Maekawa-san on SA2 analysis - "Did SA2 take Sonic's life?"

News from 2019.05.05
Archived on 2019.05.06

Do you like heavy and serious stories for Sonic?

Then you definitely like Maekawa-san's script.

He is the man who wrote scenario&plot for Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, and Sonic and the Black Knight, along with his other contributions to the series as game planner and designer.

And today, he stumbled upon a fan's analysis on how Sonic Adventure 2, for it being a masterpiece, "ended Sonic":

「ソニアド2がソニックの息の根を止めた」😱😱😱 https://t.co/8cdeRqwzox

— 前川司郎 (@mizuhano) May 4, 2019

マリオとの比較はマトを得ているカモ。
今でこそ仲良く並んでスポーツに興じているが昔はシノギを削るライバルだったし、マリオに勝つために、敢えてマリオとは違う路線に突き進もうとしていたのは確か。

— 前川司郎 (@mizuhano) May 4, 2019

あのまま進んでいれば今のアベンジャーズになれた可能性も…いや、ないか😅

— 前川司郎 (@mizuhano) May 4, 2019

取り敢えずソニアド2のシナリオ書いた奴は死刑で👍

— 前川司郎 (@mizuhano) May 4, 2019

Here are my translations and response:

🔵Maekawa-san reacted to a Sonic fan's theory analysing that SA2 was what took Sonic's life as its complicated story unlike simple 'defeat Eggman because he is the baddy' caused fans' high expectations and inability to accept light story with easygoing attitude of Sonic anymore:

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) May 5, 2019

" 'SA2 was what took Sonic's life' 😱😱😱"

"Their comparison to Mario might be true.
Today they can stand side by side to enjoy sports together, but back then they were rivals, and it's true that we were trying to go for other direction than Mario in order to win against him."
-

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) May 5, 2019

- "If we had chosen to pursue that direction further, Sonic might had the possibility to become today's Avengers... Or probably not."
-

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) May 5, 2019

- "Alright, so the guy who wrote SA2's scenario gets death penalty👍"- Shiro Maekawa

No Maekawa-san! You brought us so many more great stories like Sonic Heroes, Sonic 06, Sonic and the Black Knight. You deserve to be hired at SEGA again to tell us more about Sonic's adventures!

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) May 5, 2019

I knew he was joking in his last tweet, but still I felt that he was shocked by hearing this and wanted to encourage him. Because I really love the Sonic scenario he writes and want him back in Sonic Team again for more great stories that give people hope, joy and life lessons.

And even though SA2 was the most successful work in Sonic series, there were many games which came afterwards and had great stories with good balance of comedy and seriousness - incuding Maekawa-san's other works. My top favorites are Sonic World Adventure and the Storybook series (Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sonic and the Black Knight). There are still many games I haven't played, but I hear that Sonic Heroes and Sonic Battle have good stories too.
So even though I partially understand the theory of this fan, I don't agree with it 100%. It's more of the problem of stories from Sonic Colors and on which in some parts lacked the basic essence of character personalities and consistensy as a story. Sure, because I first played Sonic World Adventure and Storybook series and grew up with this cool and caring Sonic, this one would stay as my ideal Sonic. I was also playing Colors a short while later, and thought that story itself is really good - just some of Sonic's lines and his actions in cutscenes were a little too childish compared to the Sonic I met in previous three works. Then Generations came in, with the cool Sonic again but lacking much story. Well, for this one being an anniversary title, I could take it easily. Then Lost World, Boom, and Forces. I had hard time finding the Sonic I knew from few years ago. Sure he had cool moments, but somehow he didn't shine much as a character like before. It's in the story, it's i nthe lines, it's in the actions - all these factors affect a character's impression, And this has changed a lot over the last decade.
It's true that I have hard time accepting Sonic who acts self-centered rather than trying to help others in needs. I do have high ideal of Sonic's character - but so was the depiction of him in the past series  for a very long time. The main points are even written in their character description on official website. And it's been working well. Why did they change it then? Why did they hire somebody who has zero understanding towards Sonic universe as scenario writer?

I hope Sonic Team will have better people for plot and scenario writer who can convey the already establihed personalities of Sonic characters through the game. A game first needs good action, and second they need good stage design, and third, if the game is character-driven, a good story to make players want to continue playing. + great music to make everything better. Sonic Team never fails with the last point, but for other three they sometimes seem to have difficulties with some of them.

Maekawa-san himself has been saying that if he has a chance, he would gladly take the opportunity to write more stories for Sonic series. It would be wonderful if this can be realized.

SEGA, please hire Maekawa-san again for Sonic plots and scenarios! Please---!

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