New Games Announced for Sonic 25th Anniversary

Bolt the Cat

Bolt the Cat

Bringing the Thunder
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So this year is the 25th anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog series and we've been waiting for a game to be announced (although we did hear earlier that it would be delayed until 2017, but better that than it turn into an 06 style disaster). Well, tonight we saw not one, but two new Sonic games announced.

First is Sonic Mania, a retro style 2D game made in the style of the Classic games. This game is being developed by indie devs Christian "Taxman" Whitehead, Headcannon, and PagodaWest Games and is set to release on Xbox One, PS4, and PC in Spring 2017.


The second is an unnamed Sonic game currently referred to as Sonic 2017, which seems to be a 3D title featuring Classic and Modern Sonic. It's due for release on Xbox One, PS4, NX, and PC in Holiday 2017.


So what do you think of these games? Which one are you most excited for?
 
Neither really pique my interest. I'm not a Classic Sonic guy, and was never a fan of the Sonic Colours style of gameplay. I much prefer Adventure gameplay, and would be far more interested if Project Sonic 2017 was more that.
 
bbninjas said:
Neither really pique my interest. I'm not a Classic Sonic guy, and was never a fan of the Sonic Colours style of gameplay. I much prefer Adventure gameplay, and would be far more interested if Project Sonic 2017 was more that.
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For the majority of gamers, Classic Sonic was the peak of the series. Personally, having had both classic Sonic on my GBA and 3D Sonic on the GameCube and Wii, I think I also prefer the 3D Sonic games. I never got Sonic Colours or Generations, but I enjoyed Adventure 2 Battle a lot, and I've played that game much more than all the classic Sonic games I've bought. As such, nothing in these trailers interests me that much either.

However, I think that Sonic Lost World was SEGA's attempt at another Adventure-style game, and it was truly tragic. Going back to the roots of the franchise, which is the most widely respected era as well, is the best business decision.
 
I'm much more interested in Sonic 2017 than Sonic Mania, but Mania doesn't look too bad. 2017 looks a lot like Generations, but it's stated as not being a sequel to Generations. I do think it's a spiritual successor though, with Classic Sonic making an appearance and with this game being emphasized as a successor to Colors and Generations I can't imagine it'll be terribly different. Maybe it'll be Generations with unique levels, the setting in the trailer doesn't really look familiar.

I also find it curious that 2017 was announced for NX and Mania wasn't, but I suspect that has more to do with the NX not being formally revealed yet more than them not wanting/not being able to release it. I suspect we'll hear an announcement for an NX version of Mania eventually.
 
*Hype*
I can't wait for Project Sonic but Sonic Mania seems really interesting... I think I will get both of them for PC when they won't cost too much :)

Bolt the Cat said:
I also find it curious that 2017 was announced for NX and Mania wasn't, but I suspect that has more to do with the NX not being formally revealed yet more than them not wanting/not being able to release it. I suspect we'll hear an announcement for an NX version of Mania eventually.
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There's not even a Nintendo console announced for Mania... I wonder why...
 
yu6 said:
There's not even a Nintendo console announced for Mania... I wonder why...
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Well 3DS and Wii U seem to be on their way out, support for those games is dwindling and they seem to be shifting towards NX. So it's probably NX or bust. That's what I was trying to get at, we're in this awkward transition phase right now where it's too late for 3DS/Wii U games and too soon for NX games, so we're stuck playing the waiting game until Nintendo decides to open their mouth about what the NX is.
 
Bolt the Cat said:
Well 3DS and Wii U seem to be on their way out, support for those games is dwindling and they seem to be shifting towards NX. So it's probably NX or bust. That's what I was trying to get at, we're in this awkward transition phase right now where it's too late for 3DS/Wii U games and too soon for NX games, so we're stuck playing the waiting game until Nintendo decides to open their mouth about what the NX is.
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Well, assuming the NX is a hybrid that has some sort of dual-OS: one for main(TV-based) and one for carry-on(portable), any more Sonic games for the Wii U and/or 3DS, including a possible 15th anniversary edition of Adverture 2 Battle, may be more of a pipe dream than a realistic business decision in terms of where the support train is heading... And if your product is not going with the support train, it won't fly w/ the players... well, unless the game is Pokemon Sun/Moon-related, of course...

^ Even though Nintendo's tight-lipped about the NX as of now, the aforementioned Sonic games' available platforms list could be telling, if only a little bit sooner than Nintendo is willing to tell us at this time... But yeah, we'll have to wait and see if the message becomes fact...
 
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I guess I'll be the first person to post here that's actually legitimately hyped for Sonic Mania, then. :p Been playing Sonic games since the original on the Genesis (and I can still basically play 2, 3, and & Knuckles entirely from muscle memory) and I love them to death, but I've never really been able to get into the 3D games very much. It'll be interesting to see if they can capture the spirit of the original games again. I don't expect it to sell as well as the newer style of games, but it's nice to throw us old farts a bone every now and then.
 
Sonic Mania looks really good in my opinion. I love how the game looks like a Genesis game, but with fluid, smooth animations. Sonic's sprite reminds me of how he looked in Sonic 3D Blast (Sonic 3D: Flicky's Island for PAL), which I really like. Not sure how I feel about the new "full speed" animation, but I did notice Boost Mode appears to be back, which is awesome, and the Drop Dash will be an interesting mechanic that could possibly be a tactic for speedrunners. It'll be nice to get another 2D Sonic game that looks and feels like a Classic Sonic game (I'm thinking something like Sonic CD or Sonic Advance 2/3) as a change of pace from the Sonic games we've been getting recently, like Lost World and the game we do not speak of. Don't get me wrong, though, I do like the 3D games and Sonic Adventure 2 Battle is one of my favourite games from the Sonic franchise. I'd also like to point out that for those who don't know, Christian Whitehead previously made the Sonic CD and Sonic 1 ports for XBLA, PSX, and PC/Mobile. Can't remember if there are any other Sonic ports he did, but I'm sure he made those two.

Sonic 2017, on the other hand, looks okay and is interesting, but I want to see more from it. So we've got an post-apocalyptic game where Eggman has supposedly taken over? Cool. Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic together again? Cool, I like it. But where's the gameplay footage? I would've liked to see a little from the trailer, but maybe it just wasn't ready. I'm also really interested in seeing more plot, because this whole fiery-with-robots thing is leaving me wanting to know more plot. How did this happen? What happened to the rest of Mobius? "Join the Resistance" might be a reference to some sort of Freedom Fighters-like team, so if they do go ahead with something like that, I'd hope they execute it well, even though I'm not too big a fan of the comics. This is also the same team that brought us Colours and Generations, which were awesome games, so I think Sonic 2017 will be worth something.

Also, it's not a Sonic Boom game! ^v^
 
Sonic Mania looks a lot like it could easily be a "Sonic CD 2" since it appears that was the major influence behind this game; from the platforms and the sprites.

Project Sonic should be good; hopefully. It is being developed by Sonic Team and they did score hits with Colo{u}rs and Generations. I'm not sure how to feel about this being a pseudo-sequel to Generations; because that was the most egregious case of "playing it safe" I had ever seen. Hopefully, this game will take a few more risks.

I'm interested; being a Sonic fan. But I want to know more about these games though before I want to get anywhere close to these games.
 
i was too young to have gotten into classic sonic (and as a kid i was brought up in a "nintendo household" anyways) so that sonic mania thing sounds neat to me, would like to give it a try at least
 
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