The Sonic Adventure Duology: Best stories in the series.

[Kuzu]

Now when Sonic Adventure first hit the scene back in 1998, it caught many fans by surprise by it's surprisingly more complex plot, and character development compared to it's predecessors, which while also having a plot themselves, didn't really focus too much on it to the extent that this game does. Sonic Adventure 2 upped the ante a bit by having an even more complex plot and having much darker themes than any previous entry in the series. But to get down to the nitty-grity, let's analyze both games.

Sonic Adventure:

Now after quite a few years of hiatus, Sonic returns from an unknown vacation scoping out the marvelous city of Station Square, however something catches his mind as he notices the police scrambling towards something. As Sonic checks out what the disturbance is, he finds a humanoid like creature made completely of liquid that's terrorizing the cops, Sonic being who he is naturally engages the creature. Sonic manages to fight off the creature, but it escapes in the sewers and Sonic is left pondering just what attacked him, unbeknownst to him, his old enemy Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik teeters above him and refers to the creature as "Chaos, The God of Destruction" and the scene ends with his maniacal laughter. The next day, Sonic is seen relaxing at the local resort when he notices his best-friend/surrogate brother Tails crash land on the beach, Sonic quickly rushes to make sure his bro is all right. After the two catch-up, Tails invites Sonic to his workshop in hopes of impressing him with his creations. As the two approach, they are greeted by none other than Dr. Eggman, with his goal of acquiring the Chaos Emeralds still fresh; Sonic quickly dispatches the doctor, but not before he's able to snatch the Chaos Emerald Tails had right from under the fox's nose. Eggman calls forth Chaos, and feeds him the emerald, and much to Sonic & Tails` shock, the creature grows in size. Eggman explains that Chaos will get powerful, the more emeralds it absorbs, and plans on using that power to wipe Station Square off the map. Sonic, not letting this sit down, quickly enlist Tails in hopes of find the emeralds first. Over the course of the story, Sonic meets up with other various characters; his old rival Knuckles who's searching for the broken pieces of the Master Emerald he guards and restore his island, Amy who is trying to protect a bird that escaped Eggman's clutches, a lazy cat named Big who just wants to find his friend "Froggy", and E-102 "Gamma" a robot under Eggman's employment.

Now while the plot itself is quite simple, being simply a classic get the emeralds before Eggman deal, it's told from the perspective of the six playable characters; they all go through their own stories, and all have their own experiences within the plot, while intertwining with each other and moving along rather nicely; Sonic mostly deals with trying to beat Eggman, Tails partially plays sidekick to Sonic, but there are parts when he's on his own and has to accomplish things without his help, Knuckles learns the fate of his people, Amy grows without having to be rescued by Sonic at every interval, Big....gets his friend back, and Gamma discovers a purpose in his life beyond serving Eggman. These subplots helped enrich the plot, and give it much more life and understanding. Of course, the plot isn't without it's problems; the voice acting can really detract from the emotions that are being conveyed, as well the wonky animations. Overall, Sonic Adventure was a first for the series, it helped flesh out characters who were pretty two-dimensional, and does without losing the feel of the characters from the genesis games; Sonic is the big hero, Tails is his sidekick, Knuckles gets into a bout of fisticuffs with Sonic, and Amy needed to be rescued at one point, in addition to introducing two new interesting characters in Big & Gamma: Big is just a run of the mill guy caught up in something big, and Gamma's story is told from the perspective of somebody who works for Eggman. A solid first attempt at story in the series.

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Now before I move onto Adventure 2, I know what everyone is going to say "It's stupid, immature and childish" well...yeah, it is, but it's Sonic, does anyone honestly a expect a story on par with Lord of the Rings? It does it's job of telling the story, and even if the writing is questionable, I think it does a pretty damn good job at it, and it's not like later entries in the series are immune to "Stupid, and immature" moments.

Sonic Adventure 2:

