Defense of Modern Sonic, Sega, and Sonic Team

A while back, when looking for Sonic art, I came across a now popular piece of Classic-Sonic fanart. The picture itself was very well done. The glow looked realistic, and the colors on Sonic, Tails, and the environment really matched the bright yellow glow of the sunlight. As someone who has played the Sonic games since late-1991 to early-1992, Classic Sonic brings back memories and nostalgia when Sonic was at its peak in popularity.

Unfortunately, that pic is not in my favorites and very likely will never be placed there. The sole reason is the rant in the Artist's Comments section, which, to me, features nothing more than pointless bashing of Modern Sonic, Sega, and Sonic Team. Bashing that I felt REALLY spoiled the beauty of the pic.

Sadly, I continue to see all this bashing, disrespect, and nitpicking of (many) Modern Sonic games and ideas. It's not just here on DeviantArt, but in other sites like Fanfiction.net, YouTube, fan-forums, et cetera, and I've decided that enough was enough.

And this is where I'll start my defense for 3D Sonic, Sega, Sonic Team, while rebuking statements and ranting simultaneously.

I'll admit, I'm a fan of 2D Sonic due to nostalgia. When I was a kid, Classic Sonic was what I played a lot. Sonic 1, Sonic 2, the Game Gear titles (especially Sonic Chaos and Triple Trouble), Knuckles' Chaotix, and so on. I did like Sonic 3 & Knuckles as a kid, but only Knuckles's gameplay; I didn't complete the Tails and Sonic gameplays until 2000. In fact, it was that dumb barrel in Carnival Night, Act 2 in Sonic's and Tails's gameplays that made me HATE this game at one point, and to this day, I see S3&K as the most overrated Sonic game. Suffice it to say, I still enjoyed most of the other Classic Sonic games, and they were a lot of fun to play.

But I'm a fan of the 3D Sonic games, too, and I like 3D Sonic more. Why is that? It's one simple reason -- the characters. It's Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Eggman -- all the classic characters. But it's not just them. It's the new characters, too: Blaze, Shadow, Omega, Silver, the other humans, and one-time characters such as Elise and Chip. All the characters here make the Sonic universe exactly what it is: a universe.

And, now, I'll begin rebuking statements, starting with this here-and-there nitpick about Sonic and his friends now living with humans with humans. In the video game canon, we don't know where Sonic truly lives, and canon shows that he doesn't have a house. Pay close attention to the cutscenes, and you will notice that when he naps, he is always in different places, which is more or less into character of him in terms of the game-verse. Station Square is merely a metropolis that not only is greatly inspired by New York City (but that's another entry), but is also a random setting that played an important role in two games. In fact, other than Amy or (maybe) Rouge, no character lives in modern cities. Not Sonic, not Tails, no one. It's highly possible Eggman doesn't live in one, either.

There's criticism of how Sega changed the way the Sonic series now tells its stories, particularly how Eggman's robots no longer contain little animals. I've heard this from many, especially the artist of that fanart I mentioned in the beginning, go as far as claim that Sega ruined what make the [Classic] story "work." What do I say about this? Well, I think Sega actually improved the ability to tell a story, and the reasoning behind this IS the transformation of Sonic becoming 3D.

Here's what I mean, and I'll back this up with the transition from 2D to 3D.

Many of the 2D platforming games (such as the Mario and Sonic series) felt and looked very linear; the player's usual goal was to complete an act by traveling from the start to the finish line and repeat this process, and that's in the majority of the games. Then, the technology evolved, and 3D gameplay was introduced.

For Classic Sonic, the usual story was very simple. Robotnik/Eggman wanted to conquer Earth and decided to kidnap the little animals to help function his robots. Sonic and his friends went ahead and defeated him and freed the animals. But from my experience in playing and watching 2D/Classic games (Sonic and Mario including), the majority had one thing in common.

The storytelling was very mediocre.

For example, for Mario 1, the player played in "linear" platforming format until reaching the castle for the first "world" (and the process continued throughout). It was not until the first boss was defeated when he (the player) found out what the plot was about, which was Princess Toadstool was kidnapped by Bowser, and the player had to rescue her. Although the transition between stages improved tremendously, Mario 3 suffered the same problem in storytelling, too, because it wasn't until after beating the final boss in World One when the player found out what the game's plot was.

Sonic 1's plot was simple, and the player would likely know what the plot was about after beating the first or second boss. The story for Sonic 2 was the same...until the Sky Chase Zone where hints of the Death Egg twist were revealed. Even there, we never really find out what the plot truly is until we reach the end of the Wing Fortress Zone. And even then, we as fans have absolutely no idea why Robotnik would want to create a Death Egg. Yes, the Death Egg might've been the weapon Robotnik needed to destroy Sonic, and that the Chaos Emeralds were needed to power it up, but we never truly know why it was used. It's highly possible that its only purpose is to give Eggman/Robotnik a base to prepare his robots to invade Earth, and that's all.

