Perhaps from Shadow onwards after seeing so much death she destruction, until he regained his inner light from traveling the world with Chip. Then he started joking all the time because of it and his newly gained mental resistance after the struggle didn't shatter again even after getting imprisoned for 6 months.
I think oppressed is better fitting then depressed. It was always other different people who damaged more and more a building of the idea of Sonic and a cool, interesting art direction. In my opinion it is only a matter of time when the building collapses and with it the selling numbers, when it not already happend.
The fact that they went from a collab-filled racing game that was racing & transformed to one of the driest sonic games with a tiny and boring roster of characters is depressing.
What sucks is that this is the worst possible game to have such an anemic roster. You need three characters just to even play the game, a race with the max amount of players will have most if not all of the roster.
To add onto what you've said here, I think what I have always admired is that Sonic has tried its best to have a sense of character consistency throughout the years. You could obviously point out subtle differences between portrayals and writers, but there was never really a debate as to whether or not this was SONIC. It was just different styles or portrayals which fit his core ethos since his inception. He was always doing radically different stuff, but no matter what situation he found himself in, you could take solace in the idea that this was the character you had been following for years, more or less. This current era of Sonic has lost that. Sometimes, it is hard for me to put this feeling into words, and I have a feeling many others feel the same way. It is perhaps why there is so much pushback to the idea, since it often sounds like nebulous nostalgic bullshit. But I have heard enough of it at this point to conclude that there is a truth to this idea that Sonic has been lost that so many people feel. No era of Sonic has ever been perfect, but they were never trying to be. They were trying to push boundaries, maybe beyond what they were even capable of (which lead to disasters like '06). I can appreciate, on some level, finding those limits and reigning in that ambitious drive a little. But they've gone so far in the other direction that I have no idea what this franchise is anymore. I would say that Sonic can DO anything, GO anywhere, but he can't BE anyone. He always has to be him. I'm not even super strict about what that means, seeing as Maekawa took his own shonen-esque liberties. But at the end of the day, when your franchise is about the character, he kinda needs to BE the character.
@@ianshere2465 damn, i feel frontires brings back that consistantsy in full strides. so many people chalk up the story to "bad" because "referencces" but does nobody know how ian writes stuff? dude turned tommy turtle from the archie comics into a emotional moment for sonic. the references have a purpose. theres a world sonic lives in, and the references feel like team sonic went on those adventures, it feels like charecters changed from those games. tails is a amazing example of this. recent games made tails a coward, but sonic in frontires reassures the brave acts he did in past games to cheer him up. that scene is a prime definition of a course correction for a charecter. i just do not understand most of the hate and flack frontires gets and im ok with that. ill just be living in annoyance at frontires haters.
Arguably movie sonic is the least of our problems since Paramount has a clear idea of what their sonic is. Sure it's not the sonic that we want but at least he actually has continuity unlike forces and frontiers
I won't complain that makes it easier to dismiss his existence entirely, they're not trying to pretend that he's canon like Prime Sonic is supposed to be.
Quite the example of what a problem a thousand inconsistency papercuts can lead. Proactivity, not reactivity. (Also, points for Paramount, since I'm also a Bayformers junkie. What better combo!)
When he said "but I don't know if I like any Sonic character now" I thought, it's exaggerated, they won't be well characterized, but it doesn't matter if it's a racing game...Then I remembered that this game has a story, dialogues in game, and cinematics consisting of pngs that you have to read
After watching every cutscene, there have been few times I've felt worse about this franchise. Literally 75 percent of the game's story is that the characters are suspicious of Dodon Pa. And that is all they ever talk about. It's not even frustratingly dumb like the Rivals games having the characters refuse to work together. It's just boring watching the characters go "Dodon Pa's a little fishy" in 50 different ways until they figure out he isn't.
And then hope "oh next time they'll do it right! This is a good first step forward!" even though deep down you know they're gonna pull some retarded bullshit and make another mediocre product just to have something on the shelves to sell because SEGA Sammy solely sees Sonic as a mascot, and since that mascot isn't popular in Japan, they don't give a shit
@@crimsonzone8984 Frontiers fan here, I can admit that it has problems. What I'm baffled is that how people gassed up this mediocre game to be a masterpiece (it isn't), but hey Sega is giving more budget to the franchise and that's the first step towards making better games.
14:33 The funny part is that they don’t just are hollow shells with no substance inside them, they look like hollow shells with no substance inside Them too. These models of the characters looks so bad and lifeless.
@@Rainyar4779 Sonic Prime uses different models (eg. they have visible stripes that are supposed to resemble fur) Also it isn't that we haven't seen good Sonic animation, it's just that every time good animation happens it's in pre rendered cutscenes and the in game cutscenes are terrible most of the time.
@@sahaprocks7751 Do not "bro" me, the creators of the Sonic Prime confirmed Sega & Sonic Team gave them the assets from the modern games to use on the show.
@@sebastianmartinez5963 When you hit an opponent (with your vehicle or an item) in TSR, it'll play some dialogue to taunt your opponent. Specifically when Tails hits Shadow, the line is "Who's your daddy, Shadow?"
I mean, sonic riders arguably makes the MOST sense actually. Obviously you have to nerf Sonic's speed because he is The Fastest Thing Alive™️, so he's provoked into air riding by Jet, and simply complies with the rules for the challenge. How fun would a sonic game with accurate lore be: not. In sonic r and rush he just chooses to trot for whatever reason
@Neawn-by5pi The simple explanation could just be because Sonic finds it fun, he finds riding hoverboards and driving racecars to be cool and fun, that's all you have to say. It's not complicated.
It's a "Extreme Gear competition" not a foot race. Why do you expect him to run on foot in a hover gear race? Egg Man isn't holding a foot racing tournament, jet didn't own sonic on foot. (Jet - Hmph! So YOU'RE supposed to be the fastest thing alive?) (Sonic - Oh, new competition) (Jet- Hmph! He may be the fastest creature on the ground, but in the air, with me and my Extreme Gear, he's just a joke!)
It's not a bad game but it's not an amazing game either. I know racing games are now one of those "oh the developer is supposed to 'support' the game and constantly release new content for it and make it go on forever" games we see so often since the mid-2010s... but look at Mario Kart Wii. Look at Sonic Racing Transformed. Sure those didn't come out during the live service hellscape we've been in for the last decade, but people are still playing and loving those games because the core gameplay itself is fun. Team Sonic Racing's new team mechanics and the strategy elements of helping your team mates WOULD make for both an interesting single player or multiplayer experience, but because you can just spam the item share button to constantly pass or request items and build up your team boost gage super fast [and because the AI sucks], both forms of play suffer because their one interesting thing is trivialized. Time trials WOULD be interesting because the game goes back to the Riders/Heroes character types with different routes each character can take, but since the game is so slow, it's immediately unappealing. So in the end, all it has going for it is the great music, which is expected of a Sonic game... so TSR really is basically nothing.
I feel like with the concept of Sonic always changing the term "My Sonic" means something different to everyone depending on when they got into Sonic and what sonic content they're consuming. I believe this is a point you've brought up before.
Interesting point. I got into sonic only almost a year ago but I play the 2d classic games the most. My sonic is and will always be the classic 90's sonic, the one who saves the animals and protects nature. Today's sonic doesn't really do that anymore
@nyeeeofthestarsz1804 What do you mean? That's literally the only thing he does now. What's missing is his resolve and sense of righteousness that got replaced with arrogance and bad comedy.
No but on a serious note, I wish it had more in common with transformed. I remember being really disappointed when this was announced and it seemed like we were taking a step backwards. At least the game has cool track themes and really solid soundtrack. Also can confirm, online was DOA. I think I only had maybe 2 matches ever. Very disappointing release.
I imagine this game is marginally more fun when you play it coop with someone else. But I've never bothered trying to do that because I'm just not that interested.
You'd be correct, it's actually WAY more fun co-op. I actually did get 3 player co-op going and everything made more sense. The team mechanics benefitted from having real people on your team. Makes me wish this game had a real lobby system.
@@MathewRYFGame design number 101: If your game almost dependant on cooperative multiplayer, make sure getting those players to play with you isn't a pain in the ass.
14:30 the point of this charactes being just "lifeless, shallow puppets" is so accurate considering everything in this game looks and feel so "plasticky", they look like they are mate of plastic, they look like action figures in the worst way possible
I feel like the notion that Sonic participating in the EX Gear races making no sense sorta misunderstands Sonic as a character. Yes, he's probably faster than a Gear, but it's an competition ABOUT EXTREME GEAR. The plot of Riders has Sonic wanting to cement himself as the fastest using EX Gear because that's what the prix is about according to Eggman. Sonic has always been prideful regarding his nature as the fastest thing alive, so when it's challenged by Jet he wants to compete for the sake of his pride. The fact it's about hoverboards doesn't matter to him.
Realizing now that Vector outside of the IDW Comics does no detective work, to the point that he gets grouped in with Blaze and Silver... midly better combo than Amy and Cream in Free Riders at least. 😅
exactly. vector (and by extent a lot of the characters really) is...what? what even IS vector anymore? is he a relaxed teen who's into music and religion? is he a detective that is a fucking loser? or is he just...crocodile guy.
@@lauraikoko Personality wise he's been fairly consistent. Ever since Heroes, Vector has been the comic relief buff dude, but it's his proffesion as a detective that gets glossed over for some reason. In Forces he's just there as a background extra. It says a lot about the writing when Shadow The Hedgehog incorporates his detective work into the plot. IDW and japanese supplementary material from Sonic Channel have both it, and his crush on Vanilla from the X anime, but neither of those are there in the games themselves.
@@galten7361 Oh Vector in Archie is a whole other can of worms haha! There's one arc that's about him doing detective work for a pirate princess, but most of the comic is him tagging along with Knuckles and other outcasts.
Y'know, usually I'm kinda afraid of commenting out of fear of pissing people off or sounding stupid, but this video got me thinking. I always thought part of Sonic's general appeal was its malleability, that's what made youngins want to draw him, or write their own stories about him. The fact there are so many different interpretations of Sonic made the franchise feel free and fun for anyone. Granted, I personally try to nail myself down to a specific interpretation when making Sonic stuff, but I can't deny that a lot of people have their own ways, and that can lead to some interesting storytelling. Edit: I would like to clarify, I hope it doesn't sound like I'm villainizing people who are dedicated to writing the cast accurately, I think that's incredibly admirable, hell I'm one of those people. I just think it's okay for things to change every now and then. At the end of the day, what matters the most to me is the heart, if I can see the love in a piece of media, I can respect it.
