Yeah, I mean it's worth asking if Sonic is even still a fundamentally "cool" character anymore? It honestly hasn't really been what they're going for with how he's depicted for quite a while now- arguably since the major writing shift in Sonic Colors. I don't know that Sonic Team still considers style to be a huge aspect of Sonic's core design anymore.
@@HyenaFox 100% but it’s also worth asking if what they’re going for is working. I’d be fine with a more IDW depiction but they’re either too afraid to let Ian Flynn write their games beyond just dialogue or they just want to keep them as safe and boring as possible.
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.
@@gummiewormproduction honestly, the only thing holding me back is not getting the goddamn emeralds, the game really is way too easy, but I don't mind it actually, it's to pretty to notice it lol
@@mrbanks456 me wants a difficult game. Difficult special stages don't mean jack lol. I can't beat all the special stages in Sonic 2, but the game is great!
@@Izak_Klarkwell yoshi's island but that doesn't count really I imagine people would say that because they think Mario wonder is hand drawn (it's not, it's just very cleverly animated and shaded/colored)
@@igirjei3717 I wanna believe enough people aren't that dumb, especially since neither would be the first hand drawn platformers even just for the relatively mainstream (Rayman for example). Also even if they *were* cribbing from Mario *this* time it would actually be good as long as Sonic finds an maintains a unique and cool visual to it's artstyle.
@@shupasopni yeah I just want sonic to be both cool, and have actual quality. We're getting towards the latter fairly consistently, but the stock models from a decade and a half ago need to go
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.
Yes, but you're enough stupid to make a difference between CGI of all games and calling Frontiers CGI is just a "slightly better" in-game version, while literally the only common point between ALL Sonic games is the CGI and characters, those 2 things are the first ones making us know we play a Sonic game, even its spin-offs have it, it succeed to remain same, even made by 3 different studios, and what do you do? You criticize the CGI of one of them, calling it just a better version of in-games, despite it's the same visual quality since 2005 (excluding Riders series and 06).
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…
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.
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!!!
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
you’re so right. imagine someone who’s never been exposed to any official sonic media before, but they see all the fan art, fan games, fan animations, etc etc. so they check out the official games. i can only assume they’d be insanely underwhelmed.
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.”
I don't like the classic Sonic Superstars model but I will be getting the game. Sadly I don't have a Nintendo Switch because I would have definitely gotten Mario Wonder since visually wise from what we've seen so far looks better than Superstars.
Lol. I'm not going to talk about all games pre Unleashed, but don't tell me that Sonic and friends models in 06 is better than what we have today. At least Sonic's size in the Modern Era looks accurate compared to whatever the fuck the designers of 06 did with him.
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...
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.
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.
it’s cool he listens but like, man… why does it need to even be said? it’s like a chef saying “hmm.. yes, i will consider seasoning this meat next time around.”
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
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.
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.
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.
Reward good gameplay with better visuals, that's so genius, I genuinely wonder how they haven't done something like this. Okay, well the Wii version of Sonic Unleashed increases the FOV the faster you go which really sells the speed.
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.
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
LOVE Freedom, Newtrogic Panic, and as at least one person mentioned Fallen Star. Not technicly Sonic but Freedom Planet 2 is another great example. What is it with Sonic related artists named Tyson and being great? Tyson Tan's art was so good that even when he was just doing fanart for the first game people loved his stuff, so much he got hired for the second one and I find it hard to look at the old looks for the characters.
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.
I'm not saying it has to look like Guilty Gear. It's just a good example of how to make 3D in 2D look way more dynamic. And I agree about Spiderverse. That new TMNT is already a carbon copy. That's not what we need. We need people to copy Spiderverse by trying to make their own unique style, like that movie did.
@@Pariah6950 I know you didn't mean it literally. It's just that whenever I see it brought up, I can't help but groan a bit because I've seen it so much since 2018.
@@Pariah6950that's why Puss in Boots 2 is my favorite film as it's definitely the best looking film I've seen. And it's just unique. Every frame looks hand painted...
