Retro Gamer's Sonic Special (Interviews With Iizuka, Hoshino And Hector)

 Hey, so here's an interesting thing, Retro Gamer did a huge special on Sonic for his 30th anniversary, where they discussed the entire franchise, from characters, games, music, and even his many shows. 

I've seen almost zero coverage for it, so I decided to dig through it and I actually happened to find a shit ton of interesting tidbits here. So I'll post some quotes, and give my take on a few. I won't post everything here, as there's a ton more in the actual issue.

One other thing, this was very obviously done  before the Central hit, so there's no details about Colors Ultimate, Origins or the new game in here. 

Buy it here, as it's a very good read: 

https://pocketmags.com/us/retro-gamer-magazine/issue-221/articles/994117/sonic-the-hedgehog

To start off, here's how Iizuka defines Sonic's personality in the modern day:

 “Sonic is a playful hedgehog who never shies away from an adventure. He’s focused on justice and doing what’s right by his pals, no matter where that may lead him,” he replies. “His quick wit takes him far but can sometimes get caught up in a speedy whirlwind – that’s where his trusted friends come in, bringing him back down to earth and keeping him grounded.”

A simple, if standard PR response, but a good one regardless.

Iizuka's comment on Sonic's modern appearance: 

 “Consumers have always taken a liking to Sonic’s playful and colourful appearance, and we always try to keep his appearance rather consistent for the sake of ensuring his fans can recognise him no matter what medium he appears in,” explains Iizuka. “His vibrant colour and mischievous expressions resonated with kids and adults alike who have now followed Sonic through the years, and slight changes to his physical appearance has kept audiences on their toes as they watch Sonic transition into different forms throughout his life.”

 "Sonic obviously has a long-lasting appeal for fans, regardless of his form, but he’s the same lovable character at the end of the day." 

He goes on to say...

“The nostalgic factor allows us to translate his unique personality into a number of different mediums, where he stays entirely relatable and recognisable. It’s not really up to us to dictate how our audiences interpret Sonic, but instead it’s our job to ensure they see him take on new forms that further perpetuate his spunky attitude that fans know and love.”

Sonic is Sonic, regardless of which design they use, is all he's saying. 

When asked about how SEGA goes about Sonic's speed in terms of gameplay: 

 “There are a lot of benefits and challenges to keeping Sonic ‘up to speed’ per se,” says Iizuka. “While hedgehogs aren’t particularly fast, that’s where we were challenged to think outside of the box and use some creative freedoms,” he says. “In terms of the benefits, the theme of speed has allowed us to explore a variety of genres such as platformers, racing games, RPGs and more. It’s such a versatile theme because it plays into Sonic’s key characteristic of perseverance, and keeps the storyline going as he races toward his next objective."

RG Asks:

"When it comes to creating levels, Sonic can be a tricky character to design for. Exploration is often a key part of the platform game genre, and the 16-bit Sonic games in particular are known for having some fairly large, sprawling stages. But with Sonic’s sense of speed in mind, slowing down and checking out every route is something that many players won’t be inclined to do – some might even say it goes against the point of the game. This has been a design conundrum since the very beginning of the series, so how are those things reconciled?"

There's much more here, where he goes into the philosophy of level design for Sonic games:

“Level design for 2D Sonic games requires application of a core design philosophy – do not create any situation where ‘you cannot proceed if you make a mistake’. It sounds obvious as a fundamental rule, but it is also one of the factors that causes stress when thinking about creating the gameplay experience,” explains Iizuka, going back to the early days of the series. “2D Sonic games are not about carefully moving through the world. We want people to run through at high speed and have a fun time, so the whole ‘you cannot progress if you make a mistake’ philosophy was taken to heart and level design was approached so that ‘even if you fail, there is a different path forward.’  “That’s why we created such a complicated level design with upper and lower routes, much more complicated than many other titles."

“Some of the challenges we encountered when creating a stage to feel like a Sonic stage in 3D was camera work. For 2D Sonic games you will be able to get to the goal by progressing to the right far enough, but for 3D Sonic titles it was possible to just get lost walking around in any direction, so a lot of that exhilaration wasn’t there." 