The same goes for Sonic 3 & Knuckles (not Sonic 3 or Sonic & Knuckles). Until we look at the manuals for Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles, we don't know why Sonic and Tails visited Angel Island. For all we could've known, they may have decided to go on a vacation or explore Earth. In fact, if the player didn't look at the manuals at all, he might have absolutely no clue that Eggman and Knuckles were working together! In fact, he could easily assume that Knuckles was trying to trick Sonic and Tails into getting off the island and had no idea that Eggman was even there. And this is even with the improved transition from one zone to another. It wasn't until the Hidden Palace Zone where the pieces started to connect and we finally realize the game's plot, and we had no idea that the Death Egg had a part of the plot until the Sky Sanctuary Zone. Yet, even with the plotline finally revealed (sort of), we don't know why Eggman wanted the Master Emerald. Was it for powering up the Death Egg or that boss near the end of Death Egg Zone, Act 2? Theoretically, it could be both, because once the robot was destroyed, the Death Egg was, as well.

(Heck, if it wasn't for the intro in Sonic 3D Blast, we'd be confused as to why Robotnik wanted to capture the flickies or wonder why the flickies were important to the storyline.)

After Sonic & Knuckles was released, 3D games were on the rise, and with the introduction to better graphics, there is one more ability 3D games have over 2D: better storytelling.

With the newer technology, the cartridge eventually became obsolete for the more enhanced CD. Because of the newer technology in the newer consoles like Sega Saturn, Sony Playstation, and eventual consoles like Sega Dreamcast, Microsoft X-Box, Nintendo Gamecube, and so on, more memory could be included so the characters, settings, and action can tell the story instead of having the players scratch their heads and think, "Okay, what's the plot about and/or the purpose behind it, if there is/are any?" With 3D gameplay, the player can finally understand what the plot is through dialogue and more improved foreshadowing. This was a huge advantage in the 3D games, something 2D games seriously lacked.

And like the other 3D games (usually), Sega took advantage of this capability of telling a story better and and capitalized it in several ways. The little pieces of dialogue within the gameplay, although a tad annoying sometimes, help keep the plot going. The same goes for the cutscenes, either through voice acting, model movements/captions, comic-style dialogue such as in Sonic Chronicles, page-flipping format like in Sonic and the Secret Rings, or scroll-through messages/recaps like in SA, SA2, and ShtH (the "Shadow the Hedgheog" game). The cutscenes within the games have become very crucial in games today, because they tell the story and help transition the plot from Point A to Point B all to way to Point Zeta.

There's one more thing about cutscenes and dialogue that are very important, especially to people like myself. It's that cutscenes reveal -- and in many cases, enhance -- the characterization, and it's characters that make me follow the series more than anything else. The cutscenes keep the plot going at a usually smooth flow while giving characters depth simultaneously. In my opinion, this is one huge plus 3D/Modern Sonic has over 2D/Classic. In the Classic games, we could only guess what their personalities were and had to mostly rely on third-party material and vague, static official biographies for possible insight on their characterizations. Now with the three-dimensional gameplay and more memory usage, we finally know what their personalities are. The dialogue within the gameplay and cutscenes help us feel for the characters and understand their way of thinking and acting better. (The best example for this demonstration is Eggman: he's still the villain in the series, but he has much more character to make him well-rounded and human. According to a member on DeviantArt and the Sonic Stadium forum: Eggman's a character first and a villain second.) Plus, as the new main consoles (not handhelds) are designed strictly for 3D, without the aid of cutscenes and the characterization in them, the storyline can become very boring very quickly. And if the story is closely connected to the game like most of the 3D Sonic games, the game can become boring, too. (Ineffective storytelling [i.e., corny dialogue] was a big criticism of Sonic Heroes.)

And this is where Sonic REALLY stands out among some other popular children-friendly platformers and kid-friendly action franchises like Mario. Although some companies like Nintendo focus primarily on their gameplay and purposely keep the characterizations abstract and unimportant to the game so we can create several interpretations of them, storytelling and characterization are VERY important in Sonic games. Ever since Sonic Adventure's release, Sonic Team has made it very clear that, if intended, story and characterization were going to be just as important as the gameplay itself and will help influence the gameplay, too. In every main Sonic game since Adventure (and some spinoffs like the Storybook series), story, characterization, and gameplay coincide with each other intentionally, and all three elements influence each other throughout the games. So if story, character, or both feel disjointed somehow, then that's a very BAD thing, as they'll be subject to criticism, like Next Gen's story, which contained plot holes and resembled a bit like a soap opera to some.

