Home Articles Reasonable Assessment: Sega Does What Nintendon’t
Reasonable Assessment

Reasonable Assessment: Sega Does What Nintendon’t

Noah Copeland
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I logged onto my gmail account and got a big ol’ fat email with the subject line “Album Recalled.” My band’s cover of the Punch Out! theme was taken down from several platforms via copyright strike by Nintendo. As you can imagine, I didn’t start jumping up with glee. Nintendo is a company notorious for taking down fan-made content and issuing out copyright strikes in bulk. Nintendo is also one of the few video game companies that requires you to officially partner with them in order to post YouTube videos of their games so that they can squeeze some extra revenue from it.

Meanwhile, on the same day I received the copyright claim, the official Sonic Twitter account posted a piece of fan-art made by Kerstin Edin, a humble Sonic fan and illustrator.

It is now July 2016. Sonic’s 25th Anniversary in San Diego finished up a few days ago and it was a wild ride. I’ve got so much to discuss and a lot of rabbit holes to go down. You’ll be seeing plenty of it in the coming weeks. Today, the topic at hand is Sega’s embrace of Sonic’s fandom.

So let’s talk about Sonic Mania.

For any other intellectual property, Sonic Mania would just be a fan game, but it isn’t. It’s an actual product published by Sega.

What’s incredible and exceptional about Sonic Mania is that it is a collaboration between SEGA and indie developers Christian Whitehead, Simon Thomley (Headcannon), and PagodaWest Games. Let’s talk about who these people are.

-Christian Whitehead (aka “Taxman“) – He’s made Sonic fan games and fan engines. He was first known for his engine “Retro Sonic” which was an attempt at a 1-to-1 recreation of the S3&K engine (written in C++). He later pitched a Sonic CD iOS remake to Sega, which Sega gave the greenlight. You know the wonderful iOS versions of Sonic 1, Sonic 2, and Sonic CD? Yeah, Christian made those. They weren’t just ports/emulations either. They were remade from scratch, which allowed him to make tweaks and fix problems with the original games. These iOS versions are the definite versions of the Genesis games, in my opinion.

-Simon Thomley (aka Headcannon) – He’s made Sonic fan games and fan engines and helped co-found the Sonic research/hacking scene. Many people know his work on the Sonic 1 rom hack called “Sonic Megamix,” and well as his Sonic level editor, SonED. Oh, and he helped Christian with those iOS Sonic remasters too.

-PagodaWest Games (indie studio)- These guys are a small indie game studio that has made a few games such as Major Magnet. Members of the team, such as Jared Kasl and Tom Fry, met during the development of Sonic 2 HD, a fan made recreation of Sonic 2 but with super-smooth animation and HD sprites. Their in-house composer, Tee Lopes, is known for his re-imaginings of retro Sonic music.

I’m sure you’ve noticed a common theme here; everyone involved in Sonic Mania is a Sonic fan with past experience in the Sonic fan game scene/community. No one working on this game has anything less than burning passion for our beloved hedgehog.

Passion alone ain’t enough to make something great. Luckily, they all have credible experience in shipped products. The iOS remasters did great, and Major Magnet reviewed well. All of their projects were very functional, not buggy, and not rushed. This is a super-group of Sonic fan devs.

Sonic Mania is a fan’s dream come true in several ways. On one hand, several Sonic fans that had the dream of developing their own original Sonic game since they were younger are finally getting the chance. On the other hand, many classic Sonic fans have been wanting a brand new “retro” Sonic experience and Sonic Mania is exactly that.

Is that a reference to a rare Sonic popcorn vending machine from 1993? Actually, it is. Fans know the deep stuff.

To me, it’s crazy that Sonic Mania is a real thing. Sure, game studios have allowed fans to be involved in small ways before (such as Dragon Ball Xenoverse using fan voice actors), but Sonic Mania is literally created by fans. Can any one else think of other instances where fan gamers were brought in to be actual developers? This is a rare thing. Can you foresee something like this ever coming from Nintendo, the company with the aforementioned ruthlessness toward fan content? I can’t imagine Miyamoto or his peers spearheading an official-released fan-developed Mario or Zelda game.

