#Sonic Frontiers is a weird ass game

[felix-krain]

I love Sonic Frontiers guys!

[misterbaritone]

Wild to me that Sonic Dream Team, a game for phones and shit, looks more polished and fun than a whole ass console game like Frontiers

[tacorerooster]

If Amy doesn’t appear in the 3rd Sonic Movie, these line are gonna ring extra hollow. Makes it more of a very late April Fools joke on Amy fans.

You had her finally be playable in a mainline game after 17 years with Sonic Frontiers, her finally getting to be Playable in the Classic games, then be part of the main cast in Sonic Superstars. Making it seem like Sega finally see her as important as Tails and Knuckles, the whole year of Amy, only for it to get overshadowed multiple times. She gets a Stand Alone idw comic that’s 1 issue. Fang the hunter a obscure side character, gets a whole 4 part mini series, which Amy isn’t even in. Amy gets a game about her birthday, with arguably the best writing for a Sonic game. Shadow gets a whole ass rerelease with a full ass DLC just for him with his name in the title.

And people just don’t seem to care about Amy if she is in the movie or not. I’ve seen more people asking about Rouge at this point.

It’s just so weird feeling to do this whole push for her then go nowhere with it.

[hishighnesstheprincess]

MY HATER POST

literally made a hater post just to talk about stuff in the sonic series that I dont like ❤️ if you don't like this post then fuck you block and/or blow me. this is disorganized as fuck btw and i dont care

sonic frontiers was the best mainline sonic game in over a decade but thats really not saying much

i think tangle is kinda boring and whispangle is kinda boring by proxy. whispers cool tho

surge is the best rival sonic character since blaze and the only thing dragging her down is that sonic in the idw comics kinda sucks as a character

its great that we are getting more female characters in idw and the games but quite a lot of them are kinda boring and we still need more female villains

metal sonic is basically nothing but a jobber in idw rn and its really depressing

idw please treat the babylon rogues better, theyre goofy characters with serious storylines just like basically every other sonic character, stop making them NOTHING but a joke

lanolin is an interesting character, yall just cant handle women who are even SLIGHTLY rude to a fan favorite character

the worst part of idw is that its tied to game canon because they cant shake up the status quo too much or have character arcs for most of the main characters

rouge is ABSOLUTELY a sexualized character and always has been. learn to like a character despite the faults in how they are portrayed or shut up about it

sally was the best canon romantic partner for sonic and you cant change my mind

the second worst part of idw is the titular character himself

i dislike surg/amy because of the age difference andalso the fact that everyone wants to disregard surges character to have her be redeemed

if sega is going to keep teasing son/amy then they should just stop dancing around it and make them canon already, make the shippers happy and get the drawn out agony over with for the rest of us. also age amy up for the love of allthat is holy

also, sega should stop ship teasing ships they have no intention of making canon in general, its shitty and edges into queerbaiting when done with gay ships

the above does not apply to whispangle

idw art is overall much much MUCH better than any other sonic comic and its not even a contest

there are a lot of things i disagree with about the current state and direction of this franchise but we are in a much better place than we were even just two years ago and we should be glad for all this success

the worst parts of archie are the most atrocious things that this franchise has ever put out, in art, storytelling, basic morality, etc.

most of the popular ships in this fandom suck ass

unless sega stops rushing sonic team and actually gives some resources to them we are never going to get better than 7/10 games. corporations are not your friends and you dont have to thank them for giving you a mid product

sega should have been sued into oblivion for the literal seizure inducing state sonic colors ultimate was released in and we should never, ever let them forget it

remain skeptical about every single sonic game until release, we've had "WERE SO BACK" moments before that turned out to befalse

the edm in sonic frontiers cyberspace slaps but isnt as memorable as previous sonic soundtracks

stop ghosting sonics friends (sonic frontiers, sonic prime, sonic dream team) its kinda weird and puts way too much importance on sonic again. this is a good cast, USE THEM

sonic frontiers dlc being hard wasnt a bad thing, the jank, glitches, and lack of fairness were bad things that tarnished the experience

the games have never ever been properly translated from japanese into english and that is just an objective fact. but also dont shit on people for only having interest in the english version, you have to go WAY out of your way to get a good translation and that's on the franchise, not the fans

this franchise's "canon" has been fucked since the original classic games, trying to fix it in the sense that you can somehow make every little detail perfect is a lost cause. just pick and choose what you like

of all the characters that deserve a game to themselves blaze deserves it the most. girlie has a whole other dimension that we could explore can you IMAGINE an open world game in the sol dimension COME ON

if lots of people are criticizing something you like then you should give some consideration to the fact that they may have some points instead of just disregarding it as people being nitpicky and nasty. you dont have to listen to it but if you dont do that then you cant dismiss it out of hand either

the stories of sa1 and sa2 arent even the best stories in this franchise

06 sucks ass and no amount of "potential" means jackshit when it comes to actual quality. if we're just evaluating "potential" then congratulations everything ever made is a quality product have fun with that

its okay to games with goofier and lighthearted stories

team dark are just friends

i prefer amys hammer to the cards

let this franchise have its edge back. but also let sonic be cute. they arent mutually exclusive

keep good physics and momentum in the games for the love of god please its what this franchise was built on

sega of japan may do characterization better but the closest brushes to death that this franchise has ever had (Dreamcast, 06, Forces) were all on them as well

this might be the hottest take of all time but sonic team shares some of the blame in how a lot of sonic games turn out very bad, its not all on sega

stating that some sonic-inspired games (spark the electric jester and freedom planet) or sonic fan games (project 06) have turned out better than actual sonic games is kind of objectively correct but youre a dick if you say it just to make sonic fans feel bad about the games or themselves

if you ONLY consume sonic media you need to branch out more. for your own health please

