Sonic's Busy Year

Give the little guy a break, why don't ya?

It seems to never be a quiet year for the blue blur. Ever since his debut in 1991 (or earlier, with unofficial sprite cameos being what they are) Sonic the Hedgehog has been an indelible aspect of the wider Sega brand year in and year out. Whether or not those have been good or bad years remain up to one's interpretation of events, but the too-cool-for-school radical Hedgie has at least existed during all of that time. For what little existence can be worth. It seems almost laughable, after all that time, to insist that the year past us, 2022, has been the biggest Year that Sonic has had yet, but then I thought about it and honestly I might not be so sure in my derision anymore. It was the franchise producer who made that claim, afterall, and he ought to know a thing or two about the franchise that is helping his rear his grandchildren on gold-leafed stake. So I sat down and thought about it.

In terms of public sentiment I think the Sonic franchise is in a bit of a holding pattern. The public has seen the utter depths this franchise has been willing to sink in terms of quality (There's yet to be a mainline entry seemed in microtransaction hell, so far.) and that paints the slight raised eyebrow that the series' name earns. And yet... there's an optimism in the air. It's something of a dusty optimism, gathered up from the same misused and decrepit basement that nineties kids store the rest of their disabused childhood dreams within; but it's an optimism nonetheless. People still want and kind of expect Sonic to hit the levels of some of the franchises' around it, even if Sonic Team have thrown up their hands and admitted they have no clue where to take the games or wider series in order to appeal to all the fans. Still, they are trying; and this year's slate goes some way to prove that.

Afterall, 2022 saw the premiere of Sonic Prime, the animated series which deftly fired the entire working Sonic cast in order to cast an entire slate of voice actors tasked with sounding exactly like the outgoing actors. (Except for Knuckles. They went a different direction with him and I find it disconcerting.) The show has pretty good, if a bit safe, animation to it and the writing is about on par with what you would expect from a modern children's show. That is, a modern network children's show; I recognise some of the streaming service children's shows of the modern age get really creative and personally driven; Prime doesn't even try to be that. But then, it doesn't need to. It's a completely fine show, I have to admit; with a bit more of a purpose than the slightly sitcom-like stylings of the last Sonic show, Boom. (Can't believe that show dragged itself on for three years.) So yeah, TV Sonic had a solid year in 2022.

 

This year also saw the drop of Sonic Origins; which was decidedly more... contentious. Sonic Origins borrows the same formula that a lot of long-running franchises are cashing in on for a cheap public goodwill bump; but because Sonic Team are run by actual backwards people: they decided to turn it into a PR nightmare instead. Remastering your original games and slapping them in a big package should be a cause for celebration! Callously scouring the internet in order to remove all cheaper alternative ways to play the original Sonics is certainly a less celebratory action. Especially for a collection that released buggy and even after those bugs are fixed lacks the iconic Sonic 3 Michael Jackson tracks because Sega doesn't want to seek a new licencing agreement. (Can you really blame them? Tiny start-up like Sega; who could possibly expect them to front such a bill?)

But Sonic had a strong presence outside of gaming this year. Afterall, we had the Sonic The Hedgehog 2 movie which also released in 2022! God, it really has been a packed year, hasn't it! Another branch of the franchise that slightly reimagines the world of Sonic so it could fit into a 'real person hanging out with animated characters' tropey plot. The second movie wore off some of the novelty of a video game adaptation that perhaps didn't really nail the appeal of the franchise, but found an enjoyable enough middle ground on it's own; but for those that liked the first movie for it's merits as well as the novelty; I'm told that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was actually a pretty good movie! I know it really left the door open to expand the franchise further and even with the unfortunately loss of Jim Carrey's Eggman (He's not dead, he's retiring) this might just end up being a Fast and Furious style chain of movies that carries on into the distant future. Or at least until the Mario movie sets off and demands a crossover which proves successful enough for Illumination to purchase the rights to the Sonic film franchise so that they can unite these brands together, only to slap more and more properties into these collab movies until the screentime of favoured characters starts to get diluted by more niche films starring nobodies like Alex Kidd and Tingle. Eventually this style of animated movie will become helplessly oversatured to the point where they draw less and less of a crowd and the entire bubble bursts on animated video game adaptations, and given that Illumination dropped most of it's independent franchises to dedicate more fully to Nintendo and Co adaptation, the shock loss of revenue sends the company into a system shock. They scramble to get out a Minions sequel in order to bring back the masses, and it works for the first one. People are draw to the mindless curiosity of it all. But it proves to be little more than an IV drip on a terminal company, bleeding out more in costs than they are taking in. And so Illumination perishes, and is buried to an empty service in an unmarked grave under a wilting apple tree by an orchard in Santa Monica. Huh? Sorry I blacked out for a few minutes there, what were we talking about?

Oh yeah, Sonic Frontiers released. Despite being absolutely snubbed by literally every possible award at the game awards; Sonic Frontiers released to decent reviews from the general world of Sonic fans who had gotten so used to games that literally play themselves, any form of gameplay was like tasting freshly heated and seasoned food for the first time in years. Frontiers did everything it needed to in order to be a passable open world game by modern standards; and that was amazing to see from a franchise that seemed to lose touch with what it even meant to be a game a few years back. (Sonic Forces was seriously, conceptually, bad. I cannot stress that enough.) It wasn't the slam dunk that put Sonic back on the AAA map; but it was a stumble towards success and that is enough for most long suffering and dog-tired Sonic fans that just wanted a fine game. They got a fine game. Which alone would make 2022 a fine Sonic year.

But it wasn't alone. All those Sega Sonic projects coalesced together in the same year to create an almost consistent string of Sonic content throughout the entire year in a manner that I'm sure most didn't even actively realise. From a marketing standpoint it's an actual dream to be able to maintain that level of output, putting out something for literally every sector of the franchise fanbase to flock to whilst gaining enough capital to do even more still. I'm sure the Sonic comic series was still ongoing inbetween all of that but I don't know because I can't find a single person who reads any comic, let alone Sonic comics. (How is the comic industry still trucking along these days? I will never know.) It really does feel like the stars have aligned for Sonic Team, that even when they make slightly strange steps with the franchise there's something new around the corner to smother that mistake with blind franchise fanaticism. It's actually somewhat brilliant!

Which brings us, I suppose to the future and the potential thereon. We already know that Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is tipped to miss next year, so if the franchise wants to top itself like the producer insists it will, they are going to need to subsidise that missed experience somehow. There's literally no word on any upcoming Sonic game to fill next year, but Frontiers was announced the same year as launch so they could be cooking up something. And besides; Sonic Frontiers itself has some potential for DLC support is Sonic Team are willing to go that route. I'm frankly unconvinced that Sonic is going to ride his potential back into the limelight throughout 2023, but the Producer has promised us so I guess we have a person to blame if 2023 falls short of expectations. At the very least we can say this; Sonic is on his way to perhaps regaining some of his industry dignity by his mid thirties; were it we could all be so lucky. 

Sonic Origins messed up Sonic 3 and Knuckles

 Who saw that coming- I mean, who saw where that came from?

From the moment of Sonic Origins' conceptual birth it was proposing to do something never before attempted by man: a full remaster/remake of Sonic 3 and Knuckles. A truly daunting and terrifying proposal that had eluded the best scientists and philosophers for the better part of two decades, now finally on the table of the people who could actually greenlight such a thing: Sega. What sort of rituals, planning, sacrifices and rights waggling were needed to bring the classic cap-off of the original Sonic trilogy up to the standards of it's oft re-released peers? A lot, clearly, as the beast which had gripped 3 for so long and kept it out of the hands of remake developers is that most virulent and unassailable of all development beasts; licencing disputes. Yes, the very monster that has swallowed up entire franchises, such as the Ultimate Alliance Games before 3, MGS3, Too Human, Xmen... something or other... and probably a whole bunch of games that no one's heard of before. It's a big enemy, okay? A huge one. And overcoming it would be a doozy.

You see, Sonic 3 had a problem when it came to it's music and who made certain tracks during it. Because apparently the game wasn't entirely a Sega project. Rumors have persisted since the 90's that the famous singer Micheal Jackson was the creative mind behind half of the tracks in the game, the funkier funner ones, but SEGA have been distancing themselves from that perception since forever. And then confirming it. And then denying it. It's been a real game of cat and mouse, where it's hard to take anyone at their word for when they're telling the truth or speaking a rumour. Although one thing is certain, some type of licencing deal behind the music has kept Sonic 3 and Knuckles out of rerelease cycles which means someone outside of Sega has rights on the game and it's been a headache for them. The release of this collection sparked a whole new wave of Micheal Jackson involvement rumors, which have yet to be directly refuted by SEGA, so for the moment the story is that he did work on this game's music, but then asked for his name not to be credited if the team couldn't get the tracks to sound better. Which of course they couldn't, because Sonic is literally the height of video game music replication during it's time. So that's the tentative story until someone rocks along and totally refutes it.

