General Sonic The Hedgehog thread

THE LEGAL JARGON, IT'S TOO RIDLEY.

Does it really surprise anybody that Sega is a sucky company to work for? Say what you want about the Sonic franchise's failures and why they happened, but there have been signs all along that the true problem is Sega's incompetence and terrible business decisions.

Just don't let Sonic go down with the ship please. Set him free.

edited 30th Jan '15 8:16:50 PM by ElementX

Worst case scenario, Sega goes down and another company/publisher will purchase the rights to their more profitable franchises.

If that does happen, I'm not sure who I'd want purchasing Sonic (minus the obvious like no to EA).

I guess Nintendo, since they look after their franchises well (well, most of them...), and he'll be assured good games, along with allowing more prominence in Super Smash Bros. But on the other hand, as far as I've seen them (not much) Nintendo doesn't put any priority on story, so I'm worried if that'd affect Sonic. Yes, I do care about the story.

What's a company with a good gameplay to story ratio?

Nintendo doesn't put much priority on the story as a GENERAL RULE, but some of their games have better stories than others. The Mario RPG's have surprisingly decent narratives; Super Paper Mario is actually reasonably enjoyable in that regard and easily trumps any Sonic game's plot in competence and execution. The Zelda plots aren't really that good IMO, but they're generally serviceable. So as far as I see it, Nintendo getting Sonic would only benefit him because even if Nintendo's writers aren't particularly skilled, they at least know to avoid Narm and create effective emotional moments now and again.

edited 30th Jan '15 9:10:58 PM by wehrmacht

Have you ever heard of Paper Mario: Sticker Star?

that's an outlier. it doesn't discredit every other mario rpg or other nintendo games with a more substantial narrative.

Sticker Star is a consequence that doesn't really involve the regular development mindset.

Nintendo doesn't focus on making stories is only a thing that the developers and directors have to Choose to follow, it isn't their priority. The only time the no story rule in enforced is specifically for the Mario platformers.

It is not a rule that is mandatory to follow...otherwise games like Kid Icarus Uprising or even the Metroid Prime games would be totally different.

Really, it's mostly just the Miyamoto spearheaded games you need to worry about regarding story. And even then, despite his weird hangups with games having "too much" story, some of them can be surprisingly compelling (e.g. the backstory in Galaxy).

Just don't let it be Capcom.

Otherwise, get ready for Sonic the Hedgehog V Ultra Turbo Edition with Hedgehog Skin Color DLC's.

I can't see anyone but Nintendo or Sony having the money. I'm supporting Nintendo on this because I want Sonic in Smash and he doesn't really mesh well with the rest of Sony's roster.

@Kostya: Read my earlier comment, I agree that Nintendo could adopt Sonic but not Sony.

If somehow Sonic ends up with Mario, it'd all be worth it for a Superstar Saga-esque RPG with Mario & Luigi, and Sonic & Tails.

Of the three, I would prefer Nintendo to get the rights of both Sonic and Ni GH Ts because they're philosphy is "Gameplay First" and that's been something Sonic desperately needs right now.

Realistically, I would say Microsoft would be the quickest with absorbing Sega if push comes to shove since that's been their M.O. for years.

I don't wanna think about what'd happen if MS got Sega.

Also, that can't happen since there's a Japanese law that forbids foreign companies from buying Japanese companies.

We're talking about IP though, not full companies. If Sega actually straight up went kerplunk, they'd probably sell their assets piecemeal rather than all in one bundle (not exactly sure if this changes anything about Sega selling Sonic to a non-Japanese company but I'm assuming it does which is kinda silly tbh)

As far as I see it, the companies mostly likely to buy Sonic are probably either (in order of decreasing likely hood)

1. Nintendo (since Sega and Nintendo already have such a good working relationship together and they have tons of cash)

2. Microsoft (Sega and Microsoft used to have a strong relationship when the original Xbox came out with a ton of Xbox exclusive games. Obviously Sega and MS don't have that strong of a relationship right now but Microsoft's looking for more I Ps and they've got effectively infinite cash flow so they totally could buy Sonic)

3. Bandai Namco (Many at Sega favored Bandai Sega rather than Sega Sammy, plus they already have a ton of other I Ps with a similar look and feel like Pac-Man and shit so Sonic would fit right in)

4. Capcom (well, they did Project X Zone, though honestly this is a lot less likely since Capcom itself isn't in the greatest of places)

As far as who I would think would make a good new parent to Sonic, I'd say anybody but Capcom would probably do a good job with the franchise (Nintendo always makes quality stuff, Microsoft has a ton of talented dudes working there and Phil Spencer's done a great job of turning Xbox around, and Bandai Namco would probably be the company most likely to keep the existing Sonic Team, which I guess means we won't get anything WORSE that what we've already gotten.) Capcom would buy the franchise and they just do nothing with it like Mega Man.

I really doubt Sony or any of the other western companies (EA, Ubisoft, 2K, etc) would bother buying Sonic though since they all favor original IP over acquired stuff but hey, you never know.

edited 31st Jan '15 4:14:05 PM by RoboZombie

@Robo: I disagree with Capcom being a viable choice, as they have both negative PR and lost a lot of money in recent years. They can't afford to hire Sonic :V

re: Microsoft getting Sonic? Not gonna happen, they've got Banjo and Kazooie, as well as the Master Chief and Cortana. They don't need Sonic.

edited 31st Jan '15 8:03:10 PM by AceOfScarabs

Didn't the last Banjo & Kazooie come out, like, 7 years ago?

Yep. I don't really think Microsoft's all that interested in mascots (with or without attitude), to tell you the truth.

Then explain why Windows 10 is getting Cortana and the Spartan Browser :P

Ah. Forgot MS was using Halo characters to market new products.

Literally the only IP I know they have is Halo.

Technically Banjo & Kazooie, but I haven't seen them in a long while.

I didn't even know Cortana was a thing from Halo. I thought that it was just part of the Windows Phone as a Siri ripoff and its appearance in that Halo miniseries (for which I only saw the commercial) was just shameless product placement.

Woooooooow.