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thankskenpenders · 6 years ago

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TKP Reader Survey Results

So the other day I ran that survey to ask whether or not y’all wanna see me cover Archie’s Sonic X comics when the time comes (among other things). It ran for a couple days and I got 367 responses, so I’d say I’ve got enough data to go over the results

And the results are...

1. The Sonic X Comics

With a whopping 71.4% majority, y’all have made it very clear that you want to see me cover the Sonic X comics. Only 8.2% said they didn’t want to see me cover them, and 20.4% were indifferent

With that, I think it’s safe to say that yes, we will be taking a look at the Sonic X comics

2. Sonic X Coverage Schedule

The results of the scheduling question were much closer, but 50% of you approved of doing them chronologically alongside the main Archie Sonic series, while about 30% of you supported taking a hiatus from the main series to cover Sonic X or even doing them all at a later date.

Because of this, I’ll probably be jumping back and forth between the Sonic X comics and Archie Sonic in a little over 50 issues. I may, however, do them a little differently. With Sonic X being a lighthearted series of stories taking place between episodes of the anime, it doesn’t really have as much continuity or lore to dive into. Most of y’all are probably already at least vaguely familiar with the premise and cast of the show, which the comics hardly deviate from. And to be honest, I’ll probably skip a lot of stuff with Chris’s human friends

If this is the case and my Sonic X coverage ends up being lighter, I may cover multiple issues a day to get through them quickly

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Now let’s talk about the questions I added just for fun!

3. TKP Readers’ Favorite Sonic platformers

Sonic Adventure 2 (75 votes)

Sonic 3 & Knuckles (56 votes)

Sonic Mania (52 votes)

Sonic Adventure (23 votes)

Sonic Generations (19 votes)

Sonic Unleashed (17 votes)

Sonic 2 (Genesis) (15 votes)

Sonic CD (14 votes)

Sonic Rush (14 votes)

Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog (tie) (11 votes)

This poll went pretty much how you’d expect, but still! A good variety of games here. Nice to see Sonic Adventure and Unleashed getting a lot of love even though people tend to rag on those games

Personally, seeing all three of the Advance games get a few votes makes me happy since those are the ones I played the most growing up. I spent so many bus rides in elementary school replaying the first few levels of Advance 1 and 2...

I am also genuinely surprised that one single person voted for Sonic Chaos for Game Gear

4. TKP Readers’ Favorite Sonic Cartoons

Sonic Mania Adventures/Team Sonic Racing Overdrive (65 votes)

Sonic: The Movie (The OVA) (63 votes)

SatAM (60 votes)

Sonic Boom (60 votes)

Sonic X (57 votes)

The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (31 votes)

Sonic Underground (10 votes)

This was actually really close! We practically had a five-way tie for first. It seems like every Sonic cartoon gets its share of love (although Underground definitely gets less than others)

And finally:

5. TKP Readers’ Favorite Sonic Characters (only counting the major Sega characters to prevent the list from being 50 items long)

Blaze (49 votes)

Shadow (40 votes)

Rouge (33 votes)

Eggman (32 votes)

Tails (31 votes)

Big (24 votes)

Metal Sonic (24 votes)

Silver (24 votes)

Sonic (23 votes)

Knuckles (23 votes)

Amy (16 votes)

Omega (13 votes)

Cream (9 votes)

Charmy (4 votes)

Espio (4 votes)

Vector (3 votes)

This is a little surprising! But not the most surprising. Like two thirds of my audience is LGBT furries, and lord knows we all latched onto Shadow, Rouge, and Blaze HARD as kids. Blaze taking first is a little surprising, but she really does stand out in the games’ female cast and is just generally cool. Eggman being #4 (ahead of the entirety of Team Sonic!) is surprising, but I think in recent years Mike Pollock has been reminding everyone how great of a character he is

I think the biggest surprise here is that Amy is all the way down in 11th place. Everyone loves Amy! If I had to guess, I’d say there are two reasons for this. 1) Amy’s always been a very inconsistent character. Someone who loves Adventure Amy isn’t necessarily going to like her in Sonic X, Sonic Boom, Archie, Forces, etc. And two: a lot of people would probably rank Amy in their top 5, but when forced to vote for just one, less people would call her their absolute fave. I’m willing to bet a lot of y’all who voted for Blaze and Rouge would still put Amy in your top 5

...

Anyway, this survey was fun! Thanks for your feedback, everyone, and thank you for continuing to support this blog!

#tkp post

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fullysowerewolf · 7 years ago

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My Likes and Dislikes for Sonic Forces

Likes:

The story, with its dark tone and mostly cohesive narrative, for me ranks up there as one of the best in the series. It’s tied with Unleashed currently as my 5th favorite Sonic story.

The supporting cast is superb and everyone in it are the most in character they have been since practically forever. Knuckles being the biggest example of this.

The gameplay is good, fun, and enjoyable across all four playstyles, though some are more fun than others.

The Avatar concept and how they were handled in the story with their own character growth arc.

The character creation is huge and has plenty of clothing options and physical features and is pretty great. Would really like to see it again in a spinoff game of sorts.

Eggman’s characterization was great and is at his most threatening and darkest in the series. Crusherthedoctor’s recent post on his portrayal explains this point well.

The voice cast brought their A game and have greatly exceeded expectations. Hopefully they will be able to keep up this kind of performance in the future.

Warren Graff actually did a decent to good job with translation, as both scripts are practically 1:1 with each other, with only a few things left out or mistranslated.

The music is amazing, though I know for some the amount of synth/techno is annoying, personally I think all the tracks are good to awesome. Another thing is how the all of the vocal tracks specifically tie into the themes of the story, which hasn’t been done since at least Black Knight.

Infinite. Just. Infinite.

The different changes and remixes to classic levels was a pretty cool idea and was done pretty well.

The fact that Forces and Mania are actually connected and tie into each other is a great idea and I hope that Sonic Team keeps doing more in depth continuity things like that.

Mind control wasn’t a factor or used here and that is a very good thing. Especially in the case of Shadow.

The Wispons are fun to use and are a big part of why the Avatar stages are so good to me.

The fact that Sega/Sonic Team are actually branching out into story driven DLC for the first time with Sonic, as well as slowly making other characters playable again.

On that note, Playable Shadow.

The character dialogue in the radio chatter mostly as well as in the cutscenes is really enjoyable. Everyone almost always has something important to say that fits with the events of the plot.

Dislikes:

The story has a moderate case of “Tell, don’t Show”, which brings it down a fair bit. It really could have used a few more cutscenes to really bring the ideas and plot points it was trying to make together.

Levels are too short and needed to be longer.

Classic Sonic didn’t serve much of a point other than to add another playstyle to the game. I know the his addition was probably set in stone long before Mania, but I feel they should have just left him out of it and just had the Phantom Ruby teleport to Forces at the end without Classic.

Sonic and especially Tails characterizations were wack and a bit off at times. Sonic’s is more forgivable since shrugging off (or at least pretending to) mental trauma is sort of his thing. But they still should have made more of a bigger deal about him being captured and tortured and should have shown the effect that had on him. Tails is much worse and this has been going on since probably Unleashed or longer. Hopefully these issues get addressed and fixed in a later story.

Not enough enemy variety, it was mostly just the same robots throughout the game. There really should have been different robots Eggman had to have made during his reign over the planet.

The difficulty was markedly rather easy, even on Hard mode.

Sega needs to not use any more returning levels and bosses after this game, this also includes the Wisps. It was tolerable here, but I don’t think the fandom can take much more of seeing Green Hill, Chemical Plant, the Death Egg, and so on after Forces, same goes for seeing bosses like the Egg Dragoon and the Wisps for the fifth time.

There wasn’t an option to change the height and body type of the custom characters, which is a damn shame. More species would have been nice too.

The last Infinite boss was a let down. I was expecting Infinite to go really crazy with the Phantom Ruby like he did during the Avatar’s Metropolis City stage, but he didn’t.

The “Is Classic Sonic from the Past or an actual other Dimension?” kerfuffle that still hasn’t been solved.

No (fake) Shadow or Chaos fight.

Why aren’t there more Wispons? I thought that the achievements stated that there were over 50 wispons? Why are there only six? It seems like a cop out to only have six (technically 7) actual wispons and have the rest just be upgrades to them. We could have had a Rocket Wisp rocket launcher or a Cyan sniper rifle wispon.

Misc.:

These are various likes, dislikes, and mehs that I found not too big of a deal to put into the major ones.

D: Wish there was some way they could have incorporated actual, full on voice acting for the custom characters/avatars. With the ability to pick your voice like in Mass Effect.

M: I wish that the Avatar had a super form, or better yet, a Phantom Ruby powered form to fight Infinite with.

D: Why do they need to make a fake Metal Sonic? Couldn’t Eggman just use the real one?

D: I wish the forgotten Sonic characters were in this.

D: I wish there were more enemies in the final battle scene besides the known illusions, like other anthros working for Eggman either of their own free will or via force and other robots made by Eggman.

L: The return of “Long time no see”

L: That Jackals, Wolves, Dogs, and Bears are now officially canon Sonic species.

M: The Chaos Emeralds weren’t in the game. Would have liked a brief explanation about why no one used them in the story but it’s not that big of a deal so eh.

M: Dark Sonic wasn’t in it or made canon and neither was Hyper Sonic

M: Cream, Vanilla, and Gemerl weren’t in it.

M/D: Blaze wasn’t in it. They could have found a way to include her in there, I’m sure.

L: Some of Adventure’s plot points were brought up again.

L: That creepy chestburster moment during the final boss.

L: Those creepy giant, twisted Infinite abominations.

D/M: Sonic wasn’t the leader of the Resistance. I still think they could have really made a great character arc for him in Forces if they had made him the leader. But I;m still glad they made Knuckles leader since he got some much needed character rerailment and him being the leader helped with that.

M: No Sonamy unfortunately

L: I like the little cube figure manifestations that appear when ever you have the Asteroid wispon equipped.

D: The final phase of the boss apes too much off of Sonic Colors’ final boss. It’s an okay fight all things considered, but I would have liked it if it had a more unique fighting style.

M: Some of the locations in the game have been changed from where they’ve been traditionally in Sonic lore, such as Green Hill being in the middle of a continent instead of being in South Island. This kinda irks me but it’s nothing that really ruins the story.

If I were to give Forces a rating, despite how dumb scores have become and how they’re abused and used arbitrarily by gaming media to put more or less value and worth on a game as a crappy shorthand measuring stick for what people would enjoy, I would give it objectively 7-7.5/10 and for my personal score 8/10.

It is a fun, enjoyable game. It’s not as good as Generations gameplaywise, but that doesn’t make it unplayable or not enjoyable in the slightest. Don’t buy into the ever constant Sonic Hatebandwagon and give it a shot if you want a high speed platforming experience. If you’re more a Mario style platformer fan, aren’t fond of the boost style gameplay, or don’t like a more serious toned Sonic game, I suggest skipping it.

#my post #sonic the hedgehog #sonic forces

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seganerds · 7 years ago

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I’m going go out there straight away and say that Sonic Forces is not a bad game by any means. Over the last few years Sonic Team has managed to work out the kinks associated with many 3D Sonic titles and nailed down the fast-paced gameplay we have grown accustomed to.

The problem is that Sonic Forces isn’t a great game either. In its current state it won’t please any of the defiant fans who grew up with the 2D games, or those who enjoyed the likes of Sonic Adventure. And the fact that SEGA/Sonic Team persists down this avenue means that I doubt we’ll see a 3D Sonic game that pleases those gamers anytime soon.

Of course, SEGA has approached 3D Sonic games in a variety of ways now, with differing styles and mechanics. It’s stupid to compare Sonic Forces to the likes of Sonic 2006, Lost World or the Sonic Boom games, but if you want a gauge of where Sonic Forces sits, in terms of gameplay and style its closer to Sonic Generations and Sonic Colors – where 3D gameplay follows Sonic from behind, along strict pathways and side scrolling gameplay features 2.5D visuals.

Dark undertones: Never thought I’d see the day when a Sonic game talks about torture…

The darker side of Sonic

Some problems for Sonic Forces lie within its story, where Sonic Team has tried to play more on dark undertones than any other Sonic title. We see Eggman teaming up with a new villain, Infinite, who seemingly has god-like powers, manipulating reality and has brought other baddies from Sonic’s past to fight him.

The opening stand-off sees our blue hero fall in battle, overwhelmed by the sheer number of his enemies and Infinite’s powers. We are then shown several screens of text describing how, after Sonic was defeated in battle, Eggman and his army managed to conquer the world.

In a nutshell: Sonic is missing, presumed dead, Tails has gone off on his own and the rest of Sonic’s friends have taken up arms to form a resistance against Eggman and Infinite.

It’s a weirdly bleak affair which could have worked, if it wasn’t for the juxtaposition from the rest of the Sonic cast; where we have super cute characters like Charmy Bee talking about fighting in a war, and brief scenes where Infinite appears to kill equally endearing anthropomorphic creatures trying to fight back. It’s not that I’m against gritty storylines in games, but it just doesn’t work properly with the source material here.

Yep, I made my Rookie character look as creepy as possible

But to the story’s credit, the one thing is does is allow for an introduction to the ‘Rookie’ (aka. Avatar) character. This is the character that SEGA heavily advertised pre-launch, where the gamer gets to design and play as their own hero.

The Rookie (as he’s called during the game) moves as fast as Sonic during levels, is equipped with a grappling hook (allowing for lock-on attacks) and also a weapon which utilises a single Wisp power to change its effect, such as fire or lightning. The Rookie customisation is pretty impressive, allowing for a variety of animal types, each with their own unique abilities and, as you progress, you unlock more items of clothing and new weapon effects/Wisp powers during the game.

The added issue I had with Sonic Forces’ story is that it’s filled with practically every Sonic character we’ve seen over the years, yet they seem to do little more than talk to you over the radio during levels and have their faces appear next to text boxes, moving the story forward when in the world map view. The likes of Knuckles and Silver, who have proven their worth as competent fighters in previous games are now relegated to benchwarmers, while the Rookie steps up and basically saves the day.

