Retro|Spective 061R: Sonic the Hedgehog

[Asura]

Game 13 - Sonic Advance

I have played this end-to-end and do not remember a single zone. The only thing I remember are the nicely animated sprites.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 13 - Sonic Advance
Having formed Dimps, the developers behind the NGPC got to make the first non-Sega platform Sonic entry. The result was this GBA entry with four playable characters to play as which largely continued much of the classic gameplay in a short entry that incorporated some of the elements taken from the Adventure entries.







Did this Advance the 2D entries?

[wakka]

Was this a good time to discover a blue ball through your pants pocket?

[Asura]

Game 12 - Sonic Pocket Adventure
Was this a good time to discover a blue ball through your pants pocket?

I loved this one. It's a bit of a shame because it was fantastic, but on modern handhelds feels a bit superfluous now.

I didn't play it quite as much as some of the other titans of the platform, like Match of the Millennium or Cardfighters Clash, but it definitely saw plenty of play back-in-the-day.

[wakka]

A really fun game. I like Sonic Pocket a lot. It's a great example of that thing we don't really get any more, in the age of Switch and Steam Deck, which is a shrunken down version of a title designed specifically for handhelds.

It does borrow heavily from Sonic 2 but really, that's no bad thing. If anything I wish more Sonic entries had

[Neon Ignition]

Game 12 - Sonic Pocket Adventure
Though supervised by Sonic Team, SNK made this NGPC entry for their own handheld which took elements from prior 2D Sonic titles and put them together to deliver a pocket sized incarnation of the franchise. The game was very well received with the main criticism being that it too heavily borrowed from Sonic 2. Its team of developers later went on to form Dimps who would go on to work on more entries.







Was this a good time to discover a blue ball through your pants pocket?

[wakka]

Those graphics are atrocious

I feel like this thread really brings home just how quickly Sega started pimping Sonic out on the reg into sub 5/10 games.

[Hirst]

It's a lousy game, Aspect really should have sacked it off at the conceptual stage. They already had the ability to make decent games by inheriting the game assets from Ancient (like they did with Sonic 2 SMS/GG), they could have easily just changed up the levels and knocked out a decent title. This was just an ugly mess.

[Asura]

Game 11 - Sonic Blast
Was it in any way a Blast?

Just terrible. I didn't play it back-in-the-day so I'm not sure how it would've felt at the time, but I doubt my impression would've been better.

I have to assume there was some motion to try and emulate Donkey Kong Country which made the pre-rendered sprite thing briefly fashionable.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 11 - Sonic Blast
The Master System just kept on delivering Sonic entries. This time Aspect used pre-rendered visuals to give players a Sonic and Knuckles focused take on the gameplay which came to Game Gear also. It was the final game made for the Gear Game in the franchise and was one of the worst received entries with the bulk of its curiosity centered on the visuals it delivered on the systems








Was it in any way a Blast?

[Asura]

Game 09 - Sonic Triple Trouble
Clearly loved in some circles given the perfectly timed fan release of a 16 bit remake of the game:
Three times the fun or Triple Threat?

Loved this, as said before. I had it for the Game Gear and believe it to be the best 8-bit Sonic game. It holds up pretty well; I played it recently on the RG351.

Unfortunately I haven't played the remake. GameJolt had a purge in January of all "not-family-friendly" games on their platform, after them being OK with them prior, which killed game projects ran by two of my friends. Ever since, I haven't patronised them, preferring the itchio platform, and unfortunately this is only available there.

Game 10 - Knuckles Chaotix

Gonna just go and speak in absolutes here; this is bad, and I don't think it has many redeeming features. Visually riotous, they were doing interesting things with the colour palette (though I say "interesting", not "good"), but the game itself is just flawed. Someone at Sonic Team really liked the chain/tether idea but it simply doesn't work; like it doesn't work in the Sonic Crackers prototype and it doesn't work much better in the full game.

I only got to play it in ~2005 and just didn't think much of it at all. Even the 3D special stages, which I was eager to try, don't offer anything particularly notable.

I put Chaotix on the same shelf as CD, in that both are kinda "lost". Many of us who were kids at the time never got to play them due to their host platform's expense, and as a result, our impression of them is heavily based on seeing them from afar, as opposed to playing them. But while they're both a fascinating look at what Sonic could have been, neither of them really stand up when you compare them to Sonic 2 or 3.

[Neon Ignition]

Triple Trouble will be interesting to try in the remake as I only dabbled with the GG version which had all the same issues the small screen Sonic's had

I always wanted Knuckles but never had a 32X, I only properly played it earlier this year and having been winded by Sonic CD and having years ago tried the Sonic Crackers rom I pitched myself right for this and... it still let me down. In essence, the tethering just doesn't work and rather than just do a solid Sonic style game Chaotix mixes a bad mechanic with the worst excesses of the series.

[Dogg Thang]

I have only ever played a few minutes of this on an emulator and never gave it a good go but it's one that has fascinated me over the years and I always hoped for a decent console release so I could play it comfortably on my telly. It has never happened. I do like how it looks but the elastic mechanic is very odd.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 10 - Knuckles Chaotix
We're still within a mere four years of the franchises birth and already up to the tenth entry with this ill-fated 32X Knuckles led title. Also starring several characters known as a group called Chaotix, this game tethered two characters together and found its way to the add-on after its development as a Saturn title was bumped as it wouldn't be ready in time for the new consoles release. The game went overbudget and wasn't well received, failing to sell on the 32X and never widely rereleased since.








Bare boned Knuckle experience or Chaotix to the Max?

[Neon Ignition]

Game 09 - Sonic Triple Trouble
Clearly loved in some circles given the perfectly timed fan release of a 16 bit remake of the game:

https://www.eurogamer.net/sonic-triple-trouble-gets-fan-made-16-bit-makeover

This was the next 8-bit entry and a direct sequel to Sonic Chaos but this time only released (officially now) for Game Gear. This entry had all the characters back again but is where Nack the Weasal was first added to the mix. It's visuals were well received and reviews thought it was a decent effort but appreciation has risen since then.













Three times the fun or Triple Threat?