Sonic the Hedgehog: built upon nostalgia?

Blue-kun
Blue-kun
Jul 24, 2017 · 12 min read
Sonic the Hedgehog: icon from the 90s might just not be fit to be a superstar nowadays, but he’s still got his charm and share of fans

So, Sonic the Hedgehog. If you were young in the ’90s, chances are you’ve got fond memories of this blue fellow — unless, of course, you sided with the enemy, Nintendo’s worldwide famous plumber, Mario the… wait, no. Mario Mario. Jokes aside, the reality of it all is that, back then, kids basically had to pick a side. You either supported SEGA, the cool guys and its equally cool mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog, or you followed the masses and liked Mario. For most, the choice was obvious — the hedgehog became a hit phenomenon, breaking several records, putting SEGA on the map of the videogame industry and giving birth to a legion of fans of a character that, 25 years later, would still be starring games. However, time, and, above all, the transition to 3D weren’t kind to Sonic the Hedgehog, and the last 15 years have been quite harsh on the brand. Some of its titles have been panned by critics and fans alike, with this period giving birth to something called the ‘Sonic Cycle’, a diagram that portrays the rollercoaster of emotions that lovers of the hedgehog go through in-between the announcement of a new game and its release, when optimism gives place to disappointment.

How this came to be is understandable. While the two first 3D Sonic games, Adventure and Adventure 2, aren’t horrendous by any stretch of the imagination, they haven’t aged very well, and are actually very good examples of the inherent difficulty of translating Sonic’s speedy platforming gameplay to 3D. The freedom of moving in any way you want is obviously something that’d bring a challenge to just about any character — but Sonic, with the fact that he has to go fast, is probably even more affected by it than any.

The original Sonic games had quite expansive stage designs, which featured three different paths — low, mid and high. You’d start on the mid one, and depending on your knowledge of the game, you’d be able to access and stay on the high path, usually the fastest one, which kept Sonic going at very high speeds with obstacles and enemies being placed in ways that could be abused by the player to further enhance their times. On the other hand, a newbie or inexperienced player would find themselves much more often on the mid or lower path, where the focus shifted from speed to platforming — making you climb your way up. All of this was, of course, coupled with the unique physics engine, where slopes would make Sonic go faster or slower depending on his direction, and when rolling into a ball could send him flying long distances.

SEGA quickly realized that 1:1 recreation of this would be quite impossible, because even the way the obstacles were designed in the previous games would be pointless in a 3D world. The physics, too, would have to be changed, and the ‘rolling’ gameplay reconsidered. Thus, Adventure-era games presented flatter stages, with Sonic gaining momentum mainly by the addition of speed pads and the Spin Dash. The ‘multiple path’ layout was also mostly abandoned, with shortcuts and alternate paths still existing and being reachable with the use of Sonic’s abilities, but shorter and mostly independent from the overall flow of the stages. Basically, one could say, Sonic in its early 3D phase played like you’d expect any 3D platformer would play, except the stages always featured long open areas where you’d be able to run uninterrupted for a while to get a feel of Sonic’s speed, as well as setpieces that evidenced Sonic’s blazing fast nature by showing him running from a truck, a whale, or even pulling off the classic loop-de-loops.

The issue, however, is that Sonic isn’t “any other platformer”. The fully 3D environments and speed proved to be the bane of any sort of precision platforming SEGA wanted Sonic to do, and these segments are now the target of much scrutiny when people look back at the early age of 3D Sonic games.

Those two games were also followed up by the disappointing Sonic Heroes, which didn’t fix any of the issues found previously and, in fact, managed to add more technical problems to the series, and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), which is rightfully lauded as one of the worst games ever made. It’s the Adventure formula of gameplay, but in a package that got rushed to release and probably did not even undergo any sort of QC, because the game fails in just about everything it tries to do. A marvelous technical mess, riddled with glitches and bugs, bland graphics and presentation, some of the most aggravating loading screens of all time, coupled with a story that went too far in Sonic’s arguably lackluster storylines. By then, the Sonic cycle had hit full force, and many were not sure the character would survive another disaster like this one.

The beginning of the redemption

With Sonic on life support, SEGA probably decided that it was time to shake things up a bit. The next mainline Sonic game wasn’t released until 2008, and it was called Sonic Unleashed. To this day, Unleashed remains a divisive game amongst the fanbase, but there’s no denying its importance in helping Sonic find his game in this 3D era, with the introduction of the ‘boost gameplay’.

Realizing that allowing complete control of Sonic in 3D would make it almost impossible for SEGA to design satisfactory stages, the solution was to put the character in narrower spaces, akin to actual ‘race tracks’, and make it so that the different branches in them could be accessed by using the new boost mechanic. Sonic still moves in 3D and has different options to explore, but they’re a bit more limited by what the designers want you to do — and that played out for the best. In a way, the approach to how levels were designed is definitely closer to the originals than it had been during the Adventure era, with stages now featuring very clear cut different paths that the player would end up on depending on their knowledge of the stage. They’re not as interconnected as before, but they brought Sonic closer to its almost arcade-ish roots, where the player is given the tools inside of a controlled environment to figure out how to best utilize the stages themselves to go fast, by replaying and memorizing enemy placement and branching points.

