Sonic the Hedgehog Live-Action/CGI Movie Targeting 2020 Release Date

[IndigoErth]

Ran across part of a tv trailer... That's just too bizarre for me. And can't get over one line (that I now can't even recall) that I was pretty sure has also been said in 'Rise,' in exactly the same way as 'Rise' Leo said it, leading to a moment of cringy dissonance.

[Papenbrook]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

Ran across part of a tv trailer... That's just too bizarre for me. And can't get over one line (that I now can't even recall) that I was pretty sure has also been said in 'Rise,' in exactly the same way as 'Rise' Leo said it, leading to a moment of cringy dissonance.

That is the mighty acting power of Ben Schwartz.

Anyways, I wonder what this movie's Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic score(s) will be.

What fate will await this peculiar film?

[Powder]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

I always visually liked Sonic, but the games were kind of boring to me. It's hard to "manage" Sonic when he's going really fast and it's just a lot of that, and jumping at the right moments.

Same here. My enjoyment of the series was limited to cartoon & comic stuff (which isn't saying much, most of it sucks), 'cause I found the games virtually unplayable. There's a lot of aesthetic charm to the Sonic world, it's characters & settings are very fun, but it's not enough to win me over. I'll go see this piece of sh*t movie for my partner's sake, though. Sonic's kinda like their TMNT.

[Wildcat]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

I always visually liked Sonic, but the games were kind of boring to me. It's hard to "manage" Sonic when he's going really fast and it's just a lot of that, and jumping at the right moments.

Which ones have you played? You don’t have to go fast all the time. I mean you can play them more like a traditional platformer if you want to. Especially the old ones.

In some of the newer ones you do have to go fast but mostly just in speed specific areas which works out ok since they kind of only exist for speeding through.

[oldmanwinters]

I'm not usually who goes to see February movies (it's a studio's dumping ground for most movies it has little confidence in) but I do love the ol' Blue Hedgehog.

Even when he's at his lowest:

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Wildcat

Which ones have you played? You don’t have to go fast all the time. I mean you can play them more like a traditional platformer if you want to. Especially the old ones.

In some of the newer ones you do have to go fast but mostly just in speed specific areas which works out ok since they kind of only exist for speeding through.

In theory you are correct. BUT. "Go fast" is the entire selling point of the character/series, and in many of the games you are actively punished rather than rewarded for doing so. Sonic Adventure 2 was especially bad with this, "tricking" you into going full-blast through a section only to abruptly whip you off of the track and into space, killing you instantly without warning. Over and over and OVER again, to the point where you don't even trust the game to play fair anymore, and you end up tiptoeing through a level until you have it memorized. That's not fun. Other Sonic games have had that problem, but SA2 was particularly bad with it. So was Sonic 2006, but that game wasn't even finished, so anything NOT broken is what surprises me. Meanwhile, the original 2D Sonic games were more about whipping you into spike strips at full-speed before you could stop or slow down. Either way, cheap and annoying is cheap and annoying.

And yes, you can go through it like a "regular" platformer, but that erases the entire point of it being SONIC, and meanwhile, in most of the games the platforming elements are merely functional when removed from the sense of speed. At the end of the day, the reason the Mario series has reached such lofty status while the Sonic series has floundered is simply because, Mario games are just plain better-designed than Sonic ones. Sonic games DO have plenty of fun sections and are generally beautiful to look at, but most of the time the level design is straight-up junk, full of "anti-player" sections that emphasis trial-and-error memorization over fun gameplay.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a Sonic fan. I've played most of the "main" games, and I have fun with most of them, but there's undeniably just a ton of "What in the F*CK" moments along the way. What gets me is, some of the Sonic games I enjoy the most don't seem to be appreciated much by others. Like both chapters of Sonic 4, I had no problems with at all, definitely one of the most fun and least-frustrating Sonic games I've ever played. But apparently people hate it; something about the jumping not feeling exactly 1:1 with the Genesis games? Like yeah, I can feel it, but seriously? Just about everything else in 4 is a HUGE improvement over the originals, objectively. I just got done with the main part of Sonic Forces, and again, that was by far one of the most fun and least-frustrating Sonic games I've ever played. The levels were a bit short, but never ONCE did I mutter, "This is bullsh*t", and that's rare for a Sonic game. Looked great, played very well, the jumping in the 2D sections needs to be tighter but it's nothing a person can't adjust to. I had a ton of fun with it, but apparently people don't like it. I'unno.

