#from boom to modern to mania/classic

[crunchchute]

what would u say or reccomend to someone who knows nothin about sonic but is a bit interested in the fandom o_o

hmm thats a tough one! first, it depends on if youre more of a gamer or a watcher - im a watcher so i will look at it from that perspective. im also biased towards modern sonic... so classic sonic media is not my thing, at all.

ive seen a lot of people get into the fandom through the sonic movies! its its own continuity and sort of a one-off thing, so i guess that could be a nice simple start. cons: the movies arent perfect, and you might get caught up in the human lore instead, like me over here. but you get to experience the cutest sonic ever so, win?

if you dont mind kids audience focused media, the sonic prime show coming out currently (new season tomorrow!) is also pretty cute, But everyone is a bit ooc there!! so im not sure if its good for the first watch? sonic is a tad dumbed down, everyone else is an alternate version of themselves, except shadow, he has like the best writing Ever here. my opinion but i think many would agree...

if youre not a serious person, you could go my route and get into the fandom through sonic boom - i started watching it because i was also a bit interested in the fandom but the games were too overwhelming (and i really suck at them, honestly) boom is also like an AU for sonic, but its hilarious (if that sort of humor is your thing)

if you wanted to read - i would recommend the IDW sonic comics, specifically the 2018 one. gorgeous artwork, has its own story, introduces really cool new characters but also focuses on the main cast. im not caught up on the current story but i read the zombot part and it was really fun.

sonic boom also has a comic, you could check that out before watching the show to get a taste of the humor (its not taking itself seriously At All, and i love it)

if you wanted to check out the games, i guess sonic mania and sonic adventure 1 and 2 are probably the best to go with? i only played SA2 myself and i failed miserably, but you could emulate any of the older games on pc easily. or find a streamer/youtuber you like, maybe they played sonic before :] frontiers also has good reviews but as a true sonic fan, i havent played it myself 😌 (the sountrack is all bangers tho. honestly, sonic as a franchise has like the best music ever, i think the only franchise that is on the same level for me is homestuck and undertale when it comes to music, but they got fucking kellin quinn and one ok rock on this. unreal)

honorable mention: snapcube sonic dubs. literally, go watch 2006 sonic real time fandub, it was one of the things that also tipped me over to fully explore the fandom, i kid you not

[miloscat]

[Review] Sonic Forces (PS4)

An underrated Sonic game...?

After Sonic Generations in 2011, Sonic Team experimented with a different format in Lost World. 2017's Forces is then a follow-up of sorts to Generations with the Classic and Modern versions of Sonic in the game bringing their respective gameplay styles. They are joined by a third gameplay style in Forces... and now I must convey to you a conspiracy theory, and the reason I'm playing this immediately after the Boom games (also I finished watching the show, it's very good).

The timing of Boom as a high-profile spinoff and some 2016 promotional artwork depicting the three Sonics together may suggest that at some point in development Boom's Sonic was to appear alongside the other two. There is some evidence in the final product to support this: the third element in Forces is the custom character, who has swappable Wisp-powered weapons and... a grappling hook, which is not dissimilar to Boom's Enerbeam. Some lines in the script about Classic Sonic being from another dimension have led people to assume they were repurposed from referencing Boom's Sonic; I consider this a red herring due to the timeline of scripting and early drafts we have access to, but I could be wrong. More convincing is the final boss—the "Death Egg Robot"—having a suspiciously similar appearance to Lyric's mech suit, perhaps leftover assets being reused. Boom Sonic's scarf and sports-tape bedecked gloves and shoes are available as Avatar cosmetics, so it's not like Boom was totally memory-holed either way. There's never been any official statements about this, so we have to piece together what information we have, but it seems plausible enough to me. Now with that out of the way...

On the surface Forces seems to be taking a "darker and grittier" angle on the Sonic universe (although I'd argue that many games in the series have been trying this to various degrees since Adventure). The characters talk about war sometimes and the "Eggman has taken over 99.99% of Mobius while Sonic has been tortured in space prison for six months" plot sounds absurdly melodramatic, but once the game gets going it's mostly pretty light on in its tone and themes, not much different to other Sonic games. A handful of Sonic's friends do stuff off-screen and chat to you over the radio; I wish they'd pulled out all the stops for character appearances given the stakes of the story, but oh well. No Blaze, again.

The new co-antagonist is Infinite, the try-hard-iest edgelord you've ever seen with the dumbest, most awesome metal theme song. His illusion powers make for one or two cool level concepts, but often they are just a simple plot device. These powers also enable the reuse of previous antagonists like Zavok (snore) and Shadow... also Chaos is there in one cutscene and then proceeds to do sweet bugger all for the rest of the game. Some missed opportunities here.

Forces lifts the Classic Sonic crossover concept from Generations without much interrogation. He just shows up through a portal for no reason and since he’s one of those silent protagonists for no reason, he isn’t even able to tell anyone about the Phantom Ruby (the source of Infinite’s powers) also appearing in Mania, which none of the other characters remember for no reason (something something other dimension??). His sidescrolling Classic-style levels were my least favourite but I’m glad they were included for a change of pace. He’s also been given Mania’s drop-dash which is a great snappy movement upgrade.

Modern Sonic is your standard boosting 3D corridors / 2D sections / rail grinding gameplay with homing attacks and stomps. The really interesting new addition is of course the Avatar, whose gameplay is a little slower paced and includes swinging and the Wispon. You choose from various weapons between stages and some are much more useful in certain levels; I wish the game indicated a recommendation. But most of them have powerful attacks for smashing groups of badniks as well as fun movement tech. A fourth level style has Modern Sonic team up with the Avatar, combining their abilities.

The story plays out across a world map, going back and forth sporadically over the eight or so different environments. Of course many of these are throwback biomes, but with fun twists like a desertified Green Hill or a casino/jungle, and they invariably look colourful and detailed. The 30 levels are quite short on average (and some are even reused wholesale between characters), but I don’t mind this. It makes revisiting them for collectibles and missions breezier, and I ended up 100%ing the game thanks to this. Free DLC added three new Shadow levels plus the ability to play as Shadow in parts of the main game, as well as the option for Super Sonic which made those repeat runs even more painless. I believe this is also the first big Sonic game to do away with the concept of extra lives entirely, which I must applaud wholeheartedly.

I’ve gone too long now without really getting into the Avatar/Rookie/Buddy, which really is a genius feature. People have been making their own Sonic OCs for forever, so integrating that in the game is an easy win. I loved creating characters that aren’t otherwise in the game, like Blaze, Sticks, or Fang, characters from other Sonic media like Tekno, Bunnie, or Sally, and even other furry-type characters like Krystal or Bubsy. I then adored unlocking more and more costume parts and dressing them up! It’s a great incentive to engage with the mission structure. It’s too bad you’re locked to one type until you beat the story, so I picked Tekno as my primary for the bird’s double jump ability. Truly this concept is powerful, and I’d love to see it expanded in future games since the options for customisation can feel limited. This definitely needs another pass.