This new beginning, however, did not come free of issues. The “go fast” nature of boost gameplay, coupled with HD graphics that are standard in games, made it so that designing large and expansive stages for Sonic to blaze through became very costly, for what would amount to very short playtimes. If each Sonic level takes you 3–5 minutes to clear, a game with 10 different zones (which is already quite a lot) would be offering around an hour of playtime. For $60, SEGA saw that as not nearly enough value in the package, so things had to be done to circumvent this issue. In Unleashed, this was achieved by the addition of two things: story cutscenes and another game mode, where Sonic was transformed into a sort of werewolf — the Werehog. At night, instead of blazing through intricately designed stages, Sonic had to fight hordes of enemies in brawler-like gameplay. It was… functional, it definitely added a lot of game time, but the Werehog’s appearance coupled with the unmemorable gameplay ended up displeasing some fans. But the foundation for better days had been laid out.

Sonic Colors was the next entry, and it once again featured boost gameplay, but SEGA’s breakthrough success with Sonic came in 2011 with Sonic Generations. Aware of the complaints about the werehog, this title celebrating Sonic’s 20th anniversary featured both ‘modern Sonic’, with the boost gameplay, and ‘classic Sonic’, with levels reminiscent of the Mega Drive/Genesis days. It refined even further the boost gameplay, while also intertwining the more speed oriented 3D segments with 2D platforming sections. Classic Sonic was also well received, and while the physics differed from the originals, critics and fans seemed happy enough with the compromise and the game was praised by both press and fans, something that really hadn’t happened in quite some time for the series.

The return of the cycle

So, it seemed like SEGA had finally found gold with its mascot. Smooth sailing from there on? You’d think so, but Sonic Team and SEGA both work in ways that a feeble mind can hardly understand. Having finally secured a working formula in 3D for Sonic the Hedgehog, the company went on to… scrap it for 6 long years, where in the meantime they released Sonic Lost World and Sonic Boom. The former is an OK platformer that slowed Sonic down massively and took cues from Mario Galaxy, where Sonic would be able to run on walls and basically ‘ignore’ gravity in cylindrical-ish levels. Sonic Boom, on the other hand, was an outsourced game that tried to make Sonic into a Ratchet and Clank-like action-adventure game, again mostly removing the speed focus in favour of exploration and combat. Design decisions notwithstanding, the game was also rushed to release, and featured an enormous collection of bugs and glitches, reviewing poorly.

After these baffling decisions, the goodwill the series had earned was all but lost. Which brings us to 2017. In Sonic’s 25th anniversary, SEGA is releasing two new games. The first of these is Sonic Mania. A 2D game that sticks close to the original trilogy. It is being developed by Christian Whitehead, who’s dedicated a good chunk of his life to 2D Sonic fangames. It is a true sequel to Sonic 3 & Knuckles, that has handdrawn sprites and looks and plays exactly like you’d expect of a ‘classic Sonic’ game. Reception to it has been phenomenal so far, with fans (and even critics) praising this new direction and hopeful that it will be Sonic’s true return to form.

Alongside Mania, Sonic Team is developing internally the next ‘modern Sonic’ title: Sonic Forces. And here’s where things get tricky. Forces, for all intents and purposes, looks like the next Generations. It features ‘modern Sonic’ and ‘classic Sonic’, boost-gameplay and 2D-classic inspired gameplay, as well as a new ‘third’ playstyle, the ‘Original Character’. Players will be able to select one of the few selectable races and make their own Sonic hero, who’ll fight alongside the hedgehog to save the world.

Being built on the foundation laid out by Generations would make one think that Forces is destined to be another success, and 2017 will be the year where Sonic fans can all be happy about the existence of two new, good Sonic games, right? As if. Mania happening has, somehow, made part of the fanbase decide that “close to Classic” in Generations is just not good enough anymore, and even the boost gameplay itself is being questioned. The new OC feature is also under heavy fire, as the Sonic fanbase is known for having a few… doubtful individuals who go a bit too far with their fantasies on Tumblr and other fanfiction websites.

All of this, coupled with the story aiming for a more ‘edgy’ atmosphere, with the world being controlled by Eggman at the start of the game and Sonic’s new enemy, Infinite, being ridiculously over the top, have recently caused old time fans in popular gaming forums and social media to jump at the game, accusing SEGA of not knowing what ‘fans really want’. The press has also jumped into the very same bandwagon, and after the initial positive impressions of the game, most outlets are now showing concern over the future of Forces. To put it simply: the cycle seems to be back for this game.

The cycle is built upon nostalgia?

