Are Fans Setting Themselves Up for Disappointment Again?
It can’t be avoided.
Though the image you see here–and its various incarnations–have already been banned from one major Sonic message board, many fans are referencing the Sonic cycle as a reason not to get too excited about Project Needlemouse. Though the possibility exists that Sega’s new Sonic can break the trend that has tersely defined Sonic fandom of the past several years, we’ve heard that song and dance before…many times. In that, the cycle proves and sustains itself as a sort of curse, not just on the community but on the Sonic franchise itself. If it is a curse outright, its place in gaming mythology may be right up there with the tried and tested Madden curse. As each feature player keeps getting injured year after year, so too do the hopes of Sonic fans yearning for a game that unites, not divides, with each announcement.
The references are happening with good reason–so far, that first bubble has held true. At present, we only have an announcement and a vague trailer; one that lacks any of Sonic’s friends.
It sure has raised hopes, too. Since the news broke late Tuesday, discussion has been feverish. At the Sonic Stadium, the Needlemouse thread has hit 32 pages. At Sonic Retro, it’s at 55 pages–over 800 posts. And that “triumphant return” part is not only being touted by Sega, but in overwhelming numbers by veteran Sonic fans. Excitement is at a high not seen since the first bits of Sonic Unleashed were revealed.
But where Unleashed began to divide is the part where Needlemouse has yet to prove itself–the yellow bubble; the part where new friends are allegedly revealed, and “hopes hit the ground.” Because no further information is available, all eyes are now on the upcoming Tokyo Game Show to see if any new details will be disclosed. If this really is the retro revival that so many think it is, the cycle will be considered broken by most, leaving perhaps the new generation fans–those who are used to and embrace such robust expansion of the Sonic franchise and those within it–to tout a continuation.
But in this case, everything that’s the “same old” would be new. Even so much as the introduction of a new gimmick or a new character would cast tremendous doubt over Needlemouse’s success–just as something as simple as a sword did to Sonic and the Black Knight, and as the Werehog did to Sonic Unleashed.
And it would be that idea of something new that could again throw off the gaming press, which still has sizable influence in who buys what. That leads to the third bubble–where the game is released, the Sonic Cycle dictates reviewers slam Sonic’s latest incarnation, and a vocal group of fans–not always a majority of fans–are left bitter, broken, and full of vows to never again be fooled by broken promises…at least, until the next announcement comes along.
The wildly fluctuating verdicts on Unleashed helped to boost confidence in this bubble as fans divided on the Werehog execution, with SBK serving as a uniform icing on the cake.
This time, it’s supposed to be different. (There’s that first gear in the cycle turning again.) Both Sega and the fans realize the stakes Needlemouse carries. Expectations are high. Should it succeed, it will lay the groundwork for a series of new 2D Sonics, much to the celebration of veterans. If it doesn’t, there may never be talk of a Sonic cycle again solely on the basis that all future hopes for a respectful Sonic, in 2D or 3D, would be laughed out of consideration. Having casual and die-hards lose confidence in Sega’s top IP is not something the company needs right now, as the industry weathers its own delayed recession.
The first component of the cycle appears in full swing. Are we doomed to repeat our mistakes? The truth is…at this point, no one really knows. That’s the genius behind the Sonic cycle; it is a glorified domino effect, and its future motion is wholly dependent on the speed of today’s gears.
Still, it only takes the smallest element to push those gears. Seeing that Sega themselves are touting a 2D revival, most fans’ tolerance on Needlemouse will be quite low. What would set the cycle off in motion again? Would a new character have to be revealed, or could it be something as arguably asinine as a 2D homing attack? What’s your tolerance level? Tell us in the comments section–and let’s hope we’re not about to go around in circles again.