@@lauraikoko Even Mario has some boundaries that Nintendo sets for him. But those who work on the IP know how to work within them. However, on rare occasions with permission given, devs can be supervised outside them to create unique stories or styles haven’t explored yet. Things like TTYD, Luigi’s Mansion, Princess Peach Showtime, Mario movie, etc. THAT’S how you do it right.
@@lauraikokothat is such a fanboy way of thinking. That’s like saying that Batman only works if he is presented as he was in the animated series, ignoring that there are other cartoons like the brave and the bold that present him completely differently, or the movies presenting him more grounded and with less colorful bad guys.
This game feels like the only instance where its primary gameplay mechanic actually restricts the roster because every character needs to be in groups of three. Also for a game all about teamwork, what the hell is Zavok doing teaming up with Eggman? Zavok clearly wanted Eggman dead in Lost World and their alliance in Forces doesn’t count because that was phantom ruby clone. Speaking of which, if they wanted a character from Forces on Eggman’s team, they could’ve just used Infinite or Chaos 0 and give Zavok his own team with two other Zeti. Another choice that confuses me is Vector with Silver and Blaze instead of Espio and Charmy. And don’t give me that “having Infinite or Chaos 0 would screw up the canon” crap. It’s a spinoff, go crazy with your roster adding characters like the Hard Boiled Heavies, Infinite, The babylon Rogues, or even characters from the IDW comics. Does Nintendo restrict themselves from putting 4-5 variants of Mario, 3 Variants of Peach, Dry Bowser as a separate character from Bowser, or even characters from non-Mario games into Mario Kart 8 Deluxe? No. You know why? Because it’s a spinoff separate from the mainline Mario series.
@Butwhythough881 They were just trying to move on from Forces back then since it underwhelmed. That includes Infinite. IDW only happened in Forces' setting since it's the closest the games will ever be to the DiC shows and Archie with Fleetway (which all shared the broadstrokes of Eggman being a dictator who rules most of the world the plot happens in and Sonic needing an organization of furries).
When I heard the rumors of Team Sonic Racing, with the familiar R logo, I was hopeful the Sonic and Friends go back on running on foot, but then the game came out, and I realized All Stars Transform is a much better option than this...
Too bad this is the last game weve seen characters like Silver,Blaze,Vector and Omega.They desserve to appear in more sonic media. I know there was the murder of sonic the hedgehog but that it wasnt really enough.
@@lauraikokohow has Omega changed? Not asking this in a contrarian way I just haven’t really payed attention to any media he’s participated in recently.
@@PaulFellourisStrongman nowadays all omega is is just...robot character. All he does really is just do stuff for the sake of plot and doesn't really do anything other than that,and he isn't really friends with shadow and rouge anymore cause branding so now he's...nothing.
For me, sonic is, or at least was the definition of the coolness. When you saw sonic in sonic cd, adventure era or the style era, you were always like: Wow man, he's so cool! When you saw sonic in sonic x, you were always happy, bc you knew that something reeally cool was going to happend. The way he looks, the way he smirks, poses, acts, sounds and everything is just so cool. As long as he's the second coolest thing alive, he's the real sonic. "Meta" era doesn't have the real sonic, bc he's not cool. You don't want to hear his cringy voice. You don't want to hear his dumb jokes. You don't want to see his ugly sonic model. You don't want to see sonic, and that's the complete negation of how you're supposed to react to him. In sonic frontiers, there is a real sonic for few minutes. It's when he turns super and fights the titans. Even though sonic didn't get that much better compared to the meta era sonic, people automaticly loved sonic in sonic frontiers, bc he's cool when you see him fight these titans, even though he doesn't say almost anything.
It is kind of the same thing with shadow for me. I’m not really hyped about the year of Shadow. Since, the shadow I knew is long gone. His character for majority of his existence was the flanderazation of the 2005 game. His good character moments only lasted a short period of time. When he was a tragic hero who went on a redemption arc and chose his own path . However, that was 18 years ago. And nothing in that time has gone close to it maybe prime but it is not enough.
@@chi-wind8593 Which one? Shadow the Hedgehog game where he changed his tune depending on the route/stage, but ultimately in the True Ending they got his character right which lead to his 06 self. Or Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood where this is the start of Shadow always being angry most of the time and being hyper aggressive in most scenes. I recall his attitude regarding to Omega if you don’t help. I keep thinking SEGA went with this version of Shadow since then.
This is why I disagree with people saying "everything that made sonic what he is now completely absent" sure you can say he only resembles what sonic is in a superficial way but to say that there is absolutely nothing what so ever connecting them and that the writers didnt even try to emulate them is just false what people really mean when they say that is "everything or almost everything that i personally liked about sonic is gone" and I understand why people have that opinion but it doesnt mean that people who are content with the current state of the franchise are just brainless consumers nor does it mean that the people who arent content with the current state of the franchise are just nostalgia biased and hate everything im not saying that the person who made this video nor the person who mads this comment think so and i know there are some people in the who genuinely are just brainless consumers or nostalgia biased but dont group them all together And i have actually seen people who think this way
you know, there are 481 comments in this 8 months old video. So i think you probably won't be able to read my one specificly. If it is the case of you reading it, please answer it, or at least put a heart to it so that i know you had read it. I disagree with almost everything you had said in this video. I had a LOT of joy while playing this game and i think it is a really fun game. I had already loved and beaten Sonic and All Stars Racing when this game came out, so i really wanted to play the next entry of the Sumo Digital series. i unfortuntunally coudn't play the game at the time because it was too expensive and i was just a kid, so, yeah. But last year, my sister had bought the game for me as my birthday gift, and i didn't liked it. I LOVED IT. I loved the game itself, i loved the team mecanichs, the customizations, the fast pacing, the team ultimates, and most important of all. I loved playing the whole Team Adventure with my brother in law, Daniel. That Team Adventure campaing had bring me memories that i will never forget, like we both completing suck on the first time we played Lava Mountain on Survival Race and being eliminated on the first lap. We laughed HARD back then. We also play against each other on Standard Race with no bots until today. And that is an improviment this game has from its predecessors. It allows versus multiplayer races with no bots whatsoever. I constantly play as a guest on the PS4 so i can replay the whole Team Adventrure all over again, and this takes SIX HOURS. I don't think the game even remotly slow, i think it has a pace as fast as All Stars Racing Transformed. My favorite character in the game is Talis. And about Sonic not being Sonic anymore, i disagree. Mainly because i am of those Sonic fans that were born after Sonic "stopped being Sonic". I was born in 2007, when Sonic and The Secret Rings came out, and i played my first Sonic game in 2015, witch was Sonic Generations, and since it was my first entry to the series, that was my first impression with those characters, and they seemed really nice and carismatic. Since i was a dumb kid who wasn't able to easily find plot holes and wasn't able to distinguish a good story from a bad story, i loved the story of the game and watched the cutscenes over and over again. And since i didn't had an actual idea of thei characters power scale, i thought the cutscene where Sonic's friends don't fight and became cheerleaders very exciting and impactful. It was only after i watched Roger Van der Weide's "Sonic Generations in 8 minutes" that i noticed the plot hole. It is not that Sonic isn't Sonic anymore. It is that different people from different periods of time have different visions of the character. Sonic is an old character. He exists since 1991, and has different meanings throught different generations. Shiro Maekawa saw Sonic as a hero balanced between a cocky attitude and responsability, focusing on epic and mature stories about saving the world. Ken Pontac saw Sonic as a lighthearted and comical character with less depth, focusing on simple humor and entertaining. Ian Flynn saw Sonic as a multishaped hero, confident and with empaty, balancing epic moments and human moments. Sonic has been in hands of different people that had a different interpretation based on what they had experienced. You can't expect that a character as old as Sonic stays immune to time. Sonic has a different vision on different generations. Your Sonic is unfortunally gone. But Ian Flynn Sonic, the one from the IDW comics. That is my Sonic.
Not gonna lie, I was hoping you would mention something about the Chao replacing Cream in Team Rose for this game lol Cause for me, THAT is the worst thing about this Team Sonic Racing, which further disillusioned me from this franchise. Not only is Cream my favorite character, and would've loved to play in a multiplayer spinoff game but she was the one constant of Team Rose (aside from Amy Rose herself); in all previous games and media where Team Rose existed, Cream was part of the team. You cannot have Team Rose without Amy and Cream, just as you can't have Team Sonic/Heroes without Sonic and Tails, or Team Dark without Shadow and Rouge. But this game decided to fuck that up by replacing Cream with "Chao" for Team Rose in Team Sonic Racing. And just like that, nothing really matters anymore in this franchise... It's also really fucking stupid to replace Cream with "Chao" for Team Rose in this game. Like, if the intent was purely to represent the Chao species in TSR, CREAM ACCOMPLISHES THAT ALREADY! She has a Chao constantly flying by her side! Her fucking goal in Sonic Heroes was to find and save a Chao! Her attacks and abilities across the franchise involve Chao in some way! Just have Cream drive a Chao-themed kart and we're solid! But no, let's replace a mainstay, fan-favorite character with an actual personality and voice with a quad of non-characters with no personality and voice... And yeah, it's beyond insulting that the TSR developers seemed to have thought so little of Cream that they decided that three random Chao and *Omochao* were better picks for this game than her. And this is after Cream had been neglected by the franchise at large for a decade by this point >:( But then, in light of your rant about the character writing towards the end of this video, I guess Cream's decade-long absence from this franchise, including TSR, is a blessing in disguise. Cause at least she didn't get bastardized like the rest of the cast, or at least not as badly. Still though, fuck the Chao. Fuck this game.
It is disheartening just how many kids out there pretend that original sonic and the current sonic are the "same character". They are completely different things. The american writers do not give two fucks about the japanese writers' original idea of Sonic. They have never tried to understand it, or replicate it. They just do whatever they want. If sonic says he remembers who Chaos is in Frontiers that doesn't magically make him the same sonic from SA1. He didn't "grow up" or "evolve". He is an americanized husk of what used to be a competely different character. All of what made sonic appealing in the older games is completely absent in current sonic storytelling.
This video more than anything has me interested in your Frontiers story video because having recently binged IDW, I have nowhere near the amount of dislike you have for Ian Flynn despite agreeing a lot with you on many other things
HOT TAKE : I love Sonic in the 2000's, tolerate it in the 2010's but my favorite era is the 2020's bc of the amount of stories, content and people working on it. For example, if it wasn't for Evan Stanley : I never would've imagined Sonic Riders boards that are NOT hoverboards (look at the covers, they're beautiful !!)
