Hero of Legend
Member
EDIT: I finally finished my huge history article on the topic at SonicStadium, it not only also explores the handheld games, but I added A LOT more to the console section as well, all neat and tidy for your viewing pleasure! 
http://www.sonicstadium.org/2015/05/the-spin-a-look-into-sonics-history-with-nintendo/
It is time for Part 4 of my Nintendo-related "look over" series! This time focusing on a series once a rival to Mario, is now a close ally, Sonic!
See Part 1 with Nintendo's relationship with Koei Tecmo, Part 2 Nintendo's relationship with Bandai Namco, and Part 3 on Atlus' lineup on 3DS here.
I will mostly be focusing on exclusives and other Nintendo-related parts of the series, specifically on consoles, I'll explain why at the bottom of the thread.
Let us begin! Dates will be NA-specific. Click on the boxes and other images to get higher-res versions.
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle
Sonic's debut on a Nintendo home console came with a huge bang on February 12, 2002, one of my all-time favorite games of all-time. From the moment I played City Escape and heard that awesome song, I was hooked, and I became even MORE hooked when I stepped into the Chao Garden. Wow. Anyway, this marked the beginning of what everyone thought would never happen; Sonic appearing on a Nintendo console, and it certainly would stop there. It's also interesting that unlike SADX, this didn't get a PC release until last gen with the HD version. So yeah, Nintendo fans had this for a LONG time for themselves without considering obviously the original version on DC, it's kind of funny seeing that "Only For" symbol considering the DC.
Sonic Mega Collection
SA2B give you a thrill? Need a breather? Yes? Too bad, HAVE MORE! Seriously, after starting with such a heavy hitter, Nintendo fans were greeted with one HELL of a collection at the end of the year on November 13, 2002, containing EVERY classic Sonic game from the Genesis, including the lock-on games Blue Sphere, Knuckles in Sonic 2, and the ultimate, Sonic 3 & Knuckles. This was an exclusive for a couple of years before being ported and slightly expanded on the other systems.
Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut
And on June 17, 2003 came the much expanded and actually redone version of the first Sonic Adventure. Dated issues aside, is still one hell of a game in my opinion. This version added a mission mode you can unlock for each character after beating their story, and for the first time can unlock Metal Sonic as a skin for Sonic in time trial mode after getting all 130 emblems. Also a lot of the textures and playable character models were redone, unlike in SA2B where there were just some added effects and a bump in polygons for the playable characters. This change however is a bit divided amongst fans and some prefer the original look of the DC version. But they also did bump the framerate to 60 which ran really well most of the time I found.
Sonic Heroes
The first multiplat Sonic, however, it not only got a couple week exclusivity period (it came out at January 6, 2004 where as the others were on January 27, 2004), but was apparently built specifically on GC and then ported to Xbox and PS2 (the latter to... less than satisfactory results technically), so it showed us what a Sonic built for the GC can look like. And it was a bump up in overall presentation, even if I wasn't keen on the overly shiny look, but it's certainly grown on me, and the framerate was flawless on GC. Also on Xbox it supported 720p. How about that. Overall it was really fun despite the 4 team repetition, but the character variety really was fun, it just would've been nice if there was unique stages for each team like in SA2, or at LEAST change up the order ala SA1. The unlockables were really lackluster though, whoopee I got a Super Hard Mode for all emblems or A ranks. One did that, the other did zilch IIRC. No Japanese voice track either where as both SADX and SA2B did was a bit disappointing, but the English cast did really great work, with most doing their best in the series to the point.
Sonic Gems Collection
This one slipped my mind (thanks The Broken Ska Record!)! Releasing on August 16, 2005, this is actually a GC-exclusive in NA, with it releasing on PS2 in EU and Japan also. The game contained the later games such as Sonic CD, Sonic the Fighters, and Sonic R (CD and R are the PC versions IIRC). What's really interesting is that TT Games possibly came back after all this time to do the new port, seeing as their logo in the game is the current one, that's speculation, but surely so or else they'd have left the old logo intact. Also the collection has about half of the Game Gear line-up, I also forgot to mention that in SADX, you can play all of Sonic's Game Gear games, including the previously Japan-only Tails Sky Patrol (developed by Sims).
I'll skip Shadow as there's nothing of note with that game. Quality doesn't matter as I'll bring some games of course that aren't so good down the road, but as said, Shadow as far as Nintendo goes is not really a mark at all. Same with Riders, as much as I loved that game.
