In Interview, Sega’s Hayes Hints at Future Sonic Heroes-esque Game
Tristan Oliver | March 17, 2010
Adds “We’re certainly not trying to over-do Sonic”
An interview published by CVG with Sega West boss Mike Hayes indicates, among other things, that the company considers the Mario and Sonic brand a part of their future strategy with the hedgehog, and hints that something Sonic Heroes like may also be a part of that company strategy.
Hayes explains in the interview that Sega sees Sonic in four parts: M&S, Sonic himself, an “All Stars” component, and the Heroes format. All of those, he says, are areas he’d like to pursue further, all targeting different audiences:
The thing with Sonic you need to understand is that there are different parts of the Sonic family. This is how we’re building the whole strategy. In one corner you’ve got Mario & Sonic franchise, in the next you’ve got Sonic The Hedgehog. Then you’ve got the All-Stars – that’s pretty much everybody. Then you’ve got something we haven’t seen for a while, which is like Sonic Heroes, multiplay-type game.
Those are the four areas we want to develop. Interestingly, each of those is going to have different audiences. With the Sonic The Hedgehog brand, we have a lot of people who are legacy fans in a way. And that’s where the new game came from: Wouldn’t you like to play in the style of your old Genesis or Megadrive but in the beauty of re-enhanced high definition? It doesn’t mean we won’t tap into the All-Star games, or we won’t take Sonic in other directions in future.
“We’re certainly not trying to over-do Sonic – we need to plan that roadmap,” Hayes added, explaining later how the major Sega IPs may be released on a biannual schedule. He included Mario and Sonic in that particular queue–indicating the company may have bigger plans for the duo than just the Olympic Games.
Hayes also laid to rest the reason why Sonic 4 is a download only title:
Kind of a mixture of reasons. A lot of it is the whole digital entertainment part. We like everybody else are trying to learn how best to deliver entertainment in the future to consumers. This was a relatively low cost part of Sonic. We wanted to see how it was received via that delivery.
For something like Sonic 4, the consumer will often be quite core. They play a lot of multiplayer, a lot of downloads off XBLA and PSN. We’re feeling our way if we’re perfectly honest, but it seems to make sense.
Other notables from the interview include Hayes’s commitment to “reinvest in our core franchises,” and that there are announcements coming for this year’s E3 expo, but would not elaborate on what to expect–at least in this portion of the interview. This is a two parter, and more may be revealed when CVG publishes part two. We will keep tabs.
Filed Under Business & Industry, Gaming News, Sega, Sonic Scene
Now thats some sweet news!
If they do a “Sonic Heroes type” game then I really hope they don´t do it exactly like Sonic Heroes and maybe just have 2 instead of 3 Characters! Less Confusion and keeping it simple is almost always the best way! OR if they would have to use 3 Characters at once then have some gates there, so when you run through them, the character gets changes automaticly (sort of like the first Level in Sonic Heroes with the Blue Yellow and Red gates)!
Anyway, the future seems to be pretty interesting at the very least!
But what I like the most is, next to the legacy fans thingy with Genesis type Sonic, that they FINALLY are probably going to put some more emphasis on their OTHER good franchises (hopes for new Jet Set Radio, Chu Chu Rocket and Daytona USA)!
Sweet I loved heroes! But what if instead of 4 identical groups of three, try a build a team out of 7 or so characters each with unique skills.
I don’t think they’l be able to out-do the original Sonic Heroes if they do go with that style again. In that game, I loved the controls, stage designs (and multiple variations within them depending on your team), the Sonic-styled graphics, the Sonic-styled music (didn’t try to be TOO edgy or rock), the unrestricted characer/stage select combination, and the overall simplicity of the gameflow. It took me back to the Genesis Sonic games in so many ways. The speed was well-balanced instead of aboused almost constantly.
But like any 3D Sonic game, it had its glaring problems, such as sloppy Special Stage physics, and a handful of poor “bosses”. Oh, and multiplayer. Ew.
If they do a Heroes-type game, they should let us select what characters we should use instead of giving us pre-made teams of characters.
If Sega does plan on releasing a Sonic Heroes format of game, I hope it allows custom teams with custom abilities and level-by-level skill upgrades. Those element alone would put the icing on the cake for a real winner in the console market.
Either way, this Hayes has very well-reasoned ideas for the future of the Sonic franchise. These ideas seem solid enough to actually fix the franchise.
What Sonic fan can complain when there is something for everyone?
addendum: “…in his plan?”
Yet again they tend to only mention PSN and XBox Live. Something about Wiiware bugging them?
Anyway, “We’re certainly not trying to over-do Sonic”. Too late. That ship has sailed.
“indicating the company may have bigger plans for the duo than just the Olympic Games.”
