Random thoughts on a Monday afternoon…

I’ve been perusing this blog and the message boards a lot lately, popping in with a comment when necessary, and ever since we’ve announced the Sonic Chronicles and Sonic Unleashed titles, I’ve been spending a good bit of time in the Sonic forums.  Every time I stop in there, and see some of the other comments on the General Discussion boards, I realize how varied the Sonic community really is — not just in depth, but in breadth.

The differences between the boards are quite pronounced.  If discussion of Sonic pops up in the General section, it seems like the thread can always trickle back to one overarching concept — please make a good Sonic game.  The details aren’t necessarily that important; the game just needs to be fun.  Of course, not everyone agrees about what is “fun,” but we know that the game needs to fit that bill.

Fair enough.

Head on into the Sonic-specific boards and it’s a whole other beast entirely.  Here, there are tons of threads on the most specific of topics: who is going to handle the voices?  Will Sonic and Amy finally get together?  Will Big The Cat make an appearance in the game?  We’re talking about tons of topics, loads of questions, and discussion that typically shows a pretty intimate knowledge of the entire Sonic canon dating back to the original game.

(As an aside, I have to say that I loved Kotaku’s description of Sonic’s friends as “various hangers-on,” as if Blaze and Shadow and the rest of the gang actually had something material to gain from spending time with Sonic.)

Anyway — my time on the various boards has made me realize a couple of things: first, Sonic has a very devoted and passionate fanbase, one of the best in the entire gaming industry.

Secondly, Sonic is many things to many people.  What’s interesting to me is that, given the absolute variance of opinions across the board, there is not one overarching notion of what Sonic should be, yet I see lots of people stating very authoritatively “Sonic’s not about that” or “Sonic needs to be more this.”  And on this topic, everyone is right, and yet no one is right.

Sonic started as a little speedy blue hedgehog doing loops, platforming and collecting rings.  Over the years, he’s grown, changed, morphed, you name it; meanwhile, the capabilities of video game consoles have exploded into the stratosphere compared to what we saw with the Genesis.  And now, here we are in 2008, closing in on Sonic’s 17th birthday, and consoles have amazing graphics and disk space, and controllers now have a dozen-plus buttons and knobs to work with, and we’re still struggling with the notion of “what IS Sonic?”

The bottom line is, to me, there’s no right or wrong answer.  We know Sonic is about speed — but does that mean that’s all he’s about?  When we announced Chronicles, I saw lots of comments that Sonic in an RPG was just silly because it negates his speed — but again, is that all Sonic is about?  And the early stuff we’ve seen on Unleashed has some people freaked out about a part of the game that may show a completely different side of our little hedgehog buddy.  “That’s not what Sonic is about!” came some comments, and maybe they’re not undeserved — but that still assumes that there’s a definitive answer to the question of what Sonic IS.

What am I trying to say here?  Oh heck, as usual, I dunno.  It’s a Monday and I need my afternoon coffee.  Still, based on the number of message board posts and blog comments regarding anything Sonic, I thought I’d throw open a little more discussion on the subject.

This fall, you’re going to get two brand-new Sonic games that will evolve the series in entirely different ways.  I’m going to assume that a lot of you will be getting at least one of these games, and you’re going to pop the game into your DS or your console, and you’re going to play, and some of you will go “Now THIS is Sonic!” and some of you may say “This is not what Sonic is about at all.”  This is the nature of the beast; there’s no way SEGA will ever be able to make a Sonic game that will appeal to every single Sonic fan.  Even if response is overwhelmingly positive, there will still be people that end up disappointed, and that’s just reality.

But my question is, after all this blather (thanks for getting this far)… before you fire up your first game of Chronicles or Unleashed (or both), and pass judgment on whether or not it’s a true, fun Sonic experience — what IS Sonic?

It’s a pretty broad question.  Maybe you have the answer.