Which do you prefer more: SA1/2 or Colors/Generations?

[Narukami07]

Given that the four of them are probably the most popular 3D Sonic games released, i was curious as to wonder which of the twins strikes you guys more fancy? The former, or the latter, and why?

 

To me, it would be Colors/Gens. While I've had my share of fun with the Adventure twins, the replayability and consistency with Colors and Generations as Sonic alone kept calling me back. But that's just me of course lol. 

 

 

[Chaos Incarnate]

In both cases, the games as a pair don't really tickle my fancy.

 

Sonic Adventure and Adventure 2: Neither games hold up well overall. Sonic's gameplay was the best thing to come out of Adventure, hands down, for pulling off the transition from 2D to 3D Sonic well, and capturing the essence of Sonic. I love how Adventure controls, but both games feel extremely inconsistent, due to having a range of gameplay styles that don't fit Sonic IMHO. Seriously, Treasure Hunting, Fishing, and Mech Shooting? I'll just take trying to reach the goal ring on foot, thank you very much. I would say the best thing to come out of the Adventure series is the Speed stages(mainly in Adventure), a diverse and excellent soundtrack(mainly in Adventure), and introducing some cool new characters(Shadow and Rogue).

 

Generations is my favorite Sonic game of all time for playing the Nostalgia card right, offering fresh new takes on classic levels(for the most part), and just being one huge love letter to the fans. Time Eater can go suck a fat one, but it's still a well constructed game for the most part, and is the Sonic game I go back to playing the most.

 

However, I honestly find Colors to be a tad bit over rated. I never had much fun with the Wisps, the overly simplified story is nowhere near as good as people make it out to be, and Spring-Based stages can go burn in hell. It's definitely not a bad game, I love the level trope concepts, and restricting the boost was a wise decision, but I didn't enjoy it quite as much as so many others holding it up on a pedestal claiming it was the best Sonic game in ages when it came out. Maybe I need to adjust to the Wii Mote/nunchuck controls more until finally purchasing a classic or Gamecube controller, but the controls are what's keeping me from fully enjoying Colors at the moment.

 

This is really no contest, Colors/Generations. I may have my problems with Colors, but it and Generations are both the most consistent and well constructed Sonic games. I still hold the Sonic stages from Adventure in high regard and want it to be improved upon, but that doesn't mean I'm going to cut the Adventure series any slack.

[Uraraka]

I prefer Sonic Adventure 1/2 over the others. They have such nostalgia and value to me that I can't replace them in my heart. It would take a SUPER good Sonic game to change my feelings on that !
  The graphics were not that great, but they were for the time they came out. I mean, honestly, who can't laugh at Sonic talking in SA1...it is hilarious! It is just like re living my childhood playing those games...and in all honesty, I can't get over the Story in SA2. I get just as excited to see it every time I play . I watch them over and over and can't get tired of it

   I also feel like Knuckles was best (in games with story/ cut scenes) in SA1 and 2, making another SUPER reason for them to be my faves Knuckles was just so cool in those games, and I just can't get over it !!. That part where you get to crush the Sonic statue in the casino in Sa1, PURE AWESOME!! It is just soo Knuckles, it is almost like you get to feel the irritation Knuckles felt about how Sonic was EVERYWHERE and get to crush it with one hit! BOOM!  The feels! I can't explain, but it is like I get to BE Knuckles for a few seconds there .

 

  The cut scenes with Knuckles and Rouge in SA2  are and will always be my fave .  The way they argue and all, it is so funny, and Knuckles gets to express his feelings a lot in that game too, so you can get a glimpse of who he really is. In Sa2, he was improved because he had a bit more personality .

 

 So yeah, I like Colors and Generations, don't get me wrong, but SA1/2 will always have a special place in my heart .

[SonicAM123Cool]

I'm new here and this is my first post. I choose adventure 1 and 2. I've been replaying all those four games during the holidays and I had more fun with sa 1/ 2.

 

Sonic adventure 1 and 2 both have great music. They both have great stories. The sonic gameplay in those games was great. I even managed to enjoy the others gameplay style... except fishing... it can go die in a fire for all I care.

 

I also like and enjoy colors and generations. Generations has some great levels that have nostalgic appeal to me and the boost gameplay is quite fun. The music is also pretty good. The story sucked though. I come back to this game from time to time. Colors, I enjoyed it for the most part. The gameplay was good. Most of the music was good. I liked tropical coast, planet wisp, aquarium park, reach for the stars ( orchestra and lyrics). Though, colors gets boring now. I dont go back to replay it much.

