Sonic The Hedgehog

[Shadewing]

Yeah, it became a lot better proposition, when they turned out to be the Headcannon remakes. Like, those are ground up recreations of the original games with a lot of extra content. Assuming that this comes with all the previous stuff and S3&k has been given a similarly loving rebuild, it's a really good price.

Like, if these were just base-ass emulated ROMs, then, yeah, it'd be pretty shitty, but Headcannon has proven their quality over and over, so I have some optimism for this.

Yeah, calling them ports is honestly being a bit disingenuous to Headcannon. They are, as you say, complete recreations of the original games to be able to play and look exactly as the original game should, on HD hardware. The fact that they do look exactly like the old games, is entirely the point. Its actually fairly impressive all on its own, but they went above and beyond that to add, or in some case re-add, content is why these versions are so highly recieved. And tbh, these games are pretty much the reason Sonic Mania exists.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I wouldn't credit Sega too much. They're still the same people who have repeatedly shot themselves in the foot with their own in-house developed Sonic games. Their embracing of fan developers is more a sign of desperation than love for their community.

Like, in that same thread, people are harassing Stealth over the DLC model, but that almost certainly comes directly from Sega executives.

It may be solely in their interest out of desperation, but their embrace of fan developers is an obvious good idea that a lot of other companies would fail to find obvious. If they're just pretending to love the community I hope they continue to pretend for a long time because it's something they're actually good at.

 

[The Doctor Who]

Fair enough! Like, honestly, I'm really happy about the current state of Sonic the Hedgehog as a franchise. Two very successful movies with a third on the way and Mania hopefully showing Sega that there's money in pursuing fan-driven Sonic development. Not to mention actual toys and merchandise on store shelves. It's not quite a new golden era, but it's a far cry from the dark days after 2006.

I guess I have a cynical knee-jerk reaction because I've just read too many behind-the-scenes Sonic dev stories that end with 'and then Sega not just dropped the ball, but violently yanked it out of the player's hands, punctured it and then threw it in the trash'. I'm perpetually in a state of waiting for the other shoe to drop XD

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I hate to have to say this, but Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) is older to us than Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) was to us in 2006.

 

[The Doctor Who]

Look, some traumas never really heal XD

 

[Sabrblade]

At least we're at a point where people are acknowledging the biggest positive of that game: It did right by Shadow's story.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

It was the second best outcome his story could have gotten. But the best outcome would have been if he just stayed dead.

There I said it.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

Yeah, calling them ports is honestly being a bit disingenuous to Headcannon.

Is it really? That's basically what porting is. Pac-Man on 2600 was a port. TMNT II: The Arcade Game was a port. Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis was a port.

Per Wikipedia:

In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally designed for (e.g., different CPU, operating system, or third party library). The term is also used when software/hardware is changed to make them usable in different environments.[1][2]

Up to this point, we've rarely seen many ports of Sonic games; most of the time it's emulation. The originals were made for SEGA Genesis, and the versions in most of the various collections were, too, because they're emulating the Genesis hardware so the games can run. These are being made to run on modern hardware without emulation.

Sonic 1, 2, 3, & Knuckles were ported to the SEGA Saturn in Sonic Jam. That's much like what's being done here.

 

[Fero McPigletron]

I looked over the tv tropes page on Mania Mighty and Ray and it says that Sega considers them from the past Sonic so they won't appear in Modern Sonic. That bites.

 

[Sabrblade]

I looked over the tv tropes page on Mania Mighty and Ray and it says that Sega considers them from the past Sonic so they won't appear in Modern Sonic. That bites.

Yeah, this video talks about that and their overall history:

 

[Pocket]

Up to this point, we've rarely seen many ports of Sonic games; most of the time it's emulation. The originals were made for SEGA Genesis, and the versions in most of the various collections were, too, because they're emulating the Genesis hardware so the games can run. These are being made to run on modern hardware without emulation.

Sonic 1, 2, 3, & Knuckles were ported to the SEGA Saturn in Sonic Jam. That's much like what's being done here.

Exactly. "Remaster" at the bare minimum implies some amount of replacing existing graphical assets with higher-resolution ones, marketing be damned. DuckTales Remastered was a remaster. BioShock 2 Remastered, even though it's as unstable as a Bethesda game and all the textures were cheaply and badly upscaled by an algorithm, was a remaster. Grim Fandango Remastered was a borderline case that everyone involved should be embarrassed by. But this is a port. A port with extra features and cutscenes that probably cost more than the entire development budgets of the original games, but a port nonetheless.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

I looked over the tv tropes page on Mania Mighty and Ray and it says that Sega considers them from the past Sonic so they won't appear in Modern Sonic. That bites.

Yeah, but I'm just glad they continue to exist somewhere now.

I even have a Mighty plush and a Mighty action figure as a result!

 

[Shadewing]

Here's hoping we get a Ray figure to go with him. First time I seen Mighty in stores, I scooped him up.

 

[Fero McPigletron]

Yeah, this video talks about that and their overall history:

Saw the video. It does mention that Mighty and Ray won't go to modern Sonic but I hope that changes. Sonic Heroes almost had them form another team, but with Metal Sonic? How? Flight - Ray, Power - Mighty, Speed - Metal? Would have been cool so such a shame it didn't work out.

I don't follow the modern games but show Sonic Boom had a game tie in? The Sonic movies didn't try getting one too? Like, an exec thinking movie is success so movie game equals more success?

 

[The Doctor Who]

Funny thing about the game Sonic Boom... It wasn't originally meant to be a tie in. The studio who developed it was doing so with the expectation that they were starting an entirely new Sonic origin and continuity, to be developed on next gen consoles.

... Until Sega suddenly informed them that they'd signed an exclusivity agreement with Nintendo for the Wii U and demanded they scrap all previous concept and design work and make it a Boom tie in.

So, like, let's not wish Sega to do more of that kind of thing.

For the whole sad story.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

I do hope we get some Ray stuff soon.

As for being in Modern or Classic... well, I'd love for everyone to be in Modern, but at the same time, as long as Classic is a separate thing, I like having the extended casts differ, make them more unique.

...except I really wish they'd go for a Classic Chaotix, rather than all this "we remade them in Heroes, the old ones don't exist, lalala" stuff they're doing.

I swear, Sonic Team are the kings of nonsense thinking sometimes.

...if this is why Knuckles' Chaotix has never gotten a re-release, I'mma be pissed.

 

[Shadewing]

I swear, Sonic Team are the kings of nonsense thinking sometimes.

They really are, like according to Ian Flynn: Team Dark doesn't offically exist; they're not friends and they're barely co-workers according to Sonic Team. Something Ian himself has said he has issue with.

 

[Sabrblade]

I just watched this last night and it goes into all of the trouble and nonsense that went down between Sega and Sonic Team behind-the-scenes since the onset of the Dreamcast and up to the development of Sonic '06 and beyond:

 

[CoffeeHorse]

They really are, like according to Ian Flynn: Team Dark doesn't offically exist; they're not friends and they're barely co-workers according to Sonic Team. Something Ian himself has said he has issue with.

To be fair, I bet Team Dark would also say they're not friends and they're barely co-workers.

 

[Cradok]

That is Sonic 06 erasure, and I won't be having it!