I think it's safe to assume a lot of us are passionate about Sonic, and it's why we have the thoughts on the series that we do. I'm just gonna say the same from my perspective, so excuse me if this seems redundant to you. The inspiring thing about Sonic as a series to me has always been how every game seemed like it aimed to go further beyond what it ever "needed" to. Sonic got its attention by being different, be it an ambitious technical feat or going against the established norms or trying to be anything more than what everyone knew would be satisfactory. With that drive, the various teams that worked on the games built up something incredible, bringing out more and more potential into the series with every title. That made the series fun to think about, fun to experience and (hopefully for developers and any creatives) fun to work with. I think the only thing ever holding Sonic games back, at least for the longest time, was budget and time. At least, that's what that interview with the writer for Sonic Adventure 2 makes me think, saying he would've happily given up an arm if it meant being able to finish the tale he wanted to tell. I still think the people that work on Sonic, whatever form it may be, want to make the most and the best they can with every title. I really want to believe that it's somehow just some mega corporation stuff way beyond my grasp that limits these people into making what I'm starting to see as blue sludge with sparkles of that endless potential, trying their hardest to shine through the muck. It's what makes me upset about Sonic games not being great like I know they can be. I can see the potential there, I can see amazing ideas begging to be explored and turned into something wonderful and fun and exciting! But somehow, some way, it's buried underneath some form of garbage, be it mandates or lack of polish... These kinds of things are the worst tragedy to me. The potential to become so much more is there, yet it just can't succeed... It's why Sonic fan projects (SRB2 and Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers in particular) are so exciting to me. This franchise, this bundle of ideas that I know has limitless potential and can be incredible under the right hands. Fans have this passion for making good, fun stuff just like I want to believe Sonic Team do, and like I want to believe every single one of us does too. The work they put into any of their creations is inspiring, as is the work everyone puts through these games to make something fun. I can't help but feel this joy and wonder looking at everyone making stuff, whether it be flexing creative muscle or building functionality. Characters, environments, games, aesthetic changes, whatever. Seeing so many people come together to add a tiny sliver of themselves to something they love is beautiful to me. I know this is a lot and this sort of wording would probably put a lot of pressure on anyone wanting to make something out of Sonic, but what I'm asking is that you, whoever you are, with your love of making stuff, use Sonic as your canvas to make something good and fun. Hopefully it'll inspire you to make the best you can. If you've really listened to me ramble on and on about this cool blue guy I like, I want to thank you. I hope it was worth your time.
What baffles me the most about Team Sonic Racing is that it's such a basic, watered-down mascot kart racer released in a world where people can just play Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled instead. TSR just doesn't hold a candle to those two games at all (great soundtrack, though). To be honest, it would've been better IMO if we got a "Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Deluxe" with every track and character from the first game & Transformed, plus a bunch of QoL improvements and additional features.
Crush 40 made a Green Light Ride for this game, but a better fit would be their other song that was released at around the same time: Crushing Thirties.
I remember during the sonic streams they where asking if they could add like cream or other characters and i remember they was like "oh well maybe if this game does really good" and knowing it basically hasn't gotten any support since is like damn.
First video of yours I decided to watch. Well, listen in the background, to be specific lol I agree with what you say about the characters not feeling like themselves. Maekawa made these characters who they are. People fell in love with characters like Shadow thanks to him. You can't just say "Sonic is Sonic" when clearly other writers don't know how to write these characters. Even Frontiers. I like the tone and some of the moments they have, but overall it still feels too different.
Honestly I’m like one of those rare people that think this game is underrated, it has so many great things on it’s own, it shouldn’t really be compared to Transformed since they’re both different
Apparently, Sumo Digital has 3 unannounced games in development. If Sonic's in there, I assume it will be a kart racer. Would be unexpected if they made a game like Riders or R instead. Not what I would've preferred, but I hope it'll at least be good gameplay-wise
Archie Sonic is always going to be my favorite. I thought for the most part, they captured the most human-like version of the character. He had emotions and reacted appropriately based on the situation he was faced with.
Great video as usual a lot of the stuff you said here is what I’ve been thinking for a while. I may have to make my own video like this one day because it always pains me to hear and think about this.
@@joaquindiaz3621 I still stand by it lol it’s off for him to say it in that context but that’s just me. Also you’re on a Pariah video go complain to a wall lol.
@@joaquindiaz3621 Most of the Japanese stans I knew agreed with me and went straight to Sonic X as an example so… cool those "Stan’s" didn’t watch Sonic X
Not gonna lie I feel like your "Sonic is one thing" argument could need a bit more work after starting with saying that you like both og Sonic and Shiro Sonic because Maekawa was rather open about thinking of the Sonic he wrote as a completely different Sonic than the one from the classic era. So this now opens the question why the change from original to Maekawa Sonic is okay to you but not the one to lets say Ian Flynn? I don't say you have to like Ians Sonic or anything it just feels like a peace of important argumentation to make a clear difference between the 2 scenarios why one is according to you close enough to the original idea and the other isn't.
That’s not what he said. Maekawa said that before he started writing he initially WANTED to make Sonic something else, but ended up finding that he was just “playing in the palm of sonic’s hand” and ended up writing a proper Sonic anyway.
@@greenD7244 He also said that he didn't like Megadrive era sonic a lot and it wouldn't be till Adventure that his Sonic actually started. That aside is it even in the writing it self evident that he plays Sonic a bit different than before. His Sonic is from all Japanese takes on Sonic properly the most snarky, one line dropping western action hero Sonic.
I'd say that this strength of characters and world that you talk about is the biggest reason fans continue to hang on so hard - and continue to hope so hard. Classic - 2000's was just THAT strong it even held us tight when the quality began to slip and the pattern of messiness was clearly established. It really is a tragedy of creativity.
you didnt really describe what the original sonic is. im guessing thats what you mean by the sonic written by shiro maekawa? you said physics based platforming n stuff but you didnt say what is sonics character traits that separate him from the modern interpretations of sonic.
Really, if I had to describe the series' identity back in the 2010s which TSR falls under, it would be: "Trying to market its main audience in a way that feels contradictory." By that, I mean having more Western focus in its direction rather than Sonic Team itself being able to realize their vision. Oh, there's also another sentence that fits with this: "The era as to where Sonic Team suffered the most not by their own volition, which in turn hurt their development scale and budget." This is why I'm glad mostly everything post-Frontiers is a sort of return to form to the 2000s. It hasn't reached that peak yet, but we're getting there in due time. Also, Pariah, whenever you're curious about why Frontiers got the sort of "saved the series" reputation, its simply because its the first Sonic game since Colors or Generations that the general public actually paid attention to and liked. But also, its one of the most successful 3D Sonic games in a long while, like we're talking 3.5 million units sold as of May 2023 which is the most recent number we got so far.
@@sonic5993 When the 2010s was when public consensus on Sonic was pretty negative and sales after Generations weren't as satisfactory, yeaahhhhh, I'd rather give that ringing endorsement to Frontiers for changing course.
@poloap4275 I'm just saying Kishimoto was the director of Colors, Lost World, AND Forces. People are a little too willing to give him the benefit of the doubt just after one game.
As much as I know it's not gonna happen, I really want another Sega crossover game. It's kinda fun to think about how the menagerie of weirdos Sega has in their repertoire would interact. TSR is kinda like All-stars Racing Transformed if it didn't have any of the charm that pulled me into the All-Stars Racing games lol. Would love a sequel to ASRT or ports to more modern consoles too.
It is so funny that you say who is your favorate character, and show the roster of lack of characters: where cream, charmy, Espio? like that crazy to me that i'm the only one who knows that something feels off; it 's like that sega forgot about them.
This game is whatever you make of it but am I the only one that thinks the models and visuals looks really good? Like somehow it has more flourish over it than the usual cut and paste graphics.
You need to get into a franchise that isn't horribly mismanaged, man lol I feel like it would be good for you to start watching Lupin III now, I recently started watching it (the 2015 anime, to be exact) and I'm having a blast, it might be the breath of fresh air that you need
I'm fine lol. Sonic is not the only thing I do with my time. Been having a lot of fun with Helldivers 2 and I just watched Home Alone the other day. Great movie!