@@Pariah6950Hi Pariah! As someone who's an artist and is currently in college studying 2D and 3D design, I'm honestly a bit peeved when people refer to a film or show that uses stylized animation as a "Spiderverse clone." Spiderverse uses stylized rendering and visual effects, but just because another piece of media is inspired by them doesn't mean they're just copying what they did. For example, Spiderverse went more "comic book," while TMNT decided to go more "teenager's sketchbook." Their unique differences are in character design, background design, editing, effects, the animation itself etc.. The new, popular type of rendering is just meant to make films/shows more closely match their concept art, which is part of why photorealism is out-of-style now. And even if media is "too similar" to Spiderverse, is that really a bad thing? Artists move around in the industry a lot and share ideas with/become inspired by each other. Tiffany Lam was the art director of TMNT and was a crew member on both Across the Spiderverse and Mitchells, and she probably picked up similar sensibilities that those projects did. Trends will happen, but artists make them their own. I'm sorry if this may come off as a tad aggressive, I just needed to express that this sort of attitude about the animation industry is (ironically) very limiting for us artists and animators. I'm a big fan of your work and I still agree with your video, so I hope you don't get the wrong idea.
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?
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.
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..
@@Pariah6950You don't think the visuals are the reason Persona sold more, right? Not the fact Sonic has had a pretty notorious reputation for selling bad games?
@@JaniacTheHedgehogas someone who never played or even heard of a persona game before 5, the entire reason i picked it up was cuz of the style and music. And now im waiting hyped for the remake of 3 for the same reasons. And whenever 6 comes out im honestly more hype to hear the music and see the style they go with as opposed to the gameplay, cuz its just an rpg at the end of the day. Cuz the style is what made me fall in love with the series in the first place and its the same for sonic for me and a lot of other people. Like he mentioned sa2 and the cd intro. Those in particular are what made me fall in love with sonic as a kid when i played mega collection and sa2b on the gamecube. So the style of a series really does play a role into getting more eyes and hands on your game
@@Pariah6950 Don't you think that has something to do with the game overall being unique, rather than the visuals? And again, hasn't had the historic fumbles of Sonic? I know visuals are part of what makes a game good, but if that was one of the biggest reasons, then how has Frontiers made a third of what P5 has despite being the most bland looking Sonic game to date in a franchise with a long line of historic failures? It's more than just the visuals, it all just depends on what the game can bring to attract the player, including gameplay, replayability, soundtrack and the fun factor.
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 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.
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.
Bro, he got his predictions completely right, lol. Sega said that Superstars didn't do as well as they thought it would. Meanwhile, Wonder became one of the best performing Mario games ever.
Me too. Let's hope we get a redesign for the Sonic characters in the future. Plus, the character design of Sonic The Hedgehog (and Splatoon) is nowhere near hot garbage as Steven Universe or Luca or Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken.
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.
my god metal's hands don't even look like sharp, metallic, threatening claws. they look more like those white lego claws instead. and overall, metal's modern design nowadays makes him come off as a cheap mcdonald's toy instead of a menacing, heartless, sonic doppelganger killing machine.
I agree, visuals are super important to games; "visuals aren't important" is an insane thing to say because you want to care about visuals NOT just for making things cool, but visuals can also elevate the game design, music, sound, story, everything All parts of a video game must be handled with care and respect; if one side is neglected, the game suffers as a whole
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.
I think Sonic shouldn't go full on cel-shaded, but have a similar less hi-fidelity style. Maybe something closer to Wind Waker HD, but more vibrant? Anyway, With how fast Sonic goes, pure cel-shading would probably look like a mess. But they need to stop trying to make everything so realistic. The amount of texture they have to put into things you're gonna see for half a second is crazy. A less detailed, more stylized approach would allow the world to be more cartoonish without feeling off, and it would also allow models to be more cartoonish and exaggerated in their animations.
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.
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 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?
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 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.
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.
