Sonic Needs a New Look 

It’s insane to me how a franchise that built its initial appeal off of style is lacking style

I think if they had gone with the hand drawn route with Superstars, it'd probably have a little more hype.

That’s why I love Sonic and the Fallen Star fan game so much. It has a unique art style for a Sonic game that really works for Classic Sonic despite being pixel art again.

The Shadow the Hedgehog CGI opening is, to this day, the coolest piece of Sonic media I've seen. It's so awesome, everything going on, the CGI is amazing, the music slaps AND IT HAS THE TYPE OF STYLE I WANT IN A SONIC GAME.

Honestly, it looks like a game that came out in 2012 to 2015 during the big retro games revival.

You failed to mention that the Storybook games also have a nice visual flair to them in the 2D cutscenes.

Very great video, Sonic’s style in 3D has been so homogenized and bland for so long, I’m SO sick of the post-Unleashed models. I think we all are. It’s holding the games’ style back. The way I always put it for friends is “before 2008, the characters looked like the characters. But today, the characters look like corporate cynical homogenized versions of themselves.”

You are on point with much of this. I been saying that for years "Sonic has no gameplay or style that makes you scream that's Sonic!" 9:05 full agree.

A perfect example is Sonic & Knuckles: Newtrogic Panic. It has so much style and charisma and artistic integrity in its designs and environments and animations. If it was what Superstars looked like, way more ppl would be excited.

pariah drops? i click. simple

Actually i like the majority of the cutscenes of Sonic Heroes and Riders, i think that in those games they did a good job portraying personality. Not amazing, there is a still a ton of work, but it was the right direction. In terms of looks, i think a muted less flare look, BUT the faster you go, the more colorful and vivid the game begins to look.

sonic has so much potential appeal that just isnt taken advantage of which is so damn apparent with all the sick stuff fans make about the series. would be really cool if the official stuff could match those levels of style but alas

I saw a mod of Sonic Frontiers that used made Sonic look how he did in Sonic X, with the animation to match. It was like watching a cartoon run through a 3D environment while still animated like a cartoon. And it *worked.* I don’t know what it was about it, but something about that style just worked. Maybe Sonic Team should take notes…

I like the way he talks about the visuals being important and why Sonic Superstars might flop when the biggest selling 3D Sonic game is just grass, sand and volcano. Also, he didn't just use Hi-Fi Rush as the big example as to what Sonic should be like when that game flopped..

You just said what I've been thinking for years now. Hell, my first thought was that they should use the Riders artstyle, then you come right out and say it. It's been a while, but I think Ultimate Sonic Smackdown actually does uses the Riders style. The cel-shaded anime aesthetic is definitely another direction and I do love anime aesthetic, but I'd still prefer them do something completely different. I wouldn't be completely against it, but I am way past sick of "Arcsys should make everything"/"everything needs to look like Guilty Gear". Sure, it's not fighting games, but still. Sonic Battle also has some cool renders, so that's another potential thing they could do. Or they could do a comic style ala Mahvel 3. Or even something just completely new. Whatever they do, I just hope they change something. Frontiers is legit just the "Nintendo, hire this man" meme come true. Also, on the topic of Spider-Verse, as much as I love that artstyle, I can't help but feel that everyone's gonna take the wrong lesson from it. Instead of being more creative and doing something different from the generic 3D look, everyone's just gonna copy Spider-Verse and make everything look like that.

7:52 What you said about SA2 is totally true, I played it for the first time last year and I was surprised of how much I was enjoying the story. The only 3d sonic games I had played before were Generations and SA1, and after SA2 I completed Heroes, Frontiers and currently playing Colors. None of them had a story where I liked the cutscenes as much as the gameplay or even more, they just feel so epic with the voice acting, dialogue, tone and characterization of almost everyone. The entire Gerald Robotnik's message about Maria in the last story was something I didn't expect in a Sonic game (I knew just a bit of Shadow's lore back then) and had me totally hooked. I even completed the game just before going to my highschool's delivery of diplomas and passed it again this year, that's how much I got to like the game. Despite all its issues, I really felt a strong and great identity thanks to all the things mentioned, many of its levels and the soundtrack. Epicness is a word I could use to describe SA2. I didn't mention the graphics since I practically didn't play any games from that era and because I also like to think that the content is more important (while I agree with your explanation about their importance). I must say that though that while Sonic Superstars' graphics don't amaze me (neither disgust me) my biggest concern about the game is if it will be better than S3&K or at least have its own and strong identity. Because as much as SA2 is a game with identity for me, S3&K also has the identity of being one of the best and more ambitious 2d plataformers of all-time, thanks to way it tells its story mainly. While Superstars will play differently thanks to all the emeralds, original zones and multiplayer mode, it makes me wonder if it will be enough for it or even any 2d CLASSIC (I highlight it because I played only one 2d Modern sonic game) Sonic game in the future to equal S3&K. If they can't, at least they should go with an attempt of being just as great but with a different approach, enough to differenciate from S3&K and make you think not if you prefer S3&K or Superstars, but if you prefer out of 2 great games, one way of storytelling or another, one atmosphere or another, things like that...