So with the GC done, let's take it to the next level. I am so sorry for that.
Sonic and the Secret Rings
For the first time ever, we have a 100%, built from the ground up Nintendo home console exclusive Sonic game, releasing on February 20, 2007. This came about when it was time to consider bringing the highly anticipated (at the time) Sonic '06 to Wii. They likely could have done it, there's just one problem; time. They wanted to get the game out as early and close to launch as possible. That coupled with the Wiimote being of particular interested, they said fuck it, let's some something original. So the '06 team split in two (a very likely major reason for that game's fate), but for Secret Rings, they solved that slice by bringing in NOWPRO to work on the multiplayer party mode while the main team focused solely on the single-player mode. NOWPRO also worked on Riders 1 and the Mission Mode in SADX, so a very fitting choice. They also brought in Rumblebee, singer from the Riders series to sing all the songs in the game. Certainly unique for a "main" Sonic game, that's for sure (and not the last we'll see of him either!). The game was again divided, I still haven't played it LOL! Kept waiting to get the Target Exclusive edition, we got a Target in Canada, said edition never came, and I saw so much of it I didn't bother. XD
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
What? This wasn't an April's Fool joke? It's happening?! It did, releasing on November 6, 2007! Thanks to Yuji Naka no less, this was the last game released he commissioned IIRC. So we have old rivals together at last. But not exactly in the way anyone wanted. It came, and it wasn't a real pleaser... to the core crowd. Boy did it ever sell, try over 11 Million on Wii and DS combined (7.09m on Wii and 4.22m on DS)! Rumblebee was called in to be the announcer and still is to this day!
Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity
The sequel to Sonic Riders is actually Wii exclusive in Japan, the PS2 version only came out in the west, with both releasing in NA on January 8, 2008, which is quite rare for a Sonic game now to miss the holiday. And if you have a peek at my lookback on this game, you'll see it's my personal fav Sonic game last gen, no really, I'm dead serious. If you played the original on GC and was fine with the controls, you'll do just fine here... on a Wii. On Wii U you're kind of needing to use the Wiimote on its own (no Classic Controller support IIRC for whatever reason), but after switching over, it wasn't that bad at all to control with the Wiimote. Yeah controls are controversial with the series, regardless of system, but I played it just fine regardless on Wii and GC. Speaking of the release date, I bet it really benefited from it as it was very polished and purred like a kitten with zero frame drops at all. It's undoubtedly the smoothest running Sonic game from the 7th gen onwards on consoles.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
One not so pleasing crossover lead to one EVERYONE waited for, Sonic in Super Smash Bros! Oh yes, the EGM April Fool's joke, a reality at long last! What else needs to be said? It actually came out on March 9, 2008, after being delayed from its previous Dec 2007 date and said delay was announced on the same day as Sonic was at the 2007 Fall Conference, what a day that was.
Sonic Unleashed
Now comes the first Wii version of an HD Sonic game, so to speak. Releasing on November 18, 2008 (and on 360 on the 20th and PS3 on Dec 9th), this has been a constant divide when it comes to which is better, Wii(/PS2) or the HD versions. The game also got a far better reception from the press on Wii (see IGN and GameSpot as examples). I personally really liked it on Wii. Honestly a lot more than Colors. I liked the variety the Werehog provided and the action chain in the Daytime levels were really well implemented. Have a look at my lookback for more. Funny thing is that only the Wii version launched on Dec 18th 2008 in Japan (again, the PS2 version didn't come out in Japan), the HD versions came out a few months later on February 19, 2009. The really interesting thing is that apparently the Wii version outsold both the PS3 and 360 versions combined.
Sonic and the Black Knight
We had something going with the more arcadey gameplay, instead of making it better, let's give him a sword. Releasing on March 3, 2009, this one was largely panned and for good reason, it's such a shame they fumbled the gameplay where as the game is seemingly really well built technically and has pretty high production values. It's a gorgeous game and had Jun Senoue make his grand return after Shadow the Hedgehog four years prior. I had really high hopes for this, I was actually optimistic and open to the idea. Should've been an open-world Zelda clone in my opinion.
