About this part specifically, I think this probably contributes to the lukewarm reception to Forces' OST and how most of the focus on Frontiers' music is the vocal tracks and songs that sound more "traditionally Sonic". I used to think Forces had weak music compared to the rest of the series back in 2017, but my music tastes have evolved a lot since then and I enjoy the game's soundtrack a lot now (the synths are still kinda overkill though). Probably also helped that I heard more than the first minute of each song.
It was super nice to see a bunch of people jump in the comments in defence of the game before the discussion potentially turned into an ugly total shut down of its merits as a game forever and ever. The only thing I don't really like about Advance 3 is that the last special stage is just way too hard and I never got to properly experience the ending due to that (I did use cheats in an emulator but that never felt right) One thing in that video I do think is pretty crazy is they DIDN'T have anything where you'd be able to play as Gemerl and customize him with all your favorite moves, that doesn't seem like something that'd be too much more work to implement, but even if they did I assume it would only be an unlock for doing the real ending.
It would've been a ton of extra sprite work... The spritesheets for these games is huge, and Gemerl would need sprites for each move from each character. He'd have the largest spritesheet in the game. That would've been sick, though. Not gonna lie.
Woah, that really is massive. But also makes sense why it's so well-animated. The more frames, the smoother animation. This really makes me want another sprite-based game. Mania really was the last one, wasn't it?
Yup, so far. Spriter's Resource is great for finding sprite sheets. Posting links for Advance 3 and Mania pages if anyone hasn't looked at them before. https://www.spriters-resource.com/game_boy_advance/sonicadv3/ https://www.spriters-resource.com/pc_computer/sonicmania/
I just spent 4ish hours replaying the entirety of Sonic's story in Sonic Adventure. My initial plan was to get back to Sonic Advance 3; I only wanted to do an Emerald Coast playthrough for kicks at first, but eventhough the DX port has its issues, I really ended up liking how well it controlled. In fact, it played much better than I remember it playing and I just kept going. So, I guess I might've gained another unpopular opinion: I don't really dislike the PC port? I did play the Dreamcast version first decades ago via certain means and my main criticisms of the port next to the more numerous amount of glitches used to be the much more muted color pallet, which looked much duller, the more "realistic" texturing which I thought took away a bunch of the fun surrealism within the visual design of the game and the glossy models, which looked pretty jarring/off to me. These criticisms mostly still stand after this most recent playthrough, though it was much kinder when it came to the glitches. I only felt them with the very final boss (Egg Viper), where getting hit and using the homing attack kept clipping me through the platforms. But SA1 Sonic controls so well. I have played them a bunch recently, so when it comes to SA2 and Generations, I have fairly fresh and packed memory, and right now, I think it even controls better than SA2, which I remember being my favourite 3D Sonic game in terms of Sonic control in particular for a long time. It's just not as stiff as SA2, even more so any of the boost games, though Shadow Gens is much more of a contender to it than I ever thought it would be. Other possible unpopular opinions: - Red Mountain is a surprising possible contender for the best Sonic stage for me. Love the second section of the stage within the vulcano. - Lost World isn't that good. The skipping potential in the stage is really cool, but the light mirror section is just platforms above a bottomless pit and because they're so small I kept overshooting them, same for the small chase sequence having pits in it. It was the one stage in the game I really felt the flaws of the controls in general (the snake as well). I think Sky Deck is actually a fairly commonly disliked stage, so that doesn't count? It's so jank. So, I think my least favourite Sonic stage in SA1 is a toss-up between Lost World and Sky Deck.
I don't dislike Lost World, but everyone else I reviewed it with did. (This will probably also be true about Lost World the game)
On the other hand, I think Death Egg rocks and the conveyer belt sections are really cool and solid, though I don't know how positively or negatively people view it. Also, it made me dislike 06 more because of how derivative it is. Yes, Wave Ocean is as annoying as it can get, but Flame Core is such diet Red Mountain it hurts. 06 would never have joy such as Twinkle Park.
I don’t think I need to say much about the pc ports enormous modding potential. If you’re already playing on pc, there pretty much is zero reason to not make the game look like how you’d prefer. You definitely can. Also, last time I ran through the game I enjoyed Lost World, more than other levels in the game at least, exactly because of its Platforming and the sort of, kind of precision needed to rush through the wall walking sections quickly. Lol At least when doing them the legit way. The game’s level design is extremely easy to break. Also, I just want to say that Frontiers/Spark 2 and 3 have basically fixed the homing attack. Mostly Spark 3. I don’t know if that is a common sentiment or has been said before or not, but yeah. That’s how I feel. With the ability to cancel it midway with an air boost, having the speed from both launch you out in the direction you are aiming, it literally fixed the mechanic. it makes it to where it no longer breaks the flow of your momentum. It makes it a real game mechanic that requires…. anything at all because you have to position yourself (in Spark at least) to where you’ll be flung in the direction you wish. Besides getting in position to do the move at all rather than just crash into the thing your homing attacking. it gives you a ton of speed that you can use to create your own short cuts and stuff/provides another thing you can look out for while running stages to go faster. Meaning it has more actual purpose besides “alright, this is what we’re asking you to do now.” It is technically situational as it requires the something to homing attack, so it can in that way be controlled by careful placement of such things. Can’t just spam it. Pretty good. I do think it is slightky overpowered, particularly outside Spark 3 and maybe even still in it, but it’s good.
