30 Years of Sonic The Hedgehog – The Many Faces of Mario’s Greatest Rival – Feature
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Over the past three decades, many types of Sonic fans have emerged and evolved. The type of fan you are often depends on where you got on the platforming franchise. You got your 2D purists your handheld advocates, your 3D advocates, your worried Werehog, your people who say 8-bit games were better than 16-bit games … and that’s just the tip of Green Hill.
Stuart Gipp, who describes himself as the ‘long-suffering Sonic veteran’, takes a chronological look at the entire series thus far …
Sega’s great blue hope seems to go through incarnations as it must wear through pairs of socks. One has to wonder what the hell caused him to be in such a hurry, but given the uneven quality of the series as a whole, we suspect he might be trying to leave behind. the same.
Having looked at the many faces of Donkey Kong in honor of the gorilla’s 40th anniversary, the recent – and typically catalyzing – The launch of Sonic Colors Ultimate in the 30th anniversary year of the Hedgehog seems like an opportune time to take a look at a selection (though not the full range) from Sonics. A couple of Sonics. A glass of Sonics. A sonic appetizer.
We start with a draft of the genuine article; the only Sonic that ‘purists’ like …
Proper Sonic: The Mega Drive Years (1991-1996)
Now some will dispute the assignment of the “proper Sonic” tag to this little batch, but they are all wrong: this is Sonic at the height of his powers. 2D platforms that utilize momentum that has never been equaled, or even convincingly mimicked.
The original Sonic the Hedgehog and its two and a half sequels (Sonic & Knuckles only something like counts as a full game) they still look and play great to this day, hence the excitement for the next Sonic origins – which also includes misunderstood masterpiece Sonic the Hedgehog CD.
We think it’s telling that it took a direct boost from these classics in Sonic Mania for the series to achieve unanimous critical acclaim again after its early ’90s heyday.
8-bit Sonic: The Master System / Game Gear Years (1991-1996)
It would be remiss on our part not to acknowledge the rather underrated 8-bit Sonic games, especially their Master System incarnations, which we’d say are, at the very least, minutely playable and auditory (or should it be sonically) marvelous.
While still fast, the focus on 8-bit Sonic and Sonic 2 has shifted to more linear and precision-based platforms; a MacGuffin-focused approach to the series, the Chaos Emeralds; here, hidden in an obtuse location in each zone rather than locked behind special stages …
Even Sonic Chaos and Sonic Triple Trouble, that is, at that time, uh, they locked them behind Special Stages again.
Extremely Confusing Sonic: The Saturn Years (1996-1997)
The promise of a future Sonic probably sold Saturns, which is a bit embarrassing considering he never had one.
Yes, you’re screaming, he got a version of Sonic 3D, as well as the racing spin-off. Sonic R, but the best Sonic title in this era was the Sonic jam compilation of classics. Which is not exactly a great announcement for your expensive and breakable new console. Fans are aware that the planned and strange fisheye lens title Sonic X-Treme It had a very troubled development at this point, but it looked like a mess and never saw the light of day.
Outside the Saturn, there was a bizarre arcade fighter Sonic the fightersbut that one didn’t exactly scream Hi, I’m the Sonic franchise. I know what I’m doing”. It was powered by the Fighting Vipers engine (which was also the Virtua Fighter engine) and yet it was surprisingly good.
Confident Failure Sonic: The Dreamcast Years (1999-2001)
Remember that scene from The Simpsons where Mr. Burns’ doctor is demonstrating the fragile balance of his patient’s health with squid toys depicting disease stuck in a mini-door? Sonic Adventure is basically a game version of that, in the sense that it is a game that is completely falling apart and fundamentally broken, but somehow it almost hangs in a way that sees its wobble log as a lovely freewheel. , rather than disgustingly unplayable.
