In the 35 years since Sonic the Hedgehog, there have been 114 games released including Blue Blr, as well as two live-action movies, with plans for more, about a dozen or so animated specials and plenty of merchandise on the way.
Point being: it's a lot.
Sonic Racing: Crossworlds is better than Mario Kart World, but that doesn't change anything
Mario Kart is a juggernaut that will remain elusive, no matter how good its competitors are.
That said, if there's one thing missing from the Sonic universe, aside from a single Silver title and a remaster of Shadow the Hedgehog for modern consoles, it's a true RPG that fits into Sonic's world.
Never mind, Sonic the Hedgehog fan and online content creator Sun.mp2 has taken it upon themselves to imagine what this RPG could look like, and it's genius.
Sharing a commission on social media, the 16-second video shows an RPG where Sonic and the crew are always in motion. Where you'd normally find a stage timer and a ring counter, Sonic has access to multiple “action” options.
By selecting the “Chaos” button, Sonic tags in the shadows to damage the enemy. Later, selecting the “dash” button lets Sonic take a swing at things with his iconic speed hit.
There's also an “item” option that lets Sonic do a rather devastating attack.
Again, all this happens while the party is in motion. While the only effort from Dark Brotherhood, Sonic RPG and BioWare, Special Movement in the Over-World, all of its battles were static.
Here, that's not the case, and if we don't stress it enough, this is genius.
Which Sega is to say, if you're reading this, please hire this person. It's too good of an idea to exist as a 17-second commission.
Sonic has tried many things, but the only RPG it received was poorly reviewed
Over 114 games and counting, there are your typical platformers, racing games, appearances in the Olympics alongside Mario and even a fighting game in Game Boy Advance.
But the aforementioned RPG, Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood, wasn't as well received as Sonic's other escapades. When it launched on DS in 2008, it opened at 74 on Metacritic from 55 critic reviews, and an even worse 6.2 user score.
“It's fun to be there, and the game picks up after a few hours, but we'd be surprised to see many DS gamers get behind Dark Brotherhood when there are so many great role-playing games on the platform,” IGN's review read in part. “There's good design in here somewhere; it's lost in the shuffle of it all.”
Most of that consensus is implicit. It's fun, but the RPG formula has too many cracks and isn't strong enough to drive the story forward.
With a proper story, it looks like it could be a winner in an RPG.
- issued
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September 30, 2008
- ESRB
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