Kogen wrote:Because it is called 'SEGA Superstars' or 'All-Stars'.
Most people do not know what a burning ranger is.
I didn't know who the hell the Ice Climbers and Marth were either.
This is why Sega don't know what the fuck they're doing anymore.
Nintendo included Marth in SSBM, people in the west who'd never played Fire Emblem became curious, and this gave Nintendo a great excuse to bring the franchise over here and it's done very well.
Meanwhile, not only the public but even Sega executives don't remember Burning Rangers (I don't have the relevant quote but I'm sure somebody here knows what I'm talking about). And even if they did, the just don't have the business sense anymore to see a good oppurtunity.
He's got some sort of chief role going (director? I forget) for Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympics. If you really do miss him though, don't worry, they've got a padded room reserved for you somewhere over there i'm sure.
Kogen wrote:Yes, Sonic sells, and there will probably be more than four Sonic characters in it. No other franchise will likely get the same attention. So why not just do a Sonic game in the first place.
Originally I thought it was some kind of pride issue, where either Naka or Iizuka refused to allow the Sonic franchise to indulge in the genre orgy that Mario sells himself to, so they compromised by making it a generic Sega game and limiting the Sonic presence. But it's more likely that they're trying to bring in as wide an audience as possible by including a greater variety of retro. Maybe Superstars Tennis sold better than Riders 2.
Yet their design decisions don't seem to be entirely dictated by money. They'd probably sell a few extra copies if they started including Archie characters in the games and they haven't resorted to that yet.
This time I was Producer slash Director. It was around this time when we finally started to see the end of “Sonic and the Secret Rings” after a sequence of sleepless nights that my boss came up to me and casually dropped on me the newss that it would be up to me to think of an idea for “the next one (in the Storybook series)“.
Management is certainly focused on the bottom line (though it's strange that they'd immediately start on another Storybook entry before seeing how well the first one did), but the designers still have some heart. The rest of that blog shows that Katano really wanted to make a good game, not just to appeal to the perceived desires of a large group of potential customers. It's just that either the designers are being stifled by management, as Iizuka was with NiGHTS 2, or they just aren't very good.
Frieza2000 wrote:Management is certainly focused on the bottom line (though it's strange that they'd immediately start on another Storybook entry before seeing how well the first one did), but the designers still have some heart. The rest of that blog shows that Katano really wanted to make a good game, not just to appeal to the perceived desires of a large group of potential customers. It's just that either the designers are being stifled by management, as Iizuka was with NiGHTS 2, or they just aren't very good.
Well, can't it be both? We know the upper management is brick-teethed but at the same time, it's got to be somebody's fault when bad ideas like Unleashed's EXP system make it into the product.
Most people think "Burning Rangers" is just a song in PSO/PSU, I would be very surprised if Sumo added them in this game, I have hopes for Ryo in the Forklift thou...
If Sega ever gets around to cranking out a Saturn-era compilation (which they might, given the attention Genesis games have gotten recently), they'll be sure to have Burning Rangers on it (I hope).
Anyway, about the game, I just feel like its potential is limited. Even if it looks amazing, sounds amazing, and plays amazing, it'll just feel like "Eh... Another 'Sonic-in-a-cart' game... Dandy...". I agree that the airboard idea was a much better concept for a Sonic racing game.
Anyone who expects this to include more "all-stars" than the cast from Sonic Riders is living in a dreamworld where Sega actually knows what it's doing.
Sorry, forgot only you were allowed to be a rampant hardass.
Riders had Nights, Aiai, Ulala, Billy Hatcher, Amigo and that's about it. (Plus cameos from Hang-On, Crazy Taxi, etc.) I'm pretty sure you won't be seeing Ryo Hazuki, any Burning Ranger, Phantasy Star character or the guy with the beard from Golden Axe in this game either.
Neo wrote:the guy with the beard from Golden Axe in this game either.
Gillius was in Superstars Tennis, but they pissed all over the character design and he ended up with a beer belly. They treated Alex Kidd none too well either.