SEGA really doesn't wanna do pixel art stuff anymore cause it doesn't have a wide appeal apparently, but then their 3D games after Sonic Unleashed and Colors just look so...bland and desaturated or the bloom is wayyy too much(like the weird underlighting with Superstars or just the entirety of Colors Ultimate). You can have a stylized 3D game. You can have a beautiful stylized 2D game. Why SEGA isn't experimenting with that idk.

That's why I love the advance style so much, all characters when made in that design just POP I remember playing that one flash sonic game that has the advance style and I was like, damn they look amazing, way better than 06 or unleashed, and I was like 7 xD

The renders for these Sonic characters are the worst. 💀💀 When one of my former students came in class with a Sonic-themed goodie bag, I couldn't help but think "boy, no wonder people don't like this series" because the models are so bland. This video also made me think the fact that I gave up on Sonic for an entire decade was because of the lack of uniqueness to the games. Sonic has a lot of potential, but it really boils down to lack of budget, limited time and number of people working on this series. If Sonic had all of these, he could live up to the vision the team has for him.

Some Sonic fangames that come up on the top of my mind for cool and awesome visuals would be Sonic Freedom, Galactic, and my absolute favorite, Newtrogic Panic

A trailer for Sonic Superstars killed my hype. Sonic's going through a Donkey Kong style Grind Rail segment but jumping over enemies eliminates momentum and he must jump to make it to a spring... LAME LAME LAME LAME LAME LAME LAME!!!

I think Sonic Superstars looks pretty good. To the point I actually almost teared up when looking at it because I always wanted to see how a distinctly Naoto Ohshima style would look like in 3D and now I have it. Even though we have Generations, it is more of a synthesis between classic and modern Sonic to make both Sonics work at once, and I think it's fairly unique-looking and it does its job pretty darn well and all, but it's not unapologetically Classic Sonic. Even though I love how the game looks, when Mario Wonder was announced, one of the first things I thinked was "I want this but for Sonic". It feels like Nintendo is finally taking a risky next step for 2D Mario, artstyle included, but 2D Sonic is in its "New Super Mario Bros" stage, in which it does step up in many ways, but it's ultimately very conservative. Sure, 2D Sonic did innovate with Advance 2-3 and the Rush series, but Advance felt like smaller experiments than SEGA going all out to reinvent the classic formula, and Rush changed the momentum dynamics a lot and became more of its own thing than the next step for the Classic style, so much so that it's the blueprint for the Boost style lol. This is why i seriously hope Superstars does well. I want to see what a next big leap for Classic Sonic would be. I think it's pretty sad that even though the Sonic franchise is still kicking for so long, some parts of it feel so underdeveloped in a certain way.

In a recent Twitter post, Kishimoto addressed a comparison video someone posted of Unleashed and Frontiers that even went as far as showing how Sonic doesn’t do different tricks after a homing attack chain. He basically said that they will take this feedback on board and try to deliver a better experience in terms of visuals and animation. Hopefully we see this with the next game.

Fuck the look, Sonic needs a new development team so these mainline games arent trash anymore.😂😂😂

