Aondeug Overdoses on Sonic

First off before I get anywhere...yes I will finish the Chrono Cross liveblog and my long dead Shankwo liveblog. Likely when I get through this bizarre Sonic obsession of mine. Also this isn't really a liveblog really...More like a collection of bits of history, reviews, and my personal experiences with the various things from the Sonic series. I may or may not go through everything the blue rat has to offer. I may let this die and bring it back at any moments notice...It's just a thing really...Maybe it will go better in Yackfest? If so just move it I guess. Yeah.

Now to begin let's start with a tiny bit of history about this furry blue rat we call Sonic. During the time of the Genesis SEGA decided that they needed a new mascot to replace Alex Kidd. He just wasn't doing it for them anymore. He sure as fuck wasn't dethroning Mario and one upping Nintendo at every turn. As such SEGA devised a series of many concepts for their new mascot who would star in a new game that would hopefully make SEGA the king of that era. The concepts included, among others, an armadillo, a dog, a fat Theodore Roosevelt in pajamas, and a hedgehog then called Mr. Needlemouse. The armadillo and the Roosevelt would become Mighty the Armadillo and the rather comedically pathetic Dr. Eggman. The hedgehog would become SEGA's new mascot of choice, be renamed Sonic the Hedgehog, and begin his gaming career in the 16-bit Sonic the Hedgehog for the SEGA Genesis. The fat Eggman would star in this game as well as Sonic's nemesis who would forever try to rule the world or destroy the world and fail extremely hard at doing so. This game would make it over to the states and Europe with a few changes. One of the longest lasting and ultimately painfully confusing would be the renaming of Dr. Eggman to Dr. Ivo Robotnik formerly Dr. Kintobor. This naming mess and the various ways that it has been dealt with can wait. I'll probably get to it when I start talking about the Archie comic series. That won't be for a while though...

Instead I will get to my own experience with the series as a whole...I grew up with Sonic. Or watching Sonic to be more specific. Not the cartoon series mind you but the video games. My mother played them quite a bit when I was younger and even before I was born. I don't recall ever playing a Sonic game during this time. By the time I started playing games our Genesis collection would be reduced to nothing save the Shining series (Shining In The Darkness and Shining Force 1 and 2). Our SEGA CD collection and the console itself would be long gone though never forgotten by me. It wouldn't be until I was about nine or ten that I would play a Sonic game myself and then I would be playing them on the computer. My small collection of Sonic games consisted of Sonic R, Sonic 3 D Blast, and Sonic The Hedgehog 3 And Knuckles. I wouldn't play any of the other games in the series until the eventual Gamecube remake of Sonic Adventure 2. I would beg for a Dreamcast and Sonic Adventure, but would never get either. Hell I didn't even get a chance to play it until the Gamecube remake. Sonic Adventure would be the last newer Sonic game I would hear about until the Gamecube came along. That sexy purple cube was good to me Sonic wise as it was then that through the Adventure remakes, the Mega Collection, and the Gems collection that I would experience much of the series that until then I wasn't even aware existed.

Despite this very limited exposure to the games as a young child Sonic would be one of my favorite series. The few games I did own I loved dearly and would be very pissed when R was stolen, Blast was broken, and 3 and Knuckles went missing. The franchise would oddly be one of the most iconic and memorable for me. Kind of like how Zero from Megaman would be one of my most beloved characters as a child despite only playing one of the games on the Gameboy Color until recently. Still even though it would be one of my most beloved series of characters and comics and rape pillows and scented soaps Sonic would never be one of my favorite game series game play wise. Ever.

Now that that rambling is out of the way I can get to the games...Recently as a way of satisfying my obsessive desires I have played through a few of the various games. The first I played and beat was Sonic's first outing, Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit). This was a game I wouldn't get a chance to play until the Mega Collection came out and it wouldn't be one I would beat until last month. Having played through it what is there to be said about it as a whole? Well it's the first entry of the series and it plays like it. This is one of the weaker entries in the series and likely the weakest of the games released on home consoles. But why?

Well first off let's talk about the gameplay. Like the games that would come after it the controls are incredibly simple. Press left or right to run in that direction and a button to jump. Pressing down while running would result in a short lived spin. This spin is where many of my problems reside. To kill enemies one must either jump on or roll into an enemy while curled up. Then the robot bursts into scrap metal and an adorable pixelated animal with a goofy ass name would hop about happily. This is a simple concept that is made difficult by things like narrow passage ways and enemies with spiky heads or bodies or something that otherwise keeps you from hurting them with a jump. To destroy these bothersome foes one must roll into them. Sadly this is difficult without the spin dash that would be introduced in 2 though likely first designed in CD. As such much of the time I am running back and forth and hopefully rolling into things. Sometimes I just run into them and swear as my rings bounce away.

