Is it essential to have a timer in Sonic games?

Timer-based gameplay is seemingly just there as a hang over from other games of the time, which carried over the mechanic from arcade games. It does work well with Sonic however, as it increases the urgency of the player and avoids allowing the player to lull too much. In the 2D games especially, it makes exploring that much more intriguing, especially in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. I always felt that if I went too far off piste that o could find something amazing, but potentially to my detriment if I didn’t tread carefully. It also increased playability and, I feel, weeded out the very bad players, encouraging them to improve by effectively being a rock bottom - the only way is up!

Like Mario, I don’t think Sonic needs to be beholden to this, it should depend on the game style.

I also think that, if players have reached a boss and the levels are quite long, they should potentially remove the timer at the point the battle starts. I remember being stuck as a kid in Sandopolis and the timer really causing me problems.

 

Yes and no. No because Frontiers definitely proves that a timer isn't wholly necessary for a Sonic game, the focus is on exploration, and exploring using Sonic's unique abilities is really fun! It's like Sonic CD taken to it's logical extreme. It's just inherently satisfying to poke around every nook and cranny of the map, to discover everything.

But at the same time, the answer is also yes. Even the developers of Frontiers thought that maybe completely ditching timer based gameplay was a bit much, since challenging yourself to most effectively utilize Sonic's abilities in a timely matter is also really fun! It's why they included Cyberspace.

 

Not essential by any means, though it provides an important metric in A-to-B games. I'd say Sonic never even used it to the fullest like it could have. Frontiers follows a completely different logic, diametrically so even, so it's hard to even imagine how it'd work.

 

You don't really need it, but it's a "nice to have". In the original games, it gives the score counter more purpose, and lets people gloat at their friends. Or at least it would if there was a millisecond counter. And it was accurate.

The feature I don't like too much is the "time over", because it's not calibrated to specific zones. Sonic 3's levels are many times the size of Green Hill Zone Act 1, but the limit is still 10 minutes. The time bonus isn't calibrated either, so it's impossible to get the higher bonuses in some Acts. I'm not sure if that's something Sonic Mania took into account.


That and there's the fun speedrunning issue where you're better off finishing at the 30 second mark than 29(?), because you'll make up the time on a shorter score tally.

 

If one is absolutely determined to cram a permanent timer into the purely open world Sonic, you could build the whole game around a Majora's Mask/Outer Wilds style "time-loop that lets you save certain progress between loops" centralizing mechanic... Otherwise, flicking a switch/talking to someone to activate a timed challenge (like Frontiers already does for many missions) or entering a dedicated level piece with a rising clock (again, already done with Cyberspace) is all that's necessary.

The in-game timer has never been strictly necessary for Sonic to function, though it's traditionally linear reach-the-goal structure does benefit from having a built-in measuring stick to put yourself up against.

 

I have thought about this many times. I can't speak to Frontiers as I've yet to play it, but the original games didn't really need it. It was just sort of a standard mechanic. It might have worked better if used in a way that some games, like Kid Chameleon, used timers. In other words, five minute limits make a little more sense for many levels. Maybe even three minutes, although that could discourage exploration. Unless you're really fooling around wasting lots of time, time overs would almost certainly be rare.

 

They absolutely aren't necessary, but I dont mind the timer itself. What I always disliked is the time over. Whenever I did time over, it felt like the game punishing me for having fun and just exploring for the sake of it in the original trilogy. Especially in sonic 3's case.

Frontiers already implements what you mentioned with timed challenges and cyberspace, i see no reason to implement a time limit into the entire open zones themselves

 

This is so true.

 

If ever there was a case to reset the timer, that would be it right there. That, or the Death Egg Zone act 2 boss.

 

History and tradition. Leave the timer alone! They've already fucked with the life counter in Origins. Enough already!

 

This. I think a timer indicating how long has taken you to complete a level is a great feature. But having a penalty for taking too long is fundamentally at odds with the series, in my opinion. Particularly the original Genesis games.

For starters, these games are not kind to beginners who try to simply blitz through stages to the end. It's important to tread carefully through these levels your first time through (if not your first several times through), and being threatened with the loss of a life if you're too careful seems discouraging (especially if lives and continues are limited). In addition to this, as the series went on, stages became larger and longer, with more areas to explore. The player is actively discouraged from going off the beaten path with the looming threat of losing a life dangling over their heads. This is especially egregious in CD, where the level design is the way it is in order to facilitate exploration. I understand it can make for a fun challenge to have the tension of wanting to explore, and it being risky to explore too much, but I'd much rather that be togglable if it has to be a part of the game at all.

 

Hey, I'd really like that. The permanent sense of urgency could certainly benefit an open world Sonic game.

 

The timer does reset... ...after you get a time over hahaha~ Sometimes these games are a bitch

Ummm... yeah, I think perhaps they were essential, but probably not now because the gameplay styles are different and a timer now interfers with that.

 

Time overs aren't a good mechanic IMO. It's a good idea in theory, prevents the player from dawdling about, but in practice it just makes long zones like Titanic Monarch or Sandopolis artificially punishing. It becomes especially dumb in Sonic CD, 3&K, and Mania which actively encourage exploration via Special Stages, goodies, and time travel shenanigans. It really feels like the games are contradicting themselves.

You could theoretically mitigate this by making time overs change on a zone by zone basis, but that would introduce even more issues. It'd be especially annoying for a new player to have no idea how much time they have left. You could also add a text box on the UI that specifies the time limit for the level, but that'd make the UI cluttered. Feels like more effort than it's worth when outright removing the mechanic solves the issue entirely.

I suppose time overs should be an option in the menu for players who like to keep them on, but they shouldn't be on by default.

 

It was fine in the Adventure fields and Unleashed Hubs. Why would it be a problem now?
Time Over hasn't been a major thing since Adventure 1 unless there was a gameplay, narrative, or challenge mode reason. It's only important for scoring during ranking segments and that's really the only "time" it should pop up.

 

Sonic Colors handled the concept of time overs fairly well I'd say, no dumb loss of all progress in a level, just the score counter freezing completely. The urgency to finish the level for a good rank is still there but it doesnt stop the player from wanting to mess around at their own pace. I'd like to see that used again in future traditional Sonic games (assuming we ever get those again).