Sega's Nishiyama Talks about Potential for 2D Sonic Games

[Edgerock]

1UP interview here: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3170595

If a new wave of old school-styled 2D gaming reemerges through digital distribution, we may someday be able to thank Konami's Bionic Commando: Rearmed and Capcom's Mega Man 9 for spearheading the effort. It seems Sega is the latest developer to consider the possibilities, as Akinori Nishiyama, producer of the upcoming Sonic Unleashed, spoke with Kotaku about the potential of making new (or remaking old) 2D Sonic games. No, nothing's officially planned yet, so don't get your hopes up -- but at least Nishiyama is considering his options.
"There's always the possibility. Whether it would be viable remains to be seen, but having a new game -- or even a remake of the GBA games, which we now can't use [thanks to the DSi] -- would certainly be possible," Nishiyama said, after being asked whether Sega would consider making new 2D Sonic games. "One of our ideas has been that on older consoles, you may have had only 16 colors. One thing we could do is make a game like Mega Man 9; do a new Sonic, but in an old style," he continued.

Hey, it worked for Nintendo when they made New Super Mario Bros., and it seems to have worked out great for Capcom. Let's just hope Nishiyama is someday able to make these possibilities into reality.

[Spike]

Please, Sega, make it happen! Take the Sonic 3 engine and make an entirely new game out of that. Hell, just hire some rom hackers and have them do it.

[FlashTHD]

Hey, it worked for Nintendo when they made New Super Mario Bros.

When Nintendo made New Super Mario Bros., they made a generic, boring cash-in, that is still selling boatloads and happened to recieve the pro reviewer blind "Lemmings storming off a cliff" love firing on all six cylinders. If it's not the depressing poster child for how wrong this trend can go, it's one of the biggest.

Or is this what you meant by "worked"?

As for Nishiyama's words, i'm a bit at a loss at the moment. I'll come up with something later, meanwhile watching the reactions elsewhere ought to be a wonderous thrill ride for my pessimism.

[Neo]

I think I know how you feel. To me, knowing that Sega might be doing a "classic" style Sonic game is bad news because I know they're going to fuck it up.

[Crazy Penguin]

The results would certainly be interesting, though not necessarily good. I have to admit that despite many inexcusable flaws one of the biggest problems with the hand held Sonic games was the small screen size, particularly in relation to the charcaters. There hasn't been a 2D Sonic game that didn't have to contend with that since 1994. It could be argued that there hasn't been a "proper" Sonic game at all since 1994.

New Super Mario Bros was a good game. Not amazing and certainly not ground breaking, just solid in most respects. Its main problem was that it didn't have anything near as much depth as Super Mario Bros 3 and its successor Super Mario World. So given that they were released in 1988 and 1990...

[Dasher]

Sonic, but in an old style

Now we are talking!

[Shadow Hog]

As tempting as the concept is, I'm expecting all they'll bother to do is publish another Sonic Rush, but with the graphics of the Genesis games. And since the graphics, in all honesty, are just FINE as they are, that just wouldn't do it for me. It's the mechanics that have completely gone down the crapper since Sonic Advance 2, which put emphasis on rote memorization of the various routes over actually doing any platforming (compare to Sonic Advance and/or Sonic Pocket Adventure, which aren't perfect but have all the right ideas in place), and unless the mechanics are revived alongside any other retro throwbacks, I'm not buying it.

[G.Silver]

I don't think New SMB is even in the same boat as games like MM9 or Bionic Commando just because of who those games were aimed at. Both of Capcom's games are aimed at players who remember those old games and appreciate that kind of challenge. NSMB is aimed at people who own Nintendogs and Brain Age, with the added bonus that people desperate for platformers will buy it anyway (it's a solid game on its own, after all). I really wonder where the stronger sales lie, with people who would prefer something more hardcore like Mario World, or with casual gamers who can't figure out how to run and jump at the same time. Would it have made any difference?

One of our ideas has been that on older consoles, you may have had only 16 colors.

We can hope for Genesis quality graphics! What's this 16 color business? I hope he's not thinking GameGear-quality Sonic..

[Dasher]

Ugh no, that be horrible :/ It worked with Megaman because almost all his renowned games were on the NES.

[Green Gibbon!]

New Mario was solid, but you kind of expect a Mario game to be more than just "solid".

[Neo]

One of our ideas has been that on older consoles, you may have had only 16 colors.

We can hope for Genesis quality graphics! What's this 16 color business? I hope he's not thinking GameGear-quality Sonic..

I think he's referring to how in the Genesis, sprites can only display 16 different colors. The hardware altogether could whip up 512 different colors via standard means.

[Segaholic2]

NSMB was wildly mediocre and absolutely forgettable. I found everything in the game over a weekend, and I wasn't even trying.

[P.P.A.]

I found NSMB rather fun, especially when attempting to speedrun the stages are mini Luigi or Blue Shell Luigi. It surely wasn't as great as SMW, but still good.

I'm not looking forward to a new 2D Sonic though, because nobody of the old team is still around and I doubt anyone still knows what the games were about originally.

[Dasher]

Yeah...Nintendo still has Miyamoto and Capcom still has Inafune, no hope for Sonic ATM :(

[DackAttac]

I accidentally skipped about two thirds of NSMB. And while I was enjoying playing what I was playing, I didn't quite feel that I should have to work at not warping through the whole thing. I was not combing through these levels all that meticulously.

[FlashTHD]

Ah hahahahaha, his translator says he backpedaled:

Actually, he has been working on Sonic Advance and Sonic Rush and is very keen on keeping the 2D game. But, having said that, he also thinks 3D Sonic [is good]…And he has been thinking so hard to incorporate those good things from both 3D and 2D. And this is one of the reasons that in Sonic Unleashed we have both 3D and 2D mixed gameplay, kind of switched, going back and forth…Although he thinks that the original 2D game was really good, he doesn’t intend to publish kind of a remake of the original game.

[j-man]

Yet another press release/dev interview situation where absolutely nothing is revealed. Why do we keep trying to read between the lines?