Sonic the Hedgehog Appreciation Thread

[Ash]

Alright since I'm poking fun I'll be nicer and link you this thread we had a while back: [Poll] Genesis/ Megadrive | rpgcodex > check our fundraiser drive for Monomyth on the front page. Also fuck you Haba
Should be of interest you.

Fun fact: I'm the only person that voted sonic spinball in it Mind you hardly anyone voted in that thread at all.

 

[Morenatsu.]

Japanese canon is better.

Some retards were complaining about 3D Sonic, saying that what was wrong with the games were the convoluted stories with ancient ruins and time travel and shit and that they should go back to the roots where there was no story and no complicated stuff.

But guess what!!! Those things were always there from the beginning!! Well, of course there was little story, but it was otherwise always about that kind of stuff. Maybe people just don't notice because the alternate backstory, but, liek, that's dumb. Suggesting that Sonic would be better if they just made it boring and bland like a Mario game is entirely missing the point completely forever.

anyway im attracted to big the cat and werehog sonic is HOT and tails is an adorable little boy i always loved him

 

[Falksi]

Alright since I'm poking fun I'll be nicer and link you this thread we had a while back: [Poll] Genesis/ Megadrive | rpgcodex > check our fundraiser drive for Monomyth on the front page. Also fuck you Haba
Should be of interest you.

Fun fact: I'm the only person that voted sonic spinball in it Mind you hardly anyone voted in that thread at all.

I've had to bump that to suggest Atomic Runner & Star Control. Both belting games. Star Control sucks hours of your life away without a second thought.

 

[NoSoup4you]

Star Control was cool, but it's kinda like... Why bother when the sequel exists.

Favorite Genesis games were Shadowrun and Ecco. I think it also had the best version of Starflight?

 

[Falksi]

Star Control was cool, but it's kinda like... Why bother when the sequel exists.

Favorite Genesis games were Shadowrun and Ecco. I think it also had the best version of Starflight?

Because Star Control 2 isn't on the Megadrive for starters. So adding it to the "fave Megadrive games" list would be a bit daft.

Whereas Star Control still remains a fantastic blast on the Megadrive anyway.

 

[Sukhāvatī]

Thread reminded me of the Master System Sonic games; made me realise that outside of a few levels, Sonic 1 on SMS > Sonic 1 on MD as an overall experience.

Worth a play if you've never done so before.

 

[Derringer]

Thread reminded me of the Master System Sonic games; made me realise that outside of a few levels, Sonic 1 on SMS > Sonic 1 on MD as an overall experience.

Worth a play if you've never done so before.

Oh yeah definitely, Sonic 1 SMS is a lot better designed than the Genesis version given the hardware, Yuzo's company did a good job with it.

 

[Nutmeg]

Sonic was OK. Interesting attempt to mix pinball (physics, stages) and platformer.

Sonic team's best games are NiGHTS and Burning Rangers. Burning Rangers is hugely underrated. It's an arcade dungeon crawl platformer, and there's even a random dungeon generator. Hampered only by technical issues (frame rate, input buffering). With a fan patch it would be *chef's kiss*

 

[Morenatsu.]

um excuse me how could you forget the glorious atmospheric button-clicker PHANTASY STAR ONLINE????

 

[Morenatsu.]

also i didnt play it yet but SMS sonic looks and sounds like ass. no way is that better than megadrive

 

[Nutmeg]

SMS Sonic is the one I played most back in the day. Then later the MD version on the Chinese neighbor girl's Mega Drive. Couldn't really tell the difference as a retarded kid and preferred playing Mario on my other Chinese neighbor's NES anyway.

 

[Falksi]

Thread reminded me of the Master System Sonic games; made me realise that outside of a few levels, Sonic 1 on SMS > Sonic 1 on MD as an overall experience.

Worth a play if you've never done so before.

Haven't played this for years so couldn't really pass an opinion, but I remember thinking his movement was sharper, and it looks that way on the vid.

