R P G A M E R . C O M   -   E D I T O R I A L S

Spin Dash

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Mike "JuMeSyn" Moehnke
FAN EDITORIALIST

A long time ago Sega and Nintendo were engaged in the closest console race ever. Sega needed a mascot character to compete with the instantly recognizable Mario, and came up with a certain speedy rodent. Sega hasn't been directly competing with Nintendo for a number of years now, but Sonic the Hedgehog has attained the same level of recognition among the gaming populace as Mario. So where's a Sonic RPG?

When Super Mario RPG came out in 1996, Mario was 15 years old and had been in just about every genre of game save the RPG world. Sonic is now the same age Mario was 10 years ago, and has also been in just about every genre of game save the RPG. Also Sega's recent Sonic titles are reputedly not nearly as good as would be desired to sustain Sonic's headliner status. Why not have Sonic follow in Mario's footsteps again, as he has done before?

Sonic in and of himself wouldn't make for a balanced RPG, but he does have a number of abilities directly based off his speed that could be incorporated into an RPG environment without much trouble. He also has an established gallery of characters to populate an RPG with, many of whom reputedly clutter his recent titles to adverse effect. The sheer number of anthropomorphic characters in Sonic's universe is astonishing, especially if the Archie comic series (rather worthwhile) is factored in. Having all of them be playable would be a tall task in even the most massive putative Sonic RPG, but interaction with them could be enjoyable. Knuckles and Tails, at least, should be playable.

Sega even has a fine pedigree for making RPGs, meaning that development would not need to be shared with any other company (the way the first Mario RPG was). Even if Phantasy Star Online/Universe (and some reputedly at-best mediocre Shining titles) is the only real RPG presence of Sega's in recent years in English, the continuing development of Sakura Wars titles shows that the ability to develop other types of RPGs remains with the company. And Phantasy Star (IV paramount), Skies of Arcadia, and Panzer Dragoon Saga are ample proof of Sega's historical ability to craft incredibly good RPG material. Let the company make a game that ought to be really good, after a few years of not much to write home about!