What REALLY Made the Classic Sonic Games So Good? | Genesis Era Retrospective

so i guess it's time for me to give you all that sonic the hedgehog retrospective i've been teasing for like two years now i would have done it sooner like way sooner in fact i wanted to do it after the size matters review and before i did sly four but we all know how history played out there then i had an apathy for sonic that the advanced marathon cured and then forces may be angry enough to go viral complaining about these new games i thought i was done but in 2019 my admiration for the pre-meda aerosonic franchise is at an all-time high so now it's finally time to start properly diving into the sonic games and i can see no better way to begin with the genesis classics that started the franchise which i still own the original cartridges for each game where do i begin with sonic the hedgehog well as if it wasn't enough before the sonic fanbase is thoroughly divided at the moment which is funny because the series has barely any activity going on lately but the fans keep it on life support i suppose you could say point is i think it's important to establish upfront how i got into sonic the hedgehog as that establishes what the series means to me and the lenses through which i view the franchise [Music] when i first saw sonic x i thought it looked like and didn't think twice but then in 2004 i decided i was going to give a sonic game a shot which clearly it must have been opposite dave because if there was one phrase you'd seldom hear come out of my childhood mouth that was i want to try something new today and who am i kidding it's still that way now but the game in question was the sonic mega collection plus for the playstation 2. and god i was terrible at it i mean we're talking about not being able to defeat the ball and chain boss at green hill zone levels of bad playing skills but there was just something different about sonic from other games i've been playing even just playing these first few games although i was never able to get past marble zone chemical plant zone hydrostatic zone or flying battery zone and even when i first played sonic cd i couldn't beat collision chaos zone did anyone else have that experience like not being able to get past the second level of 2d sonic games but i was in love with sonic from mega collection alone i mean how could i not be i love quality art direction and this box had it in abundance leading me to give sonic x another chance loving that at the time playing sonic advance 3 in sonic riders till the buttons broke off with my first 3d sonic experiences being shadow the hedgehog and sonic heroes ignore the gamecube footage on the screen i was the only versions i have but i had the ps2 versions back in the day so i certainly had a diverse amount of sonic exposure as a kid not one thing or another having said all that now we can finally start and answer the question what really made the classic sonic games so darn good so let's start talking about sonic the hedgehog released for the sega genesis in 1991. this game is fairly simple from the offset dr robotnik has invaded the island to transform the woodland creatures into his robots called badniks and as sonic the hedgehog is up to you to make your way through six zones freeing the animals using your super speed to maneuver around the terrain and avoid obstacles and put a stop to the mad doctor that really is the story in its entirety and while it's the run-of-the-mill game plot i do think it creates a decent amount of distinction from mario or mega man as mario just saved the princess over and over for whatever reason and mega man fights dr wily because battling for everlasting peace is the right thing to do but sonic as the new mascot on the scene in the early 90s is a free spirit and thinks it's not cool to seal animals in robotic shells and decides to do something about it this is an idea i can revisit in later videos but i think the mascots and gaming throughout history do tell a lot about the culture at the time not for the adult world at large or how what i'm about to say doesn't really speak for all of geekdom but more like in how things aimed at children are marketed in the 1980s the game mascot was mario who has continued to be a mainstay this very day but in the main series there really isn't that much to his character he is the good guy who does good guy stuff for good guy reasons which is how heroes just were back then like the first animated adaptation of the teenage mutant ninja turtles started out with them being the prototypical heroes with personality distinctions within the team but still it was in the 90s when shows like batman the animated series and x-men were more popular when cartoon characters needed to have something a little extra a little more story a little more edge like the aforementioned teenage mutant ninja turtles the first movie was a lot more serious it took inspiration from both the comic and the cartoon but then in the last three seasons the cartoon got a lot more serious and story driven as well what's the consensus on those last three seasons by the way i like them more than the first seven but it's been years since i've seen them in video games sonic debuted in 1991 so he set the trend for gaming mascots in that decade to come as sonic was not the character that would report back to dr light and find out what to do next or go find the triforce because the legend says he'll defeat ganon or whatever sonic rebels against the annoying teachers in the miserable institutions and would rather blast with the fields as old characters were reinvented as link got darker backstories and a link to the past and ocarina of time and the mega man x series introduced more stories from the actions of its main character than the classics ever did when in the 2000s mascots went even further than sonic or crash bandicoot going more on the morally gray lines like ratchet who in the first game cared more about killing captain cork than saving the galaxy from chairman dreck or sly cooper who isn't even a good guy at all in the traditional sense because he's a thief a criminal point is sonic was quite the different beast from the other mascots that existed at the time which i guess is the theme this whole sonic 1 or even this whole video is based upon sonic the hedgehog is distinctive sonic was a much different character than the competition but he played nothing like the competition either in older platformers the controls and physics were very simple and spoke for themselves mega man had a set jump and every time he did it you knew exactly what you were dealing with so the challenge is when to do it not how when in sonic it's both for 8-bit mario and mega man games the level design is also simple you only really go left right up or down the fourth generation hardware allowed for more complex movement in all the classic franchises when they got their respective upgrades but sonic works with a momentum-based physics system sonic's speed is natural but to increase it he rolls into a ball when going down slopes and hills and his speed will increase like a ball would in real life because of this sonic's levels are designed much differently than any other characters there is no challenge like this part of spring yard zone in any other game at the time the challenge there was using sonic's speed as you roll into a ball in this u-shaped area jump at the right time to angle sonic's jump to land inside this secret room the game's level design is littered with stuff like this such as having enough speed to jump over an entirely different part of green hill zone when in another game an alternate route would require an earlier entrance with not much wiggle room to get yourself up there using the game's actual mechanics or in marble zones you can skip past the block pushing by having enough speed to make your jumps far enough to land the platforms also in spring yard zone act one is the ability to use this red spring jump off the wall at the right time to land on these speed shoes and jump over parts of this level design to skip most of the stage starlight zone and scrap brains are filled elements like this as well again sonic is distinctive sonic stands out from the crowd these controls and sense of speed is the main part of that and why this game was such a great game to begin sega's counter-attack against nintendo with sonic 1 has a lot of atmosphere as well the music capabilities in the genesis are often criticized for reducing lackluster sound but the folks in charge