Sonic-related pet peeves?

[StaticMania]

One of my pet peeves is how plat forming games like Sonic aren't seen as "cool" anymore compared to other types of games. I mean, that's my problem with the Shadow the Hedgehog game. I don't really care if Shadow has a gun, but...the problem is that SEGA seemed to be trying to appeal to more mainstream gamers rather than Sonic fans. I know it's a spinoff game, but this type of game could have easily worked as a game that had nothing to do with the Sonic series.

Shadow the Hedgehog isn't a spin-off, but I kind of see your point.

[Nepenthe]

It's undoubtedly a spin-off from a casting, atmospheric, and gameplay perspective, even though it's still canon, like the Storybook games are.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Shadow the Hedgehog isn't a spin-off, but I kind of see your point.

It IS a spin-off, it just so happens to double as a main title.

[Kiah]

Speaking of Sonic X, I can't believe I haven't yet cited this as a peeve of mine; Sonic's emotional distance when Tails is distraught over Cosmo's demise in episode 78.

Yeah yeah, you could say that Sonic was distraught too at Cosmo's death especially considering that he was effectively the bullet that killed her but then X Sonic is still characterized as having a great degree of emotional control, it only faltering under certain circumstances. Wouldn't it have killed for Sonic to have hugged Tails and comforted him even if it would likely have resulted in Tails trying to push him away? And yet Sonic was emotionally open enough to give Chris hugs and comfort on multiple occasions.

I dunno, maybe I'm looking at it from the wrong angle given that it's possibly intended for Sonic to not comfort Tails out of shame or because he doesn't know how to react but I still think that scene would have been better had it shown Sonic giving Tails a silent hug or something...

I forgot about this scene and it's probably because I wanted to forget about it. Out of all the annoying things that I saw in Sonic X, this is what probably irritated me the most. I know Sonic hates tears, but he isn't indifferent nor non-responsive when someone is sad, distressed or worried even. Here's a couple of examples across various media:

~Sonic and the Black Knight: 2 examples come to mind. I've mentioned repeatedly the time when Sonic came across the crying kid who said a dragon took his/her parents away. Sonic kneeled down, comforted the kid with a pat on the head and the promise that he would get the kid's parents back.

Also in the end of the game after Sonic defeats Merlina, Merlina is lamenting about the fate of the kingdom. Sonic gives her a flower and tells her that, while all worlds have to end, they merely need to live life to the fullest in the time that they have.

~Sonic and the Secret Rings: After Sonic defeated Erazor Djinn, Shahra was clearly saddened and burst into tears. Sonic then wished for a mountain of handkerchiefs to help her through her crying. Say what you want about how corny that wish was, but I thought it was a kind, comforting gesture made by Sonic.

~Sonic SatAM: here is an example in the "Sonic Past Cool" episode where Sonic comforted a crying Tails after he mentioned that he missed his mom:

I think these screenshots speak for themselves in regards to the way Sonic showed geniune concern for his best friend, who was having a moment of sadness.

Now back to that Sonic X scene...when I saw it for the first time, I couldn't believe what I saw with Sonic's emotional distance. I was saying "Sonic! Give Tails a hug! Console him! Do something-this is your best friend!!!!" Him doing nothing just didn't seem like Sonic. He could of at least gave Tails a hug, pat on the back or something besides standing there.

Sonic's character isn't cold at all. I've always seen Sonic being kind and caring towards his friends no matter what was going on so this scene doesn't seem to be fitting to me in regards to Sonic's reaction to Tails' grief, or lack thereof. It's even worse when you consider Sonic was treating Chris the way the should of been treating Tails throughout the whole show.

Maybe I'm overracting, but I can't stand it when I see someone's characterization botched up; especially Sonic's. That really peeves me. And Sonic X was guilty of it botching up Sonic's character as well as the other characters more times than none. This was just one example of it that I wanted to elaborate on as well.

[Kuzu]

It always kind of annoyed me how despite how hyped up Knuckles used to be, he's never truly had a legit moment of awesome, or at least his moments are overshadowed by the antics by the likes of Sonic & Shadow, I mean I don't think there's one thing he's done that's on par with those two.

[- Eternal Paradox -]

It always kind of annoyed me how despite how hyped up Knuckles used to be, he's never truly had a legit moment of awesome, or at least his moments are overshadowed by the antics by the likes of Sonic & Shadow, I mean I don't think there's one thing he's done that's on par with those two.