I feel like another part of the reason why Sonic Superstars isn't getting as much attention as Sonic Mania is because of Sonic Origins. When Sonic Mania was revealed, there were no weird DLC tables, deluxe editions and pre-order rewards -- it was announced as a return of the true Classic 2D Sonic, from the renowned community members that did amazing ports of classic Sonic games, and despite it using the in-game style akin to Sonic 1 and 2, it compensated with bright visuals, high detalization, lots of additional in-between sprites to make the game look very smooth and stylish. It nailed its marketing! Sonic Origins, while being just a port, could have benefited from the same kind of marketing -- because it's a compilation of ports made by people who made Sonic Mania, it could have been a definitive, official way to play the classic games (that were already good on its own). Instead, we immediately get a weird table of different versions with "features" that were completely non-essential and unnecessary and thus didn't justify a higher price tag. And that's on *top* of the compilation being very broken and unfinished, even though it was supposed to be re-releases of highly polished mobile ports. Whatever interest people had in Classic Sonic was tainted by how poorly Sonic Origins was handled, so people didn't get as excited for a new 2D Classic game, on top of the reasons you've mentioned in the video. On visual design in video games: people might forget that a game is not just the gameplay of that game, though it's definetly the defining part of it. It's also the visuals, the music, the story, the presentation of all of these things -- it's the entire, cohesive thing, and butchering even one of these things will drag down the *entire* game, regardless of how good the actual gameplay might be. You can have the greatest story or an amazing gameplay, but if the voice direction or the presentation of the cutscenes are bad, that story simply will fly over people's heads or will be received by players much more critically than if they were presented with proper quality of direction. When people say "graphics don't matter", they usually think about games like Minecraft with its pixel graphics, simple textures and shapes -- but it can be argued that Minecraft actually looks very good, because it has a consistent and definitive artstyle (albeit simple) that comes together very nicely, and it has a great amount of polish that makes it stand out from beginner projects. The problem isn't with simplicity of the graphics, it's with how you utilize the visual language for the benefit of the game, so to speak. Also, yeah, I don't like the 3D Classic Sonic model. In most of the Japanese 2D arts and promo material for Classic Sonic of the 90s, Sonic looked very serious and cool, especially in Sonic CD. The 2D model from Generations and Forces feels like a baby version of Sonic.

Apparently at one point, Sonic Team _did_ consider using hand drawn art for Superstars, but passed it up for some reason. It's a huge undertaking, so whatever the reasoning, it's probably valid, but I can only imagine how good that could've looked.

In my opinion, Frontiers was made not with fans in mind, but rather, trends. Sega’s desire to compete with Zelda left Frontiers without an identity of its own. This is why I think it looks bland.

Sonic needs its soul and it’s confidence back

Graphics don't sell, but art direction does. Superstars is graphically alright, it's visually pleasing, but it doesn't have a striking art style most would say "Is Sonic." I think what Frontiers does right is, it doesn't capture the look, but it leans closer to it. The visuals are bland but they do *contribute* to an atmosphere, which ties in with the game's attempts to return to stronger storytelling. It's not quite there, but many people cite Frontiers as a 'step in the right direction.' As for Unleashed, I think it gets some slack. The cutscenes are flat but, I think it's a little much to ask that every cutsene looks on-par with the opening one. They did a fantastic job working in a spectacle into the daytime stages and some of the Werehog's animations, so to say Unleashed only has the opening cutscene going for it purely because an average cutscene doesn't meet that standard feels a little nitpicky. Heck, we even got like, 4 of the best animations (Night of the Werehog and the other 3 clips) out of Unleashed. It's not part of the story but, together with the opening cutscene, the climax, Werehog Sonic's animations and the daytime stages, Unleashed is a game that OOZES cinematic spectacle that lots of people agree "Feels like Sonic." That does come back to Superstars though. Frontiers at least *tries*, even if it fails to understand a lot of things. Unleashed can be very cinematic. Mania was a return to form. Superstars doesn't know what it wants to be. Also disagree about Sonic Riders's style only coming from its opening. I honestly think the opening, while nice looking, is a little generic. It's well animated but it doesn't do much with that. In-game you've at least got cool futuristic hoverboards and interesting animations, especially with how the game encourages you to do tricks and how fast paced everything is. Zero Gravity only furthers the futuristic aesthetics too, it's probably what I think most people refer to when they talk about the style of these games?

I do think there are things about Sonic's design that need to change. The proportions need to change for sure. Make the characters a bit taller (not Sonic Boom Knuckles tall) and make the hands and feet and heads a bit smaller. Not too drastically, just enough so that it doesn't look weird when they do certain things in 3D. Sonic 06 had sort of the right idea with the way they sized the characters, but like nearly everything in that game, it just wasn't executed very well. Also I'm iffy on cel-shading Sonic games, but I've warmed up to cel-shading for the more modern games that use it. People can say what they want, but like 99% of cel-shaded games from back then don't look "timeless" for the cel-shading. It's quite the opposite actually, they look immediately aged as soon as they came out. Back then it felt like they were just taking poor or mediocre graphics and put big thick black lines over the characters and certain objects. But anyway, it's gotten better in modern times, so I'd be less worried about Sonic doing that.