of composing the soundtrack of sonic the hedgehog set a powerful precedent that sonic music will always be the best of its day here in the first game i love how much punch is in the soundtrack i don't have an easy time to describe what i mean here it's just the soundtrack doesn't feel bright and chipper complementing the darker visuals of all the areas while being totally ear worms at the same time [Music] [Applause] [Music] while tracks are the opposite tone mainly starlight zone the special stage music have this dreamlike atmosphere i can just get lost in whenever i revisit this game [Music] as i said the stages all have fairly dark visual designs as green hill zone is built on pine greens dark browns and ocean like blues the dark blue sky and purple mountains of marble zone contrast really well with the greenery and ruins as you progress inside towards the lava it's just a very aesthetically pleasing game as you gradually come across more industrial locations as the game goes on and forcing the nature versus machine idea that sonic and robotnik embodied back in the day with the exception of labyrinth zone which is originally going to come after green hill but was a massive difficulty spike and was moved to the back half of the game as much as i love sonic 1 it's certainly not a perfect game for starters sonic's speed wasn't as much of a focus as the marketing might make it seem as i'm sure you've all heard before sonic's design was based around speedrun in the early levels of super mario bros sonic naturally goes faster in this first game but in the genesis original his speed has a cap when not rolling in a ball which was fixed for the 2013 mobile release which also adds widescreen support other playable characters time trials and so on but furthermore sonic's real speed in sonic 1 is based more around your skill than it is the programming there's no boost in this game for sure to go fast in most levels of sonic the hedgehog just requires you to be familiar with the level design and therefore getting through it quicker than you would have otherwise which is why green hill zone makes such a great opening stage since it's the embodiment of this speed through replayability for marble zones spring yard zone star light zone and scrap brain zone i find it equally rewarding to speed through these with knowledge of the stage layouts and shortcuts but still have you bought sonic the hedgehog expecting the blast at the speed of sound this game isn't really what you'd be looking for as it's much more of a traditional platformer than say sonic 2 or 3. labyrinth zone is really the exception to all the rules though there is good timing required here with the rising water segments tense moments of gameplay with the underwater timer sonic has before he runs out of breath and dies but overall the stage is littered with waiting moments that can't be bypassed like in marble zone it's also really long but that's more of the fault of the game in general for having three acts per each zone by act three of most of the zones you're starting to hope for it to end as you're a little bored of the motif and music one of the bigger problems in sonic 1 is the visibility as running into oncoming obstacles is a frequent issue especially with sonic's speed and the genesis aspect ratio the problem is definitely made worse in sonic 2 but it can be bothersome in sonic 1 which is where the ring crutch comes from the iconic rings that sonic collects in truth the only real purpose of these is to serve as a band-aid for any visibility problems as sonic can withstand any damage besides being crushed if he at least has one ring if he has none he dies getting a game over has high stakes as both the first two sonic the hedgehog games have no save feature whatsoever fixed in the mobile ports a game over means you have to redo the entire game but probably faster with the above mentioned speed through replayability mentality if you want a shadow to continue this is where the special stages come in if you have 50 rings the end of act 1 or act 2 of a stage you can jump into the giant ring at the end and enter the spherical maze meant to showcase the genesis power as rotating sprites of these kinds of backgrounds can never be done in the third gen hardware successfully clearing the maze grants sonic one of this game's six chaos emeralds starting their undefined power as early as the first game since all they do is add flowers to the ending the design with these mazes is actually pretty annoying moving around can be a pain and it's almost impossible to see what's coming sometimes guaranteeing you're losing these stages more often than you win with the worst part being that with 6 emeralds act 3 not being included for stages you can get emeralds in and scrap brain zone having no special stages at all that leaves you with 10 chances to get the emeralds which first require you to hold on to 50 rings with visibility being an issue then if you fail while scratch one try you can only fail four times whenever i play sonic the hedgehog again i do try to get the emeralds but if i don't i'm certainly not going to reset i just don't think it's worth the trouble as it's definitely what i find to be the worst part of the game but back to the things i love about this game and it all comes back to this sonic the hedgehog is distinctive dr ivo eggman robotnik is the antagonist sonic will face off against in each zone dr robotnik leaves such an impression of the player especially in 91 because it's not a fake dr eggman or a koopaling like in mario nor does sonic have to face against the elite eight badniks before tackling the doctor himself sonic and robotnik trade blows at the end of every stage and his repeated getaways just make you want to finish him off for good the next time as he has an even more deadly trap to outmaneuver the boss fights are a total joke just bounce on him eight times and that's all she wrote but like i said the concept of fighting the main antagonist over and over builds more towards the climax which is another thing sonic the hedgehog gets right i said the game gradually gets more and more mechanical and industrious as you go along leaving sonic's territory and in robotnik for the final encounter as you beat scrap brain zone act 2 when he sets you into a trap that brings you into scrap brain zone act 3 aka labyrinth zone act 4. like they knew it was the worst level but with an early shortcut you can make it out in no time pumped to finally face the final boss fight as the players in sonic are no doubt thinking the same thing this time i'll get him good this boss can be annoying because the ring clutch is taken away from you but it's a simple enough fight to get the hang of as he'll appear in one of two pillars that will come out and you have to hit him a certain number of times avoiding the energy spheres and getting crushed defeating robotnik saving the day ending sonic the hedgehog one [Music] this was exactly the killer app sega needed at the time a game with an instantly iconic character art design villain soundtrack game mechanics graphics sound it does everything sega failed to do during the third generation i don't have a lot to say in conclusion for sonic 1 as its legacy certainly speaks for itself it spawned a multimedia franchise that still exists nearly 30 years later and without a strong first impression that just doesn't happen sorry the hedgehog is not perfect but i freaking love playing this game and i have since i was four years old i could endlessly replay this one since i just don't take a lot of issues with this game's design like i might with sonic 2 or cd or i think is as long as a run of sonic 3 knuckles would be for that reason it's still one of my favorite sonic games of all time but this was only the beginning as one year later the world was greeted with sonic the hedgehog 2. [Music] calling sonic 1 a hit would be quite the understatement the age of nintendo's stranglehold over the video game industry was over and sonic the hedgehog was the face of it so you must know what this means it's time to turn sonic from a game to sell systems into a multimedia icon as sonic the hedgehog 2 was released for the sega genesis only one year after its predecessor boasting faster action more stages more secrets more enemies jaw-dropping special stages and the introduction of a brand new character miles prower nicknamed tails by sonic the premise of sonic 2 is very similar to the first game as woodland creatures are being replaced by a robot army meaning that dr