#like when i think of city escape i think of sa2 not generations. when i think of rooftop run i think of unleashed not generations.

[sonknuxadow]

my take is that sonic generations is a good game i like it and its fun to play but it doesnt deserve to be hyped up as one of the best sonic games . sorry.

[skaruresonic]

For a positive SA2 query, how about your favourite level for each character? :)

Sonic - Crazy Gadget. City Escape is iconic and all, but Crazy Gadget is one of my all-time favorite Sonic levels because it shows an incredibly vibrant and dynamic side of the ARK, one which elevates it from "cool space station" to the "feels Sonic enough to me to count as a proper Sonic stage" category. This is a side of the colony rarely, if ever, glimpsed in subsequent games. (As much as I love ShTH, The Doom and Lost Impact feel too clinical and gray at times.)

The environment is alive with constant motion; you see cargo get shipped and loaded outside the observation glass; the gravity changes with a flip of the switch; you can slide down upside-down rails and take a ride through pneumatic delivery tubes. Propelled by high-speed platforming, it's just a blast all the way through.

I'm amazed that sections of the floor light up under your feet. That couldn't have been easy to implement on the Dreamcast. (Don't forget the Xbox references on the walls!)

From a narrative standpoint, Crazy Gadget is one of those Sonic levels where the story lights a fire under your feet. Because there are high stakes attached to your typical goal of "gotta go fast," you feel it more keenly, I think.

Deem's voice acting really sells the intensity of the situation. Even knowing he's programmed to bark at the player every two minutes, it seldom fails to have an effect on me when he chides Sonic for being "too slow" and warns him that if he doesn't "come here, she will die!" I love it.

---

Tails - Prison Lane. I love the environmental details they included in order to make it feel like you're traversing a treacherous maximum-security prison while making it seem neglected at the same time, crowned with rust and plunged in dreary gloom. The prison is simultaneously crammed with robots and strangely lifeless, what with a lack of facilities and cafeterias. You're always being watched by the cameras Portal 1-style.

The gears churning as the elevator carries you up; the steam spouting from the pipes; incandescent tube lights bolted to the walls flickering erratically, despite that never really being anything the average player would be given reason to notice... All of it paints a pretty sordid picture of the prison, and you can suddenly see why Tails worries about Sonic being stuck here.

Plus it's just plain fun to shoot everything in sight and this is the quickest level in which to mow them down lol

--- Knuckles - Tie between Wild Canyon and Aquatic Mine. The former because it's easy to navigate while providing interesting sights and the latter for letting us relax a little with a mysterious, lowkey vibe nice for spelunking. I also like how few enemies are in both; it really makes you feel like you're on your own.

--- Rouge - Dry Lagoon. While normally I'm not wild on SA2's desert stages, this one's really pretty with its butterflies and oasis theme, and fits well with Rouge's general character. It's lowkey enough to be pretty stress-free, which is fitting for a first level. It's also the only level that really takes advantage of Rouge's ability to swim; it's a shame she doesn't get to swim more in later levels. Can't forget our helpful friend, Mr. Turtle ;A; In addition, Dry Lagoon boasts a unique glitch wherein Rouge can climb walls and dig underwater. If you stop at certain points, she might be able to stay there indefinitely.

--- Shadow - White Jungle. Despite being the Dark counterpart of the frantic Green Forest, the atmosphere is different enough to distinguish it as its own thing. Moodier, more somber. Almost ethereal.

The sound of rushing waterfalls and the white sheens of mist blanketing the jungle almost make you feel as though you're experiencing it for the first time alongside Shadow. The landscape is full of hidden dangers and curiosities we don't have time to stop and contemplate. Fog... it doesn't bother him.

--- Eggman - Why must I choose. Cosmic Wall go whee. But Iron Gate also go whee. Fucking shit up is really fun in both these stages and you'd practically have to do nothing in order to win like Luigi get anything less than an A rank in the former. Lost Colony also go whee with a quieter more mysterious tone. hhhhh

[spinningbuster98]

1, 6, 7, 15 :)

Why did you become interested in Sonic?

Well when I was around 6 years old Sonic X used to always be on TV and I just...happened to watch a lot of its episodes, being particularily hyped about Super Saiyan hedgehogs because I was into my DBZ phase like many others my age.

One day my dad took me to a game shop and I just happened to notice a game that had one of the characters from the show depicted on its cover, that being Shadow

Yes Shadow the Hedgehog of all games was my first Sonic game, soon followed by Heroes, Mega Collection Plus and Gems Collection, though I can't remember the order

2) Favourite game(s)?

My opinions (on anything really) tend to always change but in general:

Sonic 3 & Knuckles is a game I hold dear, although ever since Mania came out I've been put off by it because the Retro Engine's renewed physics have made me notice all the little imperfections in S3K's own physics, plus all the little bugs and stuff like randomly stopping while spindashing up a slope in IceCap act 2

Sonic Adventure 1 is a game I have many nostalgic memories of, but as time passed I've begun to really dislike its repetitive structure and undercooked campaigns

Sonic Adventure 2 on the other hand is a game that I used to not like very much, however in recent years I've begun to appreciate it way more than SA1 for its more compact and streamlined structure, and I've also grown to like its other gameplay styles by mostly judging them on their merits rather than how they may or may not fit into a Sonic game....which is still a valid criticism though, and I in no way will I ever declare SA2 the "best Sonic experience ever"

Sonic Unleashed is a game I haven't played in a long while (alongside Generations) mainly because I haven't been able to use my XBOX 360 in a long while. I have many good memories of this one, and I still really like the Daytime stages despite their linearity,as I really like their length and difficulty level...but the Werehog brings it all down, as while I may appreciate alien gameplay styles in Sonic to some extent like I now do for SA2, the Werehog's stages simply drag on for far too long

Sonic Colors is a game I still quite enjoy when trying to collect everything. Going through these stages like normal is not very fulfilling because of their length and relative simplicity, but when you're going after those Red Rings it really makes the levels much better to me, as it forces you to actually explore them, do extra platforming and use the Wisps in particular ways. True its platforming is often not very Sonic-like, but for the most part I still enjoy it as I don't think it overtakes the speedy portions too much (hell I still like Sonic 1, which is worse in this aspect)

Sonic Generations is another game I haven't played in a while, and I really wish it were longer (and actually did something with its story) because it's got some of the best levels in the series, Seaside Hill act 2 in particular. Ironically I feel that Modern Sonic steals the show completely, to the point that you could take Classic out and the game wouldn't get worse, though he's still enjoyable, albeit not 100% faithful with how he handles in the Classics (and City Escape act 1 is just fun, alongside Speed Highway act 1)

Sonic Mania, which would have been my absolute number 1 had it had way more OG stages and given Knuckles more unique alt paths

7) Favourite vocal themes?

*Inhales

It Doesn't Matter for being a great way of describing Sonic's character in a nutshell (I used to prefer SA2's version, but now I've swung the other way)

Open Your Heart for obvious reasons, although I've noticed just how cheesy some of the lyrics can get (GOTTA OPEN YOUR HEART DUUUUUDE)

Live and Learn, which for the longest time I actually didn't like nearly as much as Open Your Heart for being shorter, but now I REALLY like how much it fits the final battle of the game....if only it were a longer and harder fight (that guitar solo followed by the lyrics with the quiet guitars in the background at the halfway point is the best)

What I'm made of, I just love how the song and especially the lyrics pump you up for a big fight against such a big slithering cowerd as Metal was in Heroes

Endless Possibilities, for reasons more or less similar to It Doesn't Matter, though I guess it's not as descriptive of Sonic's character, but it sure is adventurous! (I'm not the biggest fan of the part about the Werehog, as it kinda...feels out of place with the rest of the song? As if they absolutely had to represent the werehog in some way)

With Me, I just LOVE the back and forth between the two singing voices representing the clashing ideologies of Sonic and Merlina...though I kinda wished the voices were a bit more similar to theirs (I also like the Crush 40 version, but the original is the best)

Infinite's Theme: Which I got cut by just typing about it

I am all of me: OUCH I'M BLEEDING!!

15) Favourite Sonic levels?