The peak for me, though, I think, was Sonic Generations. That's the most fun I ever remember having with any Sonic game. Everything was tight, nothing felt cheap or unfair, and both the 2D and 3D parts were executed pretty much perfectly. Whenever people tell me they don't like Sonic, or they haven't enjoyed a Sonic game since the 90s, I tell them to check out Generations.

So yeah, Sonic games CAN be great, but if we're being totally honest, most of them are just "decent", with pretty good graphics, and a few of them just aren't very good at all (although I maintain there's a lot more good than bad, overall). I'm in a minority in that I think they've only started figuring how to do them properly within the last ten years or so. Even the "classic" originals were only Pretty Good, not Great.

The best ones, to me, in no real order are Generations, Colors, 4, and Sonic Adventure. I have not played Mania yet, however. And Adventure isn't for everyone, but I dig it. But I maintain that most people who don't traditionally like the series should still find much to like about the others I mentioned.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Powder

I'll go see this piece of sh*t movie for my partner's sake, though. Sonic's kinda like their TMNT.

That's fair. Luckily I don't have that problem. I'll catch it on Netflix or something if there's good word of mouth. I value this about as much as that Detective Pikachu movie, as in it doesn't irk me in any way and seems like it could have potential, yet absolutely nothing about it draws me to it.

Originally Posted by Wildcat

Which ones have you played?

Eh... dabbled with the first three but mostly lost interest and walked away. Then YEARS later, Sonic the Hedgehog on PS3. I actually got pretty far into that one, I think, but sure enough I lost interest. I think it wasn't bad, though. It tried new stuff.

Originally Posted by Leo656

So yeah, Sonic games CAN be great, but if we're being totally honest, most of them are just "decent", with pretty good graphics, and a few of them just aren't very good at all (although I maintain there's a lot more good than bad, overall).

I'm no Sonic expert, from from mostly afar it just seemed like the same game over and over again. Like TMNT II, III, IV, Hyperstone Heist, etc.. At least the Mario games are very different and every one of them (the CORE Mario games) radically changes things. There's still running and jumping and goombas and Bowser in an airship usually, but the mechanics are all different.

[oldmanwinters]

I loved the Genesis games, and one reason why they left such an impact upon me was that the games told a story, one that unfolded slowly but naturally, without resorting to text or voice acting, but simply used in-game graphics to "speak" to the player.

[Leo656]

Your memory is lying to you, Andrew. Sonic '06 was an unfinished, broken, nearly-unplayable mess, only even tolerable when playing a patched version. I believe the patch was actually done and issued by fans, on account of Sega couldn't be assed to bother.

I got through a decent chunk of it, myself, until I realized that it was bullsh*t and I wasn't actually having fun. Easily one of the worst games I've ever, EVER played. Yeah, there was potential, but... it wasn't even a "game" as much as a really polished demo. Pretty much every game since, even "Unleashed", does everything that game tried to do much, much better (Although Unleashed has its own damn problems).

If you actually enjoyed '06 at all, then you'd probably be pleasantly surprised by more recent Sonic games which were, y'know... actually finished and work properly. That game, though, was by far the closest I've ever come to assaulting one of my games with a power drill. And if I was home alone I just might've. I don't always make good decisions when I'm alone, but dammit, I know how to express what I'm feeling.