robotnik is back but this time he's ramping the stakes up dr robotnik has built a super weapon capable of uh actually we don't really know called the death egg obviously a parody of the death star from star wars so maybe the death egg blows up islands or something who knows so sonic's going to stop him like usual but this kid miles is impressed with sonic's speed that he decides to chase after him using his two tails as a way to keep up with sonic in the air learning to use them to propel himself forward to equal sonic's speed and also learning to roll into a ball like sonic does so it's a race to find the chaos and wants to destroy the death egg before it can cause any more destruction i find the introduction of another character as early as sonic 2 to be an interesting one again sega's mindset was to go big or go home as tailors would not only start to expand the character roster but also allow for multiplayer action which would increase the appeal of the game as now your little brother or best friend could pick up the second controller and join the journey with you but now is a good time to talk about how much like most games the time games had varied a lot between regions nowadays you can't really do this as much because one with realistic graphics is not really up to interpretation as to what these things are supposed to look like two with full cut scenes and voice acting the story is also not up to interpretation either but back in the day of sprite based gaming you'd have two completely different sets of lore for these popular games depending on what region you were in as dr eggman has had that name since 1991 but the western localization team changed it to dr robotnik because that just sounded cooler than dr eggman but why tell you this fact you probably know already well that's because sonic and his world were interpreted differently in different regions as well in general sonic's design deserves a crap ton of praise just looking at him you can tell a lot about his character's confident free-spirited attitude his being a hedgehog and forms a lot of his abilities as well as his quills would allow him to damage enemies in a ball form and being in a ball form rolling through loops would allow him to gain a lot of speed sonic's design alone is a big part of where his initial appeal came from the blue represents sega as a company the exact opposite of mario's primary red with another concept i can revisit again in a different video is the essentials of good mascot character design sega tried having a mascot called alex kidd on their console that preceded the genesis called the sega master system but this character design fails at everything sonic succeeds at looking so stock now a lot of folks are probably not going to agree with this but you can probably tell going off the thumbnail that i actually prefer the western look of the classic sonic games over the japanese aesthetic i like how these games are portrayed over there but there's something about the way greg martin played up the features of the characters that just does it for me sonic just looks cockier tails looking more adorable robotnik looking even more menacing i just love it is it a coincidence that my two favorite sonic art styles are greg martins and yuji iwakawas from the sonic adventure era no not at all i mean my first sonic game was the one where the front cover has these great designs from uakawa and greg martin's box arts from sonic 1 2 3 and spinball are on the back as well as his art for sonic cds playing on the back of the gems collection an oddity in his western design is how sonic's quills look more like a haircut in america as opposed to how it's supposed to look but that's part of the charm in my opinion as his head is this giant circle with these big eyes that practically scream hey there bull brain you better give amy to me or i'll squash ya now i guess that segues neatly into sonic 2 from a game design perspective sonic 2 is how you do a sequel sonic 1's untapped potential has been expanded in sonic 2. the stages in this game are more inherently about speed than most zones from sonic 1 ever were again you could go fast in most of those but it wasn't the focus as much as it should have been for starters sonic 1 speed cap has been completely omitted allowing the default speed to be much higher but sonic's top speed is so high that he can blaze past the screen in certain set pieces the opening stage emerald hill zone certainly doesn't compare to the magnificent complexity of green hill zone but it definitely demonstrates sonic 2's speedier focus right off the bat the second level chemical plant is where this really shines there's a reason why this is the most iconic stage in sonic 2. that's because the exhilaration you experienced on a first playthrough of this stage especially back in 1992 is just unforgettable with aquatic ruins casino night hilltop mystic caves and oil ocean carrying this just as well one of the biggest ways speed has been incorporated into this game is through the brand new ability series staple the spin dash from a standstill holding down and mashing the jump button will cause sonic and tails to rev up and releasing it will send you flying forward making those inclines much easier to deal with so useful that most re-releases of sonic 1 add this in the game it just feels like such a natural part of sonic's arsenal but that's not to say sonic 2 is a series of cheap dash pad set pieces sonic 2 still has quite a large sum of cleverly thought out level design using the game's physics system to take advantage of the bad neck bounce having enough speed carry over from your jump to land on an enemy and go flying for easy shortcuts or here in chemical plant act 2 you can bypass the platforming segment with the rising water entirely with a well timed spin dash or using this dash pad that's behind you to jump at just the right time from this path launching you into a higher part of the stage past where that platforming segment would have taken you aquatic ruins is fantastic as the speed in this stage comes entirely from skill alone this is the water stage of the game and unlike labyrinth zone the water and this zone can be completely avoided if you just know the right routes and tricks finishing the stage under a minute otherwise you'll be trekking through the water avoiding the enemies traps and managing your air casino night zone tackling the bouncing bumpers from spring yard zone and turning it into a full new game mechanic where you can enter these slot machines potentially earn a crap ton of rings or lose them all on the whole sonic 2 always keeps the variety high three acts per zone and sonic 1 started to become a drag even in the best zones but sonic 2 cuts that down to 2 acts per zone while also making the stages faster more rewarding to play and while mixing up the challenges more zones will always carry similar motifs in each act but will never get stale as you go from riding these platforms to in a rising fire segment hilltop zone or maneuvering around these blocks or grabbing vines in mystic cave zone all these things are why i love sonic 2 and can come back to it any day but mostly the first sonic this isn't a perfect game either like i hinted at before with sonic's increased emphasis on speed visibility can become an issue at times as it'll be difficult just to see an enemy sitting there when traveling at the speed of 16-bit light the ring system is and always has been a crutch to avoid this becoming a game breaking issue you'd hope the sequel would just design its enemy placement more methodically but why do that when you just keep using the same band-aid solution with rings it isn't a big problem but it is a consistent annoyance the game has three separate campaigns sonic and tails sonic alone and tails alone there isn't much here to look into though sonic alone is the best because when partnered with tails he can help you out of a bind every blue moon but more often than not his ai will interfere with your attacking a boss fight meaning you'll accidentally go through robotnik's iframes taking damage or potentially dying so just going alone as sonic is the better experience and tails alone is basically pointless because tails can fly as a character but this is not a part of his move set in sonic 2. he's just a sonic clone with a slightly smaller hitbox but i don't think this makes enough of a difference be worth playing as some over sonic alone while this may sound stupid i do against my better judgment play this game as sonic and