Getting this Sonic Origins collection out the gate, and murdering all previous rereleases from all storefronts like tyrants, meant that Sega would now be under an obligation to deliver a version of Sonic 3 and Knuckles that was every bit as good as the stellar Christian Whitehead mobile remakes. (Which, themselves, had never made it to PC all these years somehow.) There was only one huge problem there... Sonic Team haven't made an actual game for years. I mean sure, they slapped some 3D assets onto rails and called it 'Sonic Forces', but no one who's actually bought and played that mediocre little project is mistaking that for an actual Sonic game. And besides, they're busy making the most amateur looking AAA project of 2022- how could they possibly work on Sonic Origins? And so Sega were forced to turn to a group of people they had worked for before, and apparently fallen out with; the fans.

Which is to say 'Headcannon', one of the chief creative forces behind the incredible Sonic Mania and Mania Plus. Both games which are, indisputably, some of the best Sonic content of the past twenty years. And it wasn't made by Sega. Tells you a lot, doesn't it? Headcannon would handle the Sonic 3 and Knuckles remake, whilst Sega devoted themselves to the utterly laborious and brow beating task of porting the Mobile remakes to PC and console before then sticking it all into a collection. I mean sure, that does sound like a lot of work for one guy; but SEGA is one of the biggest and longest running video game companies of the modern age, surely they can handle a literal bare basic's task like that between their gargantuan size! Right? They couldn't mess up that, could they? You already know the answer don't you? It's 'yes', they can and have.

First off, that whole situation which was stopping Sonic 3 from being remastered all these years, hasn't been resolved. For some reason SEGA can't find it in their budget to renew, or outright buy, the rights to the original classic Sonic 3 and Knuckles soundtrack and so they went the lazy route and scrapped it. Now if there's one thing Sonic is universally praised for, it's the strength of their soundtracks so this was already going to be a questionable choice for going forward, but SEGA being themselves they decided they could pull this off in only the worst possible way. Which meant replacing the original tracks with the Beta tracks, just as they had done with the PC port of Sonic 3 back in the day, and replacing those tracks with bad and bizarre remixes for no other reason than to make it look like they put some effort into this collection.

They also somehow allowed a number of bugs into the collection, which Headcannon swears weren't there when they sent over their finished project. Somehow, during the work of assembling this collection, SEGA managed to break the stability of this port through what I can only assume was a herculean effort to disappoint their fans. And of course this was all on top of the whole 'selling the ability to zoom in on the main menu map screen as exclusive pre-order content'. So SEGA literally put the least amount of personal work possible into this collection, they ported the Christian Whitehead remakes and smashed Headcannon's work on the end of that, and somehow they still managed to wind their own professional inequities into the final product. How in god's name are we supposed to expect them to handle an entire full game on their own?

At the very least I can say that they didn't somehow turn around and replace Big Arms with Nocturne; which might seem like an out-of-nowhere praise but with the absolute comedy of errors this company is prone to I wouldn't be surprised if they managed that. It truly is a testament to how out-of-their-depth SEGA is with the Sonic franchise where they can't even deftly handle a rerelease and just butcher the process they had the minimal amount of work in. I've often said that the Sonic franchise is a lot better than the general consensus likes to paint it, but oftentimes that's in spite of SEGA's guiding principles, not because of it. Hell, they couldn't even celebrate Sonic's anniversary without brutally delisting all previous ports so that you had to shell out for their full price collection in order to play classic Sonic; what kind of healthy not-insecure company does that? (SEGA and Rockstar, it would seem.)

So my gaze turns from this face plant to Sonic Frontiers, and I question once again what amazingly brilliant formula we western gamers just aren't seeing tucked away here. The recent reveal of the 'classic' sections at least look better visually than the open world of Frontiers, but they're linear action sections totally at odds with the supposed 'open' nature of this game. Plus, they kind of look like left over levels ripped out of Sonic Forces: a game that featured notoriously straight-forward and uninspired levels where you just ran in a straight line and pressed jump a few times and got an S rank, everytime. Yet another failure to sell the promise of this game. But hey, I'm sure Sonic Team are totally the right people to handle this game because hey: they have 'Sonic' in the title, right? They must be the right guys! They probably have none of the same developers who made the originals, and have a direct legacy of largely disappointments, but sure: They're the boys for the job, I guess.

How to fix Sonic Frontiers

 SOS. Save Our Sonic

We've seen the highs and lows of it. Sonic Frontiers is coming before the end of the year and I don't think there's a single sane person on the planet who thinks it's ready and waiting to hit that release window. I maintain that the entire thing needs to be fundamentally reworked at a core level, but its all well and good just saying that, but what about actually discussing what needs to be reworked and establishing the standards that it has to meet? Be constructive with our criticism. Because at the end of the day I want Sonic Frontiers to be good. We all want a great Sonic game which pushes forward the franchise; so ranting and raving helps nobody. Although with that in mind it doesn't hurt to remind Sega just how unfinished this game looks so they remember how badly it needs to be delayed. Because it does and they really need to know that.

The big stand out problem which strikes down everyone's first impression is the World that this game is set in. The Frontier we're looking at here is empty, lacking in visual flair and seemingly totally lacking in intent. We can see that there are no real landmarks in the places we've seen so far, just hills and embankments with parkour objects slapped on top of them to really hammer home this sense of 'tech demo'. (My brother theorizes that this could all be a tutorial space, but that just makes it a really lazy tutorial anyway.) For some reason the team went for a realistic visual style which means muted green grass and generally plain terrain only split up by their garish additional robot designs that are also monochromatic and not fun to look at. Fixing the world is going to start by addressing these three issues.

Firstly, the world needs to be redesigned with a purpose and intent behind design that can influence all the rest of the development. If, for example, they wanted to make a place for Sonic to show off his speed they could have wide flat racing spaces with environmental frills in order to wow the eye and keep it busy, such as active grass deformation, puddles of explosively reactive water physics and galleries of exciting surrounding hills and mountains. Exploration themed world design would demand varied and distinct areas to break up the world and encourage the wandering eye, maybe with obstacles erected in the way of obvious sight lines so players have to travel and move to come to grasps with what they've got in front of them to explore. The visual style may be set but the team could take a bit more creative licence with the colour palettes they're working with to at least give the grass hills that classic neon deep green from the original Sonic games, just to introduce some recognisable visual flairs. They could also go the extra step to incorporate some of that geometric patchy grass texture that Sonic has rocked up until now.  

The animations that Frontiers is rocking has been another huge point of contention for the fact that they look to be lacking in many of the finer points that really differentiate an indie product from a triple A offering. For one, Sonic has no variation animation related to the speed at which he is moving when he's not running. That is to say, although he can walk slower depending on how the player pushes their movement stick, his walking animation is static, so Sonic can end up animating his walk pattern in a speed faster than he is actually moving creating an illusion similar to moon walking. Plus some of his transition animations, from jumping to running and attacking to manoeuvring, seem jittery and lack fluidity. (Although that's just extra polish anyway. I wouldn't throw away a game just because it's transitory animations aren't perfect.)

Then we have the combat which is a tale of both hope and trepidation. Sonic has languished in this hell of 'lock on and dash' gameplay for so long that the Sonic Team didn't even bother to program enemy attack patterns in Forces. This is not the case for Frontiers and enemies do indeed attack, albeit not in any aggressive patterns. I'm not asking for Souls-level of attack and reaction gameplay here, but these robots look to be largely static for extended periods of time before uttering a single attack and then going dormant for several seconds. It's not very intimidating. The boss fight at least looked cool, what with the impressive scale of the robot and the seemingly couple of avenues to beating him which I appreciated. I also like how scaling him became more difficult each time you broke one of his conduit-things, and to which that design philosophy made its way into the trash mobs a little more. Give them some dynamism so that they're fun to fight, make them more aggressive and perhaps throw in a little more colour to their otherwise monotone designs.

But what we fight is only as important as the tools we have to fight it, and I'm giddy to say that Frontiers has a combat system, even if it's incredibly rudimentary. The tracing and feedback speed move is okay, if a little slow; but it's just a shame that Sonic Team don't appear to be doing anything with the actual momentum of Sonic to be used in combat. Can we not roll up into a ball and crash into enemies anymore, or are they just neglecting to show that? Plus, are there going to be any enemies that actually match the blue blur's speed or is this going to a case of slow, plodding enemies that we tear apart like silly putty akin to Sonic Adventure enemies? And I have to mention that vortex tornado move which for some reason spins Sonic around upside down, that looks silly, and the special lock-on chain-dash move which appears to teleport Sonic several yards back from his target before executing, which is a really jarring way to set up an attack. (Or at least I think the move does that. Either it teleports you or the editor for the combat trailer really wanted to make it look like it does with several jump cuts every time that move activated.)