Now, I constantly read, see, and hear about how speed built -- or "killed" -- the franchise. Alarmingly, there still are claims of Sega wanting us to believe that the franchise was built on speed. I have a question to ask those who believe this.

Since WHEN has speed "built the franchise"? Moreso, when the HECK did Sega want us to believe the series was built around speed?

As far as I know, I haven't heard or read one bit about how Sega directly wants us fans to believe that the franchise was built on speed. If the franchise was built primarily on speed, how come characters like Tails, Knuckles, Silver, and Rouge aren't speedy? Also, why was the formula for every character changed so no one's gameplay was identical from the other, especially in Sonic Next Gen? That claim makes no sense whatsoever. As far as I know and read, and this is from both many fans and Sega itself, "speed" is a key element that helped build Sonic, the character, NOT the franchise! And the reasoning for this is his name! Sonic stems from "supersonic," and according to his Classic and Modern bios, part of his character is that he can run as fast as the speed of sound and never stays in the same place twice. A lot of fans that I've bumped into didn't like the fact that Sonic ran "slowly" in Sonic Next-Gen because not only did it not match his character, in their opinion, but because they felt the series was devolving, also. To them, it was like playing a remake of Sonic Adventure, but with much more control problems, prettier graphics, extra glitches, very tedious loading times, and -- to some -- "lackluster scriptwriting" (read the quotes as "difficulty to translate and lip-sync the dialogue to English").

There are claims that the curling-into-the-ball techniques (i.e., the spindash) are really what the character Sonic truly is about. Well, in my opinion, his technique this is actually closely tied to his speed and character. If you don't spin fast enough, you're not going to be able to break through the wall, even though he has very sharp spikes. And that's in ALL the classic Sonic games. Don't spin quickly, you're stuck. It's that simple.

In addition, there's this comparison of Mario being as fast as Sonic gameplay-wise in the Classics. Comparing Mario's and Sonic's Classic gameplay is like comparing apples to oranges. Mario and Sonic have very contrasting styles of gameplay and platforming, even in the 2D days. Mario and Sonic each had their own abilities as well as "speed." When 3D gameplay was introduced, Mario and Sonic branched out and differed in gameplay and platforming even more. Now Mario is more about roaming, questing for Power Stars, and rescuing Princess Toadstool from Bowser; while Sonic is more about exploring the Sonic-verse, traveling from end to end through various paths, and defeating the bad guys for the good of everyone along the way.

Despite being very fast in some of today's games, Sonic is NOT a "racing game." In fact, Sonic has remained what it is to this day (even in the breezy-paced Daytime gameplay): a platform game. Today, many people recognize the success of the Sonic games is partially due to unique platforming. That's perhaps a reason why Sonic Team implemented psychokinesis platforming for Silver and combat platforming for the Werehog. The only difference is that Sonic travels at a much quicker -- and to many, more in-character -- pace now in the daytime stages in Unleashed.

While I agree that his speed is definitely a gimmick and marketing tool, it's also a key component of his personality, one that stems from the Classic days. The quick pace of Sonic (the character) gameplay in the Classic Games and Sonic's speed in the old 1990s cartoons (which were produced by third parties) are why many fans like Sonic to be fast. The games they play, cartoons they watch, and comics they read, and the usual want for Sonic -- the character -- to evolve are the reasons why many fans and critics wanted Sonic to be speedy nowadays, why they praised the Daytime gameplay in "Sonic Unleashed," and why they feel him being speedy in Unleashed and the Rush series reminds them of his glory days on the Genesis and Game Gear.

Do the 3D Sonic stages feel and look linear, especially the latter games? In a way, yes AND no. I'll exemplify this with Sonic Heroes, because, in my opinion, that game had a mix of linear and obstacle gameplay platforming, especially in The Final Fortress. Final Fortress had so many obstacles, it made the difficulty in the other levels look like child's play. The player had to think of a way to beat that enemy, or enemies, and advance to the next area. If you don't... *swishes across throat* There are also multiple pathways, WAY more than the other stages. One path is shorter than the other and will usually contain fewer enemies. But strategy is required to complete the levels and beat the enemies. Obstacles and/or other pathways exist in previous levels, too, such as Lost Jungle, Rail Canyon, and Ocean Palace, but there aren't as many.

Going off-topic somewhat, but the lack of linear stages appears in "Shadow the Hedgehog," too, examples being "The Doom," "The Ark," and "Mad Matrix." These Sonic-verse levels don't feel linear at all. When there are missions to complete, you have to go through multiple pathways just to find all these items and solve the puzzles. The goal in "The Ark" is right in the middle of the stage!

