Sonic is easily one of gaming’s most iconic characters. and is currently riding a high perhaps not seen since the 90s. Along with most of his recent games performing well, he’s been featured in a blockbuster movie franchise which is set to launch its three-quel in only a couple short months.
As Sonic X Shadow Generations launches in a few days, a game featuring a remaster of one of Sonic’s Best 3D outings and a new chapter focused on Shadow which features gameplay similar to Sonic frontiers, things look great for the blue blur at the moment.
However while Sonic is experiencing a high point right now, it’s been known to have experienced a number of lows, particularly after the Genesis era ended. Sonic during the 90s was often held in the same regard as Mario but, after that period, reception to the character ranged from good, to mixed, to outright terrible. Yet somehow through low points, many that would’ve thrown other franchises into limbo, if not outright killed them all together, Sonic pushed on and remained popular. I think if a franchise is perhaps struggling, looking at how Sonic managed to bounce back more than once is something some devs and publishers should do. How did Sega do it? Well there’s multiple factors
They kept going back to the drawing board.
After the Genesis era ended, Sega wasn’t quite sure how to bring sonic into the 3d era and his 3d games have always been more spotty than the 2d games. Although it started off well as the first two sonic adventure games were well received and are still loved by fans today, things went a bit downhill after that.
The following Sonic heroes wasn’t a terrible game but what came after was the infamous Sonic the hedgehog, AKA Sonic 06. The game’s reputation did hurt the franchise for awhile and there were a few more lackluster games to follow such as sonic and the secret rings.
Yet, Rather than shelve the franchise like we’d seen others such as crash bandicoot, Sega simply went back the the drawing board. Sonic unleashed came out and while it’s reception was mixed due to the werehog sections which functioned like a 3d action brawler, Sega found a great formula with the high speed gameplay sections and this formula would be refined in both Sonic colors and Sonic Generations. Colors was seen as a return to form for the franchise and Generations a great celebration of the history of the series.
Sega would experiment more with the sonic formula with some mixed results here and there such as lost world and the sonic boom spinoff which didn’t fare very well, then most recently Sonic frontiers which is thought of fondly by fans of the franchise overall as it effectively brought sonic into an open world format, something many fans didn’t think would work well. When they took a hit, Sega just kept working until they found something that fit well.
The roots of the franchise were never forgotten.
While Sonic’s 3d games would be the focus for mainline consoles for some time, his 2D roots were never forgotten and probably helped keep him alive due to a number of excellent handheld titles that were released over the years. The Sonic Advance games which were co-developed by Dimps for the GBA were among Sega’s earliest releases after they left the console market and showed that the blue blur could still offer excellent games. The advance games as well as the more overlooked Sonic Rush games on the DS were all positively received and outside a couple rare examples such as sonic the hedgehog 4, his 2d games were looked at more positively than his 3d outings. This is a contrast to other franchises such as Crash Bandicoot and Banjo- Kazooie which went in directions that ignored what made their franchises great in the first place.
Most importantly however, was the release of Sonic Mania. After the release of the Sonic the lost world which was mixed for playing more like a Mario game and the Sonic boom spin-off which garnered a poor reception similar to Sonic 06, Sega decided to go back to its roots completely with Sonic Mania. Mania was the first 2D Sonic game released for major platforms in years and it seemed to undo the damage that was done by the boom games overnight. Although the 3D Sonic Forces game left a lot when it launched that same year, Mania had Sonic in a spotlight that hadn’t been seen since the 90s.
Sonic’s presence in other media.
Another big factor in how Sonic survived some big gaming downfalls is that Sega managed to keep him relevant in other forms of media throughout the years, probably more than any other video game character. Sonic has had multiple comic book series going since the 90s, been featured in multiple well received cartoons, notably the Sonic boom cartoon which had a reception completely opposite of the games and most recently a blockbuster movie franchise.
Naturally not every company always has the resources Sega has when it comes to some characters. In some cases if they do, their higher ups may just not care enough to push forward. However, for any franchise that developers may look to bring back, I think taking a look at Sonic and how it managed to bounce back from various low points after being put on the pedestal next to Mario in the 90s. After all, with the recent success of games like Astro Bot and Crash 4, as well as how good Sonic is doing at the moment overall, it’s clear there’s very much a market for these kinds of characters.
Check out SEGA and Atlus’ most recent smash hit, Metaphor ReFantaztio! Read about how it passed 1 million sales in its first week right HERE.
