The original Sonic design debuted in the 1991 game, while the wisecracking long-limbed redesign first appeared in Sonic Adventure (1998). Can the latter even be called "Modern" anymore? It's been over 2 decades.
The "Modern" title only came up about Generations' time. As far as I know, of course. Before that, Sonic was just Sonic, regardless of when the aesthetic change happened.
The "modern" and "classic" nomenclature was being used in the fandom well before Generations. In fact, here I am going on about it on this very forum early in 2010: I'm not sure when exactly it caught on. I found something I wrote in 2008 on my hard drive, trying to explain the differences between the "classic" and "modern" styles, so I guess it was at least earlier than that. Ooh, and here's a "feature" I wrote in 2002, when I was 14! It's awful! This was for a fansite I was planning to start, which never got much further than this. While the terms "classic" and "modern" aren't in here, this shows that at least some of us were already thinking about them in separate terms, and it was enough of a "given" to me that I thought I'd be taking a contrary position by attempting to reconcile them. Sonic Generations felt like a game that was very weirdly, and very specifically attempting exactly what many of us here wanted in 2011. I mean, I pretty much asked for it in that quote up there. And I remember a mod joking when Classic Sonic was revealed how, "message board changes the history of the series through incessant fandom whining." I don't think Retro was the ONLY place that had that sentiment, but it was definitely a hot zone, so to speak. I agree that it doesn't make much sense to call a design that was appearing in games more than two decades ago the "modern" version of the character, but it doesn't make much sense to call a 14 year old Nintendo DS game "New" Super Mario Bros, either. This is the nomenclature Sega went with in 2011, and I think it's too entrenched to change it at this point.
To be fair, there was a minor redesign around Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)/Sonic Unleashed. Sonic looks slightly bigger, his torso is longer instead of the rounder look with the Adventure design, his muzzle is slightly smaller and his shoes now have a curved tip. It's minor, no where near the extent of the Classic > Adventure redesign, but I generally consider the changes to be enough to make note of that era (Sonic Adventure to Shadow the Hedgehog/Sonic Advance 3). Funnily enough, these redesigns generally have a time-skip between them. Classic > Adventure has mention of Sonic being away on a journey in the manual of Sonic Adventure, and Adventure > Modern has Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), which displays similar design elements later used in Sonic Unleashed, mentions that Shadow took a test years ago to join G.U.N.. Makes one ponder if they're doing that deliberately or if it's a coincidence. Most likely the latter, but you never know.
That mention of Shadow's test to join G.U.N.... Is there any translation of its japanese version? I'm very inclined to it having been a mistranslation, as it tends to happen in many Sonic games.
I've been told it's an intact translation, but I'll have a dig around and see if I can get one from a couple of translators. I'll post it into the continuity thread when I get it, as it'd be veering off the discussion of this thread.
It was always weird even in Generations. You had Classic Sonic Era, Modern Sonic Era and...the Dreamcast Era? But no, because it had Seaside Hill. The Adventure Era? No, because Crisis Core was in the Modern Era. The Standard Definition Era? Very strange. I love Generations and played it recently. I still think it holds up. But the whole Classic/Modern Sonic thing was a contrivance which I think most people overlooked because it was an anniversary game which didn't take itself too seriously. It barely even had a plot. Most of the dialogue was fun fannods and poking fun at itself. When you apply it to serious games like Forces it just becomes absurd. I think the main reason Classic Sonic is so lame and underused in Forces is because of how much he doesn't fit in with the game's aesthetic. In Generations he was rolling about, laughing, and pranking about. He was a bit of a stretch compared to the Megadrive Sonic, but he was cute and bouncy. He can't exactly do that much in the serious, war torn Forces.
Apparently the Adventure Era (SA1, SA2, Heroes) was to have a Sonic from that era, voiced by Ryan Drummond and all. The thing fell through because he was affiliated to an artists union and only Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic remained.
I doubt the lack of an actor in the US would have affected a Japan-developed game. Especially when they would have had a backup with Jason Griffith.
This might explain this a bit: to my understanding some stages planned for Generations got cut. Sonic CD, Sonic and the Secret Rings, and Sonic and the Black Knight were supposed to have stages IIRC. If you knock Crisis City into the final's Dreamcast era and added those other three, that would leave four levels in each era, and each would be in the correct era gameplay-wise. A bit off-topic, but I thought I'd point it out.
I don't know, it's the kind of stuff floating around at the time or sometime after the game's launch. @TheOneAndOnlyJoebro64, where have you heard/read about that? S&SR? S&BK? Really? In CD's case, which stage might have been planned?
Didn't the Modern Era start with Sonic Rush, which introduced the boost formula? Sonic '06 came out after Rush, so it makes sense for it to be in the Modern Era, even if it plays more like an Adventure game.
That's what Iizuka said at Sonic Boom 2013. The Adventure Era ends with Sonic Advance 3 and the Current Era begins with Sonic Rush.
This is why I personally prefer calling the direction/design of Sonic that's been in place since Adventure as "Millennium" Sonic. I think it works with respect to the time this Sonic was introduced (the dawn of the 21st century) and as an all-encompassing term for both of the major (gameplay) departments for Sonic that we've gotten since then; the "Adventure/Dreamcast" era that lasted from the late 1990s - mid-2000s and the "Boost/Colors" era that's been going on since the late 2000s/early 2010s.
This is one of those "Urban legends" that aren't based on reality and doesn't even make sense when you think about it a bit, yet it spread wide in the fandom for some reason. Modern sonic is the same from 1998 to this day, there is no unique distinction between "adventure" era and the games after it, talking about Sonic specifically not gameplay and such maybe you could say" but his model changed!" , the thing is, even between adventure games, sonic model already changed in them, and changed again in heroes, and yet again in 2006. and it's not like they ditched Ryan to signify a new direction or growth for sonic or anything, and it would not be appropriate to bring him back That without talking about the most obvious thing, let's say that Generations had "3" Sonics, then that mean there would be 3 Acts for every zone, with 3 different gameplay styles, that would only create more work, and it would be redundant to create two 3D acts, the differences wouldn't be that apparent, so he spin dash instead of boosting? not enough to justify creating another 3D act and what would the musical style for "Adventure" era acts even be?! The game works because of the duality , future and past, Classic and modern, 2D and 3D and there isn't really a third Eggman -unless you want to count 06 eggman but ehhhh- , so the end of the game wouldn't work either, 3 Sonics against 2 Eggmans? Doesn't seem fair to me! So yeah..
