Sonic Mania - The Bear and Badger

Bollockoff

Knuckles bans fun from the floating island.

Yossarian

Only cool fun is allowed in Sonic world.

EvilRedEye

It's kind of nuts looking back (on Wikipedia) how fast the golden era of this franchise came and went. Even if you include the 8-bit games as part of the main series, it's still basically done within 3 years. The last contemporary appearance of classic Sonic after a bunch of kooky offshoots was Sonic R in 1997, just over 6 years after the series launched. Modern Sonic is introduced Christmas 1998 with Sonic Adventure, 7 and a bit years after the series launched. 10th anniversary game Sonic Adventure 2 basically marks the end of the series' critical acclaim on consoles.

Currently it's just over 26 years since the series launched. So that's:
* 23 years since the series' golden age ended (12% of the series' lifespan was the golden age)
* 20 years since classic Sonic's last appearance (Sonic was classic Sonic for a mere 23% of the series' lifespan)
* 19 years since modern Sonic was introduced (Sonic has been modern Sonic for 71% of the series' lifespan)
* 16 years since the run of critically acclaimed mainline games ended (the series' run of critical acclaim lasted for 38% of its lifespan)

Talk about trading off past glories.

Still looking forward to Sonic Mania mind.

[Deleted User]

I think it helps that Sonic has retained a presence outside of games the whole time.
As mentioned earlier merch is always about.
Cartoon shows have continued to run.
Iirc the comic ran for ages as well.
That helps with keeping the kids interested, most of whom were probably OK with the shonky titles.

Even in games those 16bit prime titles have been available on the Saturn, GC/PS2/OGBox, 360/PS3 as well as plug and play devices.

Gamermike

Fuck, I used to love Sonic the comic back in the day!! All those screenshots certainly look familiar.

retroking1981

There's more good Sonic games than people give it credit imo.

Also, of you look at sales, the original and 2 aside, the top selling games are fairly recent ones.

Unleashed, Heroes and Secret Rings all sold really well.

The only two really bad sellers were the two Wii U games, but I think that has just as much to do with the console as the quality of the games.

retroking1981

Plus that golden era isn't quite as rosy as most remember...

regmcfly

Certainly not the golden age of reviews.

optimark_prime

retroking1981 wrote:

Plus that golden era isn't quite as rosy as most remember...

Early trolling from Gamesmaster magazine.

How is that mag still going?

retroking1981

I do remember more than that pub complaining about its ease though. It was a common thing to hear of kids completing it on the first day.

All I'm getting at is the highs and lows of Sonic are probably both a bit exaggerated.

I like Sonic, always have. I even brought the shit Master System one long after I had a Mega Drive. By shit one I mean Chaos, 1 and 2 were both good games imo.

Yossarian

I completed Sonic CD on my first full game (one go was abandoned due to it being dinner time).

mistercrayon

Isn't sonic easy as piss to flub through but about learning the map to do the best you can on there?

JonB

Not sure I ever finished a Sonic game. Tended to get bored by about level 4.

ChopperByrne

Sonic 2 is a huge improvement on the first.

Terrible review.

Tomorrow lads and ladies.

mistercrayon

One assessment that stuck with me was by our very own (I think then Mr.)Brooks who observed that the whole of sonic 1 was a progression from greens to industrialism. This suggested more thought in the game than I ever gave it credit.

Having said that I always rubbed the wrong way with the control because sonic feels awful to control but again this is to make you feel bad about being not great at the game.

So it'll be interesting to see what this new one is about. Is it about getting good at the game or will it pander to false memories of what sonic is meant to be.

EvilRedEye

Sonic 2 has a subtle navigating a mountain bit where you start traversing it in Hill Top Zone and then use a cave system to go under the rest of it in the Mystic Cave Zones and cut Hidden Palace Zone.

Wookienopants

First digital game I've preordered! That price point is spot on.

tigersgogrrr

Oof, Switch delivery changed from today to Wednesday/Thursday.

Looks like I'm double dipping.

tigersgogrrr

Review embargo lifts at 4pm today, I think.

optimark_prime

EDGE 10. Believe.

optimark_prime

(It won't be)

Wookienopants

GAAAAAH IM EXCITED.
I know i bang on about this lots but I no longer have the time for huge 40/50hour sprawling epic stories in open worlds anymore because my gaming time is limited to a half hour here and there throughout the week and is so sporadic I often forget where I was or what I was doing.

A game like Sanic is perfect for jumping in and out!

Wookienopants

Can we now just fill this thread with sonic memes?

Wookienopants

Wookienopants

Moot_Geeza

Sega Power only gave Sonic 2 89% iirc, after awarding the first one 96 or 97% (again, iirc). I was LIVID.

afgavinstan

Was definitely more of a Sonic lad than Mario growing up. Mild hype for this, should be a good blast on the Switch. Will the eshop update at midnight, or later?

mistercrayon

Wow I wonder what they would have given super Mario world.

Moot_Geeza

Best Tuesday ever?

optimark_prime

Moot_Geeza wrote:

Best Tuesday ever?

Even better than 24th November 1992??

Howdy, Stranger!

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