Why “Sonic Excursion” was a hoax from the start
Over the last 48 hours, we’ve gotten a handful of news tips here at TSSZ over a rumor for an upcoming Sonic game. Having read over it myself, I was not entirely sure I felt comfortable in posting it – and nobody else on the rest of the team did, either. That’s probably for a number of reasons, but I’m not privy to the exact reason at this time (simply because I haven’t bothered to ask).
This is going to require a lot of setup, so bare with me as I explain the situation: our old buddy Wentos from 4chan came calling again, this time to relay some information about an upcoming Sonic game he was calling “Sonic Excursion”. Some of that information follows:
The first level is called “Shattered Heights” and is similar to the Sonic Generations incarnation of Speed Highway. Very New York themed. We were told the level was five minutes long, but they spent about fifteen minutes showing us parts of the stage’s design, focusing on the lighting and shadows and how lighting was one of the main focuses for this game’s design. Shattered Heights, for example, started at dawn and by the level’s end the entire stage’s lighting had changed to more reflect the mid afternoon. Most of the level consists of Sonic and Tails actually breaking through the windows of buildings several stories high and running through apartment hallways, office buildings, and hotel suites with Pixar-like humans gasping and shouting in surprise.
Sonic and Tails communicate throughout the level with each other similarly to the conversations in Sonic Heroes, both commenting on their surroundings and giving you advice on how to play the game. They would often stop at areas in the level to tell us how if we were playing as Tails instead of Sonic, we would be able to fly and reach different paths that Sonic could not access, but most alternate paths were entirely optional and not forced like they were in Sonic Adventure or Sonic The Hedgehog for the Xbox 360. They really wanted to make a Sonic Generations title that played more similarly to the Genesis titles where different characters could play the same levels with the only difference being their personal abilities.
(…)
After this demonstration was complete, we watched a powerpoint presentation with screenshots from the game. We were told how the story would focus on Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy Rose, and Dr. Eggman with a couple of appearances throughout the game, but those appearances would have less importance to the plot than Amy Rose’s role in Sonic Unleashed. For example, Amy Rose’s story once you unlocked it would begin at Cream’s house, where we see Cream, Vanilla, Gemerl, two Chao, and some Flickies. Outside of that scene, none of those characters make an appearance outside of one more scene with Cream in it. Emblems will be making a return, and will be earned in various ways with ten emblems per level. They can be earned for completing levels with each character, getting an S rank with all four characters, collecting all red rings with any character, and completing side missions for the level.
Release date: November 2013
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, PC, 3DS, PlayStation 4, and Xbox Infinite.
“All seven versions will be the same, except the PC, PS4, and XI versions will have higher resolutions and the 3DS version will be made by a different team. Do not worry, it is not going to be Dimps. Sega has ended their relationship with them.”
At a glance, it all seems to be fairly safe information – nothing too outlandish that would easily identify it as a hoax. A run-of-the-mill Sonic game if there ever was one. But there’s a problem: It’s actually fake.
Now, admittedly, I’ve been a little out of the loop. I was contracted to help a friend develop an iOS game, so since around February, roughly 75% of time I would normally use to browse the internet has been focused on game development. When I first saw the “Sonic Excursion” rumor, there were some telltale signs that something was very fishy, and since then, the perpetrator has decided to make himself known – one Ben Spurr, probably better known to Sonic community oldbies as “Bendalin”. Spurr made waves last year after publishing a flash game in which you could punch a photo of FeministFrequency’s own Anita Sarkeesian, giving her bruises and bloodied cuts. Not content with poking the feminist hornets nest, Spurr turned his attentions back to the community he was once a part of in order to impersonate Wentos.
Wondering why we didn’t post about it? Here’s why
Wentos, whoever that actually is, has become something of a trusted source around certain corners of the internet. He generally posts on 4chan’s /v/ board, and usually about vague information regarding upcoming Sonic games. Depending on how you interpret what he says, he’s actually been fairly on the nose. Of course, people will also tell you that if you interpret Nostradamus correctly, he predicted the September 11th World Trade Center incident. For this reason alone, I approach information supposedly dispensed by Wentos with a very skeptical eye.
If you’ve followed me elsewhere over the years, you know that there was a time when I was deeply involved in creating hoaxes much like this one. To me, it was like creating a puzzle – like putting a rat inside of a maze and seeing if they could find their way out. Every time the rat escapes, you make an even more elaborate puzzle to see if they can solve it. And, for my trouble, I had one of my hoaxes posted on Kotaku as if it was a legitimate thing. Unsurprisingly, I was banned from Kotaku’s comments section for years after I revealed myself, and since being hired to write for TSSZ, I’ve more or less given up the hoaxing gig for fear it would reflect poorly on our site (those energies usually get funneled in to creating April Fools gags). So I’d like to think that I can spot a hoax pretty well – you can’t kid a kidder.