What’s a little frustrating is that Sonic Forces’ story isn’t bad, the main plot devices and Infinite as a new baddie are good ideas, and there’s a decent amount of humour within the script. Essentially, with a little tweaking in areas, I think it could have ended up becoming one of the best plots we’d have seen in a Sonic game in years – but they just missed the mark.

To Sonic Team’s credit, they know how to make their games look pretty

A Modern Sonic game, where Modern Sonic is the worst bit

Even though the story’s opening alludes to Sonic’s death, it should be apparent to everyone that Sonic is not dead – he’s merely been captured by Eggman’s forces and the resistance needs to save him early on in the game.

From the trailers and box art you should also know that you can also play as Classic Sonic. In terms of story, Classic Sonic’s appearance makes little sense – it’s just said that because of Infinite’s powers, the dimensional fabric has been torn and Classic Sonic appears… although no other dimensional trickery really occurs, there’s no second Eggman or Tails from previous titles, just Sonic.

However, Classic Sonic soon becomes the best thing about the game. His familiar loveable form from Sonic Generations has made a return and, even though he doesn’t speak throughout the game, his interactions with Tails, Eggman and the other characters are quite brilliant at times.

Green Hill Zone has seen better days, now covered in sand

He also has some of the better story levels – which are side scrolling and, I’m REALLY happy to say, that just like traditional Sonic titles, Classic Sonic does NOT have a lock-on attack and retains his spin dash (and drop-dash) attacks. The downside is that Classic Sonic has the fewest story levels in the game.

What surprised me most though is how much I ended up enjoying the Rookie’s levels. The first couple I played through I was bored, but later on I found some of the levels being really entertaining and, once I got used to the Rookie’s weapon and grappling hook mechanics, I found myself have some fun.

However, and quite ironically, my least favourite levels all involved Modern Sonic and I think I know why…

Seriously SEGA? It’s been 26 years… does this really need to be said?!

You’re playing Sonic wrong, let the computer show you how

I found Modern Sonic’s levels involved more and more segments where you have little-to-no control over Sonic’s movements. Gone are the days, like in Adventure, where you had complete control over Sonic and if you had to run across a vertical wall and went too slow, you’d die. Instead now, where Sonic Team wants to show off Sonic’s impressive speed, the game takes control and doesn’t really let you do anything.

There’s chunks of levels where it encourages you to use Sonic’s speed dash/boost ability and by holding down the X button (on Xbox), Sonic runs full pelt, at blistering speeds. It’s so fast that enemies and barriers are no match for Sonic and he just smashes through them. It’s also so fast that you can’t really control Sonic’s turning, but that never matters because the game either puts up barriers or helps to guide Sonic round corners in these segments, meaning all you are literally doing is holding down one button and are able to defeat Eggman’s forces. It just feels cheap – you don’t even need to attack enemies any more, just run through them!

No need to attack anymore: Sonic’s boost ability just smashes through enemies

Modern Sonic (and the Rookie) levels also feature a lot of rail grinding. This has become a staple of Modern Sonic games, but while it was quite an impressive feature in the earlier games, it’s become all too prevalent; huge sections of levels require you to hop between rails. It’s fun on occasion, but when every level features rail grinding, the novelty soon wears off.

Then there’s the adverse flip-side, where the game will suddenly relinquish control back to the gamer. Being thrown back into the driving seat suddenly feels alien, causing you to lose control and fly off the sides of the level.

Plenty of grinding action, if that’s your thing

There’s also moments in the side scrolling parts (with all three heroes) where trying to perform timed jumps would result in an infuriating mix of the characters not jumping quite far enough, to suddenly jumping well past the target platform.

On a handful of levels, Modern Sonic will partner with the Rookie, bringing in a team gameplay style similar to Sonic Heroes. It’s not a terrible idea, but it feels pretty pointless, because the Rookie runs as fast as Sonic and also has a lock-on attack; the only difference between the characters is that the Rookie has a weapon that often kills enemies more easily than lock-on attacks (so you may as well just play as the Rookie).

At times you’ll team up with the Rookie and perform the ‘Double Boost’ ability – which goes so fast that everything becomes a blur

One thing this tag-team gameplay allows for is a story mechanic where the two of them can ‘combine’ their abilities and run at a super-fast speed. But again, this is just a way of the game to take control – as you run forward at a crazy speed, any objects or enemies are pointless to resist. It’s a mechanic that was kind of cool the first time it was used, but it’s used on every level where you team up, meaning the innovation is lost.

Exasperatingly, there is one moment where this mechanic is required and makes sense in the storyline, but by the time it is used you have already performed this several times and it’s not a surprise. Had SEGA held out until this plot moment, it would have been more impressive and a proper ‘Wow’ moment in the game.

Mystic Jungle had some of my favourite levels in the game

Time is not your friend

The length of gameplay time is a cause for concern. Sonic Forces’ story is essentially made up of 30 very short levels, many of which can be done in 2-3 minutes and none of them are particularly challenging.

I managed to complete Forces’ main story in under 4 hours on Hard difficulty – and that’s on a first playthrough, making plenty of mistakes, trying to record footage and take screenshots, making three cups of tea and also taking a phone call… and I’m far from the best Sonic gamer. I’ve seen other gamers beat it in well under 3 hours on their first play through.

All too easy: Beating the final (and longest) boss in the game in under 7 minutes, with no deaths, on ‘Hard’…

This is a big step away from previous 3D Sonic games, where you could spend days playing through the game on your first try.

Another bug-bear I have with Forces is how you are scored on time, yet the timer runs during animated moments, like bosses showing off at the start of battles, which you can’t skip. The timer also continues running when you die – so if you keep dying and keep having to wait a good 10-15 seconds for Eggman’s robot to flex its muscles each time, you soon find yourself losing an extra minute from your level time. It’s minor, but it seems a little unfair.

Complete additional side missions to unlock Secret & Extra missions, plus TONS of stuff for your Avatar

But there is fun to be had!

However, that game time mentioned above is just for the main story and there’s plenty to do once the story is over. As you progress you unlock items for your avatar, which includes a crazy range of clothing (with some cool items from other SEGA franchises), Wisp powers and weapons.

As you progress, you unlock Extra and Secret levels, short bonus levels that often have a gimmick, such as plasma cannons dotted around them, or my favourite, where certain blocks are explosive and trigger when you touch them – meaning you have to be quick to make it through. They are surprisingly fun and a highlight of the game for me.

Bomb Blocks – my favourite Secret levels

You also have the opportunity to freely go back to any level and replay it, bettering your previous scores and unlocking even more Extra/Secret levels and Avatar items. All these extras do extend your gameplay time. So, if you are an amazing gamer and do finish the main story in a couple of hours, you’ll find yourself playing for a few more hours, just for the extras.

Sonic Forces never gripped or entertained me in the way that Colors or Adventure did, but I did find myself having fun. I’ve already mentioned how I enjoyed Classic Sonic and the Rookie’s levels, and while Modern Sonic isn’t the best, I didn’t hate my time with him.

There’s one area where I felt Sonic Forces excelled over previous 3D entries: exploration. The classic 2D Sonic games always had a sense of exploration about them, where you could explore new routes through levels; something other 3D Sonic games have rarely succeeded in recreating.

Sonic Forces though has several split routes in levels and I was surprised to find myself taking alternative paths at times and being treated to a new route through part of a level. Of course, these new routes aren’t entirely reminiscent of old school Sonic, where you could go back and explore a level freely – in Forces you usually have a split-second to make a decision and hope you’re going the right way, because you can’t go back.

With that too, as you unlock new Wisp powers, you can go back and replay levels, finding new paths and sections, which can only be accessed by certain Wisp abilities, similar to Sonic Colors.

It’d also be criminal for me to ignore how good Sonic Forces looks and the soundtrack. One thing SEGA has consistently achieved with Modern Sonic titles is top notch graphics and some very impressive surroundings, even if you can’t explore them.

The soundtrack, while not as catchy as the old Mega Drive games, is still very good. Sonic Team has managed to bring in composers and musicians to create tunes that fit in perfectly with moments of gameplay and action happening in the levels.

Summary

Sonic Forces is not a bad game; those of you who do really enjoy the gameplay mechanics of Generations or Colors, you’ll be in for a treat. For Sonic Team’s perseverance in this type of gameplay, the team does appear to have ironed out a lot of the kinks and bugs that were problematic in previous titles.

The problem is that Sonic Forces won’t be for everyone and though I did get some enjoyment from the game, it does solidify a path that Sonic Team seems to be stubbornly taking with the Sonic franchise and it’s a route that not everyone will enjoy.

While I would like to see 3D Sonic return more to its ‘Adventure’ style roots or maybe branch out and try to do something like the Sonic Utopia fan game, I can’t/shouldn’t sit here and bitch about what Sonic *should* be – that’s entirely up to SEGA and Sonic Team.

So, if you enjoy other Modern Sonic titles, you could probably boost the overall score. But, if you’re like me and don’t enjoy them to the same extent as you did the classic ones, or even Sonic Adventure, then Sonic Forces is a decidedly average game; neither bad, nor particularly good either.

It’s a shame, because I would be leaning more towards a ‘Good’ game, but it misses the mark all too often. The fact that the Rookie and Classic Sonic’s levels were more fun than Modern Sonic’s is a concern for me; it’s a Modern Sonic game where Modern Sonic is the least enjoyable part! SEGA could have just removed all Sonic references, kept the Rookie character and had a whole new franchise… which may have been better received.

PROS:

+ Gorgeous visuals and excellent soundtrack + Sonic Team has ironed out kinks from previous 3D titles + Tails’ relationship with Classic Sonic (and just Classic Sonic in general – he’s the best character) + Plenty do/unlock after finishing story missions

CONS:

– Modern Sonic in this form isn’t anywhere near as fun as earlier 3D Sonics – Dark story undertones don’t really work (and most characters are redundant) – Very short story and levels (it can be finished in about 2-3 hours on Hard) – Game takes control far too often during Modern Sonic levels

Sonic Forces Gallery

Green Hill Zone has seen better days, now covered in sand

Mystic Jungle had some of my favourite levels in the game

All too easy: Beating the final (and longest) boss in the game in under 7 minutes, with no deaths, on ‘Hard’…

Eggman’s selfie collection: The game has a decent amount of family-appropriate humour

At times you’ll team up with the Rookie and perform the ‘Double Boost’ ability – which goes so fast that everything becomes a blur

Complete additional side missions to unlock Secret & Extra missions, plus TONS of stuff for your Avatar

Ahh items boxes, hello my old friend…

Plenty of grinding action, if that’s your thing

Green Hill Zone has seen better days, now covered in sand

Bomb Blocks – my favourite Secret levels

Seriously SEGA? It’s been 26 years… does this really need to be said?!

No need to attack anymore: Sonic’s boost ability just smashes through enemies

Dark undertones: Never thought I’d see the day when a Sonic game talks about torture

Finally, our #SonicForces #review is here! Not bad, but not the best #Sonic: I’m going go out there straight away and say that Sonic Forces is not a bad game by any means.

#review #Sonic #sonic forces #sonic team #Sonic the Hedgehog

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kaiserdingus · 5 years ago

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Sonic the Hedgehog - 1991 Sega Genesis Retrospective

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Pop culture in the 90′s was synonymous with the term “edgy”, which as a marketing buzzword meant something not entirely inoffensive, but also didn’t cross the line. Bart Simpson, Beavis and Butt-Head, and Sonic the Hedgehog were seen as “edgy” icons to rival the boring, stoic characters of the 80′s. Though Sonic was never portrayed doing anything explicitly illegal or immoral, his anti-authoritarian attitude resonated with the rebellious side of kids.

What was Sonic rebelling against? Marketing-wise, it was Nintendo’s dominance on the video game industry. Following the video game market crash of 1983, Nintendo launched the Nintendo Entertainment System and with it came explicit policies for developers that restricted the content in video games, how many titles a publisher could release in a year, and developers had to agree not to make games for other platforms. This made it difficult for companies like Sega to compete, as it gave Nintendo a near-monopoly on the industry.

If Sega couldn’t get the best third party developers to make games for their platform, they decided they would have to do it themselves. After an internal competition to create a mascot to rival Nintendo’s Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog would be released in 1991. The game came bundled with the Sega Genesis in North America, resulting in a massive spike in sales of the console. Sega had given Nintendo a run for their money in a big bad way.

In the same way that Mario revolutionized the platformer in the 8-bit era, Sonic revolutionized speed and momentum. The opening stage shows this with it’s level design, which encourages the player to build up speed and maintain momentum while dodging obstacles. The branching paths also gave the player incentive to explore the world and uncover its secrets, whether it be hidden items or shortcuts to help finish stages faster.

Sonic 1 is a game I usually skip when I play through the older games, it’s not that I don’t like the game, I just feel the later ones improve upon the formula. It was fun to be able to see the game through to the end, there were a lot of things I’d forgotten about that were fun to see. Since I don’t have the stages memorized like I do with later titles, there was a good amount of challenge that was fresh to me. While I did talk about Sonic 1 as part of The Return of Classic Sonic, that was more a sampling of the Android version of the game than a real review of the game itself.

The version of the game I played for this review is the same Android version, the 2013 mobile remake by Christian Whitehead made with the Retro Engine. To me this is the definitive experience, and it’s unfortunate that Sega has yet to release it on non-mobile platforms, despite releasing several different ports of Sonic 1 since 2013.

I was able to play Sonic the Hedgehog on my PC using the NoxPlayer 6 Android emulator. NoxPlayer allows users to map touch screen controls to their device of choice such as a gamepad. Being able to play a mobile-only game on my PC with my personal controller is a great feeling, especially as its unlikely this game will be coming to consoles any time soon.

