Sonic's 25th: 1991 - 2016 - Here's to Another 25!

[Speeps]

I've got a lot of good memories of Sonic games. The 2000s were pretty oversaturated with shitty games but the ones that I enjoyed stuck out amongst the rest and I still have some really good times with them. I've been following Sonic for like what, 15 years now? I was like, 3-4ish when I played Sonic Jam and R on the Saturn, and before that I was playing the classic games on really bad early-2000s emulators.

I was pretty damn amazed when I was messing around on Sonic Jam and discovered you could lock on Sonic & Knuckles to any of the three other titles. When I found out about S3K it was literally the only thing I played for ages. I learned how to play on Sonic Jam's easy mode, as the game was too hard for me at that age to go through the normal routes. This meant I didn't have to deal with things like the Barrel or Lava Reef's boss. It was awesome though when I went through all the debug cheats and started playing through all the Act 1s I missed out on. (Sonic Jam's easy mode only goes through Act 2 aside from Angel Island, Mushroom Hill and Lava Reef)

I played Adventure and Adventure 2 so much when we got our hands on a copy of those two (Granted, the SA2 was a pirate with the copy protection still enabled so Eggman fell through the floor in cannon's core but still). I also remember freaking over seeing a Sonic Heroes advert and begging my parents for it. (I got it the following Easter) Hell, I even had lots of fun playing 06 when it came out.

And oh god the Chao. I ended up spending so many hours on Chao when I was a kid it was insane. The sole reason I bought a gamecube was so that I could get the features that were only available in SA2B for the Chao. I got through all the races and ended up getting some of the more rarer Chao (Shiny Jewel etc.) along the way and it felt awesome.

For the handhelds I didn't like Sonic Advance 2 that much but loved Advance 3 and Battle. I didn't know about Emerl's skill customisation in my first playthrough, so I beat the entire game spamming Sonic's nerfed ground special and looking back it feels pretty insane, haha. I also played Rush and Rush Adventure and had a pretty good time with them both.

I tend to go through intense phases of fanboying over franchises and then ignoring them when I eventually move onto other things. This usually happens whenever I pick up Kirby or Phoenix Wright, but the difference between them and Sonic is that I've never forgotten about Sonic. I pretty much bought almost every main console game I could get my hands on when a new one came out!

Oh, and I think Webber doing what he does on the social media is awesome and that it's really helping Sonic to get back on his feet after what we've been through lately and I still really enjoy playing a lot of the older games (S3K, SA1 and Unleashed HD are my favourites).

So yeah that's everything good I've got to say about Sonic's 25th for now.

I have some negative things to post here too but I don't want to derail the topic so I'll put the more cynical stuff in this spoiler here if you don't want to read it:

Spoiler

Optimism mode off: Could somebody please help me feel a bit better about this anniversary?

On one hand I wanna celebrate Sonic's 25th like everyone else but on the other hand I haven't had many good memories from the last 5 years of Sonic at all.

I mean, back in 2011 we were seeing Sonic climb out of that disasterous mid-2000s era with games like Colors and Gens that saw Sonic start receiving better ratings, reviews and opinions among fans in years. Hell, even some of the games that weren't received well initially were gradually having more people realise they're not actually that bad later on (Unleashed HD)

We started things with Sonic 4 Ep. II, which was pretty mixed but it was generally seen as better than Ep. I was. But then we got kicked in the balls with that Nintendo deal and it pretty much ended up screwing everything over. Lost World was one of the worst selling main titles in the series, then to top that off that bad sales figure was immediately broken by Sonic Boom and its development gore that almost sent us back to post-06 levels of ridicule.

In the mobile department, Runners is being deemed a failure and getting shut down soon. Although, I couldn't play the mobile games anyway because I didn't have a phone that supported them at the time they came out. It sucks that they never released the Sonic 1/2 remasters on the PC either.

Oh, and those "Adventure games are the worst in the series/Sonic always sucked why would anyone like this pile of shit" people multiplied like a bunch of rats in the last 5 years and it's getting really cringey and disheartening every time I come across those guys because they tend to say the exact same things (usually something they heard from a reviewer, bonus points if it's a YouTube channel) every time.

