Top 5 Things SEGA Needs to Stop Doing

One of the things I believe any long time fan of a series should start doing once in awhile (depending on the franchise) is look back and study it; where it has been, where it's at now, and what exactly your thoughts are of it considering the people behind it. Are you pleased with the direction, or do you want them to stop and think back to what actually made it interesting and unique? Do you go with the flow, buying up everything you can in hopes to support it and see it continue onwards or are you constantly unsure with where your loyalties lie because it has become increasingly questionable about who's holding the reigns of your beloved stories of adventure, action, lust/romance, etc? For me I believe it's time I took a step back and thought to myself once again about Sonic The Hedgehog. The last time I wrote about him, it was when I had a realization about what kind of fan I -truly- am in the end, and thus why I buy his games. I have now reached a point where not only does the topic of Sonic The Hedgehog fill me with confusion the likes of which aren't unfamiliar with cheating on your lover whom you claimed not long ago was your 'true love', but it fills me with constant frustration and rage at his parent company: SEGA.

This, my friends is going to be me taking raw pock shots at SEGA and giving out a list: Top 5 Things SEGA Needs To Stop Doing With Sonic the Hedgehog.

Seriously, SEGA could make him into such a badass but they only seem to care about Shadow...and he hasn't even been in a title since Sonic 2006 that anyone cared about.

 1) Ignoring This^ Guy.

 Why do I pick this character specifically? Because he is the FIRST successful character in the series that was NOT an immediate sidekick. He showed that you can have a 'rival' character with (literally) the same amount of 'tude as Sonic himself and win.

Knuckles The Echidna is the result when you introduce a character so cool that he rivals Sonic: hell he STARS in one of the most acclaimed 'perfect' Sonic games of the SEGA Genesis era. He was the confused albeit smart nice guy that got tricked into messing with Sonic when really it was Dr.Robotnik behind the entire plot of Sonic 3! (As in, the entirety of Sonic 3, with the expansion cartridge locked on with it) Since then he has been behind Sonic's back in support in Sonic Heroes, the spin-off 'Riders' series, and in the comics at the very least he's dependable while still being able to hold his own life being the responsible guardian of the Chaos Emeralds.

Nowadays? He's a complete buffoon with 0 ability to take care of himself, leaving the Floating (Angel) Island constantly so he can be Amy's punching bag for hilarity. I have often compared his moments of abuse similar to Yamcha from Dragon Ball Z.

But WHY is this a pressing issue, might you ask? Because having Knuckles (or anyone) playable of a main part of the story would be FANTASTIC if it wasn't so centered on Sonic as it has been since Sonic Unleashed. Before Sonic 2006 came along and screwed up anything, think back to the LAST TIME you were able to play as a decent version of Knuckles, Tails, or ANYBODY for that matter in a 3D Sonic game.

Hurts, doesn't it?

Oh look! It's a green hill area with beetle-like badniks! THAT HASN'T BEEN DONE BEFORE! :U

2) Still sticking with the 'gimmicky' phase even after Sonic 2006

 The thing that separates Sonic and Mario (and partial to the reason Mario is so constantly successful) is that Mario's 3D formula for gameplay has always, to a degree, stayed consistant and alluring to all gamers. You can run, leap, maybe wall jump or do other things. If you know how to play ANY of the 3D Mario games, you know how to basically play ANY of them.

With Sonic...that can't be said at all and it's frustrating to me as a fan of the series to see this. One thing I've struggled with is actually legitimately recommending Sonic titles that I think is great to outsiders or casual fans: people that knew of Sonic 'back in the day' but weren't always the best players, didn't get the Chaos Emeralds, or mainly only played them for fun and not the completion per say. Maybe they simply aren't a person who is physically able to react as fast as Sonic NEEDS players to react, and that's something that literally changes from game to game. Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 play the most similar to each other and you can mostly try to lend these games to friends for SOME fun. However starting from Sonic Heroes and onwards, the track gets really slippery. Heroes' constant super fast vs slippery grounds gameplay (because it feels like you're running on butter) isn't attractive to try and 'get used to', and while Shadow the Hedgehog's gameplay is often even more slippery than Heroes, Sonic 2006 makes every single movement you do as Sonic too sensitive.

...and mind you we're not even talking about the alternative gameplay styles these games present! Try thinking about having someone play Sonic Unleashed or Generations with the super speed those games give you!

Sonic is mostly still built/made/developed for the 'fans' of his series that were always into his gameplay and used to it to begin with. He's never going to be as 'all around fun and easy to learn AND awesome to master' as Mario's learning curve has consistently been. I love you Sonic but the fact SEGA keeps wanting to change your speed due to uncertain (I'm gonna call these 'mood shifts) circumstances in the plots, you're not as user friendly as you make yourself out to be!

