The initial ideas for Sonic Boom sounded super promising and the developers at Big Red Button had a lot of potential. The problem is, they were working with SEGA.
I heard the only reason Mania only had 4 original levels was because of SEGA, the developers actually wanted more. So yeah, the only consistent complaint from people in Mania was SEGA's fault.
@@MasuxAnderson I know! Jeez, according to these infos, Sonic Boom was planned to be a very fresh game for its franchise! And then Sega shot itself in its feet... and not just because of the exclusivity deal with Nintendo.
So basically, BigRedButton was an actually competent development studio that Sega just shafted with all their usual idiotic shenanigans. It sounded like they had everything under control until Sega started instructing them to make changes that went against what they were initially asked to do in the first place. People always want to argue that Sonic Team is incompetent and that Sonic was never good, but this is just further proof of what I've been trying to tell people. Sonic Team has made amazing games post-genesis era and have made several other franchises that Sega refuses to dip back into outside of cameos. The problem is, and always has been, Sega as a company. This is the same Sega that released a game console before any games were available for it (Sega Saturn). Each new Sonic title is rushed to meet a deadline and is apparently micromanaged by one of the most incompetent publishers I've ever seen in this industry. Next time we end up with a bad Sonic game, remember that the developers aren't entirely at fault. Sega literally has no clue what they're doing with this franchise most of the time and the upcoming Sonic movie is just more evidence that Sega needs new people to take the reigns or Sonic needs to be given away to company that cares so Sonic Team can be allowed to make a good game.
@@Trakesh Maybe, but we'll never know because Sega took a humongous dogshit all over Sonic Synergy and forced BRB to base the game off of a french cartoon.
Gotta love the "you can't do sonic's origin, we were totally gonna do that later" 8 years later and we got nothing on Sonic's "origin" They definitely pulled a "ahhhh duuude! I was just gonna start on my homework until you walked in!"
@@MrSniperfox29 Not to mention the good ol reliable, "Wait you aren't supposed to create a whole different universe! What we told you to do was create a whole different universe!"
Even without the exclusivity contract the game likely still would´ve turned bad, even if the game wasn't rushed and glitched it still would've turned out boring and insultingly kid pandering.
@@elin111 how would you know? It said here that they had to forcely cut a lot of content even Online to make it run on the Wii U. Not to mention the earlier trailers show a hella lot of promise, but Sega did screw up big time.
@@lilwyvern4 i mean, it's technically the only reason Bayonetta 2 (and soon Bayonetta 3) is a thing, so that's one positive in my books. that's more of an iffy situation though. less "hey, we'll pay extra for this to only be for us" and more of Nintendo being the only people willing to fund it at all.
@@Leiliel1 Their later successes just go to show that they really are competent, and know what they're doing if you let them. I'm curious as to what their take on Sonic Synergy would have been.
@@Ezekiel-pc4ef this exact battle caused the 32x and Saturn failure, lead to the dreamcast not getting appreciated, and caused the end of SEGA in the hardware competition.
I don't think there's been a single one of these where I've been more sympathetic to the developer. Ye gods, SEGA doomed this one. ... like it's the smallest part of the thing but... dying when you hit water? That's a *feature?* A *feature* Sonic Team *asked for*?!!
Was Sonic Team even involved in the development of Sonic Origins/Synergy/Boom; weren't they busy developing Sonic Runners and Forces? Sega are the one's to blame.
Sonic team seems to hate anyone else working on sonic games in general, like when Sonic Xtreme was in in apparent development hell for several years and Sonic Team still refused to let the devs use the engine running Nights Into Dreams. I could understand EA not letting Activison use Frostbite (They probably would though if they pay through the nose) but when both studios and IP´s are within the same company, that´s just stupid ego shit ruining it for everyone including themselves.
The most disappointing thing about Sonic Boom was it’s world. Despite being a completely different universe, Sega decided to cut out most of the lore and relied on the redesigns as a selling point. It’s why the Boom universe feels so incomplete and small even compared to the Classic universe.
I would have actually liked a sonic game that went deep into ancient Echidna/Hedgehog lore. Seems like it would have been interesting. Personally, I liked the redesigns, too. Not as a replacement for the originals of course, but I thought they were well designed.
SEGA has been pretty inconsistent about lore at times. To the point it feels like everyone who's worked on the series has their own ideas on what it is. The current Paramount universe is doing great so far though.
>ruined their own consoles >devalues their own IPs >seemingly still go against their western branches despite having origins in a joint partnership between Japanese and American businessmen >let themselves bought out after the Dreamcast's retail run to Sammy Corp. a PACHINKO MAKER "That's So SEGA!" ;~;
You can just imagine the stress the team was under when they were told “you are changing platforms!”. You almost want to scream at SEGA - “YOU WANTED THEM TO FAIL!”
All that fucking work you spent years on, tossed out the door, and now told you're now going to have to port the whole damn game to a console that can't even run the engine! Also, better be fast, we told Nintendo we'll give them 3 Sanic games!
Ah, Sonic the Hedgehog, the only video game franchise on the planet where the best games available are free to download fan projects. Because if Sega gets to have anything to do with it, they'll inevitably fuck it up.
What gets me is that when I played Sonic Colors/Sonic Generations ... I was sure like "Finally, SEGA has finally figured out how to make a 3D Sonic game, the dark days of 3D Sonic are behind us" ... then Sonic Boom happened ... and Sonic Mania is now the best Sonic game to come out since with literally no competition
Before hearing the full story, it's easy to laugh at Big Red Button and treat them as a gang of idiots. But the full story is surprisingly sad, where they genuinely had good intentions and some ideas that sounded interesting, but... boy howdy nobody ruins Sonic quite like Sonic Team. At least the cartoon is good.
I’m glad to hear BigRedButton didn’t go down because of boom. While I have no idea what they are making I am happy to hear that a group of game developers are still around and hope they do well
I read that last word in the Sega Genesis announcers voice. Just imagine God saying "SEGA!" to Adam and Eve after the snake told them the SNES was the superior console. That makes me realize that there is probably a 90s translation of the Bible made by some (willfully) out of touch youth pastor trying to reach "da yoofs" or something. "The Lord is your bro, and he got your back, dude." Psalms 23:1
"We focused on too many features." "Also we should've added more features." - An actual Sega executive So basically Sega had no idea what they were doing and ruined a perfectly good company because of their ill-fated decisions and brain dead marketing department.
Looking back over the history of Sonic the Hedgehog, I'm astonished that the franchise survived the '90s. Between Sega's petty infighting and their utter inability to decide what to do with these characters, by all known logic this series should've imploded around 1997 or so.
Devs: "Let's make a great game for all platforms with an amazing narrative and origin story for the Sonic franchise! :D" "And God said, let there be SEGA"
Well, in the infamous Sonic Free Riders, she was more of a one-dimensional mean girl that would start sexist cat fights with the most-putdownable Amy Rose.
"People were saying Sonic was too fast." I think what they should have taken away from the focus tests, but didn't, was that Sonic's speed was often uncontrollable and clunky in Sonic games. Its not that people craved slowness, but stuff like constantly running into walls or running out of world is frustrating.
One suggestion I've heard, and always liked, is: when sonic hits top speed, Everything slows down. Sonic moves at a "Normal" speed, everything else is slow. So it's clear he's at a high speed, but manageable.
The equivalent in the 2d games being slamming headfirst into spikes or those fucking backwards springs (which are even worse somehow) while running at max speed.
Basically, Sonic when moving fast is absurdly difficult to control, forcing you to move slow in most sections. Also, boost sonic is not something lot of players love. They prefer building naturally that speed.
Mod Drew Yeah. I can at least give the game SOME credit for TRYING to give Amy more dimension, instead of having her entire personality revolve around Sonic. It wasn’t the best, but at least it was SOMETHING. Hopefully future creators who take on the Sonic IP will continue to refine her character until she becomes likable.
a cartoon getting 2 seasons is actually pretty good. now if it was cancelled after 13 episodes or 1 season, then that's a good indicator the boom franchise was a complete disaster
If you look at everything that they were up against, the fact that Rise of Lyric is a functional piece of software that actually boots and can be completed is actually quite an achievement. And I'm really happy to hear that Big Red Button is still out there making new and successful games
I'm happy to hear it as well. Didn't they make Red Steel for the Wii? Man, that was my shit back when my parents bought us the objectively worst game console of its generation.
