History YMMV / SonicGenerations

* VindicatedByHistory: The Classic Sonic half of the game, on release, was overshadowed by the Modern gameplay, with people more excited by Classic's inclusion than his actual gameplay, especially considering ''Sonic 4'', a sequel to the Classic games didn't have Sonic's Classic design in it. A couple of years later, when ''Mania'' and ''Forces'' released, a chunk of the fandom bashed ''Generations'' retroactively for Classic Sonic not being exactly like the Classic games and being the game that started the nostalgia pandering in the first place, seeing it as bad as ''Forces'''s Classic gameplay, if not slightly better. However, after that wave of hate settled down, fans had started to realize how much effort was really put into Classic Sonic's stages in ''Generations'', with all the cool camera trickery, the 2.5D elements, the composed music and the detailed graphics making it feel like a next-gen Classic Sonic game. Even his physics weren't seen as all that bad, unlike ''Sonic 4'' and ''Forces'', with many feeling the overpowered Spin Dash was satisfying to pull off. All in all, the fandom now sees the Classic Sonic half of game as a worthy tribute and evolution to that era of games, and what ''Forces'' could've been if it hadn't been so lazy with its Classic stages.

** [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 Radical Highway]] in the 3DS version. In both acts, getting to the upper parts of the levels involves chaining Homing Attacks into a Gold Beetle. Said enemy is only on the screen for a split second, and if you are not quick enough, you will be forced to take the lower routes to the goal. Said paths are littered with slow-moving platforms over bottomless pits and enemies that appear out of nowhere, almost ensuring you will lose a life or two before you make it past those sections. Oh, and the remix that plays during Modern Sonic's act is considered by many to be the single worst song in the game.

* MisaimedFandom: The game ends with Modern Sonic telling his Classic self to "enjoy [his] future" as "it's gonna be great". Given how the series had gone through a lengthy AudienceAlienatingEra prior, fans reacted incredulously to this line, and its apparent irony led it to become [[MemeticMutation memetic]]. This completely overlooks how ''in-universe'', Sonic's frequently enjoyed his adventures and going on them, along with the basic fact that he won't dislike one of his adventures [[PsychologicalProjection just because the person playing as him does]].

* HarsherInHindsight: At one point, when Modern Sonic leaves to his original timeline, he tells Classic Sonic "Enjoy your future, it's going to be great!" Considering the franchise has gone under a perceived DorkAge since the game's release, it's safe to say his future hasn't exactly been great.
* HeartwarmingInHindsight: The last line of the game, with Modern Sonic saying to Classic Sonic "Hey Sonic! Enjoy your future, it's going to be great!" was met with ''immediate'' derision amongst the fandom, both due to some of the rougher moments the Hedgehog himself faced throughout the franchise and the [[BrokenBase intensely-debated]] [[DorkAge quality]] with almost every game getting savaged by critics and at best very mixed reviews by fans. Then SEGA made the decision to split the "Classic" and "Modern" continuities from each other, making Classic Sonic not Modern Sonic's past self, but an alternate universal version. And the first major game for Classic Sonic after ''Generations'' (not counting ''VideoGame/SonicRunners'')? ''VideoGame/SonicMania'', which received high praise from both fans and critics alike. Suddenly, "Modern" Sonic's words to his "Classic" self [[MetaphoricallyTrue take on a whole new meaning.]]

* FranchiseOriginalSin: The infamous tendency for SEGA to reuse Classic Sonic and [[NostalgiaLevel older zones]] for the sake of [[PanderingToTheBase pandering to nostalgic fans over moving the series forward]] can be traced back to here. However, at the time ''Generations'' was released, [[TheBusCameBack Classic Sonic had not appeared in a mainline Sonic game in a very long time]], and the remixed zones were seen as a fun way to celebrate Sonic's [[LongRunners long history]]. It wasn't until Classic Sonic began returning without the novelty of seeing him again after a long time and many more games that consisted mostly of (often the same) reused zones came out (mostly notably, 2017's VideoGame/SonicMania and VideoGame/SonicForces both featured Green Hill Zone and Chemical Plant, with two-thirds of ''Mania'' consisting of reused zones while 3 of the 7 regions of ''Forces'' are old locations, and even Classic Sonic's levels for the new regions homage classic levels) that it became a problem.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: The finale of the game established once and for all, in-canon, that Dr. Eggman's real name is still Dr. Ivo Robotnik, intended to curb the fandom debates about which of them was his real name or not. The good doctor humorously notes this when addressed as his real name by Tails, saying [[LampshadeHanging "Nobody calls me that anymore."]]