Oh God, YES! I can sense that Mario and Sonic platformer now. Bowser and Eggman kidnap the two girls and you have to team up to rescue them. Make it happen!
Okay….so we might get something that plays kinda like OSnic Heros in the future? FIne with me. Sonic Heroes was my first game and I thought it was fun. X)
As long as the legacy fans get their Sonic games, I could careless what shitty roads they take the hedgehog.
Sweetnees, Sonic Heros was my favorite 3D sonic game and I would love to see a sequel, and I am breathing a sigh of relif to hear there not doing over sonic, this is great news indeed.
Don’t you put that evil on us Hayes don’t you dare
What?? Where did they get that from? That can’t be a part of the Sonic family, it was just one game! xD
But I didn’t like Sonic heroes. It’s a pretty nice game and it works. But… I just don’t like. Maybe it’s a terrible engine or maybe something else, it’s just not smooth in any way. I like the hedgehog engine, that ones perfect. So I’m glad they have this “Sonic himself”. Why don’t they make all future games with the hedgehog engine? I don’t get it… too expensive or what?
RandomPeep:
lulz, you ctually believe that the Sonic fanbase will have nothing to complain about, they will ALWAYS have something to complain about.
Now, I love the idea of a Sonic Heroes 2, but I hope to all goodness they DON’T follow by the first Heroes/Unleashed’s example and make the story “super-duper happy” kid’s shit. They did it right with the Adventures.
I wish they’d never touched the classic formula, though.
Darn you SEGA… you know I’ll play all Sonic games eventually, even if they suck. >=(
Nah, let me rephrase that…
I’m really glad they’re still showing the hedgehog some love.
But they should add “Classic Sonic format” to the family. You know… 2D action, platformer? What used to be the point of Sonic in the past. 
Hope Sonic 4 is just the tip of the iceberg of things 2D Sonic to come. 
@Kits’Okami: …bah; the Adventure games took themselves WAY too seriuosly. I’d prefer something along the lines of Black Knight.
Sonic and Amy would be perfect team together in Sonic Heroes 2 others are like:
Tails and Knuckles, Shadow and Rouge, Omega and Metal Sonic, Silver and Blaze, Cream and Big, Vector and Espio, Marine and Charmy, Shade and Tikal and Jet, Wave and Storm.
shihe: They said that the “Sonic Himself” would satisfy more Sonic centric fans so they might make something like that.
I would like to see a classic sonic and knuckles type game in HD alongside one of the sonic 4 parts. I am now 21, from the age of five I grew up playing sonic on my master system and mega drive.
-JJ (Sydney)
Im glad to hear the whole “Heroes 2″ deal…but am I the only one here slightly excited to hear they still have the M&S thing going on? this means we will probably get a third (hopefully not of a new olympic game) platform / rpg guys? =3 Oh and its great to hear the All-Stars series continues! SEGA All-Stars Fighting anyone? x3
If they DO make another Mario & Sonic game, I hope it’s a mix between both game’s play style. Somethings from Mario Galaxy’s play style and something from Sonic. . . 4? . . . Unleashed? Not sure on Sonic’s part. . .
As for the story? Just no saving Peach and\or Amy from Bowser and Eggman and we have ourselves a deal!!
What I don’t see is that the Mario and Sonic franchise taking a new direction. Sure I was stoked that they finally had a game together but I have been expecting more from SEGA and Nintendo. Somehow the franchise needs to get out of the sport game category no matter what. I starting to think that the Mario and Sonic franchise needs to be bigger than it is. For example. This flash vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY15AWqxlJ8
Besides I sense something big is going to happen in the video game industry and it is going to have a big impact.
It’s strange because after Heroes came out, it didn’t quite come back with the best reviews when it came down to the gameplay, they said to scrap the Team Mechanic for future games. Maybe he meant Heroes in a different way, I’m not sure.
Not trying to over-do sonic? HAHAHAHAHA! Yeah right! That’s why there’s 3-5 games a year! Keep telling yourself that sega.
Do I smell a Mario & Sonic platformer ?
Sonic Heroes sucked some major shitballs. I really hope Hayes doesn’t think it’ll be great a second time. And as for All-Star games, how about a brawler or a crossover versus game?
I wouldn´t mind a Sonic Heroes 2 if all the core gameplay is revised. The idea about using more than one character on screen was nice, the execution wasn´t just as perfect as it should have been. Don´t make again stupid things like how Flying types played, for example, and please, no dumb bosses… But somehow I think that´s the best way to use so many characters that the Sonic franchise have.
