Sonic Boom's Disastrous Development | The Art of Failure

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric is often considered one of the worst games in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. However, many don't seem to realize that the game was never intended to be what consumers ultimately received, and that it went through quite a wild ride during development. This is the story of a game that hoped to offer something new and original and the people who made it. This is the Art of Failure.
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The Art of Failure Logo and Animation by ThatTravGuy. His channel:
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Special thanks to Chris Senn and Carl-Henrik Skårstedt for agreeing to be interviewed!
Articles Cited (URLS Only Due to Character Limits):
www.gamasutra.com/view/feature...
www.gamespot.com/articles/nau...
www.gamesindustry.biz/article...
www.destructoid.com/hot-trade...
www.gamesindustry.biz/article...
i.imgur.com/UxzMzuS.png
abcnews.go.com/Technology/sto...
fudzilla.com/31431-sega-does-...
www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...
wegotthiscovered.com/gaming/s...
nintendoeverything.com/big-re...
www.ign.com/articles/2014/11/...
www.gamespot.com/reviews/soni...
www.ign.com/articles/2015/02/...
www.forbes.com/sites/insertco...
www.polygon.com/2015/7/7/8906...
nintendoeverything.com/why-th...
www.polygon.com/features/2016...
Many bits of information and assets from Sonic Boom sourced from Sonic Paradise and Motobadnik. Their Links:
www.sonicparadise.net/2017/07/...
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Music From:
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"U Make Me Feel"
• U Make Me Feel - MK2
Mazedude
"Reich Lake"
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Otis McDonald
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Royalty Free Media
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LeeBro
'Blissful Eruption'
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Quincas Moreira
'Trapped'
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Additional Music from 'Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric" (Main Theme and Bygone Island (Speed))
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Thank you for watching!

[@StuffWePlay]

I hope everyone enjoyed the start of this new documentary series! Now more than ever, I'd greatly appreciated it if you all shared out this video if you enjoyed it! Thank y'all tons for the support!

[@GamingPlayer123]

Sure thing! I'll share it on Twitter.

[@crashban4t.f.s.b783]

Stuff We Play They needed to explain what the hell happened to Knuckles muscles?

[@crashban4t.f.s.b783]

Stuff We Play They should Let Big red button finish the original vision of Sonic Boom

[@crashban4t.f.s.b783]

Stuff We Play Sega is so stupid! They should have renewed the contract because these people could make a great sonic game after Sonic boom. They could have finished the original sonic boom vision but, no! Sega decided to not renew the contracts. Stupid as hell!

[@Carighan]

The only thing I thought was weird is that you have moments in there like "commercial breaks"? One sentence ends, and then next comes a recap.

[@CapitalTeeth]

So basically: BigRedButton was already well on their way developing the game at an already tight deadline. Then suddenly Sega decided to step in and say "Hey. You see this game? It's cool and all, but what we need you to do is change it to whatever we say we want it to be. Also, it's going to be on the Wii U." And the Wii U was incompatible with Cry Engine, which they were using to develop the game and as such had to start all the way from scratch, and somehow get Cry Engine to work on the Wii U. And then with little time to finish the game, what we got is an alpha version of a game.

[@nolyfe4814]

TYLER GAMES this is literally a sonic video I mean should that even be the question seems pretty pointless to ask

[@jarrodeaston6373]

Yes, and I feel SO bad for big red button. I honestly thought it was them for how bad this game turned out but now, I can say sega is 100% to blame for this game. I'm really happy that BRB is still operating today and I wish the best for them

[@justanotheryoutubechannel]

I agree that the Wii U switch made this game a lot worse, but I feel like even if the Wii U hardware wasn’t constraining the game and giving it terrible performance, bad graphics, and barren hub worlds, I don’t think it would be that good. The gameplay itself isn’t that great from what I’ve heard, and the combat scenes where you need to fight dozens of robots in a row usually just feel like padding and delays in a platformer game, and most of the puzzles are too easy and super basic, and the characters constantly talking is really annoying to most people. I expect a lot of this was made worse by the horrible development near the end, but I don’t know if it would ever have been that great, because the combat and tedium and slow gameplay isn’t fun for this game, especially with the technical issues. I do feel like an exploration based Sonic game based on puzzles and character abilities is actually a really good idea; it’s a shame Sega ruined this attempt so badly. I think one of the worst things they did was forcing the game to have more speed sections, which meant this game had the same problem as SA2 and Sonic CD, where you start playing it expecting it to be a speedy game but it turns out to be mostly platforming and exploration with some speedy bits on top. If they just focused purely on the exploration and slower pace, without the speed sections, people would go into it differently. And having redesigned characters for the slower exploration style games is a good idea too.

[@dapperblookanimations226]

This hurts to watch, seeing all that BRB had to go through. BRB were the victims in this. I don't blame them or Nintendo and the Wii U. I blame Sega for this. They made them change consoles, they put an unreasonable deadline on them, they forced them to change everything and ruined a potentially great game. It hurts seeing people still hating BRB even though they weren't the villains. Sega did alot to screw over that game. Same with 06. I won't lie. I want boom to live. I want to see the series at it's fullest potential.

