General Sonic The Hedgehog thread

The Joypolis stream happened earlier, and while I can't read japanese, I do recognise the '2017' that was in the text.

Apparently to other people in the chat it was 'Sonic 2017 project'?

@random: Sorry, wasn't clear. Was speaking in terms of potential.

They've marketed the Anniversary just right this year, and a great game will help to complement the excellent work they've done keeping Sonic in the conversation and even making him kind of cool again.

I'm just imagining the already-great social media engagement they've had, with the positive buzz of a (potentially) good game to back it up as well. If they can pull it off, it'll be a big win for the brand.

I work in advertising and marketing, so this kind of tickles me.

edited 25th Jun '16 4:34:17 AM by edvedd

Actually, I keep wondering. How exactly was the #AskSonic event from yesterday considered good PR?

I'm not dissing it, far from it. But the event could be a one-off thing for all we know, so...

To be honest, apart from the "Better than Nothing" comment (which was immediately countered by "Sonic & The Glass House"), and the "[insert something here] & Knuckles" joke, I haven't seen any of the other "great things" the Sonic Twitter has supposedly been doing.

@Joe: Well, they also did it last year, so this is the second go-around. That went over quite well too, which is why they did it again.

And maybe it's not a great reflection on the state of the games, but many people I've seen who engage with the Sonic Twitter cite it as the best thing Sonic has going at the moment. People obviously still bash the games, but this puts a more positive face forward; I think folks appreciate a company who can laugh at past mistakes and crack jokes at their own expense along with the fans (and even haters) of the series. It gives Sonic some of that 'likability' he's been missing lately.

It's always a bit of a gamble to use irony and self-deprecation (and dank memes) as part of your marketing plan, so I'm amazed that Sega went along with all this to begin with. They still have to deliver with the games, though, otherwise this is wasted effort.

edited 25th Jun '16 8:02:37 AM by edvedd

Check this out, old concept art and models!

http://www.tssznews.com/2016/06/25/concept-art-of-prototypes-to-various-sonic-characters-designs-unveiled/

Cream and Jet started out as cats/foxes!

Wow. Shadow was somehow going to be even edgier.

Huh, Cream and Jet were initially cats judging by it. That is quite interesting.

Also, good lord on those old Blaze and Silver designs. I am surprised how good most of them are. One of the Shadow designs looks a lot like Metal Sonic...

edited 25th Jun '16 12:21:46 PM by Ecrivan

I like the scarier variations of Big.

Honestly, he might have been better received if they had gone in the opposite direction with him...

They aren't that much creepier than he is now...

He'd still be Friendly Giant like, his concept was thought of first.

edited 25th Jun '16 2:26:15 PM by randomness4

I dunno, the two on the top right are a bit unsettling.

The one on the top left is just unintentionally creepy.

I do remember reading/hearing that Shadow was originally missing an eye/limbs.

The Big and Gamma ones interest me in particular, they're so wildly different from their final designs, it helps they are far more diverse characters design wise compared to the others.

I actually kinda wish they'd kept Jet's more winged style fore arms. They make him look more like an actual bird than just another Felix-alike with a bird head.

edited 25th Jun '16 5:04:25 PM by Psi001

It's kinda surprising seeing the different changes each character goes through design-wise, right?

Who'd have guessed that Shadow looked a lot more like Sonic or Cream was nearly a squirrel? I'd have to say Big was kinda reminding me of Totoro in the sense that he was teetering between cute and creepy?

In any case, the new Sonic game from Sonic Team is coming 2017.

I know it might be far-fetched, but I'm kinda hoping it's either Sonic Adventure 3 or Sonic Heroes 2.

edited 25th Jun '16 5:29:26 PM by TargetmasterJoe

I think everyone could've guessed at Shadow's initial design...considering the plot.

Yeah, I think SA 2's plot would have benefited from using Shadow's original design.

I kinda also want another Adventure-style game.

Why is that news coming from Anime News Network?

It wouldn't have...those concept designs are too try-hard with the Evil Sonic thing. The shoes should've stayed though.

Leaks have known about Shadow's concept art for years now, though it seems the originals were lost up until this point.

Cream still looks cute though.

Shadow looks like he was about to take the even more edgy route with his older concept designs. Well, the edgier, the scarier...right? Cream looks cute as usual. Boom Sonic's designs kinda don't fit my forte.

Enough of designs, I want another Adventure game for the 25th anniversary. Even another Sonic Heroes or the worst game of 2006. JUST GET RID OF THE ELISE, PLEASE! and the loading screens. Seriously Sega, don't rush this time.

That's redundant, you already said another Adventure game...no need to restate.

I also really like that initial Big design, the squat one with the huge eyes.

randomness: I'm largely talking about Shadow being more like regular Sonic in his old design benefiting the whole "people confuse Shadow for Sonic" plot. It would be much more believable with the older designs than the one we got.

Boom Sonic's designs kinda don't fit my forte.

Ditto. I can only imagine Sega had a HA HA HA—No reaction when they saw those early designs.

Aside from Shadow, I actually like a lot of the proto-designs more. Especially with Big. When you look at Big you kinda wonder why he even exists as a Sonic character, but I can see what they were going for initially. A laidback Gentle Giant could have worked really well as a parallel to Sonic but then they went ahead and gave him an odd design, made him dumb as bricks, completely inconsequential to the plot and on top of that, gave him a gameplay style that had no business in the series in the first place. Of course he's The Scrappy.

Also is it just me, or does it seem like he was supposed to be more tanuki/red panda than cat at first?