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1Your Mileage May Vary on ''Sonic '06'', but... Uh-oh! Gotta speed up!
2----
3* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
4** The Duke of Soleanna: A caring father concerned for his people, or a selfish and thoughtless man who caused the events of the game? The fact that he was involved in experimenting on Solaris for rather vaguely defined reasons[[note]]The final Story hints the experimentation was done to find a way to revive his wife, Elise's mother, but this is not confirmed.[[/note]] can lend itself to either interpretation. The ''Sonic Encyclo-speed-ia'' would later confirm the "trying to resurrect his wife" hypothesis.
5** Mephiles (and by extension Solaris): Angry at the whole world for daring to experiment on him, or destructive MadGod who always wanted to destroy everything? A third possibility discussed in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqt8Jf2GtSw this]] video is that Mephiles is a TragicVillain who wasn't evil until Shadow [[AndIMustScream locked him in the Scepter of Darkness]] for 10 years in a NiceJobBreakingItHero moment.
6** Do the guards and priests just not ''care'' about Elise's well-being? The fact that their infamous KnightsAndKnaves puzzle and multi-staged test happens during a RaceAgainstTheClock and takes up so much time that [[spoiler:the heroes arrive [[YouAreTooLate just in time to see Elise crash and burn aboard the Egg Carrier]]]] seems to say so.
7** Is Silver an IdiotHero who believed Mephiles because he had no common sense, or was he so desperate to save the future, and so tired of constantly fighting Iblis over and over again, that he started grasping for straws (even if said "straw" was the BigBad)?
8* AmericansHateTingle: While the gameplay is generally agreed upon to be broken and dismal by every region, the ''story'' on the other hand was received far better in Japan than it was in Western regions. This might be because the game leans very heavily on Japanese tropes very commonly found in [=JRPGs=] and other anime, of which neither genre had hit their popularity period just yet in other regions aside from the likes of ''Franchise/DragonBall'' and ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''. Of particular note is the reception of Silver; he is one of the most popular characters in Japan and generally behind Sonic and Shadow in popularity polls and fanart. In America, however, he was way more controversial and it would take quite a few years before reception of him would soften, and even then his popularity pales in comparison to the other fan favorite characters (including the aforementioned Shadow, who himself is a very controversial character in the West).
9* AntiClimaxBoss:
10** [[spoiler:For a god of light and time, Solaris is fairly easy to defeat.]]
11** Both fights against Mephiles are surprisingly easy considering you can just spam the attack button after you fill up and activate Shadow's Chaos Boost.
12** In Silver's story, the battle against Sonic is this, as you can spend the entire match running around, preventing him from using his ridiculously telegraphed Homing Attack, and throwing chairs at him. Very ironic, considering that [[ThatOneBoss the battle against Silver in Sonic's story is anything but]].
13** Despite being listed as ThatOneBoss below, Silver's boss fight is laughably easy if you know what you're doing. You can attack him very quickly during his fight then run away from him, and you're able to interrupt his attacks if you attack him during his "How about this?" voice clip, then once again running away to avoid getting hit (and likely [[GameBreakingBug stunlocked]]) by his [[MemeticMutation infamous]] "IT'S NO USE!" attack.
14* AssPull:
15** Iblis' [[SealedEvilInACan sealing]]. The Duke of Soleanna apparently knew how to seal the ''newborn'' EldritchAbomination into his daughter, with an implausible caveat that she's not allowed to cry. It's also very hard to swallow that Elise learned all these details while unconscious from Solaris' fission (the Duke died, and Shadow and Silver returned to present, all before she woke up), let alone that she didn't shed a tear for a ''decade'', especially after becoming an orphan.
16** [[spoiler:In the Last Story, after Iblis is released from Elise, Mephiles summons all of the Chaos Emeralds to him to help him fuse back with Iblis to become Solaris. The game doesn't foreshadow this ability, nor is it explained why he didn't do this in the first place, since throughout the story, he's hunting down the emeralds one by one like everyone else.]]
17** While well regarded in the end of his story mode, Shadow using the rings in his wrists as power inhibitors (an idea taken from ''Anime/SonicX'') is never established in the story or the previous games before it happens.
18* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: The CG cutscenes (generally at the beginning and end of the stories) look gorgeous, and have aged quite well.
19* [[AwesomeBosses/VideoGames Awesome Bosses]]:
20** [[spoiler:The final fight with Solaris]] is generally agreed upon to be the best fight in the game, despite being very easy overall.
21** The three boss fights against Eggman's giant mechs (Egg Cerebus, Egg Genesis, and Egg Wyvern) are the best-handled parts of the game. The Egg Wyvern in particular is a nice throwback to [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure the Egg Viper fight]].
22* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: This is the one thing that most people genuinely enjoy about this game, which, in true Sonic tradition, [[AwesomeMusic/SonicTheHedgehog is awesome]].
23** Some highlights include Wave Ocean, Aquatic Base, Kingdom Valley, Flame Core, and White Acropolis.
24** Most of the character themes are pretty great too, but the one that stands out is Silver's theme, ''Dreams of an Absolution''. The original song is great, but the remix on the ''Several Wills'' vocal album is something else, especially with Jun Senoue's wonderful guitar work.
25** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eitqtMjr9ys&hd=1 Solaris Phase 2]], an epic remix of Sonic's theme (His World).
26** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yuN39ReV34 The first phase]] deserves mention too, especially with its '''chilling''' OminousLatinChanting.
27** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpZOr-lzewA Egg Cerberus]] is an excellent boss theme: dramatic and fast-paced with a driving beat.
28* [[Awesome/VideoGameLevels Awesome: Video Game Levels]]:
29** Those who did play the game tend to agree that Crisis City stands out greatly among the other levels. So much so that it was the level to represent this game in ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations''.
30** There's a reason why Sonic's version of Kingdom Valley was shown off more than any other level in every publicly shown trailer and demo from throughout the game's development... The visuals in it (particularly in the super speed section) are quite impressive by 2006 standards and the various set pieces it contains are arguably still quite the spectacle.
31** Any stage in which either Sonic carries Elise or when Blaze is playable, mostly due to their unique and fun gameplay styles being largely emphasized and supported by said stages.
32** Blaze's Wave Ocean: a short, well-designed level with arguably the easiest character in the game to control.
33* BaseBreakingCharacter:
34** Silver. Either seen as one of the saving graces of the game with an interesting ability, deep plot, and unique characterization, or seen as one of the many wrong things with it for being an idiot {{Jerkass}} with broken gameplay.
35** Is Mephiles the series' shining KnightOfCerebus and an entertaining [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] villain who uses the game's creepy graphics to [[NightmareFuel good effect]], or a flat villain whose plot made no sense and only gets as far as he does because everyone else was holding the IdiotBall? [[spoiler:And is his killing of Sonic an effective showcase of how evil he is, or a cheap, out-of-nowhere twist done for shock value?]]
