Hacking Sonic: A study on everything wrong with Sonic the Hedgehog
Nearly everyone who was gaming in the 16-bit generation retains something of a soft spot for Sega’s high-velocity mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog. A clever concept that took off for Sega more than even they could have expected, the Blue Blur has now made his way to every current and previous-generation system, thanks to the collapse of Sega’s hardware division.
Sadly, the story of Sonic the Hedgehog isn’t all adrenaline and red shoes. There’s a lot of disappointment and frustration now over the fact that Sonic’s had a hard time adjusting to the more nuanced console generations that followed the Genesis. The reason for this is pretty simple: the driving force behind Sonic is speed, and speed is shallow. When Sega’s various teams try to do something more than speed, Sonic hits a wall. Not one of those breaking walls that he’s supposed to hit, either.
Art: Sega via Creative Uncut
Sonic hasn’t adjusted well to 3D worlds because his speed does not lend itself to shifting perspectives and cameras and things. He’s a two-dimensional character, and even when rendered in 3D, he’s at his very best when running through 2D environments, as in Sonic Rush. In fact, I thought Sonic Rush was better than Sonic the Hedgehog 3 on Genesis… though I can’t imagine anything topping Sonic 2.
So here we have a very important character who seems to be at odds with Sega’s goals. You see, Sega has said they won’t do a Sonic game unless it has a “hook” or “gimmick” to it, which is why in Sonic Unleashed, he turns into an elastic werewolf at night. In Sonic and the Black Knight, he’s got a sword. But this isn’t what makes a good Sonic game. What if Sega went with some deeper gimmicks?
What if they took the confusingly-implemented time travel concept in Sonic CD and ran with it… so to speak? How about a Sonic game where Sonic can manipulate time by running really fast? Break the game into stages, and start each world where Sonic drops in, sees the place is a mess, runs fast to travel back in time and prevent the bad thing from happening, then fast-forwards and runs through a more traditional Sonic-type stage and then fights an elaborate boss as the angry bad guy who did all the damage in the first place drops in?
How about a Sonic game where you have a fixed amount of time to complete the game, because really bad things happen at specific times, like sections of the world being destroyed?
All I’m saying is the developers need to take Sonic speed and come up with a hook that makes sense with it. Swords? No. Elastic werewolves? No. 3D adventure games? No. RPGs? For heaven’s sake, no. Let’s break down what we love about Sonic.
- Speed. Sonic needs to move very, very fast. Make it ridiculous. When Sonic the Hedgehog came out for Sega Genesis, it defined the generation because we’d never seen anything so fast. This means we don’t need massive worlds or incredible detail in the backgrounds, we just want Sonic to go so fast we can’t even see the grass. Then push it over the line: when Sonic gets to top speed, he needs to run off the screen as if the technology in our game systems just can’t keep up with the little bugger. The Genesis and GBA games did this, and it added a lot to the sense of barely-in-control velocity.
- Digital control. Sonic does not sneak anywhere. He’s either running or he just smacked into an enemy and dropped all his rings. Analog control so he can stroll along all casually is just stupid.
- Rings you can catch. Why is it that now when we take damage, we lose our rings and then they vanish instantly in thin air? Make them scatter everywhere so we have to scramble to pick them up. We don’t care if the game drops to four frames per second when that happens. That’s part of the excitement. It’s like bullet time by accident and we love it.
- Enemies you can plow through. I like crouching down, winding up some momentum, and shattering a robot into thousands of pieces at a million miles per hour. It makes me feel like a hedgehog. Don’t make me jump first, then lock on and press a button to attack.
- Two dimensional worlds. Sonic doesn’t work in 3D, that’s all there is to it. You can use all the 3D you want, just lock the camera alongside Sonic and let him run left and right, rolling and jumping happily. I never want to see the back of Sonic’s head again, because it just doesn’t look right. Make the worlds big, but not so big we can’t get lots of different ones. Make them colorful and bright, except where appropriate. Don’t make big brown ugly walls just because you didn’t make anything in that direction.
- Knuckles. Now that Shadow the Hedgehog has been ruined by that turd Sega laid last generation, Knuckles remains as the franchise’s only NPC who doesn’t suck. We hate Tails, we hate Amy Rose, and we don’t even know where the hell “Big the Cat” came from. What do we want from Knuckles? We want him to be the only supporting character in the franchise. He’s the guy Player 2 plays as. You can play as him and take a different path through the game.
- Crazy robot bosses. In my experience, all the best bosses in the Sonic games are crammed into one title: Sonic Rush on DS. These bosses are elaborate, complex machines that move in and out of the screen while you run left and right, creating a more open feel and a less predictable battle experience without ripping you out of your left-right-jump controls. More of this, less of the giant flying-away airplane garbage from Sonic Heroes.
Awesome music. Bring back the guy who did all the music for Sonic 2 and pay him whatever he wants. The music in that game remains the best in the series, hands down. This is part of what brings us back to a game again and again, and it also sells soundtrack albums.
- No extreme sports. Finally, keep Sonic a platformer. We don’t want to surf, skate, play hockey, race, or anything else like that. We just want to run and jump and smash the crap out of robots. Is that too much to ask?