[Wraith]

Sonic Adventure 1 is an honest to god extremely great effort ti brjng Sonic into the 3D world. I only wonder why SA2 went so far from it's initial direction and ultimately came out as an extremely inferior game. Sonic Adventure 2 was a favorite of mine when I was younger, but it's true colors show more and more with age. SA1 has trouble with aging as well but ultimately it was put together well enough that it's still enjoyable. It feels like an attempt to expand the original games and bring them into the 3D world and I love it for that. 

 

Sonic Colors and Generations are two very solid and fun titles. While short, their replayability probably surpasses any other Sonic game. I enjoyed them when I came out and I still enjoy them now. While you could argue that there's much less to them when it comes to content, they're just plain more fun to play, and in a good platformer that's what I value the most. They're simple fun.

[Dizcrybe]

Mmm... well, in the case of Colors/Gens, I enjoy both games quite a bit. Whereas with SA1/2, I really only like the former.

 

If we're comparing them as pairs, I guess Colors/Gen takes the win for me.

[MegasonicZX]

Where is the "neither I choose unleashed option"? jk

 

But seriously I would say I enjoyed the boost trilogy more, its my favorite gameplay style and besides not having a chao garden I think they're pretty much perfect.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Can't pick between either one, because they both have strengths and weaknesses.

 

The Adventures win on story-telling and having a lot more variety (with good and bad parts), while Colors/Generations wins on speed, comedy, and visuals.

 

The Adventures fail on forcing other, differing styles of gameplay on you to get the full story and a number of technical issues, while Colors/Generations fail on being too restrictive with little innovation to complement it's gameplay and equally restrictive level design.

[-Mark-]

I 'prefer' the Adventure games as a whole, but I'll admit that at least Generations is definitely a superior game. I'm making a definite distinction between the one I like the most and the one I think is the best game, since favourite =/= best.

 

Whilst in my opinion, Generations undoubtedly has the best gameplay (except for the fact it falls flat on its face in the final hour), it suffers from the same problems that Colours and Lost World do- namely boring, minimal (almost nonexistent) writing and characterisation and (ironically) a shameless disregard for the series' history and continuity of lore/ worldbuilding, save for one or two token references.

 

For me personally, the Adventure games hit the nail on the head first time tone-wise. They took themselves seriously enough to tell an interesting story and give the characters some personality and depth beyond one-dimensional cliches spouting horrible one-liners without overdoing it like Shadow and arguably 06 did. Sure, Generations is a better game, but post-2010, that's almost the problem- the Sonic series has never felt more like 'just a game'; the characters, world and extended universe have all been thrown by the wayside. I feel like the series has lost its identity.

[Blue Blood]

I'm quite in agreement with what Mark just said. While Generations are Colours are the better games from a more objective standpoint (I'd go as far to say that they're the first 3D Sonic games not to have major issues and be good all-round), I happen to greatly prefer the Adventure series.

 

From gameplay to story, SA1 and SA2 better encompass what I look for in Sonic games. They happen to have some pretty nasty flaws that don't even need specifying individually by this stage, but what they do well they really do excel in. Better stories, more interesting characters, the right gameplay style (as far as the core Sonic gameplay is concerned), better music and an infinitely superior sense of developing the Sonic brand and universe. It's kind of sad that Generations, the big anniversary game that goes to the effort of recreating many of the series most iconic events, ultimately feels like a mish-mash of random pieces without anything to tie it all together. Colours too feels like a bit of an outlier because it's quite a departure from the what the series had built itself to be in many ways.

 

The Adventure games, Heroes, Shadow, the Riders games (not Free Riders), the Rush games and the Rivals games all felt like Sonic ('06 too in it's own way), while the games to have come since are significantly less... identifiable? They're safer, not as interesting and more intent on pleasing the masses than building up the fanbase to create something than people can become vested in. It's not a guaranteed recipe for success either, as Lost World has blatantly proven.

 

So yeah, Colours/Gens are technically better, but SA1/SA2 are my preferred choice. I think more games that follow an Adventure-esque formula in most respects have the potential to be much better.

[TheOcelot]

I generally prefer SA1 & SA2, but they all have their plus points.

 

Generations/Colours are visually better looking games. Graphically they are a step up from the adventure titles. Music wise, the soundtracks in SA1, SA2 and Colours are easily in my top five. It never ceases to amaze me how they keep producing glorious music game after game. Presentation wise would have to go for Colours and Generations.

 

As for the gameplay, SA1 & SA2 wins comfortably. They have better momentum based gameplay, tighter control and more interesting move sets for the different gameplay styles. Love or hate it, the mech gameplay in SA2 is well implemented and does come with it's own unique stage design. In terms of the bosses it's bit of a mixed bag. 

