J's Saturn Junkyard Post...

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Make a damn sequel: Burning Rangers

The rather fabulous post below, was posted by J over at the excellent "Corner Of Randomness". They're his words not mine, and thus printed in the customary quotation colour.

"I'd always wanted a Saturn. But my Dad went and bought me a PlayStation instead. My Father would pay for his mistake due to being scarred by the image of his son's smile disappearing from his face on Christmas day as he tore away the wrapping paper and saw a PlayStation. So I used to live out my want for a Saturn through one of my close friends. He always used to buy the official Saturn magazine and one of the issues had a blow out on a brand new Sonic team game. That game was Burning Rangers. I remember the cover like it was yesterday. Kick arse anime artwork of the main man Shou and his fingers pointing right at the reader. My friend and I would glance at the pages and bicker about how badly we wanted to play the game. I'd constantly badger on to my friend like "You know you gotta buy this!! Day of release! You need this in your life!" When the game finally released he came round to my house that day with his Saturn in tow and we played the game right through into the evening. He wasn't as good at it as I was and the last boss kept killing him, so I ended up completing it. 1999 and I have a Dreamcast. I think of all the cool Saturn games that will undoutedbly get sequels. I was loving the Dreamcast and games were releasing pretty fast. Sega were porting their arcade games left, right and centre. Releasing all the games except the one I really wanted. Burning Rangers 2.

As cool as the original game was, I felt that there was more that Sonic team could've done with it. The characters and the gameplay were so cool that upon completing the game you really did want more. With a Dreamcast sequel now out of the question I know live in the vain hope that Sonic team will develop a Burning Rangers sequel for the Wii. Ever since pulling out of the console race, Sega have been good to Nintendo. Despite being rivals for so long, they actually make a good team. Sega have definitely found home on the DS and Wii, so the Wii would be the best platform for them to do a Burning Rangers sequel. Not only that, but the controls too. They'd be perfect! Using the Wii remote to extinguish fires and yanking back on the Wii remote to perform the safety dodges. Having your team mates' advice and info come through the Wii remote speaker. It'd rock. An online playable co-op mode wouldn't go amiss neither. Sega could even use the WiiConnect 24 service and provide downloadable content. Late at night your Wii light glows. You pick up your Wii remote, power it up and you see you've got a Wii mail. "Burning Rangers report! We have a new mission. Rendezvous at the Wii shop where you'll find a file briefing you on the situation". You head over to the Wii shop download the file and BAM! You've got a brand new stage to play through.

In the original game you'd come across people who would need rescuing. When you'd complete a stage they'd sometimes send you letters thanking you, which was a really cool feature. How cool would it be if in the Wii sequel your Wii light would glow and you find that you've got a Wii mail from a hostage you rescued!?

As a cool bonus Sega could even implement a feature where by you can connect your DS to your Wii wirelessly and download the original Sega Saturn classic for play on the DS, with new dual screen functionality! Hidden unlockables for the Wii version of the game could be tucked away in the DS version. When players have unlocked these features, they can transfer them over to the Wii and use them. Things such as additional costumes, new weapons, an concept art gallery, sound test mode etc. All of which can only be unlocked by playing the DS version of the game.

There is so much Sonic team could do with Burning Rangers for the Wii and the DS. I hate it when developers release a brilliant game that you know could flourish and do such big things on a current gen system, but it's just forgotten about. I doubt this post will reach a wide audience or that Sega will see it. But for 8 years I've lived in the hope Sonic team would develop a sequel and I'm still hopeful - so what have I got to lose!? I may as well make my plea. Please, please, PLEEEAAASE Sonic team - make a Burning Rangers sequel for Wii!!! I've even got a title for it! The Burning Rangers."

My e-mail address is in the top right corner of this blog Sega, so you know how and where to hit me up! :D