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honestly, I don’t see a cycle, Sega keeps trying to revive the Series in a new way each time, to appease to more people. The bitter side of the fanbase won’t let them get away with that, and the reviewers are a bunch of biased retards. This game, like Unleashed, will come out and be absolutely fantastic. It will be bashed, and hated, by the offbeat stupid side of the fanbase. I do not blame Sega, I blame that side of the fanbase itself.
Haha! Yeah, SEGA does it again! But I liked the last games and they where really good. So even if we maybe are too hyped now, I think we won’t get a bad game. They are getting better and better. And this can’t go wrong… just if they do it bad.. just… bad.
This kind of cycle is in every game series. Even game series like Mario that nobody seem to say something bad about!(Stupid overrated franchise)
But anyway, I’m 80 % sure that when this game is realeased it will get more bad scores than good ones and evryone will complain about it and so on. But I will probably enjoy it anyway. But I really hope that they make it right. I’m tierd of bein a Sonic fan that gets bad comments because I don’t really like Mario so much as I did when i was younger and the fact that I love Sonic the Hedgehog. It can be so annoying sometimes, but I can at least enjoy the fact that the people that write comments like that have no life. But I have.
There’s no curse and the cycle is a load of garbage. I have good feelings about this project and I don’t care what anyone says or thinks. Unleashed was good you whiners.
IGN gave the Advance and Rush games high scores, when they see a new 2D Sonic it too will get high scores. Just you wait and see. SEGA won’t muck up this time.
“The bitter side of the fanbase won’t let them get away with that, and the reviewers are a bunch of biased retards. This game, like Unleashed, will come out and be absolutely fantastic.”
And you are criticizing the Sonic fanbase? The Sonic fanbase is the one place you’ll be likely to find positive/optimistic remarks towards the game. Almost any other forum/comments place the game would be trashed. Thank the Sega communities for the actual existence of optimism towards the game.
And Osnic, why claim those that write bad comments “have no life,” when you are here often writing bad comments about other people’s bad comments (normally with a minor rant about Mario.) What’s stopping a person that likes Mario games to say the same about you?
Wel The first info i saw also revealed THE werehog. I really don’t know. I think this game Will be better than most sonic games
I can’t wait for that Sonic Cycle picture goes away… if it ever will.
Let’s not spread disinformation here, Yvar–as far as anyone is aware for the moment, there is no Werehog planned for Project Needlemouse. That certainly could change, but for the moment…no information suggests that.
-T
am I the only person that likes every game except wii/ps2 unleashed the black knight and genesis 3d blast?
MARIO CYCLE:
New Mario game announced.
Mario fanboys are excited.
Game is no better than the last
Game is practically the same flipping game just with a new gimmick like outer space.
Game gets good reviews because everyone is a Mario fanboy.
Horrible Sports game is announced.
Fans are excited.
Game is bad.
Gets good reviews of course.
Seriously the cycle needs to die. Like now
Sonikku Master’s Sonic Cycle:
New Sonic game is announced.
Sonikku Master is excited and optimistic, while many others think all hope is lost.
Game turns out wonderful/okay.
Sonikku Master enjoys the new game, while others waste time panning it.
Sonikku Master is pumped for the next Sonic.
I thought Unleashed was pretty good, well, at least the daytime levels, those were flawless.
The Sonic Cycle is a pretentious pile of retarded-as-fuck generalizations that everyone laughs at because stereotyping is EDGY. It’s like making a TSSZ Cycle where Tristan ends up putting spins on minor events in the community–it may appear to be correct and easy to laugh at, but ultimately stereotyping is fucking gay and you end up looking like a douchebag for it.
Whoops. Forgot to close the bold tag. Any help, Tristan? >_>
Sonikku Master, good job. Now you’d turn even more people against the Sonic community.
Mario fans that also liked Sonic games have a reason to be offended… or even have a reason to begin bashing.
Of course, I’m one who realizes that a single person shouldn’t be used as a fair representation of a community, because that could be stereotyping.
THE REAL SONIC CYCLE.
