sonic the hedgehog – Page 6 – Dr. K's Waiting Room

Game Corner: Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (Nintendo 3DS)

23/07/202123/01/2025Dr. K3 Comments

Released: 9 February 2012
Developer: SEGA Sports R&D/Racjin
Also Available For: Nintendo Wii

The Background:
During the “Console Wars” of the nineties, there were no truer rivals than Nintendo’s Super Mario and SEGA’s Sonic the Hedgehog; both went head to head as their respective company’s mascots, spearheading the release of some of the greatest and most influential videogames of a generation, and both company’s went to great lengths over the years in a bid to prove that their consoles were the superior. In the end, though, thanks to a variety of expensive and poorly-conceived ideas and an ever-changing marketplace, SEGA were forced to withdraw from developing home consoles; now developing videogames for their competitors, SEGA’s supersonic mascot began appearing in games exclusive to Nintendo consoles and discussions of a long-awaited crossover began between Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Sonic creator Yuji Naka. Rather than have their two iconic mascots meet in a merging of their worlds for a traditional platform title, however, the two were brought together in the spirit of friendly competition after SEGA was awarded the 2008 Beijing Olympic licence. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (SEGA Sports R&D, 2007) followed as a result; though little more than a series of mini games featuring Mario and Sonic characters taking part in a number of Olympic events, the game was a commercial success and led to a series of annual titles being released in conjunction with a number of different Olympic events. After many years of putting it off, I finally got around to playing the 2012 edition of the game, which was set in London since we Brits won the right to host the games that year so, since the Tokyo Olympic Games are set to kick off today, I figured this was an ideal time to leech off of that event and share my thoughts about this title.

The Plot:
Sonic, Mario, and all their friends have arrived in London for the 2012 Olympic Games; however, annoyed that they weren’t invited to compete, King Bowser of the Koopas and Doctor Eggman join forces to cover London in the “Phantasmal Fog”, disrupting the games and forcing our heroes to battle against fog-based duplicates of themselves to dispel the fog and allow the Olympic Games to proceed as planned.

Gameplay:
I’ve played games in the Mario & Sonic series before so I knew what to expect heading into Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games; while the games do generally have a story mode these days to make the gameplay a bit more involved than just a simple party game, it is still, nevertheless, a collection of Olympic-themed mini games. Because I’ve never been a fan of the Wii’s motion controls (or the Wii in general, if I’m honest), I always opt for the handheld versions of these sorts of games in the hopes that they will be less frustrating to play. Sadly, for the most part, that isn’t the case with Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, a game which, seemingly, goes out of its way to use every single button, control, and aspect of the 3DS for its numerous events. The game features twenty playable characters, each of which falls into one of five different character classes (Heroes, Challengers, Girls, Wild Ones, and Tricksters) and, as a result, each character takes part in different events (Sonic, for example, can be used in the Marathon event, Yoshi in Shot Put, Blaze the Cat in Beach Volleyball, Bowser in Wrestling, and Metal Sonic in Hockey) and you cannot mix characters or classes.

*The game’s events restrict which characters you can use according to their specific classes.*

The moment you start a new game, Omochao rears his ugly little head to talk you through some of the game’s basic controls; you can then select from a few different customisation options, single or multiplayer events, or the game’s story mode. If you choose the single or multiplayer modes, you can select from all of the game’s many and varied events, each of which comes with an easy, normal, and hard criteria to get bronze, silver, and gold medals, respectively, with different goals, scores, or times to hit for each, as well as a brief overview of the event’s controls and objectives. I skipped this, however, and went straight to the story mode. The story allows you to take control of all of the game’s playable characters and the vast majority of the mini games and events the game has to offer, all while dialogue boxes and some limited voice clips and effects convey the game’s simple story. Generally, the story branches into two separate paths, one that follows primarily Mario characters and one that follows mainly Sonic characters, with the groups mixing up, overlapping, and interacting as they investigate the Phantasmal Fog, battle their shadowy doubles, and go head to head with Bower, Eggman, and their underlings.

*Though you’re given a brief overview of each event’s controls, the actual gameplay can be tricky.*

It’s a pretty simple story, one that is geared more towards teaching younger players a little about London and the Olympic Games more than anything, and it’s extremely linear. You can jump to a map screen to replay events (or just let the story take you from one episode to the next), skip cutscenes if you’re retrying an event, and are given a number of Challenges to complete to advance the plot. In the story’s early going, you’ll probably only be required to complete one or two Challenges but, as the story progresses, you’ll be asked to more, with each Challenge being comprised of harder or more complex events. Only first place will do here; if you don’t come first, you fail the Challenge and must either retry or choose a different Challenge if you want to see the story through to completion. As you play, you’ll be required to take part in a number of Olympic Games; it’s kind of weird that characters just spontaneously challenge their rivals to these games, and how the stadiums and arenas and locations and crowds and such just “appear” when you need to compete but…what do you expect? This is the best way, though, to experience a variety of the game’s events and get an idea of what is required of you. Sadly, however, many of the game’s events are an exercise in frustration; as I mentioned, you’ll be given a brief overview of what to do before an event but, sometimes, that doesn’t really help prepare you for the actual gameplay of that event. Generally, you’ll be rapidly tapping buttons, inputting specific button combinations, shouting or blowing into the microphone (which I can’t seem to find on my 3DS and which makes me a little lightheaded since I’m so unfit…), moving the 3DS about, or using the stylus to complete these events. Some, like the Pole Vault and 100M Backstroke, aren’t too difficult (you must angle the circle stick in a diagonal direction to charge your vault and release before the hidden meter overfills and your pole breaks or rapidly draw circles with the stylus to swim faster).

*Be careful not to damage your touch screen trying to get to grips with the game’s controls…*

Other events, like Archery (Solo) and BMX are maddeningly frustrating (you don’t just aim and shot in Archery, you need to account for wind currents which can screw up your shot, and BMX requires almost perfect hand co-ordination to tilt the 3DS in the right position to give you a much-needed boost). Almost all of the events have one thing in common and that is that they come down to split second timing as much as skill; if you do not time your inputs exactly right, you’re screwed but, often, the game’s button prompts and directions mislead you and cause you to fail. Take the Triple Jump, for example; it seems pretty easy (tap the touch screen left and right in an alternating pattern and then tap in time with the directions to leap) but if you tap for your first jump when the game/button prompt tells you then you will fail on a foul since you jumped too late! Similarly, Basketball only gives you an aiming reticule in the training mode, which makes landing a shot really difficult with the 3DS’s motion controls, and many games that have you draw on the bottom screen have the directions on the top, which is really confusing as you’d expect to tap targets on the touch screen when playing the Shooting events. Others seem incredibly random or unfair just for the sake of it; the 20km Racewalk event, for example, has you moving the stylus to a tempo at just the right speed. The game helpfully tells you when to speed up and penalises you if you need to slow down but it’s more annoying than anything to try and get the balance just right. The Canoe Slalom (Pair) event has you balancing with the circle pad and tapping A to pass through gates, which sounds easy but is super tricky as the control stick is overly sensitive, and you’ll be jerking your 3DS around like a moron trying to hit targets in the Double Trap event.

*Other events are troublesome because of a dodgy camera angle and poor onscreen prompts.*

Similarly, in a lot of events are handicapped by poor camera angles; it’s hard to see (or know) what you’re doing in the Sprint event as you’re stuck in a bad position and your opponent just rockets away too fast for you to catch, and it’s very difficult to judge your positioning in the ball-based games like Badminton and Football (to say nothing of the Goddamn Table Tennis (Doubles) event which requires you to switch between two characters but sometimes they swap independently and always right as you think you have the rhythm down). It’s equally difficult to make jumps in the 3000m Steeplechase event as the camera position means you don’t see which sort of button press is required of you until the very last second; the same goes for the Marathon event, where the angle is positioned just annoyingly enough to mean you need split-second accuracy to pick up the water bottle at the right time. It’s not all bad, though; some events (like 25m Rapid Fire Pistol, Trampoline, and Wrestling) can be fun but there’s very little room for error here; it may take some practice to understand exactly what is required of you but, generally, once you get the inputs down you can usually scrape by to advance the game’s story to the next episode. Other times, though, you’ll have to take on a number of quick-fire events in a row, with no way to restart if you fail one until you load into the next event (and then you have to restart the whole Challenge so be sure to retry before you fail), and by the end of it all you’ll be too burned out to really want to try out the other events in the game’s single player mode.

Graphics and Sound:
Being that it’s a 3DS game, the graphics are serviceable enough; Mario, Sonic, and all their friends and enemies look pretty good and coexist decently enough thanks to their cartoony aesthetic but it’s a bit weird how some characters (the girls, mostly) are dressed to compete and others are not and how characters like Sonic are suddenly only able to communicate in pantomime.

*The game’s presentation is decent enough and mixes cartoony characters with real-world locations.*

Otherwise, there’s not much to the in-game graphics; the story mode sees the characters visit a number of iconic British landmarks but they’re mostly lifeless voids or obscured by thick, colourful fog. When you enter the events themselves, there’s a decent amount of detail, with minor Mario and Sonic characters filling out the crowds and the arenas sharing the same bright, cartoony aesthetic of the characters. Musically, though, aside from a few recognisable sound clips and sound effects, there’s nothing really Mario or Sonic about this title as it opts for simple trumpets and fanfares.

Enemies and Bosses:
Outside of the game’s story mode, your choices for opponents are dictated by which character, class, and event you wish to play; you won’t be able to pit Sonic against Eggman in a Triathalon, for example, but you can pit Knuckles against Donkey Kong in a Boxing match. In the story mode, you’ll mostly compete against evil fog imposters of Mario and Sonic characters; Amy Rose and Princess Daisy, for example, get to take on the imposter versions of Blaze and Princess Peach in Beach Volleyball and Yoshi will have to compete against imposter versions of Shadow the Hedgehog and Silver the Hedgehog in the 1500m and 10km Marathon Swim events. As you progress, the amount of Challenges you have to clear increases, as does the difficulty of your opponents, and you’ll be allowed to choose between different characters to take on different events and imposters. In the course of the game’s story, you’ll also compete against a number of boss characters; it is only by clearing these challenges that you’ll bring that episode to an end and progress to the next part of the story. The first boss battle pits you (as Mario and Luigi) against the duo of Dry Bowser and Dry Bones and has you frantically blowing into the microphone and awkwardly steering your ship across boost panels in the 470 (Pair) event. This is a pretty ridiculous game as the controls are way too slippery and it’s ridiculously easy to just wander into the path of a whirlpool…yet it’s also stupidly easy to win even with minimum effort.

*Time your stylus swipes perfectly to beat the Boos at Badminton.*

Next, you’ll take on King Boo and Boo in Badminton (Doubles) as Sonic and Miles “Tails” Prower; this involves sliding the stylus (or your finger) down the touch screen as the shuttlecock comes towards you. Don’t do this too soon, though, or you’ll miss like an idiot; instead, you should aim to hit it when the shuttlecock flashes red but this gets tricky as the rallies get faster and faster and, one time, the ball went between Sonic and Tails and they just stood there like lemons! Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games sees the welcome return of Jet the Hawk as a boss character who challenges Shadow to a 3000m Steeplechase, and also has you competing against Rouge the Bat as Peach in the 100m Backstroke, neither of which are particularly challenging thanks to these events being two of the more user-friendly games. When you take on Bowser Jr, however, you must do so in a three-stage event that sees Yoshi having to fight with the poor game prompts in the Triple Jump, hold the 3DS like an idiot in the 10km Marathon Swim, and struggle through a 3000m Steeplechase, or Silver desperately try to aim for the centre and time button presses correctly in Trampoline, fumble through Basketball, and press and hold the stylus without messing up in Floor. Your best bet to beat Bowser Jr is to pick Shadow, whose events are much easier to get through. You’ll also come up against one of the most wasted characters ever introduced into the Sonic franchise, Eggman Nega, and have to compete against him in a 4 x 100 relay that simply asks you to slide the stylus to pass the baton between Luigi, Tails, Mario, and Sonic. Similarly easy-going is Donkey Kong’s encounter with E-123Ω “Omega”, which sees you timing presses of the A and B button and going for a super tackle in the Wrestling – Freestyle event. Unfortunately, when Sonic takes on Magikoopa, it’s in the God-awful BMX event which literally had me tearing my hair out as I just couldn’t figure out how the tilt the 3DS properly to land correctly!

*Eggman and Bowser get a significant power up from their Phantasmal Fog* *for the story’s finale.*

You’ll battle against both Bowser and Dr. Eggman a couple of times in the story mode; you’ll first face Dr. Eggman with Wario and then alongside Waluigi to take on Eggman and Metal Sonic, but he isn’t really a challenge (the Hockey game you must complete is really just a glorified version of Pong (Atari, 1972)). Similarly, Bowser isn’t too difficult to get past if you choose the right events (the Hammer Throw, in particular, isn’t too taxing as long as you can rotate the 3DS fast enough) but they both get a significant power boost for the game’s final chapter. Here, powered up by the Phantasmal Fog, Bowser and Eggman take on Mario and Sonic in Sprint, 20km Race Walk, Judo, and 100m events. Judo isn’t especially hard (it’s just a question of timing your button presses and being a bit aggressive in your attack) and 100m is fine as long as you charge and release A and can tap the button as fast as possible but both Sprint and 20km Race Walk can crawl into a hole and die. Eventually, after much trial and error, I got Sprint down (ignore the onscreen prompts and don’t move or press anything until you’re sure you can dash past Eggman) but the 20km Race Walk mainly came down to luck.

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
Being as this is a glorified collection of mini games, there’s not much on offer here; some events have you rapidly tapping A to recover stamina or splashing water on you for the same effect, or touching dash panels for a boost, and many reward a perfect finish with a fancy special flourish but there’s nothing tangible in-game to help increase your chances.

Additional Features:
There are a couple of extra incentives on offer here for repeat and expansive play; first, when you first start the game, you can customise your in-game name, flag, and Badge (which is a nice touch for when you’re playing online, I’m sure). You can also aim to break world records in each event, win bronze, silver, and gold medals, and complete each of the game’s events and story modes to earn tickets and Badges. You can then use these tickets in a ball machine to unlock yet more Badges, all of which can be viewed in the game’s Record Log along with (obviously) your best times and records. After you beat the main story campaign, you’ll unlock a series of additional bonus episodes that see you compete as Bowser Jr, Bowser, Metal Sonic, Dr. Eggman, Peach, Blaze, and Amy in some of the toughest challenges yet. Unlike in the Wii version, there are no “Dream Events” to compete in, though you can cobble together custom events to take on both on and offline if you can bring yourself to play a little longer.

The Summary:
When it comes to the Mario & Sonic series, you know what to expect: Olympic-themed mini games involving some of gaming’s most iconic characters. Yet, as inoffensive as these games often are, Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games takes things to the next level by needlessly overcomplicating so many of the events and controls. It’s as though the developers were forced to shoe-horn in everything the 3DS was capable of, which would be fine if there were the option to switch to more traditional controls but, nine times out of ten, there isn’t. Instead, you’re left to fumble about the place, shouting at your 3DS and trying to rotate it while alternating between hitting buttons or drawing on the touch screen and it’s just more frustrating than fun. Because I’m a big Sonic fan, I am kind of duty-bound to own these games wherever possible but I’ve never really been fond of them; I’m sure that for groups of players who like motion controls and unfairly-balanced party games, they’re a lot of fun but it can’t help but feel like Nintendo and SEGA left a lot of money on the table by not also producing a more traditional crossover for their iconic mascots.

My Rating:

Could Be Better

How did you find the 3DS version of Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games? Perhaps you also owned the Nintendo Wii version; if so, which was better, in your opinion? How did you find the game’s motion controls, assortment of games, and story mode? How do you feel about the Mario & Sonic series overall? Do you agree that the concept is somewhat wasted on the Olympic Games or have you enjoyed the series so far? Which country are you pulling for in this year’s Olympic Games? Either way, feel free to leave a comment below.

Screen Time [Sonic Month]: Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: “The Quest for the Chaos Emeralds” (E37-40)

25/06/202117/04/2023Dr. K5 Comments

Sonic the Hedgehog was first introduced to gamers worldwide on 23 June 1991 and, since then, has become not only SEGA’s most enduring and popular character but also a beloved videogame icon. The Blue Blur turned thirty this year and, to celebrate, I’ve been dedicating every Friday to SEGA’s supersonic mascot.

**Episode 37 to 40:**
**“The Quest for the Chaos Emeralds”**

Air Date: 26 October 1993 to 29 October 1993
UK Distributor: Channel 4
Original Network: ABC
Stars: Jaleel White, Christopher Stephen Welch, Long John Baldry, Phil Hayes, Garry Chalk, and Jim Byrnes

The Plot:
Doctor Robotnik (Baldry) has forced Professor Caninestein (Chalk) to build him a time machine so that he can acquire four magical Chaos Emeralds that would grant their bearer the powers of Invisibility, Invincibility, Immortality, and Life in a bid to become an all-powerful Demi-God. After escaping, Caninestein supplies Sonic (White) with the means to follow Robotnik across time and space to thwart his diabolical plot.

The Background:
Sonic the Hedgehog blasted onto the videogame scene with his debut, self-titled release in 1991. Thanks to being bundled with the Mega Drive and SEGA’s aggressive marketing campaign, Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic Team, 1991) was a huge success but Sonic’s popularity exploded after the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (SEGA Technical Institute, 1992). Suddenly, Sonic was everywhere: comic books, t-shirts, in the Macy’s Day Parade and, soon enough, on television in the form of not one but two concurrent cartoons. After seeing the success that DiC Entertainment had with producing cartoons that were effectively little more than half-hour advertisements for Nintendo’s videogames, characters, and franchises, SEGA of America contacted DiC to begin developing an animated series for their own super-sonic mascot. Artist Milton Knight set about redesigning Doctor Eggman (widely known at the time as Doctor Ivo Robotnik) into “Animation’s Sexiest Fat Man!” and Long John Baldry was cast in the role, reimagined as an egotistical, narcissistic blowhard. To help sell their pitch to ABC, DiC also roped in Jaleel White for the title role but ABC deemed their original slapstick pitch unsuitable for a Saturday morning slot. Undeterred, producer Robby London made the decision to develop an entirely separate Sonic cartoon for the prime Saturday morning slot and develop Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog for syndication instead. The result was two vastly different Sonic cartoons, each with a differing tone and animation style and far removed from their source material; Adventures was comprised of sixty-five episodes of over-the-top, meme–worthy, slapstick humour while Sonic the Hedgehog (generally referred to as “SatAM”) was a far darker take on the franchise. Though both cartoons awkwardly collided when Archie Comics began publishing Sonic comic books, the majority of Adventures’ influence was eventually stripped away in favour of those from SatAM and Adventures is generally regarded less favourably than its darker counterpart with the notable exception of the four-part “Quest for the Chaos Emeralds” story arc.