flynn is neither the worst person to ever walk the surface of this planet or gods gift to the sonic fandom, practice some moderation in your opinions people

i think discourse is good, actually. except for when it harms people. and fictional characters do not count as people

sonic frontiers open world biomes are boring and nowhere close to most open world games, even ones from a decade ago

silver was never sonics rival

it would be nice if we could go back to having smaller games on handheld consoles coming out on a regular basis while mainline sonic games come out once every couple of years on a bigger scale and higher quality than weve been getting. and no locking games behind apple arcade PLEASE

sonic lost world isnt a terrible game or a good one. its just weird and boring

sonic riders was fun and its a travesty that it got downgraded into generic cart racing games

sonic unleashed daytime stages are the best boost stages in this entire franchise because they actually rely on quick decision making and reaction times instead of just smashing your way straight through the entire level with little to no effort

the werehog combat sucks ass and the fact that its super slow and super long and takes up like 75% of the time youre playing the game is why unleashed isnt peak. sorry

stop using green hill stop using green hill stop using green hill stop using green hill stop using green hill stop using green hill stop using green hill stop using green hill stop using green hill STOP IT

a lot of fans of sonic do not understand what they are talking about and that includes me a LOT of the time

sonic himself cant just be whatever the writer wants him to be. the reason characters are characters is because they have certain character traits and you cant just change that without getting a different guy, im sorry

archiehad the worst moments but the sonic movies are the worst adaptation overall

the above will change if movie 3 kills off shadow or tom. then the worst adaptation will be underground

game sonic being a static character is cool, actually

sonic fandom is sexist as fuck and that includes the tumblr side of it

sage getting revived in a post credits scene was lame. give us more time before confirming shes alive

the sonic twitter takeovers are not canon. no, not even if you think a thing they said on it was funny

they should let female characters be naked (dont make this weird) and give the boy characters outfits sometimes

amy having a crush on sonic is totally fine but they took it WAAAAAYYYYYYYY too far at many, many points. i dont care if its funny amy threatening chris in x or intimidating cream in various games (battle, rush) was NEVER a good thing

rouges design does not need to be changed, it needs to be framed and posed in less sexual ways

rouges heroes and prime outfits sucked ngl like just from a color and design standpoint like theyre kinda ass and overcomplicated and an eyesore

if sega is gonna age the characters up they should actually go ahead and post the new ages on some official channel, dont just leave us in this horrible limbo where we have to argue with weirdos online about who youre morally okay to thirst over certain characters and whether a different voice counts as a character becoming an adult

the fact that the main official english sonic account only posts memes and advertises hilariously overpriced """"""""products"""""""" kinda sucks tbh. i have to go to other language accounts to get stuff like concept art and celebrating the anniversary of a game the released a year ago. were well past the era of laughing at sonic just for being sonic, now lets act like it

stop harrassing people involved with this series even if theyre doing an objectively bad job. thats a real person and you should care more about them than you do a fictional character

the above DOES apply to ken penders. hes a piece of shit but still a person

criticism =/= harrassment. this goes both ways

cream IS a hero thank you very much

reference to a thing you like does not equal good character writing. critically, it does not equal bad character writing either

amys not a damsel in distress and hasnt been in over 20 years. if we count characters just getting captured as being damseled then congratulations, sonic himself is a damsel in distress (Forces), apply that shit equally across both genders

ryan drummond was the best english va, but jason got the better scripts. roger is getting better and most of the work hes been given is just. bad. so i dont feel okay judging his work. but he is my least favorite

gameplay>story when it comes to the actual games, every time. if you have a good story to tell its only hampered by being in a shitty game

worst game in the series is sonic colors ultimate. say what you will about 06, forces, rise of lyric, or whatever other game. at least they werent literally physically dangerous to play

all the main female characters in the games are asskickers, they just need to be utilized more. as does every member of the supporting cast

the sonic franchise fucking needs to stop having long gone ancient civilizations. please have new ideas

this is the end of the list. go away

[beevean]

Frontiers is bad and boring to play but I take it over Forces anytime of the day, first the gameplay plays the game for you half of the time why is Classic Sonic here? Other then Sonic Team being desperate? Why did Tails forget he could fly? INFINITE was wasted and his theme song is embarrassing. Why bother using Chaos if he wasn't even going to be a boss level? Sonic is tortured ? Okay sorry but atleast Frontiers had a better ost.

why is Classic Sonic here? Other then Sonic Team being desperate?

Most likely because 1) Forces was meant to be one of the 2 games for the 25th anniversary, even if they both slid forward one year, 2) precisely to connect Forces and Mania, 3) to piggyback on the success of Generations. Do you want to call it pandering? Feel free to call it pandering, by 2016 fans weren't as eager to play as Classic again, true. But then we can also call pandering the relentless references to the Adventure era in Frontiers, both in simple "hey this reminds me of X" and in general plot beats - now that game very much wants to win the Adventure crowd back more than Forces wanted to appeal to the Classic fans.

Why did Tails forget he could fly?

Do you mean when Sonic (Sonic the fucking Hedgehog) was getting his entire shit beaten out by a terrifying creature not even his Miles Electric could understand, plus clones of formidable enemies that included Shadow?

I don't know, I get the flak against "Sonic help me", but I don't blame Tails for not knowing what to do in that situation.

INFINITE was wasted and his theme song is embarrassing.

Opinion discarded. Infinite's theme slaps absolute ass and if you don't agree AND AFTER ALL THIS TIMEEEEEEE YOU'RE BACK FOR MOOOOOOOOOOOOORE

I agree that something happened to Infinite during development, as everything in the main game hinted at him being a fully artificial creature and not a rando still sore that he was beaten by Shadow lol. But dude was cool in my book. I really like that stage where he creates all sorts of creepy illusions to stop Operation Big Wave :P he could have had more screentime, but he chewed that little screentime we had just fine. better than the end, anyway and always.