tails combined because i just like the sense of camaraderie you get while having a sidekick tag along in the adventure as the iframes issue isn't nearly annoying enough to determine from playing the game in this fashion i just think the buddy dynamic is what sonic 2 is centered around you just through gameplay or multiplayer grow to like having tails around she'll come back around in the climax but back to the flaws of sonic 2 special stages and sonic 1 were not that fun but they made it far worse in the sequel here you must collect 50 rings reach a checkpoint and jump into the stars that appear above it this creates far more chances to get into a special stage than sonic 1 could ever dream of but this also depends on you finding a checkpoint while not taking damage from something you couldn't see do you understand how these issues combine combining creates a negative gameplay loop once you enter the special stage things get far worse the special stages in sonic the hedgehog 2 have got to be some of the worst in the history of the franchise this marks the debut of the infamous half-pipe structure collect a certain number of rings before reaching the checkpoint and you'll progress and repeat the process until the emerald is yours if not you're booted out it's much simpler on paper than an execution though because the visibility in the genesis version of these stages is a hellish nightmare trying to do 3d graphics in the genesis like this just creates a viewing distance that is really limited meaning there isn't much time to respond to the obstacles the game's putting in front of you on genesis i seriously couldn't beat special stage 3. it was unbearably bad the mobile version from the 2010s completely fixes this by re-rendering these special stage maps making the draw distance no longer a big issue what is still intact but to a lesser degree is tails ai tails will just do whatever you do but the game processes this like a second later meaning you not only need to react fast for yourself you need to account for the delay between you and tails so that he won't get hit by bombs as well losing the rings from your ring count with blind signs abundant in the later stages parts seem exclusively designed for multiplayer and you have one of the worst special stage systems in sonic history but this game is significant in the way it created the seventh chaos emerald and when sonic has all seven he can transform into the series staple super sonic an invincible version of the blue hedgehog that shines bright yellow and dashes even faster than normal but this is definitely not worth the trouble supersonic just makes a game that is overall pretty easy just a joke since the bosses pose even less of a threat than ever before on genesis you also lose super sonic the second you turn off the console since the game doesn't have a save feature which creates a massive problem in the climax everything great that sonic 2 has built up thus far is shot straight through the heart at the finish line metropolis zone one of the worst levels in 2d sonic history three acts are back and it's worse than anything in sonic 1 as these have got to be the most repetitive sonic levels ever designed constantly recycling the same set pieces platforming challenges and enemies with some abysmal placement of these guys these three stages are just designed to be live strainers and while this is the big final stage i just don't think this is how you handle difficulty in the slightest since these three acts all drag out for an eternity making it so you just want to shut the console off after a certain point but we're so close to the end that's not the biggest defender in the world as it's the only true bad zone in sonic 2 in my opinion but it's a really bad one following that we have a set piece that i'm completely split down the middle on from a game design stance sky chase zone is limiting in the sense that you can only go at the game's pace here if you've played the game numerous times i'm sure it's boring as all hell to sit through but as a set piece i love it here sonic is distinctive and after that gauntlet metropolis zone we have skycha's zone tails piloting sonic's play in the tornado chasing after dr robotnik's air fleet it's a peaceful moment where the player can just stop and think about the journey here the perilous set pieces the triumphs and defeats all the while with the end in sight as this blissful music plays [Music] in general sonic 2's soundtrack still packs the same punch i thought sonic 1 had but the compositions in this game are much more fast paced with a more lighthearted vibe than what came before [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] the graphics as well are much brighter in the color palette than sonic 1 as the higher zone count just inherently creates more visual variety than what we've seen before truly this is a great sequel pushing the genesis to its limits now leading us to the final moments of gameplay the tornado gets shot down as sonic progresses through rain fortress zone alone a pretty annoying stage all things considered bottomless pits of plenty and a really cumbersome boss fight but it's still a lot better than metropolis following this sonic trails robotnik into the death egg as the mad doctor is clearly experimenting with ways to specifically beat sonic as we contend with silver sonic who can be reduced to scrap metal rather quickly but still a real trouble with the death egg zone is that the ring crutch like the final zone of sonic 1 is removed so one hit equals death however sonic 1 only had one boss to deal with and with sonic 2 it gives us two with the final boss being a complete mess as the hitbox is incredibly picky leading to a plethora of kills that feel unmerited and every time you die you have to deal with silver sonic again which just hurts the pace since i want to keep practicing the boss i lost not the same one i keep effortlessly beating again and again and again get a game over here and the lack of a save system really comes back to bite is you not have to play the entire game again if you wish to get a shot at the death egg robot and see the credits roll that shit's just annoying but once you do get a strategy in place something really important and shall i say distinctive happens sonic escapes the death egg but is falling helplessly from space into the atmosphere and we get a full cutscene of tails not standing by but firing up the tornado and coming to sonic's rescue like what a moment for a 1992 platformer this game is a real ending you spent the whole journey with this player two character and in the story he really cements the friendship he has with sonic in this exact moment by saving his life which is why the bad ending is better than the good ending in my opinion [Music] this just wasn't something you saw every day back then sonic was making a conscious attempt to build set pieces a world and characters you wouldn't forget and would want to see more of that's what i think the strength of sonic 2 really is it propels the brand forward in ways sonic 1 couldn't even dream of i think sonic 1 is easier to replay because it sticks to landing a lot better than sonic 2 but i still think this is just a fantastic game overall while my complaint list is long sonic 2's positives far outweigh those negatives producing one of the best and most beloved games in the sega genesis really being the point where sonic the hedgehog went from a great game to a great series [Music] 1993 is the year when sega really brought sonic into the forefront macy's day parade two cartoons about the hedgehog one very silly show aimed at the younger market adventures of sonic the hedgehog and a show diving into the more serious aspect of sonic's world as he in the freedom fighters battle against robotnik's empire dubbed sonic said am 1993 is when we started getting sonic spin-offs as well like sonic spinball and dr robotnik's mean bean machine sonic 1 blew the world away with this fantastic new character in game and sonic 2 solidified that and expanded the scope of the series and then we got 1993 as this is also the year when sega stopped making good choices to compete with the rising popularity of the super nintendo sega decided to release an add-on for the sega genesis called the sega cd which would play cd-roms which had more storage space and hardware capacity for advanced graphics and full motion video although on the actual sega cd hardware full isn't exactly the kind of motion you'd be getting sega's decisions at this time make for a