“It’s very hard – near-impossible, actually – to please everybody”
An excerpt from a Spong interview with Sonic Colors producer Takashi Iizuka published today indicates his struggle to keep Sonic relevant and utilitarian amid a splintered fanbase. In the published except, Iizuka admits difficulty in keeping everyone happy, but believes certain constants in Sonic games will do the most good.
“There are so many fans, each with their own unique first experience of the Sonic franchise, so I do understand that there are different Sonic fans in the world,” Iizuka said. “It’s very hard – near-impossible, actually – to please everybody, but I believe that there are some constants in the franchise that we should always try to maintain. [....] As long as (speed and attitude) are maintained, and that focus is still there, the team can think of ways to evolve Sonic, while keeping the fundamentals…”
The full interview has been published, though little if any new information is revealed. Still, you can read it at the link cited above. There is, however, a synopsis on one of the new stages we showed you yesterday from an accompanying preview.
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…yes, more of Iizuka stating the obvous.
Does he really think that “speed and attitude” alone are going to fix the franchise?
That cynical phase and mentality is what stops them from making Sonic 4 the worthy successor rather than a pretender to the throne.
Oh and here is my translation of Mr.Iizuka
” As long as (Mechanics and tropes created by Sonic Adventure) are maintained, and that focus is still there, the team won’t think of ways to evolve Sonic, while stagnating in the fundamentals…”
@Kits
He’s not talking about “fixing” anything. He’s talking about how best to please everyone and keep some amount of consistency in creating games for a fanbase where even if a good game were to be made, you’d still have people screaming bloody murder about everything from art direction to the use of the third dimension.
His point is that everybody has a different idea of what Sonic should be, but the two things most everyone can agree on are “fast and cool”. Of course, making more polished games with less ridiculous gimmicks wouldn’t hurt, but again, that’s not the point he’s trying to make.
Now if they could jut stop focusing on those two points alone we’re good. Slowly they do seem to be moving away from this so we’ll have to wait and see.
SEGA, don’t try to please everybody, just try to aim each game at one group of Sonic Fans, and one group only.
1 word: momentum.
That’s what’s missing.
You wanna know how to please everyone?
Make a game that scores above an 80 on IGN. All the bitching will stop.
All of it.
Make Sonic games with the feel of the “classics”, not with “advanced/rush” feel.
Simple. You can’t please everybody, but you will please more people at least.
Or use two lines of games. One with springs, boosts, 3D… And another without all this stuff. You will please many people.
Oh looky here. A pre-order gift for Sonic Colors.
http://www.videogamer.com/wii/sonic_colors/news/free_hedgehog_hat_with_sonic_colours_pre-orders.html
@ chaos_controller
I’m afraid that news is so old every single one of us already have the hat, wore it for about 2 months, got bored of it and threw them in our closets.
Sadly, the Sonic franchise has got to have one of the worst fandoms, ever. There is nothing but endless flaming, “original” characters that are nothing but recolored rip-offs of SEGA’s characters, dirty fanfiction and art, voice actor debates, pairing debates, and harsh reviews of the more recent games of the franchise. Heck, even before Shadow the Hedgehog was introduced, the Sonic fanbase had a bad side. It’s all because of the “furries” being obsessed with Sally, Bunnie and other characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM TV series and drawing endless amounts of erotica of them. There are times that I just wish Sonic wasn’t that popular, and was a more obscure franchise instead. I like Sonic, it has been one of my many favorite video games for years next to Star Fox, don’t get me wrong, but the fandom is such a dirty mess. Bleh.
What I hope for Sonic in the future is that SEGA makes a Sonic game that pleases all fans so that they won’t go on a flaming spree, replace Shadow/Rouge/Cream with Silver/Blaze/Marine (I have nothing against Shadow/Rouge/Cream, I like those characters, don’t get me wrong. But these three are what caused the pairing arguments in the fandom and that needs to be put to an end, because Tails and Cream never even said “I love you” to each other in the games. Heck, SEGA said nothing about those two having some kind of relationship at all, and it’s obvious that Tails/Marine is more canon then Tails/Cream because Tails and Marine interacted to each other more in Sonic Rush Adventure then Tails and Cream did in the whole Sonic franchise), re-release a non-glitchy version of Sonic 2006 (I love that game, so no bashing, please) under the name “Sonic Adventure 3″, make a new Sonic anime series (or just a new season of Sonic X) based on the recent games (with Silver, Blaze, Marine and the Sonic Riders birds) but with the new voice actors, make Tails more popular then Shadow, and focus on what makes the Sonic series fun in the first place.
I wish people would be more open-minded, but fortunately I can’t change their opinions, even if I want to. I hope that both Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and Sonic Colors will put an end to all debates and flame wars and bring all generations of Sonic fans together in peace.
@KitsOkami: I’d say the franchise, while not soaring at an all-time high, has pretty much gotten off the muddy bog it flew into during ’06.
Though, it’s slightly ironic that SEGA bods like Iizuka are now dealing with this sort of problem, as it was their fiddling with the franchise that caused the marginally different games produced, and thus all the ‘unique first experieces’.
@Mike:
>implying IGN scores have any relevance to how Sonic is viewed
Ha, good one.
@ Nomad
You’d be surprised how simplistic a 16yo’s mind can be.
@ Mike
Well it’s all new to me.
As Nicholas Cage would say:
I want it! *Proceeds to laugh at Sonichu and creator.*
@Mike: It doesn’t matter HOW well a game scores, there will still be complaints. Case in point: Some people in the Nintendo fan base had complaints about Mario Galaxy 2, which at the time held a 99 average on Metacritic (now down to 97). To assert that ALL of the complaining would stop under ANY circumstances (other than the entire fanbase spontaneously dissipating entirely) is pure folly.
All I can say is that I prefer to just be one of those fans that will never give up on the blue hedgehog. As long as Sonic runs and jumps and doesn’t slow down, there will never be a bad game. Personally, Sonic 06 is not the worst game in the series, it just honestly needed more time for development. Sonic Labyrinth is the worst. No speed, just collecting keys and rolling around. Either way, one person cannot change a fanbase. Heck, I just perfer to be on the sidelines and just buy and play the games and buy the other franchise goodies.