Sonic has been and will always be known for his speed. He is the reputedly the fastest thing alive. He's known as the blue blur and his image has appeared on sports cars. The gerbil's name is even a reference to a classification of speed! In Sonic 1 however he is quite slow. He doesn't seem to be much faster than Mario while holding down the B button. He's just...kind of slow. Visibly. Even while going through shuttle loops and straight down (or even up) straight walls he feels slow and sluggish. Because Super Sonic wouldn't be introduced until 2 there isn't that burst of speed either. You do get the sneaker upgrade though which makes the game more amusing. Sadly these are limited things that cannot be extended by collecting more rings...This slow feeling affects my enjoyment of the levels which while memorable things just aren't as awesome as what would be in later games. Especially 3 and Knuckles.

That's just the stages though. Now if one manages to collect 50 or more rings and keep them till the end of the stage one gets a chance at a special stage for a chaos emerald. Sonic 1's special stages would involve a rotating maze with bumper ball things and the like. You must make it to the middle of this maze and then slowly beat away crystals protecting the emerald by slamming Sonic's rolling body into them. Sadly these stages are boring and navigating through the maze can be a bit annoying because control a balled up Sonic in the air is about as precise and easy to manage as ballet dancing in snow gear (the shit one sees Ralphie's brother wearing in A Christmas Story in particular) on the moon. Or maybe I just don't have the patience and fine tuned skill for it? Either way I hate these stages with all my tiny being. And then there's that music...THE MUSIC. Well actually I like the special stage's music for whatever reason...Even though it isn't awesome and exciting like what is seen in the other games. It does sound like something one would hear playing while ballet dancing in snow gear on the moon though!

Next up the bosses...the bosses suck. Well not all of them. Spring Yard Zone and the Final Zone's bosses are some of my least favorite bosses in the series. Hell they're some of my least favorite in gaming period. Especially Final Zone's. The developers decided that having no rings for the last boss would be fine. This douchebaggery would be perfected in the game's sequel, Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Perhaps this was a technical issue or something, but it still makes for a miserable boss fight. Once Eggman was beaten (after like 50 tries because he keeps killing you in one hit) the ending would commence. The ending theme of this game would be a combination of the various stage themes into one track. This would be used for the credits of the other Genesis games as well.

Sonic's soundtrack isn't the best though it is certainly memorable. Scrap Brain Zone in particular has one of the more awesome themes. Sadly Scrap Brain Zone is a painful fuckfest of a level that would still manage to be kind and fun when compared to Wing Fortress Zone from the next game.

Despite its many issues and its being bland compared to 3 and Knuckles 1 is one of the games that I like more. It like many other first entries to older series is one of those things that I play again and again. They're short and shitty compared to latter entries, but something is very charming about them being short and shitty. Sure Zelda 1 is terrible and impossible without a guide or spending years of your life bombing even square inch of the game, but I play it quite a bit. Dragon Quest 1 is just abysmally bad. It's short, the story is barely there, and by all rights it is hideously boring but I play it quite a bit. Sonic 1 is one of those games. THOSE games. Not really all that wonderful and not the best aged thing in existence, but something that I oddly adore...I'll probably end up beating this thing again and again just because I like it...Like Zelda!

And to end this first entry here is one of the most memorable pieces of music in video game history,Green Hill Zone's Theme. Also please note that this does not signal my return to the rest of the fora. I just need somewhere to vomit out this shit about Sonic.

EDIT: And I have pages to make...Blast...BLAST. BLAST!!! (?)

edited 2nd Nov '10 8:25:56 PM by Aondeug

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You may have to fight the final boss of Sonic 1 with no rings, but it still has an easy to figure out attack pattern and Robotnik gives you a fair bit of time to dodge them. Kind of anticlimactic, really, especially compared to the Egg Emperor.

Yes at least his pattern is easy and he isn't that much of a bitch to hit. You certainly don't die when you hit him and wonder what you did wrong...Like 2's. Sonic 2 I hate very much.

Oh man, Sonic! Sonic was my first fandom back when i was like...8 or so. (Although I was more into SatAM and the comics.) I'm looking forward to see what you have to say about the series!

Aon: You hate Sonic 2? I'm not sure if we can be friends anymore.

I hate Sonic 2 for a few reasons. There are stages I do like in the game and the soundtrack is something I am fond of, but why do I hate Sonic 2?

