Sonic the Hedgehog Appreciation Thread

[LarryTyphoid]

For instance, when Tails refers the ARK as the first "Bernoulli spherical space colony" in SA2. what the hell fluids dynamics has to do with spacecraft spherical models smh

This example's just a mistranslation rather than them trying and failing to make Tails sound smart; in the Japanese script, he says "Bernal sphere", which is fitting enough. Somehow "Bernal sphere" became "Bernoulli spherical".

I think the Jimmy Neutron kind of writing really got bad in Sonic Colors. Then in Lost World he's straight-up calling himself a scientist for some reason. Really gay.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

An update for Sonic Frontiers just dropped. It adds an unlockable spin dash and the option to turn off air deceleration (meaning your jumps can actually carry momentum). The spin dash requires you to S rank a bunch of new challenges that the update also added, so I don't know if it's good to control (though I hear it's basically a reskinned boost like the spin dash from Lost World, the only difference being that it's faster and more powerful), but the option to disable air deceleration is awesome. The air deceleration was my biggest problem with Frontiers in terms of gameplay, because it felt like the game was spitting in your eye every time you pressed the jump button with how hard your speed gets nerfed. With this option, Frontiers is almost SA1-tier in terms of how hard you can break levels with big jumps, which is fun. Now I think it actually has better controls than any Sonic game since SA2.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

Also: new Superstars footage from a Japanese livestream in which they do a full playthrough of the first zone.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

lol

 

[LarryTyphoid]

If you pair Knuckles with Amy in Sonic Advance 3, he can spindash up walls.



Very cool, and pretty much exclusive to this game since I've never seen it recreated in any fangame. I'd love to see this in a game with more faithful Genesis-style physics, since SA3's are a little weird with the crazy air acceleration and the inability to maintain vertical momentum on enemy/capsule bounces; the latter being particularly unfortunate, since Knuckles usually can exploit that to an insane degree by gliding right before colliding with the enemy, sending you flying way high, as seen here in Advance 1:



Combine these two mechanics and you'd have peak Knuckles gameplay.

 

[Drowed]

I won't lie that I'm still butthurt that the team that made Mania didn't have the opportunity to create an entire new Sonic game with only new zones. I have no doubt that it would be a phenomenal game. That said, I'm optimistic about Superstars.

In an ideal world, what I'd like to see is a game that imagines what a 2D Sonic game created for the Sega Saturn would look like. With bigger and more detailed sprites, something like a step up from what Knuckles' Chaotix was. Unfortunately that will never happen, at least not in an official Sega game. At this point I'll consider myself satisfied if every 3-4 years they release a minimally acceptable game.

Honestly, the best 3D "Sonic" game of the last decade isn't even a Sonic game, it's Spark the Electric Jester 3. The story is an abomination, but who plays a game like that for the story anyway? It's the 3D platformer with the best implementation of inertia I've seen to date.

 

[lightbane]

I would like that SEGA remembers that there are other characters besides the blue rat, so that we get a say Tails-focused game. Or hell, I would take a Silver game or even a Shadow 2 one. It would be the perfect chance for experimenting, make up new villains, do whatever with the gameplay, and mess with the story without worrying about lore.
Chances of that happening nowadays are zero though.

 

[GhostCow]

I would like that SEGA remembers that there are other characters besides the blue rat, so that we get a say Tails-focused game. Or hell, I would take a Silver game or even a Shadow 2 one. It would be the perfect chance for experimenting, make up new villains, do whatever with the gameplay, and mess with the story without worrying about lore.
Chances of that happening nowadays are zero though.

They stopped focusing on other characters because fans threw a fit about it for years. It is impossible to make the Sonic fanbase happy

 

[lightbane]

I think they stopped because of Sanic 06. Shadow game was the previous year IIRC. After Sanic 06, everyone but Sonic slowly but surely lost their personality*, becoming glorified cheerlanders, with the exception of Sonic Generations and the portable games.
Sonic Boom was an attempt at a reboot, but SEGA fucked up everything.