The Review:
While “Black Bot the Pirate” (Butterworth, 1993) forms the first in a four-part saga and is thus a rare example of continuous, sequential storytelling in what was generally a more fast-paced, comedic cartoon, it still contains many of the same elements that made up what can be loosely described as Adventures’ “charm”: an abundance of sight gags, slapstick, cheesy lines, and jokes. Having grown up with the series, I have a certain affection for some of these elements and Robotnik’s long-suffering, clumsy lackeys Scratch (Hayes) and Grounder (Chalk), who make for some of the most annoying and yet amusing characters in the series. Constantly getting into scrapes and bumbling even the simplest of plans, there’s a pretty funny gag right at the start of the episode where Scratch accidentally activates Robotnik’s time machine (which looks more than a little like H.G. Wells’ famous contraption and which Scratch mistakes for a vacuum cleaner) and returns as a roast chicken. It makes no sense but then that’s pretty much par for the course of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.

*Dr. Robotnik’s plot is unusually devious but he’s no less immune to falling for obvious tricks.*

Robotnik, easily the most charismatic and appealing part of the cartoon, is unusually focused and determined in this first episode (and the entire saga); having learned of four Chaos Emeralds scattered throughout time and space, he wishes to acquire their individual and collective powers to become “Supreme High Robotnik”, a lofty goal that is far beyond his usual plots to destroy or take over towns, cities, or even the planet. Of course, Robotnik is as much his own worst enemy as Sonic is a hindrance to him; blinded by his egotism and quick temper, he’s quick to throw tantrums, is easily fooled, and makes massively glaring errors in judgement that often lead as much to his downfall as Sonic’s involvement. Long John Baldry really puts his all into portraying Robotnik as a loquacious and comically exaggerated character; in this episode, he is also joined by his pirate counterpart Black Beard (Byrnes), whom Robotnik transforms into a robot dubbed Black Bot. Unlike Scratcher and Grounder, Black Bot is a relatively competent minion as it forces Sonic and Tails off the ship; while Sonic is perfectly capable of swimming and his no fear of water in this cartoon, this does leave him and Tails at the mercy of a gigantic robotic whale.

*There’s no situation* Adventures-Sonic can’t find a way to escape out of.

While this causes a momentary issue for Sonic, who is unable to cut through the whale’s metallic shell, literally nothing is beyond the ability of Adventures-Sonic; he always has a solution for any situation whether by using his incredible speed, a series of elaborate disguises, or literally pulling a solution out of thin air. Jaleel White pretty much defined Sonic’s characterisation for generations of kids and, while I have a lot of respect for his work, as always it’s Sonic’s constant need to spout quips and one-liners that makes his character as aggravating as he is entertaining. No matter the situation or how bad the odds look, Sonic always finds a way to succeed and make fools of Robotnik and his robots; even when Robotnik has a time machine on hand to get the drop on him, Sonic is able to trick Robotnik into trapping him in the treasure chest with the Chaos Emerald and using its powers to best his foes. Even when Robotnik manages to steal back the Chaos Emerald and strand Sonic and Tails in the past, Sonic simply uses some dodgy time-manipulation to get them out of the jam.

*Tails spends most of the episode being used as a hostage and in need of rescue.*

Speaking of Tails, as is tradition for most Adventures’ episodes, there’s not really a lot for him to do here except say cringe-worthy stuff, act as a hostage, or provide minimal support for Sonic. He’s the very definition of the kid sidekick, existing mainly for Sonic to have someone to talk and brag to (though, ironically, Sonic is more than capable of simply breaking the fourth wall and addressing the audience directly). “Black Bot the Pirate” is a pretty standard episode of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog; as is often the case, there’s some enjoyment and humour to be found between the show’s more aggravating clichés and the influence of films such as the Back to the Future trilogy (Zemeckis, 1985 to 1990) and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (Herek, 1989) is obvious, making for a quick shorthand to explain the show’s concepts of time travel. The second episode, “Hedgehog of the “Hound” Table” (Butterworth, 1993), begins with Doctor Robotnik, Scratch, and Grounder crash-landing in another time and place and with a recap of Robotnik’s plot to obtain four Chaos Emeralds and become and all-powerful “Supreme High Robotnik”. This is unusual for the series as, generally, episodes were not sequential or consecutive; characters and storylines did reappear and were revisited at times but, as a rule, every episode was a self-contained bit of wacky fun so seeing the cartoon actually attempt a concurrent storyline is a nice breath of fresh air.

*This time, simply holding the Chaos Emerald isn’t enough to use its power.*

Robotnik quickly finds the laboratory of Merlynx the Magician (Unknown) and, in his quest for the Chaos Emerald of Invincibility, obtains Merlynx’s magic wand and, in short order, the Chaos Emerald. However, unlike with the last Chaos Emerald, simply holding the gem isn’t enough to grant the wearer invincibility; instead, one must also become King of the Hound Table because…well, the episode needs to happen, I guess. Back in the present day, Sonic and Tails are still trying to relax on the beach when their good time is again interrupted by Professor Caninestein, who once again supplies Sonic with his time-travelling Atomic Relativity Boots. Immediately arriving at King Arfur’s (ibid) castle, Sonic and Tails meet the king’s daughter, Princess Gwendolyn (ibid), who plead for Sonic’s help in fending off the “Evil Bloated Knight” (spoilers: it’s Robotnik in a suit of armour). Motivated by the egotism he feels at being declared the “Holy Hedgehog”, Sonic, of course, agrees to help as Robotnik’s technology is surprisingly effective at dispatching the Knights of the Hound Table with minimal effort. I say “surprising” as, generally, Robotnik’s credibility is…sketchy at best especially because of the bungling and incompetent nature of his goons. This is emphasised in a short action scene wherein Sonic (with minimal assistance from Tails) humiliates the three in true Adventures slapstick fashion by tying up Robotnik’s moustache, painting a target on a wall, and tricking Grounder into taking out his own team mates.

*Though momentarily distressed at his lack of speed, Sonic is still able to best Scratch and Grounder.*

Robotnik then coerces Merlynx into using his magic to turn Sonic’s feet into solid rock, which robs him of his speed and allows Robotnik to steal Arfur’s crown; this is, apparently, enough to render Robotnik invincible, transforming him into a muscle-bound version of himself and locking Sonic and Tails in the castle dungeon. Being robbed of his speed makes Sonic uncharacteristically despondent…for a time. It’s not the first time he’s fallen into despair at the loss of his abilities in this, or other, cartoons and is an interesting wrinkle in his otherwise flawless character but we only see the briefest of glimpses into this aspect of his personality as he immediately perseveres to appeal to Merlynx to undo his spell. Even when Sonic is robbed of his speed, he is more than a match for Scratch and Grounder; you’d think this would be the perfect opportunity for Tails to actually help Sonic but he doesn’t even carry him to Merlynx’s house or help take out the Badniks when they block their path. After they separate Robotnik from the Chaos Emerald, Tails actually lays claim to it and briefly transforms into his own hulking form…but does nothing with that power beyond childish posturing. Still, at least he isn’t constantly used as a hostage this time around.

*Even after becoming invincible, Robotnik is as foolish and bungling as ever.*

You might also think that being rendered invincible pretty much means Robotnik has claimed victory but of course not; not only does Robotnik not kill Sonic and Tails when he has the chance, he quickly falls into boredom with his kingship, and foolishly agrees to answer Sonic’s challenge for a jousting match. Although the Chaos Emerald renders him unbeatable, he wears the damn thing on his head, under his helmet, for some reason so he loses his powers when he is knocked off his horse by a cactus plant Sonic randomly plants on the battlefield. In the end, it is Robotnik’s own bumbling nature that causes his downfall as he is easily goaded into falling for Sonic’s tricks and winds up being packed off to a Roman coliseum. “Hedgehog of the “Hound” Table” is marginally better than the first episode; for one thing, there’s a bit more action and a few more interesting characters in this episode compared to the last one. There’s not a lot to Merlynx, Princess Gwendolyn, and King Arfur beyond being one-dimensional characters in exactly the roles you’d expect (wacky reclusive magician, stuttering, worrisome princess, and wholesome, honourable king, respectively) but they help to make the episode a bit more lively compared to the more barren and lifeless setting of the last episode. However, of all of the episodes that make up the “Quest for the Chaos Emeralds” saga, the third episode, “Robotnik’s Pyramid Scheme” (Butterworth, 1993), is the only one I actually watched as a kid. Somehow, I missed the previous two episodes, and the final part of the saga, despite religiously watching and/or taping each episode of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog every Sunday morning. Still, here in the United Kingdom, the airing of Sonic cartoons was a little in flux; I remember watching Adventures one week and then waking up the next week to find it had inexplicably changed in tone and narrative and was suddenly the far darker SatAM with no explanation as far as I could see.

*In trying to stop himself from being erased, Sonic accidentally undoes his own birth!*

Again, sequential narratives weren’t really a thing in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog so it’s surprisingly unique to find this episode picking up almost immediately where “Hedgehog of the “Hound” Table” left off with Robotnik, Scratch, and Grounder running for their lives in an ancient coliseum. After a brief encounter with his equally rotten ancestor, Julius Robotnikus, Robotnik helpfully brings any new viewers up to speed before heading to Ancient Mobigypt. This opening serves a few purposes; obviously, first and foremost, it’s to continue the story but it also places a bit more emphasis on the characters meeting their ancestors, something that is of particular importance to this episode’s plot. This is further emphasised back at the beach, where Professor Caninestein reveals that Sonic’s bloodline is being systematically erased from history due to Robotnik’s actions in the past. Rather than being provided with his time travelling Atomic Relativity Boots, Sonic is gifted the Time Warp Boogie Board to travel back in time and keep himself from being erased. Unfortunately, while Sonic and Tails manage to rescue Sonic’s ancestor, Masonic (White), from Robotnik, they inadvertently interrupt the meeting between Masonic and his fated future wife, Penelope (Cathy Weseluck), which causes Sonic to be erased from history.

*Apparently, it’s easier to use time-bending shenanigans than to break some flimsy chains?*

Yeah, it’s basically the plot of Back to the Future (Zemeckis, 1985); however, thanks to the convenient fact that Tails not only remains in the past but also still remembers someone who never existed, being erased from existence is only a minor inconvenience for Sonic as Tails simply forces Masonic and Penelope to meet, instantly returning Sonic to life. Rather than actually removing the infallible Sonic from the plot and having Tails team up with Masonic in an effort to undo their actions, what should be a major plot point is almost immediately undone and, once again, Tails is rendered to a mere sidekick. Similarly, when the Pharaoh of Mobigypt (Chalk) refuses to give up the location of the Chaos Emerald, Robotnik declares himself Pharaoh and forces Sonic, Tails, and Masonic to spend the next twenty or thirty years building pyramids. Oddly, it’s actually easier for Sonic to repeat the same time-bending trick he pulled in “Black Bot the Pirate” and carve a hieroglyphic message for Professor Caininestein to conjure up a saw to cut through their piddling little chains that it is for him to simply buzz saw through them but I guess that wouldn’t be anywhere near as impressive as having Sonic “Mary Stu” his way out of another hopeless situation.

*In a morbid twist, Robotnikhotep would rather die than endlessly fight with his version of Sonic.*

Still, they’re unable to keep Robotnik from discovering that the Chaos Emerald is hidden deep within the booby-trapped pyramid of Robotnikhotep (Baldry); this is where Scratch and Grounder are at their best as they first squabble over which of them is smart and fast enough to decipher the clues that lead Robotnik to the pyramid and then constantly run afoul of the pyramid’s many traps to keep Robotnik safe from harm. There’s even a surprising nod to the videogames in the pyramid’s final puzzle, which requires a number of Golden Rings to be collected; it’s always nice when the cartoons actually include some of the more obscure gameplay elements of the source material. However, they all wind up in the burial chamber and encounter Robotnikhotep, who is functionally immortal thanks to the Chaos Emerald he wears; after a mummified hedgehog (White) awakens and defeats Robotnikhotep, Robotnik takes the Chaos Emerald from his ancestor and gains immortality. In a surprisingly poignant exchange, Robotnikhotep expresses gratitude for being relieved of not only the curse of immortality but the constant interference of Sonic’s mummified counterpart.

*Robotnik’s immortality is quickly bested by Sonic’s own emerald powers.*

In the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog universe, “immortality” is realised not only as everlasting life but also, apparently, immunity to harm as, once Robotnik has the gem, Sonic’s attacks simply bounce off of him. Although, again, Robotnik has claimed near-unstoppable power, Sonic is easily able to defeat him by being gifted an emerald of his own (whether it’s a Chaos Emerald or not is not made clear but, judging by its blue colouration, it doesn’t appear to be one of the legendary gems) that grants him a “blue energy shield” and the means to take the immortal Robotnik down and secure his future.
“Robotnik’s Pyramid Scheme” is probably the best of the “Chaos Emerald” saga so far thanks to the influences and unashamed homages to Back to the Future; unfortunately, it squanders the potential of a largely Sonic-less plot by undoing his erasure within about two minutes of it occurring. This could have been a good chance to have Tails take a more proactive role and still involve a Sonic-like character in Masonic, having Sonic return to life in far more dramatic fashion for the action-packed conclusion but, instead, it’s just another excuse to show how flawless Sonic is. The final episode, “Prehistoric Sonic” (Butterworth, 1993) begins exactly where the last episode left off, with Robotnik, Scratch, and Grounder escaping back into the timestream to hunt down the final Chaos Emerald. However, Professor Caninestein once again supplies Sonic with a new time machine (a time-travelling skateboard, naturally) so that Sonic and Tails can put a stop to Robotnik’s plot once and for all. Robotnik and his Badniks arrive in prehistoric times, soon followed by Sonic and Tails, with the characters quickly encountering the prehistoric Mobians who are guard the volcano where the Chaos Emerald lies waiting.

*Robotnik has the power of life in his hands and uses it to its…fullest..? extent…*

Robotnik conjures up a gigantic robotic dinosaur to take care of Sonic and Tails; Sonic is, of course, immediately able to tame the Badnik and turn it against Robotnik’s underlings, however, and when Robotnik attempts to obtain the Chaos Emerald he is stopped by the volcano’s monstrous guardian, Magma the Volcano God. Like Stonekeeper (Ross Marquand), the lava creature demands a sacrifice before anyone can claim the Chaos Emerald, so Robotnik willingly and casually tosses Scratch and Grounder to certain doom in order to get his hands on it. Now imbued with the power of life, Robotnik conjures lava minions of his own to finally capture Sonic and Tails; actually learning from his past mistakes, he even ties Tails’ tails together so there’s no chance of them surviving a plummet into the volcano. But, of course, Sonic is easily able to escape his fate and get them to safety, so Robotnik reunites with his Badniks and flees, victorious, back into the timestream.

*Robotnik finally becomes a God and immediately sets his sights disappointingly low…*

Sonic and Tails immediately give chase, heading back to Ancient Mobigypt, but are too late to stop Robotnik from stealing the Chaos Emerald of Immortality from Robotnikhotep. Next, they head back to medieval times and arrive right as Robotnik claims the Chaos Emerald of Invincibility with minimal effort. Now immune to all of Sonic’s attacks, there’s nothing stopping Robotnik from digging up the final Chaos Emerald, the Chaos Emerald of Invisibility, and finally claiming all four as his own as Robotnik brings a treasure chest to life to cover his escape. Returning to the present day, Robotnik makes a suitably dramatic show of placing all four Chaos Emeralds around his neck (…even though he had already three of them around his neck) and transforming into “Supreme High Robotnik, Master of the Universe”, a gargantuan, God-like version of himself who immediately begins destroying a nearby town in a demonstration of his power. With his limitless powers, Robotnik easily throws Sonic and Tails to the beginning of the universe (of course represented by a gigantic stick of dynamite). However, after managing to escape (with trademark ease), they concoct a plan to defeat Supreme High Robotnik: using their time machine, they travel back through time and recruit a small army of their past selves for help.

*Even when he’s a God, Robotnik is toppled with ease as, for some reason, he still feels pain…*

After the five Tailses render Robotnik visible, the five Sonics are…somehow…able to damage and hurt Robotnik enough to bring him crashing to the ground with a pathetic amount of ease. Toppled, Sonic easily retrieves the Chaos Emeralds, stripping Robotnik of his God-like abilities, and ending his desires for the gems, and veritable omnipotence, once and for all. Honestly, this is quite a disappointing end to the saga as, even with the combined powers of the Chaos Emeralds, Robotnik is defeated way too easily. There was potential here for a veritable army of Sonics to attack Robotnik but, instead, the episode limits itself to just five. Sonic could also have used the Chaos Emeralds to become Super Sonic but the cartoons never seemed able to actually adapt this element into their stories so, instead, the Sonics simply attack Robotnik until he falls to the ground. There’s never a question that Sonic could fail in facing Robotnik’s ultimate form. Even when he’s thrown to the beginning of time it’s little more than a minor inconvenience; being trapped inside of an anthropomorphised treasure chest is more of an obstacle for him as he actually needs Tails’s help to escape because, again, he never thinks to just spin his way free. Other than that, and dropping flour on Supreme High Robotnik, Tails is next to useless in this episode and is simply along for the ride to screech out the obvious or words of panic or encouragement.

The Summary:
It’s rare that Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog actually uses gameplay mechanics from the videogames; although the series contained more references and nods to its source material than SatAM, these were still few and far between thanks to the cartoon’s focus on slapstick humour and largely original, self-contained episodes. As a result, the concept of the Chaos Emeralds is massively different compared to how they are portrayed in the videogames but it makes for a unique spin on the mechanic to have their powers more explicitly defined and associated with different abilities. In a small example of how low the standards were for the cartoon, though, there are a few instances where the characters say “invisible” or “invisibility” instead of “invincible” and “invincibility”. Still, seeing Robotnik obtain the Chaos Emerald of Invincibility and actually attain its power was a nice, if brief, distraction; had he acquired this power and Merlynx’s wand (which the episode establishes that Robotnik, and anyone for that matter, can easily wield), he arguably could have laid claim to complete victory but, of course, that was never going to happen as Sonic had to emerge victorious by the episode’s end. Nevertheless, actually getting a glimpse of the potential of “Supreme High Robotnik” helps to understand the stakes involved and why it’s so important to keep all of the gems out of his hands.