REASONS

1. The stages and in particular the latter ones. These later stages seem to suffer from some odd belief that Sonic is good at more precise platforming. He's not. Especially as Super Sonic. There are also pits one can fall into as Super Sonic that have no escape save a slow wait for death. Such things turn Super Sonic into something you want to avoid with all your might.
2. Super Sonic himself. If you get him early on he isn't so bad. He's a fun bastard to play as in Sonic games because he's fast as all fuck and invincible to damn near everything save time outs and smashing. Sadly there are stages where being him make the game living hell. Also unlike the sequel to this game Super Sonic is activated the moment you jump with 50 or more rings on you. This lack of choice in the matter is annoying.
3. To get Super Sonic you first need seven chaos emeralds which are got by collecting 50 rings, hitting a star post, and beating a special stage. Sonic 2's special stages as I have heard are kick ass when you have another player. Not that you want to be Super Sonic in two player or at all at times. The music for them is one of my favorite special stage themes. Now one player is another story...Tails is a useless bitch in this game in general unless another person is playing him, but here he moves from just being useless to being an annoying nuisance that you want to die. The perspective makes the stages a bit difficult to learn since you typically have no fucking clue what's in front of you. Tails makes this worse because you need to move or jump well in advance for him to follow you in time to dodge things. This leads to many frustrating failures. Thankfully being a cheating bastard with no shame lessens the pain of learning.
4. I know I've bitched about the stages in general, but Wing Fortress Zone needs its own thing all to itself. This is not a good stage. At all. Especially not for the highly caffeinated chili dog addict that you play as. Then you become Super Sonic and oh my fucking god...Those platforms. THOSE MOTHERFUCKING PLATFORMS. Did I mention that it is almost guaranteed insta-death if you fall?
5. The ending boss. Again it suffers from not having any rings available. Now Silver/Metal/Whatever the fuck we are calling him Sonic is ok. I like his part of the battle even though those his spike shooting attack rapes me. Eggman is where I take offense. I died so many times just trying to hit his fat ass. There is some timing to attacking him that I had issues getting down. I still have no god damn clue what it is. Yes by this time I had lives and continues up the ass, but that isn't the point. The point is is that this boss fight is frustrating and stupid. "Oh you're just complaining because it's too hard!" Yes. Yes I am. Because it isn't a good sort of hard or even a hilariously bad sort. It's just stupid. I eventually said fuck it and abused states on this fight. This is how much I hated it. It isn't worth any better.
6. The ending...This is mostly just terrible nitpicking, but the ending isn't too spectacular. Then again Sonic 1's isn't either, but that's to be expected. Sonic 2's ending left me feeling happy that this shit was over, but ultimately annoyed with most of the experience.

So in the end Sonic 2 is likely a good game. A good game that I hate to play. My experience was so enraging that I don't ever want to play the thing again save with a friend or my brother and that's only a maybe. Also Sonic 2 is fantastic in that it introduced Super Sonic to us even if we didn't want to be using him much of the time. It also brought to the series the first sight of the spin dash. Again the dash may have been developed in CD prior to this game as development on CD began before 2 and continued on through 2's development if I recall correctly. The dash we see in two is delightful and improved versions of the thing would be seen in the rest of the Sonic platforming games.

And next will be Sonic 3 and Knuckles as well as Sonic CD. Maybe CD and my lovely opinions on it that many disagree with! Said opinions tend to amount to "This is the worst game in the whole series. Even more so than Shadow the Hedgehog".

I leave you with the music of pure pain.

edited 3rd Nov '10 11:42:10 AM by Aondeug

Now for Sonic 3 and Knuckles...This was the Sonic game I grew up playing. The computer version I had had the conjoined version of the games and I would be confused when this version needed to be unlocked in the Mega Collection. Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles are ok by themselves, but 3 and Knuckles is some godly shit. This is, I do think, the best fucking Sonic game in existence. The other 16 bit games look like shit compared to it.

Apparently the game was supposed to be released as the joined version but due to time constraints or something the game had to be split up into two separate games: Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic and Knuckles. The Knuckles cartridge was one of the only games to ever use lock-on technology and one of the few that used it to do the shit it did. If locked onto 3 you could play as Sonic and Tails, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. Not only this but you would play through ALL of the Sonic 3 stages and then ALL of the Knuckles stages, though there are stages that Knuckles and Tails cannot play except through cheating. The Knuckles stages had a few changes here and there in this version. The Knuckles cart could be added on top of Sonic 2 which would lead to the ability to play as Knuckles in this game. If locked onto Sonic 1 you would be able to play the Blue Spheres game.

Sonic 3 and Knuckles didn't just introduce a new playable character and rival to Sonic. It took what we had in the other games and improved upon it. Sonic's sprite was updated, Super Sonic could now be activated by pressing A or whatever your jump button is in the air, Tails could fly, the later stages weren't the horror that is Wing Fortress Zone, and the soundtrack is not just awesome but of better sound quality than the other games.

This soundtrack is one of my favorites. Because it's just fucking awesome. Especially Hydrocity Zones tracks. Each stage that has multiple acts has two different themes. One for each act. Hydrocity Zone Act 2 is the best of these tracks. Seriously. It's just badass.

The stage itself, despite being a dreaded underwater stage, is too. Not just the way it looks, but the way it plays. Hydrocity is one of Sonic's big shows of his speed. You just marvel as he is revved up and sent rocketing UP a spiral loop and runs through shuttle loops and down slopes and up walls and ACROSS THE WATER. Sonic is so fast. So amazingly fast and bitchin' that he can run on water and tell the laws of physics to fuck themselves more so than he normally does.

This is also one of the games to use a save function and I do believe it to be the second to do this. This means that you don't have to beat the game in one sitting or leave your Genesis or whatever on praying that it doesn't overheat and freeze and that your dumbfuck brother doesn't come and turn it off to play something else. This save screen is fun to look at too. You get to see all the emeralds you have! Just circled around you in all their glory...While this plays. Or if you have a Genesis or an emulator for it... It's a nice feature and even a fun one to look at!

