We’ve talked a lot on this website about the quality of video games and how bad certain titles were, even if the publishers/developers themselves wouldn’t admit that the games were bad. However, there are some titles that are so bad that even the ones who made them can’t hide their shame. We’re talking about the truly “indefensible” video games that seemed great from afar but were a total disaster upon launch. One of those games was Sonic ’06. Yes, this infamous title still sends shivers of disgust down gamers’ spines because of just how terrible it was. Yet, somehow, someone on Sonic Team wants to try and remake it.
As noted on Twitter, there was a special Indonesian fan meet featuring members of Sonic Team, and one of them, Shun Nakamura, who was the producer on the most recent team release, stated that he wouldn’t mind doing a remake of the infamous title. According to one fan translation, he said he “personally wishes” to remake Sonic ’06, which is just not the kind of thing you would expect someone in that position to say.
So, what was so bad about this 2006 title? The irony was that, at first, no one really had issues with it in the buildup to release. In fact, that’s actually a key reason why it sold decently at first, as there wasn’t the internet as we know it to warn people about what they were getting.
However, once they dived in, they found themselves looking at a title that looked “good enough” but had nowhere near the polish and styling of past titles with Sonic. The title had loading screens everywhere that killed gameplay flow, along with camera issues that sometimes made trying to combat enemies impossible.
That doesn’t even get to the story that Sonic Team put gamers through. Yes, this is the story of Sonic falling in love with a human, and they kiss at one point. It was bad and instantly became something that fans made fun of whenever they could.
It was so poorly received that SEGA used it as a model of what NOT to do going forward and even delisted it with the quickness so that the franchise as a whole wouldn’t suffer further because of it.
That’s why many will find it shocking that a producer from Sonic Team would want to remake it, as it has a spot reserved for it in the community among the “worst games ever” category. Then again, maybe that’s why he wants to do it: to get redemption for the title.
