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Oh Sonic, my Sonic
Alex Kidd was no Mario, and everyone knew it.
It was the golden age of the 2D world, Sega with its Genesis and Nintendo with its Entertainment System. But while red plumbers are great marketing tools, monkey boys are not. After passing through the ideas of a rabbit with stretchy ears and Theodore Roosevelt in pajamas, Sega had it: a cobalt blue hedgehog that could break the sound barrier. The amazing Sonic the Hedgehog had been born, and with it a legacy that helped Sega survive much longer than god ever intended.
And it was good. Sonic's super-speed and spiny jump made for the most innovative platform gaming since the dawn of platformers, focusing on fast-paced fun and the ability to regain life via rings instead of the slow, mushroom-heavy land of Mario. It was a hit, and soon enough Sonic 2 brought a flying fox, a Super Sonic, and the famous purple waters of the Chemical Plant Zone. But all was not well in the world; Tails was just a sprite repeat of Sonic. And you had to play the entire game in one sitting, with no rests or save points.
In the next installment, the now wealthy Sonic Team made the most innovative changes yet: Tails instantly went from annoying to amazing with his ability to fly and swim, and Knuckles appeared as a cool, if not totally dickish side-villain. And that's not all; Sega actually had made a super-long game and split it in to, the first half being named Sonic 3 and the second Sonic and Knuckles. Upon combination, the greatest 2D platformer I have ever played was born: the awkwardly titled Sonic 3 and Knuckles. The gameplay was astoundingly well done: Sonic breezed through levels as Super Sonic and later Hyper Sonic, Tails was useful for a more exploratory and simple approach, and Knuckles combined the two with an entirely new level layout to make the most versatile Sonic yet. There was saving, speed, great boss fights and most importantly a very, very simple storyline.
Then came the Dreamcast, and with it the death of Sonic.
I found myself in a world without speed. I found a world where the incredibly annoying Amy Rose from the Saturn was more mainstream, where the characters had voices, where the dastardly Dr. Robotnik had been replaced by the idiotic Dr. Eggman. They did what no game should have done: they gave PLOT to Sonic.
He's a blue hedgehog that stands upright and runs faster than the speed of sound. And we need a plot why?
New characters started emerging by the barrel-load, each more useless and idiotic as the last. Humans, oh god, HUMANS came to the Sonic world. The whole point was that Robotnik was being trashed by a hedgehog, but now our furry friend was SURROUNDED by them. Shadow the Hedgehog, with the most generic name and background of all time, single-handedly destroyed any essence of Sonic left.
Why, oh why did they make him 3D? There was no reason to, given that the entire purpose of Sonic was to be a fast-paced action game. They slowed him down with dialogue, gave him motive (why would a LIGHTNING FAST HEDGEHOG possibly need a motive for saving the world?) and made it a fighting game instead of a speed game.
And then we get to the effect on our youth. It's sickening how many of our younger generation bathe in Sonic's glory, yet have never even heard of the Genesis. How they treat Sonic Heroes like the first Sonic game ever. How they make 'fan characters', god, the fan-characters, which are basically a way of stealing the style of others and making it 'their own.' The recolors, the thievery, the oafish praise to the blasphemous blue rodent that claims the greatness of the magnificent Sonic of the 2D age.
Have you noticed the Gameboy versions of Sonic always are lauded by real critics more than any console versions? That's because Gameboys put Sonic back in his speedy 2D home world, freeing him from the disaster of 3D.
We didn't need the characters, we didn't need the storylines, we didn't need the 3D, we didn't need the humans, we didn't need the destruction of the games I grew up on.
If only, if only the now consoleless Sega could realize the error of their ways. If only they could go back and destroy Rouge, Shadow, Cream, Amy Rose, Mighty, Blaze, and the other blasted lot of them in place of the original three. Why can't they make a new game that's in 2D for the Wii or PS3? They could still have fun gameplay, and make massive levels and games given the technology. But 3D is a knife shoved between the spines of Sonic's back, plot is a bear trap the clamps down on his legs, the new characters are thumbtacks lodged on his arms, and dialogue is acid smeared upon his once beautiful face. Sonic does not need to be sleek. He does not need to be in the next generation. He does not need motive, does not need to speak, does not need an infinite array of sidekicks.
He's a freaking hedgehog.
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Comments
Shawn Millican Says:
...Game set, match, and marked. All valid points, none of which are arguable. They've abolished that once wonderful game we've known and loved. Dr. Eggman is a fool.
Pekin Says:
I've been saying this since SA2: Battle came out. Thank you.
w HIT e PHA n T om Says:
I still remember playing Sonic on my old Mega-drive... those were the days.
