First of
all before we start, I should point out that this week blog will go over two
weeks due to the fact that there is so much to cover on this topic. Now if you
have been reading my blog from the beginning you would already know that Sonic
the Hedgehog has been linked to pervious blogs, so today I will be taking you
on a trip down memory lane again to talk about how I came into contact with
each of the Sonic games and what I liked or disliked about the games.
Now my
first experience with any kind of Sonic game was Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and 2 for
the Sega Master System, Now from what I do remember of this two games is that I
really enjoyed them but I do remember that Sonic 2 was a lot hard than the
first. The reason that I say it was hardest of the two games is because if you
lost all you lives you would then lose a Chaos Emerald at random that you have
collected and in turn would make it impossible to get to the final level
Crystal Egg Zone. To me one of the hardest parts of this game was trying to get
the third Chaos Emerald from act 2 in the Aqua Lake Zone because this level
takes places underwater and for you to collect the Chaos Emerald, you need to
come off the main path of the level where there are no air bubble sections to
collect the Emerald and come back on the main path to get air. Don’t get me
wrong these two games where great for their time but once you have played Sonic
the Hedgehog on the Mega Drive or any of the later games on that system you realise
that there are better sonic games out there.
As I said
before, this two games where what interjected me into the Sonic series but it
wasn’t until Christmas of 1995 in which I was then able to play another game
and this one was Sonic and Knuckles. I still remember the first time I playing
this game and not knowing what I was supposed to do and in turn not liking it
as much as I do now (I will explain why in a minute). I played as both Sonic
and Knuckles and finished the game without collecting all the Chaos Emeralds
for each character, so at the time in my life I was unaware that the two
characters had super forms until a few years later, mainly because that
Christmas I got another game that I have made sure that I play each and every
year in one shape or another but that’s is for another time.
I could
be wrong about the date but I think it wasn’t until Summer of 1996 that are
household got are hands on are very first Sega Mega Drive at which point the
first sonic games that we picked up where Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic 2. Now I
will be completely honest with in saying that in my opinion the original Sonic
the Hedgehog was a master piece and to this day and age it still holds up to
the test of time. The game play hands like that dream car you always wanted and
the graphics where beautiful to look at. The game did everything that it needed
too and to a point is the basis for the rest of the 2D era of games.
Sonic 2
on the other hand did everything that Sonic the Hedgehog did but added some
small details to mix like the iconic Spin dash and Super Sonic. The games
graphics were almost the same as Sonic the Hedgehog with minor changes make to
it, while the game play was again almost the same apart from when you collected
all seven Chaos Emeralds and fifty rings because within a seconds of jumping
you would then change automatically into Super Sonic. Now because of this small
detail I didn’t really enjoy Sonic 2 as must and this to a point explains why
out of the four games on the Sega Mega Drive I would always rate last, I just
feel that if they gave the option to change into Super Sonic when you wanted to
I might have enjoyed this game more.
Now it
wasn’t until later in 1997 in which I was able to get my hands on both Sonic 3
and Knuckles because by this point I had heard that you needed to play both
games together to get the best experience out of them. Once I had both of them
I just couldn’t stop playing them until I had discovered everything that there
was about this games and it was at this point that I learned that in order to
complete the game one hundred percent you need to collect all seven Chaos
Emeralds to unlock Sonics final level. To me Sonic 3 and Knuckles are the best
2D Sonic games you will find around and with game play that was made perfect
from Sonic 2 in the sense of allowing you to turn into your super form when you
wanted (minus Knuckles) and graphics that where only slightly improved upon
from Sonic 2.
Now after
completing this game a few time I was then challenged by my older brother to
complete Sonic 3 and Knuckles without losing a life and to collect all fourteen
Chaos Emeralds on both Sonic on his own and Knuckles by the end of the day. In
short I was able to complete this challenged without any problem but if you
were to ask me to do that same challenged again I don’t think I would be able
to but I would at least give it a short.
It wasn’t
until autumn 2003 in which I was able to get my hands on the next Sonic game
and too me this was the best 3D Sonic game that was created and some would say
it was also the last great Sonic game before the “Dark Times” and that game is
Sonic Adventure 2. The one thing that I have had trouble trying to understand
for years is why Sonic Team hasn’t used the best parts of this game to create
and even better game but I think that would be a blog for another time.
Back to
Sonic Adventure 2, I should point out I have not been able to play this game on
its original system but I was able to play in on the Nintendo GameCube and as I
said before this is my favourite 3D Sonic game that was created. You don’t have
to play the first Sonic Adventure game to understand the story but some of the
story elements surround the Chaos Emeralds have been taken over into the second
game but aren’t in as much detail as the first. There are two reasons that I
like this game one of them being the story because no Sonic game before hand
had a story like this and second being the introduction of new characters and
the ability to us mech’s.
I know
that there were some problems with this game like the camera and small bug’s
but after a while of playing you learn to work around them. The only other
problem that I did have with this game was that it made it almost impossible
for me to play the first Sonic Adventure due to the fact that a lot of the
problems that were in the first game where corrected by the second and that the
game play and graphics had been completely overhauled for the second game.
Don’t get me wrong the first game is good but if you were like me who played
the second one first it does make playing the first game a lot harder and as
you can tell the next game I play was Sonic Adventure.
Now out
of all the Sonic games, the first Sonic Adventure is the only game that I have
not fully played and because of that I don’t really have much to say about it
which in turns makes it hard to give this game the justice it deserves. I can
only hope that when I do get some free time that I do take the time to replay
this game again fully.
It was a
almost a year later that I then played the next sonic game in the series and
that is Sonic Heroes, Now I know that a lot of people say that this game was
the start of the “Dark Time” for Sonic because it left behind a lot of what
made the previous games so great but to me I will admit that it wasn’t as good
as Sonic Adventure 2 but overall it is still a great game and the Team based
system of the game worked out very well.
Yes my
biggest problem with the game was the fact that you had to play all the levels
four times in which to complete the game and that the easiest way to get all
the Chaos Emeralds were to use Team Rose. As a whole this game had more good
than bad going for it and no I don’t believe that this game started the “Dark
times” for the franchise but I believe if the game spent a bit more time in
development it could have been a lot better. Overall the story was okay but I
do believe that it could have been a lot better because it felt like all the
characters had completely change from the way there where in Sonic Adventure 2
to Sonic Heroes. Sonic sounded too cocky, Shadow was nothing like he was by the
end of Sonic Adventure 2, Rouge and Knuckles relationship from the last game
wasn't there and lastly Metal Sonic was nothing like what I was lead to believe
he was. If this things could have been changed the game in my opinion could
have been a lot better.
As you
can see by this point in my life I found Sonic games to be at their best and
that after playing Sonic Heroes I then noticed a change in the games
themselves. Sonic Heroes in my opinion was the last great Sonic game for some
time and that the next game to be released was the start of the Dark Time for
Sonic due to how bad this next game was and the realisation that I had also
discovered older Sonic games that where bad as well.
With that
in mind come back next week when I complete my look back at Sonic the Hedgehog
in “The Dark Times and Beyond.”
Until
next time.
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