Sonic Appreciation Thread

I like almost every mainline Sonic game.
I won't dive into the ones I don't like because that's not the point of this thread, but from Sonic 1 in 1991 to Sonic Forces in 2017, there's only 2 Sonic games I straight up don't enjoy. Out of like 15 entries, that's not too shabby if I do say so myself

The spin-offs are all very enjoyable too. I miss when they used to make those, but I guess game development has gotten more expensive so it's somewhat understandable.
Still, the Advance series in particular is very near and dear to me. The Rush games (+Colours/Gens DS) are also a ton of fun.

Overall it's all good in the hood. I know I'm gonna like Frontiers, but I'm especially hopeful because it looks like I might even love Frontiers, which hasn't happened in a very long time for me. Things are looking good for Sonic!

 

I too have enjoyed all the games. Only a couple I was disappointed in. I’m sure I’ll enjoy Frontiers too because it looks and sounds like it’ll be a unique experience for the series. I still get excited anytime a new game is even announced.

Besides that I just love Sonic. Everyone has their favorite character(s) that they “look up to” and for me it’s definitely Sonic. Without getting too nerdy I consider him and the franchise part of me and my life. Of course I love other characters/franchises but Sonic is No. 1. Few others come close.

Honestly the movies are pretty much exactly what I wanted from a live action adaptation. I have ALWAYS wanted to see him turned real. I mean part of reality and not a cartoon. I think he looks so cool and cute all at the same time. Seeing him, Tails and Knuckles brings me joy.

 

The series has a lot of missteps but barring a handful of exceptions I don't think anything is egregiously bad. Most of the games are interesting, even when they're deeply flawed, and can be good time killers depending on my mood or the game's price. I love to see just how much the series changes with the times, both in response to market trends and in response to fan feedback. It's really fascinating stuff.
It's a series with massive appeal and it's really no wonder that it's still going. People are extremely passionate about it and that's just beautiful.

 

Something about this series just brings me back constantly, particularly with these games

• Sonic 3 & Knuckles
• Sonic 2
• Sonic CD
• Sonic Mania
• Sonic R
• Sonic Adventure
• Sonic Adventure 2
• Sonic Generations (and half of Unleashed via mods and such)

There are very few Sonic games I hate, although I dont really care for 06 or the Storybook series (Black Knight is one of the few Sonic games I've never played). I just love the aesthetic, the music, and especially in the case of the classics, how they play. Theres a certain acrobatic feel when you pull off the right moves in those games. I have ever since I first played Sonic 2 in 1994.

 

I just played Black Knight for the first time after avoiding it like the plague for a decade and a half. It wasn’t terrible. A decent amount of effort went into it and I think the majority of problems I had with it came down to the motion controls and on-rails gameplay style. I did hate it at first but it grew on me over the 3 days it took to beat.

If you find it cheap like I did or want to use Dolphin, I’d say give it a shot. I don’t know if I’d come back to it, but I had some good fun replaying levels for the top ranks.

 

Sonic as a character is so brilliant and a perfect role model for the target demographic of young kids. He's refreshingly and charmingly uncynical, he doesn't dwell on the negative and he wholeheartedly accepts everyone for who they are. He's big on second chances and supporting those willing to take that second chance and will never ever give up on someone, no matter how much of a lost cause they seem to be. His free-spirited and laid back yet unbreakable philosophy of self-expression and individualism lifts up everyone around him and I think that's just a great thing, you know? Contrary to the western marketing during the 90s, these days Sonic as a brand doesn't seem to be gunning for a "cool factor", and the character is all the cooler for it. I think it's that genuineness that makes him so beloved in the same way someone like Spider-Man is.

 

As a kid I loved finding a new sonic game or version I’d never heard of before and I loved how much creativity sonic team had good or bad. (Super pumped for frontiers uniqueness that it’s gonna bring to the series.)
I long for the timeline where dimps taxstealth and sonic team all make games in the series :p

 

I'm just really not interested. Sonic with a sword always sounded silly and while it looks better than Secret Rings (and arguably is one of the better implementations of side characters in 3D), I don't return to that either and on top of that I find Medeval settings to be really boring (lot of castles, green barren fields, and fog... neat).

Also the younger Sonic fans gushing over this games deep plot or whatever is a turn off. He's talking to a sassy sword, it can't be that deep.

