Sonic the Hedgehog: Is it dead?

[Alolan Slowpoke]

Sonic the Hedgehog is a series that's been around for a long time. Love it or not, it's one of the most famous video game icons, and the rivalry with Mario carved this spiny blue fellow into the pages of gaming history.

Now look at Sonic today. The last two major Sonic games, Sonic Generations and Sonic Lost World recieved positive to mixed emotions, and were described as gimmicky and highly flawed. Many would say that if not for the cheap gimmicks, the franchise would be deader than it is already considered to be. And looking at the less than stellar gameplay demo of Sonic Boom, people fear the worst has yet to come for our blue spiky friend.

The question I pose is, is the Sonic the Hedgehog series as dead as people make it out to be? If so, can it be redeemed, and how? Would the franchise be better off in the hands of someone else? Discuss.

 

[Tolkin]

I think it is dead, but it can be redeemed. Ever since I saw Sonic Boom, I just lost interest in Sonic overall. It looked very flawed like the last few games. Because of that, its dead to me. But, if Sega can make a Sonic game that isn't flawed or gimmicky, maybe they'll have a chance.

 

[Ivysaur]

I would like Nintendo to get their hands on it and see what they could do (not just publishing the game like Lost World but actually making their own). By all accounts it's definitely nowhere near where it used to be though. Even when the games really sucked it was still a very popular franchise, but you just don't hear it mentioned anymore.

 

[Agent 007 Squirtle]

Sonic isn't dead, there hasnt been a truly bad Sonic game since Sonic and the Black Knight.

 

[Rainbow Cloud]

I wouldn't say Sonic's dead, the series isn't perfect but the games seem to be improving a bit from the really dark days of Shadow the Hedgehog (the game not the character), Sonic 06 and Sonic Riders, the time when I walked away from Sonic games. I haven't played Sonic Lost World so I can't give an opinion on it but I did enjoy Sonic Generations despite still not really being a fan of the gameplay in modern Sonic games, it just seems to be about pressing the boost button all the time and the controls are too restrictive and on-rails. I'd prefer to see a return to the style of gameplay seen in the Adventure games's Sonic/Shadow levels, less restrictive and no boost button, they'd need to improve the camera and sort out some of the glitches though. Even with their problems I still think the Adventure games are more enjoyable to play than any of the modern sonic games.

 

[Robo-Floatzel]

Sonic games have been up and down over the years. We've had good games, decent games, bad games, and Sonic '06, but I can't say Sonic is dead, far from. With Sonic Boom coming soon, I can clearly say that Sonic is clearly not dead, but I can say that Sonic Boom is a much needed reboot for the franchise.

 

[Osprey]

I don't think the franchise is dead yet. What they need to do is keep it to the platformer genre. 2-D sidescrolling. Sonic the Hedgehog was the first game I ever played, and it was the old game where there were no supporting characters, talking, or weird stuff like that. It was still enjoyable.

 

[Bolt Strike]

I don't think so, but if it continues in the direction it's gone since Lost World, it might. With Generations, it seemed like they were on the right track to fixing Sonic, they had a good, working gameplay style that a lot of people enjoyed, they only really needed to make some refinements and then Sonic would've been good again. But instead, they decided to throw everything out the window and make a completely new gameplay style that received mixed reactions. Now it just seems like they have no idea what they're doing, they're just throwing shit to the wall and seeing if it sticks instead of actually looking at the positives and negatives of the gameplay and making refinements based on that. I agree with @Ivysaur; that Nintendo buying out the series might be a good thing. I don't trust SEGA anymore to deliver quality gameplay, but if Nintendo could design a Sonic game themselves they would probably be much better at making consistently good games.

 

[King Robert]

Oh OP, you so silly.

If Sonic was dead, then A: the new Sonic Boom game/TV series wouldn't be coming out, and B: Sonic wouldn't be a playable character in Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Oh OP, you so silly.

If Sonic was dead, then A: the new Sonic Boom game/TV series wouldn't be coming out, and B: Sonic wouldn't be a playable character in Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U.

Smash Bros. uses tons of dead/dormant characters. When's the last time you've seen Captain Falcon, Mr. Game and Watch, and Ice Climbers appear in their own games?

 

[King Robert]

Oh OP, you so silly.

If Sonic was dead, then A: the new Sonic Boom game/TV series wouldn't be coming out, and B: Sonic wouldn't be a playable character in Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U.

Smash Bros. uses tons of dead/dormant characters. When's the last time you've seen Captain Falcon, Mr. Game and Watch, and Ice Climbers appear in their own games?

Don't care about 'em, Sonic's my favorite.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Oh OP, you so silly.

If Sonic was dead, then A: the new Sonic Boom game/TV series wouldn't be coming out, and B: Sonic wouldn't be a playable character in Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U.

Smash Bros. uses tons of dead/dormant characters. When's the last time you've seen Captain Falcon, Mr. Game and Watch, and Ice Climbers appear in their own games?

