Yes they have to work on other consoles, but they have been praising apple when the sdk came out, they made a game or the ipod classic, and they had the biggest hit of 08 with smb, but we only get a port. They better have something really good up their sleeves or else the awful reviews will drive them away. I looked back at the iphone sdk announcement keynote and they put together a working version of SMB in two weeks, with graphics that looked like the final version. They need to have a really good control scheme with sonic and a few added levels or else it is going to blow up in their face.
What I'd die for is a classic Sonic game reminiscent of one of the more in-depth classic sonic games, with added levels, features, and characters, with an original control scheme made exclusively for the iPhone/iPotch, and great graphics. Not some cheap port.
Sega is not a monolithic company. They are, as a developer/publisher, one of the larger companies in the game industry, even after the downsizing that occurred after they ended manufacturing their own video game home consoles. And, FYI: Sega Mobile That's Sega's "dedicated to mobile platforms" development and publishing arm. So, yeah...actually they DO have a department dedicated to making mobile games, and since iTouch/Phone at the current time represents on of the larger and more profitable products in the mobile gaming market, they COULD have done more all this time. Don't misunderstand. I like the fact that Sega is porting over the classic Sonic game. The issue is that it's taken them this long to announce this and release it. By the time it'll be released, it'll be over a year since the iPhone SDK was released. It took the team they hired to develop Super Monkey Ball on this platform about a month or two to finish development of that game, and that game, while based on an existing IP, was an original "made for iTouch/Phone" game from the ground up. Why's it taken so long for Sega to get set to release a friggin' PORT of a nearly two decade old game? Thankful? For a no-brainer of a release? Anyone with half a brain knew that Sonic was coming. It's on iPod classic. It's on cell phones. It's on all the home console DLC services. It's on Gametap. Sega ports the game to damned near every platform. Of course they were going to port it to iTouch/Phone. But where the hell are the rest of the game announcements? Where is the ORIGINAL content? Yeah, it'll please a bunch of people. I'll be pleased, don't misunderstand. But, y'know what? It's a meager announcement. It's a CRUMB they've thrown. So excuse me for not fawning over a CRUMB when I expected a FULL MEAL. The game is a classic, yes, so I'm not alluding to quality here. I'm alluding to Sega's effort, or lack thereof in this case. A port of a nearly two decade old game taking this long to come to fruition, a game they've ported to almost every platform known to man, and no original content after all this time, after all the allusions to how happy they were with returns on investment of development on this platform, and their sheer advantage over most other developers (as Sega has EXTENSIVE experience developing for hardware using PowerVR GPUs), and I can't levy complaints? I'm sorry, but no. I'm not going to jump for joy over a lack of effort from a company who ranks in my top two for game development.
Again, I'm not arguing against the port. What I wanted was an ORIGINAL made for the iTouch/Phone game in addition to ports of classic titles. They CAN do both, y'know. They do it ALL the time for all other platforms. Look at the other pre-iTouch/Phone mobile platforms on which they've developed and published games. Again: Sega Mobile Just check the games there. There's ports of classics like Sonic the Hedgehog and Golden Axe and Wonderboy alongside NEW made-for-mobile games like Sonic Jump, Sonic Jump 2 and Super Monkey Ball Tip 'n Tilt. Look at GBA, DS, and PSP. Sega ports over classics there in addition to making original games for each platform. They could've done the same here. They have a team that is dedicated to making and publishing mobile games. And yet...nope...a year later, and other than an original made-for-iTouch/Phone version of Super Monkey Ball, no original content from Sega for this platform. Other than Super Monkey Ball iTouch/Phone, all Sega has released or are going to release are ports of Columns and Sonic 1 Genesis/MegaDrive. I expected more, and I don't think I'm alone here. Ports are nice, but they can't be all there is.
