What Sonic games + characters deserve more love in your opinion?

[JohnSMan]

I'm sorry if there has already been a topic like this, but I didn't see anything like it in the first few pages on this sub-forum.

The topic is self-explanatory.  This series is always under heavy fire for lots of reasons (whether they are justified or not depends on the person), but which games or characters do you think deserve more love? And why?

I'll start by saying I like Sonic Lost World. I agree that it has a lot of flaws, but I still think it's a fun little game that doesn't deserve to be ranked among the worst games in the series.

As for characters, I like Big the Cat (NOT ironically), and I wish he wasn't hated so much just because of his fishing gameplay in Sonic Adventure.

[superman43]

For me it´s Tails. Basically, he was a playable character in SA1 (racing with Sonic for emerald and some other stuff), SA2 (with mech), Sonic Heroes (team with Sonic and Knuckles), Sonic 06. And then only in Sonic Mania. 

What I feel is that he should get more serious setting for himself, not counting the games Tails Skypatrol and Tails Adventure as it has nothing to do with his presence in Sonic games and the gameplay is different. Classics and Sonic Mania didn´t have really many areas to be just for Tails´ abilities.

[Dr. Detective]

Well that one is obvious for me. Assuredly that'd be the Chaotix, specifically my favorite one that gets hated on the most for being the spirit of fun, childhood, and sugar.

I tend not to go back when it comes to game reception nowadays. I can't be bothered with worrying about what the reception of a game was if too much time has gone by now. I found this out on the SEGA Boards when endless arguments about the Adventure games just kept cropping up, where they parroted the same shit I've heard both for and against the games, over and over again, on repeat with no filter. There wasn't a concerted effort by the staff there to keep things in check like on here, as such I didn't get in those conversations anymore and I realized that if I'm in a position where I'm actively avoiding the majority of the threads on a board, then it's a safe bet that it's time to leave. 

That said, if I had to choose, I feel like Sonic Unleashed did quite a bit of stuff that goes unappreciated nowadays because of the way the werehog debacle went over. That was the last game where it really did feel like they put everything they had into making it.

The advertising for the game was great. Not just excellent normal trailers showcasing the gameplay and the levels but also creative ones like the one where they have this documentary style thing where real life people are trying to spot a "creature" shifting through the woods. They even find a bunch of matted blue fur shedded off the werehog along the ground in it.

There was also Night of the Werehog. Something that to this day remains one of the greatest things I've ever seen them do to support the release of a game. I just watched it again a few days ago and it still holds up really well.

Then there's how the game looked. I still consider it the best looking Sonic game to this day. The detail in the environments of the hubs and the venders with all the different foods from different locations do a lot to make the world feel lived in. The music was phenomenal. The way they managed to design the levels so that they often felt like you were traveling from one area within the country to another was great. How it blended the story and gameplay elements at the end with Eggmanland through the Egg Dragoon to the Dark Gaia boss fight, all while making the action within the gameplay act as though they were integral parts of what was happening within the story instead of just saying "Here's a boss. Fight it."

There's a lot of cool stuff that game does that they just abandoned when Colors and Generations came around. So there is apart of me that does sort of lament that the werehog being there soured it's reception compared to those. Had they found a way around the werehog playing the way it did so that it functioned more like a Sonic character (and removed the medal collecting system) my immediate reaction to seeing Colors probably would have been similar to how some are viewing Forces right now.

[Osmium]

Sonic CD is a brilliantly designed game that works within its own rules that make it one of the most fun Sonic games. The stages here are some of my favourite in the entire series due to their design philosophies of almost always allowing you to backtrack and if you think about what you're doing you can reach every nook and cranny of them. They are very vertical levels with pathways that intersect regularly, and everywhere has something to see.  Exploration is the top priority here and this is the reason for always being able to backtrack and no bottomless pits as you are expected to be flung all over the place, in all directions. CD feels like a primitive precursor to open world games as you can go straight to the end and not look back but you aren't enjoying everything the stage has to offer.

Unlike most other Sonic games, this one makes you earn your speed in the most extreme way possible, as you are expected to become intimate with how these stages work, and to expect where something will take you, it's one giant learning experience. You can't just run willy nilly anywhere and expect results, you have to work with what you have on this strange alien planet that seems to be out to hold you back and feel proud when you reach full speed. This is the Mega Drive era Sonic stress and release formula taken to it's extreme, as you have to trudge, work, and make effort to reach your true speed and make your own sensation of flow but bloody hell when you reach that speed. In other mega drive Sonics, this stress and release formula was used mostly to make you work to reach a certain path that had the most natural flow and put in effort to maintain to stay on the path. This game makes you do that just for speed full-stop. Unlike other Sonic games even from this time (bar 1) there is nearly nothing that accelerates you (excepting springs and bumpers but these are only in one direction for a second or less really) automatically. You are expected to build your own velocity and the game isn't going to hold your hand with it. Of course people are going to complain about that and how the game will fight you to create flow since some people expect every Sonic game to be a fucking movie where you push a button, Sonic accelerates at ten thousand miles per hour and a giant "CONGRATULATIONS!!!" appears on the screen. Sonic CD doesn't play that shit and it doesn't build your stupid ego for free. 