My final point is about what I think is one of Forces’ greatest strengths: the soundtrack. While still grinding out Avatar levels and mission unlocks, I sought out the game’s music to listen to at work. I used to think I disliked vocal tracks playing over gameplay but I was wrong! (Maybe I just don’t like Crush 40, but don’t tell the Sonic fans I said that.) Whenever the main theme Fist Bump kicked into the chorus during a double boost, I got hype every time, that song is sick as hell! The Classic Sonic Mega Drive-style tracks rock, Infinite’s theme is a banger, even the jingles are a joy... the game is just infused with track after track of cool techno-symphonic music in different tones. Truly I developed a deep respect for lead composer Tomoya Ohtani playing this game (even though I already thought he did a great job on Rush Adventure and Unleashed).

Before playing Forces for myself, I just knew that fans thought of it as "one of the bad ones", that it was supposedly farmed out to a B-team and half-baked to mediocrity. Sure it's got flaws and weaknesses, the story is dumb, the bosses aren't great... but it's solid, stylish, and I thought it had such a fun energy and so much cool stuff; now it's my favourite 3D Sonic game! To be fair I haven't played that many of them, so I'm going to work on that. Either way I've learned by now that my feelings on Sonic often go directly against the grain of mainstream opinion, and I'm so totally fine with that if it means I can listen to Fist Bump on repeat over here in the corner. It's a brand new day...!

[kellodrawsalot]

You know what I agree with the anonymous same here Sonic forces is a terrible game and it should have never been made it is the worst Sonic game I'm not joking it's such a disappointment on every level the gameplay is super linear sure Samsung games are linear but at least you had multiple paths and where to go like Heroes and stuff even the Boost games.

The Avatar is okay but it could be better the only thing good about it is the customization and that's it.

And classic sonic is garbage man he plays so horribly like a spinach came have good momentum.

And the story is such a big disappointment it's all hyped up be like this back to Sonic being all dark and edgy again like stuff like Shadow the Hedgehog and 06 but no it doesn't go anywhere talking about Warren can a kids game and stuff like what or even Kid series can talk about dark things but again it's the execution is done so wrong and waste of potential on infinite as a character the prequel comment was leading up to something hell I didn't even the comics are way more better and don't get me started on tails seeing him being all calling for Sonic's help that was like an insult to Sonic Adventure 1 when he was going up against chaos in that game.

I swear Whoever likes this game is a complete idiot I'm not over exaggerating I'm sorry but I just can't stand this game at all this game just makes people change his people in the most stupidest way defending it is the dumbest thing ever what I've seen from some people this game is just totally garbage like man you had Sonic Mania what more did you want and you got you were going for the Classic route did we really need another modern game at the moment had a lot bring back that retro Style kind of agree with the anonymous it's like a bunch of keys jangling and some damn people's faces it's up there with sonic boom rise of lyric and shattered Crystal forever this will be the worst Sonic game and I got 06 was bad but at least it's playable again this game is not complete at all or it's even fun I want the whole world to know my opinion about this game it just sucks!!!

instead why not play a better game that's better written?

I suggest:

[sonic-macguffin-matchup]

Semifinals: Match 1

The Phantom Ruby:

Has the power to create illusions so real they actually affect you. A bruise in a dream affecting your real life body.

Requires a power source, but scales accordingly, with the source apparently not even needing to be nearby.

The wielder can hit through a super form, as displayed by heavy king in the final boss of sonic mania.

Can also travel through time/dimensions. Shown by bringing classic from his timeline to the modern timeline.

The Rock of Justice:

Forged to ensure the light always drove back the dark

Created by The Ancients (Boom)

The single most powerful relic in the history of the world

Can enact swift and righteous justice, but only once.

[greenyvertekins]

Sticks, along with being a character that was conceptualize by Sega and NOT meant to downplay Cream, doesn't have much from Boom to weight her down. Thus is easier to bring over with little problems; which she technically has in spin-offs and enough to earn a profile on Sonic Channel. (If the narrative allows it, I actually wouldn't mind certain old game characters being brought back into recurring ones. If fans were happy to have Classic characters like Mighty and Ray back in Mania, and some willing to give Modern characters like Silver and Infinite second chances after their [clumsy] debut, Elise should have the same luxury. Would love a setting that plays around with this.)

Agreed on all points. Though I still don't like Sticks much despite being used outside her home continuity. I don't hate her, I just don't find her the least bit interesting.

[joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

sonic dash character wishlist for fun lol

and I guess this also could apply to Speed Battle, but yeah idk I just had this thought and it seemed fun. Tried to keep it reasonable, as in didn’t do Archie characters because christ.

every exclusive character in Speed Battle and vice versa - kind of a no brainer there, just kinda have everyone that’s in Speed Battle only get in Dash. Your Gawains, Super Shadows, Chaos, Tikals, Eggmans, every fucking variant of every character ever in existence, several more, yeah. And vice versa because sure fuck it Speed Battle can have Pirate Sonic and Captain Shadow.

Super Silver - like we already have Super Sonic and movie Super Sonic and then Speed Battle has Super Shadow so you know, round out the trilogy. And give us what I believe would be Super Silver’s 2nd game appearance ever? Would be cool.

Burning Blaze - we do have more Super forms than the literal Super forms! Give Burning Blaze some love she’s been MIA since 2007 and the world needs her.

Lamorak and Galahad - so Gawain is only in Speed Battle and Dash+ for Apple Arcade atm but it’s easy to assume he’ll make it into main Dash and then we’ll have all the playable knights from Black Knight. But only the single player. So yo give us Lamorak and Galahad too, round out the collection, would give Jet and Silver more alts, would be cool, you know, the usual stuff.

Emerl and Gemerl - putting 2 for one here because would just be reskins anyway, but fuck it why not, right? More cool robot characters. I could maybe pass on Emerl since canonically dead but tbf for a mobile game without a story that shouldn’t really matter, but either way there’s no excuse for Gemerl give my man a chance.

Classic Tails, Knuckles and Amy - Classic Sonic is in these games but these other characters despite having been featured in recent classic media are not. Add them, like, fuck it right?

Mighty and Ray - and while we’re on the classic train these dudes came back and got in Mania yo! And if they’re stuck to be considered classic characters only then whatever I’ll cope but yo throw them in the funny mobile game.

Fang, Bean and Bark - same as above actually, though with less emphasis because they didn’t get to be playable in Mania and also I do not like them as much.

Marine - tons of people want this dead character to return and I say fuck it why not, a harmless mobile game appearance could be fun.

Sticks - seems to have been adopted into modern canon anyway with the reference in Frontiers plus recent Sonic Channel artwork and stuff so hey put her in Dash, give her more time in the limelight.

every Boom variant of the rest of the cast - I’d be less bothered to get this than Sticks since she’s actually a new character but still would be fun, make Dash and Speed Battle even more kinda comprehensive in their collection of characters from across the franchise.

at least Riders Sonic - see I was playing Jet in Dash for the hell of it because I just pick whoever and I thought “god extreme gear is cool” and it made me think “huh they could put Riders Sonic in this game as a variant and give him his board and stuff” and actually that’s what inspired this entire post lol. It’s “at least” because if you’re gonna do Riders Sonic you may as well do Riders Tails and Knuckles and Shadow and Amy and so on and so on

Zik, Zomom and Zor - yeah I don’t really like the Deadly Six but the other 3 are in Speed Battle and in this hypothetical world get into Dash so you know, may as well actually complete the Six part of the Deadly Six.

