Sonic Unleashed: The Post-PC Port Discussion Thread

The S1 motobug just charges forward and swats its arm blades "like a generic scifi robot" and yet I find it much more memorable and appropriate despite it not bouncing around like an unmetallic blob. Sonic 06 made Eggman's robots much less distinct but that's not necessarily because the robots were animated like robots, which the Classic and Adventure games also often did. The designs themselves are more important and yes if you ask me 06 and Unleashed both distinctly stand out in that regard, at least compared to pretty much every other mainline game. No not you Forces fuck you.

 

Lol I know, right? It's a great detail that that clearly has a lot of thought put into it, but it gets totally lost in the gameplay. There are also those little spikeball enemies that cling to Sonic and explode or drain his rings. Egg Shackles and Egg Bursts:

Look at that cheeky grin!

They show up in a few levels, but you will literally never see them there because they're about the size of one of Sonic's shoes and get run over by the boost. For all they're worth, they might as well not even exist. At best, players might remember them for appearing briefly in the Shamar and Mazuri entrance stages wherein Sonic won't always be boosting. Contrast this to the Wii version of Unleashed though where these enemies are about the size of Sonic himself and you can't constantly boost, so they actually pose a threat and are visible. Chances are you'll remember them from that game.

 

Nah, I don't think it's so bad. It's weirder when it is something like Lost World and they seem deliberately meant to look like old concept art, but the modern models look updated enough and serve new purposes that set them apart from the old ones generally. Moto-bugs are way bigger and faster and usually chase Sonic in quick-step sequences. Crabmeats in Generations launch homing missiles. Buzzbombers...give spinners a rest when it's time for someone to take homing-attack chain duty. Okay, I get the idea of wanting progression in the robots, but the idea that new models could or would be any stronger or more efficient kinda falls by the wayside when they all die in one hit anyway. I'd be happy to stick with the types that have clear personality. Lost World and I guess Mania/Superstars are the only Sonic games since Heroes that have also managed to design new badniks with the same animal-styling as the classic games had, which is a plus.

Jokes on you, I can't remember shit from the Wii version either way!

 

In-game, they look like “generic cyber future enemy mechs.” I’m convinced this is trolling.

 

yeah that whole 06 tangent reads like a troll sorry

 

That entire reasoning falls apart when you consider that never have Eggman's robots been more useless than they have been in the boost era. You really, really have to go out of your way to pay attention to anything about them instead of just. Boosting through them. They don't even fill your boost meter anymore! They provide just as much challenge as the furniture around the levels, so how efficient are they really?

 

Sonic didn't have the boost in older games.

And new models being superior to older ones in some way is usually to be expected of technology. Otherwise they wouldn't be making new models of old stuff. Why would Eggy invent Buzzers and Stingers if we assume Buzz Bombers were already perfection and can't be surpassed or improved upon?

 

None of the badniks replacements have been as good as the actual badniks in any way, so I honestly never got the point in replacing them in the first place.

 

Out of universe, because Sega isn't Nintendo or Capcom and used to like having new enemies per game, just like with levels.

In-universe, the advance of technology allows Eggy to make newer robots with improvements such as not needing organic batteries. Mecha Sonic's evolution is the most obvious example of this.

 

Reverting back to robots that die in one hit (not just from boosting, but also from being jumped on) is hardly what I'd consider in-universe technological progress, even if it is conducive to the player having a more enjoyable time.

 

Obviously any strength differences the robots might have between games aren't reflected in the gameplay. Otherwise Heroes has canonically the strongest robots Eggman has ever built, and Egg Pawns became inexplicably weaker after their first appearance. Gameplay and story segregation.

Besides more technologically advanced doesn't necessarily equate stronger.

And that's not even taking into account the fact that Sonic canonically learns new moves and skills as the series goes on, so he definitely gets tougher himself. Case in point, Sonic Generations brings up the fact that Sonic's past self doesn't know the Homing Attack yet.

 

If they don't provide any new functionality, either in or out of universe, are they actually new enemies? Functionally the Unleashed enemies are just Egg pawns that do less.

 

Egg Fighters did have new functionality.

But yeah, lots of enemies are basically reskins of old ones. I do appreciate them having new character designs, however.

 

Which of these two look like animal badniks and which one looks like a generic mech? If you answered correctly you're a troll or something.
Sonic 06 and Unleashed both have badnik-inspired bots as well as generic slop. Whether or not they bounce around is kinda irrelevant.

Not sure why they ever dropped Eggman needing organic batteries for his robots. Makes the whole operation a lot less villainous. They should at least still have seeds in them. Give me a wholesome reason to bulldoze through Egg Soldiers at mach 3.

 

Makes good tech demo material as well. "Look at how many detailed little animals we can cram into this detailed world!"

 

those EXP crystals have families they want to go back to

 

Canon or not, makes very little impression when Sonic also repeatedly has to re-learn shit he already knows. He's had to get special shoes to do the light dash four times in this series. It's just not that relevant a factor to the robots when weighed against the design language and memorability of robots with distinct themes and personalities.

 

I'm not sure what abilities that were explicitly provided by his equipment have to do with my point. But anyway, I just don't like reverting to the old robots, just like many don't like classic levels like Green Hill and Chemical Plant being repeatedly brought back to the point of becoming mainstays. The old stuff might be more iconic, but I dislike the recycling. I liked that the series used to move on in terms of levels, music and enemies.

We had the classic badniks, then came the Adventure era robots (SA1, SA2, Advance series), then the Heroes robots (Heroes, Shadow, Rush), then the '06 robots, then the Unleashed robots, and then suddenly the classic badniks are all back for no seemingly no reason other than nostalgia. I hate how it broke the trend and the sense of progression in robot designs, and it just feels like forced nostalgia pandering to me.

 

Nothing. The light dash isn't "explicitly provided by his equipment", it cycles back and forth from game to game. The point is that Sonic's abilities aren't consistent enough for the argument that "he didn't have X thing before fighting this enemy" carries much weight.

But SA1 and 2 themselves bring back classic badniks like Oribnauts and Kikis, and Advance is happy to put SA1 rhinotanks alongside crabmeats. The jellyfish and turtles in Heroes aren't some big break with the badnik tradition, and every time they do break with that tradition, it leads to boring stuff like the 06 bots. Even still, spinners are in Unleashed and the games since Colors have invented new badniks anyway, so I just think you're making this look more stratified than it is.

 

I'm not sure the boost is a canon move. Homing attack, yes. Spindash, yes. Boost? Eh, I don't know.
Thus, I don't think we can judge the latest robots as tougher or less tough. It's too much gameplay dependent. Robots in Dark Beginnings seemed tougher than they have ever been in their respective games.