Chemical Plant in Sonic 2 because yes

Hydrocity and Icecap from Sonic 3 because you all should know why

Red Mountain in SA1 because I actually really like the aesthetic, and I find it's got a better balance between speed and platforming than Speed Highway (which is still really good, but a bit on the short side I feel). Plus Emerald Coast for being fun and iconic, Windy Valley (though I wished its first act was longer), Speed Highway, Lost World for its great atmosphere, and Final Egg for how...dirty it looks, favourite Eggman base to this day

City Escape, Metal Harbor, Radical Highway, Final Chase, Meteor Herd and Security Hall (yes you read correctly) for SA2

I wanna say Mystic Mansion for Heroes but mainly because I adore the Halloween aesthetic and OST and I wish more games did something like it

Rooftop Run for Unleashed because....c'mon

Green Hill act 2, Chemical Plant act 1, Sky Sanctuary act 2, City Escape (both acts), Speed Highway (both acts), Seaside Hill act 2, Crisis City act 2 and Rooftop Run act 2 (though not as much as the original) from Generations

[curetapwater]

My turn to subject you to The Mortifying Ordeal Of Being Known:

In both art and writing, you seem to have taken inspiration from Monster High, Bratz, Equestria Girls, Barbie and probably some other stuff in that realm that I can't recall because I wasn't in that sphere growing up, plus the more obvious Magical Girl inspiration. In fact, I feel like every character in Power of Rock is a bit of a homage to each one of these, both separately and in general. I don't know enough about any of it to pinpoint with precision, though.

but I'll take a wild guess and say your favourite EqG movie is Rainbow Rocks, followed by the Legend of Everfree.

You're spot on, especially about Rainbow Rocks! In fact, Power of Rock arose from an mlp fanfic I'd been kicking around since I was 11 years old! Now, as I talk about this, please bear in mind I've been developing this story since middle school so things get kinda wacky.. Star started out as Twilight and Sky started out as Rainbow Dash. The rest of the characters have nothing to do with mlp, unless you count Crescent being partially inspired by a friend I had in middle school with whom we bonded over our shared mlp hyperfixation. I see how one could interpret her as Pinkie Pie though.

Rainbow Rocks in particular was a gigantic inspiration! I fixated really really hard on it when it came out, partially because I had a major crush on all of the Dazzlings plus human!Rainbow Dash and partially because that's when I was getting really into rock music. I'd listen to music and always imagine my in-name-only fanfic versions of The Rainbooms playing the songs and casting spells with their instruments. I was so enchanted by the concept and at that point had realized that the thing I'd created was so far removed from mlp that I scrapped the mlp angle entirely and zeroed in on the rock band element.

Star originally arose as me realizing that Twilight had an incredibly privileged upbringing and thinking that it'd be funny if she acted like a spoiled brat that was full of herself. By the time she became Star, I'd fleshed her out way more and softened her up to be less arrogant and more confident in an endearing way. Aesthetically, she takes the most from the influences you brought up, especially Bratz and Barbie!

Sky is a subject I'm gonna have to tiptoe around because the only thing that ever stayed consistent about her is also a spoiler. But although the logic behind how Rainbow Dash became Sky seems pretty straightforward, I promise you the story is wild and insane and omg I'm honestly shocked that I was able to make Sky into a good character 'cause... omg I don't even know where to start haha. To give a taste of what she was like when her name was Rainbow Dash, I'll say she got infused with demon blood as a child and it ~haunted~ her afterwards and she was ~sooo angsty~ about it. And then I removed all demon stuff from the story along with pony stuff and decided to tone things down by making her a vampire instead (because vampires are cool, something Monster High convinced me of!). But with the demon stuff also left her ~tragic backstory~ that I'd based her entire character around and after losing that I realized I was left with nothing that made her interesting. Then I listened to Escape From the City from SA2 and thought, "hey, Sonic is a cool and endearing character, what if I inserted a little of his rebellious spirit into Sky?" And then her current backstory sprouted from that point and shaped her further into a far more distinct character that I love writing for. She's naturally the most Monster High inspired character in terms of aesthetics but I also drew from punk and pastel goth fashion for her.

The rest of the main characters are heavily retooled transplants from a scrapped WIP of mine, complete with visual redesigns inspired by all the influences you listed!

I tend to consume a lot of children's media like the ones you brought up, plus kidcoms like Hannah Montana and iCarly, and I wouldn't be surprised if that influenced my writing style, especially dialogue.

The stories I could TELL about how Power of Rock came to be, my goodness! And the art... oh god the art........ I drew some bomb outfits from when they were still the Humane Six but my anatomy was AWFUL so I'm unsure if they'll ever see the light of day.

You're right about Rainbow Rocks being my fave EG movie, in fact it may be one of my favorite mlp things period because of what it's led to in my life! Shine Like Rainbows is enough to move me to tears. My second fave is actually the first one, for nostalgia reasons. Legend of Everfree I only watched once but I should give it another look!

[crusherthedoctor]

Crusher Elaborations #1: Thoughts on the Aesthetic of Sonic’s World

If someone came up to me and asked “Which do you prefer, Classic Sonic or Modern Sonic?”, my answer would start off with “Well, technically Classic Sonic because...”, and then I'd get cut off by the other person immediately lecturing me on why I'm wrong and why I'm the worst kind of fan imaginable. Should they finish their rant, I would then explain to them in the midst of them basking in their flock of easy Twitter likes that I didn't necessarily mean it in the way they predicted.

If we were talking about the games, the characters, or the character design, I'd be fairly neutral, since I like both halves equally for the most part. In fact, when it comes to characters, Modern might actually have the edge believe it or not, since the sheer number of characters introduced from SA1 onwards naturally means a lot of my favourites were introduced from that point on, such as Tikal, Rouge, Gamma, Omega, Blaze... But then again, Classic introduced Eggman and Tails, and the Hard-Boiled Heavies are technically Classic as well despite being relatively new...

Anyway, the point is, I'm not talking about any of that today. I'm talking about the world that Sonic and his multicolored chums live in. Or rather, the aesthetic of it.

NOTE: This is purely about the game universe. While I do have my thoughts on Sonic’s world as presented in other continuities, that won’t be the focus here.

If you're familiar with my blog, you'll know that as a general rule of thumb, I much prefer colorful and creative worlds in my Sonic universe, and that rings true for my reasoning here. And I know what you're gonna say: “But Crusher, isn't there plenty of that in the Modern games as well?” Yes, there is, and I appreciate them very much. But this is why I feel the need to make a post of this sort to begin with, because I'm NOT saying “Classic cool, Modern boring” and calling it a day. There's a little more nuance to my tastes here.

When I say I prefer the Classic aesthetic for Sonic's world, I don't mean it in the literal sense of disregarding everything about the Modern aesthetic. Let's put it like this: when you're asked to paint a picture of these two sides of Sonic's universe in your head, a specific image will likely come to mind. When you think of Classic, you'll probably think of Green Hill first and foremost, whereas with Modern, you'll probably think of something like City Escape or Rooftop Run before anything else. In other words, when you think Modern Sonic, you're probably imagining the more realistic kind of locations first. And between the two mental images that come to mind, I personally prefer the Classic image. Shock, horror.

I wish I could swim in a sea that’s probably radioactive.

Now keep in mind, I'm not saying that City Escape, Rooftop Run, and all similar environments in the series look bad, because they don't. Unless they're painted with the '06 brush, they generally look fine, and the locations in Unleashed in particular are undeniably beautiful from an graphical standpoint. The problem is that although I can picture this as a world that Sonic could be in, I can't necessarily picture it as Sonic's world specifically. Because when it comes to the more realistic environments, I feel there's not much of an attempt to let it branch out as its own thing.

I know that might seem harsh, especially for Unleashed, since the real world angle was the deliberate theme of that game. And Sonic taking cues from real places is a fine concept, there's no issue there. I'm not gonna complain if there's a France Zone with an Eiffel Tower in the background. In fact, Sandopolis Act 1 has one of my favourite aesthetics in a Classic zone (mainly because the background is really pleasant to look at), and that zone is essentially Egypt Zone. But if you're making a Real World Zone, there needs to be more to it than that, otherwise you don't truly get a Sonic interpretation of our world... you instead have our world as it is with Sonic characters awkwardly stapled on.

When I look at City Escape, it may not be completely unfitting for Sonic (the posters and billboards in particular are actually a really nice touch), but when I look at it, I don't see Sonic's interpretation of San Francisco. I see San Francisco with Sonic shoved in. When they morph these places to Sonic's liking, they'll add rings, loops... and that's it. They rarely take the concept any further, which is a huge shame, particularly in the case of Rooftop Run, where I otherwise do like its visuals a lot, but it just doesn't go far enough with the concept for my liking.

At least you get to murder car owners, and give G.U.N. a legitimate reason to arrest you.

So which Modern games do I feel did the best job at making Sonic's world... er, Sonic's world? Well the truth is, most of them actually do a decent job in this area, regardless of the level design quality or the game’s quality period. SA2 has Pumpkin Hill, Eggman's Pyramid Base, and... SOME levels aboard the A.R.K (mainly the “outside” ones, like Final Rush). Shadow the Hedgehog, a game that reveled in how brown and gritty it was, still had highlights like Circus Park and Digital Circuit. Even '06 of all games had Aquatic Base, which was pretty cool from a conceptual standpoint. And although Unleashed as a whole might be a touch too vanilla in the creativity scale, it still had the glorious Eggmanland at the very end. But if I had to say which of the Modern installments did the best job overall...