Well, he did punch the emeralds out of a super-form... That's quite an entrance.

But no, he's never really had a really "badass" moment. Mainly because other characters such as Sonic and Shadow have been given lots of cool factor in recent (dreamcast era onwards) times, whist Knuckles has been left behind somewhat.

Edited November 28, 2012 by Paradox

[Kuzu]

Well, he did punch the emeralds out of a super-form... That's quite an entrance.

This would be awesome, but Eggman did the same thing later on in the game, and then does it again in Unleashed. And this is back before the Super Form was regarded as a god mode. I don't think he'd ever be able to pull that off again.

Edited November 28, 2012 by Ragna the Bloodedge

[Spin Attaxx]

I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of Yardley's art. His art always looks off to me. For some reason when I think of it, I think of idiotic, slack-jawed expressions on characters, square fingers, perpetually pissed-off Blaze with a bigger chest size and THIS:

Marine was desparetely trying not to laugh at Shadow's botched plastic surgery.

I'm not saying he's a bad artist, though - FAR better than I'll ever be.

[DemonDanny]

Green eyes...GAME RUINED FOREVER. Always annoys me.

And how horrible 06 turned out. The ORIGINAL:teaser, the one where Sonic is surrounded by swat bots and goes Super...had so much promise.

[Spin Attaxx]

As I'm sure most have said here, the game was doomed from the start with its over-ambitious plans, narrow release date and mind-boggingly odd concept of being realistic.

[Nepenthe]

We knew about the concept of "realism" when we saw the initial teaser and demonstration because it was the buzzword being thrown around everywhere in the media, and everyone was subsequently hyping this game up to be some sort of killer app at that moment because what we saw looked awesome. Realism as a concept wasn't inherently the issue, but what they ultimately did with it that subsequently turned people off and turned them into terrible, peanut gallery art critics... which is another pet-peeve of mine: People not knowing what Surrealism actually is yet saying it applies to Sonic's art meaningfully outside of Special Stages.

[MamboCat]

Green eyes...GAME RUINED FOREVER. Always annoys me.

And how horrible 06 turned out. The ORIGINAL:teaser, the one where Sonic is surrounded by swat bots and goes Super...had so much promise.

I remember seeing some in-game stuff before it was released, and thinking it looked good at the time... I recall some day-night light transitions the most.

*sigh*

[Rexeljet]

We knew about the concept of "realism" when we saw the initial teaser and demonstration because it was the buzzword being thrown around everywhere in the media, and everyone was subsequently hyping this game up to be some sort of killer app at that moment because what we saw looked awesome. Realism as a concept wasn't inherently the issue, but what they ultimately did with it that subsequently turned people off and turned them into terrible, peanut gallery art critics... which is another pet-peeve of mine: People not knowing what Surrealism actually is yet saying it applies to Sonic's art meaningfully outside of Special Stages.

I've heard people call Sonic's world surreal and even psychedelic, but if anything I'd say the word we're looking for is "abstracted", that is, scenery has been stylistically changed, but not beyond recognition. Perhaps a better word still would be simply "stylised".

If Sonic's world was surreal or psychedelic, it would look more like this:

[SenEDDtor Missile]

We knew about the concept of "realism" when we saw the initial teaser and demonstration because it was the buzzword being thrown around everywhere in the media, and everyone was subsequently hyping this game up to be some sort of killer app at that moment because what we saw looked awesome. Realism as a concept wasn't inherently the issue, but what they ultimately did with it that subsequently turned people off and turned them into terrible, peanut gallery art critics... which is another pet-peeve of mine: People not knowing what Surrealism actually is yet saying it applies to Sonic's art meaningfully outside of Special Stages.

I've heard people call Sonic's world surreal and even psychedelic, but if anything I'd say the word we're looking for is "abstracted", that is, scenery has been stylistically changed, but not beyond recognition. Perhaps a better word still would be simply "stylised".

If Sonic's world was surreal or psychedelic, it would look more like this:

1st: Why is it called "peanut gallery?"

2nd: I always thought the better term was "unrealistic". Surreal would better describe something out of Psychonauts if anything.

Edited November 28, 2012 by Malpercio

[Nepenthe]

1st: Why is it called "peanut gallery?"

2nd: I always thought the better term was "unrealistic". Surreal would better describe something out of Psychonauts if anything.

