A Split Decision with 20th Anniversary on the Horizon
The results of a very well participated TSSZ News @Issue poll indicate some mixed emotions when it comes to Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka restoring a positive reputation to the Sonic franchise.
Out of 1,165 votes cast, 37% say their trust in Iizuka has shrunk recently. However, 34% felt that trust grow. With just three percentage points separating the top two answers, there is no clear runaway opinion.
Eighteen percent felt the same when it came to the matter, while eleven percent were unsure.
A new poll is available for you to vote on. You can discuss this poll’s results below in our comments section.
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I think with Sonic 4 and Colors, he’s certainly the best thing to happen to the series in 17 years, and in the case of Colors, stifling the complaints and accusations that Sonic simply couldn’t do well in the 3rd dimension. I genuinely think Sonic Team has found its way and i’m personally optimistic about Sonic’s 20th.
I think some people give this guy too much credit. He may be the executive producer, but he wasn’t the lead game designer for Colors, and therefore he was not primarily responsible for any of the things it did right.
Given everything I’ve heard this psychopath say over the past year, I have no doubts that any of Sonic Team’s successes are DESPITE Iizuka’s influence, rather than because of.
The dude probably has dashpads on his brain 24\7. He lays in bed at night thinking of how many of them he can fit on the ceiling.
I remember the poll of people whose faith has shrunk were minuscule in comparison to those whose faith was risen this year, it just spiked up at one point and didn’t exactly have another spike like it for some reason.
I don’t want to say that someone went in and hacked the polls in their favour (well I do kinda think it), but I really hope that wasn’t the case and I might just be worrying over nothing, I just don’t want some random butthurt fan who is all “BAW Sonic 4 broken cause it’s physics are BAW!” and “I do not like change!” calling the shots.
No one gives him a break anymore, to the point where everybody is blindly attacking him without reason. He has what it takes to fix the franchise, the only question is will anybody let him?
omg older fans being disfaithful to the series, what a suprise.
omg newer fans condoning unacceptable quality to the series, what a surprise.
@Rag
No one gives him a break anymore because he has put his foot in his mouth one too many times. He hasn’t EARNED one.
Attacking without reason? Are you kidding me? The guy has proved nearly every time he’s opened his mouth that he doesn’t have a freaking clue. If anything, people are DEFENDING him without reason. He’s still riding on fan support because “Oh, he worked on S3K! He represents the classic era!” despite his ceiling running, scripted dashpad abusing, arrogant, self-aggrandizing bullshit.
Will I give up on Sonic fandom if they malign Sonic’s 20th Anniversary? Never. NEVER EVER. I will always be a Sonic fan, a hardcore Sonic fan who enjoys both 3D and 2D games, and looks away from the bad parts of a game (unless there are way too many of them – take Sonic 2006, for example) and enjoys the good. So no, I love the Sonic franchise.
And for the result in this poll… CHEER UP!!! Sonic Colours was an amazing game, and also, the “terrible physics” in Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I were NOT CREATED BY SONIC TEAM. They were created by DIMPS. And even if I am wrong, we can now all say that Iizuka has finally conquered 3D. At least this wasn’t as embarrassing as the last poll on Sonic 4 (which was awesome despite the physics change).
“Are you done with Sonic fandom if Sega maligns Sonic’s 20th anniversary?”
…Probably if they made another rushed job like Sonic 06. If they didn’t improve Sonic 4 Ep. 2 (if they decide to release it during this time), then I would just NOT buy it. I’ve been attached to the franchise ever since I got Sonic Heroes on the Gamecube, and I’m even more attached from controversy and debate over the blue blur alone. Plus, I honestly don’t believe they would repeat another “Sonic the Disaster”.
Of course, if they did, would YOU leave the Sonic fandom, Tristan?
If they malign Sonic’s 20th Anniversary, it will be only the expected. I’d be surprised if they actually honored it.
Old fans like Sonic DESPITE the awful fucking shit he’s been through.
New fans like Sonic INCLUDING the awful fucking shit he’s been through.
@ChaoticFox
I rest my case.
The fun of Sonic now is seeing how horribly they can mess things up.
Only time will tell if they make another good one or not so good one (terrible). Oh well Good Luck Sonic Team!!!!!!
I have no faith in Iizuka because of his own words. If he proves differently, great, if not, too bad so sad move on to the next guy.
As far as Sonic’s 20th, as a Mario fan, I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t stay a Sonic fan if Sonic’s 20th game wasn’t spectacular. That still doesn’t mean you get to slack off though Sega!
I don’t get the hate.
How is that people have no faith in Izuka after Sonic Colors?
Or is that people here consider it a bad game?
I’m pretty sure Sonic 4 failure was because of Dimps anyway.
@Tormento
Because people don’t know shit about game design and think “Oh, since he’s the “head” of Sonic Team, he automatically deserves all the credit for EVERY Sonic game, regardless of how much involvement or control he actually has over the product”.
@Raggtime
You HAVE no case.
I totally responded to that backwards ><
Anyway, Colors is great, but that doesn't say shit about Iizuka, who only oversaw the project as a producer. If anyone was responsible for Colors' success, it's Morio Kishimoto.
@Tormento
Even if it was Dimps’ fault, imagine this. You own a very popular restaurant. And you hired a new cook. Now this new cook was assigned to make a dish that was very traditional, and that you have discontinued for years, but your customers begged for you to bring it back to the menu, so you did.
