In the 35 years since Sonic the Hedgehog was released, 114 games and two live-action movies featuring the Blue Blur have been released, with about a dozen animated specials and tons of merchandise on the way.
The point is: it's a lot.
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is better than Mario Kart World, but it doesn't change anything.
Mario Kart is a behemoth that won't be bothered no matter how good its competitors are.
That said, if there's one thing missing from the Sonic universe, outside of the Solo Silver titles and remasters of Shadow the Hedgehog for modern consoles, it's a true RPG that fits into Sonic's own universe.
Don't worry. Sonic the Hedgehog fan and online content creator Sun.mp2 took it upon himself to imagine what an RPG could look like, and it's truly genius.
Sharing the commission on social media, the 16-second video shows off an RPG where Sonic and crew are always on the move. Where there are usually stage timers and ring counters, there are several “action” options that Sonic can access.
Selecting the “Chaos” button will cause Sonic to tag Shadow, damaging the enemy. Selecting the “dash” button later will allow Sonic himself to attack objects with his iconic speed hits.
There's also an “Item” option that allows Sonic to have some pretty devastating attacks.
Again, this all happens while the party is going on. Dark Brotherhood, BioWare's only attempt at a Sonic RPG, featured movement in the overworld, while all combat was static.
That's not the case here. If I haven't stressed this enough, it's genius.
In other words, if Sega is reading this, please hire this guy. This is too good an idea to be allowed to exist as a 17-second commission.
Sonic tried a lot of things, but the only RPG it received was underappreciated.
In addition to a whopping 114 games, there were classic platformers, racing games, a game with Mario at the Olympics, and even a fighting game for the Game Boy Advance.
However, the aforementioned RPG, Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood, wasn't as well received as Sonic's other escape games. When it was released on the DS in 2008, it had a score of 74 out of 55 critic reviews on Metacritic and an even lower user score of 6.2.
“It's fun, and the game picks up after the first few hours. But with so many excellent role-playing games on the platform, you'd be surprised to see many DS gamers chasing Dark Brotherhood,” IGN's review reads in part. “There’s a good design here somewhere, but it’s just lost in the shuffle of it all.”
This is where there is agreement. It's fun, but there are many cracks in the RPG format and the story isn't strong enough to progress the story.
I think an RPG with a decent story could be a winner.
- released
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September 30, 2008
- ESRB
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E
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