- For starters, I'm gonna give a shoutout to SA1, because even though it was the first Modern game, and thus it was technically responsible for the more focused angle of realism in Sonic's world in the first place, it didn't take it quite as far as later games would, and although it may not be a perfect 1-to-1 representation of the world we saw in the Classic games, it does well enough with what it brings to the table that I can still accept it without any issue at all. Some of that has to do with the fact that you still have wilder areas like Windy Valley and Red Mountain to balance things out, but even with the other half, the game's use of colour is enough for it to go a long way, oddly enough. Take the At Dawn section of Speed Highway for instance:

From innocent times, when the radar wasn’t a piece of shit.

Technically, it's really not that different to the urban environments you see in SA2 or Unleashed. But something about the sleepy morning approach gives it a subtle, almost dream-like edge to it that I really dig, and despite it being pretty similar to the likes of City Escape, somehow I have an easier time buying into the idea of this place being part of the same world as zones like Sky Sanctuary.

And seeing how I already mentioned Red Mountain, let me compare it to Flame Core:

Yes, I know bringing '06 into this discussion at all is inherently and hilariously unfair, but let's put aside the game that Flame Core comes from for a moment. Aside from maybe the purple crystal caves indoors (and that's assuming you can even see where the fuck you're going in there), Flame Core is pretty boring to look at as far as Sonic levels go. Red Mountain is vastly more interesting, even though it's basically the exact same concept, and a lot of that has to do with - you guessed it - colour. Sure, it's day time, that's one thing, but you'll also notice that for a lava/mountain stage, it surprisingly has a few grassier sections, sort of like Hill Top in that regard. A little bit of green among the brown and red, and a great contrast to the volcanic nightmare you'll experience when you head inside.

Now this might seem like a fairly minor detail... and yeah, it is, but the thing that SA1 does so well is that it combines so many of those small details to make a complete, well-rounded package. This is why SA1 meshes well with the Classic style despite not being an exact replica, because just as the Classics excelled at, it wasn't afraid to use colour in interesting ways. It understood that a fire level could have more than just red and orange, in the same way that a grassy level could have more than just green and blue.

But of course, as I mentioned, SA1 is not an exception. There are other Modern games that did a great job on the whole...

- Heroes is an obvious answer, since it's translation of Genesis-style environments to 3D is probably one of the most recurring praises the game receives, and rightly so. Not much to say here, except that Hang Castle is still cool as hell.

And plenty of opportunity to admire the not-broken-in-half moon.

- Colours is another obvious one, though something of an ironic one given that the premise of the game involved going to other worlds, and those worlds were all converted against their will by Eggman. Yet, they did an equally superb job at creating fun, unique locales, and Aquarium Park in particular remains a favourite of mine.

Gotta love that red/blue contrast.

- The Riders series has a more futuristic bend compared to the rest of the series, but even when it's not all high-tech, it's got some pretty cool environments of its own, and I feel they even do well at mixing the real world side of things on top of that. Gigan Rocks comes to mind, as does Aquatic Capital.

Reminds me of when Perfect Chaos peacefully protested against Station Square.

- Regardless of my thoughts on the game itself, Secret Rings had some undeniable winners in this depertment. You tell me with a straight face that Night Palace doesn't look amazing.

A wonderful palace for a domestic abuser.

- And lastly, they might have had an early advantage since they're already 2D, but the Advance trilogy and Rush duology deserve a mention. They had some fantastic ideas for zones, like Planet Sonata Music Plant, and they did great with the colours as well. Hell, throughout these five games, the sky was practically every shade of the rainbow at one point or another.

Oh look, another completely whole moon.

Also, quick shoutout to another minor detail akin to the grassy sections of Red Mountain: these pink tunnel sections in Ice Mountain. No elaborate point to make here, just another perfect example of how much I adore these games' use of colour and contrast.

Seriously, I could go on for hours about good contrast.

Although I do bring up these small details for another reason, and in turn, another layer to my more nuanced take on Sonic aesthetics. By this point, we get the basic jist: Crusher likey when Sonic levels unique and pretty. But this can - and has - lead to a couple of misconceptions, so I'd like to address those and then laugh at them.

“So you want Sonic's world to be exactly like Mario?”

A common complaint that Lost World received was that it was too much like Mario, in more ways than one, and part of this was to do with the game's visual style. The zones may have been upbeat, but they often consisted of a bunch of things floating in the air and not much else, ala 2D Mario. While I didn't outright hate it, it’s definitely not what I have in mind for Sonic.

Of course, all complaints about being too much like Mario suddenly turn into praise when Eggette gets brought up...

And why is that? Because yes, I like my Sonic locations to be fun and lively... but I also want them to be firmly established within the context of this universe. The Lost World approach is fine with Special Stages and the sort, but outside of that... well, Studiopolis is a perfect example of what I'm talking about:

On one hand, it's very unique when compared to other cities in this franchise, and it's full of quirkiness, great use of colour, and all that good stuff I've went on about. But at the same time, it's grounded just enough so that it still feels like an actual city that the people of Sonic's world could feasibly live in, rather than a basic and empty video game level with a tacked on city background. Studiopolis may be a level from a video game, but you can totally believe it's a fully fleshed out place from its own perspective.

Naturally, this praise also rings true with the Modern games I listed earlier, and is yet another reason for why I approve of their settings.

“So you think Sonic can't have darker locations?”

It might be easy to take my compliments at face value, and assume that I'm immediately opposed to a zone that's not brightly colored. This is... very obviously false, as even the Classic games have their share of less-than-cheery areas, such as Scrap Brain and the Bad Futures in Sonic CD.

However, when you're making a grittier location in Sonic's world, regardless of the context, it still needs to be interesting. The problem with a lot of them in Modern installments is that they're boring. Crisis City is a generic city on fire. Westopolis is a generic city with aliens firing lasers from above. The prison levels in SA2 - and the indoor ARK levels not named Cannon's Core - are just grey hallways for the most part. That shit isn't exciting, and it doesn't get my mind speculating. It just makes me want to move on.

Let the eggsperts take care of this.

By contrast, Eggmanland is a prime example of how to do it right. Eggmanland is a magnificent theme park as envisioned by the good doctor, but it's also, at its core, a giant metal hellscape fueled by the energy of a dark entity, and it only gets more ominous the further you go through it or try to before you give up because it’s too fucking long and you died at the end. So it sets the mood to be sure, but it's still visually compelling to look at, and interesting to think about.

And since Eggman is apparently the only one who can show us how it's done, here's a shoutout to Titanic Monarch as well:

Like Heavy King, but Heavier and Kingier.

When comparing the final zones in Sonic games, I especially love this zone's visual approach, because it manages to be dark and colorful at the same time, and in a strangly organic way. It's got a spooky atmosphere, with a moody moonlight backdrop to match, and the titular robot is foreboding as hell as you climb up it and traverse through it... all the while having red floors, green and yellow wires, blue and pink buildings, and stained glass windows of Eggman and the Heavies for you to marvel at. So even putting aside the unique scenario of climbing up and then through a Kaiju-sized mech, the mood of the zone alone manages to be extremely memorable.

So what have we learned from all this? Aside from the fact that I’m way too interested in this subject? We now know that when I say I prefer the Classic “style” over Modern when it comes to the way that Sonic's world is presented:

- I don't mean that literally.

- There are certain qualities that although both of them possess, they tend to be more immediately associated with Classic in the collective consciousness, even within the fandom.

- The environments that I love the most in Modern games are often the ones that would also fit perfectly in the Classic style.

So whenever I express the basic nature of this opinion in the future... just imagine a small asterisk at the end of my sentence.

[shades4dogs]

HI BLUE :D sonic, eggman, and infinite for the ask game!

HI NEBBBBBBBB <3 THANK UUU

Sonic - Favourite game?

ouuuu HONESTLY.... IT’S PROBABLY STILL SA2 THAT GAME IS JUST LIKE... SO COMFY FOR ME ITS THE FIRST SONIC GAME I EVER WITNESSED AS A TINY LIL KID

for years all i remembered of it was pumpkin hill, i just had this visual of these pumkin-shaped mountains in the distance, and when sonic generations came out and i saw city escape i was like WAIT IS THAT- and then when we got sonic adventure 2 out i was like OMG THIS IS WHERE THAT’S FROM!! and since then im just like <3 sa2 <3

my favourite sonic games from the standpoint of learning how they work and their history however are definitely sonic unleashed and knuckles chaotix! really really fascinating to learn about. i don’t own either (we did have unleashed, but not anymore...) so im relegated to just absorbing information about them 4 now

Eggman - Favourite badnik or henchmen? 

GENUINELY, LEGITIMATELY IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO ANSWER, IT CHANGES DAY-TO-DAY, I WILL SAY I ALWAYS LOVE GAMMA & MY BOY METAL SONIC, AND I’M GOING TO SAVE MY OTHER FAVOURITE FOR THE NEXT ONE:

Infinite - A character you think needs more love? 

THANK YOU FOR ASKINGGGG

[moomingitz]

where real world place do you think Station Square is based in?