The first time I ever consciously chose to not get a Sonic game when it came out was Rise of Lyric thanks to the really bad experience I had with Lost World. (I still don't like Lost World mind you but nowadays it's for completely different reasons than what I thought a few years ago). I'm not gonna be buying Fire/Ice when it comes out because it doesn't interest me in the slightest (which I could deal with normally if it wasn't for the lack of main series stuff) and at this point I'm pretty much right now in a mindset where I just want Boom to go away and I didn't even think that bad of AoStH or Penders' Archie. Granted, I don't really like to admit this because I don't want to get eaten alive for it. The cartoon is fine and all but the games are just... ugh. I probably wouldn't hate them that much and just ignore them if not for this near sole focus on Boom Sonic for the last 2-3 years.

Also I know this technically belongs in the 20th timeframe too (2011) but I'm really fucking bitter that SADX is in the Dreamcast Collection.

I still love Sonic games and hate that I'm feeling like this, but I'm practically begging at this point that the 25th game is something really good so I can just put this stuff behind me already.

 

[Solister]

Official timeline video

I'm very happy to live this moment, but I'm sad that it has no game confirmed for this anniversary, but I have hope that we'll have something soon. I can not say so many things that express my feelings, so Happy Birthday Blue Hedgehog! I hope we can reach 50 years of Sonic brand, and yes, I still want to play a lot of Sonic games. And let's wait to see what will occur.

[Emperor Robrainiac]

25 years... damn, didn't realize the Sonic series was around the same age as I am!

But what can i say about the sonic series? Well, I was introduced to the games by my cousin, who was (and still is) a huge gamer. I remember him owning a Sega Genesis and playing through Sonic 2 and Sonic and Knuckles. I actually recall him trying the sonic and knuckles cartage with Sonic 1, and was disappointed to see that it only gave him the Sonic 3 collect the orb mini game.

Not so later on, I discovered Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, which ended up being one of my favorite shows from my childhood, and I also started collecting the Archie Sonic comics as well. I've only seen SatAM once during my childhood, and even though I thought it was pretty sweet, I've come to learn that I enjoyed AoStH more than SatAM.

The first Sonic game I've ever owned was actually a pack of 3: Sonic 3 and Knuckles, Sonic CD and Sonic R for the PC, and I loved playing all three games (Yes, even Sonic R.).

Eventually, I got a Gamecube with Sonic Adventure DX, and later on Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. I find myself prefering the former, just because I just like the brighter and more tropical atmosphere over SA2's darker and gritter design... I can't really get into SA2 to be honest... Well aside from the Chao Garden.

The Sonic Adventure series also introduced me to the Chao. In the sonic fanbase, you either love the chao or hate them. Put me in the boat that loves them. I found it very interesting to take care of them and learning about all the evolution. (Swimming chao are adorable as hell.) I remember reading about how it was possible to make two chao friends and making one a bully... Hell even chao fighting if they befriend another chao. Unfortunately, these all turned out to be unused assets. Thankfully, with a mod for the PC version some of these things were brought back to the game.

But getting off the subject of chao for a bit, I remember being hyped as hell for Sonic 06, only to find out that it was apparently a very terrible game, possibly one that would go down in history among E.T for the Atari and Superman 64. I was so upset to hear about it, that I refused to believe the reviews were accurate and I would pretty much plug my ears and go "Lalalalalala i can't hear you." Over the years, I've more or less come to accept the game is not all that brilliant but I can't help but enjoy it ironically, as I do with Shadow the Hedgehog.

I may not talk about Sonic that much on this board oddly enough, but I do appreciate the series playing as big part of my childhood as other games like Mario, Kirby and Pokemon. With that said, I'm looking forward to seeing what the next game will be bringing.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Completely forgot to post here. I'm doing a musical showcase for Sonic's 25th here: http://taima.tv/r/MOTOBUG

We're up to Sonic Adventure right now!

[CottonCandy]

Geez, 25 years....

Time goes by so fast.

I remember the first time I played a sonic game backed in the very late 90s. I could never forget the day when I first played city escape or the day when sonic generations was revealed. Even at the series worse of times, it was still quite memorable. The day when the sonic boom redesigns were revealed and the internet was going nuts about it was so so glorious. 

Cheers to another 25 years ya blue rodent. 

 

 

[Multikaris]

One of my best current Sonic memories is of me getting a hand-made Blaze doll from my grandmother. For christmas, I wanted and got a Rouge plush to go with it. I now take them practically everywhere.

[SSF1991]

Happy birthday!

Now stop making me fix you chilidogs, Sonic. It's not healthy for either of us.

[FantasticMrRobb]

Happy 25th, true blue! c:

My first game was Sonic Heroes, and it's actually my favorite too. I first learned about Sonic in 2003 and been a fan since then. It's been such a wild ride!

Can't wait to hear about Sonic's anniversary game!