Sonic The Hedgehog (2006) - What Happened?

[@StoutShako]

The real tragedy is that Sega was so fixated on the whole 15th birthday thing, that they couldn't realize that the "sweet sixteen" birthday would have been more than acceptable anyway.

[@bluegem8582]

Sega: b-buh our bi-decade big events for marketing!

[@c.cooper2877]

Sega tends to fixate on anniversaries and holidays a lot. It burns them over and over and they keep doing it. This isn't a lesson they are willing to learn.

[@ccelite3782]

Not being racist but I don't think "Sweet 16" is part of Japanese Culture

[@MrStGeorgeIllawarra]

Sweet Sixteen is only a thing in some Western countries. It means nothing in Japan.

[@JayDeeIsMyName]

@@skibot9974 ...Holy crap you reminded me of something. They also released Sonic 1 on GBA that year. Good god.

[@kumaelkumoso2236]

"Yuji Naka went to square enix in some unknown capacity" *distant screams of agony*

[@samuelG009]

Lmao

[@altaraiser1054]

Oof

[@feiwong3634]

Yeah, he left SE too.

[@islandboy9381]

Naka: *created and programmed Nights* Also Naka: *makes a Nights 2.0 character in Balan Wonderworld and relegates his gameplay to a QTE minigame in 2021* BRUH MOMENT

[@a.liguria2698]

@@islandboy9381 ALSO also Yuji Naka Early 90s: Is one of the founders of the Sonic franchise, where you can jump with no issue and can perform more than 1 action. 2021: Creates Balan, a game where you can perform only 1 action at any time, and you cannot jump at any time... in a PLATFORM.

[@worsel555]

What really happened was the following. QA Department: Alright, we are ready to start bug testing. SEGA: What do you mean? We shipped the game last week!

[@sloshed-rat]

Oh no!...

[@GrandCorsair]

Was there ever really a QA department or was it just a stickie note that said "QA department" above a open window?

[@enemyv]

They had bug testers... they were just completely ignored.

[@TonySki]

So many golden nuggets from that GameGrumps Playthrough.

[@redblueandgray]

GrandCorsair Oh, they had a QA department. Whether or not they were listened to is another story entirely

[@dankwaifu2093]

SEGA is always their own worst enemy.

[@infinimineyt9700]

Its really quite miraculous they have not imploded after like 30 years tripping over themselves

[@N12015]

@@infinimineyt9700 That's because a billionaire donated over 600 million dollars to save Sega from bankruptcy. Without him Sega would have died back in 2001. More of that in "What happened?: Dreamcast"

[@infinimineyt9700]

@@N12015 Yes I am aware of that fact. A generous man to be sure

[@thevioletskull8158]

@@N12015 Wow I never knew, Does Sega talk about it?

[@windandfireproductions5358]

Own worst enemy when it comes to sonic Since they've been making good games recently that aren't sonic

[@psychicjellyfish9466]

I’m noticing a pattern with a lot of these. All of these games seem to start out strong, but the management starts asking for more, while taking away from what they already have. The real villain behind these failed games is almost always incompetent management.

[@XenoJehuty84]

SEGA is always Sonic's greatest enemy

[@gcg8187]

@@GiordanDiodato yeah. And splitting the team to make a wii version during development

[@GlennJimenez]

Almost every time

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

The other pattern is "The people who made X are gone now." "X isn't that hard! We'll make our own X with blackjack and hookers! Here, small cheap studio who has worked on a puzzle game once that we just bought, make the next X! By the way, we need X by Christmas, kthanksbye"

[@kevingame3198]

This is happening with every game company activision blizzard and electronic arts

[@Fuzon-S]

One of my favorite moments from this game was during near end of Shadow's story when a GUN Soldier's voice actor messed up his line and does a retake without being edited into the final release. Quality control right there.

[@meowpower08]

There’s a line like that in oblivion as well!

[@whoeverest_the_whateverest]

Well, english localization (voice acting + translation) is it's own thing in Sonic games, all the time since SA1, so out of all problems this one is last to blame

[@dapperfan44]

@@londonjackson8986 But then Sega listened and started making the games Sonic-only after that, but the fans are pissed and want the playable characters to return.

[@Dullahan161]

"Head to wave ocean...Head to WAVE ocean immediately"

[@chunkofchunks]

My favorite part is the Sonic-Silver fight, there really was no use in the end.

[@lionblaze30]

I cannot believe that they fixed issues and then discarded those fixes. Like that is insane

[@h2ojr1]

gotta meet those silly deadlines

[@Ruldolphmaker]

Certain bits of code have to be rewritten when firmware and dev kits change. Certain things have to be discarded to be rewritten later.

[@parrot998]

To be fair, often times newer builds bring back old issues anyways... I'm reminded of all the bugs in The Sims 2 and 3 that had to be patched multiple times because updates and expansions would bring them back... Game development is tricky...

[@Lunchbox224]

Version Control is a bitch.

[@incarnateflame3462]

Lmfao this entire thing was completely insane.