And behind it all we have to work on the purpose of the game and it's world. Why are we making this open world Sonic game a reality and how can the team put their efforts toward achieving that purpose? Do we want to put players in the shoes of playing Sonic in his daily life? Probably not given the far-cry-from-normalcy setting of the game. Do we want to put players in a position of wonder in a mysterious world with Sonic's repertoire at their disposal to explore at their own pace? That feels closer to the mark. In that case effort should be invested in feeding the desire of discovery and mystery. Far off landmarks that have a functional challenge to them, whether that be a scaling platforming challenge or a puzzle, inspire that call to adventure. (Which means that the pop-in really needs to be worked on.) And creating a sense of functional believability to the layout of the world gives the player the impression that there is intention and purpose to this world that can be discovered. Which is why we take half pipes and platforms and attach them to facilities and world landmarks, so that these navigation tools exist outside the sole context of "Sonic can jump on this in order to get somewhere." That last trick is the anvil around Frontier's world design holding it back, and once that design philosophy is totally banished we can start to look upon this gameplay as an indicator of an actual finished product.

I've heard some claim that the Frontiers footage is an alpha build and everyone is wrong to judge their opinions on the game from the footage, but I challenge that for two reasons. One, yes it's an old build of the game but the thing launches before 2023, this game needs an identity to be visible in it's world and presentation more than a handful of months out, and two, this is the footage that Sega themselves put out to showcase the viability of this game. They slapped this tech demo for the public in the hopes that this would sell the dream of their game, in the knowledge that this would likely be the first and last chunk of gameplay footage put out before launch. Sega thinks this is a strong foot forward, they need to be told explicitly why that is not the case and the more ideas to fixing this game up that we give them, the better the chance that Frontiers can be delayed and reworked into the rough gem we know it can be. Let's do our best to save Sonic.

Sonic's Open Zone

 No way; I can't believe this!

There is a seismic change flying towards Sonic the Hedgehog's video game world that threatens to rejuvenate the often-derided 3D gameplay of the Sonic series from the past. What started as a fun little gimmick in Sonic Adventure, where these funnily designed stages were put together by a team clearly still figuring out how to make a 3D version of their platformer series work, had depreciated into the Sonic Forces model of level design, where every map is a straight dash across a field of clueless identical robot enemies who don't even approach you and it's genuinely rare for a single level to last longer than two minutes. There was a progress of give or take over the years, as some new features improved the gameplay of 3D Sonic outings and others became a crutch for developers to exploit until not a morsel of player agency remained, (Looking at you 'boost button') but overall the graph of 'quality over the years' has trended downwards, and now it's up to Sonic Frontier to either change all that or become the final plunge off the path to sink all credibility in Sonic Team as competent game makers. (And after Forces I think we're all teetering on that inevitability.)

And it's not even a question right now of whether or not Sonic Team are going to try and challenge themselves to change the fundamentals; they need to do at least that in order to fit the Sonic character within their new vision of the 'Open Zone'. A innocuous phrase that many have taken to believing means that Sonic's next game is going to be entirely open world, but which I personally think is a pretty term to disguise that what we're really getting is probably several unconnected hub-world areas with activities in them; like a slightly grander version of Super Mario 64. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, I think most people would welcome the chance to explore different environments before the lazy deep green hills gets a bit stale and boring, especially given how for the moment that world seems almost entirely featureless aside from the mysterious robotic creatures that Sonic is battling. 

Oh, and I should probably go forward by saying that 'Yes'; I've seen that recent gameplay footage we've been given and have successfully mined it for every bit of content that I can. And just like I hoped, I am really liking what I'm seeing for the barebones of Sonic's gameplay and even the enemies he's having shoved in his face. (At the very least) For instance, the enemy design with this metallic sheen ontop of an impressive scale that hints at the sort of 'mouse versus mountain' perspectives of Shadow of the Colossus, makes me excited. (I don't make a 'perspectives' comparison like that lightly, either.) And though the sliver rounded finish does give me vague PTSD to the utterly boring and uniform soldiers of Infinite's army in Forces, we can already see how this squad are capable of actually attacking the player; which is a significant step-up in my book. Also, I'm curious and excited that we have not seen the telltale design feature of a two spectacles sitting on a moustache in their contruction, which means these might not be Eggman's units in a Sonic game for the first time in... I think ever. I'm pretty sure every robot ever made in the Sonic franchise has been an Eggman creation up until now. God, it would be nice to have another villain to interact with. (Oh, a villain that isn't just Eggman's latest buddy who turns on him in the last act. That storyline is a tiny bit played out.)

Which isn't to say that I'm loving everything I saw in this tease. I mean we've seen that the dash boost is returning again to which I can only groan dejectedly. I understand the reasoning. My problem with the dash boost in the past is that it's always been this button to automatically inject speed into Sonic often-time making him invincible and propelling him through the stage with little effort. It's a button that completely forgoes the build of momentum which is literally the entire gameplay loop of Sonic games! If I don't need to play cleverly, chain up enemies, keep moving and hit the right slopes in order to build up my momentum, and instead I just need to hit a boost button with a bar that refills everytime I boost into rings, meaning it's not too difficult to boost for half a level unmolested; then why does the team need to bother with making intelligent game design with natural opportunities and challenges to navigate through? Answer, they don't and that's how we ended up getting Sonic Forces.

I do like the fact that for the first time ever in Sonic, it appears as though our Hedgehog is smashing into enemies with more than just his thick skull. Indeed, Sonic appears to actually throw kicks and punches when he's in clashing range which adds just that tiny bit more dynamism to the animation repertoire. Also, we've seen a sort of 'tracing' system where Sonic draws a shape around an enemy and they get caught in a feedback vortex which damages them. These are actual combat mechanics that aren't just 'lock on and double press' like usual! You don't understand, this is a revolution in game design for Sonic Team. Actually having gameplay tied around the enemies they place in their levels has been a art lost to them since the 90's; I can only imagine the level of personal and emotional growth the team had to embark on in order to rediscover the fact that player likes fighting the enemies in their levels. Maybe that's why they dropped the ball on the world so much.

When the full gameplay demo launched I think everyone sort of felt a bit of the mysterious excitement deflate when they realised 'Oh; this looks like a tech demo'. I'm not saying that the visuals don't look pretty, of course they do. Just that the world has absolutely no coherent design philosophy to it whatsoever. To compare this to Breath of the Wild is an insult. This literally looks like generic rolling hills 3D printed out of Death Stranding or something with minimalist parkour structures place haphazardly all over the place. Floating platforms here, non-sensical grind rails there, maybe we'll screw around and shove a Ubisoft-style tower to climb over there, I don't know! Do you think the team agonized over sight lines when placing mountains and obstacles? Arranging obscuring elements that challenge the player's curiosity and keeps them wondering what was behind the next corner? Or did they just load up a default space in Unreal Engine and slap together a competent Sonic Actor to run around in it?

It's such a shame because this game looks like the 'great blue hope' of the franchise, rewriting everything we thought we knew about Sonic's 3D outing; only for the whole 'world' part of the open world to be a clear after thought. I don't like to say this, but it honestly feels like Sonic Team are a small group of Indie developers who don't quite understand the basics of game design and have yet to finalize their own fundamentals, and thus are left throwing darts at a wall to see what sticks. I know what it's like to be there, I'm still very much in that position with most of my own endeavours. But I don't charge money for people to gawk at my silly unprofessional fumblings. And thought it seems almost excessively mean to chalk up this whole package as 'unprofessional' just because of how lazy the world is- I mean, the world is one of the most fundamental building blocks of this sort of game. If they can't even properly convey a purpose or intent to how they've built that world, it's hard to support the rest of the game.

Sonic Frontier is an opportunity to change the course of Sonic, and a lot of the elements I'm seeing are on the right track to do just that; but for what we've been presented with right now it's clear that the game isn't there yet. In fact, I think this game not only isn't ready to hit the launch date later this year, but it isn't even in the polishing stage; we need a reworking of huge chunks of this game. Maybe Team Sonic need another team to come in and give them a hand because I'm worried that they don't even see the problem, given that they put together this gameplay reel to show us how proud they were of their work so far. I know I'm always moaning about how the Sonic community retroactively demonises everything, but it's an exaggeration to a genuine quality deficiency in a lot of Sonic properties; we can't have this new face of Sonic start as another clear cut example of this deficiency, we just can't. So for the good of everyone, Sega and Team Sonic; delay your game. Make sure it's good first!

Is Sonic Prime going to be everything that it could be?

 Prime-time worthy?

It's funny considering that I have such a truncated history with the Sonic franchise as a whole, that the majority of my familiarity of the Sonic character was formed through my attachment to ancillary media, à la the Sonic TV shows. Sure, I mean I played Sonic Adventure 1 back in the day, but the 2D games were ancient history by the time I was picking up the controller, and the Sonic community always seemed so cannibalistic, always fighting itself, that it never really appealed to me to become part of all that noise. And yet with that otherwise passing interest, some shade of child me was ecstatic when he heard about the 4kids version of Sonic X that would be coming to my TV screen. It wasn't because I was a fan of the Sonic games in particular, but because I was fans of games in general, and this was the first time I saw the medium I loved coming to the rest of the world in a serious manner. (Of course it was far from the first time this had ever happened, but I'm equating my own perspective for measurement's sake.)