And this is where being “out of the loop” comes in, because I read the Sonic Excursion rumor expecting something that could possibly be legitimate. But right away, there were things that stood out to me as being obvious signs of a hoax…
1. “Excursion” is not a sellable term
“Excursion” is a bit of a $5 word, kind of difficult to spell, and even sort of tricky to say. It is too complex to be a marketing-friendly word. Think about names like “Sonic Adventure”, “Sonic Heroes”, or “Sonic Unleashed” – they have a certain ring to them that makes them appealing. When was the last time you even heard somebody say the word “Excursion”? Not any time in the last decade, I’d guess. Sega has marketing teams that would think up something better.
2. Referencing the “Xbox Infinite”
On the subject of names, the supposed leak specifically calls out the next Xbox’s name as the “Xbox Infinite”. This is likely because of a rumor going around months (or even years) ago regarding the logo for the next Xbox being the symbol for infinity. The problem with this is that when the “infinity” symbol originally came up, it was never attached to the name “Xbox Infinite”, it was attached to the term “Xbox Loop”. Things change, I guess, sure – there was a story going around tech sites a couple days ago regarding an “Xbox Infinity” – but it comes off as one of those moves you see at the bottom of a faked Gamestop stocking sheet where they mention how Final Fantasy 47 is going to ship for the Dreamcast 3. I will fully admit that this was more of a gut feeling than anything else, but it’s one that ultimately ended up being correct.
3. Elements are too similar to past Sonic game reveals
You remember how I said the “Excursion” information felt very safe? Well, that’s largely because it contains shades of other Sonic game announcements – in particular, a comparison could be made regarding Excursion’s focus on its supposed lighting engine, which would allow levels to change from day to night in real time. Where have we heard that one before? The original pitch for Sonic 2006 also pushed that game’s own lighting and shadow engine, which fueled its (now scrapped) day/night cycle. It ended up being a pretty significant technical hurdle for the game, and is at least partially responsible for some of why Sonic 2006 turned out the way it did. While game developers – especially Sonic Team – are known for going back to ideas they couldn’t do the first time, I would think they’d try to avoid revisiting things that contributed to games like Sonic 2006 being such a horrendous trainwreck.
4. Playable Amy Rose
Towards the end of the Sonic Excursion information, things predictably fall apart as our hoaxer starts to let his ideas run away with him a little. Though he manages to keep it largely reigned in, his insistence on Amy Rose being a playable character was a big point of suspicion. Amy’s influence on recent Sonic games has been rightfully dialed back – in games like Sonic Heroes, her romantic affectation towards Sonic borderlined on psychopathic, furthered in a game like Sonic Battle, where she actively trained in martial arts in the hopes that her displays of violence would woo him. She resurfaced in Sonic Unleashed with a far more understated presence, something that has continued throughout other games. Suddenly bringing Amy Rose back to the forefront as a playable character seems ill-advised; any time Amy is playable in a game, it’s always weird, awkward, slow and largely unnecessary. Something that you always put off until it’s the last thing left to do because it’s not terribly fun. While I’m sure Amy Rose fans would love to see her take the spotlight once again, I don’t think it’s because they enjoyed her weird stealth mechanics from Sonic Adventure.
5. Digging up forgotten characters
But perhaps the single biggest red flag came right after we learned of Amy Rose’s apparent role in Sonic Excursion: a small cameo appearance by Gemerl. Gemerl, if you’ve forgotten, was a one-off character only seen in Sonic Advance 3. He was a descendent of Emerl, a character in Sonic Battle. Emerl and his story was apparently popular enough that he made a rather lengthy appearance in the Sonic X anime and served as the basis for the Gizoid robots in Bioware’s Sonic Chronicles RPG. Emerl was destroyed at the end of Sonic Battle (spoilers), but Eggman used his designs to create Gemerl, an evil clone. Gemerl was mortally wounded at the end of Sonic Advance 3, but was repaired by Tails, where he apparently lived the rest of his days with Cream the Rabbit.
That was 9 years ago. Gemerl has not been referenced in anything since then. If you ever wanted a quick way to spot a hoax, it’s inclusions like these – they might as well have included Fang the Sniper or Mighty the Armadillo, while they’re at it. No matter how much you like them, these are characters that are never coming back, which is why they’re so enticing to include in a hoax, because you know they’re going to grab somebody’s attention. “Well then,” you might hear a particularly dedicated fan say, “I guess my Lumina Flowlight letter writing campaign finally paid off!” No, I’m sorry, but it really didn’t; somebody’s just banking on your attachment to that forgotten character in order to make you more easily rally behind their hoax.
And there you have it. Really, the biggest key in spotting a hoax is to stop and consider the bigger picture. What matters to a multinational corporation like Sega when they are trying to satisfy the needs of the world at large? Are they going to be focusing on niche ideas like playing as Amy Rose and visiting Gemerl? No, probably not. Is it at all logical to drop in a sentence about how they’ve ended their partnership with Dimps without naming their successor? Not really. Eventually, a bunch of little doubts add up in to a larger answer: Don’t always believe everything you read on the internet.
Hmph. You’re probably just making up a bunch of excuses, Mr. Bloom.
