DBWI: Sonic 06 a bad game?

I know it seems ASB for the best game in the Sonic franchise to be bad, but what would the effect on the franchise be if Sonic 06 was bad, and what would cause it to be bad?
 
I know it seems ASB for the best game in the Sonic franchise to be bad, but what would the effect on the franchise be if Sonic 06 was bad, and what would cause it to be bad?

Would this possibly "butterfly" away the highly praised Sonic Adventures cartoon created by Paul Dini? If anything, considering how many people remember the franchise based on the cartoon is actually quite astounding, especially with the 4 films by Dream Works that followed the series...
 
Would this possibly "butterfly" away the highly praised Sonic Adventures cartoon created by Paul Dini? If anything, considering how many people remember the franchise based on the cartoon is actually quite astounding, especially with the 4 films by Dream Works that followed the series...

That would be the tip of the iceberg in ATL. Sonic '06 didn't exactly win Game of the Year but it was a rock solid title that laid the foundations of the modern sonic fandom.

Imagine if Sonic '06 was a flop. Would we see Sonic '09: Chaos Rising, Sonic '11: Eggman's Redemption, Sonic '14: Savior of Soleanna? Sonic Generations? Would Sonic occupy 5 of the top twenty games on the google play store and very respectable rankings on iOS?

Without Sonic '06 reestablishing Sonic as a brand after the final victory of Nintendo over Sega in the hardware realm in the 1990s, you wouldn't even see Sonic Olympiad. ATL Sega would probably be dominated by strange new ideas, vampire sonic, wherewolf sonic, maybe trying to market it exclusively to younger demographics.

And that's saying nothing for the Sonic fandom. I check r/sonic on reddit and I see 150k subs, SonicCon which is in Chicago next year, there's /son/ on 4chan with its usual...eccentricities.

Today, the Sonic Game fandoms and Sonic Adventures fandoms are big enough to be distinct. On my Sonic fanboard which I mod when tensions are raised it's usually because of the minor canon discontinuities between the show and the games, especially the "minor" games like Generations. Although it's hard to imagine, a truly bad (really bad, not just mildly disappointing) Sonic '06 would probably just kill everything off in an apocalypse of butterflies. My forum wouldn't exist, the Sonic thread over on Non-political chat here on AH.com wouldn't exist, no /son/ or large r/sonic community, I can't even think of anything that would be around.

I'm thinking there would be a "Sonic Fandom", but it would likely mostly be associated with less talented artists, mostly around DeviantArt, probably would be obscure if not reviled or mocked. I wouldn't be a part of it of course, me being one of those who came in with Sonic '09, and of course that changes my life.

Typing this has really made me realize just how important that game was for internet and gaming culture, and how seemingly small decisions can serious effect a person's life down the road. I can only imagine what I would be doing. My old nickname was Bagelman or Bagel, I'd probably still use that, but other than that I have no clue.

I guess the most interesting aspects of this what if would be what would replace the Sonic Fandom ATL. Anyone have any ideas?
 
Make Sonic 06 a bad game? Well I suppose development could be rushed to meet a very important deadline (devs going under hoping the game saves them financially, make it in time for Black Friday/Christmas) since the game IOTL was given til July and started in November of '05 IIRC.
 
If it's a bad game, you might start seeing people complain about things like Sonic's eyes or his arm color. Then again, it would never escalate into someone actually getting hurt over a hedgehog's arm color. That would be stupid. :D
 
OOC: Wasn't that cartoon from the early 1990's, well before our PoD?
OOC: Yes but much like how theBatman and Spiderman franchises have been reivented or "reimagined" every 5 years or so to renew interest in the franchise...

IC: Apparently David Faustino is considered the most successful of the Married with Children (FOX-TV) alumni, because of his role in Sonic Adventures
 

yourworstnightmare

Banned
Donor
Sonic 06 was in many parts a big risk, they broke much of the Classic Sonic formula, and it could have been a disaster if people hadn't liked it. On the other hand if Sonic 06 was just another typical Sonic game with no reimagining and nothing new on the table, it would probably also have flopped. That Sonic 06 was a success was very unexpected.
 
Top