Yeah, that’s the case for pretty much any industry that deals in entertainment. For every movie, show, song, book, etc. that gets released, there’s like 10 that never did, usually failing at the pitching stage.
And this is why I don't like the AAA game industry anymore! These are my personal reasons: Rushing games in order to release it on christmas or black friday (e.g. Cyberpunk 2077 and GTA Trilogy), development hell (e.g. Duke Nukem Forever), hostile workplaces (e.g. Konami and Activision), greediness (e.g. EA and ActiBlizz), not being able to appeal to it's fanbase (e.g. Nintendo with it's sometimes questionable business decisions), console wars (e.g. Mega Drive/Genesis vs. SNES, Playstation vs. Xbox) and drama (being bullied by other gamers for liking an "unpopular" franchise, like Sonic the Hedgehog)!
@@Monkforilla it's a miracle that Sega it's still around honestly, i have no fucking idea how soo many good developers go bankrupt after a bad release or something like that and yet Sega with the huge amount of blunders and stupid decitions that they have made for DECADES somehow just refusing to learn from their mistakes making them over and over again (getting to little time, putting to much presure on their developers, rushing games to meet insane death lines, not providing enough quality control, etc, things that they have been doing even since the release of the original Sonic the hedgehog) they are still chugging along somehow
@@carso1500 Pretty sure that they stay afloat becuase of the fact they also do other stuff in Japan becides games, and that RGG Studios pretty much make games that sell like hotcakes.
@@carso1500 What the above guy said but also just some plain ol’ good luck. A businessman that was a big fan of theirs gave them a massive loan with favorable terms and he died 2 years or so after that, with his will wiping away the debt. It never hurts to make friends in high places.
I feel so bad for all of the people who worked on Sonic Xtreme. To have risked your life for a video game, then the creator of its titular character refuses to help you by using one of his engines(for no good reason I can think of…)and throughout all of that grueling work the game never even sees the light of day.
From what I understand, Naka was quite protective of the Nights engine and didn't want a separate team using it. It was still an entirely dumb and petty reason though.
Why do I imagine Chris Senn laughing maniacally in front of his fireplace (despite it being summer), with a glass of bourbon and it starts raining and roaring of thunder throughout the city.
@@JDoradoTube probably because of the sheer catharsism of it all, working on a game that took a toxic toll on your health only for it to be cancelled, then work on another game with a similar environment and it being one of the worst in the franchise. I’m glad Senn is doing ok now
Reminds me of the Japanese army v Japanese navy. They probably hated each other more than they hated the US. And would continue to screw with each other, while fighting the US in WW2. It got to the point where they would make the screw types different, just to mess with the other side.
After seeing the Wha Happun? episode on Sonic X-Treme, it seemed that most of that game's development issues could've been fixed if Sega of Japan was willing to collaborate and communicate better with Sega USA. It's a large shame that the devs worked hard on and crunched on the game, only for all of that effort to be poured down the drain.
Sega of Japan were and still are incredibly weird with how they go about doing things. Fun fact, in the Sonic Archie comics, before Sonic Adventure came out the Archie staff were ordered to integrate the plot and characters from the Adventure series into the comics, yet Sega were unwilling to tell the comic writers what exactly the plot of Sonic Adventure even was, so they seriously had to buy a Dreamcast directly from Japan with a pirated, untranslated version of the game and try to make sense of it from there.
Speaking of X-Treme, Tiara Boobowski was planned to be a playable character ever since the development of Sonic Mars. And her last name was Tiara Cyberooski (note to self: I pefer Cyberooksi better then Boobowski). And there was this Telltale choice in the game where Sonic has to choose Sally Acorn or Tiara as a playable character. Another thing I like to mention is that Tiara had a different design then her X-Treme design, this was used in many of Tiara's Artwork, and Chris Senn pefers Tiara's old design then her X-Treme design, which I along with the Sonic Fans agree.
There are many more stories of Naka being a jerk. Apparently he was kicked out of Balan Wonderworld because the entire team wanted him gone, including Sonic creator Naoto Ohshima. He then posted an old group photo on Twitter to celebrate the anniversary of Nights. Ohshima was lazily removed from the picture. He also threatened to fire an entire dev team to their faces (he didn't know they understood Japanese).
Honestly, at this point I'm starting to feel like Sega's downfall is almost exclusively on Yuji Naka's shoulders. Each time there's something that looks like it might have sold well, he's like "NO FUCK YOU. MY EGO WON'T ALLOW THIS."
Shoutouts to Naka leaving Square right after Balan Wonderworld released, I'm pretty much sure he ended up fired from the company on good terms given his resume
@@ultr4nima My apologizes, and thanks for the suggestion. Truth be told, I had no idea about the spelling for "Xtreme", let alone the existence of "Sonic Extreme" until I watched this video
Everything I hear about Yugi Naka makes him seem like a real asshole. I have no idea why him and Sega were so cruel toward their American divisions, though it’s funny that came back to bite them with the Saturn and Dreamcastz
I like how this parallels with how someone described Shigeru Miyamoto: He's the type of guy who'd make the perfect batch of chocolate chips and will look at you in horror if you use said chips to make chocolate chip cookies or other recipes.
Not gonna lie Treasure Tails looks like it had promise. Maybe mix that perspective with gameplay with Tails' adventure. Also Tiara the Manx should've been a character.
I kinda feel that Sonic X-Treme while being a possible success, still wouldn’t have been able to save the Saturn due to the mismanagement of the Saturn’s release
it should have gotten a PC release at the very least focused on the western market. Seems very foolish to just completely scrap all of the work that was done when the PC version was the best running version they had going and were doing a decent push of releases on the platform at this time.
@@narcopsy It had a lot of hype at the time and the Sonic titles were selling very well on the PC. It couldnt have hurt at all considering it wasnt a "key market" like their home console was. Its definitely something Sega of America could have scraped together in some form and released, plus the version running on PC played much smoother then a lot of the footage shown from the Saturn and was the version that "worked" the best with what they were designing. Just the fact it had "Sonic" in the title alone would have sold it well for kids who didnt have a Saturn, but loved Sonic.