It's my first time in a long while playing SA1 again, so I'm just going at it vanilla just to judge it for what it is on its own. Speaking of, started Tails' story and stopped after making it on the Egg Carrier, but I think I don't really have any unpopular opinions on it so far? I think the stages are too short and too easy, thus making Tails' moveset pretty underutilised, when in truth I really like the Rythm Badge upgrade, for example and wish it had more use. I think it actually controls really well, It's just a case of a character being broken along with the level design not accounting for how powerful the character is, to the point where it takes a bunch of the fun away, but I don't think that's an unpopular opinion on the Tails stages.
I finished my Sonic Adventure playthrough/revisit. I think the only unpopular opinion I ultimately got out of it is that I didn't dislike Amy's gameplay as much as I remember. I think it's *almost* there. Speed it up and lean into her hammer jumping instead of the light puzzle solving and stealth and I think you could have something really fun. I'm also left with the opinion that Sonic Adventure 2 kind of did all of the best parts of Adventure 1, but worse. Gamma's shooting is more fun because it leans more into being a Shooter and thus not dealing with any clunky platforming controls (even if his levels have the same issue as Tails' – they are so short and easy to the point where it impacts the fun). Knuckles' SA1 levels are more fun because the radar is all-encompassing and the levels are more compact spaces. I think I'm most torn on Sonic's stages because I feel like SA1's are open in really cool ways you might not realise at first and SA2's absolutely are the more linear gauntlets, but I also really like SA2's stronger "focus", so to speak. It's not as open, but aiming for a solid journey through specific curated setpieces. City Escape absolutely is more linear and spectacle-focused than Emerald Coast (yes, it has the whale, but I feel such set pieces aren't as "prominent parts" of the gameplay), but even as early as stage 1, I feel like SA1 has a bunch more room to play around with your moveset. On the surface the answer seems obvious: of course SA1 wins this one for its flexibility/more substantive environments, but I also think there's something awesome about gracefully intergrating the spectacle with gameplay, something I feel SA1's stages didn't quite yet master. So it's more like I like them equally but for different reasons. Oh and Big's gameplay was worse than I remembered until I looked up tips to make my life easier and learned about pressing down to get the bait, which made his entire playthrough a joke and because of this new knowledge I'm happy I'll never have to truly engage with his gameplay ever again whenever I want to do a fresh revisit.
"Gotta Go Fast" has gotta go. Fast. The only reason it ever became Sonic's "catchphrase" is because the Sonic X 4Kids theme was often played with the Sanic memes and the other badly drawn meme Sonics from the early-mid 2010s, almost all of which were made to make fun of the series. Taking that whole vibe and deciding that's the series slogan now just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It doesn't help that the song (and phrase) itself is really annoying to begin with. Nor does it help the games have never uttered it ever... or at least, not yet. =/ It wouldn't really fit the games if they did, though. The song/phrase kind of implies Sonic is hyperactive or an adrenaline junkie, which he only ever really is in parodies of the character (or things like the movies and Prime). Just doesn't fit. This isn't me saying the series needs a different catchphrase btw. I'm more on the vote that it doesn't need one at all lmao. But eh. That's my unpopularish ramble of the month. Excuse me if I've rambled about it in here before.
I think its kinda corny normally but it did make me grin when shadow and sonic bantered about it in movie 3. "Don't tell me you've got a catchphrase." "That’s right new hedgehog, and everyone loves it"
I feel like that scene just highlights why I don't like movie Sonic, lol. But that loops back around to what I was saying; it fits that version of the character but it doesn't really fit the main series.
I think I'd prefer it if "Fastest Thing Alive" were used as a general tagline for both the series and the character, instead of catchphrases that the characters themselves have to utter. That being said, "I hate that hedgehog!" is absolutely hilarious and should remain a key component of Eggman's character for the rest of eternity.
Catchphrases are kind of dumb in general. It's one thing for TV and movie dialogue to not sound like how real people talk for the sake of pacing; it's entirely something else to constantly repeat yourself and signal that with a friggin' fog horn.
Eggman having a catchphrase (particularly "I hate that hedgehog!!") works better for him since he's such a hammy, ridiculous character. You could probably also work me into accepting one for Team Chaotix. That's about as far as I'd ever want it to go though lol.