36** Doctor Eggman's incarnation. Unlike other games, the character was redesigned so he doesn't clash with the realistic humans of Soleanna; but by doing so, he no longer [[TheArtifact resembles a human egg]] (instead being only mildly overweight at most), and is portrayed as [[AdaptationalPersonalityChange serious and without most of his usual comical attributes]]. While many fans understandably hate him alongside the game he is part of, the game's incarnation has some fans, with his design in particular finding his way in the fan art section of ''Sonic and the Black Knight''. [[{{Narm}} The fans who liked the realistic design wished he was called Robotnik instead of Eggman, though]].
37* BetterAsALetsPlay: Watching others play the game in rage and break the game to oblivion is considered to be far more entertaining than to actually play it. For this reason, the game is a popular one amongst let's players. LetsPlay/{{Pokecapn}} and the WebVideo/GameGrumps are generally well-known examples.
38* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Sonic's test of love; Does Sonic love Amy Rose or Princess Elise? You pass the trial, no matter who you choose, and the answer has no bearing on the rest of the game. Despite this, [[FanPreferredCouple most players tend to pick Amy]].
39* BileFascination: It's easily considered one of, if not, the most infamous Sonic game ever for a reason, being the one entry that caused massive, long-lasting damage to the franchise that it has yet to fully recover from. People who play this game today play it to see if it really is that bad, usually by focusing on the myriad of glitches, the constant loading screens and the highly questionable plot decisions, particularly one scene near the end.
40* BreatherLevel: The final of the three Soleanna Trials. The first one is an annoying trial-and-error puzzle that often takes longer than it ought to due the game not always making things clear, the second is an utter nightmare where you have to defeat a swarm of enemies with ''[[OneHitPointWonder no]] [[NoDamageRun rings]]'', and the third...you pick one of two characters to talk to and win, regardless of choice. After all the lives the player inevitably blows through on the second trial, it very much feels like ArsonMurderAndJaywalking.
41* BrokenBase:
42** There are fans who consider this game to be [[SpiritualSuccessor the closest thing to a "Sonic Adventure 3"]] due to the similarities it contains with the ''[[VideoGame/SonicAdventure Adventure]]'' [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 titles]], while others disagree due to how the game turned out.
43** How much of the game's failure stems from rushed execution, and how much was flawed from conception? In particular, many -- including Sonic Team themselves, based on later games -- can't decide whether grandiose stories and multiple playable characters needed more time in the oven to work, or simply shouldn't be attempted in the first place.
44** Whether or not SEGA should consider remaking this game. Those who say yes argue that the game has a lot of good ideas and potential that [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot was underutilized]], and that it would be a shame to let it go to waste. Those who say no argue that the game has already done its damage to the franchise, and that it would be better for SEGA to focus on new projects instead.
45** Over the years, the game's status as "the worst Sonic game ever made" has been thrown up in the air. While there's no doubting the negative impact it had on the franchise, its infamous reputation is [[CriticalBacklash often seen as overblown]], in part due to Sonic Team's overcorrections of the game's mistakes. It's not uncommon for fans to argue over whether ''Sonic 06'' is truly the worst, or if other games like ''VideoGame/SonicFreeRiders''[[note]]due to its {{Waggle}} courtesy of being a Platform/{{Kinect}}-exclusive title[[/note]], ''VideoGame/SonicChronicles''[[note]]due to its unappealing presentation, gimmicky touch pad gameplay and unresolved SequelHook[[/note]], or ''VideoGame/SonicBoomRiseOfLyric''[[note]]due to it undergoing an even more TroubledProduction than ''06'', ruining the reputation of developer Big Red Button and plunging the franchise into another AudienceAlienatingEra[[/note]] beat it out in that regard. That's not even counting the franchise's various {{Porting Disaster}}s such as those of ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', the base version of ''VideoGame/SonicColorsUltimate'', and '''especially''' ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1 Sonic Genesis]]'', which some will say are worse due to actively tainting the reputation of otherwise good or passable titles. The game's infamy still has yet to leave the public consciousness (since it's the only one that is not a spin-off or remaster and was being sold as the next big thing in the franchise), but it has some strong competition when it comes to being the worst Sonic game.
46* CatharsisFactor:
47** Sonic versus Silver is ThatOneBoss, capped off with an annoying HeadsIWinTailsYouLose ending. Silver versus Sonic, on the other hand... well, ''you'' get to act out that CurbStompBattle yourself. The WebVideo/GameGrumps especially had a field day.
48--->'''[[Creator/{{Egoraptor}} Arin]]:''' I WIN! '''MY WIN!''' ARIN WINS, SILVER WINS, SONIC WINS!
49** Many players who were irritated by Silver's antics can tell you that Shadow kicking him in the head was satisfying, and it's often viewed as one of the game's best (and funniest) moments in general.
50* CharacterRerailment: One of the few saving graces of the game is that it ''finally'' gets Shadow's character back on track after [[VideoGame/SonicBattle two]] [[VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog games]] of nonstop {{Wangst}}. Having Creator/ShiroMaekawa, who wrote the scenarios for ''Adventure 2'' and ''Heroes'', return [[OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight is a plus]].
51* CommonKnowledge:
52** The game is often erroneously believed to [[CanonDiscontinuity have been completely deleted from the continuity]] at the end of the story. In reality, Solaris was snuffed out back in time, performing a CosmicRetcon to all events caused by the Solaris Project (including Elise's backstory, Silver's ruined future, and Blaze's presence therein). This forced Silver to get a new origin story in the ''VideoGame/SonicRivals'' series, and made him and Blaze forget about each other. But ''2006'' is still frequently referenced in subsequent games and material, and some characters like Sonic, Silver, and Blaze sometimes experience déjà vu.
53** There are a few too many articles saying that Blaze the Cat debuted in ''06'', and that she and Silver are from same future. In reality, Blaze debuted a year prior in ''VideoGame/SonicRush'', and ''06'' is her debut in a main console game. Ignoring this specific game, she and Silver always come from different planes of existence (though it has still yet to be explained why she was in Silver's future in this game).
54** Sonic didn't "make out" with Princess Elise. He was dead at the time, and Princess Elise kissed him to bring him back to life.
55* CompleteMonster: [[TheChessmaster Mephiles the Dark]] is the malignant conscience of Solaris taken physical form and the one responsible for arranging most of the events of the game. Accidentally created during the Solaris Project [[LiteralSplitPersonality alongside Iblis]], the raw physical strength of Solaris, Mephiles was sealed within a scepter that landed in the hands of Dr. Eggman. Upon breaking out, Mephiles orchestrated a gambit which involved inflicting pain and suffering on Princess Elise, causing her to cry, release the Flames of Disaster, and in doing so would [[FusionDance reunite him with Iblis]] to become Solaris, allowing him to [[OmnicidalManiac destroy everything in existence]]. To do this, Mephiles manipulates Silver into attempting to kill Sonic, [[spoiler: and later cold-bloodedly [[HeroKiller kills Sonic himself]]--temporarily--to goad Elise into crying over him.]] Mephiles manipulates everyone he can for the purpose of his ultimate goal and takes a sadistic glee in watching people suffer; unlike the mindless Iblis, Mephiles is fully aware of the scale of his atrocities and does them for no other reason than to see the world decay around him. A being that craved destruction alone, Mephiles's actions heavily damaged the space-time continuum and brought a darkness to the franchise seldom seen prior.