And so we get to the point I finally want to make with this somewhat longwinded post, that ended up turning into a sort of not-so-brief-look-at-Sonic’s-history. As a long time fan of the character, these latest developments have had me looking into this past and figuring out that, maybe, just maybe, Sonic himself is to blame for the “cycle” and all this nonsense around it. Well, Sonic and a good chunk of its fanbase, but the games and their design phisolophies aren’t getting a free pass here.

As I previously mentioned, ever since the originals, Sonic has been a game that’s been trying to do a mix of two things that, in theory, should not work very well together: platforming and speed. The originals did this by virtue of the multi-layered stages, where top meant more speed, lower meant more platforming. But lower was also a “punishment” for not being good enough to keep yourself going fast. Not only that: due to Sonic’s speed, enemies and obstacles that ‘hit’ you were also quite often unavoidable, and a player who’s experiencing it for the first time and trying to go fast will get hit — repeatedly. This is also the reason the ring system as a whole exists, as it acts as a bandaid of sorts. We can’t ‘kill’ the player when he gets hit, because it’d be unfair. So, by having rings, designers felt ‘free’ to add these hindrances without having to worry about frustrating players too badly. All in all, it makes sense, and in the ‘90s it was obviously good enough, as Sonic games became the phenomenons they are.

But does it hold up to today’s standards? Unlike a Mario stage, where the jumps and enemies are the challenges themselves and the condition for losing is, well, losing a life (or all of them), Sonic games were rarely this demanding. It’s rare for people to lose a life in Sonic games outside of random death pits, and getting to the end of levels is usually a simple matter. The meat of the challenge comes from replaying and going faster. Naka’s idea for Sonic stemmed from this, in fact. If someone doesn’t care for any of that, then outside of presentation, it’s entirely possible they might think Sonic games are bland platformers — unfair ones, even. You see that critic thrown around quite often. And honestly speaking, can you blame them? Sure, they’re ignoring why the games are designed the way they are, but that doesn’t change the fact that Sonic games are, in fact, ‘unfair’ and not designed for a new player to outright take the most out of it.

It’s a game designed for repetition, which made a whole lot of sense when Sonic was first released, as every game sort of had something similar to this (think extreme difficulty that resulted in lots of Game Overs, see Ninja Gaiden or whatever). But, in 2017, that formula might just not stick for everyone. And that’s fine, really! Things don’t need to have mainstream appeal or work for the great majority of people in order to be good. Maybe, just maybe, Sonic’s appeal has become more niche, and it’s time to accept that.

Unfortunately, though, it seems like the people who are less likely to realize this and embrace this new reality are the so called Sonic fans. Especially for those who grew up with Sonic during the Mega Drive/Genesis, there’s a huge following that thinks that Unleashed, Generations, and now Forces are subpar games because “most people” think they’re only worth a 6~8 score. For them, this is simply not enough, Sonic and ‘good’ have to mean 9s and 10s, the new Mario, the one game that’ll dethrone the plumber from its place in gaming’s valhalla or something. And, I’m sorry to say it, but I don’t think any Sonic game that’s built on speed and that sticks close to the original vision Naka had for it is gonna cut it in this day and age.

It’s particularly funny, because I feel that, ever since Unleashed, ‘modern Sonic’ and ‘classic Sonic’ have treaded a similar path in regard to how they’re supposed to be played. Of course, classic has the physics and ‘gaining speed’ part, whereas modern gives you speed instantly and ‘only’ asks you to maintain it, but at the end of the day both games aren’t as far apart as most people seem to think they are in how they’re designed. And yet, there’s this huge gap in the fandom, with classic fans hating boost and accusing it of being bad because of a lot of things that aren’t really exclusive to them and can also be found in the originals, or that Sonic Team is unable to make a good game, that they’re clueless of what made Sonic popular in the first place and so on, so forth.

Now, with Mania coming out, I have to say that I’m honestly dying to see how it’ll review. I don’t think game journalists, the majority of them, at least, will play the game ‘over and over’ and give it a review thinking on why this is a ‘good Sonic game that will appeal to its fans’. So, I’m expecting more of the same. The occasional 9, lots of 7–8s that praise it as being ‘good’, but never more than that. And I think that’s totally fine. I’ve convinced myself that the Sonic formula is not one that ‘reviews’ well (think Mario well) with how mass media works.

And, who knows, maybe this is exactly what these Sonic fans need. Mania, for all intents and purposes, is the game that most of the people who have been unable to accept these flaws in Sonic think is the “perfect Sonic game”. So, should it be received in the same way most of the recent good ‘modern Sonic’ have been, I think there might be hope that the nostalgia-tinted glasses will come off. Maybe, then, they will realize that they love an absolutely fantastic series, one that’s ‘flawed’ in several ways and isn’t for everyone, but which has been building off its strengths for the last several years and getting flak for it due to a misplaced notion that they’ve failed to reach the brilliance of the originals, which is reflected in scores and opinions published by the press. Here’s hoping?

Blue-kun

Written by

Blue-kun

Fã de desenho animado chinês que, de vez em nunca, se sente motivado para escrever besteiras sobre eles. Aficionado pela Mizuki Nana e único fã de Kimimachi.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade