Retro|Spective 061R: Sonic the Hedgehog

[Neon Ignition]

Game 31 - Sonic Generations
Sega's 20th Anniversary installment, the game is split between side on levels with 'Classic Sonic' and 3D levels with 'Modern Sonic'. The console game covered levels based on most of the mainline releases up until that point taking in Sonic 1, 2 and Knuckles as well as Adventure 1, 2, Heroes, '06 and Unleashed. It was well received on release and has been referenced a few times since by Sega.







Once in a Generation winning entry?

[Asura]

Game 31 - Sonic Generations
Sega's 20th Anniversary installment, the game is split between side on levels with 'Classic Sonic' and 3D levels with 'Modern Sonic'. The console game covered levels based on most of the mainline releases up until that point taking in Sonic 1, 2 and Knuckles as well as Adventure 1, 2, Heroes, '06 and Unleashed. It was well received on release and has been referenced a few times since by Sega.
Once in a Generation winning entry?

I got this on-launch, and I remember loving it... Right up until the end.

You know how a game can have something in it that just kills all your love for it? The final bosses of this game did that.

I distinctly remember the final boss has an attack where the camera swivels around to a mini-cutscene, and once the attack is over, the camera swivels back and you have to dodge it. Except I died several times because Sonic got hit before the camera returned to normal and I wasn't even able to see in order to dodge. You had to position yourself in a manner before the attack or you could be hit by it. Utter, utter dross.

[Neon Ignition]

In like flint again as... didn't like Generations mostly in its entirety. I get why it was popular, especially after the prior games, but for me it leant into jack of both trades master of none. The 3D levels felt like the retreads they were and the 2D levels felt like all the modern 2D era issues I was already tired of. There are more broken, less good 3D era Sonics but that isn't enough for me to give Generations a pass on feeling completely forgettable and unfun.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 32 - Sonic Generations 3D
The 3DS version of Generations was a different game than its big screen sibling. The pocket adventure contained two levels less and instead used a level from Rush whilst offering different revivals such as Emerald Coast, Casino Night and Topical Resort. Likewise its bosses were new also but the game received a fairly poor response, coming in lower than the older handheld releases.







Did this put a little blue rocket in your pocket?

[Sam The Man]

Sonic CD was like a mythical game for me. For years, I didn't get to play it and I wanted to. And it looked so colourful and special and magical.

And then years later it eventually came out on some collection or something and I got to play through it and... well, it wasn't all that great. I don't think the level design is fun. There isn't much to it and yet it manages to be confusing at the same time. I don't think it's a great game. But it does look lovely.

Apologies for being a little late to reply to this.

I agree totally. I think the level design is a mess and the time travel mechanic ruins the pacing of the game. There are other things that irritate me like the figure 8 running animation looking silly and the jump sound just not sounding right and the spin dash not looking right. At the time like you i remember thinking it would be the best thing ever if i just got to play it as i only had a MD and the Mega CD was too expensive.

Overall i loved all the MD Sonic games. If S3&K counted as one game then it would be my favourite although i wish it didnt let you save every zone as it becomes too easy. I also am not a fan of the fat Sonic character in 3 & Knuckles compared to the leaner, fitter, healthier one in Sonic 2. I also think he looks a bit emotional and crazy in the eyes compared to the one in Sonic 2 where he looked sober.

If i cant count 3&K as one game then i would have to go with Sonic 2. I will exclude Sonic Mania as it came decades later and it might be the true best one.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 33 - Sonic: Lost World
One last Nintendo only effort, at least initially, Lost World took another stab at how to make a 3D Sonic game despite the warm reponse Colors had enjoyed. Levels took place in linear tubes to try and make the gameplay more streamlined but the response returned to being not too hot and the game fell on release, later being ported to PC.







Lost World or a Lost Cause?

