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Putting the mega drive back into Sega: how the company wants to return to creating video game "rock & roll", compared to Nintendo's "pop music"

C

cartman414

Member
BlackTron said:
This is something I just can't agree with. When I was a kid SNES came out shortly after I got NES so I was playing Mario 1, 3, World, and Sonic 1 and 2 extensively having played very few other games beforehand (just a bunch of Capcom NES titles really).

I think they complement each other very well which is why they made such powerful exclusive games. It would have been torture choosing to dump one.

Never said Sonic doesn't have power-ups, just that it's less technical; sure you need more skill to clear a stage in a really cool looking sexy way with Sonic, but Mario will ask for that much skill just to finish the game. If Mario has technicality, Sonic has organic flow, which are both valid.

Modern Mario might be too fresh in your mind. Go back and play Mario 3 and tell me it's easier than Sonic.

I'm a Sonic nut and usually find myself defending the hedgehog's history. I even used a freaking Game Gear in the back of a car...with BATTERIES. This isn't some sort of Sonic was never good posturing lol
Click to expand...

This.

Mario is more like the Beatles. Sonic would be the Doors.
 
ManaByte

ManaByte

Gold Member
Imagine if he invests the profits from these new games into hardware.

ps4 GIF
 
ShirAhava

ShirAhava

Plays with kids toys, in the adult gaming world
BlackTron said:
This is something I just can't agree with. When I was a kid SNES came out shortly after I got NES so I was playing Mario 1, 3, World, and Sonic 1 and 2 extensively having played very few other games beforehand (just a bunch of Capcom NES titles really).

I think they complement each other very well which is why they made such powerful exclusive games. It would have been torture choosing to dump one.

Never said Sonic doesn't have power-ups, just that it's less technical; sure you need more skill to clear a stage in a really cool looking sexy way with Sonic, but Mario will ask for that much skill just to finish the game. If Mario has technicality, Sonic has organic flow, which are both valid.

Modern Mario might be too fresh in your mind. Go back and play Mario 3 and tell me it's easier than Sonic.

I'm a Sonic nut and usually find myself defending the hedgehog's history. I even used a freaking Game Gear in the back of a car...with BATTERIES. This isn't some sort of Sonic was never good posturing lol
Click to expand...

Mario 3 is the Homer Simpson car of platformers. "Throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" A clunky disjointed mess with no style. Hard legos dumped on the floor just for the sake of it doesn't make it good game it just makes the devs assholes. I had more fun with Sonic Spinball.
 
BlackTron

BlackTron

Member
ShirAhava said:
Mario 3 is the Homer Simpson car of platformers. "Throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" A clunky disjointed mess with no style. Hard legos dumped on the floor just for the sake of it doesn't make it good game it just makes the devs assholes. I had more fun with Sonic Spinball.
Click to expand...

While I realize this is subjective, it's hard to imagine a game from 1988 with more style than 3. It's pretty much modern Mario Prime, introducing flight, a bevy of zany power-ups, map screen, koopa kids, mini-games/toad houses, but if you think it lacks style, that's an opinion. I also owned Sonic Spinball, so I realize how deep this insult is supposed to be.

The "devs assholes" part makes it sound like you just sucked at it. Maybe you should try Mario Wonder. It has more style.
 
hullostranger

hullostranger

Member
Glad to see the definitive high school break argument of the 90s, Mario vs. Sonic, still brings the heat out from their respective fanbases.
 
Fat Frog

Fat Frog

I advertised for Google Stadia
SmokedMeat said:
Still waiting to see Sega bring back their classic franchises. Until then it’s just hot air.
Click to expand...
Thanks to climate change, a mammoth has been released from permafrost.
Let's help him, he seems a little confused:

New Crazy Taxi

New Golden Axe

New Shinobi

New Streets of Rage

New Monkey Ball

Space Channel 5 VR

New Sakura Wars

Cosmic Smash VR

Valkyria Chronicles 4

New Samba de Amigo

Chuchu Rocket Universe

New Alien Isolation

PSO2 NGS

New Virtua Fighter

Call us when Nintendo will release a brand new F-Zero, for instance...
 