1. New game is announced. WHINE BITCH MOAN ENSUES.
2. More details about the game are announced. New characters and/or gimmicks show up. MORE WHINE BITCH MOAN ENSUES even though new characters and gimmicks have been introduced in nearly every major Sonic game since Sonic 2!
3. Game comes out. WHINE BITCH MOAN comes to a fever pitch as people who already made their minds up about the game when it was announced are stupid enough to go out and BUY it to be able to WHINE BITCH MOAN more effectively and the mainstream media gives their WHINE BITCH MOAN with professionalism on the side. The relatively sane members of the fanbase collectively HEADDESK.
4. Over time, the fandom collectively cools down. Over time, games like the Sonic Adventure series who get trashed when they come out slowly change from the WHINE BITCH MOAN phase to the OMG IT’S SO GOOD, HOW COULD YOU SAY IT SUCKS phase while the games that were, you know, actually bad end up getting the debates about them dragged on and on instead of just moving on to something that doesn’t make people want to tear their hair out.
Which in time will bring us back to doe…uh, I mean 1.
Moral of the story: Life is too short to take blue anthromorphic hedgehogs seriously. Same goes for stupid charts.
Moral of the story: Life is too short to take blue anthromorphic hedgehogs seriously. Same goes for stupid charts.
Speak for yourself. I’m immortal.
@well: Sorry if I sounded rude… I was just saying that Mario isn’t any better than Sonic nowadays.
And I’m looking forward to Project Needlemouse, I’m no whiner.
@nono: Yeah, people take it too seriously. They’re just games in the end.
…stupid people r funny!=]
i mean with out them… who r we gonna luagh at every once in awhile!!???
i’d personally jump from a very high place!
=\
This cycle stuff seems slightly ‘fanboy’ imo. But I’ve been held through too many games, and accidentally found myself in that very cycle, to simply ignore it and call it trash – not this time. I’m as pumped as anything for this new game, and I’ll back it up against naysayers and sonic/sega-haters-with-no-reasons 100% Why? Because I love the blueblur (have and I think I always will… it’s just a love/hate relationship in a few games…
)
But this time, I’ll keep my guard up.
After all, if you raise expectations too high in any situation, it’s never as good as you anticipated anyway.
Also, we shouldn’t build in our minds the foundations and basic structure for the next game based solely on that one trailer – there may well be a new character, there may well be a new gimmick. But perhaps, before deciding whether or not we are going to blindly hate said gimmick and character or not, we should give it a small chance (right now I wouldn’t be giving anything like that from the Sonic franchise much more) and consider the endless possibilities.
That’s just what I think anyway – keep your guard up, just don’t smelt spikes onto that guard and then swing at everything remotely ‘un-sonic’ that comes our way.
@nono: When I say bad comments I mean that people send private messangers to me, say that I suck and I have no life cus I don’t like Mario. I never do that to anyone. i always say why I don’t like anything. I never send private messages to anyone and say that the guy is a reatarded idiot beacus he dosen’t like Sonic for exampel. So I think you missunderstood me there.
The problem this generation is that gamers are slowly and slowly becoming more and more hostile, and not just Sonic fans, but gamers in general. At Nintendo because they stole a good part of the marketshare, at Microsoft and Sony due to their push to DD, at 3rd parties over Downloadable Content, even if its free, heck no one this generation is immune to the Sonic Cycle.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a vast majority of gaming communities became so unhinged they would sound like right-winged nut jobs.
Come on SEGA! You can do it!
GOOOOOOOOOOO!
The Sonic Cycle, for all intents and purposes, is just a load of pretencious bull-crap; created by the self indulged, arrogant and what they consider “edgy” humour, pointing and laughing at a franchise that deserves to be laughed at. However, in saying that, those who live by or believe in the cycle are the worst kind of community participant. Pedantic, dislikable and thorughly pesimistic.