Sometime after the Chaos plan had failed, Eggman stumbled upon his grandfather's diary which told him of an ultimate power sealed away inside the base on Prison Island named Project: Shadow. Being the Egomaniac he is, Eggman decides to use this power to take over the world, and immediately begins a break-in on Prison Island. Eggman has no difficulty plowing through the base's defenses, and makes his way to the chamber containing the project. After imputing the password and using a Chaos Emerald, the creature wakes up, and to Eggman's surprise it's in the figure of his most hated enemy Sonic the Hedgehog. Eggman is at first surprised at these turns of events, but upon closer inspection, notices that this hedgehog is NOT Sonic at all, having black red-striped fur, and his quills being in a different shape, the creature calls himself "Shadow" and says he will grant Eggman one wish. Before the two can get acquainted a guard robot tries to intercept them, but Shadow opts to take it on alone in hopes of proving his power to Eggman. Shadow quickly dispatches the robot, moving at speeds comparable to Sonic himself, which even Eggman was impressed by. When Eggman questions Shadow on his "wish" Shadow simply leaves, asking him to bring more Chaos Emeralds to a location know as the Space Colony Ark. Elsewhere, Knuckles finds himself engaged with a young jewel thief named "Rouge the Bat", who plans on stealing the Master Emerald claiming that all of the world's gems are hers, and Knuckles naturally objects. During the scuffle, Dr. Eggman appears with his own plan on stealing the emerald, and Knuckles hastily breaks it to prevent anyone from stealing it. Rouge, upset at these turn of events decides to hunt down all pieces for herself while being mysterious interested in Eggman, while Knuckles opts to once again restore the Master Emerald to it's former glory. Meanwhile, news of Eggman's break in reaches the public, as well as news of him having an accomplice, a three foot anthropomorphic hedgehog who's fast. Naturally the only one who fits that description is Sonic himself, and the authorities take him in for questioning; Sonic however not being one for "Low-budget" flights, quickly breaks away from the force and resists arrest. He eventually is engaged by another giant robot, but it's quickly dispatched, as Sonic stood victorious he notices a figure atop the remains of the bot, a figure very similar to his own and it's none other than Shadow, who has just stolen yet another Chaos Emerald. Sonic manages to deduce that Shadow is the one who's framing him for his crimes, and quickly engages the imposter, but Shadow manages to outmaneuver Sonic, and get away while Sonic is eventually caught by the military and taken to Prison Island. Eggman manages to make his way to the Space Colony Shadow told him about, and he meets the mysterious hedgehog; Shadow tells him that the Ark houses a weapon capable of destroying the world knows as the "Eclipse Cannon" and that it requires the Chaos Emeralds to function, Eggman agrees in hopes of subjugating the world to his whim. Rouge however eavesdrops on the plan, and offers her skills to help find the remaining Chaos Emeralds, her goals still unclear but Eggman reluctantly agrees. Sonic's friends Tails & Amy manage to bust him out of Prison Island, but not without running into Eggman's group and engaging them, but the two parties are forced to flee when Eggman detonates Prison Island. Eventually Sonic, and Tails learn of Eggman's plan, and are eventually joined by Knuckles and the trio opt to stop Eggman's plot, while reluctantly bringing Amy along.

The plot this time around is far more complex, and told a little differently from it's predecessor, instead of six different scenarios, there are now only two; Hero, having Sonic, Tails, Knuckles(and Amy) and Dark, with Shadow, Eggman, and Rouge but each character still has it's own experiences now and then. While Sonic Adventure 2 doesn't have a lot of connection with it's predecessor, it is however noticeable for introducing Shadow & Rouge, who would later be mainstays in the series, the former having a story arc spanning quite a few games. Shadow was unlike Sonic's previous rivals, he wasn't a misguided hero like Knuckles, nor was he was a machine construct of Eggman, but a full out villain who could rival Sonic's abilities to a tee, and possessed his own unique skill in the form of Chaos Control. Shadow sought revenge after his surrogate sister Maria was gunned down in a raid on the ark, but Amy managed to open Shadow's eyes to Maria's true wish which was to protect humanity. With his new-found goal, Shadow quickly joins Sonic in saving the planet, and sacrifices himself in the process, dying a hero. Rouge was unique in being a rival to Knuckles, and not Sonic himself. Rouge originally had an enigmatic image, she seemed to help Eggman and only wanted jewels in return, but later we find out she was a spy hired by the government to investigate "Project: Shadow" and take down Eggman from within but Rouge seemed primarily concerned with getting what she wanted, which put her at odds with Knuckles, the two would eventually have a duel over the Master Emerald, but Rouge loses her balance and almost falls into a patch of lava before Knuckles saves her. At first criticizing Knuckles` kindness, she eventually gives in and hands Knuckles her pieces of the emerald claiming "They stink like Echidnas" Knuckles doesn't object and simply takes the now restored Master Emerald and leaving, but not before apologizing for hurting her, and Rouge simply takes off with a small smile. These two characters managed to shake up the status quo for a while in the Sonic universe, and did a pretty good job at it, even if later entries in the series would be less than kind to them.