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
It does, while Mario changed it's visual style, got rid of the time limit, and has a whole new wacky premise. Sonic goes back to marketable with no changes except with co-op that looks like a mess and the chaos powers which I think are cool
I was saying this for years in the comments on TH-cam, 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
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 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
Is that 60fps option only for emulator? Just wondering, because I can play Sunburn on my Wii (and base Sunshine, my Wii is backwardds-compatible) and having a 60fps option on Wii would be great, especially since Sunshine was originally going to be 60fps on GC and both Mario Galaxy games are 60fps.
@@legoboy7107 Older versions of Sunburn run on Gecko codes basically but the new 1.8 is on the "Better Sunshine" engine. I am not smart enough to know most of what that means, or modding in general, as the Sunshine community are geniuses...buy, I think it's too demanding for a GameCube. No clue what a Wii would do but it is ultimately a GameCube ISO so let me know how it goes haha :)
@@stevenshockley4237 I mean, Sunshine was kinda an outlier for being at 30fps at the time because most other Gamecube games were hitting 60, including even Sunshine's own beta, and again there's the Galaxy games being 60 (even in imported Sunshine stages) so theoretically a game that looks like Sunshine should be able to run at 60 on console and not be too demanding, but yeah it really depends on like how optimized the engine is and all that stuff which it very well just might not be _that_ good, as at the end of the day it is still just a mod. But yeah these Sunshine modders are insane, especially with how much this scene kinda exploded out of nowhere. There was like barely anything for Sunshine, then suddenly Eclipse gets dropped out of nowhere with all sorts of insanity and even almost one-to-one recreations of Galaxy stuff in Sunshine and it's just like "where the freak did this come from?!"
@@legoboy7107 I know older versions had slow down on console and the simple explanation given to me was that the GameCube isn't powerful enough. I think it may have more to do with other inner workings more than the 60fps because you're right, even the beta was at 60 :) Sunshine is apparently a mess inside, so optimization makes sense. It was rushed but it's still my favorite 3D Mario game.
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
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.
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!
finally someone who's talking about the visuals from superstars, they really missed the original sonic aesthetic with this one, surreal visuals, pixelized early 90's CGI, there's not much of that here for some reason people don't notice this about the old sonic games, even sonic 2 and sonic 3 kinda lacked that style, just compare those games visuals with sonic 1, cd and knuckles chaotix and you'll see what im talking about
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
people already begged sega to make a new design, and they gave us it with sonic boom sonic, but everyone hated it because it was a new design, so no matter what happens, one side of the fanbase with always be angry and sad.
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
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 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".
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.
Seeing random people react to the Titan themes and say “I need to play this game!” really makes me wish that future games graphics will be able to create a similar reaction
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.
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.
Ever since launch I've been defending the art style for Sonic Superstars and never understood why everyone thought it looked off (My logic was I saw a ton of praise for Kirby's return to dreamland and thought if this game looked on par to that game. I thought it was okay to look like this). To me it looked okay and was a refreshing jump from pixel art. But this video has really opened my eyes on the art style for this game. I still enjoyed Sonic Superstars all things considered but now I just look at it and see what it could've been if it had a different art style. Another thing factoring into this was how the quality just drops after Pinball Carnival Zone and I realized how bad these zones look lmao. If they're going to continue with the "Sonic Generations" esc art style/graphics, I feel like they could've done a lot more with the levels here. In Generations most of the levels had a lot of detail in their level backgrounds A lot of the stages feel generic or empty. the music doesn't even fit very well with a ton of them either. I feel like they could've stuffed a little more objects in the background to give it more detail. So it matches the quality of Bridge Island, Speed Jungle and Pinball Carnival. or at least at the same level of Sky Sanctuary. Of all that said tho I'm at least happy with their attempt at making new Zones and I see this game as a step in the right direction
as for the Sonic Artstyle and models in general I agree and I think they should do something about it to change it up too. If they want their games to be on the same level of quality as a Mario game for example (Naoto Oshima/Takashi IIzuka/someone working at SEGA Said that in an Interview somewhere but I don't remember where :/ )
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.
I think this all comes down to Sonic team's constant oscillation in terms of manpower and talents. Sonic adventure, SA2, Sonic heroes, and shadow the hedgehog all had unique styles. Sonic heroes to me was the most interesting, aesthetically speaking. Just look at the bonus stages. Bingo stage, spooky stages, even eggman fleet and fortress stages had so much eggmanistically artistic theming.
