Sonic Games

[Ramaniscence]

Yo. As an matter of coincidence, the 14th SAGE Expo is coming up, so there ought to be a few fangames of interest popping up. I am personally looking forward to Tikal & Chaos, Sonic Nebulous, and Sonic Retro XG.

http://www.sagexpo.org/

Man...Sonic fan games. Me, Suzu, and Shael sat down last week and played through song Sonic fan games...

...yea.

[Tmansdc]

I generally dislike anything after Sonic Adventure 2. Love most of sonic adventure 2 and earlier though.

[The Coop]

I sat down and played Sonic 3D Blast a few weeks ago. Got a wild hair up my ass to do so, and blew through it. I've always enjoyed the 2D games on the Genesis the most, with Sonic 3 & Knuckles being my favorite, and the best in the franchise in my opinion. The GBA games are fun, but not as good the Genesis ones, and the 3D games have been more about fighting the camera than anything else. I'll admit that the first two "Adventure" games on the Dreamcast are alright, but there's just something missing from them (and every 3D game in the franchise)... a certain spark and simplicity that made the Genesis games what they were.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on it.

[Broken]

Each sonic game has its own strengths and weaknesses. The most recent games have a lot more weaknesses than strengths, however.

As an overall package, sonic 3 or 3 & knuckles just cannot be topped. The music is memorable and the 2D game play was honed to perfection. The save function was much appreciated and I could honestly play the "collect the blue spheres" minigame for hours on end.

That said, the GBA titles actually surpass the genesis titles' sense of speed. The graphics are obviously technically superior as well.

When it comes to just music, I find myself turning back to the original 3D sonic titles (3D blast, Sonic R, and SA1). Maybe it's just nostalgia but I think some of those tunes have stood the test of time.

Everything after SA1 (excluding the portable titles) only bring to mind terrible camera glitches, bad voice acting, and annoying side characters.

I would still love to try out the first sonic title that came out for wii. Never got a chance to play that one.

[cobaltstarfire]

I don't have much to say about sonic games right now.

Except that I'm extremely disappointed and pissed off at bioware now after "finishing" sonic chronicles.

If you can even call that a bloody ending. *rages*

[Faustt]

I would still love to try out the first sonic title that came out for wii. Never got a chance to play that one.

If you're talking about Sonic and the Secret Rings... You're not missing too much. It didn't feel at all like sonic to me. It did get better, but I still couldn't bring my self to finish it. It just got tedious.

I've yet to try the newest "Storybook" game, it's supposedly better, but I got burned by buying Secret Rings on it's launch day.

[JCvgluvr]

Oh joy, yet another topic beating a horse that's been dead for a long...long time. *facepalm*

I don't suppose mentioning Sonic Unleashed for the 360 would do any good here. Oh well, if you can't beat 'em:

Hey guys, I think that Halo 3 game is overrated, what do joo guyz think?

[Stargem]

Secret Rings was actually fairly decent, but it had some issues with control and some missions seemed design to play on that aspect, which was pretty painful. The final boss was also bad, but mostly because my arm isn't good enough to maintain the shaking motions needed in order to win. Hopefully, 3rd time's the charm, much like in the case of Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

[The Coop]

Oh joy, yet another topic beating a horse that's been dead for a long...long time. *facepalm*

I don't suppose mentioning Sonic Unleashed for the 360 would do any good here. Oh well, if you can't beat 'em:

Hey guys, I think that Halo 3 game is overrated, what do joo guyz think?

Oh joy, yet another person who thinks everyone's just bandwagoning, and not actually stating their honest opinion based on experience. *facepalm*

[DarkeSword]

Oh joy, yet another topic beating a horse that's been dead for a long...long time. *facepalm*

I don't suppose mentioning Sonic Unleashed for the 360 would do any good here. Oh well, if you can't beat 'em:

Hey guys, I think that Halo 3 game is overrated, what do joo guyz think?

How about you actually read the thread before posting this kind of tripe? >

[Broadcast Bowsette]

I played sonic all the time on my genesis. I stopped playing after Sonic 3d came out. That game was awful. Just terrible. Then after that, they gave sonic a voice, and that just made things worse. He sounds so stupid.

I just wish they would go back to the 2d sonic. I would buy that.

Seconded. I loved the original Sonic games, but once he went 3d everything following has been a bitter disappointment with minor ups occasionally followed by horrid downers.

[Toadofsky]

I never got into Sonic until much later. When I had a PC, I bought the Sonic 3 and Knuckles game disc for like 10 bucks at a Best Buy. It was in one of those giant boxes for PC games, and was Y2K compliant!!! Heck, had a bunch of audio and screen savers/desktop pictures that I loved fiddling with. From then on, I loved Sonic. Even finally played Sonic CD when I found it for PC.

But after Sonic Heroes, for me, Sonic has never been as good. Sure the DS and GBA games are good, but not much else has been good. I love how the main editor in Play Magazine still defends the new Sonic games, he's gotta be crazy.

[LuketheXjesse]

Okay

Sonic 1 2 3 and Knuckles = good

Sonic CD = good

Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 = good

Sonic Heroes = good, but i did not have the patience to do the whole damn chaos emeralds thing

Everything else = suck

EDIT: Also those new handheld ones are pretty sweet.