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In my personal opinion, the Adventure series mange to capture the essence of Sonic, while still introducing and doing clever and new things. We had a larger than life threat in Chaos in the first game, as well as interesting character development, while the sequel introduced decidedly complex "Grey" characters for the series. It manages to balance it's cast pretty well too, Sonic never feels like the only one doing something as you see the story from everyone's perspective at one and what they contribute, but at the same time you never feel like Sonic is being overshadowed as you can tell he is the main character, and hero in the end. Eggman steps his ability as a villain, and manages to one up Sonic quite a few times, and it gives the games a genuine sense of suspense and purpose; the tone is what you'd expect from a Sonic game, cheesy lines, and rock music everywhere, but manages to have it's fair share of darker moments. Actions are taken, the characters aren't just standing around making exposition, and move the plot with their actions. They aren't without their problems though, such as the aforementioned voice acting and animation problems , as well as Sonic Adventure 2's sound editing and translation problems, but if you can overlook that, they manage to shine as the best stories for Sonic; the cast feel like they're needed, Sonic has his moments of vulnerability, and manages to connect with his friends through the course of their journey, and the villains are actually threatening and manage to get the jump on our heroes, while fleshing them out. You can Sonic Team were ambitious about the story for these two games, and I commend them for it. Now if only they had that ambition with their stories nowadays, but I digress.

So, how do you feel about stories of these two games, I'd love to hear everyone's opinion on them.

Edited October 27, 2012 by Ragna the Bloodedge

[Shane]

Sonic Adventure's story is a good idea, but its execution is questionable. I especially liked how it actually has something to do with the older titles.

Sonic Adventure 2's story is hilarious. Third "best" story in the series, beaten only by Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic '06.

[Chooch]

Sonic Adventure 2's story is laughable in retrospect. Between people somehow mistaking Shadow for Sonic, the limo scene with the president of the United Federation and Rouge throughout the entire fucking story, I just can't take it seriously anymore. I mean really:

Rouge, being the air headed klutz she is, slips and falls while fighting Knuckles in space and forgets she has wings to save her from falling into a pit of lava.

[Kuzu]

Nobody is going to read the OP are they?

[novelty]

Sonic Adventure 2's story is laughable in retrospect. Between people somehow mistaking Shadow for Sonic, the limo scene with the president of the United Federation and Rouge throughout the entire fucking story, I just can't take it seriously anymore. I mean really:

...but Knuckles and Rouge were fighting before that...Knuckles could just as well hurt one of her wings...

Just reading what the OP wrote should have been the setup for a Sonic movie IMHO...Sadly this duology was only for gaming

Edited October 27, 2012 by novelty

[Chooch]

I read the OP, but my point still stands. I don't feel inclined to call it one of the best stories in the series when there's so much wrong with it that I can't take it seriously.

Sonic Adventure's story I still think at its core holds up, Sonic Adventure 2's does not.

Edited October 27, 2012 by Chooch

[Kuzu]

I read the OP, but my point still stands. I don't feel inclined to call it one of the best stories in the series when there's so much wrong with it that I can't take it seriously.

Sonic Adventure's story I still think at its core holds up, Sonic Adventure 2's does not.

Ok that's fair, but I don't see how it's worse than anything else in the series, I mean if you find Sonic Adventure 2 to be stupid, and laughable what does that make entries like Heroes, and Shadow? I never said it was perfect, but I think it hits the mark better than other games do.

Edited October 27, 2012 by Ragna the Bloodedge

[Soniman]

Heroes was stupid, like really stupid. But it was relatively harmless in its story and general presentation.

Sonic and friends beat the shit out of Eggman/Metal Sonic while spouting some shit about teamwork. Metal Sonic turns into a big bag junk dragon, super power of teamwork engage, badda bing badda boom end of game.

And I still think we got a decent plot thread out of Shadow's story, to bad it was ruined in the next game.

Edited October 27, 2012 by Soniman

[Kuzu]

Heroes was stupid, like really stupid. But it was relatively harmless in its story and general presentation.

Well it brought Shadow back among other things..

And I still think we got a decent plot thread out of Shadow's story, to bad it was ruined in the next game.

que?

[Soniman]

I meant the whole mystery of whether or not Shadow was the real thing or just an android, I actually thought that was genuinely interesting.

[Solkia]

Heroes was stupid, like really stupid. But it was relatively harmless in its story and general presentation.

Sonic and friends beat the shit out of Eggman/Metal Sonic while spouting some shit about teamwork. Metal Sonic turns into a big bag junk dragon, super power of teamwork engage, badda bing badda boom end of game.

And I still think we got a decent plot thread out of Shadow's story, to bad it was ruined in the next game.

Tell that to the psychological damage I got from Clement's playthrough.

SA1's story was great, it expanded on S3K's story pretty well.

SA2 though... I like it it, but it's just so... out of place? I don't know, but the thought of government conspiracy in a Sonic game is just weird.

EDIT: Actually wait, Heroes story was fine, it's the writing that damaged me.

Edited October 27, 2012 by Solkia-kun

[Kuzu]

I meant the whole mystery of whether or not Shadow was the real thing or just an android, I actually thought that was genuinely interesting.

