Why Sonic Generations is aptly named

Sonic as a franchise has been having its fair share of problems over these past few years. However, sales are pretty stable and Sega makes quite some money off it. This is partly due to the shift in gamer generations, but Sega is encountering certain problems with that when it comes to their new title Sonic Generations. Hit the jump to read for more about the risks and potential opportunities of that upcoming game…

 

While newcomers certainly know how to deal with those newer Sonic games, the so-called ‘Hardcore’ crowd, that grew up with Sonic in the 90’s, certainly feels different when it comes to Sonic Unleashed and the like. Sure, Sega threw them a bone with Sonic 4, but not everyone liked it that much. Change is a concept most ‘old-timers’ are highly hostile to, so if you’re changing something in your long running game series, you better make it work. Hence why some changes were not received well when it comes to Sonic 4, but those weren’t the big ones.

The one change that still poses a big problem here is the switch to 3D. Let me make one thing clear here: I’m definitely no fan of Sonic Adventure. Sonic and the Secret Rings was kind of bearable and please, let’s forget about Sonic 2006 this time. On the other hand, we have the 2D Sonics on the GBA and DS, which, as far as I can tell, are pretty good. Not the classic stuff from the Genesis era, sure, but still better than most 3D Sonic games up until now.

 

Bringing those two gamestyles and generations together is a really high risk for Sega. The older generation dislikes the 3D games and will be alienated, even if there are good bits in there. But even riskier is the situation with the young generation. If Sega finally manages to create 2D Sonic on the level of the Genesis games, well, then there is no turning back for the young crowd. Once they know how good those games once were, they will not return to the less good 3D ones. Then, they want what the old generation wants. Good 3D games. Even worse, if the 3D part of the game actually works, then Sega has the added problem of having the bar set pretty high. No turning back to less good 3D Sonic games then. This automatically means, they can’t put out that many Sonic games year after year anymore, because quality almost always needs more development time.

If Sega succeeds with this, they can unite the two fanbases and make the Sonic franchise what it once was: a dominant name in the industry. Not a running gag. Sonic games could become what they once were: Something on par with a certain Italian plumber…

Readers Comments (1)

  1. I like both 3d and 2d sonics
    if they make the 3d levels like colours the unleashed demo or like sonic levels on the dreamcast this game would be perfect in 3d
    2d mode looks realy good like the genesis and sonic 4
    the game would be perfect (in my opinion)

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