Its hard to look at Sonic the Hedgehog for what it is without thinking about everything that came after, especially since this version includes the spindash which wasn’t introduced until the sequel (this is optional, however). There was a brief moment in history where Sonic was nothing more than a hedgehog fighting an evil scientist.

With that in mind, I was able to notice the pretty obvious environmental message behind Sonic the Hedgehog. The game is about the evil Dr. Robotnik who kidnaps little animals to fuel his robot army, which he uses in order to industrialize nature. Sonic isn’t a hero trying to save the day, he’s an every-man who’s just trying to protect his homeland and it’s fellow inhabitants.

The video game heroes that came before Sonic all had implied goals in mind, specifically when the hero had to rescue a princess. Sonic wasn’t like that, Sonic wasn’t about saving the princess so he could get a kiss, and I think that’s another thing that set Sonic apart. The games that came before Sonic were based on or inspired by fairy tails, literature, and dated character archetypes, things we’ve all heard before.

Sonic the Hedgehog came at a time where it was needed most, a game that could mimic realistic pinball physics while introducing an iconic character. The 90′s would see dozens of games try to mimic the success of Sonic, but few have come close.

Where to Buy

Sonic the Hedgehog (Android)

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#Sonic the Hedgehog #Sonic #Sonic 1 #Sega Genesis #Sega Mega Drive #Every Sonic Ever

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sonicboomtube · 7 years ago

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Sonic Mania Review

Sonic Mania was the most anticipated Sonic title since Generations due to it not only being in the Classic Sonic style but as well as looking like an old school Genesis game! Is it worth the hype?

Background: Despite the Adventure, Advance, and Rush series, Sonic games that came out since were mediocre to down right atrocious. Things seemed to turn around in the main series with Sonic Unleashed (not counting night time stages) and Colors. The 2.5/3D platforming action proved to be a success and by Sonic's 20th Anniversary came Sonic Generations. This game brought in Classic Sonic along with his gameplay style. Many say it and Colors are the best Post-Adventure games ever.

Then they changed it up in Sonic Lost World and Sonic Boom trying to fix what wasn't broken. Both games did not sell very well and the latter was even considered worse than Sonic 06. Sonic was once again a laughing stock of the video game industry. SEGA did some rebranding the last couple years and they came back with an announcement of 2 new Sonic games. Sonic Forces, which has similar gameplay to Generations with a new gimmick and one that fans been asking for many years, Sonic 4! Well, it's not called Sonic 4 but it's a game that is worthy of that name. This is Sonic Mania!

Sonic fans turned pro Christian Whitehead and his Retro Engine and Stealth to help create a new Genesis styled game. Christian and Stealth previously worked on Android/iPhone ports of Sonic 1, 2 & CD and thanks to their success, were hired to work on this game.

Story: Sonic & Tails return to Angel Island as they sense a big energy reading there. They encounter Dr Eggman (Robotnik's) new line of robots, the Hard Boiled Heavies and they retrieve a mysterious ruby from underground. Then the ruby transports them (and Knuckles who encounters the robots shortly after Sonic and Tails) to Green Hill Zone. I am not sure if they transport to the old zones' timeline or if it's just locations. The storytelling is light since the gameplay is the focus. Like Sonic 3, the story advances within the game.

Graphics/Music:

The direction for the look and sound was to be a lost 32X/Saturn game and they have truly accomplished it! The animated cutscenes at the opening and ending are wonderful. Tyson Heese, who drew Archie's Sonic comics, also penciled these and it looks beautiful! Hyper Potions did the music too for the intro and trailer and is amazing!

The remix zones' look wonderful and even smoother than the Genesis version. The original zones look gorgeous as well! The special stages look like they are from a lost Saturn game. The animations in the characters, objects, and scenery are flawless! The frame rate is perfect and having the game in widescreen really makes a difference as it is easier to see what is in front of you. You can even add a CRT filter to get that nostalgic look of a 90s TV screen!

Generally, the music in the Sonic franchise is top notch and in Mania, it is no different. As with the visuals of the retro zones, the remix of zone's themes are as you remembered it but has more of a kick to it! The new zones sound great too like the jazzy Studiopolis, the western feel of Mirage Saloon, and the peaceful melody of Press Garden! They even released the soundtrack on Vinyl! It's that good!

Gameplay: If you have played the Classic Sonic games, then you'll feel right what home with Sonic Mania! The complaints about the games that tried to copy the classic gameplay style fell short of the Genesis days. (Sonic 4's floating physics, Sonic Rush's boost to win, Sonic Advance's bottomless pits, Sonic Generations scripted speed thru certain sections.) Fear not, all the controls are tight and not only exactly as you remember it, but in my own opinion are more refined. It has a good balance of speed and platforming. Playing the remix of the Genesis Zones while in part, are similar to the old games, feel fresh with new mechanics like in Chemical Plant Zone, bouncing off of colored floors to get to new heights or in Green Hill with the fire shield, can burn some bridges to get to new paths below. The new zones are also among the series' best. Studiopolis is one of my favorites of this game,.

The zones are also non linear so you can take any path you want to get to the end and it is also required to explore if you want to find special rings, hidden items, and shortcuts. Every character plays well thru each zone. The new move, Drop Dash helps keep your momentum of speed and also makes it easier to avoid enemy attacks. Knuckles can smash thru walls that Sonic and Tails can't to find more hidden goodies and shortcuts. What I like about Tails & Knuckles in this game is they can't just glide/fly thru a level with no problem. Yeah, it helps get you thru a bit faster but the game forces you not to take the cheap way out thru the whole experience.

The bosses are some of the series best. Mini bosses return at the end of Act 1. Act 2, you fight a hard boiled heavy, Robotnik, or a surprise challenge. Some of the classic bosses have a new twist as well. For example, the Death Egg Robot showing up at Green Hill Zone throwing bombs and extending it's arms to try and kill you or using Robotnik's machine from Hydro City in Sonic 3 against him.

Extras:

The bonus stages are the blue sphere rounds you can access if your have 25+ rings and hit a checkpoint. Half are straight from Sonic 3 and others are completely new. They aren't required to beat the game or give you the true ending but they give you medals to help unlock extras. I consider myself really good at these in Sonic 3 but some of the newer rounds were still a challenge. If you unlock blue sphere mode, if you play the Mania style, you get two new spheres. One is to teleport you to different parts of the round. A green sphere is like the blue one but you have to run over it twice to turn red.

The new special stages are found throughout the levels as giant rings like in Sonic 3 but the difference is instead of turning blue spheres into red spheres/rings, you have to chase a UFO by running over the blue objects. They fill a speed meter and can go up to Mach 3. Collecting rings increase the time of the stage. The control is a little stiff with the drifting but it isn't impossible though it is easy to bounce off things, fall off course, and run into spikes if you aren't careful. The trick is to find shortcuts and try to collect as many spheres early on.

You can also play the UFO stages via a level select code and extras menu if you need to practice. The good news is if you beat the game without getting all of the Chaos Emeralds, you can go back to your save file and keep the emeralds you have and retrieve the rest in the next run.

Other extras you can unlock are playing Mean Bean Machine, Time Attack, sound test, and debug mode. You can also play in different gameplay styles (2, 3, and CD.) You can also use the insta-sheild and super peel out but like debug mode, you have to select no-save mode. Its unfortunate for the & Knuckles mode but you can have Knuckles as the 2nd player for each player (and that includes Knuckles himself! Make sure you beat the game as Knuckles & Knuckles to get secret ending)

Spoiler After getting all 7 Chaos Emeralds, you can become Super Sonic, Super Tails (though doesn't have Flickies with him this time), and Super Knuckles. If you beat Titanic Monarch as Sonic with 7 Chaos Emeralds, you get to fight Eggman and the main Hard Boiled Heavy fighting over the ruby. You must keep collecting rings to stay alive. You lose rings if you get attacked or do a boost attack. It took me a bit to figure out how to play it but it's not too difficult but it is cool being part of an epic battle. Something about that ruby and the pose Sonic makes at the end of the good ending looks familiar. Hmmmm!

The Positives/Negatives of the Game:

+High replay value with multiple paths, collecting chaos emeralds, unlocking extras, and playing as all 3 characters +Very tight controls with great balance of speed and platforming +New moves like the drop dash are a welcome addition +Old zones feel new again with never before seen sections and challenges +New zones feel right at home with the classic era. Some of the series best +Music as always is top notch. +The majority of the bosses are some of the best of the classic era +The Easter Eggs +Blue Spheres and Mean Bean Machine are back +Sprite cutscenes and the Opening/Closing Animations are gorgeous

=Oil Ocean is one of my least favorite zones of the classic eras and would have preferred if they chose a different zone but the remix is an excellent rendition of it. =Wish there were more in game cut scenes between zones than what we got but what we got was wonderful. =I was happy with the amount of new zones we got and their quality but I wish there were one or two new zones. Oh well, maybe next game we can get more new zones.

-You still fall for some cheap deaths. Thankfully there aren't many bottomless pits like in certain Sonic games but it's very easy to get crushed to death (chemical plant and titanic monarch are the ones where it happened often for me) -While I liked the challenge of the special stages, I felt the controls should feel a bit tighter when turning. -Some of the bosses were tough to figure out how to beat. Some of it was rewarding when i did find a way to defeat them. There were a couple I had to look at let's play vids to figure it out. Like in Sonic & Knuckles, playing as Knux was difficult fighting against the bosses thanks to the height of his jumps.

Closing Thoughts:

Even the negative points of the game didn't really bother me that much and in no way, tarnish the quality of the experience. Some fans even claim that it is the best Sonic game to date! I am not sure if I agree with that but I do like it more than Sonic CD which was my #2 favorite Sonic game of all time and can understand why some fans place it #1! Whether you are a die hard Sonic fan, a causal player, or a noob, this is the game for you! I have really enjoyed this game and will come back and replay it as often as I can!

Sonic Mania gets 4 3/4 STARS out of 5! (9.5 out of 10 for those that score in 10s. A- that like letter grades.) See you next game!

#sonic the hedgehog #sonicthehedgehog #classic sonic #sega genesis #sega #sonic #sonic mania #miles tails prower #tails #knuckles the echidna #knuckles #robotnik #doctor robotnik #doctor eggman #eggman #Dr. Eggman #megadrive

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dtswritingthing · 7 years ago

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Game Reviews: Sonic Mania

A made a personal vow not too long ago to stay away from all 3D Sonic the Hedgehog games for the sake of my own sanity. 2D Sonic games, however, I’ve tried to stay open-minded about, since 2D platforming is when Sonic works (or is supposed to work, anyway). I was a little wary of Sonic Mania when SEGA announced it; we did this dance before with Sonic the Hedgehog 4, and we all remember that that turned out less-than-great. However, when I heard that this game was being developed not by the tarnished Sonic Team, but a three-way tag-team of former fan game developers, I was cautiously intrigued. Thankfully, unlike so many times before, my intrigue was rewarded: Sonic Mania is an absolute delight.

Oh, Blast Processing. I’ve missed you.

There’s not a whole lot of story to this one; Sonic and Tails are bumming around when they stumble across Dr. Eggman (or Robotnik, if you prefer) exhuming a mysterious gem with the power to screw with time and space. With the gem guarded by Eggman’s five Hard Boiled Heavy robots, it’s a race across reality to get it from him. Normally, a lack of story would bug me, but remarkably, the distinct lack of quips and exposition is oddly refreshing. Sonic doesn’t need a story, anyway, just shut up and run.

Whoever did the palette choices and backgrounds for this game deserves a medal.

The game is split into 12 zones (13 if you get all the emeralds in the bonus stages) with 2 acts in each. The goal is as it ever was and ever should be: run from point A to point B, preferably as fast as possible. Some zones are remastered versions of zones from previous Sonic games, like Green Hill and Chemical Plant, but while the first acts are identical to their original incarnations, the second act always has a bevy of new elements to test your speed against. Sonic himself doesn’t bring too much to the table beyond his usual jump and spindash, though by collecting medals from Blue Spheres bonus stages at checkpoints, you can unlock special abilities from other games, like the Super Peel-Out from Sonic CD. And it’s not just Sonic himself, either; Tails and Knuckles are both available for play right from the get-go, with all of their trademark abilities intact as well.

Blue Sphere bonus stages get you medals for unlockables, but the new 3D bonus stages hold the Chaos Emeralds you’ll need for the true ending.

This ain’t an easy game, but it just barely toes that beautiful line of good difficulty I’m so fond of. It’s tough enough to be challenging, but not impossible. You’ll die, probably a lot, and it does kind of eat to have to do an entire zone over if you game over, but as long as you’re paying attention to your surroundings and keep your thumbs at the ready, you’ll make it through soon enough.

No, Sonic, not now- oh, what am I saying. You’ve earned yourself a treat.

This, this right here? This is the Sonic I remember. This is the game we deserved instead of Sonic 4. Hell, I’d argue this is the game we deserved instead of Sonic Generations. It’s everything that made the original platformers great with just the right pinch of modern sensibilities to make it user-friendly. SEGA ought to just dump Sonic Team and hire these guys on full time, ‘cause let me tell you, they know how to make a hedgehog run.

+Fast, frantic speed-based gameplay

+Beautiful pixel art and catchy soundtrack

+Surprising longevity for a 2D platformer

-Occasional cheap boss fight

VERDICT

Wholehearted recommendation! Thumbs up!

#Sonic Mania #Sonic the Hedgehog #SEGA #PlayStation 4 #Xbox One #Nintendo Switch #PC Games #Video Games #Video Game Reviews #Game Reviews #DT's Writing Thing

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classicdaisycalico · 8 years ago

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Sonic and Mario ;D

Give me a fandom and I’ll tell you :

Hoo boy, a twofer! Let’s do this thing!

(Edit: I’m putting this under a “Read More” because this shit got L O N G.)