Sonic Lost World is a prime example of how even if you slow him down the game still compounds you to learn (and master or die trying) at least 3 other gimmick playstyles.

He's a mess, really.

Hey look! It's that first boss from the game! DERP.

 3) The Nostalgia Whoring

SEGA has been guilty of being that old best friend of yours who wants nothing else to do but to remember the 'good ol days' when they were rivals with Nintendo and on the top of their game. With Sonic, it has been one mess of simply trying to tell people "HEY REMEMBER WHEN THIS WAS A THING?" ever since the infamous failure-to-launch reboot of Sonic's 2D career that is Sonic The Hedgehog 4. Since this low-budget, why-did-they-even-bother-without-pulling-all-the-stops downloadable hit the many, MANY devices it launched, SEGA has been trying to shove down our throats the classic 'style'. Now BY THAT I do not mean green hills and chemical plants necessarily. A good example of 'nostalgia done right' is the 20th anniversary game Sonic Generations, and a 'classic done right' would be the new worlds that gave off a classic feeling such as those in Sonic Colors.

However, by literally bringing back old badniks, sound effects, gameplay mechanics that retread differently (See: The Figure 8 Peelout Dash in Sonic Lost World), level tropes ripped out of the SEGA Genesis (or other video games entirely COUGHNEWSUPERMARIO), and by doing nothing to advance the actual feeling of a full world that Sonic lives in, it's like SEGA really wants to try to tell us that 'oh those games from the Dreamcast and onward never happened. Let's try to play it off like all those nuances and advances didn't occur and go back to simpler times like BADNIKS and TAKING OVER THE WORLD!'.

By Sonic 4, everybody wanted the classic feeling back because we hadn't seen it in so many years: it was excusable. While it's a shame that Sonic 4 did not live up to the hype of ANYONE'S standards (I will debate you if you disagree) it seemed it wasn't enough. By the time we had Generations, almost everyone's nostalgia was satiated and a lot of fans felt it was the right time to move on: Sonic 4 became an afterthought.


We get it, SEGA. We just want you to move on already and surprise us again.

Don't get me wrong, this game is amazing. Buy it.

 4) Releasing a game every single year

Oh sure, it can be argued whether or not spin off titles like the Mario & Sonic series or Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed are main titles but we have had a Sonic game for every single year since 1999.

Think about the drastic quality drop of polish that has continued to occur in Sonic games since then. PUT ASIDE YOU OPINIONS and think hard on it for a minute.

Would it kill SEGA to (excuse me) take a fucking break and release something with polish instead of always putting everybody on Sonic Team to work on multiple projects at once? I'm well aware that the development time between Unleashed and Generations were several years, but you know what we had to wait in between? Sonic 4 Episode 1, Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing, and Sonic Colors.

5) THE RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF FOCUS ON MOBILE PHONES

This is how SEGA keeps getting money guys, because they keep releasing old titles or new deals on their old games to play on your phone...or 3DS...and I wouldn't have really given a rat's ass about it even though I myself own a iPhone and iPad. Those are two devices that are literally hand-fed SEGA games and I have no reason NOT to have at least one game on them...but I don't. I like owning video games that were originally made on consoles to be playable on something with actual buttons. I would have kept NOT caring...until they had Christian Whitehead (the masterful head behind the Sonic CD remake) work on not only a Sonic the Hedgehog 1 re-release but Sonic The Hedgehog 2 re-release and you know what they did?

Released it on mobile phones only. With exclusive content. Re-worked physics and audio. And FREE if you had the games already.





So NOW I know where SEGA cares about people the most. They only give the most of damns to the mobile crowd and if THIS WASN'T ENOUGH, the recent announcement of Ryo Hazuki of Shenmue being an unlockable exclusive to the mobile version of Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed solidified my thoughts.

SEGA doesn't care about me, and for many fans like me. I have been left behind so SEGA can continue to pander to its ever increasingly tiny fanbase of Sonic the Hedgehog year per year.

...and all because they want money. It would be nice if the series sought some radical change that actually livened up the gaming media WITHOUT a 180 turn when the game came out (Sonic Lost World pre release and actual release is, again, another great example of this)...or at the very least if Sonic wasn't such a joke anymore.

But that's me, and that's what SEGA needs to stop doing.

PS. Also they really need to work on their PR because it's snakey seeing their Facebook admins reply only to positive, glowing comments and ignoring everybody else. Assholes.