Honestly, i think we can all agree that this framchise NEEDS more STYLE. Like, go ALL IN on that stuff. Bring back Hideki Naganuma, make the soundtrack, UI and so on more hip hop inspired like SF6 - hell, make the universe more emphasised around street/hip hop culture in general. Give us the "too cool for school" stuff from the 2000s every now and then. Bring back the butt rock! Give these character models more EDGE and ENERGY and PERSONALITY! And for God's sake, just make Sonic into a kid-friendly DMC 3 Dante. Seriously, it would make so much SENSE.

1:59 didnt watch full video yet but that is honestly exactly how I felt about superstars, I'm excited to play even if I will wait for a sale, to me at least it's just another one in the solid collection of 2d sonics we already have

I have it on good authority that Sonic Freedom was shown to the higher ups at SEGA. This is why they considered a hand-drawn approach AND the Bullet Dash is now an emerald power up! My work here is done. But this sentiment is exactly what I shared in my "Where Does 2D Sonic Go From Here?" I want Ori Sonic. I want Rayman Sonic. I want a fast, fluid, punchy and energetic platformer, not another pinball game. Momentum is core to 2D Sonic, but surely we can spice things up with potent abilities and fix the dang camera, right?

I know this is gonna take so much time but imagine a hand-drawn 2d sonic game similar to cuphead or hollow knight, it would be cool af! (And yeah i already know of sonic freedom) EDIT: Watching the whole video, i just realized we were talking about the same exact thing, i respect that lmao

I think everything you said is pretty on point, but I do think even sonic fans are skeptical of superstars just because arzest is attached to it. It's also unfortunate to read interviews where they considered pixel art and traditional animation, but opted out of it most likely because 3D is so much easier and they already had 3d models for all the main characters so they probably figured why put in the extra effort?

13:53 I’ve actually seen an inverse of this phenomenon with Wallace and Gromit and FNAF (yes pls bear with me). In actual plasticine Wallace looks great and silly looking, but in 2d art he looks horrifying. I assume it might be due to the black outlines. And with FNAF 2d art (ignoring the drama with the artists) I don’t like how they bring life to the characters. Scott’s weird DKC render style adds a layer of creepiness to the animatronics, and them being 3d models means it’s easier to make them look soulless. But with the 2d art, they feel too clean and full of life. Which also sucks bc it seems that modern FNAF is leaning more on 2d art than the 3d renders, like how the fanverse logo has a 2d W. Freddy.

id say that graphics still dont matter, what you probably talking about is art direction, doesnt matter if game plays at 30fps if it looks beautiful. technically speaking mario wonder and superstars are in the same graphical level, but mario wonder has a much more interesting art direction.

I fully agree with this, a cell shaded Sonic game would be great. For Superstars specifically; I'm content with how it looks, but I would've definitely preferred a hand drawn style. If it has to be 3D, yeah something more stylized like Mario Wonder would've been so cool too.

The look of Sonic Superstars is most likely what the genesis games were supposed to look like.

He really out here throwing the peanuts movie under the bus 😔

Honestly I agree, and for a record's sake, I am halfway through the video as of typing. Somehow when it comes to cutscenes, the cinematic ones know what to do to sell viewers, yet they forget how to make such in the actual in-game cutscenes. Even with Sonic Superstars looking as fine as it does, it lacks that energy that was felt, down to even the animation they use to promote the game looking less impressive compared to what came before from the team with Hesse. Something that would help the Sonic series I feel that they have shown use before with in Sonic Unleashed's opening and even in the Advance games is a bit of that squash and stretch to accentuate that whoosh Sonic always was supposed to have, especially in ball movements, and while they use that motion blur in some instances, some smear styling would give wonders to Sonic in terms of movement. It doesn't need to outright go back to Jet Set Radio, but it feels like Sonic has become so rigid and stiff so often. At the very least, make those cutscenes look cinematic to REALLY make it come to life.

I would love a cell shaded style sonic game.

It's cause no soap shoes. Hence why frontiers sold so well. Sonic should always have soap shoes from now on

They need to make Sonic look like a noodle-limbed stick figure with a backpack.