Good or bad, it really wouldn't have saved the Saturn. Saturn had a robust library of first and third party titles, a good Sonic game wouldn't have helped when games like VF2, Daytona USA (G A M E O Vu E R! G-A-M-E-O-Vu-E-R! Ey-oh! Ey-oh! Ey-oh!), Bug!, Panzer Dragoon Saga. NiGHTS, Burning Rangers, Virtua Cop, Fighting Vipers, Fighters Megamix, Sega Rally (GAME OVER YEAH!), Virtua Cop, Madden 97 (which is _somehow_ the best selling Saturn game) and Sonic 3D Blast couldn't save it. At the least, the Saturn was not the worst-selling console of the fifth generation but the worst selling of the big three at the time (even the Playstation was beaten by the Game Boy and GBC though, Pokemon is a helluva drug). 3DO, PC-FX, Jaguar (LOL), Amiga CD32, FM Towns Marty and Apple Bandai Pippin all did worse and the only one that came close was the 3DO with 2k worldwide sales which compared to Saturn's North American sales alone of 3K, wouldn't be that much worse until you consider that it was a global release (though I don't think the internationa sales numbers were calculated, it could have outsold the Saturn).
The Sonic franchise is unquestionably where several of Sega's greatest successes come from. However, as this video shows us, mismanagement in the franchise brought about several of Sega's most crippling failures. I'm also amazed but not amused at all the things Yuji Naka has done that helped to ironically besmirch one of the most iconic characters he helped create.
Eh, I personally think the Saturn's lack of a major Sonic title was what killed it. It'd be like if Nintendo had a new console without any major Mario games on it.
@@jordanmynes2638 Thank you for saying this. Everyone worships the ground they walk on but all they really do is exploit their workers and hoard obscene amounts of money. IMO ppl like them are essentially why the worst parts of capitalism exist. I also don't think anyone can be as rich as they are without being an asshole.
the SatAM tie in could have worked if the main character was anybody but Sonic. Hell you could have made the game around rescuing Sonic and had the freedom fighters work together to accomplish the mission with each one having their own strengths and weaknesses
Wow. Don't know if he's still alive today, but I can't believe someone almost died all because of the effort of making a Sonic game that was never released anyway.
For some reason the internet has been showing me a lot of Sonic content today, from Sonic comics to sonic mania and sonic 3 reviews and japanese Sonic ads
With what I learned about how Sonic Synergy was going to be before Sega told them about the deal with Nintendo and Cartoon Network, cancelling it would've been a good idea.
If Sonic 06 were cancelled, we'd be watching videos about it and lamenting that this incredible-looking game was screwed by the publisher and never released, and thus was unable to save the franchise from a slow and painful death.
If Sonic '06 was cancelled we definitely wouldn't have Silver the Hedgehog or Crisis City in Sonic Generations, and the Adventure formula would most likely still be around or at least have survived a bit longer. If Boom was cancelled, we wouldn't have the show since it was meant as a tie-in to the game.
I left SEGA STI in ‘95 and one of the reasons was I wasn’t given a leading roll in the up coming Sonic games, but looking back at what happened to the team and the games… and eventually STI, I got out at just the right time!!!
Let's be real, SEGA's ignoring of SatAM's popularity really hurts the franchise. Particularly now where all the stories are watered down. It's a genuine shame we didn't get Sonic 16 or Sonic Mars. I'm glad Sonic Spinball has survived.
Ah yes, Sonic Spinball with its.. ear grating music, stages that get too difficult past stage 1 and also... is pinball... with little control... I'd have more fun with Sonic Labyrinth ...
I was so sure I knew everything about these canceled projects, but I was surprised to know that it was the Comix Zone creator behind the Sonic-16 demo. Makes a ton of sense in hindsight, looking at the demo. It really does just look like Comix Zone both in art style and gameplay, just with a rounder, less comic book aesthetic. I do want to point out though, that the Sonic Xtreme NiGHTS engine thing is a misconception. SEGA Japan gave STI the NiGHTS engine to study so Coffin could polish the boss engine, now the main engine, since NiGHTS was the closest thing to a 3D platformer that Saturn could run well at the time. Naka misinterpreted this as STI being given the source code without his permission, and proceeded to throw a shit fit like a goddamn two year old.
The irony of the comment section. *_Why did this bad game was made? It should've been cancelled_* - Because it makes sense in paper to make it. It's not easy to see what's wrong when people spent a long time developing a game. *_This should've been released. Damn Sega for cancelling it_* - Because the concept itself isn't fitting and has a VERY HIGH chance, if it was released, people would go "THIS SHOULD'VE BEEN CANCELLED".
@@fortnitegamer2118 Well, I may not like sonic forces due to the colors of the models, im very picky on the colors on the models, why not used sonic generation colors for the forces models?
@@SkunkStarlight And sadly never got released. But that's another great fact as both are right. Although I believe the image of her is a bandicoot, then again I just see her as a bandicoot I guess. Probably what inspired Perci and her twin in Sonic boom.
corporate politics and power struggles. Lots of internal sabotage and hamstringing just so others don't gain any greater success than themselves. While in a macro scale ruining the whole company. This video just adds on the the many stories I've heard about sega being a clown show of asking people to do a job. They do it and do it well. And proceed to sabotage the project so they can internally go. See? It was a bad idea to hire these outsiders.
@@ceresbane About that outsiders thing...Am i wrong in thinking that SEGA of Japan (and seemingly a few other Japanese companies) have a massive fear/hatred of Non-Japanese folks working on their IPs? Particularly, Yuji's threat to quit SEGA if SOJ allowed the Xtreme Devs to use the nights engine, and the Recent Struggle of Japanese Fighting Game Devs against the Western Rollback Netcode give me the impression that they believe if it isn't made in Japan, that it's unacceptable. (In the Case of SEGA, that seems incredibly hypocritical considering some of the stuff Sonic has nowadays in the West.)
@@CaptainDemo779 generally yes (because traditional japanese business etiquette is very difficult for a foreigner to learn). but the situation is improving. The whole "only the japanese can do the job" mentality is thankfully a mindset thats diminishing as more foreign workers join japanese studios. But its defo still there (refer to rollback netcode and how japan refuses to use it because they didn't develop it). You still have old dinosaurs scared of change and actively resisting. And issue is with Japan. Seniority trumps merit. So you're gonna have mr. failed upwards asshole (like Yuji Naka) making all kinds of moves for his own interests. To put it concisely. Even the Japanese understand that Japanese Business Culture is cancer. Also gotta consider. Lots of japanese still don't understand. Creating a game for the domestic japanese market isn't the same as the global market. Referring back to the netcode thing. The delay-based netcode works fine in Japan. But to ship that for a global market, as if you don't need to put any effort towards the foreigners. Is entirely a Japanese short sightedness thats still stubbornly in existance. Dengeki bunko fighting climax releasing in the west. Just as the improved ignition version gets released in japan (practically the same time). Just shows the sheer amount of contempt Japanese have for the west. JP's getting the best we got, you guys in the west... have the previous outdated version. Be thankful we bothered with you.
@@CaptainDemo779 You do have to remember that back in the day Japan was rife with xenophobia. It wouldn't be till the early 2000's that this would change, but such a big change takes a lot of time to stick, so it might still be a while till they finally fully open themselves to the rest of the world.
Easy, a main title with a high budget production for the next gen consoles for an anniversary is a right move. The rushing of the game was the wrong move.
Sunk cost fallacy, most likely. They had already put too much money into it, being an anniversary title. And to be fair, the game did make its money back at the very least, even though the critical reception was poor.
Yuji Naka is honestly an untalented ego freak. He got LUCKY with Sonic. Literally, every game he's touched is either bad or gets canceled. The dude is an omen.
Why the hell did Sega demand a GBA port for Sonic Riders? The DS was already out at the time. Surely, a handheld that's more capable of processing polygonal graphics would've been a better choice.
Kinda interesting there was no info on the apparent cancelled Sonic Adventure remake. Also, the vibe I'm getting from this is that Sonic Team/SEGA have some amazing talent that simply isn't allowed to flourish because the higher ups keep fucking with the projects until they cancel them for taking too long.
The Mardi-Gras Robotnik boss is named after a beignet, a type of desert pastry that's popular in the New Orleans area. Just an FYI, since you split the emphasis improperly, probably thought it was something else.
After watching videos on the development of pre Sonic 06 games, it's making think that Yuki Naka was an asshole. Makes me think alot more of state of the franchise where we are now ( in terms of being on awkward footing) Would the franchise be any different if Naka still stuck around after 06?
So speaking as someone who purchased something from the website they advertised, Buyee, be careful shopping with them. They conveniently neglect to tell you about their high shipping costs until AFTER your item has already arrived at their storage and you can’t refund it. Thought I was getting a good deal with their coupon (that doesnt cover base service fees that arent shipping/handling btw) but now my price is almost 30 bucks even with that applied. And yes I get it, international shipping is expensive. But its pretty disingenuous advertise yourself as a way to avoid throttled prices and then not layout these shipping payments when I put my information in.
I give SEGA credit for at least being willing to have games that tied in to the cartoons. Shame all we really got was a reskin of Puyo Puyo with AOSTH characters shoved in and a few Archie Comics limited series versions of the SatAM characters in Spinball.
Well, you're obviously not Catholic, although even many non-Catholics like me are perfectly aware that it's another name for Mardi Gras, or in other words the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent.
I'm afraid you're right. It's not much of a series now, even though it was considered one at some point. With the Switch they have plenty of opportunity to bring motion control back to Sonic games. If they bring a very solid story and epic soundtrack, people will overlook the garbage controls (like in Secret Rings XD).
As a side note: Don't use buyee. A few reviews show that they have been known to personally hold a package hostage until you pay additional shipping fees.
that sucks. But I've used them a few times with no issues. They do rack on fees, before you buy something. Yet a lot of these sites have a disclaimer that additional shipping fees may occur, so it is bit of a risk. I only resort to using buyee when there is no other affordable alternative to some sort of anime merch I can't live without. Because it still gets expensive once shipping costs and fees are added.
I've been using Buyee for years, never had this happen. What was the situation? Cuz they charge you the internal Japanese shipping cost of the item as part of the final cost to ship to you but I've never heard it described the way you are saying
8:30 I feel like they can revive and integrate her into the IDW comics (but obviously with a different last name). Also, I’d like to request a “Did you know gaming” on the Panzer Dragoon franchise.
I'm pretty sure that Sonic riders came out I think in 2005 so why not work on a DS version? Why a gba version? I think if they made a DS version there was a greater chance it would have worked.
ah yes, Yuji Naka, the true overlord master of game design, with classic hits like Balan Wonderworld and Shadow the Hedgehog, the man has proven he can do no wrong. This is why you never let one person take over just because they did a good job a few times.
You're missing one cancelled licensed Sonic game that I've heard of :) In the 1980s, Sega licensed a lot of the intellectual property for ports to the various home computer platforms in Europe (even if said home computer platform *really* couldn't run the game - cf., _Power Drift_ for the Amstrad CPC…); what I've heard is that Sega licensed the first _Sonic the Hedgehog_ game for home computer platforms, before deciding that the game would be exclusive to Sega's own platforms, and rescinding the licenses; apparently the version of the game for the Amiga had had two "screenshots" published in a magazine when it was cancelled… although whether those screenshots were taken from a playable game, of were just mock-ups, is unknown
Yep, Yuji Naka needs to step down. He's detriment to the Sonic Franchise. I was gonna buy Frontiers when it was on Sale, but you know what? I can just continue chipping away at my backlog instead
@7:30 it's "Beignetnik" , named for the tasty pastries that are known for New Orleans, like if you've seen Princess & the Frog, Tiana makes Beignets, plus -nik from Robotnik. It was said to be the boss name from Fat Tuesday Zone, Fat Tuesday is Mardi Gras. *Ben-Yay-Nick*
All these cancelled game episodes back up the fact that the game industry is pretty freakin brutal.
Yeah, that’s the case for pretty much any industry that deals in entertainment. For every movie, show, song, book, etc. that gets released, there’s like 10 that never did, usually failing at the pitching stage.
@@MrZer093 failing at the pitching stage is one thing, but a lot of games die already far in development.
And this is why I don't like the AAA game industry anymore! These are my personal reasons: Rushing games in order to release it on christmas or black friday (e.g. Cyberpunk 2077 and GTA Trilogy), development hell (e.g. Duke Nukem Forever), hostile workplaces (e.g. Konami and Activision), greediness (e.g. EA and ActiBlizz), not being able to appeal to it's fanbase (e.g. Nintendo with it's sometimes questionable business decisions), console wars (e.g. Mega Drive/Genesis vs. SNES, Playstation vs. Xbox) and drama (being bullied by other gamers for liking an "unpopular" franchise, like Sonic the Hedgehog)!
I love how the reason for half of them is just Sega screwing their developers.
Sega has f***ed up detrimentally as a company they have made so many mistakes and missteps
OHOHOHOOOO I SAW THAT PFP OF YOURS SOMEWHERE
@@Monkforilla it's a miracle that Sega it's still around honestly, i have no fucking idea how soo many good developers go bankrupt after a bad release or something like that and yet Sega with the huge amount of blunders and stupid decitions that they have made for DECADES somehow just refusing to learn from their mistakes making them over and over again (getting to little time, putting to much presure on their developers, rushing games to meet insane death lines, not providing enough quality control, etc, things that they have been doing even since the release of the original Sonic the hedgehog) they are still chugging along somehow
@@carso1500 Pretty sure that they stay afloat becuase of the fact they also do other stuff in Japan becides games, and that RGG Studios pretty much make games that sell like hotcakes.
@@carso1500 What the above guy said but also just some plain ol’ good luck. A businessman that was a big fan of theirs gave them a massive loan with favorable terms and he died 2 years or so after that, with his will wiping away the debt. It never hurts to make friends in high places.
I feel so bad for all of the people who worked on Sonic Xtreme. To have risked your life for a video game, then the creator of its titular character refuses to help you by using one of his engines(for no good reason I can think of…)and throughout all of that grueling work the game never even sees the light of day.
Old school Japanese people are extremely prejudice. He most likely didn't want a non Japanese person getting any recognition for his character.
Naka got his karma and it's name was Balan.
From what I understand, Naka was quite protective of the Nights engine and didn't want a separate team using it. It was still an entirely dumb and petty reason though.
@@GetPhiledIn exactly what i was thinking. You see this happening a lot so im really not surprised
@@amirgarcia547 Heck he could have been guiding them .
To Yuji Naka: "Balan Wornderland is the KARMA you deserved for the Nights Engine..."
World
Why do I imagine Chris Senn laughing maniacally in front of his fireplace (despite it being summer), with a glass of bourbon and it starts raining and roaring of thunder throughout the city.
@@JDoradoTube probably because of the sheer catharsism of it all, working on a game that took a toxic toll on your health only for it to be cancelled, then work on another game with a similar environment and it being one of the worst in the franchise.
I’m glad Senn is doing ok now
The war that everyone believes:
Nintendo Vs Sega
The true War
Sega of America Vs Sega of Japan
Reminds me of the Japanese army v Japanese navy. They probably hated each other more than they hated the US. And would continue to screw with each other, while fighting the US in WW2. It got to the point where they would make the screw types different, just to mess with the other side.
Pretty much the reason why the Freedom Fighters are not in the games
After seeing the Wha Happun? episode on Sonic X-Treme, it seemed that most of that game's development issues could've been fixed if Sega of Japan was willing to collaborate and communicate better with Sega USA. It's a large shame that the devs worked hard on and crunched on the game, only for all of that effort to be poured down the drain.
Sega Japan was always meddling with Sega USA and if they had been willing to let USA do it's thing, SEGA as a console may still be around today.
Didn't help that Yuji Naka just kinda... forced SOJ to flip the decision to use the Nights engine
Sega of Japan were and still are incredibly weird with how they go about doing things. Fun fact, in the Sonic Archie comics, before Sonic Adventure came out the Archie staff were ordered to integrate the plot and characters from the Adventure series into the comics, yet Sega were unwilling to tell the comic writers what exactly the plot of Sonic Adventure even was, so they seriously had to buy a Dreamcast directly from Japan with a pirated, untranslated version of the game and try to make sense of it from there.
Speaking of X-Treme, Tiara Boobowski was planned to be a playable character ever since the development of Sonic Mars. And her last name was Tiara Cyberooski (note to self: I pefer Cyberooksi better then Boobowski). And there was this Telltale choice in the game where Sonic has to choose Sally Acorn or Tiara as a playable character. Another thing I like to mention is that Tiara had a different design then her X-Treme design, this was used in many of Tiara's Artwork, and Chris Senn pefers Tiara's old design then her X-Treme design, which I along with the Sonic Fans agree.
Yep, and Yuji Naka just made things so much worse for them.
The story of Sonic X-treme is so crazy. Doesn't paint Yuji Naka in the best light.
It’s hard to paint someone as arrogant as he was (is?) in a good light. (I worked with him, so experienced it first hand)
There are many more stories of Naka being a jerk. Apparently he was kicked out of Balan Wonderworld because the entire team wanted him gone, including Sonic creator Naoto Ohshima. He then posted an old group photo on Twitter to celebrate the anniversary of Nights. Ohshima was lazily removed from the picture. He also threatened to fire an entire dev team to their faces (he didn't know they understood Japanese).
Fat Tuesday Zone would be a great name for a buffet.
Hi I am Tiara Boobowsky welcome to Fat Tuesday Zone what can I get you
no I am not on the menu
sunset sunday zone
madness monday zone
terrible Tuesday zone
windy Wednesday zone
thunder thursday zone
fly friday zone
saturn Saturday zone
@@Itsbully06 *Manic Monday
@@Itsbully06 I'd suggest Wacky Wednesday Zone, but they'd likely need to pay a licensing fee to Dr. Seuss's estate.
I'd laugh so hard if this was the name of a zone in the sonic mania sequel.
It's amazing how much Sega of Japan sabotaged it's American counterpart
SoJ does/did so much to shit just to spite the American branches, it's a miracle that whole company is still around at all.
Yuji naka was quite the asshole
@@silverreaps6803 And then he made Balan Wonderworld. Why did everybody though he was that important, again?.
@@toumabyakuya For the same reason people thought Keiji Inafune was important?
@@Elyseon And then Migthy N°9 happened...
