So I've been doing a Sonic retrospect

So you don't have Sonic Mega Collection? Or S3&K on Steam?

 

I recommend the Steam version as it's a straight-up emulation of the original. Sonic 4.... There's a lot of context that needs to be taken into account for that one when doing a retrospective, especially since the game was almost totally outsourced to Dimps rather than Sonic Team. Even then, the Sonic Team of the 90s is not the same team that overlooked the Sonic 4 saga. There's a 15 year gap between Sonic 3&K and Sonic 4.

Best of luck to you on the rest of your retrospective!

 

I also YouTube, and I also made a Sonic Retrospective (wow our Sonic 1 videos are almost the exact same length), and I decided to watch this and critique it. Hope you don't mind and find my points constructive!

The start confuses me. Mania and Project 2017 were ALWAYS coming out in 2017, they weren't pushed there. I'm sure you've noticed looking at analytics, but you really could have dropped the first 20 seconds or so. Making a good first impression, especially at the start of a marathon like this, is really important. It tends to be better to just jump into it than to try to explain the ins-and-outs of your decision-making process.

I don't like the way the Genesis graphic disappears when Naka slides on-screen. It was a bit rough and random how you brought up the Mario comparison. Like, _I_ know the context for it, but someone younger might not immediately pick up on why a comparison to Nintendo's mascot is warranted.

"YEAH, DON'T GIVE ME THAT, YOU LITTLE SHIT!" This is the point where I personally would probably stop watching. Gratuitous swearing in game analysis just makes me roll my eyes.

It doesn't _really_ matter that you're playing it on SUGC. Although this is another idiosyncrasy of mine, but I dislike borders for 4:3 in general.

I'm digging the comic book graphics and use of so many sources for footage. The Game Gear game, the comic origin, and the little development tidbit about Sonic's human love interest. I'm guessing you threw that in so you could refer back to it whenever you get to '06?

The SUGC screen filter ends up looking pretty blurry here. I'd suggest turning it off. I personally enjoy upscaling filters, but when you're doing a video review like this, accuracy should trump that.

"By pressing the directional pad to the right..." uh, that seems pretty obvious. Unless you're going to call out Sonic's slow momentum-building.

Your explanation of Sonic as a glass cannon is not at all clear, and I'd be pretty confused about how the system actually works if I didn't know.

"If you get hit, you lose all your coins!" Oh, come ON.

Okay, if you're going to run down the various power-ups and mechanics, it's best to analyze what you THINK of those mechanics as you do so, instead of just listing them out. Otherwise you start sounding kind of like an instruction manual.

You find the speed shoes useless? I mean, I guess I can see your point, but when you know a stage's layout better, it can be REALLY spectacular to blast through.

On the CHAOS EMERALDS screen, I notice your footage isn't being capped at 60fps. I'd definitely recommend switching to it if your hardware is capable.

In Marble, you only push a block on one switch.

Spring VALLEY Zone? No, that's not until NiGHTS.

And now that Sonic 2 and CD are out, you probably want to edit your end screen to put them there.

All-in-all, you've got potential. I liked your editing. But I feel like some of the points you touched on either needed more detail, or didn't need to be brought up. It felt like a very surface-level review. You didn't really explore much of what sat Sonic apart from his contemporaries like the momentum-based physics, and thus you missed what made the game special. Also, watch for script inaccuracies.

 

You mentioned that Robotnik was eventually re-named Eggman because of his shape. This is incorrect, as he was always named Eggman, while Robotnik was just the localized name outside of Japan. Furthermore, Ovi Kintobor was never really canon in the game-verse, as this was only created for the comics.

Also, I think it was a bit odd that you referred to Scrap Brain Act 3 as lazy.

Other than those things (and what Josh mentioned above), decent job; I just wish that there was a bit more fact-checking, and that you dove a little deeper into the mechanics and details of the game.

EDIT: There's a few errors in the Sonic 2 video that kind of bring out what I mean; looking up and down does still work in Sonic 2, it just takes a moment. The delay was likely put in place to allow people to duck without immediately shifting the camera. Additionally, Super Sonic is involuntarily activated by simply jumping--there is no "double jump to activate". That said, good luck not activating Super Sonic on Wing Fortress when you don't have less than 50 rings.

 

Oh yeah, sorry, I should have been more clear. You ABSOLUTELY shouldn't stretch a 4:3 image. That would be MUCH worse. I just have a pet peeve about YouTubers (and television shows, for that matter) that put any kind of special border around 4:3 footage. In other words, I'd rather it just be black bars. If I remember SUGC correctly, I think what you had was just the default border from that collection. It's really no big deal, haha. I get the feeling that it bugs me more than it does most people. At least you're not doing the thing where you take the edges of the 4:3 screen and blur them on either side of the image, that's just distracting and awful-looking.