Just to note, the rumor didn’t come from the “real” Wentos. That real one proved himself to be legit way before this.
“Wentos” and “Wintos”. That right there should tell any moron, this was fake.
Tripcode (in effect, the real username) was the same though.
Hey I just read this on your blog last night! It’s like I traveled through time!
What ever happened to “Sonic Dimensions”? Where Eggman shoots Sonic with a lazer causing Sonic to split into multi color versions of himself. It was to follow the same concept of Sonic Colors.
Nidk: We ran that, I admit, but that came from sources independent of anything on 4chan or what have you.
-T
I’m proud of you Tristan and TSSZ news. You learned a HARD lesson last year regarding the Dimensions hoax.
Sonic dimensions was a hoax to.although multiple versions of the main character,and the word “Dimensions”,remind me allot of spiderman dimensions.
It was nice to hope for a sonic colors successor(generations was great,just to short story wise)
That sounds good. I can imagine that.
Those five point don’t prove the rumor was a hoax. however, i don’t believe that rumor.
I’m surprised anyone even remembers Gemerl. I would of never bought this hoax.
After a couple years of reading about rumors for different Sonic games here on TSSZ, you learn to take just about everything with a grain of salt. A really BIG one.
But come on SEGA, I’m waaaaiiiitttiiiiiinnng….
I disagree with the notion that Wentos (the real Wentos) was spot-on… you’re giving him too much credit imo. He said a few things that were outright false and everything else was vague speculation that anyone could have guessed at.
“The next Sonic will be just Sonic with optional characters in the sense that they were optional back in Sonic 2 and 3” – false. The claim about Chronicles’s soundtrack was disputed (TSSZ actually has an article on this). Saying the next M&S wouldn’t be a sports game (it was).
Aside from that, though, you’re spot in in this article.
@Parax:
Except he was spot on.
Read the article. That screenshot is fake.
I assumed that it was fake when I heard it.
Yeah, totally fake, but this also made me hope the next Sonic game comes for the current generation of consoles only, I don’t want another disaster like Sonic 2006.
After the success of Colors & Generations, I don’t think we are going to get another 06 disaster.
06 did happen at the turn of the then next-gen console cycle, so maybe……..nah
You know how I knew it was a hoax? It actually sounded like something sonic fans would want! zing!!
@Parax
Aww hell.
Still, this one reeks of bullshit. Just the name alone gives him away.
Admitingly. Rumor or not, it gets the community buzzing for info. It’s getting people aware of the increased outcome of a official announcement.
Strangely enough, I love how gemerl was included. He and any gizoidian needs some love.
@Emeral
We’re all starting to become impatient. It’s unusual for Sega to be the quiet regarding Sonic, especially this long.
I think they have been… it was usually someone who leaked something that triggered news we heard from some of the recent Sonic games(Unleashed and thereafter)
As the original Wentos, I can confirm this was NOT me. Check the tripcodes. They don’t match.
To further clarify, I haven’t posted anything (anywhere) since the thread about Colors ages ago. Any other threads or posts under that name since then and into the future are others posting under my name; i.e, NOT ME.
Not like it matters; you’re never supposed to believe me anyway, remember?
~ W
@Wentos
TELLS US SOMETHING ABOUT THE NEXT SONIC PLEASE IM BEGGING YOU
…I mean, if you are the real deal of course.
in this case !
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-gPodqOchL7k/UYLl5pRWFVI/AAAAAAAAFK4/E0eFgQ5T9wk/w700-h424/we.jpg
Awesome. XD
Now that was funny.
That was awesome!
Pretty funny, although the katakana is a bit wrong…
Regarding the hoax, seems that somebody hates Dimps.
Idiots. Idiots everywhere.
Why is this even up for debate? In the exact same thread this information “leaked”, someone revealed that Wintos’ tripcode was identical to a known 4chan troll BenSpurr.
I didn’t care, I just wanted something to read until the real thing comes out. Also Victor, love the picture.
Why should I trust this ‘Wentos’ guy again? I always thought this guy is full of shit. I still don’t understand why people on the net find this guy to be some reliable source.
okay, forget what I’ve said above
I can believe how many gaming sites picked up on this like it’s real. To quote one of my friends on facebook had said “A person disguised himself as Wentos on 4chan to prove the point that Gaming Media will eat shit up regardless of actual credibility.”
Wentos was never right. In fact, his Generations leak never happened… and those who mention it never actually heard it from Wentos himself but from the grapevine.
Awww man, can’t believe I fell for it twice. And this one sounded so awesome too!
The bigger giveaway for me was all the references to fan-favorite concepts we all know aren’t ever coming back. Similar to the esoteric character point, I suppose. But once he started going off in a way that sounded like “a bunch of people’s dream game” I knew someone was just blowing his load typing out a fantasy and not actually referencing anything remotely realistic.
Another major point that should’ve raised suspicion was Sega supposedly cutting ties with Dimps.