Sega looked at what the fan gamers were capable of and embraced it. A few years back, Sega had recruited the game studio known as Dimps in a previous attempt at recapturing the glory of the Genesis classics. Dimps gave us Sonic 4: Episodes I & II, which were criticized for the poor imitation of original games’ physics and level design. Sega had the odd clarity to indirectly admit that Christian Whitehead and his associates are much more capable of recreating the classics than a 200+ member professional studio. Considering the amount of time that Whitehead and Thomley have poured into studying the original Assembly source code of the Genesis classics, it’s completely justified. And I couldn’t be happier. Sonic Mania looks absolutely amazing.

Spiderhog, spiderhog, does whatever a spiderhog does. Yes, Sonic 4’s physics were way off.

Let’s go back to Nintendo. Last year, one YouTuber said his channel was “wrecked” because of Nintendo’s takedowns on his Mario fan mod videos. Minecraft, another example of fan-generated content, will also earn you a copyright strike from Nintendo if you post a Mario-themed video of it. Are you seeing the contrast?

Sure, Sega is still a large company at the end of the day. Not every little thing they do is going to be exactly what the fans want. With a fanbase as global and divided as ours, it’s sometimes near impossible. But I think what has been accomplished with Sonic Mania and the 25th San Diego party is unique. Seriously, who else would have thrown a party so goofy and rad at the same time?

Regarding fan involvement and interest at the party, there are some honorable mentions. Skyler King, aka SegaSky, is another longtime fan community member and was hosting the event. The cast of Boom acknowledged SonAmy (if you’re into that sort of thing for whatever reason). Let’s not forget the meme-man himself, Aaron Webber. He has consistently established himself as a hardcore fan. As I’ve mentioned before, he is always talking to us at our level and not going over our heads with corporate mysticism. Aaron addressed specific fan factions by name, such as “moderns fans” and “adventure fans.” He took the time to ask about Sonic Adventure 3, because he knows a lot of fans care about that idea.

Aaron asked, “What about a Metal [robot version of] Big the Cat?”
“Metal Big the Cat would be too powerful,” said Sonic Team Creative Director, Kazuyuki Hoshino. He knows what he’s doing with that joke.

To bring it back home, Sonic Mania is the party’s testament to the intense amount of passion and love that Sonic fans have. That game is a game made for the fans by the fans. Sega took an odd bite of humble pie by allowing a very small group of fans to develop what is going to be a huge game. Let’s face it, the buzz around Sonic Mania is already bigger than the unnamed Sonic 2017 (more on that in a later post) even though the former likely has a smaller budget. What they’ve done is something that I don’t see a lot of other companies doing. It’s different. It’s unique. And it’s certainly the opposite of Nintendo’s corporate-dragon approach to fan content. Long gone are the days of the 90’s console wars that put Sega toe-to-toe against Nintendo. But in a brief return to form, Sega reminded me that they can still do what Nintendon’t. And I hope that’s a reasonable assessment.

—

Noah Copeland is a somewhat-interesting human. He makes music, makes films, and stands at exactly average height. You can find him on his TSSZ author page, or on Twitter @NoahCopeland, where he posts his creative works and slightly less-thought-out essays of 140 characters. He is currently working on a comedy film about nerds, and you should totally donate to its crowdfunder. 

 

Tags Christian Whitehead (Taxman)Fan GamesNintendoReasonable AssessmentSEGASonic ManiaSonic The Hedgehog (Series)SONIC The Hedgehog (Sonic 06)StealthThe Legend of Zelda (Series)TSSZ News
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Noah Copeland

A former TSSZ News contributor, Noah Copeland is "a somewhat-interesting human. He makes cool things and stands at exactly average height". He reads all your comments, but you can also throw things at him on Twitter @NoahCopeland

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40 Comments

  1. Sonic 4 is so disgusting to look at. Thank you SEGA for doing what Nintendoesn’t. Its what always set you apart

  3. sonic 4 was pretty good so does episode 2. and sonic 06 was a disgrace for all of us, because thats the only reason why yuji naka left SEGA in the first place. and nintendo do have the right to take there music’s off on other youtubers videos as copyright. but i don’t blame them. and SEGA needs to be aware of there games they are making.

    and i hope Dimps won’t be involve for the sonic 2017 project because they suck ass for ruining sonic games on nintendo consoles.

