I have to confess something: yes, the 3D Sonic games are great, very stylish and everything you want, even the 2D ones with cartoon-like graphics are charming, but there’s something about a good pixelated game that surpasses everything else. Maybe it’s because the blue hedgehog brings back retro memories, or perhaps it’s because I grew up with Mega Drive games, but I can’t imagine leaving behind the 8-bit era… even though, considering what’s happening, I might have to do so reluctantly.
Polygonal Sonic
I like ‘Sonic Superstars‘ and its stylized 2D, almost cartoonish art style, a bit like an unsolicited response to ‘Super Mario Bros Wonder,’ it’s beautiful. But what I didn’t expect is that the Sonic Team would claim that this game is a statement of intent and a farewell to the chunky pixel. “We look at pixel art and we love it, but when we think about 10-20 years in the future, we don’t believe it’s a viable art style for our players,” says Takashi Iizuka, the team’s director. How daring.
“To truly move forward and evolve, we want to make sure we present something that we will continue to evolve in 10-20 years and for which we will create new content.” Back then, they also believed that the path to follow was ‘Sonic and the Black Knight’ and that initial design of the movie, so it’s not the first time they hit the brakes and rephrase their words.
This naturally means that we can say goodbye to another ‘Sonic Mania,’ at least as it was originally conceived. And ‘Sonic Mania’ is, without a doubt, a fantastic game… which future generations, not accustomed to pixels, might see as something unappealing. It’s Sega’s way of sending us gamers to the gaming retirement home, it seems. And this is despite their intention to keep using Sonic in any way they can: “We’re expanding into movies and series, but we need to have both 2D and 3D games for our gamer audience.”
Well, we’ll always have indie developers with limited budgets and gray hairs, I suppose. Sniff.
Some of the links added in the article are part of affiliate campaigns and may represent benefits for Softonic.