This is something I’m going to split up in two different categories, because the games and Sonic X are their own continuities, so different things are to be taken into consideration for each one; even if Sonic Team was heavily involved with Sonic X’s production.

When it comes to the games, mainly judging from Sonic Adventure:

I think Station Square is based in the game’s version of a very tourist heavy city somewhere on the coast in Central or South America. I have reason to believe this seeing how the Mystic Ruins and the sight where Angel Island are not only a short train ride away, but it’s very clear they’re based on locations and old ruins in the region’s real life counterparts.(No, I still don’t buy that whole “Two Worlds” explanation, no matter how they swear it was totally planned from the beginning.)

The game’s development team even took a trip to various places in Central and South America in order to research and get references for the hub worlds and levels for Sonic Adventure.

When it comes to Sonic X:

I think Station Square is based somewhere in the show’s version of the West Coast, and takes heavy influence from Southern California and the Bay Area. But I specifically think it’s somewhere in the show’s idea of Southern California.

I grew up in the desert right outside of the border of Southern California, and I would regularly go there. So I feel I can say that the main setting of the first two seasons of Sonic X have a number of things in common with the geography and cities of both Southern California and the Bay Area- especially with the God forsaken desert.

I keep seeing people say that Station Square(in both the games and Sonic X) is based on New York City- because for some reason New York City is the large America city everyone always defaults to. But I just don’t see it in both continuities.

This wouldn’t be the first time Sonic Team has taken inspiration from cities and locations in California. Sega of America is based in that state- their former location being in San Francisco. City Escape, in SA2 was as clear as day based off of San Francisco. There’s an island in San Francisco called, “Angel Island”- Sega’s former headquarters in the same city was not too far away from that place, and I have a really hard time believing that the name they gave the place Knuckles came from was just a mere coincidence. There’s an another island in San Francisco that used to serve as a high security prison called, Alcatraz.

I have some more reasons to believe the Station Square seen in Sonic X is based somewhere in the show’s version of the west coast- or at the very least somewhere near it. In one episode there is a traffic sign listing the amount of miles left until you get to Flagstaff, Phoenix, and Tuscon.

While it actually takes a lot longer to drive from a coastal city in Southern California to any of these places in Arizona, keep in mind that Sonic X was an anime produced in Japan, by a staff of Japanese people where I’m sure nearly all of them have very likely never been in the US in general, who were probably going off of a very generalized idea of America.(Just like how people in America do the same thing with Japan and it’s cities and locations.) Don’t forget, back in the early 2000s you couldn’t even just look at Google to research the exact distances between cities like you can now. Also, this show’s staff just seemed to be terrible at even just the most basic math in general.(According to Chuck’s profile card, he apparently fathered a kid when he was 13 years old.)

There’s also this map Sonic and Chris were looking at in one episode, where it’s supposed to be of “DColorado”(You can be the judge if this was intentional or just another case of Engrish in the show.). Either Sonic and Chris were wondering around rural country sides across 2-3, or even 4, states for a damn good long while, or Sonic gave Chris a high speed piggyback ride off-screen.

—-

Well, anyway, that’s my say in the whole Station Square edition of the game, “Where the fuck is Springfield?”

[mobius-prime]

166. Sonic the Hedgehog #98

Sonic Adventure 2

Writer: Karl Bollers Pencils: Patrick "Spaz" Spaziante Colors: Patrick Spaziante and Nelson Ribeiro

Welcome to Sonic Adventure 2, everyone! Now, you would be excused for thinking that the comic would want to handle such a highly anticipated and ultimately successful game in the same manner as it did the first one, but you would be wrong! I'm going to spoil it for you right now - we only get part of the story in the comics. This one issue used to cover the entirety of the game, and as we'll see this presents some serious problems. But let's dive in, I'll save my rants for after we go over everything.

So our story doesn't actually begin where the previous issue left off. Instead, it begins three months ago, right on the tail end of the previous Sonic Adventure, in fact. The comics never really did address exactly what happened to Eggman in between being chased out of Station Square by Silver Sonic, and returning to Robotropolis. Well, as it turns out, he ended up being chased, somehow, all the way to one Prison Island, where Silver Sonic cornered him and blasted the ground out from under him, causing him to fall down a dark hole. Satisfied that it had killed him, Silver Sonic returned to Station Square to resume its defensive protocol there, but in actuality he had fallen into a secret lab with something very interesting hidden inside…

Now fast forward to a mere week ago. In the dead of night within Station Square, a mysterious figure broke into a top-security vault to steal the city's last remaining Chaos Emerald. Silver Sonic tried to prevent the theft, but…

News of the theft soon reached the desk of the city's president, who mistook the figure as the hero who had defended Station Square from Chaos mere months ago, because apparently in every Sonic canon, no one can ever tell Sonic and Shadow apart, not even Sonic's best goddamn friends. Seriously, at least in the anime it's explained as being a deliberate set-up by GUN to cover their own asses regarding the Project Shadow disaster years ago. I know I've joked before about Sonic being an extremely average-looking Mobian hedgehog which is why he's so easily mistaken for other people, but seriously, Shadow and Sonic's profiles and quill style don't even look alike, let alone their fur color.

That is a very bizarre-looking Rouge. For whatever reason, they decided to draw her a lot in this era with like… claw hands, and I don't even understand where they got that from. In the game itself one of her upgrades is called "Pick Nails" and I guess you could extrapolate that to mean razor-sharp nails under her gloves that don't show up on her low-poly 3D model or something, but all her 2D art depicts her with normal-looking rounded fingertips, so I don't even know. Anyway, the comic goes on about how the president put together an elite task force to track Sonic down and arrest him for his supposed crimes, and now they've finally found him just outside Knothole. Man, if some randos from Station Square could find where Knothole was, how the hell has Eggman not figured it out yet? They pull out actual, deadly rifles and start firing wildly at him, and he dances around cheekily, stealing their guns and taunting them. This ends when they shoot an electrified net onto him, and soon he's handcuffed in the back of their helicopter, being taken to the hidden city. Of course, we know how this goes from here - he breaks free inside the 'copter and bursts out its side, peeling off a strip of metal to use as his makeshift skateboard, because even though this isn't the 90s anymore, it's still the 90s.

We're then treated to a short montage of Spaz's interpretation of City Escape - landing on the streets, surfing down sloped roads, soaping on walkway rails and leaping over any obstacles in his way. Honestly, the action is a bit hard to follow - Spaz is certainly a talented artist in many respects, but I think his decision here to move on from his somewhat simpler designs from before hurts rather than helps, as the action and lines become so chaotic that you have to really concentrate to follow what's going on. There's just a bit too much happening, so that your eyes are drawn all over the place without really focusing on a specific focal point of each image. But anyway, we all know how City Escape ends - with the iconic GUN truck chase!

And that's… it! No, seriously, that's all we get for the actual story of SA2. The final text box invites us to play the game itself to see how it all ends, but there's a number of problems with that, the foremost being that the game takes place in an entirely different canon. We've got completely different circumstances that led up to these events. We've got characters missing - Tails still hasn't been returned to Knothole yet, Knuckles is off somewhere else struggling with his newfound powers, and humans aren't even the dominant species on the planet like they are in the game. This would leave any comic fan with a bitter taste in their mouth, as there's no actual resolution provided and no explanation for how the story will play out with so many of the original players out of commission. Many issues from now, Ian Flynn actually addressed this exact problem and gave a condensed version of events to explain exactly what we're missing, so at least we have that to look forward to in the future. There is one more story after this, and I have additional problems with that one, but let's cover the rest of the issue before I give my final opinions.

As the Shadow Awakes!

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Ron Lim Colors: Frank Gagliardo

So this story actually jumps us back fifty years to see Shadow's beginnings. Professor Gerald, Eggman's grandfather on his mother's side, has been working for a long time on his latest project, which he hopes will see the end of disease and untimely death and even be able to cure his granddaughter Maria's unspecified terminal illness. This project is, of course, Shadow the Hedgehog, who, as an excited and astonished Gerald watches, begins to move inside his pod. The inexplicably-brunette Maria suddenly calls him at his lab, telling him that she can see a military spaceship flying toward the ARK, their space station, and Gerald, in a panic, orders her to come to him. He knows that the military is here to take possession of his project, and believing them to be too simple-minded to understand his intentions for the project, wants to evacuate immediately. He's immediately proven right, as the military men who board the station scoff at the idea that an "old scientist and his crippled granddaughter" could pose any trouble to them as they intend to take the professor's project by force. Gerald sends Maria and Shadow, the latter now out of his pod, to evacuate in an escape pod, but of course, we know how this ends…

I think this is the only Sonic media I can think of that actually directly shows Maria dying. In both the game and the anime, the shot happens offscreen, and Shadow is ejected before Maria actually takes her last breath. I do have a problem with how the scene is portrayed here, however, as a big conflict that Shadow goes through during SA2 is his vast misinterpretation of her last request to him, whereas here she seems to just die immediately without saying another word. The military takes Gerald into custody, and shortly thereafter recovers Shadow from the escape pod, taking them both to Prison Island where they force Gerald to continue his work under their supervision. Gerald, however, is devastated at Maria's death, and thus plans out his revenge in secret under the guise of continuing his work as demanded.