56* CrackShip:
57** Mephiles/Rouge, of all ships, has a small but dedicated following.
58** ''Sonicman''/Mephiles became a thing after both characters were pit against one another in an official poll by Sega. It has been endearingly described as Sonic/Shadow with "extra steps".
59* CreepyAwesome: To some, Mephiles. He manages to [[spoiler:kill Sonic]] after all; that's as much villain cred as one can get.
60* CriticalBacklash: A surprisingly large portion of the hate surrounding this game has been met with adamant defenders, with both sides bickering over whether or not it's at least decent or enjoyable. This is because over the years it’s gained more appreciation for what it did right (such as the stories that aren’t Sonic) and recognition that its biggest problems are more related to [[TroubledProduction behind the scenes development troubles]] and [[ChristmasRushed being obscenely rushed]] than inherent design flaws [[note]]Best exemplified by the praised FanRemake ''[[VideoGame/SonicP06 Sonic P06]]'' which shows what a properly finished version of the game could have looked like[[/note]]. A big factor fueling this backlash being that the overcorrections following its infamy would [[FranchiseOriginalSin proceed to haunt the franchise in the following decade]].
61* CriticProof: The final product not only failed to live up to expectations, but became an industry joke due to its crippling bugs, unbalanced difficulty, and infamous romance angle. To say nothing of the needlessly-convoluted plot. Still, the game sold well enough to be inducted into the Xbox 360's Platinum Hits line.
62* DamselScrappy: Princess Elise, who manages to get kidnapped more times in one game than a good number of video game princesses do over the course of their entire franchises. Another thing your mileage may vary on: whether Silver being the cause of half those kidnappings is making things better or worse, and every time that Sonic isn't looking at her, she gets captured.
63* DemonicSpiders:
64** The eyeball-like spheres in the final level, which will spawn in the most inconvenient places and have two variations: one that sucks you towards them for an instant death, and one that throws objects at you at extremely high velocities. And if too many of them spawn, space-time collapses and you die instantly, so you have to periodically hit switches that despawn them. They are single-handedly responsible for the majority of game overs in the last level.
65** The red Eggman Walkers for their tendency to fire homing lasers that are both very fast and hard to avoid, which can quickly turn players into sitting ducks even when they're in the middle of attacking. While they otherwise tend to be rather rare, they are infamous for their ability to easily take the lives of players at least once during [[NoDamageRun The Test Of Courage]].
66* DieForOurShip: Elise for [[PortmanteauCoupleName SonAmy]] shippers. Curiously enough, the game itself lets the player choose a pairing for Sonic, if only as a BreatherLevel BigLippedAlligatorMoment. It has no effect on the plot itself, not even the most minor case of MultipleEndings.
67* DisappointingLastLevel: End of the World, this game's version of [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 Cannon's Core]]. It may be among the most loathed parts of the game, with the [[OneHitKill instant death]] [[DemonicSpiders black holes]], [[MarathonLevel ridiculous length]], and more [[LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading loading screens]] than ever (since you switch between levels and characters at each section).
68* EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame: Something of a mixed example. While the game's overall story is criticized the same way the gameplay is, Shadow and Silver's stories have their own cult followings. This is mainly because Sonic's part of the story more or less has him be something of a UselessProtagonist who does little except constantly rescue Elise, whereas Shadow and Silver are far more involved in the story surrounding Mephiles and Iblis.
69* EnsembleDarkhorse: Sonicman, the delusional Sonic human fanboy who thinks he is Sonic himself. His ridiculous, yet entertaining concept endeared him to many.
70* EpicRiff: The game and Sonic's theme song, "His World", features one, letting it join many other theme songs in the franchise's library of awesome music.
71* EpilepticTrees:
72** Blaze's presence in the future. There are many theories as to why Blaze was in the future with Silver, a question which remains unanswered even today. A somewhat popular theory is that Blaze is originally from the future, and the dimension she seals herself into is the world from ''VideoGame/SonicRush'', where she became princess in the [[ResetButton time reset]]. FlipFlopOfGod occurred when writer Creator/ShiroMaekawa implied this was true, but Takashi Iizuka (who is currently head of Sonic Team but had no involvement with ''06'') disagreed, stating Blaze's ''06'' backstory is not canon. Fan theories still try to reconcile the two, suggesting the Sol Emeralds transported Blaze from her homeworld to the future to defeat Iblis with Silver, or even Blaze being a figment of Silver's traumatized imagination.
73** The writers managed to have Silver be the only one who ever acknowledges Blaze's existence in any cutscene, leading to a theory that she only exists in his head. It doesn't help that she's hard to keep track of, and seems to [[OffscreenTeleportation disappear and reappear offscreen]] from cutscene to cutscene.
74** Yet another fan theory is that Silver and Blaze already knew Mephiles, hence why they were so trusting of him. They point to the fact that he never introduces himself to them and the fact that they know his name despite him never being shown telling them to support this.
75* EventObscuringCamera: Easily the most dangerous thing in the game, combined with the buggy level geometry. The camera won't focus on Iblis despite the fact that Iblis has very huge telegraphs for his attacks that you need to be able to see, certain vertices will cause the camera to instantly flip to the other side of you, resulting in a nauseating experience whenever your hedgehog runs back and forth over the vertex, and there are several "scripted" spring sequences where the camera points at a platform instead of the next spring in the line. Even during regular platforming and combat, the camera rotates very slowly (far slower than is necessary for a fast-paced action platformer) and easily gets stuck on level geometry.
76* EvilIsCool: This may be one of the most despised games in the franchise, but Mephiles the Dark is one of the most popular villains within certain circles of the fanbase. To his fans, he steals the show in every scene he is in with his uncanny design, sinister theme and the FauxAffablyEvil voice given to him by Creator/DanGreen. [[spoiler: There’s also the fact that he’s the only villain in the videogames to actually successfully kill Sonic, something not even Eggman could ever do. Yes, Sonic is revived but it didn’t take away the impact of Mephiles’s deed.]]
77* FanNickname:
78** The game was known as ''Sonic Nextgen'' or ''Sonic 360'' amongst fans for quite some time before the official title was announced at E3 2006. Nowadays, it's usually known by ''Sonic [='=]06''.
79** Some people think it should be called ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure 3'', considering the multitude of elements it borrows from those games, and how it tries to up the ante from ''Adventure 2''.
80** "Pothead the Porcupine" for Silver the Hedgehog, due to [[UnfortunateCharacterDesign his head resembling a marijuana leaf]].
81* FanonDiscontinuity: It ''is'' considered one of the worst games of all time for a reason. To put it simply, this game is practically a BrutallyHonest {{deconstruction}} of ChristmasRushed. Luckily for fans, it's very easy to pretend the game never happened [[spoiler: since the ending itself wipes the story's events out of existence, which has caused many to joke that even the game wishes to forget it ever happened.]]