[@StuffWePlay]

I'm glad I got to present a hopefully complete version of this game's story :)

[@dapperblookanimations226]

@@StuffWePlay You definitely did very good with this 👏

[@buldrickhood2007]

Dapperblook Animations I mean at least fire and ice was good

[@LoxyTheReindeer]

Dapperblook Animations I agree with you. I wanna see the original game BRB had planned here. It sounded pretty good.

[@johnnycakemusic4069]

Sega HATES delaying games. They've gotten better at it, but this is a well known habit of theirs

[@abandonedsunflowerfield6469]

BRB really don't deserve the hate. Sega was rushing them just like they rush sonic team. Sega really needs to get their shit together. Fans are out doing them.

[@leonrastall2867]

At least Sonic mania & Team sonic racing were given plenty of development time.

[@MisterGamer-sc8vp]

@@leonrastall2867 and don't forget Sonic forces

[@unknownwill4th549]

@@MisterGamer-sc8vp yeah foces was a Dissapointment

[@jarrodeaston6373]

@@MisterGamer-sc8vp Yes kind of. Forces was actually developed in a year. They spent 3 yrs on the hedgehog engine 2, which is RIDICULOUS, and if you want to know why the level design sucked, they only had 3 level designers: 2 never worked on a sonic game and 1 only worked on lost world

[@spriteearthworm6463]

Sega keep ruining themselves

[@tuppersplus]

So, sega curbstomped the games chance with good old wii-u.

[@TheFatestPat]

As usual, Sega has atrocious management.

[@doctorsmoothlove]

This video shows how poorly managed Sega was with this game. They had these same issues in the 90s with Sega USA.

[@romainbayer9098]

This really hurts, I almost closed youtube because it was too painful to watch.

[@ketrub]

Sega is why we can't have nice things.

[@noone-mo6gy]

Sega Of Japan at least.

[@oscarperez9783]

Sega of America should be the one making all the decisions. Sega of Japan clearly doesn’t know how to run a busses

[@oscarperez9783]

**bussiness

[@planescaped]

@@oscarperez9783 I dunno... Sega of America wanted the 32x to be their next console. While the Saturn wasn't perfect, the 32x was DOA. Sega in general was and kinda still is a madhouse

[@jackotherstar]

Also, the Wii U is why we can’t have nice things.

[@donnelwaddledee965]

I KNEW I WASN'T WRONG FOR FEELING SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVS OF THIS GAME!!!

[@StuffWePlay]

Glad my video could help :)

[@xscythe67]

Yet another reason to blame Sega Japan.

[@Ronan34753]

No, Sega of America is just as bad if not worse. The only thing Sega of Japan is guilty of in this case, is allowing SOA to greenlight this dud using their most valuable IP. Funny how SOA always blames the Japanese for their own failures, yet never owns up to their own glaringly obvious short-sighted mistakes. For example...why was this even made into a Sonic game in the first place? Oh, right! This was Sega of America's attempt at getting Sonic under their control, over the Japanese Sonic Team (now that Naka and co. were gone).

[@Feliciathedoll]

@@Ronan34753 Sega in general (Both American and Japanese subsidiaries) Weren't even great to begin with I'm sorry to say.

[@Ronan34753]

@@Feliciathedoll And yet their Japanese talent pioneered and created a lot of the best video games ever made. Even Nintendo knows this, with Miyamoto wishing he made NiGHTS himself.

[@zigzagintrusion]

@@Ronan34753Sonic is SEGA’s most popular IP in the west. In Japan, Sonic isn’t very popular, so it makes sense for the western branch of SEGA to want some more control.

[@Ronan34753]

@@zigzagintrusion And it wasn't popular because of SOA (they just love to take credit for it). Also the Adventure games were very beloved in Japan it seems. Ranking on Japan's favourite games of all-time list by Famitsu.

[@thatsnogood6413]

It kinda sucked that Sega was not in the greatest mood and didn't want the game to fail based on how so many sonic games went through development hell like sonic 06

[@benbuurman254]

Poor Chris Senn. This is legit Sonic XTreme all over again.

[@upwaveflash8429]

Ben Buurman rip

[@HamtaroSonicHedgehog]

Tell me about it :( Dude finally gets a chance to work on another sonic game, and just like with X-Treme, too much stressful shit happens. Yeah the game did get released unlike X-Treme, but it sucks that they were just too crunch for time.

[@aderose]

Poor Chris Senn. He deserved better

[@MrMarinus18]

Sonic Xtreme never truly had a chance. The Saturn itself was very hard to develop for and a fast paced 3D platformer pretty much is impossible. If you wanted speed the stages would have had to be so simplified that it's basically a racetrack. The Saturn easily had the weakest polygon pushing power of the 3 major consoles. Something like Mario 64 is way beyond what it could handle. Sonic kind of should have stayed 2D. That said the PSX wouldn't have done that much better. Only really the N64 had enough memory and polygon pushing power to handle it.