The military eventually caught on to his nefarious plans, and had Gerald executed and Shadow sealed away in suspended animation on Prison Island, where it remained undisturbed and forgotten for the next fifty years. Of course, this is what Eggman found on the island, and now he's poised to use his grandfather's own work to conquer the world. My biggest problem with this story, ultimately, is that it essentially acts as one huge spoiler for the game. Everyone now, almost twenty years on, probably knows the general gist of the story, but this comic was published when it was still very new, and this entire story basically spoils the biggest twist in the game right off the bat. Furthermore, in this story, Shadow literally wakes up, goes straight to the pod, watches Maria - who he knows nothing about - die, and then gets sealed away in his stasis pod for fifty years. There's literally no time for him to even develop a personality, let alone a relationship with Maria, which is the single most important thing in his backstory. I believe this was later retconned, but this is still a huge thing to overlook in an adaption of this game.

But anyway, yeah, that's it. That's all we get for the time being. A few brief glimpses of Shadow, and one whole cameo from Rouge. It will be a while yet before Shadow gets to make his reappearance, since like in the game, at the end of their adventure he falls from space and is subsequently believed to be dead. Honestly, the entire thing kind of gives off the impression that they felt like they had to make some kind of comic tie-in to the game, but didn't feel like interrupting what they already had going with the whole "Sonic goes to high school" thing, which is clearly far more interesting of a story. So they basically went "yeah, something like this happened, but now let's just get back to the real story." It's honestly very weird, so weird that, again, they needed a later fix-it issue to explain everything, but for now, we'll just have to move on.

[crystalnet]

Sonic Forces is Good

Sonic doesn't really slot into any of the semi-nebulous interests that this blog has previously covered but I just had to make an exception because I have thoughts on the blue blur's new game, especially in light of everyone going crazy for Mario Odyssey and the fact almost all professional reviewers as well as various critics on youtube have been basically taking a wrecking-ball to this game. Sonic fans themselves are left mostly enjoying the game (if the subreddit is any indication) and kind of sheepishly acknowledging the pretty low metacritic scores with a bit of a shrug--a pose any true Sonic fan has gotten used to taking in the past decade. I want to talk just very briefly about the problem with Sonic in 2017 and anytime past the year 1998 really and why perception of his non-side-scrolling games seem critically flawed and misguided...

First of all, 3D Sonic has basically always been a mess. Now I should mention before getting deep into this, Forces is my first Sonic game since Sonic Heroes and Sonic Advance 2, the former of which wasn't even as fun as the flawed SA2 and the latter of which should be considered Sonic 5 (or 6 if you count Sonic CD) for all I care, in that it is an excellent expansion of OG Sonic style (shit like grinding on rails, updated Sprites and even Amy as a playable character were great additions). Those two games though are indicative of the whole series: the 3D ones are always problematic while the 2D ones don't seem particularly hard to make well. 

I think there is a big range of how fans and critics view the series, but it seems as if the 3D games are either held to the standard of Adventure 1 and 2, which were always pretty flawed games, or else held to some non-existent and unattainable standard. But we should be clear: Sonic never had his Super Mario 64. Adventure 1 comes close, and that game does a lot very well, but it introduces a lot of things which would plague the 3D games forever. I'm mostly talking about the fact A1 and A2 are want to have all these additional playable characters besides Sonic and yet, Sonic (or Shadow) levels are always clearly where the best level design and most fun is to be had. 

Why force characters like Big the Cat or E-102 Gamma down our throat, when almost all the Sonic levels are amazing compared to levels where you shoot at things or hunt for emeralds. Like extra characters are kind of intrinsically fun when your a kid, but it always felt a bit like padding to me to play the Tails/Eggman and Knuckles/Rogue levels in SA2. So the gold standard for the 3D games becomes about 1/3rd of the content in the first two games?

What I'm trying to say is that Sonic Team never knew exactly what they were trying to achieve with these games it seems. It's like they continued the tradition of Sonic 2 and 3 with Tails and then Knuckles being added by eventually just adding a shit ton of characters to every game, effectively diluting the experience. I'm not even a big fan of Mario 64, but clearly that game is critically lauded, whereas the Blue Blur just couldn't seem to make that same transition. Heroes is literally all about adding characters, along with bright, colorful presentation which barely masked the weakened level-design. Then beyond the critical face-plant that is Sonic ‘06, Sonic Team's goals with these games seem even more unclear than ever and the warm embrace of 90s Sonic seems further away then ever before during the past decade or so.

You have a couple of weird "story book"-style spin offs on the Wii like the Black Knight and Secret Rings which really push the boundaries of what a Sonic game can be (seemingly to mostly bad reviews), Sonic Unleashed, which is literally split between somewhat traditional 3D gameplay and the kind of totally different style of gameplay a la non-Sonic levels in the Adventure titles (werehog Sonic...) and then a few games that seem to be headed in a more stable direction: Sonic, Sonic Colors, Sonic Generations and to a slightly lesser degree, Sonic Lost World . 

Like I said,  I haven't played any of these since Heroes, but I've been reading up and looking at all of Somecallmejohnny's videos on youtube to get a sense of how people feel about these, and these last 3 seem to be on the up-and-up in terms of critical reaction from both critics and fans. But Generations was in 2011 and since then it's been mostly an onslaught of Sonic Boom games and I'll do us all a favor and gloss over those completely. While Lost World tweaks things a bit with a run-button, Colors and Generations built on the more traditional half of Unleashed and heavily featured the boost mechanic which lends itself to a new kind of level design which is considerably different than that of Adventure 1 and 2.

I guess the long-winded point that I'm trying to make is that Sonic Team has basically been having an identity crisis since 1998. Not a single one of these stands as a true precedent for the series in that the best of their lot--Generations-- is still one of those meta, self-aware entries since it combines modern and classic sonic, quite literally. I do really wanna play those last 3 I mentioned because they seem like they are on the right path, but I'm sure for every fan, there is still a disappointed nay-sayer. 

This leads me to my final point though, and that is that Forces, for me personally, is a pretty damn good idea of what 3D Sonic is. I think people were putting a lot of pressure on it since it's been a while since a true 3D entry that wasn't a Boom spin-off, but also because of Manias success. Mania from earlier this year was really great, but it's great in a mostly regressive way.  Yes, the four new levels are fantastic and Christian Whitehead did a awesome job of capturing the "magic" of the first 3 games while refining things like the controls and amount of sprite-frames and adding some cool extras as well as those dope Chaos emerald bonus zones, but the success it had is based off of design-principles from nearly 25 years ago. 

I can't complain at all, because it's a really fun game and a great way to revisit classic vibes and levels, but I hope it's the beginning of a sea-change for Sonic Team's approach and not just a blip. Mania 2 for instance could revisit/remix the underrated Advance trilogy, or Sega could grow some balls and let Whitehead and other fan-developers like him step up to the plate and either design a full fresh side-scrolling entry OR something like oh I don't know Sonic Adventure 3?

Either way, the game generated a lot of hype which Sega capitalized on by dropping Forces a few months later. And me and like half of hard-core fans are pretty happy with the game and that's about it. Same old story since SA2: new 3D game comes out, gets mediocre reviews, half the fans are on-board while the other seem even more disappointed than professional critics. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of what Sega should be doing with their 3D games, but no one can really agree. 

Well I for one think Forces is on the right track. It's not perfect, but it's not really trying to be the next big game (they make that clear every single time they release a 3D title that isn't SA3). It's only 40 USD which I think denotes that it's to played in-tandem with Mania, so you got your classic Sonic on one hand, and your new-fangled and always-problematic-to-somebody 3D Sonic on the other. Also it's worth noting that I play this on the Switch. I think the Switch magically makes any game better for being played on it, and yeah I can't really imagine playing this on PS4. The option of portability makes any game better IMO, and Switch just adds this x-factor to any game right now, I can't totally explain it (will write another post all about it).

The game hold ups though, and beyond the novel trifling that is the character-designer/OC, the level-design is better in my opinion than most are letting on. I'm not sure yet if anything comes close to my personal gold-standard for 3D Sonic levels (Radical Highway and City Escape) but the sense of speed is often phenomenal, but I don't think there is any more of those moments where you are forfeiting control than there has always been since even the Genesis games, which is something I've seen some critics complain about. I admit I was slightly taken back by the locked camera, and often-times narrow corridor-esque levels, but once I got the hang of it, I realized that this is a more faithful translation of classic Sonic into 3D than the more free-roaming styled levels of Adventure games. 