I was there the night Sonic X first launched for us over in England, and I refused to miss a single episode; I loved that show far more than it deserves to be loved for what it was. (Not that it was bad; but it wasn't 'Avatar: The Legend of Aang' or anything.) So inexplicably, for means I don't quite understand myself, Sonic on TV has been important to my entertainment enjoying life. Since then I've looked back and experienced some of his previous outings from the distant hill of retrospect. The original 'Sonic the Hedgehog' from 93 which was... one of the shows ever made. Sonic SatAM (As it's dubbed by the community to differentiate it from the 93 show) which holds easily the best worldbuilding the franchise has had outside the comics. (Haven't read the comics, can't compare them.) 'Sonic Underground', where they turned it into a musical with instruments and Sonic's two surprise siblings and a royal mother who never features and- look it was bad, okay. And then 'Sonic Boom', the show to coincide with the series reboot which was easily the best thing to come out of the whole affair (before both it and the reboot were scrapped) but it was still... very safe, you know?

After all this time and all these reiterations of the Sonic brand, I guess I'm past the point where the novelty of seeing the blue blur on screen is going to excite me. And so I should be, a lot of these shows have been aimed at younger generations than I, who demand less from their entertainment, I know this. But I'm not asking for 'Teen Titans' quality kids showmaking either, (Although I wouldn't begrudge such a high standard being routinely matched) all I want is the potential we all see in the Sonic brand being met- or at least scratched! We talking about a world full with anthropomorphic animals with crazy colours, personalities and powers; there have been dozens of great fictional worlds built from less than that, from Zootopia to Adventure Time to even 'MLP:FIM', according to that show's fanbase. Sonic can facilitate more than the bottom of the barrel, problem-of-the-week style world and storytelling which has become so lame in the modern TV world.

And my intentions are selfish, I admit. I want a Sonic series to create a world for the timeless Sonic characters to inhabit because I want that world to rub off onto the games that are in constant need of it. The Sonic universe, as it exists currently in the games, is contradictory and paperthin at the best of times, flaccid and utterly uninteresting at the worst. Heck, the series can't even decide on what the population of the world makeup is! 'Sonic Forces' makes direct reference to the fact that it's within the same canon as 'Sonic Adventure' with the appearance and affirmative acknowledgement of Chaos. ("Mom says it's my turn to kill chaos") But then if that's true, why the heck are the streets of Sonic Forces' City lined with only animal people when in 'Sonic Adventure' Station Square had primarily human occupants aside from the main cast? Is there some sort of definitive global segregation between the species of humans and humanoid animals? A apartheid analogy so blown up that the disparate races are forbidden to their own separate cities on other continents? And if so, then what of the human cities? We only see Mobians being saved from destruction in Forces, so did the resistance just sit back and watch the Human population of their world be enslaved and/or exterminated by Infinite's armies? Am I thinking about this way too much and the answer is merely that no person on Sonic Team has spent more than 30 minutes on a script? Yes.

I want a better world for Sonic. I want the bones for a great 3D Sonic game somewhere down the line with stakes and consequence and maybe some level design. (Lord knows after 'Forces' the series could do with some level design!) And is Sonic Prime going to help provide those bones in order to grow a working franchise body from? Probably not, but we can lie to ourselves if it makes us feel better. One of the few original shows that Netflix hasn't abruptly cancelled once it realised that it's trajectory of eternal growth seems to be trailing off several years before they expected, Sonic Prime has kept much of the details surrounding it's content infuriatingly secret in the months we've been waiting for the thing. Even as we sit now, with an officially released preview, it's hard to scourge the slightest morsel of substantive knowledge from this crow's feast of a carcass, but if we're to go cadaver diving in order to pre-empt this show than just let me grab my gloves!

Off the bat I'm not hopeful I'll exactly get the dream I was searching for, but the show does look like the game, which is certainly fulfilling someone's fantasy. The checkerboard texture for the dirt of the hills, the floating rings scattered across the land, and a generally one-to-one depiction of 3D era Sonic. (No inexplicable scarf redesign here.) But they've also taken certain liberties here and there which are no doubt going to be hit or miss for certain sectors of the audience. Namely, Sonic's run cycle which turns his legs into a infinity symbol but leaves the top half his body just hanging limply on top, kind of like Big Wheel from 'Robots'. (Never thought I'd unironically be making a 'Robots' reference literally ever, but there we are.) I think it looks kind of stupid.

Sonic is also undergoing a change of the guard in the voicing department, with this new guy, Deven Mack, being another in a long line of voice actors all attempting to perform the same cocksure, attitudinal-but-still-approachable voice. He sounds fine. Right now the only question I have is what is going to be done with this series in order to make it watchable, because honestly it can go any which way. I've stated my presence for at least semi-serialised stories that build a stable world, but I'm not getting that vibe from the little we've seen. (It is a little, I hasten to add. So I could be wrong.) Heck, I don't even know what genre of fan they're appealing to, what with the background and running sprite being indicative of the 2D era and the bigger spikes and green eyes of the Hedgehog from the 3D era. (Generations and Forces taught us well that the two sides of the fandom can never and should never crossover.)

As such I'm left with a prevailing aura of trepidation, but a general idea of 'who knows'. Sega have demonstrated time and time again that they don't know how to reach the Sonic fanbase, and are maybe even a little scared to try, which could be great or terrible for this show. Either Sega are so scared that they've got their reigns all over this show and won't allow it to do anything not in line with the handful of Sonic games that fans haven't decided that they hate yet, or they're too scared to touch the show and we might get someone with a vision guiding the ship. I'm amenable to being treated with a show I don't expect, and as long as it's good, I'll watch. So please be good, Sonic Prime; the Sonic franchise needs a win right now. 

Sonic really isn't having a good Homecoming, is he?

 When will you learn? That you actions- have CONSEQUNECES!

Wow. Sega you really know how to turn a party into a funeral, don't you? One of your most beloved and long-lifed mascots is about to celebrate his anniversary, a grand event that should be dripping with nostalgia, fond memories and the over powering attitude of a little blue hedgehog from the Green Hill zone. This should be a time of happiness! But into the party-hall stumbles uncle Sega, kicking over the coffee table, plastered out of his mind, trying to demand door fees off all the attendees whilst pilfering the gift-table and calling it 'just dues'. It really isn't hard to celebrate one's anniversary, it truly isn't. Most games companies just settle with a plain discount, get people playing the game. Sega have done... pretty much the celestial, intergalactic, opposite of a discount; and in their greed to capitalize off the temporary place of strength that the franchise is currently in, (Which, reminder; is in no way due to their own efforts or talents) they threaten to turn this battered and beleaguered franchise into a laughing stock once again.

When it comes to anniversaries, the classic 're-release your old games with a lick of new paint' is a well-tested successful tactic to score easy points with your fans and the wider gaming community. It plays into the fond memories of the faithful and presents and accessible 'in' to potential newcomers: the best of all worlds. And when the series in question is Sonic, well, then this process becomes even easier thanks to the diligent and excitable fanbase. Just reach out to some of creatives out there and commission them to slap together a remaster of your games and- oh wait, Sega already did that with Sonic Mania, didn't they? Oh, and then Sega management got into some sort of a dispute with the Mania team, causing them to leave the project and costing the creative force behind a potential Mania 2. Is that why we're getting Sonic Origins this year? Is this a hastily slapped together replacement piece to try and fill the void left behind by a proper celebration game? I invented that as idle speculation but now thinking about it, that doesn't actually sound like a total impossibility at all.

What I'm trying to say is that this was an easy 'win'. Making a great anniversary celebration that everyone loves should have been an automatic cakewalk. But then Sega has to turn around and start nickel-and-diming for their re-releases of Classic Sonic games. Really, Sega? Is this how far you've fallen? I've said is before but I can't belabour the point harder, they're literally trying to make us pay for animations in the main menu! So what, does that mean when we start the game Sonic is going to flop out of the logo sash and stare at us dead-eyed, one finger primed for a wagging that never comes? Unless you pre-order, of course! Then you the full disapproving finger wag that we've come to know and confusingly accept as it doesn't really match up with Sonic's core personality in the slightest! And what's more, this little collection is apparently coming in at around the $45 range, just shy of a brand new release. That's not the deluxe version, that's the basic! These games are 30 years old: chill out, Sega!

But what if I told you that this gets worse? What if I revealed that in their infinite lack-of-wisdom; Sega have decided to adopt the lessons of that most cursed of remasters, the 'Grand Theft Auto Definitive Edition'? You remember, the single most embarrassing moment in the past ten years for Rockstar; the moment they flogged 'remasters' of their incredibly classic series which were so bad that Rockstar Proper had to dedicate the next 3 months fixing the mess into something of a passable state; within which the games now still reside? Yeah, that's Sega's rolemodel. And we can see this highly insidious inspiration written on the face of their attempt to brute-force interest into this questionable remaster collection with, you guessed it: a full delisting of previously released standalone versions of each game so that they can be flogged in this collection that is, even in its base price, slightly more expensive than the sum of its parts. Oh capitalism, ain't you a peach?