Why bother using Chaos if he wasn't even going to be a boss level?

The game was most likely rushed, which sucks, no doubt about that. But somehow, only Forces gets treated like a piece of shit for being rushed, when Frontiers doesn't get nearly the same amount of disappointment for being pretty much a test game (and we know it was rushed because of the last two islands that are pieces cut from Kronos Island and for the weird way Sonic's corruption was handled). Hell, by this point, even '06 is getting apologism even though until recently it was the king of rushed games, and much worse about it than the previous examples.

Either you're equally uncharitable with rushed games that sacrificed content (so I'm not talking about game breaking glitches), or you cut them all some slack.

Sonic is tortured ? Okay sorry

Sloppy translation. And while Sonic looks chipper after being freed, and we can argue all day if that's IC or not, you can guess from things like him beating Zavok with his bare fists or the veiled death threat he gives Infinite that deep down he's actually pretty angry.

Now, Sonic being rescued by his corruption in Frontiers in a minute, undoing all of his hard work in rescuing his friends, and him being just as chipper after Sage, the girl he had just befriended, died in space, is not sloppy translation, it's the game getting rushed to hell (although I don't know why Flynn blames time constraints when it comes to Sonic not sparing a thought about Sage lol).

atleast Frontiers had a better ost.

I like both ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and Frontiers' cyberspace themes are clearly inspired by the Avatar themes in Forces.

[honoka-marierose]

Sonic Frontiers, Sega’s latest (and surprisingly well-received) entry in the speedy hedgehog franchise, received its final free content update on Thursday. It seems this new update is proving to be way more difficult than the base game, as players who once bragged about how easy the game was are getting their generous blue asses handed to them.

Sonic Frontiers’ final update, appropriately titled The Final Horizon, advertised itself as bringing a new story; new playable characters in the form of Knuckles, Tails, and Amy, and new challenges. Apparently, Sega meant that last part with its whole chest because players are struggling to get to the finish line of The Final Horizon.

Since the update’s release, players have taken to social media in a mix of frustration and excitement over how difficult it is to either:

- Adjust to how differently Sonic’s companions move while completing challenges

- Complete trial towers (which don’t have checkpoints)

- Defeat the update’s tough-as-nails new boss Tank+, a spider tank that’ll riddle Sonic with bullets on sight, exploding the blue streak into a fountain of coins

To add more kindling to the blazing difficulty fire players are experiencing, some players are reporting that the game now requires them to perfect parry enemies during trials. That’s rough, buddy.

Read More: That New Sonic Game Is A Weird, Lonely Mess (That I Can’t Stop Playing)

While some players are finding The Final Frontier’s evident difficulty spike as a welcome update to the game, others are hoping Sega patches the free update to make its boss fights less of an uphill battle.

“God damn, [Morio] Kishimoto seriously took offense to people calling his game too easy. I love the challenge, but god DAMN,” SonicFanatic67 wrote on the r/SonicFrontiers subreddit.

“Sonic Team really took everyone’s complaints on how OP the parry was and just said ‘Aight, bet. Now you gotta time your shit. Have fun, jackasses.” xXWarriorAngelXx added.

“This shit ain’t even fun. There’s fun/challenging difficulty and then there’s spiteful/cheap difficulty. This feels like the latter,” YesHai wrote on Reddit.

“Hit the last challenge before the final boss in Sonic Frontiers DLC and yeah it’s probably the most difficult thing they’ve ever put into their games,” KZXcellent tweeted. “DLC has been the most fun I’ve had playing a Sonic game, but it’s not gonna be for everyone.

To add more kindling to the blazing difficulty fire players are experiencing, some players are reporting that the game now requires them to perfect parry enemies during trials. That’s rough, buddy.

Read More: That New Sonic Game Is A Weird, Lonely Mess (That I Can’t Stop Playing)

While some players are finding The Final Frontier’s evident difficulty spike as a welcome update to the game, others are hoping Sega patches the free update to make its boss fights less of an uphill battle.

“God damn, [Morio] Kishimoto seriously took offense to people calling his game too easy. I love the challenge, but god DAMN,” SonicFanatic67 wrote on the r/SonicFrontiers subreddit.

“Sonic Team really took everyone’s complaints on how OP the parry was and just said ‘Aight, bet. Now you gotta time your shit. Have fun, jackasses.” xXWarriorAngelXx added.

“This shit ain’t even fun. There’s fun/challenging difficulty and then there’s spiteful/cheap difficulty. This feels like the latter,” YesHai wrote on Reddit.

“Hit the last challenge before the final boss in Sonic Frontiers DLC and yeah it’s probably the most difficult thing they’ve ever put into their games,” KZXcellent tweeted. “DLC has been the most fun I’ve had playing a Sonic game, but it’s not gonna be for everyone.

On the upside, The Final Horizon has a new Super Sonic form for players to enjoy. Hopefully, aside from being aesthetically pleasing, the newly minted superpowered Sonic will functionally aid players in conquering Sonic Frontiers’ final slew of challenges

[lividria]

Funny Story: Celeste

So, I've mentioned in a couple previous posts that I'm transfem, right? Well, one time, another trans girl joined a Discord I'm in, and I don't remember what led up to it, but they had DMed me asking if I had played Celeste, saying that they "thought you had to play it to be trans"? They then said that was a joke and said some other stuff I forgot and I'm too lazy to find the exchange, but the entire thing was weird, alienating and uncomfortable, and it's stuck with me ever since because of it, even if that person basically never said anything ever again anywhere after that.