People seem to get mad when there's too much precise platforming in Sonic (Marble Ruins..) just as some assail it for feeling like an auto-scroller at other times. It's like fans approach the series with the same confused priorities that Sonic Team themselves have sometimes displayed. I like the generally arcade-y feel of the levels though and re-visiting them for the purposes of refining my runs/time is enticing in the way it was back in the Sonic/Shadow levels in SA2.

Sonic is a weird, platypus of a genre unto himself: Neither pure platforming, racing or trick-based sports game a la Tony Hawk/SSX, he is all of these things and none of them at the same time. And I think these levels capture that excellently. What he isn't are slow and awkward Emerald-hunting levels or shoot-em-ups, but Sonic Teams seems to always shoot for more diversity in game-play than just Sonic levels would allow for, and that's where the Avatar levels come in, retaining the style and speed of the Sonic levels, while also expanding it slightly with Ratchet and Clank-style gun-play that seems to stand-in for awkward shit like the Eggman/Tails levels in SA2. And yeah this does mix it up nicely. 

Something else I've been seeing is that it's too easy and the levels are too short, and I just hope people are playing this on Hard mode (the requisite for hard mode is simply if you have played Sonic before according to the game itself). Other criticisms I've seen simply don't resonate, like people complaining about the controls of the Sonic levels, which just did not stand-out to me as being something I noticed. I like the variety of 2D and 3D, and think it strikes a good balance. 

So yeah, I basically just wanted to write this big ass post to explain why I think it's good and why other people should STFU, basically. Sonic isn't Mario, and never had been. His games are not explicitly all-ages, timeless crowd-pleasers. His games have always been faux-edgy, psuedo-platforming/racing hybrids that click hard with some and leave others cold. They are also explicitly for kids in a way that Mario games aren't, and it's a kind of complicated point but I think professional critics should take into account this shit was never designed for a 30 year-old to enjoy. That's literally why Mania exists. A 10 year old now-a-days might enjoy Mania, but a lot of that game nearly amounts to being a joke that someone born after 1999 couldn't really get. 

So, basically I'm all for trying new things, perfecting a formula that never quite existed and honing in on the good parts of some of the first Sonic games, and I think that's what Forces does. Also the story is sick. Some Sonic fans actually get caught up on the story which is insane to me because its like following the plot of a Tom and Jerry cartoon, but this shit hit some fan-service high-points for me (great cast of characters that mostly glazes newer shit and honors OG Adventure 1 and 2 shit, a slightly "darker" tone, Classic Sonic seeming chill af compared to real Sonic, and cameos from old-school bad guys, for instance). So that shouldn't be a factor in your review if your over the age of 9, is what I'm saying, but I actually dig it despite that. 

Yes, it could be improved upon, but I think it’s an excellent starting point for the developers to build on, so hey why not add Whitehead to this team, as well as few of the level-designers from the other Boost games (Colors, Generations, Lost World), refine the controls and level design a bit and BAM, you got yourself a worthy candidate for the true, long-awaited Sonic Adventure 3 that all true fans have been waiting for forever (even though the Adventure games weren't perfect to begin with so this is a wish that contradicts my other points but still). What I think I'm saying, is if this is what they can do in a $40 title with a relatively small dev-team from what I've read, then what can they do when they go all in? Or are they too scared? Well these reviews might scare them off from even trying again and that's what I'm worried about, but Sega needs to grow some balls, and go all-in for the next release and lay-off the Pachinko-onslaught, or at least funnel some of that Pachinko-gold into developing the next game. Like I said, Sonic isn't Mario, and he doesn't need to be, or need to have games like the big cross-generational 3D Mario games that come out every 5-8 years or so. But you know he could if he wanted to, and I think Forces shows a pretty good way forward. Until then, try opening your heart to the Blue Blur if it's been a while-- who knows, you might just be surprised. Smell ya later, dreamerz~

[plantb0t]

I had a really wierd dream last night. I went to the same school as the sonic crew, except they were humans. Shadow, Rouge, and I were friends and we were apparently going camping together with my gf and her family, except we were simultaneously in my neighbor’s house and my aunt’s house. Two years ago, something happened that was supposed to parallel the events of sa2 I guess? We were in the same house as we were camping in now, but Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails were there too. Shadow, who we had never seen before this moment, just fucking showed up out of the woods to fight us so we knocked him out and tied him to a tree. Not like a leash, like we wrapped the rope around his body and the tree so he was stuck to it, and also not touching the ground anymore. We tried letting him off the tree once and he tried to run away (and got like 1 foot away before knuckles just. Picked him up again) so we just tied his wrists to it this time. Somehow throughout the weekend we ended up being sort-of-friends and we didn’t have to tie him to the tree anymore??? (What the actual fuck) And then he started going to our school? And we became real friends while we were actually at school. But back to two years later. This was the first time we were back at this house after meeting Shadow, so we kept making jokes about tying him to the tree again. My gf’s parents brought two campers which they didn’t use because there was more than enough room in the house for them to stay. Shadow had homework from class so he opened up the link he was supposed to listen to on his laptop and it was fucking. ‘a baby is you’ by Toby Fox and no other directions. I think it was supposed to be from history class? This was just as absurd to me in my dream as it sounds now. I took a picture of it to share on tumblr and Shadow just shut off his computer, like 'I’m not dealing with this shit right now’. Rouge and my gf were setting up some video game console on the tv while I tried to upload the photo to Tumblr. It’s worth noting that up until now it was pretty clear in my brain that this was some au where the sonic crew were just normal human high school students. But while I was thinking up a caption, I came up with “Shadow the hedgehog’s actual homework for history class. What the fuck” with the idea that 'everyone knows who shadow is, he’s in video games!’ At this point my brain must have noticed an inconsistency because I was like 'wait. That’s not right. The shadow I am friends with was never in a video game, he is a reincarnation! More specifically, the third reincarnation.’ I saved the post in my drafts and didn’t post it. All four of us were playing either generations or sa2 (the level was city escape). While we played, I had started to wonder more about Shadow. I knew that was his real first name at least. I asked Shadow what his last name was. He said, and I quote, “I don’t know, it’s like Fudgesicles or some shit. Nothing related to the game, unfortunately.” The fact that Shadow apparently didn’t actually know his last name was overshadowed by the fact that this really wasn’t Shadow the Hedgehog, just some dude who happens to act a lot like Shadow, is also named Shadow, and likes sonic games. But I was over this realization in like .5 seconds, and just accepted it. “You should legally change your last name to 'the hedgehog!’” I joked. “Or 'the ultimate life form’!” Shadow was laughing so hard at that and he was like “I pull out my id and it’s fucking Shadow The Hedgehog… Its like, oh hi, I’d like to order a drink, I’m actually Mario”… I woke up immediately after that. The first thing I thought when I woke up was 'that’s NOT what happened in sa2’ (referring to tying Shadow to a tree)

[doubleddenden]

Finished Sonic Adventure 2 again for the first time in years

The story isn't perfect, and I do think a lot of my love for the story is tinted by nostalgia glasses, but still, it's one of my favorites of the series and Shadow's redemption really tugs at my heart.

I still enjoy him, and admittedly his true ending in Shadow the Hedgehog is pretty badass, but I do have to say? I preferred this ending for him. In a moment of selflessness, he chose to fulfill his promise to Maria and sacrifices his life to save everything. This, even knowing that there's a possibility that he may not even be the true Shadow or that his memories may not even be real (as brought up by Rouge) is still a really powerful moment that just hasn't been replicated by Sonic games since (Although Chip comes close in Sonic Unleashed).

Compare Sonic Adventure 2's ending to Shadow the Hedgehog's final ending where he decides to use his power to stop the Black Arms after remembering everything, and choosing to wipe the slate clean and start fresh- even outright throwing away Maria's picture- declaring his old self dead and starting a new life. That's somewhat powerful, but it also kind of throws away the conviction he had in SA2.

It's a complicated dilemma.

What isn't complicated is my love for this game. Sure, some of it is a bit janky and I'm not totally in love with mechs, but I still love Speed and Treasure stages. Something really distinct about Adventure 2 is that the movement for Sonic/Shadow is very fluid and momentum is earned. Unleashed, Colors, and Generations' boost mechanics aren't bad at all, and in fact are a really cool way to convey just how fast Sonic can run, but for a platforming basis SA2's momentum and spin dash are wonderful.

The game even has a good understanding that the other characters do not need to be slow just to make Sonic and Shadoe fast. Its something I haven't liked since Heroes tbh, because someone like Knuckles was in fact Sonic's first rival and was capable of running pretty fast himself, even having a spin dash. Mechs especially have this earned momentum to them that is difficult to achieve, but feel pretty good when you do.

And again, not totally in love with everything. I do wish they had cut back on mech stages or just found something that works a bit better, like letting Tails fly instead. Also there doesn't have to be a 1 to 1 playing style with good and dark characters. Sonic and Shadow, sure, but Rouge could have focused less on treasure and more on stealth, Tails could have focused on flight, etc.

