General Sonic The Hedgehog thread

I don't expect the audience to not realize that the writers are hastily correcting themselves. I expect the audience to prefer that over having a long drawn-out fix that pointlessly dwells on the writers' mistakes instead of just moving on to something interesting.

I think it's fine to do it with Forces, because Forces is the most recent game in the series.

If the next game has Silver apologize for the events of 06, that's too much.

I don't think it's an either-or. And the two minute cutscene in Frontiers wasn't a long drawn out fix, nor were the few pages of the IDW comic that covered the same issues. Good writing can briefly address something and move on.

Well, you already have several of us here who don't. So I guess the only thing to say is there's no way out of the mess that started back in Unleashed that will make everyone happy.

Edited by ShinyCottonCandy on Mar 15th 2023 at 4:11:38 AM

Sonic games tend to be written on a case by case basis. The writers are constantly changing and probably not making these plots with consideration for prior events.

The fans may do that, but I doubt the staff do. Unless the game is specifically a sequel.

That's why I just look at games as self contained adventures and anything that happens to them is specific to that game. It's also why I don't care for this whole "unified canon" thing they're going for nowadays, especially since most of these games and products were so obviously never meant to be connected that way. But that's what the fans want so I can't really argue against it.

That's why I never agreed with how up in arms the fanbase gets when things are inconsistent. It's like comic books; every new writer is going to come in with their own ideas, respecting what came before is optional. And that becomes increasingly harder the longer a series lasts.

That's why I don't consider what happened to Tails as "disproportionately out of character".

Now Flynn trying to use that to give Tails some retroactive character arc....eeehhh. I guess I appreciate that he referenced it, but I understand some fans preferring to forget it ever happened.

But yea, you can't really pick what events you want to ignore or not based on what the audience likes. That's why comics are such a mess nowadays.

Edited by BlackYakuzu94 on Mar 15th 2023 at 4:33:35 AM

Well, sucks for them. If they will acknowledge the recent title and fans think "is hurting the brand", but the fans keep using Silver in their radio show, I rather ignore the fandom's request as there is a clear bias and hipocrisy there.

If the Sonic games simply stuck to being self-contained stories, simply ignoring faults in characterization after the next game would be a legitimate writing decision.

But some fans want there to be some sense of progression and continuity while also just ignoring the stuff they don't like and that doesn't work.

Exactly. Fans want it both ways. They want all of the lore and fan favorite characters to show up and a feeling of progression, but for the stuff that they specifically don't like to be ignored and discarded.

I'm not saying that's not necessarily wrong, but it's a mentality I never agreed with.

You can choose to prefer that way, but that's objectively not how things are. Again, every game since Generations has referenced the events of at least one that came before it. So just because you don't see something as disproportionately out of character doesn't mean it is or isn't.

As for "unified canon", it's not even that complex. There is:

• Game canon - all mainline platformers and some spinoffs.
• IDW comic canon - starts immediately after Forces in game canon. May or may not overlap at other points in the future.
• Movie canon - just the two movies.
• Prime canon - just the episodes seen so far.

And that's pretty much it. So we can't assume anything about Shadow's backstory in Prime, Longclaw being optional DLC in Speed Battle doesn't mean the games and movies are connected in any way, Tangle may or may not be the same or similar between the games and the IDW books, the Metal Virus may or may not have happened prior to Frontiers... We can't say one way or another until explicitly stated, and that's fine.

You say that about "fans", but there's only like one person here (not me) calling for it. You're giving too much attention to opinions you don't like. Just move on.

Edited by wanderlustwarrior on Mar 15th 2023 at 3:56:18 AM

It's a mentality that can't be satisfied. Sonic fans will never experience true happiness.

By the end of the day this is entertainment.

Edited by Tony-Sharx on Mar 15th 2023 at 1:59:47 AM

The toxic ones you mean. I'm satisfied in what I have.

But the Prime creators have said that it's canon to the games...

Obviously I'm not speaking about here specifically

Edited by BlackYakuzu94 on Mar 15th 2023 at 4:59:46 AM

you sure you don't have any hidden gripes? I mean, surely you have some idea that would make the franchise better than it is now?

I brought that up once before and everyone's excuse was that the show runners have nothing to do with SEGA so we shouldn't listen to them or the VA's involved.

Edited by Tony-Sharx on Mar 15th 2023 at 2:05:31 AM

Sonic games should...

Go back to being self-contained stories, the world was much more interesting when the series didn't try to explain anything and unique stuff just existed.

It's pretty jarring to go from any game from 1998 to 2017 ... to Frontiers and see the characters suddenly act like they cared about the minor things from those stories.

Personally, the biggest thing I've been wanting (non-Sonic characters becoming playable) is right on the horizon. I just hope it sticks around for a bit.

I don't see how this is a black-or-white issue. Anyone can do anything when writing something. Keeping track of and referencing every little detail of previous stories that are considered canon to the current one, and completely ignoring every previous story and rebooting everything, aren't the only legitimate methods of storytelling.

I am hoping that they bring in Gamma's Flicky in Sonic Frontiers as a npc, so we have all of the main characters from Sonic Adventure 1 appear.

No, but it's pretty universally agreed things like that are fun for just about any fan base that ever existed for a media franchise.

Edited by Tony-Sharx on Mar 15th 2023 at 2:14:12 AM

If it was simply a reboot, this wouldn't be necessary.

Unleashed was already a 'soft reboot' and within that window of time Tails became more cowardly until the times he wasn't.

You know what didn't have Continuity Snarl? The classic games. Why doesn't Sega make more of those? Do they hate money and good reviews or something?

I agree with whoever said, "If you want to fix Tails, just start writing him better."

You can have him go through dramatic moments of change and personal growth as many times as you want. But it's not actually character development until you stop writing him changing and start writing him as a changed person.

A lot of characters get stuck on this hamster wheel of personal growth, where they "change and grow" with each installment but then reset to zero immediately after. Because writers become infatuated with the story of them changing and are unwilling to actually let that change actualize.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Mar 15th 2023 at 2:21:12 AM

This is why Jojo is the best ongoing franchise. It resets every story arc with a new cast and setting and only makes occasional references to previous parts.

So Araki can do whatever the fuck he feels like in each individual part without needing to worry about fan breathing down his neck about contradicting something.

"Jotaro isn't strong as he was last part? Screw you, he got old"

There's kind of an answer to that:

Edited by Tony-Sharx on Mar 15th 2023 at 2:23:11 AM

At the cost of sounding like a weeb, so does Final Fantasy.

I'll one-up the Japanese deep cuts with the Trails Series.