You'd most likely enjoy Colors and Generations. Colors is by far the most "different" in the series; some people don't like it for that very reason, as it actually borrows a few things from Mario and at times feels more like a Mario game than a Sonic game, but it's altogether very good. And Generations simply flawlessly executes everything great about the Sonic series' gameplay while minimizing the annoying or frustrating parts. I totally couldn't put it down and actually got thumb cramps, the first time that's happened to me since like, 1994. So I give it a lot of respect, for that.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Your memory is lying to you, Andrew. Sonic '06 was an unfinished, broken, nearly-unplayable mess, only even tolerable when playing a patched version.

Maybe that's why I walked away from it. I know I was enjoying it for a while, at least. It was like one of the first two PS3 games I got, before there was even much of a lineup.

[Wildcat]

Leo656, well ya speeding through them is the point but you don’t have to to enjoy them. Plus there are plenty of levels that play like a traditional platformer. That’s something people tend to forget. Not every stage or level was designed to speed through. It was a mix of both.

Ya Forces gets criticized but it is good. My only complaint was it seems a bit too easy in part and feels shorter than usual. I agree about SA2. The later stages anyway.

AndrewNDB, Oh well the originals are the easiest to get into imo. I don’t think Sonic 06 (PS3 or 360) is bad either. Just a few annoying hiccups that happen sometimes. Unless you’re talking about Unleashed.

[Leo656]

Forces was relatively short and a bit on the easy side, sure; if you play each level once you can see the whole thing in about 3-4 hours. BUT, every level is fun to play and there's almost no frustration factor, thus the replay value skyrockets. It is not a perfect game, but it's very "fair". If you die, it's because you did something wrong, not because the game spazzed out and threw you off the rails or had you glitch through the floor or you ran out of momentum while trying to run on water. That stuff is always terrible, and games like '06 and SA2 had all of that in spades, but Generations, Colors and Forces have pretty much eliminated those problems almost entirely. You still have to pay attention, but if you screw up, you immediately know how to not screw up next time. It never feels like, "Well, THAT came out of nowhere and was some straight-up bullsh*t." Unleashed had a big problem with that. Tons of cheap deaths that were unavoidable until you'd played the level a dozen times and memorized every twitch jump. The levels, traps, and enemy layouts in Generations, Colors, and Forces don't feel like they're there to "trick" you, and the branching paths are enticing rather than punishing. I'm fine with a slightly-easy game that's 100% fun, any day.

Forces, so far, was one of the only Sonic games where I could easily blitz through most of a level at full-speed using "Burst" mode and either not die, or only die because I was careless. And I'm like, "WHY was it so hard to finally get to this point?" Yeah, it's easy, but it also gave me the sense of what these games actually allege to present to you in the first place. Playing them at a leisurely pace like a Mario game kind of misses the point of SONIC. So it was nice to actually be encouraged to cut loose as much as possible and not be punished for it.

I might pick up Mania this weekend when I get paid. Kind of in the mood for it, now. And I saw it at the store for like $20.
-------------------------

Andrew: Yeah, I bought it for 360, similar reason, didn't own many games for it yet. And I figured, "Well, c'mon, it can't be THAT bad." I've played several games that were similarly lambasted and enjoyed them, so I figured with '06 it was a simple case of "Sonic sucks since it went 3D, lol" and people just not being fair. BOY, was I wrong! Game's terrible!

Falling through floors, glitching through walls, randomly losing momentum and falling to death, "homing" jumps that send you the complete f*cking wrong way... before I was even done with the first level, I was like, "...This thing doesn't work, mang." But I did give it a few days before finally rage-quitting. I'm glad I didn't give up on the series - "Unleashed" kinda pushed me to towards the end, though - but man, if '06 is the last Sonic game a person played I can totally understand them being gun-shy.

[Wildcat]

I agree Forces levels are good. I replayed a bunch unlocking avatar items. Some just for fun. (I really hope they continue the avatar characters).

While I’ve enjoyed all of them I think Secret Rings might be my favorite modern Sonic. I guess I’m in the minority but once you get going I think it’s a lot a fun. It’s not too easy or hard and feels exhilarating in a good way.