I know alot of people don't agree but I kinda like sonic boom sonic, tails, Amy and eggman designs.( not sure about knuckles lol). It makes the characters look older than their current iterations
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.
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.
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
The funny thing about fudging with models is that Super Mario Bros. Wonder is doing a LOT of that. Even Mario himself has his mustache move dynamically to appear more like 2D art, depending on the direction he's facing. And the characters always face the screen at a 3/4 angle, so you can see their expressions better. 2D is the perfect place to fudge with Sonic's proportions and make him look interesting from fixed angles.
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)
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
![[FINALE] 💸ที่แท้พ่อเป็นผู้ถือหุ้นบริษัทพันล้าน เขากลับใจตอนนี้ก็สายไปแล้ว🙇🏻♂️#ละครคุณธรรม #short](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/yFwgjTFISUI/mqdefault.jpg)
It’s insane to me how a franchise that built its initial appeal off of style is lacking style
And it lacks SO MUCH of it.
And The Simpsons built its initial appeal off being funny.
Yeah, I mean it's worth asking if Sonic is even still a fundamentally "cool" character anymore? It honestly hasn't really been what they're going for with how he's depicted for quite a while now- arguably since the major writing shift in Sonic Colors.
I don't know that Sonic Team still considers style to be a huge aspect of Sonic's core design anymore.
@@HyenaFox 100% but it’s also worth asking if what they’re going for is working. I’d be fine with a more IDW depiction but they’re either too afraid to let Ian Flynn write their games beyond just dialogue or they just want to keep them as safe and boring as possible.
@@SeanMania213The IDW comics are kinda mid ngl
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.
I was just thinking about the fallen star every second of this video
I really wish Fallen Star was a challenging game. I played the whole game without dying, and then the final boss was impossible
@@gummiewormproduction honestly, the only thing holding me back is not getting the goddamn emeralds, the game really is way too easy, but I don't mind it actually, it's to pretty to notice it lol
@@gummiewormproductionThe difficulty is in the special stages, my friend lol
@@mrbanks456 me wants a difficult game. Difficult special stages don't mean jack lol. I can't beat all the special stages in Sonic 2, but the game is great!
I think if they had gone with the hand drawn route with Superstars, it'd probably have a little more hype.
The thing is people would've said that Sonic/Mario is copying the other person's work if they did that
@@PokeblueblurWhy? Mario hasn't had any games with a hand-drawn sprite style
@@Izak_Klarkwell yoshi's island but that doesn't count really
I imagine people would say that because they think Mario wonder is hand drawn (it's not, it's just very cleverly animated and shaded/colored)
@@igirjei3717 I wanna believe enough people aren't that dumb, especially since neither would be the first hand drawn platformers even just for the relatively mainstream (Rayman for example).
Also even if they *were* cribbing from Mario *this* time it would actually be good as long as Sonic finds an maintains a unique and cool visual to it's artstyle.
@@shupasopni yeah I just want sonic to be both cool, and have actual quality. We're getting towards the latter fairly consistently, but the stock models from a decade and a half ago need to go
Honestly, it looks like a game that came out in 2012 to 2015 during the big retro games revival.
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.
Facts that intro goes hard
Yes, but you're enough stupid to make a difference between CGI of all games and calling Frontiers CGI is just a "slightly better" in-game version, while literally the only common point between ALL Sonic games is the CGI and characters, those 2 things are the first ones making us know we play a Sonic game, even its spin-offs have it, it succeed to remain same, even made by 3 different studios, and what do you do? You criticize the CGI of one of them, calling it just a better version of in-games, despite it's the same visual quality since 2005 (excluding Riders series and 06).
Edgy then
Don't forget Unleashed's Pixar quality opening!!
@@coltonk.3086 It’s really not as good as Shadow (2005)’s opening, nor is it higher quality.
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.
Yeah
You failed to mention that the Storybook games also have a nice visual flair to them in the 2D cutscenes.