*Robotnik constantly squanders his God-like powers, remaining little more than a bumbling idiot.*

Something I do enjoy about these episodes compared to many episodes of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog is how many elements it includes from the videogames; obviously, we have the inclusion of a Chaos Emerald but the traps, obstacles, and danger of the pyramid remind me quite a bit of the hazards encountered in Sonic the Hedgehog (in particular the Marble and Labyrinth Zones). Having the Badniks be forced to collect Golden Rings to enter the burial chamber was also a nice touch and we get the briefest glimpse of the threat “Supreme High Robotnik” could pose if he obtained all four Chaos Emeralds thanks to seeing him actually wielding the power of the Chaos Emerald of Immortality…even if he is, again, defeated with comparative ease. In the end, the “Quest for the Chaos Emeralds” saga had so much potential in seeing Robotnik’s dreams of Godhood realised in full form but, instead, the final episode wastes too much of its runtime back in the past and on the acquisition of the Chaos Emerald of Life. For a man of such vaulted intelligence and imagination, Robotnik is surprisingly rubbish at using the powers of the Chaos Emeralds, or his assumed omnipotence, to their full extent, simply conjuring up a few ineffectual goons and growing to gargantuan size. He obtains the Chaos Emerald of Invisibility but remains visible 95% of the time; he has the Chaos Emerald of Invincibility and Immortality but is able to feel pain and be brought to his knees despite being immune to Sonic’s attacks in previous episodes (and even earlier in this episode!), and he has the Chaos Emerald of Life but doesn’t just strip and Sonic and Tails of their lives. Obviously, a lot of these things would render the episode unwatchable but I still think we could have gotten a much better, more interesting saga if Robotnik had dominated Mobius as Supreme High Robotnik and Sonic and Tails had been forced to go to a little more effort to end his threat.

Sonic the Comic *did the God/Super-Robotnik story arc far better.*

As a four-part saga, the “Quest for the Chaos Emeralds” is pretty good when watched sequentially as a kind of mini movie or television special. Had the saga been presented in this manner, it might have benefited from this format and been able to balance its pacing and structure a little better. Instead, each episode is still largely self-contained and concerned more with being just another fun entry in a largely slapstick cartoon series and, as a result, too much of the runtime is spent lingering and on padding rather than seeing Robotnik being all-powerful and actually dominating his nemesis for a change. Unfortunately though, similar plots have been done far better in Sonic the Comic (1993 to 2002) and, while the saga is a cut above the usual madcap nature of the cartoon and has some interesting ideas, it ultimately wastes a lot of the potential of the multi-part format and its plot.

My Rating:

Could Be Better

What did you think to the four-part “Quest for the Chaos Emeralds” and the eventual realisation of “Supreme High Robotnik”? Would you have liked to see more episodes taking a similar multi-part format or revolving around gameplay elements like the Chaos Emeralds or did you prefer the cartoon’s wackier, slapstick tone? Where you surprised to see the Chaos Emeralds playing such a pivotal role in the series or were you, perhaps, annoyed and confused as to why they were depicted so differently? Which character from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog did you like, or hate, the most and what did you think about the cartoon’s tone and aesthetic? Whatever your thoughts, feel free to share your memories of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog in the comments below.

Game Corner [Sonic Month]: Sonic the Hedgehog (2007; Xbox One)

23/06/202117/07/2024Dr. K74 Comments

Sonic the Hedgehog was first introduced to gamers worldwide on 23 June 1991 and, since then, has become not only SEGA’s most enduring and popular character but also a beloved videogame icon. This year, the Blue Blur turns thirty and what better way to celebrate than by dedicating an entire month’s worth of content to SEGA’s supersonic mascot.

Check out my guest spot on The Reviews Brothers

Released: July 2007
Originally Released: June 1991
Developer: Sonic Team
Original Developer: Sonic Team
Also Available For: Arcade, Game Boy Advance, Gamecube, Game.com, iPod, Mega Drive, Mobile, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Wii, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Portable, SEGA Saturn, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox Series X

The Background:
You know the story by now: there was a time when videogames and home consoles ran rampant and, for a while, it was good. But, inevitably, the market became swamped with lacklustre releases and poorly conceived movie tie-ins; after the collapse of the videogame industry, Nintendo were there to pick up the pieces, dominating the market with the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo EAD, 1985). Though they had successfully recaptured the flailing market and seemed unstoppable, one former slot machine developer dared to try and knock Nintendo from their perch. In 1990, SEGA ordered their developers to design a mascot and a title capable of leaving Mario in the dust and showcasing the power of their 16-Bit Mega Drive; after an internal contest produced numerous rejected designs (including a rabbit and an armadillo), SEGA soon settled on Naoto Ohshima’s design of a spiky hedgehog dubbed “Mr. Needlemouse”. With up-and-coming developer Yuji Naka, composer Masato Nakamura, and level designer Hirokazu Yasuhara also onboard, the character’s design was refined and defined, renamed to Sonic, and “Sonic Team” was born. Conceived to be as appealing as possibly, Naka wanted Sonic the Hedgehog to focus on speed and user-friendliness; unlike his rival, Mario, Sonic controlled with only the directional pad and one button and his gameplay was based on physics, momentum, and an emphasis on action and speed. Thanks largely to an aggressive marketing campaign and copies of the game being bundled in with SEGA’s brand new console, Sonic the Hedgehog was an immediate success, selling over 15 million copies in this format alone and kick-starting the “Console War” between SEGA and Nintendo that would dominate the nineties. Since then, Sonic has become an enduring icon; he’s had a slew of critical and commercial hits alongside a number of unfortunate and very disappointing hiccups and yet his character and brand remain strong and he is still an iconic character in both videogames and other media to this day.

The Plot:
South Island is under siege! The maniacal Doctor Eggman (widely known as “Robotnik” during the game’s original release) has been capturing the island’s animals and turning them into robotic Badniks! With Eggman’s machinery and pollution threatening the entire island, only one super-fast, super-cool hedgehog can stop him!

Gameplay:
Sonic the Hedgehog is a 2D, sidescrolling action/platformer in which you control the titular blue hedgehog. Sonic must journey across six stages (known as “Zones”), each split into three “Acts”; at the end of each Zone’s third Act, Sonic must battle Eggman in one of his contraptions and, upon clearing all six Zones, face the diabolical doctor in the game’s Final Zone. Sonic is a smooth and responsive character to play as; slightly weighty, his speed and agility are dependant upon you building momentum and using the game’s level layout and gimmicks to your advantage. When you move Sonic, he quickly breaks from a trot, to a jog, to a run that is so fast his legs appear as little more than a rubber band of red, white, and blue but, in order to reach Sonic’s top speeds, you’ll need to make use of slopes, curves, the game’s signature loop-de-loops, and Sonic’s rolling mechanics.

*It’s not all high-speed Badnik bashing; Sonic will also have to pull off some slower platforming.*

Any time you press a button, Sonic jumps into a blazing spinning ball of spikes known as the “Super Sonic Spin Attack”. You can use this to destroy Badniks and bounce off of them, springs, and monitors to increase your height, momentum, and speed. Additionally, pressing down whilst running will see Sonic roll along for a similar effect. In the original release of the game, Sonic couldn’t utilise his patented Spin Dash as this wasn’t introduced until the bigger, better sequel but subsequent re-releases and ports have seen this function added in, which can be extremely helpful in moving Sonic along (unfortunately, though, it’s not available in this version of the game). And that’s a noteworthy point as, unlike in the sequels, Sonic is painfully slow in his debut title; the game’s first stage, the iconic and massively over-used Green Hill Zone, is a perfect playground for getting to grips with Sonic’s speed and abilities. You’ll blast through this Zone in no time at all, feeling the rush of adrenaline and action-packed speed, only to literally run into a brick wall with the next stage, Marble Zone, which slows the game down to a crawl so Sonic can navigate precarious platforms, push blocks, activate switches, and simply wait for the game to allow him to continue.

*The game’s slower sections betray its marketing as a non-stop action platformer.*

That’s not to say that speed doesn’t become a recurring factor in Sonic’s gameplay; both Spring Yard Zone and Starlight Zone give you a chance to stretch your legs again but the pinball mechanics of the former and the obstacle-course-like layout of the latter were definitely refined in the sequel. As a result, most of your time is spent using more traditional platforming skills to progress forward rather than simply blazing through as the game’s marketing would have you believe. This means jumping from platform to platform, navigating maze-like areas, activating switches, and hopping to disappearing, crumbling, or spinning platforms. In Starlight Zone, you’ll also have to use some see-saws to bounce up to higher areas and navigate a bottomless void while Scrap Brain Zone includes teleportation tubes and speed-sapping conveyor belts to screw up your momentum and sense of direction. You’ll also have to watch the in-game timer as well; if you take too long to finish an Act, you’ll lose a life, so it pays to keep moving but, fortunately, none of the game’s Zones or Acts are that long or difficult to get through within the required time limit.

*There are many ways to keep Sonic alive and kicking.*

Luckily, Sonic is a relatively sturdy videogame character, especially compared to Mario; collecting the many Golden Rings scattered throughout the game’s Zones allows you to survive a single hit. You’ll lose all of your Rings but you won’t lose a life unless you get squashed, fall into one of the game’s many bottomless pits, get hit without a Ring or a shield, or drown. Sonic’s momentum becomes sluggish and awkward when underwater and, unlike his rival, he cannot survive for long in the murky depths of the Labyrinth Zone; linger too long and an ominous, heart-pounding countdown will begin and, if it reaches zero, you’ll drown and lose a life. Fortunately, just as you can collect dropped Rings, you can save yourself from this fate by finding air bubbles. Sonic can also earn an extra life if he collects one hundred Rings or earns a high enough score and you’ll also be given a chance to continue should you lose all of your lives. You can earn extra continues in the game’s Special Stages but you’ll also lose your current accumulated high score if you have to use a continue. Sonic gains points for destroying Badniks, defeating Eggman, and clearing Acts; once you reach the end of Act signpost or break open the prison capsule, you’ll be awarded bonus points for your current score, the time you took to clear the Act, and the amount of Rings you were holding when you did so. As a result, you are actively encouraged to blast through Acts as quickly as possible as this will net you a higher score and more lives and continues.

*Labyrinth Zone more than lives up to its name thanks to being far more vertical and maze-like.*

Sonic the Hedgehog’s Zones are thus laid out in such a way to allow you to experiment to find the fastest routes; typically, the higher path is the most dangerous but also the fastest compared to the middle and lower paths. This isn’t always the case, however, and this mechanic is not as refined as in later games; some Zones, such as the aforementioned Labyrinth and Spring Yard, are more vertically constructed, meaning that your completion speed will be directly tied to your level of skill and precision with controlling Sonic. For the most part, this isn’t a problem but, unfortunately, Sonic the Hedgehog does suffer from a few noticeable issues that can unfairly impede your progress; early copies of the game featured an infamous glitch whereby, upon landing on a bed of spikes, Sonic would lose his shield, Rings, and then a life all without the usual few seconds of invincibility frames to save him. Other times, especially in Spring Yard Zone, you may find yourself crushed by blocks even though you’re not actually beneath them; Sonic also has a curious animation glitch where he will jump while running in the air if you try to jump to close to obstacles or items, though these issues are, admittedly, rare and minor. Sonic the Hedgehog isn’t an especially difficult game; there are no difficulty settings to choose from so the game’s difficulty is supposed to gradually increase as you progress from Zone to Zone. As you race through Zones, you’ll automatically activate Lampposts as you run past them, which acts as a checkpoint should you die in the Zone, however your skill is tested by the way the game requires you to finish every Act that doesn’t feature a boss battle holding fifty Rings or more in order to try for the game’s six Chaos Emeralds.

Graphics and Sound:
Sonic the Hedgehog is still one of the most impressive and visually appealing games of its kind. Everything from the sprites to the background art pops out in gorgeous colours and the game’s Zones are full of life and character, despite being largely cliché in hindsight. You’ll race through verdant fields, explore lava-filled ruins, slog through the sunken remnants of an ancient civilisation, careen around a bonkers pinball-inspired obstacle course, and face a myriad of deadly hazards in Scrap Brain Zone, the heart of Eggman’s operation on South Island.

*As much as I like Starlight Zone, it’s quite empty compared to other Zones in the game.*

Just about the only Zone that isn’t interesting or fun is Starlight Zone and I say this with a heavy heart as it’s actually one of my favourite Zones in the game and a welcome return to the more speed-orientated gameplay after the annoyance of Labyrinth Zone. However, Starlight Zone is largely empty and lifeless; the wind-based mechanic is clunky, the bottomless pits are insufferable, and the Badniks are far harder to destroy than in other Zones.

*Leave Sonic idle and he’ll grow impatient, something videogame avatars have aped* *ever since.*

What saves Starlight Zone, however, is its music; in fact, Sonic the Hedgehog has some of the best and most memorable music in videogame history. From the catchy title theme to the iconic sounds of Green Hill Zone, every Zone has an excellent, jaunty, and fitting theme to go with it. This is also true of the game’s boss battles, which all feature the same ominous-yet-lively tune that let you know Eggman is inbound. The game doesn’t feature any cutscenes or story-telling elements; this isn’t entirely unexpected as a lot of games released around this time didn’t and, to be fair, the game’s story is pretty simple to pick up either through association (the Zones change from lush and vibrant to polluted and desolate and woodland critters bounce around the Zones after being freed from captivity) or from the game’s manual. One thing that the game does excel at, though, is giving Sonic a distinct personality; if you leave him idle, he’ll turn to the screen and impatiently tap his foot, a quirk that has been aped and emulated but almost every videogame avatar since.

Enemies and Bosses:
In each Zone of the game, Sonic will face opposition from Eggman’s Badniks; these mechanical monsters may look cute and quirky but they can be extremely deadly. Mostly themed after animals, Badniks will fly across the screen shooting fireballs at Sonic, slink along the floor and break into spiked balls upon defeat, toss bombs at his head, and even explode in his face, among other things. Generally, Badniks are exclusive to each Zone but there is some crossover in later stages. While most of these Badniks aren’t too much bother, their placement in the Zones can be frustrating; others, like Roller and Burrobot, can be a pain due to the speed and surprise of their attacks while Badniks like Spike and Orbinaut cause issues due to their spiked defences.

*Eggman may have a lot of different attachments for his craft but he’s not much of a challenge.*

At the end of each Zone’s third Act, you’ll battle Doctor Eggman in his Egg-O-Matic hovercraft; each time you face him, he has a new, deadly appendage attached to his craft but his attack pattern remains generally the same. He’ll come puttering in, flying from right to left, and trying to attack with his appendage all while remaining a large, open target for Sonic’s Spin Attack. Unfortunately, while Eggman’s wrecking ball is simple to get around, his later appendages become more dangerous thanks to the presence of other hazards; in Marble Zone, he’ll drop fireballs that briefly render the ground too dangerous to stand on but there’s also a pit of lava to watch out for, for example. Attack too fast in Spring Yard Zone and you might drop to your death as Eggman uses his spike to remove parts of the platform you’re standing on. Labyrinth Zone’s boss battle is more of a race than a fight as, no matter how often you hit Eggman, he won’t be defeated; instead, you need to jump up the flooded vertical shaft dodging spikes and fireballs and desperately hoping to reach the top before you drown.

*The final boss battle is pretty disappointing and stupidly easy.*

Once you’ve cleared all six Zones, you’ll reach the Final Zone; in this final showdown with Eggman, you’re stuck in a room with no escape and no Rings as Eggman tries to crush you with four weights and fry you alive with electrical balls. Fortunately, however, there is always a gap between these sparkling orbs for you to safely jump through and, by simply waiting at the far right of the screen, you can just take your time and ram Eggman whenever he pops up. Compared to the final boss battles of later Sonic games, this one is a bit of a joke, to be honest, and ends the game not with a bang but with a kind of shrug.

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
To help tip the odds in your favour, you’ll find a number of computer monitors scattered throughout the game’s Zones. Breaking these open will award you with such gifts as an instant hit of ten Rings, a shield that protects you from losing Rings or a life for one hit, or even an extra life. You can also find monitors containing Power Sneakers, which immediately increase Sonic’s running speed for a short time, or an invincibility, which coats Sonic in a sparkling protective aura. Combine these two together and you’re basically unstoppable unless you run head-first into a bottomless pit.

Additional Features:
Playing Sonic the Hedgehog on the Xbox One allows you to earn some pretty simple and easy Achievements; if you’ve played Sonic before, it should be no challenge at all to reach the game’s later Zones, collect one hundred Rings, or complete the game. As I mentioned above, finishing every Act except Act 3 with fifty Rings or more allows you to enter a Special Stage (why they’re not called “Special Zones” I don’t know…); these are accessed by Giant Rings that appear when you pass the end of Act signpost, so jump in quickly before you miss your chance!

*Collect all six Chaos Emeralds to earn the game’s best ending.*

The Special Stages are a psychedelic maze-like area filled with bright colours and weird effects; here, you’ll have to bounce and roll Sonic (who is in a constant spin) around the arena trying to avoid the flashing “Goal” lights. Touch these and you’re instantly ejected from the Special Stage with nothing to show for it but, if you manage to avoid them, you’ll find a Chaos Emerald hidden within each Special Stage. Collect all six of these and you’ll be awarded with the game’s true ending; without them, Eggman will mock you for failing to collect them all but, aside from seeing flowers blooming in Green Hill Zone and an Achievement, there’s little incentive to collect all six as you don’t unlock anything else. Sadly, thanks to the way Sonic the Hedgehog works on the Xbox One, there’s no way to enter the iconic cheat codes from the original game and, while a save state system is included, it only allows you to save to three separate slots. You can, however, access online leaderboards to compare your score, time, and progress with other players, if that’s your thing.

The Summary:
Sonic the Hedgehog will forever be an iconic, classic platformer; its place in the echelon of videogame history was cemented upon its bombastic release and, even to this day, it remains as a solid action/platformer. Unfortunately, years of enjoying the bigger, better, much improved sequels somewhat dampens the appeal of Sonic the Hedgehog. Playing the game in hindsight, you can see how the developers took the very best aspects and elements of this game and improved upon them in the sequel, removing the slower, clunkier elements and focusing more on action and speed. The game’s marketing made Sonic out to be this superfast character with a radical attitude but the actual game is quite slow, for the most part, and elevated above its peers thanks to its eye-catching graphics, distinct personality, and catchy music. It’s still a great game and obviously laid the foundations for even better things to come but is far less impressive than its sequels.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

What did you think about Sonic the Hedgehog? Where do you rate it against the other games in the franchise? Did you purchase a Mega Drive simply to play Sonic? Which port or re-release of the game is your favourite? Are you as annoyed as I am that the excellent mobile version of the game isn’t available to play on the Xbox One? How are you celebrating Sonic’s thirtieth anniversary? Whatever you think, feel free to share your thoughts and memories regarding Sonic below.

Back Issues [Sonic Month]: Sonic the Hedgehog (US Promo Comic)

18/06/202117/04/2023Dr. K19 Comments

Sonic the Hedgehog was first introduced to gamers worldwide on 23 June 1991 and, since then, has become not only SEGA’s most enduring and popular character but also a beloved videogame icon. Since the Blue Blur turned thirty this year, I have been dedicating every Friday to SEGA’s supersonic mascot.