@@beancheesedip8337 The worst console? The one that won that generation? Graphics ARE NOT EVERYTHING BUT GOOD GAMES IS. Something the Wii had and a lot more than PS3 and Xbox 360
@@mep6302 "worst" doesn't imply "unsuccessful." Yeah, it made a lot of money. Also, I was being hyperbolic when I said "objectively worse." I don't personally like the Wii that much, but it wasn't a terrible console.
I need to take a gander at this Sonic Bible. It's supposed to have other weird stuff in it, like how there's apparently no money whatsoever in the Sonic universe.
*SEGA cut entire levels, world building, gameplay, multiplayer, and story because they wanted it on the WII U* "Well......they've done worse things befo-" 10:47 *Cut Chao Collecting* "THEY WENT TOO FAR THIS TIME, AAAGGGHHHHHHHH!!"
@@londonjackson8986 I don't think that's the case, if boom sonic was welcome on the 25th anniversary photo and as well get 2 more installments then maybe he is still welcome to Sega
This whole debacle reminds me of an interview I saw with Clive Barker where he received a phone call from a producer complaining he'd sent them a horror script. When he pointed out that's what they hired him for they said 'Well... Yes... But we've promised our investors a rock musical.'
It's a miracle the Yakuza games turn out as well as they do despite being developed on a strict budget. I'm also glad that Sega knows well enough to let Atlus do their own thing.
Yakuza games don't get treated like Sonic because Yakuza games to this day, are pretty niche, so the studio is never rushed to release games on profitable dates or doens't get that much interference by higher ups because it's just an small franchise. Sonic's curse is being SEGAs money maker.
@@Wintd1 What do you mean strict budget? Surely hiring Beat Takeshi and other top Japanese actors to appear in the games requires quite a money. If you mean the first game, yeah that's true.
It doesn't sound like this was BigRedButton's fault at all. You can't just change the engine like that, that late into development. As Matt said, it's a miracle that what they were able to make largely from scratch in that time frame could run at all. I'm glad they aren't closed down, that would have been so unfair.
Honestly, the sudden Wii U deal doesn't sound like something made in misguided, ignorant faith, Sega was already criticizing this take on franchise heavily (even though they asked for it) this is some tinfoil hat shit, but I bet that Nintendo deal was a way they could cut their losses for a reboot they didn't give a fuck about at that point. Not to mention Sega coming out to declare, specifically, that Boom was one of the worst selling Sonic games period. I'm not nessecarily saying sabotage, but clearly Sega was already over this reboot before it even had a chance to begin and wanted to just recoup costs on something they no longer cared for while fucking over Big Red Button. But that's just a Game Theory.
@@jonnay8133 My tin foil hat theory is Nintendo big brained this shit. With the losing reputation Sonic was already gaining they screwed them over with the Wii U deal, knowing it would absolutely fuck over Big Red Button and further cement Sonics reputation down in the dirt.
Oh my god...I did NOT know Sega had interfered that much.....This is actually making me angry because I was excited to experience the new Sonic universe. This could have been THE game. This could have breathed new life into the franchise.....Wow.....Well, at least we got Mania.
same bro i actually liked the new designs on the characters they were so expressive and detailled .not only that amy for the first time was not a sonic fangirl
I had a hunch or two. Ever since I learned of why the Saturn failed, I've been dour on Sega outside of their Yakuza franchise; and realizing Sega would've been a huge hand in Boom's failure. I knew they had to be sabotaging it. Just didn't know the scale of the fuck up.
I’m so sorry. Believe me, after watching this, I’m very disappointed to see the potential of what Sonic Boom could’ve been rather than what it turned out to be.
I’m sick of people sending hate towards the devs. This story clearly shows that Sega and Sonic team need to be cut out of the Sonic series if it ever wants to be anything other than a trainwreck.
@@repulser93 George Lucas is good at ideas, but he really needs people on hand to shape and form those ideas rather than a bunch of sycophants. You can see a lot of the building blocks of what he wanted to do in the prequels, but in his own hands those blocks just didn't come together. Sonic Team on the other hand... I don't even think they have good ideas to start with.
@@crossbones116Sonic team did have good ideas at one point the problem is it has changed hands so many times. Ture fact, The Archie comic series for sonic at one time had writers that worked on sonic team.
Think of it. It took a fan making one of their games, to get out a decent new title that wasn't just a constant rehash of preexisting levels like Generations was.
i think the "sonic should be slow" focus test was them not understanding what the people were complaining about,because sonic ISENT about speed, its about momentum, but rather then hearing "give us momentum based movement that feels good rather then 3000 boost pads that make it uncontrollable" they heard" we want sonic to be a snail"
@@londonjackson8986 Come to think of it, Sega's really trying way too hard to make Sonic another Mario right? I wish they would just do something creative and actually take the time and resources to do so. But of course, just about every AAA company is stuck on making the most normal pandering broken dribble to ensure profits. Screw creativity I guess. Although, now would be a good time for some indie devs to shine.
How do you watch a video explaining that everything about this game being SEGA's Fault and come to the conclusion that Sonic Team isn't being subjected to the same treatment?
"Online Multiplayer is the only way to keep a franchise alive." ....God of War is still kept alive despite being a single player...and it even won Best Game of 2018 despite the fact that Red Dead Redemption 2 won almost every other category. Also.. I guess Sega does what Nintendon't... ruin their own franchise.
Having an origin on Sonic and Eggman becoming who they are in their roles as hero and villain would`ve intresting to see done. And the fact of them being friends obviously is a nod to the Sonic tie in comic and Fleet way continuity.
Wait...so...so this was ALL SEGA's fault? XD I knew SEGA's hands weren't clean of this mistake, but just...this is beyond self-destructive. This is hooking up a nail bomb to your car engine and calling it fixed.
SEGA: we want to make a spinoff of the Sonic universe that appeals more to the western audience for next gen. Big Red: we can do that. SEGA: okay, we like what you've done, but the whole "origin" thing is something we want to tackle ourselves. Big Red: but... okay. fine. SEGA: we've entered an exclusivity deal with Nintendo, so the game's coming out on the Wii U. Big Red: ... wut? SEGA: oh, btw it better be finished before the holidays. Big Red: do you... want us to go bankrupt or something?
So let me get this straight, SEGA hired a studio comprised of people who made some of the best new IPs in gaming during the 2000s with the Goal of reinventing sonic, and then wouldn’t let them use any of the creativity that got them so much success with other franchises?
Peacock Terumi | Basically. Sega, for a long time, has been like this; they don't like change. Look up Saberspark or Gaming Historian, they explain their history.
Sonic occasionally has winners in the modern day but not often. The problem just like in this game is that Sonic games are conceptually amazing but rarely play well.
I wonder what the game would've looked like if Big Red Button were allowed to see their vision to completion, and on the correct platforms. It certainly would've been a much better built game, potentially better designs than the current Boom crew, but I have trouble believing the game would've been any fun.
I feel like it would have probably gone over well enough with non-fans and maybe even critics, but the Sonic fanbase (lovable crazies that they are) probably wouldn't have been quite so happy.
Well, gameplay is probably the hardest to visualize, I guess. Like, we can all wonder about story and graphics. It's not that hard. Honestly, if the gameplay was just what we got in the end, but better, I'd have been all for it.
@@stayskeptic3923 Apparently the 06 staff got reduced in order to make The Secret Rings for Wii and the remaining people weren't enough to get the game finished by the time of release.
Not gonna lie, the core concepts of the game mentioned in the video kind of sound like the concept of a LEGO game (y'know, LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Indiana Jones, etc.). Sit down with your sibling at a gaming console and progress through levels while using your characters' unique abilities in special sections and beating up mooks. And this looks like it'd have had much better combat mechanics (leveling, more special combat abilities, etc.) than the LEGO games usually do. Sounds like a good time to me.
Honestly after hearing about all the work the dev team put into this game before SEGA pulled the rug out from under them for no reason, I'm glad to hear they're doing well these days since that huge failure was by no fault of their own. Good on you, Big Red Button!
Honestly I REALLY want to see what the original "Sonic Synergy" would have looked like as Big Red Button had initially planned it. By the sounds of it BRB had some really cool ideas and then Sega came along and brought a sledgehammer to it all.
As a long time fan of Sonic (moreso the 90s and Adventure era games), I actually would have liked to see what the original version of this game could have been like. It looked and sounded promising. If the original version of the game had come out and they were able to clearly explain its in its own seperate universe, I feel people would have taken to it a lot better.