    1. Dimps = All Sonic Advances, Sonic Rush, Rush Adventure, Colors DS, Generations 3DS… bad games… okay… I outta here!

      1. Dimps can do whatever the fuck they want now, just as long as it’s not on a Sonic game that’s supposed to be classic.

    2. How about “I hope Dimps doesn’t get the short end of the stick of developing a game in such a short time just to make ends meet for a handheld version of the main console game”
      And even at that Colors DS was actually better than the Wii version’s stale kind of platforming, and whist Generations 3DS was a rush job, it’s not like it sucked horribly. It’s only really Lost World 3DS and Sonic 4 that are Dimps’ only real failures.

      Besides, I’d trust them much more than Sanzaru, Dimps has worked on DragonBall from the Budokai games to Xenoverse later on after the Tenkaichi games, the aformentioned Advance/Rush series, AND these guys also co-developed on Street Fighter IV. Aside from Sonic Boom, Sanzaru only has one Sly Cooper game to their name.

      1. I should also note they only have ONE Sly game they’ve done, and that’s not even part of the original 3 games from what I’ve seen.

        1. Sanzaru ported the first 3 Sly games to PS3. And then Made Sly 4 on their own, when the pitched to Sucker Punch their own idea for a Sly game, since they’re such big fans.

        2. @ROBOTHOBO64 well, that makes alot of sense and i seen your talking about sonic genesis on the GBA port recently SEGA have doubts on making a good modern sonic game to be on the handheld.

    3. Actually they don’t have the right to take down those fan works. They fall under Fair Use protection. It’s just nobody ever wants to challenge them cause their a huge company. The only way Nintendo could get away with it is if they charged all of those works as Defamation of Character. :/

    4. The only horrible games Dims have made are both episodes of Sonic 4, the Advance and Rush games were miles better.

        1. you know what sonic generations for 3DS was ok for me but not lost world because they are ruining a good development of a sonic game i trust dimps a little but not alot i mean if dimps was not around we will have a good sonic game on nintendo platforms if anyone agrees with me.

        2. @SonicGalaxy27
          Eeeeexcept when Sonic Team tried making a simple port of Sonic 1 on GBA with Genesis we got what is possibly the most lazily put together half-assed game to exist.

  4. I don’t think it’s really fair to classify Sonic Mania as a fan game. It’s more than that, and SEGA is publishing it. Yes, I get it — it’s for the fans by the fans. But that can be applied to Sonic Team too. They’re fans of Sonic, are they not? Why aren’t their games fan games? Because they’re part of a company? So?

    Sorry, I’m just sick of hearing people calling this a glorified fan game, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

    Also, what you’re comparing with Nintendo from SEGA are two different things. They’re not comparable.

    1. That’s not how it works. Sonic Team being fans of sonic is not necessarily a guarantee. Big companies hire people for development skills not their passion for any particular ip, though when those two things are both present in a team it’s a bonus. Sonic Mania only even exists because fans had so much passion they made their own sonic games for free, developed enough skill to be recognized by sega, and then were hired by sega to do what they were already doing for free. Giving them a platform to do it better, bigger, and with even more quality. Mania is an unprecedented occasions that almost never takes place in any media. I’m proud of sega for allowing mania to happen. Calling this a glorified fan game is a compliment, but also a huge understatement. It’s official and it’s being made with love and complete understanding of the brand and the fans.

    2. People are having trouble coming to terms with the current new blood of devs being ones who grew up as massive fans of games like Doom Sonic, X-Com and Zelda and how that differentiates them from the old stable who worked on those games when they were brand new.
      Let’s also not forget how during the 90’s and 00’s the FPS modding scene saw many fans having their projects picked by devs like Valve or brought on to become official level designers. What Sega did when they started their partnership with Whitehead in 2010 is very similar to the spirit of that and unheard of by a depressing chunk of the industry especially in the Japan who would rather slap a C&D at someone like him rather than see an opportunity.

    3. I didn’t classify Sonic Mania as a fan game.

      Sega and Nintendo are absolutely comparable. The comparison is limited in certain areas (for example SEGA is only capable of being third party as they no longer produce consoles), but both companies hold intellectual properties and recognizable characters. The manner in which they protect those assets can and should be compared to make inferences.