So, last night, when I was looking on the XBox Game Pass because I apparently misremembered Shovel Knight as being on there and wanting to try that only to be disappointed, I stumble upon Celeste... And I figured, why the hell not perform the apparent rite of passage? I've already embraced the double jump joke. So I did it tonight, since I had a few hours.

If this is the game you have to have played to be trans, then I am terrified of what every other trans person is capable of, because this game beat my ass HARD. I joke about being bad at video games, some of my friends tease me for being bad at video games, but I don't think I've ever been hit this badly. I had to use Assist Mode basically the whole way through, and I died like 93 times on Chapter 1. I later died 100+ times to Chapter 3 too, and by the end had racked up 387 total. This is probably the most infuriating gameplay I've ever experienced, besides for maybe that one stupid Sonic Frontiers minigame with herding the rock Chao, that's probably still worse, actually. Even with infinite dashes and invincibility (Though I only turned that on at Chapter 5), I was getting kicked around left and right.

My main takeaway from the game besides the confirmation that I'm not a masochist is that there's probably an issue with myself I need to address if the only character I didn't find unlikable for most of the game and the only reasonable one of the cast was Badeline, the literal manifestation of self-doubt and anxiety. The entire time I was basically saying to the screen that she was right. That's probably not a good thing.

[skysometric]

my 5th favorite game that i played in 2023 is...

Sonic Triple Trouble 16-Bit

in times of Sonic "drought" between major games, i often find myself turning to fangames to keep the flame alive. nobody understands Sonic better than the fans, after all, and Sonic especially has a wealth of incredible talent in its fanbase. Before and After The Sequel were two of my biggest hyperfixations in high school! and following the development of Time Twisted is ultimately how i met my partner – a story i should really immortalize on here one day…

but Sonic isn't going through a drought at all! Frontiers and Superstars both released rather recently… and both are aggressive 7/10s. arguably, Sonic's aggressive 7/10s are some of its most interesting experiences! but Frontiers isn't really my style, and Superstars didn't really do as much for me as i hoped it would.

that brings us to Triple Trouble, which is exactly my style of Sonic game – and one of the most outstanding fangames i've ever played.

the original Triple Trouble on Game Gear is secretly one of my favorite Sonic games… sure it's crusty, but i love how unapologetically weird and charming it is! bringing its unique ideas to life in 16-bit is an incredible idea on paper, but not everyone has the chops to execute on it – making it all the more special that this fangame DELIVERS on its premise.

the level layouts are open and explorable! the second act of each zone mixes in unique new gimmicks, just like mania! the music is perfectly redone! swapping between sonic and tails at will is a fantastic idea! and all the new content, references, and cute little details feel right at home among the familiar beats of the original. this is about as close to a perfect remake as it gets.

one such little detail that i won't spoil is a slightly obscure Sonic 3 reference right at the beginning of the game that made me laugh my ass off before even getting out of the starting gate – and that momentum continued the whole way through. the way it follows up Sonic 3's story beats in general is a great homage to the whole series, cementing Triple Trouble's place in the classic Sonic "storyline" (if such a thing exists).

it doesn't just carry itself on references, either – filing off the crust from the original game's mechanics turn them into a fresh new experience, and the remake even brings new ideas to the table! so many little details that made me squee, so many big new moments that made it feel fresh, without any of it feeling heavy handed or underbaked.

so if you've never played the original Triple Trouble, this remake is the perfect way to get into it! and if you've never (or barely) touched classic Sonic, this is a best-in-class example of how much fun it is. it's well worth your time.

…did i mention it's free? it's a fangame, of course it's free! go play it!!

[crusherthedoctor]

For the top 5 prompt: Top 5 Eggman boss battles.

This is yet another list that probably shifts depending on the day, because there's a lot of good ones.

5.

An underrated one. Like Rush Adventure in general.

There's no deep reason, I just think it's a neat fight, and since it uses the Jeweled Scepter, that grants it a plethora of unique magical attacks that you don't often see in an Eggman battle.

4.

I couldn't decide between these two, so fuck it, they're both here. Can you blame me? They're both well-known, and for good reason.

The Egg Walker marks the end of Tails' story, and it follows up the race to the missile in the city. The battle itself is fine, if perhaps a bit easy, but Eggman's tranquil fury in the cutscene prior really sells the mood. Shame he's rarely been given opportunities to show that side of himself since then. But that's where Stellar comes in. Either way, between that and Tails standing his ground, it's a great moment for both characters.

As for the Viper, we all love the obvious meme, but like the Walker, the fight is also fun in itself, and is reasonably tricky for a final boss. But as weird as it might be to say, the ending is what really makes it for me. The way the music stops the instant you get the last hit in, the way Tikal warns you about his kamikaze dive, the way the lonely sound and visuals of the explosion lingers before culminating with what could be mistaken for a volcanic eruption... awesome.

3.

It's an awesome mech. It's an awesome battle. It's an awesome moment for both the hero and the villain. Capped off with descending towards the center of the earth. As someone who considers Unleashed flawed in ways that I can't ignore, even I can't deny that this is one of the game's standout moments, and it deserves all its praise. I'd argue it's a better final boss than the actual final boss, and I'm not just saying that because the latter is another giant monster... okay, maybe that's part of it.

Shout out to the Generations version, because I really enjoy that one in its own right.

2.

Oh boy, here comes the controversial one. How dare I put anything from Forces on a top five that isn't derogatory, amirite.

In all seriousness... look, say what you will about the fight itself. I think it's alright, but I get why it might be considered perhaps a little anti-climactic compared to what it could have been as far as gameplay goes. And you guys know that I always consider gameplay to come first and foremost, no matter how good or bad the story of the game in question is, so it's not like I'm ignoring that part. And of course, there's the Nega-Wisp Armor reskin aspect that everyone complains about, which caused Twitter to throw the baby out with the bathwater and consider Eggman's position as the final boss to be the true problem. Which is probably why the final boss of Frontiers ended up being a talking ballsack. Thanks, everyone.