Sonic Mania is good but I found myself wishing for more levels again. New and/or reimagined ones. There’s so much to chose from the past. It’ll probably get a sequel so maybe that’s ok.

I still have not played Sonic 4. I was hoping it’d get a physical release in a compilation or something. We need a Sonic Gems 2. Lot of stuff they could put on there. Especially more obscure material.

[Leo656]

Yeah, I usually don't download games but I think I saw at one point where they flat-out said Sonic 4 wasn't going to get a disc release, and both chapters were cheap, so I said f*ck it. Very glad I did. Again, some people complain that they're a little on the easy side and that the jumping physics aren't identical to the Genesis games, but they definitely feel like "Sonic 4" in spirit. I'm more apt to replay 4 than the originals, most of the time.

With Forces, I felt compelled to replay just about every level immediately, either for an S-Rank or just to see and do more. I usually don't care as much, or only grudgingly replay the levels I've already beaten, but it never felt like a chore in that one. I'm actually going to jump back into it for a bit in a few minutes, just for fun.

"Secret Rings", huh? That's definitely a unique choice. It's definitely among the most hated games in the series, but I do agree that a lot of that is overblown. The problem, to me, is having to play the game for a fairly long time before you can do standard, simple, basic Sonic stuff that you can do in most of the other games right out of the box. Having to "unlock" the moves and abilities that are required simply to play the damn game properly felt more like needless padding than anything else. I know for a fact that most people who played it didn't even get far enough into it to have a decent abilities list, because at the start of the game it's so "gimped" that I can't fault anyone for not having the patience for it. For the first few levels, it felt like by far the worst Sonic game I'd ever played. BUT, I agree with you that it actually gets pretty good and is fairly fun, once you do get a few hours into it. Problem is, 99% of players aren't going to suffer through the first few "broken" parts to get that far, and I can't really blame them. It seriously just felt like a cheap way to add several more hours onto what would otherwise be a fairly short and simple game.

The "auto-running" thing is definitely not for everyone, but it does take some of the frustration out of things when all you as the player have to worry about is maneuvering around traps and enemies. I actually had fun with it, but it took a while to get there. The second half of Secret Rings is actually pretty fun. I just don't think getting there should have been such a chore, and it ultimately killed that game's chances of success. Its terrible reputation is almost entirely due to the fact that even most paid critics never played it for more than two hours, by their own admission, and thus didn't actually see that it got a lot better later on. It just should have been more polished all around.

I have not played Black Knight yet, but I've heard that it's pretty lousy. Thank goodness Sonic Colors came out so that Wii owners could have a "proper" Sonic game that was actually good.

[Wildcat]

I think once you get a decent soul gauge/flame bar it starts to even out.

I thought Black Knight was disappointing because the main quest is very short and the levels didn’t feel as exciting as Secret Rings...but I’ve only played it once when it was new. I really want to replay it and try more of the side stages.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Truth is....plenty of fans will try to tell ("educate" as they put it) you what a Sonic game is about. They'll say it's about explorative level design with speed being a reward, think quick and act quick, etc. and I say to that, "you guys are over-analyzing a fun and simple early 90s platformer." But it's really how you want to play it. Speed is the main selling point for Sonic but outside of that, it's no different from any other platformer.

Sonic 1, you really only go fast in like two stages (Green Hill and Starlight) but other stages like Marble Garden and especially Labyrinth and Scrap Brain you really aren't going as fast, so the game kinda misses the mark of what it was advertised. Sonic 2 does a much better job at doing what the first game failed to do. Though I'm gonna be honest, I didn't grow up with this one much and I think there were a lot of cheap deaths in the game so I don't have the nostalgia glasses for it like others do. Sonic 3 & Knuckles (do not play the game separately) is the pinnacle for me beacuse they actually balance speed and platforming really well, plus if Sonic's not up your alley, you can play as Tails or Knuckles and have a smoother experience. Knuckles is a bit harder though but much shorter.