  5. >New Sonic game announced for NX before a new Mario game.

    Sega Does What Nintendon’t, yes, I’m going for the kill.

    1. A Mario game will be announced close to the console release. Save the best nintendo for last. Too soon to announce a Mario game and likely will be a big main series Mario game. So it’s normal to not see Mario game for NX right now

  6. Hopefully if these games are successful for sega they won’t pull a 180 and start acting like nintendo with copyright
    . Nintendo has even started attacking porn of their characters on tumblr, not hearing of sega doing anything like that.

    1. I don’t want to my characters in that kind of image on the internet. So i will also be mad for that

      1. But it’s not like it’s hurting Nintendo at all. There’s porn of about everything out there online and how has that hurt any of the series it’s related to?

  7. Yeah, I’d say that is a reasonable assessment. I don’t get how Nintendo can still be so stuck in this way of managing things. Hopefully with the advent of really social games like Pokemon Go they’ll start to learn just how important a healthy relationship with the fan community will be towards modern day success. Hopefully this is one lesson Nintendo will actually learn from Sega some day soon.

  8. Reasonable? Yes, it has plenty of reason. Needlessly divisive? Pretty much. When many people in general would have otherwise been fine with multiple games and companies discussed, all this is is grand standing in the blind bliss of something we should all enjoy and hope it gets on a Nintendo console. It shouldn’t have to be proof anyone holds up to shame down companies into being pushed around by the public. Almost all of Nintendo’s success derives from doing what they were warned against.

  9. My favorite Dimps works:
    -Sonic Pocket Adventure
    -Sonic Advance
    -Sonic Advance 3
    -Sonic Generations 3DS
    -Sonic Advance 2
    -Sonic 4: Episode 1
    -Sonic 4: Episode Metal
    -Sonic 4: Episode 2
    -Sonic Colors DS
    -Sonic Rush Adventures
    -Sonic Rush

    They’ve done some great things… but I don’t trust them for anything CLASSIC.. At least not since Naka isn’t supervising them.
    Generations 3DS came close… but it slightly missed the mark. It sucks when I replay the exact same stages from the past, but I can’t pull off the same tricks due to the physics.

    1. I meant to say, “List from personal best to worst DIMPS works”.

      Anyway, right now, SEGA seems in a much better position for me personally than Nintendo.
      I’m personally getting annoyed with a lot of NIntendo’s policies as off late..

  10. Something else worth note of the whole “Sega vs Nintendo” thing, apparently both have released new mini versions of their classic sprite consoles, so in a sense the “Mini Console Wars” have reignited. X)”

    Also Dimps has done some decent games in the past. I mean, everybody always seems to praise the Advance games, and Rush was pretty awesome, and Colors and Generations portable counterparts were pretty passable in my opinion. Yeah Sonic 4 didn’t work out so well, but I still enjoy it a decent amount. They’ve done overall decent work, but yeah I will agree that it is a bit refreshing to see a new mainseries title being handled by somebody different, especially when they’re all experienced fans.

    1. I think SEGA is not behind that console. It’s actually ATgames, and I heard their ports are terrible.

      I kind of enjoyed the Sonic 4 series over the Rush series, but that’s just because I don’t enjoy boost gameplay. When I DO play Rush, I never use it anymore.
      Heck, in fact,I think rolling down those slopes (with those giant balls chasing you) puts a greater distance between you and those iron balls than the boost would. 😀

  11. Good article btw Noah. Almost got teary eyed there at the end. This really is a dream come true! <3

  12. Ya know I vastly ignored that yes Nintendo does have a dragon approach to their fans and that’s why they are like the titanic and are sinking with their approach to their fans. That is one thing as a gaming company you definitely don’t do. Attacking your fans who do fan made things and are not trying to make money off the IP that you created is not cool and very very stupid. Sega seems to be bringing back that old motto of doing what Nintendon’t 😆 and that rocks the place! 😎

  13. Really digging these articles! They inspire the community, and they step back and point out the most important things we can maybe overlook or take for granted. By the fans, for the fans; not the draconian iron fist that Nintendo pulls punches with at their fans. 🙂 Here’s to a rest of a year chock full of many more good reasons like this to make positive press like this.

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