Now emeralds...Let's talk emeralds. Unlike the previous games where you needed to collect 50 rings to reach them all that you need to do here is find one of the many giant rings hidden throughout the stages and jump into them. These are my favorite special stages next to those in Knuckles Chaotix. They're still challenging. At least the ones in Knuckles. But they're fun and not hideously frustrating. The blue sphere game is a fun thing in general. I could play that thing for hours. Not only are there seven Chaos Emeralds. There are seven Super Emeralds to collect in the Knuckles portion of the game. So in the game itself there are 14 of these lovely things to play through as well as the 15th stage that one shouldn't be able to reach.

Super Sonic himself is much better as he is only activated when you want him to be. The ring counter seems to deplete slightly slower too. Then there is Hyper Sonic who can be used after collecting the Super Emeralds. Sonic glows different color and can preform a double jump that rapes everything on screen. Not that you aren't already raping everything by ramming your godly face into them. This model is improved from 2's and it still has the badass crouching and leaning over ledges animation. Sonic doesn't flail about hoping not to fall. No. He stands against the wind, his spines flowing in the wind, like the god that he is. The save and stage select make having him even more awesome as you can rape earlier stages with Hyper Sonic whenever you please! Tails has his own super form once all 14 emeralds are collected and Knuckles glows pink and becomes Hyper Knuckles.

Even small things like shields are better. Especially as Sonic who can use them to double jump, jump dash, or bounce jump into things. These also guard against certain attacks of their element and the water and electric shields have additional effects; the former allows you to breathe underwater and the latter collects rings like a magnet.

The ending is proper. There are rings first off. It is also an epic multipart boss fight that goes from Eggman's space base to the stars themselves and once they go down you get a proper ending sequence. For once Sonic has a fantastic end boss and ending sequence.

This game isn't without its issues though. Sandopolis Zone needs to fuck itself along with Carnival Night Zone. Knuckles can be annoying to play as since he doesn't jump as high and no one but Sonic can use the additional jumps that the shields offer. They instead get other powers that make up for it though they aren't as awesome as becoming a dashing fireball of death. Knuckles' glide doesn't really help his height issue unless you climb up walls. This is cool yeah, but being unable to jump and even DOUBLE JUMP like Sonic is a bitch at times. The special stages can be a bit of an issue to find when you first play. There are still stages with stupid insta-death up the ass though never on Sonic 2's scale of annoyance.

Sonic 3 and Knuckles as close to perfect as Sonic gets though. It is in my opinion the height of the series gameplay and music wise and manages to be so despite everything that followed it. Or maybe because of everything that followed it depending on your view.

This post is getting too long...CD gets its own post...

edited 4th Nov '10 1:21:50 PM by Aondeug

Gushing isn't what people like to see in reviews typically though...No we like bitching for some reason. Sonic CD and my opinions on it are here to deliver!

Now CD began production before and during 2's development I believe. It would be Sonic's big outing on SEGA's ill fated SEGA CD and also become one of the most memorable Sonic games in the whole series. In fact it would battle 3 and Knuckles for the title of "Best Sonic Game" for the years to come. CD had an animated opening with a badass song; Toot-toot Sonic Warrior You Can Do It for Japan and Europe and Sonic Boom for the USA. CD was a big game too. It had four different variations of each act, save third acts which only had two, with different tracks for each of these different variations. It had new abilities and new characters including an improved Sonic robot called Metal Sonic. It also had two different soundtracks! That means there is twice the awesome music! Though they could only be heard in their respective versions. Sonic CD was the shit.

For most everyone but me. I have memories of my mother playing it. I may have tried my hand at it as a young Aondeug, but I have no memories of that. My first true experience with the game would be the version released as part of the Gems Collection. I had before then heard how fucking badass it was. I had seen the opening and ending movies. I already thought 3 and Knuckles was the best thing ever Sonic wise so what could possibly beat it? I soon found out that nothing could beat that game.

CD just isn't a good game I think. Yes it is playable, but good god...The level design is just assholish. I have no idea why. I theorize it has to do with being released before 3 and Knuckles as level design didn't become godly until then. The stages in CD are littered with shit in your way. The usual spike pits, enemies, annoying placed springs, and bottomless pits all seek to stop your wild rampage through the stages. More so than normal. But not just those...no. Sonic Team had to use what is likely to be the most annoying obstacle ever seen in the series. The spike block wall thing. It's a Sonic game. Running is what you do in a Sonic game. These bastards thwart your efforts at every turn. They aren't like the springs that send you backwards in other games. No...these fuckers kill you or send your rings bouncing all over. The game loves these things. I do not understand why as they are annoying. Did I mention that the stages are confusing clusterfucks as well?

Sadly this doesn't just keep you from running because it is fun. These things also keep you from time traveling which is, I believe, necessary to find the robot making machines that you must destroy to get the good ending. This becomes difficult because of all this fucking shit in your way. There are also only limited numbers of the signs and they can only be used once. If you fuck up too much you lose the ability to time travel and need to find another sign. If you fuck up too much? This finding machines in general just slows you down. Sure you need to find giant rings in 3 and Knuckles to get the good ending, but there is the stage select option where you can go back and play the stages without thinking about looking for shit. So...running through stages at break neck speed isn't really a good thing to do in CD. Shame.