But what this game does right is give you linear but spacious options to move around and a fluid momentum based movement that still makes it one of the best platformers I've ever played. This, and the story is dark and over the top but not too edgy and unaware of its audience like ShTH or Sonic Forces, and it at least tries to tell a compelling story, unlike Sonic Colors and Lost World. The voice acting needs work and the audio mixing needs a touch more control, but I still appreciate these voices the best out of the series, and the characterization is still spot on before they decided to turn Knuckles into a 100% meathead, Eggman into an incompetent fool, and Shadow into a blank slate for whatever the game needs. Plus, the Level Up items provide a neat update to aesthetics that I absolutely adore and wish modern games would try again. Sonic's whole get up once you get all his items, and Knuckles's entire get up after he gets his (and his darker muzzle) are still my favorite iterations of them.

Plus cmon. City Escape? How do you top that intro? You can't.

Still 9/10 worthy.

Sonic Team: give me Sonic Adventure 3 already. Pay attention to what went right in this game and bring some of that ambition back. You had something brewing for 06, and maybe that ball was dropped, but you can totally do it again if you just try.

My personal wishlist would be a Dragon Ball GT race through space with Team Sonic, Team Dark, Silver, Blaze, Amy, Team Chaotix, Mighty, Ray, and possibly even a character you can create (not like Sonic Forces. Think something a bit similar but with more body options, and something akin to Emerl from Sonic Battle for certain traits from others).

If I could make a game, hoo boy would I want to make that.

[speeps-highway]

tbh, I hope we'll eventually see a Dreamcast lighting mod for SA2 PC, but I don't know how likely it'd be since it doesn't look AS bad as SADX PC.

Yeah - SA2 PC isn’t nearly as bad as the mess SADX turned into. There’s still a lot of things that suck about it though.

Stage-wise, Most of SA2 PC′s problems are the same missing object shaders from the original SA2B port. In some cases, they work around this (Like Sonic in City Escape, notice how dark Sonic he is when he uses his low-detail models) but glowing Omochao are still a pretty common sight in the ports.

Eggman’s stages in particular suffer horribly in general though:

Other stages that come to mind are Hidden Base and Pyramid Cave, but they’re not as noticeable:

Cutscene-wise, I haven’t noticed (or looked for yet, really) any differences that I haven’t already covered for the GameCube version - they still suck.

For more info on Cutscene changes see this page:

https://tcrf.net/Sonic_Adventure_2:_Battle/Changes_from_the_Dreamcast_Version#Cutscenes

Overall, If you’re looking for gameplay the GameCube version is still the best one to get. For cutscenes - Dreamcast version. Both have emulators available with the option to run at higher resolutions.

Talking about stuff they changed other than lighting - I don’t like a lot of the remade menu elements SA2 PC has. For one, the main main is very cluttered now:

The bonus video is pretty pointless and a lot of the “HOW TO PLAY” and “CONTROLS” stuff easily could’ve fit into Omochao’s tutorial - which is now unused and exactly the same as the GameCube version.

A lot of remade elements have considerable differences to the original ones:

I know it sounds picky - but as was with the case with SADX, this stuff stacks up! I mean look - Tails, Knuckles and Eggman aren’t even using the same art there. Everyone’s supposed to be looking forward, but it looks like PC Eggman didn’t get the message.

They also remade all of the scene select images and it really highlights how bad the lighting is in the cutscenes:

With true gems such as Pumpkin Hill’s icon having mid-blink Knuckles in full upgrades:

Other issues I can think of for SA2 PC:

The Battle-less menu graphics are extremely lazy. The menu background of the main menu is missing the “SONIC ADVENTURE 2″ text and the original intro is a 480p movie file when the original event for it is still in the files, albeit broken.

The font was changed. In the original game, English text used Comic Sans and the Japanese text used SA1′s font (Impress)

The “Bright Chao” bug, where Shiny Twotone Chao have a graphical error that causes them to appear very different.

The issue with integrated graphics cards that causes a tram to appear over Sonic’s head in City Escape.

Jewel Chao and GBA Fruits being completely unobtainable. (Thanks CWE for providing ways to remedy this)

Text Language is missing in the options menu.

Various fade-out effects are missing for menu backgrounds and Karts.

MLTs were replaced by CSBs and most of the audio is blasting and bumping everywhere.

Due to control changes, a lot of Omochao’s voices are muted.

Some Big cameos are still missing. E.g: Wild Canyon.

[semi-sketchy]

Hey Sassy, what are your thoughts and opinions on the Character Customization in Sonic Forces? Also have you thought/planning to get a Nintendo Switch?

Oh gosh, I’ve been waiting for an ask like this!

I’ll answer the simple one first: yes I do plan to get a Switch. My brother says he’s going to try and pick one up around Black Friday this year. However, I’m going to be buying Forces on the PC because mods.

Now the long answer… The character customization is something I’m iffy with. The announcement caught me highly off guard as I was like “there’s no way they would ever do that, it’s just not Sonic” and BOOM. Actually when I saw it I screamed “OHHH HELLLLLLL NOOOOO” because I was hoping for a good story. Now let me explain this…

I have been majorly turned off from character customization games and that’s thanks to Xenoblade Chronicles X. That’s meant to be a story-driven game, but aside from it being handled poorly, it’s a solid game. Without spoiling the story (just in case anyone actually cares about it) you play as an avatar and you get multiple voice options and a yes or no option in some cutscenes. The voice options are only for outside of cutscenes though (like grunts, battle cries, you know). The main issue is there’s a super serious cutscene and your avatar just stands there next to the other characters, completely blank like a third wheel being dragged around at a party. Once in awhile a character will turn to the avatar and ask a question, your options are always “nod” or “shake” and depending on what you pick, one line of dialog is changed and your avatar goes back to being ignored. Your choices don’t matter. The avatar feature doesn’t help me feel like part of the world, if anything it makes me feel really awkward in those cutscenes. The other thing they did to make this character a blank canvas with give them amnesia, which is a really cheap writing technique. Going on with it, it’s basically just brought up from time to time like “ohh yeah stasis hangover never wore off, lol, you’re part of us now” and it’s just…so annoying. I would have rather played as a fleshed out character with a backstory and motives, someone I’d want to help rather than represent me.

Of course, there’s no saying the custom hero will be handled just like that, but I can see how easy of a pitfall it is to fall into when writing a linear story. One way I can think to avoid it that would please me is just let us design the aesthetic of the character and forget the multiple choice options. Give us a backstory and the only difference would be a male or female voice actor in the cutscenes. although that defeats the concept of having a fully custom character, so it most likely will be avoided. The again, Pontac and Graff are writing the game, so I probably shouldn’t expect too much of the story.

Another issue I have with it is if I wanted to see me in the Sonic world, I’d look up some reader insert fanfiction. I play Sonic games for Sonic characters, so I would rather the story would focus on Sonic and the giant cast that hasn’t been touched in years.

Gameplay wise, it looks okay. It kind of makes me think of hybrid between Espio and Shadow with the grappling hook and use of weapons. (The grappling hook reminds me off that one mission from Sonic Generations. *Shiver*) I’m unsure of how it will control, but I have always been terrible at the timing on stuff like that. Those bars at the bottom of the building in City Escape on SA2 have been the bane of me for years. If you watched that video I linked, well, they make it look easy. I spent 2 hours just trying to pass that mission and is the only one in the game I haven’t S ranked. However, looking a bit more on the positive side, I’m thinking with the inclusion of Wispons, they’re going to try and make this character play more like Colors Sonic, which I loved to death.

Now I’ve talked about this entire custom hero thing for so long without talking about the major part, designing it. I guess because it’s not the part I’m concerned about. “lol sonic ocs are canon cringe” no. Just…no. That doesn’t matter. I’m not bothered by people making their own characters and if they want them in the game, more power to them. I think I’m going to really enjoy this part. There will probably be days where I’ll boot up the game and just mess around with the character creation tool. My only issue, and this is just a me thing, is that I get really frustrated with those. If I tried to remake a character of mine in there, I’d probably go nuts because it couldn’t look the way I want. Of course, I’m sure the modding community will really step in that part, and it doesn’t really affect the core gameplay, so it doesn’t matter too much to me.

Something I do want to come with the avatar feature though is the option that once you beat the story, you get multiple slots for avatars. The reasoning for this being is that each animal has different abilities and I’d like to try them out without having to delete my save file. It wouldn’t make sense to offer this from the beginning, just flip-flopping between avatars during the main story would make things a little weird. While you will be able to change your avatar’s appearance as the story progresses, you probably won’t be able to change what kind of animal they are and even so, I may like my avatar but want to try out another critter. You can say “just give us multiple save file slots” but that would mean playing through the game 7 times. I love SA2, but damn I don’t think I could stand playing through it 7 times, I think I’ve only done it 4 over the 5 or so years I’ve owned it. Plus, if I think “maybe the bird’s double-jump would help me get this red ring” or “the bears homing attack will help me reach this other path” I don’t want to have to play through the entire game again to try out one critter on a single level.