I can't mention much about Sonic Unleashed, because I haven't played the game yet. But based off what I've observed through fans and gameplay footage that I watched, the Sonic stages look much more linear than before...until Adabat and Eggmanland, of course, where there are more alternate paths and a really incredible spike in difficulty. Despite that, the Sonic gameplay in the past 3D games and this one still appear the same to me. Like the Classic 2D gameplay, there are still obstacles to overcome and a choice to go through which pathway you want. Like the Classics, the goal is still to reach the required destination. The pathways may feel and look a little more "linear," but the player must still overcome the obstacles and enemies that are in your way. Also, take the 3D layouts and either put them on its side or reconfigure them to where they may appear two-dimensionally mentally. The stages will look almost the same as the classics, but with merely an extra dimension.

As far as the personal gripes about Sonic Team and Sega including Adventure Fields/Hub Worlds are concerned, the reason why they were added in Sonic Adventure was to provide exploration, add depth/longevity to the games, and remove the complete stage-to-stage linearity from the Classics. This was also why Sega and Sonic Team brought them back in Next-Gen and Unleashed. The Adventure Fields help branch out the games, make the world of Sonic look and feel like a universe, and improve the transition between stages and/or boss battles.

Unlike what some of you say, I doubt speed is killing the franchise, but I'll explain that later.

There are complaints about how the loops aren't challenging anymore and that they feel "automated." I agree, the obstacles in the loops are gone. But Sonic Team makes that up in three ways:

1. By having enemies charge at the player the very second, or a couple of seconds, after he finishes looping.

2. By making the player encounter an obstacle after he finishes looping.

3. Having him fall (sometimes to his "death") if he stops running midway in a loop.

This is in about every 3D Sonic game out there.

Now I'll move on to the redesigned look for Sonic. I agree that Sonic's redesign makes him "more believable as a fast runner," but in reality, the believability factor could be one of the reasons. Others may -- or may not -- include:

1. Sonic Team wanted Sonic to remain interesting to the audience.

2. Classic Sonic did not fit into the more realistic environment in Sonic Adventure.

3. As a theory, the series was semi-restarted.

4. The fandom was growing older!

5. Sonic X-Treme was canceled due to development hell, hurting Sega's and Sonic's reputation as a result.

I'll first explain the believability factor. Although the Classic Sonic is cool and everything, his pudgy look didn't give the impression that Sonic could go fast at all. So, when Sonic was redesigned for Sonic Adventure and future titles, the artists wanted to create the impression that not only retained the Sonic-y look, but to visually believe that he's not just fast, but fifteen years old, as well. So, Sonic was redrawn with much longer quills, slimmer stomach, and longer (and stronger) legs. Before I hear this "Sonic is taller" riffraff, Sonic never grew taller to begin with. That's just your eyes tricking you. He has ALWAYS been just about 100 centimeters tall, even in Sonic Next-Gen; the "five-feet tall" rumor was completely false. And in no way does he look "anorexic" or "deformed." Actually, his redesign makes much more sense in terms of abilities and anatomy. With his slimmer stomach, it gives the impression that he can now run at a much quicker pace while not being bogged down by excess belly fat; and his long, strong legs improve his capability to boost. In the various drawings and very cocky smile he constantly sports, his design, anatomy, and way of thinking hint to the audience that he looks and acts much more like a teenager now.

Next is the audience factor. One thing I love about the gameplay in all the Sonic-related games is that Sega and Sonic Team constantly change, add, subtract, and improve it to make the game interesting to the audience. Sonic 1's gameplay was very simple. In Sonic 2, Sega and Sonic Team incorporated the spindash and a faster maximum speed. Knuckles's gameplay of gliding, climbing, and punching through walls was included, and Tails can now fly in Sonic 3 (& Knuckles). Extra ring tanks (5 Rings, 10 rings, 20 Rings, 40 Rings) were eventually added in the 3D games in Sonic's and his friends' gameplays. Emerald hunts in the Adventure games, Silver's psychokinesis in Next Gen, Chaos Spear, and the Boost -- you name it. Even the homing attack was included, and despite its "constant mandatory overuse," it really helped the player's ability to attack and defeat Sonic's and friends' enemies in the 3D gameplay. But if there's one thing in common in every Sonic game, it's that the gameplay is NEVER the same. There's always a difference in the gameplay, and this includes the current handheld games. Sonic Chronicles really differed in gameplay because it was Sonic's first role-playing game. The goal for altering the formula for every game is for the purpose of keeping the game, and series, interesting to the audience. Also, like the gameplay, the redesigning in the Sonic characters kept the series fresh to the audience...and it worked.