A

alphachino

Member
Fat Frog said:
Thanks to climate change, a mammoth has been released from permafrost.
Let's help him, he seems a little confused:

New Crazy Taxi

New Golden Axe

New Shinobi

New Streets of Rage

New Monkey Ball

Space Channel 5 VR

New Sakura Wars

Cosmic Smash VR

Valkyria Chronicles 4

New Samba de Amigo

Chuchu Rocket Universe

New Alien Isolation

PSO2 NGS

New Virtua Fighter

Call us when Nintendo will release a brand new F-Zero, for instance...
Click to expand...
No mention of OutRun or Sega Rally says you don't know what you're on about
 
Isa

Isa

Member
Everyday Sega mentions classics and revivals but no mention of Shining Force.
sad monty python and the holy grail GIF


I need more beautiful animated spritework in my life, and centaurs. Dwarves, elves, hobbits, armoured armadillos, priests, magic users, class upgrades, towns to explore, fast strategic gameplay(or dungeon crawler). And get on a proper Phantasy Star while you're at it! Make a new star system if necessary. Oh and Golden Axe! Man I hope that new one doesn't suck.
 
thicc_girls_are_teh_best

thicc_girls_are_teh_best

Member
BlackTron said:
All other things being equal, Sonic would still be easier due to its rings health mechanic. If you were Sonic, you could just peel through world 8, rushing to grab at least one ring every time a bullet bill smacks your brazen face. As Mario, the injury lasts forever, in fact it fight cancel the power up you just consumed from the map inventory, punishing every small mistake in agonizing attrition; Sonic's survivability makes finding all those paths and enjoying the loopy level design easier without as much anxiety (so it's the right system for that game, but undoubtedly easier). The final boss to Sonic 3 just beat me senseless while I kept grabbing my last ring over again, that's how I was able to beat it in 1994.
Click to expand...

Yeah the ring system does offer a cushion for Sonic that 2D Mario games did not provide. Although, there are times even in the 2D games (especially CD) where you can start a level with no rings and die before you come across one.

If you think about it, Sonic's design kind of seems influenced from the habit of quarter feeding people would do with arcade games, I wouldn't be surprised if Sonic Team and STI had that in mind when making the ring health system. So just like how you can be sloppy and quarter-feed your way to beat an arcade game (but spend way more money in the process), you can play sloppy and get by with just one ring in a classic Sonic game.

That's an option, but naturally most gamers want to get by with better skill so they'll replay to not blow through sections quarter-feeding, or get by a level in classic Sonic with just one ring. The classic Mario games have something of a callback to that type of arcade mentality too in the way power-ups would work to absorb a hit (at the cost of losing the powerup) like you just mentioned.

nkarafo said:
True. Sonic & Knuckles cutscenes were short and on point. They showed you exactly what you needed to be shown without wasting your time with extra fluff.

And this highlights a bigger issue with the game industry IMO. Because when storage changed to optical discs and developers had the freedom to "express themselves" and games became more "cinematic" (something people hyped to high heavens as if that's a good thing)... the storytelling got worse, not better (at least for any genre that's not a story heavy RPG). Because now you had these long cutscenes that waste your time, all the exposition and all the voice acting, which most of the times was bad and completely ruined the character's tone and personality (like it did for Sonic, IMO).

And games that were never supposed to be story heavy, now had to be, otherwise they were considered archaic design. I still remember reviews cutting points from games because they had a simpler way of telling the story.

The evolution of storytelling in videogames is the poster child of "less is more".
Click to expand...

TBF in the best of games you can just skip the cutscenes if you wish, often even in a first playthrough. The cutscenes are there if you want them, but if you don't, just skip to the next gameplay segment. Of course, a great game would also still provide you ways to find out those parts of the story through exploring and playing the game anyway, even if you skipped the cutscene.

I'd say a lot of games did benefit from the expansion to CD-ROM that weren't just RPGs; you're probably more of a purely gameplay-driven person but for people who are about the experience of a game, those cutscenes can really help set the tone and atmosphere. Survival horror games wouldn't have the punch they got if it weren't from cutscenes gaining more a foothold in gaming, for example.

FWIW, that transition period had a lot of things we'd consider bad takes in retrospect, like Western media completely dismissing 2D games or games like System Shock being reviewed poorly because they weren't enough like DOOM (they were never meant to be like DOOM!). Some games did get the right lesson of using environmental storytelling rather than overdosing on cutscenes, though. Most of them were Japanese games though, and they were generally ahead of Western devs on that type of thing by at least a decade.
 
kevboard

kevboard

Member
then bring back Crush 40 already!




when was the last time a 3D Sonic game had a Crush 40 main theme?
it's just not a true 3D Sonic if I don't hear johnny gioeli's voice over some guitar shredding in the intro!
 
