Sega has come to depend on its tiny blue mascot ever since he debuted on the Sega Genesis in 1991. Mario made a name for himself and millions for Nintendo ever since he first fought a giant, girlfriend-kidnapping gorilla. His popularity was so immense that he was soon more recognizable than Mickey Mouse. Sega knew that to steal the attention of gamers, it would have to do something different and their answer was to create an anti-Mario. Sonic was fast, while Mario (who was known to run at a pretty steady clip) was not. And Sonic had attitude whereas Mario was more modest. Sonic always looked at viewers over his shoulder with a cocked eyebrow. He tapped his feet impatiently when you had him standing still for too long. He oozed cool and rebellion, and the kids loved him for it. That began Sega's reign and became part of Sega's entire identity throughout the 16- and 32-Bit years.
Now 10 years later, on the anniversary of his debut on the Sega Genesis, Sega will be calling upon the blue hedgehog—and surprisingly, his mission is the same. After a long string of mediocre Sonic titles, he has to legitimize Sega to fans and its critics, as well as send off the last piece of hardware Sega will ever manufacture, the Sega Dreamcast. Sonic's debut on the Dreamcast did not go over as well as everyone had hoped Sonic Adventure was supposed to be the killer app that would urge gamers to run out and purchase a Dreamcast. However, despite selling two million copies to date, it still left a bad taste in the mouths of Sega loyalists. Bugs, flighty camera systems, a bloated supporting cast and too many distractions
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thrown in under the guise of varied play options, lead many to regard it as any thing but a true Sonic game. It was as if Sonic Team had forgotten what made him such a hit to begin.
With the Dreamcast now discarded and technically superior consoles on the horizon, Sega, and more specifically, Yuji Naka and his newly formed U.S subsidiary, Sonic Team USA, want to give Sonic a deserving send off on their last piece of hardware. The objectives have been trimmed and the level design is more conducive to Sonic's strengths. On top of that, Sonic is getting new allies and enemies and has acquired new abilities to help balance out the action. We can only hope that they get it right as there are no second chances this time around.
More details about the story, characters and gameplay will be presented in multiple screenshots with accompanying captions in the following pages.
- Published April 25, 2001
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