Now I'll talk about the realism factor. All the 3D Sonic games have one thing in common: there's realism, especially in environment, characters, and anatomy. The Sonic characters were proportioned to make them look more realistic; Eggman looks like an egg now once you look at it. But the humans look realistic, as well. Princess Elise, all the humans -- even Professor Pickle. In Next-Gen, Eggman looked more realistic and human-shaped, too. If the Classic designs of Sonic and his friends are incorporated into the realistic 3D Sonic-verse, they will look greatly out of place, because Sonic and his friends looked VERY cartoon-like. The Classic design would stick out like a sore thumb within the realistic gameplay style and environment in the 3D Sonic games. The redesigns matched with the realism incorporated in Sonic Adventure and the subsequent titles.

And here's my main theory: Sega took the whole series and half-retconned it. The reasons are the completely altered surroundings, refreshingly new gameplay, new character designs, and the introduction to characterization. More humans and anthropomorphic characters were included in the 3D Sonic games to make the setting look like an actual universe. Characterization was FINALLY added, giving the Sonic characters actual personalities and feeling, especially villains like Eggman. There were full-fledged settings to explore. And items were either altered or removed from the Classic canon; examples include the altar (the new home of the Master Emerald), the absence of the Super Emeralds and Hidden Palace, and changes in the Chaos Emeralds' colors (orange from S3&K is replaced with yellow).

Now, here's the theory that I feel is the most logical. The whole fandom got older. Classic Sonic represented those who were very young. I began playing Sonic in 1991 when I was only four. But as the years of Sonic went by, so did the fandom. The fans were becoming teenagers and adults, and Sega needed to redesign the characters to progress with the majority of the fanbase while retaining some of the classic styles. Now a lot of the Classic fans are in their late teens at least, even with more and more younger fans entering the fandom.

A fifth reason why I think the characters were redesigned was due to the failure of Sonic X-Treme. After the Sega Saturn was released, the Sega Technical Institute (STI, for short) decided to create a main series Sonic game specifically for the Saturn, called Sonic X-Treme (originally for the Genesis). It was scheduled to be released in the Halloween of 1996 to celebrate Sonic's fifth anniversary, and it was supposed to use two engines: a main game engine borrowed from past 16-bit games and a boss engine designed specifically for the game. Sega reviewed the game and didn't like the progress. Sega liked the boss engine work, but not the main game engine and requested the X-Treme developers to use the boss engine specifically for the whole game. Soon after, development hell ensued. The main workers, Chris Senn and Alon, were kicked off the X-Treme project by Sega, leaving designer Chris Coffin to be the only main worker developing the game (Alon and Senn, though, continued working on X-Treme secretly with Coffin). Coffin eventually wanted to borrow the mechanics and engine codes used for NiGHTS for the game. Yuji Naka, on the other hand, considered this to be plagiarism and copyright infringement and considered quitting Sega if Coffin utilized the engine and its code. This prompted Coffin to abandon the idea. Eventually, Senn and Alon left Sega, and many of STI's X-Treme developers -- and very likely many of the main developers of Sonic's main Genesis games, too -- followed suit. The project was delayed until Christmas of 1996 and then was delayed indefinitely. At one point, the development process became so bad that Coffin's health drastically deteriorated and subsequently suffered from pneumonia from working tirelessly to release the game on time. Finally, in 1997, Sonic X-Treme was canceled. The cancellation of X-Treme really took a hit into both Sonic's and Sega's reputation. For Sega, STI closed down and the Saturn became very unpopular in the U.S. As for Sonic, there was no main 3D Sonic game released until late-1998, and Sega had to rely on other franchises and third-party development for financial support. From what I hypothesize, Sega and Sonic Team reviewed the X-Treme catastrophe and thought it was necessary to start fresh in order to not only make Sonic popular again, but to show everyone that Sega thought it over and was not going to make this mistake again. So the characters, gameplay, and universe were redesigned and revised to follow this new goal and new direction. (Research from Wikipedia's "Sonic X-Treme" page)

(The issue of development hell might've occurred again, though, with the issues surrounding Next-Gen's development, but I'll write that for another essay.)

There has been criticism of Sonic's facial figure, including an exaggeration about how his features tell me Sonic belongs in a place for... How do I say this appropriately? Yeah..."mentally-handicapped people." Well...the reason the characters have mouths protrude from the side in most of the drawings and the models in the newer titles is for the series to retain that classic feel. The Sonic series has radically changed since Sonic Adventure's initial release in Japan on December 23, 1998, but features like the mouth on the side of the muzzle is to remind those of the past when the Sonic/Mario rivalry was at its highest.

