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Sonic Boom Is the Worst-Performing Sonic Launch Ever

by Alex Osborn - February 12, 2015, 4:12 pm EST
Total comments: 26 Source: Sega

Not even a cartoon tie-in can save Sega's struggling hedgehog.

The launch of Sonic Boom is now Sega's weakest game debut in the history of the franchise.

The combined sales of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal failed to reach half a million sales worldwide. Instead, a mere 490,000 copies of the Wii U and 3DS titles combined were sold.

This is particularly disheartening when considering the sizable marketing push Sega made to generate excitement for these games, going so far as to launch a Sonic Boom cartoon series.

Just recently, Sega announced it was downsizing to restructure and focus its efforts on PC and digital titles. Now it has become perfectly clear why.

Talkback

kokumakerFebruary 12, 2015

Unfortunately, this is what happens when you keep releasing games in a series that range from mediocre to awful. I don't think I know anyone who's enjoyed a Sonic game since the Genesis.

KhushrenadaFebruary 12, 2015

Quote from: kokumaker

Unfortunately, this is what happens when you keep releasing games in a series that range from mediocre to awful. I don't think I know anyone who's enjoyed a Sonic game since the Genesis.

I liked Sonic Adventure 2: Battle for the GameCube. I 100% that game even. I tried it out again a few months ago to relive the memories. Man, that's some rough game programming. Sega, you sure make poor games. Sonic Rush was another Sonic game a pretty much completed. There were some A ranks I could have gotten on a few levels but didn't. Let's see. Yep, that's about it. I got 100% on Sonic Adventure DX but didn't care too much for that game aside from a moment or two here or there. Sonic Heroes I didn't finish 100% or A ranking although I thought it better than Sonic Adventure DX. I've messed around a bit in the Sonic Master Collection and Sonic Gems Collection.

I've got Sonic Rush Adventure but have yet to play it. I recently bought Sonic and the Secret Rings and have Sonic Colors which is supposed to be good but I've yet to play either of those. The one Sonic game I've most wanted to play but keep putting off is Sonic Chronicles. I've got that in my backlog also.

I guess the original point is there has been a game or two post Genesis of Sonic that I've like and enjoyed. The problem as everyone knows is that the quality is all over the place so you will find some games that could appeal to you and others that won't.

Infinitys_EndFebruary 12, 2015

Don't make a shit game if you don't want to have shit sales.
There's tons of vids on YT about how glitchy and spotty the game is.  It plays like the game was tested for a week.  The whole thing is just one giant facepalm.

CericFebruary 12, 2015

Does that mean the original Sonic game for the WiiU will go on sale.  I still want to play that.

Ian SaneFebruary 12, 2015

Sonic Heroes was really the start of the trend of bad Sonic games.  At the time Sonic Adventure 2's reception was kind of mixed but it wasn't until Heroes that we started seeing universal negative reviews.  Sonic Adventure 1 created quite a buzz when it came out.  It really seems things went downhill once Sonic went multiplatform as the Adventure games were originally intended as Dreamcast exclusives and only got ported to the Cube after the fact.

The sad thing is I smirked when I read this news.  Sega does not deserve financial success from what they've done to Sonic.  If Mario suffered a similar fate I would take some delight in seeing those games fail as well.  Sonic games shouldn't sell any more.  The fact that they're not means that things have gone right for a change.  Now if Sonic later bounced back and still didn't sell because he cried wolf too many times that would be a shame.

The average score on GameRankings for the Wii U game is 33.15%!  Game scores are usually INFLATED and practically nothing gets lower than 50%.  This game must REALLY suck to get those kind of scores so it deserves to sell like shit.

Mop it upFebruary 12, 2015

This game truly looks bad, it probably shouldn't have even sold this much.

WahFebruary 12, 2015

No shit, It's the worst sonic game since sonic R!

WahFebruary 12, 2015

Generations and Colours were amazing go back to that SEGA!

SorenFebruary 13, 2015

Time to give Sonic the full New Super Mario Bros treatment.

Shelving it for a decade before reviving it on the most successful handheld ever? I'm afraid I've got some bad news...

Luigi DudeFebruary 13, 2015

Quote from: Soren

Time to give Sonic the full New Super Mario Bros treatment.

They already tried that with Sonic 4 Episode 1/2 and they manged to fuck that up as well.  Sega's handling of Sonic for over a decade now is pretty much the myth that if you put a bunch of monkeys in a room with typewriters they'll eventually type the greatest story ever.  Now that almost came true with Sonic Colors and Generations which were actually good and set the groundwork for real greatness, only for Sega to completely throw it all away with Lost World and Boom.

Pretty much proves the point the people handling Sonic really are just a bunch of monkeys typing away with something good occasionally being made by chance that even they don't know how they made it, while most of the time they're just throwing shit.

pokepal148Spencer Johnson, Contributing WriterFebruary 13, 2015

Quote from: Lucariofan99

No shit, It's the worst sonic game since sonic R!

http://youtu.be/fED2EeaTVCM

Quote from: kokumaker

Unfortunately, this is what happens when you keep releasing games in a series that range from mediocre to awful. I don't think I know anyone who's enjoyed a Sonic game since the Genesis.