fascinating story but that's not why we're here like mario was for nintendo sega already had sonic as the thing to bring to a platform to get more sales so the main series sonic game for 93 is not sonic 3 it's sonic the hedgehog cd which was released on the sega cd we will just like everyone else call it sonic cd this game is an interesting case as for the longest time it was just that obscure classic sonic game that just enough people had played to where it had gained the reputation of being the lost classic the best sonic game ever made a game you could only play on the sega cd windows 95 and the sonic gems collection for the gamecube for some reason cd was never part of the mega collection's original release nor was it part of the mega collection plus this finally changed in 2011 as the world was given christian whitehead's first official sonic work the remaster of sonic cd that was released on 7th gen systems mobile phones and steam he and that team then wanted to do the remasters of sonic 1 and 2 exclusively for mobile devices though couldn't tell you why this port contained many much needed improvements over the original but this release also changed the tide of the conversation on this game as more people just said yeah this game really isn't that great and now that it lacks obscurity it's only a special trait is out the window now what do i think of sonic cd well it's in my top 10 sonic games alongside all the games in this video but it's also a mess let's begin as mentioned before 93 was the year sega really achieved multimedia status with sonic as the divide between the north american lore and the japanese lore increased the tone and style of the series were just portrayed differently and with sonic cd the localization team made a lot of changes that you'd think wouldn't be necessary the sega cd is obviously capable of producing cd red book quality audio to start with a presentation sonic cd in terms of visuals absolutely beats the crap out of sonic 1 and sonic 2. as the diversity of color palette here is already higher in the main acts of these zones but then every single zone contains a past segment a good future segment and a bad future segment in addition to the existing present version there are four layouts of every single stage that's 84 stage maps in total if you multiply the 21 levels by 4. this alone is worthy of praise how exactly time factors in the sonic cd can be explored in a minute though but back to the soundtrack the japanese team composed a full soundtrack for that version of the game but in the process of localization almost the entire soundtrack was done over from scratch the end result being two completely different interpretations of these environments on the whole the japanese soundtrack is generally more upbeat compared to the north american soundtrack what goes for a more laid-back tranquil atmosphere [Music] now the us soundtrack is certainly capable of ramping up the action like the bad future of metallic madness or star at a speedway and the japanese version is equally capable of slowing things down like entitled tempest but it's just so odd that this happened and interesting at the same time for whichever region's music you prefer the remaster allows you to pick your preference which is awesome as i said these two soundtracks interpret these visuals in different ways take stardust speedway for example in the japanese version it focuses more on the loud instruments that compose the foreground while the us version focuses on the dreamlike nightscape that composes the background [Music] now i enjoy both soundtracks but whenever i have the choice i always pick the japanese one and the reason is strictly consistency every stage has four renditions present past good future and bad future the us composers redid all the tracks for every zone's present and both futures but they neglected the past version of every stage to use stardust speedway as an example again i find that jumping from the us present version then time traveling to the past and hearing this to be jarring so for that reason alone i just picked the japanese version of the soundtrack last note on the music both regions also got vocal themes the first of many to come in the sonic series because sonic is distinctive trend setting boundary pushing sonic boom the main theme of the us version is my preference over you can do anything from japan but i just think it's a really cool effort to make songs that just capture the energy of the sonic series while also giving an ending rendition to sonic boom and also giving us an entirely different vocal for the japanese ending called cosmic eternity which is great especially the instrumental version that plays in the credits of the remastered version [Music] so now we can get to the game itself as sonic cd ramps the tension up once again and expands in the series once more this time around a tiny planet called little planet habitually hovers over neverlake for a short period of time but when going to see it sonic can tell dr robotnik is up to no good again as he has chained little planet to the mountainside beginning work on starting a new empire to rule over as sonic travels to little planet and this time he must make use of the seven time stones to go back into the past and destroy robotnik's robot generating machines before they can cause havoc in the future but to get in sonic's way is two new things first we have the next major character introduction amy rose a girl who is hopelessly in love with sonic who doesn't reciprocate as sonic is just much different than other mascots he'll save amy from danger whenever it arises but he's not interested in her romantically which is just an interesting and different dynamic the north american manual actually mislabels amy as princess sally from the sonic set am animated series who's one of the only female sonic characters i can think of that doesn't have clothes like all the male ones don't and all the female characters from the games do wear clothes it's such a natural part of the sonic character art tradition that by this point you don't even notice it until i look back and said i am the bigger thing is just like old game manuals really could just make up anything they wanted glad that's a tradition that's dead remember colonel vermin catappi from metal gear nes i know i don't because it's still big boss in the actual game and it's still amy in this game no matter what the stupid manual says but anyway trouble does arise as amy is captured by robotnik's latest and greatest creation metal sonic who leaves a really good impression of the player by 1993 standards as he just swoops in and captures amy and you can see all across the land these projections of him abusing the natives what i like most about metal sonic is his design especially in america where he just has this really angry face on like look at him he's adorable but seriously though in every way that sonic is organic and is displaying that through his design metal sonic just looks so artificial how does he gain speed well he has a giant jet turbine on his chest with these villainous black and red eyes lack of facial expression outside of terminate with extreme prejudice and you really have a good rival character for sonic someone who matches his abilities physically making the player want to overcome these odds see here we are by the third main game in the series we have a hero a villain a sidekick who's absent for this game a love interest and a rival they were building sonic's world up game by game speaking of games let's get into this one in theory sonic cd plays like the previous games and for that reason i inherently enjoy playing sonic cd which is why it's one of my favorite sonic games but it's just got problems the lead programmer of sonic 1 yuji naka traveled to america to develop sonic 2 with the sega technical institute in 1992 leaving sonic cd to be held by the other man responsible for the creation of sonic nyotoshima and yuji naka's absence is felt in my opinion because sonic cd is glitchy well maybe glitchy isn't the word but what i mean is to say that the collision detection is in many instances straight up broken jumps that may be effortless in previous games or the remaster become a chore in sonic cd this doesn't sound like a big deal but it becomes one of mixed with this game's momentum and time travel mechanic wonky collision detection also becomes an issue with the returning spin dash i said with the returning spin dash yeah the spin dash is in sonic cd but it just doesn't work right you activate it in the same way but there's no revving up you just hold it down for a few seconds and only then you just go forward at a set pace release too early and sonic just stops dead the spin dash is just a liability in this game making way for the super peel out ability which also doesn't really fix the problem since it's basically a spin dash without a ball form this is where the remaster comes in for the first two games i think the remasters are a great improvement however i can enjoy the genesis versions of sonic 1 and 2 to the point where i'm not lamenting the remasters being mobile only in sonic cd's case the remasters basically required to fully enjoy this game here the spin dash is fixed functioning like sonic 2 the special stage frame rate and collision detection is much improved everything is rendered in full wide screen tails is added as a playable character not knuckles they just hadn't added them yet like they did in the sonic 1 2 ports but tales can make exploration easier for those who want to try searching the levels of sonic cd but feel as too daunting as sonic himself there are quality of life improvements like sorry to keep saying this word over and over but the collision is fixed on the level geometry the fmvs are in full quality and widescreen making it the go-to sonic cd experience i can play it on sega cd but those inherent gameplay problems make it way less fun than sonic 1 and 2 in their original forms but with those improvements the game you're left with is still sonic cd a game that's worse than the remasters of sonic 1 and 2 since those games are inherently better than cd for the following reasons exploration sonic has always had a bit of exploration in the games secrets extra pathways and so on sonic cd makes exploring a more central aspect of the gameplay as i said when describing the story sonic needs to travel through time to stop dr eggman's scheme you do this by running past a signpost that reads past or future for some baffling reason this couldn't just be the end of it you must then gain some speed and when you have been running for long enough you travel through time why this is bad can be explained in multiple ways first in the original version of the game you can be snuffed out of time travel when you least expect it because of the collision detection killing your speed even if for a fraction of a second meaning a pathetic hide must slowly walk through these stages trying to find another time post in either version needing to gain speed without stopping to travel through time is a dumb idea because these games suffer from a lack of visibility the rings made it so this was just an inconvenience in previous games but now it directly interferes with the game mechanics becoming a bigger issue traveling to the future is also completely worthless the only way to change the outcome of the story is with traveling to the past destroying the robot generator and then if you do it for both of the first two acts in a zone the third act becomes a good future if not it's a bad future so when traveling at lightspeed the future signposts only exist to get in your way it's an obstacle how they should have used these time posts is like the special stages of sonic 2. just jump into the rings above the post too easy well give it a ring requirement like sonic 2 did for its special stages and besides the two easy argument is moot anyway the game already knows how much you can encounter trying to travel in time which is why there are convenient spots that basically guarantee traveling in time like these giant loops in palm tree panic or when springs are placed in between each other like here in collision chaos or tidal tempest assuming the wonky collision detection doesn't get in your way first thankfully there is an alternative for those who don't want to around with the time travel and that's the returning special stage method from sonic 1. 50 rings before the end of the stage just hope you don't encounter something you couldn't see coming because that would be annoying wouldn't it these special stages are certainly the most tolerable yet even in the original version i can consistently beat these special stages since the objective is very simple destroy these ufos before time runs out and don't touch the water if time's running low a ufo will appear that will grant you more time if you hit it it's fairly intuitive i must say with good risk vs reward gameplay beating a special stage grants sonic a time stone all seven guaranteeing a good future in every zone so what i do when playing this game is i get the robot generators of the first seven stages get the time stones in those levels and therefore get a good future in every zone of the game now i think sonic 1's special stage method is a good alternative to the time travel element in theory because then the problem becomes the level design for starters past a certain point exploring these stages for robot generators just becomes complete garbage take wacky workbench act 1 for example the robot generator is located towards the end of the stage so i traveled to the past found it but then there's some wall in the way i must need to go forward in time or press the switch or something but that's not fun anyway because the level is just annoying many levels in sonic cd are not optimized for exploration because there's just so much crap going on the screen like tubes propelling me in metallic madness springs just sending you all over the screen at stardust speedway or the floor bouncing around the room and i'm just trying to get down and reach the robot generator of wacky workbench like this is not challenge it's just lame and stupid but then we get a different problem if you decide to ignore exploration and completion altogether sonic cd's level design just isn't like sonic 1 and 2. it's sort of got this exploration gimmick i say sort of because the level layouts are designed with that in mind but the stage obstacles certainly aren't but if you ignore all that you quickly realize that sonic cd's levels have little substance when you aren't exploring i decided to do a minimalist run and the game was over around the 35 minute mark 35 minutes that's half the length of me minimally playing sonic 1 or 2 and i'm someone who knows all these games pretty well the game just becomes really easy to bum rush through as the levels don't contain instant death hazards as that would discourage exploration which is good but you aren't looking around and the levels become piss easy if only because the enemies don't present any threat they're not positioned in a way to be clever obstacles to get past the enemies only present a challenge if you're afraid they'll take your rings away if you plan on traveling to a special stage there is little platforming to speak of outside of the hellish nightmare metallic madness act 3 leaving sonic cd as a really negative gameplay loop want to explore do a time travel don't want to do that you're left with levels that just bounce you around with little thought put into the design as you effortlessly bum rush through any and all obstacles throwing down with what are easily the lamest boss fights in any classic sonic game that is a unique low because the bosses in sonic 1 and 2 were terrible but here you can beat them in two seconds if not that do with awkward pinball tables just run on a treadmill until the boss explodes wait forever on this block have a really cheap race with metal sonic that while being a great set piece it's not fun since metal sonic's ai is rubber banding incarnate and it's really difficult to avoid his attacks at certain inclines as the final boss proves how easy the final boss the previous scans would have been if there were rings on the subject of set pieces those don't really exist in this game i guess you can classify some of these level gimmicks as set pieces and in the case of wacky workbench stardust speedway and metallic madness the entire back half of the game these are just plainly bad set pieces but then the better levels palm tree panic title tempest and quartz quadrant are just ultimately hollow as collision chaos is somehow bad in both categories but having said that how could i say sonic cd is a game i really like with these big issues well that's just because cd is another game on that list of games i enjoy playing but when it's time to write about it a lot of the positives have been said in the previous review leaving me with the unique stuff and in the case of sonic cd the flaws in the level design and gameplay structure