I was thinking about them too.
Sonic Battle as well.
Amen!!
Absolutely
there so much nicer
ong
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…
*PLEASE* link me.
It was pretty rough, the animation of the mod tried to be something like the Spiderverse movie but ended up looking like a stop motion movie.
I fell like spider verse also did that, so like what
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.
Honestly Sonic Galactic looks 100 times better than Sonic Superstars. Matter of fact it might as well be the true next classic Sonic game.
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!!!
pariah drops? i click. simple
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
you’re so right. imagine someone who’s never been exposed to any official sonic media before, but they see all the fan art, fan games, fan animations, etc etc. so they check out the official games. i can only assume they’d be insanely underwhelmed.
I want a sonic game with cell shaded graphics
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.”
I don't like the classic Sonic Superstars model but I will be getting the game. Sadly I don't have a Nintendo Switch because I would have definitely gotten Mario Wonder since visually wise from what we've seen so far looks better than Superstars.
The reason for that is to make the franchise consistent in terms of visuals.
Nah, not all of us.
Lol. I'm not going to talk about all games pre Unleashed, but don't tell me that Sonic and friends models in 06 is better than what we have today. At least Sonic's size in the Modern Era looks accurate compared to whatever the fuck the designers of 06 did with him.
Hard disagree. The unleashed/ generations model looked like a natural evolution of what Sonics design was in the adventure era.
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...
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.
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.
it’s cool he listens but like, man… why does it need to even be said? it’s like a chef saying “hmm.. yes, i will consider seasoning this meat next time around.”
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
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.
Sonic unleashed?? Bland since when did you play the 360/PS3 version
People had been telling Sega to stop the experiments since 2006, i Wonder why
@@chelsea9641oh no I'm not calling Unleashed bland, I'm saying games after Unleashed And Colors look just bland to me. Wrong wording on my part
@@souptaels oh ok I definitely agree with you.
@@break-beat-sonic I think it was after black knights to be honest.
But 06 and unleashed definitely got the most hate for being experimental
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.
I really hope we get a hand drawn art style at some point, Sonic would look so good with it
Sonic needs its soul and it’s confidence back
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.
Reward good gameplay with better visuals, that's so genius, I genuinely wonder how they haven't done something like this.
Okay, well the Wii version of Sonic Unleashed increases the FOV the faster you go which really sells the speed.
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.
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
LOVE Freedom, Newtrogic Panic, and as at least one person mentioned Fallen Star.
Not technicly Sonic but Freedom Planet 2 is another great example. What is it with Sonic related artists named Tyson and being great?
Tyson Tan's art was so good that even when he was just doing fanart for the first game people loved his stuff, so much he got hired for the second one and I find it hard to look at the old looks for the characters.
Don't forget Sonic Storm! That game is absolutely oozing with style
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.
I'm not saying it has to look like Guilty Gear. It's just a good example of how to make 3D in 2D look way more dynamic. And I agree about Spiderverse. That new TMNT is already a carbon copy. That's not what we need. We need people to copy Spiderverse by trying to make their own unique style, like that movie did.
@@Pariah6950 I know you didn't mean it literally. It's just that whenever I see it brought up, I can't help but groan a bit because I've seen it so much since 2018.
They are gonna keep copying spider-verse till it gets statured and people dislike it. just like everything else has.
@@Pariah6950that's why Puss in Boots 2 is my favorite film as it's definitely the best looking film I've seen. And it's just unique. Every frame looks hand painted...
@@Pariah6950Hi Pariah! As someone who's an artist and is currently in college studying 2D and 3D design, I'm honestly a bit peeved when people refer to a film or show that uses stylized animation as a "Spiderverse clone." Spiderverse uses stylized rendering and visual effects, but just because another piece of media is inspired by them doesn't mean they're just copying what they did. For example, Spiderverse went more "comic book," while TMNT decided to go more "teenager's sketchbook." Their unique differences are in character design, background design, editing, effects, the animation itself etc.. The new, popular type of rendering is just meant to make films/shows more closely match their concept art, which is part of why photorealism is out-of-style now.
And even if media is "too similar" to Spiderverse, is that really a bad thing? Artists move around in the industry a lot and share ideas with/become inspired by each other. Tiffany Lam was the art director of TMNT and was a crew member on both Across the Spiderverse and Mitchells, and she probably picked up similar sensibilities that those projects did. Trends will happen, but artists make them their own.
I'm sorry if this may come off as a tad aggressive, I just needed to express that this sort of attitude about the animation industry is (ironically) very limiting for us artists and animators. I'm a big fan of your work and I still agree with your video, so I hope you don't get the wrong idea.
Fuck the look, Sonic needs a new development team so these mainline games arent trash anymore.😂😂😂
💯
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?
Yep, noticed the bullet drop move in Superstars too.
Also noticed people arent whining about it not having any momentum which is ironic 🙄
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.
I want this so badly but sonic fans are so complacent with the bare minimum despite always being shown otherwise.
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..
And it only sold 3.5 million. Persona 5 sold 9 million. It has been out longer, but Frontiers is never going to hit those numbers.
@@Pariah6950You don't think the visuals are the reason Persona sold more, right? Not the fact Sonic has had a pretty notorious reputation for selling bad games?
@@JaniacTheHedgehog Not the sole reason, of course. But I do think it plays a big role. P5 alone has made half of the series overall sales.
@@JaniacTheHedgehogas someone who never played or even heard of a persona game before 5, the entire reason i picked it up was cuz of the style and music. And now im waiting hyped for the remake of 3 for the same reasons. And whenever 6 comes out im honestly more hype to hear the music and see the style they go with as opposed to the gameplay, cuz its just an rpg at the end of the day. Cuz the style is what made me fall in love with the series in the first place and its the same for sonic for me and a lot of other people. Like he mentioned sa2 and the cd intro. Those in particular are what made me fall in love with sonic as a kid when i played mega collection and sa2b on the gamecube. So the style of a series really does play a role into getting more eyes and hands on your game
@@Pariah6950 Don't you think that has something to do with the game overall being unique, rather than the visuals? And again, hasn't had the historic fumbles of Sonic? I know visuals are part of what makes a game good, but if that was one of the biggest reasons, then how has Frontiers made a third of what P5 has despite being the most bland looking Sonic game to date in a franchise with a long line of historic failures? It's more than just the visuals, it all just depends on what the game can bring to attract the player, including gameplay, replayability, soundtrack and the fun factor.
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
Yup.
Also, have you played Spark The Electric Jester?
agreed
@@keeganmcfarland7507 Yes, I played all three of them
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.
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.
Bro, he got his predictions completely right, lol. Sega said that Superstars didn't do as well as they thought it would. Meanwhile, Wonder became one of the best performing Mario games ever.
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
Me too.
Let's hope we get a redesign for the Sonic characters in the future.
Plus, the character design of Sonic The Hedgehog (and Splatoon) is nowhere near hot garbage as Steven Universe or Luca or Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken.
ironically crash 4 bombed though while the insane trilogy was the best selling in the series. So even style isnt enough.
@@eishikibahamut ok.
Also, aren't you going to respond to my comment?
People are very split on Crash 4's style to this day. I personally think it looks way worse than something like Superstars.
crash 4's artstyle is just the same as spyro reignited's lol
They need to make Sonic look like a noodle-limbed stick figure with a backpack.
Absolutely despised Uekawa's Sonic Design.
The look of Sonic Superstars is most likely what the genesis games were supposed to look like.
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.
my god metal's hands don't even look like sharp, metallic, threatening claws.
they look more like those white lego claws instead.
and overall, metal's modern design nowadays makes him come off as a cheap mcdonald's toy instead of a menacing, heartless, sonic doppelganger killing machine.
I agree, visuals are super important to games; "visuals aren't important" is an insane thing to say because you want to care about visuals NOT just for making things cool, but visuals can also elevate the game design, music, sound, story, everything
All parts of a video game must be handled with care and respect; if one side is neglected, the game suffers as a whole
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.