Surge and Kit maybe? - I’m less sure about this one because frankly I don’t really like either of these characters that much but yk, Tangle and Whisper already made it so IDW precedent is there, and Surge especially people do seem to like a lot. Could just throw them in and it would be neat like yeah.

Movie Shadow and Movie Super Shadow - like honestly if there’s anyone on this list that I fully expect will make it into the game it’s these, but it’ll have to wait until movie 3 actually comes out so like lol. But hey just mentioning them ahead of time because then I get to claim I predicted it and everyone will call me badass and a gamer.

the Chao lmao - I think it’d be funny if you could play as Chao in Sonic Dash lol. Just do like Cheese and a Hero Chao and a Dark Chao and maybe the three Chaos Chao variants, are we pushing this out of the realm of possibility yet?

some more robotic Sonics - Neo Metal Sonic because fuck it it’s an alternate form he has that why not have in a silly mobile game. Mecha Sonic and Mecha Sonic mk.II (aka Silver Sonic and Mecha Sonic lmao) both appeared in Lego Dimensions and then respectively appeared in some toyline and the IDW comics respectively so like sure SEGA haven’t forgotten they exist. So put them in Sonic Dash for the fun of it!!!!!!!!

okay yeah I think that’s all I’ve got right now. List definitely got a bit sillier and me less passionate about some of the characters as we got further down but idk I think this could be neat. That’s it end post.

[lord-nikon-vent-editon]

This is just a taste of the stories I can write. Enjoy, good people!//

Shuffling through the endless halls of the ExEverse, Lord X prowles his ‘ kingdom ‘. They feared the lord for his sheer power, his great enjoyment of causing pain. He was the embodiment of what most desired to be. Though, with power: came a steep price. Unlike others, his hosts decayed at a significantly faster pace.

From one of the various monitors, a human would seem to crawl out. This human seems on the younger side, around his early 20s. He looked fresh from a metal concert. He had a sleeveless black shirt, with a pair of spiked arm braces on each arm. He donned a black necklace, one that held a silver circular emblem with fence-like spikes. Other than the black boots and Jeans, you would easily mistake him for your average emo kid. Oh how wrong you’d be. The human was coated in a black mist, before revealing his normal form. It was your average Sonic; except this one has a purple X slashed into his chest. Along the tips of his quills, and his knees and elbows: glowing purple crystals grew on the quills.

After brushing his claws through his quills, Xenophanes face grew to quick disgust. The rancid, rotting smell of Lord X’s corpse invaded his nose. “ X, how dare you keep that host! It’s putrid! “ Xenophanes growled out, waving his claw in front of his face. Lord X let out a frightening cackle, letting gravity have his head lean down and stare back at the fellow alien. “ This body is fine! I will not replace my creation!” He barked out, waving off Xenophanes arrogant demands. He continued shuffling down the halls, just searching for chaos to observe.

Xenophanes would stomp over, placing an arm on his rotting shoulder. “ You WILL make a new host! I refuse to accept anything else!” They barked out, wanting to assert his dominance to the ruler. Xenophanes intended to be the ruler of this void, so what better option to show he has the guts. Lord X’s head snapped back like an owl, his red eyes glowing bright. “ You do not understand how difficult it is to conjure a new body! Building life is more than you can imagine!” X sternly told, growing annoyed by Xenophanes’s tone. “ Then we will find you a new host. I will guide you to a suitable hedgehog if I must.” Xenophanes bargained, not slightly frightened or bothered by his anger.

X went silent, but would give a soft chuckle. “ Fine. You will find me a suitable host, or I will make your body MY host!” He agreed, wanting to see what they might drag to him. Xenophanes smirked, crossing his arms behind their back. “ Come, old man. We’ll get you a body that actually works.” Xenophanes mocked, guiding them through the endless white halls. With each step, quills and fur dropped from Lord X’s body. The crystal coated hedgehog led them to one of the blank monitors; a universe that has yet to be inhabited by a ExE. Though many would only see a black screen, the two could see that it was during the time of Sonic Mania.

“ Classic era. If done right, his young body will be able to hold you for a long time.” Xenophanes offered, standing behind the monitor that showcased the world. “ Too Cliché. Everyone always aims for him. “ Lord X denied, gently shaking his rotting head. Xenophane quietly growled in annoyance, and continued down the hall. “ If you want unique, there is the Boom Sonic.” He offered, jogging ahead of the limping corpse, patting the top of the power up monitor like it was a car. “ I am going to pretend you didn’t even offer me that.” He chuckled out, shuffling ahead of the annoyed Xenophanes.

He leaned against the monitor, gently rubbing his closed eyes. Xenophanes rew quickly impatient. “ Oh, this one’s perfect!” Lord X chuckled out, kneeling in front of the monitor like a child watching a TV. Xenophanes slowly stomped behind him, peaking over his rotting shoulders to see. “ During Forces? Why?” He questioned, as it was just a regular modern Sonic. “ You’ll see, in time. This will lead to a great domino effect.” Lord X joyfully crawled into the monitor, phasing through the screen; followed soon after by the fellow hedgehog.

Sonic ran through the halls of the Death Egg, right at the end of the stage. As he was about to make his escape, some of the lights would cut. Only two illuminated the catwalk he stood on, as darkness pooled around. “ Man, did egghead run out of power?” Sonic teased, staying in the only illuminated area. “ Guess this is the problem of making a fake Zavok.”

A pair of footsteps was heard on the metal catwalk, causing him to quickly look back. “ Which Badnik is it this time?” He questioned, trying to peer through the darkness. Squinting, his eyes caught two red ones. “ Metal Sonic, huh? Why not bring those lights back on before we duke it out!” The hedgehog taunted, bouncing in place a bit. “ Oh, poor hedgehog. You don’t know what you're facing!” Lord X teasing, slowly shuffling into the light. Sonic winced, disgusted by the scent and sight of the possessed corpse. “ Man, is Eggman trying to beat me by grossing me out?” Sonic taunted, thinking this might be an illusion from the Phantom Ruby or some robot.

“ Why not put that confidence to the test, hedgehog. We’ll see if I’m one of the doctor’s disappointing robots!” X encouraged, placing both his arms behind his back. Sonic chuckled, speeding over to the rotting faker. Sonic jumped up, attempting to land a punch straight into their face. A grin grew on X’s face, as an arm shot out from his mouth. It grabbed Sonic by the neck, countering their attempt and slamming them into the floor. Echoed laughter filled the space station, as he leaned down to stare them down. “ I am more than you can ever imagine, Sonic! And you’ll be serving me well!” Lord X taunted, his arm letting up a bit on their neck to not choke him. Sonic would weakly cough, trying to pull their arm off his neck. “ What do you even want from me?” He questioned, even trying to kick the alien off.

“ You can probably see: my flesh is decaying. “ Lord X explained, moving one of his hands to cover half of his face. “ And as you can tell, you look like a perfect host!” X told, his claw digging into his face; pulling the left half of it completely off. Sonic yelled out a frightened scream, before gagging as he was about to throw up. Lord X’s other claw slammed Sonic’s head onto the ground, making it lay to its side. “ Not on my new body!” He barked out. His hand peeled off the other side of his face; revealing a pitch black void. Though: his pair of red X eyes remained inside the darkness. Sonic struggled, trying to keep himself from heaving and vomiting from what he witnessed.