*For what's worth, Frontiers tries to restore it somewhat, but it is a bit too overdramatic, if not outright schizo, when Tails tries to address his inconsistent personality... By saying he's inconsistent, word for word. Kek.

 

[Drowed]

The issue with the Sonic fanbase is essentially the same issue with most other fanbases: you have the 10% retards who make loud noises seeming to be the majority, and you have devs who have no idea what they're doing and why their games were successful in the first place. (Often because the team that made the game exist disintegrated over time.) In Sega's case, much of what has happened to game production in recent decades came from its purchase by the Sammy Corporation. This video below takes a look at the issue, and shows the overlap between Sega's purchase and the problems with their franchises.



The point is, the general feeling of many fans was that the best games in the series were the classic games. Rather than understanding this in the sense that "fans want games that retain the spirit of the series, with vibrant stages, fun gameplay and their own weight and style", what they interpret is that it was enough to put Green Hill in every game and shove Classic Sonic into every possible orifice. As the series became second tier to the company, they weren't really concerned with making quality games, but just making quick money and keeping the franchise relevant. But there have been positive internal changes in recent years, which allows for some level of optimism, and explains recent launches and announcements.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

I would like that SEGA remembers that there are other characters besides the blue rat, so that we get a say Tails-focused game...

Sonic is a budget series at this point. Spin-off games have been very sparse since the 2010s. I think part of this is because DIMPS appears to have stopped working with Sonic Team, DIMPS being responsible for great portable games like the Advance trilogy and the Rush games. After the drastic failure of the Sonic Boom series, a spin-off that had little to do with Sonic Team, I believe Sonic Team are wary of allowing other teams to work with the IP, and are focused on restoring respectability to the brand before branching out again (and even before Sonic Boom, DIMPS already got demoted to making portable adaptations of Sonic Team's main games after Sonic 4 was a flop through no fault of their own). Superstars is an exception, being developed by Arzest, a very controversial move since they developed the infamously terrible Balan Wonderworld, but they're probably getting away with it due to Naoto Ohshima's intimate history with Sonic; this'd be even more true if Yuji Naka was still a part of Arzest and not currently in prison...

That being said, I believe the Knuckles spin-off TV series is still in production, though I don't know if it'll be based on the games or the live-action films. I also have heard that the Sonic Prime series on Netflix is being renewed for another season, and the comic books continue to be trotted out despite IDW's financial troubles. For some reason, Sonic Team are less careful with the IP when it comes to mediums besides gaming. I have absolutely no interest in Sonic material besides games - I have not watched the movies or the TV series and I hope IDW goes bankrupt for letting a bunch of gay faggot Tumblr trannies interact with Sonic - so it's unfortunate. Things might be changing, though; I don't think anybody expected a big release like Superstars so soon after Frontiers, and Frontiers itself was quite successful, so Sonic might be getting a lot more content now that the post-Forces 5 year drought has ended.

 

[lightbane]

^That's a wordy way to say they don't make spin-offs anymore.

he Knuckles spin-off TV series is still in production, though I don't know if it'll be based on the games or the live-action films.

It's my twisted dream that somehow this show has elements from the insane Ken Pender's Knuckles story. It would be amazing to see normies react to the insanity of Penders' comcis.

I have not watched the movies or the TV series

Your loss. The movies are okay, if only because of Jim Carrey. The shows though are a hit-and-miss case. The Japanese show is better skipped though, except for Sonic vs Metal Sonic OVA, which was quite amazing.

and I hope IDW goes bankrupt for letting a bunch of gay faggot Tumblr trannies interact with Sonic - so it's unfortunate.

Not going to happen anytime soon when one of the main writers also works for the games. A reboot for Sonic would do wonders, but it will be a miracle the day that happens.