just leave me saying good attempt to try something different it just didn't work out that well i think sonic cd is good overall since that minimalist run isn't bad it's just hollow in comparison to previous games and when i play it my way you know explore in the early and better stages get the time stones and then bum rush the back half of the game this is a way for me to get the most out of the game and its systems making it a fine game to revisit every now and again but when i say one of my favorite sonic games i'm talking number 10 on the top 10. as this is the weakest game of this particular video leading us into the year 1994 with sonic 3. [Music] this was promised to be the biggest most epic sonic game released yet as sonic the hedgehog 3 hit the scene in early 1994. but upon release sonic 3 clearly had more expansive levels than sonic 2 while also having a newly implemented save feature but the game doesn't contain that many levels sonic 2 had 11 total areas and sonic 3 only has 6 as the game just kind of ends after you defeat eggman at launch base zone you all know the story sonic the hedgehog 3 was so big that the first half of it was released as slang 3 and the second half of it came out and later in 1994 titled sonic and knuckles who i can get into in just a moment sonic and knuckles completely drop tails from the game and also doesn't have the save feature that sonic 3 had but to make sure the team's vision for this massive game could be kept intact the cartridge for sonic and knuckles was something special on top of it was a slide that opened her like another cartridge slot if you put the sonic 2 card on top of it you could play as knuckles in sonic 2 but more importantly if you put a sonic 3 card on top of sonic and knuckles you get the true masterpiece the true sequel sonic the hedgehog 3 and knuckles or sonic 3 knuckles for short or sonic 3k for short of that or just sonic 3. here we have sonic tails sonic and tails and a knuckles campaign all 14 zones are here more secrets more emeralds more cut scenes multiple save files a diverse roster of boss fights and what have you i'm just gonna look at this game as sonic 3 and knuckles because i just don't see the point of talking about it as two separate games when the union is what it was always meant to be but then that begs the question of which version of sonic 3 you should play for the definitive experience well sonic 3 has had quite the fascinating legal history which blaze hedgehog did a full video on which you should check out for the story but to cut to the chase the last time sonic 3 was publicly released on anything was the steam version and you've not seen sonic 3 or sonic and knuckles on any platform since because of legal battles regarding the soundtrack which is a shame since this is the best genesis sonic game by far this also means that christian whitehead and code never got to remaster sonic 3k in the same way they did sonic 1 2 and cd but in come the fan developers have been working hard for years to produce sonic 3 angel island revisited or sonic 3 air lots of ways to abbreviate sonic 3 knuckles tonight this fan project contains a widescreen display which by the way if you notice a line traveling up the screen in my wide screen footage of sonic 1 2 and 3. that's because i recorded it on my laptop going into the tv feeding into the elgato on my desktop it's the best i can do for pc stuff at the moment it's not a part of these games at all anyway sonic 3 air has everything that the standard version of sonic 3k does with features added like sonic mania flight modes knuckles and tails combo time attacks individual act replays visual options like the super peel out animation being added blurring the backgrounds making the angel island act 2 chase a real gameplay segment if you haven't played sonic 3 in a while and want to get the best version of it sonic 3 angel island revisited is the way to go now let's get into the game proper sonic 3 he had to get another character to the roster the death egg after sonic destroyed the final boss of sonic 2 has crash landed upon the mysterious floating island otherwise known as angel island inhabited by one lone character knuckles the echidna whose character design once again does an excellent job as his sharp drill looking hands demonstrate his ability to dig and climb and the way his hair is designed portrays his ability to glide through the air sega presents one champion of good one pawn of evil it's sonic and knuckles for the first time a new sonic character had rivaled the popularity of sonic metal sonic was a really good rival for sonic but he didn't have much character which was by design knuckles in comparison is even better rival as his color scheme completely contrasts with sonics as this echidna gets in your way at every possible chance he gets knuckles is the last surviving member of the ancient echidna tribe who in the english manual are described to have disappeared mysteriously but the japanese manual expands upon this further by going into the echidna tribes want to take the power granted from the source that keeps angel island in the air the master emerald the grand emerald that controls the power of the chaos emeralds doing this caused the disappearance of the echidnas as knuckles remains as the master emerald's guardian without any social interaction in his life dr robotnik and his crash death egg is the first time he's ever seen another person in a long time as the doctor tricks knuckles into thinking that sonic is the villain out to steal the emerald and only if knuckles stops sonic from getting to eggman while he rebuilds the death egg can the emeralds be saved as video game story capabilities were increasing in the 90s build-up and payoff was just a thing lots of games were using to incentivize players to play the game this has been a theme since sonic 1. but take the first mega man x for example file's beatdown of x in the intro stage makes the player want to power up for round two knuckles works the same way sonic and tails arrive on the crashed angel island only for super sonic to be taken out in one hit from knuckles as he claims the chaos animals from sonic laughing while doing so meaning you have to play these special stages to get the emeralds back knuckles really has the home court advantage throughout the angel island adventure and so he knows all the traps and blind spots where he can get in sonic's way and throw us off course laughing each time it's really effective storytelling and character building in a game that doesn't have the time for dialogue which leads into the discussion of sonic 3 as a game and honestly i can't think of any flaws to bring up this time around a lot of effort got to put in the presentation for this game as sonic sprites have all been completely redone from scratch resembling the american design a little more i feel numerous fast-paced set pieces frequent changes in background design countless creative locations even four games into the series and it's very easy for me to say that sonic 3 is a top-tier genesis game for the production values alone with a stellar soundtrack that embodies the epic quest to players on as we get unique compositions for every stage with high action beats playing almost non-stop [Music] and what is that in the multiplayer is that city escape classic from generations [Music] but i got sidetracked again sonic 3 contains 14 zones and they somehow managed to keep the variety high in each and every one of them dodging missile fire and angel island zone blasting at light speed over the water and hydrocity zone riding these flying things in marble garden a snowboard segment ice cap interacting with the environment and mushroom hill zone swinging from propeller to propeller and flying battery zone jumping down the sides of these buildings in sandopolis truly angel island allowed the developers to go crazy with the set pieces and ideas although that doesn't make all of it fun though of all the levels in the sonic 3 half of the game the middle part is easily the worst marble garden and carnival night zone both feel like they drag out for an eternity like the level design is fine throw in a lot of the same secrets that make the other levels fun to play but the length and the gimmicks just get annoying after a long time but the other levels are really great to play especially in the sonic and knuckles half where i think the game excellently balances speedy set pieces roaming exploration and decent platform that keeps you on your toes for the entire run