[@dontegraves5051]

Sonic Boom has already been established as Big Red Button's "old shame." It is reassuring to see that the company rose up from such a low point. Now, something that really irks me, even more than people still badgering the company over this old game is that people seem to blame the Wii U itself for Sonic Boom. Where does that mindset come from?? The fact of the matter is that you can't simply blame a piece of hardware for the failure of a game. Sega did not properly handle supporting Big Red Button during development of the game. Had Sega said from the start that Sonic's new game was a Wii U exclusive, made it clear what expectations where from the get-go, then allowed the team to have consistent communication and more freedom, then Sonic Boom would've stood much more of a chance. There may not have even been reason for redesigning their vision. But that's not what happened. Sega screwed them by informing them way too late and pushed for the game's release when it clearly wasn't ready. Koei Tecmo, Ubisoft (before they backpedaled) and PlatinumGames made Wii U exclusives. Why did those turn out great? Because no one was pushing those companies and breathing down their necks to rush out a nearly unplayable, unpolished mess in a short time frame. Sonic Boom failed, simply put. Nintendo had little to nothing to do with that and had zero to do with Sonic Boom's clumsy development. Big Red Button at worst put strained effort into a doomed project. The blame lies entirely on Sega.

[@elin111]

Sega zealots always try to point fingers at someone other than Sega.

[@xscythe67]

While Sonic Boom was bad, it did do a few things right. 1) you were able to play with other characters besides Sonic. 2) the story for RoL had a balance of seriousness and light hearted moments 3) the final stage (minus boss) felt like a final stage 4) Tails in RoL wasn't a pussy unlike Forces

[@junglezone7323]

Ikr, like he got so scared over seeing Chaos yet in SA1 he helped fight friggin Chaos 4, a more powerful version.

[@junglezone7323]

Plus I'll never understand why Sega is scared to incorporate playable characters. Its almost like they saw the problems with SA1/2/06 and came up with, "they dont like playable characters." So instead of taking the criticisms and trying to improve on the gameplay styles, they just cut it altogether.

[@LoxyTheReindeer]

Number 56: Junglezone Personally I feel like Sega’s failure with the Sonic franchise lately (the modern games, not Mania) is because they are trying too hard to put out something the fans will like. They’re trying so hard to make a definitive Sonic game that fans will like that they’re forgetting what fans liked about the games in the first place. At this point I feel like the way to go (imo) is to remake the games from SA1 to now (better graphics, controls, gameplay, etc) , update the continuity SO THAT IT MAKES SENSE, and fix the problems that everyone is ACTUALLY complaining about, not what they THINK they’re complaining about. That or do a reboot like they tried with 06 but ya know, not horribly bad. Where do you think they should go with the series?

[@smugslider3690]

Don't quote me on this, but sonic generations was my favourite sonic game series, so maybe a sonic generations 3 once sonic gets a new model?

[@nolyfe4814]

Comic Sans they need to let the fans make the games I mean we seem to already be doing better then them anyways. I means that or fire half of sega and get people who actually care.

[@UltimateTS64]

I hate hearing this story because I feel so bad on what they had to go through. I really wish they could finish and release the original version on the next gen consoles, it looked like a really solid game

[@StuffWePlay]

I'd love to see a fanmade mod or project that tries to capture the original vision for this game!

[@Somari73]

Hey! MotoBadnik here, you did a great job! Nice to know more about what happened behind the scenes and great editing!

[@StuffWePlay]

Thank you so much! This video (and really, much of what is known about Boom) wouldn't have been possible or known without the research you did! You managed to uncover some truly spectacular assets from the game that could've been

[@SupaCuke]

I like the high production value of this, it seriously felt like I was watching something from TV. Anyway, I fall into the small group that enjoyed this game. Yeah, Sonic Boom wasn't well received, despite that I enjoyed the game as a spin-off, and had fun with it, still will play it occasionally. Sorry if most disagree with my opinion. I've heard of the troubled development this game had, didn't know how much troubled it was until seeing this, let alone the different early demos of the game shown off. Though, I'm glad to see Big Red Button had a hit with The Arcslinger, so I'm glad they're still developing games.

[@StuffWePlay]

I'm glad BRB is still around as well, and I'm glad you enjoyed the video :)

[@Nonjola]

The changes of the story is kinda interesting. Because the story structure of the Sonic Boom cartoon is still very different to the one of Rise of Lyric. RoL felt more like an serious action adventure, while the Boom cartoon is much closer to shows like Spongebob, been an episodic slice and life comedy cartoon.

[@StuffWePlay]

I'd love to do a video on the Boom cartoon sometime, since I feel that actually ended up being quite entertaining

[@xscythe67]

I think the story of RoL was better than Forces. Even the final level (minus boss) was better.

[@nolyfe4814]

X Scythe anything can be more entertaining then forces, forces feels like a soulless games at times

[@LoxyTheReindeer]

So basically, BRB got screwed over by Sega, and that’s pretty much the only reason why the game sucks. Damn. I feel really bad for BRB, I really would’ve liked to see the game they originally had planned.

[@StuffWePlay]

I feel like the company, whether it be Sega's doing or not, has a lot of potential that they unfortunately couldn't reach with this title

[@LoxyTheReindeer]

Stuff We Play yeah very true. It just kinda sucks that we’ll never be able to play the awesome title they had planned. Maybe one day Sega’ll reach out to them again, who knows? Anyways thanks for the video. Very nicely done, you deserve more views!