Now on it's face this isn't quite as dire as the GTA Definitive Edition debacle because those games were frankly butchered in their remasters to such a point where they looked like products cooked up for a 'game design' class' group project. Sonic, on the otherhand, is pretty hard to fundamentally screw up like that. Plus, it looks as though some, if not all, of the games in this pack are based on the Christian Whitehead remakes which are, as I've said before, damn near perfect. The only changes from the original to those remakes are HD textures, improvements to world design in order to accommodate cross-character play between games, and the addition of a new, remade, cut level from Sonic 2. So these games in the Origin collection are still fundamentally leagues ahead of the 'Definitive trash' from Rockstar's Grove Street Games; but are they improved enough to warrant the price of a totally new released game just to play. (Ahem, I should say: Just to play with menu animations. Because we all obviously need to pre-order for those animations, that goes without saying...)

The excuses write themselves, because there has actually never been a release of these remade Sonic 1, 2 and CD ports on consoles or PC. Up until now they've only been accessible on the mobile storefront, an oasis of genuine game content stranded in a dead sea of greed-driven time sink abominations of game design. Now they've coming to the PC and that apparently warrants their right to completely replace the Genesis ROMs we've enjoyed up until now. Although is that really necessary? I mean, what makes the Remakes so impressive is their faithfulness to the original Genesis version of the game, with scaled up textures making themselves the cherry topping the trifle, which inherently demonstrates that these iterations of the game offer nothing transformative to the base package. Once again it very much seems like the publishers here are just trying to take away the more cost-effective and easily comparable alternative to try and force buyers their direction, and do I really need to line out why that's wrong?

I'm going to anyway. As a consumer the most powerful tool we have at our disposal to influence the development of the video game market is our ability to choose, with our wallets, what we want to support. Thus it's only fair that to maintain a respectful relationship, developers and publishers need to allow us the right to choose and win over our money through performance and results. Make a better game and I'm going to want to buy it over the inferior game, it's a very simple equation that we're dealing with here. Try to get in the way of that, kill off the competition to funnel attention one way, and suddenly you come across as manipulative and tyrannical. Why am I not allowed to pick up the ROM version of Sonic 3 in order to compare against their remake? If Sega are confident in the product they put together, 20 years after the original, then why do they need to force the hand of the market to make it the only legitimately purchasable product?

Another small cut in this 'Dorian Grey' portrait that represents '30 years of Sonic', and another way that Sega appear to be trying their darn-est to scupper this release. Sonic's brand is enjoying it's recent movie run, not handled by Sega, a recent influx of love for the original games thanks to Mania, not helmed by Sega, and is going to be enjoying a brand new TV show called Sonic Prime at somepoint in the future, not a Sega production. But the brand's name is struggling under the weight of an equal number of screw ups such as the spotty Sonic Forces, a Sega-made game, the near unplayable 'Sonic Colours: Ultimate', another Sega-built product, and now this debacle filled venture, all Sega's making. Why is Sega the worst thing for the Sonic brand right now, and how do we file for legitimate emancipation? Sega really does do what Ninten-don't; because Nintendo couldn't screw up an anniversary this badly in their wildest dreams!

Sonic Original Sin?

 If you're strong you can fly, you can reach the otherside of the rainbow- Sun Tzu, The Art of Disappointment

Oh I had that initial second of such excitement when a brand new trailer for a Sonic game dropped on the Internet entitled: 'Sonic Origins'. Imaginations raced, what could be this 'Origin'? Clearly it was eluding to the 2D era of Sonic games, but could this be a continuation of the Sonic originals? That renegade spin-off series 'Generations', as we know the 3D version of that universe is going onto 'Frontiers' next? Or maybe a direct sequel to Mania! Yes, as you can imagine I didn't take the necessary time to stop and think about for half a second until my brother, resident expert in all things Sonic, calmly explained to me that I did actually know this thing was coming, he had told me so before, and that it's just the 5 thousandth collection pack for old-school Sonic games. That's Sonic 1, 2, 3 & Knuckles and Sonic CD, being packaged up and sold for some as-of-yet-undisclosed price which has more than a few people just a little antsy.

So of course I'm coming at this with more than a little trepidation. We've been sold these games more times than Metal Sonic has popped up in the series and no one's exactly thrilled to be bumrushed into purchasing them again; however there is something new coming with this package. You see, for the first time ever these games are going to be coming with a remaster for Sonic 3 & Knuckles, with the rest of the packaged games presumably being the exact same flawless remake jobs pulled off by Christian Whitehead for the mobile versions of the games. Now that does actually mean something to someone like me, because my very first 2D Sonic game I ever played was actually Sonic 3- (Although my first actual Sonic game was Adventure from nearly a decade prior to when I played 3- but we know how fans talk about the 3D era...) Yet even with that point of connection to this package, I would be lying if I said this wasn't more than a little disappointing.

Sonic is one of those franchises barred and chained by a single succession of questionable quality games when nothing about this series demands it needs to be this way. These games come from a platforming series about a blue Hedgehog breaking robots, why do we need a cohesive and continuing narrative? Mario doesn't, and has never, cared about such things and that series is a permanent classic in the video game world, and a Sonic contemporary. (If you squint your eyes and smudge the dates a little.) Me and my brother sat down to talk about it, and he explained that despite how it may seem, nearly every single 3D Sonic game has been following the exact same 'canon' since Adventure, excluding the obvious veer-offs, like Sonic 06 and Boom. (Literally the most broken 3D games in the entire series.) So there's clearly a stigma against going out there and trying something wild and unconnected to the past from the dinosaurs over at Sega.

When I saw the title 'Sonic Origins', my mind immediately raced to the ancillary Sonic media that tried to add enough depth and character to the Sonic world for words like 'origin' to have any actual value. And so of course, my tortuous, self-sabotaging, mind flashed at 'Sonic Underground' for a brief damnable second (Miracle, why must you remind me of Sonia and Manic on a daily basis? What have I done to deserve this cruellest of penance?) and then to the SATAM tv show. It was a couple seconds of racing thought, but before sobriety struck me around the back of the head with a half-empty glass, I genuinely believed that SATAM's actual, genuine fully-fledged alternate Sonic setting, was finally getting it's video game debut. How utterly and embarrassingly stupid of me.

SATAM (Short for 'Saturday Morning Cartoon', in reference to when the series was slotted for in the day) proposed a functioning and comprehendible Sonic world that consisted of more than just malformed grass loops courses and floating platforms. This was the world of Mobius, and it had swathes of various anthropomorphic garden-animal residents, a least one sprawling and rugged industrial metropolis, an apparently functioning system of government (a Monarchy), and a genuine tyrannical threat in the most dastardly iteration of Eggman we've ever seen: black-sclera Robotnik, as I like to call him. This is the universe that proved fruitful enough to be adopted by the comics and rode for over a decade before it was all rebooted, and then the comic series itself was eventually rebooted. (You know what comics are like; confusing.) Yet has Sega ever taken advantage of this entire pre-made world lying on their doorstep to make a game with it? They considered it for a spell, but ultimately no. They never took the plunge.

Instead of getting our fictional tyrannical robot Sonic dystopia, we have to deal with the real life sonic dystopia of trying to parse another moronic 'content editions table', because yes: Sonic Origins already has one of those mind bending plans to try and flog some stupid plan to us. Looking at the chart we can see that there really are only two actual editions of the game here, Standard and Deluxe, but a plethora of DLC and Pre-order bonuses that share and contrast items here and there, just enough to make you want to throw the whole thing in the trash and just slap on the inexpensive, normal, copies of the games that most fans have already bought twice over. You've got the 'Start Dash pack', only available by pre-order, which comes with 100 bonus coins (I don't even know what a 'coin' is in a game where you collect 'rings') a Mirror mode and a letterbox background- that's literally it. The 'Premium fun' also has that background, a Hard mode, (ooh) Character animations and camera movement in the main menu as well as on 'music islands'! (whatever that is.) And the deluxe version comes with everything in the premium pack, except for the letterbox backgrounds, but with the additional tracks from other SEGA Megadrive titles that standard version buyers can pick up through the Classic music pack.

I've seen a lot of bad content charts before, but this one is absolutely abysmal. Let's be totally honest with ourselves, the only 'content' on this chart worthy of an entry are the Hard missions and the music pack, to snatch the rest of this stuff out of the game and sell it at a mark-up is frankly embarrassing. You expect me to go out and buy animations for characters in the background of the main menu? Are you high SEGA? A mirror mode? Which simply flips a stage on it's head? That's worth an extra DLC to you? HOW ABOUT A LETTERBOX MODE? " An aspect ratio change? Cough up the dough!" Typically you see other companies attach crappy DLC chunks like a skin here or there, or maybe even a tiny mission pack. Sega went around and pulled crap from the options menu to try and flog it on the side for a bonus, how utterly pathetic of them.

