I still don’t know what to think about BioWare’s attempt to re-legitimize Sega’s blue creature. Sonic has struggled for relevancy in a post-“Sonic Adventure” world, and while I’m more than confident in BioWare’s ability to make an RPG, the game is so…dark.

It didn’t work for “Shadow the Hedgehog,” of which I played a good amount. At Nintendo’s Media Summit late last week, however, I spent a little more than 15 minutes checking out — and playing — early bits from “Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.”

While the characters are rendered in 3D, the environments are made up of sprawling, beautiful bits of hand-drawn artwork. I’m told the BioWare offices are filled with gigantic versions of these Sonic worlds. I recommend they release some as desktop wallpapers.

With any luck, they will, but let me tell about how the game actually plays.

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Am I correct in believing that many “Sonic” fans have grown tired of Sonic’s friends?

That they are sick of Shadow and Rouge and the human characters he hung out with in his latest game?

I sure hope I read the situation right, because that’s what I grilled BioWare founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk about during part of Game Developers Conference interview with them last month. But don’t worry, they could handle it….

The reason for this line of questioning, of course, is because BioWare is developing “Sonic Chronicles,” a Sonic role-playing game for the DS that will feature Sonic and, yes, Sonic’s friends.

Here’s the back and forth:

Multiplayer: I think people pretty uniformly love the games you guys make. And I think people pretty uniformly are getting tired of Sonic having so many friends in all of his games. I think that puts you guys and your team in kind of a funny spot. Do you think …

Ray Muzyka, General Manager, BioWare: Which people?

Multiplayer: Which characters?

Muzyka: No, which types of people complain about them?

Multiplayer: It seems like the “Sonic” series, which was beloved when it came out on the Genesis…

Muzyka: [smiling] I still have my signed Genesis, signed by Yuji Naka-san plugged into my TV and it still works and I still play it. It’s fantastic.

Multiplayer: As the series has gone on, people loved it, loved it, loved it, and, when it went to 3D, there was some grumbling. The games have been somewhat maligned by the critics since then. And one of the things you hear is “Oh, every time they make a new ‘Sonic’ game, they’re adding this character or that character. Now there’s Shadow and he’s got a gun… And then [Sonic]’s in love with human women who are bringing him back to life”…

People are like, “Can’t we just have a game with just Sonic in it? A straight platformer like on the Genesis, maybe with Tails, maybe with Knuckles?” That’s what I feel like I read in reviews. I’m not a hardcore Sonic fan myself, but that’s what I sense…

So I’m wondering if you consider yourselves in that bind and if that’s given any extra motivation to figuring out: “How do we make sure these characters don’t drive people crazy this time?”

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I waited in line for an hour and a half on Saturday night to get “Super Smash Bros. Brawl,” and the first thing I did when I got home was boot up new adventure mode - the Subspace Emissary (SSE).

Five hours later on Sunday morning I was only slightly more than halfway through the biggest crossover story that Nintendo has ever told, and I was loving every second of it, even with all of its faults.

I finished it later in the day on Sunday and realized that it was over, and, it did what any game should do, it left me wanting more.

The question is: how long will I have to wait for the Subspace Emissary to get its own sequel?

The Subspace Emissary story tells the story of a mysterious invasion that takes place in the world of “Smash Bros.,” where all the characters involved must band together to combat the invading forces in order to avoid the imminent (but unknown) danger. Yes, it has a fairly generic plot, but the gameplay holds up. It’s a 2D side scrolling adventure the feels like it came from the days of old. It starts most of the characters in “Brawl.” Link and Mario team up like never before. Samus and Pikachu fight one of Samus’ biggest enemies. In the end, you all fight the omnipotent evil together.

It’s a really great premise, but, by the end a few things hold it back from really reaching the pedestal worthy of its star power. The SSE mode is a really great addition to “Brawl,” and an impressive evolution of the adventure mode from “Melee,” but some glaring problems stand out.

Nevertheless, I want a sequel. I’ll explain why.

WARNING: SPOILERS ABOUND… Read more…

Sega and Apple announced this morning that “Sonic: The Hedgehog,” the 1991 Genesis game that introduced the world to the feisty blue anti-Mario is now available on the iPod.

On Monday I talked to president and COO of SEGA of America Simon Jeffery about that development. We also chatted about the state of the “Sonic” brand, what he thinks of the criticism of recent “Sonic” games and how Sega’s recent coziness with Nintendo is going.

My interview with Jeffrey is lower in the post, but first, you may be wondering the same thing I first wanted to know when I heard about “Sonic” iPod:

How in the world do you play that game with an iPod wheel?

Straight from Sega, here are the controls:

Control Scheme A (this is designed with two hands in mind):
Click left or right to run.
Click center button to jump.
Touch down while running to roll.

Control Scheme B (this is designed to enable one-handed play):
Touch left or right to run.
Click left, right or center to jump.
Touch down while running to roll.

The Jeffrey interview follows below. Here’s a tiny excerpt:

Jeffrey: Yeah, we are very much aware of Sonic’s perception issues in the gaming market.

Read on for the rest of that, comments on Sonic’s success on next-gen consoles and whatever else we could fit into 10 minutes. Read more…