I'd find it a lot more interesting if it wasn't born from hastily bringing Shadow back, and yeah they kind of dropped the ball on it.

[Solkia]

Fucking Shadow. Falling from the goddamn atmosphere is just a minor inconvenience to him.

[Soniman]

I'd find it a lot more interesting if it wasn't born from hastily bringing Shadow back, and yeah they kind of dropped the ball on it.

Well, what if Shadow really was an android? Then It would've made some amount of sense for him to be brought back so suddenly.

But alas.

[Kuzu]

Well, what if Shadow really was an android? Then It would've made some amount of sense for him to be brought back so suddenly.

But alas.

Well he was already an artificial being to begin with, so it's not too hard to assume that.

[Bright Eyes]

SA2's story isn't quite as bad as everyone makes out. Sure, it's naff but I wouldn't say it was much worse than SA1's which is also hilariously bad.

I actually don't mind SA1, SA2 and even Shadow's stories. They were hilarious and provide many a laugh. As opposed to Sonic 06 which was traumatic.

[Lange]

I'd say the adventure games, StHh, and Sonic Unleashed were some of the best plots for Sonic games to date. All of those really expanded a lot of aspects of the Sonic Universe we have not seen before. Also Sonic Chronicles was epic too, and had a lot of direct plot interaction being a RPG.

[Sega DogTagz]

oops. wrong topic.

Edited October 27, 2012 by The Arcane Arceus

[SilJeff]

I like both stories, especially SA1's. SA2's does seem more out of place in the series, but I think SA1's was just fine for the series. I don't treat them like popcorn flicks by any means, but I definitely think some fans make both stories seem much worse than they truly are.

Anyways, I still love that scene in Gamma's story when Eggman goes:

"dummies!! DUMMIES!! DUMMIES!! DUMMIES!! DUMMIES!!"

Edited October 28, 2012 by Mr.Snarf

[KHCast]

I like the plot of SA1 more than 2. It stayed simple and was pretty childish and tried to stay unreal. SA2 had it's moments, but in the end to me felt like it was trying to appeal itself to more mature serious people. Not to Shadow the hedgehog levels, but still a pretty serious/deep story at it's core. SA balanced it out pretty well to me. It stayed light and Sonic like while still having a plot that could advance from just Sonic saves the day. Character development, a conflict and climax, suspence,etc. Something like that mixed with Unleashed with the Storybook writers would probably kill me with joy.

[andrewtuell1991]

Why are you sighing? Depressed?

Joking aside, I'll admit Sega did pretty okay for their first two attempt but they are some glaring issues that are hard for me to overlook.

There are quite a few story lines that could've been easily omitted. The two that come to mind are Big's from SA1 and Knuckles from SA2. Both of their stories could easily be written out without impacting the overall story too much.

The only thing Big's story in SA1 is good for is explaining where one of the seven chaos emeralds come from which could just easily been re-written into saying that one of Eggman's robots found it. We don't need to know where every emerald came from.

The only level of Knuckles from SA2 that has any impact on the overall story is Death Chamber and again that could've easily been written out. Between the other 4 levels and the Master Emerald somehow being at Wild Canyon / Dry Oasis at the beginning, I can't help but feel that Knuckles' story was shoehorned into SA2.

I remember hearing something about how only Sonic, Eggman, and Knuckles were suppose to be the only ones playable in SA2 and it would've had a Shadow the Hedgehog-esque morality system with branching story lines. The latter sounds unnecessary but the former sounds like it would've been better seeing how Shadow, Tails, and Rouge's game play were just copy pastes of Sonic, Eggman and Knuckles. Always wondered how that would've turned out.

[Kuzu]

To be fair, Knuckles was kind of integral to the plot in the last story where he stopped the emeralds.

[Rinzler]

Except that didn't do anything and Gerald's plan still continued.

[Kuzu]

Except that didn't do anything and Gerald's plan still continued.

He helped Sonic & Shadow go Super, that's something,

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Sonic Adventure 2's story is laughable in retrospect. Between people somehow mistaking Shadow for Sonic,

Sonic was the only hedgehog known at the time with a body type that had spikes jutting from the back of his head, and is capable of utterly thrashing machinery. And you're telling me it's laughable for people to look at another hedgehog with those same abilities and a similar silhouette to boot and mistake him for Sonic?

Rouge throughout the entire fucking story, I just can't take it seriously anymore. I mean really:

So aside from the scene where she fell and forgot she had wings to fly, what else did she do throughout the entire story that was laughable?

Except that didn't do anything and Gerald's plan still continued.

Because the Biolizard took control over everything and kept it going. The Master Emerald wasn't able to stop that after it already teleported outside the colony.

Edited October 28, 2012 by ChaosSupremeSonic