I'm usually the kind who just sits back, tuts his head, and says; "what's done is done, this is a buncha crap: but what'are'ya gonna do?" I have a different feeling with this one. This is insulting to the fanbase, this whole chart needs to be ripped up. Alternate menu animations and differing aspect ratios are fun additions to the core package, not substantial chunks of extra content to be sold for a premium; SEGA must think we're idiots to even consider a DLC strategy like this. What's next- are we getting a DLC pack to unlock Level Select? How about Debug mode? How much is it going to cost us to play as character's outside the base game they were included in? "Knuckles in Sonic 2? That'll be a cheeky fiver!" So let me just say kudos to SEGA for getting my high-flying hopes up with this announcement, crushing them with reality, and then utterly failing to meet my re-adjusted minimal expectations. Truly you are masters in the sacred art of disappointment.

Shadow the Hedgehog: The Original 'OC'

 Don't steal

With the news that Jason Mamoa is in the scopes to play Shadow the Hedgehog for the, already-on-the-slate, Sonic The Hedgehog 3 movie, I've been thinking about the role our ultimate lifeform plays within the Sonic canon. We can assume that the movie makers are looking to smoothly transition into adapting the 3D universe games and so it's only a matter of time before they run out of material and we start seeing freakin' 'Mephiles the Dark' up in this franchise, so let's savour the characters very tip of the decent before this franchise fully tumbles off the cliff and into the abyss. But then, saying that; is Shadow really the brink, or is he the first slip off into the deep end? Because when you stop and think about it, I mean really analyse his role and personality, then Shadow really is just the single biggest recurring fan made OC, (or Original Character) who somehow finagled his way into becoming an established series veteran. 

When it comes to fan fiction, there's a stigma around the concept of OC's, or fresh characters who are slotted into existing franchises with new stories, because most observers instinctually see these personalities as poorly conceived self-inserts. And a lot more times than not, that is exactly what they are. Pixie-dream characters with no real personality, weight within the fiction of the world or decently carved place within the heart of the story they've been shoved into, usually made by children, and typically containing about as much creativity as is required to select the 'paint bucket' tool in photoshop and recolour Shadow to be green. (Yes, I know there's a green Sonic in the Archie Comics. This franchise is notorious for blurring the line between canonicity and OC content.) OC's are typically overpowered, effortlessly cool, (although 'cool' in the way that a 10 year old boy would describe use that word) sometimes break the thematic boundaries of the rest of the narrative world with their ill-fitting presence, and if we're really lucky; they're full of angst. Now with that description of what the worst of OCs can be, let's take a look at Shadow the Hedgehog.

Introduced in 'Sonic: Adventure 2', Shadow is the serious, brooding foil to Sonic's aloof irreverence. He is coated with pitch black fur, apart from an inexplicable blood-red stripe up his forehead. He just so happens to be able to run as fast as Sonic, the apparent fastest thing alive, thanks to rocket boots strapped to his feet. He has a tragic backstory involving cloning, being some sort of ultimate weapon, and seeing a young girl, his only friend, be shot dead in front of his eyes. He speaks in nothing but gruff, offish tones and rides the line between antihero and villain in a manner vaguely similar to Knuckles the Echidna's first debut. And though this might not tie into his debut, I feel it's far too important to who Shadow is as a character not to bring up that he eventually had his own spin off game where he was not only the first character to swear in this franchise (at least in the games, I don't know what sort of sick stuff they were up to in those Archie comics) with liberal use of the 'outrageous profanity': "Damn!"; but he also made gratuitous use of, to the point he's even depicted with them on the front cover, guns. Real ballistic lead throwers. Shadow the Hedgehog just shoots people. Straight up. Do you feel the edge yet?

There's a pattern whenever it comes to properties that linger just a little past their freshness, where some new creative slides into the ideas room to try and revitalise the flagging fiction with extremes either in new story scenarios, major character events, or just reshuffles of characters we thought we knew. Then there come along ever more 'ambitious' ideas people who endeavour to mix all three together so as to create a character who exists to be 'extreme'. And whilst sometimes, amazingly, that works wonders and excites the source material once more, at other times it can feel shallow and formulaic. As though you've just personified the very concept of a being that is 'cool' in hopes that your audience will resonate with that, rather than create a living, breathing, 3 dimensional character who has likable traits to them, but believable flaws and weaknesses too. Think 'Carnage' from the Spiderman Comics, made to be Venom but stronger, more violent and all around better; at first it really worked to make an interesting foe that fans wanted to see more frequently, but then as the creators started to realise that their shallow creation didn't really have much in the way of 'depth' about him, they had to start making changes to either flesh him out into being a character or double down on the 'edgy cool' factor. Which is what has led one of the most recent iterations of Carnage being, hold on while I check Google... a super powerful Symbiote god-being with metal wings and devil horns (like a bloody death metal album cover) called Dark Carnage. Dark Carnage? What, did the 'big book of edge' run out of slick bad-guy adjectives so you had to revert to basics?

I don't think Shadow has ever fallen to those extremes in any of his iterations, but god knows it isn't for lack of trying. A lot what defines this character is the same sort of insubstantial inner conflict that would make, and I'm sorry to make this comparison yet again, an adolescent nod their head for the truthful powerful mirror of their own personal struggles. You see, Shadow is the perpetual victim of being misunderstood, just like every youth of the 2000's thought they were, and though he's originally presented as the antagonist because being the bad guy is cool, it isn't long before he's switching around with the whole 'enemy of my enemy' logic back to the tentative side of the franchise heroes. But here's where the 'insubstantial' part of his writing shines, because Shadow never even properly flirted with being bad again. Despite his attitude, despite his lone-wolf demeanour in a series that came to support togetherness as it went on, and despite literally carrying around a gun and shooting people, presumably dead, in his own spin-off; Shadow has forever been the 'dark hero' in the franchise, which makes his whole presentation seems like a front.

And all of this, the angst, the basic recolour design, the, later controversial, use of firearms unlike any other character in the whole series, line up perfectly with the designs of a fandom character. Which is why it makes so much sense that Shadow the Hedgehog actually was created by- no I'm kidding, he was made by Takashi Iizuka, a real adult who worked on the franchise. But that model for creating series addendum characters would be whole heartedly gobbled up by the Sonic fandom community to fuel the birth of endless recoloured 'OC' creations that have gone on to be one of the most prevailing legacies of Sonic fandom. Something as simple as palette switching and turning all the personality switches to one-note really resonated enough to break free of Sonic fandom as well, and spread into internet fandom the world over. I think we can safely say that without the influence of Shadow's legacy, we wouldn't have ever had such iconic characters as: Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way. And then where would we be as a society?

Since Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow has been a near inexorable addendum to the Sonic lineup, bought back into the franchise time and time again despite, you know, literally dying at the end of his debut game. He showed up in Sonic Heroes, that aforementioned spin-off game where he used guns (and which remains the only Sonic game in the franchise with branching narrative missions dependant on arbitrary good-or-evil choices made by the player. Does that make it more of an RPG than Cyberpunk? Maybe.) Sonic 06, Sonic Battle, (a fighting game) Sonic Riders, Sonic Rivals 1 & 2, Sonic Forces and so many other games and even some TV shows inbetween, each time being his same surface-level surly self. Enough to make his personality 'iconic' and thus feasibly untouchable. Meaning Shadow is not only the first and most influential 'OC don't steal', he's also destined to be the longest lasting, as to even dare of fleshing him out in any way is to face the unrelenting bullying-might of the Sonic community. And the Sonic the Hedgehog movie creators will tell you from personal experiences how good the Sonic Community is at bullying. (It did work out in the end, though.)

Which brings us back around to Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and what exactly will be done with Jason Mamoa's Shadow the Hedgehog. (presuming he says 'yes' to the role.) I think that in current year it's impossible to completely recreate a character who is presented and acts exactly like Shadow does without facing considerable, justified, mockery. And the Sonic movie has already demonstrated that this version of the property isn't taking itself nearly as seriously as the 3d era Sonic games were known to get, so perhaps we may be looking at the first iteration of a Shadow with some actual charm to him. Because Mamoa is dripping with charm, you'd be wasting a casting otherwise. Could this mean a new dawn for this shell of a character to finally become more than the prototypical OC he has served as for over 20 years now? We may only speculate.

Sonic Frontiers

"What you see is what you get- just a guy who loves adventure!"

I don't think there has been a single moment in my life where I've degraded myself to such a point whereas I would self identify as a 'Sonic connoisseur'. (The very prospect sickens me to my core.) But I have certainly had the time and wherewithal to play through the vast majority of Sonic games in existence, and complete most of them, and through osmosis have learnt everything there is to know about all the other games in the series, so I've ended up with more series knowledge about the little blue cretin than I care to admit. Ask me to name the most obscure Mario title I can think of from the top of my head and I'll juggle about the sports-themed titles trying to pick which is the weirdest, (I guess the Football game 'Strikers' was pretty out there) my point is I won't pick a good one. Ask me about Sonic and I'll just be spoiled for choice, maybe you want to go back to the woefully misjudged perspective swap of Sonic 3D blast, or the spin-off reskin of Doctor Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, or perhaps I should delve the true realms of antique horror in order to rouse the spirits of that most eldritch of cosmic horrors: Sonic Eraser.

