Electronic Gaming Monthly: Afterthoughts: Sonic Heroes

In 2003, Sega’s hyperactive mascot was nearly as overexposed as Bennifer: Sonic starred in two new GBA games, milked his back catalog with a GameCube rerelease of Sonic Adventure, headlined a hit cartoon on the Fox network, and even hawked McNuggets to tykes via a successful Happy Meal promotion. All that hoopla, however, paled in comparison to this January’s triple-console launch of Sonic Heroes—an all-new 3D platformer, and his first on both Xbox and PlayStation 2. We spoke with Heroes Director Takashi Iizuka (who’s headed up nearly every Sonic game since Sonic 3 on Genesis) about the ’hog’s latest title.

EGM: Heroes offers some really amazing levels, such as the Casino Park and Haunted House areas. Were you consciously trying to be more creative and daring this time around than in the Sonic Adventure games?

Takashi Iizuka: The Adventure series was much more story driven, so I was limited to the types of level designs that would make sense in the context of the plot. But with Heroes, I had much more freedom to explore more action-packed, wild levels like in the old, side-scrolling Sonic games. I’ve secretly wanted to make a 3D pinball-themed Sonic stage for years.

EGM: Sonic Heroes’ grading system seems pretty harsh—what’s the secret to getting A’s? Is it even worth getting them?

TI: [It’s] very, very challenging to get an A grade. Getting A’s isn’t impossible, but you must practice playing the stages over and over until you can get through them quickly without dying. It’s worth it, though: If you get all A’s in all the stages with all the teams, you unlock a really cool, surprising mode that will please players looking for even more challenge.

EGM: The GameCube and Xbox versions run smoother than the PS2’s. What’s up with that?

TI: Of course, as you know, the PlayStation 2 does not have the most favorable amount of memory...so Sonic Team created a basic ideal of how Heroes should play and then arranged it so that it would work on GC, XB, and PS2. So, I had to sacrifice a certain amount of technical performance in order to offer the same experience on PS2.

EGM: The boss battles in Sonic Heroes are really unique—you’re usually fighting a boss while traveling through a stage or arena at the same time. Why the change from the norm?

TI: We decided to experiment with a new concept for the bosses, because in most action games, you’re moving quickly through the regular stages, but your momentum completely stops when you reach the boss. It really disrupts the flow of the game. Here, we keep your adrenaline pumping while you fight the boss.

EGM: Nintendo’s VP of marketing George Harrison once said that “Mario will never start shooting hookers.” Would you ever make a game where Sonic caps some hos in order to appeal to older gamers?

TI: [Laughs] I have no plans to do that! And I have a good reason: It’s been 12 years since Sonic first came out, and people who experienced it back then are now old enough to have their own children. In a way, we’ve created a chain of Sonic fans, and if I changed Sonic to appeal to adults, it would cut the chain.