[@SXR123_YT]

god. Sega how could you mishandle your MASCOT SO HORRIBLY

[@Khranok]

Stubborness and pride to outsource it to a more competent team. When a small group of fans can make a much better game based on your property its time to put it into someone elses hands

[@theobamiumchronicles2838]

@@Khranok They had a contract with Microsoft so it had to be rushed. Also the team split up.

[@SXR123_YT]

@Valentino Jesus No it didn't, go away. Also you bumped it up to 20 minutes now. 10, 15, 20. Seems like your fake hacking app is getting worse and worse.

[@Aardie_Aardwolf]

And IPS

[@vitorhenriquefarias8916]

i'm still impressed how the fans still haven't move on from this game

[@TheRedBloodedge]

Sonic 06: The first Uphill-Snowboarding game in the world

[@Weap0]

Some motherfuckers always tryin' to snowboard uphill.

[@TheLuckyDingo]

@@drifter402 Oh, they did

[@TheLuckyDingo]

@the Hero Yeah, I imagine Sonic 06 would be far less frustrating without the two minute load times, for sure.

[@Scroteydada]

@the Hero It ran a 4fps, the controls were worse than ever, the visuals were smeary and ugly and Eggmanland is just as jank as the average 06 level

[@Scroteydada]

@the Hero and boosting while drifting would frequently cause assets to load in too late.

[@samwatson-tayler2805]

Never has there been a game so destructive to the reputation of a once icon. It's one of the most depressing and amazing things the history of the industry.

[@jouheikisaragi6075]

A game so horrible that has kept Sonic in a state of PTSD for 15 years.

[@epsilonalphaargo1948]

@@jouheikisaragi6075 Yeah, because of 06, all the things that made Sonic great to so many people (serious and epic stories, multiple playable characters, pure 3D gameplay etc.) have been thrown out.

[@johnathonturner2279]

@@epsilonalphaargo1948 Yeah, all three of those were in the Genesis (i.e. the most well received) games.

[@PersTG]

@@johnathonturner2279 Well, those were ALSO in the OTHER well received game such as SA1, SA2, and Heroes. There's no serious plot in the Genesis games though. I would call the last part of Sonic 2 and most of Sonic 3 epic though. also... there's no 3D in the genesis games.

[@johnathonturner2279]

@@PersTG That's kind of my point. The most well received games are the Genesis games, which did not feature ANY of the things Thomas mentioned besides more playable character (even then, they still played closely to Sonic). Serious stories did not make Sonic great. Multiple characters did not make Sonic great. And 3D sure as fuck didn't make Sonic great. Let me put it like this. Is there even ONE 3D Sonic game that isn't currently divisive? Like it or not, even the Adventure duology is incredibly mixed. Also, Heroes wasn't well received to begin with.

[@thelittleredhairedgirlfrom6527]

Yuji Naka just went to buy cigarettes, he’ll be back... eventually...

[@4jwdc997]

DAD, COME HOME :(

[@dreamstone00]

Yeah... Not really

[@thelittleredhairedgirlfrom6527]

Pax Insanire That’s the joke.

[@sophiaslove7330]

@@dreamstone00 r/Woosh

[@lunarscales_]

YUJI WE NO LONGER NEED YOU SEGA FINALLY FOUND THEIR FOOTI...i just...WHA HAPPUN

[@slickestrick4117]

Sega seems completely unable to comprehend that a bad game is bad forever, while a late release is just late. Take the time to release a good product damn you!

[@Astrojandro]

Yeah, you would think that they would learn their lesson after 06, but they just keep doing it.

[@N12015]

@@Astrojandro They learned the wrong lessons. They changed Sonic from a fast hedgehog with no so fast but useful companions (and big the cat) to a blue rocket with red shoes and no one else, who left a huge fracture on the fanbase and the Spin-off for the adventure fans was a huge mess.

[@Mepphy99]

Not if they ... I dunno remake Sonic 06 Also for Rangers It seems like they are taking more time ... At least

[@sayvionwashington1939]

@@evdestroy4121 Reminder that the actual game was only worked on for a year, while the engine was worked on for 3. It was delayed because *there was no game*

[@rynobehnke8289]

Please 06 was in X-Box and PS3 there could just patched the game to be more functional. It was the first generation that made this possible and No man Sky more than showed that yes patching a game and keep supporting it for the next few years can undo a terrible release. But that wasn't that Sega did no was it. NO there rather order to abandon the game and move on to the next project.

[@KazerLeanne]

I need to know about what happened with the Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. The horror of Ken Penders would be an amazing tale to hear about

[@KwadDamyj]

DO NOT INVOKE THE NAME OF THE UNHOLY ONE.

[@calebplerry9664]

yes please

[@HermitMongoose]

DINK....DANK DOONK DUNK DENK DENK DINK DOONG DUNK

[@revaryk6868]

Who's Ken Penders? ...I'm probably going to be told "a monstrosity" but seriously, I'm a bit in the dark here (pun intended).