Now I'm going to defend the music from the Modern Sonic games, which has been considered "bad" and "un-Sonic-y." To be honest, until I entered the fandom, I couldn't care less about how "Sonic-y" the music was. All I cared about was whether I liked the tune or not. And I liked the music altogether, even the so-called "bad" music in the later editions, Sonic and the Secret Rings and Chronicles included. Even today, I STILL don't care about whether the music fit the Sonic series or not. What I look for in the music are these:

1. Did the music fit the stage?

2. Did the music fit the theme of the game?

3. Did the music set up the mood of the stage, cutscene, or game?

4. Do(es) the music fit the character(s), if that's the musician's goal?

Have there been Sonic music that I don't like? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean the music is "bad." I think Sega, Sonic Team, and the other companies have matched the music with every level and/or character they've composed to a "T." Especially in games like Sonic Adventure 2, where the game involved one grand, epic storyline that included tons of character development and the inclusion of Shadow, who had an actual past for once! The deep, dark storyline is hinted in many ways, examples being:

1. The Sonic/Shadow rivalry.

2. Shadow and his anger towards G.U.N. and the humans.

3. The destruction of half of the moon.

4. The massive character growth.

The song "Escape from the City" was what I consider to be a very good song, because:

1. The theme was very catchy.

2. The lyrics were very in-character of Sonic and his motive for escaping G.U.N.

3. Most importantly, the lyrics, zone structure, and obstacles foreshadowed the plot of the entire game!

As for the lyrics, I reckon the reason most of the themes in SA2 had them was to give the music variety and to reflect the game's deep plot and character personalities. (Ex.: the rap/jazz combo for Knuckles to reflect his toughness and passion for protecting the Master Emerald.)

And even today, there's this audacity from "fans" that REALLY gets my goat. There's still a cry of "Sonic's dying," "Sonic is dead," and "Sonic is dead, and I won't stop saying it until people finally get it." I constantly hear, read, and see that "Sonic is dead" GARBAGE from 2D purists, pessimists, nostalgia fanatics, and "critics" alike. And this is something that I'll say time and time again.

The Sonic series is NOT dying! In fact, here are reasons why the Sonic series is nowhere even CLOSE to dying!

1. The recent games are successful, especially Sonic Unleashed. Even though critics panned Unleashed's Werehog gameplay (which I find interesting due to usage of strategy, but that's another story) and other elements for "outlandish reasons" (there's a rumor that the IGN reviewer didn't even finish half of the game before "criticizing" it), fans and gamers alike still buy the game and have expressed a ton of pleasure from it, for not just both Sonic and Werehog gameplay alike, but for also being much more refined, too. As of now, Unleashed has sold approximately 2.4 million copies, and sales are apparently still strong. Sega, Dimps, and Sonic Team have earned a lot of money making this game. Even Yoshihisa Hashimoto, the lead director for Unleashed, liked the progress of the game and seemed to know what he was doing.

2. Sega is still earning money from other franchises and collabs with other companies. Sonic is their biggest franchise, but it's not their only one. They are making, or have made, other games. Examples include Phantasy Star, NiGHTS: Journey into Dreams, Yakuza, and many others. The Sega Superstars Tennis game has been successful, too. Despite being a critical failure (and to many, a "mess of a game"), Iron Man was a financial success, netting the second-highest revenue of all the Sega-published games over the past year, third being Unleashed and first being Mario & Sonic. Although BioWare developed the game, Sega co-published Sonic Chronicles, and nearly a half-million copies have been sold, so they'll earn some portion of the dough. (Not to mention Chronicles won't be released in Japan until mid-summer 2009.) Also, Sega is one of the biggest third-party developers with a revenue of about $1.64 billion U.S. (combined with its partner company, Sammy, about $4.5 billion U.S.), so unless there is a disaster, they'll still have plenty of resources for future games.

3. Sonic is very popular in other forms of media. The anime, Sonic X, is the most watched of all of 4Kids's programs, and the Archie Sonic Comics Series is ongoing.

4. The Sonic franchise alone is still a huge moneymaker for Sega. Despite Next-Gen bombing, Sonic ranks eleventh highest in annual gross revenue at $163 million U.S. Last year, Sonic helped Sega make $168 million U.S., above franchises like Pokemon and Final Fantasy (resource from TSSZ: http://www.tssznews.com/2009/07/02/sonic-11th-most-profitable-game-brand/).

