When you think Sega and Team Sonic, you think…integrity! Strong game sales. Classic gaming.
“Any Sonic game with an average Metacritic has been de-listed,” explained Sega’s SVP of EMEA Jurgen Post.
…you think “holy crap, these guys are kinda nuts.”
Yup, you read that right. In an effort to streamline the amount of Sonic games on the market (read: make people forget really bad Sonic The Hedgehog titles), Sega has removed pretty much every Sonic game since the early 2000s. Keep in mind the final list of games to be cut is speculation, but if every game with an average or lower Metacritic score is removed, the only Sonic titles still available as new retail titles is Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, Sonic Rush, Sonic Rush Adventure, and Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection. Games that were still regarded as decent by fans but still received less than stellar scores (such as Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games and Sonic Rivals, which I seem to recall was actually fairly decent) will likely disappear in the coming weeks.
No word yet on how this will impact used game stores, such as GameStop, or how the games will be removed, but ti’s likely they’ll simply be phased out rather than yanked from shelves altogether.
The newest Sonic The Hedgehog game, Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 is slated to hit numerous downloadable formats next week.