Let’s face it, Sonic has had it rough over the past few years.  He’s been made fun of, joked on, and generally fans are starting to hate his guts whenever a new game of his comes out or at least cringe in despair.  I should know, I myself am a huge Sonic fan.  It was because of Sonic I got into video games, comics, and this whole world people call “Nerdom”.  It’s a special sting you feel when a character you have literally grown up with get made fun of constantly and trust me its not a fun feeling.  Luckily for us Sonic fans a new game was announced at San Diego Comic Con in honor of Sonic’s 25th anniversary.  Even more good news is that the team behind it also helmed the last two GOOD Sonic games of the past say, 6 years (Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations).  But these decent games do not by any means make up for the horrible piles that he has been in since Sonic Adventure 2 (don’t get me started on Sonic BOOM).  So how can SEGA fix their mascot to once again compete with a certain red hatted plumber?  Well I’m glad you asked.

BACK TO BASICS

It’s no secret that the classic Sonic games were the best games he was in.  They were simple, challenging, and over all they were fun.  The story was simple and as the games progressed they added new features that worked.  Tails was added  in 2 so kids with siblings (myself included) could finally let their little brother play instead of giving him the controller and not have to wait ‘until you died’.  The special zones were different but still challenging and that feeling you get when you bag a chaos emerald just felt so, so good.  Also letting you play as Knuckles in Sonic 2 &3 thanks to the Sonic and Knuckles add on was pure genius.  Simple story, fun game play, and increasingly challenging stages made the original Sonic games (including CD) some of the best games ever.  The funny thing is that SEGA did it once again with Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I and it was pretty good.

YOU DON’T NEED A BIG EPIC STORY

One of the reasons why the classic games were the best is because the story was simple.  Robotnik is messing things up, Sonic has to stop him, rinse, repeat.  Granted the story lines got bigger with the Dreamcast games but they were still simple enough that the game didn’t suffer from it.  It was Sonic 06 that was the nail in the coffin for a big epic story line.  Apart from the game just being a bad playing game the story wasn’t that good, and don’t get me started on that one scene at the end of the game.  You know the one.  However SEGA did get the story right with Sonic and the Secret Rings.  It was a cool idea of throwing Sonic in a story book but the game itself was something left to be desired.  When it comes to story, Sonic doesn’t need a great big grand adventure.  However…

IF YOU REALLY WANT A GREAT STORY LOOK TO THE COMICS

The Sonic comic series has been going on for 20 years.  Yeah, 20 years, meaning that the writers have been creating stories for the hedgehog and his friends even when there aren’t any games currently out so they have had to create their own stories and literally their own world.  As a person who have been reading these comics for the better part of a decade I can tell you that these books aren’t just good.  They’re freaking fantastic!  The writers over the years have created a world that is both their own and uniquely Sonic’s.  Also they have to be freaking wizards for whenever a new game comes out they have to adapt it and make it fit into their already pre-existing world.  So I say if SEGA really wants to have a great big story in their games the comics are a great place to start.  You have the “Mecha Madness” story where Sonic becomes a robot.  The “Endgame” saga where Sonic and Robotnik finally throw down in what seems like the final fight.  They can even do a crossover with Capcom and Mega Man and do a “Worlds Collide” or “Worlds Unite” game.  Now that would be cool.  SEGA can even answer the question that fans of the animated TV show, Sonic the Hedgehog (or as some called it Sonic SatAM), wanted after the end of season 2.  There is so much material for story options that SEGA could go with that would make a great Sonic game and all they have to do is pick one.