 

The story's in SA1 & SA2 are more interesting and complex. Maybe not always well told, but they are more entertaining and showed better character development than Generations and Colours did.

 

The cut-scenes in Generations and Colours have better lip sinking and whilst the lack of them was a disappointment, especially in Generations, overall (whilst not as entertaining story-wise) they are programmed much better. 

 

Generations is a fun nostalgia trip and I do like the design of the 2d stages in Gen and Colours, although the 2d gameplay could have been better.

 

Overall SA1, SA2 and Colours are favourite 3d Sonic games, so I have a lot of time for them.

[GamingEpic]

I would agree with those who have posted previously that Colours and Generations are more well made games, but the Adventure series is more of a favourite in my opinion.

 

Adventure and Adventure 2 are my two favourite 3D Sonic Games, but Colours isn't far behind, with Generations taking a stable fourth.

 

As others have said, the two Adventure games felt more like Sonic, the storyline was an important part of the game and it left room for character development. Whereas the storyline in Colours and Generations is quite simple and is only told briefly between stages. The gameplay between both pairs of games have their own pros and cons. The gameplay style in the Adventure games shows more variety. There was also a lot more room for exploration. Whereas in Colours and Generations, the gameplay focuses more on Sonic's most important factor, speed.

 

Although, I would say I prefer the Adventure series as I played the games a lot when I was younger, I haven't played Generations since I have completed it and I have only played Colours once or twice since. However, I would put this down to having more time when I was a kid. Nowadays, I have to fit my gaming habits around work and other more important matters.

[VGamer]

Unleashed over all

 

Neither of the two groupings to be honest. I prefer Adventure 1 and Generations.

Adventure 2 has mech shooting and crappy treasure hunting with the broken radar, which really just ruin the game for me. Colors has way too much blocky platforming and the levels were barely even levels, more like short spurts of even more forced platforming that just weren't for me. Also, I really despise the story in SA2 for how "intense" it tried to be, and while I don't mind the actual plot in Colors, the writing is really bad to me.

 

Adventure 1 had other characters as well, but they weren't boring or infuriating to play as, so I didn't mind them at all. In fact, I quite like most of them, with the exception of Big. Generations was to me a combination of Unleashed and Colors level design and gameplay. There were still forced and slow 2D sections in Generations like Colors, but it wasn't nearly as offensive to me as Colors itself. Also, writing is much better in Gens.

[Old dead account]

Colors and Gens definitely.

All 4 of them have distinctions, but Colors and Gens are more replayable to me, despite being shorter experiences. Adventure was a great start for 3D but it just doesn't hold up and Adventure 2 just feels like a an alpha test for the boost era gameplay, sort of like Sonic Advanced 2 to Rush. Adventure does have a much better sense of platforming and sort of psuedo-opennes to it that I wish they'd expand upon. Also, the poorly made drastically different gameplay styles are the silver bullets that make the adventure era games unappealing to me, aside from being plagued with glitches which is not acceptable even in that era.

[Zavok the SpinningSilver]

Argh, these pairings make my choices so much harder to make...

 

If we're going by marathoning cutscenes like nobody's business story preference, then SA1/2. Without a doubt. SA2's headache inducing plot-holes aside, those two games had much more engaging stories to me. Colours' comedy being unfunny (aside from a few select lines and the entirety of Eggman's scenes / PA Announcements) distracted the hell out of me, and Generations' plot was almost as empty as the White World.

 

Gameplay is harder to judge. You see, I deeply enjoyed Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Gamma in SA1, and I would replay the Sonic / Shadow stages in SA2 in a heartbeat. But that was only 2/3's and 1/3 of the games respectively. and when I go back to replay a game, I want to feel like replaying. I do this with Unleashed. I love replaying every level, except for Eggmanland. With Colours and Generations, I feel that pull to replay the levels much more deeply than with SA1/2. Of course, as I only have a PS3/360, I can only really speak in the case of Generations, but still. I love both styles of gameplay, but there's more levels that I feel the desire to replay with the latter two as opposed to the Adventure series.

 

There's my two cents.

[Kuzu]

Where's the Sonic 3 and Knuckles option?

 

 

Anyway, I'm going to echo what Blue Blood and Mark said, while I do consider Colors and Generations the better made game, my preference lies within the Adventure series. Mainly because the Adventure games are honestly what I want out of a Sonic game and its a shame the style never had a chance to really develop before being canned. 

 

Both of them have heart, and felt like a natural extension of what the classic series established. The gameplay sadly wasn't very good; generally only Sonic's levels were the best to play as, and he only encompassed a portion of the game. Everyone else's levels range from tedious to downright awful, and it doesn't help that the game forces you to play as them for 100% completion. I'm not against alt. playstyles but I really wish they play tested them more and try to tune out what works from what doesn't.

