i really like sonic and have been into him for about a year, hes cool and soo are the pther characters but what do u think?

Uhhh. I'm not exactly sure this is the right place to post that...

But anyway, yes, I love Sonic. Not sure if you call tell by my name, but I actually started drawing because of him. Up until Sonic Riders *Which wasn't bad, the first one anyway* I stopped playing, because the rest are just junk to me :\

i know black madness...

He's okay but a bit overrated, i can't get the popularity other then the fact that he has a cool personality and a girlfriend(i think), dumb friend who does everything he says, two rivals who are also cool, etc.

Stopped being good after the first side-scrollers.

Went ahead and moved this to The Game Room.


Anyway, I'm an old school sonic fan. Liked the classic games, got pretty annoyed by the new games, etc. Also the fandom has started to get really annoying; either they're waaaaaay too into Sonic, or they seem to get off on just how much they hate the new games. Either emotion's fine, but some people just take it to extremes.

I don't think there'd be a debate if it weren't for the overabundant existence of Sonic sprite comics. I mean I don't see any widespread hate for Mario.

Sonic is a good design with a hip edge added to classic elements from Max Fleischer's characters. "Fast" is a great superpower for a cartoon character. His nemesis looks like a character out of Osamu Tezuka's works. Overall a lot of good research has been done to make Sonic and (original) cast timeless from the get-go. Old-school Sega did great design work.

The story is typical game/cartoon plot, but that's what makes it accessible.

So great design + accessible story + good gameplay -> planted the seed. The real avalanche came when Sonic sprites became commonplace. That fed upon itself, until nowadays Sonic sprite authors don't necessarily have to be original Sonic fans/gamers.

The original numbered Sonic games were pretty good--back when it was all about saving all the cute little animals. Zipping through the levels, finding alternate routes, discovering how you can die after beating the boss in the Chemical Plant Zone, getting *really* annoyed at the last two levels of Sonic 2 (while the final boss in 3 also had a ridiculously tiny hit area, you at least had rings), and working with my father to get past that stupid red drum platform at the end of Carnival Night Zone 2 only to discover years later that the up and down arrows moved the thing with far less effort.

After that I lost interest in the series, and there really hasn't been a reason to go back.

I like the zipping through levels at high speeds part but other than that, I find sonic games a bit generic. By that, I mean the characters and stuff. Especially that sonic-turning-into-a-werewolf-that-looks-like-a-mole business.

He's got nice shoes.

I think he needs to retire and Sega should go back to making original IPs. They seem to do better when they aren't trying to recapture the feel of something from the 16-bit generation.

I can fully agree with Isukun on that. I think Sonic is no longer viable as a gaming character. He might be if they did a retro-styled Sonic game like Capcom did with Mega Man 9. But they just haven't found a way to bring him properly into modern gaming.

Maybe the right people under the right conditions could make a could 3D Sonic game... but after so many misfires and disappointments, it doesn't matter anymore. I think even in Sonic Unleashed turns out well, there's been too much damage already.

As a character, I think Oldschool Sonic was..well..I don't know. xD If I say flat-out cute it'll miss the point. But I like that balance between a cute appearance and edgy attitude while still being likeable. I think that was a pretty neat idea for its time.


Though the cute aspect probably wins me over more than the attitude. OhgodclassicchubbySonic so cute.

The games....eeeeeeeh.

Anything after Adventure 2 is dead to me. And for most of the fandom -that's- probably stretching it more than they'd like. I liked Adventure though, darnit. .0.


so yeah. TL;DR version: Sonic is adorable and his sidescrollers were fun as hell. And Adventure. I don't care what anyone says.

I always loved Sonic for the SatAM cartoon. Not the Archie comics that followed, just the cartoons. Oh, and Sonic 2 was the first game I ever owned, so I guess that counts for something, too.

I guess that sounds a bit more rough than I meant it to; I do like the original trilogy of the games, but once Sonic & Knuckles was done and over, it all went downhill from there. I think the real reason Sonic tanked, though, was because they're constantly being misguided by reviewers - their comments are that classic Sonic was about blazing through the levels as fast as possible, and this left Sega with the 3D games' "hold up on the analog stick to win" formula, taking the focus off the power-ups, secret mini-games, and all. After all's said and done, I'd say the 3D games are a bigger departure from the series than they should have been.

