Don’t be Fooled by “Kill Sonic” Naka Interview
Tristan Oliver | March 18, 2009
Clever Hoax in Latest Game Informer
It is a bit early for April Fools jokes, and for much of Sonic fandom, any type of joke at this point could be taken as being kicked while down.
That’s why an article from the latest Game Informer magazine, while cleverly written, may not boil over well with fans dismayed by Sonic Unleashed and even moreso by the recent Sonic and the Black Knight. Though the bottom of the page–which is available for viewing below–states “PARODY” in not so large type, it’s the faux editorial above it–clearly not written by Yuji Naka, though labeled as such to further the yuks along–that still has a few heads turning.
Here’s what “Mr. Naka” “wrote:”
I admit to being a little saddened when I left Sega to form my own studio, but not because I was abandoning the company and co-workers who had supported me for years. I was dismayed that I did not fulfill my ultimate goal: to kill Sonic the Hedgehog.
I had made significant progress; abysmal titles like Sonic Shuffle and Shadow the Hedgehog went a long way to erode confidence and test the limits of gamers’ patience. However, the job was far from done. Before I left Sega, I secretly met with Sonic Team to deliver one final directive: The Sonic franchise must die, no matter what the cost.
They embraced their mission with alarming enthusiasm. The team devised terrible and incongruous concepts, then cobbled them haphazardly into a loose approximation of games. They expanded the cast of Sonic’s repulsive anthropomorphic friends, included hedgehog-on-human romance, and even threw him on a hoverboard–twice! I was overjoyed. “This is barely even playable,” I laughed as I played Sonic and the Secret Rings. “Mission accomplished.”
I hadn’t counted on you, the gamers, ruining my plans. No matter how hard Sonic Team tries to create a game not even a diehard fan could love, you stupid goons keep buying this garbage. Seriously, they turned Sonic into a “werehog,” whatever the hell that is. Think about that for a second; what part of “werehog” sounds even remotely not stupid? That doesn’t matter to you, apparently. As long as it has Sonic (or one of his insipid friends,) you’ll eat it right up and ask for seconds.
This is my plea: Stop. I beg you, let Sonic die with some dignity. Don’t make the team suffer the humiliation of creating yet another game where Sonic transforms into some genie or dragon…or something with a magic butt. Because that’s where things are going, and if that doesn’t stop you, heaven help us all.
Take comfort in knowing that those are absolutely not the words of Mr. Naka; it’s more likely to be the work of someone on Game Informer editorial staff. Those dismayed by the state of Sonic may find it adding insult to injury; those in support of the franchise’s current direction may find themselves infuriated.
Whether perturbed or amused, perhaps you’d like to let them know your thoughts on it directly. If not, we welcome your comments on it below. Thanks to jscsonic and blueblur for pointing the information out to us via our News Tips system. If you have a story you’d like to share with us, click “News Tips” at the top of every page.
Filed Under Sonic Scene
It also has PARODY at the bottom so yeah.
Maaan, I`m gonna kill the guy, who wrote that!!!
woot! Im on an update! THIS ROCKS XD! btw your most wellcome
omg no! Aprils fools will be an bad day indeed
gulp
Man we found that out yesterday and whoever wrote must be pretty bold plus getting this fanbase more stirred up then it already is
@spider it did? oh well lolz ^_^
@Keydown: just like wentos? btw remeber that update about the old concept of Sonic werehog? well look at the near end of the conversation!
Of course Naka didnt write this he believes in Sonic and theres lots of proof of that in the Sonic Retroperspective Interview that he believes Sonic has a chance to beat Mario in which Sonic did beat Mario but after certain games made by the Japan Sonic Team which made bad games + with adding Super Mario 64 made Sonic lose his rank at the top so when Sonic had that spot Naka was like proud of the hard work from USA Sonic Team and in Sonic for making Sega one of the best companys to ever beat Nintendo and there mascot Mario so Naka still has fate in Sonic whoever is the imposter who wrote this a Bastard
Man Yuji Nak doesnt even talk like that so its a giveaway by using: stupid and the H word(I dont curse) and other stuff I could imagine what Yuji Naka would say if he read this
@ Keydown
So true if he does read this then the guy who wrote this is going to be so sued (better yet died)
http://www.tssznews.com/2009/02/21/concept-art-unleashed/
look here! its proof that sega likes theur mascot!
I’ve seen this fake crap the other day at deviantart and I know Naka would never say that crap. We can’t become gullible anymore guys.
Wow now that’s what i call a complete bullshit. Yuji Naka still likes Sonic thats why he wants to creat a Sonic-like Game because Sonic was everything to him.
I guess the coward is to scared to put his name at the bottom like everyone else who writes an articles, so from my point of view this guy has NO BALLS
I admit, I lol’d XD
so this guy tries to frame the respectful name of yuji naka instead of having the balls to show himself and make a complete bullshit article…….gentlemen start your trolling
\
but ah well, LOLZ!!!
that means they are still making sonic games i will be happy but sonic games are great but i like sonic turn into a werehog its asome so naka is a good person making games of sonic the hedgehog so try to work well sega.