82* FashionVictimVillain: Debates about whether it it was a good idea to redesign Dr. Eggman to look like a realistic human aside, the change of his jacket's buttons from flat squares to protruding circles has been often mocked since their placement makes it look like he has giant golden nipples.
83* FourthWallMyopia: Silver the Hedgehog gets no end of grief from fans who see him as astronomically stupid for taking Mephiles the Dark's claim that Sonic must be killed to [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong save the future]]. It doesn't help that Mephiles is such a blatant case of ObviouslyEvil, being a LivingShadow with HellishPupils and a CreepyMonotone who is also named after {{Mephistopheles}}. However, this ignores the fact that the Sonic world has at least one case of DarkIsNotEvil in the form of Shadow the Hedgehog and that Silver only accepts Mephiles's lies because he is so desperate to permanently destroy the monster that has been terrorizing his timeline for so long. Silver also does eventually starts questioning Mephiles's words and eventually learns the truth after seeing Sonic's heroism and how people like Shadow and Amy come to his defense.
84* GameBreaker: An unintentional example. Sonic's energy meter is bugged and doesn't deplete, which completely destroys the balancing of his Gems. It's not just with him, like with Shadow's Chaos level meter, but the Gems were clearly not meant to be used unrestricted (e.g. the Purple Gem, which lets Sonic jump indefinitely as long as he has meter), allowing you to cheese or [[SequenceBreaking outright break]] stages to get S Ranks if used correctly.
85* GoddamnedBats: Burrowing worms, especially the stronger purple variety. They're a pain in the ass to deal with because they can spawn on all kinds of surfaces, including walls and ceilings, which means you have go out of your way to find them and attack them, while they're happy to spit projectiles your way. They also love to duck out of sight when you actually do get to lock on and strike, adding some tedium. While they go down easily after a few hits, they're still a major annoyance.
86* GoddamnedBoss: Iblis Phase 2. While it's not a particularly difficult boss battle, it's a frustratingly slow one. You have to hit a purple ball to light it up, provoking Iblis to jump at it and expose his weak spot. However, the platforms the balls float over are far away from where you start, separated by lava. You must wait until Iblis [[TacticalSuicideBoss drops stalactites for you to cross the lava]], but Iblis can take his sweet time dragging this out. After hitting him, Sonic/Shadow will bounce an unnecessarily long distance away, looping the fight back to the beginning. On top of that, occasionally Iblis will just ignore the ball after you've lit it up. Be prepared to wait several unnecessary minutes for the battle to go anywhere.
87* GoodBadBugs:
88** The Havok physics engine is so poorly implemented that [[SoBadItsGood a great deal of fun can be had by playing around with it]]: Silver's telekinetic powers, flying crates and boulders, etc.
89** The player can glitch through the final door in Silver's version of Dusty Desert by jumping on a box and hovering it towards the door, completely bypassing the infamous [[ThatOnePuzzle Egyptian billiard ball puzzle]].
90** The gauge for Sonic's gem powers never decreases, meaning you can slow time constantly and use constant ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}''-esque Space Jumps to bypass any obstacle.
91** Some bugs allow you to finish Flame Core as Knuckles, Crisis City as Blaze, and White Acropolis as Tails. The Rank Screen still appears, which is notable with Knuckles, who never gets to finish a level otherwise.
92** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MWEHwvcnyM&t=508s Omega can float upwards if you hit corners just right]], as explained in this compilation of some of the game's bugs. Failing at that, you can still rapidly tap the button, turning his gliding power into infinite hovering.
93** Certain exploits in Silver's and Blaze's movesets allow you to hop through and ignore otherwise lethal [[SuperDrowningSkills water and quicksand areas]], provided the player manages to master the timing.
94** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrFlXvie6i4 ROCK LAUNCH]]
95** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mwAy2ojj10 A car randomly bouncing 30 feet into the air.]]
96** Believe it or not, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOh65DEzQ1k there are bugs that let you]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIEfoQSBgs8 warp to the credits.]]
97** Several of these are used and abused for the game's speedruns. For instance, in the first loop of Wave Ocean in Sonic's story, the homing attack can be used to confuse the game's physics and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eqAi613UQg send Sonic flying]] about one-third of the way across the level.
98** In an ironic way, you can ''fix'' Silver's telekinesis against other characters through a glitch (specifically by pausing the game).
99*** There are also other glitches involving Silver's telekinesis and pausing, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ9CqtTAcRA as this video shows]].
100** Helper characters [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iluYz5cXCik can spontaneously die]] in the hub areas.
101* HamAndCheese: Creator/DanGreen's ''gloriously'' [[EvilIsHammy over-the-top performance as Mephiles the Dark]] is easily the most enjoyable part of the game. It's apparent that he's having a lot of fun voicing one of the most heinous villains in the franchise. Creator/JasonGriffith doesn't disappoint with his performance as Shadow either, with many fans agreeing that his work alongside Green's results in Shadow's story being the best of the three.
102* HilariousInHindsight:
103** Eggman's goal is to use Solaris to conquer time itself. [[spoiler:While it's not the same EldritchAbomination, [[VideoGame/SonicGenerations he definitely achieved something close to it with the Time Eater]].]]
104** In one cutscene, Mephiles is seen making the infinity symbol with two chaos emeralds (seen [[https://youtu.be/cnA8I5gXAow?t=480 here]]). Fast forward 11 years later, [[VideoGame/SonicForces and well]]...
105** This game is the debut of Silver, a character that was strongly based off Future Trunks from ''Franchise/DragonBall''. Turns out, this game's plot has quite a bit in common with the Future Trunks arc from ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' which came out ten years later.
106*** Both arcs deal with a hero from a BadFuture (Trunks/Silver) who is of the same species (Saiyans/hedgehogs) as the main hero (Goku/Sonic) and his rival (Vegeta/Shadow). [[spoiler:The climactic battle also has the hero from the bad future accessing a SuperMode identical or similar to the ones the hero and the rival have]].
107*** One of the villains (Goku Black/Mephilles) has a [[DarkIsEvil black]] [[EvilWearsBlack color]] motif and has taken on the form similar or identical to one of the heroes.
108*** [[spoiler:The climactic battle involves battling the two villains who have fused into an EldritchAbomination that threatens all of time and space.]]
109*** [[spoiler:The future hero's timeline is erased in the final battle and replaced with a new, happier one.]]
110* ItWasHisSled: Besides the fact that it's an ObviousBeta, the only thing people are likely to know about the game's plot is that [[spoiler: Sonic dies in the last story, then comes back by being kissed by a human princess.]]
111* JustHereForGodzilla: Aside from BileFascination there are legitimate reasons why fans still go back to play this game. Shadow's Episode has had appreciation ever since its debut, due to following Shadow's CharacterDevelopment from the previous titles and making him more admirable as a character. The story is also liked for the usage of Rouge and Omega, lacking notable idiotic elements unlike the other episodes, as well as it being the story that most prominently features [[EvilIsCool Mephiles the Dark]].
112* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: [[spoiler: Sonic is impaled through the heart by Mephiles in the last story and is presumed dead, but ''everyone'' who played the game knew they wouldn't kill the main hero of the franchise in such an abrupt way. Sure enough, he's brought back with the power of the Chaos Emeralds.]]
