Sonic the Hedgehog, I shall try to save thee

What about this for the next Sonic game?

I believe this is best started with a metaphor. Sonic was the golden trophy in SEGA’s cabinet of rewards, he was the one true masterpiece which made them stand out, the one which everyone recognised, the one which made them who they were. SEGA dropped their trophy a few years ago right before they started development on Sonic the Hedgehog PS360. In an effort to repair what they dropped they got together a team with a tube of super glue and attempted to repair what they had broken. All the pieces went back together, the trophy supposedly had been repaired, but the cracks still shown through, the cracks still shine through. When will SEGA learn that they need to replace the trophy with a new one, and not keep trying to fix it, because the avenues they are taking now are only going to lead to the trophy being thrown onto the floor and left in pieces.

I have spent the past four years wondering what on earth SEGA have been doing with their prized franchise. It’s as if they want Sonic to fail and if this was the 1990’s the conspiracy theory would be that Nintendo had snuck a covert staff member in to ruin Sonic and promote Mario’s success. However this is 2009 and instead of an all out war we see the two competing in Olympic Competitions together? Who came up with that idea? Why did they come up with that idea? Sonic and the Secret Rings was passable, Sonic Unleashed was the point where they found the missing shoes on the trophy but stuck them on the wrong feet, the game was repaired but seriously flawed by a useless gimmick which caused it to keep falling over its own feet. Sonic and the Black Knight… well I’m not even going to go there.

Sonic is my childhood hero. He stands up there with Goku and Squirtle as one of the three legendary figures who made my childhood amazing. However it appears that the world has decided to wreck my childhood with FOX entertainment ruining Goku for their pathetic attempt at westernising the Dragonball Anime and with Nintendo still beating Pokemon with a stick hoping that it will throw up something different but not caring when the same game is being repeatedly chucked out with a slightly new skin and some fancy features which appeal to girls, why can’t they just rerelease Gold and Silver on DS but give you the option to start in either Kanto or Johto at least that game would be good, offer new pathways, and include the core of the original Pokemon we had back in the day, did we really need another 100 with D/P/P?

However my rant doesn’t involve Pokemon or Dragonball, I believe there is nothing that can be done to save either of those series’ and instead I turn my focus to the one which I believe with enough fan voice and input we can get SEGA to make the game that the fans want. Previously when discussing the possibility of a good new Sonic game I would suggest the format used for the Green Hill Zone in Sonic Adventure 2. This was my favourite stage in the game and I believe that an entire game using that mix of 3D and 2D would be an incredible hit. However with the release of Sonic Unleashed the rather impressive Sonic stages I believe that SEGA can fix the series as long as they are kept on a tighter leash, no new useless high pitched new sidekick characters, that’s Amy’s job or Tails if you feel like kicking him out of the spotlight. As such below I have gone out of my way to design a plot for the next 3D Sonic game, one which will actually be Sonic against Robotnik, a game which will utilise all of these characters SEGA has introduced over the years into the best of their abilities and still give us a game which flows perfectly. I hope I can get as much feedback as possible for this and anything constructive will result in a change. I want this game to be made and I want you all to back me as we attempt to shove it in SEGA’s faces in order to get them to listen to our cries, rather then just hear them.

Gameplay
The game will be similar in structure to Sonic Heroes. There will be three separate story arcs each following a team of three heroes. However instead of SEGA’s cop outs before where everyone would have the same stages or a slight variation of a stage, each team will get their own personalised set of seven zones for them to travel through, each zone with 2 acts and a boss gives us a total of 21 different environments and 63 levels not included those in the “Final Story”. The three teams which will playable in the game are:
Team Sonic
• Sonic
• Tails
• Knuckles
Team Dark
• Rouge
• Shadow
• E-123 OMEGA
Team Otherworld
• Blaze
• Silver
• Cream
I myself shudder at my inclusion of Silver and Cream in the game, and since they are in the same team why don’t I just sacrifice Blaze? Because then that’s not working with everything SEGA has done to try and repair it. We can’t just forget these characters exist as much as we would love it, hell SEGA doesn’t want to so we need to work with them here. Originally I was going to have the levels split between each of the three heroes with the minor characters getting two zones each and the major character getting 3, however, I feel that the potential to swap between them to reach unreachable areas actually holds some merit as well as replay value to a level. The inspiration for this comes from, prepare to be shocked, Sonic Riders! The tracks in these games each have alternate routes, depending on your character and their abilities, so why not allow for each of these levels to have alternate routes? You could complete the whole level using just one character or you could swap between them and search for the most efficient and essentially quickest route through the level. Gameplay will be similar to Sonic Unleashed, the Sonic levels anyway, there are NO Town Stages or even hints of a Werehog stage in this game. The nine playable characters are all grouped into one of three categories, Speed, Flight and Power.
Speed
• Sonic
• Shadow
• Blaze
Power
• Knuckles
• E-123 OMEGA
• Silver