[@rowanatkinson3594]

@@revaryk6868 One of the head writers for the comic in the 90's and early 2000's. He had some...interesting fixations. Oddly enough the one good thing about '06 is that it ended up getting him removed, since Sega was going through a big marketing push and discovered to their horror that "The World's Most Way Past Cool Comic!" had a cover that was Sonic crying in an alley because Sally was getting married to another man.

[@Pulsar-h7w]

It's like Sega has a personal vendetta against thier own character, Sonic. They keep trying to kill him but he just won't die.

[@ShepdogX5]

That's what I been telling my friends this revaluation.

[@kevingame3198]

How come ea kill ther own studios and succeed at killing command and conqor franchise

[@c.cooper2877]

see also Capcom and Mega Man. and Konami and everything worthwhile they have ever done.

[@maathew361]

lmaoooooo

[@jamescampbell6724]

They came so close, but then Sonic Mania came out.

[@lanereynolds4567]

Heh... to be fair... there are two redeeming qualities of Sonic 06... it's has an amazing soundtrack that was deserving of a much, much better game, and it is a meme goldmine... But seriously though, other than those two things, I can't think of a reason to say any of 06 was good

[@patrickwingard582]

It got rid of Ken Penders for us

[@TheTC]

It gave us Shadow roundhousing Silver while chaos controlled. ...wait why didn't they remake that for Sonic Generations? Ugh what a waste.

[@thirdeye9698]

During Shadow’s playthrough, they left in an outtake on some nameless officer telling you to go to Wave Ocean. That’s enough for me to give this game one more point than it deserves, launching it from a 2 to a 3.

[@TheBlackShinigami]

You know Sonic unleashed was a better Sonic 06 with added werehog levels that were TOOOOO ABUNDANT. Honestly. Sonic unleashed and Colors are the better Sonic games for the speed sections arguably.

[@fire-nrg7962]

Shadow's character was handled pretty okay. I mean, he isn't a one-dimensional edgelord in the game, unlike how he's portrayed in his game and pretty much all the Sonic media featuring him in the 2010's.

[@AllyGamegal]

Nakamura's acknowledgement of their shortcomings sounded so foreign compared to how other game devs handled their failures

[@Scrombo2]

Bold of you to asume I have faith in the games industry

[@khanhnguyen-tt3ff]

@@ghettofridge lol we still got weird uncle Nintendo to cheer you up, just dont ask about online play

[@etinarcadiaego7424]

Bold of you to assume I have faith in anything at all...

[@Scrombo2]

@@etinarcadiaego7424 you.....you get it

[@liltiger3]

I can't believe Sega was so adamant about sticking to that 15th anniversary deadline. Losing crucial team members over the years was bad enough, but not allowing the smaller team time to fix the game was asinine. A 15 year anniversary isn't even a big thing! 10 years fine, 20 sure, 25 go for it. 15 is such an arbitrary number by comparison.

[@dinohermann1887]

The loss of Yasuhara, Ohshima and Naka must have been really painful to Sega and Iizuka, because these three were the ones that made Sonic great in the first place. Since Colors the budget for developing Sonic games is shrinking more and more, and it shows with "recent" releases like Forces and TSR, which is a shame.

[@zigzagintrusion]

@@dinohermann1887 I’m from the future and Sonic Frontiers is pretty good :D Hopefully SEGA will give Sonic Team more funding but who knows

[@Whiteythereaper]

It was more so forcing it out of the door for a Christmas 2006 release to go along with the PS3 release and 1st anniversary of Xbox 360s to be honest. Sega greedily wanting to attempt to be relevant during early console release windows before more established games came along and sucked up the 7th gen playerbase (CoD 4, Halo 3, GTA IV etc). Sega of America likely had management that wanted to increase their 2006 Fiscal year bonuses while Japanese management had similar ambitions, and they assumed "it's Sonic, people will buy it anyway" which definitely didn't carry over into the Wii games, Sonic 4 or Unleashed at all 👨‍🦯

[@angerpanda1]

I'd be interested in a positive Wha Happened? With Sleeping Dogs, a game with a rocky developmental cycle that ended up being a fan favorite.

[@HollowPsyche]

I second this. That game is excellent, and it was originally supposed to be True Crime: Hong Kong, if I'm not mistaken. Ah, the True Crime series...

[@largesnoks6600]

Yes!

[@angerpanda1]

@@HollowPsyche It started as a game called Black Lotus then was rebranded as True Crime: Hong Kong, then after a mountain of complications, it was rebranded again. This time, as Sleeping Dogs.

[@angerpanda1]

@@rebornkusabi7264 Someone already tweeted this very idea to him recently.

[@vault13dweller15]

Or something like Final Fantasy XIV (1.0). Which was released in a terrible state only to be rebuild as a completely new game later and now is one of the best mmos on the market currently (A realm reborn).

[@tailsnick]

Years later fans said, "Lets fixes this game," and the results are showing a beautiful gem hidden under that messy pile of code.

[@Petrico94]

When you fix all the problems in the demo but the full game gets released with all the same bugs and problems, you know you're setting yourself up for failure

[@vampenga9277]

That or you realize you're working for Bethesda

[@MelodieOctavia]

"Billy Who, and the giant wha...?" I WILL FIGHT YOU, MATT!