Anyway, all that said, I think there are certain elements that elevate it in spite of its ultimately okay status. There's the music, but that goes without saying for a Sonic game that isn't Chronicles. But another factor is the combination of the seriously underrated sound design, with the complete and utter silence on Eggman's part, which like @skaruresonic, I interpret it as the doctor being too focused on killing your ass that he disregards his usual banter, and like the Egg Walker cutscene in SA1, I think the effect really works, regardless of the actual intent or reason behind it.

So yes, I'm putting it as #2 for these overlooked attributes. I'm not sorry.

1.

The finale of S3&K will always be particularly special to me. There have been many great Eggman throwdowns, but this one illustrates how the doctor's high octane levels of pure determination rival Sonic's own; perfect for an arch-nemesis. There have been godlike figures who go down after a single fight, meanwhile this mortal man belts out a bonanza, because the mere concept of giving up the Master Emerald does not compute.

The build-up also goes a long way: S3&K as a whole establishes and maintains this aspect of Eggman's character throughout. He's going to get the Death Egg back up and running, and nothing is going to stop him. His robots set the jungle on fire. He himself destroys the ruins in Marble Garden, in the hopes that Sonic will get killed in the process. He's not even phased when the Death Egg falls smack dab into a volcano; his dedication never wavers. Then come the endgame, where he finally fucks off with the Master Emerald after telling Knuckles it was Nothing Personnel Kid, which is followed up with a dramatic chase through the crumbling Sky Sanctuary, which then culminates in the final showdown aboard the eponymous vessel... and then continues even after it blows up.

It's iconic, it's fun, it's climactic, and Eggman's ridiculously exaggerated refusal to quit being on full display cements it as one of my favourite Eggman portrayals, despite hailing from a 2D game with no dialogue.

Honorable mentions (that currently come to mind):

Death Egg Robot, cause c'mon, it's a classic. This mostly refers to the original Sonic 2 version as well as the variations in Generations and Mania.

Egg Shrimp (Sonic Advance 2), for being petty enough to abduct Vanilla after his plan's been foiled, and for the badass moment afterwards in which Sonic narrowly saves Vanilla.

Egg Emperor, because I don't care if it's Metal Sonic, it's an Eggman mech, he's trying to mimic Eggman, shut the fuck up or I'll do a in-depth Shadow the Hedgehog level tier list. The design is rad as hell, and it has the iconic TAKE THI-TAKE THIS, TAKE THI-TAKE THIS.

Egg Salamander (Sonic Rush), for capping off the dynamic between Sonic and Blaze... and because Wrapped in Black.

Nega-Wisp Armor, because the fight is fun despite its simplicity, and it's noteworthy because Eggman finally got to be the true final boss of a 3D mainline installment for the first time. And it only took a decade...

The endgame for Mania, in which Eggman menacingly jumps around in a Pokeball and then holds his own in a three-way standoff instead of being tactlessly upstaged like he's nothing.'

The one in IDW that doesn't exist.

[dr-spectre]

Sonic x Shadow Generations thoughts...

So after watching the 10 minute gameplay VGC released and seeing multiple people play the demo, i got to say... To the people who are saying "oh its exactly like Forces/Frontiers again..." Like... No? Have people forgotten just how AWFUL the level design in Forces was? Do you guys remember Lost Valley? Arsenal Pyramid? Sunset Heights? LUMINIOUS FOREST!?!? Space Colony Ark Act 1 is nowhere NEAR that quality bro.

There's multiple pathways that don't last for 3 seconds and add nothing of substantial gameplay, there's level gimmicks like the gravity walls and rockets that you can freeze with chaos control which adds new pathways, reaction based platforming with floating hoops and rails that you gotta react to fast enough in order to get on them and save time to get the S rank. It has those elements that Generations level design has but it definitely still has room for improvement of course.

Frontiers biggest issues with Cyberspace was copying and pasting level design that the controls weren't built around, and so therefore i wish i was playing Generations or Unleashed or Adventure 2 instead of some weird janky version of those levels that are covered in green hill, chemical plant, sky sanctuary and some basic ass city aesthetics i've seen over and over AND OVER AGAIN!! The original level design wasn't too bad actually and with the right control mods and tweaks, it felt REALLY good. Although still way too short for my liking.

I think that Forces really hurt a lot of fans deeply and the moment that they see any sort of hallway they freak the fuck out and get PTSD from Forces. Guess what other games in the series had long hallways in them? Adventure, Adventure 2, Heroes, Unleashed, Colors and Generations! If SA1 or SA2 got released today people would complain about linear level design, if Generations got released today and it didn't exist until 2024, people would give shit towards Green Hill Act 2 for being linear even though it's one of the best opening levels in the entire Sonic franchise in my opinion. Linearity isn't a bad thing, it's when you add 50 million dash panels and invisible scripting sequences where you can't move left or right until it's done, THEN it's an issue and bad level design like in Forces.

Now I'm not saying that you cannot criticize the level design, obviously you can duhhh, i have my own issues with the level design so far. I really do want there to be more little details and other aspects in the levels to add variety, like light speed dash trails, pits and spikes in those long hallways that you gotta quick step or move around to keep the speed up, like imagine in those tunnels you had to run up the walls to avoid a pit at the bottom that leads to a slower platforming section, that would be more engaging right? Add back tricks from base Generations and i wish there were more true 3D platforming and ramps and slopes, which the level somewhat has but i want there to be MORE of it. And the omission of the drift makes a lot of the level design seem a bit too blocky and less sloped if that makes any sense.

It's really weird that base Generations has a drift yet Shadow Generations doesn't. I just want there to be more options in the level design, those little details and extra paths do add up and make games like Unleashed and Gens so damn fun to replay.