Controls are there to anger you as well! As said before this may be the first spin dash ever to be programmed. It feels that way too. It's just an awkward thing to use...You must charge it up for at least a second before you can dash. This is annoying especially if you are used to 2's style of spin dashing. To make up for that Sonic gets the Super Peelout/Figure Eight/Some other name which is used by holding up and pressing the jump button. This sends Sonic dashing forward, but leaves him vulnerable. You can press down after using it to roll at the Peelout's speed though. So...you can spin dash properly...sort of...The Peelout and Sonic's running animation look neat though I guess...

CD redeems itself via its soundtrack though. The American one ranges from ok to bad with a few tracks that are better than Japan's. Like Sonic Boom because Toot-toot is just annoying and stupid. And no this isn't my being a Japanese loving bitch. Japan. America. Fuck that shit give me the weird shit with "YAY!" in the background. Or the goofy Stardust Speedway tracks...CD is just weird soundtrack wise with both its soundtracks if you think about it. It just isn't like the others at all...The Japanese version has one of my favorite soundtracks in the series. Because...seriously...That is some neat stuff.

Overall though I really don't like this game much and the hype it gets likely sours my opinion even more. Not only that I can't get the fucking bitch to work properly on an emulator. I spent time fiddling around and couldn't get the music play save the past themes. SEGA CD emulation in general seems to be annoying in this way...Sure PSX emulation requires different plug ins and the ability to read and follow instructions that are more than "Look for rom and select it", but I don't have the problems I have with the CD. The biggest being missing music problems that I can't seem to fix. If 1 (especially the GBA port) wasn't the worst in the series, which it likely is, CD can take its place. I still like it more than 2 though. 2 I just hate.

EDIT: I somehow forgot the special stages...These are the worst Sonic has to offer. You have to kill purple UFOs within a time limit to get a Time Stone. This is hard to do as hitting the UFOs is difficult. I suspect that Sonic may be going blind as he can't hit a GIANT PURPLE OBJECT RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM. The Time Stones, once all collected, guarantee the good ending. Sadly they suck assmonkeys to play. So it is either collect these or destroy all the robot makers.

For a last note there are also the Metal Sonic image projectors that I take issue with. I looked up their purpose and discovered that they have none. They bring the animals back to the stage. Big whoop.

edited 3rd Nov '10 1:12:18 PM by Aondeug

I am quite drawn to this damn thing it seems. Then again I have a lot of shit to talk about...I still have the Adventure games, the Advance series (which I need to play), Shadow the Hedgehog, the Rush games, the numerous racing games, Knuckles Chaotix...There's a shit ton of stuff that I have to go through and am going through...

Just today I watched through Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie which was a two episode OVA series combined into one film for its US release and oh my is it a thing. Of all the various crap that has been tainted by the stench of mutant hamster and chili dogs this is probably the best. It doesn't have the unusual chili dog thing, but eh.

One thing I noted right away are the voices...It's odd. These voices are not only not the voices that we commonly associate with the characters, but they're about as far from those voices as you can get. Save Robotnik really.

Then there's the world itself. They live on Freedom Island which is a floating island connected by giant glaciers with magma flowing through them. Oooook. This island apparently has the landmark areas of the Sonic world including South Island and Robotropolis. It is inhabited by furries, kemonomimi, and humans. Our cast of characters includes Sonic, Tails, Robotnik, Knuckles, and Metal Sonic as well as three new characters who would never be seen again. Sarah, her father the President (who lives in the White House), and an owl. Sonic is a rather selfish hero who really just wants to rock out to his favorite tunes. Tails is a silly and excited thing with a desire to help people who are in trouble. Knuckles is Sonic's angry girlfriend who keeps a tab regarding all the things Sonic owes him. Robotnik is an evil dumbass. Metal Sonic never talks and his character is hard to explain. The owl is a kooky old weirdo. The President is an overreactive idiot and Sarah is his air headed daughter who happily enjoys her being held hostage because she gets to play video games and wear pretty new dresses.

But plot...What is the plot? Robotnik wants to make a perfect Sonic robot using Sonic's "Life Data". He plans to get this by tricking Sonic into going to Robotropolis to stop his robot maker thing from exploding as well as defeat the evil Robo-Robotnik. Robo-Robotnik is of course Robotnik and his oddly cheerful hostage Sarah. Sonic gets caught in a machine scanner and Metal Sonic is perfected. The plan is to have it kill Sonic and then destroy Freedom Island by causing magma explosions that will sever the continents causing them to fly out in space where they will be bombarded with meteors and explode. It makes no fucking sense, but this isn't what you watch this thing for.

No. What you watch the OVA/movie for is things like Knuckles getting mad at Tails for dry humping Sarah, Sonic giving Robotnik the finger, Sonic telling Tails to shut up, and Sonic landing on his balls and writhing in pain. So far the only edited scene I know of is the finger scene. Everything else is there for you to see AND hear. "Tails I never thought you'd stoop so low!" "I'M SWORRY!!" It's kind of shocking this all got past but the finger didn't.