From the black void, a pair of arms slowly shot out the body like a suit. Sonic gave a blood curdling scream, seeing a monster crawl out of the Sonic costume. It was like seeing cthulhu; a form so mind boggling and impossible to understand, that it put the hedgehog into mind shattering panic. The true form of X stared down, before reaching onto Sonic’s chest. Slowly: he extracted the screaming soul of Sonic out, before leaving his body as a husk. X pulled their mouth open; amazingly slipping into the new body like he was putting on a pair of pants. Once the monster possessed the body, Lord X slowly sat up.

Opening the hollow eyes; Sonic’s once green eyes were replaced by Lord X’s red crossed ones. “ So: you now have the body you desire. How does it feel?” Xenophanes questioned, emerging from the other side of the catwalk. He stood up, stretching his body. “ Certainly is snug; but I’ll break into it.” Lord X casually told, growing his usual menacing grin. His body looked similar to his first form, with fresh blood slowly seeping down his cheeks. Back when he was still tormenting Tom. A small X would slowly fade onto the chest, though I’d certainly take a while before it became as noticeable as his last body.

“ Now: come. I have a realm to observe.” He told, clapping together and bringing his arms apart to summon a red ring. The two monsters entered, with the ring vanishing as they both entered; leaving behind X’s old rotting corpse. Occasionally: He’d return to observe this random world, watching the chaos that spawns without their Sonic. Even with the new guy and classic, they couldn’t even beat the Eggman’s army. Oh: the joy this chaos brought to X. Truly, it is a wonderful sight

[nineratsinatrenchcoat]

I saw your post saying you were wanting to get into Sonic but weren't sure where to start, and it depends a little on what you're looking for! If you're interested in old school pixelated games, Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic Mania are considered the best of those pretty unanimously.

If you want more story-heavy content, either of the Adventure games are good places to start! Sonic Unleashed is also a good story option if you want something with less dated presentation.

For non-games, Sonic X (original Japanese because 4kids messed with it) is a solid, fun anime that adapts the Adventure games as well as doing its own thing. Sonic Boom is a great comedy focused more on witty humor than slapstick, though it deviates more obviously from mainstream characterization. And while I haven't personally watched it, the fanbase thinks highly of Sonic SatAM (a classic-styled cartoon with a darker tone)

The IDW comics follow up after Sonic Forces, but that isn't inherently required viewing to understand the comics. They're also more story-heavy and sometimes get pretty dark but it's also a lot of fun and the art is amazing!

One last thing - the modern movie series is stellar and has garnered a ton of new respect for the franchise, and it doesn't take as long to catch up with as the cartoons.

Hopefully that helped, and have fun getting into this franchise!

Thank you so so much for this ask! I’m a little embarrassed I haven’t seen it til now - I’ll probably use the modern movies as a starting point and continue with the comics.

[blazehedgehog]

It's unendingly a hot topic on Twitter, so: How would YOU categorize Sonic's various "eras," as someone who has been with the series through all of them?

Sonic Generations seemed to define it the way I saw it in my head.

The "Classic Era" is everything from 1990 to 1998. Sonic 1, 2, 3, CD, Spinball, 3D Blast, Sonic R, and so on.

The "Dreamcast Era" is everything from 1999 to 2006. Sonic Adventure 1, 2, Heroes, Shadow, and Sonic 06.

Sonic Unleashed kicked off what was considered the "Modern Era", but should probably be called something else now. Boost era?

This is harder to define because it's hard to pin down an ending. Unleashed, Colors, and Generations to be sure, and Sonic Forces feels like it has to be a shoe-in, even though we have a lot of things mucking it up. Sonic 4, Sonic Boom, Lost World, Sonic Mania, etc.

We could call it the "Nostalgia Era". That feels like it leaves out Unleashed and Colors, but lines up way easier from Generations to Forces. I like that more, but in my mind it's still "The Modern Sonic Era."

Sonic Frontiers could be the beginning of a new era, for better or worse.

[idw-sonic-fan-blog]

The Mandates

Just wanted to share my thoughts on the pro-ported mandates because they cast a shadow on this comic.

“Game characters cannot have relatives unless they were estabilished in the game canon, i.e. Cream and her mother.”

This one is understandable and you can blame Penders for this. Mind you that most licensed comics of gaming franchises don’t actually delve too much in personal family relationships or expand on them. So this is expected and honestly Sega should have put the screws on Archie decades ago about this.

“Game characters can not die. There are workarounds for this, such as being Mistaken for Dying or "Mistaken For Dead”

Again. Yes. Not a big deal.

“Game characters cannot have wardrobe changes unless approved. Chao Races and Badnik Bases has some characters (mainly the female game characters) wear different clothes for extreme conditions. Male characters remain the same.”

This is a useless rule but whatever. I mean Sega, you are the ones putting bad wardrobe choices on the characters so again it’s whatever.

“Sonic can't be shown getting too emotional (i.e;cry)”

This is one that it complained about because it really wouldn’t matter unless it is called attention to. A lot of superheroes don’t cry. But that doesn’t prohibit them from expressing themselves. IDW Sonic has been sad. He has been pissed. He has been furious.

Is this not too emotional?

Is he not expressing himself appropriately?

I don’t even know why this is brought up. When in this comic has Sonic not been expressive or displaying the appropriate amount of emotion? When did Sonic needing to cry be necessary?

“Game characters cannot enter in a relationship.”

Oh GOD YES. Don’t threaten me with a good time.

“All major Character Development must be approved by SEGA.”

Yeah, of course. Let me remind you that Penders and Archie ruined any strand of trust Sega could have in comic media. They played loose at first and all of the sudden, they are involved in a lawsuit about characters in a Sonic comic that they didn’t even know about. They probably lost a video game business relationship because of it. If they want to be involved in the comics, fine. That means that they are now forced to World Build. They have to invest in it now and not just be like Lucas Films and let anybody do anything with their flagship title.

“Much like the post-reboot of the Archie comic, the words "Mobius" is banned—the planet is simply called "Sonic's World". Unlike the Post-Boot, which allowed the names "Mobian" and "Mobini", anything related to Mobius is banned in this comic.”

…Of course but how about you throw the writer’s a bone and I don’t know, name the fucking planet. If it is not Earth, give it a name.

“Sonic must always win at the end. Even if he and his friends are at the losing end in an overarching story (the Metal Virus arc, for example), they must come out on top when it concludes.”

I don’t even get this rule and the knee jerk hatred for it. Why even have it? Why even share the existence of this rule? Archie Sonic didn’t really lose too bad. It’s more on how you frame a victory. The fact of the matter is that Eggman is still actively trying to conquer the planet. Sonic stops him but Eggman still has control of land and has military installations all over.

This rule is offset by this. While Sonic can’t lose, Sonic can’t completely win.

“Characters and material from other licensed properties (Sonic the Comic, Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics), Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM)', Sonic Underground, the OVA, Sonic X and the Paramount films cannot be used. This rule extends to characters and redesigns done by the current writers. The only exception is Sticks from Sonic Boom, and that's because she was created by SEGA themselves and showed up in non-Boom media, but any ideas regarding her use still need to be okayed by SEGA.”

First off I am glad that Sticks was spared by this rule and I look forward to her eventual inclusion. Second, again, this is not much of a big deal as it was expected. Sorry Freedom Fighter fans but honestly deal.