Saying things like: Can you blame them, the games have sucked balls recently?! Well, no crap sherlock, but if they feel this way, simple way to fix this, put down the controller, stop ruining the hype, take a BIG size step AWAY from the fandom and leave th rest of us alone to speculate.
Joining the fray just to tout this game is going to suck because the magicial sonic cycle circle diagram (which is wrong, Sonic Rush/Sonic Rush Adventure) says so? Please, get a life. Log off. Play with your pets. You don’t belong in an adult conversation and being skeptical about a game you haven’t even played yet because you came up with some retarded cycle diagram makes you no better than a tin foil hat man.
You have no evidence it’s going suck, you just have this feeling in the back of your head. Nothing feasably physical or relevant besides past instances to support your claims.
This is what the community has come to now, is it? Sniggering at it’s own custodian/hero?
Shit me, what a fucked bunch we have become…
And you cannot blame Sonic or Sega for how you have reacted. How they put out a game and how it is receieved is purely up to you as members of the gaming community. Change the attitude, drop the tin foil hats, and if you think the game is going to suck, here is a mad solution for you: close your eyes.
Sonic Cycle is so pessimesstic.
Most people love Unleashed which should’ve broke the cycle. The cycle is based on reviewers, not fan reception.
Give the fantards some credit tho, they give us enough reason to separate ourselves from them.
And I thought Unleashed actually did break the cycle in some ways: fresh new gameplay, one playable character (from where you’re looking at it of course), the old and new friends aren’t that intrusive (nor shoehorned to an extent), and of course, people actually liked the game.
Reviewers blasted the game regardless, despite it being a million times better than its predecessor and say it was the Werehog that ruined the entire game, and people eat their crap up because everyone knows that “reviewers are the gospel”, to which I’ll quote Yahtzee “Do you really want someone to give a ‘Yay’ or ‘Nay’ before you buy anything? Why don’t you roll over so they can stamp on the other side of your face?”.
Did we really need a feature on such a negative graphic?
Shame on you Tristan, shame on you. How can you stoop so low to take that idiotic cycle bullshit seriously and even write an entire article about it?
It’s a good thing it’s banned on respected Sonic sites, which TSSZ obviously does not belong to.
Bliz : I argee the sonic cycle is just anti sonic crap even if this new 2d game fails I`ll know I`ll play it because Sonic Unleashed got bad reviews & I love the stages & 2 or 3 of the werehog stages (Not saying I want to see the Werehog back) I say don`t judge a new Sonic game just because Sonic got bad games previous years don`t mean all the new up coming Sonic game will be bad too & I have faith in Sega that they will do the right thing this around don`t add no new characters of gimmicks this game don`t need
or*
I think there’s a good reason to do the story: Its use has been mostly a matter of convenience, almost as a means to show a sense of dominance within this community.
This is not a new graphic. I remember using it around the time SBK was announced, and it’s been in my archives for month. I find it interesting that some of the same people downplaying the cycle now are the ones who were quick to jump on that bandwagon when SBK was announced, or even when the Werehog details were unveiled in Unleashed. I wonder if that’s happening almost as if to say “It’s OUR time, now. Don’t ruin it.”
Believe you me, if this doesn’t play out the way most think it will, at least a handful of New Generation fans will use this not as a means to throw others out of denial, but almost as a declaration of victory; a signal that Sonic must evolve, not regress. (That will be the argument, anyway.)
Judging from a majority of the opinions I’ve read this week, a lot want to immediately live in fantasy land with this announcement. The fact is that though we can speculate, we don’t know a whole lot. What I try to do from time to time is write stories that ask readers to look and hopefully learn from the past. Whether we like it or not, that graphic up top is a part of our history.
This is why I wrote that the stakes are so high with this project. One wrong move will yield some level of disappointment, and if that happens, history is doomed to repeat itself.
