Make Sonic The Hedgehog a Leading Franchise

Back in 1991, Sega took one giant stride into the gaming industry with the release of Sonic The Hedgehog. Sequels followed culminating with the 3-D disasters that made the character a joke.

What POD would need to happen for the franchise to stay on par with Nintendo and Mario?

Would Sonic Adventure need to be a bomb? Would the PS2 generation need nostalgic throwbacks to the 90's heyday?

And of course, the 2006 bomb would need to be butterflied away for obvious reasons...
 
Sonic games were still considered fucking huge for a long while, especially after Sonic Adventure 2. Most people have mixed opinions on Sonic Heroes but no one really hated it until other games afterwards started to suck.

What really did Sonic in was a combination of four games: Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic '06, Sonic Unleashed, and Sonic and the Black Knight. I remember being on several gaming forums at the time, and when Unleashed and Black Knight were announced at the same time, we all treated Sonic as a joke.

I have no idea what made SEGA make any of those games, and it's entirely possible the entire upper management at that time was a bunch of seven year olds.
 
I liked Sonic Heroes though the biggest issues were the voice acting, controls and the camera.

Shadow the Hedgehog was a wasted opportunity... it could have been so much better. Get rid of the vehicles, make the game more like an 80's action film: more explosions, ability to destroy the scenery and diabolical boss battles. Oh, and no familiar supporting cast.

Also, make it more gritty and lose the family-friendly angle.

Maybe it could have paved the way for more spin-offs - a game with Knuckles could have been interesting.


And I forgot... NO BIG THE CAT.
 
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