 

 

 

Colors and Generations, for me, just lack a certain spark and prevents me from liking them like everyone else does. It doesn't help that half of the content in these games is stuff that nobody asked for, and could do without. Nobody asked for Sonic only, we just wanted the characters to not play like ass. Nobody asked for these Saturday Morning Cartoon esc plots, we just wanted a plot that wasn't overly convoluted. Nobody asked for all the Mario influence, etc. etc. All these things have just really soured my mood towards the series, so much that I've just decided to take a break and move on so I don't become bitter. I will give credit where credit is due however, the games are well made and fun to just pick up and play if you don't care about any of the other shit I mentioned. They did cut all of the extra baggage of the series and made something that works and plays well. And for some people that's just good enough I suppose. I don't agree with it, but I can't deny its worked.

 

 

I would definitely love a game collaborated with the good of each game in mind tho.

[Soniman]

In 10 years I don't think id come out thinking less of Colors and Gens if I replayed them like I did with the Adventure games so i guess those? They's probably the only two games in the series (exception are the classics and occasional handheld games) that I can say are good games without feeling a twinge of uncertainty about it. The gameplay is actually fun and isn't filled with glitches, the writing (at least in the case of Colors and SLW) actually made me give something of a shit about the characters again, and make me find them a lot more "real" then in past games. As for SA1/2? SA1 is a game that gets a pass because a lot of its faults I can forgive. SA2 is just a blah game now, the plot is dumb, the music isn't impressive...its just not that great of a game to me. And while Im all for world building and stuff, I feel like SA1 did it right while SA2 did it completely wrong in every single way, but hey, it was world building so I suppose thats what counts, even if its bad world building (I fucking hate the idea go a "government" and a "president" in Sonic's world, I fail to see how that game was giving any shits towards the establish lore of Sonic at the time). Personally I'm of the camp that thinks Unleashed did a fine job of rebooting Sonic's world and games since have kept it consistent, it's not a matter of "losing identity" it's just creating a new one, which is something a few people won't agree with, but eh. Also Generations actually made me believe each of the levels form the different games could actually exist within the same world thanks to consistent art style given to them set by Unleashed, it didn't feel like a mishmash of art styles, concepts and tones like how it was before (someone needs to explain to me how that game of all games shamelessly disregarded the lore because I'm genuinely confused by that one).

 

 

 

It doesn't help that half of the content in these games is stuff that nobody asked for,

 

A statement that made the Adventure series a series not fondly remembered by most tbh.

 

And actually quite a few people DID ask for Sonic only back in the day when Sonic Team wouldn't stop shoving unwanted shit into the games and it was a stigma that was implanted on the concept of playable characters at the time .

[SilentDoom]

Colours/Generations and it's for one simple reason.  They are considerably more consistent.

 

With SA1/2 (though 2 to a much greater extent than 1), I can only enjoy a small fraction of the experience.  In SA1, Sonic's levels are probably the only ones I find fun and engaging.  Tails and Knuckles' levels are kind of okay, but the other three characters range from dull and mindless (Gamma) to outright terrible (Amy and Big).  This is even more prominent in SA2 as the Tails/Knuckles/Eggman/Rouge levels are pretty much all rubbish barring Eggman's Cosmic Fall.  To add onto that, the level design of the Sonic and Shadow levels is inferior to the level design of the Sonic levels in SA1.  

 

I don't feel this way about both Colours and Generations.  There aren't entire sections of the game where I feel "why am I playing this, this is a chore".  I'll feel that about a level or two here and there (particularly in Colours), but not about entire sections of the game.  Sure both games could definitely be better overall, but I enjoy playing them more than the Adventure games.

[Kuzu]

A statement that made the Adventure series a series not fondly remembered by most tbh.

 

And actually quite a few people DID ask for Sonic only back in the day when Sonic Team wouldn't stop shoving unwanted shit into the games and it was a stigma that was implanted on the concept of playable characters at the time .

 

The Adventure games, when they came out, we're critically acclaimed. The first one was the best selling game on the Dreamcast, and the latter made player's choice on the Gamecube. Not being fondly remembered by a few classic purists does not change this, especially when for a long time before the fanbase decided they apparently sucked, they were considered the pinnacle of 3D Sonic.