That’s a dream game? Sonic Excursion sounds horrible. Infact, all these fan ideas about Sonic Adventure 3 and trash sounds horrible. These fans don’t know what a good game is. Do the current gaming block-busters have 10+ playable characters? (Minus spin-offs) No, right?
First off, how many years has it been since Sonic had anything in common with current gaming blockbusters? Even during the DC era, they were arguably losing it. Though that’s not a bad thing. Ask literally anyone ELSE if they’d even want Sonic to be more similar to “current gaming blockbusters” and they’d probably puke on your face. You realize mascot platformers are a thing of the past, right? Shadow the Hedgehog was the last time the Sonic franchise tried to go anywhere near “current blockbusters”, and everyone knows how that turned out. Even Mario has gone back to being more of a sad clone of past glories than a heavy-hitting modern giant.
Secondly, yeah – this sounds like a dream game to many people for a lot of reasons, most of which I’m not sure who would even question to argue them:
– Dynamic level design and changing environments with branching paths
– “played more similarly to Genesis titles” – Appealing to at least half the fanbase right off the bat
– “pixar-like humans” (as opposed to realistic ones) – A community-acknowledged improvement over the S2K6 travesty, implemented in Sonic Unleashed
– Story and gameplay focused on core trio (plus Amy) – Similar to fan-fav S3K
– Character abilities opening up alternate paths – Similar to S3K
– Stressed insignificance of tertiary characters – Something most people BEG for
– Emblems. Challenges. Replay value 10+ per level – Appeals to SA fans, completionists, and people who feel Sonic games are too short.
And those are just the key points. So, uh, what.
It’s really strange how people harp on wanting the emblems and missions back when Generations had both, emblems take the form of unlockable music, concept art and skills all much more satisfying to collect than getting a 5 second animation of a emblem spinning around. The challenge acts are a much more varied version of the mission system in SA2.
It doesn’t particularly matter what you call it, SSJ (although the word emblem, by itself, is an attempt to hook the rabid SA fans). You could very easily USE emblems / red rings / arbitrary collectibles as a MEANS to unlock any kind of extra content. The point here is just the focus on additional missions and replay value.
I don’t see how anyone managed to fall for this. The rumor screams fan wishlist, which I know is an extremely cynical thing to say, but the saying goes anything that sounds too good to be true probably is. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love a Sonic game with multiple characters, creative and open level designs, and all that jazz, but I’m not going to trust some random, unverifiable source that came out of nowhere to give me the scoop on a new Sonic title.
Until Sega makes an announcement themselves, take anything you hear about a new game with a pitcher of salt.
@ChaoticFox
Yeah, i honestly thought i was reading fan fiction for a second. Just the mention of Gemerl immediately set off my bullshit detector.
….You’re not used to the reply system yet, are you? XD
I kind of prefer the classic method XD
I’m just glad we FINALLY got some interesting news on this site…..even though it’s not real this is the most entertainment we’ve gotten on this site in a good while.
Wasn’t Wentos the same guy who gave us the bullshit Generations DLC rumor? Or was that someone else?
I knew it was too good to be true
Too good? I’m pretty darn sure there are MUCH better concepts for a next Sonic game. Factually, this game sounds horrible marketing wise. It’s something a fan, who knows very little of what the gaming industry looks for in block-buster games, would come up with. There is no way this “Sonic Excursion” is anything beyond a kiddy idea of a person who just doesn’t know what makes a good game. The title isn’t even market worthy. Nothing is.
Sonic Dimensions sounded much better than this, in my opinion.
Is Sonic Dimensions that rumor from last year with a bunch of Sonic recolors who has the same abilites as Sonic’s friends? If so, then I’m glad that one is fake cause it sounds like an horrible fangame.
Iizuka himself called it hoax but that didn’t stop the true believers, just like when he said they didn’t have plans to make Sonic Adventure 3 last year when the next game was already in development both times people moved the goal post and declared him to be a liar.
The attitude really reminds me of this
Not to say this isn’t a total bs hoax, but, did everyone just forget about gizoids returning in sonic chronicles? Yeah? Ok. Like anyone saw that coming.
Man, I wish I could upvote comments.
May I ask who the actual fuck are gizoids?
Gizoids are basically Emerls, sooo in a way, Emerl returned in Sonic Chronicles
Anyway, we’re all grasping at straws here. If SEGA doesn’t announce it soon, the fanbase will eat each other. Literally.
Not me though, I don’t want a big Sonic title this year.
lol, hence the reason you thought the idea was horrible.
Everytime I say I want SEGA to not release a big Sonic title this year but in 2014-2015 I made fun of by you fans who think I somehow don’t know what a good Sonic game is.