Sonic Adventure is still extremely fun to play, possibly more than any of its more rigid follow-ups. Sonic Adventure 2, for example, which is a much more polished and attractive title, but also a bit boring and garbage, if you ask us. Many disagree, of course, but we find it quite homogeneous.
The most interesting thing about adventure games is their total (and somewhat admirable, in a way) refusal to exchange past glories; not only are they not classic Sonic games, they are absolutely nothing like your ancestors in just about any shape other than the obvious loops, rings, etc. There’s something to be said for moving from the most accessible platformer ever made to the sheer complexity and constant feedback of the Sonic Adventure series.
Throw-things-on-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks Sonic: the years of the cross-platform desert (2003-2009)
Then the unthinkable: Sega exited the console business and began bringing its most famous brands to the systems of its former rivals.
And Hell continued: Sonic Heroes is odorless, but it is a mere slip mark compared to some of the absolute rinse that saw the light of day on this very one, very choppy period; Shadow the Hedgehog, for crying out loud; ports of the Dreamcast games that were, in the case of Adventure, even more broken; the wretched Sonic Riders and their sequels; the gruesome Sonic storybook series featuring Secret Rings and Black Knight; and the interesting Sonic Unleashed created a portrait from a series that really had no idea what he wanted to be or what he was doing.
Fortunately, during this period, there was a solid core of 2D titles for the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS that kept things a bit more on track – all three Sonic Advance games were a good time, not to mention Sonic Rush and Rush Adventure, which both offered high quality racing action. That said, even handhelds weren’t entirely secure, with Bioware’s gruesome Sonic Chronicles floating over the format like the fizzy aftermath of a plate of chili dogs.
Oh and something that is commonly known as Sonic ’06 it damaged the series’ reputation forever.
Boost Sonic: The Cross-Platform Desert Years, Part II: Something Like Coherence (2010-2021)
Thank goodness this deluge of trash came to an end with Sonic Colors, then a title with a shocking level of purity and focus in a series that seemed to have long forgotten what those things were. Far from us to call Sonic Colors PerfectIt was (and still is) a far above average version of 3D Sonic; one that finally acknowledges the strengths of the games – that is, the traditional platforming stages of 3D Sonic that you’d think would be the focus of previous titles, with no alternate playstyles or mindless fun minigames to waste your time. It’s simply Sonic action, something that was taken from the “Day” stages in otherwise mediocre Sonic Unleashed and expanded on here, as well as the celebratory continuation of Sonic Generations, a title that’s undeniably based on nostalgia. while also offering a large amount of meat on his bones for players to get stuck.
There are some bugs in this era: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 was tantamount to a war crime just for the cheek of its name, it’s best not to mention the Sonic Boom games, and Sonic Lost World, exclusive to the Wii U console, was a error in most cases. ways, but for the most part this consistency carried over to Sonic Forces, a widely ridiculed game that this writer argues is quite penalty feeEspecially when you consider the vast waves of scum that fans had to navigate before.
And then came Sonic Mania, of course.
Sonic from the future (2022 – ????)
Of course, many will not agree with the conclusions drawn here about what, statistically speaking, are probably some of your favorite games. And that’s totally fine. We’re looking at the series here in a more distant way than enthusiasts would. And we’ve missed a lot too: Sonic isn’t just about games, but multiple universes of comics (Archie, Fleetway, IDW), TV cartoons (Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic SatAM, Underground, and later Boom) , as well as many other deviations within the franchise (not to mention the blockbuster film), each of which is more thoroughly narrated by the fanbase than we actually have room for.
We like to think that Sonic’s success comes in waves and the next Sonic rangers has a chance to once again deliver a consistent experience for fans, though it is most likely another new direction in a series that sometimes really struggles for identity. Nonetheless, we still really like the silly blue idiot and we only want the best for him. Which means that we really must insist that he choose a lane.
What is your favorite time of Sonic? Let us know in the poll below and feel free to let us know the exact type of Sonic fan you are in the usual spot.
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