 “It was in that environment where the new camera system was born, where even if the road had twists and turns to the right or to the left, it would move to show you the path forward so you would want to continue moving forward into what the camera was showing you, and that allowed us to create the first 3D action title Sonic Adventure.”

Here's a quote about how music is typically made:

“Before we begin composing for a stage, we collect materials to give an image or impression to set the scene. At that time there may be actual stages to play, but usually that is not the case, so we get concept artwork or scenarios that can visually represent the stage,” says Iizuka. “Sometimes we don’t even have that and still need to start composing, so we get a written document outlining something unique to the stage and get to work from there.”

Roger Hector was also interviewed and he gave brand new details on the development of Sonic 3:

The Language Barrier:

"Most of the Japanese team spoke some English. Those that were more fluent did translation for the others. There were some additional Sega Of Japan management staff that came in and helped with communications at big meetings. We also brought in an outside language teacher and conducted a regular Berlitz class in Japanese."

This is new information, unless there's something I'm not aware of?

Discussing The Soundtrack:

"Michael Jackson was a very big fan of Sonic and he wanted to record a soundtrack for the game. He came to STI and met with the team to discuss the design theme, story, and feel of the game. He then went away and recorded an entire soundtrack that covered all of the worlds. It was fantastic. We had it all ready and integrated into the game when the first news stories came out accusing him of child molestation, and Sega had to back away from this collaboration. It was very late in the development process, and we had to quickly put together a complete replacement music track."

I find this answer to be very funny considering the fact that we mountains of evidence that MJ's music remained in at least half of the game. It seems like even now, many of Sonic 3's collaborators are unable to give the full story of what happened.

Kazyuki Hoshino was also interviewed, and he gave an interesting answer that will make Modern Sonic haters (e.g. Resetera) mad.

Some people (fanboys) won't like to hear this, but Sonic being redesigned was a requirement.

RG: "What was the most difficult thing about bringing classic character designs from 2D to 3D?"

"Character posing in 2D can be very easily faked to look cool, but there are a lot of instances where you try and represent the same pose with a 3D model and it really can’t be reproduced. Another example would be Sonic crossing his arms. That was so difficult. The new Sonic design had longer arms and legs, but one could say the bigger solution to the problem was the ability to pose the character where everything looked good from a variety of angles."

He also had this to say about Sonic Adventure:

RG: "Why do you think Sonic fans still hold the original Sonic Adventure in such high regard?" 

"If I think of what the appeal of the title is, as a fan myself, I would have to say it is because each of the characters has such a deep story. The story continues still to this day and seems to be expanding instead of coming to an end. For example, one could probably still think “I bet Big is probably fishing right now.” In addition, I’m sure there is also the expectation that someday in the future we would make a sequel or continuation in the series."

I've left the most Interesting part of the article for last, and I expect this to cause much speciation, coming from Iizuka once again:

“Initially, we thought bringing the ‘classic’ Sonic into the fold was just going to be a 20th anniversary project, but it was met with such positive responses from fans that we knew we would keep him around,” Iizuka reveals. “In fact, we have released Sonic Mania focused on the ‘classic’ Sonic in 2017. The ‘classic’ Sonic is a popular iteration who will hopefully be a part of the blue blur’s future.”

I'll say this: As of this writing, there is no sequel to Sonic Mania in development. Evening Star is working on something else entirely. This isn't speculation, this isn't guessing, this is something I know for a fact. This is also something that's extremely obvious, if you know where to look. Classic as a brand will stay around in merchandise, but it still seems like a giant question mark, when it comes to another game starring his classic iteration.

What Iizuka is taking about here could be anything. From more guest appearances, cameos, or even another role in a future 3D game. I think another important thing is Origins. If you want more classic Sonic in the future, buying that collection will send the narrative in that direction.

Anywho, that's it for this article. The next one will be a long read, fair warning. Thanks for reading. See you then!

(.steewter ro noitnetta mih evig t'noD .ekoj a sI rettiwT nO eM tsurT eduD .rM)