Boss Rush was an anonymous blog, currently deleted, run by someone who actually turned out to be Sonic Europe employee Ben Andac (who is no longer with the company). Among other things, he clearly knew about the impending "Werehog" gimmick of Sonic Unleashed a full year before the game's trademark was even registered. On the subject of Sonic the Hedgehog games, Andac had this to say, as preserved by archive.org:

Instead of using the re-structuring for good Sonic Team became complacent slaves of their earlier successes. Their primary goal now is purely business driven: to please the managing directors wth good ROIs; this is not so abnormal - it is a business after all - but they leave little room for creativity and originality in their particular brand of working practices.

... Clearly the blame does not lay squarely at Naka and Sonic Team's door - the direction of Sega (or rather Sammy) as a corporation; the narrow-minded short-term annual business-plan practices and development processes (i.e. tight development schedule) that demand yearly churning out of Sonic products all play a major part...

So that's why Sonic is constantly in roughly three or four games a year, despite few of them being any good. To Sega, the Sonic franchise is now a money train the company is willing to ride all the way to shovelware station. As long as gamers keep buying lousy games starring Sonic, nothing is going to change.

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teh2Dgamer

Unfortunately, that's what gaming is being reduced to. Sonic is Sega's most recognized character, and it probably their best bet of making a profit.

They're now going the Mario route with Sonic, and watering down the once strong character by throwing his name on everything. It's sad to see the once strong Sega being reduced to such tactics in order to make a buck, but unfortunately, that's what they've been reduced to by taking so many big risks in the past.

I miss the Sega of old, but they can no longer afford to make the types of games they once did, because the market has shifted to more western of games over Japanese >

I fear that the days of Sega making such marvelously innovative games like NiGHTS, Shenmue, and Jet Set Radio are in the past. Now they're just like every other developer out there when they used to be a part of the elite. It's a damn shame.

Aniphx

As much as I hate to say it, he's right. Sonic is probably the only platform game I have ever been good at and thus, the one I played the most. And it's been a long time since I enjoyed one.

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