Baby wake up Pariah dropped a new banger 3:50 Mario wonder undeniably has more style and, well, wonder In response to the video in general, yeah sonic is looking bland since heroes pretty much also, i really appreciate how you could make a clickbait title like "sonic superstars looks like shit" but straight up didn't

I think you're mistaking "graphics" with "art direction"

Crash Bandicoot 4 is a great example of a 3D platformer with a distinct visual identity. I hope Sonic looks as good as that game in the future

I’ve heard people say Superstars is Sonic’s New Super Mario Bros, which makes me worry that it may suffer the same issue of being too samey in the long run

Sonic needs style and ambition, it's what makes a Sonic game stand out.

I always love your videos. I agree that Sonic needs something genuinely new. Also, Mario Sunburn updated to 1.8 and you're gonna want it. It incorporates a ton of stuff in the options menu like 60fps without old Gecko codes, and adds a ton of 64 Plus-esque options. Super Mario Eclipse is the big mod for custom levels and is made by a team of geniuses. One of them leads Sunburn. Eclipse is at demo 2.1 with about 43 shines I think? I think you would like both these updated mods

MAN FIRST CLOUDBUILT AWARENESS AND THEN FURI I am so happy to subscribe and sticking around man

graphics still don't matter but it's art direction that does

I feel like you're reading my mind with these video topics, because for quite a while now I've been imagining how great it would be if Sonic games actually matched the style and pizazz of it's music & artwork. I probably wasn't the only one disappointed that the in-game 3d model in Sonic Adventure was nothing like the one on the box-art (and for those who might say it wasn't possible at the time, don't forget that Jet Set Radio came out only a year later).

Getting real tired of Sonic fans saying no one’s hyped for superstars because no one’s talking about it. Y’all need to get out of fandom bubble so badly. The reason people aren’t talking about the game isn’t because of this dumb “people are tired of classic sonic” narrative the fandom seems keen on pushing lately. It’s because the game is going to be good. Sonic discussion thrives on discourse and drama and y’all don’t know how to handle having a game where there’s nothing to worry about. They quelled every possible one early on. Fully original zones, the physics are accurate, and the only thing people were clinging onto was the possibility of the ost being trash cause Jun Senoue can’t make classic music, but since Tee and Rintaro are on it too, we don’t need to worry on that front either. There’s nothing to talk about, the game is guaranteed to be good and I will buy it when it releases. Simple as that. This is not an uncommon thing, I’ve seen it in a lot of other fandoms. Judging sales based on social media hype is dumb and I think it’s also a pretty scuffed take to say it won’t sell as much as Mania when it took a year for Mania to reach 1 million. This is post movie era, if anything, it just probably won’t sell as much as frontiers did.

Graphics and style definitely matter. I've passed on a lot of games for looking either too generic or too realistic. I've actually fallen asleep while playing a COD game. I like FPS games, but only if there's something unique about their presentation

I'm not gonna lie, i think this whole discussion is a great big cherry-picking contest. I can point to any number of scenes in SA2 of characters standing around, talking and mocapping at each other. I can point to Unleashed's egg beetle cutscene, the Eggmanland cutscenes, or nevermind the gorgeous landscapes. Speaking of landscapes, i could say a lot of the same things people say about Frontiers and now apparently Superstars for some reason that i could say about Unleashed stages, or City Escape, or Kingdom Valley or Emerald Coast. "There's no Sonic iconography, he's just in a generic place with no style or even identifiable structures." And i immediately point to the massive ruins everywhere like the diamond structure, the satellite dishes, the wall with the hole in it, the cannons, the remains of eggman's robots, etc. Nevermind cyberspace being filled with the exact iconography you say you want. Superstars has checkerboard hills in the first stage, jungles with stylized trees and striped vines you grind on, a digital dimension where you turn into squids. So, is it really that you want Sega to just throw more money at the project? I mean, i agree, but that's not a fundamental style issue. But then you get people who point to lockbox renders and go "whY iS MoDErN SoNiC sO uGlYyYYYy???" When the render looks a little off but mostly fine. I can point to any Mario lunchbox render that looks the same, and yet this is an exclusively Sonic issue. No. Honest to god, Sonic looks fine. The idea that you can look at any 2D render for Frontiers, or the Japanese Vandalize trailer, or the Titan battles and go "this game has no identity" is asinine.

Did we played the same game? Frontiers cinematography is good with a lot of nice shots and composition. If your argument is based on the optional side story scenes,then your opinion is invalid cause even final fantasy 16 has that kind of stuff, just two characters standing and talking. Yeah sure frontiers animation isn't mind blowing but the composition of the scenes was the best since forever

Thick outlines, brighter colours, dynamic posing. These alone would make it SO much better.