Story Title: Sonic the Hedgehog
Published: Fall 1991
Writer: Francis Mao
Artist: Francis Mao

The Background:
So, I mentioned previously that, during the development and marketing of Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic Team, 1991) for a wider audience outside of its native Japan, Sonic’s design and lore underwent significant alterations. In Japan, Sonic originally had a human girlfriend and battled Doctor Eggman in a wacky fantasy world that was an alternative version of ours openly populated by humans and anthropomorphic animals. However, for Sonic’s American debut, the character was redesigned from a sleek, aerodynamic character and into a Mohawk-sporting superhero who lived on the alien world Mobius and fought with Doctor Ivo Robotnik, who was once the kindly scientist Doctor Ovi Kintobor. This story, which was only briefly reflected in the game’s manual and had pretty much no representation in the videogame, became a prominent and influential part of Sonic’s canon outside of Japan thanks to it featuring in a variety of media. Most notably, the story was told in great detail in Stay Sonic (Mike Pattenden, 1993), formed the basis of Sonic the Comic’s (1993 to 2002) lore, but it first featured in a promotional comic book released in the United States in autumn of 1993. The comic had a very limited run and is now extremely rare, so the only way to read this time capsule of a vastly different and conflicting time in Sonic’s life is by use of online scans.

The Review:
“Sonic the Hedgehog” beings in medias res with SEGA’s super-speedy mascot racing through the Green Hill Zone and being chased by Dr. Robotnik (who is piloting his wrecking ball Egg-O-Matic and being flanked by a variety of Badniks). The narration box provides a brief bit of context to establish where we are and what’s going on: this is, of course, the planet Mobius, which was once a peaceful and fun place to live before the evil Dr. Robotnik began his attempt to take the planet over and the only one who can stop his the “short, blue, super-fast, and radically cool” Sonic the Hedgehog.

*Sonic rescues his animal friends and drops a bombshell regarding their friend, Dr. Kintobor…*

After outrunning Robotnik, Sonic makes short work of his mechanical Badniks, freeing his animal friends in the process. However, he gets distracted and, thanks to a crumbling cliff side, plummets to a spiky death! Thankfully, Johnny Lightfoot (one of the aforementioned animal friends) pushes a swinging platform into Sonic’s path and save him from an unfortunate end. Panicked by the appearance of Dr. Robotnik, Sonic’s animal friends suggest they ask Dr. Kintobor for help and Sonic breaks the news that Robotnik is Kintobor and reveals not just Robotnik’s origin story but his (Sonic’s) as well.

*Kintobor wishes to drain Mobius of all negative energy using six special Emeralds.*

The story the flashes back to show Sonic, then a brown, far less aerodynamic character, stumbling upon the laboratory of the kindly Dr. Kintobor. Kintobor (who is modelled directly on Albert Einstein), an absent-minded but kind-hearted scientist, has created a machine called the Retro-Orbital Chaos Compressor (or R.O.C.C. for short). Inside of the R.O.C.C. are six orbs that Kintobor calls “Emeralds”; Kintobor’s machine is (…somehow) able to channel all the evil forces from the planet and lock them into these Emeralds, with the Doctor’s end goal being the complete removal of negativity from the planet. However, he is unable to achieve this goal without a Grey Emerald, which would neutralise the evil energy and stabilise the Emeralds.

*Sonic undergoes a startling and dynamic transformation after breaking the sound barrier…*

Upon seeing Sonic, Kintobor is shocked and intrigued (apparently he never noticed in all this time that Mobius was home to anthropomorphic animals…) and he begins to help Sonic develop his super-speed using a supersonic treadmill. During one of these experiments, Sonic breaks the sound barrier, destroying the treadmill and being physically altered into his more recognisable blue form thanks to “the cobalt effect”; Kintobor also gifts Sonic with his iconic red sneakers after his battered old trainers get wrecked.

*Kintobor is bombarded with evil energy and becomes the maniacal Dr. Robotnik!*

Things take a turn for the worst, however, when Kintobor accidentally spills a soda onto the R.O.C.C.’s main control console, causing a massive explosion; in the process, the “containment Rings” that were inside the R.O.C.C. were scattered across the planet and Kintobor was bombarded with “over 10,000 volts of pure evil energy”. This, combined with the hardboiled egg Kintobor was holding, transformed him into the egg-shaped madman Dr. Robotnik, a literal inversion of his former self.

*Sonic randomly acquires a Chaos Emerald while escaping from Robotnik’s traps…*

Sonic reveals to his friends that he has set out to collect all of the scattered Golden Rings in order to rebuild the R.O.C.C. and reverse the process…while also vowing to oppose and defeat Robotnik. To that end, he randomly races off and comes across Robotnik but blunders straight into an ambush of Badniks. In a mad dash to escape, he tumbles into the Labyrinth Zone and barely avoids being scorched alive and drowning but, in the process, randomly finds one of the Chaos Emeralds (I guess this comic is based more on the Master System version of the game…)

*Although Robotnik escapes with the Emerald, Sonic vows to continue opposing his threat!*

Emerging from the water, Sonic chases Dr. Robotnik through what appears to be the Marble Zone and the dastardly doctor manages to slow Sonic down by having him race through the Starlight Zone. Sonic, however, is easily able to avoid Robotnik’s traps and Badniks and finally confronts Robotnik in his “secret lab” (clearly the Scrap Brain Zone). There, he finds another of his animal friends, Porker Lewis, bound and tied to a conveyor belt and facing certain death. This distraction allows Robotnik to literally get the drop on Sonic and cause him to drop the Chaos Emerald; Robotnik then presents Sonic with a choice: save his friend or retrieve the Chaos Emerald! Sonic opts to save Porker, allowing Robotnik to take the Chaos Emerald for himself and make a hasty retreat, vowing to rule the world in due time. It’s not a completely sour ending, though, as Sonic summarily destroys Robotnik’s Badnik Transforming Machine and frees even more of his animal friends and swears to end Robotnik’s threat over the course of the Mega Drive videogame.

The Summary:
Being a fifteen page promotional piece, there’s not really a lot going for “Sonic the Hedgehog”; unlike its Japanese counterpart, the art isn’t as appealing, the story isn’t as fun and exciting, and the dialogue is nowhere near as quirky and unique. A lot of SEGA’s promotional media at the time was focused (obsessed, you might say) with characterising Sonic as this cool, edgy, radical surfer-dude so his dialogue hasn’t exactly aged well when looking back at adaptations of this time.

*Some of the game’s Zones and gimmicks are briefly featured in the story.*

Still, the comic does a decent job of adapting the gameplay mechanics and features of the videogames; it doesn’t showcase every Zone from the game and is largely focused on Green Hill Zone more than the others but it does include things like the crumbling cliffs, spike pits, swings, and the various hazards of the other Zones that briefly feature in the games. There’s a sense that anyone reading this would get a small head’s up on what to expect when playing Sonic for the first time and the objectives of the game are spelled out pretty clearly in the comic’s narrative: Collect Golden Rings to save the planet and smash Badniks to free woodland critters.

*The Kintobor origin became accepted canon in many of Sonic’s multimedia ventures.*

The biggest contribution “Sonic the Hedgehog” makes is, of course, the popularisation and depiction of Sonic and Robotnik’s American origin. Rather than the two simply being who they are, they undergo separate transformations (one into a super-fast superhero and the other into a crazed madman) that have more in common with traditional superhero origin stories than the simple plot of environmentalism that is prevalent in the videogames. The idea that Sonic and Robotnik were once friends adds an interesting wrinkle to the plot but, honestly, this concept rarely, if ever, impacted subsequent continuations of this narrative. Even in Sonic the Comic, which revisited Kintobor on more than one occasion, had Sonic more determined to defeat Robotnik rather than turn him back into his former self and, since the transformation basically turned Kintobor into an entirely different, deranged individual, this previous relationship wasn’t ever really used by Robotnik as a means to goad Sonic and considering that it was never mentioned in the games or the manuals it really does make me wonder why they ever bothered to come up with such a convoluted way to explain why an anthropomorphic hedgehog has super speed and is collecting Golden Rings and smashing robots.

*It’s an interesting, if outdated, piece of obscure* Sonic merchandise, if nothing else…

If you’re unfamiliar with Sonic’s previous lore or in need to a jolt of nostalgia, I’d say it’s worth giving “Sonic the Hedgehog” a quick read, if only to scratch that itch and to satisfy a curiosity for one of the franchise’s rarer materials. Still, as much as I loved Sonic the Comic, I never really cared for the whole Kintobor/R.O.C.C. origin story and feel that it didn’t really add anything to the videogames. Add to that the fact that the comic doesn’t really showcase much of the source material beyond the basic concept and the Green Hill Zone and you have a disappointingly barebones piece of media designed specifically to tantalise children with bright colours and quirky characters and to help sell the videogame, which is fine but the manga proved that there are ways of creating a piece of shameless promotion and still producing an entertaining comic at the same time.

My Rating:

Terrible

Have you ever come across the Sonic the Hedgehog promotional comic online, or perhaps out in the wild? Maybe you own a copy; if so, how did you get it and what is the condition like? What did you think to it as a reflection on Sonic’s lore at the time? Were you a fan of the Kintobor origin or do you, like me, find it a bit of an unnecessary addition to the story? Which Sonic canon did you go up with and are there any unused aspects of Sonic’s long and complex story that you’d like to see make a return? Share your thoughts in the comments below and be sure to check back in next week for even more Sonic content!

Back Issues [Sonic Month]: Sonic the Hedgehog Story Comic

11/06/202117/04/2023Dr. K9 Comments

Sonic the Hedgehog was first introduced to gamers worldwide on 23 June 1991 and, since then, has become not only SEGA’s most enduring and popular character but also a beloved videogame icon. Since the Blue Blur turned thirty this year, I have been dedicating every Friday to SEGA’s supersonic mascot.

Story Title: Dr. Eggman’s Challenge!!, Clash!! South Island, and Sonic Rampage
Published: June to July 1991
Writer/s: Unknown
Artist/s: Unknown

The Background:
Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic Team, 1991) underwent quite a complex development cycle; intended to be SEGA’s mascot and their answer to Nintendo’s Super Mario, numerous designs and concepts were submitted internally before SEGA settled on Naoto Ohshima’s spiky protagonist, later coloured blue and christened Sonic, and SEGA put a lot of effort and money into marketing and adapting Sonic to be appealing to a worldwide audience. This included not only redesigning the character somewhat but also stripping away some of the crazier aspects of Sonic’s Japanese lore. As a result, Sonic’s human girlfriend and rock band was dropped and Doctor Eggman was renamed Doctor Ivo Robotnik. Though this only really impacted the game’s manual, these changes were famously seen in a 1991 American promotional comic that established Sonic’s canon and informed his characterisation and world in comics and cartoons outside of Japan for years. Earlier that same year, though, Japanese readers of Mega Drive Fan were treated to a three-part manga that not only stuck far closer to the original, wackier ideas concerning Sonic’s lore but also the gameplay of the source material. Though never released outside of Japan, a fan translation does exist to provide a bit of a window into Sonic’s differing interpretations between the East and the West.

The Review:
The first part of the story, “Dr. Eggman’s Challenge!!”, begins with the mysterious South Island suddenly being invaded by Dr. Eggman and a horde of never-before-seen robots. Rather than his traditional Badniks, Dr. Eggman is accompanied by an army of construction and worker robots who quickly set to work building his fortress on South Island, displacing the cute and cuddly natives and destroying the natural ecosystem.

*Dr. Eggman is a fun, goofy villain with some pretty daft motivations.*

Dr. Eggman (often referred to as “Dr. Eggman-sama” in a reflection of his high status) is an extremely excitable, volatile, and goofy character; he has an odd tendency to end every sentence with a enlivened “Yes!!”, mischievously chuckles with a dastardly “Dohohoho”, and is primarily motivated to invade South Island to aid his desire for world conquest and to buy lots of his favourite food: eggs. When one of his minions informs him of the presence of a Chaos Emerald on South Island, Dr. Eggman becomes even more excitable and doubles his endeavours to build his fortress and excavate to legendary gem. However, Dr. Eggman mainly wants the Chaos Emerald to power the world’s largest pot and boil the world’s largest egg, which he claims has been his “life dream ever since [he] was young”. Remember, back in Sonic’s early days, Dr. Eggman was often associated with eggs and egg puns so this is a fun way to reference that recurring in-joke.

*Sonic, here a rowdy rock star, wastes no time in dispatching Eggman’s robots.*

The story then jumps to Green Hill Zone where Sonic and his oft-forgotten rock band are putting on a show for a huge gaggle of screaming fans and his own personal “bodyguard platoon”. Unfortunately, and quite conveniently, Sonic’s concert is taking place right where the Chaos Emerald is hidden and, thus, Dr. Eggman and his robots quickly attack, disrupting the crowd, attacking his fans, and wrecking the stage. In response to the interruption, Sonic attacks Dr. Eggman’s robots and trashes them with his patented speed and Super Sonic Spin Attack. Sonic is a slightly different character than you might be used to at this point; he’s not some snarky freedom fighter or a cool anime hero. Instead, he’s a rock star who’s all about putting on a performance for the adulation of others; when Dr. Eggman interrupts his concert, he takes it as a personal insult and doesn’t hesitate to strike back with his skills and a snarky attitude that has, sadly, been largely dropped from his characterisation.

*Sonic is enraged at Dr. Eggman’s plot to turn his friends into robotic Badniks.*

With his robots destroyed, Dr. Eggman tries to squash Sonic with his Egg-O-Matic’s wrecking ball but Sonic is much too fast to be hit and makes short work of Dr. Eggman’s contraption. With the dastardly doctor defeated, Sonic goes back to his concert and Eggman retreats to lick his wounds and plot his revenge by playing Sonic the Hedgehog on the “Megadora”, which motivates him to capture South Island’s woodland critters and transform them into the iconic Badniks. Dr. Eggman’s plot continues in the second part, “Clash!! South Island”; Sonic is incensed to see Dr. Eggman’s robots have spread to Marble Zone and learns from Pocky and Picky that Dr. Eggman has captured all of their friends and used them as living batteries for his Badniks. Disgusted and enraged, Sonic vows to head straight to Dr. Eggman’s base to put an end to his plot and rescue his friends…but is momentarily embarrassed to discover that he has no idea where to go.

*Sonic takes a beating from Dr. Eggman’s various nefarious traps and hazards.*

Picky points Sonic in the general direction and he speeds off, only to run afoul of the many and varied traps that Dr. Eggman has built into Marble Zone. Despite almost being crushed and fried to a crisp, Sonic is able to avoid Dr. Eggman’s traps with his super speed but ends up getting bashed about by bumpers in “Sparkling Zone”. Regardless, though having taken a beating, Sonic survives and is able to free Ricky and Cucky from their Badnik casings. Ricky and Cucky lead Sonic to “Star Land Zone” and to a capsule where their friends are being held captive. Sonic uses one of the Zone’s seesaws to spring himself up there and easily gets past an Orbinaut before Dr. Eggman comes in to battle him again.

*Curse words and a bevvy of traps dog Sonic’s progress.*

As in the game, Dr. Eggman is now packing a large spike on the underside of his craft but Sonic is easily able to outmanoeuvre him and take him out with a single Spin Attack. With Dr. Eggman sent packing once again, Sonic breaks open the capsules and revels in the adulation of his friends. Despite the setback, though, Dr. Eggman is only enraged even further and even more motivated to make Sonic pay for his interference by holding Flicky, Pecky, and Pocky hostage in his heavily fortified mountain lair. The final part of the story, “Sonic Rampage”, mainly details Sonic’s livid assault on the remainder of Dr. Eggman’s forces (this includes a hilarious piece of questionable translation when a Burrobot and Motobug spit out “Fuck off, Sonic!” to which Sonic replies (whilst smashing them to junk): “Fuck off yourselves!!”) Also of note is the mixed up order of the Zones Sonic visits here as the story opens with him in “Clockwork Zone” before going to Labyrinth Zone, where the final confrontation with Dr. Eggman takes place. This actually helps, in a way, to explain an oddity in Sonic the Hedgehog that I never really understood, which is why the third Act of Scrap Brain Zone is basically a fourth Act for Labyrinth Zone.

Sonic *frees the last of his friends* *and* *defeats Dr. Eggman once and for all.*

Rather than battling Eggman in the Final Zone and contending with his giant weighted machine, Eggman holds Flicky, Pecky, and Pocky prisoner in an unseen claw-like attachment to his Egg-O-Matic and threatens to squeeze them to death. However, faster than the naked eye, Sonic frees his friends and destroys the claw attachment before Eggman can even register what has happened and, with a fury of spikes, he unleashes his “Rolling Attack Rapid Strikes!!” attack to defeat Eggman once and for all and end his threat against South Island.

The Summary:
Sonic the Hedgehog Story Comic is a pretty simple but incredibly fun little adventure; obviously, the manga was designed purely to help advertise, promote, and sell copies of Sonic the Hedgehog and, as a result, each chapter ends with the characters or narrative breaking the fourth wall to advertise the game and the Mega Drive console. Still, what separates it from a lot of other Sonic media at the time is its fidelity to the source material; despite the fact that there are only a handful of Badniks, one for each of Sonic’s friends, and only three encounters between Sonic and Dr. Eggman (with only two involving his contraptions from the game), the manga captures the manic feel of the videogames much closer and reflects the simplistic narrative of the games much better than bogging it all down with the Ovi Kintobor story.

*I really enjoy Sonic’s characterisation, which actually shows off his attitude and personality.*

Of course, that’s not to say that it’s a 100% adaptation of the comics; for one thing, the Chaos Emeralds barely factor into the story at all. Only one is ever spoken about and it never actually appears in the story; the other five are completely missing, as are the Special Stages and Golden Rings, but then that does somewhat reflect how little importance the Chaos Emeralds had on the first game’s plot as it wouldn’t be until they were joined by a seventh that they would become a much more integral part of the plot. Two areas where the manga does excel, though, are the art and the characterisations; the art is very faithful to Akira Watanabe and Naoto Ohshima’s original Japanese artwork and aesthetic direction for Sonic, featuring such little details as Sonic have fangs and a great sense of his speed, with many of the illustrations of Sonic in action directly referencing his in-game sprites. As for characterisations, this is one of my favourite interpretations of Sonic; when he was first conceived, Sonic was the “Hedgehog with Attitude!” but, for the most part, he never really showcased that attitude. Sonic the Comic (1993 to 2002) reinterpreted Sonic as a sarcastic asshole but, for the most part, he was this good natured teenager who liked being the center of attention and getting praise and was extremely egotistical but was nowhere near as snarky and unruly as he is portrayed here and in the original video animation (OVA).

*Eggman’s plans turn from conquering to a vendetta against Sonic.*

Similarly, Dr. Eggman isn’t some bungling idiot or a semi-cybernetic dictator bent on subjected all of those beneath him; instead, he’s a goofy, maniacal bad guy motivated mainly out of greed, power, and the desire to have all the eggs he can handle. His temper flares as Sonic interferes in his plans and his plot alters from a vague desire for world domination to vindictively pursuing Sonic in a mounting obsession for revenge. It would be all too long before the goofier, more clown-like aspects of Dr. Eggman’s personality would find their way back into his character and they’re delightful to see here; he’s a goof, sure, but he’s also quite threatening at times, destroying the environment and kidnapping Sonic’s friends without hesitation, though he remains a largely ineffectual buffoon since, while he has a lot of robots and resources at his disposal, Sonic is easily able to take them all out and is never in any real danger.

