Why Sonic's stories Suck now.

It's no secret to long time Sonic Adventure fans that the writing for Sonic has really gone down hill. Maybe it's depressing even. I mean, hey, we grew up with these games and Mario could only dream of doing so well. Creating characters that we could really feel for, whom we loved, and who we admired. We have Shadow, who's the ultimate lifeform. Gamma, a robot some say destined to be destroyed, and with a flicky inside of him, that's not far from the truth. We have Silver, a hedgehog from a ruined future. And Tails, a younger character who just wants to be like Sonic but needs to find his own way and be himself.

But what is Ken Pontac doing with all this.

In fact, do you even know who he is?

Welp. As of Sonic Colors. Ken Pontac is our new writer.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Pont…

And when I look at his calling card, I'm not so impressed.


I see things like Happy Tree friends and Gumby Adventures. (Of which I only saw A little bit of Gumby's footage. It was something about a kid putting hair remover on his butt, and he was only 11 years old. . . . I think. . . )

I'm seeing Lazy Town, which was at least Somewhat popular, and then. . . the best credential, Krypto the Superdog. Which I did enjoy watching back in the day a little bit. I mean hey, yeah, it's nothing compared to, say, Sonic X. But it's still better than most of what was available and I can kindof remember a few episodes. 

But it's no his credentials that make me upset, as misplaced as some of them are. What makes me upset is this. (And it's not even Sonic Colors.)


www.facebook.com/notes/sonic-a…


Read that article, and then read it again.

You won't believe what you're going to hear.

Did you read it?

Good.

Cause Ken Pontac isn't even aware of Sega's first REAL 3D sonic Game on the Sega Dreamcast.

I'm serious. (You did read the article, right? It wasn't long! I promise!) What is this guy even doing working for Sega? And who hired him? "Aha!" So many Sonic fans go, eagerly jumping to the conclusion. "This is why Sonic games are sucking with the story now. No wonder!" but I beg to differ, as there's another and even deeper question to be asked here.

Why Did Sega hired him? In fact, why would any video gaming company as large as Sega hire a nobody who's never really had anything to do with Sonic write the stories when there are doubtlessly plenty of others who are at least familiar with the Title. Well, Okay, maybe it would be hard to find someone that fits the bill. Just because someone's a Sonic fan, or they've even played Sonic Adventure 2, doesn't mean they could write a good Sonic title.

But someone who doesn't even know perhaps the holy grail of Sonic fans isn't going to do much better?

Searching the internet, I floundered to find out who wrote Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2. Both games had great plots, were interesting and created characters we cared about. Even Sonic Next Gen/06 is better than some of the stuff we've had lately. (Lost world anyone?) But it seems that the information. . . simply isn't made a big deal out of.

Akinori Nishiyama was the scenario writer of Sonic Adventure. But he doesn't even have a wikipedia page? 

Meanwhile Takashi Iizuka has one. He Not only directed Sonic Adventure, but he also wrote Sonic 06, Rivals, Rivals 2, and Shadow the Hedgehog. Now, Some people might hate on him for Shadow the Hedgehog. But come on! At least he gave us all the characters that we wanted, and he has the true Sonic feel! Not this bratty, depth lacking Tales we see in Lost World, or that horrible, ungodly characterization of Shadow in Sonic Riders!

Shiro Maekawa is the scenario writer for Sonic Adventure 2- he also lacks a wikipedia page.

Shun Nakamura  Wrote out the game story to Sonic 2006.

Even though you can point out various flaws in many of the Sonic game's stories. (I still am standing by the fact that Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Adventure 2 and Adventure 1 don't have any.) These were still miles, and miles above Ken Pontac's writing. And it's not even that I hate the guy, he seems very. . . honorable. . . unless it's all just feel good business talk.

“I would just like to say that um, about the group of fans that hate me and um, think that I should be fired and never write another thing…sorry you feel that way. I’m glad you care about the characters so much.”