13:19 Thank you for bringing up Metal Sonic’s model, I’ve never seen anyone acknowledge that he had a different design in the adventure era, and I agree that this Metal Sonic looks far better than his modern design. Especially the shape of his head since his “quills” were larger and had the lower ones angled lower so the sharp ends were visible from the front, but the modern ones were shorter and made his head shaped like the Taco Bell logo from the front and it just pales in comparison to how he looked before.

We"re really in an age of evolution in video games, films etc. now big companies realise people like seeing things with more creative styles, so I hope sega can follow suit.

Sonic's modern design sucks. They should have stuck with the Sonic Heroes model or kept refining the Adventure model. His limbs are too long, his stomach area is too round and big, his head quills are too short and don't droop (they stick outward), his head is too small, his shoes are shorter in length and are too round, his muzzle is too round (below the eyes and nose and wrap around his cheeks). Either go back to the Adventure design, bring back the Heroes model, go back to the 06 design, or *fire* your current character designer because he sucks

Good video, liked it quite a bit. I can see a lot of where you're coming from regarding Sonic lacking a defined style. Besides that, the Mario example gave me some PTSD................. Just what I needed on a Tuesday.

Honestly, I'm glad to see so many action platformers trying new things in recent years.

Finally someone else comments how the core designs of the models are shit, they can be well animated as they want but that doesn’t change the fact the core designs are stale and nearly unmanageable in practice

I kinda disagree. I would love a Sonic game that looks like Guilty Gear or like, let's say, Fallen Star, but I think Superstars looks goregeous and refreshing, I love the cutscenes in Frontiers even if the graphics could be better, and I don't see why they should aim for mass appeal. If the sales are good enough then let the series stay in its niche. I agree that the character models for the Modern designs need a makeover though. They sorta match Uekawa's modern style but they're too rounded and "lifeless", the Cream you showed is a perfect example.

I think that sonic boom didn't help them change their mind

You’ve pretty much hit the nail on the head. Reading the IDW comics and watching those shorts by Tyson Heese that tie into the games really reinforced that statement. Perhaps for future Sonic games, they could take a page out of the book from animated films you just mentioned like Spiderverse and I’ll even throw in some others like The Mitchells vs The Machines, The Bad Guys, Puss in Boots the Last Wish, Nimona, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem and Disney’s upcoming animated film, Wish where they are 3D animated films, but definitely look more abstract as it looks like a hybrid of 2D and 3D animation, some very cool and wacky effects and sometimes the framerate would differ on the characters depending on the situation to make it even more visually unique and appealing. Heck, there was even a mod for Frontiers that gave Sonic a model that was reminiscent of his appearance in Sonic X where it was cel shaded and had a choppy framerate in comparison to the environment and enemies. It really gave me some Spiderverse and Puss in Boots The Last Wish vibes and made me wish Sonic games would go for an aesthetic like that. Heck, they can even bring in Tyson Heese and some of the other animators from the RU-vid shorts and artists from the IDW comics to assist with the art direction and game animation as they do a very good job at capturing the many expressions and movements of the characters and the action scenes would look awesome whether on the page or on screen. That is something I’d love to see.

Hand-drawn 2D games and cel shaded 3D games would be amazing.

very well said n i couldn't agree more !! great video yet again , Pariah !!

I agree with this video quite a bit. In terms of Superstars, one of the things I was disappointed by was that as a 2.5D Classic Sonic game, they didn't lean more into what Generations did which was have a very lived in world where you'd go in and out of different planes constantly, as well as have far more camera tricks. Superstars really does just look like a Classic Sonic game but with 3D models and that's pretty lame. I'll still pick up Superstars, see how it goes, but the Classic Sonic thing is also very, VERY tiring in my eyes.

Brainstorming my own potential game, I'm discovering there are actually two tiers of art style- there's the visual direction of the character design and the visual direction of the presentation. If you put a cel-shader over Silent Hill or if you changed the characters to chibi versions, it would be an entirely different feeling game. Sonic has always had one of the greatest character designs of all time, almost all Sonic characters have, so a presentation switch-up really would be the one to go with. Hell, it was even stated that they were experimenting with a 2D hand-drawn style early in Superstars' development, and that would have looked INCREDIBLE, especially compared to the uninspired and very basic looking 3D visuals they've gone with in the final game. But what else can you expect from the people who made Balan Wonderworld? Ideally I'd love to see classic Sonic have a polished 90s anime look to it like a halfway point between the Sonic CD opening and the Sonic Mania opening, less Dragon Ball more End of Evangelion. Like there was that gorgeous 2D fan game concept from a couple years ago Sonic Freedom, do something like that! And then modern Sonic, if they're gonna keep that more realistic world look, the visual direction of the characters and items does need to be a bit tweaked, just a tiny bit. Give Eggman a new jacket with more realistic materials, make all the shoes less shiny, have all light sources be realistically placed and give physical reason to stuff like springs and rails instead of having them just float mid-air like Frontiers, that sort of thing.

