The Truth Behind the Sonic 06 Failure

The Truth Behind Sonic 06 Failure It’s no secret that 2006’s “Sonic the Hedgehog” was an unmitigated disaster. Serving as the fifteenth anniversary of the iconic “Sonic” franchise, most fans were expecting a big to-do with “Sonic the Hedgehog” and expected that Sonic Team would, you know, put some effort in. But then November 14, 2006 arrived, and everyone was witness to a complete horror show. Name’s Dave with WatchMojo, and today we’re here to explain what happened to “Sonic The Hedgehog 2006” Sonic 06 wasn’t just bad. It was dreadful. A frustrating camera, horrible controls, and seemingly endless glitches and bugs were just a few of its debilitating issues. It was universally critically panned, and Sega was forced into some serious damage control. The game, along with other “Sonic” titles that received a middling Metacritic score, was eventually de-listed in 2010. According to Sega’s ex-President of Europe, Jorgen Burst, this was done to “increase the value of the [Sonic] brand”. It was like the game never existed. But what exactly happened? How does a highly anticipated AAA release turn into such a PR nightmare? Well one of the major contributors to the travesty was, ironically, Sonic Team’s lack of a team-based mentality. The team was totally fragmented and had constantly shifting leadership, and therefore, a shifting direction. The game’s first director, head of Sonic Team and lead programmer of the “Sonic” series, Yuji Naka, left the team midway through development to start his own game company, [3] Probe. In an interview with Game Developer magazine, Naka stated his reason was that he wanted to get back to being part of the development process as opposed to a management role. Sonic Team lacked a leader, and the core personnel behind the classic games had long moved on from the company. On the surface, “Sonic 06” actually had potential. The Havok engine promised a different “Sonic” experience, and with the engine becoming a popular development tool within the industry, mainly due to its physics engine, Sonic Team wanted to capitalize on the technology. This allowed for a greater range and variety of physics based gameplay mechanics, as well as larger and more detailed levels, and the ability to navigate multiple paths with next-gen hardware. Technological leaps aside, the company was also returning to the old school “Sonic” roots, which greatly excited long-time fans of the series. This change in direction was in response to criticism received, for the team based “Sonic Heroes” and edgelord central “Shadow the Hedgehog”. To do this, the producers decided to re-introduce speed and branching pathways as the most important gameplay mechanics. This was a “Sonic” anniversary commemoration done right – a celebration of the series’ past and an introduction to new and exciting technological leaps that should have helped ferry the franchise into the future. But as we stated earlier; the boss left to form his own company, after which Yojiro Ogawa then took over the reigns as the game’s director. And then Nintendo sent Sega the first ever Software Development Kits for the Wii (At that time still called the Revolution) and it made everything worse. “Sonic the Hedgehog 06” was designed exclusively for the new batch of seventh generation consoles, and they tailored the game and its technological leaps to their expected power. The development kits were not what Sega and Sonic Team were expecting[[7]]. Reliance on motion detection aside, the Wii was far less powerful than the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, thus their title would not be able to run on the new system, at least not without completely reworking the game. But given the overwhelming pre-release hype, Sega didn’t want to pass up on the Wii, so, they decided to split the already-struggling Sonic Team in two. One half continued to tackle “Sonic the Hedgehog 06” while the other half, including director Ogawa, broke off to develop what would eventually be known as “Sonic and the Secret Rings” for the Wii. The strategic move ensured that “Sonic” had a Wii release, but it also left “Sonic the Hedgehog” with a painfully small development team. With its director now on another title, Shun Nakamura was now appointed as Sonic 06’ director, with only months on hand before the game was scheduled to be released, and only half the team. A lack of consistent leadership and a fragmented development team is already bad, but the game’s biggest killer was time. Sega desperately wanted the game released for the 2006 holiday season. Not only would this prove financially feasible, but the game would miss Sonic’s fifteenth anniversary if it was delayed any further. Sega rushed Sonic Team, and due to the immense pressure, they were forced to ignore many of the game’s technological issues. Sonic Team were fully aware that they had a broken and woefully incomplete video game on their hands, but they also needed to ignore these realities to get the game out on time. Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka told Game Informer, “We missed out on that really important time to polish and tune and manipulate the map and make sure that…the gameplay felt good. Because it didn’t have that, it didn’t turn out as good as the development team wanted”. “Sonic the Hedgehog'' was released on November 14, 2006 and was met with immediate disdain. The Team’s fears were realized; the game was a complete mess, full of glitches, lengthy load times, a terrible control scheme, and a horrid camera that often infuriated its players. However even if you were to overlook the staggering amount of technical issues, a major note about the game’s story that caused controversy, was the implied interspecies romantic relationship between Sonic and the human Princess Elise. To this day, no one from Sonic Team has commented as to how such a storyline unfolded. However in an interview with GameSpy, Elise’s voice actress Lacey Chabert defended the relationship stating “It’s not an inappropriate relationship. Let’s just say Sonic and Princess Elise have an attraction for each other.” Rather than celebrate the franchise’s legacy and usher it into an exciting new generation, “Sonic the Hedgehog” all but killed the series and its reputation. Sega Sammy Holdings president Haruki Satomi told CNBC that after the “Sonic ‘06” disaster happened, he vowed it will “never happen again” and that he “told [his] development and sales teams…that [they] should not release a game unless [they] 100% agree with and are confident of the quality”[[13]]. Oh come on, Sonic Boom happened under your watch Mr. Satomi, how did you let that one slip? The development behind this game was like a game of Jenga. Maybe it could have shouldered one or two obstacles, but enough blocks were dislodged over time that the whole thing crumbled. The story is a tragic one, and it proves that terrible games are often made with good intentions. No one in particular is to blame for this atrocity – not even Sega. They were left with a fragmented development team, they were caught off guard with the Wii’s development kits, and they wanted to ensure that the game’s released for the series’ fifteenth anniversary. Yes, the latter point seems to be the primary reason behind the game’s failure, but you can’t deny that their intentions were good. If there is one positive thing I can say about Sonic 06; Its soundtrack was an epic banger.