113* MemeticMolester: Elise has gotten this treatment for [[spoiler:kissing Sonic's dead body on the lips, which results in him resurrecting.]] By itself, it's rather awkward and gross to look at, but fans went overboard in using it to make Elise out to be [[BestialityIsDepraved some gross animal-loving freak]].
114* MemeticBadass: Sonic Man, a citizen of Soleanna wearing a helmet, gloves, and shoes based on Sonic himself. While he got some Memetic Badass treatment from a small fanbase, he exploded in popularity when Sonic Channel put him in a 2024 calendar art poll against Shadow, Vector, and ''Mephiles''. Sonic Man and Mephiles' votes were neck-in-neck for days, prompting fanartists to draw Sonic Man facing Mephiles in battle a la Mumen Rider and the Deep Sea King in ''Anime/OnePunchMan''. Even better, Sonic Man ''won'' and was featured in the March 2024 artwork.
115* MemeticMutation:
116** [[LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading NOW LOADING...]][[labelnote:Explanation]]The game is infamous for copious amounts of loading screens; sometimes the game will transition into a loading screen, show a small cutscene, then do ''another'' loading screen, among other things. One Let's Player kept track of the total time of the loading screens and discovered that in the time throughout the game spent looking at loading screens, one could watch an entire feature-length film. The game's loading screen used to be the page image for LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading with the caption [[{{Irony}} "The fastest thing alive gets the longest loading screens in existence."]][[/labelnote]]
117** "Silver be a bird!" or "Silver be free to be the bird you always wanted to be!" [[labelnote:Explanation]]Due to LetsPlay/TomFawkes' live streams where he calls Silver a bird for flapping his arms, which makes the limited flight not drain energy as quickly.[[/labelnote]]
118** Silver's head quills resembling a marijuana leaf. [[WebVideo/BrainScratchCommentaries One LP group]] took note of it.
119--->'''Lewis:''' I am Pothead the Porcupine!\
120'''Clement:''' ''(as Silver)'' After I smoke a J, I will destroy you!
121** "Hahaha! One!"[[labelnote:Explanation]]One of Sonic's lines in [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYIwBA7mwDWnrckXs7gt76Q SnapCube]]'s GagDub of the game during the opening cutscene. Needless to say, it was a hit with viewers.[[/labelnote]]
122** The [[spoiler:CosmicRetcon]] that occurs at the very end. Given the game's reputation, this led to jokes about how the game was self-aware enough to [[spoiler:render itself CanonDiscontinuty]] before it even ended.
123** "IT'S NO USE!" [[labelnote:Explanation]]One of Silver's voice lines during his boss fight when playing as Sonic. Expect to hear it. [[ThatOneBoss A lot.]][[/labelnote]]
124* MisBlamed:
125** Several ''Sonic 2006'' defenders insist that [[LetsPlay/SonicTheHedgehog2006 pokecapn's Let's Play]] is partly to blame for the expansion of this game's bad reputation. First and foremost, Website/SomethingAwful's forum rules on Let's Plays dictated at the time that anybody who wanted to LP a game had to wait six months after its release. The reality is that the game had been out for well over a year before LetsPlay/{{pokecapn}} played it, and in that time, it had sold over a million copies and earned a highly negative critical and fan reception on its own. In fact, it was the game's negative reception that motivated pokecapn to play it in the first place, the opening post of the LP explaining that pokecapn started the LP because he had heard the exact same complaints about every ''other'' 3D ''Sonic'' game before and figured [[CryingWolf it probably wasn't that bad this time, either]].
126*** Ditto with WebVideo/GameGrumps, who played through the game (and many others in the franchise) long after it gained its negative reception. So no, Let's Players are not guilty for the game's poor reputation; the game's own poor quality is what led to its poor reputation.
127** Creator/MaddieBlaustein was frequently criticised for her stiff and nasally take on E-123 Omega, which was a far cry from the intimidating deep voice Creator/JonStJohn gave him. [[http://www.serebiiforums.com/showthread.php?116935-Ask-Maddie-Blaustein-Q-amp-A-with-Meowth/page72 During an interview on Serebii forums]], she stated the different take on Omega was according to SEGA's voice direction. She even noted she had problems keeping to their wanted depiction because it was too emotionless, with her second take on Omega in ''VideoGame/MarioAndSonicAtTheOlympicGames'' series sounding much more like the original. [[note]]SEGA's unusual direction for Omega may have been because in Japan, [[ValuesDissonance speaking emotionless is considered badass]]. A similar problem with a similar explanation surrounded Samus' voice acting in ''Metroid Other M''.[[/note]]
128* MoralEventHorizon: Mephiles/Solaris crosses it through his EvilPlan to [[OmnicidalManiac destroy everything]] and his way of doing it is by killing Sonic sadistically and [[KickTheDog then laughing at Elise's cries]].
129* {{Narm}}: This game is a massive source of it, unfortunately. See [[Narm/SonicTheHedgehog here]].
130* NarmCharm:
131** [[LargeHam The very hammy]] performances of Creator/DanGreen as Mephiles and Creator/JasonGriffith as Shadow don't ruin their scenes at all. Quite the contrary, they make them a good bit cooler.
132** [[MundaneObjectAmazement Silver admiring the desert]]. Despite the shoddy quality of the cutscenes, there is heart in the script involving Silver's characterization in this one scene, with him admiring the peace his home doesn't have.
133** The final scene with Silver and Blaze, where she sacrifices herself to seal Iblis in another dimension. There is some genuine heart in acting and script in the scene.
134* NeverLiveItDown:
135** Silver has been portrayed to a stronger reception since this game, but his later appearances are still overshadowed by his contentious introduction and unanimously panned ball puzzle and boss fight. Silver is particularly remembered for incessantly [[BrokenRecord screaming "IT'S NO USE!"]] in his boss fight, which often has the side effect of repeatedly throw you against a wall, you then land on a Ring you lost and the cycle repeats for a long time. It's somewhat understandable that the phrase would get stuck in players' heads after repeatedly hearing it, but it gets a bit silly when people think this is his catchphrase when he only says it in one game.
136** [[spoiler:Sonic and Elise's kiss. The future of the series has been plagued with people jokingly wondering if Sonic will kiss any humans again. As for Elise, she's pretty much only remembered for this moment and her overall romance with a hedgehog.]] As [[Creator/BenCroshaw Yahtzee Croshaw]] put it in one ''Extra Punctuation'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Epr6tjvsivk&t=84s episode]]:
137--->"''Sonic the Hedgehog'' has been the fucking emperor of tone issues for a long time now; it didn't start with him [[spoiler: snogging a realistic human]] in ''Sonic 2006'', but that may have been the peak of the infection."
138* NoYay: Very few people seriously support [[InterspeciesRomance Sonic/Elise]], be it because of {{Shipping}}, Elise being TheScrappy, or just general [[{{Squick}} disgust]].
