[W.A.C.]

Why am I still a Sonic fan? Good question. Well, I love the Genesis trilogy, Sonic CD, Sonic 3D Blast, the Advance games, Tails Adventure, and Sonic Generations. I also really enjoy a lot of the Game Gear/Master System games, Sonic R, the Adventure games, and really like Sonic Colors a lot but not enough to consider it a game I love. Some enhancements to the controls might've been able to swing me that far though. As you might have noticed, I didn't mention anything from the mid 2000's and for good reasons. Sonic Heroes caused my interest in the series to decline. I felt it was such a step down from the Adventure games that I wondered what the hell happened. Then we later got Shadow the Hedgehog which I thought was going to be terrible but I surprisingly ended up liking the game. It later occurred to me that one of the reasons why I enjoyed Shadow the Hedgehog as much as I did at the time is because my gaming tastes standards were declining because the second half of 2005 ended up being really shitty.

I've never played Sonic '06 since I didn't own a PS3 around the time it came out, but the fact that game is supposed to be god awful did not help my view of the series. Sonic Unleashed was noticeable improvement but I got stuck with the Wii version at the time. I liked the game, but it could have been so much better if they scrapped the werehog and made some other changes. Fortunately, Sonic Colors corrected a fuckload of those issues and ended up being a really great game. I did try Sonic Rush on an emulator at some point in 2010 and thought the controls were so bad that it just ruined the whole game for me. Sonic 4: Episode 1 was fun but was just nowhere near as good as the Advance games or the Genesis games. Even if the physics were good for that game, I don't think it would have been that great. Certainly would've helped it a ton though.

One thing that should be kept in mind about the series is that it offers certain types of games I just can't find anywhere else. While Sonic was going down hill in the mid 2000's, the 6th generation of gaming was a pretty good time for fans of 3D platformers. I was absolutely obsessed with the Ratchet & Clank series, the Jak & Daxter series was strong, the Sly Cooper series had three very unique platformers, Super Mario Sunshine was awesome, I loved Rayman 3, and there were other enjoyable games from that era too. Once the seven generation of gaming hit, the selection of 3D platformers wasn't that great. Sure, the R&C series continued, but most of the games released from that series this generation have been nowhere near as good as the original trilogy. Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 kicked ass, but those were SD games and the lack of HD platformers taking advantage of impressive hardware was very disappointing. Game series like R&C, J&K, and Sly took great advantage of what could be done in a 6th generation console. Much of what was done in the Galaxy games seemed mostly possible on the GCN. Only 3D platformers this gaming generation that felt very 7th generation to me were the new R&C games and some of the Sonic games. Even then, I felt most of the level design from R&CF: ToD were very possible on a PS2.

Another thing worth bringing up is the Sonic fandom. While I didn't post on any Sonic sites in the early 2000's, I used to go to a ton of Sonic fan sites and lurked on quite a bit of Sonic forums. Unfortunately, the forums I used to lurk a lot disappeared overtime so by the time I was posting on forums in late 2004, those sites were no more. It took me forever to find a Sonic forum I liked but I eventually discovered this site's forum community and just had to join it. I was also part of Nushift's forum for quite a while had a lot of Sonic fans but the site owner deleted the forum last year. His original intentions for the forum were never successful and I think he wanted to completely separate himself from the Sonic fandom. I also used to read sprite comics a ton in 2002 and '03, and play Sonic fangames a ton in 2003 and '04. So anyways, this why I've stuck with the franchise. Certainly helps when my favorite game is part of it.

[Falk]

First game in over a decade was Unleashed, so I guess I skipped most of the crud (though I went back and played quite a bit of it, good God hahaha)

Most of the games have catchy music. I wouldn't call some of it objectively good, but it's memorable and most of it fit levels/characters/leitmotivically really well.

Except S4EP1. Let's not even consider that part of the discussion.

[Supakitsune]

because I've lost control of my life

[SteelBrush]

I don't know. I could tell you how I left console gaming after the Saturn, leaving Sonic behind, only gaining an interest again around 2007 but I won't. Every Sonic game that I play, every Sonic game that is released, there is always that hope inside of me that it will capture that special feeling of the classics, it never does. So why am I still here? I enjoy being in the community and there's always that little bit of hope.