SONIC:

FAVORITE MALE CHARACTER: Silver the Hedgehog. Poor baby; he deserves better and he has so much potential, but given the way SEGA is treating every character besides Sonic, Tails, and Eggman, I don’t think it’s gonna be getting better any time soon. Part of me blames Pontaff for this, for some reason…FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER: Blaze the Cat! I just love her character development from the beginning of her creation all the way up to now. Look how much more comfortable she is around her new friends!LEAST FAVORITE CHARACTER: Elise. Dear God, why was she even relevant again?FAVORITE SHIP: Shadouge. Sonic series OTP forever. I know not a lot of people ship it, but there’s just something about the way they work together and how they consider each other to be best friends. After all they’ve been through, I feel like anything could happen with those two. But, ya know. Ships are subjective, and the Sonic fandom is all about subjective, as we both know.FAVORITE FRIENDSHIP: Sonic and Tails. There’s a reason they’re called the “Unbreakable Bond”. They’re just such good buddies and they’ll stick together through thick and thin and thick again!FAVORITE QUOTE: “Even if you believe everyone will be against you, know that I’ll always remain by your side.”~ Rouge the Bat, “Sonic ‘06″.Yeah, the game sucked, but it says a lot about her character. She may not be the type to form any kind of relationship with anyone; Rouge always struck me as someone who is perfectly fine with literally flying solo, but dammit, she will put in just about any effort into a friendship if that person is worth her time. And Shadow is definitely worth her time.WORST CHARACTER DEATH (IF ANY): Probably Emerl. I gotta admit, it gave me a fair share of feels.THIS MADE ME SO HAPPY YOU HAVE NO IDEA MOMENT: See “Favorite Quote” for more details.SADDEST MOMENT: Probably when Blaze sacrificed herself for Silver in “Sonic ‘06″. And to rub even more salt in the wound, she basically told Silver she liked him before physically carrying out the act. Imagine if the person you like had to give themselves up in a time of dire need, while all you can do is stand there and watch. And right as they’re about to die, they tell you they love you. What could have been is now nothing. And that really, REALLY hurts.FAVORITE LOCATION: I’ve always been partial to Apotos, for some reason. “Sonic Unleashed” is a really good game in a lot of respects, and the plot line is one of them. But there’s just something undeniably beautiful about Apotos. I think it’s how it’s based off of Greece. Now, I’ve never been to Greece, but I’ve seen a picture of Santorini and…OH MY GOODNESS. It’s so fucking gorgeous. I want to travel there. Really badly.

Well, that’s it for Sonic. Now for Mario!

FAVORITE MALE CHARACTER: It’s-a Luigi, Number One!Okay but honestly, I really adore Luigi as a character. He’s sweet and kind and totally genuine and isn’t afraid to wear his emotions on his sleeve. So he’s not afraid to cry or be afraid or anything. He’s like, the polar opposite of what “being a man” is, and I think that’s beautiful. Not everyone has to Be A Man to be a hero. He can be his own kind of hero as long as he gets the job done! And he does! Super well, I might add! And people really like that! It lets people know that this kind of thing is perfectly okay! (We need more guys like Luigi in the world.)FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER: Princess Daisy. I mean…it’s kinda obvious? My blog is named after her, after all!But let’s talk for a second. Just like how I like that Luigi doesn’t fit into the traditional “Be A Man” hero mold, Daisy isn’t a typical frail-and-pale princess. And that’s totally okay, too! Actually, it’s super great, because just how Luigi’s spiel tells guys it’s okay to be emotional sometimes, Daisy’s character tells girls it’s okay for girls to be loud, strong, and sporty while also enjoying traditionally feminine princess things like picking flowers, drinking tea, and wearing dresses. Look at Nintendo, breaking societal norms all over the place!LEAST FAVORITE CHARACTER: I don’t actively hate any characters in the Mario-verse, per se, but if there’s one I do find annoying, it’s Koopa Kid. I know Nintendo killed him off because they no longer found him necessary, but that’s just it. Why did he exist in the first place? He literally existed nowhere else except in the “Mario Party” games. So if you REALLY want to talk about being stuck in spin-off purgatory, I think our dearly departed friend KK had it the worst.Still, if that was his only relevance was Bowser’s right-hand in “Mario Party” 1-7 and nowhere else? That’s pretty sad.FAVORITE SHIP: Luigi and Daisy. They’re my Mario series OTP and I’ve basically been shipping them since before I even knew what shipping was. But remember what I said about Luigi and Daisy smashing gender norms and how great that is? WELL GUESS WHAT? The two of them as a couple lets people know that these kinds of people can still find love in a toxic society that pressures guys to bottle in emotions and pressures girls to just sit and look pretty. It lets people know that people like guys who aren’t afraid to be sensitive. It lets people know that people like girls who are unapologetically loud and proud. Keep doing what you’re doing, Nintendo. And while you’re at it, can we get some real character building behind this ship? I want more interaction outside of spinoff games, ya know? We can’t keep Daisy in spin-off limbo forever. It’s gotta end someday.FAVORITE FRIENDSHIP: Peach, Daisy, AND Rosalina. In the midst of the more toxic side of the fandom pitting these princesses (and one queen) against each other when talking about “who’s better”, I prefer to think that these girls are all super great in their own special way and would definitely support each other like the badass girl squad that they are. (We need a platformer with all 3 of these girls as playable characters. Maybe throw in Pauline, as well, since she needs more love, too!)FAVORITE QUOTE: “All life carries the essence of stars. Even all of you.”~ Rosalina, the end of “Super Mario Galaxy”Space Mom just dropped some bomb-ass knowledge. But I think this particular quote is probably the most motivational quote in the entire Mario series. In the context of the game, she’s addressing Mario, Peach, and even Bowser after this giant Big Bang recreates the entire universe up to just before the very beginning of the game. And before that, she says something about about the cycle of life never repeating itself the same way, which I guess means she had a hand in saving the cosmos (and their lives).But out of context? Say that to somebody who doesn’t feel like they’re enough. And they’re gonna feel like the most powerful being in the universe. Because it’s true! Everything in the entire universe is made of the same stuff as stars. And stars are super powerful, enormous, BEAUTIFUL celestial bodies with enough energy to unleash EXPLOSIONS when they die. And even before stars are created, and even after their remains are scattered around the cosmos, we see these magnificent clouds of gas and dust that goes into creating these powerful stars. People look at pictures of this stuff. Scientists look through telescopes to find this. Artists paint pictures of this. And all of them think this stardust is the prettiest sight they’ll ever see in the universe. This stardust goes into creating humans. WE ARE MADE OF STARDUST. To tell someone that they are just as admirable and mesmerizing as this glittering stardust is probably the biggest compliment to give to someone when they’re feeling down. You are literally a star. The universe made you out of a star. YOU ARE WORTH EXISTING IN THIS UNIVERSE, because THE STARS THEMSELVES saw something special in you while they created you. And that, I think, is the most beautiful thing to say to someone.WORST CHARACTER DEATH (IF ANY): I think the Lumas sacrificing themselves for Mario at the end of the first “Super Mario Galaxy” was definitely a heart-wrenching moment for me. They wanted the hero who saved the home of their Space Mom (Rosalina) to stay alive, but their home (the entire cosmos) was dying because of a giant black hole that will swallow up the entire universe whole, so what do they do? They throw themselves into the black hole as a last act of heroism to let him and his friends live. And I’m talking about thousands of these little cuties. And technically, in the Luma phase of their life, before they permanently transform into comets or planets, this means they’re still children. So it hurts even more when you think about that.But that’s okay, because then we have that giant-ass big bang that resets everything back to the very beginning, thus prompting the events of “Super Mario Galaxy 2!”THIS MADE ME SO HAPPY YOU HAVE NO IDEA MOMENT: That statue in Daisy Circuit? Both of them, actually. The ones of Luigi and Daisy holding hands and dancing together? I don’t know the context behind it (even though I really REALLY want to), but this basically cemented my OTP as canon. And I think the fact that Nintendo made one of them as babies was kind of a way of saying “these guys are totally meant soulmates. They’re made for each other”. #LegitCouple #SteadySweeties(Although I think a very close second would be Daisy’s trophy cutscene in “Mario Power Tennis” when she calls Luigi “sweetie” when he gives her the trophy. Also, that slow-mo moment when she catches the trophy in the air after Luigi loses his grip on it? He’s totally staring at her. Actually, I think “gawking” would be a better word for it.)SADDEST MOMENT: See “Worst Character Death” for more details.FAVORITE LOCATION: I know nobody’s seen it in decades, but Sarasaland. I want to see it again. In 3D. In HD. In a mainstream Mario game. The most we got was it’s debut game, “Super Mario Land”…and that’s it. Ever since then it’s been reduced to nothing but mere mentions in Daisy’s character bios. That’s not fair. Younger fans who are still growing up with the Mario series have probably never even seen Sarasaland for themselves, and now that we’ve seen what the Switch can do and how powerful the Switch is, I feel like Nintendo has literally zero excuse at this point.So Nintendo, bring back Sarasaland! Put it in a mainstream game! And put Daisy in there, will ya? It IS her home, after all!

***

Phew. That took forever. But thank you so much! :D

#ask me things #kaotickanine #mario #sonic

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cynical665 · 5 years ago

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Sonic Adventure DX Retrospective

Sonic Adventure was Sega's way of brining their beloved Mascot into the 3rd Dimension. Since 1996 The Nintendo 64 was cleaning the floor of what it is to have great games with Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64. Sega was the first ever competitor in the 16-Bit Era against Nintendo with their Sega Genesis and Sonic The Hedgehog. 2D Games were now becoming Obsolete with consoles like the N64. Sega did try to make a 3D Sonic Game that was canceled called Sonic X-Treme. They canceled it because it was becoming more and more difficult to develop and even people like Yuji Naka, Head of Sonic Team, saying that it wouldn't be a good idea. They did try to put Sonic in 3D with the Sega Saturn with Sonic R and Sonic 3D Blast. But those two weren't seen a true 3D Sonic Games, along with that the Sega Saturn died out. But Sega wasn't down yet, with the Release of the Sega Dreamcast on 1999 and it's Launch Title, A True 3D Sonic Game, Sonic Adventure.

Sonic Adventure was seen as the First True 3D Sonic Game. The last Sonic Game was Sonic 3 & Knuckles in which you can play as 3 Characters, Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles 'Tails' Prower, and Knuckles the Echidna. Not only are they also playable here in Sonic Adventure, each with completely different Stories and Gameplay styles, but also 3 Extra Characters: Amy Rose, introduces in the Sega CD Exclusive Ad-on Game Sonic CD, Big the Cat, a Brand New character, and E-102 Gamma, A Robot created by Dr.Eggman within a Series called the E-Series. Everyone has their own different Gameplay style going from Highspeed Action, A Third Person Shooter, A Hot & Cold Gameplay, all the way to Fishing. In the beginning of the Game we can only play as Sonic, but as soon as we finish Sonic's Story we can play as all the Characters. Let's go back and see all the gameplay to see if the game still holds up. I'll be playing the Steam Port of Sonic Adventure, so it'll be Sonic Adventure DX Directors Cut Version. With that out of the way, let's see what the game has to offer, years later.

-Sonic

Sonic hasn't changed much ever since 2D Times. He still has his Highspeed action, maybe too Highspeed. Sometimes bugs and glitches will creep their way into Sonic's Levels due to him just being too fast for the game to handle. Even in the first level Emerald Coast there's a large loop before a segment where whales chase you, where a side of the path pulls you in and you fall through the floor. This is one of the major flaws the game has. Major Bugs are in the game, all of which I've experienced have negatively impacted me. However these Bugs only affected me in Levels like the mentioned Emerald Coast, Red Mountain, and The Final Egg. Obviously it's only those 3 Levels, but I'm not going to put it down because it's only those 3. Sonic's Gameplay, as mentioned, is Highspeed Action filled with Levels that have nice Transactions like in the Classic Games. What I mean by that is like each part of the Level is like an Act in the Old Games. For example, In Speed Highway: Act 1 is on top of Buildings under the Night Sky going from Road to Road, Act 2 is running down a Tall Building being chased by Police Robots, then Act 3 is the Moring of that same city with Traffic more active then ever. Most Levels are like this for Sonic, however not for the rest of the Characters. Others get Exclusive Levels or Experience small portions of other Levels. But why is Sonic running around Beaches, Mountains, Cities, And Final Egg's? Well this time Eggman has awakened a Beast called Chaos. Eggman is trying to get all the 7 Chaos Emeralds to make Chaos Perfect Chaos, and with that he'll take over the world. Pretty Simple Plot for The Story, so simple In fact they could've made a 2D Sonic Game with just Sonic's Story and Level's and it would be a pretty Solid Game. Through out the game we keep on fighting Chaos, in different forms because we keep failing to get the Chaos Emeralds. After Chaos becomes strong enough Eggman goes into his brand new Flying Ship called The Egg Carrier. Once we got on board the Egg Carrier we go through the actual ship with a level called The Sky Deck. Besides the Hilarious entrance into the Sky Deck there's not much wrong about this stage. Though Gravity & Platforming are a bit wonky here and don't normally work to your advantage, and the level will take some Trial and Error to get through. However I only went through this with the Jet Section where the Floor Crumbles down. The Camera just didn't want to move and I couldn't get out. After that we're inside the Ship, then we go outside. What was the point of that? Why did we go back outside? Why couldn't we just go around that same area we went inside the Sky Deck? What was the point of that Entire Level? Whatever, after we go outside Eggman sends out E-102 Gamma. We defeat him, then Amy says that we shouldn't actually kill Gamma. We follow then we fight Chaos again, Then we reach our Final Level, The Final Egg. This level is a perfect Final Level, challenging what you already know and your skills. After a really well designed Final Level we fight Sonic's Final Boss, The Egg Viper. Before this I had so many lives with Sonic, here the Egg Viper is filled with inconveniences. The Homing Attack just refuses to lock onto Eggman, Eggman's Attacks seem to always hit if you aren't constantly running. But finally, we've beaten Sonic's Story.

