Learning from Sonic Mania

[Princess Rescuer]

A new game named Sonic Mania came out for PS4 and Switch. It's the most well-recieved Sonic game in ages. Partially because Sonic feels like Sonic again. The special thing about its development is that it was basically a fangame- developed mostly by fans. Amazing that it's something Yuji Naka and Takashi Iizuka never thought to make.

I was thinking this- 2017 has been amazing for giving fans what they want. The first super-popular Zelda game in a long time, pleasing even old-school fans who feel that Zelda hasn't been Zelda and has lost its way. Remake collections of Crash Bandicoot and Kingdom Hearts games on PS4 that are so good, they've stolen definitive version status from the originals.

Why can't the same happen for Umihara?

There are already people on this website honing their skills on making romhacks. If the original team doesn't want to make more, why not give it over to romhack wizards who would now have a real budget and be making real money, taking the burden off of those who don't desire to make more of them anymore. The series would gain more momentum, with complete versions of the original trilogy you could now port to every new console (Chirari was good, it supplanted the originals as the definitive versions like Crash and KH mentioned above, but the absence of the second game was a gaping vacuum that made it incomplete) as well as dedicated fans now generating a pipeline of new games on their own. Sonic fans are happy to have a classic 2D Sonic game, we'd be happy to have more Umihara games at all. Seriously, they're console sellers to me.

In the next decade, we might be looking at a future where it's entirely up to fans to make the types of classic games veteran developers feel are beneath them. I look forward to this future. Not just for Umihara. I look forward to Nintendo pulling its head out of the sand and accepting that games like Pokemon Uranium, Another Metroid 2 Remake, ZQuest, and Mario ROM hacks exist to fill a vacuum of games Nintendo has no drive to make and aren't serious threatening competitors to their well-guarded lucrative empire.

If there's any way this sounds unfeasible, please tell me what it is. I just want more official console Umihara games to look forward to. The Super Famicom original game was brilliant. Chirari was brilliant. I'd like more.

[Canvas]

While I haven't played much of it and know it plays a bit differently, what is so bad about Sayonara?

[Princess Rescuer]

Nothing! I'd just like more Umihara games. The original team that made the trilogy thus far doesn't want to make any more. At this point, it's fangames, farming it out to amateurs, or nothing.