SuperYoshi Says:
Supposedly, in Japan, Sonic has always taken place in the "real" world, hence why the story in Sonic Adventure is so awkard. Mobius was something the Americans put in, but I liked that better and it makes more sense. Also, Robotnik and Eggman are the same person, Eggman is just his Japanese name, but I guess to appeal to the wapanese, they changed it for no apparent reason, confusing many. At first, I thought it was an inside joke to people who actually knew Eggman was his Japanese name (He is called Robotnik many times in the first Sonic Adventure), but then Sonic Adventure 2 came and they pretty much abolished it altogether (In Sonic Adventure he took "Eggman" as an insult, now he goes about bragging as if it's his real name in the English version).
Oh, and Amy was from Sonic CD on Sega CD, she never appeared on the Saturn, besides those Sonic CD cutscnes on Sonic Jam.
I feel ashamed to say that I was a huge Sonic fan. I haven't bought a new Sonic game since, say, Adventure 2 on Gamecube. Honestly, the only handheld Sonic game I remotley liked was Advance 1. Adcance 2, 3, and Rush, all focused too much on speed instead of platforming, which resulted in too many times where you're just running too fast and instantly fall to your death because of a cliff you couldn't see. Whenever I see a new Sonic game coming out, I'm always "Yeah, Sonic Heroes is gonna be the game to revive the franchise!", "Okay, Sonic Heroes wasn't that good, but this Shadow game's different, it looks alright!" "...ohhh-kay! Shadow was awful, but this new game on the 360 looks absolutley amazing! It looks like Sonic and Robotnik are going to be the only main characters again!". I'm sick of it and I'm mostly sick of Sonic Team pumping out God-awful games.
This was way too long a comment than it was meant to be.
XeaL Says:
I agree on this essay.
Although I wasn't any sonic fan. But I've seen one sprite comic too much.
Also: Please forgive me for posting this:
http://4kids.tv/forum/showthread.php?t=146570&page=1&pp=8
Doodlibop Says:
expletive expletive expletive YES expletive.
all my love.
only us 'old timers' really know the deal behind the blue speed demon that was once Sonic. I mean, even till this DAY i get a kick outta playing those old games because guess what...THEY WERE FUN.
As for more characters??:
Tails: excusable, every hero needs a sidekick. he's okay.
knuckles: the antihero in a way. okay in my book cuz everyone and their grandma thought he was the awsomest thing since applesauce when he first came out.
amy: well, she's been around and i'm only lauding her old character design. she is no favorite, but she is a female, thus she complies with policy standard, cliche'd as it may be.
dr. robotnik: no ridiculous eggman nonsense. ROBOTNIK. awesome name for the most purile villain befitting the newest genre of hero that was sonic.
all of the above character including sonic are one thing that the rest aren't: UNIQUE.
now for the shmo's:
big the cat: big the bloody cat. what is WRONG with you sega?! you want me to stop speeding around the track to go FISHING?! not only that, but big is no lovable oaf like sayyy stimpy or something. He's just an oaf. an over grown, purple fat loser feline named, (watchout!here's something original!!) BIG. UGH.
shadow: when he first came out, i hated his guts. a stupid ripoff with a construed background story. the only thing redeeming about him was his first game voice actor, which was cool. AND THAT'S IT. Angsty good for nothing who-knows-or-cares-to-fathom bio-mech losar with his Maria-fetish is just about as sickening as it gets. Then our younger 12 n00bs are still going all bats over the gun-toting Shadow. AS IF, ACCORDING TO YOUR LAME STORY SEGA, SHADOW NEEDS A GUN.
maria: keep the humans on a LOW dangit!!! i know she's dead but YEESH. it's because of her we have the furry pr0n lovin' Elise and the just as questionabl genie chick! NO MORE HUMAN GIRLS. STOP. DECIST. ENOUGH.
Blaze: A FIREY cat. *half hearted clapping* first female to get a super saijin-esque thing, but meh. As her design, very uninspiring. MORE ENEMIES with diverse storylines, LESS ALLIES with similar situations, SEGA!
Silver: *laughs scoffingly* DO WE NEED MORE HEDGEHOGS?! Maybe a PORCUPINE, for cryin' out loud! there's a good one!! He's a psycic blah blah blah i don't give a dollar n' change. How many 'heros' do you need for a game under the title SONIC?!
Eggman: Too much family. Too much stupid.
Rouge the Bat: You mean, Rouge the whore more like it. That's why Sonic has prolly the most hentai outta any anthro game/cartoon i can think of. A sexy bat? HELLO, NOT HUMAN.
and so on and so on and so on and so on.