It takes 5 years to make a large Zelda title which is one of the reasons why Zelda games are so solid and nearly perfect. Yet the Sonic fans are spoiled here, they can’t even wait for a year and a half (it’s a really small time). Zelda fans KNOW what a good Zelda game is. Sonic fans don’t. They want all their rainbow furry characters to be playable (idk why sure Sonic has had a history of multiple characters being playable but was that a good history? Not really)
I want you to look at all the gaming blockbusters here. BioShock, Mario, Zelda, Portal, Mass Effect, Tomb Raider. How many playable characters are there? Perhaps only one, if not then we get to play as upto 4 for brief moments. Having more playable characters in an action/adventure game is risky. It sticks to quantity more than quality. It always will. It’s always alot simpler and as fun as having 1 playable character so that the team focuses on other things.
Majority of Sonic fans are die-hard impatient. They don’t know what exactly makes a good game likley because all they play is Sonic. Sonic Adventure series factually is very mediocre and Sonic Heroes is even worse. Having Sonic as the only playable character is truly making Sonic games these days with more quality. I know it’s not the only thing, but it is one of those things.
Now if you don’t believe me, tell me why Nintendo doesn’t make Wario, Peach, Daisy, Birdo playable characters in the larger Mario titles? Miyamoto said it himself that it’s hard to focus on many playable characters. That it’s even risky to make Peach playable in New Super Mario Bros.
Sonic games should focus on Sonic, and his friends should be spin-off playable characters. And this is exactly what Sonic Team is doing and it’s a darn good thing. SEGA is not professional or skilled like Nintendo that they can handle a game where we have 8-10 playable characters make it as good as Mario Galaxy. It’s likely impossible.
Sonic games need more levels, new elements… variety. They need to focus on the levels and platforming. Not the characters. They need more creativity. More quality. Not quantity. Look at Journey for exmaple, its a 2 hour game with SO much quality that it won Game of The Year by IGN.
Having more playable characters will NOT improve Sonic games. It’ll just please the Adventure fans who are asking for a pretty bad game if they want a dark story and several playable characters.
I say SEGA better work on a Sonic title for 5 years. Seriously. If Portal is known to be the best game in the world. If Zelda and Mario can get 10/10 in their big titles. Then through time Sonic can get there too.
In the end, Sonic fans, we all want a good game. Don’t we?
Dude… calm down. What did I say that made you assume everything you just typed up? I didn’t mention multiple characters, dark stories, or any of the other stuff you wrote about.
Everyone has different viewpoints, and there’s something I would like to point out: Sure, Zelda games are good because Nintendo takes forever to work on them, but Sega has proven that they can make great Sonic games in short amounts of time (we haven’t forgotten Colors and Generations already, right guys?)
So let’s suppose the fans ARE spoiled about release dates. That doesn’t change the fact that Sega didn’t reveal anything concerning their new game when we thought they would. We’ve all been suprised at how they missed their usual announcement date. We’ve all had so much hype for the potential announcement that we’ll easily freak out.
Also, a lot of the fans LOVE playing as multiple characters, so don’t go around saying that multiple characters ruin the game. Sonic fans specifically have very vast and different viewpoints, and many won’t agree with you on that.
I don’t mind long waits, but the lack of words from Sega is starting to get a bit annoying.
Speak for yourself please.
Saw the name, knew it was fake. But I’d do anything for a legit announcement.
A lot of it sounded to good to be true. What we’re bound to get probably won’t be anywhere close to that. It’ll be years before I get to play as who I desire to play as again. And I don’t know about the rest of you but my first real Sonic game was SA2: B which also happened to be the first time I played as Amy. She didn’t move slow or awkward there. The following game, Heroes, had her playing the same way. And she moved well enough to keep up with Shadow in his game too. And not only that but she was playable in those Advance games right? I don’t think she was slow there too… and wasn’t she playable in the recent Sonic Dash and Sonic Jump mobile games? I realize they’re different than console games but still, it’s kind of weird that “Playable Amy Rose” was one of the reasons considering all of this.
Than again, I’m still wondering if they people making the games want to commit back to making the characters run fast and play as something relative to the Sonic formula again. Oh well.
…..this was a thing?
Never heard of it.
Don’t do this to me man, they promiced me sonic unleashed pedestrians and sonic heroes like conversations! ;_; seriously dont you dare take that away from me!
I was one of the guys who sent this in as a rumor. I liked this rumor, but I never really put too much stock in it. Personally, I think having Gemerl randomly in the background is along the lines of the kinds of things they should be doing with the world. He doesn’t need to say or even DO anything, but I think older games should be acknowledged here and there. Sonic has an an established history, ignoring it is how we get samey stories and a million friends. Never liked the ‘Excursion’ title either.
Any “leak” that is patterned after the style of previews in EGM is complete horseshit, no legit game information leaks like that but boy is this style a favorite for anyone who’s cooked up a fake Sonic game since 2011, I guess it stems from the fact they are literally writing fan fiction.
I’m so glad TSSZ and Sonic Stadium didn’t go fan-apeshit and post about this “upcoming rumored game”. But rather on how fake the thing is. I applaud you guys.
Also regarding point #3.. Lighting engines are so.. 2005. Developers already got it YEARS ago and every game now is expected to have a proper lighting engine by default (which is NOT a hard thing to do these days).
The word “Excursion” literally turned me off of it. Like Ryan said, it’s not a marketable title.