[justinj212]

When it comes to just music, I find myself turning back to the original 3D sonic titles (3D blast, Sonic R, and SA1). Maybe it's just nostalgia but I think some of those tunes have stood the test of time.

Everything after SA1 (excluding the portable titles) only bring to mind terrible camera glitches, bad voice acting, and annoying side characters.

I always thought the music from SA 1 and 2 was underrated. Sure there's a lot of crap, but there are some songs that stand out (E102's theme, Tikal's theme, Twinkle Park remix to name a few).

As for everything else, yeah you're right. But the point of Sonic was always speed, and I suppose it is a bit difficult to capture that speed in a 3D environment without the camera always crashing into things. I suppose it's worth revisiting to see whether my fondness is based of nostalgia, or if it actually was a decent game.

[Toadofsky]

I always thought the music from SA 1 and 2 was underrated. Sure there's a lot of crap, but there are some songs that stand out (E102's theme, Tikal's theme, Twinkle Park remix to name a few).

As for everything else, yeah you're right. But the point of Sonic was always speed, and I suppose it is a bit difficult to capture that speed in a 3D environment without the camera always crashing into things. I suppose it's worth revisiting to see whether my fondness is based of nostalgia, or if it actually was a decent game.

Hearing this brings fond memories.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z3MzUZ5isQ

So does this...

(You cannot deny the awesomeness of the ska sound there)

Nostalgia is ALWAYS a factor when talking about how good old games are.

Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 are still good games, sure, neither has aged that well, but VERY few games ever do. I can't stand hearing people complain about the "butt rock" of the recent Sonic games. Honestly, I think that it actually suits the game. (If your thinking yeah cuz they're crap, please DON'T reply). Especially if we're talking SA 1 and 2, and Sonic Heroes...

[cobaltstarfire]

I honestly was very nonplused by the story SA2, until I got to the final ending then suddenly I thought it was pretty neat. I did enjoy the game play a bit though, (well except the rouge/knuckles levels bleg, atleast the rouge ones had good music).

In retrospect the dialogue was pretty bad, but the controls/camera never bothered me as much as they seemed with everyone else so I can still play and enjoy random levels even now.

Most of my fav music from that game is from Tails levels, his prison level, and the arc levels especially. I liked some of shadows music too, the others I like but not as much or consistently.

[JCvgluvr]

How about you actually read the thread before posting this kind of tripe? >

I did, actually. Trust me, there's nothing original or noteworthy in this topic. Heck, even my first complaint isn't original. That's how dead this horse is! Stop beating it, it's broken, bloody and mushy.

[DarkeSword]

I did, actually. Trust me, there's nothing original or noteworthy in this topic. Heck, even my first complaint isn't original. That's how dead this horse is! Stop beating it, it's broken, bloody and mushy.

So nobody is allowed to talk about Sonic games? If you don't like a thread and you don't think a topic worth discussing, don't post in the thread. Only warning.

[StandingInMotion]

As far as I know (which isn't incredibly far) there hasn't been a thread dedicated to Sonic games... I know people have talked about them in passing as far as failures are concerned, but I really enjoy talking about the different aspects of the games I enjoyed, and no other thread has really had that purpose for Sonic.

This topic has so many ways it can go: some people do enjoy the newer games, other hate them, some like certain aspects... I mean, there's legitimate discussion we can have here.

If you don't think so, you don't have to post... Meanwhile, we'll enjoy our discussion

Back on topic, though, I started replaying Sonic 1 the other day again. The thing I think I really liked about the Sonic games is how everything is so interactive... The levels aren't just landscapes, you can actually do things to the landscapes. Even though the levels are linear, there's so much to do... maybe I'm too easily amused, but whatever

[Murmeli Walan]

I'm sure it hasn't been mentioned yet (I won't read five pages of this stuff to find out), but this Saturday marks the launch of the 14th Sonic Amateur Games Expo (SAGE) at http://www.sageexpo.org. With games like Sonic Nexus, Sonic Rebirth, and the very-long-awaited Sonic Robo Blast 2, I'm more excited for this than for anything official that SEGA is putting out.

I'm fully convinced that Sonic's future lies in excellently-produced fan-made games. Thoughts?

[Stargem]

Heh, beat you to the punch on that count.

In any case, I feel that Murmeli Weilan is somewhat correct. The Sonic community seems rather self-divided, argumentative, and generally just dim on general principle. However, the people who create these Sonic fangames have been producing increasingly playable games with increasing frequency over the SAGES. While it probably won't be for another four or nine SAGES until this scene really wows the videogame world, this is a good sign. It means that people are honing their skills at making games and can show that it is possible to make a good fangame - and these people may lay down the foundation for the philosophies and cultural heritage that is needed to create a strong medium!

However, I also feel that the people who run the industry need to be switched out. The internet has changed just about everything, be it from distribution to demographics. As such, we really need foreward-thinking individuals who have enjoyed and experienced the full breadth of videogames to take the helm. With their help and future developers coming into the picture, the industry as an whole could be improved. I mean, OCR Remix was involved with Streetfighter II HD, and it was a niche website at one time! There are many ways that the videogame industry and community could cooperate.

The amateur developers are the future. Just play Iji, La-Mulana, Spelunky, Hurrican, Satan Sam, Dark Disciples II, and many other games that are popping up. There is good reason to be optimistic, we just have to make sure that the laws and commercial ideologies of the world would provide fertile ground for the future of our hobby.