When the movie isn't amazing you with how foul it is, it is amusing you with explosions, running, flying, fighting, and some weird fucking shit. It's just fun to watch. Sure it doesn't make too much sense and doesn't tell some awesome and mind blowing story. Hell it is rather simple plot wise if you pull away the unusual shit from it. Evil Dude wants to rule world and bang chick. Makes robot to destroy nemesis and other people. Good guys try to stop him. It's just an enjoyable thing.

It is also touching in the end...You go all this time either being amazed at things like Sonic's ball pains and Robo-Robotnik's ass goop cannon and then there's Metal Sonic's death that hits you in the face and makes you teary eyed.

Sonic the OVA/Movie is one of the few Sonic multimedia things not game related that I find to be genuinely good. Not something I torture myself with because it's hilariously bad in many parts. It's just pure fun without my ragging on the thing. Sure I still go "...what the fuck am I watching?" but I don't also go "Oh god it's trying to be serious? BWAHAHAHA!!" every good while. I also didn't get bored. Once.

But what about the rest of the stuff that came out? Like the Archie comics? Well that's next. The Archie main series up to 101, the Super Specials up to 15, all of Knuckles and the Knuckles miniseries, the Tails miniseries, Quest, and so on. This was read over the course of October and I will take a long time talking about it...

Sonic has had quite a career comic wise not just in his native Japan, but in Western countries as well. He has had what is likely to be the most successful comic book career of a video game character. Certainly in the states anyway. The license for the speedy rodent was secured by Archie comics for a short four issue miniseries. This miniseries would be completed and eventually followed by the main comics, a number of specials, and other related series including Sonic X and Sonic Universe (a continuation of Archie's X comics and an exploration of the Archie's Sonic multiverse). The main series now has over some 217 issues and is still going.

I own a copy of Sonic the Hedgehog: The Beginning, a trade paperback that contains the original miniseries. The miniseries was a rather simple thing filled with puns and silly plots that really made no sense. Character's had very basic personalities and little was known about their pasts. These comics had some inconsistencies regarding the coloration of Sally Acorn. She went from being a blonde to being a brunette. Eventually she'd become a redhead and sport a vest. Besides the thing with Sally the art tends to be mostly consistent with itself. Even when the artist was changed characters had proportions mostly consistent with the rest of the series. Sadly this quality would be on and off in the series to follow but we aren't there yet. One more thing regarding the art...There is a severe lack of backgrounds and background decoration. This would continue on in the earlier issues of the main series.

The characters are, as I said, simple and based off the characters from Sat AM. Sonic is a sarcastic and jokey fellow who likes chili dogs and hates Robotnik. Sally is bitchy, but totally wants Sonic. Tails is well...he's Sonic's biggest fan. That's all he gets really...Rotor is kind of plain I found. Antoine is a pompous douchebag who hates Sonic. These characterizations would be kept for the following series though they would be developed over time.

Plot wise Robotnik takes over the planet Mobius and Sonic learns this only when he goes to deliver some chili dogs to this fatass. His uncle Chuck and dog get kidnapped and turned into brainless robots (they just get swirly eyes early on). Sonic runs into Sally Acorn and after a futile attempt to beat up Robotnik runs off with Sally and joins the Freedom Fighters. This is revealed in the second story of issue 0 and much of it would be retconned in the main series. The other stories include trying to cheer up weeping willows, stopping an underwater roboticizer, and Sally's ill fated attempt to scan the inside of a roboticizer so it could be reverse engineered by the Freedom Fighters. It's simple punny stuff and it's all right.

Sometime after this Archie got hold of the license for longer and began the main line of Sonic comics. The early issues are similar in style to the miniseries. Robotnik comes up with some ridiculous scheme and Sonic and friends thwart his evil plans. There are puns and lack of backgrounds and silly things. These are ok for a while, but then they just begin to bore me. I think that perhaps had I owned physical copies of these comics I would read them and enjoy them, but I lack said copies so...I just kind of skipped over this phase to about issue 24 or 25.

A few things about these earliest of Sonic comics...The covers are just not my thing. They're not terribly interesting looking and have stupid dialogue and such on them. Which I hate. A lot. It just looks tacky. As for the backgrounds I keep mentioning...They're just...big blocks of solid color. I don't know what this is supposed to be. Maybe the walls? If so I really want to know who it is who is designing these buildings.

By issue 25 some of these issues are being dealt with. Sure it's still silly crap, but it isn't things like "There's a killer plant and Tails sprays water and then it blows up the end". The plots are still ridiculous but they feel a bit more developed and polished. It may have reached this before 25 but eh...

Also there are backgrounds more complex than "BIG GREEN ABYSS OF A WALL" and the character models are improved. We go from Sonic looking more like he did in the American box art and cartoons to something more similar to the Japanese art. While the older version of comic Sonic is ok I much prefer what we have by issue 24. Tails also begins to look cute. Good. American style Tails always looked retarded in my opinion. The covers are improved by then too!

I generally like these comics though I do grow a bit bored of them at times. I feel that this may have worked better if it were moving. Like if it were a cartoon or something.