-Tails

Tails shares the same most of the same stages as Sonic. This brings up one major flaw in Sonic Adventure DX, The Main Trio: Sonic, Tails, & Knuckles Go through the same stages but with slightly different gameplay styles. The gameplay style for Tails is the same thing as Sonic 2, where you just follow Sonic. But instead of just following Sonic, you're racing him: Trying to get to the Goal first. The story itself is the same with Sonic, Stop Eggman. But this time Tails finally learns that Sonic isn't always going to be with him and becomes more brave, something that is definitely missing in modern games. What happened when Tails want a coward, yes He IS 8 Years Old but that doesn't mean anything. He's faced much more then literal Water walking up to him. He's faced Dr. Eggman in Space. This is something about Tails that just disappeared after Sonic Colors, for no real reason. But this is where everything started for Tails, in my eyes. One other thing is Repetition.

~Repetition

There's a Game Mode where we go on The Tornado, Tail's Plane, and we fight against the Egg Carrier. Since Sonic AND Tails are in the level, we have to do it twice. This level comes up twice and it's so boring.

Whatever, We race Sonic and at one point we're split apart from him. During that time Sonic defeats Chaos, and out of desperation Eggman fires a Giant Missle at the city. We defeat Eggman, as brave as Tails ever was, and we save the City. And that's the end of Tails' Story

-Knuckles

Knuckles is just chilling on Angel Island and Chaos appears out of the Master Emerald, a bunch of pieces broke flew away. Knuckles has a sort of Hot & Cold Gameplay style, The closer you get to a Master Emerald Piece the Louder the Radar (That's exclusive to Knuckles' Levels) and you do that through the some parts of Sonic's Stages that actually have platforming. This leads to something I really don't like about Sonic Adventure DX.

~Character Development

The Characters, except E-102 Gamma & Tails, Are so Bland! They're actual bricks, they have a personality for one half and they keep it for the rest of the game. Gamma and Tails are the only one who I feel actually evolves while everyone else stays the exact same. Sonic just wants to stop Eggman and doesn't really change, Knuckles is just a Moron and only pays attention to what's in front of him, & Big just wants his Frog back. However Amy grows as a Character slowly over time, while Tails and Gamma sorta just get their Personalities in a Single Thought. After, I think its the first or second stage, Knuckles Finds Eggman and chases after him. And since Eggman doesn't have an Emerald Piece Knuckles sorta just leaves him go, DESPITE Eggman having a Chaos Emerald and even showing Knuckles he has it. Knuckles is so Idiotic that he trusts Eggman when he pulls the Sonic 3 & Knuckles Plot and says Sonic is after the Master Emerald.

So we fight Sonic, then insanely Fight Chaos 4....AGAIN. Uggghhh, and we just fought Chaos 3 before this! Why? Other then this, nothing interesting happens in Knuckles Story. It feels like a Rushed Game Mode, but it doesn't make it Not Fun. It's still alright but it could be improved on.

-Amy

Amy Rose is just walking around Station Square and a Bird flies up to her with a Robot, E-100 Alpha, chasing the bird. Amy runs into a restaurant and the Robot leaves for no reason. After that we try to find that sweet Sonic Booty. We head over to Twinkle Park and play around in there. We get caught by E-100 Alpha and we're inside the end of the story, Well that Escalated Quickly. We get trapped and E-102 Gamma is sent to get the bird from us. Instead of giving it to Gamma, we give Gamma a Speech about how he should be good and stop Eggman instead of helping him. We're sent free, we get off the Egg Carrier, we get back on and we fight the Final Boss for Amy, Zero (E-100 Alpha). It seems like I just breezed by this, and it's not because it's 11:09 PM while I'm writing this, it's because of how short the stories become after Knuckles. Amy is just 3 Levels and then the Boss. Also there are no other bosses, just Alpha. Amy's Story just proves that they wanted the game to be longer, she doesn't even get any exclusive levels, just old ones with a robot chasing you.

~Useless Stories

After Knuckles The stories become obsolete and futile. Amy, Big, and E-102 Gamma (as much as I hate to say it for Gamma) are just there to pan out the time of the game. They, Themselves, have nothing wrong with them, It's their Gameplay Style just stretches the game out due to how Slow, Unfair, Unfinished, and Boring the Levels are. If they were optional to reach the final story I wouldn't care about them and push them aside, but the fact that they are "key" factors in the game's plot and NEED to be finished to reach the End is just asinine.

-Big

Big the Cat has nothing to do with the story, all we do when playing Big is fishing. We need to fish other fishes to weigh enough to even think if catching froggy. There's actually nothing, the closest to the plot is that Froggy ate a Chaos Emerald and we want him back. We also fight Chaos 6. I've never felt more lost and bored in a video game in my life.

-E-102 Gamma

E-102 Gamma is the Prototype Version of The Eggman and Tails' Levels in Sonic Adventure 2. E-102, In My Opinion, is the best Gameplay style for The Level Design. But what's the difference between E-102 and the others? Well, first if all, E-102 is a Third Person Shooter where you mark enemies and shoot them down. One major difference is that now we have a Time Limit, the more things we shoot, target, and combo the more time you get. This opens up opportunities where you can finish a stage Minutes over the Clock or just barely scrap through a boss. But who is E-102 Gamma? E-102 is one of Eggman's Creations, in a Series called the E-Series. There's E-100 Alpha, E-101 Beta, E-102 Gamma, E-103 Delta, E-104 Epsilon, and E-105 Zeta. All of these efforts were put into the complete product shown off in Sonic Hero's called E-123 Omega. It's a disappointment that E-102 Gamma never came back, but I feel like his story explains why he never came back. You see, his story is alot more 'Emotional' then the other stories, well as Emotional as a Sonic Game can be. But enough about that, let's go to the first stage. Strange, we're in the last story and we have a tutorial stage. Here it shows off The Clock Gimmick and how Gamma Controls. After that Eggman pins us against our Older Brother, E-101 Beta. Instead of having a Machine Gun for a hand he has..Cannons? I don't know what to call those. We beat Beta and here it shows how Cruel and Heartless Eggman is, Since we beat Beta, he has no use for him so he was going to just throw him away. Beta stands in front of him like a crying puppy and Eggman say's he'll be allowed, but only for parts. This shows that, since Beta was the first, that the other robots having feelings and free will to disobey Eggman. It's sorta like a little view on what Gamma's story is all about. After that we are on board the Egg Carrier, along with E-103 Delta, E-104 Epsilon, and E-105 Zeta. Eggman tells us to go find Froggy, the Frog Big the Cat has been chasing for so long. We go over to Emerald Coast, get to the Half Point of the Stage, Find Froggy, and Go Back on The Egg Carrier. Delta, Epsilon, and Zeta are arguing over who has the real Froggy and Eggman calls them all useless. Eggman comes across us and sees we have the real Froggy. After that everyone is captured by a beam of light. E-104 Epsilon looks at us, in like a "Oh, don't leave me way" in shows and other media, and disappears. Eggman tells us to go to Amy, captured in cage, We're forced through another door and see E-101 Beta being..repaired? But he lost, isn't he supposed to be dead? Well, it isn't answered. We go through the right room and see amy refusing to give the bird to us, the bird flies towards us and Gamma gets a grip on himself. But why there? The bird was right in front of him, why give upon your objective? Whatever, now we're sent to go an top of the Egg Carrier and fight Sonic. Once we defeat Sonic, Amy stops us and tells us to ditch Eggman to do good things: Like save the birds. Gamma realizes what the others are doing so we go off and try to "Rescue", killing the others, and stop Eggman's Plans. But why does Eggman want the Bird? It's never said why, does he just want them just because? Once we go off, we defeat Delta and Epsilon, so onwards we go back to the Egg Carrier to get E-105 Zeta. He's a lot more different here, instead of just being a Robot he's now an entire Machine, most likely powering the Egg Carrier. This one was Heart-Thrusting for me because no matter what I always came at the last 10 Seconds or Less. But it's pretty easy, just tense. But there it is, we've finished everyone off. Or have we? It's final boss time. Here, we are against the final one of the E-Series. E-101 Beta, but he isn't a Beta now. He's now E-101 mk ll, mk is known as Mark. This boss is pretty Mediocre, but the Music. OOOO The Music it's so good. The boss consists of Dodging mk II, waiting for him to charge right at you, then hitting you. But why can't we just spam shoot him? Well because he takes that bullet and tosses it away, this is the only boss you cannot spam, and 2 Minutes to fight him is a good amount of time. This. Boss. Is. Difficult. One of the few difficult bosses in the game infact, the best one I would say. But once we defeat E-101 mk II, he does what the rest do and blows up. With that, Gamma doesn't have a purpose anymore, so just like his brethren he blows up, all the birds are now free and that ends all the stories of Sonic Adventure DX.

________________________________________________________________

{SPOILERS}

This part of the Retrospective will talk about the final boss of Sonic Adventure DX, You have been warned.

-Super Sonic

The Final Story is about Chaos Betraying Eggman and Destroying the City of Station Square. The Spirit of the Last of the Echidna Tribe, Tikal, appears and tells us that we need the 7 Chaos Emeralds because it turns out that Chaos only used the Negative Energy of the Chaos Emeralds and We can use the Positive Energy. We turn into Super Sonic and Finish Off Perfect Chaos. The Gameplay of this is just going forward corridors of Water, boarded off by Destroyed Buildings. We run into him, dodging projectiles, and keeping our speed along with our rings. We do this with Good Music, Open Your Heart which is alright. It's short, It's sweet, and even if you don't like it's gone very quickly. We defeat Chaos and he goes up into the...Sky? With Tikal, and the City is saved, under Rubble and an Ocean of Water.

Does Sonic Adventure DX still hold up today? God No, not even Half of the Game is Great, it's Mediocre. But I grew up with this game, so for me I don't care how bad this game is I still love it. I'd only recommended this game if you want to pass the time. But to just play it for fun, I'd only play Sonic's, Knuckles, and E-102 Gamma's Story.

#Sonic #sonic adventure #sonic adventure dx #steam #retrospective

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sonicringbond · 3 years ago

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Sonic Ring Bond - Episode of Amnesia Island 01

The following is a work of fan fiction by Joshua D. Tarwater and is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS.* *SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS retains full rights over the Sonic the Hedgehog™ intellectual property and can terminate or take control of this work at any time.

~EPISODE OF AMNESIA ISLAND 01~

★The Empire lives! May it be forever!

Government. Without exception it exists for one simple reason regardless of the ambitions of those who comprise it, to bring order and stability to the masses to assure the survival of people. It is a simple goal, and one strived for in many ways. But what are the ends with which a government will go to protect its people? What are the ends to which those in power will seek to amass more? Its purpose is singular, but its weaknesses many, and thus those with true loyalty must step up to see it serve its purpose. But few are that loyal.

Cavern of labyrinthine pipes Conduit and airducts Great fans and arcing electricity Steel-toed boots stepping onto floating platform Grey military coat and red with armor Tall gray hat and featureless red helmet Two “heroes” Flickering force field

“These things really should come with seats,” the older human man in the gray uniform sighed as the floating platform lurched away from the catwalk it had been docked at. Rubbing his mustache with a finger, he looked down at the woman who stood beside him in silence with her hands clasped behind her back. “I can’t help but wonder what you’re thinking under that helmet of yours, Hunter.”

“Nothing to threaten your pursuit of comfort, General,” the woman replied without giving any hint of her thoughts.

“Still, we make quite the pair, don’t you think,” the general prompted as he folded his arms on the railing of the platform. Looking back at the woman he smiled. “Thorn the Crimson, the most feared Hunter in all the Empire, and Page General Pinn Bowlings, once most beloved of the Empire’s generals.”

“All that matters is that we carry out our duty, General.”

“Ha! Not one for small talk, are you Hunter?”

Silence met the General and he sighed and held out a hand so that he might rub his forearm. Looking at the gold shackle like bracelet at the cuff of his jacket sleeve and matching the one on the other sleeve and tops of his boots, he smiled wryly. “You know, you’re lucky you’re not a Knetic. When you get old you need these things to keep your powers under control like you were a kid again. In my case though, it still burns even when the flames are quiet. Ha!

“What about you though? Any problems you get just for being you? Not that I know what you are. That armor and your short tail would leave me to believe you’re a hedgehog or something, but you seem kind of tall for one.”

“What I am General is a loyal subject of the Empire. It’s why I’m here, just like you.”

“Ha!” Bowlings laughed having seemingly irritated Thorn, or so he allowed himself to believe as her tone held level and did not reflect her emotions. “Loyal servant of the Empire. We both know you serve the Projector, and no one knows if he serves the Emperor, the Council, or even the Secretaries. So, when you say you serve the Empire–”

“She means the Empire, General,” A man’s voice spoke out of thin air as though cast by a ventriloquist.

“Brilliant,” Thorn greeted the voice as the platform she rode with Bowlings flew out of the labyrinth of pipes into a massive empty chamber.

Well above the platform a giant sphere of blue light illuminated the space in a white light that the quickly distant pipes faded into. Large metal obelisks several meters long and across floated beneath it as though laying down in a spiral pattern that shifted with the jerking of the second hand on a clock. Like the now distant pipes they too disappeared into the white distance as they descended below.

“It is good to see you Thorn,” Brilliant the Projector’s voice responded with little care for the distance the platform traveled for his voice to bounce off anything to reach it. “And you as well General.”

“Don’t make me laugh Projector,” Bowlings scoffed and wriggled his mustache irritably. “Good to see us? From where I wonder.”

“It does not matter General,” Thorn cut him off. “We’ve reached the Spiral Archive.

“Brilliant, raise the Spine and fill us in.”

“Of course, Thorn.”

Though the metal column that rose from the white distance below did so at the Projector’s command, it was so timely that it might as well have done so at Thorn’s. There was little way she could manipulate such a structure however as despite being like a spiral staircase wrapped around a pin, it was massive like the spine of a skyscraper. And scrape the sky it did as it reached up into the blue sphere of light above. Its own rotation becoming clear as the platform neared the Spine.