Man we all thought Big Red Button just sucked at making Sonic Boom, but nope they were actually doing a damn good job and Sega fucked it up. Good to see BRB still making games that are actually successful.
You know what boggles my mind here, that the villain's name is "Lyric", and is theme has nothing to do with music or sound... Alright... (At least the show exist because of it, even though it doesn't get the best airtime on Cartoon Network.)
@@codyholley ttg wasn't really meant to be a sequel series to teen titans. They didn't lie and say that this is the original series. It is ultimatly it's own thing, the show still isn't good despite this.
Sonic: let's give it some chilli dogs Tails: I don't think it's in the state to eat solid food Sonic: I don't know put it in the blender Chunk knuck: (grabs baby) well if you say so
SEGA had too much creative control on the Sonic Boom game. I didn’t know that they crippled Big Red Button with so many demands and sudden development shifts. Poor devs. This had so much promise. Unlike the game, the Boom cartoon series was quite good and it seems that Sega was hands off it.
I've always thought that the media was overstating Sega's ineptitude when it comes to producing Sonic games, but after watching this video, I'm starting to think that Sega needs help. No, I don't mean help developing games - I'm talking about psychiatric help!
A Publisher ruining a game for greed and literally stupidity/lack of basic understanding that making games takes time? Imagine my shock. Also, sick of speed? In a Sonic game? What is next? "People" sick of cars in Need For speed? Or players of FIFA complaining that there is only football?
On the "sick of speed" part, I actually get what he was saying. A lot of fans (to this day) don't like the Boost-to-Win formula because it reduced the level design to linear hallways dressed up as vibrant worlds and is based on trial and error; people want the Adventure style of gameplay to come back, but uncorrupted by multiple worthless friends or cheap gimmicks, feeling it was a solid mix of speed, physics, and platforming that works best for the franchise. That cool. Still gonna fail, though.
"We found that our test audiences didn't like the Cruella DeVille character. She has nothing to do with any of this, but I still feel we need to address that."
@@Vulgarth1 Well yeah, Sonic Boom is a part of the Sonic franchise. But it's not a part of the main series games. Therefore, Sonic Boom is a spin off to the main games.
Sega's behavior in this case makes me wonder whether they genuinely were that over-ambitious or if they were intentionally setting these guys up to fail for some reason.
For anyone who didn’t feel like pausing, here are the thousands of changes requested by Sega and Sonic Team: 1. Too different (which means bad BTW) 2. TOO SLOW!!! 3. Character Designs are stinky 4. Add more speed sections 5. Jumping in the water should murder Sonic Teh Hedgehog. So no swimming 6. Make his arms blue er 7. Characters should say “Glub Glub Glub” when drowning 8. Model a penis for Knuckles, but hide it in the level geometry 9. Make the characters swear just like in Shadow Teh Hedgehog 10. Do something involving Bloom Lighting 11. Change the _feeling_ of the skybox 12. Add Big the Cat 13. Remove Big the Cat once you’ve finished adding him 14. Make the feet MORE STINKY! 15. Pitch up Sonic’s 4th Damage Audio Track up by 25% in the Pal version of the game 16. Model one of the NPC characters with your left hand 17. Read some Sonic Fan Fiction for inspiration 18. Find a way to market Amy towards a more _Urban_ fanbase 19. Can we get more political? 20. Make sure Tails has a more fluent wink animation 21. Dr. Eggman should own an Gamegear 22. Make lyric a Snake so we can reach past the furry audience 23. Characters need to scream every time they collect a ring 24. Sonic should drink Sapporo 25. Can the legs be longer? 26. Give Sonic another 1,000 polygons 27. Whenever Sonic is not on screen, all the other characters should say “Where’s Sonic?” 28. The feet need realistic renders for marketing 29. Hire more staff from Ohio, the game feels _too cultured_ 30. Should we add a harlem shake??? 31. Would it be out of the question to tint Sonic to a slightly darker blue 32. Should the plot involve a miscarage? 33. Characters need to make self aware quips every 10 seconds!
Sega: "Sonic games need to be made to sustain and keep the franchise alive." Also Sega: "Hey let's port a Wii game that worked just about perfectly and break it on literally every current platform, and then call it the 'Ultimate' version. That will sustain the Sonic brand." They keep using that word. I do not think it means what they think it means.
*As Tails tearfully watches from the entrance to a lavish home filled with golden-era Sonic memorabilia, Sonic mournfully pours his soul out on the keys of a grand piano* "What have I become, my sweetest friend? Everything I love, goes away in the end. And you could have it all, my empire of dirt. I will let you down, I will make you hurt." "If I could start all over again, a million miles away, I will keep myself. I would find a way."
I just have to applaud you , a good friend of mine Worked at Big Red Button on this game and you basically read from the script of experiences he encountered himself . He told me that Prototype / vertical slice level they designed for Sega? It costs over 20 million dollars and a ton of time to build,, he mention how Cri-engine was a pin in the ass to work with with questionable support, and he mentioned how excited the team was to " refresh" Sonic and how crushed they were when Sega was like " I want you to refresh it but.... the old way". I don't know where you get your info but this is as good as me having drinks with an employee that worked at Big Red Button at the time, you should be proud .
Don’t you know, we don’t want single player experiences anymore according to the triple A video game industry, I mean ignore God of War, Resident Evil 2, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Bloodstained, Sonic Mania, Cuphead, Sekiro, Kingdom Hearts 3, Persona 5, Red Dead Redemption 2, and the other mountain of single player games that have sold like gangbusters, yeah clearly no one wants those anymore
“An iron-clad rule in the Sonic Bible stating that Only Tails and Eggman can be inventors” even though the Sonic Riders trilogy had another inventor in the shape of a purple swallow named Wave. I get that’s a spin-off, but the point still stands.
To be fair, the "Sonic only" mentality has been a detriment to the rest of the games, and bringing back more characters would be an improvement. The only classic games that had "Sonic only" were the two earliest ones (CD may have released after Sonic 2, but started development before it). Sonic 3 nailed it and Sonic Mania + managed to work in two additional characters and make them both fairly unique, despite their clear similarities to existing ones. Multiple playable characters was never the problem in and of itself, it's just that one or two specific games did it badly, most notably 06, where Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, and Rouge, all characters whom had controlled just fine in prior games, were suddenly made a whole lot worse.
To paraphrase a certain popular UA-camr known for his Sonic content: "When people complain about Sonic having too many friends, they're not talking about fucking *Tails and Knuckles.*"
Sonic Team is the real villain in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. They are a force far greater than any threat Eggman or any other power could create. A force that lies beyond the knowledge of anyone in Sonic’s universe, looming over like a Lovecraftian god.
From all the stories I've read and heard over the years, I've begun to realize the Mega Drive/Genesis was a flash in the pan hit even Sega didn't expect, and that they were too incompetent to know how to follow that up with success. It's just been one disaster after another that is directly attributed to their baffling business decisions (hell even Sega of America were screwed over by the headquarters in Japan). Worse still, all the people involved on the technical and creative side have suffered and unfairly gotten the brunt of the criticism.
The game they wanted to make sounds like would’ve been interesting if Sega would’ve let them do their own thing. As Raul Julia once said, “The road not taken.”
Sonic was never a japanese thing. Sega of America made him what he is during development, and the Mega Drive was never big over in Japan. It's the West that loves sonic.
I once heard like a million years ago that Metroid had historically been more popular in the West, so Nintendo deliberately got an American team for Metroid Prime. But I'm pretty sure that's an urban legend or something. Still, valuable lesson for Sega.
@@nihilvox It's undeniable that Metroid is way more popular in the West, being inspired by Western film and all. Another interesting tidbit. I recently discovered that pretty much no one knew what Metroid was in Japan. In the same vein as Fire Emblem to the West, its existence was left unknown for a while until Smash Bros featured them.
@@nihilvox Metroid is definitely more popular outside of Japan, but the studio choice is likely more coincidental, it just happens to be the place where Nintendo has a reservoir of talent with a "different" perspective than their core teams, something like the replacement for Rare in a way.
Yeah but paramount was at least a giant corporation that outclassed Sega. Big red button had to give in since it was a smaller studio and breaking your contract like that would suck
That guy from Sega NA sounds like he doesn’t actually even *play* video games *at all,* let alone Sonic games. “People don’t want speed in a Sonic game! Focus testing is how we make all of our decisions! Online multiplayer is the future!” Sweaty, Sonic is NOT that kind of game. It baffles me that people like this exist in the games industry.