Facts. Sonic needs some STYLE UP IN HERE🤝

To be fair sonic the fighters is probably the most visually interesting game in the series since everyone’s models are dynamic when they bounce around when they get slammed and it all looks silly in a good way I think probably a coat of direction to take note of

Cant believe sonic was both visualy and graphically appealing in 2000s , we are so sick of the post unleashed models i get why modern Sonic fans want classic to be gone for good cuz classic already returned back in mania so i dont get it now why superstars basically replaced to new 2d modern game superstars isnt visualy graphically appealing and still use same 2d stuffs which is why people aren't excited for this game , modern Sonic deserves more attention especially after the dark ages are over this franchise needs to evolve by also changing art style this is we always say We need to evolve not evade , be consistent , do not rush games , 0 dated responses , move forward not backwards , This is exactly what this franchise needs to do especially the fanbase.

I was saying this for years in the comments on RU-vid, that Sonic needs a new and better look. But people were disagreeing with me all the time. I'm glad you think in the same direction

Sonic with cell-shading is something I'd pay for.

Just found this channel loving your videos

A pet peeve of mine is that in classic Sonic games, whether they be official or fanmade, feel the need to preserve Sonic's awkward running-in-the-air animation instead of giving him a landing animation.

For once, a video that isn't just "We need a new promo model" or "Stop using Marza sonic in general" But a video that argues for a change of pace, and not a complete overhaul. Good stuff Pariah!

Please give him Blue Arms, a nifty handkerchief, and a couple bandages cause he’s athletic. Also make Knuckles yoked! 10/10 redesigns for the Sonic cast.

Bro the really sad thing about this is that they have a style that they can use already. They should adopt the Sonic X style and actually try make a game out of that. That would be sick.

All they had to do is making Amazon preorder cel-shaded skins to be the default.

Imagine Classic Sonic being animated like CupHead. Sonic’s design was inspired by Mickey Mouse and Felix the Cat so it would work perfectly.

I'm not a pro or anything so I don't know if it absolutely can't be done, and I also you are not talking about reproducing Guilty Gear's style 1:1 but just talking more broadly about finding solutions to make 3D animation look better and more stylized, but from what i've seen in the internet, a lot of people just go "hey they should just do it like Guilty Gear did" for basically anything, unaware that the Guilty Gear artstyle is *incredibly* hard to pull off. XRD characters have around 5 times more bones than the average videogame character at the time, they did a lot of 3D trickery so the cel-shading looked good from any angle, did keyframe-based animation with basically no interpolation, essentially removing almost every advantage 3D animation production has over 2D, and a lot of stuff only works consistently in 2D, and afaik the characters consume a lot of computer resources. It's really an artstyle that we'll only see in 2D fighting games where you only need 2 characters and a stage background for a while.

Finally a new sonic video isn't it?

its funny because there’s literally skins in the game that give all the characters a cel shaded look and will probably be the best way to play the game

sega did consider making superstars with entirely hand-drawn graphics at one point, i really wish they went with that instead.

You'd think that since SEGA also publishes both Persona and Yakuza, they'd be pushing Sonic Team to do more stylization of their games.

LONG READ DISCLAIMER frustrates me how sonic and friends models, expressions, and flair itself just looks so much better outside of 3D game media(such as Idw, murder of STH, and even sonic Prime). While I appreciate some of the expressions, angles, and other cool additions to the presentation in frontiers, It would be so much easier to convey what they're trying to show in the characters personalities and abilities if they did so In the models and animation.

man if i worked with sonic team

I could imagine a new sonic game using the old Sonic Adventure artwork style. You're right about the style needing to change. I mean, 06 had more of a style than modern sonic games. You look wt any screenshots from 06 and you can tell which game it is. Look at any sonic game nowadays and it's just "sonic".