5. Fans are so loyal to Sonic that they won't allow the series to die without a fight. Despite the deep division within the fanbase, there's one thing most of the fans have in common (especially after the absolute IDIOCY of some of the "fans" cheering for Sega's "slow, painful death" when the company was forced to fire 400 employees during Japan's very premature economic crisis in early 2008). They will NEVER let a franchise die out that easily. There will be a huge uproar if this ever happens, LITERALLY! The only thing to rival such immediate anger is if Mario, Metroid, and/or Zelda ever discontinues. (Also, because when people think of Sega, they think of Sonic, so I can't see Sega selling their copyrights to any company without getting serious compensation for it, not even Nintendo.)

The statement of "Sonic is dying" sounds pessimistic and -- to be frank -- very blind. And there are many "fans" who I've encountered where their negativity and dislike towards Sega feels completely silly and is apparently based on a pointless, 2D-fanboy-ish grudge.

Why?

Because Sega evolved Sonic and that the company wanted to diversify the franchise!!

Sonic evolving and developing new gameplay is something the franchise SHOULD DO. Having Sonic constantly stick to the roots from the classics only is a poor marketing idea. If Sonic sticks to its roots all the time, then the gameplay will become clichéd, boring, and will make gamers and fans wonder if they're playing the same game under a different title. Sonic needs to branch out to evolve; new gameplay must be introduced to retain the audience's interest, maintain variety, and keep the series fresh. Sometimes, this means removing one or more elements of gameplay from the Classics, like replacing the spindash with the boost in Unleashed (360 & PS3). If companies remain conservative and just rehash the same gameplay game after game, then people will eventually feel ripped off and will harshly criticize the company as a result. This conservatism is why some of Nintendo's franchises are getting criticized, notably Super Smash Bros. and Legend of Zelda. When it comes to Super Smash Bros. Brawl, aside from prettier graphics and the capability of using the Wii Remote, the gameplay felt and looked exactly the same. As a result, the game got stale very quickly, was no longer as fun as it were at launch, and people wondered if Nintendo rehashed Melee and put it in a new console instead. This conservative direction is also a major criticism of Legend of Zelda post-Ocarina of Time from many die-hards and casual fans. To many, aside from a gimmick and just some very minute tweaking, the gameplay feels exactly the same and that they use recycled material. Therefore, the "new" titles come out as nothing more than simple, clichéd rehashes and that Nintendo uses devious marketing ploys to disguise their motives.

This is one reason why I don't like the idea of a remake of a Classic Sonic game and/or the development of a strictly 2D "main series" Sonic game today. Another is that it could alienate those who like only the 3D games and dislike the 2D ones. If you favor one side of fandom over the other, you'll tick off that side of the fandom. Saying that Sega should only listen to Classic fans or only the Modern fans is a completely TERRIBLE way of directing the franchise, and all it does shows that you have absolutely NO idea how marketing works! Compromise is sometimes mandatory in order to create gameplay that could appease both Classic and Modern Sonic fans. Unleashed demonstrates this compromise perfectly with the constant transition from 3D to 2.5D with quick station-to-station platforming in the Sonic levels and 3D combat platforming in the Werehog levels. The third and final reason is that the four main consoles today (Nintendo Wii, Sony Playstation 2, Sony Playstation 3, and Microsoft X-Box 360) are built for only 3D gameplay, so making a 2D sidescrolling game on a main console will only be a waste of time, memory, and money.

Based on the direction, overall positive reaction from the fans playing Unleashed, and that Modern Sonic has been used longer than his Classic look now (10-plus years), it's highly possible Sega won't return to the "classic roots." Ever. Here's a quote from a user from the Sonic Stadium forum that describes Hashimoto's focus for creating the backbone for Unleashed (and perhaps future titles): "Hashimoto said at least twice (one in a magazine I can't remember, and one on a blog) that they weren't aiming to go back to the roots when developing Sonic Unleashed, at least not entirely. He said he was aiming beyond the roots on the blog." Hashimoto liked the direction of the franchise and game, understood how divided the fandom can be (gaining respect from his peers as a result), and went ahead with the Werehog idea and gameplay despite its subsequent controversy. Many fans generally like the newest games (Chronicles and Unleashed are seen as successful in the fandom); even Next-Gen from 2006, Secret Rings, and Zero Gravity have gotten some recent fan-based praise despite their flaws. The fans like how the Hedgehog Engine -- the huge graphics engine -- has aided the gameplay, framerate, physics, and Sonic's ability to run at a quicker, in-character pace in Sonic Unleashed. Also, roam across various places on the Internet, and you'll see positive comments about Sonic's current direction. SOME of you may not like the direction of the franchise, but many others do. Although Hashimoto has since resigned from Sega and is now a part of Square Enix, the creative team and designers who developed Unleashed will carry on with what Hashimoto inspired them to do: create an innovative Sonic game while not making subsequent ones look like rehashes. And very likely, this new direction will be the backbone of what you will see in many future main series titles, whether you like it or not.