Oh, of course, i see your point. But the fact is that nobody knows why they made the decisions that they have. They might have a reason for announcing this so late, which is why im just happy for a port. It will beat the hell out of the emulator, at least. EDIT Aaahh, and as to an addition (didnt see the second post), idk, im iffy about that. The later sonic titles have sucked it up
As a long time Sega fan, an owner of all their hardware and a great fan of their games (not a fanboy, though...I'm a multiconsole gamer), I can state why I think they've made such decisions: Sega's creative side is among the best in the business, but business-wise they just...*sighs...a lot of the decisions they make just don't add up. They'll come up with really solid ideas, like publishing Platinum Games' games, and trying to carve a "mature" niche on the Wii, but then they'll do things like hold onto the arcade business even though arcades are just about dead everywhere. I kinda disagree. Sonic Unleashed, other than the silly werehog levels, was pretty solid. And the Dimps' developed Sonic Rush series for DS is pretty good. Besides, I'm not just talking Sonic here. They could've made an original for the iTouch/Phone Phantasy Star, or Shining Force (seriously, if we had a new Shining Force on this, I don't think I'd be the only one going "Reign of whatnow?"), or Shinobi, Golden Axe, Sega Rally, etc. Sega's got a ton of IPs...but then again they've never really been "intelligent" enough to leverage those IPs properly like Nintendo does.
Not true - Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 are awesome and the daytime stages from the wii version of Unleashed are in my opinion some of the most fun Sonic levels ever created. I agree with Spiffy, Sega should have done more. Don't get me wrong, I love Sonic 1 but spending the best part of a year simply porting it is pretty pathetic! Sega should have created a new game (or at least remade sonic 1) with either a 2.5D engine similar to the small segments in unleashed or full 3d in similar fashion to snail mail. I wonder what they'll do with the controls? A virtual d pad would suck in a fast game like sonic and I'm not sure about the accuracy of the accelerometer.
Maybe a control scheme like Bounce On, and you touch to jump, tilt to run (except Sonic goes much faster than Bounce), and double tap to do a homing attack.
The original Sonic is still my favorite, so I'm glad they are just porting the original, with the exception of the 2d DS games, most of the recent Sonic games aren't even worth playing.
Yeah, Unleashed was one of the best Sonic games in a long time during the day stages, but the game totally sucks during the night stages.
Back in Febuary I was playing around with mock-ups of video games and one that I attempted was Sonic, I still have the image uploaded so i'll link it: Being quite a oldbie sonic fan I can tell you that while the DS games are good in their own way, they play totally different to the classic games. also rush 1 has way too many make a mistake and you instantly die or fall into a bottomless pit moments which the original games never hardly had, and that rush is too heavily based on stunts and boosting.
Yes, but it's still one of the best Sonic incarnation compared to others like the GBA version or other 3D version (except unleash which is ok too). The GBA version encouraged players to explore the world a la Mario, which is so unlike Sonice where players are encouraged to blaze through levels.
Is there any indication that Sega will release Sonic 2? I think I liked the sequel better. And WiFi multiplayer would kick serious booty.
Sorry about this being sorta off topic but... All this Sonic talk made me go bust out my old Genesis, complete with the original Sonic cartridge, from the back of my closet. No prob, exactly where I left it (you know, like 10 or 12 years ago). Controllers, rf unit, console itself, but...NO POWER SUPPLY! WTF! How did that happen! I'm bummed. Does that bite or what!?!
Sonic is awsome!!!!! This game is going to be awsome. I agree with other people that they should enhance the graphics to be 3D and not 2D. I also agree with other people about making the other sonic sequels. Someone else mentioned multiplayer. If that's possible you should totally go for it as an update. I cant wait for this game to come out in the spring. I just hope its not going to be to expensive.