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Releasing on October 13, 2009, the second game was considered to be a lot better, not perfect, but definitely better, and if I recall, is considered to be the "high point" of the Olympic series. I don't think any reached the sales peek of the original though. Also, this is very notable to be unofficial Sonic Team USA's swan song, why? Because most of the same people from that division when coming back to Japan filled the same roles, which means, this was the last game Takashi Iizuka directed, likely due to him becoming the head of the studio and the general series producer afterwards (Secret Rings director Yojiro Ogawa was the previous head during SR's development, now he's at Yakuza Studio), Winter Games also had the same STUSA art director, and Jun Senoue also worked on it.
I'll skip Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing as again, can't think of anything notable, other than it being the last to feature the 4Kids cast. Sonic 4 also.
Sonic Colors
Releasing on November 16, 2010, this was what everyone considered the first in a long time Sonic game to be all good and not held back by uber crippling flaws like the Werehog, so it's not half a good game, it's a whole good one. As I said, I wasn't so crazy about it, which really disappointed me as I was hyped beyond belief for it. This is the first to feature the new Studiopolis voice cast, with the sole exception being Mike Pollock returning from 4Kids as Eggman. This is the first AAA Nintendo console exclusive mainline Sonic game (it's debatable if Secret Rings and Black Knight count as mainline, hell, are they even platformers?). Likely thanks to the enormous success of Secret Rings, Unleashed Wii, and the Olympic games, which Iizuka said was the case for the latter.
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games
Now comes the 3rd Olympic game on November 15, 2011, and without Generations to boot (they claimed Gens was skipped due to the hardware, but what about Unleashed and then Colors which is far closer then?). Anyway, this game marks the final Sonic game to be released on Wii. And with that, a new generation begins.
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
This came out on launch day on Wii U and is the only Sonic game being a port so far from another system. Apparently this has indeed outsold the PS360 versions, again even likely combined.
Sonic Lost World
The first next-gen/8th Sonic game made exclusively for said generation released on October 22, 2013, and the first in a 3-game exclusivity deal with Nintendo. This game threw the formula from the boost trilogy out the window in favor of yet another new idea. Did it work? Ehh... not really. Props for prioritizing 60fps after so long, and I did like the writing and interactions between Sonic, Tails, and Eggman, but gameplay-wise, it was sadly really weak. Sales-wise, believe it or not, according to NPD, it gained pretty good momentum after launch, the game may have debuted at 30k combined on Wii U and 3DS, however, on Wii U alone it did around 100k after about four months in Feb 2014, with 3DS a bit higher back in Dec. And it held it's price for a whole year, pretty rare for a Sonic game I find these days. So who knows, I think it did pretty okay for what it was and the Wii U's install base. As Transformed showed, if you make a good Sonic game,. they will come. Also of course we have special Yoshi and Zelda DLC stages. Short as hell, but frankly including the NiGHTS stage, are to me the best levels in the game. Go figure.
Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games
Game 2 of the exclusivity deal, releasing just after on November 15, 2013. The first HD entry in the series and the first with actual online multiplayer, AND the first, EVER, to be published by Nintendo worldwide, that's right, Nintendo finally legit published a Sonic game (if only half of one) where Nintendo only published the first three in Japan only, with Sega doing the honors in the west.
Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric
And now we come to the 3rd game, this lovely "gem", releasing on November 18, 2014. The first modern Sonic console game developed by a external western team (TT Games did earlier games in the classic era; 3D Blast and R, and I'm not counting STI and Sonic Team USA, they were official Sega teams and had design and direction by the main creators from Japan obviously). It looked so promising at first, then came E3, then the game came out, oh lord. For whatever reason after Iizuka said it wasn't coming to Japan, it did. And like all Sonic games over the last decade, it did like nothing in Japan. Sales were obviously not so good. It's debatable if 620k combined just now on Wii U and 3DS is horrible or too much for such a bad game.
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Releasing just days after Boom on November 21, 2014 (Sega even bumped the date up in response, jeez), Smash for Wii U is technically Sonic's debut in 1080p on consoles (so not counting Gens on PC) if I recall. With it came an amiibo for Sonic! In Smash, you can use his amiibo to make a AI fighter to fight against or alongside you.
Mario Kart 8
This actually is being listed after Smash as the Sonic-related content only just showed up on April 23, 2015, being Sonic's amiibo outfit being added to the game! Now if only we can get him as a DLC character, we'd be cooking! As such this makes it Sonic's first appearance in another Nintendo IP since Smash and the Olympic crossovers.