“Male characters, sans Eggman, can't wear pants, which was also a thing in the Post-Reboot, albeit never explicitly stated. The inverse is also true; female characters have to have some form of lower clothing.”

Okay this is a pedantic rule. It is so weird with how precise it is. Like…huh?

“Classic characters such as Mighty, Ray, Nack/Fang, Bean, and Bark won't appear in non-Classic issues, as Sega doesn't want Classic and Modern Sonic to mix.”

One of the most bullshit mandates fueled by the nostalgia boner fans created. Like this is stupid because Archie Modern Sonic has added more character and depth to all of these mentioned characters than any of the Sega Sonic games they appeared in which only amounts to 1 or 2 at most. Why neuter your own potential stories with this stupid limitation?

“According to Ian Flynn, a specific incident involving Shadow's characterization when he's exposed to the Zombot infection was written in a specific way because of Sega mandating that he be written as an "overconfident asshole rival" character, similar to Vegeta. He later followed up with an explanation that out of every character, Shadow has the most mandates and notes attached to how he's portrayed. According to the podcast, Sega says that Team Dark is no longer a thing. The three members are not a team and they have never worked for G.U.N.; Shadow also doesn't even consider them friends.”

This is my opinion is the worst rule. First it’s contradictory to the character Sega introduced us to. Stop trying to be like Dragon Ball for once and actually be your own thing. It’s one thing if we are changing it because Shadow was unpopular because of his personality. But no one likes this Shadow. People miss the somber but reserved Hedgehog that continued to fight in spite of the world betraying him. Hothead Shadow is a cheap Knuckles. And I don’t even understand why Shadow even has so many mandates when he wasn’t the most egregious offender. Knuckles was.

Also, Team Dark aren’t a thing and Shadow doesn’t even consider them to be his friends. First off that doesn’t even fly in your own games. Who outside of Sonic does Shadow interact the most? Rouge. They have teamed up and were a packaged duo since their inception. When Shadow appeared, Rouge appeared right next to him. If Rouge was in a game, so was Shadow.

Team Dark or just Rouge has fought alongside Shadow in every game they appeared in. Who else does Shadow talk to if not Rouge?

“Sega has stated to Flynn that only male hedgehogs are allowed to go Super with the Chaos Emeralds.”

Except in Sonic Mania.

“Ian isn't allowed to directly reference a game, since the comic is supposed to be its own thing.”

Okay. Not only is this rule stupid. But it’s untrue.

This references the end of Sonic Forces.

The first page of comic.

It has referenced Sonic Adventure, SA2, Sonic Generations , and Sonic Unleashed.

This referencing Shadow the Hedgehog.

I don’t believe this rule exists and even if it did, it is dumbest rule since the whole point of this comic is to base it off the games more. The dumbest rule.

“Knuckles is not allowed to leave Angel Island unless he has a very good reason to.”

For decades, people have complained that Knuckles routinely leaves the island. For decades. Now does this mean Sega is going to 1. Use Knuckles and 2. Amplify the importance of Angel Island and the Master Emerald? No. Again, this criticism should be levied at Sega because they often conveniently forget Knuckles purpose and just hand wave it instead of giving Knuckles more to do on the island like I don’t know, have other entities invested in attacking him.

In summary, here is what I think is going on. Do I think most of these mandates are real? Yes. Given what happened to Archie, I do think Sega is doing some brand alignment. I think they got the clamps on.

But what I think is going on is a Japanese cultural thing called Power Harassment. It is normalized abuse of power. Sega of Japan is normally laxxed about their brands. They don’t mind blatant rip-offs of their mascot nor do they get stiff about fandom creations or mods. The comic division, however, is getting tough love because not only did it cost them a publishing deal, but ruined a relationship with a high end developer. So the IDW writers and staff are being subjected to intentionally hypocritical rules and strict mandates that they know don’t make sense until they’ve shown to be obedient.

A lot of the mandates aren’t strict. But some are so asinine that I don’t think they aren’t aware with how stupid they sound imposing those rules. Like Shadow is the most narratively complete Sonic character and yet, Sega puts this tight mandate as if Archie Shadow was the most egregious thing. Archie Shadow was overpowered. He wasn’t out of character like Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails were. They can’t be that stupid or be that intentionally dense. So they want to see if the writing crew can follow orders. That’s it.

But that’s just my take.

[darkqueenofshadows85]

My Top 5 Unpopular Sonic Opinions

Greetings, mortals! Today, I'll be doing a list of my top five unpopular Sonic opinions.

Please keep in mind, this is MY OPINION! You don't need to agree with it, but please don't complain in the comments section if you disagree with this list.

Anyway, let us begin! ^^

5. Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) Are My Two Favorite Sonic Games

Yes, you read that correctly. I unironically love ShTH and Sonic 06. They are two of the most overhated and underrated games in my opinion. I played both of these games a lot as a kid, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. Their storylines are two of my favorites in the entire series, alongside SA2, Unleashed and Black Knight.

Also, both their soundtracks kick ass 😎

4. Black Doom is THE Best Sonic Villain

As I'm sure many of you know, I LOVE Black Doom. He's a great villain with a motive that actually makes sense. In my eyes, he is THE best villain in the entire Sonic franchise, far surpassing the likes of Dr. Eggman and Mephiles (although Mephiles is a great villain too, don't get me wrong)

I made a post explaining why Black Doom is an amazing character:

3. I Prefer Modern Sonic (specifically the 1998-2009 iteration) Over Classic Sonic

Oh boy... The fanbase is going to break me for this one...

I find the Classic Era to be low-key overrated to be honest. Sure, the classic games themselves have charm, but at the time, the lore/continuity hadn't been properly established yet, and it seemed like nobody was on the same page.

Take the old DiC cartoons for example. There wasn't much to work with in terms of continuity at the time, so the writers basically had to make up their own interpretation of the series. And then there's the small minority of Classic Era elitists who overpraise the Genesis games to jawdropping extremes and think that every Sonic game after S3&K is trash (with the exception of Mania).

And don't even get me started on how much SEGA has been milking Classic Sonic in recent years...

Don't get me wrong, I don't think the classic games are bad by any means, they are enjoyable in their own right, but I always found the 3D Sonic games (specifically the Adventure/Dark Era titles) to be more enjoyable in terms of both narrative and gameplay.

2. The Meta Era Is The Worst Thing That Ever Happened To Sonic

I've already made an entire post a while back ago explaining in detail why I hate the Meta Era, so I'll keep it brief.

To me, the Meta Era feels like Sonic in name only. Sonic was originally created as the antithesis of Mario, but after SEGA hit the reboot button in 2010, he essentially became a Mario clone, which goes against EVERYTHING the Sonic franchise stands for. The Sonic games from 1991-2009 all had complex themes/messages, while the Meta Era games only cared about jokes, and really shitty jokes at that. When such stupid lines as "Baldy Nosehair" & "No copyright law in the universe is going to stop me" are considered the height of comedy, you know you're in for a shit show.

Speaking of....

1. Sonic Boom Is The Worst Sonic TV Series Ever Made

I've heard a surprising amount of people say that Sonic Boom is a one of the best animated Sonic shows, and I honestly don't know why.

What do people see in this lame ass show that turned almost all of the characters (ESPECIALLY Knuckles and Shadow) into complete jokes?! I know a lot of people praise the show for its "smart, witty, self aware" humor, but to me, most, if not all, of its attempts at humor usually fall flat on their face.