But instead of following the original recipe, your cook used cheaper ingredients, changed the spices and now it tastes pretty freaking different You’re sure SOME people will still like it, but it’s definitely not what your customers asked for.
Would you add the dish to the menu with that original name?
If you did, would you blame the cook later if your old customers felt cheated?
@ChaoticFox
Overruled
@RaggtimeSonic: Your name is Rag. The possibilities are endless.
Anyways, let’s see how the titles this year goes. Surely we can all agree the quality of the games are increasing. Sonic 4 has no excuse to be a flop. The 3D titles now have no excuse to be a flop.
@Andre
I WOULD blame the cook because…
1) He has a career as a COOK, he should be able to get the recipe right. Notice how you could go to two differnent McDonald’s and the same order would taste pretty much the same
2) I told him to do it. It’s HIS responsiblity to do it right
3) In the case of DIMPS being the cook, he got right before (i.e. SONIC ADVANCE) and should be able to do it again.
Which is why we go back to blaming Iizuka, who actually hates the original recipe because he feels it needed a cup more CEILING RUNNING, a pinch more homing attack, and a extra helping of dash pads for good measure. He’s much more concerned with his bass-ackwards vision of the franchise than what the fans actually want.
@krush96
It was still your decision to put it on the menu, dude. You’re the boss. Not the cook. Ultimately, the responsibility is yours.
Seriously, learn this lesson now, bro. You will use it in your life. I guarantee it.
At the same time Andre, you’re not gonna pay your chef a million dollars in advance to whip you up an entree for your customers and then just let it go to waste because it’s not up to par.
Sure, you might piss some long time customers off, and maybe tarnish your reputation a bit (although if we’re keeping with the same analogy, Sega didn’t have much rep TO lose last year), but at least that way you have a chance to make back some of that investment you put down.
Owning a restaurant is about more than pleasing your customers. It’s about doing so and still turning a profit.
@ChaoticFox
Interesting that you mentioned that. I actually work with brands and corporate reputation management.
And I’ll tell you right now: that’s short-time thinking. If you have a valuable brand, capable of driving customers to buy your products based on their emotional bonding and trust alone, you don’t let it lose value by making those kinds of decisions.
Of course, in Sega’s case it’s much worse. They have a valuable brand, they are failing to explore it to its full potential due to pure, raw lack of talent, and not only that, they have also been systematically tarnishing it over the years. Not only is this a case of opportunity waste, it’s also a matter of intangible asset devaluation.
So yeah, a brand like Sonic has value. A lot of value. It drives demand for its products by the sheer force of its emotional appeal alone, and that’s why the new fans can’t ever focus and think straight for a minute (I see it happen in market research all the time). That’s why I’m always here trying to open their eyes.
So there. I work with branding for a big company. Actually one of the biggest companies in the world in terms of market cap. What Sega’s been doing is throw their profit away, actually. Because brands have value, reputation has value, and you don’t let a huge brand like Sonic get years of shit like they’ve done.
@ChoaticFox
So are you saying we SHOULD or SHOULDN’T blame Iizuka for everything that was wrong in Sonic 4, becuase I do. Just like tripping in Brawl, the story/characterization in M:OM, or any other problems in any other games, I blame the guy in charge. As the guy in charge, everything comes down to you, good decisions and big flops alike. If the game had been a huge success, they’d have been singing his praises, so I think it’s plenty fair. As the guy in charge, you don’t get to pass blame, that’s how I feel.
@Skai
I’m saying that while Iizuka is ultimately responsible at the top of the totem pole, you can’t use that as an excuse to NOT blame Dimps for their lack of effort/talent.
In addition, people need to understand that the executive producer’s position is not the one with the most direct influence over a video game’s content. He may be the “big guy in charge”, but it’s like blaming Warner Bros because one of their movies sucked, rather than putting the focus on the director, the actors, and the writers – who are much more directly responsible for the suckage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_producerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_producer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_designer#Game_designer
@Andre
You’re absolutely right, and Sega/Sonic Team ought to be ashamed with the way they’ve handled their flagship franchise over the years.
Gotta say, after reading the multiple interviews with Iizuka before and after Sonic 4′s release, I’ve come to a conclusion: He’s a fucking idiot. I’m sorry, but he really is. He apparently has no idea what makes a good 2D Sonic game, and he’s justifing crap decisions with how its time to move forward. You want to move forward, leave that to the 3D games. Sonic 4 is supposed to be for us nostalgia whores. As for Colors, as has been mentioned numerous times in this comments section, he didn’t exactly have direct inluence over the gameplay mechanics and the like, so you can’t exactly praise him for that. So yeah, I can’t really see him bending down to fans’ demands, because, apparently, he thinks nothing’s wrong. Which means you can’t really have faith in him.
@soranamineforever
I agree 100%.
You know, the more I look at Iizuka…he seems like that kid in class that joins in group assaignments just to get his grade. You know, the kid that slacks around doing nothing and letting everyone else in the group do the work while he gets part of the credit.
That’s the only explanation I can think of as to why Iizuka is so…incompentent on both physics and stage design. Sure he was credited as a senior level designer for Sonic 3&K, but as far as I know, Hisayoshi Yoshida and Hirokazu Yasuhara could’ve done all of the work while Takashi Iizuka was slacking off.