For years, a number of people have been vocal about how Sonic just doesn't mix in the real world and it is as ridiculous as putting Mario in such a setting. This was also highlighted as one of the reasons Sonic games just don't sell that well (as if the design and budget issues weren't a thing for ages now) meaning it lacked appeal.
Then comes the Sonic movie, and after fixing the horrific first design, we see that people absolutely loved seeing Sonic walking among real world humans (as he had been since the beginning, you know Dr. Robotnik? lol) in even some of plainest settings like a rural small town.
So now we have Sonic Frontiers which is looking to embrace a more realistic visual style (at least for the environments) that I feel the Sonic movie is partially responsible for it. I would even say it went as far as it broke the "Mario vision" so many longtime fans have seen the series since many refused to accept that the two franchises went off in different directions, or wanted to believe that Sonic was on a misdirected path.
So yes modern Sonic always worked, the Adventure games proved it, but the mishandling of Sonic games from that point on is what harmed the image of this part of the franchise. Now all we need is Sonic Frontiers to be a good game
Then comes the Sonic movie, and after fixing the horrific first design, we see that people absolutely loved seeing Sonic walking among real world humans (as he had been since the beginning, you know Dr. Robotnik? lol) in even some of plainest settings like a rural small town.
So now we have Sonic Frontiers which is looking to embrace a more realistic visual style (at least for the environments) that I feel the Sonic movie is partially responsible for it. I would even say it went as far as it broke the "Mario vision" so many longtime fans have seen the series since many refused to accept that the two franchises went off in different directions, or wanted to believe that Sonic was on a misdirected path.
So yes modern Sonic always worked, the Adventure games proved it, but the mishandling of Sonic games from that point on is what harmed the image of this part of the franchise. Now all we need is Sonic Frontiers to be a good game