Maybe it's just because I'm not in the target demographic for this show, but I find the meta humor and the series as a whole to be cringeworthy and annoying more than anything. In my eyes, Sonic is meant to be a serialized, story driven franchise, not an episodic sitcom. The entire Sonic Boom branding is a negative stain on the Sonic franchise that I do not want Sonic to be remembered for. If you happen to like this show, that's fine, more power to you. It's just not my cup of tea, personally.

Thanks for reading! I hope you guys enjoyed this list and I'll see you next time!! ^^

[thankskenpenders]

Since this sort of thing comprises like half the questions I get on here (seriously, I get a TON of questions about this), I decided to say fuck it and make a giant tier list of Sonic characters who aren’t in the IDW comics, ranked by how likely I think they are to return. Note that I have no insider information and some of this could be very wrong. This is just based on things the creative team have said and speculation based on general trends

This isn’t every character ever, obviously, but it sure is a lot of them, and you can figure out the trends yourself to account for other characters that weren’t on the two tier makers I combined to make this

Explanations for the tiers below the cut

HIGHEST LIKELIHOOD

Could come back? - Characters from the games who could theoretically show up with no major obstacles that I know of. (Honey is the most tenuous here. I don’t know if Sega would consider her a Classic character instead, or restrict her usage)

Classic Sonic only - Still on the table, it would just have to be in a Classic Sonic story since Sega is keeping that stuff separate. (The Battle Bird Armada are probably less likely to return than the other characters in this tier, who all made appearances in Mania, but who knows)

Humans - The IDW comics currently take place exclusively on Sonic’s world, which doesn’t have humans. They would have to travel to Earth to use the human supporting cast

MEDIUM LIKELIHOOD

Deceased, etc. - Self explanatory. Not off-limits to my knowledge, but they’re dead. (Tikal is not in this tier because she can appear as a ghost.)

Served their purposes - Could maybe come back, but it feels like they were only really created to appear in one game and Sega is in no rush to bring them back

Currently off limits - We know for sure that Sega doesn’t allow the use of these game characters right now, but this could always change

Sonic Boom - With the Sonic Boom subfranchise canceled, it’s unknown if any of the characters will ever pop up in other media. (Sticks is the most likely to return, of course, having been used already in a couple non-Boom spinoff games)

LONG SHOTS

DiC characters - The casts of SatAM and AoStH. We know that Ian is fighting for the Freedom Fighters to return in some form, but it’s not gonna be easy to get them back, and the rights situation there is confusing. (That being said, it’s definitely not impossible.)

Archie reboot cast - This is less of a rights thing and more of a “they want to tell new stories and not recycle too much Archie material right now” thing. Status unknown. It’ll be a nice surprise if any of them come back, but don’t count on it

GONE FOREVER

Pre-reboot Archie exclusives - Due to the legal battles, all characters introduced by Penders are his property and there’s no way in hell he’s ever giving them back. Sega could hypothetically negotiate with the other writers to license their characters, like Mina or Finitevus, but the odds of Sega having any interest in that are basically nonexistent. Don’t count on any of these characters ever showing up again outside of fan works and The Lara-Su Chronicles

From the games and cartoons - The echidnas from Sonic Chronicles are off limits forever due to the legal battles with Penders. Sega does not own the Sonic X cast or the cast of the OVA and is unlikely to license them. Sonic’s family from Sonic Underground are almost definitely gone forever because Sonic does not canonically have any relatives, and like hell would they ever bring back Sleet and Dingo. Ian has outright said that his attempts to use Tiara Boobowski have been shot down and Sega is unlikely to ever change their minds

THE MYSTERY ZONE

I just genuinely have no idea what the deal is with these characters. Like, Sega owns Wendy Witchcart, but would they ever use her? And do they have any interest in using the robot doppelgangers other than Metal Sonic these days? Who knows

All this is, of course, on top of the regular Modern Sonic cast, as well as all the new fan favorites like Tangle, Whisper, and Dr. Starline. There’s certainly no shortage of characters for the IDW comics to use, and they’re making great use of the ones that they have. I just get a ton of questions about all the characters who haven’t shown up, so like, here’s that

[wtfgaylittlezooid]

Tails is from sonic 2 onwards. Knuckles sonic 3 onwards. Mighty & the rest of the Chaotix (Vector, Charmy, Espio) are technically from Knuckles and the chaotix but you’ll get the modern chaotix trio proper in sonic heros, mighty vanished until mania, ray was from the segasonic spin-off arcade game and reappeared with mighty in mania, Amy & Metal Sonic appeared in sonic cd and then Amy got redesigned to her current look in adventure, they’ve shown up sporadically since. Adventure introduced gamma- who is not the robot you’re thinking of but still has a good story attached to him, and Big the Cat & Froggy, Tikal, and chaos (the little creature guys you can raise). Shadow and rouge are from adventure 2. Heros brings in omega. Shadow’s game has aliens and characters tying in directly with his adventure 2 backstory- tho it’s a bit of a mess (everyone gets to show up for a bit tho). Cream the rabbit and her chao Cheese and her mom vanilla were introduced in the sonic advance games. Blaze the cat from sonic rush. Silver’s from 06. Chip (& proto orbot) is from unleashed. Wisps, orbot and cubot are from colors. Then generations kinda made classic sonic and forces kinda decided to make him his own thing except maybe not? Who knows. Forces also has Buddy the wolf/create a character- i think comics might do more with him don’t quote me on that. Post 06 a lot of characters only showed up in spin-offs and they stuck mainly to sonic, tails, and eggman for plot stuff for awhile. Everyone else tended to cameo briefly really or not exist. Uh I guess there’s also the Babylon rogues from the riders games, and from old gamegear games nack the sniper/fang the weasel and Bean the dynamite and bark the polar bear- the latter two only really showed up in sonic the fighters but they’re a gang of three generally in comic media. And uh Emerl from sonic battle I guess. Sticks is from Sonic Boom- tho mainly the tv series and 3ds games for actual story use. That should be all the main characters and some main obscurish? ones, aside from the villains which I didn’t want to run down. And of course sonic and eggman are in most if not all main games- barring a couple spin-offs.

OHHH OKAY

[syotoyakurutoki]

So, after around 3 months of drawing, colouring and shading, it's finally done!

Happy 30th to our adorable, cool, and all around loveable, blue blur~! <3

For this picture, I wanted to combine as many of Sonic's variants/ as possible. Even though I haven't drawn EVERY type, I made sure to add objects/props which are related to a particular game and/or version of Sonic.