Flight
• Tails
• Rouge
• Cream
However each character will play essentially just like Sonic would, of course the speed characters will be faster but the speed difference between characters won’t be as noticeable as it has been in the past. The only differences are that Speed characters can grind (their avenue to reach unreachable points, and have a boost meter similar to in Sonic Rush. Flight characters can fly which means they can by pass certain jumping puzzles and also reach areas others cannot. Power characters can smash/move/shoot special blocks to reach alternate areas and each possess their own method of slow falling and climbing, Knuckles can glide and climb up walls as we have always known him too. OMEGA uses the hover pack and can grapple similar to Knuckles and Silver will use his PSI powers to gently float down or to create steps which can be climbed up.
Because of each character abilities there will be the potential for numerous pathways in levels and as long as each one contains a good collectible or reason to discover them all, there is no reason why people wouldn’t want to replay the levels again and again. As a final note to the gameplay before I give an example of a puzzle once the game is completed it is possible to play as any Team on any stage, essentially giving us even more replay-ablity. A second post note should be made to say that in the general story progression not every character will be available for your initial play through of the stage.

Example
Sandopolis Zone – While playing as Sonic you run along the stage as per usual, as you come to a dead end you realise it is impossible for Sonic to jump over this wall and another character is needed. However it can be seen that there is a block in the wall with hand grips on it. A quick press of the select button/ - button depending on console will change you to Knuckles who can grab the block and pull it out, behind this block is a different path through the level which follows a low road, entering a tomb and having to swiftly race through avoiding traps. However instead of the low road you can instead jump on the block you have just pulled out and then jump over the wall, swap to Tails and fly over it, or just use Knuckles to climb up. The low road path will have flight rings (similar to in Sonic Adventure 1) and grinding rails so as to offer a choice as to who you will use to proceed (Power characters can use flight rings as well). While it is shown that Sonic cannot do this entirely on his own the ease of swapping between characters means that you can spend as much or as little time as the alternates as you wish.








Storyline
Each team has a different storyline and each will meet and cross with each other at numerous points, tying lose ends up together and helping the plot to flow smoother. Unlike in Sonic the Hedgehog PS360 all the story arcs are unlocked from the beginning and as such it is irrelevant which order you complete them in.