If I remember rightly though, when you get hit and lose all your rings and be unable to retrieve them too? I think I remember that being a pain in the arse.

 

[Tavar]

It is just a compiliation, but I'm still looking forward to Sonic Origins. Being able to play the classic Sonics in a modern engine on PC is huge incline. However, given SEGA's track record, I half expect them to fuck it up.

 

[InSight]

My experience with the series consist of
- Sonic the Hedgehog 1
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2
- Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles
And some of the Gameboy Advance games who's titles i don't bother to recall.

To share important factor at what made sonic great, mentioned at another site, and also what the title implies is: Speed.
Sonic is a masterful use of the Genesis/Megadrive hardware/console and perhaps even the amoung the. A game where you can travel large distance quickly with a scrolling speed to match. Compare to other Genesis/Megadrive games ,many of them appear even sluggish/low frame rate ,even these who aren't did not provide the running visuals Sonic provided:the scrolling speed per visual detail. The only game I'm aware of that suppress sonic in the full use of the hardware without slowing down is "X ranger"/Ex-Ranza (1993). Sonic is perhaps the fasted side-scrolling platform game of its era/time. Sonic was "cutting edge" game.

Which is also why the game was designed to be easy. Sonic(or the playable character) would not die as long has he has rings. Unless he disappears from screen which happens when falling into a pit. Running in top/sonic speed into damaging obstacle on a side view leaves little window/timing for reaction for most players. The game would not be reasonable with a set hit points which would discourage the player from experiencing its speed(its high/strong/major point) by playing carefully instead of encouraging it.

One can assume that the failure of the series in its transition to 3d despite the better distance and angle view it provided, was to provide or advance the speed demonstrated/shown/experienced in its 2d/side-view games origin. What Sonic excelled at(and made it stand out) could be found/provided in racing games. More complex/elaborated platforming which require measuring distance would slow the phase of the game (its strength). My estimates/guesses they were not designed to its strengths:Speed, something to match, be worthy of the title "sonic".

Note:reminder that i have not played any of the 3d games.

 

[Falksi]

I'm convinced Sonic 1 was developed as a retard filter.

I've just finished it again, and I've absolutely no idea how on earth anyone can class this as a great game. It's level design is some of the worst I've ever played, and it is beyond SLOW.

Green Hill Zone is Decent, but after that most your time is spent waiting around for the environment and/or enemies to move into the desired position, and the game becomes almost ALL about memorization.

Granted the visuals are AMAZING, and Sonic himself is cool as fuck, but after Green Hill Zone the game plays like pure ass.

 

[Ravielsk]

I personally do not care much for Sonic. The most experience I had with it was with a demon of Advetures 1 that came with a gaming magazine and it was not that amazing.

Then again without Sonic there would be no Sonichu and for that I really appreciate it.

Not even sorry:

Spoiler

 

[NoSoup4you]

I miss when Chris was funny instead of horrifying.

 

[Tavar]

(...)Compare to other Genesis/Megadrive games ,many of them appear even sluggish/low frame rate ,even these who aren't did not provide the running visuals Sonic provided:the scrolling speed per visual detail(...)

This is very true and even applies to other plattforms as well as the modern indie jump and runs: Very few reach the fludity which the 2D Sonic titles reached 30 years ago. It is not about top speed either it is about how snappy the controls are. I can understand why people hate Sonic's controls as he is super sluggish if you grind to a halt, but as soon as you speed up at least a little the controls are just perfect for me. I guess it is both a matter of taste and what you are used too: For me, the Mario games of the same era feel terrible while for the Mario kids Sonic feels terrible as well.

 

[Falksi]

(...)Compare to other Genesis/Megadrive games ,many of them appear even sluggish/low frame rate ,even these who aren't did not provide the running visuals Sonic provided:the scrolling speed per visual detail(...)