[FlackoWeasel]

Hard to explain to be honest. I just love the francise and that there is Tails in Sonic games, even if you cannot play with him. I enjoy having new games of Sonic just to play something, as I love such style games (Colourful games with animals and fun) There is so little games what are similar to Sonic and Mario... I grew up with Sonic and then I just have stayed to love it .

[Nova]

Sonic was my first game. I love games.

Not much more to say, though I do get nostalgic whenever I play the classics - not only do I remember how great it was playing them at the time, but they bring back all sorts of other memories from my childhood. Getting a friend who had Sonic 3 (I only had Sonic & Knuckles) and putting them together for the first time, for instance - I remember being amazed at that and then spending weeks doing nothing but playing Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

[Strife]

For me, it's a mix between nostalgia, habit, and an undying interest in the high-speed platforming that's become a staple of the series. I also love the character designs, colorful environments, and of course the music. ^_^

[SpeedStarTMQ]

I've just stuck with the games because of how surreal and interesting they can be. To me, Sonic is a like a series of books. Each one expands upon the last, with interesting plot elements and points expanding upon the last. The general Sonic gameplay is also aweosme, and the fact that I'm excellent at the games is also a bonus. I don't always agree with the descisions made, and I'm keen to voice my opinions on such matters, and well, I just like Sonic. As a character he's well designed, likable and the series never bores me.

[Retroman]

Still am a fan because of sites and fan-bases likes these. Seriously, thanks to communities like these, they reverse engineer games, get beta's, hack and tear apart and study info, which is a geeky interest of mine too. Sonic Megamix was a great idea, and like many fan-hacks, was fun to play. I love that Eggman in Sonic the Hedgehog hack.

Sonic, to me, is a hedgehog without much focus as a story. He is just a hedgehog who is ready to kick-ass.

The levels are a mix between surreal and semi-realistic cartoony-jap anime graphics. Mix that with colorful graphics, physics based momentum, and brilliant layout and music design and you got Sonic, a memoriable game franchise, along with Tails the *not so* helpful fox and Knuckles the *jerk* Echidna. I loved Sonic and Knuckles more than Sonic 3, but both combined are awesome! Lots of warm memories. It's nearly as nostalgic as Mario 64, or Zelda Ocarina of Time. But I am still a sonic fan in the sense that I am interested in fan-gaming and I absolutely love the music and games too, except the various crappy games apart from the great Sonic Colors & Generations & the classics.

This post has been edited by Retroman: 09 April 2012 - 08:02 AM

[Kogen]

I generally enjoy SEGA, so it comes with it. By generally enjoy I mean it is my main source of entertainment and always has been. If they are doing anything, I am paying attention to it, which includes but is not limited to Sonic. I kept with the series very well until Sonic Unleashed, so right now I am mostly interested in them doing anything related to 90s Sonic. The rest of Sonic Team's work in general feels alien to me, so it is hard to care. Basically Sonic G and 4 are what are holding my interest, as well as re-releases.

Probably something from the autism spectrum is involved too. I did buy one of those First 4 Figures statues without second-thinking it.

[Star and Moon]

For me it's because I haven't played very many of the bad games, mostly the amazing games like Sonic Colors and Sonic Adventure 2 etc.

[The Growler]

One of the reasons is probably in the hopes that they [eventually] create the perfect Sonic game which we can come back to again and again.

[DNLeal]

While I'm one that played the genesis games as a kid and and read beyond, I really just like to focus on the main series in this case. When it comes to game play mechanics or story, those honestly just don't come to mind when I think about the series. I'm still a fan a because of the characters themselves and its world mostly, or simply put, seeing the little guy roll into a damn ball against any environment and run around crazy is still fun to me.

[Dark Sonic]

Because if Sonic 3 & Knuckles can keep me entertained for 16 years, even a game not as good can keep me entertained longer then many other games can.

[X-Crim]

Good question xD. Well, I think as I still a fan of Sonic today because since I am a Kid, I've played their games. Actually I am a "little" ( ) dissapointed with the deal as Sonic is receiving...