A while ago, I wrote a blog post on ways to fix Sonic. After more consideration, and sparked by a chat in Ventrillo the other night with Genki and others, I decided to re-examine my initial post and tweaked things a bit, making a few new additions.

First off… Sonic Team, you’re not developing this. You’re not coming even remotely close to this game at any point in production. You have destroyed your own franchise, and someone must intervene for your own sake. We’ll find someone else to develop this, because everything you touch turns to crap.

Speaking of that, other things need to go:

Overworlds? Gone.

Humans? Except for Robotnik and maybe Snively (if he makes the cut), they’re gone. All of them. No other exceptions, and you’ve got the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game to thank for this.

Chao gardens? Bye-bye.

You may have noticed the title of this post. Yes, the game will be called Sonic 4 and will leave behind the story that has been laid out since Sonic 3. No more stupid twists and cliché crap. No more Earth, as the series goes back to Mobius, where it never should’ve left in the first place.

Yes, you heard me right. Almost all of the garbage after Sonic 3 goes away, though some elements and characters will remain. This new Sonic would be much darker, and in fact, would be more in line with the comics and Saturday morning cartoon that was on ABC way back when.

Heck, in fact, that cartoon, the comics and a select few areas of the newer Sonic games will be used as reference material not only for the story, but for how the game should play.

However, this isn’t going to be a game that simply syncs up with the comic. It’ll be an original story

Game play style, we’re still going back to speed alongside platforming. Of course, with Mario Galaxy changing the way platforming is done, Sonic might have to try a few new things, but tradition needs to come back. Sonic Adventure’s first level is what the series always should have been – loops, corkscrews, big jumps, pits, and so on, all with an incredible sense of speed. It’ll be in 3-D, as I’d rather leave the 2-D games to Xbox Live Arcade and the handhelds. Plus, Sonic in 3-D hasn’t been the problem – it’s been the execution. Sonic and the Secret Rings came closest to actually getting it right, but even that game had flaws that need to be addressed.

My arguments for the game returning to rails over 3-D roaming still stand. Same with making sure that Sonic feels like he’s going fast. That means both graphical and non-graphical cues: the blur effect is only the beginning. When he’s running and gets up to speed, your controller should be rumbling like crazy, and for good reason – Sonic’s moving a tremendous amount of air and if you’re in the middle of that turbulence, you’ll feel it. I liken it to getting on the freeway, getting up to 70 mph and sticking your head out the window.

The camera should have some 3-D movement, but I’d like it to swing back around when I travel in reverse, something it didn’t do in Secret Rings. After all, we don’t need to add in any additional difficulty with a crappy camera.

And now we move to characters. I still stand that there are too many of them, so we’ve obviously got to do some hacking

These are your core characters:

Playable:
Sonic
Tails (unlockable upon completion of the game)
Knuckles (unlockable upon completion of the game)

And that takes care of one of the big problems. Yeah, you don’t get to play as anyone besides Sonic at first. Boo-hoo, stop crying. And as for Tails and Knuckles, no mechs or treasure-hunting levels for either. They’ll play like they did in Sonic 2 and Sonic & Knuckles, respectively, though their story will get a few tweaks to keep it interesting.

Unplayable:
Amy Rose (as a NPC)
Rouge the Bat (as a NPC and potential boss)
Eggman/Robotnik (as a NPC and The Final Boss)
Metal Sonic (as a Boss)
Shadow the Hedgehog (still not sure if he will be in or not yet... but leaning towards no)

These are the only guarantees to make the final cut. Any of the new characters not on this (Big, Team Chaotix, Cream, Blaze, Silver, etc.) are not going to be in the game as major NPCs. Blaze and Silver will definitely not be in. Same with Big. Shadow… I’m on the fence on. He can be used as a boss, but then again… he sucks and I’d rather not deal with him. Cream and Team Chaotix get cameo background roles at most for a scene or two. That’s it. Again, the idea is to try and limit the number of characters to just those that are absolutely important to the series and have been for some time, with the exception of Rouge to serve as a rival to Knuckles.

As I stated previously, the remaining major characters would be pulled from the pool in the comic/animated series. Princess Sally, Bunnie, Antoine and Rotor get the nod here, as well as Snively, who appeared in both the comic and cartoon as Robotnik's nephew. And while we're speaking of Robotnik, we're going to be using the comic/ABC series version of him, replacing the bumbling fool demeanor with that of a sadistic, twisted dictator. We’re also going to be using the Eggman = Sonic’s nickname for Robotnik idea to explain any potential confusion to the newer Sonic fans (who I pity for having such crap games to be introduced to Sonic with).

Music-wise, everything goes instrumental and lyric-less except for the opening and closing themes, which will be determined on a case-by-case basis. Some of the main themes aren’t that bad, but I don’t want to hear singing in the background while I’m running through a level. It just takes something away from the experience.

While I initially said to cut back on the spin-offs, I’ve changed my mind to the point that I really don’t want them at all. The Sonic spin-offs in recent memory have added nothing to the series, and if anything, have actually damaged it a bit. Sonic R, Sonic Riders, Sonic Shuffle… all prime examples of games that never should’ve been made. If Zelda can get by on 1-2 console games a generation, so can Sonic. He’s no longer Mario, so let’s not pretend he is.

Sonic’s attitude needs to go back to being the cocky little blue hedgehog he used to me. He still is to some extent… but the way it’s scripted, some of that personality has been lost. It’s absolutely important that Sonic be restored to this personality as soon as possible. Enough with the shitty puns and lame jokes. That’s not Sonic.

So I guess that’s my more refined ideas on what the next Sonic game ought to be like. Maybe they’re not perfect. But hell, they’re better than what Sonic Team’s given us in the past 8 years. It’ll probably be the last time I bring it up because, well, I don’t want you guys ragging on me for continuously posting this crap. :p

----------------------------------------

Also, don’t forget: polls for the final leg of Worst. Character. Ever. are still open! Be sure to vote!