To be a little bit fair to the Sega of America guy, I distinctly remember a lot of people harshly criticizing classic Sonic games as being "too fast" around that time. This was an opinion that a fair amount of internet critics and personalities were parroting so it makes sense that the focus group they pulled might have been expressing the same opinions. Still though it's amazing to see how many of Sega's mistakes in trying to correct the series all center around the idea of appealing to people who don't even like Sonic to begin with.
Not so much the 2D games, as the 3D ones. 3D Sonic titles often struggled with their controls, notably Sonic 2006. High speed sections were too fast to be controlled, momentum felt off with sudden starts, dead stops, and weird handling of jumps and ramps, as well as forcing players through speed boosters.
(basic, no-frills old-school side-scrollers are consistently the top-rated games in the franchise since 1991) "THIS IS NOT SUSTAINABLE" (26 years of easily-accessable data shows literally the exact opposite thing) "NO IT NEEDS MULTIPLAYER WHY CAN'T WE FIGURE THIS OUT"
That's the franchise since '94 in a nutshell. Just about every Sonic game since the Genesis days has had ridiculous amounts of untapped potential but was _corrupted_ by the company.
Yuli Ban The sonic series was most definitely respected way further than that. The series reputation only declined with Shadow and then Sonic 06 happened.
I feel bad for BigRedButton, honestly. They really seem like they wanted to make a good game... and then Sega and Sonic Team mismanaged the shit out of them. There should be a way for developers to fine bad publishers that do this. Edit: "The future of Sonic games have to be multiplayer" is such an incredible load of wank. Wow.
So I mean, this game actually could've been good, or at the very least tolerable. It's just that Sega has a huge problem with letting go of how big Sonic was in the past and can't seem to let a developer that isn't them have a chance. It's pretty sad. They're digging their own grave here on out.
Given the story here, I can sympathize with Big Red Button. Most studios on this show dig their own grave, but Sega gave BRB a no-win situation.
And the cherry on the shit cake? It was wasted potential on it :^(
Sega screwed up BIG time.
The show was good at least. Sucks it didn't get a third season. It was hilarious.
@@joshchiang5995 The only reason I can think why a 3rd season has to be announced is because everything related to it went to the wayside.
@@manuelalbertoromero9528 yeah your right. Its sucks because it was good enough to last on its own.
Sega: "I HAVE ALTERED THE DEAL."
"Pray I don't alter it any further."
And then, of course, they altered it further.
_”Pray harder.”_
"This deal's getting worse all the time..."
@@TheEmperorHyperion
*The praying isn’t working*
The initial ideas for Sonic Boom sounded super promising and the developers at Big Red Button had a lot of potential. The problem is, they were working with SEGA.
Shit.Eatting.Gimp.Assistant. ..SEGA
Sentient. Electronic. Global. Annihilator.
Screws.Every.Good.Attempt
whoops '-'
@@Veritas_Vincit That’s 100% what SEGA stands for.
How to fix the sonic franchise, here's the answer:
Just take it away from SEGA
I heard the only reason Mania only had 4 original levels was because of SEGA, the developers actually wanted more. So yeah, the only consistent complaint from people in Mania was SEGA's fault.
@@MasuxAnderson
I know! Jeez, according to these infos, Sonic Boom was planned to be a very fresh game for its franchise! And then Sega shot itself in its feet... and not just because of the exclusivity deal with Nintendo.
SEGA doesn't know what they are doing nowadays does it?
I think it's pretty clear the fans know what makes Sonic good better than Sega does.
Except the music team. They stay
So basically, BigRedButton was an actually competent development studio that Sega just shafted with all their usual idiotic shenanigans. It sounded like they had everything under control until Sega started instructing them to make changes that went against what they were initially asked to do in the first place. People always want to argue that Sonic Team is incompetent and that Sonic was never good, but this is just further proof of what I've been trying to tell people. Sonic Team has made amazing games post-genesis era and have made several other franchises that Sega refuses to dip back into outside of cameos.
The problem is, and always has been, Sega as a company. This is the same Sega that released a game console before any games were available for it (Sega Saturn). Each new Sonic title is rushed to meet a deadline and is apparently micromanaged by one of the most incompetent publishers I've ever seen in this industry. Next time we end up with a bad Sonic game, remember that the developers aren't entirely at fault. Sega literally has no clue what they're doing with this franchise most of the time and the upcoming Sonic movie is just more evidence that Sega needs new people to take the reigns or Sonic needs to be given away to company that cares so Sonic Team can be allowed to make a good game.
Nintendo should just buy SEGA.
@@Trakesh Maybe, but we'll never know because Sega took a humongous dogshit all over Sonic Synergy and forced BRB to base the game off of a french cartoon.
Fucking true.
Nintendo should still just buy SEGA. Or just Sonic Team. Just get rid of those looming business expectations
I know, right? Sega are clowns. No wonder they dropped from the Console market, and are a joke among gaming.
Gotta love the "you can't do sonic's origin, we were totally gonna do that later"
8 years later and we got nothing on Sonic's "origin"
They definitely pulled a "ahhhh duuude! I was just gonna start on my homework until you walked in!"
@@MrSniperfox29 Not to mention the good ol reliable, "Wait you aren't supposed to create a whole different universe! What we told you to do was create a whole different universe!"
Well we got sonic origins
@@Spazy912just a collection of the original 3 + Knuckles games. Nice "Origins" of Sonic there
A heartbreaking tale, really.
That darned 'exclusivity contract' forcing 'Big Red Button' to change plattform, engine, etc...
Even without the exclusivity contract the game likely still would´ve turned bad, even if the game wasn't rushed and glitched it still would've turned out boring and insultingly kid pandering.
At least BRB survived. So not entirely shit ending.
@@elin111 how would you know? It said here that they had to forcely cut a lot of content even Online to make it run on the Wii U. Not to mention the earlier trailers show a hella lot of promise, but Sega did screw up big time.
@@lilwyvern4 i mean, it's technically the only reason Bayonetta 2 (and soon Bayonetta 3) is a thing, so that's one positive in my books. that's more of an iffy situation though. less "hey, we'll pay extra for this to only be for us" and more of Nintendo being the only people willing to fund it at all.
@@Leiliel1 Their later successes just go to show that they really are competent, and know what they're doing if you let them.
I'm curious as to what their take on Sonic Synergy would have been.
Once again proving that Sonic's greatest enemy is Sega itself.
Sega and Sonic team should be the next villain of a future Sonic game
Sega america vs sega japan.... so epic and useless
No, its the edgy fanbase
Sega does have a very well documented history of terrible decision making.
@@Ezekiel-pc4ef this exact battle caused the 32x and Saturn failure, lead to the dreamcast not getting appreciated, and caused the end of SEGA in the hardware competition.
I don't think there's been a single one of these where I've been more sympathetic to the developer. Ye gods, SEGA doomed this one.
... like it's the smallest part of the thing but... dying when you hit water? That's a *feature?* A *feature* Sonic Team *asked for*?!!
This is Sonic Team we're talking about.
SEGA seems hellbent to just doom Sonic in general, they sabatoge the franchise every chance they get. Makes no sense!
@@Bacxaber Steamed Hams.
Was Sonic Team even involved in the development of Sonic Origins/Synergy/Boom; weren't they busy developing Sonic Runners and Forces? Sega are the one's to blame.
Sonic team seems to hate anyone else working on sonic games in general, like when Sonic Xtreme was in in apparent development hell for several years and Sonic Team still refused to let the devs use the engine running Nights Into Dreams. I could understand EA not letting Activison use Frostbite (They probably would though if they pay through the nose) but when both studios and IP´s are within the same company, that´s just stupid ego shit ruining it for everyone including themselves.
The most disappointing thing about Sonic Boom was it’s world. Despite being a completely different universe, Sega decided to cut out most of the lore and relied on the redesigns as a selling point. It’s why the Boom universe feels so incomplete and small even compared to the Classic universe.
@Tom Ffrench the show was the only redeeming thing about sonic boom
I would have actually liked a sonic game that went deep into ancient Echidna/Hedgehog lore. Seems like it would have been interesting. Personally, I liked the redesigns, too. Not as a replacement for the originals of course, but I thought they were well designed.
Gee, it feels like a repeat of 06. It was rushed to fucking hell and gutted just as bad.
@@luckyducky7819 same
SEGA has been pretty inconsistent about lore at times. To the point it feels like everyone who's worked on the series has their own ideas on what it is. The current Paramount universe is doing great so far though.
