That's right, this is a little post about the Art Jam I've been running on deviantArt!
In case you would have a look at the original deviantArt Journal where all the fun was at, click this link!
So, I would like to have a little retrospective of the Jam on my blog.
A small recap, if you please.
But first of all, I'd like to thank everybody who participated in the Jam!
This ought to show Sega and Sumo Digital how much we love our Sega franchises and characters,
and that a wider range of characters from all Sega periods should have been representated in game!
A quick look at a compilation of all our different and various entries! Click it to see it in bigger and better format!
22 participants. Over 50 entries for a "little" art jam in my humble deviantArt page!
That should shake SEGA and the guys at Sumo Digital a little, right?
I mean, would I have been a lot more popular on deviantArt, the Art Jam a little shown on forums and fansites (which it wasn't while running) and the deadline longer, I'm sure we could have reached over 100 entries!
50 entries are quite a lot!
However we're not here to discure that, but to have a little look a certain pieces.
If I'm not gonna quote your entry below, don't worry, nothing against you or your piece.
But I wanted to have little look at the more DLC worthwile and nostalgic franchises that should have made it into the game.
Instead we got Metal Sonic, and while I'm sure kiddies and Sonic fanboy bought it the second it appeard online, I didn't and do not plan on buying it soon.
Money doesn't grow on tree, you know? Special not for digital content.
First, here's one more link, to the Art Jam gallery if you want to check out all the entries in separate pages.
I'm kinda sad there hasn't been any real Saturn material in the game.
The Sega Saturn is one of my all time favorite systems, I play it to this very day, and will play it long after Xbox 360 and Wii will be collecting dust in their boxes.
Sure, NiGHTS is present in SaSASR, but 1) he's non playable 2) just a cameo! 3) he's not even a real Saturn exclusive anymore thanks to the PS2 remake and Wii sequel!
I'll start to illustrate this with my own pics (why shouldn't I?)
All pics can be viewed bigger, just click them ; )
Come on! Why couldn't you give me those?!
Too obscure for you modern younger gamers?
They weren't that obscure in the 90s, they even managed both to score a sequel!
They aren't mainstream by 2010s strandards, but who cares?
Nintendo's own Super Smash Bros would be as huge and loved if it didn't contain that much old school Nintendo-fans references!
And look at what they got, Pit, who's never been well known nor popular!
And Earthbound characters! Only one Earthbound did make it outside Japan back then, and it wasn't that successful nor popular!
Obscure references for non fans might interest gamers and introduce them to forgotten past series!
And Bug! and Clockwork knight are both classic Saturn series and almost mascots to the system, alongside NiGHTS who's scored a cameo!
Talking about NiGHTS, yeah, I'm sad he didn't made it, but reading people crying for his inclusion as a DLC sounds so...unoriginal! Would you really want a character you have in the game become "playable" with a cheap model re-use? (oops.. did I mention Ryo's Forklift DLC?)
Reala could work a lot better as a DLC! And just thinking about his rockin' theme song.. *dreams*
About music...
Reminds me of those guys, Toe Jam & Earl.
Wasn't SEGA and TJ&E creators working on an agreement to include them later on? Were are they? As of today, May 25, I still haven't seen them in the game??
There was a lot of copyright issues, being a co-production, like Pokémon is for Nintendo.
But wasn't that some discussions about a later-addition of TJ&E as DLC?
With the first DLC coming, we would thought that some original stuff would come, but we only got an alternate Ryo Hazuki in a full all star mode (forklift), which isn't interesting in my eyes, I prefer Ryo on his bike only switching vehicle for his All Star, and a combo Metal Sonic/New Eggman track, which isn't that new because of all the Sonic stages and a metallic Sonic doesn't make it for me.
I didn't buy any of those, kinda cheap marketing trick in my eyes.
But look, they include some fan service content! Ristar's in it..in a...cameo..3D object in the background of the stage..and a cheap 3D model at that... That's kinda lazy...
Couldn't they switch off Ristar as a character and Metal Sonic as a cameo in the Eggman stage? I would be a lot more surprised by that!
But kiddies wouldn't buy it then... So why not make them both playable? Like a combo pack. A popular (and Sonic) character and a less popular (read: obscure/non-mainstream) one? Better deal that way!
Or better, a huuuuge character pack!
They said the game would be DLC-friendly, built from scratch to allow those unlike the (pretty good) Tennis game.
Where are our classics and huuuuugely popular Megadrive franchises? Those would sell!
Better, why not make a 3to5 character packs? I'd buy that!
They could even sell a new release of the game at some point (or for their Xbox360/PS3 platinum or classic re-releases) with all the previously added characters that would have been released as DLC in the meantime.
Heck! Don't you want to play with Segata Sanshiro?
Even old obscure characters are quite popular nowadays, thanks to internet, youtube and MEMES.
Just imagine his epic theme song across the tracks!
I'm pretty surprised the very popular Phantasy Star (Online) franchise didn't get a mention in this game!
They're one of post-megadrive Sega most popular franchises!
And all accross the world, not just Japan.
(I could have said almost the same from Yakuza, but it isn't that a hit in Europe, not all the games were released outside Japan and finally it's a bit too much M-Rated for this game!)
Be it old school/retro Sega games or new franchises I think those proprieties offer quite a variety of colors.
There's a lot of classic and new stuff to work with!
If I was at the head of a studio m'self... : P
The ball is in Sega's court. And Sumo Digital as well, don't tell me they couldn't make a difference or their voice heard if they truly were all for it!
On this final phrase, I'll be trying to send it, all of this, to Sega or Sumo Digital.
You can help me as well, post it on forums, show the SEGA love!
Hating, arguing against Sega won't do any good, we, as gamers, can make a difference and influence the way Sega is today!
If you keep only buying Sonic games, that's not gonna bring back Sega's original creative force! Showing your, our, interest in Vectorman, buying Rub Rabbits and making a voice heard in Sega communities would be a lot better.
(I can sound quite passionate about some subjects, can't I? XD)