This man really said really said "Tiara Boobowski" was an unfortunate name after telling us someone's job title was "STI producer" without a laugh
Honestly, at this point I'm starting to feel like Sega's downfall is almost exclusively on Yuji Naka's shoulders. Each time there's something that looks like it might have sold well, he's like "NO FUCK YOU. MY EGO WON'T ALLOW THIS."
Shoutouts to Naka leaving Square right after Balan Wonderworld released, I'm pretty much sure he ended up fired from the company on good terms given his resume
are there other examples of this?
I was going to write the same thing but I'll give you a like instead! Lol
true but none of this sounds like good games
In the end SEGA was losing its attitude.
Bonus Fact: Sonic Xtreme was going to tie in to an unproduced Sonic movie called "Sonic and the Seven Wonders of the World".
Wait, Extreme or Xtreme? If you said the right thing then odd choice to tie in a Skateboarding game
@@ultr4nima I believe it was the one planned for the Sega Saturn. It was going to be a major plot device and everything
@@ultr4nima Xtreme
@@stevekoller3314 You're thinking of Xtreme then, I recommend editing your comment to be more precise
@@ultr4nima My apologizes, and thanks for the suggestion. Truth be told, I had no idea about the spelling for "Xtreme", let alone the existence of "Sonic Extreme" until I watched this video
Everything I hear about Yugi Naka makes him seem like a real asshole. I have no idea why him and Sega were so cruel toward their American divisions, though it’s funny that came back to bite them with the Saturn and Dreamcastz
And then it came back to bite Naka as well with Balan Wonderworld.
@@amirgarcia547 that's what that tool gets
10:00 thank God the dude lived! I remember reading he died due to complications from the stress of development.
Neither Chris Senn nor Christina Coffin died, thankfully.
(Want to hear something funny? Chris Senn also worked on Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric)
@@sezunemizuhana3870 Actually, he was a level designer on Sonic Boom Shattered Crystal for 3DS
@@seymourkrelborn4780 you'd think Senn with would have a bit of a grudge against them for almost being the cause of his death but guess not
I'm a bit surprised that you didn't mentioned *Sonic 4 episode III* being cancelled. But then again, there's less information about it.
I always wondered why the play store only has ep 1 and 2
Plot Twist: Sonic Superstars is Sonic 4: Episode 3 but better and with the classic designs.
Which game do you wish made it to store shelves the most?
Uh…
All of them
Yeah Yeah Beebis 1
Astropede
@@parappa900 mario wacky world
As a huge Sonic fan, I say that the biggest reason Sonic doesn't have the same success that Mario has today is Yuji Naka being an arrogant crybaby
I like how this parallels with how someone described Shigeru Miyamoto: He's the type of guy who'd make the perfect batch of chocolate chips and will look at you in horror if you use said chips to make chocolate chip cookies or other recipes.
@@supersonicmario56 ikr!
Sonic is still successful
Yep. I worked with Naka, and while he is very talented, he was a prima-donna who threatened to quite any time he didn’t get his way.
@@gospyro what did you work with him on?
Not gonna lie Treasure Tails looks like it had promise. Maybe mix that perspective with gameplay with Tails' adventure.
Also Tiara the Manx should've been a character.
I kinda feel that Sonic X-Treme while being a possible success, still wouldn’t have been able to save the Saturn due to the mismanagement of the Saturn’s release
it should have gotten a PC release at the very least focused on the western market. Seems very foolish to just completely scrap all of the work that was done when the PC version was the best running version they had going and were doing a decent push of releases on the platform at this time.
Gotta disagree with you there. Sonic x-treme looked so bad that releasing it would have probably hurt more than help
@@narcopsy It had a lot of hype at the time and the Sonic titles were selling very well on the PC. It couldnt have hurt at all considering it wasnt a "key market" like their home console was. Its definitely something Sega of America could have scraped together in some form and released, plus the version running on PC played much smoother then a lot of the footage shown from the Saturn and was the version that "worked" the best with what they were designing. Just the fact it had "Sonic" in the title alone would have sold it well for kids who didnt have a Saturn, but loved Sonic.
I'm sure the accompanying live-action movie didn't help as well.
Good or bad, it really wouldn't have saved the Saturn. Saturn had a robust library of first and third party titles, a good Sonic game wouldn't have helped when games like VF2, Daytona USA (G A M E O Vu E R! G-A-M-E-O-Vu-E-R! Ey-oh! Ey-oh! Ey-oh!), Bug!, Panzer Dragoon Saga. NiGHTS, Burning Rangers, Virtua Cop, Fighting Vipers, Fighters Megamix, Sega Rally (GAME OVER YEAH!), Virtua Cop, Madden 97 (which is _somehow_ the best selling Saturn game) and Sonic 3D Blast couldn't save it.
At the least, the Saturn was not the worst-selling console of the fifth generation but the worst selling of the big three at the time (even the Playstation was beaten by the Game Boy and GBC though, Pokemon is a helluva drug).
3DO, PC-FX, Jaguar (LOL), Amiga CD32, FM Towns Marty and Apple Bandai Pippin all did worse and the only one that came close was the 3DO with 2k worldwide sales which compared to Saturn's North American sales alone of 3K, wouldn't be that much worse until you consider that it was a global release (though I don't think the internationa sales numbers were calculated, it could have outsold the Saturn).
Making a 3D Sonic Riders game on a GBA is a little insane. Maybe it would had been more beneficial, if it was on the DS.
Agreed.
I think it couldve worked out
Maybe it could have been called free riders for its portability rather than the kinect game.
Yeah. The Mario Kart game on the GBA does suck, after all.
The Sonic franchise is unquestionably where several of Sega's greatest successes come from. However, as this video shows us, mismanagement in the franchise brought about several of Sega's most crippling failures.
I'm also amazed but not amused at all the things Yuji Naka has done that helped to ironically besmirch one of the most iconic characters he helped create.
Even if Sonic X-Treme wasn't cancelled and released on time, the fate of the Sega Saturn would still be roughly the same.
What makes you think that
Probably
That's statement right there is a
Maybe?
Saturn did well enough in Japan, and the reason it didn't do so hot here was because Sega pushed it out way too early on distributors.
Eh, I personally think the Saturn's lack of a major Sonic title was what killed it. It'd be like if Nintendo had a new console without any major Mario games on it.