[@theresastarmanwaitinginthe5149]

No Matt, you can't do this to us! It's no use!

[@jiornojiovanna5722]

Where did you go?!?!?

[@leoxp2038]

IT'S NO USE!!!

[@jakelop1252]

HOW 'BOUT THIS?!

[@aidlord23]

Silver, to a Swan: It's no Goose!

[@northslate4850]

CorazonFeathers Sega: This will end it!

[@GameAlicornLuna]

'Yuji Naka went to Squarenix in an unknown capacity' Unfortunate since now we've seen what he's been doing there and wonder if it's better or worse than Sonic 2006.

[@N12015]

It's honestly worse. At least Sonic 06 is somewhat playable and has some redemable qualities here and there. A 3/10 is still better than a 2/10 even though both are very bad.

[@Hazztech]

What are you talking about?

[@GameAlicornLuna]

@@Hazztech Yuji Naka was behind Balan Wonderworld which has been considered by the internet hivemind to be much less stellar than normal.

[@kimkillillasfuq8212]

@@GameAlicornLuna isn't that technically functional though? Like isn't it just conceptually bad?

[@orlandofurioso7329]

@@kimkillillasfuq8212 which is way worse than a fun but buggy as heck game

[@yoelazar3935]

One reason why this project failed was the level designers. There were 6, yet none of them had worked on a Sonic game before. Director did have some experience with SA1 tho, but he had never directed a Sonic game before, or since for that matter. This was doomed to fail imo, rushed development or not.

[@JG_Wentworth]

Same reason Forces sucked. 2 level designers that worked on fucking Lost World.

[@yoelazar3935]

@@JG_Wentworth Actually, they didn't. They were newbies. It was the director who worked on LW and Colors. I kinda liked the game for what it was, but they shouldn't have billed it as a spiritual succesor to Generations, if you're not gonna have the same director or level designers.

[@yoelazar3935]

@@JG_Wentworth Both 06 and Forces were trying to follow the footsteps from SA1 and Gens, yet they both had different directors and level designers from their inspirations. We can see how that turned out.

[@JG_Wentworth]

@@yoelazar3935 That's why you need people that actually have experience with the successful games in a franchise to, you know, *work on games for that franchise.* It baffles me how far Sega will go to cut corners that aren't even there.

[@yoelazar3935]

@@JG_Wentworth You're right. I still say that this could've turned out better if Iizuka and his group worked on it, yet they were busy on america doing that Nights sequel for Wii. 😔

[@epillis]

“Yuji Naka would never find the success he had with sega again... ...before moving on to square enix in 2018 in an unknown capacity” is the funniest line in this video two years later

[@Mr.Feather130]

Especially because of Balan Wonderworld

[@Mr.Feather130]

@@PeruvianPotato and he's thrown behind bars after that incident

[@bocodamondo]

i still dont understand how sonic forces ended up soo bad....there had to be some development hell going on in the background i mean how else will they go from the super refined gameplay of colors and generations ....to that....just how....why...

[@kratosgow342]

From what i heard a lot of main staff from Sonic Team have move to rebuild US division and left pretty small team on Sonic Force that’s why the game is so uninspired and mediocre

[@modernnerd5592]

I heard that half of the team left to work on Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey.

[@HoodieHorizon]

i kinda enjoy forces in a like "yeah, I can find myself enjoying this" guilty pleasure sorta thing

[@ryder-205]

@@mattboy2313 They also spent 4 years making it however the actual game itself was only 1 year, the rest was making the hedgehog engine 2 and the concept of sonic forces

[@channel-re5uq]

Bad timr management Ppl will say cuz they only had 1 year for dev cuz HE2 but it wuz simeltanious

[@WhiteLycanXII]

Definitely feel like Sonic: The Dark Brotherhood is worth a Wha Happun, particularly because of the entire shitstorm of drama that game was at the center of

[@jadedj5385]

Did Bethesda send them a C&D in the form of a letter that only read "We know"?

[@bluegem8582]

Blakebot J I believe it had something to do with a writer for the Archie sonic comic getting all pissed, claiming that the game ripped off the stuff he had in the comics, resulting in a messy legal battle that ended up preventing any echidna characters besides knuckles from being in the comic again (Oh also said writer was kinda a creep, and wrote I believe an infamous tweet, but I can't remember it exactly, if you want more info, google ken penders, I think that's his name)

[@ThornheartCat]

"...the charming Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure..." God sometimes I feel like I am the only person who remembers that game existed, which is a damn shame! That game was great!

[@SwordfighterRed]

I got that on my 3DS as part of a Humble Bundle some time back, I ought to play it...

[@GreatNegus]

The gyroscope levels were a pain in the dick, tho. Also, wasn't the villain's name Boner or something?

[@timerbunneh]

You're not the only one. I love it! Such an underrated game.