My main issue with this game is that it would’ve been better as an instalment into the riders series TSR removes the transformation mechanic from ASRT; so it would be easy enough to scrap the cars and use the extreme gear used in riders. You could also very easily keep some of the customisation by giving players the option to choose different equipment such as boards, skates or bikes and then having custom mods for each. Maybe make it so characters have specific stats (ie- speed, handling, etc), and both equipment and character types have specific shortcuts (ie- speed characters can use rails, skate users can slide under walls). The team mechanic in TSR is genuinely super interesting and has a lot of potential as it’s basically strategy based racing which is what riders already does with the fuel/air mechanic. Having options to pass both items or fuel to teammates and then having to manage 3 people’s resources sounds like it’d be fun and challenging. I do think for a story mode that this would work best interspersed with other game types though (ie- similar to how ASTR has races, challenges, versus, etc). Also, I don’t personally have any qualms about using the wisps as power ups, it’s certainly more fitting that the random crap used in ASRT and I think it’s a good way to incorporate them into the series moving forward. And honestly, I think a riders game vaguely themed like sonic colours would be a lot of fun. A space race set across and number of planets provides ample opportunity for a variety of stages (both old and new), and is fitting enough for the riders series as the babylonians are descendants of aliens anyway. I will say that the teams in this game do need to be fixed though. For one, Zavok would never willing work with Eggman and I see no reason why if they wanted to include him they don’t just pair up the 6 zeti and have a team of 3 cars with 2 of them in a car each. Just make Eggman the power type, and having either Orbot/Cubot (or Sage if we ignore when this came out) as the Fly/Tech type. Also, Vector joining Blaze and Silver when he could’ve just been with Espio and Charmy is baffling to me, just give Marine to Blaze’s team instead. I have nothing against the chao car (outside of them probably not working as well on a hoverboard) cause I think it’s very funny but I don’t see why Cream couldn’t have been with them. The roster in TSR is fairly small though (sega stop not putting the babylons in your racing games), if we ignore when it came out and pretend it’s a brand new game you could easily bulk this out by having Fang/Bark/Bean and a team and Mighty/Ray with either Honey or Trip (I’m sure we can come up with some reason why they met). Anyway I’m gonna shut up now cause this is a kinda old video and at this point I’m just talking out of my ass for why I want another riders game more than I’m talking about TSR or your video lmao 😅
As bad as some parts of Archie were, they at least *tried* to give each character some more depth and nuances. The bad parts were absolutely terrible of course, but the good parts absolutely paid off and are some of the best parts of the entire franchise. IDW simply doesn't do that anymore even when having people like Ian Flynn onboard because SEGA is now a lot more stricter on what gets approved and what doesn't since they are now trying to sanitize the series beyond belief. Sure some of the new comic characters *look* nice and have interesting ideas, but they are just shells of an overall concept and rarely does it ever go deeper than that. Sonic back in the 1990s and 2000s still had an overall identity, now he's just a shallow husk of what he once was. The early 2010s tried to play around with an all new interpretation with Boom only to completely screw it up by not only making everyone vastly different, but also that the games for it that came out sucked. After that SEGA pretty much gave up on doing absolutely anything and is trying to be as bland as possible to not seem as "controversial". On one hand I can kinda see why they want to do this since the fandom absolutely sucks a lot of the time and that trying too many things can also be a bad thing, but on the other it just makes them come across as less interesting and more lifeless with how everything is being done just for the sake of making a paycheck. Sonic Mania was the only genuinely good thing to have come out officially under SEGA since those days, and it was made by fans reliving the glory days of old as a tribute with some QoL paint on top of it. Superstars in comparison tried to do something similar but without nearly as much heart and effort. (I like what they did with Trip's design and characterization but that's it, and it says nothing about gameplay nor its presentation) It's all just a whole lot of nothing. Sonic Triple Trouble 16-Bit on the other hand, a completely independent fan project, is so much better than Superstars that it's not even close. What a weird time to live in…
It's perfectly fine and even beneficial for extended media such as the movies and Prime to have their own seperate interpretations of the characters, even if they contradict the original franchise vision. But the games have a duty to understand what they are. You can't keep releasing games in a series with the illusion of continuity when the only continuity that exists is surface-level. There will always be discrepancies between how writers handle the characters but you can tell when it comes from a lack of direction. I have a lot more respect for the aspects of the franchise sonic team are not personally responsible for, like IDW or Paramount, because the writers on those things have an actual vision, even if it differs from the games. For the better part of the last decade and a half Sonic Team haven't understood what series they're making games for.
You know there's a difference between the idea of a character vs the actually character Like the core idea of sonic still exists but what doesn't exist anymore is the character Or at the very least isn't same Infact batman,tmnt,scooby doo,looney tunes and many long running franchises have different interpretation but their core idea still exists
This is so dumb, people have tried to understand the character for years and for once we get someone who freaking tries, but no lets say hes nothing because why not
Well in terms of official writers, in the years it's been since sonic and the black knight it's been pontac and graff, and... Y'know. And Ian Flynn At some point pariah's gonna explain himself or die trying but generally speaking, pariah doesn't really jive with Ian's constant melodrama, referencing, and quipping that everyone does and thinks the writing itself is actually pretty weak I'm however, not sure how far he got into IDW before calling it quits. Idk if he took a passive glance at a few pages of one comic or if he tried really hard to get through the first saga and just died inside of boredom and had to put it down or something. Ian Flynn writing is definitely the closest we've seen to black knight and prior but it is still a different version, and I imagine the writing and dialog itself are too much for pariah to stomach All that being said, I'm some jerk ass on the internet working second-hand off memory, I'd say wait until the man goes into more detail himself
@@igirjei3717 good point, i get why he cant stomach because Sonic stories go to the point most of the time, but idw IS always setting Up arcs to go around. But saying that everything is nothing when theres people Who try, specially murder of Sonic and classic Sonic comics that have him more in character it's a little annoying
@@joaquindiaz3621 that's fair, it was a bit of a sweeping statement that I can only assume was said because of the frustration he felt, but yeah clearly ian at least wants to give the fans something closer to what they want. He's just got his own interpretation and not as great an understanding of sonic as the Japanese writers of pre 2010 did is all
I can see the consoomers rage at the bottom of the comment section. You should follow your own advice guys and just don't care, take the shitty games, ignore the stories AND true fans' opinions.
I've been where you are, and it's a hard pill to swallow. The Sonic I like is pretty much dead. At least on the American side of things, because in the Japanese dubs of Sonic games, they recharacterize the characters to be more accurate to how they're supposed to be, but you know this, but while you might frame this as a positive but it's really not because in order for me to experience the Sonic I like I have experience a version of the experience that is deliberately changed from the original work in order to make it more true to what Sonic is, undermining the intentions of the American writers writing the original stories these days.
Undermining the story itself. Moreover, there's only so much that can be done to cover up the bad writing and mischaracterization of this time period. Hope isn't completely gone, if the series started being written by the Japanese again, we could get the old Sonic back but that might not happen for another decade or longer. I got into the Sonic series because I liked the characters and stories. When I think of my favorite moment in the series, I don't think of big action scenes like the opening of Unleashed or 06, I think of the first time Sonic and Tails spoke to each other in Sonic Adventure. I got into Sonic because of the characters and now those characters are pretty much gone. So I found that I don't really have a reason to continue with this series. I don't really consider myself a Sonic fan anymore. I do consider myself a fan of Ian Flynn and Evan Stanley, I think they've done good work but I recognize that these are different characters.
Sonic is fundamentally a different franchise now and I've learned to accept that. I follow the series purely because of Ian Flynn and that's really it. And for anyone else, I would implore you, we saw with Sonic Mania how Sega will listen if you are loud and speak with your wallet. So, if you are not happy with the current state of the franchise, don't play any more Sonic games.
New video series: “Sonic was always Depressed”
Perhaps from Shadow onwards after seeing so much death she destruction, until he regained his inner light from traveling the world with Chip. Then he started joking all the time because of it and his newly gained mental resistance after the struggle didn't shatter again even after getting imprisoned for 6 months.
Nah bro 💀
I think oppressed is better fitting then depressed. It was always other different people who damaged more and more a building of the idea of Sonic and a cool, interesting art direction. In my opinion it is only a matter of time when the building collapses and with it the selling numbers, when it not already happend.
Pariah was always Depressed XD
Existential crisis baby
The fact that they went from a collab-filled racing game that was racing & transformed to one of the driest sonic games with a tiny and boring roster of characters is depressing.
This was sumo digital, not Sonic team@Neawn-by5pi
What sucks is that this is the worst possible game to have such an anemic roster. You need three characters just to even play the game, a race with the max amount of players will have most if not all of the roster.
If they still updated the roster to this day more folks would totally play it
@@Thomasscoopbobsonic and put more tracks
To add onto what you've said here, I think what I have always admired is that Sonic has tried its best to have a sense of character consistency throughout the years. You could obviously point out subtle differences between portrayals and writers, but there was never really a debate as to whether or not this was SONIC. It was just different styles or portrayals which fit his core ethos since his inception. He was always doing radically different stuff, but no matter what situation he found himself in, you could take solace in the idea that this was the character you had been following for years, more or less.
This current era of Sonic has lost that. Sometimes, it is hard for me to put this feeling into words, and I have a feeling many others feel the same way. It is perhaps why there is so much pushback to the idea, since it often sounds like nebulous nostalgic bullshit. But I have heard enough of it at this point to conclude that there is a truth to this idea that Sonic has been lost that so many people feel.
No era of Sonic has ever been perfect, but they were never trying to be. They were trying to push boundaries, maybe beyond what they were even capable of (which lead to disasters like '06). I can appreciate, on some level, finding those limits and reigning in that ambitious drive a little. But they've gone so far in the other direction that I have no idea what this franchise is anymore.
I would say that Sonic can DO anything, GO anywhere, but he can't BE anyone. He always has to be him. I'm not even super strict about what that means, seeing as Maekawa took his own shonen-esque liberties.
But at the end of the day, when your franchise is about the character, he kinda needs to BE the character.
something tells me you really didnt like frontires.
@@hgmd3284He didn’t like Frontiers, though he really enjoyed Shadow Generations.
@@ianshere2465 damn, i feel frontires brings back that consistantsy in full strides. so many people chalk up the story to "bad" because "referencces" but does nobody know how ian writes stuff? dude turned tommy turtle from the archie comics into a emotional moment for sonic. the references have a purpose. theres a world sonic lives in, and the references feel like team sonic went on those adventures, it feels like charecters changed from those games. tails is a amazing example of this. recent games made tails a coward, but sonic in frontires reassures the brave acts he did in past games to cheer him up. that scene is a prime definition of a course correction for a charecter. i just do not understand most of the hate and flack frontires gets and im ok with that. ill just be living in annoyance at frontires haters.
3:01 "Being a shadow of its former self"
*shadow on screen*
Well played, Pariah...well played....
Arguably movie sonic is the least of our problems since Paramount has a clear idea of what their sonic is. Sure it's not the sonic that we want but at least he actually has continuity unlike forces and frontiers
I won't complain that makes it easier to dismiss his existence entirely, they're not trying to pretend that he's canon like Prime Sonic is supposed to be.
Movie Sonic might be the American Sonic they've been looking for all the time.
I like movie Sonic quite a bit
It’s just American Sonic Given his own format which I think works well I would rather a Sonic movie to a Mario movie
Quite the example of what a problem a thousand inconsistency papercuts can lead.
Proactivity, not reactivity.
(Also, points for Paramount, since I'm also a Bayformers junkie. What better combo!)
Movie Sonic is just a concoction of generic superhero tropes
When he said "but I don't know if I like any Sonic character now" I thought, it's exaggerated, they won't be well characterized, but it doesn't matter if it's a racing game...Then I remembered that this game has a story, dialogues in game, and cinematics consisting of pngs that you have to read
After watching every cutscene, there have been few times I've felt worse about this franchise. Literally 75 percent of the game's story is that the characters are suspicious of Dodon Pa. And that is all they ever talk about. It's not even frustratingly dumb like the Rivals games having the characters refuse to work together. It's just boring watching the characters go "Dodon Pa's a little fishy" in 50 different ways until they figure out he isn't.
Don't ask questions, just consume Sonic and then get excited for next Sonics.
And then hope "oh next time they'll do it right! This is a good first step forward!" even though deep down you know they're gonna pull some retarded bullshit and make another mediocre product just to have something on the shelves to sell because SEGA Sammy solely sees Sonic as a mascot, and since that mascot isn't popular in Japan, they don't give a shit
That's what a lot of the frontiers fans did. Love the game and not question anything about it.