Yuji Naka genuinely sounded like a terrible person to work with in the 90s. Maybe his recent blunders are a form of karma
Hard to say, im not sure how engine rights work myself.
…true but so was Steve Jobs, so is Musk, so was Gates…. Sadly you have to kick your own ass to achieve much of anything great
@@dman7895 counterpoint:
No, they were/are unredeemable assholes, too. Worse ones, at that.
Yeah, it's painful to hear how self-sabotaging he was (and probably still behaves)...
@@jordanmynes2638 Thank you for saying this. Everyone worships the ground they walk on but all they really do is exploit their workers and hoard obscene amounts of money. IMO ppl like them are essentially why the worst parts of capitalism exist. I also don't think anyone can be as rich as they are without being an asshole.
Sonic Mars looked so interesting. Even if it was just a minor spin-off, would’ve loved to see it released!
I dunno it doesn't look that appealing to me.
Mindy & Haunter fair enough
@@PeterGriffin11 I mean it _was_ a test pitch after all. Not all pitches look that great
@@takanamoon9907 That's true but but the pitch itself just doesn't look fun in my opinion I think Sonic Xtreme could've been fun though.
@@PeterGriffin11 Oh abso-freaking-lutely
the SatAM tie in could have worked if the main character was anybody but Sonic. Hell you could have made the game around rescuing Sonic and had the freedom fighters work together to accomplish the mission with each one having their own strengths and weaknesses
The most interesting thing I found out in this video was that Death Jr. is actually a series of games. The rest of the video was great too!
I’m pissed they canceled Sonic’s Schoolhouse 2 for the DreamCast.
It'd save the IP! If only!
Knowing them they would have called it "Sonic Schoolhouse: Radical Squared" to give it appeal by making it sound "cool".
@@pixellord2370 That's not actually bad lol
Wow. Don't know if he's still alive today, but I can't believe someone almost died all because of the effort of making a Sonic game that was never released anyway.
Apparently, they're fine.
For some reason the internet has been showing me a lot of Sonic content today, from Sonic comics to sonic mania and sonic 3 reviews and japanese Sonic ads
10:02 For fans of 90s YTV/Anti-Gravity Room, that’s Phil Guerrero (AKA Pj Phil)!
Phil is cool af
I wonder how different things would have been if Sega cancelled games like Sonic 06 and Sonic Boom
If Sonic 06 wasn't a thing, Shadow definitelly wouldn't have as big of a following as he has nowadays.
Then we would have peak sonic
With what I learned about how Sonic Synergy was going to be before Sega told them about the deal with Nintendo and Cartoon Network, cancelling it would've been a good idea.
If Sonic 06 were cancelled, we'd be watching videos about it and lamenting that this incredible-looking game was screwed by the publisher and never released, and thus was unable to save the franchise from a slow and painful death.
If Sonic '06 was cancelled we definitely wouldn't have Silver the Hedgehog or Crisis City in Sonic Generations, and the Adventure formula would most likely still be around or at least have survived a bit longer.
If Boom was cancelled, we wouldn't have the show since it was meant as a tie-in to the game.
A glimpse of what could have Bean (the Dynamite)
A Ray (the Flying Squirrel) of hope is what we need to revive them.
Tiara Boobowski: exists
The Sonic fandom: It's showtime
Sega: Lets cancel Treasure Tails...
Nintendo decades later: mind if we use that idea???
?
Huh?
Captain toad
_in an alternate universe where Sonic’s EduSoft released_
“S… H…. uh, I… T-“
“WRONG: THE WORD WAS SHIP.”
“SHIT!”
I left SEGA STI in ‘95 and one of the reasons was I wasn’t given a leading roll in the up coming Sonic games, but looking back at what happened to the team and the games… and eventually STI, I got out at just the right time!!!
I remember reading about Sonic 16 in high school in the late 90s & being disappointed that it never happened.
Let's be real, SEGA's ignoring of SatAM's popularity really hurts the franchise. Particularly now where all the stories are watered down. It's a genuine shame we didn't get Sonic 16 or Sonic Mars. I'm glad Sonic Spinball has survived.
Ah yes, Sonic Spinball with its.. ear grating music, stages that get too difficult past stage 1 and also...
is pinball... with little control...
I'd have more fun with Sonic Labyrinth ...
@@woobgamer5210 it was one of my favorites. Plus it even got some of my non-sonic fan friends to play a Sonic game. They also enjoyed.
I was so sure I knew everything about these canceled projects, but I was surprised to know that it was the Comix Zone creator behind the Sonic-16 demo. Makes a ton of sense in hindsight, looking at the demo. It really does just look like Comix Zone both in art style and gameplay, just with a rounder, less comic book aesthetic.
I do want to point out though, that the Sonic Xtreme NiGHTS engine thing is a misconception. SEGA Japan gave STI the NiGHTS engine to study so Coffin could polish the boss engine, now the main engine, since NiGHTS was the closest thing to a 3D platformer that Saturn could run well at the time. Naka misinterpreted this as STI being given the source code without his permission, and proceeded to throw a shit fit like a goddamn two year old.
Balan Wonderworld was basically cursed by the haunting spirit of Sonic Xtreme as revenge for all the tomfuckery Yuji Naka put everyone through
Why would Yuji Naka disallow them from using the nights' dev tools?
The irony of the comment section.
*_Why did this bad game was made? It should've been cancelled_* - Because it makes sense in paper to make it. It's not easy to see what's wrong when people spent a long time developing a game.
*_This should've been released. Damn Sega for cancelling it_* - Because the concept itself isn't fitting and has a VERY HIGH chance, if it was released, people would go "THIS SHOULD'VE BEEN CANCELLED".
It's Sonic fans. Most of them act before thinking. Not really surprising. Though to be fair, It's understandable why they're frustrated by it.
You have just roasted the comment section
Seems like everyone here is a little heated in this in one way or another.
@@cybernnic
Acting before thinking is something that most people do
If Sega draws the line at these games,why not Forces
because sonic forces did well
I dont know, I really dont know
Because it's fine as a concept. It's not easy to determine if an approved product would turn out good.
@@fortnitegamer2118 Well, I may not like sonic forces due to the colors of the models, im very picky on the colors on the models, why not used sonic generation colors for the forces models?