Stupid SEGA. Sonic used to be cool.
koshizzle Says:
all i can say is thank you.
WildBlueSun Says:
Please, for the love of whatever you hold dear, write something that isn't a long mass of hate, however intelligently put. The last four pieces of literature you've submitted have been long complaints. You could argue that the last five pieces are so.
For goodness sake, enough hate.
Triad Orion Says:
I don't agree entirely. I've been playing the series since 1991. Yes, Sonic has very much gone downhill since the old days, but it was not 3-D itself which killed the franchise, as you seem to laud that it does. Nor is it the introduction of a few characters, nor is it the introduction of dialogue. Plots for Sonic games are notoriously bad, it's very true. But I submit it's not the principles of three-dimensions or the new blood or even the campy dialogue that has been doing Sonic in.
I'd say it is Sonic Team's utter inability to adapt with the times and actually take the time and effort to release a quality product rather than sitting back on their laurels and letting the name sell the game. Other games have made the *exact* jump, including expanded plots, side characters, and often times dialogue (at the very least expanded scripts) that Sonic has. Mario. Metroid. Zelda. Mega Man. And they've all performed extremely well in the generations since 2-D. What you're essentially decrying is any evolution at all for the license, and that is inherently bad. What that encourages is more and more stale, cookie-cutter Sonic games; not much better than the load of tripe we've been being handed with anyway.
Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast worked just fine. It was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I believe it did make a solid, if experimental base for Sonic in 3-D. Some of the play-styles weren't all that good, and others, if polished, they could become good. If Sonic Team took the time to address the issues present in Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2 could have been perhaps the finest Sonic game produced to that point. Unfortunately, they didn't do that, and just ended up making everything worse.
Really, my problem with the series isn't the idea that it *has* plot, which I think a game really needs these days, but that the plot is just so damn *apocolyptic* so often. Sonic games have consistantly tried to be dark, and it's only gotten worse since Shadow was created. Really, a dark plot and a Sonic game just don't mix. I would place that as the number one reason why the plots suck. The less dark and apocolyptic, the better. And dialogue? It's not bad, but it goes with my reason of more lighthearted-tones. Sonic just inspires campiness in voice acting. I think it's not a bad thing, as long as the plot is written with this in mind; an intentionally light-hearted, fun-loving game with campy dialogue is a lot easier to swallow than the alternative.
Now, I'll agree that the main cast has expanded too fast. I think a few new heroes wasn't a bad idea. E-102 Gamma was actually a fairly sympathetic character for what he was; a pity they didn't keep him around. He's a lot more likable than Omega, who really is just an edgier, angrier version of Gamma. Some of the other characters were interesting, but the problem was Sega did very little to keep them unique to the series or really do anything interesting with them. Most of the characters were just there, and were flat. Gamma was an example of one of the few characters they did *right*, and I wish they'd go back and really examine the characters they're trying to create.
That being said, I do see Sonic having potential in 3-D. Sonic and the Secret Rings has shown to me that Sonic Team can do 3-D Sonic games, it's just that they have to get out of the idiotic "don't fix it" paradigm they've been cultivating since Sonic Adventure. Though Secret Rings didn't do dialogue all that well, the more light-hearted, non-apocolyptic plot (disjointed and campy as it was) was an improvement over the apocolyptic nonsense that was Shadow the Hedgehog.
I don't want to seem rude, but while you register some decent complaints, you don't really address them all that well, or portray any positives about the 3-D era. Really, it makes you come off as a zealot. And while I will definitely agree with you that the old school games were better, you need to be more balanced with your analysis. Anyone can rant. It takes more effort to construct a balanced argument. And while you're saying what's on a lot of peoples' minds, you're not doing anything to really help fix the problem, which I'm sure you'd like to do. Encouraging that *all* Sonic games should be 2-D, plotless, and dialogueless would ultimately be the death of the series before long too. Video games have evolved. Sonic needs to as well. Sonic Team needs to learn from their mistakes, take their time, and actually put out a polished, quality Sonic game with a plot that makes sense, dialogue that meshes well with it, a refined camera system, improved controls, and keeping the emphasis on Sonic while keeping the supporting cast as *supporting.*
Z A T E C H Says:
Eh... I was still a little kid when Sonic was starting off.. And the first I played was I believe that Sonic 3 and Knuckles one... Sonic Adventure 2 Battlefdsdd was at least half decent... Sonic Heroes was pretty stupid... And finally, Shadow the Hedgehog was the nail in the coffin.