And then they'll ask why can't Sonic fans enjoy anything as if they'd be fine with their own favourite series getting mishandled like Sonic has been.
@@crimsonzone8984 Frontiers fan here, I can admit that it has problems. What I'm baffled is that how people gassed up this mediocre game to be a masterpiece (it isn't), but hey Sega is giving more budget to the franchise and that's the first step towards making better games.
@@kilometersperminute4113 that's nice to hear👍
it feels like the cast just went from being flanderized in the 2010s to becoming a character archetype checklist.
I would say more like stereotypes of their former selves.
One can only wonder… what will happen to those characters next?
Oof, the "Sonic was always good" title is gone... we're in the endgame folks.
spooky stuff
It's not a review video.
dude cooked this up quick ‘cause just last night he was saying he might not make a video 😭
He keeps edging us with the Ian Flynn critique
This game doesn't even get the Sonic Was Always Good series title.
14:33 The funny part is that they don’t just are hollow shells with no substance inside them, they look like hollow shells with no substance inside Them too.
These models of the characters looks so bad and lifeless.
Sonic Prime uses these models and they look pretty lively there, kinda makes you see what good animation can do.
No. They are diffrent models in prime.
@@Rainyar4779 Sonic Prime uses different models (eg. they have visible stripes that are supposed to resemble fur)
Also it isn't that we haven't seen good Sonic animation, it's just that every time good animation happens it's in pre rendered cutscenes and the in game cutscenes are terrible most of the time.
@@kilometersperminute4113 That's a little something called: "textures"
@@sahaprocks7751 Do not "bro" me, the creators of the Sonic Prime confirmed Sega & Sonic Team gave them the assets from the modern games to use on the show.
'Who's your daddy, Shadow.' I remember first hearing that and having my soul leave my body.
A little context please
@@sebastianmartinez5963 ah fr
@@sebastianmartinez5963nah fr
@@sebastianmartinez5963 When you hit an opponent (with your vehicle or an item) in TSR, it'll play some dialogue to taunt your opponent. Specifically when Tails hits Shadow, the line is "Who's your daddy, Shadow?"
Ngl, it was kinda funny just for how unexpected it was.
The plot being Cars 2 with Sonic characters is so funny to me
I mean, sonic riders arguably makes the MOST sense actually. Obviously you have to nerf Sonic's speed because he is The Fastest Thing Alive™️, so he's provoked into air riding by Jet, and simply complies with the rules for the challenge.
How fun would a sonic game with accurate lore be: not.
In sonic r and rush he just chooses to trot for whatever reason
😂 good one!
@Neawn-by5pi The simple explanation could just be because Sonic finds it fun, he finds riding hoverboards and driving racecars to be cool and fun, that's all you have to say. It's not complicated.
@@legoboy7107 Sonic owns a bi plane, for fucks sake. He's not a stranger to riding different vehicles.
It's a "Extreme Gear competition" not a foot race. Why do you expect him to run on foot in a hover gear race? Egg Man isn't holding a foot racing tournament, jet didn't own sonic on foot.
(Jet - Hmph! So YOU'RE supposed to be the fastest thing alive?)
(Sonic - Oh, new competition)
(Jet- Hmph! He may be the fastest creature on the ground, but in the air, with me and my Extreme Gear, he's just a joke!)
I thought Riders' riding was because of the "slow shoes" Sonic wears in that game when it was still ambiguously canon.
The worst part is that team Sonic racing isn't even a bad game, it's just forgotten because Sega didn't even bother supporting it after it dropped
It's not a bad game but it's not an amazing game either. I know racing games are now one of those "oh the developer is supposed to 'support' the game and constantly release new content for it and make it go on forever" games we see so often since the mid-2010s... but look at Mario Kart Wii. Look at Sonic Racing Transformed. Sure those didn't come out during the live service hellscape we've been in for the last decade, but people are still playing and loving those games because the core gameplay itself is fun.
Team Sonic Racing's new team mechanics and the strategy elements of helping your team mates WOULD make for both an interesting single player or multiplayer experience, but because you can just spam the item share button to constantly pass or request items and build up your team boost gage super fast [and because the AI sucks], both forms of play suffer because their one interesting thing is trivialized. Time trials WOULD be interesting because the game goes back to the Riders/Heroes character types with different routes each character can take, but since the game is so slow, it's immediately unappealing. So in the end, all it has going for it is the great music, which is expected of a Sonic game... so TSR really is basically nothing.
It's worse than a bad game, it's mediocre and has no reason to exist.
I think it was doomed from the start
It is a bad game. When you compare it to the previous Sega racing games it's an insult
@@KgEclispe252but it has the gimmick which makes it fun.
Reminder they wasted a Crush40 song and two part animation with this game.
Jun has been relegated to side games since black knight. Nowadays he’s usually the person who seeks out vocalists for the main games.
Oh well.. atleast the Crush 40 song “Green Light Ride” was a banger
The original songsvwich he did for the are amazing@@kilometersperminute4113
Another fucking Sonic racing game was announced, maybe it won’t suck this time? Oh who am I kidding
I feel like with the concept of Sonic always changing the term "My Sonic" means something different to everyone depending on when they got into Sonic and what sonic content they're consuming. I believe this is a point you've brought up before.
Interesting point.
I got into sonic only almost a year ago but I play the 2d classic games the most. My sonic is and will always be the classic 90's sonic, the one who saves the animals and protects nature. Today's sonic doesn't really do that anymore
@nyeeeofthestarsz1804 What do you mean? That's literally the only thing he does now. What's missing is his resolve and sense of righteousness that got replaced with arrogance and bad comedy.
@@carloscreative5538 Haha yeah. (`:
Should've had fuzzy pacman instead of zavok
No but on a serious note, I wish it had more in common with transformed. I remember being really disappointed when this was announced and it seemed like we were taking a step backwards. At least the game has cool track themes and really solid soundtrack. Also can confirm, online was DOA. I think I only had maybe 2 matches ever. Very disappointing release.
The franchise will continue to go downhill until fuzzy pacman returns
@@HeroHashim exactly. They keep bringing back the wrong lost world rep
I imagine this game is marginally more fun when you play it coop with someone else. But I've never bothered trying to do that because I'm just not that interested.
You'd be correct, it's actually WAY more fun co-op. I actually did get 3 player co-op going and everything made more sense. The team mechanics benefitted from having real people on your team. Makes me wish this game had a real lobby system.
@@MathewRYFGame design number 101: If your game almost dependant on cooperative multiplayer, make sure getting those players to play with you isn't a pain in the ass.
@@manzanito3652online is there for a reason
14:30 the point of this charactes being just "lifeless, shallow puppets" is so accurate considering everything in this game looks and feel so "plasticky", they look like they are mate of plastic, they look like action figures in the worst way possible
weird how i finally decide to watch this the moment a new sonic racing game is announced
wonder how thatll fare against this.
The game was so mid the video turned into a rant about the whole franchise
I feel like the notion that Sonic participating in the EX Gear races making no sense sorta misunderstands Sonic as a character.
Yes, he's probably faster than a Gear, but it's an competition ABOUT EXTREME GEAR. The plot of Riders has Sonic wanting to cement himself as the fastest using EX Gear because that's what the prix is about according to Eggman. Sonic has always been prideful regarding his nature as the fastest thing alive, so when it's challenged by Jet he wants to compete for the sake of his pride. The fact it's about hoverboards doesn't matter to him.
Realizing now that Vector outside of the IDW Comics does no detective work, to the point that he gets grouped in with Blaze and Silver... midly better combo than Amy and Cream in Free Riders at least. 😅
exactly. vector (and by extent a lot of the characters really) is...what? what even IS vector anymore? is he a relaxed teen who's into music and religion? is he a detective that is a fucking loser? or is he just...crocodile guy.
@@lauraikokothe winner is whoever the writer wants XD
@@lauraikoko Personality wise he's been fairly consistent. Ever since Heroes, Vector has been the comic relief buff dude, but it's his proffesion as a detective that gets glossed over for some reason. In Forces he's just there as a background extra. It says a lot about the writing when Shadow The Hedgehog incorporates his detective work into the plot.
IDW and japanese supplementary material from Sonic Channel have both it, and his crush on Vanilla from the X anime, but neither of those are there in the games themselves.
@@Mr.Maguro Forces just had Vector as a war advisor for the wannabe SatAM/Archie/Fleetway plot .
@@galten7361 Oh Vector in Archie is a whole other can of worms haha! There's one arc that's about him doing detective work for a pirate princess, but most of the comic is him tagging along with Knuckles and other outcasts.
Y'know, usually I'm kinda afraid of commenting out of fear of pissing people off or sounding stupid, but this video got me thinking.
I always thought part of Sonic's general appeal was its malleability, that's what made youngins want to draw him, or write their own stories about him. The fact there are so many different interpretations of Sonic made the franchise feel free and fun for anyone. Granted, I personally try to nail myself down to a specific interpretation when making Sonic stuff, but I can't deny that a lot of people have their own ways, and that can lead to some interesting storytelling.
Edit: I would like to clarify, I hope it doesn't sound like I'm villainizing people who are dedicated to writing the cast accurately, I think that's incredibly admirable, hell I'm one of those people. I just think it's okay for things to change every now and then. At the end of the day, what matters the most to me is the heart, if I can see the love in a piece of media, I can respect it.
@@ledetbrothers9210the thing is that that malleability is coming to the series' detriment because now by sonic being anything,sonic is nothing.
@@lauraikoko Even Mario has some boundaries that Nintendo sets for him. But those who work on the IP know how to work within them. However, on rare occasions with permission given, devs can be supervised outside them to create unique stories or styles haven’t explored yet. Things like TTYD, Luigi’s Mansion, Princess Peach Showtime, Mario movie, etc. THAT’S how you do it right.
That could work if; we were to go with pariah's idea of having multiple versions of the character in their own respective world.
@@lauraikokothat is such a fanboy way of thinking. That’s like saying that Batman only works if he is presented as he was in the animated series, ignoring that there are other cartoons like the brave and the bold that present him completely differently, or the movies presenting him more grounded and with less colorful bad guys.
You gotta have some boundaries, it's healthy
You have the Classic era, the Modern era, and now we are in the Narehate era.
I dunno I think we're getting into "Sonic = adult human hedgehog" territory here
"This is not new to Sumo Digital [,,,] this is just another attempt to Rip-off Mario kart"
I guess the "Kart racing" genre doesn't exist now lol
This game feels like the only instance where its primary gameplay mechanic actually restricts the roster because every character needs to be in groups of three.
Also for a game all about teamwork, what the hell is Zavok doing teaming up with Eggman? Zavok clearly wanted Eggman dead in Lost World and their alliance in Forces doesn’t count because that was phantom ruby clone. Speaking of which, if they wanted a character from Forces on Eggman’s team, they could’ve just used Infinite or Chaos 0 and give Zavok his own team with two other Zeti. Another choice that confuses me is Vector with Silver and Blaze instead of Espio and Charmy.
And don’t give me that “having Infinite or Chaos 0 would screw up the canon” crap. It’s a spinoff, go crazy with your roster adding characters like the Hard Boiled Heavies, Infinite, The babylon Rogues, or even characters from the IDW comics. Does Nintendo restrict themselves from putting 4-5 variants of Mario, 3 Variants of Peach, Dry Bowser as a separate character from Bowser, or even characters from non-Mario games into Mario Kart 8 Deluxe? No. You know why? Because it’s a spinoff separate from the mainline Mario series.
@Butwhythough881 They were just trying to move on from Forces back then since it underwhelmed. That includes Infinite. IDW only happened in Forces' setting since it's the closest the games will ever be to the DiC shows and Archie with Fleetway (which all shared the broadstrokes of Eggman being a dictator who rules most of the world the plot happens in and Sonic needing an organization of furries).
When I heard the rumors of Team Sonic Racing, with the familiar R logo, I was hopeful the Sonic and Friends go back on running on foot, but then the game came out, and I realized All Stars Transform is a much better option than this...
Pariah: I probably won't do a video on TSR
Pariah the next day: *new TSR video drops*
9:03
“Ugh, I am airborne.” Girlie your Whole thing in sonic rush was hovering.
Mario living in his billion dollar mansion while Sonic is living in his shitty beat up apartment
Does sonic has a house?
More like he's renting an expensive place but could fall behind and get evicted at any time
Billion dollar mansion full of copyright abuses.
Too bad this is the last game weve seen characters like Silver,Blaze,Vector and Omega.They desserve to appear in more sonic media.
I know there was the murder of sonic the hedgehog but that it wasnt really enough.
i mean...those aren't silver,blaze,vector and omega. They might LOOK like them,but they aren't the same characters.
@@lauraikokohow has Omega changed? Not asking this in a contrarian way I just haven’t really payed attention to any media he’s participated in recently.
@@PaulFellourisStrongman nowadays all omega is is just...robot character. All he does really is just do stuff for the sake of plot and doesn't really do anything other than that,and he isn't really friends with shadow and rouge anymore cause branding so now he's...nothing.
@@lauraikoko Team Dark was always supposed to be a team made by the members teaming up since they had the same enemies. Not from friendship.
@@galten7361 so we just gonna ignore their arc in heroes and...the entirety of shadow's story in 06? ok.
For me, sonic is, or at least was the definition of the coolness. When you saw sonic in sonic cd, adventure era or the style era, you were always like: Wow man, he's so cool! When you saw sonic in sonic x, you were always happy, bc you knew that something reeally cool was going to happend. The way he looks, the way he smirks, poses, acts, sounds and everything is just so cool. As long as he's the second coolest thing alive, he's the real sonic.
"Meta" era doesn't have the real sonic, bc he's not cool. You don't want to hear his cringy voice. You don't want to hear his dumb jokes. You don't want to see his ugly sonic model. You don't want to see sonic, and that's the complete negation of how you're supposed to react to him.
In sonic frontiers, there is a real sonic for few minutes. It's when he turns super and fights the titans. Even though sonic didn't get that much better compared to the meta era sonic, people automaticly loved sonic in sonic frontiers, bc he's cool when you see him fight these titans, even though he doesn't say almost anything.
It is kind of the same thing with shadow for me. I’m not really hyped about the year of Shadow. Since, the shadow I knew is long gone.
His character for majority of his existence was the flanderazation of the 2005 game. His good character moments only lasted a short period of time. When he was a tragic hero who went on a redemption arc and chose his own path .
However, that was 18 years ago. And nothing in that time has gone close to it maybe prime but it is not enough.
@@chi-wind8593 Which one? Shadow the Hedgehog game where he changed his tune depending on the route/stage, but ultimately in the True Ending they got his character right which lead to his 06 self.
Or Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood where this is the start of Shadow always being angry most of the time and being hyper aggressive in most scenes.
I recall his attitude regarding to Omega if you don’t help. I keep thinking SEGA went with this version of Shadow since then.
@@viruschris3160 honestly, I was going with the one who appeared in free riders and Boom Shadow. I forgot about Sonic chronicles.
@@chi-wind8593 Oh yeah... Sonic Free Riders too. That was the WORST take on him... even Rouge too.
This is why I disagree with people saying "everything that made sonic what he is now completely absent" sure you can say he only resembles what sonic is in a superficial way but to say that there is absolutely nothing what so ever connecting them and that the writers didnt even try to emulate them is just false what people really mean when they say that is "everything or almost everything that i personally liked about sonic is gone"
and I understand why people have that opinion but it doesnt mean that people who are content with the current state of the franchise are just brainless consumers nor does it mean that the people who arent content with the current state of the franchise are just nostalgia biased and hate everything
im not saying that the person who made this video nor the person who mads this comment think so and i know there are some people in the who genuinely are just brainless consumers or nostalgia biased but dont group them all together
And i have actually seen people who think this way
Ok but be honest, what BETTER to use than the wisps for items in an arcade racer?
you know, there are 481 comments in this 8 months old video. So i think you probably won't be able to read my one specificly. If it is the case of you reading it, please answer it, or at least put a heart to it so that i know you had read it. I disagree with almost everything you had said in this video. I had a LOT of joy while playing this game and i think it is a really fun game. I had already loved and beaten Sonic and All Stars Racing when this game came out, so i really wanted to play the next entry of the Sumo Digital series. i unfortuntunally coudn't play the game at the time because it was too expensive and i was just a kid, so, yeah. But last year, my sister had bought the game for me as my birthday gift, and i didn't liked it. I LOVED IT. I loved the game itself, i loved the team mecanichs, the customizations, the fast pacing, the team ultimates, and most important of all. I loved playing the whole Team Adventure with my brother in law, Daniel. That Team Adventure campaing had bring me memories that i will never forget, like we both completing suck on the first time we played Lava Mountain on Survival Race and being eliminated on the first lap. We laughed HARD back then. We also play against each other on Standard Race with no bots until today. And that is an improviment this game has from its predecessors. It allows versus multiplayer races with no bots whatsoever. I constantly play as a guest on the PS4 so i can replay the whole Team Adventrure all over again, and this takes SIX HOURS. I don't think the game even remotly slow, i think it has a pace as fast as All Stars Racing Transformed. My favorite character in the game is Talis. And about Sonic not being Sonic anymore, i disagree. Mainly because i am of those Sonic fans that were born after Sonic "stopped being Sonic". I was born in 2007, when Sonic and The Secret Rings came out, and i played my first Sonic game in 2015, witch was Sonic Generations, and since it was my first entry to the series, that was my first impression with those characters, and they seemed really nice and carismatic. Since i was a dumb kid who wasn't able to easily find plot holes and wasn't able to distinguish a good story from a bad story, i loved the story of the game and watched the cutscenes over and over again. And since i didn't had an actual idea of thei characters power scale, i thought the cutscene where Sonic's friends don't fight and became cheerleaders very exciting and impactful. It was only after i watched Roger Van der Weide's "Sonic Generations in 8 minutes" that i noticed the plot hole. It is not that Sonic isn't Sonic anymore. It is that different people from different periods of time have different visions of the character. Sonic is an old character. He exists since 1991, and has different meanings throught different generations. Shiro Maekawa saw Sonic as a hero balanced between a cocky attitude and responsability, focusing on epic and mature stories about saving the world. Ken Pontac saw Sonic as a lighthearted and comical character with less depth, focusing on simple humor and entertaining. Ian Flynn saw Sonic as a multishaped hero, confident and with empaty, balancing epic moments and human moments. Sonic has been in hands of different people that had a different interpretation based on what they had experienced. You can't expect that a character as old as Sonic stays immune to time. Sonic has a different vision on different generations. Your Sonic is unfortunally gone. But Ian Flynn Sonic, the one from the IDW comics. That is my Sonic.
Sonic used to have soul. We were a society.
So edgy
craaaaawling in my skiiiiiiin
sonic has fallen
billions must gotta go, fast
BILLIONS MUST ROLL DOWN SLOPES
Why wasnt Giant Fuzzy Pacman in this game?
"when everyone's sonic, no one will be"
Not gonna lie, I was hoping you would mention something about the Chao replacing Cream in Team Rose for this game lol Cause for me, THAT is the worst thing about this Team Sonic Racing, which further disillusioned me from this franchise.
Not only is Cream my favorite character, and would've loved to play in a multiplayer spinoff game but she was the one constant of Team Rose (aside from Amy Rose herself); in all previous games and media where Team Rose existed, Cream was part of the team. You cannot have Team Rose without Amy and Cream, just as you can't have Team Sonic/Heroes without Sonic and Tails, or Team Dark without Shadow and Rouge. But this game decided to fuck that up by replacing Cream with "Chao" for Team Rose in Team Sonic Racing. And just like that, nothing really matters anymore in this franchise...
It's also really fucking stupid to replace Cream with "Chao" for Team Rose in this game. Like, if the intent was purely to represent the Chao species in TSR, CREAM ACCOMPLISHES THAT ALREADY! She has a Chao constantly flying by her side! Her fucking goal in Sonic Heroes was to find and save a Chao! Her attacks and abilities across the franchise involve Chao in some way! Just have Cream drive a Chao-themed kart and we're solid! But no, let's replace a mainstay, fan-favorite character with an actual personality and voice with a quad of non-characters with no personality and voice... And yeah, it's beyond insulting that the TSR developers seemed to have thought so little of Cream that they decided that three random Chao and *Omochao* were better picks for this game than her. And this is after Cream had been neglected by the franchise at large for a decade by this point >:(
But then, in light of your rant about the character writing towards the end of this video, I guess Cream's decade-long absence from this franchise, including TSR, is a blessing in disguise. Cause at least she didn't get bastardized like the rest of the cast, or at least not as badly. Still though, fuck the Chao. Fuck this game.