JUST WHO DOES THIS FOOL THINK HE IS?!?!?
Everyone, grab your torches and pitchforks. We attack at dawn.
TONIGHT WE DINE ON FAILTROLLS!!!!!!!
AND SOME LULZ FOR DESSERT!!!!!
Arrghhh!!!!!
Ok… Umm… I don’t know what to say. The guy who wrote this should be really scared now. He has lot’s of Sonic fans after him.
“I admit to being a little saddened when I left Microsoft to form my own studio, but not because I was abandoning the company and co-workers who had supported me for years. I was dismayed that I did not fulfill my ultimate goal: to kill Google.”
- Steve Ballmer
“Ok… Umm… I don’t know what to say. The guy who wrote this should be really scared now. He has lot’s of Sonic fans after him.”
Yeah, he should definitely be scared of Sonic fans. They might send him harshly written emails!
I don’t see this ending well D:
Well, this is a hoax, eh?
Well, though this may not be needed, this proves those GameInformer guys wrong!
http://www.tssznews.com/2009/02/07/tetsuya-kanto-says-new-2d-sonic-on-the-way/
Read what Yuji Naka says here!
Not the wisest idea to do especially when fans are screaming ‘bias!’ in your face.
At the end of the article, in any case.
It’s like they want to start a fight.
HAHAHA! So funny, yet sadly, it’s kinda believable.
WE ATTACK AT DAWN WITH THOUSANDS OF STRONGLY WORDED LETTERS PLUS IN MINE IM STICKIN A TIME BOMB
sheesh, the articles funny in a sick way, but still…I don’t think I’ll ever understand what was wrong with SU… perhaps I’m biased but the only thing I can see wrong with it was some corny lines. *shrug*
hehe, wats this? A link?… hehe…to game informer!!!
this is horrible.
Lol. As mean as it is, I actually found that to be kinda funny.
I don’t think everyone should be getting all butthurt at this. That’s why they poke fun at us. Learn to take a joke, laugh at yourself.
i read that part in my game informer this morning. talk about a cruel joke. i really wish they would stop poking fun at the sonic fan base. all companies has their slows but is this really necessary?
I don’t think it’s that funny…If it was a comic on the other hand that would be hilarious! Having Mr Naka set cartoon style traps to lure sonic only to backfire! Ah old school cartoon violence never gets lame.
That’s……kind of uncalled for, don’t you think? That’s like getting kicked in the crotch, then getting kicked in the face while I’m down.
I mean, I can take criticism about Sonic and his franchise’s current position. But this….this is a bit too much for me.
You know, that writer should apologize, or im going to ask Shadow to Chaos Blast his ass
@ Faran: Wow. Just wow.
@ Faran: Shadow’s fictional. You do know that right?
FAIL!
Gaming Journalist sure love playing Mother Knows Best with Sonic, they love coming up with conspiracy theories to explain why SEGA doesn’t do what they want them to do.
The anti-Sonic bias is pretty much the result being jaded and a desperate cry for attention, they really think Sega is going to listen to them. Game Informer obviously wanted to jump on the bandwagon to Group-Thinkville.
Sonic: This is all Charmy Bee’s fault! After him! AHHHHHHHH!
Fuck this fan base! And the idiots who can’t shut up. http://rayisshockedpplz.deviantart.com/journal/23768467/ If any one believes I should still be here bring your guns.
Sonication: That is over a year old.
Also, I wouldn’t be surprised AT ALL if this were actually real.
…I’m not sure how anybody can take this seriously. It’s so badly written, I’d never be able to believe it. I wonder if it was clearly intended as a joke, not a hoax. Come on, if Sonic Team truly wanted Sonic to die, how could they waste millions of dollars doing so instead of just pulling the plug? Jeez, what a load of crap.
I’m more hurt that they’d use Yuji Naka’s name for this, after he put everything into the franchise he created, and that they think Sonic fans are really that immature. Clearly they’re the ones being immature here; what a dumb, juvenile thing to do. It’s like they have nothing better to do than troll Sonic fans – it’s no wonder we consider mainstream gaming outlets to be biased against Sonic when they pull this sort of crap. We can all take a joke, but this is borderline inflammatory material.
The worst part though, is that with every angered email they recieve they’re just going to take a laugh with their mates and think they’re just soooo clever and funny.
…But all in all, I agree – FAIL. And it ain’t even epic.
Lol, I liked this ‘article’. It’s kinda like a nicer version of Encyclopedia Drammatica.
I wouldnt have even believed this crap if it didnt say it was a hoax. Honestly, what game designer would try to sabotage it’s own series? And to cost it so much monet when it can just as easily STOP making games, that would kill sonic.
I think only gullible people believe this crap >>
@Eless: Agreed.
i hate game informer!!!!