I kinda feel bad for making fun of BigRedButton now for this game. Good job on your research Matt!
A lot of us do. I knew earlier how BRB were in a no win situation but not like this.
@@CinosTheHedgehog2000 The most appropriate username for this video topic. 😂
I’m convinced that losing the Console Wars made all of the higher-ups at Sega go insane
They were insane before it explains the 32X, the only great ideas they had was making the Genesis and the original 3 Sonic games
@@mikehurt3290dreamcast
>ruined their own consoles
>devalues their own IPs
>seemingly still go against their western branches despite having origins in a joint partnership between Japanese and American businessmen
>let themselves bought out after the Dreamcast's retail run to Sammy Corp. a PACHINKO MAKER
"That's So SEGA!"
;~;
>possibly has ties with The Yakuza
@@NG-qr9so thats a good thing
This is why it should be on the list for the top 10 most hated gaming companies right next to blizzard entertainment and gearbox software
@@NG-qr9so A.K.A. the one in-house franchise they actually allow to succeed.
@@notimeforcreativenamesjust3034 For them, it is...
Basically...
SEGA: OH GOD, THEY'RE MAKING A BETTER GAME THEN WE EVER COULD, MUST RUIN!
in a nutshell
Some speculate that this is the reason a Mania 2 hasn't been made yet despite its success
@@MK7219000 I don't doubt it
And that’s still their main mind set to this day.
It's amazing how a company run as badly as Sega remains in business.
You can just imagine the stress the team was under when they were told “you are changing platforms!”. You almost want to scream at SEGA - “YOU WANTED THEM TO FAIL!”
All that fucking work you spent years on, tossed out the door, and now told you're now going to have to port the whole damn game to a console that can't even run the engine! Also, better be fast, we told Nintendo we'll give them 3 Sanic games!
All that hard work.
Thrown out the trash.
They had to make it close to the Cartoon to.
You gotta wonder if Sega was running a "Springtime for Eggman" scam.
Ah, Sonic the Hedgehog, the only video game franchise on the planet where the best games available are free to download fan projects. Because if Sega gets to have anything to do with it, they'll inevitably fuck it up.
What gets me is that when I played Sonic Colors/Sonic Generations ... I was sure like "Finally, SEGA has finally figured out how to make a 3D Sonic game, the dark days of 3D Sonic are behind us" ... then Sonic Boom happened ... and Sonic Mania is now the best Sonic game to come out since with literally no competition
@@TheJadedJames Sonic Mania was basically an official fan game so it's no wonder it's excellent.
There's Pokémon, too
Ah yes Mr.ignoring all the good sonic games because sonic doesn't have any. You know a better example of a bad franchise would be bubsy.
@@Fungiarts if you gotta take things all the way down to bubsy then thats a very very low bar. PERFECT FOR SONIC! :D
Before hearing the full story, it's easy to laugh at Big Red Button and treat them as a gang of idiots.
But the full story is surprisingly sad, where they genuinely had good intentions and some ideas that sounded interesting, but... boy howdy nobody ruins Sonic quite like Sonic Team.
At least the cartoon is good.
The cartoon actually kinda slapped. Best part about the entire series there.
At least Big Red Button is still working thankfully!
Sonic should just be handled by another developer
i dont think sonic team was the problem. it was the sega executives.
Sonic Team literally had nothing to do with this, the fuck are you saying
I’m glad to hear BigRedButton didn’t go down because of boom. While I have no idea what they are making I am happy to hear that a group of game developers are still around and hope they do well
What if you wanted to make a good reinvention of Sonic, but God said, S E G A
God: "SEEEGAAAAAAA!!!"
@@rubiesncreme you're missing a few overs lol
I read that last word in the Sega Genesis announcers voice.
Just imagine God saying "SEGA!" to Adam and Eve after the snake told them the SNES was the superior console.
That makes me realize that there is probably a 90s translation of the Bible made by some (willfully) out of touch youth pastor trying to reach "da yoofs" or something.
"The Lord is your bro, and he got your back, dude." Psalms 23:1
More accurately:
God:「S E G A E Y E」
It's high time that Sega understands that they don't know what the hell they're talking about when they dish out silly orders.
"We focused on too many features."
"Also we should've added more features." - An actual Sega executive
So basically Sega had no idea what they were doing and ruined a perfectly good company because of their ill-fated decisions and brain dead marketing department.
“That’s so SEGA!”
Looking back over the history of Sonic the Hedgehog, I'm astonished that the franchise survived the '90s. Between Sega's petty infighting and their utter inability to decide what to do with these characters, by all known logic this series should've imploded around 1997 or so.
it's just a bunch of old farts not knowing what tf they're doing. It's a damn miracle sonic hasn't died years ago.
Devs: "Let's make a great game for all platforms with an amazing narrative and origin story for the Sonic franchise! :D"
"And God said, let there be SEGA"
I take it that God's name was "Status Quo"...?
*16 bit SEGA logo noise intensifies*
It's not an origin story for the franchise, just for the Universe of Sonic Boom
"only Tails and Eggman can be inventors"
Wave has entered the chat
I kinda like that they didn't just replace Tails tbh
Who?
Well, in the infamous Sonic Free Riders, she was more of a one-dimensional mean girl that would start sexist cat
fights with the most-putdownable Amy Rose.
@@kieranstark7213
Instead of a mechanic who takes pride in her work and wants Jet to grow as a leader?
Yup
"People were saying Sonic was too fast." I think what they should have taken away from the focus tests, but didn't, was that Sonic's speed was often uncontrollable and clunky in Sonic games. Its not that people craved slowness, but stuff like constantly running into walls or running out of world is frustrating.
One suggestion I've heard, and always liked, is: when sonic hits top speed, Everything slows down. Sonic moves at a "Normal" speed, everything else is slow. So it's clear he's at a high speed, but manageable.
A sonic game where enemies and the environment slow down as you speed up would make you feel like a total bad ass. Sega would hate it
The equivalent in the 2d games being slamming headfirst into spikes or those fucking backwards springs (which are even worse somehow) while running at max speed.
Basically, Sonic when moving fast is absurdly difficult to control, forcing you to move slow in most sections. Also, boost sonic is not something lot of players love. They prefer building naturally that speed.
@@N12015 I like boost sonic because it means I can get back to speed after a fuck up or a platforming section a lot quicker.
"Only Tails and Eggman can be inventors."
Wave: "Am I a joke to you?"
SEGA: Who are you?
The Writters: Yes
I think everyone can agree that the only good thing to come out of Sonic Boom is the cartoon. Oh and the memes. Can't forget about those.
And their version of Amy is an actual character and not the one dimensional stalker she is in the games
@@Shadowhero43 And that is your opinion.
Mod Drew Yeah. I can at least give the game SOME credit for TRYING to give Amy more dimension, instead of having her entire personality revolve around Sonic. It wasn’t the best, but at least it was SOMETHING. Hopefully future creators who take on the Sonic IP will continue to refine her character until she becomes likable.
a cartoon getting 2 seasons is actually pretty good. now if it was cancelled after 13 episodes or 1 season, then that's a good indicator the boom franchise was a complete disaster
@@gothicMCRgirl Sadly her personality was everywhere in the show and not really one to pin down like Sticks.
If you look at everything that they were up against, the fact that Rise of Lyric is a functional piece of software that actually boots and can be completed is actually quite an achievement. And I'm really happy to hear that Big Red Button is still out there making new and successful games
I'm happy to hear it as well. Didn't they make Red Steel for the Wii? Man, that was my shit back when my parents bought us the objectively worst game console of its generation.
Atleast they care of what they make. :)
@@beancheesedip8337 The worst console? The one that won that generation? Graphics ARE NOT EVERYTHING BUT GOOD GAMES IS. Something the Wii had and a lot more than PS3 and Xbox 360
@@mep6302 "worst" doesn't imply "unsuccessful." Yeah, it made a lot of money. Also, I was being hyperbolic when I said "objectively worse." I don't personally like the Wii that much, but it wasn't a terrible console.
You can't complete it. there is a bug that prevents the game from acknowleging that you beat one of the levels on hard mode.
SEGA: “The Sonic Bible says that only Tails and Eggman can be inventors.”
Me: “What about Gerald Robotnik?”
SEGA: “Oh yeah......
Snapped
Isn't that Archie comics stuff? They abandoned that timeline long ago cuz apparently it was too good for SEGA
Wave The Swallow
So, who was making all the G.U.N. robots?
