Sega has done little to honor Sonic’s legacy in the past few years.
Give the Blue Blur a much-deserved rest.
The 25th anniversary of the Blue Blur is undoubtedly to blame.
And although I cant speak for the animated series, the strategy definitely hasnt worked for the games.
Sega seems to have gotten that backwards, hasnt it?
Because Sonic has never withstood the test of time as well as his plumbing counterpart.
In fact, theSonic Boominitiative only proved that the character has been in decline since at least 2011.
Did Nintendo Kill Sonic?
Like Nintendo with Mario, Sega has also pushed yearly helpings of Sonic, and that hasnt worked either.
Yet, that hasnt stopped the company from releasing at least one new Sonic platformer a year since 2001.
Saturating the market definitely isnt going to help.
The classic formula might.
Instead, there was 1996sSonic 3D Blast, which was actually a 2D isometric platformer with pre-rendered 3D sprites.
Sonic finally made it to 3D in 1998 withSonic Adventurefor the Dreamcast.
When Sega released the Genesis-eraSonic the Hedgehogonto mobile devices in 2006,it sold 8 million copies.
(Just you wait until Nintendo unleashes the real deal on mobile in the next few years.)
How could it fail?
If the game didnt do so hot, its probably due to the way it was released.
Believe it or not, episodic games werent so popular six years ago.
Ditch what isnt workingthe 3D approach it has never quite masteredand give us a good ol Sonic game.
Thats something it has refused to do in the past five years, sinceSonic Generationscommemorated the Blue Blurs 20th.
But has Sonics reputation already been too tarnished by things likeSonic Boomand franchise fatigue?
Id rather see Sonic the Hedgehog go out quietly than with a final boom on his 25th anniversary.
John Saavedra is an associate editor at Den of Geek US.
Find more of his work onhis website.
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