Just think playing a level with Sonic & Tails, being able to use Tails for flying or swiming parts; or an Eggman robot boss where you should use cooperatively Sonic & Knuckles. It shouldn´t be made with types in mind though, the hole Speed-Flying-Strength thing didn´t end very well… It was the core mechanic, and I think it should be the most revised thing.
Anyway, I wish they start to make good Sonic games, and the case of Sonic 06 doesn´t ever repeat again.
Mario and Sonic with some more? I knew it! I going to guess that the next game is going to be ‘Mario & Sonic: Party Shuffle” or ‘Mario & Sonic: Shuffle Party”.
And Sonic Heroes? A good idea would be to make it so the players can walk on 3 layers of ground like in LittleBig Planet. Then rename the formations and make the Follow Formation have your partners follow you on 1 layer, Side-by-Side Formation have you partners right next to you on different layers each, and the Totem Formation so you can jump off your partners for extra height or to use for a Thunder Shoot. Every character should be able to use any formation, with a bonus of being about to split up, because I know there was sections where characters had to split up, but it was short. Maybe it can have a multiplayer like Sonic Advance 3. I think I’ll stop right there, because I think Sega can do a better job at it without my advice.
@Pickle: Adventure 2, maybe, but the first Adventure had the perfect middle ground between serious and light-hearted.
Though I will agree that Black Knight nailed the tone as well, save for a few corny lines.
cool, so SEGA’s planing a Sonic Hereos 2 or something? quite a good game that’ll be lol. loved the 1st one
excellent
lol
4 hours till Sonic 4 is updated!
keep checking round 6:30 every thursday as thats useally the time SEGA updates their site ^_^
Here’s my Sonic Heroes 2 ideas: There’s 5 teams.
Team Sonic:
Sonic / Tails / Knuckles / Amy
Team Dark:
Shadow / Rouge / Omega
Team Cream:
Cream / Big / Marine
Team Chaotix:
Vector / Espio / Charmy
Team Time Travels:
Silver / Blaze / Shade
Please SEGA…
Here’s my Sonic Heroes 2 ideas: There’s 6 teams.
Fixed…
Team Sonic:
Sonic / Tails / Knuckles / Amy
Team Dark:
Shadow / Rouge / Omega
Team Cream:
Cream / Big / Marine
Team Chaotix:
Vector / Espio / Charmy
Team Time Travels:
Silver / Blaze / Shade
Team Babylons:
Jet / Wave / Storm
Please SEGA…
Here’s my Sonic Heroes 2 ideas: There’s 6 teams.
Fixed again…
Team Sonic:
Sonic / Tails / Knuckles / Amy
Team Dark:
Shadow / Rouge / Omega
Team Cream:
Cream / Big / Marine
Team Chaotix:
Vector / Espio / Charmy
Team Time Travels:
Silver / Blaze / Shade
Team Babylons Rogues:
Jet / Wave / Storm
Please SEGA…
The next All star game?
Sega VS Capcom
Kill 2 birds with one stone. Next Sega All star and next VS Capcom.
And I REALLY hope they have the next Mario and Sonic game with no minigame collections like Olympics and voice acting dialog and a real story with good platforming gameplay (Sonic Heroes style sounds good). Do that and you got a winning crossover game
Oh God, releasing a Heroes-like game is the farthest from what they need to do. I don’t fall into that segment of the fanbase that hates every 3D game just because they can, but Heroes was truly shitty.
It was ugly, the controls were awkward, the story was terrible (I know story isn’t exactly the draw of Sonic games, but at least the Adventures have some sense of plot and coherence), frustratingly unbalanced… It was just horrible. Up there with Shadow the Hedgehog in terms of bad Sonic games.
Hoo-ray! Sonic-Heroes was the last ‘good’ 3D Sonic game in my eyes…and it’s also one I was particularly fond of, so a sequel would be just fine by me.
@Crysore – Those aren’t fans, those are just over demanding whiners/stalkers of the blue blur. A real fan knows how to appreciate things/can ignore quite the number of “issues” in a game. (IE – Shining Tears/’load times’. +It’s got almost no voice acting due to SEGA being lazy, but apparently the Japanese voice files were still there. Still a fun game, just more fun when it’s not so quiet. Megaman X7′s “Bad Camera Angles” also make a fine example.)
@John – I don’t know which version you’re playing, but the ones I’ve tried had decent controls, IE PS2/PC. (The PC version sucks the most if you’re using no controller.)
That, and most “2D” fans already overlook the Sonic Advance games.
“Wouldn’t you like to play in the style of your old Genesis or Megadrive but in the beauty of re-enhanced high definition?” – Screw that. Hedgehog engine full remake of Sonic 1~3. That and, something to do with more detailed 2D/3D backgrounds would be nice. Unleashed’s day stages look lovely.
Oh well. As long as there are more Sonic games to enjoy.