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I want to hack sonic 2battle.
Please keep note that the best 3d sonic games where the Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2, that of which died along with the dreamcast.
Nintendo only happened to throw in the remakes, Sonic Adventure Director's Cut and Sonic Adventure 2 Battle for the Gamecube to revive the franchise. There is no better 3d game for Sonic after the Sonic Adventure titles. A day would come when someone from Sonic Team, if the crew still even exists, rise up and pull together an attempt to retell the story of Sonic back from the Genesis.
We don't need a Sonic the Hedgehog for the ps3 and be it another sequel. Sega would do better to revise the root of Sonic's true origin and build up from there. The REAL Sonic the Hedgehog doesn't really have allies till part 2 where Tails come in. If Sega ever decide upon this, the the Sonic CD concept, or something much better I would put my votes in to the mind behind the idea and will support that. Whether it be a 2d or 3d Sonic title, just as long as they make a good Sonic game right.
Wrong on Knuckles. You see, they made him a retard.
I agree! I was getting tired of all of this new fangled crap with genies and hoverboards. I understand that they are trying to make Sonic seem new and edgy but there's a way to do it without completely destroying the game. They need to take lessons from Final Fantasy; they've been doing the exact same thing for about 20 years and people still love it.
I agree! I was getting tired of all of this new fangled crap with genies and hoverboards. I understand that they are trying to make Sonic seem new and edgy but there's a way to do it without completely destroying the game. They need to take lessons from Final Fantasy; they've been doing the exact same thing for about 20 years and people still love it.
Sorry, but I don't agree with this guy.
+1 to knockknock.
You oldfags, can't always figure out what to good ot games which was remade as new ones with old mascots. You know, its pissing out loads of normal gamers which can understand games, not only yelling as idiots – THEY ADDED THIS THIS AND THIS – F#CK THIS! I WANT ORIGINAL GAME!!!! So f#cking what? Remember megaman series on nes? God i swear to 6 part I wanted to go kick some capcom's ass to add something like plot already (i mean normal plot) and remake graphics (you know nes can do loads of stuff better than standart 4 colors sprites). After that came out megaman x with new graphics, new hero, PLOT etc.
Same story with sonic. Ah yes, blue hedgehog which you can recognize always you see it even if you drunk as pig. So, Essenes of 2d sonic games from genesis was sonic 3d and knuckles. But – essence of all sonic games if also watch at plot, different game styles like small puzzles and mini-games is Sonic Adventure 1 and 2. Two most powerful games about sonic and friends for all times. It have
-Good gameplay
-Awesome music
-PLOT (and good plot)
-Atmosphere
Ofc there was a problems with camera but you know loads of 3d games for different consoles had camera problems back in those times.
Now let's analyze sonic games history before it.
There we have lines of sonic for 8bit, then 16bit, last of those games was sonic blast which sucks. No really – only good you can play it 'cause it contains prototypes of music which later was made for sonic adventure. Later we had Sonic R – first 3d game about sonic but racing, and sonic cd. After this the series must had to evolve. You know – always pick same shit with new directions without making it with new features or completely reload it its bad sign – take a look at original prince of persia 3d. All the same – game simply copies montage from prince of persia 2 but in 3d with terrible camera >_<. After that came Prince of persia sands of time – was it bad? HELL NO! Great masterpiece of work – we had very strong plot line, bunch of new features, acrobatic moves, more fighting, you see – there no anything good from original (except maybe traps and princess) but its still rocks. Hyperion17 you're wrong – they upgraded graphics – the control system changed a bit from 2d era and yes – fucking 3d. Ofc you can't compare arcade move from 2d to 3d with jrpg move which is much more simle cause scenes and move selection still not moving or not interacting with player in other ways like..you got me. So that what happened with sonic – sonic rpg wasn't that bad – it was like mario rpg sometimes. Sonic The Hedgehog 2006 wasn't bad too. Ofc it can't break sonic adventure 2 but still have something good to show ya. But i agree with other parts – Sonic dying. Even Sonic Heroes wasn't good…. =C and now we got it deeper and deeper in shit of sega's marasmic minds. Most fail of last games was ofc idea of Werehog.
Remember those sitcom-type cartoons from 80-90 – remember, when some show going to werewolf(weresomething) idea – AUTHORS LACKS OF NEW IDEAS and starting giving old shit with new sauce.
=C so..in my opinion last good sonic game was Sonic The hedgehog 2006.
P.S. Who saz sonic 4? Its megaman-styled remaking crap. They now wants to return oldfags back into legion. Gawd!
THIS MAN IS A GENIUS SEGA TAKE HIS ADVICE!!!
That is very true although tails and Amy are completely fine but you are right about big where did he come from? They might as well not give sonic a face for 3D and why the hell would want to play the game from the front what kind of stupid Idea is that?! Any way this is fantastic!
I totally agree SEGA needs to take action and get this guy to join da SEGA crew before SEGA crashes and burns
I miss the episodes….. WHY SEGA WHY?! Put sonic back on air!