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Team Andromeda

Team Andromeda

Member
64bitmodels said:
Anyways, RGG studio and Atlus are great but they need to stop carrying the entire damn company. We want new IP (NOT A FUCKING GAAS. You saw Astro Bot win those awards while Concord flopped. We don't want another Hyenas) and some revivals if it can be helped.

Like yeah, all those old games were great but we still need new IP
Click to expand...

We just had Metaphor a new IP released and SEGA also showed another new IP with Project Century
Maybe instead of trolling watch and play what SEGA is doing?
SmokedMeat said:
Still waiting to see Sega bring back their classic franchises. Until then it’s just hot air.
Click to expand...
Like your post?

We had wonderful sequels to Sakura Wars and Valkyria Chronicles and a wonderful sequel to House of the Dead in the Arcade. SEGA is now really starting to ramp up making sequels to more of its IP, its hardly hot air
 
Fat Frog

Fat Frog

I advertised for Google Stadia
64bitmodels said:
Anyways, RGG studio and Atlus are great but they need to stop carrying the entire damn company. We want new IP
Click to expand...
RGG is just a name:

- AM2 veterans are dealing with Virtua Fighter and project century combats.

- Ex AM teams made the last Monkey Ball... (under RGG's banner)

- Most Arcade AM teams joined the Sega console DIVISIONS (#1 is AM2+RGG for instance but Sega uses RGG because it's sexier for the new generations).


DIVISION #2 also leveled up:

Shadow Generations is a triumph because there are more people from other old studios working with them.


And yeah, Sega has currently a good balance of revivals with a few new IP. (but don't lie, people ask for new IPs but never buy them lol > Binary Domain, Resonance of Fate, Alpha Protocol, Anarchy Reigns...🤣)
 
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MacReady13

MacReady13

Member
Is this the same Sega who aligned itself (during the Mega Drive days) with the king of POP, Michael Jackson? And even released a game starring the king of pop with his pop music in it?
 
SportsFan581

SportsFan581

Member
Fighting words given the status of the two companies at this point. Looking forward to that new Crazy Taxi though, make it a good one Sega.
 
SmokedMeat

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
Fat Frog said:
Thanks to climate change, a mammoth has been released from permafrost.
Let's help him, he seems a little confused:

New Crazy Taxi

New Golden Axe

New Shinobi

New Streets of Rage

New Monkey Ball

Space Channel 5 VR

New Sakura Wars

Cosmic Smash VR

Valkyria Chronicles 4

New Samba de Amigo

Chuchu Rocket Universe

New Alien Isolation

PSO2 NGS

New Virtua Fighter

Call us when Nintendo will release a brand new F-Zero, for instance...
Click to expand...

Wake me when they start showing up.
 
SmokedMeat

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
Team Andromeda said:
We had wonderful sequels to Sakura Wars and Valkyria Chronicles and a wonderful sequel to House of the Dead in the Arcade. SEGA is now really starting to ramp up making sequels to more of its IP, its hardly hot air
Click to expand...

When did we get a sequel to Valkyria Chronicles? House of the Dead in the arcade? Are you talking about HotD4? That was ages ago. The remake was the dumbest thing ever. A total flop.

Saying they’re ramping things up is meaningless until we actually see these games.
 
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Team Andromeda

Team Andromeda

Member
SmokedMeat said:
When did we get a sequel to Valkyria Chronicles? House of the Dead in the arcade? Are you talking about HotD4? That was ages ago. The remake was the dumbest thing ever. A total flop.

Saying they’re ramping things up is meaningless until we actually see these games.
Click to expand...
We had Valkyria Chronicles 4 which was a lovely sequel and maybe even better than the 1st game. . And as for House the Dead I'm on about House of the Dead: Scarlet which is right up there with HOTD2 as the best in the series and looks and plays incredible

So wake up mate *rollseyes*
 
Fat Frog

Fat Frog

I advertised for Google Stadia
Team Andromeda said:
We had Valkyria Chronicles 4 which was a lovely sequel and maybe even better than the 1st game. . And as for House the Dead I'm on about House of the Dead: Scarlet which is right up there with HOTD2 as the best in the series and looks and plays incredible

So wake up mate *rollseyes*
Click to expand...
As for Valkyria Chronicles 4, i think it's a great game but made during Haruki Satomi's guidance. (he tried to revive a few franchises but didn't allocated the right budget).

