It’s the bedtime story that you tell to your kids in bed, or the scary ghost story you tell your brother or sister in a tent. Yes, that fabled story of when SEGA was a
respectable console manufacturer, and the most interesting chapter – the Dreamcast Saga – being where the company bailed out from their fans and went third party. There was outrage. There was disappointment. There was even death threats to the arcade company being mumbled under most irrational people’s breaths.
But for SEGA to survive, they needed to make this move. Ultimately, the fans should understand that, otherwise how can they be fans of the company? The alternative was to bask in the epitaph of one of the greatest games developers in the industry.
Two or three years down the line, and we see that SEGA could well be double-backing on itself and what they said, although some well-built relationships have been formed within the company – we have Smilebit shaking hands with Mr. Bill Gatesâ„¢ of Windowslandâ„¢, with AM2 not far behind (despite the XBox’s constant failure to make a stand in Japan, which is most ironic), making games that are destined not to creep out of Microsoft’s big money box anytime soon. You can also see the majority of SEGA teaming up with the casual gamer’s no-brainer option: making exclusive games for the PlayStation 2.
Finally, we have the Nintendo GameCube’s support – plenty of games (although paltry compared to the exclusive luxuries that the other two consoles get pampered with – Beach Spikers anyone? *Yak*), but at least Nintendo have made good exclusive pals with Amusement Vision and Soni-
… Erm… was I going to say Sonic Team?
Backtrack to this very morning I write this – hanging at my reliable GameCube source revealed the latest screenshots of Sonic Adventure DX. Tasty, I thought, although it was really nothing I hadn’t seen or completed before. I would most probably get SA:DX just for the sake of me being one of the most avid collectors of the blue blur out there – exactly the same reason I bought Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, another port from an old Dreamcast title.
Then something caught my eye. SEGA’s E3 list for May 2003. Perfect, I thought, as I read with glee, the latest Sonic game information caught my eye. Heart thumping with immense excitement for the official word on “Sonic Heroes” (that’s what it’s gonna be called, natch), I read something that might shake up the fury meters of some Nintendo/Sonic fanboys:
“SEGA’s legendary mascot Sonic The Hedgehog makes his historic PlayStation2 and Xbox debut!”
Port-o-bingo?
Taking a short history lesson, when SEGA split from the console market and onto third party production, it was spelled quite clearly that Nintendo would be Sonic Team’s mainstay. Because of that, Sonic fans have been happy that they can get all their Sonic games on one console, and Nintendo fans both have a chance to see what Mario’s former arch rival is capable of, while having a real stance to say that their console is worth getting, in the rather over-exaggerated and over-publicised console war. Apart from Nintendo, there’s not a lot of exclusives for casual gamers to stand by. Sonic was seen as one reason to get a GameCube over a PS2 or XBox.
And Sonic Team, quite frankly, have been doing somewhat of a porting job. The first GameCube “exclusive” was in the form of Sonic Adventure 2 Battle – which was nowhere near as exciting to play as the original Dreamcast counterpart, and it actually is a worse version than the Dreamcast one. But, an enjoyable game nontheless, we (and especially I) didn’t mind Sonic Team doing a port to make themselves known. I was certain that the big Sonic gaming guns would come after SA2B. What came next?
Sonic Mega Collection. Good value for those never experienced Sonic before, but I could have played any of those games without shelling out £40 – and could have been better off without the cack Archie scans and boring-as-hell movies, cheers Japan VRI.
Then we had Phantasy Star Online. Ah yes, Sonic Team’s chief cash cow. A very very good game in it’s right, but why does it have to be ported to every single console in existence, rather than just making a proper sequel that was not repetitive to play on your own? A few months ago I was beginning to worry about the state of Sonic Team – never before had they been so dependent on bringing out rehashes of old Dreamcast games.
After PSO, in comes the inevitable – what everyone had been predicting since day one – Sonic Adventure ported and tweaked in some obscure way to make Directors Cut. Although in my opinion, SA1 was better than SA2, was there ever any need to bring this one out on GameCube? Why, when they could have been concentrating on original games?
Not to worry…
My point thus far, being that most people (including Sonic fans that have ‘evolved’ into Nintendo fans) would initially feel like they, as fans, have been mistreated by Sonic Team. Who can blame them really – the team could have made one or two exclusive _new_ Sonic games on GameCube before dipping their toe in the water for other consoles. It wouldn’t have been at a loss either – seeings as pretty much every Sonic fan had taken heed of Naka-san’s apparaisal of Nintendo’s machine and bought a GameCube.
In this respect, their main question would be “Are Sonic Team just going to leave GameCube now they’re looking at Xbox and PS2, leaving all of the real Sonic fans eating their dust while the development team try to appeal to non-fans of Sonic?”
And my answer would be: Not a chance.
Yes, it does seem, as Sonic fans, we have been given a bit of a raw deal when it comes to the Sonic games front – Sonic Team has only up to this point [in this generation of consoles] provided ports of games we should pretty much already own. I am slightly dubious about Sonic Team’s outreach to non-Sonic fans, as that would mean more ports and perhaps, worst comes to worst, a complete departure of “true Sonic gameplay” in later games.
Looking at E3’s list, it seems that only Sonic Heroes is destined for a multi-platform release. The other games are sticking with GameCube and Game Boy Advance, which is an echo of what Naka-san was talking about a few years back when he said “If you’re a fan of Sonic Team, it’s best to get a GameCube”. Which is a huge relief.
And to be honest, Sonic is the mascot of SEGA, and perhaps a better way of getting the entire company known is to let the hedgehog stretch his feet across more than one platform. As said many times before, Sonic Team has some kind of crush on GameCube, so if there’s any Sonic games being released soon, you can bet your life that they will at least head to Nintendo’s console first – the console you bought because you were led to believe that the newest Sonic games would spawn from there.
You see? He weren’t lying, was our Yuji. Most probably why Sonic is heading to different platforms was either because, as above, it was a SEGA-controlled decision to gain a bit more respect from their name; or it was Naka-san’s idea of previously-mentioned ‘dipping his toe in the water’ in order to spread the name and popularity of the blue blur.
And take a look at what’s to come to reward loyal Sonic Team fans, exclusive to GameCube. Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg looks set to form a comeback from the innovative Sonic Team that we knew back in the NiGHTS Into Dreams… days. Phantasy Star Online Episode 3, being a possible Ninty exclusive, leaves loads of room for Game Boy Advance and e-Reader connectivity (what with the game being based on cards and all), and let’s not forget what’s a given anyway – Sonic Heroes.
The only fear anyone should have with this multi-platform Sonic business is the fact that Sonic Team may not be used to making multiple versions of the same game: their only experience being Phantasy Star Online Episodes 1 & 2 – but we sense, like PSO, Sonic Heroes will be made for each console with a specific time gap – which should mean that the GameCube and Xbox versions shouldn’t have gaffy PS2 graphics etc.
So no, Sonic Team are not turning their backs on us loyal fans, but outreaching to potential fans. This is the ‘Year of Sonic’ in full swing. Funnily enough, all this fuss about GC ports, and Naka-san hasn’t even made a remake of NiGHTS. =P
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