My Rating:

Fantastic

Have you ever read Sonic the Hedgehog Story Comic? Did you, perhaps, read the story when it was published in Mega Drive Fan or, like me, did you discover it through an online fan translation? What do you think to the early interpretation of Sonic as a snarky rock star? Were you a fan of the original ideas and design for Sonic or do prefer the changes made for his worldwide debut? What’s the most obscure piece of Sonic media you’ve ever seen or owned? Whatever your thoughts, feel free to leave a comment below and pop back next Friday for more Sonic content!

Movie Night [Sonic Month]: Sonic the Hedgehog (1999)

04/06/202118/09/2024Dr. K16 Comments

Sonic the Hedgehog was first introduced to gamers worldwide on 23 June 1991 and, since then, has become not only SEGA’s most enduring and popular character but also a beloved videogame icon. This year, the Blue Blur turns thirty and what better way to celebrate than by dedicating every Friday of this month to SEGA’s supersonic mascot.

Released: 1 November 1999
Originally Released: 26 January 1996 and 22 March 1996
Director: Kazuho Ikegami
Distributor: ADV Films
Budget: Unknown
Stars: Martin Burke, Lainie Frasier, Bill Wise, Edwin Neal, and Sascha Biesi

The Plot:
Doctor Ivo Robotnik (Neal) takes Princess Sara (Biesi) hostage and forces Sonic the Hedgehog (Burke) and Miles “Tails” Prower (Frasier) to journey to Robotropolis to keep Planet Freedom from being destroyed and, in the process, have them battle his ultimate creation: Hyper Metal Sonic (Gary Lipkowitz).

The Background:
After Sonic achieved worldwide success and became the hottest pop culture icon of the nineties following the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (SEGA Technical Institute, 1992), Sonic was practically everywhere as SEGA capitalised on their mascot’s success with comic books, story books, toys, spin-off videogames, and, of course, animated ventures. Outside of Japan, DiC Entertainment produced two widely different Sonic cartoons that ran simultaneously and would come to inform the long-running Archie Comics series. Just as Japan and the rest of the world saw different Sonic promotional materials and lore, so too did each country have incredibly different animated ventures for SEGA’s mascot as, in 1996, Perriot studio produced a two part original video animation (OVA), “Welcome to Eggmanland” and “Sonic vs. Metal Sonic!”, that featured a traditional anime aesthetic that was closely modelled on the anime sequences from Sonic the Hedgehog CD (Sonic Team, 1993) and much closer to the source material thanks to the involvement of Sonic Team (specifically Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima). As audiences outside of Japan were enduring easily the worst Sonic cartoon ever created, Sonic Underground (1999), and to coincide (somewhat) with the North American release of the Dreamcast, ADV Films combined the two-part OVA into one feature length feature, subjected it to a questionable dubbing process, and released it straight to video. Still, the feature length animation holds largely favourable reviews among Sonic fans for its closer adherence to the source material despite being just as removed from it as Sonic’s American cartoons.

The Review:
Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie is this absolutely mental anime adaptation of the videogames that has a slick, detailed aesthetic that not only evokes the artwork of the videogames but also aligns almost perfectly with the anime sequences from Sonic CD. Because of this, though this world is as strange and unique as the various iterations of Mobius, the OVA feels like an authentic tie-in to the source material rather than a distilled, heavily altered commercial product like the cartoons.

*Though short-tempered and lazy, Sonic revels in action and adventure.*

What really makes the Sonic OVA stand out from other animated adaptations, apart from the anime aesthetic, is its portrayal of Sonic; rather than a wise-cracking show off, OVA-Sonic is a snarky, short-tempered teenager and actually showcases the “attitude” that Sonic was advertised as having. He just wants to sunbathe in peace and quiet and yells at Tails for interrupting his relaxation and has absolutely no interest in helping Robotnik even though the safety of the entire planet is, apparently at stake. Despite his lackadaisical attitude, though, Sonic is quick to race into action when he sees Tails is in real danger and begrudgingly agrees to solve Robotnik’s problem despite never shaking the belief that something fishy is going on. Sonic is not just cocky but also extremely arrogant, surprisingly lazy, quick to anger, and uncouth, something his current incarnations often seem to forget or ignore. While still heroic, Sonic prefers to wait until the very last second, or needs considerable persuasion, to act; Sonic desires challenge and, without it, is mainly lethargic. This is best depicted in his intense and escalating battle with Metal Sonic wherein Sonic’s stupor gives way to a passionate desire to defend his pride and identity.

*Tails is at his most capable here, berating Sonic’s inaction and directly influencing the plot.*

Tails, also, is far more capable and competent than his other animated counterparts; a genius with machines and computers, it’s heavily implied that he retrofitted all the junk and discarded technology to build his laboratory and aircraft hanger and he’s easily able to reprogram Robotnik’s navigational device to alter Hyper Metal Sonic’s programming and repair the Tornado after it crashes. Crucially, though clearly an enthusiastic and naïve little kid, Tails is Sonic’s conscience and the voice of reason; when Sonic refuses to help, Tails berates him and helps coerce him into action and, while he does need a bit of rescuing, he’s also quite capable of doing far more than just whining or being a mere hostage or a liability.

*Sara is a pain in the ass but at least she has more personality than the President.*

Tails’s usually annoying characteristics are, instead, supplanted into Sara; a grating, annoying character, Sara is selfish and aggravating, throwing tantrums over the littlest things and revelling in her ability to manipulate the hearts and minds of men with her allure. Interestingly, though, the annoying aspects of her character give her a little more personality than the average damsel in distress since she doesn’t just sit there like a lemon or cringe in fear; she shouts, screams, lashes out, and whines the entire time instead which, yes, means you end up questioning why anyone would want to rescue her annoying ass but an irritating personality is a personality nonetheless, at least, which is more than can be said about her father, the President (Neal), who is a largely ineffectual and useless character.

*Knuckles is a far less gullible or bumbling character than he’s now characterised as.*

Unlike the majority of Sonic’s American cartoons, the OVA immediately gets extra points from me for actually including my favourite Sonic character: Knuckles the Echidna (Wise). Of course, of all the characters, Knuckles is perhaps the most fundamentally changed by the adaptation process; rather than an echidna, he’s said to be a mole (one, somehow, capable of flying) who is more interested in treasure and bounty hunting than guarding Angel Island and the Master Emerald. In fact, neither of these two elements are ever mentioned, characterising Knuckles as this wandering nomad who is, nevertheless, “Sonic’s best friend”; Knuckles, far from the gullible and foolish character he has become in recent years, is a capable, confident, and knowledgeable source of exposition and gets some fun comedic moments like when he chastises Tails for landing on Sara’s boobs or when his beloved and bad-ass cowboy hat catches fire!

*Though a buffoon at times, Robotnik is still a charismatic, deceptive, and competent villain.*

For those only familiar with Sonic’s American cartoons, perhaps the most striking character in the OVA is Dr. Robotnik; rather than some bumbling fool or a semi-cybernetic, tyrannical dictator, Robotnik is far closer to his videogame counterpart and, when I think of the Robotnik from Sonic’s 2D videogames, this is the one I think of. A charismatic, deceptive, and a ruthless individual, Robotnik is easily able to intimidate the President by kidnapping his daughter, manipulate Sonic and Tails into doing his bidding, and ultimately capture Sonic’s “life data” to complete Hyper Metal Sonic. There’s a lot of backstory hinted at with this world, primarily through Robotnik, who explains how Planet Freedom works and hints towards previous encounters with Sonic and Tails, and Robotnik actually has a lot of depth to his personality as he seems to genuinely be besotted with Sara while also wishing to destroy Sonic and take over the Land of the Sky. Robotnik, of course, isn’t the only antagonist in the OVA; at first, we’re led to believe that the primary antagonist is the mysterious “Metal Robotnik”, a massive demonic anime mech that is, clearly, being piloted or at least controlled by Robotnik. The deception, however, completely fools everyone despite the fact that Metal Robotnik sounds exactly like Robotnik! The mech suit gives Robotnik a vast array of combat options that briefly give him the upper hand but the destruction of Metal Robotnik isn’t even a set back for Robotnik; it’s all simply part of his master plan, which is surprisingly competent and threatening.

*Sonic insists on battling Metal Sonic alone, seeing the robot as a degrading imposter.*

Hyper Metal Sonic, obviously, ends up becoming the main antagonist but it doesn’t actually properly appear until after our heroes get past Metal Robotnik, enter Robotropolis, and shut down the Robot Generator; it’s glimpsed in the opening, pre-title sequence, however, and looms over the narrative like an ominous cloud so that, once it does appear, it’s in suitably dramatic and threatening fashion. Hyper Metal Sonic is a cold, calculating, silent antagonist and Sonic sees its mere existence as both an insult and a threat to his position, categorically refusing to have his friends help him and choosing to battle his robotic counterpart alone in increasingly violent confrontations.

The Nitty-Gritty:
Though there is a general, prevailing idea that Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie is much closer to the source material than its other animated counterparts, that isn’t exactly true; the world we are presented with in the film is just as different from that seen in the games as Mobius is in the cartoons and comics, perhaps even more so since this is a strange world that resembles a shattered, post-apocalyptic version of our world more than the wacky, fantasy worlds seen in the videogames. However, the spirit of the videogames is evoked far closer thanks to the OVA’s anime aesthetic and locations closely resembling those seen in the games (Never Lake, for example, appears to be briefly seen onscreen at one point and Sonic races through traps and obstacles very similar to those from the games, including the first and most accurate onscreen portrayal of springs, spikes, and Badniks).

*The world is both familiar and yet unique, borrowing from and then influencing* Sonic‘s videogames.

One thing I love about this OVA is not just how well it captures the spirit of the source material but also came to influence later videogames and Sonic canon; it’s fitting that this was released outside of Japan around the time of the Dreamcast since there are many visual and aesthetic similarities between the OVA and Sonic Adventure (Sonic Team, 1998): Tails’s workshop, the airstrip that rises out of the ground, the visual of the “relics” of the Land of Darkness (clearly the remnants of New York City) sinking into the ocean are all clearly evoked in Sonic Adventure. Honestly, it’s a shame that more episodes of the OVA weren’t produced and that it hasn’t had a greater impact on larger Sonic canon; ideally, I’d love to see a 2D Sonic videogame utilise an artistic style or anime sequences such as the ones on display here for the cutscenes, if nothing else.

*Animation is slick and fluid and the level of detail on offer is astounding at times.*

Visually resembling Sonic CD’s impressive anime sequences, and loosely adapting its plot, unlike its American counterparts, the OVA featured a fairly simplistic story, but one given greater depth by its diagetic world. While some exposition exists regarding Planet Freedom and its two opposing “dimensions”, it is clearly not Earth, Mobius, or the Japanese videogame world either, despite some aesthetic resemblances to each. Instead, Planet Freedom is a post-apocalyptic alternate Earth where some calamity has caused the planet’s surface to break away and reduced the lower surface to ruins. As a result, the OVA’s visuals and scenery are amazingly detailed and even somewhat resemble the Zones of the source material. This, coupled with the OVA’s musical composition, evokes Sonic’s spirit in a way that its counterparts failed to do; by appropriating numerous anime tropes and conventions, the OVA’s characters act exactly as you expect and engage in frequent, intense, fast-paced action.

*Amusingly, some risqué* *moments slipped past the OVA’s censors…*

Of course, the OVA isn’t perfect; ask most people for their thoughts on it and the first thing they’ll mention is the pretty atrocious voice acting. Tails has a strange, nasally quality; Sonic’s voice is wildly inconsistent, croaking one minute and being strained the next, and Old Man Owl (Charles C. Campbell) is almost unintelligible. Knuckles, however, sounds pretty good and I love Dr. Robotnik’s boisterous, elaborate slightly German accent. Overall, I don’t really mind the voice work; it’s not like the ones in the American cartoons were always great and it actually adds to the OVA’s cheesy, goofy charm. Indeed, the OVA’s flaws come from the poor quality of some of the voice acting rather than the quality of the animation yet, interestingly, though it has the high-quality whitewash of respected Japanese anime to bolster its critical reception, Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie remains almost as separate from its source material as any of the American animations, though ironically is able to better convey the essence of said source material better than any Sonic animation produced throughout the nineties. Furthermore, the OVA is made more entertaining by the fact that a few questionable moments made it past the censors: Sonic gives Metal Robotnik the finger, Sara is seen breastfeeding in a brief imaginary sequence and kicks the crap out of Metal Sonic when she thinks its looking up her dress, and Sonic lands on his crotch on Robotnik’s craft, which is all very wacky and amusing.

*Metal ultimately comes to reflect not just Sonic’s speed and skill but his heroic heart as well.*

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie excels in the quality of its animation; characters move with blinding super speed like in Dragonball Z (1989 to 1996) but are also slick and smoothly animated. Nowhere is the animation and art style represented better than in the depiction of Sonic’s battle against Hyper Metal Sonic and the design of Metal Sonic (and, also, Metal Robotnik). Their battles are a test of their skill, speed, and endurance as Sonic is somewhat on the backfoot given that Metal doesn’t tire or feel pain but Metal, far from a simple unemotional machine, begins to grow frustrated with Sonic’s persistence and will and evolves to mirror Sonic’s personality and body language as much as his speed. Thanks to Tails’s influence, Metal eventually chooses to sacrifice itself to save Sara and the President, refusing to be save from destruction since “There. Is. Only. One. Sonic”.

The Summary:
Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie is, still, perhaps the greatest Sonic animation ever created even though it still takes numerous, strange liberties with the source material, reflecting neither the Japanese or American versions of Sonic’s story or the story as told in the games themselves. Instead, the OVA is its own thing entirely, implying a continuity and a larger backstory that we, sadly, never get to explore as we only got to see these two episodes edited into one feature-length animation. Nostalgia and the general obscurity and rarity of the OVA obviously all helps to add to its appeal but Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie is still well worth your time, especially if you’re a Sonic fan or a fan of anime in general since there’s plenty on offer here for both. Between the slick animation, catchy soundtrack, and action-packed narrative, Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie presents perhaps the most appealing and cohesive bridge between Sonic’s many competing narratives and I’d love to see the concept and aesthetic revisited in more detail at some point. However, since that’s extremely unlikely given how wildly different the Sonic franchise is these days, at least we still have this hidden gem to fall back on.

My Rating:

Fantastic

Have you ever seen Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie? If so, what did you think to it? Were you able to look past the dodgy voice acting or was it simply too much to handle, despite the OVA’s impressive animation? Did you like the unique world of the OVA or do you feel it was too separate from the videogames and generally accepted narrative of the time? Would you like to see a return to this style of characterisation and animation for Sonic or would you prefer something a little different; if so, what? How are you planning on celebrating Sonic’s thirtieth anniversary this year? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the OVA, and Sonic in general, so feel free to leave a comment below.

Game Corner & Knuckles: Sonic 3 & Knuckles (Xbox One)

02/02/202115/09/2024Dr. K41 Comments

Following a highly anticipated release, bolstered by an extravagant marketing and release schedule, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (SEGA Technical Institute, 1992) not only improved on every aspect of its influential predecessor but also went on to become the second best-selling SEGA Mega Drive game of all time. Expectations were high for the equally-anticipated third entry, a game that ended up being so big that SEGA made the decision to split it into two, birthing perhaps the greatest 2D Sonic adventure in the process.

Released: 10 June 2009 / 9 September 2009
Originally Released: 2 February 1994 / 18 October 1994
Developer: Sonic Team
Original Developer: SEGA Technical Institute
Also Available For: Gamecube, Mega Drive, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Portable, SEGA Saturn, Xbox, Xbox 360

The Background:
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was a blockbuster hit for SEGA; thanks to the title selling over 400,000 units in its first week alone (and over six million during the Mega Drive’s lifespan), SEGA was able to catch up to Nintendo in the “Console Wars” of the mid-nineties, raising their stake in the home console market by 40%. Anticipation was high for the release of the third Sonic game, which saw development split between two teams: a Japanese team and an American team, with Yuji Naka, Hirokazu Yasuhara, and Roger Hector at the heart of the game’s development. Sonic 3 introduced a new antagonist character for our heroes; numerous designs were submitted before the team settled on Takashi Yuda’s concept of a super strong red echidna eventually dubbed “Knuckles”. However, thanks to a combination of a strict deadline to release in time for a major McDonald’s marketing campaign, and Naka’s wish for the game to vastly expand upon the gameplay, mechanics, and lore of the previous two games, Sonic 3 proved to be too big for a single 34-megabite cartridge so the decision was made to split the game in two to hit their projected release date. While this proved to be an expensive decision for us gamers, both Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles became two of the Mega Drive’s best-selling titles, with both games selling over one million copies in the United States. Both games received critical acclaim praising both the graphics and Sonic & Knuckles’ innovative “Lock-On” technology. Sadly though, the game (particularly Sonic 3) has run into some legal troubles over the years, mainly regarding Sonic 3’s soundtrack, which meant not only was a combination cartridge of the two games cancelled but a remaster for mobile devices was shot down and Sonic 3 (and, consequently, Sonic 3 & Knuckles) is frequently missing from modern-day compilations.

The Plot:
Doctor Eggman’s Death Egg space station has crash-landed on the mythical floating Angel Island, home to the Master Emerald and Knuckles, the sole surviving member of the legendary echidna race. Eggman has tricked the gullible and hot-tempered Knuckles into thinking Sonic and Miles “Tails” Prower wish to steal the Master Emerald, making recovering the seven Chaos Emeralds and putting a stop to Eggman’s diabolical schemes twice as hard for our dynamic duo!

Gameplay:
As you might expect, both Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles are 2D, sidescrolling action/platformers in which you travel across a total of twelve stages (known as “Zones”): six in Sonic 3 and six more in Sonic & Knuckles. Just like in Sonic 2, the majority of the game’s Zones are split into two “Acts” but, in a twist, you’ll now have to battle a boss at the end of each Act (with the second Act typically featuring a showdown against Eggman in one of his deadly contraptions). Just as Sonic 2 took everything about its predecessor and improved upon it considerably, so too does Sonic 3 & Knuckles expand upon the options available to you; Zones are now bigger than ever, featuring numerous different paths and mechanics all geared towards having you blast through faster than ever before. Even better, the games are designed with each character’s specific abilities in mind; each character can run, jump, roll into a ball, and blast away in a Spin Dash but they all have different unique abilities as well, meaning that some paths are only available to Knuckles, for example, or some areas can only be reached using Tails’ unique (if limited) flying and swimming mechanics.