“According to the observations of my peers, ‘something’ has been observed in the Sky Ring and the Emperor believes it to be able to save the Empire. To that end he ordered the deployment of a task force to retrieve it. The Council deliberated on which division should be tasked with the mission and were at an impasse until the Secretaries suggested sending in a Hunter.”

“And what a Hunter they chose,” Bowlings scoffed as he again turned his attention to Thorn. “One who answers to the ancient Projector who they’re trying to use to usurp power from the Council and gain favor with the Emperor.”

“You would do well to remember that such speculation is just that General,” Thorn warned, a hint of steel in her voice. “Unless Intelligence has confirmed it, it is but gossip and rumors you waste your time humoring.”

“And I wonder who that secretive lot answer too,” Bowlings countered with a sneer.

“It matters not,” Brilliant interrupted. “I’ve accounted for both reality and fabrication already, hence the presence of the general.”

“Is that how it is?” Bowlings asked and conjured a small flame in his hands, his Knetic Shackles opening and casting an orange light. “Choose the Page General who lacks what it takes to still be a threat himself to oversee an Imperial Decreed Operation.”

“One who answers to the Council, and not the Secretaries,” Brilliant clarified.

“Yet it’s a manipulative move all the same, Projector. If I fail the Council looks inept for choosing me for one last operation, but if I succeed, I get to retire not just as the most beloved general of the Empire, but the full blown ‘Hero’ who saved it. You really are playing all sides.”

“A necessity.”

“One you created by taking in the Hunter, if those rumors have any grain of truth in them.”

“Your investment in rumors is dangerous General,” Thorn again warned Bowlings. “I’d advise making friends in Intelligence to keep it sorted for you.

“Now, if you two are done planning your next political machinations, let us get to the task at hand, saving the Empire and assuring its future. What exactly are we being brought in to accomplish Brilliant? My line of work would suggest I’m an ill fit for an Imperial Decreed Operation unless the identity of this ‘something’ is a person.”

“You’re reasoning is correct Thorn,” Brilliant congratulated the Hunter. “The observations of my peers suggest it is related to other recent problems and have determined that there were traces of a person involved. We have no way to identify them however and thus have been tasked with scouring the records of all of their recent projections to spot anything or anyone out of the ordinary. Once they have been identified-”

“We finish this manhunt in an instant,” Bowlings finished and sighed. “It really isn’t much of an operation. No wonder it’s just the two of us.”

“Yet your authority to order military deployment in civilian missions is a boon as we will be working around the Sky Ring. The possibilities of a Machine God appearing are not low. And if we must extract the target from a protected situation military might will be needed. The only problem exists if we must cross paths with Doctor Eggman. At that point we are to abandon any deployments and convene with the Council.”

“Doctor Eggman, huh?” Thorn queried as a large toothy grin appeared on the surface of her helmet reveling it was all one continuous screen save the horns that rose from it.

“I’d heard you smiled like that, but it really is unsettling,” Bowlings swallowed as he observed his mission partner before having to catch his balance as the platform docked with the Spine.

Thorn did not need to check her balance and casually strolled from the platform as the forcefield flickered out and several of the monoliths in the air also docked with the Spine.

“A monster, that’s what she is,” Bowlings muttered under his breath as he extinguished the flame he had summoned and let his Knetic Shackles snap shut. Rubbing his forearm and breathing as though he were winded, he stepped from the platform as well. “Should have put the blasted flame out sooner. Hopefully this blasted place has seats while we dig through the records.”

Ambition from within governments can easily lead to their collapse. But caution and weariness can surely keep them safe, even if the weary are corrupt. The two ‘heroes’ tasked with saving the Empire possess more than enough for the entirety of the Empire and will surely keep it safe. But at what cost?★

EPISODE OF AMNESIA ISLAND 01 - END

-----

Fair Use Disclaimer

Sonic The Hedgehog and all affiliated characters and logos are the express property and Copyright© of SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS used without permission under Title 17 U.S.C Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976 in which allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. “Fair use” is use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be considered copyright infringement.

The Sonic Ring Bond alternate universe (AU) consumer written work of fiction is a non-profit transformative work primarily for personal use and IP research which can and will be taken down without warning or prior notice at the request of the copyright holder(s) should it not be recognized under “fair use”.

The Sonic Ring Bond AU and Sonic Ring Bond story are the creation of Joshua David Tarwater/ynymbus/sonicfanj/@Joshtarwater and is to be, including all contents herein, regardless of creator, context, use/ function, intent, and time of creation, considered for all legal purposes without contest, compensation, employment, or offer of employment, liability, etcetera, the property of the Sonic The Hedgehog intellectual property (IP) and copyright owners, SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS.

All story contributors via prompt, suggestion, written scene, art, and all and every other contribution acknowledge that all contributed material is forfeit for legal purposes to SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS upon official request from SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS regardless of having read or possessing awareness of this disclaimer.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic au #sonic ring bond #sonic fan fiction #sonic oc #thorn the crimson #page general pinn bowlings #brilliant the projector

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superchartisland · 5 years ago

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Sonic 3 (Sega, Mega Drive, 1994)

Sonic 3 introduces a new antagonist. Look at Knuckles the echidna taking those chaos emeralds, or firmly jumping on a big button to send Sonic and/or Tails tumbling downwards, like he’s the shadow self in Prince of Persia or something. But ah, if you play Sonic & Knuckles, the soon-released successor, it turns out that Knuckles wasn’t a bad guy. Just misled! He was taking reasonable decisions based on what he knew. Perspective changes things.

Look at Sonic 3 from a 1994 perspective and it is a triumphant continuation of a success that was propelling Sega’s Mega Drive into a dominant position in the UK console market and an ever bigger position in the UK video games market as a whole. Look at it from another historical end, the one that carries the power-up known as hindsight, and things look different. It’s not until I reach 1999 that I will be writing about another Sonic game; Sega stopped making consoles not so long after that. Barring surprising future developments, in writing about Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 I will already have covered half of the mainline Sonic games I will ever have to.

From here there is only down. Sonic 3 is either the peak before the fall or the start of the fall.

The case for the fall already starting is easy. Sonic 3 is, literally, half a game, put out to meet a deadline and reliant on a later ingenious bodge to bring it together with Sonic & Knuckles as the other half. Sega got in on episodic content very early! And they heard you liked cartridges, so they let you put a cartridge in your cartridge etc.. The result is that Sonic 3 has a desultory six worlds to play through, its time dragged out by 3D puzzle game bonus levels which quickly become a lot more tiresome than their Sonic or Sonic 2 equivalents.

At least those levels show some invention though. The same can’t be said for any of the rest of the game, which in gameplay is functionally identical to Sonic 2, itself hardly a big change from the original. Even the locations feel like barely altered versions of those from previous games. It partly comes from having arrived so fully formed, but it’s clear that Sega had no idea where to take Sonic the Hedgehog next and so they just go round the same loop again one more time.

Even the case for Sonic 3 as Sonic’s peak relies in part on talking about how badly Sega screwed up afterwards. Sega didn’t even manage to make a proper Sonic game for their next proper console, the Saturn, a not insignificant part of the console failing in the West (it was fine in Japan, where it was home to 44 #1 games, the first being a strip Mahjong title). Anything after that was too little too late, even before Sonic became a byword for poorly-conceived and poorly-made games.

One more go around the same loop doesn’t have to be a bad thing, though. In video games especially, iteration makes sense as a way of working towards perfection. Sonic 2 was great, and here is the same great with another set of little tweaks to make it greater still. Changes may only be in the form of different set pieces, but what set pieces!

By the end of the first level, the whole zone has been spectacularly firebombed, a tinder-dry landscape given a delirious heat-haze. Watching Sonic get spun around in the pool at the end of the Hydrocity Zone, or cling onto what he can as water gushes through passages, is another delightful feat of animation. There are more cool devices than ever, like the things you have to spin against to raise platforms up in the Marble Garden Zone. Being allowed to play as Tails and fly your way around is a nice change of pace and a clever way of varying difficulty and allowing the less expert player to see more of the spectacle. Carnival Night Zone is Carnival Night Zone. Sonic 3 just more Sonic, but Sonic 3 is the most Sonic.

Mega Drive chart, Edge 009, June 1994

#every number one #retrogaming #Sonic the Hedgehog 3

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keegames · 6 years ago

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Sonic Adventure 2 Design Thread (mirrored from Twitter)

This article was originally a Twitter thread I wrote. I am mirroring it here as I plan to revive this blog, and feel its content fits the theme.

Released for the Dreamcast in 2001, Sonic Adventure 2 remains a VERY divisive game, yet deep analysis of its design as a game is surprisingly scarce. I hope to change that. To paraphrase a friend, gamedev, & Cheesecake Factory patron, this is Sonic Adventure 2: A Design Thread.

Sonic Adventure 2 follows up 1999's Sonic Adventure, which was Sonic the Hedgehog's first proper foray into 3D platforming after skipping the Saturn. Though this thread is about Sonic Adventure 2, comparisons to its predecessor will be made to examine how things changed.Sonic Adventure was a very ambitious game. Rather than simply bring standard Sonic gameplay to 3D, the game was divided between six different characters, each with their own very unique missions and abilities, with tasks ranging from racing to treasure hunting to fishing. While its six separate stories and hub worlds showed off massive ambition, certain parts of Sonic Adventure felt relatively half-baked; Sonic's story was much longer than everyone else's, the hub worlds felt barren. and certain gameplay styles just plain weren't fun.

So SA2 downsized things a bit. The hub worlds were dropped, and while the playable character count remained at six, the types of gameplay were narrowed to three, with three of the characters being near identical to the other three, divided between just two stories.The upside to this is that, rather than every character visiting some of the same stages as it was in the first game, every stage is unique (though they still share environments and some geometry). SA2 features three gameplay styles: -Sonic/Shadow -Tails/Eggman -Knuckles/Rouge

Sonic/Shadow stages are fast-paced, linear platforming. Sonic and newcomer Shadow have to run, jump, Homing Attack, and grind to the end of stages at high speed. This is generally the most fondly-remembered part of the game.

Tails/Eggman stages see the characters piloting armed mechs through linear stages. The mechs are equipped with a lock-on shot that can target multiple enemies at once for more points - more on the scoring later, as it is the key to the whole game.

Knuckles/Rouge stages task the player with navigating open levels to find three hidden objects through the use of a "hot/cold" radar and optional hints. Their abilities to glide and climb allow them to explore in all directions easily.

The division of SA2 into essentially three different games that the player alternates between is frequently derided, and while a more focused game could indeed be a better product, I would argue that SA2 realizes all three of its styles fully, thanks to another new addition.

That new addition is the Rank system. Sonic Adventure 2 keeps a score for each stage as you play through it, and at the end of each stage a letter grade is awarded. Higher scores lead to better ranks, with A ranks being the best and E ranks being the worst. The thing is, scoring systems in both 3D platformers and console games in general were essentially a thing of the past. As games on consoles diverged from their arcade counterparts, scores became less relevant and were frequently removed all together. Super Mario 64, which codified the 3D platformer, featured no proper scoring system at all. And while the first Sonic Adventure did feature scores, there was no in-game incentive to reach for higher scores, rendering them mostly meaningless.Super Mario 64 also did something else that many 3D platformers would follow suit in: it placed a focus on collection. Gathering the game's 120 Stars put exploration and problem solving at the forefront, and games like Banjo-Kazooie and Spyro The Dragon followed similar formulas. Notably, these games did not care how you reached their goals. Time constraints were rare, and moment-to-moment performance was de-emphasized in favor of letting the player progress as they see fit. Their mechanics reinforced that freedom. SA2 went in the opposite direction.Perhaps thanks to SEGA's history with arcade games, Sonic Adventure 2 uses its scoring & ranking systems as in-game incentives to perform as well as possible. This probably bounced off many players (for valid reasons), but I'd argue it's the key to the entire game!

Scoring in Sonic Adventure 2 is based on a number of factors, some universal and some specific to the gameplay styles. Universal ways to score are: -collecting Rings (10 points) -destroying enemies (varies by enemy) -Time Bonus (awarded depending on how long the level took)

One notable scoring mechanic is the Gold Beetle, a special version of the standard Beetle enemy. There is a single Gold Beetle in every stage; it appears for a few seconds before vanishing. Destroying this is worth 1000 points, which is a hefty fraction of points on most stages! The other most important thing to remember about scoring for all characters is that if you die, when you reappear at a checkpoint your score is reset to zero, basically guaranteeing a bad rank. Therefore, step 1 to attaining good ranks is completing levels without dying at all.

Now, for specifics: Bonus points can be awarded as you play through stages, but how exactly you get them depends on the type of stage you're currently playing.

Sonic/Shadow stages are perhaps the hardest to describe. While you can consistently get bonuses from attacking multiple enemies in a row without touching the ground with their Homing Attack, as well as performing tricks off ramps and certain rails, other methods vary by stage.Taking different paths or rails, using certain abilities, or interacting with some objects in specific ways might give you points. While there's no one way to do it, the bonuses become pretty intuitive if you keep an eye out for chances to do cool or tricky things.

Tails/Eggman stages have the most straightforward bonuses, and the only ones the game directly tells you about; simply lock on to multiple enemies at once before firing to gain bonus points. The more enemies you lock on to, the more points you get.

Knuckles/Rouge stages have tricky bonuses; points are awarded when you collect each item depending on how quickly you did so and how few hints you used. As the items' locations are randomized each time you play a level, it could take a few restarts before you have a good run.

Knowing the sources of points and really striving for A-ranks is only required for 100% completion, but I'd argue that being aware of these systems is actually what makes Sonic Adventure 2 fun. Sonic Adventure 2 is known as a frustrating game for new players. The game doesn't do a good job of drawing focus to the bonus points, and the lives system (where it costs a life to restart a stage without returning to the menu) doesn't encourage the actions needed for A-ranks. The boss fights are another slight wrinkle; they're not ranked at all, leaving players to just go through them. Like many platformers, bosses are the least interesting part of Sonic Adventure 2. And, of course, there are a few stages or sections that are a bit annoying even when you're good at the game. SA2 definitely isn't perfect, and even if you understand the game you might still find yourself frustrated with Mad Space or Eternal Engine.

