Who should make Sonic 5?

You’d think Sonic Team is the obvious choice for Sonic 5 but, the truth is, they’re no longer the best developer for the job, in my mind. At least not for a new 2D Sonic game. It isn’t that the quality of Sonic Team's recent output has been bad. In fact, 3D Sonic has never been so good, with Sonic Generations and Sonic Lost World both offering slick, exciting and enjoyable 3D experiences. But Sonic 5 should, in my opinion, be a 2D-only game. And I've yet to see a 2D Sonic from post-Naka-era Sonic Team that controls like it should. Yep, the old problem.

The pinball-bouncing, slope-rolling, ramp-hitting Sonic you can play on a Mega Drive/Genesis is all about inertia. Sonic Lost World does have 2D levels and they look incredible, but still are simply not what 2D Sonic should feel like. Sonic Team's top priority no longer appears to be ensuring the core process of moving the character is enjoyable in itself and there's always something wrong, whether it's the jump height, acceleration speed or behaviour on slopes. So who could do it 'right'?

Odds of happening? The most logically strong. Like if Spock had been working out.

Yuji Naka was the head of Sonic Team during Sonic's golden age and programmed the original game with phenomenal prowess. Avoiding performance-sapping libraries, he coded for the processor directly, telling it what to do with every cycle of the CPU's clock. It resulted in that famous, 60fps super-speed. The man is a programming genius. More recently, his new studio Prope has been responsible for some iOS oddities as well as Let’s Tap on Wii (pictured) which wasn’t particularly fun, but at least stands out in my memory.

What's more, Naka understands how important character movement is. He must be suffering from Sonic fatigue after 20+ years answering constant questions about the 'hog, but I would love to see him make another 2D Sonic with all of 2014’s technology on hand to exploit. It won’t happen, but it really should. There must be a small part of him that would consider it. And I'm sure Sega would commission him if he was up for it.

Odds of happening? Remote like a village in the Scottish highlands, but one with a decent pub.

M2 is the team tasked with converting Sega’s back catalogue into 3D for the 3DS. The reason I think they’d be a good choice for Sonic 5 is simple: They’ve been so careful to maintain authenticity with thier conversions, they've effectively made a new Sega console. Sure, it’s only virtual, but the ‘Gigadrive’--as they’ve affectionately named it--has concrete hardware specs, which could theoretically be replicated in the real world. It’s basically a Mega Drive with support for more background layers and 3D depth.

A 3DS-exclusive Sonic 5 running on the Gigadrive would be awesome beyond comprehension. And while the team itself is best known for its conversions rather than its original works, surely they would be interested in at least being involved in Sonic 5. Surely.

Odds of happening? Weak like newborn Bambi.

The best platform games are found on Nintendo machines these days. That is a fact. Retro Studios have a near-flawless track record, having made the Metroid Prime series, Mario Kart 7 and the Donkey Kong Country Returns series. So we’re talking about a team who know how to make a good platform game, are sympathetic to fans’ requirements, while also making games that are bang up-to-date in their visuals and gameplay.

20 years ago, I would never have thought I would be saying that a first-party Nintendo studio would be a good choice for making a Sonic game, but since the two companies are such great friends these days, it actually makes loads of sense. They've got as far as publishing Sonic... might as well make it too?

Odds of happening? Stranger things have happened. Maybe Zero Suit Samus will take off her outfit and be Sonic underneath? Sorry if that spoiled Samus for you...

Big Red Button has yet to prove itself with its Nintendo-exclusive Sonic Boom (and to convince me that Knuckles' new physique and Sonic's long legs are acceptable) but its lead level designer is one Christian Senn--the same Christian Senn who worked so hard on Sonic X-Treme before it was cancelled on Saturn and PC. Naturally, that has exponentially raised my interest in the game. I want to see what he can do with Sonic, given the chance.

Once this 3D Sonic title is done and dusted, why not get Big Red Button turn to 2D? Its 3D game is already classed as non-canon, so making a new entry in the 2D series would sufficiently distance the project from Sonic Team's output. And while Sonic Boom may well represent the last of the three Nintendo-exclusive Sonic games, if that goes down well, I don’t see why a Sonic 5-shaped extension can’t be arranged.

Odds of happening? *IF* Sonic Boom turns out to be good, then chances are very high. Chances of Sonic Boom being good? Well... why not?

The 1991 Denver Broncos may not be the most obvious choice for a group of people well-suited to making Sonic The Hedgehog 5, but then if I was going with strictly obvious choices, I wouldn’t be able to reference a 15-year-old South Park joke in this feature. Which would be a shame, especially when we come to the next slide.

Odds of happening? In fairness, there are a few of them. That increases chances significantly. And I hear they built the pyramids.

"Huh? Where?"

So, daft joke aside, that’s how I see the possibilities for Sonic 5. Sega hasn’t even said there’s going to *be* a Sonic 5, but with this much talent around and so many great studios brimming with potential, I think someone, somewhere has got to approve Sonic 5 and give it to one of these teams. And if I had to choose one, I'd say Christian Whitehead. Right after he's converted Sonic 3 & Knuckles, which must surely be what he's working on right now.

And if you're looking for more, check out The highs and lows of being a real Sonic fan and What if Sonic and Mario's fortunes were reversed?