9.24.2003      

What the hell is Sega doing?

      A long time ago I played a game that featured fast, fun, and at the time unique elements of gameplay that I had never experienced before. At this time I was a young kid, that had not too long ago began to center my life around the world of videogaming. The current king of videogaming was boring me. Nintendo had long ruled the living room with its NES. It was a great system, well, actually... the system was crap. Wrapping cartridges in your shirt and blowing on them, the horrible non-ergonomic design of the controllers which is bound to doom many of us to take numerous drugs for arthritis, and who could forget finally giving in to buying that huge waste of time known as a "system cleaner" which promised to make your fucked up copy of Kung Fu work again. The NES had some absolutely incredible games but, even to this day Nintendo's choice of designing their hardware like a force to be reckoned with and not something to enjoy has left a very stale taste in my mouth. But, anyway, I digress...

     That game that I played a long time ago was called Sonic The Hedgehog. I can't remember what occasion forced my parents to buy me a Sega Genesis but, they did and it was the first time in my life that “I” had bought a video game system. We went to a toy store at the mall and after having run through the first act of the Green Hill Zone several times I had my sights set on getting a new fangled Genesis and a copy of that game. When we got there I pointed and said that's it. The Genesis shone in all its glory from behind the counter and Sonic wasn't too far away right below it. The clerk saw my interest in the black box and came over to see if we needed any help. Pops spoke up telling the guy that we wanted the “Genesis thing” and also the “Hedgehog game.”

     The clerk's eyebrows perked up. “Ah, so your son's been bit by the Sega bug too huh?”

     “Sonic is awesome. He can do loops and stuff. And he's way faster than Mario,” I informed the clerk to make sure he knew what he was dealing with.

     “That's what a lot kids come in here and say, but to tell you the truth this Sega thing is just a phase. The Super Nintendo on the other hand is here to stay. Sega is having their day in the sun but, how can anyone beat Nintendo. Hahaha...”

     My parents looked at him incredulously. They wouldn't and couldn't give a fuck about Sega, Mario, Nintendo and whatever else the clerk was talking about. My dad had played Bases Loaded on the NES a few times and he had even managed to break one of my controllers in a fit of rage when he lost a substantial lead to the computer in the bottom of the ninth. But, he was determined to put all that behind him now and just “let the kids play from now on.” (Little did he know that later on Sega Sports would release a gem of a football game featuring Joe Montana. Controllers would once again grow wings...)

     I looked at the clerk a little more sternly now and said, “Well, anyway I want to get the Genesis and Sonic.”

     “Are you sure about that? I mean come on. You probably got a Chia Pet at home don't you? Look, I had a kid come in here yesterday and by one of these things, this morning his parents brought it back saying that he read in some game magazine about the Super Nintendo and he wants that now. Nintendo is the best video game maker there is and nobody is gonna be able to beat them. I got a kid of my own. Lemme give you guys some advice. You buy this system now and it's gonna be collecting dust in the near future. In my opinion you shouldn't bother with Sega. When Nintendo gets up to speed and starts bringing out more games, no one is gonna mention Sega ever again.”

     My mom looked down at me. I was infuriated, but of course my face didn't show it. She said, “So what do you want to do? You want to think about it and wait until tomorrow?”

     “... No. I want to get Sonic. I'm tired of saving the Princess. Sonic is a lot more fun than Mario.”

     Pops decided to chime in again, “You say that now, but what about later. Are you just gonna put it away and then want something else?”

     It seemed the clerk had put up enough of a Nintendo fanboy front to make my parents care. My mood had changed from mild cynicism to frustration. This clerk didn't know who I was and well I couldn't blame him, it was the first time he'd ever seen me and I'm sure he gets a bunch of “me too” kids in here. But, I'll be damned if I don't walk out this store with the blue bad boy in tow. I needed to say something to make them lose interest somehow and make my parents just agree and leave it at that. I wasn't just buying into the current wave of popularity that Sega was riding, I had tasted a great game and I knew that Sonic was more than just a fad. I dug into my bag of tricks and pulled out some of my gaming “knowledge.”

     “The Genesis is better than the Super Nintendo cuz it has a faster processor. That means that it can make graphics faster and it can do more things at the same time like, you can have more dragons on the screen shooting fireballs and then the hero guy can do a whole bunch of sword attacks and can take them out while in the background the parallax scrolling of the castles in the background ca-”

     “Alright, alright! Let's just get the damn thing and get out of here,” my Pops conceded.