I wish Naka did say this. Might give you guys a well deseved kick in the balls.
Soul: >_> Whats your freaking problem?
Uh wait just :Whats your problem? Forget freaking Man that sounded wrong
@ Keydown-san: I think he’s emo or something.
It’s hilarious how seriously you guys are taking this. I thought it was great.
I know this is a parody, but I must add this.
Naka should worry more about Mario helping Sonic. Because of Mario, Sonic is still running well. Therefore, the only way to kill Sonic is to kill Mario. We have to kill Mario before we can fully kill Sonic, otherwise Sonic will still be alive.
I can’t help but LOL at this. It’s hillarious!
BHO: …….Yes. I am emo. But that’s besides the matter. The fanbase far over-reacts, and gets too crazy, and psyhcotic over minor things.
[...] is an interesting one dug up by TSSZ, a fake interview with Yuji Naka appears in the latest issue of game informer where he claims [...]
I grew up with Sonic, I have been playing his games since the age of two. I remember all the days I would spend playing on the old SEGA of mine (Which I still own) thinking how fun it was and how much I loved the game. In my eyes, it was way better then Mario.
This was uncalled for, I read that article when I got my Game Informer magazine and rage built up inside me like I have never felt before, I was mad on whole new levels. I’m sixteen, about to be seventeen, and I still love the Sonic games. Call it fan boyism or whatever you please, but those games were a passion for me when I was little. When I read this article, it felt like someone was mocking my childhood, calling me a goon for liking Sonic.
Now I find out the article is fake, and while that gives me some degree of relief, I’m still angry. The Sonic games of late have been bad, and over the years got progressively worse. As a fan, I want to tell Sonic team and SEGA this.
You want to make a good game? Stop making bogus new characters, stop making Sonic do non Sonic things (Like the human to animal relationships, the use of swords and genies, the really bad dialogue, ect.) And most importantly, keep it the old style platforming type game we have all come to know and love.
This article, sadly, is a wake up call to me in a sense. I love Sonic, but we as fans deserve better then the garbage we have been handed as of late. Go back to basics, get rid of all the characters fans hate and trust me, go to any fan site and you will find out who they are, and put Sonic back where he belongs, in a side scrolling, fast paced, action packed platforming thriller that was his original claim to fame.
O_o;; That is just wrong.
I wish people could stop bullying Sonic. D:
I know one thing- I never want to look at a game informer ever again. >_<
Wow…..you guys hav no life!
*sigh* April Fols day will be a sad day indeed
this was like the only thing interesting in the game informer magazine and its the wackest stuff i ever heard. sonic doesnt die, as long as mario is alive. as far as i know, mario will never die. as david said, i grew up on sonic, why should he go now
This got me mad.
Pretty pathetic you’re so upset about this. I too have played Sonic since I was young but lately I can’t stand to play it because of all these lame ideas. It’s like picking really lame ideas out of a hat and just go with whatever you get no matter how horrible it is. What I’d like is a remake of the original Sonic games.
Like…take the genesis ones and MAYBE all the way up to Sonic Adventure 2 Battle at the most..take those and remake them with the graphics we have access to now. The originals cannot be replaced by something as disgusting as a WEREWOLF. They have completely strayed from the “real” Sonic. But you guys still buy this crap..
No offense to you if you enjoy it but, I personally believe that if he wrote this, he has the right idea. Sonic is going to keep getting this crap added and you will still buy it. I won’t. Give me the originals or nothing at all. Because right now I’m repulsed. Sonic as a Werehog is where it really pushed my buttons.
Once again, no offense. Just saying my beliefs. Well, I’m done now and if you say crap to me I most likely won’t reply. ^^
Wel im a very big sonic fan n im 16 turnin 17 n i dont think it was a bad idea to put away sonic for a few years i think is great cuz the next time hel comebak hel b beter n ful of new n great ideas thats how i look at it n sonic was the 1st cartoon n game i ever watched n played but i do have a life n appreciate nako for al his eforts n da entire team also i thugh the kill sonic article was funy i mean ppl they printed parody thats good enough b mad at urself for being to dam gulible no ofense but its da truth next time have beter observation
i dont belive this
if he say that sonic doomed
i hope its just a bulshit
We won’t stop buying sonic, they get better and better so you might as well stop trying
XD That was funny! Though I think some of that stuff is lame that SEGA is doing. The word “Werehog” sounds kind of weird.
I wish it was true. That would at least help explain the total crap that sonic team has been putting out. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a die hard sonic fan. I’m 16 and I own every sonic game made up to Sonic Unleashed. I even have the original copies and the original systems to play them on (i’m a game system collector). I gotta tell ya, every thing after Sonic Adventure 2 was total crap. I did kinda like Sonic Heroes a little because it had Metal Sonic, but it had too many of his little friends to play as. I kept buying new Sonic games up until Sonic Unleashed. That game is so gut-wrenchingly terrible that I lost fate in future Sonic games. He had a good run though.