From bottom left to right;

- Super Sonic - Chaos Emeralds - Werehog - Modern Sonic (with Riders shoes and goggles and Chip's Bracelet from Unleashed) - Classic Sonic - SA2 Soap Shoes - Caliburn from SATBK - Rings - Chili dogs - Sonic 1 - Speed Up Item Box - Sonic OVA - Sonic CD - Sonic's guitar from Sonic Underground - SatAM - Mania Adventures Sonic - Neutral Chao - Sun/Moon Medals from Unleashed - Lamp from SATSR

Middle;

- Excalibur Sonic from SATBK - Neutral Chao Egg (SA1 and SA2) - Darkspine Sonic from SATSR - Boom Sonic - Sonic Overdrive Sonic

Top;

- Wisp from Sonic Colours - Dark Sonic - Adventure styled Sonic - Light Speed Dash Bracelet (SA1) - Movie Sonic - Bag of Rings - Sonic's backpack (from the movie) - The Seven World Rings - Hyper Sonic

All Sonics (c) SEGA

[bulgariansumo]

The Messy Relationship Between Sonic and Localization

Ask any Sonic fan and they’ll tell you that the fandom is one of the most fractured things to ever exist. It’s a miracle whenever we can all agree, and that usually comes from us collectively hating something (Sonic Movie’s original design, Ken Penders, etc.)--and even then, there’s a dedicated few who disagree. Many of us have such differing opinions on what the series “should” be, that satisfying all--or even a majority--of Sonic fans is next to impossible. How did it get this way? I think it has a lot to do with localization.

Classic Era

The 1990’s wasn’t the best decade when it came to localizing anything, especially not video games. Often, some creative liberties would be taken when adapting a source from Japanese to English.  The Sonic franchise was no exception to this. The first split comes from the game manuals. Me and @rontufox​ already made a post discussing this, but the Japanese manuals gave a little background info on the series’ lore and worldbuilding. The English versions gave a bare-bones description of the premise of each game, but that’s about it. There were no mentions of an apocalypse caused by people misusing the Chaos Emeralds, of Sonic finding the ring that would foreshadow Knuckles Chaotix, or of Knuckles thinking the Death Egg was a ‘Dragon’s Egg’ described in ancient legends. Sonic went to a bunch of colorful zones, beat up Dr. Robotnik, collected some magic stones, and maybe a new character or two would tag along, but there was nothing else to it. There was no dialogue and few cutscenes in the games at this time, so the English localizers could get away with this.

Since there wasn’t much to go on games-wise, English fans at the time got their perception of Sonic and his world from various comic and cartoon adaptations. The American-produced ones portrayed Sonic as an in-your-face smart aleck who was almost completely full of himself. The UK-produced Sonic the Comic starred Sonic as a self-described “cool guy” who cared little about the people around him, including friends. Whatever worldbuilding these adaptations had either didn’t exist or diverged completely from the games, because the writers, even if they did care, didn’t have much to go on. There also weren’t a lot of Japanese Sonic adaptations at the time, and the only one that got localized was Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie (aka Sonic OVA). To English-speaking fans, Sonic was an arrogant but funny hedgehog who despite everything, got the job done. Aside from Dr. Robotnik, other characters were an afterthought and could be replaced as needed.  

Adventure Era

Sonic Adventure released in 1998 with fully voice-acted cutscenes, and localization differences started catching up. Some things were easy to fix, such as Dr. Eggman (Robotnik’s name in Japanese) being a nickname for Dr. Robotnik. Other things weren’t that simple. For instance, some of those little things mentioned in the Japanese manuals started showing up again, specifically the apocalypse caused by people misusing the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic Adventure was a soft-reboot, where most previous characters and worldbuilding are still there, but some details are left behind so that newcomers have an easier time entering the series. There also might be changes in the series’ tone. For example, Sonic Adventure was somewhat more serious than previous games could be, but still overall lighthearted. This was also the first of many mainline games during this time to have an ensemble cast. Instead of just playing as Sonic, or maybe Tails and Knuckles, you were required to play all three of them plus other characters, with different stories and gameplay styles. This was a tall task, but these games pulled it off well enough to be very popular at the time. Themes of friendship became very prominent in the games around this time, and to further cement it, Sonic X, a Japanese-produced anime came out and got localized in the United States. Sonic was still a little cocky in English dubs of the games and anime, but he was also free-spirited and very supportive of his friends instead of being preoccupied with being the coolest person in the group. For the most part, his English and Japanese portrayals were nearly indistinguishable. Other characters also got more screentime and focus on their personalities, and popular new characters like Shadow and Rouge were introduced to the cast. All was going great.

Then 2006 came around. Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog (aka Sonic 06) came out, ushering in a period of very poorly received Sonic games, the latter being seen as a contender for the worst game of all time. Shadow the Hedgehog was an attempt at explaining why the titular character was alive after apparently being killed off Sonic Adventure 2, but the gritty and somewhat melodramatic tone was seen as ill-fitting for the Sonic franchise. The gameplay was also lacking, in part due to other characters tagging along with Shadow and repeatedly telling him hints and mission objectives. The problem of characters talking a lot mid-gameplay was present in Sonic Heroes, but the gameplay itself was passable enough that the game didn’t completely suffer for it. Shadow the Hedgehog tied up the last plot threads the Sonic Adventure series left behind, so the series had to go somewhere different. Sonic 06 was another soft-reboot, so that newcomers wouldn’t have to study up on the games from Sonic Adventure to Shadow the Hedgehog. Because the game was rushed for the holiday season, it was glitchy, didn’t feel good to play, and the writing was… very flawed. The game’s tone was slightly lighter than Shadow the Hedgehog, but still a little too melodramatic for most fans.

With all of these changes in mind, further splits in the English-speaking fandom occurred. Many vocal Classic fans were thrown off by the series being heavier on plot, worldbuilding, and Sonic’s friends. They wanted to go back to a time when none of that existed, and when Sonic was just an arrogant jokester--a time that only existed in 90’s US and UK. Newer, Adventure-era fans grew up with these new changes and loved them, though many of them were also not happy with Shadow the Hedgehog and subsequent games’s handling of these things. Because of Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic 06’s spectacular failure in handling different characters’ gameplay, one sentiment was repeatedly echoed--that only Sonic should be playable. Since then, with very few exceptions, only Sonic has been playable in mainline Sonic games. This still wasn’t enough to save the games. Games after Sonic 06 often had a core gimmick to them, many of which weren’t received well, and the ones that were got replaced by the next game. The writing had the same feeling to it, though. It shied away from the melodrama of the most hated entries, but still retained the sincerity of entries like Sonic Adventure.

Modern Era

That changed in 2011 with Sonic Colors. Instead of Sonic Team writing the games, they hired Ken Pontac and Warren Graff, two American writers known for working on Happy Tree Friends. Neither had much knowledge of the previous games’ characters, worldbuilding, or stories, but this was intentional. Sonic games sell less in Japan, so Sega probably wanted to put more focus into pleasing audiences in America and Europe. The two went off some basics about the characters and setting, and what little they knew previously. There is some supervision by Takeshi Iizuka, a longtime Sonic Team member who is currently the head of the series after creator Yuji Naka left in the mid-2000’s, but he is interested in the series going in a new direction. Sonic Colors was another soft reboot of the series, but because of the writer’s lack of knowledge about the series a lot more details were lost and changes made than in any of the previous ones. The writing is lighthearted, but most of the sincerity has been traded for attempts at comedy, which tend to be hit and miss. Sonic as a character retains his free spirit and some kindness towards his friends, but some of the self-importance of his English interpretation is making a comeback. Many of the characters from previous games make returns, but they’re written oddly (“Y’got this, Sssonic!” - Shadow, Sonic Generations (2011)) and the writers don’t quite know how to integrate them. Sonic Colors was well-received for its gameplay, and even the writing was praised at the time, but most subsequent games have middling reception. None are considered outright bad (except Sonic Boom, but that was a spinoff that Sega contracted a different company to do) or outright good (except Sonic Mania, which Sega contracted a team of fans to do.)

