So before we get started, I want to address why I don't do many franchise anniversary posts. Its really a case of time and whether or not I feel obliged to actually make a post to do with that franchise. Now for things like Super Mario, Star Wars, Batman, Doctor Who, Back to the Future and of course today's franchise Sonic, of course I will do something to celebrate their anniversaries whether it be reviews of old or new material in that franchise, a theory on that franchise or even a top list. But I just can't find any way of making an effort to do posts for every single franchise I like that reach a milestone because of time, what content I would do and just where I see my status as a fan. With that out of the way, let's talk about Sonic:
So rather than do a review, a theory or a top list, instead I thought to share with you guys my life experience of Sonic and how I've come to know the blue blur that he is. So let's get started:
1990s - Sonic Underground
As most of you know, I'm a 90s kid. I spent my childhood in the 90s and enjoyed every minute of it from watching some of Disney's best animated films to watching some of the best cartoons around from Warner Bros. such as Animaniacs and Batman: The Animated Series as well as anything being shown on Cartoon Network at the time. But my introduction to Sonic is not quite how most people would be introduced to him. Rather than playing his very first games on the SEGA Megadrive, I instead watched the show Sonic Underground which at the time, I liked. Most of you will know it as being the show where a young Sonic is part of a band and is also known for that particular version of Dr. Robotnik where he is basically a dictator and has that unusually sinister voice.
Early 2000s - Sonic PC ports
The early 2000s would be the era where I finally got into playing Sonic games and I started right with playing his very first set of games, though not from a Megadrive but rather a trail PC port via a service called RealArcade (which at the time, was an early take on things we get today like Steam and Origin). I enjoyed playing them and would eventually save up enough money to buy a compilation of those games on PC. Then after those games, my next Sonic game would be Sonic Heroes. This was the game where I was introduced to Sonic's pals and on again off again allies and most people would say that it can be too overwhelming and some of them are not as good as the main man himself. Honestly, I didn't mind characters like those of Team Sonic and Team Dark. Team Rose I found somewhat annoying and Team Chaotix I felt they had a lot going for them, but I just wasn't inspired enough to call them great.
Late 2000s - 7th Gen Sonic
The year was 2006. Sonic was celebrating his 15th birthday with one of the worst games ever made, dubbed Sonic 06 and it was universally hated by everyone apart from a handful of people. But just for your reassurance, I don't need to be told to not play it because in all my time of having a PS3 and Xbox 360, I never played it. I did however get both of those consoles later on, but where I started in the 7th gen of gaming, was with the Wii. So with the Wii, I got the above game Sonic and the Secret Rings and I give credit to SEGA for making an effort to do something original with Sonic. Its just a shame that the controls were not very good. The other Sonic games I would've played in this time were the two Sonic Rush games which I liked and the first Mario and Sonic Olympics game and I wouldn't play another game in the series because the series just went down hill from there. I also played the Wii version of Sonic Unleashed and I know a lot of people hated this, but I personally felt that it was only half bad. What I mean by half bad is that I liked the day stages like everyone else as it felt like a true 7th gen Sonic experience like no other. But the other half I didn't like because the night stages were very boring.
2010-2016 - 8th Gen Sonic
The first Sonic game I played in this era was of course Sonic Colours (that was the name of it in the UK) and it was SEGA doing something right for once. Building upon what made the day stages of Unleashed great and turning things up a notch with power ups and other great things. It was great. At this point, I finally got a PS3 and later on an Xbox 360. I then started buying these collector editions of games and one thing I got was a collector's edition of Sonic Generations, celebrating Sonic's 20th birthday, but this time, in the right way. The game let us play classic Sonic stages in both 2D and 3D which gives new perspectives on typically 2D stages and typically 3D stages and everyone (including me) loved it. I did also play the first and second episodes of Sonic 4, but I kinda got bored after the first few minutes which may surprise a lot of you, but that's just me. While I did avoid many Sonic and SEGA All-Stars games, I did play both their racing games just to see if it was anything like Mario Kart and I'm not going to lie, it's definitely faster and plenty of things are going on, but Mario Kart in my opinion has more charm. Yes that does go against a post I did a while ago on the two games, but that's just me rethinking my verdict. So after all those games, the last Sonic game I would play, would be Sonic Lost World which long story short, is Mario Galaxy with a not so fast Sonic. It wasn't too bad, but I have played better Sonic games than that. Since then, I have stopped playing Sonic games because of the Boom criticism, but hope to play Sonic games again when he appears in LEGO Dimensions later this year and when Sonic Mania and Sonic 2017 come out.
So there you have it. My experience of Sonic games have been a mixed bag with some great games, some not so great games and some games where I just go "meh". But one thing that has been made clear to me, is that SEGA will not back down from making Sonic games. Sure they may be making games just to keep the franchise alive, but even when they make some of the worst games in history, they won't back down. I'd say as long as they give fans what we want and give us complete and fully functional games at launch, then we will be happy and will allow Sonic to carry on being SEGA's mascot. Its been a great ride and I look forward to playing more Sonic games in the future.
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