time i even enjoy sandopolis zone which is important because sonic 3 knuckles is a long game sonic 1 2 and cd all took me about an hour to complete but this game took over two hours to a hundred percent and i only really died in the second to last boss fight that just adds to the game's epic quality i find like i used to say that sonic 3 can get a little tiring towards the end even if the sonic and knuckle stages are the better ones but in this playthrough i just didn't get that same feeling i was just constantly pumped up enjoying every single stage and the unique challenges they offered with unique challenges come unique characters returning from sonic 2 we have a sonic alone campaign which is the best one on an objective stance once more but tails alone offers much more than he did in sonic 2 as the game gear platformers gave tales his flight ability as an actual mechanic which sonic 3 carries over as tails is the easy mode reaching hidden paths the easiest because he can fly and swim sonic and tail's shared campaign is still my favorite because it just feels right to have the two together like it did in sonic 2 as they work against and then with knuckles although it gets really annoying in the final battle of the death egg zone the iframes issue i mentioned in sonic 2 is at an all-time low here playing as knuckles he can't jump as high as the other characters but he can glide and climb walls as well as break barriers the other characters cannot meaning his stage roots are much different his playthrough has plenty of other distinctions as well because knuckles the story actually takes place after sonics because angel island is floating in knuckles story a leftover egg robo from the death eggs takeoff and sonic's sky sanctuary is knuckles main adversary for his campaign as the final battle is against mecca sonic but i'll get back to that later knuckles the story ends as sonic saves him on the tornado saving the day once more these four distinguished campaigns create a lot of replay value as if the game didn't have enough of that already with its great level design hidden throughout several spots in each stage are the special rings and going into them allows you access to the special stages and no matter what version of this game you play these are by far the most playable special stages i mean no more crappy collision visibility and bad controls here the controls are very simple to pick up and play as you must collect all the blue spheres on the map avoiding the red ones at all costs i don't like how the player character will gain speed over time as it makes it more difficult to time my next action but still the level layouts here have also have a really natural progression in the difficulty with well thought out placements for the blue and red spheres with well-designed special stages and a method of entry that is entirely frustration free you have the best chaos emerald quest in the entire series the seven emeralds grant sonic the ability to transform into super sonic once more doing the same for knuckles as it glows a bright pink in his super form but to make sure super sonic and super knuckles can't break the back half of the game's difficulty early on you investigate this multi-colored special stage ring bringing you to the shrine of the master emerald where the chaos emeralds get transformed in the super emeralds as you must play seven more special stages to transform into hypersonic a form with double the power of supersonic with his high speed a screen nuke dash attack with the super emeralds also giving tails a crazily op super form as well seriously folks this game is just bursting at the seams with content but the best part of sonic 3 knuckles for me has got to be the unforgettable moments when the gameplay and story are woven together i already went over the way the game uses knuckles for build-up and payoff and continues to use robotnik in the same way the previous three games have with by far the best set of bosses in the classic series while not being super difficult or anything often requiring you at the very least trying to be victorious but anyway you make it to launch base zone where the death egg takes off and you might think knuckles will finally realize the error of his ways here but after you thankfully prevent the death egg from escaping the island you begin the sonic and knuckles portion of the game as the red echidna still won't leave you alone dr robotnik meanwhile is also not giving up on his death egg as you make it to lava reef zone as that weapon is being activated again as the looming threat for the entire stage with it lighting the cooled section towards the end of flame setting up the next boss but then the status quo shifts again as sonic and tails battle knuckles who puts up a really good fight in hidden palace zone as knuckles was betrayed by eggman as he steals the master emerald in the next room with no time to waste he immediately changes sides and helps sonic and tails reach the sky sanctuary zone where he must reach the highest point to get to the death egg before it takes off contending with mecha sonic and bring back fights from sonic 1 and 2 really highlighted the climactic nature of this game as mecha sonic takes what has been learned from silver sonic and metal sauna creating a devastating enemy that can even harness chaos energy to go super for brief periods sky sanctuary is one of the weaker stages in this game but i go into this much detail on it because there's a reason why this is a stage that represents this whole game and sonic generations because this is such an unforgettable moment for players in 1994 knuckles is now an ally an elite squad of bad necks are on your ass as you race to the top ending with this it's a great set piece what more needs to be said leading into the final level and final boss fight as robotnik escapes to space with the master emerald hypersonic giving chase in the classic series best final boss fight the doomsday zone and the series first super form explosive fight it's really cool i just don't have any other way to describe it as the day is saved the emerald goes back to where it belongs raising the floating island once more sonic and tails have gained a new friend as they fly home ending sonic the hedgehog 3 and knuckles it's that unchecked ambition that makes me love this game and its atmosphere so much at the end of the day none of this stuff is a big deal right the game design is what matters and while i think that's true the reason i find these four games so distinctive and worthy of unique praise separate from other games in their day was the ability to try new things build a world lore memorable characters unique art design depth defying gameplay and level design it's so great because the developers did not need to include a big climax in sonic 3 where knuckles learns the truth and helps save the day sonic cd didn't need to remind us of metal sonic's threat throughout its run sonic 2 didn't need to end with tails saving sonic's life nor did sonic 1 need to build up your want to beat robotnik in the ending it's there because the people who created these classic sonic games really wanted the world in character to be one of the biggest takeaways players in the 90s would feel from sonic as that would grow the brand and make sega more popular make it more of a household name and make the most money and i'd say they succeeded wonderfully at this this is what i really think stood sonic apart from the competition what these early games mean to me even as someone who grew up in these games were already 10 years old but i'm just getting started with sonic the hedgehog don't you worry after this surprisingly long video i'll have to see how the reception is before i continue it further but anyway hope you enjoyed this look at the first four sonic games and stick around for more reviews and all that jazz thank you all for watching and i will see you next time you

Channel: J's Reviews

Views: 358,908

Rating: 4.8740392 out of 5

Keywords: Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Retrospective, Sonic the Hedgehog Review, Sonic Review, Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic CD, Sonic 3, Sonic and Knuckles, Sonic 1 Review, Sonic 2 Review, Sonic CD Review, Sonic 3 and Knuckles, Sonic 3 and Knuckles Review, Sonic 1 Retrospective, Sonic 2 Retrospective, Sonic CD Retrospective, Sonic 3K Retrospective, J's Reviews, J's Reviews Sonic, J's Reviews Sonic Retrospective

Id: i3ita2iRKPg

Length: 61min 31sec (3691 seconds)

Published: Sat May 16 2020