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Post by Ex on Oct 14, 2019 14:54:08 GMT -5
Is there even an exclusive Sonic game on Saturn, lol?
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Post by Sarge on Oct 14, 2019 15:12:41 GMT -5
Well, as Xeogred pointed out, there were multiple Mega Man games that stuck with the tried-and-true formula for the Blue Bomber. I don't think it would have done poorly at all. I honestly think Sega got spooked too much by Sony and their 3D capabilities, and tried too hard to be the "hey, we can do this too!" company instead of leaning on their system's strengths. That, and a internecine turf war with their American branch that clearly understood how to do well over here in the Genesis era. But then again, we got two Mega Man Legends games... which I remember not being as well received, so I guess 3D ain't everything. (In hindsight, they're remembered fondly, but a lot of folks didn't like the changes in MML.) I agree that Sonic Mania provides some closure on that front, but it sure would have been nice if that had happened all those years ago.
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Post by Ex on Oct 14, 2019 16:09:00 GMT -5
I love the MML games (very due for a replay), and also The Misadventures of Tron Bonne is outstanding. Edit: anayo Wouldn't it be fairer to start SEGA's 32-bit era with the 32X in 1994? Then we could include Knuckles' Chaotix in the list. (Sonic does actually appear in the game if you collect all the Chaos Rings to unlock the good ending.)
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Post by anayo on Oct 15, 2019 5:39:35 GMT -5
anayo Wouldn't it be fairer to start SEGA's 32-bit era with the 32X in 1994? Then we could include Knuckles' Chaotix in the list. (Sonic does actually appear in the game if you collect all the Chaos Rings to unlock the good ending.) Yeah I can get behind that because I don't think we've ever had an in-depth discussion about Knuckles Chaotix on HRG. What did you think of that title? I used to own a copy but traded it to a guy on Racketboy. I wasn't super impressed with it, but I don't entirely remember why. Maybe I ought to open it in an emulator to get to the bottom of that. Today I do really respect its soundtrack. I can tell it's using different sound hardware than just a stock Sega Genesis, so it sounds a little odd to me, but stylistically it has that same "90's cool" vibe, so I think its music is legit.
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Post by Ex on Oct 15, 2019 9:23:16 GMT -5
What did you think of that title? I have not put much time into it. I recall when I played Knuckles' Chaotix the first time back around 2007, I was taken aback because it reminded me of Sonic Crackers - which I'd played years before as a ROM. It was later that I learned Sonic Crackers eventually became Knuckle's Chaotix. I wouldn't mind eventually playing through Chaotix at some point. Maybe we should have a Sonic month for Club Retro sometime, as there's so many Sonic related games that are retro compliant.
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Post by toei on Oct 15, 2019 18:59:18 GMT -5
I don't know whether a 2D Sonic would have done that well on the Saturn, no matter how good it might have looked. Neither Symphony of the Night or whichever PSX Mega Man was mentioned were huge hits, and it would have looked bad for a mainline Sonic game to be 2D and sell 300,000 copies in 1997 or whatever. And Yuji Naka didn't even want to make a Sonic 2, so you can imagine that by then he wanted his creative freedom back. "Sonic Team" was just a thing Sega created when Sonic turned out to be a hit, but all those people had careers before and likely didn't want to spend their lives making Sonic games. It seems fitting for Sega, who's input was far more diverse than Nintendo's as a game developer, to have semi-dropped Sonic as a mascot with the Saturn. Or Streets of Rage, or Phantasy Star, or Shinobi (except for that one probably TOSE-developed game). Sega was into doing new things, not rehashing franchises forever.
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Post by anayo on Oct 15, 2019 19:14:21 GMT -5
I don't know whether a 2D Sonic would have done that well on the Saturn, no matter how good it might have looked. Neither Symphony of the Night or whichever PSX Mega Man was mentioned were huge hits, and it would have looked bad for a mainline Sonic game to be 2D and sell 300,000 copies in 1997 or whatever. My bad, I didn't check actual sales figures when I said SotN sold like gangbusters. Maybe it just gained cult status later, I guess like Blade Runner or the Dark Crystal or something. Yes, I definitely surmised this from interviews around the time Yuji Naka and his team were working on NiGHTS. The interviewer kept asking if there was another Sonic game on the way and Yuji Naka kept deflecting the question. I really get the impression he made that game just cause it was what he wanted to make. I'm really glad he did even though it wasn't a hit in 1996, cause it's one of my top 5 Saturn games now.
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Post by Sarge on Oct 15, 2019 20:01:27 GMT -5
Maybe not mega blockbusters, but MM8, MMX4, MM Legends, and SotN all got Greatest Hits releases. According to Wikipedia, MM8 at least hit 350,000. MMX4 almost hit 200,000 in Japan alone.
It's certainly possible it wouldn't have done well, but I do believe that it would have helped move more systems than they did. And better to actually have one and it be received less warmly than not at all. I also definitely understand why they wouldn't want to keep doing Sonic, but the irony there is that they put their company in such a dire position that they basically were reduced to keeping doing Sonic. (They have diversified a bit lately, though, with the success of some other franchises of theirs like Yakuza.)
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Post by Ex on Oct 15, 2019 20:09:48 GMT -5
Yuji Naka and his team were working on NiGHTS. I really get the impression he made that game just cause it was what he wanted to make. I'm really glad he did even though it wasn't a hit in 1996, cause it's one of my top 5 Saturn games now. If you're into Wii games, don't sleep on Nights: Journey of Dreams. It's fantastic.
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Post by anayo on Feb 19, 2020 6:28:03 GMT -5
S3&K’s soundtrack has a cool style, but it’s a notion of cool from a different time period, which I couldn’t perceive in 1995 because that time period was still underway. Again, my musical background isn’t strong enough to completely describe what I’m hearing, but it’s full of specific riffs, bass lines, and voice samples taking cues from late 80’s and early 90’s hip hop or rap. The prevailing conspiracy theory is that Michael Jackson helped compose S3&K’s score, but personally it reminds me of the days when you could listen to 2 Unlimited unironically. S3&K's soundtrack sounds like it's from another era because they literally just took 80's pop songs and put them in their game. Wow.
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