[Asura]

Game 33 - Sonic: Lost World
One last Nintendo only effort, at least initially, Lost World took another stab at how to make a 3D Sonic game despite the warm reponse Colors had enjoyed. Levels took place in linear tubes to try and make the gameplay more streamlined but the response returned to being not too hot and the game fell on release, later being ported to PC.
Lost World or a Lost Cause?

I found this one just sad. The Sonic franchise is sometimes accused of copying Mario's notes but executing them worse, but that's usually a reductive perspective.

Sometimes, though, it's an apt aphorism. It was for Sonic Shuffle, and it is for this.

[Neon Ignition]

I played a demo version of this at a show in Trafford a month or two before it released and just from that go the writing seemed to be on the wall. It really highlights how Sonic Team seem to throw ideas out for Sonic but they never even stick with the elements that work.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 34 - Sonic Forces
We reached the most recent mainline addition before deep diving back into the franchises past and with it comes yet another ST developed entry with a gimmick to sell it with. This time its player created characters and a darker tone but also throwing classic Sonic back into the mix because *reasons*. The player character you create can use gadgets to traverse the levels and the game even revives some of Heroes player swapping elements.







Forces things too much?

[Asura]

Game 34 - Sonic Forces
We reached the most recent mainline addition before deep diving back into the franchises past and with it comes yet another ST developed entry with a gimmick to sell it with. This time its player created characters and a darker tone but also throwing classic Sonic back into the mix because *reasons*. The player character you create can use gadgets to traverse the levels and the game even revives some of Heroes player swapping elements
Forces things too much?

I actually got this on launch because Argos did an offer where the Switch version was £25. Not quite sure how that came about, but I wasn't complaining.

I enjoyed it, and honestly, the create-your-own-character thing was an absolute master-stroke. The buzz that created online; you can't buy that sort of publicity. Kids love to create their own original Sonic characters even today; as someone who used to do that in the back of my school notebooks when I was 8, this was child-me's dream, make your character and go on adventures with Sonic.

The game was pretty forgettable, I think. It had a similar thing to what I mentioned about 06, where there were segments of the game where there were cutscenes where I was pretty sure you were jumping over whole unfinished bits of levels. I can't remember the details now but I definitely got the vibe in a few areas that you were being conveyed over bits of the game that were half-finished or just not-fun, and they'd carved those bits out via cutscenes and similar.

The slightly darker storyline was a weird full circle. It was about how Eggman had won, and Sonic & friends are fighting to retake their world... Which weirdly was very like the American-made 90s cartoon series, which I also loved as a kid. However, obviously, it wasn't very well told, and the new villain was a bit of a non-entity.

Frankly, considering that Sonic Team had been working on it for so many years, it was a bit light and honestly not great. But it must've sold well, because it's not like Sega took the brand away from them.

[Neon Ignition]

Hated it Another real low point in the franchise for me that close to killed off my remaining attention span for the character

[Neon Ignition]

Game 35 - Sonic Drift
We go back, way back, all the way to the 90's again and this time it's 1994 and the Japan only Game Gear bound racer. Essentially aping Mario Kart, the game later saw release via Sonic Adventure DX but wasn't that well received on release thanks to the simple nature and low view point.







Did you catch this entry's Drift?

[Asura]

Never played it, on account of it never getting a western release contemporarily.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 36 - Sonic Drift 2
This one saw a release around the world sometimes under the title Sonic Drift Racing and came the following year. It added three characters and some tweaks but as such still had a weak reception as the underlying game wasn't much different than before.







The Drift King?

[Asura]

Now I did play this.

I remember it being hard as nails. I also remember being a bit disappointed with it. I suspect it's because I'd played Mario Kart and this was nothing like it, even though it clear that you were meant to think it was. Whereas SMK was like a mod for F-Zero, this was like a mod for Game Gear OutRun, which, though it had been great at the time, was 4-5 years old at that point.

As an adult I'm fully aware that the Game Gear could never do something like MarioKart, but as a kid I had no appreciation for that and just felt a bit underwhelmed.