-T
Tristan : Very true one wrong move could be bad Sega must be super ultra careful this around because this could the game the fans being wait 15 years for
THE SONIC CYCLE CYCLE:
1. SONIC GAME IS ANNOUNCED.
2. SONIC CYCLE IS POSTED.
3. NOBODY GIVES A SHIT.
Yeah… everyone here says smart things.
Yet again you stir shit up in the community Tristan. I’m with Tweaker, stereotyping is wrong and The Sonic Cycle is just a load of bull created by some idiot with too much time on his/her hands.
Are we setting ourselves up for even more epic disappointment?
I’d say “yes”. However, there will be those who will find good in the game, no matter how crappy it’ll undoubtedly turn out (hell, I enjoyed ’06 and loved SatBK, two otherwise crappy games/shamefulplug).
New info plz.
I sense a few instances of bitter tears here.
I’m aware of the cycle but doesn’t mean I’m going to go by it. I think that truly applies to 06 and only 06 (maybe Heroes, but I’m pretty sure they got away with it).
However, if I were to make a Cycle of my own, it would be…
-NEW SONIC GAME ANNOUNCED
-DOING EXACTLY WHAT THE FANS WERE ASKING FOR, WITH A BIT OF A TWIST
-THE TWIST APPARENTLY RUINS IT FOR EVERYBODY AS IT’S THE ONLY THING THEY’LL BITCH AND MOAN ABOUT
-NUMEROUS LETTERS TO SEGA SAYING THEY DIDN’T DO WHAT THEY ASKED OF THEM TO DO NO MATTER WHAT THE EXECUTION AND BITCH ABOUT WHAT THEY APPARENTLY ASKED FOR REGARDLESS OF IT ALREADY BEING FULFILLED
And ironically enough, this doesn’t apply to 06.
Venting aside, I don’t think we have to go by a cycle someone pasted together in MS paint. It’s just a game we have little info of other than just the franchise it’s representing and the basic style of gameplay. (speaking of which, will it be using the Hedgehog Engine? That’s another thing I could look forward to!)
Oh and I lold at Viewtiful Jeff’s Sonic Cycle. XD
You’re all failing to realise what the majority of the Sonic fanbase is, and what we actually want. Stop being such fanboys/girls for 5 freaking minutes, and think about it. Just do it.
Everyone are just thinking too much! Relax and just wait. Then the game will come and we’ll see how it is.
Trust the sonic community to take some incredible, uplifting news (that ol’ SEGs is finally giving in and are going to do what we’ve been screaming for this whole time) and crap all over it.
you’ve ruined my vibe and I’m pissed off now
Sure, it’s worth not getting too exited to avoid over-hype, but anyone above the age of nine can do that.
I mean, the guys at SEGA aren’t stupid. They know they can’t mess this up.
http://sonicjam.wikidot.com/ has step-by-step instructions on how to make this work and being a GIANT MULTINATIONAL COMPANY, SEGA must already know it all.
As far as I’m concerned anyone trying to stir up drama is a troll, plain and simple.
Now I’m going to go get my vibe back somehow so I’ll leave you with this Guns and Roses line:
“You wanna antagonise me, antagonise me mother****er, get in the ring mother****er, and I’ll kick your bitchy little ass, PUNK.”
……… let’s wait for more details, k?
ps. care to elaborate for the class, SLJCOAAATR / Soul?
Here’s my answer to that damn Sonic Cycle:
http://segapt.blogs.sapo.pt/308104.html
We should wait for actuall gameplay footage before we start overanalyzing the game lie this…thats all im saying
Well, thank you sonic stadium, you got your wish. Now let’s hope you didn’t screw up.
@Crysore: Yeah, your right. The gameplay maybe isn’t at all as we think it. Buuut… I think how it will be. Take that rolling ball in the teaser, put it in an old stage with better graphics and better design and here we got Project Needlemouse!
Can I just say this cycle can happen to all game. Either it’s an established franchise like Mario and Sonic to a New IP like Scribblenauts and MadWorld.