This is very true and even applies to other plattforms as well as the modern indie jump and runs: Very few reach the fludity which the 2D Sonic titles reached 30 years ago. It is not about top speed either it is about how snappy the controls are. I can understand why people hate Sonic's controls as he is super sluggish if you grind to a halt, but as soon as you speed up at least a little the controls are just perfect for me. I guess it is both a matter of taste and what you are used too: For me, the Mario games of the same era feel terrible while for the Mario kids Sonic feels terrible as well.

Problem is with Sonic 1 that the level design rarely allows you to get up to speed, especially if you want to complete the game properly by getting all the chaos emeralds.

It's all waiting around for moving blocks, spikes to retract, and generally the stages to move to how you need them to.

 

[Tavar]

(...)Compare to other Genesis/Megadrive games ,many of them appear even sluggish/low frame rate ,even these who aren't did not provide the running visuals Sonic provided:the scrolling speed per visual detail(...)

This is very true and even applies to other plattforms as well as the modern indie jump and runs: Very few reach the fludity which the 2D Sonic titles reached 30 years ago. It is not about top speed either it is about how snappy the controls are. I can understand why people hate Sonic's controls as he is super sluggish if you grind to a halt, but as soon as you speed up at least a little the controls are just perfect for me. I guess it is both a matter of taste and what you are used too: For me, the Mario games of the same era feel terrible while for the Mario kids Sonic feels terrible as well.

Problem is with Sonic 1 that the level design rarely allows you to get up to speed, especially if you want to complete the game properly by getting all the chaos emeralds.

It's all waiting around for moving blocks, spikes to retract, and generally the stages to move to how you need them to.

That's true, they only got the level design right with Sonic 2. Sonic 1 has stages which are incredibly slow, Labyrinth zone is the worst offender.

 

[Yldr]

Spoiler

I'm convinced Sonic 1 was developed as a retard filter.

I've just finished it again, and I've absolutely no idea how on earth anyone can class this as a great game.

This is far from the only retro game to fall into that category but I had the exact same sentiment when I finally got around to marathoning the 2D games a few months ago.

Sonic is old enough to be a household name and yet the first word that came to my mind was "derivative": just another mediocre platformer in a non-sensical fantasy land with a stupid mascot jumping around to catch floating shinies.

Add to that the start-stop design (unless you know the levels by heart, which defeats the point) and it's obvious the idea is much more interesting than the games themselves.

On the other hand you can't take away their stellar art and tech, not only the visuals but also the music. This is one point where I'll gladly concede "they don't make them like this anymore", I can't come up with a modern example of these powerful and catchy melodies.

Unexpectedly, even though I didn't really like the 2D games I did play, I'm sort of optimistic about the 3D ones still in my backlog (Sonic Colors in particular) because this is exactly the kind of series that would benefit from popamolization: throw over-the-top setpieces in the player's face that are only really possible with 3D engines, and a reduced difficulty so you can keep the ball rolling by allowing the player to go through the levels at impossible speeds like originally proposed.

 

[Gastrick]

I love the 2D Sonic series as well OP, and have even managed to enjoy the worst game after playing through it enough times, Sonic 2. Sonic CD I would say is the best, with Sonic 1 trailing close behind. Sonic 1 is a fun ass game and it has good platforming. So many excellent stages in that one. And the soundtrack just makes it all better. Sega of Japan in the 90s obviously had very competent people who knew what a good game looked like and how to make it. The special stages are quite enjoyable too and the way you reach them is so un-convoluted. I love this game and I love it 10X more every time I replay it.

 

[Morenatsu.]

I'm convinced Sonic 1 was developed as a retard filter.

seems like it worked, too

 

[Gastrick]

I'm convinced Sonic 1 was developed as a retard filter.

Great humility, I thought retards could enjoy Sonic 1 as well without being filtered, but now that you mention it...

 

[Falksi]

I'm convinced Sonic 1 was developed as a retard filter.

Great humility, I thought retards could enjoy Sonic 1 as well without being filtered, but now that you mention it...

Judgement past on a game finished several times over is not being "filtered"

It's a witty riposte, but lacks context.