[@Druid-T]

Just a reminder, it has been 9 years and they still haven't followed up on the ending

[@nerdletter3773]

I remember playing a demo of it. Thought it looked neat. 3DS eshop is still up…guess I’ll check it out when I have the money to spare

[@manospondylus]

17:31 This hits differently after Balan Wonderland

[@RougeMephilesClone]

Sonic '06 has exactly three redeeming qualities: 1. *Enjoyable* music. 2. Good for speedruns. 3. Hilarious cutscenes that one can enjoy like fine wine alongside the classic Adventure games. 3.5: Have you seen Mephiles? Have you HEARD Mephiles?

[@wetheepiphany]

4: We got the glorious SnapCube dub of this game.

[@mellow63656]

Mefiles

[@_____________a_a]

Gotta love Memphis

[@michaelgariti8008]

3.5: Wouldn't a Mephile be someone addicted to sex with themself?

[@rna151]

I suppose you could add the excellent fandub as a fourth.

[@bandicootsauce4569]

Mephiles: "The Day of Disaster..." November 14th 2006 Mephiles: "Here are my records of this event."

[@Iijjccbb]

Mephiles: “you can read about it in my GAMER PAD while you play fortnite”

[@bandicootsauce4569]

@@Iijjccbb And there goes the integrity of my joke. Thanks for that.

[@Iijjccbb]

N. Verted Tawna you’re welcome

[@kevingame3198]

Me in 2014 jumped from the sinking ship to blizzard overwatch and release on May 2016

[@GrayvyFellow]

It's honestly ridiculous on how Sega still managed to get up on two feet after this game, though pretty much limping everywhere it goes to this day. Though I will say I think with how the company is still around and Sonic being battered and bruised as a franchise doing whatever it can to say up is weirdly comforting in a way. I honestly dunno what a world without Sega would be like, I dunno if any of their franchises would survive or continue to this day without the company and those involved with it. After 2006 despite the thumbing around, there have been various game that are honestly some of the most fun I had with a game and I don't mean just the Sonic ones but other IPs of theirs in general. We've gotten a butt load of Yakuza games since then that are also localized, they've been thriving with Football Managers in the PC space, they've allowed some of Platinum Games line-up to be published and no matter how bad things get, still try to treat fans and customers with respect (except for maybe Colonial Marines). And in an industry where there's a lot of lies and hidden secrets they at least try to be transparent about what they do. Call me crazy to still have some faith in them especially with the rather unremarkable Team Sonic Racing soon coming out as a half-baked tribute to Sonic running on the S&SASR engine, there are areas that I think indicate that there's people wanting to do their all for what they're working on. And basically what I have to end this with is. Sega should give literally every team they have a similar leniency they gave Christian Whitehead, Simon Thomley and the rest of their guys. Maybe the same leniency the Yakuza team has also.

[@Gohka]

I definitely agree, though part of me does wonder that is part of the reason they aren't the power house company they were in the 90s any more because they take the more honest route. I mean look at companies like Blizzard, EA, Bethesda, etc. They keep everything they possibly can as close to their chests as possible, tell us nothing, get tons of hate from gamers all over the world, yet somehow still are some of the biggest money making game companies there are.

[@thelastwindwaker7948]

It's actually a shame the PC version didn't become a thing. I'm sure fan made mods could have done wonders for it.

[@stardustsdd]

To this day lots of fans still want a PC port (myself included).

[@Milo_751]

@@stardustsdd if they done a remake on pc they'd have the chance for this game to redeem itself if the fixed the bugs

[@certifiedtrash3152]

​@@Milo_751 project 06 is right their

[@JacksonJinn]

Oh, Sonic and the Dark Brotherhood. A Bioware game so bad, it killed not only it's own sequels, but an entire comics line.

[@scientistservant]

To be fair, it mainly was one of the previous Archie Sonic writers, Ken Penders' fault.

[@yungmuney5903]

Uhh what? No it didn't. It was a self absorbed asshole who did that.

[@JacksonJinn]

@@kiarah.371 (I do too, it's just it clearly has several flaws that drag down it's overall staying power and it's incomplete story due to lacking a sequel hurts a lot.)

[@Green-Raccoon777]

@blu I did not expect an Oblivion reference. Nice...

[@ModernHog]

"Bad"

[@KimTaeHwan114]

10:15 Amy : "Hey! You're not Sonic!" (slap) *SCREEEEEEEE*

[@BloodRedSandman613]

The Xbox 360 Era is perfect for Wha Happun? So many bold ideas stepping forward and confidently into fields of dung. I'd propose an episode on Two Worlds, the game that taught me that bad games existed.

[@LewinGodwynn]

A harsh but necessary lesson.

[@TrueFool188]

The only thing I remember from that game was the horrible voice acting and that pushing the B button to backstep made you unstoppable. **Monotone** "YEE GODS!"

[@de132]

I really hope Matt does an episode on Brink too

[@kaydwessie296]

ProJared has a video on that as far as I remember! I might go rewatch it now. You should too if you want videos on it, but even then I still hope Matt does a video too!

[@BloodRedSandman613]

@@kaydwessie296 I've seen ProJared's video, even met the guy and got him to sign my copy of Two Worlds, but Matt gets into the production of games and that's why I love this series. Even if Matt doesn't take my suggestion, directing him to the Xbox 360 library is enough for me.