With all that history, all those branches, it seems insane to me, nah- unbelievable to me, that the Sonic series could be the verge of doing something new. It's been Thirty years, and those years haven't been spent remaking the same base product like Pokemon have done, what could possibly be left to try out? Well, actually quite a few avenues. For one, despite having a prototype in the works at some point, Sally Acorn never made her videogame debut alongside the Sat AM world, there's yet to be an XCOM style strategy role-based sonic game (Although Chronicles was an RPG, so that counts) and there has never once been a fully openworld Sonic ga- no they couldn't. After all this time, surely it's too late. And yet here I am, getting actually excited for a Sonic game despite myself, which means they could only be doing one thing. Open world Sonic after all this time.

It seems like a no-brainer, does it not? Sonic, with all of his speed and manoeuvrability, is always struggling each entry to let the extent of his speed be known. And it's pretty important that speed is present in the games he appears in, because that's kind of his whole shtick. That, eating Chili dogs and going toe-to-toe with Ash Ketchum in competition for who can stay a teenager for the longest. (It's a close contest!) Sonic 4 famously messed up the speed equation and made Sonic feel like a weightless, momentum-free dash meter, the aforementioned Sonic 3D Blast failed to represent any of Sonic's speed whatsoever and the Boom series constrained Sonic's speedy exploits to tiny running sections and made him a boring platformer bot for the rest of the gameplay. Even Sonic Forces has me a little suspicious of it just because of the fact that fan OCs are apparently capable of keeping pace with the Blue Blur. What's that about, huh? Fastest thing alive, matched by a self insert? No thanks.

All the time it's felt like the constraints of the game design has been holding him back. When we got the chance to go all out in the originals, Mania or the speed sections from the 3D era, you felt like the proper Sonic, and when you had to tune things down in order to fit some strange restraint with your group of animal dunces, or stomp around for a stage as a 'Werehog' (Were means Man!) something felt off about the situation. The obvious solution would be either to make a game purely about those speed sections, but that would get old fast, or rethink how we approached Sonic games altogether so that the control of the navigation is handed over to the player. And what genre of games epitomises player choice navigation and exploration like an open world does?

The Game Awards trailer for this bold new hedgehog direction was certainly evocative to say the least. Building from that teaser released a few months previously, I'll be honest in saying I wasn't expecting anything at all. In fact, judging from the coloured flashing geometric shapes that flashed briefly, I though this was a trailer for Sonic Colours Ultimate: but thank god I was about as off base as I feasibly could have been. Instead what we got was a sweeping and ponderous trailer, focusing on rolling green hills and angelic emerald expanses. A quiet restful score also diverged widely from the increasingly outdated poprock-bait soundtracks that Sonic had been embracing in recent years. (Crowned, of course, by a character theme so nakedly 2000's that it's the first result on Youtube if you type in 'Edgiest Song ever'.) But what exactly was the trailer evoking? Breath of the Wild. It was obvious, they practically copied that trailer's storyboard beats, only they lacked the bit when the music goes still and then releases into a swelling orchestral suite that never fails to swoon the heart. (Maybe they'll save that for the gameplay trailer.)

Unfortunately we're sitting in that stage where what we can definitively say about the game and what it will contain is decidedly limited, SEGA want to keep this as close to the chest as possible and haven't even come out to officially call the game open world. (The marketing does use the functionally meaningless phrase 'Open zone' however, so we can call that proof enough.) All we can be certain about is that the game will take place over a set of landmasses called the Starfall Island, which I guess forms the set-up for biome segmentation typically expected from 'zones' in our Sonic games. Also, we know that this will herald a return of the 'entire' Sonic voice cast, not too long after they were all apparently recast for some Sonic TV show or something. Or rather, we know that Sonic, Tails and Amy are back but come on... you can't have a game with Amy in it and just not include Knuckles, that'd be silly.

As for what we want from the game- well that's not much... we just want a world with comparable depth and scale to Hyrule. Okay, that's likely not possible, but given that SEGA is at least looking that way for inspiration we can least hold hope that they're taking this seriously. And why wouldn't they, this is a big step for the world of Sonic that is no doubt going to turn all heads, even those who wrote off the franchise years ago are folding their arms, leaning back and saying "Okay, lets see what you got!" I want to see challenge areas, I want to see natural hubs, I want to see character based side quests, I want exploration zones that reward- what I don't want to see is a single lesson of open world design that has been pioneered by Ubisoft in the past 10 years- god, no maps full of meaningless icons next to checklists. (Be better than all that, SEGA!)

Of course, all this influx of hope in the Sonic fandom does conveniently slide in to wash away the bitter disappointment of SEGA breaking up with Sonic Mania's creators. (At least it does for everyone else, clearly not so much for me.) I just think it's kind of grim to discard creators who did so much for you that they built up the plot device of your big 3D game in their big 2D game, do you know how long it had been since any Sonic title had connecting story elements, they did you a damn service! I suppose Frontiers means an official end to the kind of 'have your cake and eat it' era of 2D and 3D Sonic crossing over, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, I just wish it didn't have to come with the axing of 2D Sonic in his entirety. Seeing as we have until December next year for this game to be inevitably delayed, I suppose we can expect to hear more at E3. (If it doesn't show up at E3, just scrub the game from your calendar because it will not make it out in 2022.)

Sonic Mania 2 secretly cancelled?

A Funeral before the baby shower 

Sonic the Hedgehog is as classic as it gets when we're talking about video game mascots and discounting the racially stereotypical ones. He's the blue fuzz with attitude, the rad speed freak of the animal kingdom, the sapphire shaded cataract haunting Doctor Robotnik's eye, and he has to be one of Sega's best achievements. And that's saying quite a lot for a gaming company as proud and renowned as Sega, but Sonic is just that big and successful, the praise is justified. Even though I think the gaming public has a very pointed selective memory when it comes to remembering Sonic's contribution to the gaming space. It seems that ever since the well documented disaster that was Sonic 2006, fans have tried to consistently rewrite history in saying that every single Sonic game after 3 was bad and crap and no one ever liked them. Yeah, that's why Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 were are classics, I guess...

But throughout all the good games that poor memories have turned bad (Adventure 1 and 2, Heroes) the middle of the road games that people seem genuinely unsure about (Unleashed, Colours, Black Knight) that one game which no one dares call bad, but people seem to wantonly ignore when trashing the later Sonic franchise (Generations) and then the undeniable bad: (Forces, Boom, Riders) the fanbase has stood ready and hungry to receive it all. For such a whiny bunch they sure do shut up and eat their medicine whenever Sega shoves it in their face, don't they? If only there was some sort of consensus on what the majority of fans wanted there would be some sort of clear path for the Sonic series to follow. If only there was one undeniably stellar entry which stood out as a gold standard you'd have to be completely oblivious not to modelled yourself after. If only this game was so important to the fanbase that it literally spawned from the dedication of one of their best, proving that this was something the fans want. Oh wait, that game absolutely does exist. It's called Sonic Mania.

One of the loudest cries that the Sonic Team repeatedly received was that the fans want the series to go 'back to it's routes' and tackle the 2D realm considering the 3D stuff never worked out for them. (Literally the most famous images of Sonic today are derived from his 3D self, but sure- let's pretend 3D Sonic never had a good game.) Only ring-a-ding, there goes my 'same old crap' alarm, because the second fans got exactly what they wanted with the incredibly uneven and far too familiar Sonic 4, they complained so hard that episodic adventure was never even finished. (Part of the problem might have been the fact that it was episodic) Sonic Mania was the game which really managed to execute on that plan to it's fullest, and not in the half-hearted 'making concessions' way that Sonic Generations did. This was a fully new and shiny Sonic game reusing that beloved cast and sending fans on a delightful love letter to the furry blue fandom.

I've never been a mouth-foaming rabid fan of the Sonic games, truth be told, but even with that disconnect from others I have to say that I absolutely loved Sonic Mania. It's classic retro heart beating in a slick modern side scroller that did it's best to pay tribute to as many niche corners of the Sonic world as humanely possible is simply sublime in it's execution. It's a game born from so many influences and wears each one of them with pride and impossible grace. (They managed to rope in a tasteful reference to Eggman's Mean Bean machine, for god's sake!) The music slides neatly alongside the unassailably high standard of the originals, the new levels and remixes of old ones carried surprises and mechanics to keep things fresh for new and old players, and the presentation touches are incredible. Top marks for those level transitions alone.

And I'm far from alone in my opinion. A lot of those same fair-weather Sonic fans who keep a foam-hand stitched to the back of their picket boards simply fell over themselves to sing their unchallenged praises of Sonic Mania, as being the true successor to the Sonic throne. (And, of course, this time that wouldn't be a title they immediately snatch away when it becomes popular to berate Sonic again, like they did for Generations.) Parties were held, wars were halted, aliens beamed down in jubilation, all was right with the world once Sonic Mania touched it. And the game got such fanfare that the creators, who crucially weren't just Sega's Official team but a supergroup spotted with talented fan creators too, were allowed to make a special director's cut version of the game which reintroduced two mythical lost characters from the franchise and threw in a whole new mode to play the main campaign with as well, just as a final flex.