I think Sonic shouldn't go full on cel-shaded, but have a similar less hi-fidelity style.
Maybe something closer to Wind Waker HD, but more vibrant?
Anyway, With how fast Sonic goes, pure cel-shading would probably look like a mess. But they need to stop trying to make everything so realistic. The amount of texture they have to put into things you're gonna see for half a second is crazy. A less detailed, more stylized approach would allow the world to be more cartoonish without feeling off, and it would also allow models to be more cartoonish and exaggerated in their animations.
Sonic needs style and ambition, it's what makes a Sonic game stand out.
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.
It's cause no soap shoes. Hence why frontiers sold so well. Sonic should always have soap shoes from now on
Not even in dreams.
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 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?
Funnily enough, P 06 has better visuals than pretty much any Sonic game in like a decade.
For better or worse 06 had a vision with its art style, it was going for something.
I would love a cell shaded style sonic game.
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
Hand-drawn 2D games and cel shaded 3D games would be amazing.
this
sega did consider making superstars with entirely hand-drawn graphics at one point, i really wish they went with that instead.
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.
A Classic Sonic game in the style of Kirby 64 or Klonoa would be SICK
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.
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
It does, while Mario changed it's visual style, got rid of the time limit, and has a whole new wacky premise. Sonic goes back to marketable with no changes except with co-op that looks like a mess and the chaos powers which I think are cool
I highly doubt they'd be a new Classic Sonic game in 3 years at least
I was saying this for years in the comments on TH-cam, 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
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 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
Is that 60fps option only for emulator? Just wondering, because I can play Sunburn on my Wii (and base Sunshine, my Wii is backwardds-compatible) and having a 60fps option on Wii would be great, especially since Sunshine was originally going to be 60fps on GC and both Mario Galaxy games are 60fps.
@@legoboy7107 Older versions of Sunburn run on Gecko codes basically but the new 1.8 is on the "Better Sunshine" engine. I am not smart enough to know most of what that means, or modding in general, as the Sunshine community are geniuses...buy, I think it's too demanding for a GameCube. No clue what a Wii would do but it is ultimately a GameCube ISO so let me know how it goes haha :)
@@stevenshockley4237 I mean, Sunshine was kinda an outlier for being at 30fps at the time because most other Gamecube games were hitting 60, including even Sunshine's own beta, and again there's the Galaxy games being 60 (even in imported Sunshine stages) so theoretically a game that looks like Sunshine should be able to run at 60 on console and not be too demanding, but yeah it really depends on like how optimized the engine is and all that stuff which it very well just might not be _that_ good, as at the end of the day it is still just a mod.
But yeah these Sunshine modders are insane, especially with how much this scene kinda exploded out of nowhere. There was like barely anything for Sunshine, then suddenly Eclipse gets dropped out of nowhere with all sorts of insanity and even almost one-to-one recreations of Galaxy stuff in Sunshine and it's just like "where the freak did this come from?!"
@@legoboy7107 I know older versions had slow down on console and the simple explanation given to me was that the GameCube isn't powerful enough. I think it may have more to do with other inner workings more than the 60fps because you're right, even the beta was at 60 :) Sunshine is apparently a mess inside, so optimization makes sense. It was rushed but it's still my favorite 3D Mario game.
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.
5:30 I would argue that art direction is what matters more than graphics
He really out here throwing the peanuts movie under the bus 😔
pee nuts
MAN FIRST CLOUDBUILT AWARENESS AND THEN FURI
I am so happy to subscribe and sticking around man
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
A classic of Sonic fan. Happy on nothing.
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.
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!
man if i worked with sonic team
Facts. Sonic needs some STYLE UP IN HERE🤝
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.
finally someone who's talking about the visuals from superstars, they really missed the original sonic aesthetic with this one, surreal visuals, pixelized early 90's CGI, there's not much of that here
for some reason people don't notice this about the old sonic games, even sonic 2 and sonic 3 kinda lacked that style, just compare those games visuals with sonic 1, cd and knuckles chaotix and you'll see what im talking about
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
This is why the best of the best Sonic fangames have very original or refined artstyle
-Mario's Wonder is as Sonic's Mania
-They Both bring back a classic style that hasn't been seen in years.