[@Isukatsmsh]

Wow. I knew the game was rushed, but I didn’t know just how screwed the game was. I actually have some respect for the ‘06 dev team now. They tried so freaking hard...

[@PC2000]

Gotta feel bad for Shun Nakamura. At least he was able to redeem himself with Rhythm Thief. A fantastic game that really, really deserves a sequel. As for Naka...well, I think it's pretty clear from how Balan Wonderworld turned out that he's probably cleaning out his desk at Square-Enix as we speak.

[@kevingame3198]

this too happened to bioware with both flops mass effect andromeda and anthem

[@sevvycat2]

He left, and he's thinking about retiring too, rip

[@kevingame3198]

@@sevvycat2 Probably exhausted with the game industry I got a feeling Jeff Kaplan too might retire from the game industry to move on to something else other than just working on video games

[@buff00n3ry]

Crazy how the discussion around 06 is still: "Sonic Team's incompetent for releasing a game of this quality". and not: "Sega's insane for rushing 06 out despite knowing Sonic Team bled Yuji Naka plus a bunch of other staff during a keypoint in development and didn't hire more devs or delay the game."

[@Scandal262]

i'd love to see one of these for Bomberman: Act Zero

[@joesomenumbers]

Does anyone really care about that game though?

[@Scandal262]

@@joesomenumbers People care about Bomberman. It's kinda like the 'Final Fight: Streetwise' of the series

[@kamariz3153]

@@Scandal262 i fuckz with it.

[@WatrDragn]

Sega: We’re making the most technically advanced Sonic game in HD. Staff: Good thing we have Yuji Naka to help us, right? Sega: … Staff: Good thing we have Yuji Naka to help us, right?

[@christianmulligan9719]

Wow, these are really well animated and the content is so much better than the "Top 10 heroes who have been through a DIVORCE" content we're seeing more and more of, can't believe you don't have more views on your videos man, really enjoying this series

[@TheNearsightedGamer]

Makes you look at the game in a new light. It wasn't the games fault. It could have been good. But hey, they got what they wanted. Nobody will EVER forget Sonic's 15th anniversary.

[@BonesAndAName]

Tbh I kinda groaned when I saw the title; this game has been discussed so many times because lol it’s awful. I was wrong. Your research and dedication to the game at hand is always so pristine. My mate bong and I thank you 👍🏻❤️

[@noggin306]

My god this explains that inexplicable memory I have of thinking the demo was actually kind of not bad. Thank you Matt for saving my sanity

[@Kao108]

I would like to shoutout: if anyone is actually interested in seeing like an ACTUAL playable/good (as good as it can be) version of Sonic 06, youtubers like somecallmejohnny have also recently played the sonic p-06 prototype, a "remade from the ground up on pc" demo of Sonic 06 and it shows you how much polish was added. Great vid Matt !

[@Shaun_Jones]

If there is is one constant in video games, it’s that the bigger the heap of shit you put out, the more effort fans are willing to give fixing it.

[@davixn]

Imo modded 06 is better

[@jenniferpruitt6534]

The AVGN ripped this one so badly he had to make it a two parter! Also, this video came out on my birthday!

[@JojokimVT]

It's amazing that they managed to make Sonic Unleashed two years later and becoming one of the better Sonic games. And one of my favorite games

[@NCRvsLegion95]

“Yuji Naka went to Square Enix in an unknown capacity” I miss when it was unknown…

[@key099able]

Sonic Boom is the obvious next one.

[@worsel555]

If I remember correctly they only had two people on QA for that game. TWO PEOPLE.

[@YujiUedaFan]

At least RoL is a spin-off game and therefore immune to critique.

[@YujiUedaFan]

@@RDV333 Because they had -1 person work on it.

[@LazyPirate8]

oh yes, do that for the next What Happun

[@LazyPirate8]

@@YujiUedaFan They got the guy who cleans the bathrooms at naughty dog to direct the entire project.

[@relix7373]

"Moving on to Square Enix in an unknown capacity" Oh the delicious foreshadowing lmao

[@kriscynical]

A common thread I'm noticing in the "Wha Happun?" series so far is that every time (again, so far; I haven't watched them all) Japanese developers fuck up a game, _they own it._ They claim fault, and say it was their burden. Project leads and directors say "This was _my_ fault as the leader, not the individual developers." Western development heads... don't seem to do that. They'll point at the janitor's _dog_ to be at fault before they'll own up to their own fuck ups. lol

[@yesmansam6686]

Of only that dog didn't need to eat, then the janitor wouldn't have to waste so much time feeding it and could focus on keeping the place clean fir the devs.

[@helloill672]

The guy behind Metroid: Other M throws a wrench into your theory

[@OriginalGameteer]

@@helloill672 every rule has its exceptions

[@fleurdelis329]

Its very much a cultural thing, they *have* to, they have a much stronger sense of community over individual, for better or worse.