Don't care about 'em, Sonic's my favorite.

Oooo...kay. That has nothing to do with my point, that playability in Smash Bros has no bearing on whether or not a series is still alive.

 

[Lysson]

Dead? No. It's still going but I think the fan base is dieing and I'm not pleased with what they've done to Knuckles as I don't think he can glide in sonic boom plus he has no neck and looks awful... he's my favourite :/
But the game looks good and I think Sonic will slowly recover and maybe one day return to its former glory.
Game sales? Games still seem to be selling but only to their target audience so it hasn't aged as well as Pokemon or Zelda.

 

[Lugia trainer]

No Sonic is not dead if Sonic was dead then they wouldn't be making a Sonic the hedgehog movie. And for those of you that don't know that's not something I'm just hoping for it's actually happening look it up. I'm a die-hard Sonic fan by the way. Sonic is my #1 favorite video game character.

 

[juniormints]

I feel sonic games haven't been particularly good since they switched to 3d. Yes they were fun, in fact SA2B was one of the most fun games I have ever played, however mechanically it was poor, kind of glitchy, and the story wasn't anything special. However for Sonic, that worked. I feel that after Shadow the Hedgehog, the fun started to fade. Even ignoring the poor game-play and glitchiness in Sonic '06, it still wasn't very good. There were many parts of the game where you would simply just have to talk to people. Sonic was fun because you got to run and jump and get to a point. In sonic and the black knight, even if you were to ignore the painful werehog levels, there were still those parts of the game where you had to talk to the civilians. Sonic is not a RPG, so adding mechanics that pretend it is doesn't add anything to the game. Anyway, that's my 2 cents. This si also under the assumption that the games haven't changed since sonic and the Black Knight, i haven't playe4d any of the games since, but that's what I noticed about the games.

 

[KatTayle]

I personally like how Sonic has gone to more 3D, and Lost World is my favorite of the Sonic games (partially because I'm so bad at the others). But I do notice that most of the levels aren't ones you'd want to play again, except for some of the bosses and Windy Hill Zone. If they made levels that people would be like, "Wow, that's really awesome! I want to play that again and again" then maybe more people would be interested in the new games. Also not saying it's a bad idea to have it in game, but that Asteroid wisp is a pain and I'm stuck on a level just because I can't get it to jump when I want it to.

Also Knuckles' new design in Sonic Boom is crazy, they should have kept him the same size. I've never seen him as being like super big and buff, and I think his old design was as good as it gets for him. Now he just looks weird. I like what they did with Tails though

 

[ocelotlrama jaguar]

Sonic is not dead in a sense that there will be no more games. Last time I checked, newer Sonic games are still coming out to this day. I understand that quantity does not mean quality, and the past Sonic games in the last 10 years have had their ups and downs, with the lowest point being in 2005-2006. From what I've read in online game sites and articles, I don't think Sonic games can be any lower than those points and it would have to take a major screw up to be lower than Sonic '06 or GBA Genesis. *shudder*

Now, will he ever get the popularity back that he had in the 90s? I doubt it. Back then, it really felt like Sega of Japan and America really were on the same page and worked together to bring great games. Today, it seems like both companies are on their own terms, and I believe that is what really caused the game's quality to go down. I mentioned this in another thread, but I also feel like Sega is focusing too much on storytelling and not enough on gameplay. A balance of both is good, but I feel they forgo one for the other. Of course, that is just my opinion. The older games in the early 90s had great gameplay, but very little story with no dialogue, yet they were a blast to play! Today, there is a lot of storytelling, too many characters, and crappy controls that make gameplay frustrating as hell. I would rather have good gameplay, but it's not like they could not do both by also bringing a good story to tell. From what I read about Generations and Colors, they are getting better at balancing both, but it is going to take a bit more than that to bring back the kind of popularity he enjoyed in the 90s.

 

[Doormat]

I can count the amount of good Sonic games on one hand. Sonic died a while ago in my opinion.

 

[Uncle Edit]

I don't see how a franchise that still earns some good sales can be a "dead" franchise. Sure, the majority of the 3D games have earned a mixed or average critical reception, but it still has a following going on, as I have heard of some fans who enjoyed the 3D Sonic titles. Also, at least 21 Sonic titles have sold a million+ copies, and that is certainly enough to make the Sonic series successful. Even Sonic Lost World has sold 710,000 copies as of last March, so even that one has enjoyed some decent sales.
Overall, there are still haters who will despise the franchise no matter what Sega does with it, and the critics are divided on the franchise as a whole, but for how successful a gaming franchise is, there is more that goes into it than just the haters and critics. When you take into account that there are still some Sonic fans out there that support the series and that Sonic games still sell well (hey, I'm a poet!), I don't see the franchise going anywhere anytime soon, no matter how many haters it has.

 

[Muur]

It seems to have died down but it seems still to be alive enough.