Because sega / sonic team had standards back then
Fun Fact about Sonic Extreme. Tiara was actually a Bandicoot not a cat. great video. love the facts in all your videos!
She was originally conceived as a bandicoot before being changed to a manx.
@@SkunkStarlight And sadly never got released. But that's another great fact as both are right. Although I believe the image of her is a bandicoot, then again I just see her as a bandicoot I guess. Probably what inspired Perci and her twin in Sonic boom.
here's a question I'd like to learn trivia about: why was sega of japan so horrendously managed
corporate politics and power struggles. Lots of internal sabotage and hamstringing just so others don't gain any greater success than themselves. While in a macro scale ruining the whole company. This video just adds on the the many stories I've heard about sega being a clown show of asking people to do a job. They do it and do it well. And proceed to sabotage the project so they can internally go. See? It was a bad idea to hire these outsiders.
@@ceresbane About that outsiders thing...Am i wrong in thinking that SEGA of Japan (and seemingly a few other Japanese companies) have a massive fear/hatred of Non-Japanese folks working on their IPs? Particularly, Yuji's threat to quit SEGA if SOJ allowed the Xtreme Devs to use the nights engine, and the Recent Struggle of Japanese Fighting Game Devs against the Western Rollback Netcode give me the impression that they believe if it isn't made in Japan, that it's unacceptable. (In the Case of SEGA, that seems incredibly hypocritical considering some of the stuff Sonic has nowadays in the West.)
@@CaptainDemo779 generally yes (because traditional japanese business etiquette is very difficult for a foreigner to learn). but the situation is improving. The whole "only the japanese can do the job" mentality is thankfully a mindset thats diminishing as more foreign workers join japanese studios. But its defo still there (refer to rollback netcode and how japan refuses to use it because they didn't develop it). You still have old dinosaurs scared of change and actively resisting. And issue is with Japan. Seniority trumps merit. So you're gonna have mr. failed upwards asshole (like Yuji Naka) making all kinds of moves for his own interests.
To put it concisely. Even the Japanese understand that Japanese Business Culture is cancer.
Also gotta consider. Lots of japanese still don't understand. Creating a game for the domestic japanese market isn't the same as the global market. Referring back to the netcode thing. The delay-based netcode works fine in Japan. But to ship that for a global market, as if you don't need to put any effort towards the foreigners. Is entirely a Japanese short sightedness thats still stubbornly in existance.
Dengeki bunko fighting climax releasing in the west. Just as the improved ignition version gets released in japan (practically the same time). Just shows the sheer amount of contempt Japanese have for the west. JP's getting the best we got, you guys in the west... have the previous outdated version. Be thankful we bothered with you.
@@CaptainDemo779 You do have to remember that back in the day Japan was rife with xenophobia. It wouldn't be till the early 2000's that this would change, but such a big change takes a lot of time to stick, so it might still be a while till they finally fully open themselves to the rest of the world.
and then got a free out of jail card they didnt deserved
I’m still confused why Sonic 06 wasn’t cancelled.
Easy, a main title with a high budget production for the next gen consoles for an anniversary is a right move. The rushing of the game was the wrong move.
The project was too big and Sega was too stubborn/stupid
Sunk cost fallacy, most likely. They had already put too much money into it, being an anniversary title. And to be fair, the game did make its money back at the very least, even though the critical reception was poor.
Yuji Naka is honestly an untalented ego freak. He got LUCKY with Sonic. Literally, every game he's touched is either bad or gets canceled. The dude is an omen.
Why the hell did Sega demand a GBA port for Sonic Riders? The DS was already out at the time. Surely, a handheld that's more capable of processing polygonal graphics would've been a better choice.
And yet Sega rejected a GBA port of Virtua Racing as well.
It's Sega
Kinda interesting there was no info on the apparent cancelled Sonic Adventure remake.
Also, the vibe I'm getting from this is that Sonic Team/SEGA have some amazing talent that simply isn't allowed to flourish because the higher ups keep fucking with the projects until they cancel them for taking too long.
I do consider Sonic Lost World to be like Sonic X-Treme due to the similar level design & Gameplay.
Yuji Naka quitting would have been the best thing to ever happen to sega. Should have got rid of him decades ago.
The Mardi-Gras Robotnik boss is named after a beignet, a type of desert pastry that's popular in the New Orleans area. Just an FYI, since you split the emphasis improperly, probably thought it was something else.
While making a game focused on stealth makes sense considering SatAM, I have a feeling it would have been lambasted if it had actually been released.
Stealth games are tough, even moreso on old consoles.
A Sonic Sat AM game sounds great, and I wonder how much it would have changed the trajectory of the franchise.
After watching videos on the development of pre Sonic 06 games, it's making think that Yuki Naka was an asshole. Makes me think alot more of state of the franchise where we are now ( in terms of being on awkward footing)
Would the franchise be any different if Naka still stuck around after 06?
So speaking as someone who purchased something from the website they advertised, Buyee, be careful shopping with them.
They conveniently neglect to tell you about their high shipping costs until AFTER your item has already arrived at their storage and you can’t refund it. Thought I was getting a good deal with their coupon (that doesnt cover base service fees that arent shipping/handling btw) but now my price is almost 30 bucks even with that applied.
And yes I get it, international shipping is expensive. But its pretty disingenuous advertise yourself as a way to avoid throttled prices and then not layout these shipping payments when I put my information in.
Damn I'd have loved that Tails puzzle game as a kid!
Sonic xtreme looks like it could have been so much better than lost world.
The history behind it is rather sad
If only Sonic 06 was cancelled instead. 😞
Then the anniversary would've sucked more without a main game and only a few low-budget spin-offs.
@@spongebobfan78 Still would have that than one of the worst video games of all time
@@PeruvianPotato True, but there still would've been one released that year: the horrific "Sonic GBA" port.
6:29 Sonic Labyrinth's existence suggests to me the game being slow wasn't the problem.
“STI producer” hehe, I’m mature.
2:05 The people who went on to make the Sega Pico thought this game would be unprofitable? I doubt that.
I give SEGA credit for at least being willing to have games that tied in to the cartoons. Shame all we really got was a reskin of Puyo Puyo with AOSTH characters shoved in and a few Archie Comics limited series versions of the SatAM characters in Spinball.
