Continuity Wars
Posted by Daniel J. Drazen 

I know that there's been some discussion WRT the various continuities. Lemme
toss in my tuppence:

Having played some of the Sonic and Knuckles Collection games on CD, I found
myself looking at the games two ways: as a (hopelessly bad) game player, and as a
writer. And the fact of the matter is that as a writer, there's not much in the games for
me to work with. OK, the "top" that Sonic travels on in the Marble City Zone [and
that's the farthest I've gotten, BTW] has some possibilities, and the head that shoots
arrows until you close down its third eye was also a good bit.

But that's ALL that they were: BITS! They exist on their own totally divorced from
any kind of narrative structure. You could plug them in absolutely anythere!

THAT, IMHO, is why the SatAM is superior. It may not be everybody's cup of meat (to
quote the Poet Of My Generation) but it had SOMETHING that a writer could drape a
narrative over. The games offered nothing, "Adventures of..." offered even less, and
Sonic Underground tried but just didn't get traction in a meaningful way. It's not that
I hate the games or the games advocates; I simply find them unusable as a writer.

Sonic Adventure, OTOH, had FAR more story structure going for it. Too bad it was
lost on Ken and Karl because Sega (for whatever reason) never cut loose with a
story script for the creatives to work with.

Oh, well, work on SA2 has reportedly been delayed. That gives Pat Spaziante (or
someone else associated with the comic) a chance to learn conversational
Japanese so they can get it right the next time. 

---
RE: Continuity Wars
Posted by Ruby Echidna 

(Snip!)

: But that's ALL that they were: BITS! They exist on their 
own totally divorced from any kind of narrative structure. 
You could plug them in absolutely anythere!

Hmm, you make a valid point when it comes to the games. It's 
been said by yourself and many others over the past years I, 
at least, have been involved with the net-fandom--Games 
simply don't give much for a story writer to go on. 

Sure, you -could- (and some do, *shudder*) take the time to 
write up a work of "fan-fic" that involves Sonic running, 
then smashing a bot, then running, jumping on a spring, 
running running running, smashing another bot etc, but man 
would that be boring. 

Also, the games weren't meant to have extremely dense plot. 
They were meant to provide the gamer with a challenge. Take 
Sonic and Knuckles. The thing ran on a Sonic 2 engine (as is 
my guess.. the similarities between the two are uncanny..) 
and was produced not for plot point, but to experiment with 
lock-on technology that never got anywhere, and make money 
in the process...

(snipsnip)

: Sonic Adventure, OTOH, had FAR more story structure going 
for it. Too bad it was lost on Ken and Karl because Sega 
(for whatever reason) never cut loose with a story script 
for the creatives to work with.

: Oh, well, work on SA2 has reportedly been delayed. That 
gives Pat Spaziante (or someone else associated with the 
comic) a chance to learn conversational Japanese so they can 
get it right the next time.

That might not be a bad idea... However, you might not 
-want- to know what you're missing in the English version of 
the game. When I played SA through in Japanese, I could pick 
out Sonic's use of the word sh** along with a few more 
phrases which wouldn't be seen as PC in this country, at 
least...

-Rubes

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Re: RE: Continuity Wars
Posted by Dr. Robotnik

: Sure, you -could- (and some do, *shudder*) take the time to 
: write up a work of "fan-fic" that involves Sonic running, 
: then smashing a bot, then running, jumping on a spring, 
: running running running, smashing another bot etc, but man 
: would that be boring. 

I'm trying again to make a game based fanfic. They're hard to do.

: Also, the games weren't meant to have extremely dense plot. 

Are you sure? If the plot isn't too dense, then I over analyze the games.

: When I played SA through in Japanese, I could pick 
: out Sonic's use of the word sh** 

He said "Shoot". If you play it with the Japanese captions, shoot is written in
English.