Why is Sonic Heroes unpopular?

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I am honestly genuinely curious if I'm the only one who'd end up stuck at Sonic's Rail Canyon on PS2 because of a nasty bug in which without fail, everytime you tried to grind through one of the loops, Sonic and co would just completely drop like rocks off the rails and plummet to their death mid-way through the loop. 

[UpCDownCLeftCRightC]

I played heroes when it first came out, on xbox. And its biggest crime was the exact feeling I had when I first beat the game, which was that it was a pretty boring slog. It was the first main series sonic game that I could say that about, and the reviews and opinions of the game at that time matched that. 

Others have already stated the obvious in terms of crappy controls and the like so I wont retread that. But yes, even compared to adventure 2 which forced you to play through large amounts of awful segments to get to the good parts, heroes was worse. Adventure 2 for all its flaws, had portions of the game that were very fun and memorable, which is why it has its legions of obsessive defenders today. Adventure 1 at least had the excuse of the limitation of its time; for what it wanted to accomplish, it's quite difficult given that the game was being developed in 1996, when 3D games were still very very new in the mainstream, and it was arguably SEGA's most ambitious title in their history. Heroes has no such excuses or saving graces. Not the worst game, but not good. Strikingly similar to forces, actually, in its overall impression. Very forgettable for most.

[SonicLegends]

It's rather strange, back when I was a kid I hated Heroes a lot because of the amount of rage quits I would have for it due to the slipperiness and I could never get past the Team Dark Metropolis lava section. However now it's actually my favorite Dreamcast Era (according to Generations anyway) Sonic game in terms of gameplay because all the teams essentially play the same without having something like the mech shooting or treasure hunting in the Adventure games.

 

The problem with the game is that you really and I mean REALLY got to understand the system of the game works for the team types especially when other types can be more useful now when you get those power up orbs for them. Like for example when starting a level I'll use the speed character to go through it fast obviously but when I come across enemies I'll switch to the power character to take them out fast or if they're in the air use the flight character to bring them down followed by going back to the power. Back when I was younger I mainly used the speed character and that's what made the game so rage inducing for me looking back because here's the thing I think if you're playing from a Adventure style mindset where you can spam stuff like the homing attack and such then Heroes punishes you for it especially when you haven't powered up. This is even brought up as a problem as SomecallmeJohnny had mentioned when he himself used like Knuckles or Omega to spam their ground attacks only to end up falling off the stages because your character slided too much. Now that I have a better understanding of the controls I instead just tap the button so much and not hold down on the analog stick (because they're moving on their own anyway) or I'll as he mentioned use a air attack. 

 

But yeah it's now one of my favorite Sonic games of all time now that I understand the mechanics a lot better. If I could compare it to a game I hated a lot back then when I was younger but now older and love it so much more than it's predecessor than it would have to be Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories as it too has a lot of hate for how you can't just spam your moves in that.

 

Edit: Lastly those Special Stages should absolutely never return. Strangely didn't have much problem with them this time because I learned that tapping instead of holding down for a boost in that helps a lot more, but even then they just weren't fun at all.

[superman43]

Tbh I can see where the problem apart from the controls is. Think of it. How is it that Seaside Hill and Ocean Palace have alternative routes, but others don't. I assume the guy that worked on the level design with Iizuka got ill after the Ocean Palace. 

By the way, that's the reason why Seaside Hill/Ocean Palace was chosen for Generations. Least buggy and actually the only interesting levels in Heroes. 

I would say the best Iizuka-only creation is Mystic Mansion (T. Sonic/Dark). Has the least bottomless pits amount in the late game, though putting the 2 most tedious sections at the end is shitty. But it at least makes sense as a not-open level. 

[Kittea]

On 11/10/2018 at 4:44 PM, Plasme said:

It has a lot of flaws obviously. You have to play game four times to unlock the final boss, the controls are terrible, it focuses too much on knocking down health bars and there's a lot of trial and error and bottomless pits. I certainly don't think the game is great.

You pretty much summed it up on your own. This is the general consensus from what I've seen over the years and while I like the game I understand why others really don't care for it.

14 hours ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

I am honestly genuinely curious if I'm the only one who'd end up stuck at Sonic's Rail Canyon on PS2 because of a nasty bug in which without fail, everytime you tried to grind through one of the loops, Sonic and co would just completely drop like rocks off the rails and plummet to their death mid-way through the loop. 

No you're not. There's a reason I always switched to using flight whenever I got to those sections lol

[pastelspectre]

i can admit the game has it's fair share of flaws. the controls aren't great and going through the same levels again basically (but with slightly different missions) is a bit of a chore, but as a child i enjoyed the hell out of the game. heck, i still do. as janky as the controls are, i still enjoy it a lot. the characters are lovable and although the story is fairly simple for all the characters and teams, i dunno. it's probably my nostalgia clouding it but i still enjoy it a lot. getting all the chaos emeralds was a chore for me and something i couldnt even manage to do until a few years ago.

but..eh i dunno. i enjoy this game still a lot.

[DabigRG]

Play the Stage Select as Team Rose, keep Big in Battle Formation whenever possible, and just hold the dash button in the special stages.

[Treacher]

The game is personally one of my more favored 3D Sonic titles, even if I had the PS2 version. Love the ideas within the game, which unfortunately is brought down by its execution. A big example, personally is how cumbersome the flight formation in general is. Understandable given they're meant to carry their team mates around, but the sensation of flight is anything but graceful or fun, which is exasperated by the power core system so their flight time and attacks are limited until you get more and their unique attacks are rarely used last resort measures more than anything, save for Charmy's flowers (which is dodgy since present team mates will likely make you thunder shoot a few times before executing it). The introduced kill rooms bog things down in addition to shooting targets or hitting switches. And perhaps most noticeably, the physics aren't too tight-forget about blasting and bouncing your way through, you're getting a one way ticket to a bottomless pit at the game's discretion, especially if you're in the 3rd zone's casino or switching rails at full speed, prompting you to switch to power or flight to *maybe* have a second shot of staying alive.

[Adamis]

I've finished the japanese version on the GameCube two months ago, and despite some issues with the controls, I still had a lot of fun, and I still love the story and characters.

For me, the best version is the GC one. I could never finished the PS2 version after the smoothness of the GC one. The Xbox version has some prettier effects, but that's it.

One of the best Sonic games in my opinion.