All and all the message from the response should have been clear to anyone watching, Sega most of all, but apparently not because speculation abounds that the reason we've heard neither hide nor hair of a sequel is because such a proposition was strangled out back before we could ever see it. Apparently this comes because of the Studio now called Evening Star has broken up with Sega. Now Evening Star Studio might side like a newspaper at first glance, but when I tell you that Christian Whitehead is involved that should mean a lot to Sonic fans. Mr Whitehead is the man who's name is irrevocably tied to the intro screens of the definitive original Sonic trilogy remakes on Mobile, which do their job so well that many don't even realise those games are actual total remakes and just think they're ports. (They are exceptionally well done, which only goes to foreshadow his later work on Sonic Mania)

News on exactly what this conflict was sparked over is unspecific, as is the case with any sore break-up I would imagine, but an insider has claimed that the issues were on Sega America's side as they grew 'extremely unreasonable', whatever that means. But whilst that remains up-in-the-air on it's legitimacy, we can say for a fact that Sonic Mania 2 is almost definitely not in direct development at this moment given that Evening Star just announced their work on an 'original 3d platformer', and it's not really feasible for small new studios to be working on two projects at once. All of which means the dawning new hope for the Sonic series may be upfront laying dead in the water after it's first new outing, dooming us all to another 20 years of games that fans initially like then decide they hate when it get's cloudy outside.

If there is any truth to Sega straining relationships until they snap, then I have to say that Sega have well and truly screwed themselves with this one. I can sort of understand why they would too, long standing once-console wielding studio with ties back to strict corporate Japanese culture exercising their control over their property; it fits their MO. But when we're talking about a series as fragile as Sonic, with one entry that scored universal acclaim from the work of dedicated fans, maybe it would have behoved Sega to give some slack to their tight rope around their franchise for Evening Star to work their magic once again. Or maybe this is really Evening Star's fault and they just watonly blew a great gig with a storied publisher. Who can really say at such a stage? All that's seemingly for certain is that Sonic Mania is about to become a one off, and that's a bag-pipe serenading 100-gun-salute level tragedy right there. (We'll never get our modern send-up to the Sonic Eraser soundtrack now...)

Sonic Colours Ultimate: and others

Sega's Copyright law will absolutely stop me.

The world of Sonic has been making significant moves of late, most of which are behind the scenes instead of the in-your-face brashness we usually expect from our favourite anthropomorphic garden rodent. On one hand we have the abrupt firing of everyone who has been part of the Sonic voice cast for the past 10 years (Except Eggman. Guess he finally won his little Sonic rivalry) all in anticipation of some mysterious upcoming TV show called 'Sonic Prime'. And now this week, on the other end, we've got ourselves a brand new Sonic video game getting teased to us through way of awfully vague teaser that is so light on details that I actually misunderstood it. And if that's not enough, a remaster was even announced for later this year because apparently Sega's feeling a bit down about not getting on the Remaster train as hard as they wanted to. (Completely remaking Yakuza 1 and 2 and remastering 3-5 wasn't enough for you guys? 'Kay.) Some older fans may kick and complain about how the Sonic series is played out and the series doesn't mean anything anymore, but clearly no one told Sega because they're just drowning in Sonic content right now!

First there's that teaser trailer; what an absolute bag of nothing that was to go on. It's just a 3d render of Sonic running through a forest before he gets zapped into nowhere land. For that we can at least deduce that Sonic is not going to be conducting his next adventure inside of his normal world, but that means literally nothing right now. The extra splash text in the trailer did little to clear anything up either, merely hyping off the fact that this game will be made by Sonic Team, "the people behind Sonic Generations and Sonic Forces.2 Oh well that narrows it down. I mean, they also made Sonic 1-4, the Adventure Games, The Advance series, 06, Boom and literally every official Sonic game ever made; but at least I know they're on this game now. Here I thought Sega were going to completely shirk all copyright law and give the development to some rando on the street they just happened to pass.

All we have to go on is that date of this mysterious new product, which has been given to be 2022. In my opinion that's close enough for a proper reveal, but I'm not the one who makes the marketing decisions round here now am I? On a more real note, the reveal did let us come to the conclusion that this will likely be another 3D outing for Sonic, so at least we shouldn't be hyped for a Sonic Mania sequel, if that's ever going to hit the pipeline like I desperately need it to. (Please god, where is my Sonic 2d goodness?) Also, with the specific titles they chose to evoke in this trailer, Generations and Forces, we might as well confirm that this is going to be a continuation of that storyline of games; where 2d and 3d Sonic team up for mostly 3d adventures. But that's not all, because rumor has a actual name floating around with this unrevealed project in 'Sonic Ranger'. (Though bear in mind that might just be a development name and would be entirely subject to change if it were.) But if it does end up being called 'Ranger', then I suppose we can expect an entire game of Sonic's struggles against that new powerful Sonic antagonist: Yogi Bear.

Yet as I sat there I only had one thought running through my head: How could the Sega marketing department muddy the waters further in order to ensure no one knows what's coming out for what in the near future? That is their job, isn't it? To make things confusing? That must be the case considering how it wasn't that long at all after this teaser that a full trailer dropped for 'Sonic Colours Ultimate', a remaster, not a sequel, to the 3d Sonic game that made the world go, "Huh, that's a game I guess", Sonic Colours. Idiot that I am, I simply assumed this to be the teased game on account of how this announcement literally followed the teaser, and featured an identical looking Sonic model, and how both seemed to feature similar particle effects. But then a third party helpfully pointed out how Sonic Colours was due for a 2021 release, and so this new 'Rangers' project seemingly has to be something distinct. Maybe. Good lord someone fix this trailer release schedule, it's infuriating!

Whatsmore, this whole debacle pulled me away from the sheer absurdity of the Sonic Remaster choice heading for 'Sonic Colours'. (Which maybe was the point) Apparent confirmations have assured us that there is absolutely a small remaster of the classic games coming soon, so we aren't being completely blindsided in favour of Colours, but that still doesn't justify why the team chose to remaster this of all the 3d Sonic titles out there. If we're talking classic 3D titles that could do with a little fresh coat of paint, then maybe we could focus on the Sonic Adventure series with it's beloved levels and music, as well as the Chao minigame which people devoted hours to. Instead we get Colours, a game who's greatest achievement is being a 3D Sonic game that isn't 06. I'm not saying that Colours is a bad game, it's just heavily forgettable. They could have remaster Lost Worlds and the reaction would be the same, no one was crying for a Colours remaster.

But at the very least this Colours remaster has resulted in one of the most unexpected heel turns I could have ever imagined. Hardly a few months after the iconic voice of Sonic, Roger Craig Smith, was ousted from the role of Sonic, he's been bought back in to voice Sonic for a limited special based on Colours. Now I still don't know what sort of holy task Colours pulled off to be worthy of a small animated video series, but at last it means RCS gets to come back to the role he set the benchmark for. I can't imagine why he was kicked out in the first place, what is this upcoming Sonic Prime series going to even shape up being without that classic wisecracker's voice to give it all oomph and meaning? (and to say "There's no Copyright law in the universe that can stop me.") Them's big shoes that Mr Smith is going to leave for someone to fill, and I think I'm not the only fan who's going to both enjoy and feel bittersweet about this which could very well be his last performance in the Sonic role.

All of these ancillary projects, of course, leave a big question mark over what exactly Sonic's next adventure could be and why it's apparently not enough to dedicate all resources to so they have to bolster fans with a remaster, an animated special, a classic collection and a TV show alongside it. Maybe I've overthinking things and these are just a bunch of separate projects that just all happened to line up next to each other, but if that's the case this sounds like bad brand management to me. I think that Sega have heard the reactions to Sonic Forces and no longer have the confidence in the main team to pull of a big release with the full weight of the Sonic departments behind them, so know we're looking at just a wall of Sonic stuff hitting us that a game can ride the back of, whether it's mediocre or not. Fans took issue with Forces, but if they have everything they could have ever wanted to shut them up alongside this new game, can they really complain even half as much this time around? (As long as we see a return to the horrible Sonic OC's in the next game, I'm happy.)

Sega have always had a hand on how to sell Sonic to the masses no matter where the public perception of the franchise is, so even when I don't understand what they're doing I'm still pretty sure they're on the right track. Sonic Ranger could have done with a more representative trailer so that I actually have something to be excited for, all they've really told us visually so far is that the game won't be in the environment that we've been shown, which leaves just about anything else you could possibly imagine as an alternative. But maybe that's all part of the plan, leave fans guessing and dreaming, I don't know. But if there's one thing I do know it's this; Sonic Colours is not a classic Sonic title which needed renewed attention and no amount of nostalgia-bait trailers will convince me otherwise; Sonic Colours Ultimate indeed...