So the console part is done. I'm debating whether to make a section for the handheld line-up. However even though 90% are Nintendo exclusive (basically all but Rival 1 and 2, Pocket Adventure, and Gens but the 3DS version is custom built), there's nothing Nintendo-specific like Smash (outside Smash 3DS, but again, that version feels secondary to the Wii U version, in all honesty).
With one exception and I'll leave this in the event I decide to not do a handheld part, mostly 1. This thread is big enough as it is. 2. This already took me a couple days to make. 3. I don't even know if you'll like the thread or not! XD Was thinking of just doing the handheld stuff on the 2nd post as an alternative, but again, I'll just leave it at the consoles for now.
So to finish this off, here's my one handheld game of interest:
Sonic Rush Adventure (Korean version)
Why the hell am I highlighting this thing of all choices? Take a gander at the upper right. That's right, this was published by Nintendo, making the one and only Sonic game, in history without Mario, to be so. This came out in Korea two years after the rest of the world on September 17, 2009. From what I've seen in trailers, it uses the 4Kids dub for voices in the game.
As for the future, I'm hoping we see Mario & Sonic at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games on Wii U (and maybe 3DS this time), I'm really excited to see what they can do with the setting in HD on Wii U, it's one hell of a colorful location, that's for sure.
And I'm hoping he'll actually be in Project X Zone 2 this time. And hopefully we'll see more uses for his amiibo in Nintendo's line-up. Also I could see another exclusive non-Olympics game at some point, depending on how when the Wii U's successor comes out (2016? 2017?)
Obviously I want to see Nintendo EAD Tokyo have a crack at a 3D Sonic, but I also want Nintendo to let Hirokazu Yasuhara (still at NST I think?), Naoto Ohshima (at Arzest) and Yuji Naka (at Prope) all work together on a new Sonic game, as Nintendo's worked with all three over the past few years, you'd think that would've been part of the exclusivity deal. It's really sad Nintendo just let Sega do their own thing, when they should've worked with them side-by-side ala Bayonetta 2 and Devil's Third, making sure Sega are at their BEST on these games and that they're polished like a diamondin the sky. Oh well, maybe Nintendo learned from that and maybe if a new deal happens, they'll do just that, who knows.
And that wraps it up! Hope you liked the thread and I want to hear your thoughts on this relationship thus far, and what you think the future holds, and what you want to see.
http://www.sonicstadium.org/2015/05/the-spin-a-look-into-sonics-history-with-nintendo/
It is time for Part 4 of my Nintendo-related "look over" series! This time focusing on a series once a rival to Mario, is now a close ally, Sonic!
See Part 1 with Nintendo's relationship with Koei Tecmo, Part 2 Nintendo's relationship with Bandai Namco, and Part 3 on Atlus' lineup on 3DS here.
I will mostly be focusing on exclusives and other Nintendo-related parts of the series, specifically on consoles, I'll explain why at the bottom of the thread.
Let us begin! Dates will be NA-specific. Click on the boxes and other images to get higher-res versions.
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle
Sonic's debut on a Nintendo home console came with a huge bang on February 12, 2002, one of my all-time favorite games of all-time. From the moment I played City Escape and heard that awesome song, I was hooked, and I became even MORE hooked when I stepped into the Chao Garden. Wow. Anyway, this marked the beginning of what everyone thought would never happen; Sonic appearing on a Nintendo console, and it certainly would stop there. It's also interesting that unlike SADX, this didn't get a PC release until last gen with the HD version. So yeah, Nintendo fans had this for a LONG time for themselves without considering obviously the original version on DC, it's kind of funny seeing that "Only For" symbol considering the DC.
Sonic Mega Collection
SA2B give you a thrill? Need a breather? Yes? Too bad, HAVE MORE! Seriously, after starting with such a heavy hitter, Nintendo fans were greeted with one HELL of a collection at the end of the year on November 13, 2002, containing EVERY classic Sonic game from the Genesis, including the lock-on games Blue Sphere, Knuckles in Sonic 2, and the ultimate, Sonic 3 & Knuckles. This was an exclusive for a couple of years before being ported and slightly expanded on the other systems.
Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut
And on June 17, 2003 came the much expanded and actually redone version of the first Sonic Adventure. Dated issues aside, is still one hell of a game in my opinion. This version added a mission mode you can unlock for each character after beating their story, and for the first time can unlock Metal Sonic as a skin for Sonic in time trial mode after getting all 130 emblems. Also a lot of the textures and playable character models were redone, unlike in SA2B where there were just some added effects and a bump in polygons for the playable characters. This change however is a bit divided amongst fans and some prefer the original look of the DC version. But they also did bump the framerate to 60 which ran really well most of the time I found.
Sonic Heroes
The first multiplat Sonic, however, it not only got a couple week exclusivity period (it came out at January 6, 2004 where as the others were on January 27, 2004), but was apparently built specifically on GC and then ported to Xbox and PS2 (the latter to... less than satisfactory results technically), so it showed us what a Sonic built for the GC can look like. And it was a bump up in overall presentation, even if I wasn't keen on the overly shiny look, but it's certainly grown on me, and the framerate was flawless on GC. Also on Xbox it supported 720p. How about that. Overall it was really fun despite the 4 team repetition, but the character variety really was fun, it just would've been nice if there was unique stages for each team like in SA2, or at LEAST change up the order ala SA1. The unlockables were really lackluster though, whoopee I got a Super Hard Mode for all emblems or A ranks. One did that, the other did zilch IIRC. No Japanese voice track either where as both SADX and SA2B did was a bit disappointing, but the English cast did really great work, with most doing their best in the series to the point.
Sonic Gems Collection
This one slipped my mind (thanks The Broken Ska Record!)! Releasing on August 16, 2005, this is actually a GC-exclusive in NA, with it releasing on PS2 in EU and Japan also. The game contained the later games such as Sonic CD, Sonic the Fighters, and Sonic R (CD and R are the PC versions IIRC). What's really interesting is that TT Games possibly came back after all this time to do the new port, seeing as their logo in the game is the current one, that's speculation, but surely so or else they'd have left the old logo intact. Also the collection has about half of the Game Gear line-up, I also forgot to mention that in SADX, you can play all of Sonic's Game Gear games, including the previously Japan-only Tails Sky Patrol (developed by Sims).
I'll skip Shadow as there's nothing of note with that game. Quality doesn't matter as I'll bring some games of course that aren't so good down the road, but as said, Shadow as far as Nintendo goes is not really a mark at all. Same with Riders, as much as I loved that game.
So with the GC done, let's take it to the next level. I am so sorry for that.
Sonic and the Secret Rings
For the first time ever, we have a 100%, built from the ground up Nintendo home console exclusive Sonic game, releasing on February 20, 2007. This came about when it was time to consider bringing the highly anticipated (at the time) Sonic '06 to Wii. They likely could have done it, there's just one problem; time. They wanted to get the game out as early and close to launch as possible. That coupled with the Wiimote being of particular interested, they said fuck it, let's some something original. So the '06 team split in two (a very likely major reason for that game's fate), but for Secret Rings, they solved that slice by bringing in NOWPRO to work on the multiplayer party mode while the main team focused solely on the single-player mode. NOWPRO also worked on Riders 1 and the Mission Mode in SADX, so a very fitting choice. They also brought in Rumblebee, singer from the Riders series to sing all the songs in the game. Certainly unique for a "main" Sonic game, that's for sure (and not the last we'll see of him either!). The game was again divided, I still haven't played it LOL! Kept waiting to get the Target Exclusive edition, we got a Target in Canada, said edition never came, and I saw so much of it I didn't bother. XD
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
What? This wasn't an April's Fool joke? It's happening?! It did, releasing on November 6, 2007! Thanks to Yuji Naka no less, this was the last game released he commissioned IIRC. So we have old rivals together at last. But not exactly in the way anyone wanted. It came, and it wasn't a real pleaser... to the core crowd. Boy did it ever sell, try over 11 Million on Wii and DS combined (7.09m on Wii and 4.22m on DS)!
Rumblebee was called in to be the announcer and still is to this day!
Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity
The sequel to Sonic Riders is actually Wii exclusive in Japan, the PS2 version only came out in the west, with both releasing in NA on January 8, 2008, which is quite rare for a Sonic game now to miss the holiday. And if you have a peek at my lookback on this game, you'll see it's my personal fav Sonic game last gen, no really, I'm dead serious. If you played the original on GC and was fine with the controls, you'll do just fine here... on a Wii. On Wii U you're kind of needing to use the Wiimote on its own (no Classic Controller support IIRC for whatever reason), but after switching over, it wasn't that bad at all to control with the Wiimote. Yeah controls are controversial with the series, regardless of system, but I played it just fine regardless on Wii and GC. Speaking of the release date, I bet it really benefited from it as it was very polished and purred like a kitten with zero frame drops at all. It's undoubtedly the smoothest running Sonic game from the 7th gen onwards on consoles.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
One not so pleasing crossover lead to one EVERYONE waited for, Sonic in Super Smash Bros! Oh yes, the EGM April Fool's joke, a reality at long last! What else needs to be said?
