I more or less agree with him as a whole. S3&K’s special stage implementation was far and away the best of the classic games.
For what it’s worth, Sonic has a track record of adding a ton of characters and then giving them terrible gimmicks that deviate them too much from the standard formula. The only times where they’ve done this right are in the Genesis/Advance titles. Mega Man, on the other hand, doesn’t add a bunch of new chars every game. When they do, they generally nail the gameplay part of it. With the exception of some of the Powered Up robot masters being a little too gimmicky (i.e. Oil/Guts Man), they generally give you some variation on Mega’s abilities while making them not feel like a complete clone. MHX’s Vile Mode and X4’s Zero stand out as the best examples.
It made me salty too. These guys want to hate Sonic so much they are outright lying. They are getting information wrong about the game that appears on the trailer. Thinking that Mania is not a new game and thinking Green Hill is from Sonic 2.
Even as a fan, I have to admit that most of the titles in the series aren’t really very good. Don’t get me wrong, they’re a whole lot of fun, but just looking objectively and critically, a lot of them aren’t good. However, they aren’t bad, either. There aren’t nearly as many genuinely, irredeemably awful games in the franchise as people like to say.
The dudes in that IGN vid were claiming that classic Sonic hasn’t aged well, which is just flat out wrong lol. You could say that about Adventure, but Sonic 3 & Knuckles is a solid game that holds up just as well as a classic Mario title like SMW/SMB3. Quite a number of Sega classics have aged quite gracefully: Sonic 2/3&K, Streets of Rage 2, Vectorman, Ristar, etc.
I’ve always felt like it was obvious that gaming journalists in the US have had a bias against Sonic. This was very evident when Lost World was getting terrible reviews in the US but it’s reviews in other countries ranged from being 7 to 9 out of tens.
Most of this is true, the advance games are severely underrated. Sonic Rush is an awesome game on the DS, it also introduces Blaze the Cat (arguably the only best addition to the Sonic family since Knuckles). I never understood why this character was not explored more, then again, at the time somebody thought giving Shadow guns was a good idea so I can understand that part.
That video was a really great exercise in repeating shit that I read in comment sections but it did get me thinking, why didn’t those new “mobile” ports come out on PC?
It’s difficult to really use a character that’s pigeonholed to an alternate dimension. You have to find an excuse for world-hopping every time you want to use her.
Blaze’s alternate dimension had her own set of Emeralds, and Dr. Eggman Nega was basically a counterpart to the real Dr. Eggman. Already you have two of the most important plot devices to make a Sonic game.
Honestly I hate the whole being not good but fun argument. If the game provides you with enjoyment, then it’s good. Citizen Kane is technically a good movie, but it does nothing for me compared to one piece, which at the time of reading inspired me to do shit. As a critic you should be able to understand that, but these guys aren’t critics, they’re fucking shills and pretentious assholes. There is a reason I value you guys’ opinion of a game over any critic, even shogunZ, because at least dudes have an open mind and have different things in games you value and enjoy. These critics caused games to all be the same fucking shit.
Well, as I said, unless you’re making a spinoff game just starring her, every time you want to use her, you need a multidimensional cosmic crisis going on to give an excuse for Blaze’s and Sonic’s worlds to interact. It’s like how Silver’s future is always in jeopardy from a giant fire demon. Why else would he need to go back in time and interact with the main cast?
Anyone who says ‘Sonic games were never good’ with a straight face automatically makes me question their gaming tastes. Makes me feel like they’ve barely played the games at best or just being hyperbolic and disingenuous at worst.
Spinoff games are not uncommon in Sonic, and it’s pretty clear that Blaze has been misused due to dimensional limitations. But, if we are talking about maximizing character utility, then working with a spinoff would be more idea than placing her in situations of other games. Silver’s future is still Sonic’s world 200 something years later, and we don’t know if Blaze’s dimension still follows the same time mechanics. Time traveling and dimension jumping are not exactly one in the same.
Been thinking about the Sonic 1 & 2 betas lately and here’s a thought. Something like this has probably been posted on sonic retro though.
Stuff like Wood Zone from the Sonic 2 beta I think they said was the past Metropolis Zone? And at one point Sonic 2 -was- going to be released for Sega CD. There’s even pictures on the net of Sonic holding up a cd and some angel woman in a picture as well. I’m thinking stuff like Wood Zone, Dust Hill, etc got cut because Sonic 2 ended up on a sega genesis cart. And how the whole past/future stuff was first meant for Sonic 2 and then moved to Sonic CD. There is that “deleted” folder for one of the zones in Sonic CD too.
Also how Genocide City was actually Cyber City and ended up being Metropolis Zone Act 3. Still weird it’s the only zone in Sonic 2 to have 3 acts. And how Death Egg at one point had two acts as well?
Just some random stuff I’ve been thinking about lately. And seeing if anyone else has anything to add to this. Just throwing stuff out there in case it leads to some new info on this stuff.
You can read the Sonic 2 development info on the Sonic retro wiki about why those levels were cut. Stuff like dust hill and and the snow levels didn’t ever make it past a concept stage. Screen shots of those stages were mock ups. Wood zone and hidden palace were pretty much cut for time.