This is something I have to say real quick… The Sonic fandom on Tumblr has blown up with this with the entire concept that “it’ll stop the bashing on Sonic OCs and encourage frightened people to share theirs because SEGA has said it’s okay!” no. Sonic OCs have a stigma and frankly, I’ve seen more bashing on OCs since the news came out. SEGA is well aware of all the fan characters out there, that’s why in Smash Brothers, Sonic’s alternate skins only changed the color of his shoes otherwise they’d run into legal issues with recolors. Having an avatar in a game isn’t going to let up on the stigma. “SEGA says it’s okay” you’re missing the point. The people that are afraid of sharing OCs aren’t afraid of SEGA; they’re afraid of the people who are making all these jokes right now. The people that are making the jokes don’t like the custom hero feature. This changes nothing.

Overall, I could take it or leave it. Basically everything that’s keeping me on the edge is stuff we don’t know yet and won’t know for awhile, probably until the game is released. Just going to have to play the game to see how I truly feel about it.

Okay, there’s my tangent, sorry it was so long!

-Sassy

[superemeralds]

tagged by @auranon

How long have you been a sonic fan:  abt 7 years omg....

First Sonic game played:  Sonic Unleashed on the Wii !!!! I think I’ve played him in smash bros b4 but that doesnt count haha

Top 3 favourite characters:  SONIC, rouge and silver. but i honestly love everyone. jsut. some... less.. ??? bc i jsut? have nothing to do w them and i never got invested in knowing them??? im sorry

Favourite vocal track:  ofc it is the unused song “Who I am” by magna-fi....... i honestly love all sonic songs tho. all of them. (even when some can be annoying)

Favourite non vocal track: the entire unleashed ost, same for sa2 ost and satbk ost. why? bc thats the few games i actually played and thus have emotional connections to the songs *cries bc im poor*

Top 3 games:  Sonic Unleashed, SA2, SADX ,,,,,,, since thats the ones i played........ i also love 06 but i never got to play it so i feel like i have no right judging if its good but i love it ugh

Top 5 stages: the entirety of sonic unleashed in all honesty. also city escape (SA2), crisis city (06 [i played the 06 mod of crisis city in generations and i LVOED it;;;;;,,, it’d be probably cooler if i actually could play as silver]), idk how the stage is called but there is this one stage in satbk that is jsut. so aesthetic. i play it when im sad.

uh... wow i cant think of specific stages rn but honestly i love sonic the hedgehog and the games and i jsut. please dont make me chose.

Favourite team: Team Dark for obvious reasons. after that comes chaotix. they deserve more love. (i still love u sonic pls dont be mad)

Favourite game intro: SONIC UNLEASHED LIKE FUCK HOW CAN U NOT LOVE THIS INTRO THIS WAS LIKE THE COOLEST THING I CRIED AND IM HAPPY THIS WAS THE FIRST THING EVER I SAW froM A SONIC gAme. also satbk

Which game has the best story: Unleashed!!!! I REALLY liked SADX story too, same for satbk, SA2 and 06. the latter could use some adjustments but its okay cause they were rushed and under a lot of pressure. its okay.

2D, 3D or both: i prefer 3d because i get uncomfortable playing 2d sidescrollers too much. i need my 3 dimensional space and exploring options.

Sonic Mania or Sonic Forces: im so hyped for forces btu im also scared as shit

Which character(s) would you want to see in the Boom show: sonic boom is shit and i wish it would already fucking die

Best Sonic show: sonic x because ..... its what got me into sonic.

Favourite era (Classic, Adventure, Modern, Boom): adventure and modern ! i sadly wasnt there for the classics im just a little bit older than SA soooo *shrugs*

idk who hasnt been tagged yet so im just gonna say that if u love sonic then pls feel tagged!

[just-a-sonic-fan]

Further touches to Generations?

If ya wanted to change little things in Generations to include even MORE reference to the series, you could... •Include a Skill that has Tails follow Sonic through the levels, flying down from above whenever he gets left behind. •Super Peel Out Skill. Charging up a Spindash instead does the figure 8 feet and he doesn't roll up and it goes much faster. Might break the game though. •Classic Sonic's victory jingle could be the one from 1 and 2, except for when you beat Metal Sonic and it does the Japanese victory theme from CD. •Both acts of a zone end the way they did in their original game. Green Hill and Chemical Plant end with flags, Sky Sanctuary ends with a simple boss fight against Mecha Sonic, Speed Highway (alongside having the At Dawn section put in) has the capsule, City Escape has the SA2 Goal Ring Design, same with Seaside Hill having Heroes design, Crisis City having 06 design, Rooftop Run having Unleashed design, then Planet Wisp could have that Wisp Capsule, even if it may not have shown up in Planet Wisp specifically back in Colors. Perhaps there could be a chance for Sonic (Classic and Modern both could have a chance of this) doing the original victory animation from that game. The finger wag in the Classic Era, that SA1 THING with the thumbs up, you know what I'm getting at. This is way too much text for just victory animations. •Side missions set in their own levels from the past. Could reference WAY more games this way. Classic Era could include the Game Gear games, Gamecube Era gets the Advance Trilogy, and the Modern Era gets the Rush Trilogy (cuz Colors DS is so Rush), though I understand this would take LOTS more work to make possible. Some reference to the handheld side of the series would be cool. •NiGHTS has quite the history of showing up in Sonic games. Other than the tower in Radical Highway on the 3DS, NiGHTS is nowhere to be seen in Generations. As DLC, we could have seen Spring Valley make an appearance, with NiGHTS flying around in the background, even using the Saturn design for Classic Sonic's encounter with NiGHTS, and the Wii game redesign for Modern Sonic. I like NiGHTS. •MORE CUTSCENES. this game BEGS for more jokes about the franchise. Imagine Classic Sonic walking out of Rooftop Run all upset and Modern is like "oh, did ya run into the dude with the hat and moustache? He isn't so bad when ya get to know him." Or when Sonic grabs the Emerald after Planer Wisp, he hums the classic jingle for when you get an Emerald in the Genesis games. Or when Modern gets out of Seaside Hill, he and Classic admire the whales for actually being helpful for once. I think I've typed enough things about Sonic for tonight. :/

[moomingitz]

I will be honest, I am not the biggest fan of Chris Thorndyke, but the amount of backlash Chris gets just makes me want to reblog and create Chris related content out of spite. I think instead of hating on Chris people should find or create ways to make his character better for them. In my opinion Chris is not a bad character. In fact I love the idea of his character. He was just written and handled poorly.

Allot of people can’t seem to tell difference between something being a cause, and when something is a symptom of a problem(it that maybe the people at Sega or Sonic Team just aren’t very good writers in general). The fandom acts like all of those gaping plotholes in Sonic X would have just magically patched themselves up if Chris weren’t in the show. Yes, let’s all ignore that extra escape pod from the ARK, or how Eggman was originally from Earth but has no memory of it, was never further explained or brought up ever again. Amy not doing some stupid speech is far more important to fixate on.

And before someone tells me that maybe they could have focused more on doing so, then: I seriously doubt even then they would have. Chris doesn’t exist in the games, yet Sonic Team still doesn’t ever really bother to follow up or further elaborate on the things they bring up in their own games, and whenever they do so it was clearly done as an afterthought and then it doesn’t add up.(Like, aliens really being behind Shadow’s origins, their reason for why the moon looks whole again after SA2, or their whole “two worlds” reason for why Sonic and his friends are sometime in cities or settings with humans despite it being clear they co-existed on the same planet.)

But, Sega, Yuji Naka, and Sonic Team, are just perfect and can do no wrong beyond or before Sonic 06! It’s always the canon foreigner’s fault, Big the Cat’s fishing mechanics, or the princess who kissed Sonic, and never them!

Personally, if they wanted human characters in Sonic X so bad, then I think they should have just already had Sonic and his friends co-exist alongside humans to begin with, instead of going through the whole thing with accidentally being transported to Earth. But I can’t help but wonder if there was something they had originally planned with it even then, but then had to drop everything when needing to wrap everything up at the end of season 2. But either way, it still gave me some plot bunnies to work with, so: Oh well.

But, it just makes all the backlash he gets all the more bullshitty when there’s even Sonic fans who preach that whole, “Well all characters have potential! Take it and make it your own!”, principal. But then once it’s Chris, he’s suddenly the magical exception to it! Let alone the same fans don’t like it when people take all of the badly written or handled parts with characters like Amy and Shadow, and judge their entire character or personalities purely based on those instances… but it’s okay once it’s characters like Chris, Elise, or Big. The garbage, or even downright offensive crap, that Ken Penders has shat out can be improved on- but then somehow these characters are completely unsalvagable or there somehow isn’t enough to work off of? Not buying it.