[@StuffWePlay]

I'm glad you enjoyed it :)

[@thelombax51]

This's still hurt to watch, but still. I'm honestly have lots of passionate to the spin-off Sonic Boom series at the beginning. Its sad to see Big Red Button going on what they got from start. Whats make me very upset the most is some several Sonic fans harassing Bob Rafei. I'm a fan of his works (concept arts) since he work on Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Dexter games. Well, I guess I have to say. I don't have problem with Rise of Lyric and Sonic Boom as whole in general. I just like thier world environmental and art style, its feel similar to Jak & Dexter. I don't really mind about gameplay itself too, even if its final product. But I still wish if they going to be like BETA footage one, only if that part was not scraped away. I've heard that why they did scraped due to issues of Wii U hardware limitation, making them recreate game from scratch for half year. I also sad to hear that it was originally planned for PC/PS4/XOne because CryEngine did fully support it. As much I hate to say that is SEGA, maybe they're such big company but I'd give them respect sometimes, for now. And final thought so far, only if this mess was not causing by Wii U exclusives deal, The game and the Sonic Boom series as the whole would have a good representation from the start. Sorry if this comment was too long ^^

[@StuffWePlay]

Appreciate the long comment, but I definitely feel on your sentiments!

[@zeroxenoverse9251]

Thus I can see why people say Shattered Crystal and Fire and Ice are underrated practically cause of Synergy/ Rise of Lyric being not ready gave a Sonic 06 influence.

[@LeilaRWilson]

Awesome that you got to talk to Chris Senn! He's good people and provided some pretty darn good insight!

[@StuffWePlay]

Absolutely! He's a great guy and he may be back in a future episode, too!

[@VOAN]

This just show Sega never learn from their Sonic X-Treme and Sonic 2006 situation.

[@TehWhiteTiger]

I can just imagine being a small game company and being contacted by Sega. 30 years ago? OMG YES! Now? Oh god nonononono.

[@MultiPlatGamerGuy]

Darn that Wii U!!!

[@StuffWePlay]

Quite indeed!

[@HermaphroGynandro]

@@StuffWePlay What if it was developed using High Voltage's Quantum Engine 3 that was used to develop the Conduit games or if it was developed using the engine for Bayonetta 2?

[@sarasaland4709]

Gotta love how such a horrible game can have a fascinating development history where the old vision is absolutely nothing like the product we received. I can’t even be mad at the developers, it’s not their fault. SEGA basically said “Hey, that game you wanted to make and show fans what you and the modern generation of consoles can do? Well, too bad. Make this thing and all your hard work will be completely disbanded.”

[@JambopaulGamerInPJs]

Great Video! Ever since I saw the leaked footage/trailers for Sonic Synergy, I became incredibly intrigued and interested in the game’s troubled development. The footage in my opinion, showed quite a bit of promise and I do think the game could’ve been at the very least okay, had the developers not been so creatively constrained by Sega.

[@StuffWePlay]

I think so too! Despite the quality of the end product here, BRB had (and has) talent on board that know how to create entertaining, high quality games

[@AizakkuAnalysis]

Once again, Sega mess up a sonic game. Only this time, they screwed over another developer in the process. If Big Red Button had the time to complete it, Garunteed, this would have been a great spin-off.

[@FengTheSlayer]

All in all though I think with RoL, SEGA was able to acknowledge that they betrayed their fans and that hopefully in the long run that BRB and SEGA will learn from it and I wish for both of them GL

[@forestreflection2066]

I heard big red button got bankrupted after the failure of sonic boom. Tho Idk if that was true or not since I heard it from the completionist

[@forestreflection2066]

Never mind just looked it up. Apparently sonic boom almost killed BRB

[@TheFoxFromSplashMountain]

Sega has published some amazing games in the past, but their habit of rushing the devs to meet deadlines has absolutely ruined so many potentially great games like this one. It's frustrating, because I love this company and their IPs, but I absolutely hate them at the same time. Being a Sonic/ Sega fan is such an emotional roller coaster.

[@TbazeTV]

This is awesome! I love the editing style/flow in this! I can tell how much care was put into this. Can’t wait for more from the series!

[@StuffWePlay]

Thank you so much! Definitely going to keep them coming!

[@theminecraft2516]

This is basically Sonic Xtreme but in the modern age and it’s released

[@megabuster3940]

Goes to show how Sega learned absolutely nothing from the failure during the late 90s

[@TehWhiteTiger]

Damn this game sounded hype, then the incompetent sega higher ups screwed up again.

[@TheGoldenBolt]

Absolutely superb, glad I could be even a small part of it!

[@StuffWePlay]

It was great having you help dude!

[@jonecuntapay9561]

I dont understand why sega decided to put rise of lyric in wii u as exclusive game? Did they asked BRB if the game using cry engine 3 is best for wii u or BRB have to follow the Sega's order? I fear the latter was adhered.

[@Jonen560ti]

Sega had a deal with Nintendo to create 3 Sonic games exclusively for Wii U. Mario and Sonic at the olympic games 2014 and Lost world were 2 of them. So Sega had 1 more game to release before they could go multiplatform again.

[@MsAlyssaB1]

Bloody sega! Every problem people have with Sonic, whether it's the games or comics are always at the fault of sega higher ups intervening and shutting down the creative teams they put in charge of their productions. Sega's so stuck in the past they're hurting themselves. Eg. studios being treated like shit, Shadow only being an edgelord, Sonic never crying, female hedgehogs can never go super and several other issues. Every behind the scenes story we hear about these issues describe how Sega stepped all over the writers/developers. They need to drag themselves into the future.

[@comicfan1324]

So if Sonic Boom wasn’t on the Wii U, it may have been a good game?

