it's no secret that 2006 is Sonic the
Hedgehog was an unmitigated disaster
serving as the fifteenth anniversary of
the iconic Sonic most fans were
expecting a big tattoo with Sonic the
Hedgehog and expected that Sonic team
would you know put some effort in
but then November 14 2006 arrived and
everyone witnessed a complete Horror
Show names Dave with WatchMojo and today
we're here to explain what happened to
Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 before we
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you're on your phone make sure you go
into your settings and switch on
notifications I don't care what some of
you fans say sonic oh 6 wasn't just bad
it was dreadful a frustrating camera
horrible controls and seamlessly endless
glitches and bugs with just a few
debilitating issues I mean let's be
honest it was universally critically
panned and Sega was forced to make some
serious damage control so no it's not a
good game it's those sonic fans who say
it's still a good game no you are wrong
to go on another adventure
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definitely this game along with other
sonic titles that received middling
Metacritic scores were eventually
delisted in 2010 according to Sega's
former president of Europe Jorgen birth
this was done to quote increase the
value of the sonic brand I mean it was
like the game never existed it it's
alright but what exactly happened how
did a highly anticipated triple-a
release of one of gaming's most iconic
mascots turn into such a PR nightmare
well let's take a look one of the major
contributors to this tragedy was
ironically sonic teams lack of team
based mentality the team was totally
fragmented and had constantly shifting
leadership and therefore a shifting
direction the game's first director then
head of Sonic Team and league programmer
of the original psyche series Yuji naka
left the company midway through
development to start his own game
company probe in an interview with game
developer magazine naka stated his
reason was that he wanted to go back to
being part of the development process as
opposed to a management role thus sonic
team lacked a leader and other core
personnel behind the classic games had
long moved on from the company the day
of disaster here are my records of this
event
here's the thing though on the surface
Sonic o6 actually had potential the
havoc 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 want 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
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technological leaks aside the company
was also returning to the old-school
sonic roots which greatly excited
longtime fans of the series this change
in direction was in response to
criticism received from the team-based
sonic heroes and the edge Lord central
Shadow the Hedgehog to do this the
producers decided to reintroduce speed
and branching paths place as the most
important gameplay mechanics this was a
sonic anniversary and on paper a
commemoration done right a celebration
of the series past and an introduction
to new and exciting technological leaps
that should have helped bury the
franchise into the future but as we
stated earlier the boss left to form his
own company after which Joe Jiro
Ogawa took over the reins as the game's
director there's still a way to change
this and then Nintendo's sent Sega the
first-ever software development kits for
the way at the time still called the
revolution and it made things even worse
strike the Hedgehog 2006 was designed
exclusively for the new batch of seventh
generation consoles and the team
tailored the game and its technological
leaps with the expected power the
development kits were not what Sega and
Sonic Team were expecting reliance on
motion detection aside the Wii was far
less powerful than the Xbox 360 and the
PlayStation 3 thus their title would not
be able to run on Nintendo's new system
at least without not completely rework
in the game but given the overwhelming
pre-release hype Sega didn't want to
pass up on the way so they decided to
split up the already struggling Sonic
team into one half continue to tackle
psycho 6 while the other half including
director Ogawa broke off to develop what
would eventually be known as Sonic and
the secret rings for the way the
strategic move ensured that Sonic had a
winged release but it also left sonic
o-6 with a painfully small development
team this is all so confusing with its
director now on another title Shawn
Nakamura was now appointed as Sonic o6s
director with only months on hand before
the game scheduled to be released and
only half a team yeah I think it's safe
to say no one would want to be in his
shoes a lack it consistently
and a fragmented development team is
already that but the game's biggest
killer was time sacred desperately
wanted to have the game release for the
2006 holiday season not only with this
proof financially feasible but the game
would miss Sonic's 15th anniversary it
was delayed any further so Sega rush
sonic team and due to the immense
pressure they were forced to ignore many
of the game's technological issues sonic
team was fully aware they had a broken
and woefully incomplete game on their
hands they also had to needlessly ignore
the realities to get the game out on
time Sonic teams head Takashi Iizuka
told Game Informer worked we missed out
on that really important time to polish
and tune and manipulate the map and make
sure that the gameplay felt good but it
didn't have that it didn't turn out as
good as the development team wanted you
keep getting in my way you pesky little
Hedgehog Sonic the Hedgehog for the Xbox
360 was released on November 14th 2006
and was met with immediate disdain the
team's fears were realized the game was
a complete mess full of glitches like
the load times a terrible control scheme
and off horrid camera that often
infuriated players however even if you
were to overlook this staggering amount
of technical issues a major note about
the game 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 on
how such a storyline unfolded however in
an interview with games by Elise's voice
actress Lacey Chabert defended the
relationship stating quote it's not an
inappropriate relationship let's just
say Sonic and Princess Elise have an
attraction for each other
she also dismissed the criticism as
silly
police smile rather than celebrate the
franchise's legacy and usher in an
exciting new generation Sonic the
Hedgehog 2006 all but killed the series
and its reputation Sega Sami Holdings
president Haruki Satomi told CNBC that
after the Sonic o-6 disaster happened he
vowed to quote never let it happen again
and that he quote told his development
and sales scene that they should not
release the game unless they 100% agree
with and are confident with the quality
oh come on
sonic boom happened under your watch me
sister Tommy how did you let that one
slip
the development of 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 this
development story is a tragic one and it
proves that terrible games are often
made with good intention not one person
in particular is to blame for this
atrocity not even Sega and not Yuji naka
they were left with a fragmented
development team they were caught off
guard by the Wiis development kits and
they wanted to ensure the game's release
for the series 15th anniversary yes the
latter part seems to be the primary
reason behind the game's failure but you
can't deny the intentions were good
if there's one positive thing I can say
about Sonic oh 6 though the soundtrack
was an epic bang up I'm sure of it it's
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