Not really true. Go back and play Sonic 1 or, better yet, play the port to iTouch/Phone when it's released. In Sonic platformers of old players were NOT encouraged to blaze through levels. Far from it. At least not the first few times playing. The blazing through levels came only after repeated playthroughs caused the level design to be burned into your brain. And at that point it becomes kind of like a shmup style "in the zone" merging of player and game. You don't even think, but rather just do. But the first few playthroughs, Sonic was NEVER about going fast, but he was about speed. Contradictory? No. There's three speeds: normal, fast, and slow. Sonic, as a character, was, by nature, a fast character. This made him more difficult to control than Mario, and this was by design (and you can see this as Sonic NEVER stopped on a dime, but almost always skidded to a stop). See, the entire point of Sonic games wasn't about going fast or blazing through levels, but about coming to grips with the control of the character, who by nature was fast and who, by level design was forced to go fast (downhill slopes, s curves, ramp lips, etc.) even when it was to the detriment of the character and, by extension, the player and about memorizing the layout of levels. It was about speed, yes, but not simply "going fast". It was about recognizing when to go fast and when to slow the hell down, and usually that decision had to be made incredibly quickly lest one lose a ring, or, worse, a life. And, yes, there were quite a few instances in the levels where you had no choice BUT to slow down, lest you land directly on spikes or fall into death pits or onto enemies without preparation (the current complaints about this in reviews of current Sonic games, btw, shows to me that the reviewers in question haven't actually really played Sonic games and are going by memories over the more memorable moments in the older games, not the older games as a whole). Again, these instances, and the "fast" instances were all about reaction time. So it's not about going fast, but rather about reacting quickly. And there's a big difference between those two. "Instances where you have to slow down? In a Sonic game? Spiffy...you're mad!" you say. Three words: Casino. Night. Zone. There's no way one can blaze through Casino Night Zone. Or Spring Yard Zone or any of the Casino style Sonic stages...at least not the first few times playing the game. By design these zones take an almost sadistic approach to using Sonic's very strength (his fast speed) against him and the player. Go fast, and prepare to bounce around to the point of real world dizziness. So the first few times, go slow when you need to, go fast when needed. Balance. The going fast comes in for any Sonic game only after repeated (and I mean repeated) playthroughs of the game. Learn the ins and outs of a level, the best routes, etc., and go for the best times. Arcade reflex reaction gameplay with arcade high score reward incentive based replay: classic Sega arcade action brought to the home console platform game. That's what made Sonic different than Mario. Mario was geared more toward exploration, as you stated, not learning level layout inside out for best times. Sonic is like a shmup, or any other arcade game...but in the guise of a platformer. That's not to state that there wasn't exploration, though. There was. The games weren't entirely linear. Go back and play Sonic 1. There are sections of the levels that are off the beaten path, areas that have secrets (blocks that are to be spun through in order to find powerups or a vast cache of rings or "walls" that aren't really there and are hiding rings and extra lives). In the sequels they expanded this to include the Secret Ring warps (you had to find the warps in the sequels, whereas in the first they'd appear at the end of the level after acquiring 50 or more rings). There are a few zones in the games that iirc had shortcuts that you wouldn't be able to find unless you knew exactly where to look for them, and the only way to do that short of a walkthrough book was to explore the stages as much as possible the first few times playing. And, indeed, the only way to know the best routes was through exploration. Repetition of play burned it into the player's mind, and increased reaction time. Then the speedruns happen. Sonic: react quickly, not go fast; when you master the game, then and only then can you blaze through levels with abandon.
And, again...when I state Sega could've done something more, I mean in addition to the port of the classic games. I have no issue with them porting over classics. I knew it was coming, and I welcome younger players and new players who never played the games being able to do so, alongside nostalgic fans being able to relive the legends. And the new original game needn't be a Sonic game. It could be a new Shinobi, Shining Force, Phantasy Star, Wonderboy, Alex Kidd, Oasis, etc. I can't be the only one to think that a new Shining Force (using classic turn based battles, naturally) for iTouch/Phone would be PERFECT for this platform. Or how about a new Comix Zone, with iTouch/Phone specific controls: See the parts where the hands come in and draw things? In the original Genesis game it was just used for effect. In a new Comix Zone for iTouch/Phone, it could be used for actual gameplay. And the new one could have cell shaded graphics and/or remain 2D, but using vectors instead of sprites, and employ 3D effects and better colors, ala current Marvel and DC comics (which actually do employ art that is photoshopped to include such things).