[@junglezone7323]

Maybe. It definitely would've sold more if it was on the ps4 at the absolute least

[@comicfan1324]

@Number 56: Junglezone Note to self: collect the time stones so I can tell second is save it for the PlayStation 4.

[@dontegraves5051]

The issue was Sega. Games make the hardware--in other words, you can't blame a piece of hardware for the failure of a game. Sega should have supported the development team better instead of having loose communication, failing to inform them of important decisions and rushing them to push out a game that was clearly lacking and unpolished. There were other Wii U exclusives at the time and they *were not* handled like how Sega did it.

[@HermaphroGynandro]

@@junglezone7323 Not so sure. Sonic games have always sold best on Nintendo consoles since Sega went third party. Just look at the sales of Sonic Forces.

[@TheRamblemanWhoSings]

I think the reason it failed was the contract sega made forcing big red button to make it on a worse engine be a if u look at the trailers for sonic synergy the game doesn't look half bad.

[@TheRamblemanWhoSings]

I think with enough support someone could remake it for the pc if I learn to do that then I might

[@SN64YT]

Sega is basically is being a jerk and almost killed a company and forces the company to do some things that are no good. This is actually sega's fault for the game being crap. We really need a new people yo be the lead for sega that makes the games good and respects their franchises very well. This is what I don't like about them and if they continue like this, they will be hated on their fans and stuff. And BRB don't deserve hate for this. It is sega's fault for this.

[@lore9828]

Man Sonic doesnt deserves SEGA... No one deservers their absurd treatment Imagine if this game was delivered at its best form.

[@unknownwill4th549]

MICROSOFT PLEASE BUY THIS COMPANY AND MAKE SEGA GREAT AGAIN

[@marioandsonicfan1991]

Sega: ain't I a stinker

[@unluckygrenade8889]

This honestly makes me sad the original teaser trailer for sonic boom was so cool only to fail as bad as it did

[@zeroxenoverse9251]

Basically 2006 all over again.

[@ledetbrothers9210]

This video proves that SEGA has learned nothing from Sonic (2006)

[@Antonio_Ortiz]

The long-standing rivalry and resentment between Sega of Japan and Sega of America has been well-documented. Makes me wonder how Sega of Japan feels about the fact that, their most popular character is one that appeals far more to westerners than to native Japanese sensibilities.

[@Ronan34753]

@@Leonard_Wolf_2056 Americans trying to take credit for Sonic's success never ceases to get a laugh out of me (especially since their two attempts at making important Sonic games ended up being the franchise's biggest duds). @Tony Ortiz Sega of Japan is getting money from the biggest market of the games industry. I'm sure they're feeling just fine.

[@Feliciathedoll]

@@Ronan34753 Both subsidiaries are at fault, Not just one. Seriously reading comments about Sega Japan being perfect is honestly starting to make me cringe. Well news flash for you buddy, It ain't in the fucking right either. In fact both Sega of America and Sega Japan for both fucking cringe. Remember what Sega of Japan did with sonic 06, and don't even try to argue with me about that one.

[@Ronan34753]

@@Feliciathedoll When was I saying Sega of Japan was perfect or without fault? That's how Americans act around Sega of America. Constantly fawning over the likes of Tom Kalinske and peter moore. Honestly I also blame SOJ for allowing Xtreme to happen, and trusting the incompetent SOA too much. However, I often see former SOA members take credit for Sega's success (of which they barely had any involvement with if at all). While taking no accountability for Sega's big blunders during their console years (of which they were very involved with) and blaming it all on the Japanese. Now what happened with 06 is not only irrelevant to this, but not even comparable. Considering 06 was being made after the company takeover that happened, that completely changed SOJ into a different company 'SEGASAMMY'.

[@johnr.deluca4258]

2 + weeks late on this, but *THANK YOU SO MUCH* for making this! A really well done first episode. This video needs to be spread around to the Sonic community and to the public, so people will know what exactly happened to this game when in development. *long passionate comment incoming* Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric is a game that fascinates me; a game that had a huge amount of fresh ambitious ideas and passion that was mostly kinda squandered, thanks to the Nintendo 3 game exclusivity deal that should of never EVER happened in the first place. Looking back at the partnership, It makes me question why SEGA would limit their flagship franchise to one video game hardware manufacturer when it was doing just fine as a multi-platform franchise? As for the game itself, Boom: RoL is no where near as dreadful as people are currently making it out to be, and is a perfect textbook definition of an average 5/10 video game (IMO). It's a bummer that the game has the reputation it has, because it make me fear of the fate of the sub-set franchise that is Sonic Boom, which is unknown at time of writing. The Sonic Boom series is actually really good, thanks impart of its primary aspect: the TV show. It also has a fantastic criminally short lived Archie Comic book, and two very solid Sonic Dash and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal sequels (Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom and Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice) that demonstrates the series can improve from its short comings. Thanks to Boom: RoL's reputation, outsiders only think of that game when they think of Sonic Boom as a hole; which is a DAMN SHAME and are missing out on the other content the series has to offer. I *severely* hope Sonic Boom hasn't completely gone under after the shows second season (which was really good, BTW), because this sub-set franchise still has plenty of untapped potential. Despite the show's piss poor treatment from Cartoon Network in America, the show performed swimmingly in other countries, and has also been nominated a good few times. . .and even won some! Most people clearly love the TV show, so why stop here when its already starting to find its footing?! With the Sonic Facebook page's announcement of the show now available digitally on Amazon & iTunes (season 1 for now) and new DVD releases of it starting this Spring, I hope that this it'll bring back the show and the series as a hole if they do well in sales (if this series is indeed dead, which again we don't know for sure). I'll be crossing my fingers for the time being. Back to Boom: RoL itself, since most the game's development was dumped to the internet almost two years back (a decent chunk of it is shown in this video), it honestly. . . made me want a remake of Boom: RoL that's a complete re-imagining of what we have now; the game that was supposed to be. A remake that resurrects most of the old incarnation of Boom: RoL (Sonic Synergy); bringing back & completing most of it's scrapped ideas and concepts, while also keeping & enhancing the elements of the original Boom: RoL (and it's scrapped material as well) and also keeping it fateful to the Sonic Boom universe. *Sonic Boom: Synergy* , anyone? It all sounds insane, but. . .man. . .a remake that'll completely replace the original completely?. . .I would love to see that happen. Again, *THANK YOU SO MUCH* for this! Hey. . .since Sonic X-treme was briefly mentioned in this and you managed to speak with Chris Senn in order to make this video, for a future episode, will you make one about Sonic X-treme? That's another game I have a huge fascination towards.