Conclusion

As it stands now, the Sonic franchise is a strange hybrid of the Japanese and English interpretations of Sonic. A lot of the Adventure Era fans are old enough to start noticing the changes in the writing in the Modern Era, and some aren’t big fans. Some are, though. Some of the Classic fans are satisfied with these changes, others aren’t impressed either preferring the Classic or even Adventure Era. Some people like the Classic Era, but not the English interpretations of the series. There are likely Modern fans who grew up with this version of the Sonic franchise and love it, but there may be ones that have seen previous iterations and prefer those better. There are many differing opinions and few can agree on what would be good for Sonic. Would things have been different if localization had been handled differently in the 90’s? Who can say? All we have to go by are ripples from the errors of the past.

[aotopmha]

Sonic the Hedgehog turned 30 years today.

In celebration, I downloaded all 3 classic games available for mobile and tried to get as far as I could before getting a game over.

For Sonic 1 it was Marble Zone Act 1, for Sonic CD it was the Collision Chaos boss and for Sonic 2 it was the Chemical Plant Act 2 boss.

I'm much better at these games on an emulator/PC, using the arrow keys rather than a controller (or apparently with the android touch controls) because that's how I've played them the most.

Sonic is probably the franchise I've (on and off) followed the longest and I remember fairly precisely when I played my first Sonic game: it was in my second year in school, but I stopped because the crusher section in Hydrocity terrified me and I couldn't get past it.

I also have vague memories of both of the most famous old cartoons and briefly trying the PC version of Sonic CD and Sonic 3D Blast.

My next notable experience with a Sonic game is actually the old Newgrounds game Ultimate Sonic Flash.

This is what opened the Sonic floodgates with other stuff for me, too.

Besides that game there were the flash animations like Nazo Unleashed and Super Mario Bros Z that also appealed to the Dragon Ball fan in me.

Through that stuff, I got into the Sonic Advance games and I was particularly drawn to Sonic Advance 2.

It's strange because Sonic Advance 2 seems to be considered the most "hold right to win" game in the Sonic Advance series, but I find the stages in that game to be the most satisfying to perfect and play.

I also dig Advance 1 and 3, but I remember having the most frustration with 3.

Discovering the Advance series lead me back to the Classic series. Sonic 1, CD, 2, 3 and Knuckles.

Somewhere around here, I also remember the demo for Sonic Adventure DX.

After that I got to the Rush games (which I also found satisfying to complete despite, again, being called "hold right to win" games).

I just found doing as good runs as possible to be satisfying to pull off.

Then I got to Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2.

I think I spent hours replaying and perfecting the Sonic Adventure 2 speed levels in particular. I think those games were absolutely worth it for just the replay value of Sonic's/Shadow's stages. Any frustration with the other gameplay styles was worth all of the play time I got out of those stages and I think the only truly bad gameplay style was Big's fishing stages.

Even then, in Adventure 1 all the other campaigns were also pretty short.

In Adventure 2, I think the only source of true frustration for me were some of Knuckles/Rouge stages.

I think the reason why the other gameplay styles are so frowned upon is that they're not what you come to Sonic for, but I think only Big actually controls badly in terms of the fishing mechanics – the frustrations really come from level design.

After those two comes Heroes, which I think could've been my favourite out of these "adventure style" games, but the controls just were too stiff to not get in the way of enjoyment.

The long stages would've actually been awesome instead of frustrating if I didn't have to fight the controls (and occasionally camera) along the way.

It had some great level design with some really good level themes.

But it just wasn't as responsive as I would've liked it to be and movement over-adjusted really often, leading to deaths and a bunch of frustration not of my own making.

If any game deserves a remake with better controls, I think it is 100% Heroes.

But I still did get some fun out of it when everything worked as well as it could. I kind of love the Haunted House level and all of the interesting things it did.

This is the point where I no longer could play the games for a while.

Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic 06 and Unleashed HD are the games I've never gotten to play in this gap. But the only bit I'm truly actually interested in are the day stages of Unleashed.

I feel like they have the Rush games effect that despite some of the cheap stuff in those stages, they are very satisfying to complete.

The next games I got to play were Unleashed and Colours Wii (though I never got to finish Unleashed Wii). I like Colours Wii more than Unleashed Wii.

Colours might be mostly 2D and more "generic" blocky stuff, but I still had fun blasting through it.

Unleashed Wii's day stages didn't really have that satisfaction of perfecting the stages like the Advance or Rush stuff. The Werehog was okay and I think sometimes actually better than the day stages, so the game as a whole was just okay.

But I think Colours DS is my favourite of the "Rush-style" games. The Wisps are really satisfying to use and the level design is more involved and less "cheap" than in the other Rush games, where sudden spikes and death pits are much more common.

Somewhere in here is Sonic Chronicles. I actually liked executing the moves with the characters for a little bit, but not much else about it. I think it's the only game in the series to this point I truly dislike.

There are more like okay games, good games and great games in this series for me because it looks like I've managed to avoid the biggest duds.

The final two games in the series I've actually played chronologically are the PC versions of Sonic Generations and Sonic Mania.

And I think both are really good!

Generations still wasn't 100% there with the controls, but I think it was the closest to Adventure series controls. Probably my favourite 3D Sonic game next to Sonic Adventure 2. I spent ages replaying all of the stages. I adore all of the open space and alternate routes there.

Sonic Mania is the best game post transition to 3D to me, though and would maybe even tie for my favourite Sonic game with Sonic CD if it was completely new.

It fixed some of the dated level design of the classic games – unfair spring and spike placement is at an all-time low, it evolved the usage of shields in a really cool way and added some really interesting level-specific mechanics, my favourite is probably the bouncy gel in Chemical Plant.

I 100% want a completely original Sonic Mania 2.

I have not played Sonic Generations 3DS, Lost World, any of the Boom games or Forces.

All of which are supposedly okay/terrible, too and honestly even don't have anything interesting going on to catch my eye in footage. Forces especially looks frustrating to me because it just looks like hallways and doesn't even look to have the satisfaction of perfecting a stage the other boost games have.

I really seem to be in a position where I've missed all of the worst stuff.

I actually probably find Secret Rings and 3D Blast to be the worst Sonic games because I remember being the most frustrated with them. Chronicles is still just mostly boring.

Black Knight has the really satisfying spin slash attack and you can keep the flow and control Sonic much, much better.

In-between all of this I've tried some of the 8-bit games which I liked just fine, but which all really blended together.

I've also tried the Sonic 4 parts, which I also find okay. Not good Genesis-style games, but okay, functional enough Rush-styled games.

So I can say that I don't think Sonic has ever "jumped the shark". There are good old games and good modern games.

From leaks, the upcoming game at least sounds much more ambitious than some of the previous games like Forces or Lost World.

I predict something like Unleashed where there is a sound foundation in there, but it is unrefined, as there seems to be talk that it's another really big switch-up – it possibly being an open world game.

I think I really appreciate the series' willingness to switch things up even if it doesn't always work out.

The Classic, Adventure, Advance, Rush/Boost games all are very different styles.

I've had a lot of fun over the years with this series and I hope I'll have more fun in the coming years.

I think the Adventure + Heroes remakes are 100% overdue. Also please, Sonic Mania 2 with all-original stages.