It is disheartening just how many kids out there pretend that original sonic and the current sonic are the "same character". They are completely different things. The american writers do not give two fucks about the japanese writers' original idea of Sonic. They have never tried to understand it, or replicate it. They just do whatever they want. If sonic says he remembers who Chaos is in Frontiers that doesn't magically make him the same sonic from SA1. He didn't "grow up" or "evolve". He is an americanized husk of what used to be a competely different character. All of what made sonic appealing in the older games is completely absent in current sonic storytelling.
Evolution, ultimate involution.
This video more than anything has me interested in your Frontiers story video because having recently binged IDW, I have nowhere near the amount of dislike you have for Ian Flynn despite agreeing a lot with you on many other things
I always thought the gameplay looked too slow for a Racing Sonic Game.
I would die for another Maekawa written game
He left after Sonic and the black knight (maybe because he was uncredited for it).
The brandification of sonic the hedgehog has had terrible consequences for the human race
In the words of Shadow The Hedgehog: "it's time for the human race to pay for their sins"
This is literally the sonic equivalent of pvz battle for neighborvile
what a sad lifeless depressing review. very reflective of the time this game came out for sonic fans
I think I'm going to go play Super Mario Bros Wonder for a while. I need something to cheer myself up after this video.
HOT TAKE : I love Sonic in the 2000's, tolerate it in the 2010's but my favorite era is the 2020's bc of the amount of stories, content and people working on it. For example, if it wasn't for Evan Stanley : I never would've imagined Sonic Riders boards that are NOT hoverboards (look at the covers, they're beautiful !!)
Post that on r/unpopularopinion and see your inbox explode
@@mrpissed Duly noted. Also, do you agree w/ my opinion ?
I think it's safe to assume a lot of us are passionate about Sonic, and it's why we have the thoughts on the series that we do. I'm just gonna say the same from my perspective, so excuse me if this seems redundant to you.
The inspiring thing about Sonic as a series to me has always been how every game seemed like it aimed to go further beyond what it ever "needed" to. Sonic got its attention by being different, be it an ambitious technical feat or going against the established norms or trying to be anything more than what everyone knew would be satisfactory. With that drive, the various teams that worked on the games built up something incredible, bringing out more and more potential into the series with every title. That made the series fun to think about, fun to experience and (hopefully for developers and any creatives) fun to work with. I think the only thing ever holding Sonic games back, at least for the longest time, was budget and time. At least, that's what that interview with the writer for Sonic Adventure 2 makes me think, saying he would've happily given up an arm if it meant being able to finish the tale he wanted to tell.
I still think the people that work on Sonic, whatever form it may be, want to make the most and the best they can with every title. I really want to believe that it's somehow just some mega corporation stuff way beyond my grasp that limits these people into making what I'm starting to see as blue sludge with sparkles of that endless potential, trying their hardest to shine through the muck.
It's what makes me upset about Sonic games not being great like I know they can be. I can see the potential there, I can see amazing ideas begging to be explored and turned into something wonderful and fun and exciting! But somehow, some way, it's buried underneath some form of garbage, be it mandates or lack of polish...
These kinds of things are the worst tragedy to me. The potential to become so much more is there, yet it just can't succeed...
It's why Sonic fan projects (SRB2 and Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers in particular) are so exciting to me. This franchise, this bundle of ideas that I know has limitless potential and can be incredible under the right hands. Fans have this passion for making good, fun stuff just like I want to believe Sonic Team do, and like I want to believe every single one of us does too.
The work they put into any of their creations is inspiring, as is the work everyone puts through these games to make something fun. I can't help but feel this joy and wonder looking at everyone making stuff, whether it be flexing creative muscle or building functionality. Characters, environments, games, aesthetic changes, whatever. Seeing so many people come together to add a tiny sliver of themselves to something they love is beautiful to me.
I know this is a lot and this sort of wording would probably put a lot of pressure on anyone wanting to make something out of Sonic, but what I'm asking is that you, whoever you are, with your love of making stuff, use Sonic as your canvas to make something good and fun. Hopefully it'll inspire you to make the best you can.
If you've really listened to me ramble on and on about this cool blue guy I like, I want to thank you. I hope it was worth your time.
What baffles me the most about Team Sonic Racing is that it's such a basic, watered-down mascot kart racer released in a world where people can just play Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled instead. TSR just doesn't hold a candle to those two games at all (great soundtrack, though).
To be honest, it would've been better IMO if we got a "Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Deluxe" with every track and character from the first game & Transformed, plus a bunch of QoL improvements and additional features.
Crush 40 made a Green Light Ride for this game, but a better fit would be their other song that was released at around the same time: Crushing Thirties.
Crush 40 didn't make Crushing Thirties. It was produced by The Chalkeaters and they invited Johnny for vocals.
@@kilometersperminute4113 A half of Crush 40 then
@@Zejgar Crush 40 is also not just Jun and Johnny, there's still Takeshi Taneda on bass and Akht on drums.
@@kilometersperminute4113 Ah, my bad, was not aware.
Crush40's Revving Up is a more exciting car racing theme than Green Light Ride.
Twitter's gonna cook you for daring to say Sonic should have any particular vision.
There truly is nothing to say.
I remember during the sonic streams they where asking if they could add like cream or other characters and i remember they was like "oh well maybe if this game does really good" and knowing it basically hasn't gotten any support since is like damn.
First video of yours I decided to watch. Well, listen in the background, to be specific lol
I agree with what you say about the characters not feeling like themselves.
Maekawa made these characters who they are. People fell in love with characters like Shadow thanks to him.
You can't just say "Sonic is Sonic" when clearly other writers don't know how to write these characters.
Even Frontiers. I like the tone and some of the moments they have, but overall it still feels too different.
Honestly I’m like one of those rare people that think this game is underrated, it has so many great things on it’s own, it shouldn’t really be compared to Transformed since they’re both different
It’s built off of transformed and reused many of the tracks so I think it’s fair to compare the two.
Is there any chances for another Dream Team stream? The new additions to the game are kinda fire and i think there's a lot to say about them.
Apparently, Sumo Digital has 3 unannounced games in development. If Sonic's in there, I assume it will be a kart racer. Would be unexpected if they made a game like Riders or R instead. Not what I would've preferred, but I hope it'll at least be good gameplay-wise
Take a shot every time he says Sonic, you won’t wake up tomorrow.
Archie Sonic is always going to be my favorite. I thought for the most part, they captured the most human-like version of the character. He had emotions and reacted appropriately based on the situation he was faced with.
That's not Sonic, Sonic is a paragon
Sonic archie had a lot of liberties unlike Sonic IDW who is very monitored: the result isn't bad but much less powerful.
10:40
I wouldn’t even say they are Ian Flynn’s version of the characters, as they feel so watered down from Archie.
Great video as usual a lot of the stuff you said here is what I’ve been thinking for a while. I may have to make my own video like this one day because it always pains me to hear and think about this.
Like the time you said It isn't on character for Sonic to say "careful, wheres the fun in that" and that he doesn't do quips huh
@@joaquindiaz3621 I still stand by it lol it’s off for him to say it in that context but that’s just me. Also you’re on a Pariah video go complain to a wall lol.
@@Solebinku man, it's because of an attitude like that than even japanese Sonic stans didn't agree with you
@@joaquindiaz3621 Most of the Japanese stans I knew agreed with me and went straight to Sonic X as an example so… cool those "Stan’s" didn’t watch Sonic X
@@Solebinku they did... I did.... He still quips and does quippy stuff
SONIC WAS ALWAYS AN IDEA
Pariah woofs twice in this video
Yeah, what was that about? Does that mean something I am out of the loop of? lol
@@technicallyinept2120 It's kind of like "yikes".
@@defaultxr no it's just kinda funny
Not gonna lie I feel like your "Sonic is one thing" argument could need a bit more work after starting with saying that you like both og Sonic and Shiro Sonic because Maekawa was rather open about thinking of the Sonic he wrote as a completely different Sonic than the one from the classic era.
So this now opens the question why the change from original to Maekawa Sonic is okay to you but not the one to lets say Ian Flynn?
I don't say you have to like Ians Sonic or anything it just feels like a peace of important argumentation to make a clear difference between the 2 scenarios why one is according to you close enough to the original idea and the other isn't.
That’s not what he said. Maekawa said that before he started writing he initially WANTED to make Sonic something else, but ended up finding that he was just “playing in the palm of sonic’s hand” and ended up writing a proper Sonic anyway.
@@greenD7244 He also said that he didn't like Megadrive era sonic a lot and it wouldn't be till Adventure that his Sonic actually started.
That aside is it even in the writing it self evident that he plays Sonic a bit different than before. His Sonic is from all Japanese takes on Sonic properly the most snarky, one line dropping western action hero Sonic.
What if Sonic Free Riders was on multiplatform rather than Kinect? And had CGI animated cutscenes rather than storybook text bubbles?
Sonic riders the reason hes riding a hover board is so its a fair competition if he ran on his feet it rly wouldn't be fair to the other racers
The other reason is that you can't enter a hoverboard racing tournament WHITOUT A HOVERBOARD
I feel as though this wasn’t a Team Sonic Racing video but a rant video about the franchise 😭
I enjoy TSR as a game, it's a really fun gimmick for a racing game and it's honestly really fun!
Will never beat OG Riders though.
You've summed up the characterization issue perfectly. It's tragic how allergic people are to this idea.
Well, the title is a surprise.
I'd say that this strength of characters and world that you talk about is the biggest reason fans continue to hang on so hard - and continue to hope so hard.
Classic - 2000's was just THAT strong it even held us tight when the quality began to slip and the pattern of messiness was clearly established. It really is a tragedy of creativity.
you didnt really describe what the original sonic is. im guessing thats what you mean by the sonic written by shiro maekawa?
you said physics based platforming n stuff but you didnt say what is sonics character traits that separate him from the modern interpretations of sonic.
Check out my What Is It About Sonic? video if you haven't.
Really, if I had to describe the series' identity back in the 2010s which TSR falls under, it would be:
"Trying to market its main audience in a way that feels contradictory."
By that, I mean having more Western focus in its direction rather than Sonic Team itself being able to realize their vision.
Oh, there's also another sentence that fits with this:
"The era as to where Sonic Team suffered the most not by their own volition, which in turn hurt their development scale and budget."
This is why I'm glad mostly everything post-Frontiers is a sort of return to form to the 2000s.
It hasn't reached that peak yet, but we're getting there in due time.
Also, Pariah, whenever you're curious about why Frontiers got the sort of "saved the series" reputation, its simply because its the first Sonic game since Colors or Generations that the general public actually paid attention to and liked.