[@l9day]

"before moving on to Square Enix in 2018 in an unknown capacity" .... now we know. Oh... now we know.... NOW WE KNOW.....

[@LBAW]

I’d love to see a Wha Happun on Sonic Boom

[@Andrew7923]

Its my understanding that the game was beeing developed for ps4 and xbox 1, and mid development Sega made the game a Wii U exclusive. Big Red Button had a very hard time porting what they already had to the Wii U and overall development was damaged.

[@YujiUedaFan]

Sonic Boom is a spinoff though and Matt said he didn't include those games.

[@son1cprogrammer]

lmfao dude! I couldn't help but laugh at the subtlety of seeing the zoom in on the time it took the werehog to complete the stage. How while you explained that Sega took a werehog-sized poop load all over the revival of Sonic, you see him running around in the background with excitement over attaining an S rank while reminding us that it took a whopping 17 minutes to complete it! 0_0 Great job on that, and on all the little details you did to make the entire video entertaining. Awesome!

[@theduelist455]

Well... The music was ok, that’s one positive.

[@MrJoeyWheeler]

"Non-playable presentation which showed Sonic moving across a grassy landscape..." Oh god it's happened agaiiiin!

[@Galactus78]

13:38- Rich Evans sighting confirmed

[@NoRiots]

Is Sonic replacing Rich Evans?!?!

[@Galactus78]

Matto225 The Sonic movie we deserve

[@ThatsMox]

If only development was smooth on this game it could have been one of the best 3D Sonic games ever. 🤦🏾‍♂️

[@revaryk6868]

9:16 Did they consider Dark Prognosticus at some point? Great to hear someone cover the whole story behind this infamous game! People normally shorten it to "it got rushed" and call it a day. While that's definitely true, there was a lot more that happened beyond rushing. And as per usual, you explained it very well.

[@preettygoood7774]

As impressive as it was that people stuck with the project until release, I would've just quit to make a point. If Sega wants their sonic game, they should support their sonic team.

[@kingkoopa3000]

Theres SO MUCH value in making a character that people love . Look at sonic- No matter what garbage sonic the hedgehog is attached to, people still love the character and will always suppourt sonic products regardless of quality . Thats a testament to how well designed the character is. Say what you will about sonic, but you cant deny how well the character works.

[@godclothshango1194]

Thank god for furries.

[@yoelazar3935]

It's the character design, which is freaking brilliant. Also, most of his games are still brilliant at their core, many flaws aside.

[@jordancromwell]

@@yoelazar3935 Facts, most Sonics games are good or decent with a few bad.

[@yoelazar3935]

@@jordancromwell We enjoy the games because, at the end, they offer a level of flow and satisfaction you don't find in other, far more conventional platformers. They do suffer from flaws and they don't leave the best first impressions, but you start to warm up to them with some patience or practice. 06 is still bad tho, i can't defend it, even if it has some redeeming qualities.

[@TheRealJoshie]

7:40 Yep, he left Sega just to make the hit game "Oh God No," and then landed in jail for insider trading business...

[@reilynn7891]

Wow, I feel really bad for the development team. You constantly see people saying that the game must have been made by incompetent buffoons; it's sad to know that these people took the blame in the public's mind for problems that were really out of their control.

[@yoelazar3935]

The game still suffers from imcompetent design in many areas. I feel for the them, but some of the problems here are their fault.

[@jonah2437]

17:29 Gee, I wonder what WORLDS of WONDER Yuji Naka would've been working on at that time...

[@Bucketus.Lord.of.Buckets]

It's okay. No matter what it is, I'm sure Yuji Naka will still have a career afterwards.

[@jonah2437]

@@Bucketus.Lord.of.Buckets He'll make so many more games with Square Enix, I'm sure!

[@kharlopena7512]

Absolutely losing my mind that the 360 demo just WORKED and Sega was just like "but it's not the PS3 build so let's trash it!" 😭😭😭😭😭😭

[@LordSchnoz]

9:23 That is by far the most cursed loading screen tip I've ever seen in my entire life.

[@HalcyonAeterna]

this and the sonic 06 fandub makes me happy that this trainwreck is being revisited

[@YujiUedaFan]

Dub? So they re-translated it?

[@slimmtatey4205]

“I trapped Sonic in the hell dimension, because he disrespected GAMERS”- Memphis Tennessee

[@tristansmith8824]

@@YujiUedaFan it's a Real-Time Fandub. a bunch of voice actors improvise dialogue over Sonic 06 cutscenes. it's hilarious.

[@YujiUedaFan]

@@tristansmith8824 Ah.

[@NicoOfTheWind]

Hahaha ONE

[@hairy_cornflake]

"Sonic was never good." Well he must be fun at parties...

[@Toxic-Pyro]

The one we’ve all been waiting for

[@Shiruvan]

oof, another wha' happun foreshadowed here, Balan Wonderworld.

