You don't mean THAT Number 1 Sonic Fan, do you? mariotehplumber? Does he actually do that? I can't believe it. He hates on Sonic games that aren't 2D but buys them anyway. Just sad. On a less related note, have you seen his latest video? It's madness. I went all out on a rage. I'm SonicManEXE everywhere besides here, if you want to look at it.
My main problems with SA2 are: -Knuckles and Rouge levels are way too big for their own good, and the radar only informs you of one emerald at a time, making the level that much longer if you don't already know where they are. -Shooting levels are poorly designed: too confined compared to Gamma's stages in SA1, and way too many places where you can get cheapshotted. Another problem is that when you're trying to lock on to as many enemies as possible to get more points, they shoot you before you're finished locking on, which is simply unfair. -These two levels take up about 60% of the game. The usual game structure is this: one speed level, a shooting level, a hunting level, another shooting level, repeat, and throw some bosses in. You're not even playing as Sonic or Shadow a lot of the time. I heard he completely gave up on the franchise after Generations.
I think this the worst part is the beginning of the dark story, where you get two Eggman levels and one Rouge level before even a glimpse at a Shadow level, with the only thing before Radical Highway with Shadow is a rehashed boss
It may be, it may not. I just know that he had taken over the Episode II leaderboards as soon as it came out, and I recognized the name from other Sonic leaderboards with hacked times. The spelling was slightly different this time around too (numbers instead of letters, etc.), which makes me think this guy must not mind spending the money to change his Gamertag or get new accounts when somebody brings down the hammer, as if he gets some sort of sick pleasure out of being the "best" no matter the cost.
This pretty much sums up my issues with the game. Gamma's movement and gameplay in Adventure still felt like a heavily modified Sonic (like every other character should). SA2 took almost everything that made Gamma's gameplay fun and incinerated it; Health Bars instead of rings, Clunky/awkward and slow movement instead of Nimble and flexible movement, and small confined spaces instead of wider and more open areas.
For people asking about why there's no PC on the trailer, Ken was asked about that but said he had nothing to say. Believe me, Sega sees how viable the PC is, but there's a lot that goes into actually creating the port to PC. It's not as simple a cut and paste as you may think it is. Can't say I'm too hyped up about the game due to generally growing to dislike it lately (no, not because of the bandwagon. This has been a long time in development), but I'm glad that Sega announced it in such a tongue-in-cheek fashion.
Lately, the hate for SA2 has been increasing. I don't know if this is due to a bandwagon effect or if it's because people are going back to play it and realizing the game has aged quite poorly and contains a lot of the seeds of what is known as "The Dark Ages of Sonic" (spans from 2001-2008/2009) on consoles. -Overuse of extra characters -Shoehorned Gameplay Mechanics for more "variety" -A dark and serious plot filled with melodrama -Shoddy gameplay with loose controls and difficulty done through suspending levels over bottomless pits —Lazy level design that abuses rails instead of creating more level area/copy and pasting levels to artificially double the length of stages. -Chao are still a thing Admittedly, a lot of the love we see for the game tends to come from the younger fans who got into the series around the time. For them, that's their Sonic 2/3k. But lately, popularity for it has been collapsing with only a few points still holding up, namely Escape from the City. Basically, those rose tinted spectacles aren't working as well as they used to.
I'd love to see an HD-release as much as the next guy, but I played SA2 around this time last year, and I just wasn't feeling it. I tolerated the hunting and shooting levels before, but I was suddenly dreading them with a passion.
I think Chao are a good thing. I mean, they're there if you want them, and if you don't, they're not mandatory. I really wish they'd bring them back, I absolutely loved playing with them. City Escape had fantastic level design, but I do agree, the ideas of the shooting and hunting were good but the execution was a little rusty. Though, Radical Highway was also great, most of Sonic's and Shadow's stages were great.