139* ObviousBeta: The game was an attempt to remedy the complaints lobbied against the series since its jump to 3D, namely the [[CameraScrew chronically-bad camera]] and [[FakeDifficulty wonky controls and physics]]. The game had no shortage of roadblocks to start with, being developed for two brand-new consoles. Sega had it rushed out the door to coincide with Christmas. What consumers got was an obviously-not playtested beta which not only failed to address those problems, but exacerbated them: The controls are more slippery than ever, the camera is even more berserk, the [[LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading loading times]] are possibly the worst of the [[MediaNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames seventh generation]], and hundreds of [[GameBreakingBug game-breaking glitches]] that should have been filtered out are left intact.
140* OlderThanTheyThink:
141** A human love interest was [[https://tcrf.net/Prerelease:Sonic_the_Hedgehog_(Genesis)#Early_Ideas an early concept for Sonic 1]]. The only reason it was scrapped was because it would have been too similar to ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros''. And another case of Sonic having a human ([[AmbiguouslyHuman Or at least human-like]]) love interest could be seen with Sara in ''Anime/SonicTheHedgehogTheMovie'', with her crush on Sonic being very much apparent, albeit not going as far as [[spoiler: a liplocked kiss like with Elise.]]
142** Many players found it jarring to see a [[RogerRabbitEffect cartoon hedgehog in a realistic world]]. However, Sonic's setting has been "the real world" since ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', with levels like City Escape being a recreation of real-life UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco. (And indeed, Sonic has been at home in cities ever since Star Light Zone in the very first game.) Perhaps the graphical limitations of the time made this fact less obvious.
143** A character saying "it's no use" has been uttered by other characters before, such as [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure Dr. Eggman]] (he even says that phrase at least twice in 06 itself) and [[VideoGame/SonicHeroes Metal Sonic]]. However, it turned memetic here given Silver's BrokenRecord use of it in his boss battles.
144** Many players think that Tails' dummy ring capsule attack, being such an odd choice for a weapon, was actually just a placeholder for something else, considering how unfinished the game is. The attack actually calls back to ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes''; if Tails is the only active character while playing as Team Sonic (which is rare), he'll throw a couple of dummy rings at enemies as a last resort attack. Rouge also had a similar attack in ''Heroes'', but it was replaced with her throwing bombs in this game.
145* {{Padding}}: You have to play all ten stages for every character's story, regardless if it has any bearing on the plot or not. However, one particularly crazy example is a part of Sonic's story where you have to play Wave Ocean a second time, only with Tails, who ''already'' had his own section in Sonic's playthrough. You could easily cut it out of the game with zero impact on the plot, and nobody would even guess there was supposed to be something there.
146* PortingDisaster: The Platform/{{PS3}} version, released later with ''several extra months of development time'' to boot, ended up making the ([[LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading already long]]) load times even worse, with slowdown issues not present in the Platform/XBox360 version and a small but noticeable degradation in graphics. This is the result of having to deal with the [=PlayStation=] 3's complex architecture while trying to rush the game out the door.
147%% QuestionableCasting (This just says he's controversial without elaborating): The credits song for Sonic's story is a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t36agO2H-ZU new version of "Sweet Sweet Sweet"]] by Dreams Come True[[note]]a band co-founded by Masato Nakamura, who composed the soundtracks of the first two Sonic games[[/note]] (which had earlier in the series been used as the ending music for ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2''). The person recruited to produce this new version of the song was the controversial Senegalese-American R&B star [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akon Akon]].
148* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Shadow's characterization is one of the game's highlights. With all the {{Wangst}} in ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'' thrown out of the window, he's a much more bearable and overall admirable character. While Mephiles attempts to challenge Shadow into questioning his own existence, Shadow becomes a {{Stoic}} badass. As Shadow puts it, "I determine my own destiny!" and, "If the world chooses to become my enemy, I will fight like I always have." It helps that, unlike Sonic, his plot and Silver's actually delve into the real conflict of the story. [[FriendlyRival Shadow and Sonic also interact without being at each other's throats, even teaming up to use Chaos Control in one scene and the former saving the latter in another]].
149* TheScrappy: Princess Elise is generally disliked, mainly due to her [[DamselScrappy overt]] NeutralFemale tendencies and [[InterspeciesRomance her feelings for Sonic]], to the point that she claims at the end that she doesn't care what happens to the world if she has to forget about him. Because of the latter, she's frequently compared to Chris Thorndyke from ''Anime/SonicX'', who is hated for similar reasons. She was written out of the series completely due to the botched effort on her character outside of occasional cameos. She wouldn't make a proper reappearance until nearly ''17'' years later in 2023, in which she would [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_4517.png reappear as a figure skater on Sonic Channel's April 2023 calendar art]], albeit with a [[ArtEvolution far more stylized redesign]] reminiscent of the human cast of ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'', making her fit in with the series much more easily.
150* ScrappyMechanic:
151** Sonic is the most functional character outside of Blaze, but he has his problems outside of everyone suffering from slower movement than usual, being unable to damage enemies with a jump (when that's one of his signature abilities), a lack of a proper physics and the removal of most of their techniques from older games. His Mach Speed sections are essentially [[VideoGame/{{Battletoads}} Turbo Tunnel]]: Sonic Edition. Because you're constantly moving forward so fast, you have very little time to react to enemies and even the landscape, which can result in some unavoidable collisions. If you jump at the wrong angle, you may just end up jumping off the map. Sometimes the camera suddenly switches to focus on what Sonic's running from, denying you the ability to see where to steer him to. Also, the controls are ridiculously stiff, and you have absolutely no air control, so you're going to jump to places where you don't want to go a ''lot'', often dying because you jumped at the wrong time.
152** For many players, Silver's entire play style. Unlike Sonic's Homing Attack and spin kick or extra Gems for various attacks, and Shadow's combat-centric gameplay, Silver is ''meant'' to be overpowered by catching and lifting just about anything with his telekinesis, even enemy projectiles - but lacks any worthwhile means of direct attacks. His psychic wave at point blank is basically useless unless you're pixels away from damage, and his ground slam that stuns enemies for grabbing sometimes ''does not work''. This is only made worse by the fact that, short of tapping his hover to [[GoodBadBugs abuse it much like Omega's]], he's one of the slowest characters in the entire game and his dash that is meant to compensate for this goes only five feet and is near-totally useless as well. And even with all of this in mind, that telekinesis is still a glitchy crapshoot since it relies on [[WreakingHavok the physics engine cooperating]]. He pretty much relies on physics, and the physics of the game is bad, especially with the collision detection. If Sonic focuses on using physics to his advantage in the series, Silver's entire gameplay is rooted on physics, so if the physics doesn't work properly, then the gameplay is tedious, with awful hitboxes, a psychic throw with items that either all miss or don't miss but the hit doesn't register or getting hit by the objects that you're carrying because they are technically active hitboxes. With a physics like this, the game is a wild card with whatever happens, as any sort of weird things can happen when you use Silver's telekinesis, and at every attempt, you might get very different results every time.
153** Even those who enjoyed the alternate play styles often admitted it got tedious switching between them ''mid-level'', especially since so many got their own levels to begin with (Tails not only has his own variation of Wave Ocean, but [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment it's redundant with Sonic's]]).