[@ChrisGorski]

My favorite part of this entire video is the epilogue about Yuji Naka joining Square Enix in some then unknown fashion

[@StormrageXD]

Whew I had no idea this would tie into Balan Wonderworld

[@Cosplaybuddygiraffes]

Great video exploring the turbulent development of 06 in detail! It’s often just dismissed as a failed deadline when games that crash this hard crash for SO MANY other reasons. Also 06 does have a redeeming quality: That bumpin’ soundtrack

[@Dokurider]

"Gotta work fast!" -Sega

[@bitarctic4859]

that final line about Yuji Naka hits different now that Balan "my last chance" Wonderworld has come out cant wait for that episode

[@arturoperezify]

I noticed a pattern with both 06 and Boom. Both of them started seeing problems once Nintendo's less powerful Consoles got involved, with 06 the team had to split up to work on a Wii Sonic title which left the 06 team missing half its staff and the Boom team had to scale back a lot of their game due to them finding out last second that it would be exclusive to the Wii U which wasn't as powerful as what they were originally developing for. Its kinda like Mario's secret revenge lol. It does seem like Sega got better at it though with the Switch since Sonic Forces on the Switch is similar to its PS4 and X1 versions with the main differences being a 30fps instead of 60 and lower resolution.

[@miguelangelhernandezsolis7849]

I'm sure Mario is too nice To try to put a curse in Sonic But if you want to think about someone who hate sonic with all his self think of Alex kid

[@laxur1312]

Mighty No. 9 needs to be talked about.

[@odd-eyesdragoon]

I'm always amazed how much the quality jumped from this to Unleashed.

[@ModernHog]

"All of them ripe for future episodes" "Shows Black Knight* Yeah, okay. Sure.

[@TheHeroOfMobius]

One thing that you can note about fans of the Sonic franchise is their dedication, even entering development of an unofficial PC port/complete overhaul of this game in particular to make something worth playing using the building blocks given. From what I've seen of ChaosX's Unity-based Project 06, it's a huge step up in quality.

[@skyeguy7914]

Oh if only they could see what Naka would go on to make.

[@Timelost_Techpriest]

Should have waited a couple days, Matt. You could have had nightmare pictures of Sonic the Manhog from the live-action movie trailer to add!

[@BigK13372]

@@londonjackson8986 Actually they have. The human looking Cosmo and Wanda (played Jason Alexander and Cheryl Hines) actually look better then their animated CGI forms. And we all remember that gag when Spongebob and friends went on land?

[@projectalpha22_va]

The question in regards to the development of Sonic 06 should not be what happened, but what didn’t happen. For the love of god, what didn’t happen with this game? From forced deadlines, to understaffing, to a promotional campaign that was terribly misleading, this game was doomed for the start. I’m glad to see a full dive into this, and it’s always fun to see a “Wha Happun” Episode in my feed.

[@DevCakeProductions]

This just makes me feel bad for 06 knowing how badly treated the project was and why it became a buggy mess.

[@PerpetuallyMalding]

Redeeming Quality: You can break the game in hilarious ways without even trying

[@ilopominecrafter]

Sonic free riders? Dude, its just sonic riders. The last one was free riders and we try to forget it ever happened

[@fratercontenduntocculta8161]

Finally! Even though im not a sonic fan, i’ve always wondered why this game was such a colossal fuckup. Great job as always!

[@stardmg]

SEGA have such a long history of shooting themselves in the foot and Sonic '06 is the most egregious example. This was a 15th anniversary celebration for the franchise that put you on the map. Deadlines be damned, this should have had love and care put into it. And to make matters worse, the *other* 15th anniversary game ended up being a pile of shit too.

[@leowei771]

So this was why sonic 06 was so bad, this is like DMC2 and Duke Nukem combined.

[@voidofspaceandtime4684]

+bhull the shoving in of too many attempts at innovative features.

[@Collin93387]

What are those faces at 10:46? They have been buried in my mind since a kid and resurfaced just now

[@Ironman1o1]

Sonic 06 is likely the worst game that didn't end up killing the company.

[@takaharuigasakiiii6612]

2:09 Fathers escaping their responsibility be like

[@leonardoliveira]

I watched the What Happened Balan Wonderworld video before this, I almost spit my coffee at the end when this video mentions Naka...

[@arturolimonez7470]

Damn i remember playing it as a kid and freaking loving everything about it. Didn't knew the community hate it this much lol

[@princeapoopoo5787]

What's hilarious is that for all of these disasters, the soundtrack is still really amazing.

[@triggerpigking3741]

I actually played this via emulator for the first time recently and I'm actually surprised how much I enjoyed it. The emulation fixes the load times along with several other issues apparently, so glitches were at mostly a minimum and underneath it I found a really damn good game, one of my fav sonic games in fact. Which just makes it more tragic to me, this game could've been an incredible evolution on the Adventure formula but the crunch and rush to release and the failure that stemmed from it hurt the franchise for so many years and more or less killed the adventure style of gameplay/storytelling.

[@NurseValentineSG]

Alot of Sonic 06 Fans will talk about how the game had so much potential. But not only do I disagree with that, because even if everything worked without glitches, the game would just be a bloated mess, we never got the game "how it was meant to be".

[@bl1450]

Thank you for helping with my dissertation