I need to take a gander at this Sonic Bible. It's supposed to have other weird stuff in it, like how there's apparently no money whatsoever in the Sonic universe.
*SEGA cut entire levels, world building, gameplay, multiplayer, and story because they wanted it on the WII U*
"Well......they've done worse things befo-"
10:47 *Cut Chao Collecting*
"THEY WENT TOO FAR THIS TIME, AAAGGGHHHHHHHH!!"
@@londonjackson8986
I don't think that's the case, if boom sonic was welcome on the 25th anniversary photo and as well get 2 more installments then maybe he is still welcome to Sega
@@londonjackson8986 Not entirely, they did make a sequel to the 3DS version of the game
This whole debacle reminds me of an interview I saw with Clive Barker where he received a phone call from a producer complaining he'd sent them a horror script. When he pointed out that's what they hired him for they said 'Well... Yes... But we've promised our investors a rock musical.'
Considering what SEGA does to its own games, should I feel relieved it seems to leave the Yakuza and Atlus branches alone?
It's a miracle the Yakuza games turn out as well as they do despite being developed on a strict budget. I'm also glad that Sega knows well enough to let Atlus do their own thing.
Yakuza games don't get treated like Sonic because Yakuza games to this day, are pretty niche, so the studio is never rushed to release games on profitable dates or doens't get that much interference by higher ups because it's just an small franchise. Sonic's curse is being SEGAs money maker.
Imagine Persona, made by SEGA.
Super Game Master The horror
@@Wintd1 What do you mean strict budget? Surely hiring Beat Takeshi and other top Japanese actors to appear in the games requires quite a money. If you mean the first game, yeah that's true.
It doesn't sound like this was BigRedButton's fault at all. You can't just change the engine like that, that late into development. As Matt said, it's a miracle that what they were able to make largely from scratch in that time frame could run at all. I'm glad they aren't closed down, that would have been so unfair.
Ngl, when Matt said that the studio is still alive and doing well, I smiled, really, that actually made my day
Honestly, the sudden Wii U deal doesn't sound like something made in misguided, ignorant faith, Sega was already criticizing this take on franchise heavily (even though they asked for it) this is some tinfoil hat shit, but I bet that Nintendo deal was a way they could cut their losses for a reboot they didn't give a fuck about at that point.
Not to mention Sega coming out to declare, specifically, that Boom was one of the worst selling Sonic games period.
I'm not nessecarily saying sabotage, but clearly Sega was already over this reboot before it even had a chance to begin and wanted to just recoup costs on something they no longer cared for while fucking over Big Red Button.
But that's just a Game Theory.
@@jonnay8133 My tin foil hat theory is Nintendo big brained this shit. With the losing reputation Sonic was already gaining they screwed them over with the Wii U deal, knowing it would absolutely fuck over Big Red Button and further cement Sonics reputation down in the dirt.
Oh my god...I did NOT know Sega had interfered that much.....This is actually making me angry because I was excited to experience the new Sonic universe. This could have been THE game. This could have breathed new life into the franchise.....Wow.....Well, at least we got Mania.
same bro i actually liked the new designs on the characters they were so expressive and detailled .not only that amy for the first time was not a sonic fangirl
I had a hunch or two. Ever since I learned of why the Saturn failed, I've been dour on Sega outside of their Yakuza franchise; and realizing Sega would've been a huge hand in Boom's failure. I knew they had to be sabotaging it. Just didn't know the scale of the fuck up.
I’m so sorry. Believe me, after watching this, I’m very disappointed to see the potential of what Sonic Boom could’ve been rather than what it turned out to be.
I’m sick of people sending hate towards the devs. This story clearly shows that Sega and Sonic team need to be cut out of the Sonic series if it ever wants to be anything other than a trainwreck.
So Sonic Team is basically George Lucas or JK Rowling.
Theu are doing neither or both honestly.
@@repulser93 George Lucas is good at ideas, but he really needs people on hand to shape and form those ideas rather than a bunch of sycophants. You can see a lot of the building blocks of what he wanted to do in the prequels, but in his own hands those blocks just didn't come together.
Sonic Team on the other hand... I don't even think they have good ideas to start with.
@@crossbones116Sonic team did have good ideas at one point the problem is it has changed hands so many times. Ture fact, The Archie comic series for sonic at one time had writers that worked on sonic team.
Think of it. It took a fan making one of their games, to get out a decent new title that wasn't just a constant rehash of preexisting levels like Generations was.
i think the "sonic should be slow" focus test was them not understanding what the people were complaining about,because sonic ISENT about speed, its about momentum, but rather then hearing "give us momentum based movement that feels good rather then 3000 boost pads that make it uncontrollable" they heard" we want sonic to be a snail"
Damn near every issue I have with the Sonic franchise ends up coming from Team Sonic. . .
Ever since Naka left, everything went to shit.
They had a good thing going with Colors and Generations but then they went right back on their bullshit.
Even when they're not working directly on a Sonic game, they still manage to fuck it all up.
@@londonjackson8986 Come to think of it, Sega's really trying way too hard to make Sonic another Mario right? I wish they would just do something creative and actually take the time and resources to do so. But of course, just about every AAA company is stuck on making the most normal pandering broken dribble to ensure profits. Screw creativity I guess. Although, now would be a good time for some indie devs to shine.
How do you watch a video explaining that everything about this game being SEGA's Fault and come to the conclusion that Sonic Team isn't being subjected to the same treatment?
"Online Multiplayer is the only way to keep a franchise alive." ....God of War is still kept alive despite being a single player...and it even won Best Game of 2018 despite the fact that Red Dead Redemption 2 won almost every other category.
Also.. I guess Sega does what Nintendon't... ruin their own franchise.
Chibi Robo fans would agree to disagree on that one.
The Wha Happun we didn’t deserve but the one we need
Having an origin on Sonic and Eggman becoming who they are in their roles as hero and villain would`ve intresting to see done.
And the fact of them being friends obviously is a nod to the Sonic tie in comic and Fleet way continuity.
Wait...so...so this was ALL SEGA's fault? XD I knew SEGA's hands weren't clean of this mistake, but just...this is beyond self-destructive. This is hooking up a nail bomb to your car engine and calling it fixed.
Hey, the 90s said that too!
Its always Sega fault
At least we got buff Knuckles flying in space out of this whole disaster!
"I must go, my people need me"
SEGA: we want to make a spinoff of the Sonic universe that appeals more to the western audience for next gen.
Big Red: we can do that.
SEGA: okay, we like what you've done, but the whole "origin" thing is something we want to tackle ourselves.
Big Red: but... okay. fine.
SEGA: we've entered an exclusivity deal with Nintendo, so the game's coming out on the Wii U.
Big Red: ... wut?
SEGA: oh, btw it better be finished before the holidays.
Big Red: do you... want us to go bankrupt or something?
So let me get this straight, SEGA hired a studio comprised of people who made some of the best new IPs in gaming during the 2000s with the Goal of reinventing sonic, and then wouldn’t let them use any of the creativity that got them so much success with other franchises?
YUP. :)
YEAH, THAT MAKES SENSE
Jealousy can be really destructive.
"Thaat's SO SEGA!"
SEGA+Sonic team in a nutshell
So basically what I get out of this is, it's Sega fault mostly for the game turning out like this due to the overhaul changes of stuffs.
Peacock Terumi | Basically. Sega, for a long time, has been like this; they don't like change. Look up Saberspark or Gaming Historian, they explain their history.
@@edmayday7629 Thank you I will.
Basically
@@edmayday7629 dillin Thomas made a video about them called Sega is stupid
rick Bell | Thanks, I'll check it out
The Game: Sucks
The Show: Surprisingly self aware and pretty good
The Comics: Nobody cares
"Sonic was never good"
More like "Sega was and will still make stupid business decisions"
I love Sonic! Who was the idiot who said that?
@@benmalsky9834 no suprise it was from IGN
proving once again you cant spell ignorant without IGN
7.8 out of 10, too much Sonic.
Sonic occasionally has winners in the modern day but not often. The problem just like in this game is that Sonic games are conceptually amazing but rarely play well.
That's the opinion the majority will have going forward, unfortunately.
It's honestly infuriating, knowing how good Sonic Boom COULD have been if only Sega had gotten their heads out of their own backsides for once.
I wonder what the game would've looked like if Big Red Button were allowed to see their vision to completion, and on the correct platforms. It certainly would've been a much better built game, potentially better designs than the current Boom crew, but I have trouble believing the game would've been any fun.
