Oh no, I didn't mean to make this sound like a "I can't enjoy it" kinda thing. I'm able to separate that well enough, so it's not like I'm frustrated over it. It's just something you observe after seeing things go on for a few years, and eventually it just kinda feels like people are trying to argue "the series is bad, dead in the water" over very meaningless things like quill length. Very eye-roll kind of deal. It doesn't ruin my day or my enjoyment of Sonic as a whole, I just feel like it gets taken too far, if you get what I mean. Nitpicks are fine and all, I've got plenty of mine, but I just feel like they get roped into people voicing their complaints about the franchise as a whole - which like, if you want to do that, just talk about that, lmao. Shit's weird.
If you have enough nitpicks they combine to be more than just nitpicks and if they combine to all be going in one direction (like quill length being in the "let's make modern sonic more 'classicy' direction) then it's a lot easier to understand.
This might not be unpopular around here. Maybe just more unpopular in general. And hey, I'm actually about to say something positive about Sonic for once: Outside of maybe the feather, Classic Sonic has much, MUCH better powerups than Classic Mario. Sonic's powerups (namely, the elemental shields and speed shoes) give him new ways to move and open up other ways to play the game skillfully, while Classic Mario's power ups tend to just give him easier (and less interesting) ways to attack enemies. DOuble jumps? The ability to bounce so as to go higher or to quickly and easily cancel momentum? An air dash that can be used for getting speed, instantly changing direction, and blasting through barriers? Or throwing a fireball at some guy? I mean I guess the frog suit also gives him a different way to move underwater. But again, it is just to make things easier rather than more interesting and allow for more skilled play. In fact, last time I played a classic Mario game, I was just avoiding powerups in their entirety. Or at least I didn't go out of my way to get them. That also made things a bit more tense and interesting because you die in one hit as opposed to 2 or 3.
Unleashed changed the formula when people wanted (and frankly still want) Sega to get current gen Sonic perfectly. I think people kind of just gave up and were like "Great this has werehogs who cares its actually pretty fun compared to x." Sonic's image needed another decade of beatings to get to that point. I feel like my unpopular opinion is actually being excited for Frontiers. Yes I kind of hope they are able to fix the animations but outside of that it looks pretty great to me.
Colors' current backslash freaks me out. Obviously there were people who didn't like it back then, because that happens with every game in history, but Colors was praised by critics and public. Now it looks like "Lost World and Forces are bad; Colors started this era; thus Colors is bad too".
The thing about the Colors “backlash” is that it’s a lot smaller than it’s made out to be. It’s the epitome of a vocal minority. The general public and the vast majority of Sonic fans still like Colors - it’s regularly on press lists of the top Sonic games, and the reviews and sales of Colors Ultimate are a testament to the fact it’s still very much liked by the general public. Colors fans, however, aren’t nearly as loud as its detractors, to the point that I think its detractors have convinced themselves they represent the majority.
Sonic games should not be difficult to beat. I mean I really don't associate "challenge" with Sonic. I think a young child should be able to beat it relatively easily without needing to "git gud" first. Mastering it is another story, I definitely want Sonic games to be difficult to master and get the best score on. But seeing the credits should probably be almost as easy as it is in a Kirby game.
I feel like we're kindred spirits. I don't know if this helps. I hope it does! But as someone who's seen this happen over and over again: Unleashed isn't an eternal goalpost. It won't be the state of things forever. The people making the most noise right now won't always be the ones making the most noise. Five years ago, few people were praising Unleashed to the degree they are now (it was instead seen as the start of the modern era, which is a billion times more accurate IMO), and it was Sonic Adventure 2 that was often heralded by the True Fans as the mythical Last Good Sonic Game, before everything went downhill with Heroes. Six or seven years before that, the last good Sonic game was Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and people were yelling at me for playing Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast's 10th anniversary because, and I quote, "That was the start of Sonic's downfall into being a kiddie parody of himself." Complaints about Sega dumbing down the series to appeal to Nintendo fans or kids or "people who don't even like Sonic" have been going on continuously for longer than some members here have been alive, but what changes is which games get accused of being Part of the Problem. I agree, the current state of things is exhausting, and it's sad... I feel like sometimes the noisiest people are rallying against most of what I *love* about Sonic. But give it some time, and the wheel will turn again, and hopefully next time it'll align a little better with our tastes, haha. Either way, remember that the games you love aren't going anywhere, and that you can and should feel free to enjoy 'em and celebrate them regardless of how anyone else feels about them.
Honestly, I’ve always thought that the Adventure and Advance games were as mature, if not sometimes more so, then the classics. Regardless of the time period there will always be people who just don’t like the latest thing.
I think it's mostly down to the fact that Sonic has *always* been a franchise whose number one priority is appealing to kids, but fans aren't bothered by that until they're *not* kids anymore. Thus why we've gotten multiple cycles where fans valiantly argue that Sonic USED to be cool but now he's a tryhard, to the point now that he USED to be cool at the exact time where it was first argued he WASN'T anymore. xD Anyway, I won't derail the topic anymore, I just wanted to try and offer some solace to the folks feeling that way. Unpopular Sonic Opinions? Uhh... god, I feel like everything I can imagine has been both a popular and an unpopular opinion at one time or another. Ooh, here's a good one. Shadow the Hedgehog's progression structure, focused on multiple paths through the campaign that take you through unique levels, might just be the best idea Sonic Team has ever had to solve their length/replay value problem that's so often been their downfall since the jump to 3D. It's a damn shame they bungled the execution so terribly.