If I have a problem it is that sometimes the stories feel far too rushed. This seems to be largely a result of there being multiple stories in one comic. So you'll get a story involving Sonic and then something with Sally. Yes I said the stories feel more developed by 25 than the earlier issues, but good god they are fast paced...Sometimes they even have THREE stories. Not one. Not two. FUCKING THREE. You thought it was compressed before? Well...you haven't seen anything until you see three crammed in one 30 page or so comic. This seems to remain a lasting thing too. Even up to 140 (which I own for some reason) this happens.

Now until issue 42 or so the stories remain mostly self-contained things that are concluded in an issue or so. Around the 40's the comics begin to have more of a flowing and continuous story line. They still remain relatively light hearted though...Until issues 46-50. 46 is a sort of prelude to the arc to come. 47-50 are the Endgame arc and this is where the comics begin to make a more drastic transition into something more serious.

Endgame was actually one of the first stories I read in this series. I read it shortly after being disappointed with Sonic CD's comic adaptation and bored with the rest of what followed it. Endgame was...a thing. From what little I have seen of the fanbase's opinions on it Endgame is a very polarizing story. After going back and reading the earlier issues from 25 and up and then reading up to 101 I can see why. Endgame is quite the tone shift. We go from something mostly light hearted to attempted murder and betrayal (we've had it before but it didn't lead to murder attempts like this) and escapes from impending imprisonment and the death of Robotnik. It's a drama filled hell of a story.

It starts as a plan to end Robotnik's rule once and for all. Operation: Endgame. Drago Wolf would trick Hershey Cat into dressing like Sonic and cutting a support rope that was holding Sally Acorn. Sally would fall and Dr. Quack would pronounce her dead. Sonic would then be accused of her murder and be sent to the Devil's Gulag only to escape before getting there and making a run to stop Robotnik. And boy is Sonic pissed during this all. Why we even get helpful caption boxes telling us so. Quite a few times even! Save that though, Endgame is thankfully relatively free of an overabundance of caption boxes explaining EXACTLY what is happening the panels we are looking at.

I don't care for Endgame much as a story. The whole thing just comes off as confusing and impossible to take seriously. "YOU KILLED THE WOMAN I LOVE!!!" results in laughter from me. The other comics following this are ok for the most part though. Endgame itself is just a mess.

This is all just a very condensed and simple look at these comics in general...I may and do want to go into detail with some individual issues or story arcs later on, but I would have to read them over again.

The cover of issue 3.◊ The cover of issue 0 of the miniseries.◊ Cover of The Beginning◊ and issue 140.◊ A page from an earlier comic.◊

Knuckles is on hold for now because I just got a chance to play Sonic 4. The announcement of this thing was quite exciting for many fans. I was a bit hopeful as well. A bit. Then I saw videos of the game and my hope died a bit. Then I played the actual game and it completely died.

The first thing I noticed and had any exposure to even before playing was the music. The bland and unmemorable music. I am up to the third zone and have not yet heard one track that I like even a bit and not one that stays in my mind even if I dislike it. I generally hate Rush's soundtrack, but parts of it are memorable at least. And as much as I hate it I like something about it. 4 can not say this. At all. There is nothing of note music wise.

Now...what of the visuals? Well they're not bad looking. Sonic looks doofy though. His looking up animation makes me giggle and make fun of him. His new falling animation makes me giggle too. There's something I don't really like about his spin dash and other ball animations, but eh...Eggman looks really out of place with his new design. Sonic does a bit too, but Eggman just seems like he shouldn't be in the game. Maybe this is just me though.

The level design is ok. It's not marvelous, but it's not the confusing clusterfuck we had in CD or the hell that are the latter stages of 2. It's passable. The special stages I dislike. They just seem to be a timed revamp of the style from 1. You get bubbles that add time and need to collect rings. You can shake the whole stage like a pinball machine and are in full control over the rotation of the stage. This makes them easier to navigate I find. I didn't like them in 1 and I don't like them now. SEGA did fix some of the issues I had with them though...

The one thing I do really like is Sonic's ability to homing attack. Yeah bitches...NO ONE ESCAPES MY MIGHT!!! Homing attack related deaths don't seem to be too common either. Thank fucking god for that. Such things are why I was happy Shadow had guns in his game. No need to homing attack. Just stand far away and blast away hoping you hit things.

This game also had the courtesy to make Sonic STFU. Thank god. The few videos I've seen of Rush's gameplay seem to be filled with this loud ass dashing noise and Sonic's constant "YEAH!!". I'm not sure if it's a recording issue, but it drowns out the music and even if it isn't who wants to hear "YEAH!!" all the time?

Next we must talk about difficulty. There is none save in trying to hold at least 50 rings till the end of the stage. This disappears the moment you learn the stage well. So...none really since they are easy to learn. I guess I don't mind that, but something just seems odd about having 62 lives and about 15 continues...because the game doesn't take lives away when you choose to restart stages or take the ones you earned away or anything. Very few things kill you and there are a shit ton of rings in all the stages. Then there's the casino stage that I swear just hands the damn things out to you. The only difficulty I have is with the special stages.