[@StuffWePlay]

Thank you so much and I'm glad you enjoyed the video! Reception has been very positive so far, and I'm hoping people continue to share out and enjoy this video. As for Sonic Xtreme, I can't say anything just yet 😉

[@LoxyTheReindeer]

J.R. the Mustached Mirador glad to know I’m not the only one wanting the game that was originally planned. Even though I can’t buy that many games especially pc games I would definitely support and buy the game they originally wanted to make. Just look at some of the outdated concept art for stages! It looks awesome!

[@HermaphroGynandro]

They likely signed the exclusivity deal with Nintendo because since going 3rd party, the Sonic games have always sold best on Nintendo consoles. They should give Switch a remaster of Generations.

[@PixelsLtd]

Excellent work man, truly, truly excellent. Loved it!

[@StuffWePlay]

THank you so much dude!

[@NikoZguri]

BRB never deserved any of the hate they got. Sega does. it's entirely THEIR fault Sonic Boom turned into the broken disaster we all know today

[@Digiflower5]

I would love to try the first build of the game.

[@farthuffington7814]

This was amazing! Didn't know that this game was supposed to be something completely different. Makes me wonder what other failures were gonna be great until they had a redesign thrown at them. Plz moar, I love this!!!

[@StuffWePlay]

Definitely have more coming :)

[@maxweston]

The demo looked so cool! The cool fur design on Sonic looked epic!

[@aderose]

Sega really needs to get out of their own way when it comes to Sonic.

[@user-sp2jg9rx8r]

Sega be like "No!, do it this way!"

[@thrasher9534]

@@user-sp2jg9rx8r honestly it's so sad considering how much effort was made before it became a Wii-U exclusive. If I'm being i would have been thrilled if they ever could go back to their original idea of the story originally considering how much concept art was in production. I really hope it could be remade into the game bigredbutton wanted, though the chances of that happening is slim.

[@videogamepianonostalgia2357]

I hope you keep on doing videos like this! Good job!

[@StuffWePlay]

Thank you! I definitely have more planned!

[@spengithestrangeengie8474]

They really should have scrapped the Game, too many complicated changes that I'm pretty sure they didn't want

[@kareemlake5185]

Sega shouldn't have told BRB to release the game on the Nintendo (wii u). It looks like a lot of problems started when BRB had reprogram the servers. My suggestion to SEGA is to focus on the quality of the game rather than the profit and give the people who are working on game development time to rest. Making game is really difficult and BRB deserves better.

[@Facade953]

They had a chance to make it up for Sonic 06 and they blew it!

[@themoaspecial]

I always wondered if Sega came to BRB AFTER a lot of work being done already before telling them it had to be a Wii U exclusive, why didn’t BRB just turn around telling them it can’t be done and pull the plug? BRB probably could have taken some of the work they had done and made their own IP out of it.

[@ajflink]

I really hate how companies decided to force developers to make games on objectively inferior hardware for seemingly arbitrary reasons, when they were explicitly designed with being able to utilize the PS4 and Xbox One. Dark Souls 2 was meant for PS4, and possibly Xbox One, but either Bandai or FromSoft (I can't remember which one or if it was both) forced it to be made and gutted for the PS3 and Xbox 360. Their reason? So, it does not compete with Bloodborne. WHAT?! Sonic Boom ran on a game engine that was very compatible with PS4 and Xbox One. Nope! Just because Sega and Nintendo are "friends" now, Wii U, which was stubborn to work with considering that it did not like the game engine because...Nintendo programmers. I have no idea. I feel like heads of video game companies should be required to take courses in programming and game design to understand how demanding and bad, even monetary wise, it is to make a game that is meant for newer hardware be forced to now work on older hardware. It would be like expecting Mario Odyssey as it is for the Switch to be easily ported to the original Wii without issues. Some business owners really piss me off and make me wonder why on Earth they still have functional business regardless that they are making profit.