You got yourself in a heap of trouble with that one. you are disregarding the marvelous Sonic Advance titles, Sonic Pocket Adventure for the Neo Geo Pocket, Sonic Rush, Colors and both versions of Sonic Generations. Heck, I'd even go as far to say that SOnic Riders is a solid game with a rather steep learning curve and that if you can survive the grind through the Werehog stuff or download the Unleashed Generations Mod, you have some good fun in Sonic Unleashed's Daytime stages!

Sonic has been a mixed bag from Day one. Sonic Drift. Sonic Labyrinth. Sonic 3D Blast. Sonic 2 GG, Sonic Blast, Knuckles Chaotix. all of those are SHIT classic era games. (I'm in the minority that thinks Sonic 1 Gamegear is a better game than Sonic 1 on the genesis...)

Lost World has actually gotten a lot better too with it being patched for several things, like Rings providing 1-ups and wisps now no longer requiring gyro controls.


Please do not throw generalizations out there. Please do not be the Sonic equivalent of a Gen-onner. you know who the fuck you are. Likitung is a horrible pokemon design, and you have no right to bitch about Garbodor. Just like you have no right to bitch about Sonic and the Black Knight.

SorenFebruary 13, 2015

I'm serious. Give it to Kyoto EAD Group 4 and give them full control. What's the worse that could happen?

KhushrenadaFebruary 13, 2015

Quote from: Soren

I'm serious. Give it to Kyoto EAD Group 4 and give them full control. What's the worse that could happen?

http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140807102746/gfaqssb/images/d/df/Sonichu_by_Cheritypie.jpg


What's the worst that could happen? WHAT'S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN?


This is why Sega and Nintendo must always be kept separate because, the minute the Pokémon and Sonic franchises are united under one company, the worst. could. happen.

Triforce HermitFebruary 13, 2015

I liked Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2. The only good 3D Sonic games. The series is dead though and will never be what it was. Bury, sell it, do something. Stop this awful beating of a dead horse.

pokepal148Spencer Johnson, Contributing WriterFebruary 13, 2015

It's better off then spyro at least...

PhilPhillip Stortzum, February 13, 2015

I'm sure the article means worst-performing MAJOR Sonic launch ever, as I doubt Sonic Drift or Labyrinth did well.

Anyway, I wish SEGA wouldn't try to reinvent the wheel with every Sonic game. They had something great with Sonic Colors and then Sonic Generations, and then they threw that away for Sonic: Lost World. Now, while that game isn't horrible, the mechanics weren't in tiptop shape and the game progressively got worse as you played through it (a trademark Sonic Team thing, the first level being the most polished and things drop off eventually from there).

I played both of the Sonic Boom games, and I really saw some potential in the Wii U game. However, you could tell the game was rushed to coincide with the release of the cartoon. It's a shame because with more time the combat could have been much better, the glitches wouldn't be so apparent, and the other problems plaguing the game wouldn't be so numerous.

The 3DS game was a fun diversion, but it was way too short for the asking price of $40. That's just a ridiculous asking price.

Triforce HermitFebruary 13, 2015

This is just me, but Sonic Generations was terrible. The Havok engine in a Sonic game is atrocious for platforming.

Ian SaneFebruary 13, 2015

In theory giving Sonic to Mario would work but Sonic in his prime was the alternative to Mario.  The fast-paced platforming of the Genesis games was a different take on the Mario formula and Nintendo might not understand its appeal.  Sonic was effectively rebelling against Mario.  Nintendo would probably make a good game but maybe not a good Sonic game if you get my meaning.

There were a lot of Sonic rip-offs in the 16 bit years and most were not very good but Rocket Knight Adventures was decent.  That was Konami.  Don't know what the people involved would be working on but maybe they could try.  Treasure might be able to do Sonic well.  Whatever team at Namco did Klonoa might be capable.  If we want to try to get Nintendo involved maybe GameFreak is the one to do it since they did Pulseman.

SorenFebruary 13, 2015

Quote from: Ian

If we want to try to get Nintendo involved maybe GameFreak is the one to do it since they did Pulseman.

Good God, did you not see what Khush posted earlier? At least in my proposal the franchises would be in different buildings!

KhushrenadaFebruary 13, 2015

Ian Sane: Hardcore Sonichu Fan confirmed.

Mop it upFebruary 13, 2015

I wonder if this means no more Mario and Sonic Olympics.

KDR_11kFebruary 14, 2015

I call this a victory for gaming.

Luigi DudeFebruary 14, 2015

Quote from: Ian

In theory giving Sonic to Mario would work but Sonic in his prime was the alternative to Mario.  The fast-paced platforming of the Genesis games was a different take on the Mario formula and Nintendo might not understand its appeal.  Sonic was effectively rebelling against Mario.  Nintendo would probably make a good game but maybe not a good Sonic game if you get my meaning.

There were a lot of Sonic rip-offs in the 16 bit years and most were not very good but Rocket Knight Adventures was decent.  That was Konami.  Don't know what the people involved would be working on but maybe they could try.  Treasure might be able to do Sonic well.  Whatever team at Namco did Klonoa might be capable.  If we want to try to get Nintendo involved maybe GameFreak is the one to do it since they did Pulseman.

Good Feel showed they could pull it off.

http://youtu.be/KG1mCvAA-AI

The speed sections in Wario Land Shake are better then anything Sega's made with Sonic in the last 20 years.

Quote from: Luigi

The speed sections in Wario Land Shake are better then anything Sega's made with Sonic in the last 20 years.

That's somewhat inaccurate. Those were better than anything Sega's made with Sonic ever.

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