Sonic specifically. They seem fine for the cartoon though.

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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by G.Silver »

In an environment that supports well-dressed characters like "Fastidious Beaver" and Mayor Fink, you'd think the resources would exist for Sonic and Co. to have footwear that isn't held together with tape. I mean, this is a society where even elderly jellyfish are endowed with mechanical walker bodies. Surely new shoes are not too much to ask for!

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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by Jingles »

I dunno guys, I think Salty and Peppers are gonna be real big hitters with the fanbase.

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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by Dr. BUGMAN »

A lot of these designs remind me of Xerox Era Disney, particularly the jellyfish which seem out of The Sword and the Stone. Maybe it's the linework.

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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by Yami CJMErl »

Q-N-C gives me serious B.E.N. (from Treasure Planet) vibes, and I can see Perci being played as SOMEone's love interest eventually...

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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by Rob-Bert »

G.Silver wrote:In an environment that supports well-dressed characters like "Fastidious Beaver" and Mayor Fink, you'd think the resources would exist for Sonic and Co. to have footwear that isn't held together with tape. I mean, this is a society where even elderly jellyfish are endowed with mechanical walker bodies. Surely new shoes are not too much to ask for!
Putting sports tape on shoes is actually a practice called spatting. Athletes and runners do it for a variety of reasons, but none of them have to do with keeping their shoes from falling apart.

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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by Wombatwarlord777 »

G.Silver wrote:In an environment that supports well-dressed characters like "Fastidious Beaver" and Mayor Fink, you'd think the resources would exist for Sonic and Co. to have footwear that isn't held together with tape. I mean, this is a society where even elderly jellyfish are endowed with mechanical walker bodies. Surely new shoes are not too much to ask for!
I dunno. All the characters have a plausible spaghetti-western vibe to them (well... maybe not the hippos), so I can see all of them being in a single setting, just with different roles. After all, aren't Sonic and Company supposed to be rough-and-tumble adventurers?

I'm pretty satisfied with most of the characters. Old Tucker, Perci, and Chef Woody are probably my favorites. Doc Ginger is the only one I really dislike from a design perspective, mainly because of her color scheme.

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Re: New Sonic game for 2015

Post by Esrever »

Yeah, they're pretty OK!

I like how they have meshed a very Western style of cartooning with something that still looks like Sonic. SatAM always looked strange to me, because Sally and the Freedom Fighters' character felt like a totally different style than that of Sonic and Tails -- really, they just looked like the same style used for the Bucky O'Hare cartoon.

But these work for me. I like how varied the designs are. Some are more Sonic-y than others, but there are enough intermediary steps to tie them all together, and they mesh well with the 2D art of the Sonic cast's Boom designs. I hope they translate well to 3D. They aren't "cool" looking characters, and I wouldn't really want to play as any of them, but as a cast of NPCs to populate the world, I dig them way more than any of the attempts made in previous games. (Although I did like the Girihiri humans in Unleashed.)

THAT SAID. I can't help but notice that only 3 of these characters are ladies and they are aaaallll the same colour. (Pastel violet, the new pink.) So, uh, more variety in some ways than others. Some of these designs push outside of Sonic's usual limited design style, but Perci looks pretty much exactly like a "regular female Sonic character". (IE: She looks like Sonic with breasts.) I wonder if that means she will be more prominent than the rest of these buggers.

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