*Each character has their own abilities* *to help them take different paths in Zones.*

Sonic 3 & Knuckles still keeps its controls simple, though, and each of these different abilities is easily activated simply by pressing a button twice; press A twice as Sonic and you’ll be surrounded by his “Insta-Shield” (a brief flash of lightning that can protect Sonic from projectiles and extend the reach of his spin attack to cause damage). Press A twice as Tails and you’ll be able to fly or swim by then rapidly tapping the same button; Tails can even carry Sonic up to new areas but he does get tired rather quickly so, while this is useful for skipping large portions of the game’s Zones, it does have its drawbacks. Knuckles, meanwhile, is probably the most versatile character; he can glide, climb up walls, and bash through certain walls to reach entirely new areas (and bosses) that are unique to him. He is, however, the game’s “hard mode” as he is noticably slower than his two counterparts and his jump is much shorter. As in Sonic 2, the game gives you the option of selecting how to play, this time from its innovative and unique save state menu; while you’re limited to choosing between either Sonic or Knuckles in Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic 3 (and Sonic 3 & Knuckles) allows you to pick between Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, or Sonic and Tails (who, thankfully, is far more useful this time around thanks to his expanded moveset and the game’s new Special Stages). As always, though, you can collect Golden Rings to protect you from harm, earning extra lives for every one hundred and activating Starposts to create a checkpoint and enter the new Bonus Stages if you’re holding a certain number of Rings.

*Every Zone is packed with gimmicks but none were more infamous than Carnival Night’s barrel!*

Speed is a far greater aspect of Sonic 3 & Knuckles; while the first game heavily promoted how fast and powerful it was, it really wasn’t until Sonic 3 & Knuckles that Sonic Team actually delivered on that promise. Zones are massive, filled with slopes, loops, springs, and all kinds of nifty, unique new mechanics to rocket you forwards. You’ll jump from crumbling (or disappearing) platforms, swing from vines, rush down waterways, bash through walls, teleport across the Zone, and be transported through the air through a number of fast-paced and exciting new mechanics. Each Zone has a unique gimmick to it that is implemented in a far more impressive and engaging manner: Angel Island Zone catches fire halfway through, Marble Garden Zone sees you using pulleys and spinning tops to navigate vertically and desperately trying to outrun the collapsing environment, Sandopolis Zone features a variety of new sand-based mechanics before having you frantically search out for light switches to scare off ghosts, and Sky Sanctuary Zone has you teleporting around, jumping from crumbling platforms, and bouncing from fluffy clouds. Every Zone is densely packed with features and innovative gimmicks, far more than any previous Sonic title, and perhaps none so infamous as Carnival Night Zone’s notorious barrel. I won’t be arrogant enough to say that this barrel wasn’t an obstacle for me back in the day but I don’t have nearly as many bad memories of it as some do; through trial and error, I think I slipped past it easily enough but the solution is simplicity in itself: simply stand still and press up and down alternatively until it lowers enough for you to continue on.

*Zones are huge, with multiple paths and areas exclusive to certain characters.*

Although the games do have a far greater emphasis on speed, there are still a few slower sections and small puzzles for you figure out; generally, these are as simple as pressing a switch to lower water, reverse gravity, or open doors but, other times, you’ll be blocked off by unbreakable walls or tossed to new areas by Knuckles. There’s always another way around in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, though, no matter who you’re playing as or what you’re up against; balloons allow you to bounce yourself to higher areas in Carnival Night Zone, for example, and you can cause sand to fill the pyramid tomb of Sandopolis Zone Act 2 to progress further (though be careful as you’re just as likely to get crushed if you dawdle). Additionally, you have some returning concerns to be aware of, such as spikes, bottomless pits, and drowning if you linger underwater too long without a shield or grabbing an air bubble. Gameplay is fast and full of variety thanks to the dense nature of the Zones and their many gimmicks but there are a few aspects from Sonic 2 that don’t make the cut, unfortunately; Sonic’s biplane, the Tornado, only shows up in cutscenes, for example. However, things do get mixed up considerably when you reach Lava Reef Zone; not only is this Zone a mixture of lava-based hazards and a crystal-infested cave, it also wildly differs depending on which character you play as. Sonic and Tails will have to play through two Acts, culminating in the reactivation of the Death Egg and a tense battle against Eggman, before proceeding on to the long-awaited Hidden Palace Zone to go head-to-dread against Knuckles. Play as Knuckles, though, and you’ll face no boss in Lava Reef and Hidden Palace is little more of a transitional Zone to take you to Sky Sanctuary Zone, where Knuckles’ game culminates in a final showdown with Mecha Sonic.

*There are some bugs and glitches that can see characters reach areas they shouldn’t.*

Indeed, the narrative of Sonic 3 & Knuckles differs depending on which game you play; if you play the combined game, the story is far more cohesive, tracking Sonic and Tails across Angel Island, battling Eggman, dealing with (and eventually allying with) Knuckles, and finally returning Angel Island to the sky. Knuckles’ story, though, takes place after the end of the game no matter which version you play; this means his Zones are presented slightly differently, with the background changing to show the island is in the sky, and he faces a vengeful Eggrobo and the aforementioned Mecha Sonic rather than Dr. Eggman. This, in addition to the myriad of different paths Knuckles’ abilities afford him, means that playing as Knuckles offers a slightly different experience in a variety of ways since you won’t face the same obstacles as Sonic and Tails (or you will, but in different ways). Obviously, no game is perfect and Sonic 3 & Knuckles is no exception; occasionally, you’ll go so fast that you’ll out-run the camera, potentially falling victim to one of Eggman’s “secret traps” (or, more accurately, running into a kill zone or causing the game to soft-lock). You can also use glitches and manipulate the game to have characters enter areas they normally can’t but, personally, I never really ran into anything like this in a normal playthrough. Thanks to Sonic 3 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles’ unique save feature, you were able to have multiple save states back in the day, which made completing the game and collecting the Chaos Emeralds easier than ever as you could just jump into any Zone whenever you liked. This feature was, unfortunately, missing in Sonic & Knuckles, which did make that game a bit more difficult back in the day as you would have to complete it in one sitting, but, while the Xbox Live version of the game doesn’t recreate the expansive save state features of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, you do get three save slots for each game to, at least, reduce Sonic & Knuckles’ difficulty a bit.

Graphics and Sound:
For my money, Sonic 3 & Knuckles is not only the best 2D Sonic game of its time but also the best looking and sounding; Zones are absolutely huge and full of life and little elements to really make them stand out. No two Acts of any Zone are the same as the environment will change (sometimes subtly, sometimes explicitly) between Acts: Angel Island Zone bursts into flame, Mushroom Hill Zone changes seasons, Ice Cap Zone switches from a mountain top to a frozen sea, the Death Egg looms in the background of Launch Base Zone Act 1, takes off in Act 2, and sits ominously in Lava Reef Zone Act 2 (notably it is missing when playing as Knuckles since his story takes place after Sonic and Tails’s), and Death Egg Zone has been ungraded from a mere elaborate corridor to a twisting, mechanical nightmare of futuristic paths and technology and gravity-shifting mechanics.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles‘ level variety is second to none!

No doubt about it, Sonic 3 & Knuckles features some of my favourite Zones ever; from the aforementioned Marble Garden Zone to Ice Cap Zone, with its unique and breathtaking snowboarding sequence, to the bouncy goodness of Mushroom Hill and the exciting dread of Lava Reef Zone. Even Zones that are more annoying, like Hydrocity Zone, are fun to play through since they look great, are fast-paced, and are filled with interesting gimmicks to keep you moving forward. The game expands and improves upon numerous mechanics from its predecessors, too; while Wing Fortress Zone was decent enough in Sonic 2, Flying Battery Zone takes everything that worked in that Zone and expands upon it, making it feel much more alive and engaging. While Carnival Night Zone isn’t quite as iconic as Casino Night Zone, I actually prefer it for its music, presentation, changing landscape, and better implementation of gimmicks. It’s not like the “casino” theme was completely abandoned either as it shows up, merged expertly with the rotating Special Stage mechanic of the first game, in one of the game’s two all-new Bonus Stages.

*Cutscenes and Act/Zone transitions* *tell the game’s story and help connect its world.*

Additionally, Sonic 3 & Knuckles has, hands down, my favourite Special Stage design ever. Gone are the annoying, rotating mazes and cumbersome half-pipes of its predecessors, replaced with an eye-catching spherical design that has you collecting Blue Spheres, avoiding Red Spheres, and, despite some noticeable slowdown and the Stages increasing in speed and difficulty the more you play, these Stages are, by far, the easiest of the classic 2D Sonic titles, which only increases their appeal to me. Probably the best thing about Sonic 3 & Knuckles is its heavy inclusion of cutscenes, all of which perfectly convey the game’s simple (but far more detailed) story through the simple use of pantomime and music. The game opens immediately after the ending of Sonic 2, with Super Sonic flying alongside the Tornado and crashing head-first into Knuckles, who swipes the Chaos Emeralds and runs off with a chuckle. Knuckles reappears at numerous points throughout Sonic and Tails’ story to cause them havoc, activating switches and traps to cause them to fall or be blasted into the next Zone. Even when he’s not present, there is usually a means for the characters to progress to the next Zone, which really makes it feel as though the games (and the island) are linked together in a cohesive way. Not only that but, when you clear Act 1, the next Act immediately loads from that spot without cutting away, giving a sense of the scale of the game’s Zones.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles has probably the best soundtrack of the classic 2D titles.

Characters and sprites are more detailed than ever; Sonic is easily the most noticeably different, now far pudgier and sporting adorably oversized hands and feet, but each has their own idle animation to encourage you to get back to the game and the game’s Badniks and bosses are some of the most impressive and detailed yet, with each taking full advantage of their unique environment. And then there’s the soundtrack; originally composed by famed pop star Michael Jackson, the soundtrack was hastily reworked after SEGA cut their ties to Jackson but similarities between the games tracks and Jackson songs can still be identified. Regardless, both Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles have fantastic soundtracks, full of energy and unique themes not only for the Zones and bosses but also for Knuckles. Sadly, Sonic 3 & Knuckles utilises Sonic & Knuckles’ soundtrack rather than Sonic 3’s (which is superior, in my opinion), and the game’s music is often altered when it is ported for other systems, but that doesn’t stop it from being easily the best and most memorable of all the classic 2D Sonic games.

Enemies and Bosses:
As always, you’ll have to contend with Eggman’s Badniks; although still quite cute to look at, these Badniks look more dangerous than ever but are, in actual fact, no more aggressive or dangerous than in previous games. Their placement is much improved over Sonic 2 and their level of difficulty both escalates and drops as you progress due to the nature of Sonic 3 & Knuckles being two games spliced together.

*Badniks and hazards are more deadly than ever, often using the environment against you.*

This means that you’ll be merrily bouncing off of Rhinobots in Angel Island Zone, dodging Turbo Spiker’s rocket-powered spike in Hydrocity Zone, and timing your attacks to bust open Pointdexter when playing through Sonic 3 and then back to smashing open relatively harmless enemies like Butterdroid and Madmole once you land in Mushroom Hill Zone before you frantically try to smash apart Toxomister before its Ring-draining cloud chokes you to death. As if that isn’t enough, many Badniks and hazards use your enivonment against you; Cluckoid blows a wind to keep you back (often trapping you in a nearby sticky vine in the process), hazards can freeze you into a block of ice, Rock’n can only be damage with a Spin Dash attack, and Chainspikes will try to impale you on their razor sharp chains. Additionally, you’ll also encounter ghosts in Sandopolis Zone that grow increasingly aggressive as the lights dim darker and can only be dissipated by turning the lights up full. Helpfully, though, the game’s many shields (and Sonic’s Insta-Shield) can not only repel enemy projectiles but you’ll also be able to use Spiker’s spikes as a spring to bounce away from danger.

*To mix things up a bit, you’ll have to face a mini boss at the end of every first Act.*

In a change of pace from the previous two games, you’ll also have to battle a mini boss at the end of every first Act before you can reach the goal post and clear the Act. These range from a hovering, flame-spewing tank to a tree-chopping robot and a sentient animal capsule. Perhaps having learned something from the unique bosses of Sonic the Hedgehog CD (SEGA, 1993), these mini bosses (and the game’s main bosses) require a little more thought that just ramming head-first into them; Hydrocity Zone’s mini boss, for example, rockets around the arena and sucks you up in a whirlpool and can only be damaged when its rockets stop spinning, and Launch Base Zone has you take on two mini bosses at once, each one attacking you (and protecting itself) with a mace-like chain that only speeds up with its partner is destroyed.

*Mini bosses generally require a bit more strategy than just “jump and attack”.*

Similarly, if you try to blindly attack Sandopolis Zone’s golem, you’ll just get hurt, so you need to attack its head and force it into quicksand to dispose of it, and you’ll find the only way to destroy Flying Battery Zone’s mini boss is to trick it into attacking itself. Probably the game’s most troublesome mini boss (at least, for me) is the mechanical Cyclops you battle in Death Egg Zone; essentially an upgraded version of the Wing Fortress Zone boss, this mini boss has you ramming a giant eye, watching out for explosive spikes, and avoiding spinning spiked platforms while it tries to fry you with is deadly laser.

*After he eludes you in Launch Base Zone, you finally confront Knuckles in Hidden Palace Zone.*

When playing as Sonic and Tails, you’ll also have to contend with Knuckles; however, Knuckles only appears in cutscenes to cause you grief and you won’t actually get to go blow-for-blow against him until you reach Hidden Palace Zone. Here, Knuckles with glide, Spin Dash, and jump at you much like the battle against Mecha Sonic from Sonic 2. Simply jump on Knuckles’ head or smack him out of the air a few times and he’ll soon be beaten; afterwards, he is enraged to find Eggman has stolen his coveted Master Emerald and, though, wounded, assists you in reaching Sky Sanctuary Zone. Finally, you have the prerequisite showdowns with Dr. Eggman himself; again, though, Knuckles never actually battles Dr. Eggman; barring glitches, Knuckles will, instead, battle against an Eggrobo but, with a couple of exceptions, battles the same bosses as Sonic and Tails. Eggman isn’t messing around this time; rather than try to smack you with a wrecking ball or run you over in the first battle, Eggman will hide behind a waterfall in Angel Island Zone, blasting at you with flame cannons and generally hovering over a bottomless pit.

*The direct approach rarely works in this game as Eggman isn’t playing around this time.*

After that, you’ll have to mix up your attack strategies a bit, using whirlpools and explosions in the water to ram into Eggman’s craft in Hydrocity, flying around the screen (or dodging spiked chains) to ram into Eggman’s drill machine in Marble Garden Zone, trying not to get sucked into an electrical field in Carnival Night Zone, watching out for blasts of chilled air in Ice Cap Zone, and dodging massive weighted balls in Launch Base Zone. Eggman’s flame machine returns in Mushroom Hill Zone, this time in a chase boss battle that sees you avoiding spiked hazards and jet blasts in what was, probably, the inspiration for the boss battles of Sonic Advance 2 (Dimps/Sonic Team, 2002). Dr. Eggman’s contraptions are even more formidable as you play through Sonic & Knuckles: he swings around at you in Flying Battery Zone, trying to fry and skewer you at the same time; hides behind a massive laser-spouting golem in Sandopolis Zone; and is completely protected from your standard attacks in my favourite regular boss battle of the base game, the Lava Reef Zone boss. Here, you have to jump from platform to platform, avoiding spiked bombs and trying not to fall into lava as Eggman tries to tip you towards him. The Flame Shield really helps in this battle as it allows you to stand on the lava and just hop over the bombs until they send Eggman packing.

*Eggman hops into his deadliest Death Egg Robot yet for the penultimate battle!*

When playing Sonic 3, you’ll face something of a gauntlet in Act 2 as you’ll have to battle Eggman in Launch Base Zone, knock the smirk of Knuckles’ face in a cutscene, before facing Eggman in two separate contraptions on the outskirts of the Death Egg. The first machine is pretty simple (dodge his lasers and ram him when the little electric ball isn’t blocking your attack) but the second is one of my favourite boss battles of 2D Sonic (with a kick-ass, ominous track to boot). This sees Eggman jump into his “Big Arm” Egg-O-Matic and fly across the screen trying to land on you, grab you, and pound the Rings (or life) out of you. He also flies along the bottom of the screen trying to skewer you with his spikes and the only way to damage him is with a well-timed jump to his cockpit but, once you do, the Death Egg will crash again (this time in the Lava Reef Zone’s volcano) and you can move on to the Sonic & Knuckles portion of the game. Note that when Knuckles faces this boss, it’s in the actual Launch Base Zone as, in his story, the Death Egg is completely absent from the Zone since it’s already been destroyed. When playing as Sonic and Tails, you’ll travel to the Death Egg Zone and battle Eggman in a far bigger, more intimidating and dangerous version of his Death Egg Robot mech. This is, essentially, a three-stage boss battle; first, you have to avoid being squashed by its fingers, destroying them one (or two, if you time your jumps right) at a time. Once its fingers are destroyed, it chases you from the left side of the screen, destroying the platform you’re on and trying to fry you with flames from its nostrils. You’ll have to jump over these flames and smack it in the nose to expose its Master Emerald power core (and weak spot); however, Eggman also charges a screen-filling laser blast from the Master Emerald that you’ll have to watch out for and you’re constantly at risk of falling or slipping to your death.

*Although Sonic and Tails battle him three times, it’s up to Knuckles to put down Mecha Sonic.*

Once you’ve landed the final hit, be sure to angle your jump back to the platform; now, you have to chase after Eggman as he flees with the Master Emerald, ramming him as you go until he is defeated while desperately trying to not bounce or fall as the platform crumbles behind you. If you’re playing as Knuckles, though, you won’t get to experience this battle or the game’s final Zone; instead, you face Mecha Sonic in Sky Sanctuary Zone. Mecha Sonic acts as Sonic and Tails’s mini boss in Sky Sanctuary Zone, appearing three times; in the first, he’s in Eggman’s wrecking ball machine from the first game, then he jumps into the Metropolis Zone bubble machine from Sonic 2, before essentially recreating the battle against his namesake from Sonic 2. Knuckles, though, has to face a powered-up Mecha Sonic, who absorbs power from the Master Emerald to turn into Super Metal Sonic; faster, invulnerable, and blasting both large energy bolts and weird ring-things at you, Super Mecha Sonic can only be damaged when he reverts to his base form, which gives you a small (very small) window to ram him once (maybe twice) before he powers back up.

*Grab all of the game’s Emeralds to pursue Eggman through the atmosphere as Super/Hyper Sonic!*

Collect all seven Chaos Emeralds in Sonic & Knuckles (or all seven plus the seven Super Emeralds in Sonic 3 & Knuckles), and you’ll get access to the game’s true final Zone, the Doomsday Zone. Here, Super/Hyper Sonic must fly through the asteroid-littered atmosphere in pursuit of Eggman, who fires missiles and bullets at you, all while racing against the clock as your Rings are continuously drained in these forms. Luckily, Rings are scattered throughout the atmosphere and you can dash ahead by pressing A but it can be very tricky to manoeuvre as not only are asteroids blocking your path, Eggman’s bullets and missiles can send you flying back a ways and Eggman can only initially be damaged by causing his homing missiles to crash into his cockpit. Once you’ve done this enough times, he’ll escape in his Death Egg Robo mech and be finally vulnerable to your head-on attacks but, again, you have to be careful to not let asteroids and projectiles slow you down and be sure to grab any Rings you see or else you’ll fall to your death in seconds.