This is how I view it. These trends just come and go. It's often just that people defend games and other media they grew up with and have sentimentality for. In five to ten years time people will be saying that Forces was actually a very ambitious game that is flawed but the last good Sonic game (provided Frontiers flops. It's hard to say if this will happen if Frontiers leans in this direction. If this happens it'll be Forces set the precedent for greater games). It's just bound to happen. A popular game on a popular console will amass a popular fandom. That fandom will defend the game almost entirely out of good memories. The same thing happens with games which are suddenly not good anymore. People who were sentimental for the 2000s games threw Colors and Gens under the bus because they ruined what they perceived to be what made Sonic good (mostly just story and aesthetic). Now there are genuine problems with those games. But a lot of the time I see people attack them just because they want a dark story, multiple playable characters, realistic aesthetic. Honestly it's just the story most the time. They don't engage with the games on their own terms. I don't think the next trend will have retrospective criticism though just because Sonic hasn't had enough games in recent years. Lol. No one cares about Lost World and while some people might attack Mania in the future it's just so universally liked I just don't think you'll be taken seriously. Maybe some people will do it but it won't have the same furore as Colors and Gens. So I predict it'll mostly just be Forces defending. Forces was the last Boost game, the avatar was ahead of its time, the story is actually misunderstood, the only thing bad was Classic Sonic. The usual predictable trite. And as I said, how Frontiers goes will set the tone for the argument. Either it was the last game with a secretly good story, characters, and aesthetic. Or it set the precedent which Frontiers built upon and was never truly appreciated in its own time. I don't care about it personally because its often just childhood nostalgia with few substantial arguments backing it. You see it all across the media and it's not exclusive to Sonic.
Yeah, I do know that it won't be this eternal thing. I will admit a lot of my post was exaggerated for the sake of exaggerating, but it does get a bit exhausting seeing this shit happen every few years with different games, lmao. It's a very strange cycle. As I said a bit earlier, it's not that it digs into my enjoyment of Sonic, just that it's like "alright, jeez, we get it, everything is bad and needs to be this." Mostly just feels like people who want it the franchise to be eternally one thing, the thing that got them into it when they were kids, and they miss that spark and want to see it return - very fair - but it ends up turning into them using incredibly minor nitpicks sometimes to lament the entire downfall of the series because they're not 12 anymore. Guess it's just a case of people taking things too seriously. Iunno.
I would love it if a new Sonic game would do the multiple routes/endings thing again. They don't even need to have different endings, narrative-wise. Just have you face off against Eggman in a unique robot for each final stage. Even better would be if each stage had two goals, and that was how you chose your route, instead of from a menu.
This is so so true. I love the concept of being able to finish, or even excel at a stage in many different ways -- that unlocking different paths or any different consequences would be my dream Sonic game. It's a similar reason why I find Sonic 2's versus mode perfect.
I liked Wagyan Land for its branching paths that lead to new levels. It made for a fun arcadey experience where I whimsically go on whatever path I feel like. Shadow has elements of it but didn't accomplish it in any interesting or satisfying way. I wouldn't mind seeing a game with this kind of idea fleshed out.
Metal Sonic is overrated, Mecha Sonic is way better and I wish Sega would drop Metal and give Mecha his chance to shine again in the future. I know it won't ever happen, but a guy can dream can't he?! :P Sonic 3's sprites aren't ugly, and are superior to Sonic 1, 2 and Mania's sprites. The Sonic 3 alone one up jingle sucks, so does the mini boss theme and Knuckles' theme. I'm happy the Sonic 3 alone mini boss theme couldn't be added to Origins. Oh and it's Hydro City, not Hydrossity. :P
I have never had any issue completing Sandopolis Zone. The ghosts are a non-issue, I legitimately have more trouble with the Oil Ocean Zone 2 fire in Mania than I ever have with SOZ's ghosts, and the zone is decently fast the whole way through. It's a little overlong and some of the platforming is a tad tedious, but other than that I would honestly say that I dislike Marble Garden Zone more than SOZ, mostly because to me, MGZ really just blends together the whole way through and I have trouble remembering which direction to go sometimes, which is really odd for a Sonic game.
I never had difficulty with Sandopolis. I thought act 1 was really boring due to the music and the general tedious level design. There's nothing worse than accidentally grabbing those bungee thingies and having to put up with that super-long sequence. I like act 2 a lot but the rising sand areas hurt it a lot.
Sonic the Hedgehog is pretty cool. Hopefully that's not an unpopular opinion. Love that little blue fella.
How old were you guys when you say you never had a problem with Sandopolis? As children, my brothers and I never got past Act 2 because we got stuck on the sand slides. If we ever did get past that, I’m pretty sure we always got a time over. From the age of 13 though, I’ve never found it a problem. I definitely think it was difficult for a lot of kids back in the day. It’s a long confusing level if you’re not used to the layout or mechanics. I also wasn’t too bad at games as a kid from what I can remember.