MAKE ROBOTNIK SCARY AGAIN OR BRING IN MORE VILLAINS

Robotnik has always been that villain whom gamers kinda laugh at.  Granted there have been many times when my heart was racing while I was fighting him at the end of stage.  Mostly because I had only one ring and one life left.  However in recent memory Robotnik has become a bit of a joke, and yes I keep saying “Robotnik” because that is a much cooler name than “Eggman.”  Getting back on topic here, when I say make Robotnik scary again I mean the scary guy from the animated TV show that I mentioned in the previous point and also some comic story lines.  That Robotnik was downright terrifying and being voiced by Jim Cummings only upped the scary factor.  Not only that but in the games he’s trying to take over the world right?  Well in the show and in the early comic books he already did that and was an iron fisted dictator who kept trying to turn his worst enemies into robotic slaves.  If that doesn’t creep you out a little bit I don’t know what will.  Sonic didn’t always had to fight Robotnik either.  In the show and books he tangled with a wizard Ixis Nagus, the immortal Mammoth Mogul, and the Iron Dominion to name a few.  Granted the games did introduce some great great characters like Rouge the Bat, Shadow, and E-102 Gamma/Omega but adding the villains from the books would be a nice change of pace in the games.  I’m not saying keep Robotnik out of the games entirely, but having a new bad-guy to face that isn’t a “one and done” villain would be nice.

GIVE KNUCKLES HIS OWN GAME

Lets be honest, Shadow the Hedgehog was a TERRIBLE game.  It was bad, beyond bad, astronomically bad.  I bought it with such high hopes and when I started playing it I hated it.  I only went through about 3 levels of the game and stopped.  I even tried to do the hero missions and it only took me about say an hour to fully complete one hero mission objective.  Not only that, to this day that game has been in the trunk of my car for the better part of 2 years.  Why has it been in there?  Because I haven’t found anyone who wants to take it off my hands, that’s why.  To be honest I didn’t think Shadow should have gotten his own game anyway.  Out of all the characters in the Sonic franchise the one who deserves his own game is Knuckles the Echidna.  Tails got a few solo games for the Game Gear and yes I do know about Knuckles Chaotix for the 32X, however Knuckles wasn’t alone in that game, he had the Chaotix with him.  I’m saying give Knuckles his own solo game.  One of the coolest things about the Sonic and Knuckles cartridge was that you could plug in Sonic 2 or Sonic 3 and play through all the stages as Knuckles.  You were able to go to places that Sonic couldn’t, climb up walls and even glide.  Those were the closest things we got to a solo Knuckles title and we were able to play as him again in the Sonic Adventure games by hunting down that pesky Master Emerald that keeps getting shattered.  He even had his own line of comics in the nineties for crying out loud and those stories were pretty heavy for a kids book.  There’s plenty of material for Knuckles and since he is a HUGE part of Sonic’s history, I’d say its time we give him his due.

DON’T RUSH PRODUCTION SEGA!

The biggest problem I keep finding with these recent Sonic games like BOOM or with Sonic 06 is that SEGA had the production rushed to make a deadline.  If history has taught us anything is that rushed products SUCK.  Granted you might get lucky, like a college student who wrote that big essay the night before and didn’t finish until 3 in the morning and got a good grade (speaking from experience).  However most of the time when games are rushed, they turn out bad.  Like in 1982 when E.T. was programmed in 5 weeks to make the Christmas market, what happened?  Oh just the infamous gaming crash of 1983 that nearly destroyed the entire industry.  I get that trying to get your product out faster so you can make money is imperative to any business, however if that product sucks, you’ll end up losing money.  We may not seem like it but us gamers can be a patient bunch.  I’ve been waiting well over 10 years for Kingdom Hearts III and even longer for Mega Man Legends 3.  If you need time to make sure that a game is great, then the gamers will not only buy it, but it will thrive and all those gamers will tell their other gamer friends on how good the game is.  If its worth the wait, it will be worth putting the time and effort into making it.

Like I said earlier, it has been a rough few years for Sonic, and hopefully with the release of the newest game we could all breath easy.  These suggestions are just opinions to SEGA but I honestly feel that if SEGA wants to make and continue to make great Sonic games these are a great place to start.  Luckily Sonic is still one of the biggest video game icons ever but it would be nice if that icon had some great games in his library than some of the ones we have gotten over the past few years.  Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to play some Sonic CD.