Sonic 3 is still better though of course lol. 

[Shaddy Zaphod]

Silver is totally overhated just for his annoying voice and presence in Sonic 06. He needs more love as the incompetent sci-fi dork he truly is.

Also, Rise of Lyric, while still a mediocre and dull game, totally gets more shit than it deserves. I'm honestly amazed anyone can compare it to Sonic 06 for reasons other than "BUT GLITCHES".

[Shadowlax]

As of currently untill folks are regularly playable again

 

Everyone who isn't sonic, when that happens, blaze

[JohnSMan]

16 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

That said, if I had to choose, I feel like Sonic Unleashed did quite a bit of stuff that goes unappreciated nowadays because of the way the werehog debacle went over. That was the last game where it really did feel like they put everything they had into making it.

I know that Sonic Unleashed didn't do well when the game was new, but it seems to receive a lot of love from fans nowadays. I've seen a lot of opinions that say it's the best Sonic game.

Personally I never liked this game, so I can't agree on that.  But I respect their opinions.

[RedFox99]

I think Vanilla needs more love.

[JohnSMan]

I agree, more spotlight for Vanilla would be nice to see!

[RedFox99]

21 minutes ago, JohnSMan said:

I agree, more spotlight for Vanilla would be nice to see!

Maybe have her help out the others with her cooking.

[JohnSMan]

Vanilla the Rabbit's Kitchen Nightmares.

That's a spinoff I would play.

[RedFox99]

4 minutes ago, JohnSMan said:

Vanilla the Rabbit's Kitchen Nightmares.

That's a spinoff I would play.

Maybe it could be like Cooking Mama. Or maybe have a mini-game involving her.

[JohnSMan]

Anyway, I also agree that Silver is not that bad as a character. He just needs to get a haircut.

[Dannymax440]

I enjoy Knuckles in Sonic Boom. I get that most Knuckles fans don't like his idiocy, but I just found him too funny to mind that

Spoiler

Also his feminism moment in "Eggmans anti gravity ray" is priceless

. 

[RedFox99]

39 minutes ago, Dannymax440 said:

I enjoy Knuckles in Sonic Boom. I get that most Knuckles fans don't like his idiocy, but I just found him too funny to mind that

  Reveal hidden contents

Also his feminism moment in "Eggmans anti gravity ray" is priceless

. 

My gripe with him is when his obliviousness causes trouble for others and he doesn't seem to care like in Counterproductive.

[JohnSMan]

I get why Boom Knuckles isn't popular, but as a standalone character, I think he's kinda funny personally. 

[Emerald Chaos]

In terms of games, I think the Advance series as a whole deserves more love. Specifically Advance 1 and 2.

Advance 1 used to be what people called "the real Sonic 4" before Mania, and I think it serves up some interesting alternate ideas for continuing the series. It introduces the air dash, and I can't decide which I like more between the air dash and drop dash (I wonder if some theoretical game could use both of them, they're both used in different ways, so picking which one to do in a given situation could make for a meaningful gameplay choice). It introduces Amy as a playable character in the 2D games very nicely as a more traditional platformer style character. It's well balanced across the board, each character is distinct, but none of them are game breaking.

Advance 2 is a sort of precursor to the "boost" games. But I feel like it has executed the ideas better than any of the boost games have, with boost mode being a reward for building your speed and not interfering with the core Sonic gameplay. Unfortunately Advance 2 isn't as well balanced as Advance 1 is. I feel like there's little reason to play as a character that's not Sonic or Cream, Amy being a nerfed version of Sonic is especially disappointing with how well she was implemented in Advance 1 (and considering how difficult she is to unlock). The level design has some problems, in terms of unfair obstacles and linearity. But I think people often overlook the strengths of the mechanics and the things the level design does well, often even if the game is very focused on going in one direction, you have plenty of options in the path you take to do so. I also think the chase bosses are some of the most fun bosses in the series.

The Advance series is full of life and character. Whilst the visuals lack the depth of the Genesis titles, they make up for it by being very animated. I can't understand why these games have never seen an official re-release. In my eyes they're strongly representative of the identity of Sonic at the time of their release.

For characters, I find it hard to pick a specific character who I feel is under appreciated. Maybe someone like Gamma , who I think is the closest the Sonic series has had to really NAILING a dramatic character arc. But I think most people have that opinion anyways. And he was only in one game, so continuing the conversation beyond "This was done well" isn't very meaningful.

[Cayenne]

Sonic Riders, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity and the Babylon Rogues. 

Some little bad ideas aside (the slipstream mechanic is a nuisance and rarely helps, for example), the first two Sonic Riders were fun futuristic racing games with lots of attitude. Jet, Wave and Storm had an interesting story in these titles and their arc in Sonic Universe (Babylon Rising) has my favorite plot from the Sonic comics.