[@aortaplatinum]

I think I've finally decided that I'm going to exclusively pirate Sonic games from now on. SEGA has done so much to piss off millions, and has likely ruined dozens of developer lives. Regardless of the quality of whatever trainwreck SonicTeam shits out next, I still want to play it, but I refuse to financially support such a poorly managed and outright stupid company.

[@Shadow8332]

Would you recommend celeste physical for $40, or save for pokemon 2019?

[@zuzezim]

Poor big red Button Thanks for the video, i dint know alot of things you talked about

[@fullmetal-animator]

If the whole story is to be believed, then it shows how people with original creative ideas and a smart, planned approach could revive the Sonic series and make something great. At that time at least, it seemed that such attempts were often undercut by Sega themselves making hamfisted mandates and failing to listen to the developers. It really makes you wonder what could have become of the game had it not been forced into a radical overhaul halfway through development.

[@starfrost6816]

Imagine developing a game for years, being really excited about it, and then the licensor tells you "sorry guys, it's a Wii U exclusive"

[@hassanghanim3966]

5:57 meanwhile Insomniac games made fantastic R&C game with 10 months development time, low budget and was based on a movie, it just shows how bad Sega is with the sonic series blinded by the iconic states without thinking about the quality of the games.

[@FengTheSlayer]

Hassan Ghanim at leasts sega are aware that they betrayed their fans and that in the future they would try to do their best to redeem that trust especially with the restructuring of sonic team

[@Lonewolf360gaming]

The reboot based on a shit movie is far from fantastic

[@hassanghanim3966]

@@Lonewolf360gaming Nah it is fantastic, because the game is fun, especial when its low budget, also its not a reboot.

[@Lonewolf360gaming]

@@hassanghanim3966 the other games were far superior

[@upwaveflash8429]

same things happened in 90’s they still not learn the lesson yet ?

[@thepowerisyetunknown7710]

You telling me this mess was caused by the stubborn, greedy higher-ups at Sega, shooting everyone in the foot? How unexpected of them. Since they have NEVER done this before, and particularly their exclusivity deals with Nintendo haven't forced their developers to work with hardware unsuited to the software being produced and gave them extra work that ultimately killed a promising game that I would still be salty about; just for them to shove everything about it (even the things they got right) under the rug and pretend it never happened. Sega would NEVER EVER DO THAT.

[@bargrosnintendogames7607]

Damn you really went all out for this. Good job man

[@StuffWePlay]

Thanks dude!

[@rickster008]

i like big red's old story, i feel if it wasn't an exclusive the game would have been better

[@Zubatticus]

This video is incredible! I love all the research that went into this! Sega definitely sank this ship.

[@StuffWePlay]

Thank you so much dude!

[@elmarakovideo]

Sonic Cycle continues. It is still amazing to me that Sonic Mania exists! Sega of Japan did not ruin Mania, and I want a sequel yet SOJ only wants bad 3D games.

[@GamingPlayer123]

I've been looking forward to this! (Note: I'll add a comment with my thoughts about the video after watching)

[@StuffWePlay]

I hope you enjoyed it!

[@GamingPlayer123]

Finally got the time to watch it all. You did an amazing job with this video. I'm very excited to see the future of this new series and I cannot wait for the next episode. Your points are all clear and you showed as many information as possible, which is a good thing.

[@Schimnesthai]

I forgot about this game, i hope i can get it soon so i can fill my collection.

[@scrambledcitycustomz8134]

Sega still making bad decisions.

[@piranhalettuce]

Why does Sega always Rush game development? (gotta go fast I guess) It happened with Sonic X-treme, Sonic 06, Sonic Boom, and Sonic Forces.

[@johnshea7871]

Because they wanted those games to be released by Christmas of 2006 2014 and 2017

[@dante6968]

Sega really drop the ball for this game

[@JAI_SHREE_RAM12337]

The japanese were probably scared that some foreigners would make a bettter sonic game and the reason we are probably not getting sonic mania 2 or why origins was so dissapointing is because mania was made by a bunch of foreign people who were hackers and modders and japan really loves to have a clean image of themselves

[@sungjin008]

It's sad that SEGA ignores Sonic. The same goes for Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Phantasy Star, Shining, Valkyria Chronicles, Sakura Wars. Crazy Taxi Twenty Four-Seven was canceled while in development. - Companies that can take on SEGA IP - THQ Nordic: After Burner, Jet Set Radio THQ Nordic, Toys for Bob, Insomniac Games, PlatinumGames: Sonic THQ Nordic, Raw Thrills, Sumo Digital: Crazy Taxi, Daytona USA, OutRun, Sega Rally Aquiris Game Studio: OutRun Capcom: Phantasy Star, Sonic Obsidian Entertainment, Intelligent Systems: Shining, Sakura Wars InXile Entertainment: Valkyria Chronicles Devolver Digital: Shinobi PlatinumGames: Binary Domain FromSoftware, Bandai Namco, Nightdive Studios: Virtual On

[@smithandsuperdeadeyeofthew823]

Sega seriously needs better management sega needs to learn there lesson to not rush products what happened to the days when sega actually cared about the quality of games Sonic the hedgehog deserves better and his fans deserve better hopefully this new up coming game sonic frontiers will redeem the franchise and if not it's over for sonic and his fans and sega sammy fix sega #MAKESONICGREATAGAIN #MAKESEGAGREATAGAIN

[@Ronan34753]

What happened? Hostile Company takeover happened.

