What do you like about the Sonic the Hedgehog Franchise?

[Rabbitearsblog]

So, while the franchise had its ups and downs over the years, it's great to be a bit positive about the franchise and think about some of the things that you do like about the franchise.  So, what do you like about the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise?  It can be a specific game you liked, the characters you liked, a gameplay style, anything you liked about the games.

Here's what I liked about the franchise:

• I like the fact that Sonic is a free-spirited character who plays by his own rules, but is still willing the save the world whenever he can.  It really separated him from other video game characters and his positive personality was quite an inspiration for the audience.
• I really liked Sonic and Tails' friendship with each other.  Even though in recent years, their friendship isn't quite as elaborated on as it once was, it's great to hear that Sonic practically treats Tails like his little brother and it was this aspect of their relationship that I loved the best.
• I really enjoyed the Sonic Adventure games.  I think that they did a fantastic job at expanding more on the Sonic lore, as well as giving us an open world gameplay style that was quite unique to the franchise at the time.
• I just love how creative the world is.  I mean, what other video game franchise have you seen that features a blue talking hedgehog who goes through all of these wacky zones to grab some Chaos Emeralds?
• The fact that we get to play as Super Sonic in the final level in most of the games is quite a rewarding experience!  This is an aspect of the games that I really miss and I wish that the current games incorporate Super Sonic a bit more, as well as getting the Chaos Emeralds back into the games.
• I really loved the Chao Garden segments in the Adventure games.  Not only are the Chao such cute creatures, but I always loved doing side quests in the games.
• In the older games, I loved the fact that you were able to play multiple characters and not just Sonic.  What I miss so much about the Sonic games is being able to play as Tails, Knuckles, Amy and many other characters.

[Leebo4]

I love the character of sonic, a wise cracking cool guy who nonetheless is heroic and willing to stand up against evil and protect his friends

 

the games I have played 2d and 3D are fun

 

Tails is a good partner with Sonic

 

plus I like the adaptations like the movie, comics and SatAM giving their own flavour to the franchise

[Azure Blue Tori]

The concept of a speed-focused platformer, translating Marble Madness style momentum to reflex-based Mario style precision challenges, is still something unique in the grand scheme of gaming. Sure, there's a good reason why: these two styles tend to conflict, especially in 3D, and SEGA doesn't always do a good job of managing that to put it mildly. Still, when I pick up a Sonic game, I have trouble imagining anything quite like it.

I also like that Sonic was one of the first platformer mascots to merge gameplay and anime. Sure, that's a large part of the reason why he's seen as "cringe" by the portion of players who demand games be taken seriously, but it made Sonic Adventure such a milestone in my personal gaming history between the storytelling, the world, and having pretty much every pop music trend in the soundtrack while still being distinctly Sonic. It was also nice that they made Sonic this seemingly carefree dude that inspires everyone to do their best just by being himself and constantly seeking the next adventure. Sure, it's mostly shonen anime clichés, but it's still a load of fun since I haven't declared myself too old for that yet.

The way I see it, Sonic is like the video game equivalent of a long-running comic book series. Sure, it often hits very low lows, but people stick with them because they like the idea of Sonic, or Naruto, or Spider-Man.

[Cosmos Rogue]

I love the flow state the classic Sonic games induce. The momentum Sonic builds up at high speed causes every move you make to influence the next as you need to adjust your speed for each jump. When you're on your game, everything feels like one fluid action.

[Rabbitearsblog]

1 hour ago, Azure Blue Tori said:

The concept of a speed-focused platformer, translating Marble Madness style momentum to reflex-based Mario style precision challenges, is still something unique in the grand scheme of gaming. Sure, there's a good reason why: these two styles tend to conflict, especially in 3D, and SEGA doesn't always do a good job of managing that to put it mildly. Still, when I pick up a Sonic game, I have trouble imagining anything quite like it.

I also like that Sonic was one of the first platformer mascots to merge gameplay and anime. Sure, that's a large part of the reason why he's seen as "cringe" by the portion of players who demand games be taken seriously, but it made Sonic Adventure such a milestone in my personal gaming history between the storytelling, the world, and having pretty much every pop music trend in the soundtrack while still being distinctly Sonic. It was also nice that they made Sonic this seemingly carefree dude that inspires everyone to do their best just by being himself and constantly seeking the next adventure. Sure, it's mostly shonen anime clichés, but it's still a load of fun since I haven't declared myself too old for that yet.

The way I see it, Sonic is like the video game equivalent of a long-running comic book series. Sure, it often hits very low lows, but people stick with them because they like the idea of Sonic, or Naruto, or Spider-Man.

I agree about Sonic merging anime and gameplay.  That anime opening in Sonic CD is one of my favorite openings for the series!

[batson]

When it comes to video games, I have the attention span of an ant, so a speedy game with near constant action is my cup of tea. Also, platform games are my favorite genre by far, so a speedy platformer is basically the ideal kind of game for me. Due to this, I'm usually able to enjoy even the sub-par Sonic platform games (with exceptions of course).

[Rabbitearsblog]

7 hours ago, batson said:

When it comes to video games, I have the attention span of an ant, so a speedy game with near constant action is my cup of tea. Also, platform games are my favorite genre by far, so a speedy platformer is basically the ideal kind of game for me. Due to this, I'm usually able to enjoy even the sub-par Sonic platform games (with exceptions of course).

That's what I love about the Sonic games too!  I just love how fast you can run through the stages!

[Wildcat]

First and foremost I love Sonic himself. His design that’s both cool and cute looking. His personality that’s strong, adventurous, fast and heroic. That he cares about others and doing good. I love everything about the character alone.

The games of course are fun (colorful platformers have always been my favorite type). The different elements like the chaos emeralds and Robotniks machines. I’ve always loved robots. Robots are popular in all entertainment but it’s still a core element with the series.

