Sonic The Hedgehog has been around for a long time. But sadly, to this day, elitism is running rampant in the Sonic The Hedgehog online community. Sonic fan websites for example can be highly elitist, while even specific fans and of course the games, are highly elitist as well. Not me, though. I'm certainly not elitist. To prove this, here are top 10 Sonic the Hedgehog games that I find highly elitist. Trigger warning!
Sonic The Hedgehog 1 (1991)
There are some highly elitist Sonic fans out there who only prefer the classic 2D Sonic games over the modern 3D era games. That sounds highly elitist. Sadly, Sonic The Hedgehog 1 screams elitism. It was unfortunate enough to include the absolute hell that is Sonic's homeworld, Green Hill Zone, and has been continuing to make fans suffer ever since 2011. Since Sonic Generations, Green Hill Zone has been used in at least every Sonic game, even up to 2022's Sonic Frontiers which had rehashed versions of Green Hill Zone. Sega said they would stop using Green Hill Zone in future games but those sneaky scoundrels couldn't resist themselves and decided to include it again as a bonus stage for 2023's Sonic Superstars.. It's also returning in 2024 for the updated Sonic X Shadow Generations collection. Just don't google 'Sonic X Shadow'. You've been warned!
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (1992)
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 is a step in the right direction and a huge improvement over Sonic 1, but Sonic 2 does somewhat suffer from an elitism problem. For you see it's included in the main original trilogy of games, Sonic 1, 2 and 3. These three games are the only ones that most highly elitist Sonic fans believe exist and every other game sucks but that is fake news. Sadly, Sonic 2 features the stage Chemical Plant Zone, which - like Green Hill Zone - has been overused ever since 2011's Sonic Generations. I bet conversations with the Sonic game developers with every new game go like this:
"Hey guys so we've got a new Sonic game coming up any idea for any new stages?"
"Green Hill Zone."
"Yes!"
"How about Chemical Plant Zone"
"WOAH SLOW DOWN THAT IS FANTASTIC KEEP THESE GREAT IDEAS COMING BOSS"
However, unlike Green Hill Zone, Chemical Plant Zone is actually a pretty fun stage with a banger soundtrack.
Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (1994)
1994's Sonic The Hedgehog 3 is sadly very elitist. There are many reasons, but the biggest reason is because of the game's soundtrack, which, by now, everybody including their grand children knows Michael Jackson composed the music to it. But Sega never admit it. When they made the highly elitist collection "Sonic Origins" back in 2022, they could not gain the rights to Ice Cap Zone and a couple of other stages music, and they re-recorded it with highly elitist music that sounded worse than the demos. For that I blame Jun Senoue who really doesn't perform well in 2D musical environments. Why does Sega keep going back to him for 2D Sonic games I have no idea.
Sonic CD (1993)
Sonic CD was released in 1993 on the highly elitist video game console, Sega CD - which is probably a main reason why it failed, because it was very elitist. However, Sonic CD (the only good game on the Sega CD), is probably one of the games where not even the Sonic fans know where it fits in the timeline. Sonic 2 came out in 1992, and Sonic CD came out in 1993. That's a year ahead of each other. But ever since the 2022 collection 'Sonic Origins' some idiot has now decided that Sonic CD fits before Sonic 2. This makes absolutely no sense because Sonic CD introduces Amy Rose. Amy Rose was not even in Sonic 2 at all. You can't go forward in time in 1993 and then go back in 1992. That way they say Sonic releases were like this: Sonic 1 (1991), Sonic CD (1993), Sonic 2 (1992). THAT MAKES NO SENSE! Also the game has 2 different soundtracks. The absolute banger of a American Soundtrack and the highly elitist Japanese soundtrack which sounds like they're all on crack for some reason.
Sonic The Hedgehog 4 - Episode 1 and 2 (2010 & 2012)
Why does it always look like Sonic is flipping me off on the title screen. Sonic 4 is a game that nobody asked for. Back in 2010, Sega announced 'Project Needlemouse', which would eventually turn into Sonic 4. Only 1 guy from the highly elitist Sonic fan site Sonic Retro likes this game and everyone else hates it. Sonic 4 wasn't without its problems. For a start, it was split up into multiple 'Episodes' instead of a full game. With Sega of Australia planned to develop the final 'Episode 3'. Sadly, Sega were highly elitist and decided to shut down Sega of Australia in 2012, So Sonic 4 episode 3 was never made, which sucks, because it would have been the first Sonic game to be developed by Sega Studios Australia, who did the absolutely brilliant Mickey Castle of Illusion remaster.
Sonic 4 episode 1 was worse off, featuring absolutely clunky controls, weird physics, bad graphics, lazy boss fights, terrible music (Once again Jun Senoue 2D music doesn't do well!). 2012's "Episode 2" felt more like a improvement with the addition of Tails, more levels and graphical and control improvements, but sadly with no 'Episode 3' the games feel like an empty and highly elitist experience.