Anyways, those were my thoughts on the level design of Shadow Generations that I've seen so far. I am looking forward to this as it seems like the team put in the work and time to make something really interesting and surprisingly polished. Like the UI actually looks fire, i want that HUD in the base game it looks so clean.

If Generations didn't get this new addition then i wouldn't give a fuck about it buying it again as i already got the game on steam and PS3 back when i was 10 years old....

....damn that feels weird to say... Generations is nearly 13 years old.... ouch...

[bahamutgames]

AFTERTHOUGHTS : The Final Horizon

Game: Sonic Frontiers - The Final Horizon Update (September 28, 2023)

Console: Xbox One

I can't believe October's already almost done! I feel like I got very little done despite working my butt off all month. Oh well. There's still a week left if nothing else. I've also got a lot on my plate gaming wise, it's honestly a little overwhelming how much came out / is coming out that I want to play! So I figure, why not just go ahead and write up some thoughts on things so I have a clean slate for games coming up? To start myself off, my first ever write up about a DLC I think?

As always. This isn't a review, I'm just throwing up my thoughts about the game I played so I can drain them out of my tiny little gamer brain. This should not be used as a guide for if the game is worth playing, everything I write up shouldn't be taken as professional critique or anything like that.

AND OF COURSE, SPOILERS FOR THE SONIC FRONTIERS FINAL HORIZONS DLC UPDATE. SINCE I'M SURE SOME PEOPLE STILL HAVEN'T GOTTEN PAST THAT DRAGON CHALLENGE!!

Opening

So, my thoughts on Sonic Frontiers were written up alllll the way back when I was still sharing thoughts on Twitter before... the incident. You can read those here (x), but generally my thoughts are that the game was WONDERFUL! Super fun to play, incredibly charming, and I appreciated that it really felt like a Sonic loveletter to my favorite era of the series, rather than seeming like it was embarrassed by itself like the series had been acting like for a while. So, of course, I was INCREDIBLY excited to see that the game wasn't just getting DLC, but a whole new DLC story mode with serious stakes and a new super form and Sonic's friends being playable again!? Hell yes!! So I played it day one and uh...

Stuff I didn't like

I... kinda hated this DLC? I know I'm not really alone on this, a lot of people seemed to be mixed on it at best. But, no, like, I didn't really like it much at all. I'll try to keep it brief because I really don't like being negative, especially about Sonic which gets too much undeserved heat. But man, this just really sucked in my opinion.

First up, those towers. I played this on hard up until Dragon Challenge where I had to give up and swap to easy. Let's just start with what everyone is saying: this DLC is too damn hard!! I know I can swap to easy, but after the main game required I play on Hard Mode for the true ending, I wanted to keep playing Hard Mode! But the towers are just so frustrating, and janky, and not well designed at all. It requires you to do tedious amounts of trial and error just to figure out what you're doing. But if you slip up once you do the whole tower again, and some towers have things that don't reset so you have to awkwardly walk through them. It was so weird and I've genuinely have never felt so much like a Sonic thing was lacking in quality as much as I did with these only up ass towers. And then the challenges at the end were so stupid. Maybe not as hard, but so insanely cryptic and I genuinely have no idea why. I don't want to like, spend hours figuring out the only way you want me to defeat an enemy. I want to use all the points I collected through the game! Come on!! This really stung in the boss rush, those bosses were the best part of the base game. But you just don't really get to fight them this time and it makes them so boring and tedious. It's all about those damn perfect parries, but I kept having issues where they would CONSTANTLY miss me despite me standing still, making me lose insane amounts of time waiting for them to swing again. And then on top of that, having to climb up the titans every time is so time consuming. I genuinely don't know if this was possible on hard mode. And while it's easy once you figure out exactly piece for piece every secret way to deal massive amounts of damage, it sucks that you have to do that instead of just enjoying the meat headed brute forced KH2 like carnage the fights were designed to be.

Then there's the new characters. I'm super glad they're here. But they're just not fun. At all. I think they all controlled weirdly. They have no combat focus whatsoever which was a huge disappointment. I think they're challenges REALLY sucked a lot, like I only had fun with Tails' because the Cyclone (which was great to see return) let me skip all his stupid ass challenges. This was maybe the biggest disappointment of the whole thing. I just felt like this was so underwhelming, and you barely even really use them considering playing Only Up for 500 years consumes most of your time.

And then there's the final boss. So this whole DLC was kind of a let down cause it's barely story focused at all, which I kind of was expecting more story considering that's how it was advertised? And what little story is there... is basically the same as the base game? So, my main issues with the base game were how it wrapped up: That being, no new super form, and no serious final boss where you get to do a Titan styled boss fight against THE END. And I REALLY thought that's what this DLC would be correcting, maybe that's on me, but that's what it REALLY seemed like! But ultimately, the ending is basically identical.

YES, there is a new final boss. But it totally sucks. It's just the same titan again! At least in the base game you do fight THE END (in a bullet hell mode which I love lol, but it's not what I wanted!) in this DLC you don't even fight it! The whole final boss was so weird, severing the connection was, again, so cryptic. And the whole final boss was really defensive based which was more annoying cause you'd have to go super offensive, then just know when you had to perfect parry cause the camera often wouldn't show the energy projectiles for me. And I still do not understand what the hell was up with the energy barrier sequence. Idk maybe I'm just stupid but it made no sense.

Then, Super Sonic 2 barely really plays a role in it. It's just for perfect parrying which sucks. And then Corruption Sonic REALLY barely plays a role. Showing up, getting shot out of a gun (by eggman this time which I'll admit might be cooler than Sage doing it cause it reminds me of Sonic Advance haha), and then just instantly leaving. It was cool! But it was the EXACT SAME THING! This basically all happened the first time but with a boss that was actually cool. Idk, all I wanted was a Titan Styled Super Sonic 2 / Corruption Sonic fight against THE END that was like the other bosses. And the DLC couldn't even deliver on that.