With the range of sonic games released I can only imagine what was cancelled.....
"Fat Tuesday" never heard of that term before but i'm stealing it now.
Why not fat Friday?
Well, you're obviously not Catholic, although even many non-Catholics like me are perfectly aware that it's another name for Mardi Gras, or in other words the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent.
A Sonic spin-off game staring a Badnik would be a amazing game.
Mean Bean Machine
@@GioPutty Besides that game, I'll love to more speedy platformer playing as a Badnik.
@@SimplySunky sonic fans are stupid
@@SimplySunky At least we still have that Sonic Rom Hack where you plays as a Motobug.
2:21 Buyee? Like the producer of the portable DVD that plays NES games from a Rerez video (Worst Soulja Boy Consoles Ever 3)?
"Too many tie ins for a new spin off would be more bad than good."
Nah mate, what you talking about? Everything Boom went entirely well!
Nothing on a third game in the Sonic storybook series? I guess there never really was much more than speculation about that, huh?
I'm afraid you're right. It's not much of a series now, even though it was considered one at some point. With the Switch they have plenty of opportunity to bring motion control back to Sonic games. If they bring a very solid story and epic soundtrack, people will overlook the garbage controls (like in Secret Rings XD).
3:20 to skip ad. After the Sonic Edu-tainment bit.
As a side note: Don't use buyee. A few reviews show that they have been known to personally hold a package hostage until you pay additional shipping fees.
that sucks. But I've used them a few times with no issues. They do rack on fees, before you buy something. Yet a lot of these sites have a disclaimer that additional shipping fees may occur, so it is bit of a risk. I only resort to using buyee when there is no other affordable alternative to some sort of anime merch I can't live without. Because it still gets expensive once shipping costs and fees are added.
I've been using Buyee for years, never had this happen. What was the situation? Cuz they charge you the internal Japanese shipping cost of the item as part of the final cost to ship to you but I've never heard it described the way you are saying
8:30 I feel like they can revive and integrate her into the IDW comics (but obviously with a different last name).
Also, I’d like to request a “Did you know gaming” on the Panzer Dragoon franchise.
She's already been featured in the comic, though. One time as a waitress on one of the covers.
Ian Flynn tried for Archie, she is not available. I don't even see the point of adapting her.
Tiara COOOOOOMowski
Hey paper Luigi
I'm pretty sure that Sonic riders came out I think in 2005 so why not work on a DS version? Why a gba version? I think if they made a DS version there was a greater chance it would have worked.
3:39 Fun Fact: Roger Hector General Manager Zone was a hidden stage on Sonic 3
That zone needs more recognition, definitely a top 5 on my list
ah yes, Yuji Naka, the true overlord master of game design, with classic hits like Balan Wonderworld and Shadow the Hedgehog, the man has proven he can do no wrong.
This is why you never let one person take over just because they did a good job a few times.
1:24 so thats where the Smash bros stage is from
0:51 they need to make a sonic series using this art style
8:24 nice little chuckle
Seeing this video and seeing how balan wonderworld came out put a smile on my face
I’m assuming it was supposed to be “ben-yay-tik” based on how beignet is supposed to be pronounced
You're missing one cancelled licensed Sonic game that I've heard of :)
In the 1980s, Sega licensed a lot of the intellectual property for ports to the various home computer platforms in Europe (even if said home computer platform *really* couldn't run the game - cf., _Power Drift_ for the Amstrad CPC…); what I've heard is that Sega licensed the first _Sonic the Hedgehog_ game for home computer platforms, before deciding that the game would be exclusive to Sega's own platforms, and rescinding the licenses; apparently the version of the game for the Amiga had had two "screenshots" published in a magazine when it was cancelled… although whether those screenshots were taken from a playable game, of were just mock-ups, is unknown
I wish Sega believed in Sonic Extreme and gave the team the time and the resources to see it through. I always thought it could've been a great game
Dang, I wish they put Fat Tuesday Zone in a new sonic game
I mean, with some tweaks, I could see it working. Crash Bandicoot 4 had a mardi gras themed level, and it was great.
@@PC2000 Wrath of Cortex had a Mardi Gras level?
@@GabePuratekuta they meant the new crash bandicoot 4
Naka giving another game the thumbs down, while releasing Balan WonderWorld onto the masses. Oh how the mighty have fallen hard.
Wow, I've known about Sonic Xtreme for quite some time but not the context behind it's cancellation. I really don't know how I feel about Yuji Naka.
I still wish Sonic X-Treme was released because this game looks awesome.
Fuck my eyes, I swear to go do saw the thumbnail as "CANCELLING sonic the hedgehog games" and I got terrified for a second
Honestly, AstroPede or SegaPede could’ve been a fun character to be seen in future Sonic games or Fan Made titles in the future!
My reaction to skipping a sponser/ad is the only thing rivaling Sonic the Hedgehog's speed. 🏃♂️💨
Yep, Yuji Naka needs to step down. He's detriment to the Sonic Franchise. I was gonna buy Frontiers when it was on Sale, but you know what? I can just continue chipping away at my backlog instead
Sooooo from what I take away from this Sonic Xtreme was cancelled because Yuji Naka threw a fit.
Sitting in bed sick as a dog with COVID, a DYKG video is perfect right now. Thanks, the perfect medicine. 👍
Hope ya get well soon, dude.
@@TheCartoonGamer8000 thanks man 👍
12:05 That music slap. Need to Sonic's music trivia with Michael Jackson involvement and Sonic 3's prototype music.
Ad ends at 3:19
If on PC, when the ad starts you can press the L key 6 times too :)
Look, i just want Sonic Mania 2 with ALL the levels being new and an entirely original score by that magnificent bugger Tee Lopes 😊
An ad that long in such a short video is a bit sore
What I learned from this video is that Yuji Naka has always been a criminal villain.
Anybody else realized that he pronounced beignet in beignetick wrong. His pronunciation of the name is still masterclass though.
3:20 to skip ad
@7:30 it's "Beignetnik" , named for the tasty pastries that are known for New Orleans, like if you've seen Princess & the Frog, Tiana makes Beignets, plus -nik from Robotnik.
It was said to be the boss name from Fat Tuesday Zone, Fat Tuesday is Mardi Gras.
*Ben-Yay-Nick*