Team Sonic
The story begins with Sonic racing through the Metropolis Zone (Zone 1 Act 1, Sonic only) as he tries to find a way to end Eggman’s most recent attempt at controlling the world. After making his way to the core of the giant factory zone Sonic reaches to shut down the power, by recovering the Chaos Emerald being use to power it, but is attacked by a security robot (Boss 1 Sonic only). As the robot explodes Sonic finds himself at a dead end, however Tails swoops down and rescues him and they both leave the zone behind on the Tornado as a bomb goes off somewhere within the city. (There are no Tornado levels this is a cutscene only don’t worry) Tails lands the plane on the floating island the two head to the Master Emerald Chamber to find Knuckles, we learn from the two that Eggman was 5 of the 7 chaos emeralds and the only remaining two are in Knuckles and Shadow’s possession respectively. After travelling through the Mystic Ruins Zone (Zone 2 Act 1 and Act 2, Sonic and Tails only) they find Knuckles under attack from a creature similar in appearance to a red Chaos 0 (Boss 2 Knuckles only). As Knuckles destroys it he tells them that the chaos emerald is safe but the Master Emerald needs to be moved in case they are attacked again. The Floating Island is moved away from land into the middle of the ocean and crashes as the Master Emerald is shattered, however this time into only three crystals. Knuckles leaves one behind to keep the sanctuary’s defences online, and takes the other two with him, making sure no one can access the power of the Master Emerald. The three heroes then find the Mushroom Hill Zone is under attack and they defeat another Chaos creature. (Zone 3, Act 1 and 2, Boss 3). After defending the residents from the Eggman robots they are jumped by Rogue who steals one of the Master Emerald fragments and the Chaos Emerald. The three give chase through the Ancient Jungle Zone (Zone 4, Act 1) and watch powerless as Rogue is willing beamed up into the new Egg Carrier. After comments on how unoriginal Eggman is they are attacked by Shadow and OMEGA who fight as a pair (Boss 4). Shadow uses chaos control before he can be questioned and he and OMEGA flee the battle, supposedly to join Rogue. A mysterious orb appears which Sonic and co follow deeper into the jungle (Zone 4 Act 2). As they catch up with it the orb speaks to Sonic, Tails and Knuckles and tells them they need to split up in order to stop Team Dark and Eggman. Tails takes the Tornado and lands on the Egg Carrier, Knuckles goes to the Ice Cap Zone to hide the last emerald fragment and Sonic, guided by the voice, heads for the Sandopolis Zone in order to prevent the awakening of an ancient guardian.
1. Knuckle’s route: Ice Cap Zone: (Zone 5, Act 1 and Act 2)
2. Sonic’s route: Sandopolis Zone: (Zone 6, Act 1, Act 2 and Boss 5)
3. Tails’ route: Egg Fortress Zone: (Zone 7, Act 1 and Boss 6)
Sonic defeats the stone guardian and learns that the voice is Tikal, guiding him once again in an attempt to stop Eggman from using the powers of Chaos. Since Sonic Adventure Eggman had learnt how to duplicate the chaos matter and infuse it with Emerald energy, bringing it to life. Sonic realises that Tails is in serious danger and uses the chaos aura of the shrine to initiate a Chaos Control onto the Egg Carrier. Knuckles reaches the most secluded part of the zone however when he goes to hide the final Master Emerald shard he is jumped by a legion of Chaos creatures and they take him and the shard captive. Tails lands on the Egg Carrier and proceeds through the Sky Sanctuary Zone and defeats Eggman’s latest machine. However he is knocked out by OMEGA as he is celebrating and is taken captive. Sonic lands in the Egg Carrier Prison block and releases Tails and Knuckles. The three then battle their way onto the deck of the Egg Carrier (Zone 7, Act 2) and find Shadow, Rogue and OMEGA standing over the melting remains of a Chaos creature. Shadow explains that they were pretending to work for Eggman in order to reacquire the chaos emeralds and shows Sonic that he has six of the seven. Knuckles collects his two emerald shards back from Rogue and Shadow teleports them all into the now ruined Metropolis Zone. Team Dark go to get the last Chaos Emerald and Team Sonic heads after Eggman, (Zone 1, Act 2). When they find him they see he has been defeated by Blaze who collapses before the three of them dropping the seven Sol Emeralds. A chaos slime crawls up to them and absorbs all 7 turning into an “Imperfect Chaos” (Boss 7). As the creature is defeated the atmosphere darkens and storm clouds roll past the screen darkens and Sonic falls to the floor in agony.

Progression Tree
Metropolis Zone Act 1
Boss 1: Egghound
Angel Island Zone Act 1
Angle Island Zone Act 2
Boss 2: Chaos 0?
Mushroom Hill Zone Act 1
Mushroom Hill Zone Act 2
Boss 3: Chaos Goliath
Ancient Jungle Zone Act 1
Boss 4: Shadow and E-123 OMEGA
Ancient Jungle Zone Act 2
Ice Cap Zone Act 1
Sandopolis Zone Act 1
Ice Cap Zone Act 2
Egg Fortress Zone Act 1
Boss 5: Eggtitan
Sandopolis Zone Act 2
Boss 6: Chaos Guardian
Egg Fortress Zone Act 2
Metropolis Zone Act 2
Boss 7: Imperfect Chaos

More coming soon…