Honestly, it plob would’ve been an interesting if not fun game, not ground breaking but dif fun
I feel like it would have probably gone over well enough with non-fans and maybe even critics, but the Sonic fanbase (lovable crazies that they are) probably wouldn't have been quite so happy.
Well, gameplay is probably the hardest to visualize, I guess. Like, we can all wonder about story and graphics. It's not that hard. Honestly, if the gameplay was just what we got in the end, but better, I'd have been all for it.
@@stayskeptic3923 Apparently the 06 staff got reduced in order to make The Secret Rings for Wii and the remaining people weren't enough to get the game finished by the time of release.
Not gonna lie, the core concepts of the game mentioned in the video kind of sound like the concept of a LEGO game (y'know, LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Indiana Jones, etc.). Sit down with your sibling at a gaming console and progress through levels while using your characters' unique abilities in special sections and beating up mooks. And this looks like it'd have had much better combat mechanics (leveling, more special combat abilities, etc.) than the LEGO games usually do. Sounds like a good time to me.
You know whats funny sega said they wanted to do sonic origins later down, but then straight up used it as a name for a sonic classic collection
Honestly after hearing about all the work the dev team put into this game before SEGA pulled the rug out from under them for no reason, I'm glad to hear they're doing well these days since that huge failure was by no fault of their own. Good on you, Big Red Button!
Honestly I REALLY want to see what the original "Sonic Synergy" would have looked like as Big Red Button had initially planned it. By the sounds of it BRB had some really cool ideas and then Sega came along and brought a sledgehammer to it all.
It's like they smashed it and said "ok now fix it" and were given elmer's glue to put it back together in the little time they had
@@superbodoque7860 It's like Sega stood over BRB's work, dropped trow, spread their cheeks and dumped a big steaming Sega all over it.
@@solblackguy
I bet you that’s exactly what the SEGA CEO did. This is just a hilarious thing to imagine lmao.
As a long time fan of Sonic (moreso the 90s and Adventure era games), I actually would have liked to see what the original version of this game could have been like. It looked and sounded promising. If the original version of the game had come out and they were able to clearly explain its in its own seperate universe, I feel people would have taken to it a lot better.
I agree
I really wanted to see the lore.
Man we all thought Big Red Button just sucked at making Sonic Boom, but nope they were actually doing a damn good job and Sega fucked it up. Good to see BRB still making games that are actually successful.
You know what boggles my mind here, that the villain's name is "Lyric", and is theme has nothing to do with music or sound... Alright...
(At least the show exist because of it, even though it doesn't get the best airtime on Cartoon Network.)
@@eliasnicolasmiranda4940 actually it was Teen Titans Go that clogged up the schedule, not allowing new shows with enough breathing air.
@@codyholley somehow TTG is the Spongebob of Cartoon Network. They're gonna milk it til the cow is dead and then keep going.
@@codyholley ttg wasn't really meant to be a sequel series to teen titans. They didn't lie and say that this is the original series. It is ultimatly it's own thing, the show still isn't good despite this.
Lyric is a name
Should have named him Slither or any other word associated with a snake.
Ok, Sega really threw BigRedButton under the BigRedBus on this one.
The only thing that Sonic Boom did well was introduce the hottest male in the entire history of Sega: Chunky Knuckles.
You meant to say Chunkles right?
The show was good as well.
Sonic: let's give it some chilli dogs
Tails: I don't think it's in the state to eat solid food
Sonic: I don't know put it in the blender
Chunk knuck: (grabs baby) well if you say so
/r/MakeMeSuffer
Knuckles? More like Chonkles. Gottem.
So this game turned out to be total shit because Sega couldn't stop putting their hands in the development. Almost like with Sonic '06.
"Y'know? The Wii U, one of Nintendo's biggest failures?"
Future episode, maybe?
You both got your wish. 🙂
@@dvt1393 both? You mean only one person? Unless someone else was here...
You three got your wish ❤️
The Sonic Origins joke is even more painful now
I feel like the entire Sonic Boom project can be summarized with a Goofy scream.
ua-cam.com/video/LIMGskVs8iE/v-deo.html
*_E E E E E E HOO-HOO HOOIIIIEE_*
ua-cam.com/video/MUL5w91dzbo/v-deo.html
SEGA had too much creative control on the Sonic Boom game. I didn’t know that they crippled Big Red Button with so many demands and sudden development shifts. Poor devs. This had so much promise. Unlike the game, the Boom cartoon series was quite good and it seems that Sega was hands off it.
I always assumed this game was shit out quickly to tie-in with the cartoon. Turns out it's way worse than that.
Guess we'll be seeing Sonic Colours Ultimate here soon too
This series is soo good. Thanks for making them~!
I've always thought that the media was overstating Sega's ineptitude when it comes to producing Sonic games, but after watching this video, I'm starting to think that Sega needs help.
No, I don't mean help developing games - I'm talking about psychiatric help!
A Publisher ruining a game for greed and literally stupidity/lack of basic understanding that making games takes time? Imagine my shock.
Also, sick of speed? In a Sonic game? What is next? "People" sick of cars in Need For speed? Or players of FIFA complaining that there is only football?
On the "sick of speed" part, I actually get what he was saying. A lot of fans (to this day) don't like the Boost-to-Win formula because it reduced the level design to linear hallways dressed up as vibrant worlds and is based on trial and error; people want the Adventure style of gameplay to come back, but uncorrupted by multiple worthless friends or cheap gimmicks, feeling it was a solid mix of speed, physics, and platforming that works best for the franchise.
That cool. Still gonna fail, though.
"We found that our test audiences didn't like the Cruella DeVille character. She has nothing to do with any of this, but I still feel we need to address that."
@@Yuli_Ban Basically, what Sonic Boom would be without all the awful decisions made by Sega.
@@Yuli_Ban "worthless friends" My guy how???? The franchise can't have more than one character? 😂😂😂🤦🏾♂️
This whole project just shows why having a strong vision that you’re confident in from the get-go is such an essential part of any production process.
Matt: I dont do spinoffs on Wha Happun.
Also Matt: Wha Happun: Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric
I love you matt
He did MK: Special Forces tho
Wha Happun: What Happened?
@@Vulgarth1 Just like Metal Gear Acid is not an spin-off
@@Vulgarth1 Sonic Boom is a spin off
@@Vulgarth1 Well yeah, Sonic Boom is a part of the Sonic franchise. But it's not a part of the main series games. Therefore, Sonic Boom is a spin off to the main games.
Sega's behavior in this case makes me wonder whether they genuinely were that over-ambitious or if they were intentionally setting these guys up to fail for some reason.
For anyone who didn’t feel like pausing, here are the thousands of changes requested by Sega and Sonic Team:
1. Too different (which means bad BTW)
2. TOO SLOW!!!
3. Character Designs are stinky
4. Add more speed sections
5. Jumping in the water should murder Sonic Teh Hedgehog. So no swimming
6. Make his arms blue er
7. Characters should say “Glub Glub Glub” when drowning
8. Model a penis for Knuckles, but hide it in the level geometry
9. Make the characters swear just like in Shadow Teh Hedgehog
10. Do something involving Bloom Lighting
11. Change the _feeling_ of the skybox
12. Add Big the Cat
13. Remove Big the Cat once you’ve finished adding him
14. Make the feet MORE STINKY!
15. Pitch up Sonic’s 4th Damage Audio Track up by 25% in the Pal version of the game
16. Model one of the NPC characters with your left hand
17. Read some Sonic Fan Fiction for inspiration
18. Find a way to market Amy towards a more _Urban_ fanbase
19. Can we get more political?
20. Make sure Tails has a more fluent wink animation
21. Dr. Eggman should own an Gamegear
22. Make lyric a Snake so we can reach past the furry audience
23. Characters need to scream every time they collect a ring
24. Sonic should drink Sapporo
25. Can the legs be longer?
26. Give Sonic another 1,000 polygons
27. Whenever Sonic is not on screen, all the other characters should say “Where’s Sonic?”
28. The feet need realistic renders for marketing
29. Hire more staff from Ohio, the game feels _too cultured_
30. Should we add a harlem shake???
31. Would it be out of the question to tint Sonic to a slightly darker blue
32. Should the plot involve a miscarage?
33. Characters need to make self aware quips every 10 seconds!
Sega was trying to sabotage this game, weren't they?
Those additions would probably make the game more interesting than what we got
11-13 are great.
I'm a little worried about 18,19, and 32.
