I’ve been a huge fan of Sonic since his debut on the Sega Genesis, and have stayed with him in all his latest adventures since, but it seems like the franchise lost some of its charm after Sonic Heroes. Sure, I’ve had fun in Sonic’s storybook adventures and his space adventure, but the catchy music is really the only thing that has stayed just as good since the beginning. The handheld Sonic games have gone downhill since Sonic Rush on DS, and I’m beginning to wonder, is this the end of the Sonic franchise as we know it? I sure hope not. How can the Sonic Team bring fans running back for more? We need sequels to games like Sonic Adventure or Sonic Heroes. -Greg Boe (admin)
I think the reason Sonic went downhill sometime around the DS and Wii was because with all the new gimmicks, Sega decided to make these the base of the game, instead of the standard Sonic gameplay we’ve all come to love. With the Wii, we got the pitiful excuse for a Sonic game, which was Sonic and the Secret Rings. In this game, you controlled Sonic by tilting your Wii remote horizontally, which wouldn’t have been that bad if you still had the option to use an analog stick. This game had its high points, but even the best parts were littered with frustrating controls. Sonic and the Black Knight was pretty awesome, and improved upon Secret Rings greatly, but still didn’t have that traditional Sonic feel. I mean seriously… Sonic with a sword? No… just no.
Sonic Rush wasn’t all that bad, but it had a mediocre story and the level design wasn’t near as good as great handheld Sonic games like Sonic Advance 3 for Gameboy Advance. Man I love that game… Many people started to worry about Sonic once BioWare’s Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood hit DS. This was the first (and hopefully last) Sonic RPG ever, but even though the idea was rather genius, and it had so much potential, the game just didn’t work as well as I would have hoped. I waited forever for that game! I remember pre-ordering it and then dreaming about Dark Brotherhood each night, but by the time I had played for about 10 hours, I lost interest and didn’t end up beating the game until recently.
And then there’s the whole deal with Sonic spin-offs… I’m pretty sure there are more spin-off games that main story games. I remember freaking out after hearing that Mario and Sonic wer going to star in a game together around when the Wii came out, but by the time I heard it was an Olympic game, I lost interest. Sure, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is a fun party series, but not at all what I had hoped for. At least I could pit Mario and Sonic against each other in Super Smash Bros. Brawl!
Now we have the Sega All-Stars series, which has been pretty awesome overall. Sonic & Sega All-Stars Tennis was a disappointment, but the racing series is looking pretty good, now that we have Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed coming to Wii U next month. Honestly, I think that Sega should have stuck with the Sonic Riders series, because that never got old, even with Sonic Free Riders on Xbox 360.
There have been some pretty great sonic games altogether, and I’ve decided to list a few of my favorites. Sonic Heroes was amazing (my favorite console Sonic title), and I still take the time to play it whenever I get the chance. My favorite handheld title is in between Sonic Battle and Sonic Advance 3, which are still the best in my book. The best spin-off series was Sonic Riders by far, and I sure hope Sega decides to keep t going once they finish Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed!
Well, only time can tell where in the world the Sonic series will take us, but I would personally love to see the characters from the comic series make their way to the games! Imagine playing as Sally or Fiona in the next Sonic game (that would rock). Hopefully Sega brings us a game that will breath life back into the blue blur, and with rumors of a Sonic Adventure 3, this may be sooner than we think. What do you want from the next Sonic title? Share your opinions in the comments!
I agree with this article a lot. I remember the happiness Sonic brought me and now I say things like: “Meh, another Sonic game.” Since Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, the only console Sonic games that I’ve liked have been Sonic Gems Collection and Sonic Unleashed (to a certain extent). I haven’t played Sonic Colors, but some friends have told me that it is the best Sonic game for the Wii. I did get disappointed that there was no Sonic Generations for the Wii. :/
Yeah, I would say the really great games ended with Sonic Heroes, but I quite enjoyed Sonic Colors for Wii, and the PlayStation 3 version of Sonic Generations. The 3DS version was alright, but it needed to play better than it did.