I remember there was a lot of hype even just generally for a time after the game was first revealed. But since then it's kinda just passed out of everyone's attention. It is pretty unfortunate for them though that it just so happened Nintendo was doing the same kind of thing for Mario that they were trying to do with Superstars, only much better and more interestingly executed. Like, it seemed they had the whole year clear for Superstars to be the highlight 2D Platformer (and people were even comparing it to Rayman Legends/Origins and DK Tropical Freeze for a time)...only for Mario to suddenly get his own 2D platformer revealed out of nowhere, and one that looks better and way more visually interesting, some time later and completely shatter that.

As much as I don't like the cutscenes in Frontiers where the characters are just standing there, I'm absolutely in love with the visual flare and pazaz from the boss fights, especially the Super Sonic fights minus the last 2 (and those are getting heavily updated in The Final Horizon)

As someone who's very hyped for Persona 3 Reload, I have been enjoying watching reaction videos, and on the notion of style, everytime it's fun to see the most "WOW!" reaction being the Menu. The thing that got most of the "wow" factor was a fricking Pause Menu, because that's how great the style is, and well how important it can be. Personally one of my favorites in terms of general style and presentation is Celeste.

This is the prelude to Mario Was Always Good

Our only hope really is the messages sent to kishimoto about designs/animations etc... because it seens that he actually read it, outside of that not even a chance of a change.

You spoke about how much graphics matters. Something I've been noticing in a lot of games is how much soundtrack matters, but Sonic is generally pretty good at nailing the soundtrack, so that's clearly not _all_ that matters. They are called *video* games after all, and to fully ignore the visual and audio elements that go into that to say that "only gameplay matters" is just naive (and something I've certainly done a million times in the past). For me gameplay is the most important thing, but I'm not the average consumer and I understand that... But even I can point to games that I have issues with the graphics or sound of. A problem arises though because a lot of companies will see that graphics matter and either assume that means they need to be as realistic & high poly as possible (which is not what it means at all for almost any game), or they'll put everything into graphics and drop the ball on gameplay, which obviously just isn't going to be as fun to play. I think that having a 2D look even when it's 3D would be great for Sonic, but they're doing the exact opposite, using 3D models when it's 2D. So many games do that that it's become too generic. Back when Donkey Kong Country first used 3D models to make sprites from for the SNES, it was a new and cool style, but today it's just overplayed and clearly even Nintendo realized that for Mario Wonder, which is getting high praise from the trailers alone, and is honestly only *slightly* stylized from what they'd been doing with Mario prior... but it's _some_ difference, and how it's done looks good, so people notice that.

I have to admit, while I am looking forward to Superstars, I wouldn't really call my anticipation for the game as "hype". Its very much a "Yeah, Ill play it when it comes out i guess", and I must admit the fact the game looks very...bog standard, plays a big part. I think the argument about having a stand out style and identity is a pretty important one. It's certainly why many people look back on games like CD and Black Knight very fondly. I think the last Sonic game that had a particularly pronounced style and identity was Colors, funnily enough. 06, love it or hate it, also has this going for it, lol. I will say, I do think Frontiers has a certaint style and identity to it with the Titans and Guardians and the cyber stuff everywhere. But its admittedly still leaving quite a bit to be desired. When it comes to this question , this is where I think the music of the series does a *LOT* of heavy lifting. Shoutouts to Sonic Battle and its style btw! As for the models... they needed new ones ages ago. Sometimes i feel like the track Sonic is on ever since 06 has fallen was the way it is in folloeing a lot of the Nintendo playbook in regards to standardization and by effect, sterilization.~~Or perhaps more behind the scenes.~~ In general, the models aren't really appealing despite being very standard and uniform. I personally preder the Heroes models unironically.

Honestly this video captures my thoughts on Sonic's presentation perfectly. Im sure Superstars will be a good game, but I don't really care to much about it because it looks just like the other classic games. When I look at say the boost games they all have thier unique elements that make them stand out from each other. Unleashed is a globe trotting adventure with a high stake story and 2 different gameplay styles. Colors is a multiplanet adventure with Sonic game play and the wisps. Generations is a celebration title where we run through past locations with modern and classic sonic. Its a shame Sonic Team never made a 4th boost game, those games were great. Frontiers too doesn't really interest me to much. The game looks generic, theres no creativity in the world like there is in a game like Colors or something. Say what you want about that game but it has a visual identity and it was probably the last Sonic game to do so. Im also not a big fan of things like the music in that game or the cutscenes for the same reason. Frontiers as a whole feels pretty basic. I can't really play it for that long without getting bored and wanting to play something else.

I couldn't agree more about the 2d vs 3d art style. There's so much love and personality put into the artwork of the early 2000's.