But also, its one of the most successful 3D Sonic games in a long while, like we're talking 3.5 million units sold as of May 2023 which is the most recent number we got so far.
I mean, colors kickstarted what many consider the "worst period" for Sonic.
So that's not exactly a ringing endorsement for Frontiers.
@@sonic5993 When the 2010s was when public consensus on Sonic was pretty negative and sales after Generations weren't as satisfactory, yeaahhhhh, I'd rather give that ringing endorsement to Frontiers for changing course.
@poloap4275 what I'm saying that the last decade started pretty similarly; a well-received game from the public
@@sonic5993 Ohhhh, I can see where you're coming from. I'll only believe your statement if we see any relevant decline.
@poloap4275 I'm just saying Kishimoto was the director of Colors, Lost World, AND Forces.
People are a little too willing to give him the benefit of the doubt just after one game.
As much as I know it's not gonna happen, I really want another Sega crossover game. It's kinda fun to think about how the menagerie of weirdos Sega has in their repertoire would interact.
TSR is kinda like All-stars Racing Transformed if it didn't have any of the charm that pulled me into the All-Stars Racing games lol. Would love a sequel to ASRT or ports to more modern consoles too.
You're not gonna do Sonic Boom, are you?
He said it last stream playing Rise of Lyric that he's not going to do videos on the Boom series. He will talk about the TV show though iirc
The game was so unremarkable and uninteresting that Pariah couldn’t even stay on topic. 😭
It is so funny that you say who is your favorate character, and show the roster of lack of characters: where cream, charmy, Espio? like that crazy to me that i'm the only one who knows that something feels off; it 's like that sega forgot about them.
Sonic went up against the Bandicoot and lost. Both games got release in a week with each and well we know what happen.
sonics ass game
The fact that we still don’t have dlc for this game is appalling
This game is whatever you make of it but am I the only one that thinks the models and visuals looks really good?
Like somehow it has more flourish over it than the usual cut and paste graphics.
You need to get into a franchise that isn't horribly mismanaged, man lol
I feel like it would be good for you to start watching Lupin III now, I recently started watching it (the 2015 anime, to be exact) and I'm having a blast, it might be the breath of fresh air that you need
I'm fine lol. Sonic is not the only thing I do with my time. Been having a lot of fun with Helldivers 2 and I just watched Home Alone the other day. Great movie!
My main issue with this game is that it would’ve been better as an instalment into the riders series
TSR removes the transformation mechanic from ASRT; so it would be easy enough to scrap the cars and use the extreme gear used in riders. You could also very easily keep some of the customisation by giving players the option to choose different equipment such as boards, skates or bikes and then having custom mods for each. Maybe make it so characters have specific stats (ie- speed, handling, etc), and both equipment and character types have specific shortcuts (ie- speed characters can use rails, skate users can slide under walls).
The team mechanic in TSR is genuinely super interesting and has a lot of potential as it’s basically strategy based racing which is what riders already does with the fuel/air mechanic. Having options to pass both items or fuel to teammates and then having to manage 3 people’s resources sounds like it’d be fun and challenging. I do think for a story mode that this would work best interspersed with other game types though (ie- similar to how ASTR has races, challenges, versus, etc).
Also, I don’t personally have any qualms about using the wisps as power ups, it’s certainly more fitting that the random crap used in ASRT and I think it’s a good way to incorporate them into the series moving forward. And honestly, I think a riders game vaguely themed like sonic colours would be a lot of fun. A space race set across and number of planets provides ample opportunity for a variety of stages (both old and new), and is fitting enough for the riders series as the babylonians are descendants of aliens anyway.
I will say that the teams in this game do need to be fixed though. For one, Zavok would never willing work with Eggman and I see no reason why if they wanted to include him they don’t just pair up the 6 zeti and have a team of 3 cars with 2 of them in a car each. Just make Eggman the power type, and having either Orbot/Cubot (or Sage if we ignore when this came out) as the Fly/Tech type. Also, Vector joining Blaze and Silver when he could’ve just been with Espio and Charmy is baffling to me, just give Marine to Blaze’s team instead. I have nothing against the chao car (outside of them probably not working as well on a hoverboard) cause I think it’s very funny but I don’t see why Cream couldn’t have been with them.
The roster in TSR is fairly small though (sega stop not putting the babylons in your racing games), if we ignore when it came out and pretend it’s a brand new game you could easily bulk this out by having Fang/Bark/Bean and a team and Mighty/Ray with either Honey or Trip (I’m sure we can come up with some reason why they met).
Anyway I’m gonna shut up now cause this is a kinda old video and at this point I’m just talking out of my ass for why I want another riders game more than I’m talking about TSR or your video lmao 😅
As bad as some parts of Archie were, they at least *tried* to give each character some more depth and nuances. The bad parts were absolutely terrible of course, but the good parts absolutely paid off and are some of the best parts of the entire franchise. IDW simply doesn't do that anymore even when having people like Ian Flynn onboard because SEGA is now a lot more stricter on what gets approved and what doesn't since they are now trying to sanitize the series beyond belief. Sure some of the new comic characters *look* nice and have interesting ideas, but they are just shells of an overall concept and rarely does it ever go deeper than that. Sonic back in the 1990s and 2000s still had an overall identity, now he's just a shallow husk of what he once was. The early 2010s tried to play around with an all new interpretation with Boom only to completely screw it up by not only making everyone vastly different, but also that the games for it that came out sucked. After that SEGA pretty much gave up on doing absolutely anything and is trying to be as bland as possible to not seem as "controversial". On one hand I can kinda see why they want to do this since the fandom absolutely sucks a lot of the time and that trying too many things can also be a bad thing, but on the other it just makes them come across as less interesting and more lifeless with how everything is being done just for the sake of making a paycheck. Sonic Mania was the only genuinely good thing to have come out officially under SEGA since those days, and it was made by fans reliving the glory days of old as a tribute with some QoL paint on top of it. Superstars in comparison tried to do something similar but without nearly as much heart and effort. (I like what they did with Trip's design and characterization but that's it, and it says nothing about gameplay nor its presentation) It's all just a whole lot of nothing. Sonic Triple Trouble 16-Bit on the other hand, a completely independent fan project, is so much better than Superstars that it's not even close.
What a weird time to live in…
Damn
That was... deeper than I expected
Sonic like fair competition thats why the point of using hoverboards.
I'm an idiot. This whole time I thought Sonic All-Stars Racing came after Team Sonic Racing... *facepalm
It's perfectly fine and even beneficial for extended media such as the movies and Prime to have their own seperate interpretations of the characters, even if they contradict the original franchise vision. But the games have a duty to understand what they are. You can't keep releasing games in a series with the illusion of continuity when the only continuity that exists is surface-level. There will always be discrepancies between how writers handle the characters but you can tell when it comes from a lack of direction. I have a lot more respect for the aspects of the franchise sonic team are not personally responsible for, like IDW or Paramount, because the writers on those things have an actual vision, even if it differs from the games. For the better part of the last decade and a half Sonic Team haven't understood what series they're making games for.
You know there's a difference between the idea of a character vs the actually character
Like the core idea of sonic still exists but what doesn't exist anymore is the character
Or at the very least isn't same
Infact batman,tmnt,scooby doo,looney tunes and many long running franchises have different interpretation but their core idea still exists
Best way to play, is to mute the voices. That's how I went.
Or just go with the Japanese dub.
This is so dumb, people have tried to understand the character for years and for once we get someone who freaking tries, but no lets say hes nothing because why not
Well in terms of official writers, in the years it's been since sonic and the black knight it's been pontac and graff, and... Y'know. And Ian Flynn
At some point pariah's gonna explain himself or die trying but generally speaking, pariah doesn't really jive with Ian's constant melodrama, referencing, and quipping that everyone does and thinks the writing itself is actually pretty weak
I'm however, not sure how far he got into IDW before calling it quits. Idk if he took a passive glance at a few pages of one comic or if he tried really hard to get through the first saga and just died inside of boredom and had to put it down or something. Ian Flynn writing is definitely the closest we've seen to black knight and prior but it is still a different version, and I imagine the writing and dialog itself are too much for pariah to stomach
All that being said, I'm some jerk ass on the internet working second-hand off memory, I'd say wait until the man goes into more detail himself
@@igirjei3717 good point, i get why he cant stomach because Sonic stories go to the point most of the time, but idw IS always setting Up arcs to go around.
But saying that everything is nothing when theres people Who try, specially murder of Sonic and classic Sonic comics that have him more in character it's a little annoying
@@joaquindiaz3621 that's fair, it was a bit of a sweeping statement that I can only assume was said because of the frustration he felt, but yeah clearly ian at least wants to give the fans something closer to what they want. He's just got his own interpretation and not as great an understanding of sonic as the Japanese writers of pre 2010 did is all
I can see the consoomers rage at the bottom of the comment section. You should follow your own advice guys and just don't care, take the shitty games, ignore the stories AND true fans' opinions.
I've been where you are, and it's a hard pill to swallow. The Sonic I like is pretty much dead. At least on the American side of things, because in the Japanese dubs of Sonic games, they recharacterize the characters to be more accurate to how they're supposed to be, but you know this, but while you might frame this as a positive but it's really not because in order for me to experience the Sonic I like I have experience a version of the experience that is deliberately changed from the original work in order to make it more true to what Sonic is, undermining the intentions of the American writers writing the original stories these days.
Undermining the story itself. Moreover, there's only so much that can be done to cover up the bad writing and mischaracterization of this time period. Hope isn't completely gone, if the series started being written by the Japanese again, we could get the old Sonic back but that might not happen for another decade or longer. I got into the Sonic series because I liked the characters and stories. When I think of my favorite moment in the series, I don't think of big action scenes like the opening of Unleashed or 06, I think of the first time Sonic and Tails spoke to each other in Sonic Adventure. I got into Sonic because of the characters and now those characters are pretty much gone. So I found that I don't really have a reason to continue with this series. I don't really consider myself a Sonic fan anymore. I do consider myself a fan of Ian Flynn and Evan Stanley, I think they've done good work but I recognize that these are different characters.
Sonic is fundamentally a different franchise now and I've learned to accept that. I follow the series purely because of Ian Flynn and that's really it. And for anyone else, I would implore you, we saw with Sonic Mania how Sega will listen if you are loud and speak with your wallet. So, if you are not happy with the current state of the franchise, don't play any more Sonic games.
Nietzsche: "Sonic is dead, and we killed him."
Pretty much agree with everything here, you cooked