-Sonic's Superstars' is as Mario's New Soup.
very well said n i couldn't agree more !! great video yet again , Pariah !!
Sonic needs a backpack and dot eyes
people already begged sega to make a new design, and they gave us it with sonic boom sonic, but everyone hated it because it was a new design, so no matter what happens, one side of the fanbase with always be angry and sad.
graphics still don't matter
but it's art direction that does
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 haven't for bugsnax cause that game is visually appealing
Take it you've played the new DOOM games?
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.
All they had to do is making Amazon preorder cel-shaded skins to be the default.
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'm glad more and more people are saying this.
THANK YOU THANK YOU SOMEBODY FINALLY FREAKING said it!
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.
thats just the sonic boom de- oh
but yeah sonic boom designs ARE 10/10
@@jinxmybeloved6930Finally someone who appreciates the boom designs. Imo the character proportions look way better in boom than the main series.
@@ALegendaryBlueHedgei'm not that big a fan of sonic's and knuckles' boom designs, they're kinda whatever.
tails and amy though? bangers, 10/10
Seeing random people react to the Titan themes and say “I need to play this game!” really makes me wish that future games graphics will be able to create a similar reaction
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.
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.
Ever since launch I've been defending the art style for Sonic Superstars and never understood why everyone thought it looked off (My logic was I saw a ton of praise for Kirby's return to dreamland and thought if this game looked on par to that game. I thought it was okay to look like this). To me it looked okay and was a refreshing jump from pixel art. But this video has really opened my eyes on the art style for this game. I still enjoyed Sonic Superstars all things considered but now I just look at it and see what it could've been if it had a different art style. Another thing factoring into this was how the quality just drops after Pinball Carnival Zone and I realized how bad these zones look lmao. If they're going to continue with the "Sonic Generations" esc art style/graphics, I feel like they could've done a lot more with the levels here. In Generations most of the levels had a lot of detail in their level backgrounds A lot of the stages feel generic or empty. the music doesn't even fit very well with a ton of them either. I feel like they could've stuffed a little more objects in the background to give it more detail. So it matches the quality of Bridge Island, Speed Jungle and Pinball Carnival. or at least at the same level of Sky Sanctuary. Of all that said tho I'm at least happy with their attempt at making new Zones and I see this game as a step in the right direction
as for the Sonic Artstyle and models in general I agree and I think they should do something about it to change it up too. If they want their games to be on the same level of quality as a Mario game for example (Naoto Oshima/Takashi IIzuka/someone working at SEGA Said that in an Interview somewhere but I don't remember where :/ )
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.
Frontiers first giganto scene is amazing and you know it
I think this all comes down to Sonic team's constant oscillation in terms of manpower and talents. Sonic adventure, SA2, Sonic heroes, and shadow the hedgehog all had unique styles. Sonic heroes to me was the most interesting, aesthetically speaking. Just look at the bonus stages. Bingo stage, spooky stages, even eggman fleet and fortress stages had so much eggmanistically artistic theming.
I know alot of people don't agree but I kinda like sonic boom sonic, tails, Amy and eggman designs.( not sure about knuckles lol). It makes the characters look older than their current iterations
Movie Knuckles is best Knuckles design, that's my cannon Knuckles
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.
thats why tyson hesse mania design is peak
"They are so blaaaand and boring"
Ever listened to your own voice?
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.
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
The funny thing about fudging with models is that Super Mario Bros. Wonder is doing a LOT of that.
Even Mario himself has his mustache move dynamically to appear more like 2D art, depending on the direction he's facing. And the characters always face the screen at a 3/4 angle, so you can see their expressions better. 2D is the perfect place to fudge with Sonic's proportions and make him look interesting from fixed angles.
Sonic needs his signature edge back. Without it, the brand’s unique selling point is lost.
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)
Thick outlines, brighter colours, dynamic posing. These alone would make it SO much better.
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
This is the prelude to Mario Was Always Good
Oh yeah here we go