Many of us have heard the age old story where fans are SOO outraged, they force a company to take notice. Some people create online polls and stuff to try and make things happen, even if they don't understand that they don't really want it to (not to mention that online polls need atlest 4 times the amount of people that real letters get to do something). Well, this is the story of a time when the force of fan letters really did something, and it takes place in a little place called Japan.
In 1991, a great RPG came out for PC Engine machines, called Popful Mail: A Magical Adventure. It was created by the company Falcom and i guess that is pretty much all you need to know about the great Popful Mail.. Jump forward a few years to 1993. Sega, had made a few deals with Falcom and the team created was often known as 'Sega Falcom'. Sega Falcom annoucened that there would be a new RPG coming to the MegaCD called 'Sister Sonic' and it would feature Sonic's Lost Sister, and that it would appear at the Tokyo Toyfair in June of 1993. A Quote from the 'Gaming Gossip' page of American 'Electronic gaming Monthly' from June of 1993 (that was the cover date, so it was probebly written April) had this to say on the matter:
"Finally, Sega has a trio of new games in development, including Streets of Rage 3, a gun game by the programmers of Konami's Lethal Enforcers coin-op called Gun Star Heroes, and a new spin on the Sonic saga called Sister Sonic! The Last is apparently an RPG starring Sonic's lost sis which may debut at Toy Fair in June"
What alot of people didn't know, was that Sega weren't planning on making it a whole new game. Sister Sonic would in fact be the MegaCD port of Popful Mail, with a completely new cast of Sonic characters, lead by Sonic's Sister. Word of this leaked onto the japanese gaming community and there was a major outrage! Tons of letters poured into Sega from Popful Mail fans that wanted to see the game as it is, or atlest, with the oringal cast. And it seamed that Sega Falcom took note of the letters and did something. the August 1993 (June 1993) issue of Electronic gaming Monthly has a bit about that while talking about a Cheat for Sonic 2:
"While we're on the subject of Sonic, Sister Sonic, the RPG that was under development by Sega Falcom, will be delayed. Originally, Sega Falcom intended to develop Falcom PC Popful Mail RPG with an entirely new cast of Characters as Sister Sonic. However, when word leaked out, fans of Popful Mail demanded that it be released on Mega CD in its original form. Faced with a deluge of angry letters, Sega Falcom decided that they should do exactly what the fans demanded. So, sorry folks, Sister Sonic appears to be a back-burner Project. Still, it shows what a large group of gamers can do to influence the companies. So what we've lost in an RPG, we won in showing the companies that we care about the games we play. Pretty nifty, huh?"
So, it seams Sister Sonic wasn't canned, but Sega had to rethink the whole matter. As history can show, Sister Sonic never did come out, and that might be for the best, It also seams any hope Sega had of still doing the game after they lost the chance to use Popful Mail went away pretty quickly too. Sonic would not see a Sister for another 7 Years.