Retro|Spective 061R: Sonic the Hedgehog

[Cassius_Smoke]

I never gave it enough time really. I bought a Dreamcast 2nd hand with a load of games and Sonic Adventure just fell to the wayside. I played it, but it didn't grab me. I don't know if it's because I had so much other stuff to play, or because I didn't like it. I know it bothered me that I had to keep backtracking to collect rings.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 23 - Sonic Adventure 2
The sequel had the sad honour of being the last ever Sonic game for a Sega console and introduced Shadow in a plot that pitted him against the blue hog. Following the same structure as the prior game, SA2 was a refinement in visuals and delivery and amazingly was timed to coincide with the series 10th anniversary showcasing a rapid progression from the original title to this one in just ten years. From its sky diving intro that led into a San Francisco street run through to its space bound climax, the sequel went bigger aiming to deliver a more impactful incarnation of Sonic in 3D and also, accidentally, a fitting swansong for Sonic on Sega platforms.









Did the second attempt deliver a fond farewell to Sega consoles?

[Dogg Thang]

Sonic Adventure 2 was pretty good but I missed running around the hub world areas. The Sonic and Shadow levels were generally pretty great but I have a feeling there was one character who had levels I didn't enjoy but I honestly can't remember.

[Neon Ignition]

Knuckles/Rouge's levels were easily the worst. Largely the same as in SA1 but more convoluted. Outside of that though the game was one where I definitely prefer it to the previous game and pretty much every single 3D Sonic game made since. It's flawed but broadly is about as close to making Sonic work in 3D as ST ever came.

[Hirst]

I played a hefty chunk of SA2 in HMV and have to say that I thought it was a bit dull.

[Asura]

Sonic Adventure 2 was pretty good but I missed running around the hub world areas. The Sonic and Shadow levels were generally pretty great but I have a feeling there was one character who had levels I didn't enjoy but I honestly can't remember.

Knuckles/Rouge's levels were easily the worst. Largely the same as in SA1 but more convoluted. Outside of that though the game was one where I definitely prefer it to the previous game and pretty much every single 3D Sonic game made since. It's flawed but broadly is about as close to making Sonic work in 3D as ST ever came.

Yep. The Knuckles/Rouge levels in SA2 were conceptually the same as Knuckles in SA1, but the levels were much bigger. In theory they were built around solving puzzles but their design was just trash and it made some of them very confusing.

Robotnik & Tails also had not-so-great levels, but theirs were short and usually easy, so you breezed through.

People often knock the 3D games for the expanded cast and varied gameplay styles but I think it worked in SA1. Sonic was great, Tails was just a rework of the same (with a couple of different levels), Knuckles' levels were actually quite fun to try and do quickly, Amy's levels were an interesting idea even if they didn't really pan out, Gamma was honestly better than the Robotnik/Tails stuff in SA2 and Big... Okay well I guess they weren't all great. But Big only had 3 levels and they were over in 20 minutes.

Many people remember Sonic Adventure 2 as better than 1, but I honestly feel those people are just remembering the Sonic/Shadow bits, which, admittedly, were fantastic.

[Dogg Thang]

Yep. The Knuckles/Rouge levels in SA2 were conceptually the same as Knuckles in SA1, but the levels were much bigger. In theory they were built around solving puzzles but their design was just trash and it made some of them very confusing.

Yep, these were the levels I didn't like. I remember them feeling like they went on for ages and I just wanted the fast running levels.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 24 - Sonic Heroes
The first non-Sega platform entry for rival consoles, Heroes gave three characters to control at once and abandoned the none linear platforming levels of the Adventure entries. It also revived the Chaotix characters and added puzzle elements into the linear levels resulting in an entry that was a hit.







Hero of the franchise?

[Asura]

Game 24 - Sonic Heroes
The first non-Sega platform entry for rival consoles, Heroes gave three characters to control at once and abandoned the none linear platforming levels of the Adventure entries. It also revived the Chaotix characters and added puzzle elements into the linear levels resulting in an entry that was a hit.
Hero of the franchise?

Hated it. Hate it hate it hate it.

I know I sometimes come across as the "defender of the faith" when it comes to the 3D Sonic games, because I remind people how they're incredibly popular and there's a whole segment of the fanbase who sees SA1,2,Heroes&Shadow as "definitive" Sonic in the way that most people here see Sonic 1-3...

But despite all that, I just don't get Heroes.

First, it's important to get out of the way; being a Renderware title, Heroes was innately multiplatform, but like many games in that engine, the different platforms are not equal. In this case, the GameCube version is superior to the others, with a much more consistent framerate, and it's pretty clear that this was the platform closest to the team's heart. The PS2 version in particular runs like a dog compared to the others. That's interesting too as generally in this generation, multiplat games tended to be best on Xbox.

But even if you get the GameCube version, the game's just a buggy mess. Many of the mechanics and bosses straight-up don't work. There's a pinball level which was absolutely diabolical. Even if I'm being generous, you lose track of the number of times you die just because something goes wrong.

The game was marketed very aggressively towards kids, and it definitely worked, as this went on to be one of the top selling games of that entire hardware generation, and it's fair to say that its success is a big part of why Sonic is still so relevant in the cultural landscape today.

But that makes it even more weird. People sometimes say "kids will like any old rubbish" but children are normally more discerning than you think, and you can't just shovel them trash and expect them to ask for more. I can only assume that with Sonic Heroes, it wasn't so much the game itself but all the trappings that went with it; the multitude of characters, the story.

[Dogg Thang]

I also hate Heroes. It's so absolutely janky and most of my memory of the game is falling through the ground forever because something somewhere didn't connect a landing even though it also did. It's messy and broken and that kills the fun. This was pretty much where I called it quits for 3D Sonic.

[Neon Ignition]

We'll be getting to them but I genuinely got on better with Sonic 06 than I did Heroes. I'm not sure I could say anything redeemable about this one

[Asura]

We'll be getting to them but I genuinely got on better with Sonic 06 than I did Heroes. I'm not sure I could say anything redeemable about this one

Oh I definitely did. Sonic 06 was also terrible but it had some moments of greatness. The game is half-finished and there's a genuinely good game really straining to get out.

I don't feel the same about Heroes. To give what I tend to feel is the most scathing criticism of any creative product, I feel Heroes is a bad idea, executed badly.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 25 - Shadow the Hedgehog
Awkward camera angles, clipping gameplay, unpopular search levels, glitches, port issues... there was only one answer... guns! Shadow handed weapons to the lead character with some non-linear shooter sections and a pursuit of older gamers. The game was a hit sales wise but the reception from critics who cringed at the attempts to court older gamers and other elements meant Sega never attempted to have Shadow lead a game again.








Gunning for Greatness or a Shadow of its Peers?

[Asura]

Have literally never played this, for all the reasons usually suggested.

[Neon Ignition]

I think I played a one level demo back in the day on a freeway section and didn't like it, it was enough to scare me off after Heroes