😂🤣
Sega: "Sonic games need to be made to sustain and keep the franchise alive."
Also Sega: "Hey let's port a Wii game that worked just about perfectly and break it on literally every current platform, and then call it the 'Ultimate' version. That will sustain the Sonic brand."
They keep using that word. I do not think it means what they think it means.
*As Tails tearfully watches from the entrance to a lavish home filled with golden-era Sonic memorabilia, Sonic mournfully pours his soul out on the keys of a grand piano*
"What have I become, my sweetest friend? Everything I love, goes away in the end. And you could have it all, my empire of dirt. I will let you down, I will make you hurt."
"If I could start all over again, a million miles away, I will keep myself. I would find a way."
"I hurt myself today..."
I just have to applaud you , a good friend of mine Worked at Big Red Button on this game and you basically read from the script of experiences he encountered himself . He told me that Prototype / vertical slice level they designed for Sega? It costs over 20 million dollars and a ton of time to build,, he mention how Cri-engine was a pin in the ass to work with with questionable support, and he mentioned how excited the team was to " refresh" Sonic and how crushed they were when Sega was like " I want you to refresh it but.... the old way".
I don't know where you get your info but this is as good as me having drinks with an employee that worked at Big Red Button at the time, you should be proud .
AAA video game industry: We NEED multiplayer and ONLINE.
Spiderman for the PS4: Am I a joke to you?
Yeah if only Sega had an online multiplayer game or something.
Don’t you know, we don’t want single player experiences anymore according to the triple A video game industry, I mean ignore God of War, Resident Evil 2, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Bloodstained, Sonic Mania, Cuphead, Sekiro, Kingdom Hearts 3, Persona 5, Red Dead Redemption 2, and the other mountain of single player games that have sold like gangbusters, yeah clearly no one wants those anymore
Semideiapranomedecanal semantics
Literally everyone: Are you sure about that?
@@PokeBattlerJaze hello gta half life portal WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!?!
“An iron-clad rule in the Sonic Bible stating that Only Tails and Eggman can be inventors” even though the Sonic Riders trilogy had another inventor in the shape of a purple swallow named Wave. I get that’s a spin-off, but the point still stands.
To be fair, the "Sonic only" mentality has been a detriment to the rest of the games, and bringing back more characters would be an improvement. The only classic games that had "Sonic only" were the two earliest ones (CD may have released after Sonic 2, but started development before it). Sonic 3 nailed it and Sonic Mania + managed to work in two additional characters and make them both fairly unique, despite their clear similarities to existing ones.
Multiple playable characters was never the problem in and of itself, it's just that one or two specific games did it badly, most notably 06, where Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, and Rouge, all characters whom had controlled just fine in prior games, were suddenly made a whole lot worse.
To paraphrase a certain popular UA-camr known for his Sonic content:
"When people complain about Sonic having too many friends, they're not talking about fucking *Tails and Knuckles.*"
Sonic Team is the real villain in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. They are a force far greater than any threat Eggman or any other power could create. A force that lies beyond the knowledge of anyone in Sonic’s universe, looming over like a Lovecraftian god.
It’s sad because the clips I’ve seen from the show are pretty good
Ah Yes, Sonic Origins, That one failure of a collection that was completely screwed over by SEGA themselves, also that name sounds very familiar...
From all the stories I've read and heard over the years, I've begun to realize the Mega Drive/Genesis was a flash in the pan hit even Sega didn't expect, and that they were too incompetent to know how to follow that up with success. It's just been one disaster after another that is directly attributed to their baffling business decisions (hell even Sega of America were screwed over by the headquarters in Japan). Worse still, all the people involved on the technical and creative side have suffered and unfairly gotten the brunt of the criticism.
The game they wanted to make sounds like would’ve been interesting if Sega would’ve let them do their own thing. As Raul Julia once said, “The road not taken.”
I hate it when higher ups stick their noses into the creative process, and throw out all the team's hard work.
Sonic was never a japanese thing. Sega of America made him what he is during development, and the Mega Drive was never big over in Japan. It's the West that loves sonic.
I once heard like a million years ago that Metroid had historically been more popular in the West, so Nintendo deliberately got an American team for Metroid Prime.
But I'm pretty sure that's an urban legend or something. Still, valuable lesson for Sega.
@@nihilvox It's undeniable that Metroid is way more popular in the West, being inspired by Western film and all. Another interesting tidbit. I recently discovered that pretty much no one knew what Metroid was in Japan. In the same vein as Fire Emblem to the West, its existence was left unknown for a while until Smash Bros featured them.
@@nihilvox
Metroid is definitely more popular outside of Japan, but the studio choice is likely more coincidental, it just happens to be the place where Nintendo has a reservoir of talent with a "different" perspective than their core teams, something like the replacement for Rare in a way.
7:28 I like to think SEGA said this to Paramount too and they just responded like, "Yeah, sure, fuck off".
Yeah but paramount was at least a giant corporation that outclassed Sega. Big red button had to give in since it was a smaller studio and breaking your contract like that would suck
That’s So Sega, Sega in the House, & Sega’s Home.
But seriously, where’s our Virtua Fighter 6?
I'm starting to think that the Final Showdown version of 5 might have truly been the final showdown.
If Sonic Boom was JUST a cartoon, it would have been successful without an accompanying video game
Project Apollo was a good code name for the game.
You know, because of how we were appalled when it came out?
15:50
This... this is proof that sometimes higher ups don't know anything about their fans.
That guy from Sega NA sounds like he doesn’t actually even *play* video games *at all,* let alone Sonic games. “People don’t want speed in a Sonic game! Focus testing is how we make all of our decisions! Online multiplayer is the future!” Sweaty, Sonic is NOT that kind of game. It baffles me that people like this exist in the games industry.
It is a miracle that bigredbutton survived
To be a little bit fair to the Sega of America guy, I distinctly remember a lot of people harshly criticizing classic Sonic games as being "too fast" around that time. This was an opinion that a fair amount of internet critics and personalities were parroting so it makes sense that the focus group they pulled might have been expressing the same opinions. Still though it's amazing to see how many of Sega's mistakes in trying to correct the series all center around the idea of appealing to people who don't even like Sonic to begin with.
Not so much the 2D games, as the 3D ones. 3D Sonic titles often struggled with their controls, notably Sonic 2006. High speed sections were too fast to be controlled, momentum felt off with sudden starts, dead stops, and weird handling of jumps and ramps, as well as forcing players through speed boosters.
Phenomenal video, love deep dives like this, keep 'em coming!
Thanks!
Do Metal Gear Survive.
Sega when they see BigRedButton again: Hey how about you work on another Sonic ga-
BigRedButton: *N O !*
(basic, no-frills old-school side-scrollers are consistently the top-rated games in the franchise since 1991)
"THIS IS NOT SUSTAINABLE"
(26 years of easily-accessable data shows literally the exact opposite thing)
"NO IT NEEDS MULTIPLAYER WHY CAN'T WE FIGURE THIS OUT"
I know this is an old-youtube-style comment, but does anyone know the song around 15:05? It's exactly my type of music. :0
Sonic Unleashed - Empire City (night)
ua-cam.com/video/f1WJLUXoGew/v-deo.htmlsi=NSjGo8HcvvGBrmOg
Nothing better after that love letter OK KO episode than go again into the youtube and find this.
There's a reason why they call him the blue blur. Not because he's fast.
But because everything between now and then is like a fever dream.
Holy cow the Sonic Game could have been actually good!
That feels like sonic in a nutshell these last few years or so, unfortunately :(
That's the franchise since '94 in a nutshell. Just about every Sonic game since the Genesis days has had ridiculous amounts of untapped potential but was _corrupted_ by the company.
Yuli Ban The sonic series was most definitely respected way further than that. The series reputation only declined with Shadow and then Sonic 06 happened.
@@Yuli_Ban 94'? Stop that nonsense 😂😂😂
I feel bad for BigRedButton, honestly. They really seem like they wanted to make a good game... and then Sega and Sonic Team mismanaged the shit out of them. There should be a way for developers to fine bad publishers that do this.
Edit: "The future of Sonic games have to be multiplayer" is such an incredible load of wank. Wow.
If they could fine the publishers EA would probably be bankrupt now
So I mean, this game actually could've been good, or at the very least tolerable. It's just that Sega has a huge problem with letting go of how big Sonic was in the past and can't seem to let a developer that isn't them have a chance. It's pretty sad. They're digging their own grave here on out.