Now, under Shuji Utsumi's reign as the CEO, projects are much more ambitious.
It seems that Sega of Japan is making a new S- RPG... Pretty sure the scale will be much more impressive. ;)
 
SmokedMeat

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
Team Andromeda said:
We had Valkyria Chronicles 4 which was a lovely sequel and maybe even better than the 1st game. . And as for House the Dead I'm on about House of the Dead: Scarlet which is right up there with HOTD2 as the best in the series and looks and plays incredible

So wake up mate *rollseyes*
Click to expand...

Valkyria Chronicles was a 2018 game. We’re two weeks away from 2025.

House of the Dead Scarlet never heard of because it’s an arcade game, and those are dead. Good luck finding it to play, so what good is that?

Then there’s a couple screenshots.

Wow! My eyes are open now lol
 
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Team Andromeda

Team Andromeda

Member
SmokedMeat said:
Valkyria Chronicles was a 2018 game. We’re two weeks away from 2025.

House of the Dead Scarlet never heard of because it’s an arcade game, and those are dead. Good luck finding it to play, so what good is that?

Then there’s a couple screenshots.

Wow! My eyes are open now lol
Click to expand...

So you have opened your eyes to do a bit of Googling. I love the trolls who ask for SEGA to make sequels to classic IP only to never play or buy them.

Btw , I've played HOTD Scarlet in London, and it's utterly amazing.

.
Fat Frog said:
As for Valkyria Chronicles 4, i think it's a great game but made during Haruki Satomi's guidance. (he tried to revive a few franchises but didn't allocated the right budget).

Now, under Shuji Utsumi's reign as the CEO, projects are much more ambitious.
It seems that Sega of Japan is making a new S- RPG... Pretty sure the scale will be much more impressive. ;)
Click to expand...

I still have a lot of time for Haruki Satomi mind Since he took over from his dad SEGA Japan been transformed and wasn't Sakura Wars a passion project for him and really showed the future for SEGA and getting back to big budget In House consoles games and stepping back from mobile

Plus we've got rid of Nagoshi-san and can now watch the creative side of SEGA make a sweet return.

Blue skies are ahead mate :).
 
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SmokedMeat

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
Team Andromeda said:
So you have opened your eyes to do a bit of Googling. I love the trolls who ask for SEGA to make sequels to classic IP only to never play or buy them.

Btw , I've played HOTD Scarlet in London, and it's utterly amazing.
Click to expand...

I have Valkyria Chronicles 4 in my Steam library. You made it sound they just released a new game.
 
Fat Frog

Fat Frog

I advertised for Google Stadia
Team Andromeda said:
So you have opened your eyes to do a bit of Googling. I love the trolls who ask for SEGA to make sequels to classic IP only to never play or buy them.

Btw , I've played HOTD Scarlet in London, and it's utterly amazing.

.

I still have a lot of time for Haruki Satomi mind Since he took over from his dad SEGA Japan been transformed and wasn't Sakura Wars a passion project for him and really showed the future for SEGA and getting back to big budget In House consoles games and stepping back from mobile

Plus we've got rid of Nagoshi-san and can now watch the creative side of SEGA make a sweet return.

Blue skies are ahead mate :).
Click to expand...
I don't know what was wrong with Nagoshi but the RGG is much more creative now.(Yokoyama)
 
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Fat Frog

Fat Frog

I advertised for Google Stadia
cireza said:
4 is a much larger game than 1.
Click to expand...
True but Sega was still controlling cost in a defensive mode.

Utsumi: When I joined, Sega was more in defensive mode. It was trying to focus more on cost-cutting, controlling the budget, sticking to the current plan. It was very conservative, even though the market was showing that it was a very interesting time for growth opportunities. Google was getting into the cloud gaming market, Microsoft was starting to push Game Pass. Everybody was trying to get into the game market, and Sega has so many great IPs, but wasn't really doing anything [with them] at the time. They were trying to control costs.

2024 Sega is in an offensive mode, unleashing budget, attacking Nintendo and kicking asses ✌
 
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Team Andromeda

Team Andromeda

Member
Fat Frog said:
I don't know what was wrong with Nagoshi but the RGG is much more creative now.(Yokoyama)
Click to expand...
He's an arrogant man who blocked so many other projects. I'm so glad he out of SEGA
SmokedMeat said:
I have Valkyria Chronicles 4 in my Steam library. You made it sound they just released a new game.
Click to expand...
and yet you didn't know about it and had to google when it came out, haven't even talked about the new Samba De Amigo or Monkeyball games that have recently come out.

Go back to sleep Troll...
 
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