 

I appreciate Sonic

 

My love of videogames almost always ties back to a desire to capture the sheer joy that Sonic Games have given me at multiple points over the past 25+ years, and it seems like almost every other game I play is an attempt to capture that sense of wonder/excitement. I was 6 when Sonic 1 came out and played the game often via other people's copies until I finally had my own copies by late 1997 and went hardcore into the fandom ever since.

When Sonic works, he just really, really works and there remains no other franchise with quite the same thrilled balance of skill, speed, stage design, visuals, and music. This is best expressed in the Classics + Mania, but has at points surfaced for me in other titles like Adventure 2 and Generations as well. Even playing and discovering some of the lesser titles like the GG/MS and Chaotix still brought me a lot of thrill and joy as a fan despite their flaws. It was fun to learn about the brand and its successes and failures in the early internet days before we were all quite as jaded as we later became.

There is also no other fandom with quite the sheer level of talent/passion for creating professional projects as Sonic's fandom. The sonic fan community's ability to reverse engineer literally everything from Sonic 1 to even Sonic 06 is beyond impressive when you take a step back and see it for what it is. The character has gone on to inspire countless professionals throughout the past 30 years in art, music, animation, coding, and game design. There are countless other IPs that in my opinion often try to copy the passion of the brand's fandom, and do so often to only a lesser degree. Mania and its success is itself a commercial success and testament to this, and that trend continues through wonderful projects like Triple Trouble 16-Bit and more.

And I know it's not just me. I saw both Sonic 1 and 2's films in theaters, both were fun experiences that were better than I was expecting, but the moment that stood out to me the most was hearing young kids in early 2020 react to the Tails scene at the end of the first film. Kids ages 5-6 were so excited to see him. That was me around their age a long time ago, and to see the next generation get as excited for the character as I was is touching in a whole different way.

 

My favourite thing about this franchise is it stimulates my imagination. At first I was about to say that just in regards of classic Sonic, but that wouldn't be true. Ok, this is a flawed argument because everything I pay attention to lights up my creative spirit to some extent, but I was already figuring how collisions worked when I saw the mockup of hidden palace before Sonic 2 came out, begun to dissect the mechanics of Heroes' teams and Shadow's forking level sequences... I've noticed I'm talking just about technical aspects, but that current avatar of mine (the egg altar with the jewel arch, in case someone reads this too late) is just a filler block of a tileset I've almost fully made for a zone in a fangame I'd like to release. And then comes the stuff I'm developing which aren't Sonic projects but can't deny Sonic's behind them.

I'm also wondering how there aren't more 2D games imitating the classic Sonic engine, which is great for any kind of gameplay (I mean, if you don't want slopes, just remove those tiles and you can do a Mario). Also why there aren't more isometric games in this franchise, I like Sonic 3D just because of that.

 

The Mega Drive games at one point prevented me from doing something stupid. I kept meaning to go do the stupid thing, but never got around to it because I was too busy exploring every nook and cranny I could just to make sure I had explored the games to their fullest, and eventually I just kept going. Even today, I still find new things in those cartridges from 30 years ago.

I love those games, and the Adventure Era series.

 

I always appreciated Sonic being a reliable constant in my life. Even in my mid-30s, I can always count on Sonic or something Sonic-related to bring me to my happy place if I'm going through some shit or just having a bad day. The fact that I've got a rectangle in my pocket at all times that I can use to pull up music, videos, etc. that can cheer me up is something I know I take for granted way too often.

On the less sappy side of things, I always appreciated how Sonic Team doesn't like to be "safe" and just make the same games again and again with minor changes. They like to try new things, and sure, that may be partly because a whole game of boost stages could end up being too short and not worth a premium price, but I'll always support their endeavors in hunting for new gimmicks or alternate play styles to add on to or pair up with Sonic. To me that kind of stuff just further expands Sonic's world and makes it feel more lived in and explored, which in turn gives me more to love about my favorite thing ever. Of course there are missteps, but you've got smash a few omelets to make an Eggman, or whatever it is they say.

 

With the exception of maybe Lost World if that, the unapologetic takes on the style of Sonic is what keeps me coming back to not only the games but the multimedia. Even if there's a direction I don't agree with, Sonic Team, Archie, Dimps, IDW, Paramount, they all go the extra mile into making the presentation stunning and interesting. Sonic's flare and style morph somewhat but it never ever diminishes and that's what I love the most.

 

I think most of these posts have said what I was gonna say so I'll just add that everything about Sonic makes me so calm and happy, it's like my ultimate comfort thing. Pretty much any form of Sonic media can immediately bring a smile to my face.