3D games may vary with you though. I enjoyed some of them but I'll admit, I don't have a favorite between them because while many of them have great qualities, I only enjoy bits and pieces of each one of them and none of them really nailed Sonic's transition into 3D. Sonic Adventure, the Sonic and Tails gameplay styles were fine but there were times with the amount of terrain you were given, you often couldn't keep a character in a straight line and might even slip off or glitch through a wall and fall to your death. Not to mention the other gameplay styles were not what you play a Sonic game for. It was a good game but a bit too ambitious, for my liking. Adventure 2 focused on going fast but for later stages it often lead to cheap deaths. Heroes had some good ideas but often slippery controls, unnecessary padding, and playing the same playthrough 4 times just to unlock the final story made it more of a chore. 06 is bad, whether some people like it or not, it's just an unfinished mess. Unleashed had some good ideas with the daytime stages but if anything this game was the best example of going so fast leads to cheap deaths. Colors is a fun game, you spend a lot of time playing it in 2D than 3D but I still though it was a breath of fresh air compared to what we got before. Generations is fun. Lost World has a learning curb to it and may or may not work well for you, I thought it was frustrating. Forces....is not terrible but it's not really that fun and the controls for the characters (Classic especially) just don't feel right. Yeah, the levels were short but it still was pretty boring and really nothing but a time waster. It was pretty underwhelming and not worth the $40.

I also understand that it's difficult to take some Sonic fans' word on a lot of the games because there's many out there who unconditionally love even the bottom of the barrel games and often say stuff like "I don't get how people can not like this game." Some just have straight up Stockholm Syndrome. I honestly wish they would go away but nothing I can do about it. But I also understand that Sonic is not everyone's cup of tea. I admit there's a lot I love about the series but I don't hold it up as one of the holy grail IPs that some do. All I really want is a good game, that's it.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

Ran across part of a tv trailer... That's just too bizarre for me.

This movie would've made more sense in every way if it took place in a fantasy world rather than Earth.

[RaphaelinSTL]

Originally Posted by IMJ

This movie would've made more sense in every way if it took place in a fantasy world rather than Earth.

It's cheaper to do the tired old, "fish out of water" story and have your favorite characters COME TO EARTH so many kids franchises turned into films have done.

That being said, I'm mildly interested in checking this out in the theaters and I don't know why.

My big question to you all is do you think this will take away the number one from Birds of Prey when it comes out? BOP will only be out one week before Sonic hits theaters and if Sonic takes its spot, BOP will be the second major post-Nolan DC movie to lose it's top spot at the box office in its second weekend next to Justice League. Now granted, BOP is rated R and has a smaller budget ... but I honestly see Sonic being number one the weekend it drops.

[TigerClaw]

Junkie XL talks about doing the Soundtrack to the Movie. And he can't use the Green Hill Theme for legal reasons.
http://www.tssznews.com/2020/01/17/j...c-movie-score/

[Wildcat]

Thats weird about the Green Hill rights. Didn’t know Sega never actually owned the music.

So I know some here (maybe on other sites too) might not take me seriously when talking about Sonic since I’ve made it clear he’s my favorite character/franchise.

However I think I’ve been able to remain unbiased enough over the years. There’s been stuff I did not really enjoy or had mix feelings about.

I never finished the Sonic Boom cartoon. Didn’t think it was interesting and leaned too much on random comedy. I mentioned Black Knight was disappointing and I never really liked Sonic Heroes character swapping either. It was a nice idea but could have been done better.

So I’m sorry for repeating this again, but I just do not get the earth complaint. The concept of a nonhuman coming here was established since whatever the first alien story was and there’s many other things that could be viewed as out of place.

Why is Sonic specifically unfit for coming to earth? He’s from earth depending what continuity you use.

I know I tend to defend a lot of stuff but I honestly think a lot of things are perfectly acceptable because they’ve been done before and/or fit whatever the story is about.