So Sonic Adventure 2 is a game with a design philosophy that goes against most of its genre, an unusual divided gameplay setup, some issues with communicating its core design, and some incredibly "early 2000's" aesthetics on top. It's no wonder many people don't like it. BUT.

That aforementioned design philosophy is EXTREMELY satisfying to play with. Mastering the stages in order to get A-ranks gives a feeling that not many platformers can give, and you can do it with some time & effort. Sonic Adventure 2 is a game where you get out what you put in.On a more general note, scoring/ranking systems are somewhat rare in console games, but they're a great way to add longevity to a game by encouraging a player to play better, rather than just completing the given content once.

So anyway, I hope this thread gave you some stuff to think about in regards to game design, and maybe even encouraged you to give Sonic Adventure 2 a closer look. It's an odd game, but certainly an interesting one, and it's relatively unique among 3D platformers even to this day.

#game design #sonic the hedgehog #sonic adventure 2 #video game design

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heycolorwind · 7 years ago

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Has Sonic Ever Been Great After the Genesis?

Sonic Mania has been making waves ever since its release, being heralded as one of the best entries in the franchise. It’s said to have captured what made the original Genesis games and Sonic CD classic better than any game in the franchise since. This has also sparked a new debate that has rubbed some people, especially those in the Sonic fan community, the wrong way: Is Sonic Mania the best Sonic game in the last 23 years? This question is specific in that 23 years from 2017 is 1994, which is when Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles were released. That means it cuts out all of the 3D Sonic games, including the few on the Sega Saturn, all of the handheld games released since then, including some on the Game Gear, and even Sonic 3D Blast, which was on the Genesis as well. As a result, because the internet, the question has been expanded even further to whether or not Sonic has ever been great since his Genesis heyday.

As a big Sonic fan, I felt like I should weigh in, but first, a bit of background about myself so you know where I’m coming from. The first game I ever played was Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the Genesis. I’ve played most of the games in the franchise since, including all of the Sonic games on the Genesis and Sonic Mania. I won’t list them all here (because there’s so damn many) but I will list a select few of the games I haven’t played so you know where my knowledge might be lacking.

I have played Sonic CD and finished it but I’ve never completed it by getting the time stones or breaking all the Metal Sonic holograms and Robotnik generators. The reason being is I haven’t spent that much time on it. I’ve really only played the 360 version (which I finished) and I’ve dabbled with the mobile version on my Kindle. I haven’t played most of the handheld Sonic games since the Game Gear. The exceptions are Sonic Advance 1 and 2, which I’ve played to end but not completed, Sonic Rush, which I haven’t played to the end, and Sonic Lost World 3DS which I have completed.

One last thing I want to mention is while I consider myself a big fan of Sonic, I don’t like every game in the series that I’ve played. In fact, after playing Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic 06, and Sonic and the Secret Rings, I stopped playing Sonic game for around four years. I started playing Sonic games again after I gave Sonic Colors a try and I have since played the one main game released in that time, Sonic Unleashed.

With that out of the way, let’s break this question down. The original question implies two things: that Sonic Mania is on the same quality as Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, 3, CD, and Knuckles and that those games were the peak of the franchise. It does not imply that the games following those are bad, or not good or great games, simply that none of them are better. However, the second question does imply this. It doesn’t explicitly say that the games after 1, 2, 3, CD, & Knuckles are bad, but definitely not great and possible not good either. The second question does make it sound as if there hasn’t been a Sonic game worth playing since the Genesis days. So do I accept either of these arguments? Here are my thoughts.

There’s no denying that Sonic has had a hard time ever since the Genesis days. While I like a lot of the games released since the Genesis, they often had at least one glaring issue that keeps them from being classics. The inclusion of Big the Cat in Sonic Adventure, Knuckles and Rouge’s borked radar in Sonic Adventure 2, the overly long stages in Sonic Heroes (as well as other games), the boring and monotonous Werehog levels in Sonic Unleashed, the janky physics in Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1, the lack of cohesiveness in the levels in Sonic Lost World, the list goes on.

When you look at it from this perspective, I can see where someone can be coming from, especially if you’re not a Sonic fan. Ever since the Genesis days, there has been a lack of polish in the Sonic games. Regardless of why this is (although I have a theory), it has impacted how Sonic games play and more importantly, how they are perceived. It’s why people make fun of the janky mouth animations in Sonic Adventure, even though that game is fun to play. It’s why people are confused by all the new characters in the games that are underdeveloped and only appear once or twice. Marine the Raccoon anybody? It’s why people are put off by the rampant gameplay changes in each title. Team gameplay, motion controls, shooter mechanics, etc.

So what does this all mean? It means that I understand why someone would think Sonic Mania is the best game in 23 years. Sonic Mania is designed to be like the older games, which were easy to understand, kept the extra characters to a minimum (Tails, Knuckles), and gameplay changes were expertly combined with base gameplay and were used as a means to characterize each zone rather than the game as a whole. However, that’s not to say that this is the only formula that works with Sonic. We’ve seen different formulas at play with Sonic and while the games with those different formulas have the flaws I’ve described, they also have positives to them. Positives that are different from the original Genesis games but positives nonetheless.

Now if you’re only looking for the specific type of formula and positives that the Genesis games gave, then the last 23 years hasn’t really given you that aside from the subpar Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 and 2, as well as Sonic Advance 2 and Sonic Rush, which are focused more on speed and style than platforming and exploration, and Sonic Advance, which people looking for a old school Sonic experience should check out. It really is more of a Sonic the Hedgehog 4 than Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is. However, if you can look past what Sonic was and are willing to try what Sonic could be, then you’ll find not just good games but great games, flaws included.

The formula where speed is a forefront and platforming takes a backseat is what makes Sonic Advance 2and Sonic Rush such fun games. Collection Chaos Emeralds in Sonic Advance 2 is completely counterintuitive to the game’s level design, and Sonic Rush has way too many bottomless pits in its levels, but that doesn’t entirely take away from the experience those games give you, not even close. This formula was further perfected with the daytime stages in Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colors, and the modern levels in Sonic Generations. The nighttime stages in Sonic Unleashed are boring, Sonic Colors’ zones tend to overstay their welcome, and classic Sonic’s gameplay isn’t as fun as modern Sonic in Generations, but these are flaws that still make for a good or even great game in the grand scheme of things (except for Sonic Unleashed but that’s because of other issues).

I could go into depth with the other formulas Sonic games have used since the Genesis days, such as the story heavy and varied gameplay types of Sonic Adventure 1 & 2, and Sonic 06 but I’m sure you get the point. There are multiple types of Sonic games, each with great examples of its style despite flaws and a lack of polish, but Sonic Mania is the first time in 23 years the classic Genesis style has been correctly recreated, aside from Sonic Advance 1.

So where do I stand? Well, in regards of the second question (Has Sonic Ever Been Great After the Genesis?), I can have a firm opinion and say yes. Titles like Sonic Advance, Sonic Advance 2, Sonic Rush, Sonic Adventure, Sonic Colors, and Sonic Generations are titles I can say are great games, and Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Lost World, and even Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II are games I can say are good.

However, as to whether or not Sonic Mania is the best Sonic game in 23 years, I’m a bit more cagey. I do know that I personally prefer the classic Genesis style of Sonic to the others, even though I like the other gameplay formulas as well. So something like Sonic Mania is going to appeal to me more than Sonic Generations, even though they’re similar in concept because the gameplay formula is different.

I really enjoyed Sonic Mania and I’m still playing it. I’ve gotten all the gold medals and Chaos Emeralds with Sonic & Tails, and Knuckles, and I’m currently playing through with Tails. I won’t entirely give my opinion on Sonic Mania as I plan to write a review for it once I’ve 100% completed it, but my experience was definitely highly positive.

So is Sonic Mania the best Sonic game in 23 years? Well, Sonic has definitely been great in the 23 years since the Sega Genesis, but he hasn’t been as great as this.

I think it’s important to remember that Sonic Mania being great doesn’t take away from the greatness of other Sonic games. If anything, it should be seen as an opportunity to remind others who wouldn’t know of similar games that are close to its quality. It’s should never be about extremes, like the best labels everything else the worst. If anything, the release of Sonic Mania has made me think back on titles like Sonic Advance 1 and 2, and Sonic Rush. I actually played a little of Sonic CD, Sonic Advance, and Sonic 1recently as a result. We should be focusing on the fact that there’s a new great Sonic game (hell, just a great game period) out right now for us all to enjoy. And if we do want to debate which is the best, just remember that it’s not a matter of taking away, but giving a little more to the one at the top.

Now with that said, do you have a moment to talk about how awesome Sonic R is?

#Sega Genesis #Sega #Sonic #Sonic the Hedgehog #Sonic Mania #editorial #video games #gaming #retro gaming

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tumblethemuse · 7 years ago

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How Sonic Mania Has Rekindled My Personal Sonic Mania

Anyone who has known me for any length of time knows that my hands down, no contest, absolute favorite character of all time is Sonic the Hedgehog. My love of the Blue Blur began innocently enough back in 1991 when my older brother received a Sega Genesis for Christmas. At that time, Sonic 1 was bundled with new Sega Genesis systems, so it was actually one of the first Genesis games we owned. My brother, being the sports fan he was, stuck with Madden and other titles of the time, but me, being 6 years old and very much into things that were flashy and bright (something that really hasn’t changed much to this day), and much less into sports, stuck with Sonic. I was immediately drawn in by the colors and intricacies of the maps, the exploration and hidden sections of the levels, as well as the implementation of the momentum physics, which were often used as the primary way to progress through levels. Back then I didn’t understand any of that, all I knew was “Ooh, pretty colors”, “Ooh, where does this lead?”, and “Ooh fast!” It was a game that even my brother enjoyed (and help me try [in vain] to collect all the chaos emeralds), and a fun bonding moment for the two of us.

Cut to 1992, Sonic 2 is released, and it’s all I want for Christmas. Santa heard my incessant 7-year-old babbling about wanting it, and delivered. I really don’t remember what else I got that Christmas, as Sonic 2 was the only thing I wanted. The colors were more vivid, the levels more complex (and there was the two-player split-screen mode which made things exciting), Sonic was faster, he had the spin dash, and he had a little orange flying companion named Tails. You could’ve repackaged Sonic 1 with brighter colors and I would’ve been plenty happy, but these new additions were exciting kept me more than content. The special stage was the highlight for me. The “3D” half pipe course was fast, had plenty of traps and bombs to keep you on your toes, and the kind of positive reinforcement that any 90s kid would appreciate when they do a good job.

Damn right it’s cool!

Fast forward to 1994, I catch wind of Sonic 3, and I immediately knew what I wanted for my birthday. My dad gave me a small wad of cash, wished me happy birthday, and I was on my merry way to buy my copy. Sonic 1 was awesome. Sonic 2 was awesomer. Sonic 3 eclipsed the two of them. A new look for Sonic, new shields that gave Sonic added abilities, a killer new special stage along with a gumball machine bonus stage, larger, faster levels to explore, and a brand new character, Knuckles. Even though he was the antagonist for most of the game, he became a new favorite for me. A good guy at heart, well meaning, but gullible at times (insert moment of self-realization here).

He’s hard as nails. It ain’t hard to tell.

I loved everything about Sonic 3. I didn’t think it could get any better than that. Then Sonic & Knuckles comes along and it locks in (literally!) seamlessly with Sonic 3. My brain short circuits from the excitement. An amazing game made even better with this continuation of Sonic 3. It felt like an even more epic journey for me. An amazing challenge, so much so that I needed my older brother to help me beat Doomsday the first time around.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the two Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons that came about during this time. The weekday morning series and the Saturday morning series were companions to a series I was already deeply mad about. Sonic, voiced by Jaleel White (who is to this day the only Sonic voice actor I acknowledge [or remember, honestly]. Nobody else did it better than him, fight me bro!), brought new life to the exploits of the Blue Blur and his crew, whether it was though dramatic action scenes, or though making crass jokes about Dr. Robotnik’s ass.

Years go by, I jump from the Genesis to the Sega Saturn. Yes, Sega Saturn. Judge me if you must. I was the only person in my entire junior high school who owned one. Everyone else had PlayStation. I regret nothing. Having NiGHTS Into Dreams alone made it worth the isolation.

No regrets.

But I digress, Sonic 3D Blast and Sonic R entered my life. Fantastic games in their own right, I played them endlessly with my younger sisters, but didn’t give me the thrill that the Genesis games gave me. Post junior high, the last two Sonic games that really piqued my interest were Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2. Fun forays into the actual 3D realm. Exciting, but not Sonic 3 & Knuckles exciting for me (S3&K is the rubric in which I judge all the other Sonic games in terms of excitement and greatness). From that point on, my excitement levels for the Blue Blur dropped significantly.

I thought it was just me growing up and evolving into different interests. I came to realize down the line that it wasn’t lack of interest, but more a lack of solid, or for that matter, decent games. Sega tried different angles with the Sonic franchise, but they mostly ended up falling quite flat. Sonic Unleashed was a noble attempt, but bad camera angles and a confusing as hell storyline killed that effort. Then there was Sonic 4. Sonic. 4. *long, discontented, disappointed sigh* It was an attempt to appease the Sonic fans around the world that wanted a new side scroller, and Sega refusing to give up on making a 3D Sonic platformer. It was the worst of both worlds. I bought Sonic 4 Episodes 1 & 2. The only reason I don’t completely regret doing that is because I only spent $20 for the both of them. I tried so hard to like them. But they were bad. The gameplay was bad. The gimmicks were bad. The music was even worse. Ugh, just downright awful. The one thing I feel makes or breaks a game is its music. The entire Sonic franchise made its reputation on its music as much as it did its gameplay. Sonic 4 was the proverbial combo-breaker. I was done. It was time to leave the Blue Blur behind and move on with life.