* EightPointEight:
** Game Informer's review for ''Sonic Generations'' gave it a 6.75 -- equal to ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 Sonic 2006]]''. One [[http://youtu.be/jqOssrGoVYY?t=26m50s YouTube reviewer]] went so far as to call Game Informer out on their opinions in the middle of his own review. Game Informer drew in even more hate when the reviewer responded to people complaining about said review by insulting them in the letters section.
** While IGN's review gave the game a fairly good score otherwise, the reviewer going out of his way to pan the music accompanying Modern Sonic's stages and questioning those who ''do'' like it caused a significant amount of backlash regardless. It doesn't help that IGN has had a history of badmouthing Sonic games, no matter the actual quality or general perception, which continues in full swing to this day.

* ScrappyMechanic: Black holes appear scattered throughout the stage during versus matches in the 3DS version. Falling into one forces the player to mash the B button to let Sonic escape. There's a reason this is the only instance when this gameplay gimmick appears.

* ScrappyMechanic: Black holes, during versus matches in the 3DS version. There's a reason this is the only instance this gameplay gimmick appears.

** Due to a programming error, the final boss in the 3DS version has Eggman saying his one of his Spanish quotes instead of the appropriate English one. It's quite amusing to hear "No ha estado mal!" instead of the expected "Not bad!" after each hit.

** Due to a programming error, the final boss in the 3DS version has Eggman saying his Spanish quotes instead of his English ones. It's quite amusing to hear "No ha estado mal!" instead of the expected "Not bad!" after each hit.

** The backwards compatible versions for Xbox One X and Xbox Series X|S consoles are this. The former offering improved performance at a 4K resolution, while the latter a 4K/1440p picture along with upgrade to rock-solid 60 FPS.

** While it lacks 60fps support due to being an emulation of the Xbox 360 version, the Xbox One Backwards Compatibility release of the game runs pretty well, even supporting 4K up-rendering with no noticeable performance drops and noticeably faster load times (almost as fast as the PC version's) on Xbox One X.

* PolishedPort:

* PolishedPort: While it lacks 60fps support due to being an emulation of the Xbox 360 version, the Xbox One Backwards Compatibility release of the game runs pretty well, even supporting 4K up-rendering with no noticeable performance drops and noticeably faster load times (almost as fast as the PC version's) on Xbox One X.
* PortingDisaster: The PC version is a weird case. If you have a good PC and the like, then it's mostly fine for the most part and is even able to run at a full 1080p resolution and 60fps with reduced loading times, so by all accounts, it should be a PolishedPort. Unfortunately, there are enough drawbacks to slightly edge it towards this category instead: If playing on a non-Xbox controller, Sonic will sometimes start stepping to the left by himself until you restart the game, it has graphical and framerate issues with some video cards that really shouldn't have such issues for the game (especially likely to be encountered in the liquid-heavy Chemical Plant stage), the game has frequent launch issues and will sometimes crash and the system requirements were incredibly high when it was released requiring a top-of-the-line machine to even play it, otherwise, it is a laggy mess with severe input lag and is even more prone to crashing. On top of that, it lacks ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1'', which the console versions have.

* PolishedPort:
** The PC version, which reduced the loading times ''significantly'' and allowed the game to achieve 60fps on a PC with good enough specs. The PC version's popularity is also due to the [[GameMod modding possibilities...]] Unfortunately, the PC version does not have the ability to play the original ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1'', though it was being sold standalone at the time of its release.
** Taken even further with the uncovering of the half-broken remains of the graphics rendering engine of ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' during the creation of the ''Unleashed Project'' game mod. After fixing it up, it enabled a lot of extra features that were disabled in all versions of the vanilla game, such as directional shadows, light shafts, more dramatic lighting effects, and a more advanced speed blur system. On top of that, thanks to its unfinished nature disabling certain functions, it actually gives the game a significant boost in FPS. The difference that the rendering engine makes, especially in stages like Sky Sanctuary, Speed Highway, and Seaside Hill, is [[SceneryPorn absolutely jaw dropping.]] Unfortunately, the renderer doesn't work with weaker graphics cards, instead causing the game to look as if you were playing it with a thick layer of Vaseline on the camera. This is because the "Unleashed renderer" applies heavy motion blur in an attempt to mask low frame rates. It can easily be enabled with the [=SonicGMI=] tool.
** While it lacks 60fps support due to being an emulation of the Xbox 360 version, the Xbox One Backwards Compatibility release of the game runs pretty well, even supporting 4K up-rendering with no noticeable performance drops and noticeably faster load times (almost as fast as the PC version's) on Xbox One X.

* SoOkayItsAverage: The 3DS version gets this reaction from most. The game is derided for its even greater lack of content (even compared to the console version) as well as a wasted opportunity with not representing the handheld games save [[VideoGame/SonicRushSeries one]]. However, the game is still considered to be perfectly enjoyable with good level design (when not recycled from the originals), with a few even considering the 3DS version to be an underrated gem with a few advantages over its console/PC cousin, most notably the FinalBoss.

* NightmareFuel: Upon starting a new game, the game will send you to its brightness setting; however the way the background is darkened and Modern and Classic Sonic giving a new look induced a bit of a JumpScare.

