As a long-time gamer, I still remember the days when even suggesting such an idea would have had you declared medically insane; things have changed since that time, though, and old fogies like us have lived through some pretty strange moments as a result. I remember having to pinch myself a little the first time I loaded up Sonic Advance on my GBA, and I definitely remember having to rub my eyes when I saw Nintendo and Sega's names side by side at the beginning of F-Zero GX. Nevertheless, even though I knew this day would come sooner or later, it's still a little bit of a shock...frankly, I'm still not 100% convinced this isn't just an elaborate early April Fool's joke.
My only concern now is whether or not the game itself can live up to its own historical significance. It's an oddball project, that's for sure; it's got the official Beijing 2008 branding as well, so it's actually a combination of three disparate licenses in one go (has that ever happened before?). I share my primary concern with Nathander; minigame compilations are hardly scarce on the DS, and the Wii, well, it's running the risk of drowning in them. Its milestone nature is going to place this project under
the most intense scrutiny; it's going to have to really pull out all the stops to make damn sure it distinguishes itself from the pack, particularly given that it's launching on a system where, thanks to the Wii Sports pack-in, 100% of its userbase already owns a compilation sports title. Frankly, I'd feel a lot more confident if Nintendo were developing it rather than Sega; Sega have been getting more and more inconsistent as a developer of late, and their Sonic games in particular have ranged from the flawed to the plain unplayable. Make no mistake; they
cannot drop the ball on this one.
Still, on a purely conceptual level this really does get the gaming fanboy juices flowing. It's the ultimate showdown, the grudge match: Mario vs. Sonic. Get your tickets now!
Having said that though, this doesn't really seem like a level playing field - I mean, Miyamoto is going on about us finally being able to see whether Sonic is faster than Mario, but we've known the answer that for years, and it's "well, duh, of course he is". What we really need is a proper showdown, a one-on-one, gloves-off, battle royale for ultimate supremacy of the gaming world; what we need, of course, is for them come out and tell us that Sonic will be in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
It's a no-brainer now, surely - Solid Snake's opened the door for third-party characters appearing in the games; the fans want Sonic in there; Sonic's creator wants Sonic in there; Mario's creator wants Sonic in there; the game makers want Sonic in there. Can you see where I'm going with this?
Get Sonic in there, and make our fevered geeky dreams come true!! 