Sonic Megathread

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Saturn Sonic as a whole is sadly forgotten (if not straight up being ignored) by Sega.

When they show anything remotely related to Classic Sonic they mostly reference the Genesis games, the 8-bits and 32-bits ones are having a few mentions.

I wouldn’t condemn that much. It’s just that there’s nearly no “games” to draw from for that era, but its aesthetics got merged with the larger “Classic Sonic” aesthetic. Musically, artistically, you can see it reflected in Classic Sonic’s identity around the release of Mania and into Origins and Superstars. There’s also the IDW Tails Special that combines Tails Skypatrol with 3D Blast/Flickies Island.

In large part, there’s not a lot of content to draw from, but I wouldn’t say it’s been forgotten. Rather, assimilated. And how much we like the idea of all Classic Sonic being assimilated into a homunculus blob of brand is the thing we should be debating.

 

[cjl8336 cjl8336]

I think if sonic was characterised properly in thee sonic films Ben Schwartz would probably still be a good VA but good goddamn is the movie sonic insufferable.

I couldn't un-hear the voice of jean ralphio when I watched it, but I think Jim Carrey is

 

[Ikagura]

I wouldn’t condemn that much. It’s just that there’s nearly no “games” to draw from for that era, but its aesthetics got merged with the larger “Classic Sonic” aesthetic. Musically, artistically, you can see it reflected in Classic Sonic’s identity around the release of Mania and into Origins and Superstars. There’s also the IDW Tails Special that combines Tails Skypatrol with 3D Blast/Flickies Island.

I like Mania's Saturnesque feel but it's not exactly the same as the soundtrack of 3D Blast Sonic R and Sonic Jam's.

And when it comes to Sega and the Sonic Team they always assume that "Classic Sonic = MIDI music with that twangy Sega guitar" which led to Sonic 4 Episode 1 and Sonic Forces' Classic levels to sound not as great as Classic music could be (rearranges from fans are sounding fine). Sonic 4 Episode 2's ost was a step up but still not on the level of the Genesis titles.

In large part, there’s not a lot of content to draw from, but I wouldn’t say it’s been forgotten. Rather, assimilated. And how much we like the idea of all Classic Sonic being assimilated into a homunculus blob of brand is the thing we should be debating.

The bigger issue is that Classic Sonic in Generations is a mix between his Japanese and American's design and since he's the one during the events of Sonic 1 he couldn't have a Saturn design either (and maybe in 2011 Saturn era wasn't retro enough to be as relevant for nostalgia).

 

[BrawlMan]

Still a Sonic fan since 1993. I played and beaten all of the Genesis titles. I love Sonic Adventure 2, and I think Forces is a good game overall. Frontier I unfortunately did not like and YouTubed the rest.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

An amazing photo of a Japanese game store. Taken from around the release of Sonic The Hedgehog 2.

 

[Ikagura]

I've made a SRB2 thread

Fan Game - Sonic Robo Blast 2

I fear no man, except the guy who can master Sonic X, this character is either absolutely broken or almost impossible to use.

retrogametalk.com

but I'd like to talk about it in this topic instead since I wanted to know who's excited about what to come for 2026.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

I've made a SRB2 thread

Fan Game - Sonic Robo Blast 2

I fear no man, except the guy who can master Sonic X, this character is either absolutely broken or almost impossible to use.

retrogametalk.com

but I'd like to talk about it in this topic instead since I wanted to know who's excited about what to come for 2026.

Dude, I love SRB2! It’s such a fun game and project to follow, especially if I keep some level of distance from the project. That means I can always come back after a couple months and find some stuff that’s super cool from within the community!

Not to mention, legacy. I like how aged the project is, since it means there’s a lot of community and project lore to come across. It’s just a very engrossing experience to get lost in.

Post automatically merged: Jan 22, 2026

Meant to share this in December but it got buried.

 

[ThunderBoy]

SEGA says Sonic Racing CrossWorlds failed to meet sales expectations

According to SEGA, Sonic Racing CrossWorlds sold over 1 million units worldwide and garnered positive feedback, but the game failed to meet their initial sales expectations. SEGA says they are aiming to sell another 1 million units with ongoing DLC.

https://mynintendonews.com/2026/02/...rossworlds-failed-to-meet-sales-expectations/

 

[DikeMavis]

This sucks, because this was so much better of a racing game than Mario Kart World

 

[Neb Lleb]

Turns out that making advertising insulting the competition doesn't lead to good sales.

