BPX085: Sonic Boom

[Neon Ignition]

List of Sonic the Hedgehog video games - Wikipedia

Above is a list of all Sonic games released by Sega. The recent release and subsequent cycle of underwhelming feelings about the latest release raises one of the greatest questions in gaming...

Is Sonic... A Bit ****?

Much has been said about many weaker or flawed titles released but often there is a fair amount of forgiveness involved on a case by case basis. Maybe the mixture of characters and audio strikes a chord to overlook a bad camera, maybe the glitchy paths and inability to see far enough ahead is shone out by the high speed rushes when they work, maybe bad boss design is passed over in favour of that untangible something that gives you a soft spot for a title that deep down you know isn't really objectively that great.


List Three Sonic games from across the entire back catalogue that you would stand by as being great games

The Catch - These aren't necessarily your favourite entries. Try to consider your answers with as much objectivity as you can. How far back to do need to go to select three Sonic branded games that you would happily stand by as actually being solid, great releases.


Then, where does that leave you?
Do you feel that they represent the peaks of a great, decades long successful run from a beloved franchise or does your list clear the air and reveal that a very small number of successes aside - the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise of games is actually just god awful for the most part?

[Dogg Thang]

The first three Megadrive games were great and still are, in my opinion. The first game had a few dull sections but is still a huge amount of fun overall. The second game improved everything and I think the third continued that, with the only crimes of those games in my view being a few sections in some levels that just feel like a repeat. Sonic handles really well, the levels are generally interesting with multiple routes, they look amazing and especially for that time, and the music is mostly superb too. Presentation is wonderful.

For a large part, I find criticism of those games often comes down to one of two things: 1, they’re not Mario (which is true, they’re not), 2, they don’t allow Sonic to go fast enough - and that’s probably more a flaw of marketing and the name than anything else. They’re platformers. When the later games allowed you to just run through them, such as in Sonic Rush, they didn’t actually get more fun.

There have been others I have enjoyed over the years (Sonic Adventure impressed at the time), and then some really terrible Sonic experiences, but I still feel like it has something to offer.

[Asura]

I don't think it's a hot take at this point to suggest that Sonic is, at best, inconsistent.

But agreeing with Dogg Thang, Sonic 1, 2 and 3 I'd argue are still fantastic games. I'd also add Knuckles which is kinda just the back half of Sonic 3, though that has a few bits that I recall as not being quite up to snuff.

Outside of that though, it gets tricky. For instance, I love Sonic Adventure, even though I can see it has huge problems from an objective standpoint. Conversely a whole generation of kids love Sonic Heroes whereas I feel that's like some kind of weird psychological torture.

[Neon Ignition]

I haven't actually looked at the list yet to begin working out what the most recent three games are that I'd consider to be straight up good.

It's perhaps pre-emptively damning however that talk immediately goes to three games from three decades ago. It's a huge compliment to the appeal of the character who has endured so many games that would have sunk most other franchises, a strength to his design like how Mickey Mouse is a huge Disney iconic character and yet has never really appeared in any film of real relevance for the company.

A cool character, growing in popularity who is the primary face of an entire franchise that has branched out into spin-offs with a wider beloved cast of characters and genres and is also regularly produced by Sega - and has a consistent quality bar throughout most of its titles.

Yep, arguably Yakuza and Kiryu might be a better fitting mascot for Sega

[wakka]

To be honest I haven't played that many games in the series at this point, percentage-wise.

Like others, I think the Megadrive games were brilliant. I didn't own a SNES and so Sonic was my guy. And I really love that trio of titles, to this day. Sonic 2 is my personal favourite, and it's always a game I go back to. It's just so much fun to play and the graphics and music are brilliant too. A terrific overall package.

The Master System games are good too (and I had fun with them on Game Gear also).

Sonic Pocket is also a fun one, that more closely resembles the slower paced Master System efforts.

After that, things get murkier.

I was repeatedly burned by the disappointing GBA efforts, which had all the form and none of the substance, lacking that ineffable Sonic-ness.

Then I managed to get myself hyped for Sonic the Hedgehog 4, mostly on the strength of its title. It was of course released on, of all things, the ****ing iPhone, but that turned out to be the least of its problems. Horrible, floaty jumping, dull stage design and a naff art style put this way at the back of the pack. I'd rather play Sonic Drift.

I kind of gave up after that. I've never played any of the other modern ones, except Secret Rings on Wii. That was OK, I guess. If you're bored. Mostly notable for being a Sonic game more than anything else.

What did rejuvenate my interest was Christian Whitehead's great work, initially on porting the Megadrive titles to the iPhone (what is it with Sonic and the iPhone? It's such an unsuitable platform and yet at one point he kept surfacing there). Unavoidably dodgy controls aside, it was a beautiful update, and of course he went on to create the rather delightful Sonic Mania. I liked that one a lot, but it was inevitable for me that with my lack of critical distance on my childhood fave MD titles, it was never going to quite measure up to them. That's more my problem than the game's, though.