[@smithandsuperdeadeyeofthew823]

@Leonard Wolf 1st of all sonic adventure 1 and 2 were not bad games You don't know what you're talking about sonic adventure 1 and 2 were good they did not have any glitches

[@khfan4life365]

Sega’s worst enemy is itself.

[@SwearfoGod.]

Sad thing is had the game been successful Sega would've cancelled the main series altogether

[@StuffWePlay]

I'm not sure if they would've gone that far, but it'd be nice to have seen where this sub-series went

[@SwearfoGod.]

Stuff We Play based on the management of sega now, it seems like that was the plan all along

[@baylordiamond5611]

shamanee I dunnona a complete Sonic reboot couldve been nice the games have a loose cannon anyway and the boom designs looked good

[@appleooza1920]

No it's considered one of the best sonic TV shows to date.

[@emeraldphoenix5868]

The Cryengine did not work well for the WiiU during that Time as well as Sega not giving Big Red Button enough time to work out the Kinks,Such a Misunderstood Game of an Underrated series gone way too soon. I still wish that Sonic Boom would continue and get a 2nd Chance at Attention and this game also getting a Remaster port on Playstation,Xbox,Nintendo Switch and PC.

[@cliffturbo2146]

I am so glad someone like you can talk about the series so throughly.

[@StuffWePlay]

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@willpow05]

@@StuffWePlay can do sonic the hedgehog 2006 next please

[@WSBM14]

Another sonic game sega shat all over

[@roberthornibrook6344]

Very nicely done, now you just need to do the rise and fall of the Atari Jaguar. lol!

[@StuffWePlay]

Maybe someday haha! At the very least, I want to do a video on the Commodore vs Atari battle at some point, though that wouldn't be an AOF

[@bluemoon1115]

Please let there be more videos like this! I just finished the Mighty No.9 video!

[@StuffWePlay]

There will be! I released a similarly styled one on Freedom Planet (a more positive Kickstarter story) a week ago, and have three more coming within the next month or so!

[@TankorSmash]

Great video man, very informative.

[@StuffWePlay]

Thank you tons!

[@Ruldolphmaker]

Sonic 06? more like sonic *OH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIOOOT* I always had a theory that Sonic is probably the most mismanaged game franchise ever, and boy howdy does it show. Sonic always gets shafted by behind the scenes bullshit.

[@maximillianlylat1589]

It seems ever since the genesis ended sega never knew what to do with sonic and just kept pushing ideas but also rushing them out on deadlines. Sega's heavy deadline pushing killed sonic X-treme, caused 06 to become the mess it is now infamously known and maybe even caused forces to be rushed out. You'd think they wouldve learned by now

[@tonhyemboardiisaid7148]

Como me gustaría que estuviera la posibilidad de tener este video con sub en español :(

[@sonic287ful]

Nice video, keep the good work.

[@StuffWePlay]

Thank you!

[@joeturner7768]

well with senn's video game career now down the toilet because of sega yeah tiara boobowski is pretty much deceased now

[@omarnsouli1555]

we need more of this series. This was so interesting to watch

[@StuffWePlay]

Literally editing the finale right now

[@omarnsouli1555]

@@StuffWePlay yea I saw more of them after I searched them up lol also when u say finale do u mean like ur not gonna do this again? 🥺

[@StuffWePlay]

@@omarnsouli1555 Yeah, the one in the works is wrapping up both this series, and this KZbin channel as a whole. I actually work in video production as my main job, and I'm wanting to focus on some other projects!

[@omarnsouli1555]

@@StuffWePlay Aw man looks like I found this channel too late :( well, I wish u luck with ur future projects

[@StuffWePlay]

@@omarnsouli1555 Thank you!

[@OrionAltHist]

Even if they had time to iron out the glitches and massive lag and all, it still probably would've been pretty boring. It has some pretty major issues like really repetitive level design, characters who never shut up, button mashing combat, rly weak music, etc.

[@akioasakura3624]

Why doesn’t knuckles have a Rasta voice? Like ya mon I’m gonna find da masta emerold

[@StuffWePlay]

Allow me to refer you to this gem of a video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fnq9emSChrOckJo

[@dankwaifu2093]

Chris Senn just can't catch a break.

[@unknownwill4th549]

😢 poor big red button

[@harry426]

Did they know which system the game would be sold on before the Wii U exclusive deal?

[@StuffWePlay]

The aim was PC, and would likely get PS4/XB1 ports

[@harry426]

@@StuffWePlay Was it official when they started development?

[@StuffWePlay]

It wasn't announced, but that was the plan at BRB

[@harry426]

@@StuffWePlay Ok, and the original PC version wasn't a sure thing either?

[@StuffWePlay]

That was going to be the original platform before the Wii U deal was made

[@kojofarrow9430]

Are used to hate Big red button for making this game by learning the true story behind it I feel bad for them Big red button didn’t deserve the hate it sage deserves it and now I hate them

[@terraformedmarsobjectcosmos]

If this were released on the switch i think things would be different

[@kerosean4106]

Awesome job! I really enjoyed this and found it very informative. Thank you man

[@StuffWePlay]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the kind words!

[@MaestroDrake]

They could still present their original idea as a fan game.