     Success! My parents had been lulled back into nonchalance. The clerk just frowned and pulled it down from the shelf. We went back home and I setup the Genesis and proceeded to run through the Green Hill Zone for the first time in the comfort of my home. And thus began my admiration of all things Sonic Team.


Sega and Sonic Team Lately...

     A lot of things have changed since those days, including Sonic Team. I've been running with the squad for what seems like forever and the only game I haven't played of theirs is the critcally acclaimed Phatasy Star Online. I just never got around to it I suppose. (Oh yeah, and Samba de Amigo, but I'm too cool to play that game. Yeah, you heard me - I'm too frickin' cool.) Anyway, Sega has given up the hardware business and they've been making games for Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft. It seems as if Sony's system gets the most wide-appeal games, Microsoft is getting the niche-type hardcore games, and then Nintendo was getting whatever crap was left over. And that's where Sonic Team and this whole rant really comes in. All of Sonic Team's latest efforts have arrived or will arrive on Nintendo's Gamecube. If you'll review the way I classified what kind of games Sega was putting on this system you'll notice that this would put those games in the “whatever crap was left over” category. With the exception of Monkey Ball, every Sega game on this system is either a rehash or a crappy rehash. Some of the games Sega are porting didn't receive the recognition they deserved such as Skies of Arcadia. But, what about Sonic Adventure 2 Battle? SA2 got in and got out on the Dreamcast and it did well. I suppose the people who own a GC never played the original on DC? Regardless I think the resources that were put into this rehash as well as Sonic Adventure DX could have been put to better use in creating what would not only bring back some of my admiration but also some much needed dough for the company.

     Ever heard of Nights Into Dreams? It's been a very long time since ST has given us another taste of the dream world contained within that game. Too damn long actually as maybe people are starting to forget that this game ever even existed. With the power of the GC Sonic Team could put together a game that would have the graphics the masses seem to enjoy to no end and then fuse it with some of the action of the Sonic games and then top if off with a good dose of the originality that made the game a sleeper back in the Saturn days. Yuji Naka and company have had many years to get over any kind of game developer's block that may or may not have cropped up thinking about new stuff for this game. Nights to me seems to be the best kind of game for this system, considering the fact that Nintendo caters to a very niche audience anyway. (Let's face it, Nintendo makes some great stuff but if Link and Mario aren't your cup of tea they have nothing else to offer). People who like sports games play them on other systems. People who like RPGs play them elsewhere. People who like action games don't own a Gamecube. That leaves Nintendo's very niche audience, which is basically comprised of nothing but hardcore followers. Nintendo is able to make a good living off of these people alone but, they'll never cater to the masses with the way they go about their business. Sega must realize this which is why you don't see Sega GT on GC. So why not exploit Nintendo's character loving, odd-ball gamers? (The purest gamers, I might add). With that said it seems that's what they're trying to do with their DC rehashes but, a Nights sequel would be the real killer here. I have a really good feeling that the people who loved Nights migrated to the GC after the unfortunate end of the Dreamcast, that is, if they didn't pick up a PS2 first...

     Another thing that has me scratching my head is that Sega is fragmenting their loyal fanbase by not releasing some of their more popular games to multiple platforms. I really want to play Panzer Dragoon Orta unfortunately I don't have the money (or the space) for an Xbox. What Sega needs to do (if they haven't already) is create a team that does nothing but port their games to different platforms and if they know it won't sell billions do a limited run and then put more out if need be. You know how much I could hock my absolutely pristine copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga for on Ebay these days? (Which I am proud to state I bought from a brick and mortar store back when it was $40 and not like all these punks that only buy Sega stuff whenever it is goes off the market).

     To me Sonic Team has come to represent everything that Sega is. And to have them pushing out rehashes makes me worry quite a bit about where the company is headed. Sega is still my favorite game developer for the games they've released in the past but, whether or not it stays this way depends on what they do with their new position in the industry. I was hoping that concentrating on nothing but software would prompt them to be even more a mbitious with their gaming releases. Which is why it's so disheartening to see them putting out old games on new systems. But, only time will tell what's gonna happen to Sega. 'Til next time, peace out yo.