Thank you, someone who agrees with me. I'll admit, the biggest reason why I love this game so much is probably because it was my first Sonic game, and what got me into the GameCube. At the time I was playing it with my soon-to-be step-brother, I was 4, and all I had was my Game Boy Color then. When I was 5, I got a PS2, and later that year I got a GameCube because my dad saw that I wasn't enjoying it. I know that's why I love games now and why I have a ton of them. Naturally, I'm biased towards SA2, even if it hasn't aged well. It's surprising to see how many people have always hated it, though. I thought it was a good game then, I think it's an amazing game now, but really only because I have so much nostalgia in it and spent time in the Chao Gardens.
About the hate of Sonic Adventure 2, everything Gene just said I agree with 100%. Sonic Adventure 2 has not aged well and the only reason people seem to love it is because of a nostalgia factor. (Notice that most fans who think Sonic Adventure 2 is the best game ever, much like Gene said, grew up with it from that point on) Also, don't forget! This is the point in the series where we started getting copy-pasta characters! :v: I don't believe they are the same person as I believe he doesn't have an Xbox 360 console. (not that'd I know. And seeing how the internet is it could easily be him since he mostly hung around the Sega Forums until he got banned for flaming other members [Myself and Paraxade0 for somehow "cheating" in Sonic 4: Episode II] and ban-doding several times.) And it's not like getting unbanned from Xbox Live is hard with a modified console.
You basically hit the nail on the head. Granted, I still have some affection for SA2 (And this is from someone who grew up with 1/2/3&K) since I played it right when the game came out, but even I'll admit I don't like the game nearly as much as I did when I was younger. It's not just SA2 as well. I've seen a lot of disdain for that particular era of platformers as time goes on, not just Sonic or SA2. And so was getting 5 A-ranks in Mad Space.
Also, yes, I'll throw this in now since it's going to be brought up as a counterpoint: Sonic Adventure is not a shining beacon as it too has a good chunk of the same seeds SA2 sowed, is a much buggier game, and also shows signs of poor again. And while few will ever say they liked Big's fishing or Amy's slow "don't rape me, silly robot" gameplay, I'd say SA1 did the variety gameplay thing a little better, even with the few little side games it included. In terms of adventure fields, I think the only one people ever had a problem with was the jungle area of the Mystic Ruins. However, the treasure hunting sequences were much more tolerable with the radar having five levels of detection instead of three and the stages being more condensed in size. Tails' segments were more Sonic Lite, though he at least had his own unique moves (breakdancing Tails is in effect) instead of being locked to a mech all the time or throwing incredibly stupid ring bombs. Sonic's stages as well weren't always laced with bottomless pits everywhere, only when it made sense for them to be there, and at times required slowing down and doing a little platforming maneuvers. SA1 had some grounding in its design, which is why I guess people are more forgiving to it. Even the whole Eggman getting lowballed by Chaos thing seemed neat at the time as it was unexpected. It only became an issue when the same thing kept happening in that the monster of the day kept lowballing Eggman. Pretty terrible for someone who has 300 IQ.
I wouldn't say there's no PC port, there have been a few times where it looked like there was nothing coming to Steam but it was later announced, it could still be in development. At the same time, SEGA's PC ports have been sloppy in regards to it looking like a quick port from the XBLA version without adding any PC-specific features such as graphic mode specifications. I have not played SA2 before, if a PC port comes out I'll buy it. The PC shouldn't be restricted to the likes of Sonic 4, it got Generations from day one and NiGHTs is coming out too.
In my opinion, Sonic Adventure 2 aged better than Sonic Adventure. I know I had a lot of memories of 2, and yes, I'd say a large factor of me enjoying the game is indeed nostalgia. But I honestly thought that Adventure 2 was the best 3D Sonic game until Sonic Colors came out. Sonic was just not having any luck in the 3D realm back then.
I will say this. SA2 aged better then Heroes or Sonic 06 and possibly Shadow (Haven't played it recently enough to know for sure). Granted it's not saying much, but Sonic 06 makes me want to rage, and I think Sonic Heroes literally made me feel sick to my stomach. SA2 may not be the greatest game ever, but at least I can safely say that I can find some enjoyment out of that game, unlike Heroes and 06. Unleashed and beyond though kick the crap out of it IMO (Not including Sonic and the Black Knight, which I never played and never want to).
But Sonic 06 sucked from the beginning. And while, looking back, SA2 may have aged better than SA1, I still prefer SA1.