Or so I thought.

Cut to last year. A trailer comes down the pipe from Sega about a new entry in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Normally it would fly under my radar, however, one aspect immediately piques my attention. It’s a 2D side-scroller!! A pretty great looking side-scroller at that! It’s like Sonic CD, but kicked up about 12 notches. The colors are bright and vivid, the gameplay is fast and furious, and the music…oh the music. 6-year-old, 7-year-old, and 9-year-old me all screamed with excitement simultaneously after watching that trailer. Sonic Mania looked to be the answer to the prayers of so many Sonic fans around the world that just wanted a great modern 2D side-scroller. It looked impressive, and it was being put together by an incredible team of game designers, programmers, and sound designers.

Simon “Stealth” Thomley and Christian “Taxman” Whitehead made their names with the incredible job they did porting Sonic 1 and 2 for iOS and Android, and PagodaWest Games, who got their start creating an HD reimagining of Sonic 2, were recruited by Sega to breathe new life into a franchise that honestly had seen much better days. As the months passed, and more gameplay started to appear, my excitement began to build, as it seemed as though this game would be exactly what I was looking for all these years. Adding to my excitement was the soundtrack, created by the amazing Tee Lopes, whose Sonic remixes I have been a fan of for years. This was the indie dream team, and I couldn’t wait to have my chance to play this new game. But alas, it was at least 1 year away from release, so I had to find ways to both pass the time, and temper my ever building excitement.

Most people who know me and have ever heard any of the music that I create know that one of the biggest influences on my musical style was the Sonic the Hedgehog series. From Sonic 1 all the way to Sonic R, my earliest tracks took at least one element from something I heard in a Sonic game. For the sake of my fragile ego I will spare you any samples of my early work because they’re like 17 years old at this point and have not held up well over the years. Back in high school I would recreate various Sonic tracks in MIDI form as an exercise in learning how to sequence, and subconsciously break down the tracks to understand and take in all the elements. Thinking about it, it makes perfect sense now why the Sonic influence is so strong. I hadn’t written anything Sonic-adjacent in more than a decade, but the ensuing Sonic Mania opened the floodgates to my creativity, and before I knew it, I had put together a 16-bit tribute to my all-time favorite video game character.

It was something that came straight from the heart of my 6-year-old self. It had more meaning than a lot of songs that I put together in the last 6 years. It was my childhood. It was my teenage and college years. All rolled into a song that took surprisingly little effort. It make me feel like a musician again, and made me remember how much of an outlet music is for me. And then before I knew it, Act 2 came along.

It always feels good to express yourself through creative means, and these felt pretty damn good! They were tributes to my childhood, as well as tributes to Masato Nakamura, Jun Senoue, Masaru Setsumaru, Spencer Nilsen, Richard Jacques, and now Tee Lopes among the countless composers that made my life great through their musical contributions to the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.

By the time you read this, Sonic Mania will have mercifully unlocked in my Steam library, as the PC version had to be pushed back two weeks for “optimizations”. I have not seen a single Let’s Play of this game, or any other videos save for the initial reviews. The reviews confirmed my excitement, and the excitement of all the die hard Sonic fans out there. Sonic the Hedgehog is a character and a franchise that means more to me than any other game series, not just for the entertainment and the inspiration, but how it forged a bond between myself and my siblings, and its role in me becoming who I am today. It’s something I will hold dear for the rest of my life.

I am so ready. And so is 6-year-old, 7-year-old, 9-year-old, 11-year-old, 12-year-old, 14-year-old, and 16-year-old me.

from How Sonic Mania Has Rekindled My Personal Sonic Mania

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seganerds · 7 years ago

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NOTE: We try to keep our reviews as spoiler-free as possible, though there is a chance some minor spoilers may be mentioned in this review. But I promise not to give away the game’s ending or any major spoilers.

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]fter a good year of build-up, with hands-on previews at countless gaming events and shows, Sonic Mania is finally here!

But will Sonic’s return to its 16-bit roots be a positive outcome the franchise has been yearning for, for years? Let’s find out!

Looks like Classic Sonic

From the moment you boot up Sonic Mania, you feel as though you’re back in the mid-’90s with an excellent sprite-based ‘3D effect’ of a rotating island and Sonic sitting in his usual title screen emblem.

If you leave Sonic floating there for a few seconds, you’re treated to a nifty animated intro (created by Sonic Comic artist, Tyson Hesse), similar to the old Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog cartoon series. This opening intro isn’t a cutscene – it doesn’t have any voice over work or tell a coherent story – it’s more of a subtle and very fun introduction for the game, presenting the main characters and giving a nod to the storyline.

As for the story, Sonic Mania is set immediately after the events in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. After saving Angel Island, Knuckles is now firmly on your side and all is good with the world, when suddenly Tails picks up an energy reading. But Dr. Eggman has detected the energy reading as well and unleashes a new team of Egg-Robos known as the ‘Hard-Boiled Heavies’, sent to reach the source of the signal first. With Eggman up to no good, it’s up to Sonic, Tails and Knuckles to stop him.

Jumping into the game, everything about the 16-bit era flows back, as you are treated to a beautiful, pixilated experience almost exactly like the Mega Drive originals. Unlike Sonic 4, SEGA hasn’t opted for smooth, up-to-date graphics and fancy animations, everything about Sonic Mania exudes ‘retro’ – even the few moments where 3D polygons are used, they are created in a way that it looks like a Mega Drive game.

But of course, Sonic Mania isn’t a 16-bit game; while the visuals maintain their retro appearance, there are moments of ‘flair’, such as transparency and subtle depth of fields that were too complex for a 16-bit machine to handle effectively – even with blast processing.

These moments of flair are often very subtle during main levels, such as occasionally seeing the odd ring bounce to the fore/background after being hit by an enemy, but they are prevalent during boss battles, with the use of foreground and background objects in play.

Feels like Classic Sonic

Now, regardless of visuals, what really makes a Sonic game is the gameplay. It’s part of the reason Sonic became a firm favourite with many gamers and a genuine rival for Nintendo’s Super Mario series. Sonic The Hedgehog was fresh, fast and offered a unique platforming gameplay experience unlike any other game at the time.

‘Classic Sonic’ is pure: it’s a combination of well thought-out platforming brilliance, combined with the flow of a fast game of pinball. While ‘Modern Sonic’ is a mixture of balls-to-the-wall, (virtually uncontrollable) speed and (often unnecessary) gameplay mechanics interweaved into a story line – some people like it, but it’s not for everyone.

Sonic Mania takes the simplicity and purity of Classic Sonic and does very little to change it, which is great. You have no lock-on attack, no additional moves or gimmicks to get in the way of reaching your end-level goals and beating Robotnik.

Returning to retro Sonic gameplay can take some getting used to, but once you get your groove going, everything comes together to make a wonderfully fluid experience.

Wait, this is Classic Sonic!

If Sonic Generations paid homage to every main Sonic game over the past 20 years or so (both 2D and 3D), Sonic Mania is a homage purely to the 2D classics. There’s so much fan service that at times it feels like a re-release of early Sonic games, with nods to each of the Mega Drive originals at every turn – awesome little details, such as the birds and fish from Sonic 1‘s special stage, featuring in Mania’s special stage.

While the game does feature entirely new zones, it also features remakes of classic zones from Sonic 1, 2, 3, Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic CD – fan favourites that are synonymous with Sonic, such as Green Hill, Chemical Plant, Flying Battery, Stardust Speedway, among others.

At times, you feel like you are playing the original games, but then Mania will throw in some massive curve balls that totally change everything – such as new enemies, boss battles or entirely new sections and mechanics to a level, such as the springy goo in Chemical Plant Zone. It’s really fun to reminisce over old levels, but have them feel fresh at the same time and I applaud the developers for this.

On the boss battles, these are great fun in Mania. The bosses that are similar to the old Sonic titles have been changed up enough to feel fresh. The brand new bosses are great, making good use of the modern technology to add some subtle visual or gameplay enhancements to make them exciting.

The old music in the game is remixed slightly, with zone remakes feature the same excellent soundtrack, while new levels feature appropriately original scores – which are catchy and in-keeping with Sonic.

…With added extras

For the most part, the new levels are awesome, keeping the flow of the game going, with some very fun settings and unique elements to each level that makes them stand out – such as one zone where Sonic shrinks and looks like a baby Sonic; standing next to badniks, he looks hilarious and added something new to the game.

Sonic Mania’s special stage is one of my favourite additions to the game. Sonic runs around a flat quasi-3D environment, similar to those in Sonic CD (or Mario Kart on the SNES, if you will), as you chase after a UFO carrying a Chaos Emerald, against a time limit. To catch the UFO, you need to collect blue balls, to build up Sonic’s speed, while collecting rings will boost the precious time limit.

These special stages are really fun and, while can offer a challenge, never feel unfairly taxing. However, finding them is a different story – as the entry points, which are giant rings, are hidden throughout the levels (some levels have multiple rings to find) and that can be a problem for first-time players. I only got four of the Chaos Emeralds on my first playthrough, simply because I couldn’t find the rings in the levels!

But that’s the beauty of Sonic games, replaying the games over and over lets you explore and find the secret areas or new routes to get the best times in each zone.

Mania has also added new mechanics to already established pickups – such as the fire shield being able to burn things, such as wood and oil. As you progress, you unlock new gameplay modes, such as Time Attack and Competition (2-player vs) Mode. There’s additional abilities to unlock, such as Sonic’s Peel Out move from Sonic CD – which you need to select in the options menu after unlocking to activate them, so you can play through without these new abilities.

SEGA, you’ve made me soft

At times, I found Sonic Mania weirdly hard, but I think it’s because I’ve become so unaccustomed to playing games that require skill to complete, and I was struggling in the early levels. Modern Sonic titles have so many moments where the game basically plays itself and the lock-on attack means that you can just continuously tap jump and you’ll kill everything on screen and bounce off the nearest spring pad: the skill has been removed.

But Sonic Mania takes you back, it makes you work for your success. I had a ‘Game Over’ early on, too early really, I’m ashamed to say. But once I got back into the flow, I progressed through the game without any more Game Overs – though plenty of deaths.

The good news here is that, like Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic Mania offers save files, so you can pick up from where you left off, should you find yourself struggling at any point.

There’s also the bonus stages (not special stages, bonus stages), which felt incredibly difficult. The bonus stages are the same as Sonic 3 & Knuckles’ special stages – where you run around a big 3D ball, collecting blue balls and rings, while avoiding any red balls: touching a red ball instantly ends the stage and when you touch a blue ball it turns red.

Now, not one to boast usually, but I was pretty darn good at Sonic & Knuckles’ special stages – my friend and I played the crap out of them over and over (using the S&K lock-on with non-Sonic Mega Drive games).

So, I was super happy to see this return in Mania… until about the 6th or 7th time, when suddenly they became really hard. Using an Xbox One controller probably didn’t help as the d-pad is rather ‘spongy’ and the analogue stick isn’t designed for the precise turns that you need to pull off. But halfway through the game, I found I no longer enjoyed these stages like I once did, often feeling cheated when I lost at the stage.

Completing the bonus stage will either earn you a silver or a gold medal. Silver when you only collect the blue balls and gold when you collect all the rings and the blue balls. To be honest, I have no idea what the medals did (there’s no manual) – though, as mentioned, you do unlock new abilities and game modes, so maybe they unlock those (I’ve asked SEGA to confirm).

That seems a little unfair…

Putting aside from my diminished Sonic gaming skills, I did find that Sonic Mania had more unfair deaths than I’d ever experienced in a Sonic game. There were times where the game would literally force you into enemies/traps, with no control or ability to avoid them.

I also found some of the levels took far longer than previous entries. That wouldn’t be a bad thing, except Sonic games have a time limit; as soon as you hit 9 mins 59 secs on a level, you die, due to time out.

I have only ever had this happen to me once on Sonic 1, when I was really exploring a level, trying to find different paths. But it’s never happened to me since… until Sonic Mania, where I managed to get time outs three times in a playthrough. One of them was because Tails kept screwing up in a boss battle (he kept jumping on something when he wasn’t meant to, meaning I couldn’t hurt the boss) and the others because I just ran out of time. It’s weird, I didn’t feel like I was going slow, yet I ran out of time more than once.

Summary

While Sonic Mania has moments of frustration, it doesn’t have any serious problems that hold it back. This is a bold statement, but Sonic Mania is the very Sonic game fans have been dying to play for years!

SEGA has finally done the right thing, removed all the nonsense of Modern Sonic titles and, through Christian Whitehead and the teams at Headcannon and PagodaWest, delivered a Sonic The Hedgehog game in its purest form.

Sonic Mania takes some of the best samples/examples of the 16-bit Sonic games on the Mega Drive/Mega CD and mixes them up to be one of the best Sonic game in years; bringing back the replay value and the challenge needed to complete the game fully (with all Chaos Emeralds), plus some added extras, so things don’t feel stale.

However, I don’t want to say this is THE best Sonic game of all time, that’s too big a call to make – especially when the original material was so damn impressive back in the day, only hampered by the technology behind it. But ultimately, if you are a big fan of Classic Sonic games, then Sonic Mania is an absolute must-have.

Pros: + It’s Classic Sonic gameplay, visuals and sounds, in its purest form + Fun, additional extras to unlock + Both re-imagined and brand new zones are great fun + Hard to master, easy enough to pick up (as a Sonic game should be)

Cons: – More unfair deaths than other Sonic games – …Modern Sonic games have made me weak – …I wish it was still the 90s, when I was a kid and could play games like this all day, rather than work

#SonicMania goes old school & it's wonderful! Read our full #review to find out more! #Sonic NOTE: We try to keep our reviews as spoiler-free as possible, though there is a chance some minor spoilers may be mentioned in this review.

#Christian Whitehead #Headcannon #PagodaWest #Sonic #sonic mania #Sonic the Hedgehog

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