Lastly, just as a side note. I hated those damn cyberspace levels. I feel insane, EVERYONE loved them but me. I hated them in the base game, and every single one I tried in this DLC would like, fling me off the map or trick me into dying every time. They sucked! I hated them!

Stuff I liked

oops, I guess I really went off. It's not all doom and gloom though. It has some alright music, not as good as the base game imo but it's okay. Corruption Sonic and Super Sonic 2 are cool. And I am interested to see what will become of SS2 going forward.

Final Thoughts

Yeah, ultimately, I think the best thing I can say about this DLC was that it was free. I hate to be so negative about a series I tend to be very generous towards. But damn, I just really hated this. It seriously felt like they took EVERYTHING good about Frontiers, awesome spectacles, meat headed combat, and super fun exploration. And pushed it all aside to focus on the absolute worst aspects of it, that being the towers and the cyberspace levels. It's neat that it went for a more defensive angle rather than the super aggro gameplay the base game had. But it just straight up was not fun at all.

I'll be honest, Frontiers gave me SO much hope for the future, maybe we were finally going back to something more serious with Sonic. The characters were back, the stories were back. This game wasn't perfect, but it was damn close! But this DLC really reeks of Sonic Team falling for the same pitfalls again, namely, really focusing in on what people who don't care about Sonic much say vs what fans say. A lot of people said Frontiers was easy yes, but I don't think fans were asking for this level on insanity. Yes a lot of people probably did like the Cyber Space levels. But I don't think most fans really wanted that to be the focus.

Like, I can already see the next Sonic game axing the open world gameplay in favor of get-to-the-goal stuff again because everyone seems to LOVE the new Cyberspace levels. I can already see them axing letting you play as Sonic's friends again cause they fucking sucked to play as in this DLC. But like, that's not what I want! I want MORE experimental gameplay, MORE intense stories, MORE playable characters. And at first it felt like that MIGHT be happening, but honestly my optimism is seriously shaken by this DLC.

Of course, I am just salty so I guess we'll have to wait and see. Hopefully my fears won't come true. But for now, yes, I hated this Free DLC I didn't even have to play lmao.

===

wow that might be my most negative afterthoughts yet. Honestly I'm not really sure I even want to post this one just cause it's SO brutally negative. I guess I'll post it for now but I might take it down later if I feel like it's just too much. I don't mind being negative, but there's a point where it just makes me depressed, if that makes sense. But I've been holding this rant in for a bit now so here it is.

Yeah that's basically all there is to it. Sonic Frontiers, absolutely amazing! Final Horizon? Totally sucked. I want playable friends again, but please let them actually be REAL characters and involved in the gameplay instead of just... idk flying things that suck to play as? Apologies again for being so harsh on this one. I'm done here.

Go out and... play a game that pisses you off I guess??? Don't do that.

[pownicmania5000]

Sonic Prime Episode 1 Review (Non-spoilery)

Just got done watching the first episode of Sonic Prime on... Roblox. Yeah... the promotion they did the show with for that Sonic Speed Simulator game was such a weird decision and quite frankly detracted people from watching it today me thinks. I mean I don't judge a single platform in terms of popularity, but I saw a lot of people on my Twitter timeline not willing to download Roblox for this XD. The big inner Sonic fan in me however caved in and decided to download Roblox and gave it a watch.

Hot DAMN was this first episode good.

I don't want to talk about spoilers since I want to wait until the show properly debuts on December 15th (Which is my birthday!), but I had fun all the way through and got really invested for what's next. I really liked the writing with how sincere it can be (I.E Sonic and Nine first meeting), and I really got invested with the world-building with the Egg Council and the power of the Paradox Prism. I think they went a little too overboard with Sonic's character flaws but I get what they were going for and I hope to see him grow as the series continue! I also REALLY adore the voice acting like holy shit. This might be peak voice acting for Sonic in a long time. Deven Mack did an amazing with Sonic, completely fitting his character, along with all the other voice actors! I think besides Sonic, Tails Nine might be my favorite; he sounds exactly like a young boy and my ideal voice for him.

The animation and special effects were absolutely spectacular, I fucking loved the character and expressions and how full of life they are. Sonic's expressions ESPECIALLY are the true MVP; they didn't rely on his his eyelids for every single emotion unlike what we've seen in the recent games (Excluding Sonic Frontiers since it actually handled them well). Besides Sonic characterization, my only other complaint is that the pacing at the beginning felt too fast, and clashes with the rest of the episode's pace in terms of building up the characters and world.

Otherwise tho, I love what was shown here; I'm glad I had to bust my ass and download a full ass game engine just to see it LMAOOOO. If the rest of the series carries the groundwork from this episode, then this can be the best Sonic cartoon series we've ever had, which makes me very excited. Can't wait for the 15th!