Sonic Colours (2010)
2010 was a pretty dark year for Sonic fans. The Wii exclusive 'Sonic Colours' came out, some called it a return to Sonic's true form, while others were not so pleased. The game featured many automated stages where the camera kept on changing from 3D to 2D too much. The cutscenes had bad dialogue, and the levels were split up to 6 acts, whereas in the non-elitist and much better DS version, the levels were longer and the games were made in the same style of the classic 'Sonic Rush' games. The DS version of Sonic Colours is far superior and often is overshadowed by the highly elitist Wii version. In 2021 they remastered the game as 'Sonic Colours Ultimate' for Xbox , PS4 and Switch. But the remaster was very bad with rushed graphics, unfinished elements, broken glitches and somehow, even worse soundtrack.
Sonic Generations (2011)
Remember those games I talked about earlier, Sonic 1, 2 and 3 ? Well in 2011 to celebrate Sonic's 20th anniversary, Sega released the highly elitist game called Sonic Generations, featuring Modern and Classic Sonic as two separate characters. That means there were highly elitist levels in the game like Green Hill Zone, Chemical Plant Zone and Sky Sanctuary Zone (all also appear in 2022's Sonic Frontiers). The classic Sonic stages in Sonic Generations were really slow af and relied too much on back tracking, stopping and starting etc - while the Modern Sonic stages were god tier and were epic & amazing.
Sonic Forces (2017)
While 2017's Sonic Forces may have been regarded as a disappointment, it's probably because it is highly elitist. For you see, sadly, for whatever reason, Classic Sonic comes back in this game which has got nothing to do with Sonic Generations. Classic Sonic Sucks. BUT GUESS WHAT STAGES SONIC FORCES HAS KIDS!? That's right - you guessed it ... GREEN HILL ZONE. And CHEMICAL PLANT ZONE. AGAIN. Whoopedy freakin' do..Score 10 points for originality. Also like Sonic Generations there was a Modern Sonic and Classic Sonic but the levels were really short, mostly under 2 minutes, so the base game could be beaten within 3 hours. So that is very disappointing. The game also had its own highly elitist custom avatar character creation, which to some might be annoying and to others might be fun and entertaining or suss. It was pretty cool how they had their own levels though, and appeared in the cutscenes.
Sonic Origins (2022)
This game just screams elitism. It was released back in 2022 as 'Sonic Origins', and featured a collection of the main 3 classic Sonic games, Sonic 1, 2, 3 - and a bonus Sonic CD. It was a new collection made for modern consoles, Xbox, PS4, and Switch. But Sega decided to have the audacity to "remaster" the old games in a new 16:9 widescreen format. They took out the extra lives and replaced them with useless coins that you can use in the shop that gain you absolutely no potential or meaning whatsoever. Sonic CD is credited before Sonic 2 which makes no sense. The collection was heavily criticized for being a cash grab , with extra content - few as it was, bonus music, a couple of backgrounds and a few useless unlockables, hidden behind an extra paywall. Plus, the game suffered from many glitches and a remade Sonic 3 soundtrack that sucked ass and it was Jun Senoue's fault once again. A while later, Sega decided to pretend that Sonic Origins never happened, and decided to re-release the set as 'Sonic Origins Plus', featuring 'some bug fixes' and an addition of 16 Sonic Game Gear games which is actually pretty cool. The Game Gear games at least being non elitist. But the collection serves as a forgettable remaster that most people find elitist.
Sonic Superstars (2023)
As a Sonic fan, we're used to disappointment, and 2023's Sonic Superstars was just that. Sega wanted to do a 2.5 D Sonic game but moved away from the Christian Whitehead team developers that made Sonic Mania great and decided to, for whatever reason, use Balan Wonderworld's Arzest. We all know what happened to Balan Wonderworld. It was an absolute mess and disappeared into obscurity. That sounds very elitist. Just check out the opening cutscene to Sonic Superstars for example, that for some reason has 15 second frame rate drop and is loaded with 1000x Classic Sonics rushing all over the screen. To make matters worse, Superstars didn't sell commercially well, leading the game developers to claim 2D Sonic only appeals to a certain group of people and criticized Nintendo's smash hit Super Mario Wonder, which was released just a mere few days apart from Sonic Superstars.
Superstars was filled with lazy reused assets, poor soundtrack (once again Jun Senoue DOES NOT WORK well with 2D Sonic stop doing that), and many glitches. People also hated the super long and difficult drawn out boss battles at the end of literally every freaking zone, some lasting up to at least 7 minutes longer than the actual stage, with unskippable automated boss transition phases.
Those are my top 10 choices of the most elitist Sonic the Hedgehog games. Thank you for looking,
I hope the next Sonic game isn't elitist. Shadow x Sonic Generations? Ah cool! SHADOW'S BACK! Wait a minute.....Green Hill Zone again ? FU ----
No comments:
Post a Comment