All this I explained above -- particularly the new direction, positive fan-reaction to the latest Sonic games, and profit from making the games -- is why I doubt speed is killing the franchise and very likely never will. In fact, I'll go as far and say that the series was never dying to start with; the "Sonic is dying" rally cry is nothing more than delusional, dumb, selfish whining. All Sonic did was hit a bump in the road with the poor universal reception of Next Gen, and now he's back on his feet and will continue to look forward into his and his friends' next adventures.

Now, is the Sonic franchise about speed? No, it's not, because that's just oversimplifying the Sonic series and displays shallow thinking. But it's just as shallow to assume and believe that Sonic's merely about platforming or both speed and platforming. The Sonic franchise is much more complex than that. Like Sonic himself, the franchise is a combination of a lot of things. The quick, satisfying flow (a.k.a., "speed") from the Classics and early Modern games, the ability to now travel fast in the newer games, and platforming are only three small components of an entire package. Other components include:

a. Every character in the Sonic universe, whether they are game-exclusive, show-exclusive, comic-exclusive, and so on.

b. The feeling of adrenaline and anticipation whenever you want to play or are playing the games, whether they starred Sonic and/or other characters.

c. The universes -- the games, comics, shows, et cetera.

d. The gameplays and their gimmicks, popular or not, past or present.

e. The fanbases's deep passion for the franchise.

f. Every plot and every adventure that has occurred or will occur in future Sonic media, whether the plots make sense or not.

g. Sega, Sonic Team, and other companies that are in charge of developing and publishing Sonic games and other forms of media.

When you combine everything into one ball, per se, THAT is what creates the Sonic franchise. Focusing on one or two elements out of an entire collection -- all of which are equally important -- shows a complete lack of understanding of the Sonic series.

Before I hear this "Classic Sonic is the 'real' Sonic" rubbish, I'll counter that by writing this.

Classic Sonic is Sonic. Classic Tails is Tails. Classic Knuckles is Knuckles. And this goes on from there.

But Modern Sonic is Sonic, too. Modern Tails is Tails. Modern Knuckles is Knuckles. Modern Amy is Amy (but with much more character, thank goodness!). Modern Robotnik/Eggman is Robotnik/Eggman (both Next-Gen Modern and Other Modern). The same goes for the other redesigned classic characters.

The Modern designs of the characters are anything BUT "impostors." These so-called "fakes" are the same characters. The only difference is that they're proportioned to make more anatomical sense, keep up with the ever-growing-older Sonic fanbase, and retain interest to the fans.

Sonic, his friends, enemies, and new characters have always been who they are, Modern or Classic...even if you think they're not.

It's the case with fans who like Modern Sonic more like myself. Just because there are fans who enjoy both modern and classic Sonic -- or modern Sonic more like myself -- doesn't mean they're not fans. Like the Classic fans, we Modern fans are fans, too. Why? Because we follow the series and stick with it through thick and thin. There is no such thing as a "true" Sonic nor is there such a thing as a "true" Sonic fan. The mere thought of there being a "true Sonic" and "true Sonic fan" is completely bogus!

Am I trying to make you like Modern Sonic and/or force you to hate Classic Sonic? Am I trying to shoot down your opinions? No. I respect you not liking Modern Sonic. Do you have to like all the modern games? No, you don't. You don't have to like every modern game. I don't like a modern game, too (Sonic Shuffle, to be exact; I don't mind Sonic Heroes, but the lack of variety left me a little disappointed).

What I'm saying is that the Modern series is just as special and "Sonic-y" as the Classics and deserves to be recognized as part of the entire Sonic series. Modern Sonic -- the character redesigns, environment, settings, stories, characterization, and gameplay -- have just as much charm as the Classics. Even Next-Gen, Unleashed, ShtH (Shadow the Hedgehog), the Riders series, Secret Rings, and the Rush and Rivals series have their charm. It's just that the "charm" for the Modern series is different than the Classics.

Also, and this applies to everyone, I want all of you at least respect the Modern/3D Sonic series, including the "bad" Modern Sonic games like ShtH and Next Gen. I want you to honor and give credit to Sega and Sonic Team for sacrificing their time, money, effort, and hard work they constantly give to create unique, fun, innovative 3D games. There is such a high stake for companies to make video games today, and Sonic's expectations are so high (much higher than most franchises), the company has so much pressure put on them to create a nearly-universally desired game. So give Sega, Sonic Team, and companies associated with them a hand and appreciate their effort and the games they put out there so that YOU can play them...even if you do not like some or any the modern Sonic games at all.