[theparadoxspace]

5 Through 10

5. Game(s) coming out that you’re looking forward to

hmm well, Zelda Tears of the Kingdom of course but besides that...

system shock remake, final fantasy xvi and vii rebirth, street fighter 6, tekken 8, pikmin 4, and a toooooooon of indies like hades II, earthblade, gloomwood, etc i could make an endless list here

6. A series you’ve enjoyed since your early days of gaming and still enjoy to this day whether it still has games coming out or is one you return to

i wanna say sonic but there was a time where i was just not buying sonic games until like. mania and now frontiers.

but other than that, resident evil and basically most big nintendo stuff like mario, zelda, pokemon, metroid, etc

7. A series you’ve lost interest in

i already answered this but i could probs come up with a different one uhhh... idk i guess i dont really care about dead rising anymore. 1 and 2 are good and i wouldnt mind a remake or remaster of 1 but anything after 2 just seems... bad. and not in a fun way

8. A series you haven’t played but are interested in trying

im really interested in the tales of games and the valkyrie profile games

9. A game you played completely blind with no prior knowledge of and enjoyed/loved

i think most indies ive played have been like this but just to say one....

signalis

10. A console and/or handheld you’ve never played but would like to try

oooh sega dreamcast. i like the weird ass controller

[ukulele-mixtape]

last night i finished my sa2 playthrough and i will say it holds up substantially more than i remember and initially gave it credit for...!

so i wanna ramble about it for a bit!

it's definitely the game i see the most replay value for, as the games past this era really don't house that same level of difficulty for those A ranks. (though i heard unleashed is really challenging, i just don't have a way to play it atm)

it's quite comical going straight into sa2 right after sa1 bc the tone is so drastically different it's almost like whiplash. having sa1 start w sonic chilling on a rooftop while the cops are racing to fight a water demon with guns and then hanging out by the pool the next day in comparison to the literal next game being that same blue gumball son of a bitch running from the cops while committing mass amounts of property damage (or if you're starting the dark story first, it's eggman breaking into a highly secure government facility, kicking ass and taking names) is the funniest contrast in the world.

girlie it's insane back to back. and it gets even worse when you realize the game that comes next in the lineup is fucking heroes. complete tonal whiplash and i wouldn't have it any other way.

as an answer to my initial question on whether or not knuckles' stages would hold up better for me in sa2 or sa1, i honestly still can't really say. i think both are still very fun and chill, though i kinda disliked rouge's stages a bit. aesthetically they're great but in practice i'm still kinda mad that emerald pieces can move around when you're trying to fight against a wind current in attempts to catch them.

what surprised me the most was how much i ended up vibing w eggman's mech stages in particular! not so much tails' and i genuinely can't seem to figure out what the difference is, but i'm chalking it up to it being the novelty of being the bad guy and just fucking up government property. that shit ruled even if the controls boil down to "lock on targets and just shoot them". gaining the most points out of a chain of baddies is really fun!!!

sonic/shadow stages are lit, but that's to be expected. shadow having only 4 stages to sonic's 6(?) still makes me laugh so hard when he is literally why anyone bought this game in the first place. having such a fan favorite be shafted in the literal game he debuted will never not be a Certified Sonic Team Classic. (sonic's crazy gadget can eat my ass tho why did it take me so long to get that one light speed dash section right goddamnit)

i will say that i do suck shit at sonic games in general so having the level design and ranking system in particular actually mean something is quite refreshing to look back on. i'm hoping maybe with the success of frontiers they can get that speedrun type level design to work better so those ranks will actually matter. i shouldn't be getting an s rank on a stage i fell off of. sa2 will spit in your face if you so much as stub a toe on a GUN mech. it rules.

overall, fun game! i think the story at it's base level is serviceable without any hindsight of the other games that came after it, and shadow barely being involved also kinda makes me laugh given how popular this man is. but it also works too bc he spends most of his time just kinda gathering the emeralds and watching as eggman does the work of activating that eclipse canon for him. he's just lying in wait watching the world burn and i think that's kinda badass.

wish the story would have actually delved into maria and especially gerald's stuff a bit more as the impact of their story isn't really as put together as it should be. i don't think getting hindsight off of instruction manuals and interviews is a good way to get your main antagonist's motivation across, but it's a nitpick i can live w bc i know ESRB ratings are kinda weird. (also his arc afterward is pretty dope)

i probably will tackle heroes next over the weekend so i'm very excited to continue this abrupt self induced journey...!

[ag147chaos]

Blue Rat Blues

I'll be real... I don't want to write about Sonic again. The feeling will probably change at some point, I'll write an ending to all those Adventure reviews then but until then I'll just resolve myself to just not worry about it. Those writings were supposed to be rust breakers anyways, now it's been a long ass time since I posted anyways lol. Also never writing about Frontiers again, game is weird.

[pumpkinstep]

I started playing sonic frontiers and these are my thoughts on it:

I love the idea of an open world exploration based sonic game, it seems fun and cool. of course I'm aware of other sonic titles that did this sort of thing but fun regardless.

the collectable aspect is kinda garbage and having to figure out how to get to certain places really sucks because the sky is crowded with railings and booster rings. there's a lot of crap just floating around up there and I easily get lost trying to collect hearts.

I also hate that this this weird and super out of place slot machine machanic that happens sometimes? why is that needed? it's super strange and confusing.

in relation to the weird slot machine, the meteor shower is like sonics blood moon? cool I guess but why bring back the mini bosses too? I kinda really hate that. there's a lot of mini bosses that get in the way of exploration and collecting, forcing you to slow down for a tedious fight you already just did. it's super lame.

as for the time trials, they're very difficult and often confusing despite how linear they are. they usually require multiple runs to figure out the track and meet the goals. I feel this wastes a lot of time, especially since they're required to progress. I often find myself falling through objects that should be solid but aren't. maybe it's that way for performance reasons but it still sucks ass to want to catch yourself from falling off the track only to fall right through something you thought was solid.

speaking of, is it just me or is it super hard to tell how sonic will jump and which direction he'll go? I'm usually good about telling distance between jumps but it seems really hard in this game. sometimes he seems to go in completely random directions when I try to switch rails and a lot of the time, I overshoot my jumps or fall through rails. I'm no stranger to grinding in video games but this seems quite silly. one time I tried swapping rails and he jumped backwards by a huge amount. for what reason? I have no idea.

I really want to like this game, there's a lot to want to like about it, like the music and implied lore and world design but it's really hard to do when you want to 100% run it