More like Sonic Excretion!
We still might get something today or tomorrow though, because SEGA tweeted that they would show something Sonic related this week.
…and this is why I only take my Sonic-game info direct from SEGA.
Even though I thought some of the concepts were interesting, I really didn’t believe this rumor. I’ll admit that I hoped the Propel rumor turned out to be true, but not this one. But I am, obviously, excited for an announcement soon. On a side note, it is really awesome to see less fighting in the Sonic fanbase. In all the rumors I’ve been reading this year about the next Sonic, I’ve seen way less arguing, and way more instances of fans bouncing ideas off of each other.
What I hope:
-Only Unleashed Day Time style stages
-No Hub World (Stage>Stage>Boss>Stage>Etc.)
-Only Sonic (or fast characters like Metal Sonic)
-Return of Mecha Sonic
-Bonus To have Chrome Gadget or Desert Palase as actual stage
Glad this is a hoax, The game doesn’t sound all that good. I’m really eager to hear some real news on the next Sonic game though. We need people finding some info on that
Sad, this game would look promising.
What’s up? Haven’t posted in awhile. Anyway, yeah as you’ve said there are several telltale signs of this being a hoax. Hell, even the Sonic Dimensions rumor sounded more credible. Either way, I’d really like for the next game to be more of an open-world type game. Kind of like how in Sonic Chronicles you could explore different open locations. In terms of playable characters I think it’d be cool if you could play as Tails and had the ability to hack into and use various machines and eggmechs he comes across. Also, Shadow could be captured and mutated by Dr. Eggman, and Knuckles could come in sometime later in the story. Acknowledging past characters wouldn’t hurt either. Just what I think would make a truly great Sonic game…
I don’t think the game’s real, either, but not for such ridiculous reasons as…
“Oh, the word ‘excursion’ is in the title”…
…or…
“Amy’s a playable character, and NO 1 LIKES HER ANYMORE!!!”…
…or, most ridiculous of all…
…”THEREZ A DAY NITE CYCLE WICH WAS, LIKE… AN OOLLLLD FEATURE IN SAWNEEK OH-6, AND SEGA WOULD NEVUH DO ANYTHIN THAT WOULD BE EVEN A BIT CONNECTED TO DAT GAMEZ!!!…”
What makes it sound the least plausible is that the only concrete thing we know about Sonic’s next game is it will be something new, according to Takashi Iizuka. That’s the only thing that has survived the constant onslaught of rumors, hoaxes, and so-called “official announcements” that have plagued the ‘net.
And this “title”… which doesn’t sound very appealing, anyway… has way too many similarities to the previous two games.
This is what I think Ryan was getting at with the points you’re criticizing.
1) ‘Excursion’ is a nice, fancy word to describe a trip made by a group of people for leisure or physical purposes, which makes sense in the context of this hoax. However, it’s not marketable. It doesn’t sound the least bit appealing in a game title, at least not for a mascot platformer. Can you imagine if the next Mario game were to have a name like that? It’d sound really weird. Seriously, picture it. ‘Super Mario Excursion’. Doesn’t sound natural, right? As mentioned in the article, names like ‘Sonic Heroes’, or ‘Sonic Unleashed’ have a ring to it. Sonic Excursion just sounds like the name of a fan game that’s trying too hard to be awesome. …that description perfectly describes the entire hoax, really.
2) Amy has rarely been good as a playable character in the games she was playable in. The only instances I remember her being good were SA2, Heroes, and Sonic Advance 2/3 (and in the former two cases, she was literally a clone of Sonic with a slightly different moveset). The fact that Amy is so prominent in the article is weird, why is she suddenly being given so much attention? Tails and Knuckles, hell, even Shadow should be given higher priority as being made playable than Amy, especially given how inconsistent Sega’s made her in terms of her abilities in the games. I don’t necessarily think it’s so much that nobody likes Amy, it’s just that she shouldn’t be given this much attention right out of the blue (no pun intended) when there are currently two characters who many fans are clamoring to be made playable (and play well) in a decent game.
3) The day and night system… ehh, you got me there.
In any case, I think those are decent reasons to think that Excursion was a fluke from the start. If you’ve got any theories of your own, feel free to explain.
Wouldn’t it be most hilarious thing ever if this rumor turns out to be true? Hypothetically speaking of course…
Well that killed the mood.
I was looking forward to ‘Sonic Excursion’.
The people who are telling me these are not good reasons to think Sonic Excursion was fake probably aren’t very good at spotting hoaxes. :p
I’ll give you that maybe I was a little harsh on Amy Rose, and Sonic Team does left-field things like that sometimes, but honestly when it comes to something like that it’s better to err on the side of caution.
@The Effect
Idk. I think if Sonic 06′ were completed it’d still be a terrible game. All in all it just…wasn’t Sonic.
No game should be designed according to one set of strict, unyielding principals. Anybody can (and really, should) be just about anything.
Unless they put Sonic in a horror-survival, there’s no such thing as “isn’t Sonic”.
