I love the Sonic series, whether it's Classic or Modern, 2D or 3D. I think it's done a lot of things well and a lot of things poorly, but in spite of the flaws, I believe there is great potential with it. It's the reason why I wanted to get into game dev in the first place. https://twitter.com/greencherple/status/1264701623642853379

My main issue with some titles is that while they introduce really cool gameplay concepts (ex: Heroes' tag team, Lost World's parkour, Forces' custom hero), they either don't get enough polish/focus within their games, or they're not refined further in future entries.

I appreciate the developers' willingness to innovate & experiment with each title, but I think it's confused the series' identity & deprived it of a reliable structure. Many fans can't agree on what style of Sonic is best; trying to cater to them all just creates unfocused games.

Personally, I don't care what style becomes the precedent for Sonic, so long as it's fun enough to replay and has substance to it. I would rather the developers make what they think is worth experiencing, instead of trying to appeal to every fan's differing interests.

An aspect of Sonic that I love is how it's inspired fans to try creating their own works & projects. If SEGA/Sonic Team was as hardline about guarding their IPs as Nintendo, we would never have seen amazing works like Mania, Robo Blast 2, Project Hero, or Utopia.

However, I want to appreciate fan works out of mutual love for Sonic, not out of cynicism or spite towards the official series. It annoys me to no end when these labors of love are used to just shit on the developers, especially when the comparison is often unreasonable.

Fans may not have as many resources to create their projects, but they have more freedom to design and direct them as they wish, instead of having to create what AAA corporate suits think is most profitable. Plus, fans aren't the ones relying on their projects to make a living.

So while I'm not stoked about how the official series is progressing, I can't stand statements like "Sonic Team/Iizuka doesn't care at all" or "SEGA should just fire Sonic Team and hire fans instead". The story behind Mania's development is great, yes, but it's not that simple.

Anyway, this thread is way too long now, so I'm gonna end it here.