The music is another thing. A lot of it just sounds so good and motivating. Including those with lyrics.

[Rabbitearsblog]

5 hours ago, Wildcat said:

First and foremost I love Sonic himself. His design that’s both cool and cute looking. His personality that’s strong, adventurous, fast and heroic. That he cares about others and doing good. I love everything about the character alone.

The games of course are fun (colorful platformers have always been my favorite type). The different elements like the chaos emeralds and Robotniks machines. I’ve always loved robots. Robots are popular in all entertainment but it’s still a core element with the series.

The music is another thing. A lot of it just sounds so good and motivating. Including those with lyrics.

I always believed that the Sonic Adventure series had the best music with lyrics in the franchise!  I still have Sonic and Knuckles' theme songs stuck in my head after hearing it all of these years!

[King Conne]

Even if  I'm fond of SONIC's gameplays, I'm crazy aboit the character design and the lore of the series!!...
Yuji Uekawa is a great artist, and ancient civilizations (especially echidnas) make me daydream!!...
And Dr Eggman is a wonderful ennemy (with his Japanese voice as far as I am concerned, because with his American or French voices, he sounds like an ogre and not like the unbelievable character he is)!!...

[Rabbitearsblog]

32 minutes ago, King Conne said:

Even if  I'm fond of SONIC's gameplays, I'm crazy aboit the character design and the lore of the series!!...
Yuji Uekawa is a great artist, and ancient civilizations (especially echidnas) make me daydream!!...
And Dr Eggman is a wonderful ennemy (with his Japanese voice as far as I am concerned, because with his American or French voices, he sounds like an ogre and not like the unbelievable character he is)!!...

I also found the character designs of the characters to be quite unique to video games in general!  I especially loved the designs of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles!

[SBR2]

I like Sonic as a character as others have said.

I'm more partial to the lighthearted stories than the darker ones with SA1 and Unleashed striking the right balance of how serious I want these games to ever get.

I love the high speed thrill ride they can feel like.

[Rabbitearsblog]

1 hour ago, SBR2 said:

I like Sonic as a character as others have said.

I'm more partial to the lighthearted stories than the darker ones with SA1 and Unleashed striking the right balance of how serious I want these games to ever get.

I love the high speed thrill ride they can feel like.

I also liked the storylines of SA1 and Sonic Unleashed as they are not too dark (well, they both have their dark moments).

[FlameStream]

I'll be the one chiming for the kind of fans that don't care much about the gameplay but more for the potential narrative and world building, which has taking a back seat for quite a while. The shounenesque SA2, with all the character nuances and build-up is something that's pretty treasured.

[Wildcat]

19 hours ago, Rabbitearsblog said:

I always believed that the Sonic Adventure series had the best music with lyrics in the franchise!  I still have Sonic and Knuckles' theme songs stuck in my head after hearing it all of these years!

I have the official Soundtrack. Got it back in the Dreamcast days when it was still new.

I think most of the games have great music. Generations and Lost World are really the ones that didn’t get themes. Colors, Unleashed and Forces all had songs to specifically go along with them. Secret Rings, Black Knight and TSR had some too.

[Solister]

While this might not be the main point of the topic, but I love that Sonic have lots of great games, and it's easily my franchise with the best game content out there. I just don't really get why fans don't seem to value this and instead keep mocking the bad games.

Sonic 1, 2, CD, 3&K, Adventure, Riders, a bit of the GBA games and a bit of Heroes and Unleashed, Generations, SASRT and Mania. These are up there with my favorite games ever, top 50 for sure (And why not 3&K my favorite of all time?). So as much ironic this might sound like, I still like Sonic because of its quality.

I also like the character personalities, like how easy it is to recognize Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Eggman the same way you can relate with their ambitions/desires. I also really enjoy the series mostly tries to keep family friend (ahem, Shadow the Hedgehog), and the only time they didn't, it hadn't ended well.

[Rabbitearsblog]

4 hours ago, Solister said:

While this might not be the main point of the topic, but I love that Sonic have lots of great games, and it's easily my franchise with the best game content out there. I just don't really get why fans don't seem to value this and instead keep mocking the bad games.

Sonic 1, 2, CD, 3&K, Adventure, Riders, a bit of the GBA games and a bit of Heroes and Unleashed, Generations, SASRT and Mania. These are up there with my favorite games ever, top 50 for sure (And why not 3&K my favorite of all time?). So as much ironic this might sound like, I still like Sonic because of its quality.

I also like the character personalities, like how easy it is to recognize Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Eggman the same way you can relate with their ambitions/desires. I also really enjoy the series mostly tries to keep family friend (ahem, Shadow the Hedgehog), and the only time they didn't, it hadn't ended well.

I agree! It's sad that most fans just talk about the bad games and not about the games they actually liked.  I also loved Sonic 3 and Knuckles the best out of the classic era as the storytelling with that game was quite epic at the time and it was fun playing as Sonic, Tails and Knuckles all at once!

[Boured]

For me its not so much what it is about Sonic, but more about how it helped me discover my love of retro games. I vividly remember spending hours on Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Knuckles Chaotix using the Gens Emulator and having a blast. Though if I had to choose something from the actual series, it'd be just the gameplay (When done right at least).

[SnooPigu]

Im shocked not alot of people dont say the dark themes of the series is a big part of the enjoyment of the series, including shadow and silver.

[Rabbitearsblog]

52 minutes ago, SnooPigu said:

Im shocked not alot of people dont say the dark themes of the series is a big part of the enjoyment of the series, including shadow and silver.

Oh yeah!  That's what I loved the best about the series!  From some bits of Sonic 3 and Knuckles to Sonic Adventure 2, I just loved the dark moments littered throughout this franchise!