1. A peanut gallery was the cheapest seating section in the show during the days of Vaudeville, closest to the performance. These were considered the rowdiest seats and would generally be most inclined to heckle and throw peanuts. Nowadays the term generally means those whose opinions in the matter are uninformed and thus inclined to be ignored.

2. I've never heard "unrealistic" as a formal term in art. Generally, you have "non-representational" on one end (shape, line, color; no attempt at representing anything in reality) of the spectrum and "representational" on the other, and a potentially-infinite amount of styles in between. Sonic isn't completely neither of course, but I would be inclined to put him in the vague "stylized" camp as OldFreddy did; real objects merely abstracted through the use of weird colors, forms, size and scale, etc.

[Vertekins]

Minor but people who call Sonic Hydrophobic rather than Aquaphobic.

Hydrophobia is distinct from Aquaphobia and can mean two things; A symptom of late stage Rabies in which the victim has a dislike of water due to the inability to swallow and a property of an object or material to completely resist water.

Aquaphobia is the fear of water itself. Sonic undeniably suffered this in Sonic X. Whether or not he suffers it in the games is up for debate considering it seems that he dislikes water out of his swimming inability rather than disliking it out of outright fear. Though one of his lines in SatBK implies fear and it's strongly suggested in HD Unleashed that he is ashamed of being unable to swim.

Also, going on this tangent, those who say that Sonic must hate bathing if he dislikes water. Considering how much Sonic is concerned with his physical appearance if you take into consideration that he often dusts dirt off of his body and shoes in idle animations and the fact that he's pretty arrogant, the notion of him not bathing is a pretty unfounded one me thinks.

Edited December 1, 2012 by Vertekins

[Multikaris]

Big's fishing levels.

Tornado levels in Unleashed.

Gay Sonic couples.

[LATER BUDDY]

Big's fishing levels.

Tornado levels in Unleashed.

Gay Sonic couples.

That's great, but mind explaining your thoughts instead of just making a list?

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Tornado Levels and Daytime Quicktime Events in Unleashed are two things that I genuinely don't like that much, which is surprising considering I like the stuff other people deemed horrible (Werehog).

My dislike mainly stems from the fact that I didn't like how the quicktime events broke the flow of the daytime stages, and they usually tended to be the only thing standing between making it to the next platform, or death. The Tornado sections I disliked because I am a huge perfectionist, so whenever I screw up on them due to my lack of hand-eye coordination, I get more annoyed.

[FourCartridge]

If Sonic's world was surreal or psychedelic, it would look more like this:

That pic could pass off as a Special Stage if you look at it really hard. =P

But anyway, another pet peeve of mine; People who constantly say SANIC instead of how it's actually spelled. I know it's supposed to be sarcastic/whatever, but it just makes them look like they're reciting from a list of "why Sonic sucks". or something stupid like that. AARGH

Edited December 1, 2012 by FourCartridge

[Tani Coyote]

Gay Sonic couples.

Why is this?

They haven't really clarified sexuality too much, or at least haven't been very upfront for it. Until Knuckles makes a move on Sonic and Sonic says "That's no good," we can't know exactly for sure.

Unlikely, but there's no official ruling.

[Error]

The fact that Sonic '06 and Sonic Genesis for the GBA (both released in the same year to celebrate Sonic the Hedgehog's 15th birthday) exist as games in the series.

[StaticMania]

The fact that Sonic '06 and Sonic Genesis for the GBA (both released in the same year to celebrate Sonic the Hedgehog's 15th birthday) exist as games in the series.

I don't get why you say that about Sonic Genesis, its just a port, A really terrible port but just a port.

[Mogtaki]

Why is this?

They haven't really clarified sexuality too much, or at least haven't been very upfront for it. Until Knuckles makes a move on Sonic and Sonic says "That's no good," we can't know exactly for sure.

Unlikely, but there's no official ruling.

Maybe they're homophobic.

Could also be them complaining about fanfiction, despite trying to troll the forum with their own fanfiction for ages before they got warned for it.

Either way, it's not something the Japanese are against, that's for sure.

[MrBadger]

hm let's see, when people act like SA2 was the best Sonic game of all time when to be honest, I found it just as faulty as games like Shadow. I mean, only 1/3 of the game isn't slow and bland as hell.

Also people who get mad about any kind of Sonic 4 complaints and stereotype everyone who wasn't happy with the game as a "Richard Kuta".