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
As is the tradition in Sonic titles, numerous computer monitors are scattered throughout the game’s Zones. Smashing these monitors will award you with such rewards as ten extra Rings, an extra life, a speed up, or an invincibility but don’t go blindly rushing in to break every monitor you see as there are special new Eggman monitors which, when broken, will damage you.

*While all the characters can grab the elemental shields, only Sonic can utilise their full potential.*

Sonic 3 & Knuckles mixes things up with the inclusion of three elemental shields; the Water Shield (which keep you from drowning), the Flame Shield (which protects you from flames and lava), and the Lightning Shield (which attracts Rings to you and protects you from electrical hazards). In an interesting piece of realism, the latter two shields will be lost if you jump into water and, while all three characters can acquire these shields, only Sonic can get the most out of them. Grabbing each one as Sonic replaces his Insta-Shield with a new ability (the bounce, flame burst, and double-jump, respectively) which more than makes up for his inability to fly, climb, or swim.

Additional Features:
While both Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles come with a handful of Achievements to earn, you sadly don’t get to earn any additional Achievements for playing Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Still, these Achievements are pretty standard fare for the Xbox Sonic ports, featuring such requirements as finishing the game, reaching certain Zones, collecting one (and all) of the Chaos Emeralds, or collecting a certain number of Rings. Thankfully, there are no timed Achievements this time so you don’t have to worry about finishing the game in under an hour or beating certain Zones in a certain time, but this does make getting all of each game’s Achievements incredibly easy As is the tradition, each character can access the game’s Special Stages to try and earn one of the Chaos Emeralds.

*Every character gets a flashy Chaos power-up this time around.*

You may be tempted to leap into the sparkling halo found when you pass a Starpost with certain Rings but this simply brings you to one of three Bonus stages (where you can earn extra Rings, lives, shields, continues, and bump up your score); instead, hidden throughout the game’s Zones are a number of Giant Rings. Once you find one of these Rings and jump into it, you’ll have to collect every single Blue Sphere to earn a Chaos Emerald. These Blue Sphere Special Stages speed up the longer you’re inside them to make things more difficult and increase in difficulty as you progress, throwing more maze-like constructions in your way and peppering your path with instant-fail Red Spheres. Still, there’s no time limit to worry about and Tails doesn’t cause you any trouble like he did in Sonic 2; plus, there’s only a few Special Stages where a wrong move can cause you hassle and, thanks to the game’s save state feature (in all versions of the games), you can easily return to one of the earlier Zones and retry for a Chaos Emerald as often as you need. Because of this, Special Stages are only really difficult when playing the base Sonic & Knuckles as Sonic since there was no save feature in the original version and, even now, it’s harder to find the elusive Giant Rings with Sonic’s more grounded moveset. Once you collect all seven Chaos Emeralds, both Sonic and Knuckles can transform into Super Sonic or Super Knuckles after collecting fifty Rings and jumping. This will make them invincible and super fast but will drain their Rings over time (and, of course, they can still drown, be crushed, or fall to their deaths). Once you clear Launch Base Zone, you’ll be stripped of your Chaos Emeralds and will have to power them up into Super Emeralds by clearing seven more Special Stages. This allows Sonic and Knuckles to become Hyper Sonic and Hyper Knuckles and allows Tails to become Super Tails. In these forms, characters are even faster and have additional abilities (Hyper Sonic also glows like a rainbow and can dash ahead, Hyper Knuckles can shake the screen to destroy Badniks by gliding into walls, and Super Tails is surrounded by similarly-powered-up Flickies that home in on enemies and bosses to deal additional damage).

*Compete in the game’s somewhat-improved multiplayer mode or access addition features with the”Lock-On” feature.*

Sonic 3 also comes with a multiplayer component that allows a second player to play as Tails alongside Sonic, as in Sonic 2, or two players to go head-to-head as Sonic, Tails, or Knuckles in the game’s split screen mode. While this is nowhere near as awful as Sonic 2’s thanks to the screen not being stretched to ugly proportions, it is very zoomed out and Knuckles is missing his moveset, though you are able to play through five unique Zones in three different match types (Grand Prix, Match Race, and Time Attack). Sadly, though, this mode (and a playable Tails) is absent from Sonic & Knuckles. As mentioned before, the Xbox Live version of these games doesn’t allow for the original save feature but it does come with three save states for each game and access to online leaderboards. Owning both Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles not only allows you to play Sonic 3 & Knuckles but also gives you access to the “Blue Sphere” mini game to take on a near-infinite number of the game’s Special Stages and, best of all, if you also purchase Sonic 2, you’ll be able to play as Knuckles in that game too.

The Summary:
I love Sonic 2, don’t get me wrong, but Sonic 3 is worlds better in every single way and Sonic 3 & Knuckles is just about as perfect a 2D Sonic game as you can get. Certainly, for me, this combined title is the quintessential 2D Sonic title, with only Sonic Mania Plus (PagodaWest Games/Headcannon, 2018) coming close to matching the scope and entertainment offered by Sonic 3 & Knuckles. With massive Zones, loads of gimmicks and tweaks that pretty much perfected Sonic’s gameplay, a fantastic soundtrack, some of the most detailed and animated graphics of the 16-bit era, and a simple but wonderfully well told story, Sonic 3 & Knuckles is the complete package for any self-respecting Sonic fan. Blisteringly fast, with loads of replay value and additional features to keep you coming back for more, the only thing keeping Sonic 3 & Knuckles from being infallible is SEGA’s inability to release a proper remaster of the title for a new generation of players.

My Rating:

Fantastic

How do you feel about Sonic 3 & Knuckles? Which of the two games did you prefer? What did you think about Sonic & Knuckles’ “Lock-On” technology? Where do you rank the games against Sonic’s other 2D titles? Perhaps you prefer a different 2D Sonic game; if so, which is it and why? How did you feel about Knuckles upon his debut, the new Super forms introduced in this game, and would you have liked to have played as Sonic and Knuckles or Tails and Knuckles? Would you like to see a remaster of the title? How are you celebrating the anniversary of Sonic 3’s release today? Whatever your thoughts, please feel free to share them and your memories of Sonic 3 & Knuckles below.

New Sonic Adventures

19/10/202011/06/2024Dr. K2 Comments

New Sonic Adventures was a series of sprite comics I made between 2002 and 2006 and published online using Tripod and Angelfire sites. As a life-long fan of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, I had always yearned to tell my own Sonic stories and to present my own version of events surrounding Sonic and his ever-growing cast of characters. As a child, this was realised through numerous crude-to-mediocre drawings and comics but, after seeing the wide variety of sprite comics out there, I eventually turned to using sprites to realise my vision. Making a sprite comic isn’t easy, and I learned more tricks and became better at it with each comic I made. My earliest attempts were hampered by my limited knowledge of picture software and limited tools. As a result, I would type up scripts in Word and then use Paint to put everything together.

My first comic was restricted by the fact that I was new to the process, young, and stupid (I didn’t even know about the transparency function in Paint, meaning that I had to fill in the blank white spaces around every sprite!) However, as I progressed, the process became faster and easier and I ended up using Word tools and Jasc Paint Shop Pro to create more complex effects and flourishes to subsequent entries. I also started to piece together my own backgrounds and sprite art; as new Sonic characters were being introduced faster than the sprite community was willing to create new sheets of sprites, I would be forced to create sprite characters from very limited work available in order to progress my narrative. What began as quite a simple concept that sought to mash together all aspects of Sonic’s complex different interpretations soon spiralled out of control into an entirely different interpretation of the character, one that became far removed from the source material despite my initial aims to be more true to it than other adaptations. My comics became influenced by anime (particularly Dragonball Z and the first Pokémon movie), movies (the Matrix trilogy and Star Wars saga, for instance), and other sources to eventually take on a life all of its own.

Eventually, as time wore on and my priorities turned elsewhere, I drew my series to a close with one final comic. However, I had ideas mapped out for a whole series of spin-offs and continuations and even completed two whole parts and a sizeable third of a whole new entry in the series, including a website and commentary, but never finished the project or made it available online as I focused on my academic achievements. Still, I was able to finish the series with a conclusion and even revisited my first two entries and applied some of my more advanced techniques to make them more professional and presentable and to address some continuity issues in those early entries. Although I don’t promote the series at all any more, I’d still like to use this page to showcase what was once a big project in my life.

The first entry in the series, Battle for the Chaos Emeralds, provides a unique origin for Doctor Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik and, drawing from Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and Sonic & Knuckles, tells the first adventure of Sonic and Tails as they meet Knuckles for the first time and team up to stop Robotnik from turning his Death Egg against their home. Some time later, I produced a revamp of this comic with the Remastered Emerald Edition, in which I applied my now-well-crafted sprite comic techniques and made the comic far more presentable.

This was followed by the four-part Time Stone Saga, which was inspired by Sonic the Hedgehog CD, Knuckles’ Chaotix, Sonic 3D: Flickie’s Island, Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble, Sonic Advance, and Sonic Advance 2. This comic saw me switch to using the Advance sprites for the main characters, which were much easier to edit and allowed for far more emotions and actions, and utilise a sequential narrative format that saw Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and their friends split up into four separate quests to retrieve the legendary Time Stones before Robotnik can use their power for evil. Again, I later revamped all four parts with the Remastered Time Stone Edition, which, again, corrected many of my earlier errors and also provided additional material.

The third entry, Perfect Chaos, was where my series really started evolving into its own entity as I mashed together the narratives of Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 to introduce Shadow to the series. Faced with the team-up between Robotnik, Metal Sonic, and Shadow, Sonic and his friends must attempt to stop them from resurrecting an ancient evil, Chaos, and destroying the world.

I then returned to the sequential format with the four-part Chaos Ring Saga, which is where the Dragonball Z influences really start taking prominence. After learning of the ancient Chaos Rings, Robotnik seeks to gather them and regain control over the planet with their power. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles race to find them first and awaken their latent Chaos Emerald powers before running a deadly gauntlet of Robotnik’s most fearsome creations.

The five-part Sonic Heroes saga sought to return the series to a more simplistic, less-convoluted narrative that was closer to the videogame source material. In this loose adaptation of the titular videogame, Team Sonic, Team Rose, Team Chaotix, and Team dark are each lured into a trap by Robotnik that sees them come face-to-face with the deranged robotic menace, Metal Sonic.

Sonic Battle: Metal Ragnorak continues and ultimately concludes this narrative; inspired by Sonic Battle and Sonic Advance 3, with strong influences of the Matrix trilogy, Sonic is forced into a final confrontation with his metallic doppelgänger that sees an army of Metal Sonics lay siege to his home and the fate of the planet placed in an intense confrontation between Super Metal Sonic and Super Sonic.

Finally, the series draws to a close with Sonic: Liberty where, in true Return of the Jedi fashion, Eggman has rebuilt his Death Egg satellite and is preparing to transform the entire planet into a mechanical monstrosity. Faced with this world-ending threat, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles must align with some unlikely allies to realise their destiny and end Robotnik’s threat once and for all.

But it doesn’t end there! A series of spin-offs expand the series beyond the main entries and bring life to this unique Sonic continuity:

After being introduced in Perfect Chaos, the backstory and continued adventures of Shadow are explored in the Tales of Shadow series: Chaos Control explores how Shadow first came to be in ancient times and his first confrontation with the unstoppable Chaos; Marooned details how Shadow has been operating between the events of Battle for the Chaos Emeralds and the Time Stone Saga to orchestrate some key events in the series; The Return of Chaos details the discovery and devastating first appearance of the mysterious Gizoid, Emerl, and sees the immortal Shadow team up with his biomechanical clone to tackle the renewed threat of Chaos and its disastrous confrontation with Emerl; finally, Residual Chaos sees Shadow battle the merciless Wechidna and tells the final tragic story in Shadow’s life.

Probably the comic I’m least proud of, Chaotix: Roots explores the origins and first meetings of the Chaotix Detective Agency as Vector, Espio, Mighty, and Charmy team-up with Ray to escape the clutches of a renegade bounty hunter.

Finally, Sonic Battle: I, Metal tells the story of the series up to the point of Sonic Battle: Metal Ragnorak entirely from the perspective of Metal Sonic, allowing for not only a unique take on the events that have transpired but also an in-depth look into exactly how Metal Sonic gained sentience and formulated a complex plan to finally gain the power needed to face his biological counterpart equally.

If you’d like to learn more about sprite comics, or even create your own, try visiting websites like the Spriter’s Resource or the Shyguy Kingdom. I’m not sure how active the community is any more; back when I first started, it was really vocal, busy, and rampant but progress on new sprites and sprite projects seemed to die out over time. However, the resources are out there if you look hard enough.

Game Corner: Sonic Adventure 2 (Xbox 360)

15/07/202022/09/2022Dr. K16 Comments

Released: October 2012
Originally Released: June 2001
Developer: Sonic Team USA
Also Available For: Dreamcast, GameCube, PC, PlayStation 3

The Background:
After Sonic Adventure (Sonic Team, 1998) finally brought Sonic into the third dimension and proved to be a rousing success, despite a few flaws, Sonic Team passed development of the sequel over to their US branch. Drawing inspiration from their surroundings, the team infused the sequel with a much greater focus on action, speed, and realism than before, making the game feel decidedly more “Western” than its predecessor. Ironically, Sonic Adventure 2 actually dialled down on the “adventure” aspects of its predecessor but featured, perhaps, the darkest and most science-fiction-orientated story in the series thus far, a decision that would impact the franchise, for better or for worse, for years to come. I’ve talked about Sonic Adventure more than once in the past but, despite it being one of my favourites in the Sonic the Hedgehog (1991 to present) franchise, I actually played its sequel first. I never owned a Dreamcast as a kid as I hedged my bets on the Nintendo 64 so, when I decided to get a GameCube, one of the first two games I got was Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (Sonic Team USA, 2002) and it actually took me a while to acclimatise to Sonic Adventure’s radically different gameplay and presentation when I bought Sonic Adventure DX: Director’s Cut (Sonic Team, 2003). However, while Sonic fans (notoriously one of the worst fanbases in all of fandom) have recently turned on this game in favour of, of all things, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG (ibid, 2006), it’s always been a favourite of mine, to the point where I’ve bought it on GameCube, PlayStation 3, and, now, the Xbox 360 version for Xbox One.

The Plot:
Sonic the Hedgehog finds himself a fugitive on the run from the Guardian Units of Nations (G.U.N.) after security footage appears to show him stealing a Chaos Emerald from a G.U.N. facility. In actuality, the culprit is the mysterious Shadow the Hedgehog, the self-proclaimed “ultimate lifeform” who has been released by Sonic’s long-term nemesis, Doctor Eggman, to help the mad scientist harness the power of the long-defunct Space Colony ARK and hold the world the ransom.

Gameplay:
Sonic Adventure 2 is a 3D action platformer first and foremost that, like its predecessor, divides its core gameplay into a series of distinct gameplay mechanics. Unfortunately, while Sonic Adventure offered six unique playable characters, each with their own distinct style of play, Sonic Adventure 2 features six playable characters who share gameplay styles with their counterparts. As soon as you begin the game, you’re given the option not to select a character but to select a story; if you pick the “Hero” story, you’ll play through the game’s story from the perspective of Sonic, Miles “Tails” Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, and Amy Rose but, when you pick the “Dark” story, you’ll witness the events from the perspective of newcomers Shadow and Rouge the Bat and, for the first time in the series, Dr. Eggman! Whichever story you pick, you’ll play through the narrative, switching back and forth between the hero- and dark-side characters as the narrative directs.

SA2Variety — *The game’s three playstyles are spread between the six characters.*

If you’ve played Sonic Adventure, you’ll be immediately familiar with the three playstyles of this sequel: Sonic and Shadow play at high speeds, racing through stages that are designed like fast-paced rollercoasters, Knuckles and Rouge glide, climb, and dig as they explore for shards of the Master Emerald, and Tails and Eggman stomp around in massive mechs, blasting robots with their weaponry. The developers lost the slower pace of Amy and Big’s gameplay and the races that Tails had to complete in the original and focused on these three distinct playstyles, which was good for those who disliked the slower, less exciting gameplay of the last game, but not so good when it comes to character variety.

SA2Gameplay — *The Hero and Dark characters are functionally identical to control.*

Essentially, there’s very little difference between Sonic and Shadow, Knuckles and Rouge, or Tails and Eggman; they get to explore different stages (or, at least, different versions of stages) and obviously look and sound different, with different objectives, but they share the same basic move set. Both Sonic and Shadow can fly along rows of Golden Rings using the Light Speed Dash (which, thankfully, no longer needs to be charged) and use the Homing Attack to smash robots, Knuckles and Rouge explore their stages in the same way and attack enemies with either punches or kicks, and Tails and Eggman can both hover and lock on to multiple enemies at once. It’s fun experiencing the story from the bad guys’ perspective for a change but it’s a bit of a shame that the characters don’t have more to distinguish them from their counterparts.

SA2ShadowEggman — *Shadow was a dark, edgy character in a dark, edgy story.*

The game’s narrative is perhaps the most elaborate yet; after releasing Shadow, Eggman teams up with him and Rouge to gather the Chaos Emeralds and power up the long-abandoned Space Colony ARK. Eggman’s grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik, created the ARK fifty years ago and designed Shadow to be the ultimate lifeform; using a Chaos Emerald, Shadow can instantly teleport great distances at high speeds, making him more than a match for Sonic, and Eggman uses his abilities to threaten the entire world with the ARK’s Eclipse Cannon. Shadow, in his debut appearance, would go on to become one of the series’ most recognisable characters, for better or for worse, and has, arguably, never been characterised better than he was here: haunted by fractured memories of his time on the ARK, Shadow has his own agenda for revenge against the world but ultimately his story becomes one of redemption. At the same time, the story is as ridiculous as ever; to stop Eggman from stealing the Master Emerald, Knuckles willingly smashes it into pieces, which is probably the most arbitrary reason to recreate his gameplay from the last game that I could think of. I would have much preferred Knuckles and Rouge’s stages to involve searching for different items or treasures each time rather than search for the pieces of the Master Emerald yet again. Similarly, for some reason I’ll never understand, everyone in the game mistakes Shadow for Sonic and vice versa; even characters like Amy Rose and Eggman think Shadow is Sonic despite the fact that they couldn’t look more different if they tried.

SA2ShadowGrinding — Sonic Adventure 2 introducing grinding to the series and it’s stuck around ever since.