154** Shadow's vehicles. They only seem to exist to get him from point A to point B, but one can't even say it's in style because they handle ''atrociously'', take CollisionDamage from virtually everything they brush against to the point of being able to [[MadeOfExplodium detonate from buggy physics collisions that you can't even see]], and in most cases move slower than Shadow does ''on foot''. The bike in particular turns around so sharply that it's impossible to chase the Radical Train properly. They make the vehicles in [[VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog his own game]] look functional by comparison.
155** The police guards in the town. They are completely useless and sometimes actively hinder the player's progress by making them play trivial "sidequests" that amount to nothing more than a couple loading screens and dialogue boxes.
156** Tails's dummy Rings attack, which is his only attack, since he lost his tail swipe attack. The first attack works perfectly well on its own, but the dummy Ring Bomb explodes on contact with anything... which includes previously thrown dummy Rings. It effectively makes spamming the attack impossible, and the dummy Rings can get mixed up with actual Rings. Like Rouge's bomb attacks, if he throws a dummy Ring bomb on the ground, it stops him in place.
157* SignatureScene: Two of which are at the end of the game:
158** The ending of Shadow's story where he, Rouge, and Omega are prepared to engage in a BolivianArmyEnding against an army of Mephiles clones, all while Shadow removes his [[PowerLimiter Inhibitor Rings]] and [[ShutUpKirk refutes Mephiles' attempts to break his spirit]] before blasting forth in a FoeTossingCharge with Rouge and Omega right behind him as TrueCompanions. It's often viewed as the high water-mark for Shadow's CharacterRerailment.
159** [[spoiler: Mephiles killing Sonic in the Last Story mode. Mephiles' [[ChewingTheScenery laugh]] has been used in parody videos like WebVideo/MrKrabsUnquenchableBloodLust due to how remarkable it is.]]
160** [[spoiler: Elise kissing Sonic to bring him to life is often cited as one of the most infamous scenes in the franchise for its {{Squick}} potential.]]
161* ShockingMoments: [[spoiler: At the start of the last story, Mephiles appears out of nowhere and instantly kills Sonic by [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impaling him through the back with a laser beam]].Even though Sonic ''does'' come back to life eventually, it still happened.]]
162* SoBadItsGood: The game has glitches that are hilariously broken and lots of features that were left unfinished, to the point that a lot of fun can be had playing around with them. It shouldn't be a surprise that the game is a popular speedrun as a result. Its story, voice acting, and cutscenes are so [[{{Narm}} unintentionally funny]] that one can derive entertainment just from watching them.
163* {{Squick}}:
164** A certain cutscene from the Last Episode. [[spoiler:In order to resurrect Sonic, Elise gives him an Emerald-powered kiss. This scene was made squicky by the fact that she, a realistic human, kissed a ''dead cartoon hedgehog''.]] This moment still leaves a bad taste in people's mouths and put a severe damper on the InterspeciesRomance trope for a while. It doesn't help that [[UnintentionalUncannyValley she's rendered in a realistic style and Sonic in his normal cartoony style]]. They don't even look like they belong in the same ''game''.
165** A harder-to-find example from Sonic's story occurs when you play as Tails in the hub world. One adult woman on the pier opposite to the entrance to Wave Ocean tells Tails-- who is an ''eight-year-old boy'', mind you-- to not just "keep it all bottled up inside" and that he can "always trust [her]". Whereas Sonic and Elise's relationship could have the justification of them being close enough in age and Sonic technically having [[FunnyAnimal as much cognizance and agency as a human]], this comes off as not only even more uncomfortable in concept, but also very rapey.
166* StrangledByTheRedString: Sonic and Elise was an attempt at a romantic plot for the series. However, many didn't find it to be very convincing, due to romance, especially one with a human, going against Sonic's free-spirited personality. It makes the scenes where he reciprocates Elise's love for him very awkward as a result for fans of the series, [[spoiler: and that isn't getting into the kiss she gives him near the end]]. Even the handful of fans who like Elise think their relationship would've been better if kept as platonic.
167* SuspiciouslySimilarSong:
168** One part of [[http://youtu.be/hEHzaHO7U9Y "Town Mission 4"]] appears to contain a section similar to ''VideoGame/MegaMan2''[='=]s [[https://youtu.be/8-A_f7FV4ss Flashman theme]]. Additionally, Silver's ImageSong, [[http://youtu.be/Md5IXNdRV44 "Dreams of An Absolution"]], sounds a lot like [[http://youtu.be/4YCoSF-voHY "Music Sounds Better With You"]] by Stardust.
169** Many are quick to point out the similar arrangements between Crisis City and ''VideoGame/SuperMario64''[='=]s Bowser stages.
170** At least a few keen ears have taken note of the similarities between "His World" and Music/TheSmashingPumpkins' "Tonight, Tonight", especially the chorus.
171* TakeThatScrappy:
172** If you talk to one of the kids in Soleanna, he'll tell you that he wishes the guards would stop standing around doing nothing and actually ''try'' to do their jobs.
173** The famous scene where Shadow slows down time with Chaos Control and promptly kicks Silver in the back of the head.
174** For those who don't like the Sonic/Elise romance, you have the option of choosing Amy over her in the Test of Love. ([[BigLippedAlligatorMoment not that it impacts anything.]])
175** For a more meta example, the fact that [[spoiler:the game ends with a CosmicRetcon that erases the entire story from the main timeline]].
176* ThatOneBoss: The fights against Silver, with Sonic and Shadow, are surprisingly difficult, [[FakeDifficulty and for all the wrong reasons.]] If you approach him while he's not carrying something, he'll pick you up screaming "IT'S NO USE!" in the meantime), hold you in place for several agonizing seconds, and then toss you straight away from him. In that vein, if you jump ''above'' him... ''[[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard he will catch you on the way down, while you're still recovering from being tossed up in the air, completely overriding your]] MercyInvincibility.'' It doesn't help that a quirk in the game's ring-dropping mechanics can result in the fight getting stuck in an infinite loop that's only escapable via restarting[[labelnote:*]]which means the player has to either forfeit a life ''anyway'' or wait through the same exact loading screens prior to the fight[[/labelnote]].
177* ThatOneLevel:
178** Ironically, Sonic's [[GreenHillZone Wave Ocean]] is infamously difficult for one reason: the Super Speed section at the end, due to the poor controls and tendency for Sonic to get caught on scenery and die instantly. It also doesn't help that Sonic can't control his horizontal movement in mid-air. Even though it was intended to be an easy first level, it's very common for first-time players to get a GameOver on the last segment. (Which is where many discovered the hard way that the game doesn't AutoSave...)
179** Sonic and Shadow's versions of Radical Train for essentially being a TimedMission followed by a [[ScrappyMechanic Super Speed/vehicle section]]
180** Silver's version of Dusty Desert for the ''[[FanNickname Goddamn Egyptian billiard ball puzzle]]'' [[spoiler:(for those unaware of the [[GoodBadBugs glitch to get past the door]], anyway)]]. Another factor is that it has a segment where Amy is playable, but she has a lot of problems, with a slow hammer attack with a very inconsistent hit detection and high ending lag that leaves her a sitting duck for almost entire second, terrible speed and a double jump that causes her to lose almost all her horizontal momentum, which is a problem during the little platforming she has to do. She can turn invisible, but it's completely out of place for her.