I disagree with that. There are a lot of concepts introduced in many Sonic games that either don’t suit the Sonic formula at all, or just weren’t designed well to fit the universe even if it’s a bit of an awkward change of pace.
Sonic Labyrinth and Big’s fishing levels in Sonic Adventure don’t suit the series at all, as they contradict the design philosophy of the entire series–fast-paced platforming. Those are just two examples off the top of my head that qualify as “not being Sonic”.
Sonic Labyrinth is as Sonic as Sonic Spinball is. Get outta here.
There isn’t a specific “formula” Sonic’s gameplay or universe should be. Changes made to something aren’t bad just for being changes. The problem with Labrynth and Big’s fishing levels isn’t that they weren’t platforming. It’s that they were badly-designed and boring on their own merits. (Didn’t hate Big’s fishing with an intense passion like Labrynth, though.)
I hate to keep rallying on about one game, but: You don’t really dislike Labyrinth, you’re just on that bandwagon. It’ll keep going on forever, you will never reach a destination. That’s what you want, surely, but the problem is that the bandwagon is one of those pseudo-opinions that become facts and can never be challenged. You must challenge it anyway.
Sonic Labyrinth is a fast pinball-esque game that was more or less a better-executed version of Sonic 3D even as it feels like a tech demo for… statements which fly in the face of just about everything people think about the game. At the very least, the first part is true; the game needs to be reconsidered from that alone.
@The Effect
And I can agree to an extent. Lets say you create a game/character, and that game/character has a certain identity that makes people adore it, (UNLESS WE’RE TALKING ABOUT A SPIN-OFF which is where me and you would see eye to eye) if you want to continue that franchise and make more money by having a sustainable audience then there are certain traits of that game/character that you HAVE to preserve for the franchise to continue to be successful.
Three things that are ESSENTIAL in every “MAIN” Sonic game…
1. Sonic
2. Platforming
3. Fast!
That’s it! That’s ALL it takes! It’s fair game from there!
But here’s the real issue…the more you stray away from the original concept of Sonic the Hedgehog the riskier it is of the game losing its identity and its fans.
For example, Sonic games have always had at least two different gameplay styles, since the beginning. And here’s where alot of Adventure fans would flame me, but the BIG problems (no pun intended) arose when Adventure came along. It wasn’t Sonic (his levels are still a blast to play), it wasn’t the character redesigns, it wasn’t the jump from 2D to 3D, it definitely wasn’t the music, it wasn’t Chao World, and it wasn’t the story. It had something to do with the hub world, and all the different gameplay styles that were incorporated into all the other characters. They weren’t bad in and of themselves but unlike Sonic 1, 2, 3&K where the different gameplay styles (Special Stages and Bonus Stages) were optional, almost everything in Sonic Adventure is mandatory to go through the game.
What’s my point? Having to play different gameplay styles to get through the game wasn’t apart of the original concept of Sonic the Hedgehog (they were optional)…which also means you have to play as other characters with entirely different gameplay styles and mechanics MORE than you’re actually playing as Sonic or his style of play. The devs didn’t understand this and its audience is split because of it. It suffers from identity crisis…as does SA2.
That’s not identity crisis, it’s just a different identity. People like to make these things sound like “accidents” or simple “incompetence”; no, Sonic Team threw the old Sonic concept out of the window, because because. I don’t think Adventure-style gameplay was even a trend at the time.
@ChaoticFox “[…]and not because they’re a bunch of furfa-”
Stop. That, right there, is enough.
@Jmack I’m an Adventure fan, but I don’t see a reason to flame you. A lot of what you said makes a lot of sense.
But it also characterizes my original point. Which is that some of the expectations certain people have come to develop for Sonic are out of hand. And the worst offender of this is: expecting current Sonic games to be too much like the original.
Of course there weren’t any HUBs or alternate play styles in the 1991, 16-bit original. By the time Sonic Adventure rolled around, it was high time they added such features. Which, as you said, aren’t bad things.
(And Sonic, as a long standing franchise, has both old fans and a constant influx of potential new fans to think about. It is obligated to include features in keeping with modern games for that influx, as well as for those who are fans of the newer games they’ve already released. And there’s no reason those features should be rendered optional. Especially not just because the people who were kids in the 90s want it still be how it was back then. Seriously… deal with it.)
Well, moreso the HUBs than the alternate play styles. I will agree that the original Adventure was overkill on the play styles. And Heroes was overkill on the playable characters. SA2 wasn’t, though. It was a good balance.
Half the play styles of Adventure.
Half the playable characters of Heroes.
Not bad!
@The Effect
Eh…you’ve got some good points. I disagree with a couple but overall it makes perfect sense. Still I do feel that you have to keep certain elements to identify it as a Sonic game (does that mean it has to look/play/be like the original? No), BUT like you said you also have to do SOMETHING new. Ig in a nutshell my only expectations are “Sonic FIRST, everything else later.” “MORE Sonic than whatever’s secondary.”