For the first time in Sonic’s long history, SEGA actually incorporated some prominent product placement into Sonic Adventure 2; billboards for Soap shoes were everywhere in the original and Sonic’s iconic shoes were redesigned in conjunction with this brand to allow him to grind on rails. Shadow can also grind and, while this mechanic is more prevalent in some stages than others, it’s not as obtrusive as you might think. It’s pretty simple to pull off, to; you leap onto a rail, ideally with some momentum behind you, and hold down B to crouch and gain speed; in later stages, you’ll have to pull off jumps to other rails but it’s a very fun, fast-paced experience. Rather than expanding and refining the hub world concept of Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2’s story plays out one scene and stage after another. If you lose all your lives or choose to quit, you can access a stage from a simple map screen; from here, you can replay stages under different criteria in an extension of Sonic Adventure’s “Mission” mode. Completing each mission and successfully obtaining an A-rank on each nets you both an Achievements and a pretty cool unlockable stage…but considering how hard it is to even get an A-rank in the game, it’s going to take a lot of your skill and patience to achieve this goal. Unlike other Sonic videogames, rankings in Sonic Adventure 2 aren’t just based on how fast you clear a stage; you also need to be holding a certain number of Golden Rings and have accumulated a high enough score to earn the best rank. You can build your score by destroying enemies, jumping through hoops, racking up combination bonuses in the shooter stages, not using hints in the treasure hunting stages, and pulling off tricks in the running stages using the game’s new grinding mechanic.

SA2Stages — *Stage gimmicks can be frustrating at times.*

Each stage is filled with multiple paths, some of them only accessible using some of the game’s hidden power-ups. If you want to get the best time, score, and rank when playing, you’ll have to take advantage of these alternate routes, which can be difficult. While the game’s controls are decent and improved for the better over its predecessor, the camera can still be jerky at the worst of times, characters have a tendency to slip off platforms and ledges to their deaths down the game’s many (many!) bottomless pits, annoying stage hazards (floors that fall or crumble beneath you, weights that squash you, and even airlocks that flush you out into space!) crop up in every stage, and enemies just love leaping out in your face at a moment’s notice. While Knuckles and Rouge are limited to finding one Emerald shard at a time (unless you’ve played enough to take an educated guess about where to look) and their later space stages can be frustrating, Eggman and Tails don’t have to worry about racing against a time limit like E-102γ “Gamma” did (though it is odd to see Tails stuck inside a mech). Also, when playing as Sonic and Shadow, you’ll often perform a somersault, usually to your death, when you mean to perform the Light Dash since they’re both mapped to the same button, which can be frustrating at times.

Graphics and Sound:
While it looks, feels, and sounds very similar to Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2 is quite a step up in terms of graphics. While Sonic and Shadow’s stages aren’t as large or as varied as before, they’re tight, focused, and full of impressive set pieces. In City Escape, for example, you end up being chased by a huge truck that is determined to run you down which is a thrill later surpassed by the excitement of grinding at high speeds through space as you make your way down and through the Space Colony ARK.

SA2Graphics — *Each stage has its own gimmicks and is packed with little details and cameos.*

You’ll also swing, race, and grind through high-speed jungles, explored flooded mines, haunted mountain tops, and even traverse what is basically a 3D recreation of the Death Egg Zone when racing through Crazy Gadget. Each stage is like a short burst of action-orientated fun, featuring different gameplay gimmicks and little details that make them fun to playthrough regardless of which story you’re playing. While Sonic and Shadow’s stages are all about high-octane speed, Knuckles and Rouge’s emphasise exploration and Tails and Eggman’s are also far slower , allowing you to really take in the little details of your surroundings and encouraging exploration.

SA2Music — *The game’s soundtrack is top notch.*

Sonic Adventure 2 also has one of the best soundtracks in the entire franchise; while Sonic Adventure remixed, borrowed, or leaned heavily into traditional Sonic themes alongside incorporating punk rock, rap, and other genres for character’s themes, Sonic Adventure 2 doubles down on the rocking tunes and is all the better for it. Featuring three of Crush 40’s best tracks (“Live and Learn”, “Escape from the City”, and a remix of Sonic’s theme song, “It Doesn’t Matter”), each character’s stages is accompanied by a theme befitting that character (Sonic is mostly rock, Rouge is jazz-inspired, Knuckles is rap, Shadow’s is techno-inspired, for example) and helps infuse the stages and the otherwise-similar-playing characters with a real life, energy, and distinctive personality.

SA2Dialogue — *Lip synching has been vastly improved, though the script and delivery is still a bit janky at times.*

Once again, the game features an abundance of voice acting; luckily, the lip synching is vastly improved here, meaning that the cutscenes are far less ridiculous to sit through. Unfortunately, the script and delivery still flounders somewhat and the game’s music tends to drown out the character’s words or the characters often talk over each other due to the translated dialogue taking longer to say than the original Japanese. Despite that, though, many of the voice actors from the last game return here and put in some of their best performances; Ryan Drummond will always be my favourite voice for Sonic and both the late, great Deem Bristow and David Humphrey set the standard for Dr. Eggman and Shadow, respectively, that have continued to be emulated to this day.

Enemies and Bosses:
Sonic Adventure featured some of the most unique designs, and redesigns, of the entire series. Eggman’s Badniks were recreated in all their 3D glory and full of character and quirky personality and Chaos was a breath of fresh air in a series that mostly relied on robotic creatures. Sonic Adventure 2, however, drops the ball quite significantly in this arena; every character battles the same, generic G.U.N. robots throughout every stage. Some stages do feature a few of Eggman’s Badniks but they don’t crop up often enough. Instead, you’re faced with these dull, lifeless cookie-cutter robots that aren’t really much to write home about. That is, of course, until you make it into outer space and on to the Space Colony ARK. Here, you’ll encounter the most annoying enemies in the game: the Artificial Chaos. These watery monstrosities resemble Chaos and have robotic enhancements and, while they’re easily dispatched with a solid shot to their metallic “head”, they can deal serious damage with their elongated limbs and laser blasts, making them extremely irritating enemies to come up against regardless of which character you’re playing as.

SA2Boss1 — *Bosses that aren’t generic G.U.N. mechs are few and far between.*

For the most part, Sonic Adventure 2’s boss battles are as lacklustre as the enemies you’ll fight thanks, largely, to them being comprised of G.U.N. mechs. Yet, while none of G.U.N.s creations can match up to the quirkiness of Eggman’s mechs from he previous games or the likes of the gigantic golem that defends his pyramid base, they’re just different enough to show that G.U.N. is capable of putting some effort into their creations.

SA2Boss2 — *You’ll have to face your rival in a couple of battles as well.*

The rest of the time, you’ll be battling against your rival in fights somewhat similar to the battle between Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles in the last game; the mechanics have been expanded upon somewhat here, though, in that your enemy puts up a bit more of a fight, taking (and dishing out) decidedly more damage as you battle but the real threat in most of these battles will come from the size of the stage you battle on (or in) and how easy it is for you to fall to your death.

SA2Biolizard — *The Biolizard is easily the game’s most frustrating boss.*

Once you defeat Sonic and Shadow for good at the end of both stories, you’ll play through the “Last Story” and battle the game’s most frustrating and annoying boss, the Biolizard. This Shadow-exclusive battle pits you against a massive lizard-like creature that chases you with its gaping mouth or tries to smack you with its tail. When it stops its attack, you can grind up a rail to attack its sole weak point (the life support system on its back) and, as you deal damage, it starts to spit energy blasts at you that you must either try to jump over or somersault under to avoid losing Rings. To make matters worse, you can instantly be sucked to your death if you land in the water between the stage platform and it spawns these really infuriating homing orbs that you must try to avoiding while using the Homing Attack to hit the life support system. Its final attack is easily the worst; this sees you flung helplessly into the air and all you can do is encircle the creature, hope and try to avoid the projectiles, and slowly edge your way closer to deliver the final blow.

SA2Boss3 — *You’ll battle the final boss as both Super Sonic and Super Shadow.*

Once defeated, the creature uses Chaos Control to attach itself to the ARK and force it towards the Earth, becoming the game’s final boss, the “Finalhazard”. Sonic and Shadow power-up to their Super forms and battle the creature in space in a fight that, fundamentally, resembles that finale against Perfect Chaos. Super Sonic and Super Shadow have to dash into the pulsating boils that act as the creature’s sole weak point but are constantly swatted away by projectiles and erratic laser blasts. Also, like Perfect Chaos, this final boss is more annoying than challenging as you not only have to try and weave through its defences and hope your attack does damage, you’ll also be fighting against two time limits: linger too long and the Finalhazard will successfully drag the ARK to Earth and you also have to land your attack before you run out of Rings. Your allies often shout at you to “switch characters” when your Rings are running low but, even after all these years, the only way I could switch characters was to hit the creature’s weak spot so that advice is basically useless. As before, you don’t get to play as the Super forms in the main game but this finale does culminate in Shadow giving his life to save the planet, completing his character arc of redemption. Of course, Shadow was too popular to stay dead and SEGA brought him back in the very next game and have bungled fleshing out his character and backstory ever since. But, in this one defining moment, this angst-ridden, haunted little black hedgehog won over a significant portion of the fanbase and still remains a popular character to this day.

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
While Sonic Adventure 2 doesn’t feature as many “adventure” elements as its predecessor, you can still acquire power-ups and additional bonuses in each stage: Sonic and Shadow can grab shoes that allow them to Light Speed Dash, rings that let them perform a flaming somersault, bounce, and/or turn enemies into toys that you can throw at other enemies. Knuckles and Rouge grab upgrades that let them dig to find goodies or breathe underwater without fear of drowning, and Tails and Eggman can upgrade their mechs to dish out more damage to enemies and hover across gaps and hazards. As is standard for Sonic titles, you can also acquire additional Golden Rings, health packs (for Tails and Eggman), extra lives, invincibility, and two types of shields (a regular shield and a Ring-attracting electric variant) by breaking or running into item capsules or passing checkpoints in a fast enough time. Additionally, like in Sonic Adventure, every time you beat a stage, boss, or mini game earns you a Sonic Emblem and collecting all of these and will earn you an Achievement and unlock a bonus stage.

Additional Features:
From the game’s “Options” menu, you can choose different character-based themes and backgrounds for the game’s menu screens and even change the spoken dialogue to Japanese if you’re one “those” fans that simply must have the original Japanese dialogue playing during a game. As you might expect, you can also earn a few Achievements when playing the game; unfortunately, there’s not very many on offer here and they’re disappointingly simple to get…for the most part. As you destroy robots and explore the stages, you’ll find “Chaos Drives” and small animals; when you find a Chao box and smash it open, you’ll obtain a key and, after clearing the stage, will be warped to the Chao World where you can use the Chaos Drives and animals to raise and breed Chao to use in other mini games. The Chao Garden has been expanded somewhat; when you visit from the stage select screen, you can take your Chao to the Chao Kindergarten to purchase new items from the Black Market, leave them in the school to learn songs and tricks, rename them, or get review stats and health. Feeding them Chaos Drives, animals, and different fruits will raise their stats and, eventually, allow them to evolve into a stronger, more adult form. If you primarily used Hero characters when caring for your Chao, you’ll get an Angel Chao, while Dark characters birth a Devil Chao; both unlock an additional Chao Garden themed after Heaven or Hell, respectively.

SA2SChao2 — *Cheer your Chao on as they race or battle each other!*

As your Chao’s stats increase, you can have them take part in the Chao Games, a series of races, fights, and mini games to earn you more Sonic Emblems and Achievements. However, as these mini games can be largely luck-based and involve you putting a lot of time and energy into grinding and search for more Chaos Drives, animals, and collecting Golden Rings to buy new items, it can be a very time-consuming process but it’s a nice break from the game’s fast-paced action. Just don’t expect a lot of depth from this mode. Unlike Sonic Adventure, which featured numerous mini games to break up each character’s story and provide a distraction from the main game, Sonic Adventure 2 only features two other playstyles: a boss rush and a janky little kart racer. In the Hero story, you (as Tails) have to race towards the President’s limo to track Eggman’s broadcast and, in the Dark story, you (as Rouge) chase after Tails to intercept him instead. Once you beat one of these stages, you’ll unlock the Kart Race mini game, where you can play as any of the six main characters in short races made incredibly difficult by the game’s stiff, unresponsive controls.

SA2GreenHill — *Collect every Emblem to unlock Green Hill Zone!*

After clearing both stories, you’ll unlock the “Last Story” mode when you play as each of the six playable characters and race to stop the ARK from destroying the world. This culminates in a space battle where you switch between Super Sonic and Super Shadow and take it in turns to ram head-first into the gigantic lizard-like creature known as the Biohazard. Defeating it earns you the game’s true earning, and an Achievement, but not much else; however, if you manage to complete each of the game’s stages with an A-rank, you’ll unlock one of the coolest rewards in the series: a fully 3D recreation of Green Hill Zone! Unfortunately, you can only play this stage as Sonic and I’ve never actually experienced this as it is way too hard to earn those A-ranks and I just couldn’t do it no matter how hard I tried. Also new to the game is the multiplayer mode where you and one friend can pick between the game’s playable characters and race or battle against them in a series of stages from the main story. If you purchase the game’s downloadable content, you’ll unlock extra stages and characters for use in this mode; these were all available by default in the GameCube port but it’s still fun to play as Metal Sonic, Tikal, and Chaos in the game’s multiplayer. It’s just a shame that, like in the Sonic Adventure ports, Sonic Team decided to leave out certain playable characters and features from the original Dreamcast version (meaning Big the Cat is relegated to mere blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameos in each stage and certain cutscenes, which is a real shame and a massive downgrade from his last appearance).

The Summary:
Sonic Adventure 2 takes everything that worked in Sonic Adventure and improves upon it; it trims out a lot of the fat and extraneous elements and focuses on the three, distinct, most enjoyable playstyles of the last game, expanding upon them and improving them to make for a much tighter, more responsive and action-orientated experience. While I do miss some of the things this game dropped (the hub worlds and the diverse characters), I do enjoy the many improvements and innovations that debuted in this game. Making the Light Speed Dash a one-button action was a must, expanding Sonic’s world and lore to include more sci-fi elements helped take the series in a different direction and allowed SEGA to actually tell pretty complex and mature stories in their videogames. While I like the simplicity of the early Sonic titles, I expect a bit more bang for my buck with Sonic’s 3D adventures and Sonic Adventure 2 definitely delivers in that regard, introducing one of the more multifaceted and edgy characters to the series and allowing us to experience events from the bad guys’ perspective for the first time. For many years, Sonic Adventure 2 was the gold standard for the series for many; as SEGA experimenting with different genres and tossed more and more characters and roadblocks into their most popular franchise, fans were clamouring for a return to the Adventure-style formula and the type of gameplay and story of Sonic Adventure 2. While Sonic fans may have lost their mind and turned against this game in recent years, it still holds a special place in my heart; it’s not perfect, obviously, but it’s still fast-paced, high-octane fun and I never fail to have a good time every time I fire it up.

My Rating:

Great Stuff

What did you think about Sonic Adventure 2? Which of the two Adventure games is your favourite? Which console did you first play Sonic Adventure 2 on? What did you think about the game’s Light and Dark story options, and playing as the villains for the first time? What are your thoughts on Shadow the Hedgehog, his debut, characterisation, and legacy? Does Sonic Adventure 2 still hold up in your view or do you prefer a different Sonic title? Whatever your thoughts on Sonic Adventure 2, and the Sonic series and characters in general, drop your thoughts below and share them with me.

Mini Game Corner: SEGASonic the Hedgehog (Arcade)

29/05/202014/07/2023Dr. K3 Comments

Released: 1993
Developer: SEGA AM3

A Brief Background:
I may have mentioned this before but, back in the early-nineties, SEGA’s super-speedy blue hedgehog of a mascot was on something of a roll; Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic Team, 1991) had finally swayed videogame fans away from the Nintendo Entertainment System then, after the unforgettable and highly marketed release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (SEGA Technical Institute, 1992), Sonic’s status as a cultural icon was cemented. It was amidst the wave of Sonic’s incredible popularity that SEGA decided to develop a Sonic title for the arcades, most likely as the arcade scene was still a popular way of enjoying videogames even with the Console War right on the horizon. Although it wasn’t the first time SEGA tried to get a Sonic arcade game off the ground, SEGASonic the Hedgehog is, perhaps, the most infamous. Featuring the debut of Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel (two characters that were long-forgotten by SEGA until very recently) and forgoing Sonic’s trademark speed, SEGASonic used a trackball to control its three playable characters and was pretty much exclusively released in Japan. I actually got to play the game at SEGA World in London years and years ago, back when that was a thing, but the game has never been officially released or ported to other consoles since quietly disappearing from the arcade scene.

First Impressions:
SEGASonic makes an immediate impression simply through its bright, colourful graphics; the game features a charming cartoon-like aesthetic, featuring some extremely expressive and amusing animations and facial expressions from Sonic and his two friends. Captured by Doctor Eggman and forced to escape from his hazardous island, players are tasked with battling the game’s awkward trackball controls and navigating seven isometric levels.

*Sonic, Mighty, and Ray must escape Eggman’s island.*

Generally, players are chased by some kind of hazard (a wall of fire or a drilling machine, for example), must dodge past some kind of blockage (a cage, crumbling paths, or spiked walls and the like), and clamber across monkey bars to escape danger. Sonic, Mighty, and Ray all pretty much control exactly the same; no one character is faster than the other, they all have a Spin Attack, and the only real difference between them is the way they animate when performing certain actions (Ray uses his prehensile tail to climb, for example). Each character has a health bar, in a change for the series, which can be refilled by collecting the familiar Golden Rings generously scattered across the game’s maps, all while being chased by Doctor Eggman.

My Progression:
Unfortunately, as SEGASonic hasn’t been re-released or ported to home consoles, the only way to play the game now is using a ROM and an emulator. Equally unfortunate is the fact that the ROM I have for this game is very finicky and prone to crashing; as a result, I didn’t manage to get too far in the game before the emulator crashed and kicked me out of the game. I’m pretty certain that I managed to clear at least one level when I played the game at SEGA World but, on this playthrough, my ROM conked out on me shortly after clearing Trap Tower. I probably will reload my save state and go back to the game at some point to try and get a bit more playtime out of it but, as much as I love the obscurity and visual presentation of the game, the controls make it quite difficult to play (or, at least, play well).

I love SEGASonic the Hedgehog; I would be so happy is SEGA got off their asses and made a real effort to put together a real, HD-quality port of the title that integrates modern analogue controls in place of the trackball. It, like Knuckles’ Chaotix (SEGA, 1995), is criminally under-rated, under-looked, and under-valued for its appeal and, considering SEGA loves to port and re-release their classic titles, it literally boggles my mind that we haven’t seen anything from this game in decades. The only thing holding it back from a full-blown replay is the dodgy controls (well, that and that unreliability of the ROM I have…); even when using a trackball, the game is difficult to control but, with analogue controls better and more sensitive than ever, I could see this game being a nice distracting for an hour or so if SEGA were to spruce it up and re-release it.

What do you think of SEGASonic the Hedgehog? What was your favourite of Sonic’s short-lived arcade games? Did you ever go to SEGA World in London? Share your thoughts in the comments.

My Rating:

Could Be Better

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My Rating:

Could Be Better

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My Rating:

Pretty Good

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My Rating:

Terrible

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My Rating:

Fantastic

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My Rating:

Fantastic

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My Rating:

Fantastic

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My Rating:

Great Stuff

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