181** The [[NoDamageRun "Test of Courage"]] from Sonic's Episode is also an example of sorts. It wouldn't be bad if losing didn't mean you had to go through ''four loading screens'' just to try again. And since you don't get any rings...
182* ThatOnePuzzle: The billiard ball puzzle in Silver's Dusty Desert. You have to maneuver a ball through a long hallway with a 90-degree turn using Silver's very imprecise psychic push move, with bottomless pits everywhere. What makes this hard is that the ball has a timer on it, and the timer decreases by a number if you push the ball. So not only do you have to push the ball down the hallway very precisely, you also have to do it in an allotted time and with as few moves as possible. Many players have been stuck on this puzzle for (sometimes literally) hours trying to get past it, for something that should have been nothing more than a very quick piece of gameplay. Ironically enough, the Very Hard DLC mission for the stage simply replaces it with a gauntlet of enemies and pits.
183* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
184** In terms of levels, Sonic's got the best of the bunch besides the debate over Blaze's quality by comparison. In terms of ''story'', Sonic is TrappedByMountainLions, revolving entirely around saving Elise repeatedly from Eggman, a brief trip to the BadFuture where he witnesses Mephiles recruiting Silver and Blaze with no context, and then more Elise saving. While Sonic does get to learn why Iblis is such a big deal, he completely misses out on the Mephiles side of the plot and doesn't even interact with the real BigBad besides his death scene, in which he never talks to or even ''looks at'' Mephiles. All of this and Sonic generally lacking most of his usual characterization to be more of a generic hero besides the opening and final ending of the game, and the very protagonist of the franchise ends up feeling almost like an afterthought in the overall design of the game.
185** Blaze's levels are praised as being the most polished and glitch-free in the game, with actual speedy gameplay (Game Grumps described her as "fast Sonic") and some surprisingly cool moves. They're also short and desperately infrequent. Her story role leaves much to be desired too, as even when ignoring the {{Retcon}} with her backstory, she keeps disappearing and reappearing for no reason. [[spoiler: And due to her HeroicSacrifice, she's the only "sidekick" character ''not'' used in the End of the World, which is a problem as she's, again, one of the only remotely playable ones.]]
186** Out of all members of the playable cast, Knuckles has the worst to offer in story department. Knuckles simply appears for no particular reason in Soleanna to deliver a message from Eggman, and from that point on he becomes a ButtMonkey with no story significance. By comparison, Team Dark got their own little sub-plot going on for them, Amy has a friendship with Silver and Elise, and even Blaze has a role with her relationship with Silver. Knuckles by comparison only has a minor argument with Rouge in one scene. [[WhateverHappenedToTheMouse Shouldn't he be guarding the Master Emerald?]]
187** There's many fans who feel Elise and Sonic's relationship may have had more potential if it ''wasn't'' romantic, and was more focused on him being her FirstFriend and helping open up her world.
188* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
189** [[spoiler:Blaze is the new living seal of Iblis, and now she's gone to another dimension. As the princess of another dimension, this had potential… then the reset button got pushed.]] Some fans also hoped Blaze's story here would be a StealthPrequel to ''VideoGame/SonicRush'', with [[spoiler: her sealing explaining how she ended up in another dimension]].
190** The idea of Elise herself. The Duke of Soleanna sealed Iblis inside of her when she was just a little girl and told her that she shouldn't ever cry or else the world will be destroyed. Although her character arc involves her opening up and being more expressive, it's never shown how much this act of bottling up her sadness and likely her other emotions affected her; instead, the plot focuses on her being a LivingMacGuffin and having an apparent crush on Sonic.
191** Mephiles' motives for his goal are incredibly vague aside from a ''very'' off-hand comment from Shadow, and Mephiles himself doesn't get a MotiveRant or any dialogue that reveals exactly ''why'' he wants to destroy all of reality. When Silver asks him why Iblis wants to destroy the world, he simply remarks "Why does that matter to you?" And even though his backstory of being [[spoiler:experimented on and abused by scientists]] is revealed, no real connection is ever made between that and his current goals.
192* TrappedByMountainLions: Sonic [[{{Irony}} barely has any role despite being the title character]]. Compared to Shadow and Silver, Sonic nigh-constantly having to rescue ''one'' princess is rather unimportant compared to Shadow fighting the KnightOfCerebus and [[BigBad instigator of the game's events]], and Silver's quest for the truth and a way to save the future.
193* UnintentionalUncannyValley:
194** The rather realistic-looking humans look out of place next to the ''WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat''-inspired designs of our anthropomorphic heroes. [=NPCs=] will wave their limbs and heads around in a pale imitation of natural human movement, and Princess Elise herself looks more like a porcelain doll with the in-game graphics, her legs almost twice the length of her upper body, and a face that just seems ''wrong''. Even Eggman was redesigned to look consistent with the humans, although some appreciated that they got rid of the doctor's [[NoodlePeople long, toothpick legs]]. Thankfully, ''Sonic'' titles that came after this steered clear out of the valley by designing resident humans to look more cartoony (and with this, the return of Eggman's toothpick legs and his appearance from ''Sonic Adventure'' on).
195** Eggman's design in particular is pretty off-putting. In the transition to a realistic look, his original cartoonish appearance really isn't altered very much outside of being given far more detail. This means he's essentially stuck between two very different styles, with the end result regularly being cited as unnatural and incredibly ugly. Making matters worse is that nobody else in the game looks anything like him at all, making him appear downright odd next to the talking animals and even more so next to his own species.
196** The Sonic characters themselves look like lifeless dolls, with their faces barely animated as they make incredibly stiff motions as if someone was controlling them like a puppet.
197* UnfortunateCharacterDesign:
198** Silver the Hedgehog's head spikes, meant to possibly resemble a crown due to the European influences on his creation, instead resembles a marijuana leaf. This led to him being called Pothead the Porcupine in some places. Not helping matters is the fact that his friend happens to be named ''Blaze''...
199** Eggman's redesign decided to give him four ''very'' prominent buttons on his clothes. As WebVideo/RealTimeFandub put it, they resemble awful golden nipples.
200---> '''Eggman:''' Look, the only thing I didn't give you is my realistic four penetrating nipples coming off of my chest, Shadow...
201%% Vindicated By History was cut per the below threads. While aspects of the game have seen more positive re-evaluations over time, the game remains blatantly unfinished. Please take any points you’d make for this trope to Critical Backlash instead.
202%% Ask The Tropers Thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/query.php?parent_id=121419&type=att
203%% Cleanup thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16585423740A92081100&page=9#comment-209
204* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The CG cutscenes, especially the festival in the introduction, look ''amazing''. Even almost two decades later, they've aged pretty nicely.
205* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: The main villain wants to destroy all of time and space, and [[spoiler: Sonic ''gets murdered'' at the end of the game (He gets better)]].

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