It actually came out on March 9, 2008, after being delayed from its previous Dec 2007 date and said delay was announced on the same day as Sonic was at the 2007 Fall Conference, what a day that was. 
Sonic Unleashed
Now comes the first Wii version of an HD Sonic game, so to speak. Releasing on November 18, 2008 (and on 360 on the 20th and PS3 on Dec 9th), this has been a constant divide when it comes to which is better, Wii(/PS2) or the HD versions. The game also got a far better reception from the press on Wii (see IGN and GameSpot as examples). I personally really liked it on Wii. Honestly a lot more than Colors. I liked the variety the Werehog provided and the action chain in the Daytime levels were really well implemented. Have a look at my lookback for more.
Funny thing is that only the Wii version launched on Dec 18th 2008 in Japan (again, the PS2 version didn't come out in Japan), the HD versions came out a few months later on February 19, 2009. The really interesting thing is that apparently the Wii version outsold both the PS3 and 360 versions combined.
Sonic and the Black Knight
We had something going with the more arcadey gameplay, instead of making it better, let's give him a sword. Releasing on March 3, 2009, this one was largely panned and for good reason, it's such a shame they fumbled the gameplay where as the game is seemingly really well built technically and has pretty high production values. It's a gorgeous game and had Jun Senoue make his grand return after Shadow the Hedgehog four years prior. I had really high hopes for this, I was actually optimistic and open to the idea. Should've been an open-world Zelda clone in my opinion.
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Releasing on October 13, 2009, the second game was considered to be a lot better, not perfect, but definitely better, and if I recall, is considered to be the "high point" of the Olympic series. I don't think any reached the sales peek of the original though. Also, this is very notable to be unofficial Sonic Team USA's swan song, why? Because most of the same people from that division when coming back to Japan filled the same roles, which means, this was the last game Takashi Iizuka directed, likely due to him becoming the head of the studio and the general series producer afterwards (Secret Rings director Yojiro Ogawa was the previous head during SR's development, now he's at Yakuza Studio), Winter Games also had the same STUSA art director, and Jun Senoue also worked on it.
I'll skip Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing as again, can't think of anything notable, other than it being the last to feature the 4Kids cast. Sonic 4 also.
Sonic Colors
Releasing on November 16, 2010, this was what everyone considered the first in a long time Sonic game to be all good and not held back by uber crippling flaws like the Werehog, so it's not half a good game, it's a whole good one. As I said, I wasn't so crazy about it, which really disappointed me as I was hyped beyond belief for it. This is the first to feature the new Studiopolis voice cast, with the sole exception being Mike Pollock returning from 4Kids as Eggman. This is the first AAA Nintendo console exclusive mainline Sonic game (it's debatable if Secret Rings and Black Knight count as mainline, hell, are they even platformers?). Likely thanks to the enormous success of Secret Rings, Unleashed Wii, and the Olympic games, which Iizuka said was the case for the latter.
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games
Now comes the 3rd Olympic game on November 15, 2011, and without Generations to boot (they claimed Gens was skipped due to the hardware, but what about Unleashed and then Colors which is far closer then?). Anyway, this game marks the final Sonic game to be released on Wii. And with that, a new generation begins.
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
This came out on launch day on Wii U and is the only Sonic game being a port so far from another system. Apparently this has indeed outsold the PS360 versions, again even likely combined.
Sonic Lost World
The first next-gen/8th Sonic game made exclusively for said generation released on October 22, 2013, and the first in a 3-game exclusivity deal with Nintendo. This game threw the formula from the boost trilogy out the window in favor of yet another new idea. Did it work? Ehh... not really. Props for prioritizing 60fps after so long, and I did like the writing and interactions between Sonic, Tails, and Eggman, but gameplay-wise, it was sadly really weak. Sales-wise, believe it or not, according to NPD, it gained pretty good momentum after launch, the game may have debuted at 30k combined on Wii U and 3DS, however, on Wii U alone it did around 100k after about four months in Feb 2014, with 3DS a bit higher back in Dec. And it held it's price for a whole year, pretty rare for a Sonic game I find these days. So who knows, I think it did pretty okay for what it was and the Wii U's install base. As Transformed showed, if you make a good Sonic game,. they will come. Also of course we have special Yoshi and Zelda DLC stages. Short as hell, but frankly including the NiGHTS stage, are to me the best levels in the game. Go figure.
Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games
Game 2 of the exclusivity deal, releasing just after on November 15, 2013. The first HD entry in the series and the first with actual online multiplayer, AND the first, EVER, to be published by Nintendo worldwide, that's right, Nintendo finally legit published a Sonic game (if only half of one
) where Nintendo only published the first three in Japan only, with Sega doing the honors in the west.
Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric
And now we come to the 3rd game, this lovely "gem", releasing on November 18, 2014. The first modern Sonic console game developed by a external western team (TT Games did earlier games in the classic era; 3D Blast and R, and I'm not counting STI and Sonic Team USA, they were official Sega teams and had design and direction by the main creators from Japan obviously
). It looked so promising at first, then came E3, then the game came out, oh lord. For whatever reason after Iizuka said it wasn't coming to Japan, it did. And like all Sonic games over the last decade, it did like nothing in Japan. Sales were obviously not so good. It's debatable if 620k combined just now on Wii U and 3DS is horrible or too much for such a bad game.
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Releasing just days after Boom on November 21, 2014 (Sega even bumped the date up in response, jeez), Smash for Wii U is technically Sonic's debut in 1080p on consoles (so not counting Gens on PC) if I recall. With it came an amiibo for Sonic! In Smash, you can use his amiibo to make a AI fighter to fight against or alongside you.
Mario Kart 8
This actually is being listed after Smash as the Sonic-related content only just showed up on April 23, 2015, being Sonic's amiibo outfit being added to the game! Now if only we can get him as a DLC character, we'd be cooking! As such this makes it Sonic's first appearance in another Nintendo IP since Smash and the Olympic crossovers.
So the console part is done. I'm debating whether to make a section for the handheld line-up. However even though 90% are Nintendo exclusive (basically all but Rival 1 and 2, Pocket Adventure, and Gens but the 3DS version is custom built), there's nothing Nintendo-specific like Smash (outside Smash 3DS, but again, that version feels secondary to the Wii U version, in all honesty).
With one exception and I'll leave this in the event I decide to not do a handheld part, mostly 1. This thread is big enough as it is. 2. This already took me a couple days to make. 3. I don't even know if you'll like the thread or not! XD Was thinking of just doing the handheld stuff on the 2nd post as an alternative, but again, I'll just leave it at the consoles for now.
So to finish this off, here's my one handheld game of interest:
Sonic Rush Adventure (Korean version)
Why the hell am I highlighting this thing of all choices? Take a gander at the upper right. That's right, this was published by Nintendo, making the one and only Sonic game, in history without Mario, to be so. This came out in Korea two years after the rest of the world on September 17, 2009. From what I've seen in trailers, it uses the 4Kids dub for voices in the game.
As for the future, I'm hoping we see Mario & Sonic at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games on Wii U (and maybe 3DS this time), I'm really excited to see what they can do with the setting in HD on Wii U, it's one hell of a colorful location, that's for sure.
And I'm hoping he'll actually be in Project X Zone 2 this time. And hopefully we'll see more uses for his amiibo in Nintendo's line-up. Also I could see another exclusive non-Olympics game at some point, depending on how when the Wii U's successor comes out (2016? 2017?)
Obviously I want to see Nintendo EAD Tokyo have a crack at a 3D Sonic, but I also want Nintendo to let Hirokazu Yasuhara (still at NST I think?), Naoto Ohshima (at Arzest) and Yuji Naka (at Prope) all work together on a new Sonic game, as Nintendo's worked with all three over the past few years, you'd think that would've been part of the exclusivity deal. It's really sad Nintendo just let Sega do their own thing, when they should've worked with them side-by-side ala Bayonetta 2 and Devil's Third, making sure Sega are at their BEST on these games and that they're polished like a diamond
And that wraps it up! Hope you liked the thread and I want to hear your thoughts on this relationship thus far, and what you think the future holds, and what you want to see.
