I’m an old school Sonic fan. I’m not ashamed to admit it. Sonic the Hedgehog – in his original Naoto Oshima Genesis-era design – is one of the greatest designed characters of all time, who also happened to be the star player of some brilliantly constructed 2D sidescrollers. As a character, Sonic managed to perform a feat accomplished by few. Sonic managed to appeal to kids, adults, midwesterners, urban dwellers, tweens, teens, and even parents all at the same time. Sonic had true universal appeal, the likes of which even Super Mario arguably didn’t achieve. Within five years time span, Sonic broke sales records, had three cartoons, multiple international comic books, famous Japanese (Masato Nakamura of Dreams Come True) and American (Michael Jackson) musicians composing his soundtracks, and even an animated movie. He was a perfect character. One part cute, one part cool, and one part smartass. How could you not love him?
But after the years of corporate infighting that finally derailed Sonic’s game career during the Saturn era (and eventually destroyed the old Sega), Sonic vanished for nearly four years, only to be reborn in 1999 via Sonic Adventure in a new and “extreme” form. He was cooler, sure, but his appeal narrowed considerably. Over the years since the Dreamcast came and went, Sonic’s design was altered further (at times more than once a year) until many of the defining characteristics that made him so appealing in the first place started to vanish, all the while his games became the stuff of open ridicule.
So we’ve finally reached this moment. After years of false starts, broken promises, and marred memories, Sonic the Hedgehog has returned. Not just speaking of the classic style of gameplay which Sonic Generations looks to have down pat, but also the real Sonic the Hedgehog character design has returned, namely Oshima’s 1991 “Mr. Needlemouse” seen on the right.
Think back to when Sonic 4 was unveiled. Sega teases for months with a “Project Needlemouse” silhouette graphic that guarantees a return to classic Sonic. For those who don’t know, Mr. Needlemouse was Sonic’s original code name when he was in the creation process back in 1990. That silhouette was essentially the old school Sonic the Hedgehog title screen logo blacked out. Then after all that hype, not only does Sega chicken out and decide to use the current Sonic design for a classic sequel, but they only show about 3.4 seconds of actual game footage in a one minute “teaser.”
Fans were outraged. Teasing the usage of modern Sonic was essentially Sega reaching out to their remaining old school fans – a considerable force – and saying, “This one’s for you.” However, after unveiling modern Sonic, it felt more like Sega was saying, “Sure, Sonic 4 is just for you guys…but we want to make sure the kids are taken care of first.” Even when focusing on their remaining old school fan base, Sega had to focus test every decision straight to disaster. The common belief is that Sega were planning on restoring Sonic’s classic 90s design for the project, but they chickened out and went with the current one for fear of alienating the younger audience, a theory made all the more ridiculous when time has proven Sonic’s original design to have broader appeal. On top of that, it was clear to fans that even from just 3.4 seconds of game footage, Sonic 4′s physics were completely broken. It didn’t play like the Genesis originals at all. It’s as though Sega knew outright that the game was deeply flawed and was trying to hide its flaws as long as possible to generate hype.
Fear of change is understandable to an extent. Sonic is a big name business. It shows just how resilient his character is to still have any kind of draw after ten years of trashy games, but Sonic 4 was a betrayal on many levels, none more important than trashing the classic line of games with a bad installment. You wouldn’t think Sega would have any pull left with Sonic fans after that failure, but here we are with Sonic Generations, a game that possesses a level of sincerity that Sonic games have lacked since the Dreamcast. Sure, you can claim this is the “Sonic Cycle” starting all over again, but I disagree. This time Sega is actually doing things right. For starters, they released a ton of actual game footage just a couple of days after the teaser trailer that unveiled the return of classic Sonic and reassured fans that there was nothing to hide here. Fans have analyzed that footage under extreme scrutiny. What they found was a true return to the original style of Sonic gameplay: sudden bursts of speed, tied together with multi-level stage design, pinball physics, tight controls, and that same elusive sense of momentum that made the Genesis games so grand. On top of that, the Sonic Unleashed style modern sections look to be pretty decent as well, so we’re finally going to get a true side-by-side comparison of both the classic and modern Sonic gameplay styles at their best so that players can finally decide once and for all which is superior in a fair contest.
But that’s speaking strictly of gameplay. As far as character design, if Sega’s official Facebook poll is showing anything, Classic Sonic is currently destroying the modern green-eyed incarnation by about four-to-one. In more ways than one, it’s blatantly clear that for the first time in a long time, Sonic is back. Welcome back, little dude.
Popularity: unranked [?]