@Jmack Now, THAT I understand. I would rather play as Sonic MORE than others. It’s just, I like and want to play as other characters, as well, too. And a secondary play style is okay, as well. As I said, not six per game…
announcements about upcoming sonic games in past few years were dated to april/may and they were released in november same year. This year the game will be released for slower console (nintendo wii U), same thing as colors for wii (2010). Next year new sonic game will appear for brand new consoles (PS4/Xbox720), same as generations for xbox/pc/ps3 2011.
This is just my guess.
@roman,
Yes, because the Wii U is such a slow console -________-
I miss playing as Amy
Funny how the writer acts as if he’s talking for everyone when saying a playable Amy is an ill advised move and that no one will like her stealth gameplay from Sonic Adventure, guess all those asking for her to show up as a playable character are just dumb then.
And hey, guess he also forgot that her last outings as a playable character in Sonic Heroes and the Sonic advance series had her being just one inch off of Sonic’s style of gameplay.
Guess haters will always find a way to whine about the things they don’t like.
Yeah, I don’t really get how Amy Rose is supposed to be niche, or how Sega is supposed to bring back her Adventure missions. If Tails is going to be a big playable character in Lost World, I sincerely doubt we’ll be seeing any MechWarrior.
Just do it like Sonic Advance. It’d be pretty cool, I think.
And I used to consider myself a professional analyzer. Not anymore! I’d love to spot out things as easily as Ryan Bloom. That way, when a new hoax comes along, I can go Phoenix Wright on the original poster and yell out, “OBJECTION.”
Sega just trademarked “Sonic: Lost World”.
Coincidence?
@Catnik You’re very right. Once a Sonic game receives its critic reviews, people rush to jump on board that bandwagon for fear of being “that guy” who likes a Sonic game he’s afraid nobody else does. They create ridiculous excuses such as…
…identity “crisis”.
…gameplay gimmicks that don’t “fit” with Sonic, when in truth they’re no less out of place there than they are anywhere else.
…stories that are “too much” for a “kids’ game”.
…”cheesy” voice acting.
…”bad” camera and controls.
…”too many” playable characters that are stealing Sonic’s “spotlight” with their “stupid” gameplay styles that are “obviously not supposed to be in a Sonic game”.
…RPG elements that are present and loved in 98% of other games, but are supposedly “terrible” whenever they’re used in Sonic, and only Sonic, games.
…”pretentious” vocal themes.
…”generic” rock music.
…”uncharacteristic” art styles.
And they’ll defend anyone of these ridiculous excuses (that they probably don’t really believe) to the death, if challenged. They’ll twist anything their challenger says around to make it look the challenger’s doing exactly what it is they’re doing. If cornered with simple, basic logic, they can always go for the “fanboy” or “troll” copout lables. Or they can backpedal, claiming that they weren’t really saying what they clearly were.
And no matter what they say or do, their attitude clearly shows that they think they’re simply speaking common, general, accepted fact that “everybody” agrees with. Then they pretend to be shocked when they meet someone who disagrees. And anybody who does, they can claim is “wrong” because they’re going against the “majority” that is actually a smokescreen created by negative comments on the internet. Or, they can always use their favorite word: “objective”. ‘Cause, ya know… somehow, these people have acces to it, in ways none of the mere mortals around them have even the slightest prayer of understanding. In reality they probably love and play all the Sonic games they claim to hate with such a dumb passion frequently.
And I’m no different, either. Truth is, I’ve never even played Sonic Labryinth, so I don’t know. I did like Big in Adventure. I liked Sonic Spinball.
Usually, though, I’m pretty honest about my tastes in Sonic games. I’m certainly open about my positive opinions on Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic 06, the Werehog, the sword in Black Knight, etc.
Thanks for giving me that opportunity! I’m always looking for people who know how to put into words exactly what it is I’m thinking.
HOAX
I really can’t say weather it is real or not
But your evidence isn’t all that great either in my opinion
1. As in lots of games and movies etc. sometimes the project title isn’t always the final title weather it made that way for secret keeping reasons or they just haven’t though of the final one yet
Excursion could be like that
Also it doesn’t really matter if its not a common word. When I heard it I just thought it sounded explosive and exciting…like a sonic game should, using that as evidence is just kinda weak in my opinion
2. I think you admitted yourself, it’s not a very strong point
3. To my knowledge the lighting etc wasn’t really a big reason sonic06 failed…I could be wrong, but to me it just seemed like that whole game had bad control and level design along with glitches etc…so I really don’t see why sega would be so hesitant to try it again
4. It could seem unlikely, but it’s still possible. Who knows maybe they want to improve the Any gameplay from earlier games…but again, I’m not sega and neither are you
5. From what I understand they are digging up one minor character that is stated to have lived with cream for one scene which takes place in creams house…it doesn’t really seem like he is that important to the story and he is more there as a kinda cool “hey look whose here” kinda thing
Not really trying to start an argument just kinda showing how these claims can be disputed
But none of us will really know until it does or doesn’t happen anyways…so bye