 

 

And did those people ever give credible reason on why Sonic should be the only playable character? No, it was just a kneejerk reaction to all the shitty gameplay, with no substance whatsoever. So instead of doing the smart thing and fixing the problem, Sonic Team just decided to get rid of anything that's not Sonic, hence why we're in this rut in the first place. Claiming that Sonic being the only playable character would make the games better is a fallacy because even when we had Sonic only(Unleashed) the game still kinda sucked, and they never realized that how many characters around was never the problem in the first place, but how they played.

[Narukami07]

Personally I'm of the camp that thinks Unleashed did a fine job of rebooting Sonic's world and games since have kept it consistent, it's not a matter of "losing identity" it's just creating a new one, which is something a few people won't agree with, but eh.

 

I 100% agree with this by far. 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

(I fucking hate the idea go a "government" and a "president" in Sonic's world, I fail to see how that game was giving any shits towards the establish lore of Sonic at the time).

There was absolutely nothing in the established lore at the time that excluded the idea a government or a president in Sonic's world anymore than the idea of water gods and spirits or even fucking police officers shooting said water god in the first Adventure, or all the other stuff that came after either titles. Nevermind the connections in SA2 of characters like Gerald and Maria to Eggman, or the Ark's Core being modeled after the Emerald Shrine on the floating island, Eggman reading the newspaper of Tails saving Station Square from Eggman's nuke in the last game, or the damn Artificial Chaos' roaming the corridors of the ARK having any any shit towards the established lore while bringing in new elements.

 

How simply the idea of such things existing in Sonic's world is a bad thing or an example of bad world building comes off more as hating for the sake of hating than anything critical, especially when similar parallels were used in Unleashed with Village elders being head of the established location in specific places along with a bunch of other stuff it brought in while hardly giving a shit towards any of the established lore either, so I fail to see how it's a bad thing for one idea while another gets a pass for being different in name (and I happen to like both and think they can co-exist).

[Nepenthe]

Also Generations actually made me believe each of the levels form the different games could actually exist within the same world thanks to consistent art style given to them set by Unleashed, it didn't feel like a mishmash of art styles, concepts and tones like how it was before (someone needs to explain to me how that game of all games shamelessly disregarded the lore because I'm genuinely confused by that one).

 

It's not that Generations disregards lore; it's that Generations disregards contextualizing anything within the game itself or within the actual canon, of never answering "why?", which has the effect of: A.) Making the levels feel as much like a disjointed level pack as possible, B.) Diluting the adrenaline of the bosses present by ignoring the significance they had in their original games, and C.) Wasting all of the potential they had for fun dialogue through the use of clever references and interactions between the main cast, in turn making the story that much more joyless. Generations basically throws a bunch of stuff at you without giving any reason for it to have been chosen to exist in the game. You could swap out every level and boss and essentially change very little about its core. Consistent art style aside, it's nostalgic pandering at the worst.

 

My feelings extend towards Colors too. I barely have a reason to care about anything going on because the game concludes that caring is for crazy people. But since other platformers make the same assumption, it's not an inherent flaw with the overall game design. I was willing to buy into the "gameplay over story" bit for both titles, but the gameplay doesn't make up for this dearth in the franchise's usual storytelling. Boring blocky platforming, okay-ish classic gameplay, and modern gameplay a few notches below the original in speed and design ultimately left me cold, especially in an era of Rayman Origins and Legends which are infinitely replayable due to the sheer quality of the control and level design even at the expense of things like story and sensible art design. So in the end, the nixed narrative and okay gameplay has simply left me wanting another Adventure game, particularly one in the vain of the first. It provided me a story that became interesting with context and intersecting viewpoints that made sense, and gameplay and levels that were atypically designed in part to service the narrative and make a cohesive world. I want that shit back ASAP.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I'd say that's what happens when you have a fandom and media that overreacts over niches like characters simply being around, the existence of storytelling in this franchise, and the idea of having variety, but it's not like Sonic Team didn't set themselves up to lead to this.

 

The problem is that people keep thinking this and refuse to see or think of alternatives or look at series that have done these things right among other things.

[Marcello]

I prefer the Adventure games. And I wish they'd go back to something much more like it. It's really the way I think 3D Sonic should be. Just have different characters not play so different than Sonic.

 

 

 C.) Wasting all of the potential they had for fun dialogue through the use of clever references and interactions between the main cast, in turn making the story that much more joyless.

 

I'm still disappointed that there wasn't a joke about how starting levels tend to be so similar. Tails just straight up said the Green Hill didn't seem familiar even though he's been in plenty of lookalikes.

[Crash]

I would honestly have to say Generations. The game is very fun to play even if a little bit short and although it is in fact flawed I still don't really mind. The Modern Sonic stages are extremely fun as are the Classic Sonic ones. I thought Classic Sonic was very fun to play as and I really liked the power ups you could get in order to play the stages differently.