 

[JusticeAvenger]

Game is high quality! Hopefully it retains a shelf-life

 

[Majormachina]

Should've gotten this game when it was on sale on steam.

 

[fake-chan]

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

[Tonberry]

It's too expensive to warrant a buy from outsider fans who might only be interested in it due to a guest character they like.

Kart Racers are like fighting games in that it's difficult to make newcomers buy the games at premium price, but unlike fighting games where the hurdle is knowing "you're probably gonna get your ass kicked for the first 50 hours", the hurdle for kart racers is "will I enjoy this equally or more than Mario Kart?" because that series is unironically a system seller and has been considered the cream of the crop for so long.

Which is a big shame because I loved the demo for this, but nobody wanted to tag along. I personally think branding it as a Sonic game is a weaker move than branding it a Sega Allstars game, especially since it's pivoting so hard into being a crossover game. Lots of people still actually equate Sonic to "oh this game is gonna be bad actually because it's Sonic game" or whatever which might make it an even harder sell.

 

[JustLooking456]

It looks like a really fun game, sucks to see that it didn't meet the numbers.

 

[Tonberry]

It looks like a really fun game, sucks to see that it didn't meet the numbers.

The silly part is that nothing seems to meet sales expectations for Sega (and Capcom and Square) anymore. They seem to be going down the same rabbithole they were going down to fifteen-ish years ago or so, where every new iteration of a game has to sell like at least twice the amount of its previous entry to be considered a success, which is really disconcerting.

It's just typical corporate "endless growth" dragon chasing shenanigans

 

[Zeo]

Another game with the "expectation failure", eh?. Big companies still got the idea that they will make millions over a game that easy

I wonder if they realize that there are many factors that can hurt sales

Even worse now with how is everything more and more expensive

 

[JustLooking456]

Once it goes on sale I'll pick it up. Not just for Sonic, but for Mega Man and NiGHTS too. All the videos I've seen of this game look great (and actually fast)

 

[Neb Lleb]

Another game with the "expectation failure", eh?. Big companies still got the idea that they will make millions over a game that easy

I wonder if they realize that there are many factors that can hurt sales

Even worse now with how is everything more and more expensive

This mentality is one of many things that has lead to the new game industry crash. That, and various corporate acts and the overreliance on AI, latter of which is what specifically lead to investors pulling out and kicking off the crash.

 

[retrard]

>Game sold over 1 gorillion copies but failed to meet corporate sales expectations of 1/0 copies sold
It's all so tiresome. Just get into selling crack at this point.

 

[Majormachina]

>Game sold over 1 gorillion copies but failed to meet corporate sales expectations of 1/0 copies sold
It's all so tiresome. Just get into selling crack at this point.

"This Game didnt make me Trillionaire overnight. Fire all the developers"

 

[cjl8336 cjl8336]

it didn't print money, therefore it's a failure

 

[Ikagura]

This should've been sold at least 20 bucks less on Steam in my humble opinion.

Furthermore they should've made something to add a single player mission/adventure mode like All-Star Transformed and perhaps having more than a few non-Sonic Sega characters at launche while the two All-Star games were sold on that aspect.

Not everyone who like Sega's games are only there for Sonic (or Yakuza or Persona for that matter).

 

[retrard]

This should've been sold at least 20 bucks less on Steam in my humble opinion.

This.

Want more sales? Lower the price, 70$ is insanity for a racing game. And add more cute girls like Miku, or someone wants sales like in chinese gachas while giving us Eggman and Steve

 

[bjork]

This should've been sold at least 20 bucks less on Steam in my humble opinion.

I agree with this, but I'll expand it to every platform, even without knowing the msrp. Especially coming so close to a new Mario Kart. Even if the general opinion is that MKW is not as solid as 8, having a price that parents will look at and go, "well, this is cheaper and the kid likes Sonic" would've probably gone a long way. Maybe the fear is launching at a lower price makes it look lesser-than so people wouldn't buy it? "We got disappointing sales but we did so without presenting sonic as the poor person's racing game"