Lately I've been watching this [fromearth.net]. It's part of the "Let's Play" phenomenon, which basically refers to normal people playing through video games and recording their dialogue, hopefully with hilarious results. Anyway, this is just video of a group of friends playing through the atrocious Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 on the Playstation 3. I've found it quite entertaining, though there is quite a lot to sit through since they don't edit out when they have to redo an entire level or any of the cut scenes.

Dying out, Sega needs a new mascot

SEGA as a whole is a withering husk of it's former glory. Sonic merely being the biggest example of that. I think it's a tired and failed franchise that's worn out it's welcome. It's tried to keep it's self updated and stay with the times, but usually falls on it's face when trying to emulate gameplay mechanics from more successful platformers, and completely ditches what the series used to be about.

Guess Im bias cause I like the older games, I understand the need to update in this market, but holy shit there is a right and wrong way to go about that.

LOL GUNS BANG BANG KABLOOOOWEY

I was rather excited to see a new House of the Dead coming (and with such a neat visual theme). I thought, "Hey maybe we'll get something good from Sega after all". Well, it turns out Kuju entertainment's doing the development, and Sega's only publishing it. I really wonder what's going on with Sega. Maybe you could pin it on the loss of some important people.

What I might actually pin it on is the fact that they're not putting out hardware. Developing great titles to sell consoles is a pretty good motivator. And it's a motivator Sega doesn't have anymore.

I used to draw him like a snow man.

Developing great titles to sell consoles is a pretty good motivator. And it's a motivator Sega doesn't have anymore.

Their developers were hit or miss even on the Genesis. We have a tendency to look back at them with nostalgia and forget about the stinkers in their lineup (or just forget that certain games had better sound bites than game play). Just go back and check out games like Sonic Eraser, Flicky, 688 Attack Sub, Dick Tracy, or even try playing some of the "classics" again like Altered Beast. There are also a number of games so bad they never left Japan, like all those Phantasy Star text adventure games.

Plus, when you think about it, going strictly software should be MORE incentive to make good games since that is now your primary source of income and the only thing you dump your development costs into. When you make hardware, you tend to make most of your money early on from licensing fees on third party software. The system is usually sold at a loss. While a strong library does help encourage hardware sales, companies usually HAVE to fall back on their third party supporters (which is why they are incredibly important for a system's success).

lol =D ... "for a year"

Well, when I was 10 or so I used to play Sonic 2 non-stop on my Sega Megadrive together with my cousin. And due to that my cellphone ringtone have always been Chemical Plant Zone (because who doesn't love that one?)

I also remember the old school cartoon, before Robotnik became Eggman and before Sonic became a sissy anime-esque character getting bitched around by Amy. You know, the good old AWAYS GRUMPY 24/7 Sonic who ate nothing but chili dogs and gave painfully funny advise to children

I never thought the Sonic genre would become such a huge deal with teenage girls that it is today, with people making fan characters and romancing over Sonic. Somewhere I think Sonic lost his personality, and people born in the 90's thinks he's a doormat that needs some sexing up

What the hell? D:

Starbraces
Well, when I was 10 or so I used to play Sonic 2 non-stop on my Sega Megadrive together with my cousin. And due to that my cellphone ringtone have always been Chemical Plant Zone (because who doesn't love that one?)

Ah, the Megadrive. :)

I still have mine... Haven't played Sonic 2 for a few years now (wonder if it still works), but man I loved some of the music on it. My faves were Oil Ocean and Hill Top zones ^_^

Actually... Hittop sounds bad now I've listed to it on Youtube.

But Oil Ocean is even better!

Haha yeah my Megadrive is still under my tv. I still play Sonic 2 (when the game decides to work and connect with the Sega) and Aladdin (yeah... Aladdin. but it was a great game)

All the music in Sonic 2 was great. It's just the timer music (when you're under water) that nowadays causes panic attacks for me whenever I hear it

My top faorite songs were, of course, Chemical Plant Zone, Oil Ocean Zone and the Casino Zone theme

Meh sonic's alright. Not my favorite Video Game Character, but I did enjoy Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast. didn't care too much for him invading my SSB though...

I'm a fan of Sonic, but I'm not liking a lot of the recent games...the two Rush games are the only ones that've held my interest since Sonic Adventure 2. I have hopes for Unleashed though.

I think he's gone far downhill from how he used to be, but I still really like his games' gameplay. I love fast games and the first ones especially are a platformer experience often imitated, but never duplicated.