 

[GhostCow]

Any Sonic fan who hasn't seen SATAM has missed the best writing Sonic has ever had.

 

[Wayward Son]

As much as I want to enjoy it and go back to it every so often, I think SA1 controls so poorly. 2 is significantly better in the controls aspect but then they force you to play through five tails/knuckles/eggman/rouge levels per sonic/shadow level which sucks to me cause sonic/shadow levels are the main attraction for me

 

[LarryTyphoid]

I really hate how the Archie comics seem like they were written by an 80 year old midwesterner, characters using words like "darlin'" or "buster". I mean, just look at this:

I imagine this is Ken Penders's influence. I don't even know how to put it into words, it's like the most cringeworthy possible writing voice taken from Golden Age comic books. The characters' manner of speech is like 50 years out of date. The melodrama comes off awkward and embarrassing instead of fun and endearing like in the games (it helps that the games never had fucking romance).

 

[lightbane]

(it helps that the games never had fucking romance).

Sonic 06. Shadow and Maria (although that one to be fair ended with a bang, heh).
I don't think this has been posted yet:



I tried reading the American comics, but I ended up ditching them for now because of the shit like the one above, and that's not even the worst of the whole thing. I preferred the British comics. Archie should have focused on continuing the setting set by SATAM rather than taking elements of it and ignoring everything else.

 

[Derringer]

The British comic are funny without being embarrassing to read, the most entertaining bits of Ken Pender's trash is the retarded shit that people focused on like the Sonic cuckold cover, Destiny Tails https://sonic.fandom.com/wiki/Titan_Tails, etc.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

Sonic 1 Forever has a golf minigame.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

Sonic Advance is a great game.



This webm showcases a few somewhat advanced maneuvers, like the instant air dash (which you can do by pressing right, jumping, then pressing right again immediately afterwards), the somersault quick stop (Sonic's somersault brings you to a complete stop, even on an inclined surface, allowing you to instantly spin dash afterwards - this can also be done with the other characters' special actions), and the roll lock instashield cancel (you cannot control your character mid-air if you jump while rolling, but Sonic can cancel the control lock with an instashield - this can also be done in Sonic 3K). Advance 1 in particular has a lot of little quirks like these. I've gotten a lot better at this game recently since doing some time attack competition with other anons on the /vg/ Sonic thread.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

 

[LarryTyphoid]

This is the first time the Sonic cast has looked good in 3D since Generations. No nasty puppet Amy, no retarded looking Knuckles with a giant forehead, no jarring fur texture or gross looking lips, and an Eggman that's actually expressive and somewhat menacing. They're not gonna talk so there's not gonna be any shitty Studiopolis voice cast either with tired old man Eggman, 40 year old Sonic, Karen Amy, or Redditor Tails. And since there's no dialogue, there's no Ian Flynn on the writing staff inserting retarded references and cringe fanfic dialogue.

 

[Ash]

I played some Sonic 2 multiplayer the other day. Super high quality slept on multiplayer gaming right there, well, except for the frame rate drops when losing large amounts of rings. Such a shame there is only 3 stages and then the shitty bonus stage.

 

[Alex]

(...)

Did Robotnik hit the gym or something?

 

[LarryTyphoid]

I played some Sonic 2 multiplayer the other day. Super high quality slept on multiplayer gaming right there, well, except for the frame rate drops when losing large amounts of rings. Such a shame there is only 3 stages and then the shitty bonus stage.

Mania has the exact same multiplayer from Sonic 2, but with more levels and different character abilities. Adventure 2's multiplayer is also similar, but in a 3D game.

I've heard all 3 Sonic Advance games have great multiplayer with both co-op and competitive modes, but you'd need two GBAs, two copies of a game, a link cable, and someone willing to play with you, so those have been pretty much lost to time.

Hopefully Superstars will be the best multiplayer experience yet in Sonic considering their focus on it. I'm definitely inviting some buddies over to play it when it comes out.

 

[LarryTyphoid]