But judging by what the reporters said, it seems that those words may have been genuine.

But my question to you, and your question to Sega should be this.

Why did you hire someone to write for you, who isn't even aware of you're greatest works in the 3D realm let alone their names? Just why. This does not necessarily tell me that Ken Pontac is to blame here people. It's whoever hired him- and clearly didn't care what happened to Sonic next regarding the story. Think about it. Why would you hire someone who didn't even know the name of your best 3D seller? Especially when you're running something as popular as Sonic the Hedgehog? There is no excuse.

Someone doesn't want Sonic much more complicated than Mario. And really doesn't care. It's like there are those who want Sonic to be great, and then they see Sonic as a kind of over glorified payday. And that's what I hate about the video game market. People don't always do this stuff about their passions. And hey, I understand that you need to make money and all. . . but how much? I mean, I'm sure you're already going to make plenty, and. . . is dumbing it down really the best way to go about this? I think it could really hurt in the long run. Especially as you keep on losing your most dedicated of fans.

You know.

The people who make fanart and keep talking about the game till everyone their friends with at school has bought it. The thought of Sonic being less than. . . amazing, is sad to me.

Up to this point, it seems to me, that if Sega needed a knew writer, they picked someone who was. . . already on the team.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_…

And that's how developer Takashi Iizuka went from producer to Scenario writer, and probably the most consistent scenario writer of the bunch.

The fact that two different people made Sonic Adventure 1, and Sonic Adventure 2 tells me it is possible to have different writers continue the series- but only if they're inspired and know what that series is truly about! (Pontac doesn't. . . at all.) Also, notice how most of the writers to Sonic games had some past experience with the Title? Shun Nakamura, you can say all you want about Sonic 06 and I'll agree that the time travel, and Princess Elise was bad. But what he did with Mephiles and Silver was excellent. He even gave us a tip off to Sonic X with Shadow and the inhibitor rings. Pontac probably didn't even know who Shadow was when he was offered the job.

All I can say is. . . Sonic has been down for a while. I know that some people praised Sonic Team when Sonic Colors came out and I agree- it was a fun game. But the story is hardly something I would praise. Now, if it had been for one game, then I wouldn't mind something of a throwback to the classic titles- cept it's been here to stay. Lost World tired to make an effort. Shadow is out of character as ever, and it's like nothing really epic is gonna come out of this. And don't buy the lie that Sonic is just going back to what it was on the Sega Genesis.

Sonic is going back to what it was in Sonic 1.

And Sonic never was meant to do that. Ever Since Sonic 2, the series has only been developing, and mostly in a good way. We get Tails as a new character. Silver Sonic, who foreshadowed Metal Sonic. Then we get Sonic CD which has time Travel, and Finally, Sonic 3 and Knuckles, a HUGE game with Knuckles as a new playable character and original anti hero, as well as Mecha Sonic who made for a cool alt and one time character.

Sonic Adventure took where the series was always headed and blew it out of the water with what we call. . . 

Amazingness.

This going backwards stuff, has got to end, but Sega maybe doesn't want to since they choose the writer. (Or did they, did Sonic Team choose them? Probably not since Sonic team has always picked one of their members when they needed a new writer, and it worked out okay, usually. Sonic Rivals 2 sure was neat!)

And that's all I have to say really. After an in depth analysis, I think I'm ready to call it a day. But I'm afraid that Sonic may not be back on the surface as of 2016. If Ken Pontac writes the story and all we get is a simple, lousy tip off to past games and they try to emulate Sonic 1 again, like in Lost World, I'm going to be upset. The fact that Sega willing choose this writer does not sit well with my stomach.

All we can really do is hope and pray. Cause as of now, even with all the hype about Sega's strange silence with Sonic and his upcoming anniversary. . .

That something radical happens.

And that might not be a good thing.


End of Article.


Mr. Yuji Naka, do you. . . remember us? 

www.polygon.com/gaming/2012/9/…