Overall it's just...tolerable and plain. It's decent. That's all it is. There's little of note to really make it stand out. I would like this better if I had it on my PSP or something. It passes time and would be good during car rides.

Ok now that I let this sit by idly for long enough...I MUST CONTINUE. Now...the Knuckles comics...

Knuckles first started out being introduced to Sonic along with the island he lived on. For whatever reason this island would be referred to as the Floating Island for a good long time. Even all through the Knuckles series which by that time a change should've been made. So I thought anyway. It's been fixed now...Not sure when exactly but by issue 140 that's for certain. The echidna would get his own stories that would show up as the second or third stories of a regular issue of Sonic. Eventually Knuckles would get his own miniseries. This miniseries would be 3 issues long and would spawn a continuing Knuckles comic series.

For now let's talk about the miniseries. In this miniseries Knuckles would continue his search through ruins and find his friends the Chaotix he would also learn about and become good friends with a fire ant named Archimedes in these three issues. Now the story itself isn't too spectacular. It does work better than most of the stories in your average Sonic comic for three reasons. First off there is no second story in ANY of these three issues. None. Secondly the story is developed over these three issues. The Knuckles series itself would follow this format much to my relief. Lastly there isn't much of that constant cutting to other shit. Many of the Sonic comics and the Knuckles series itself would feel free to cut from one scene to another scene with other people every few pages. It just doesn't feel right when this is done. I do have issues with the story though...The story is confusing to read if you haven't already read other shit involving Knuckles and the Chaotix. I know this could have been dealt with easy enough by my reading the main series first, but it bothered me that I felt so hideously out of the loop. Flashbacks are rendered oddly at an angle. I have no idea why this was done the way it was. Thankfully this issue is fixed in later issues...Though maybe this is more an art issue but eh. And art. We should get to art.

The art is...it's ok I suppose. I have something of a problem with it. It just doesn't look terribly interesting and something about it feels empty. It's a marked improvement over the early issues of the main comic, but it still feels like it's missing something. Even up to Sonic 110 it feels like there's something missing. By then I also have other issues with the art, but we can get to that later...

The series this led to was probably some of the best shit Archie's Sonic has ever given us I think. Again this is in part to there being three issues to develop a story and no crazy fucking second story shit. There would be story lines that led into the main Sonic comic as well. The two I remember most were Sonic and friends being stuck in the town of Snottingham and the appearance of Sally's brother Elias. The latter I had been surprised when it just disappeared from the Knuckles story. Entirely so. The next arc would just be something completely new and no mention of this would be made to my recollection. This felt very odd and it stuck out to me.

The story arcs would be quite decent up until the end. Near the end a severe drop in quality both story and art wise was reached. Some of the characters became taller and more human like. In the love story arc Knuckles would be inconsistently drawn from panel to panel and issue to issue. This story would be bad, but hilariously so. Before this arc would be an absolutely god awful political arc. This is the absolute low point of the Knuckles series in every regard. The ending arc would just be disappointing. It didn't feel like a proper conclusion to the series. At all. This may make it worse than the politic story. May. I am not positive which was worse...

The cast of characters we get would be newly invented for the Knuckles series for the most part. The Chaotix and Knuckles father Locke would appear alongside a brand new bunch of fuzzy critters. The story of Knuckles and the Echindna would be be built upon greatly and much of we know about them comes from this series. This I generally found interesting to learn about though I was heavily confused and overwhelmed by the amount of new people some of whom never got properly fleshed out in this series. Some were just kind of faces with names that occasionally said things. This was most true of members of the Brotherhood, a group of Echidna sworn to protect the Angel Island and all marked by a white neck ring. Other characters like Locke, Lara-Le, Julie-su, and Constable Remington would be much more fleshed out. I've since come to know and like these people. Well echidna really...

Generally I liked this series, but dear god the ending arcs were just fucking bad...

edited 12th Nov '10 8:32:25 PM by Aondeug

Just discovered this LB.

Sonic 3 And Knuckles was also my favorite of the Genesis games. Also, the first one that I actually managed to beat.

I only discovered The Movie about a year ago, saw it on Youtube, and I agree that it's crazy good nonsense.

I assume you've heard of Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Special Edition? I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on that.

I remember loving the Sonic comics series; having a subscription to it was basically the best thing about life when I was a kid. But then, I was quite the Sonic fanboi for some reason, and I don't think I really had the critical reading skills needed to see the series' problems at the time, even if I wasn't blinded by fannishness.

I actually never got into any of the cartoons or comicbooks back in the day. I saw a little bit and didn't like them because they weren't enough like the videogame for my taste.

Never heard of that no. Outside of maybe a small passing mention that I quickly forgot...

Well then, docfuture's Let's Play of the game is something you must experience. Actually, with how impossible it is to get a copy, the LP is pretty much the only way you can experience that one.

"But it's just an updated rerelease of Sonic 2, what's the point?" you may ask. I'd answer the question, but that would be a spoiler.

I'll need to watch that then. Should it be better than the hell that is Sonic 2 I will cry.