Oh, and I've never felt Sonic worked well in 3D. Yes, even in Adventure. Sorry guys.

EDIT:

To answer the question, the three good Sonic games are the three MD titles.

As regards the rest of the series, yes, it's mostly bad. I do admire Sega's ability to keep it relevant though.

[Junko]

Barring the original 3 , Sonic Mania , Sonic Adventure , Generations and I really enjoyed Sonic Heroes

[Wools]

Although I know it’s just meant to inspire conversation, I don’t like how Sonic is now considered **** and even the great games are considered **** from a modern perspective, through a skewed lens.

Much like Sega’s history now being reevaluated in the modern era and some talking down Sega’s revolutionary games and hardware, now insisting other companies done it first or better. It’s strange to have lived through some of the best games ever made and now, everything is being forgotten about or judged by people who don’t have a clue.

Anyway (Breathe Wool’s, breathe) the sonic games have some real classics in them that stand up beautifully in the modern age. I think my pics would be, in order.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3
My favourite 2D platformer. The controls are spot on, with the level design as honed as samurai steel. The original soundtrack is the best the 16bit era has to offer with some stunning tracks, all wrapped up with some great pacing. I adore this game.

Sonic the Hedgehog (Master System)
One of the most underrated games I’ve ever known. So many consider it to be a frail port of the MD classic but it’s such a beautiful little game. Levels which are tiny puzzles with some amazingly inventive design, hidden chaos emeralds and just like the MD big brothers, the soundtrack is to die for.

Sonic Adventure
Like the Master System Sonic being underrated, Sonic Adventure has had its history rewritten; From being included in Edge Top 100 lists and moments which were as stunning as Uncharted 2 back upon its release, it’s now frequently considered a poor game, full of bugs and poor design. None of which is true as it’s a fantastic game on its own merit. Yes, it has aged, it has bugs and the shine isn’t as bright. Just like Mario 64. Yet for some reason, Nintendo’s epic N64 game continues to rightfully get plaudits, while Adventure gets dragged through mud. Adventure is a delightful game, full of charm, a wonderful sense of exploration and amazing set pieces with some odd and charming distractions like the Chao Garden and Nights pinball tables! A brilliant game that still looks stunning.

[Asura]

I'd rather play Sonic Drift.

Whooaaaaa, let's not say stuff we can't take back

[Neon Ignition]

-Sonic the Hedgehog 2
-Sonic the Hedgehog 3
-Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed


I think one of the frustrations with Sonic has been that every now and again there have been glimmers where you can see a path to something great but at every turn ST have veered off in another direction and by wiping the slate clean they've usually diminished things. The 3D Sonics largely sum that progression up quite well. Sonic Adventure is a game I have a big soft spot for but that it pales next to other, similar era 3D
platformers highlights its shortcomings as impressive as it was at the time.

Sonic Adventure - Impressive but rough around the edges, so you want that refinement in a sequel
Sonic Adventure 2 - Nice-nice, focuses itself and has some of that polish but still needs more to elevate it and nail the approach
Sonic Heroes - Introduces needless character mechanic and fumbles level design and more, just give us a polished SA3!
Shadow the Hedghog - That request is mistaken for laughable edge-lord character switch, bad shooting and clumsy design
Sonic the Hedgehog - They're listening this time we hear, but no, instead we get a buggy and heavily flawed reimagining
Sonic Unleashed - Another reappraisal that looks to finally be more polis... no, here's some **** werehog sequences
Sonic Colors - To be fair, it has some issues but Colors might accidentally be one of the most on target attempts
Sonic Generations - Where ST decides to play it safe and offer 2D and 3D approaches. Worse at both though.
Sonic Lost World - Still waiting to just get an Adventure style approach with some polish to it, we get this monstrosity instead
Sonic Forces - I can't stress how low my opinion is of this entry
Sonic Frontiers - This feels like they were finally listening but plays like a prototype. Like, we're circling back around to having the right pieces but how to trust ST to ever deliver on the potential?

Team Sonic Racing is a good reflection of this. Having a title be well recieved and then deliver a follow up that just veers off in the completely wrong direction. I think Sonic 2 might be the best game, I tend to prefer Sonic 3 because I like the visuals and S2 has been mined so aggressively that its appeal isn't as fresh.

The Sonic Cycle is very much real though, it's amazing the journey there's been and how it's still very easy to find yourself becoming optimistic for a new game when they rarely deliver.

[Dogg Thang]

-Sonic Adventure is a game I have a big soft spot for but that it pales next to other, similar era 3D
platformers highlights its shortcomings as impressive as it was at the time.

I really don’t know if I agree with that. It is well below Mario64, absolutely. But after that? I would struggle to think of many 3D platformers that engaged me as much as Somic Adventure did. It has some jankiness but so did most 3D platformers coming that generation and a bit after. Even Mario Sunshine couldn’t escape that.

But then Heroes levelled up the jankiness to whole new heights…

[Neon Ignition]

To be fair, the others I prefer would all be from N64 first/second party stables

[dataDave]

I really don’t have anything positive to add to the discussion.