Topic: What Makes A Sonic Adventure Game?

[SonofMrPeanut]

So given the recent hubub about Sonic Adventure 3's domain registrations and Hunnid-P doing a new Knuckles theme, I'd like to pose this question:  What are the defining aspects of a Sonic Adventure game?


I ask this because I saw someone arguing that Sonic 06 is effectively Sonic Adventure 3 (even though I'd give that title to Sonic Heroes).  What's a legitimate reason for Sonic 06 or even Sonic Heroes not being a Sonic Adventure game, aside from the name?  Are these differences enough to warrant a different series?  Does it possess a distinct DNA, or did it lose its sense of separate identity in the wake of the other 3D Sonic games have come out since?

[NWR_insanolord]

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 raises the same questions. There were probably a dozen 2D Sonic games between 3 and 4. Really, it's a PR move designed to capitalize on nostalgia.

[Luigi Dude]

Outside of the Sonic levels, everything else in the Adventure games was terrible and most fans of the Adventure games will even admit it.  Going back to using the name Adventure is rather stupid since that name is notorious for sh!tty non-Sonic gameplay while the recent Sonic games Colors and Generation were both praised for finally doing Sonic 3D games right and didn't have any non-Sonic gameplay sh!t.

Of course this is Sega so making stupid decisions is something they specialize in and continue to be the masters of so it wouldn't surprise me one bit.

[Ian Sane]

Sonic Adventure means "3D Sonic game from back before Sega went third party".  Of course both games later appeared on the Cube but at the time they were clearly meant to be Dreamcast exclusives.

Or perhaps what makes it a Sonic Adventure games is merely that it's a decent title.  If Sega got the series back on track with this release they could disown all the 3D Sonic games between Adventure 2 & 3 and preserve the naming convention.

It is just some bullshit name though.  Sega doesn't make better games, they just continue the numbering of when they were making better games.  Sonic is a series where fans all have their cut-off point of when they feel the series ceased to be good.  Everyone agrees that the series was still good when Sonic the Hedgehog 3 came out so we get Sonic 4.  Sonic Adventure 2 comes from a time when Sonic was still well regarded for the most part so we get Sonic Adventure 3.  "See, this series is good again because we're continuing from the cut-off point of where it started to suck."  And that would be a good idea if they actually did that but they won't.

[ThePerm]

I think Sega should just make Sonic more like NiGHTS. I'm not sure if they have or not because I havent really played anything since Sonic Adventure 2. NiGHTS had the right type of 2d gameplay with 3d graphics though.

edit: though from what I've been reading is the series is back on the right track

[kiethmenker]

i agree...

[Tamazoid]

Adventure 3 already happened. . .  . . . 06 was basically a "Sonic Adventure" title anyway. People wanting Adventure 3 are blinded by nostalgia.


Whatever Sega does with their next Sonic game they need to ensure that it launches on Nintendo consoles. This generation Sonic has sold the best on the Wii, hell i'm pretty sure Colours nearly outsold generations. A Sonic game for WiiU released mid next year would sell.

[TJ Spyke]

The Sonic Adventure games were actually good (not great, but pretty good), so a real Sonic Adventure 3 would be wanted. Neither the 2006 STH game or Sonic Unleashed (which is what that Japanese boxart is of) qualify. Besides, generally most people say that the non-werehedgehog parts of Unleashed are pretty good.

[Khushrenada]

Well fleshed out secondary characters like Big the Cat and Rouge the Bat.

And chao. Can't forget the chaos.

[NWR_insanolord]

If they bring back the Chao aspect I'll have to buy the game. What would be awesome is some kind of smartphone integration, like the Dreamcast VMU stuff and the GameCube-GBA connectivity.