** No Classic Amy, Knuckles, or the Chaotix[[note]]though to be fair, the Chaotix's [[VideoGame/KnucklesChaotix debut game]] is now considered non-canon while their "true" debut is considered to be ''Heroes''[[/note]] despite being characters from before the ArtShift. There's no Modern Metal Sonic either, despite him being the only other villain besides Eggman to be prominent before and after the ArtShift.

* ToughActToFollow: ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'' and ''VideoGame/SonicForces'', while not bad, are still compared negatively to ''Sonic Generations'' in terms of gameplay, level design, and (for the latter at least) use of Classic Sonic stages.

** The fire tornado in Classic Crisis City that [[spoiler:[[MovingTheGoalposts drags the goal post away]]]] has been affectionately dubbed the Trollnado. [[spoiler:The goalpost is called the Trollpost.]]

** [[spoiler:That tornado's carrying [[AscendedMeme a goalpost!]]]]

** The PC version, which reduced the loading times ''significantly'' and allowed the game to achieve 60fps on a PC with good enough specs. The PC version's popularity is also due to the [[GameMod modding possibilities...]] Unfortunately, the PC version does not have the ability to play the original ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1''.
** Taken UpToEleven with the uncovering of the half-broken remains of the graphics rendering engine of ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' during the creation of the Generations Unleashed game mod. After fixing it up, it enabled a lot of extra features that were disabled in all versions of the vanilla game, such as directional shadows, light shafts, more dramatic lighting effects, and a more advanced speed blur system. On top of that, thanks to its unfinished nature disabling certain functions, it actually gives the game a significant boost in FPS. The difference that the rendering engine makes, especially in stages like Sky Sanctuary, Speed Highway, and Seaside Hill, is [[SceneryPorn absolutely jaw dropping.]] Unfortunately, the renderer doesn't work with weaker graphics cards, [[EpicFail instead causing the game to look as if you were playing it with a thick layer of Vaseline on the camera.]] This is because the "Unleashed renderer" applies heavy motion blur in an attempt to mask low frame rates. It can easily be enabled with the [=SonicGMI=] tool.

** After the level list was leaked, some fans were disappointed by the lack of variety between them. [[spoiler:At least, until it was shown that some levels will be radically different from the originals.]] Takashi Iizuka saying that the 3DS version will ignore levels from the UsefulNotes/GameGear [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogChaos spin]]-[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogTripleTrouble offs]] didn't help much either.
** The reveals of [[BaseBreakingCharacter Shadow]] and [[TheScrappy Silver]] as boss battles. [[spoiler:Then it turned out that both Rival battles were incredibly fun to play, and have been a considerable boon to the popularity of the characters ever since, particularly Silver's.]]
** The Death Egg Robot has been subject to claims of ItsEasySoItSucks, though it ''is'' the first[[labelnote:*]]or second, if one counts the Metal Sonic rival battle as a complete boss fight[[/labelnote]] proper boss in the game. Big Arm also was subject to this, also having been nerfed from its ''Sonic 3'' appearance.

* {{Woolseyism}}: Dr. Eggman's Western name of Dr. Ivo Robotnik which was incorporated as the character's real/birth name to make the transition to the original Japanese name Dr. Eggman as his nickname/alias, was [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded by Classic Eggman himself, who derisively tongue-in-cheek notes that nobody calls him that (Robotnik) anymore.]] Funnily enough, this is an example in and of itself, as the line didn't originally exist in the Japanese version. The Japanese version instead had Classic Tails expressing surprise of there being two Eggman and never once refers to Classic Eggman as Robotnik.

** While the era spanning from ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' to ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'' is officially dubbed the Dreamcast Era by Sega, many fans generally tend to dub the era as the ''Adventure'' Era instead due to the era spanning beyond the UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast and many of the games released in that era sharing a ton of elements and ideas with the ''Adventure'' games.

* {{Woolseyism}}: Dr. Eggman's Western name of Dr. Ivo Robotnik which was incorporated as the character's real/birth name to make the transition to the original Japanese name Dr. Eggman as his nickname/alias, was [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded by Classic Eggman himself, who derisively tongue-in-cheek notes that nobody calls him that (Robotnik) anymore.]] Funnily enough, this is an example in and of itself, as the line didn't originally exist in the Japanese version. The Japanese dub instead had Classic Tails expressing surprise of there being two Eggman and never once refers to Classic Eggman as Robotnik.

* ItsShortSoItSucks: The main campaign has been criticised for this. The game only contains 18 stages (14 in the 3DS version), they are evenly divided between the two gameplay styles, and all but two of them are only 3-4 minutes long even your first time. To be fair, the game is filled with optional missions, but all of them are just shortened {{Remixed Level}}s. Depending on who you ask, the large amount of alternate paths for each level either helps by adding a ton of ReplayValue, or are a wasted opportunity due to only a select few of them containing any secrets of note.