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The end (hopefully) of the "Sonic was never good" meme

Nope a lot of the younger ones can still appreciate Sonic when they play the older titles. Its actually a subset of boomers with this weird notion that the games were never good. They don't understand how the momentum works with, not against, the level design. 95% of the time they grew up with a SNES or N64. Many such cases.
Boomers are in their 70s.
 
S

SpongebobSquaredance

Unconfirmed Member
"Sonic was never good" isn't a meme. It's an opinion.
the thing is, that's not a meme, that's a fact.
Chris Rock Reaction GIF


that consistency
 

cireza

Member
Some of those games are great, don't get me wrong, but it's never been on the level of something like Mario.
That's your opinion. I largely prefer Sonic games to Mario. I don't really get the comparison anyway. They are very different series.
 

SeraphJan

Member
Sonic 2 is one of the best game I've played during my childhood, I can't say for the 3D Sonic, but the 2D ones definitely have its place within the Hall of fame in video game history, of course no games are without flaws, but they do introduce something innovative to the genre that still have its share of influence till this day.
 
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Whitecrow

Banned
Classic Sonic games were platformers.
Those games were never meant to have you rush through levels. Speed was a possibility, and used as a gimmick in some levels, but it wa pretty much always a 'use at your own risk' thing.
 
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Y0ssarian

Banned
- Sonic, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles
- Sonic CD
- Sonic Adventure (DX) & Sonic Adventure 2 (Battle)
- Sonic Unleashed
- Sonic Generations
- Sonic Mania (Plus)
Bonus: Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing Transformed

These are good Sonic games
 
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deriks

4-Time GIF/Meme God
Who says that is a moron

It has bad games. No one can deny that. But it has a lot of great games too

Live and learn
 

JCK75

Member
Sonic games were always fast and very good looking..
they were never good games... now I have not played every Sonic
I played the original a lot and was like meh.
played some of the early 3d ones and was even more meh..
perhaps a good game exists but I've not experienced it.
 
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BlackTron

Member
The physics in Sonic were revolutionary. No other platform game felt so good to control, not even Mario. Even now i don't think any 2D platform has ever managed to beat the physics and control of the Genesis Sonic games. They are so good that the pinball-ish elements in some levels feel better than most pinball video games at the time. Even Sonic Spinball (which was made by a different team and didn't have the same physics) was far worse than the pinball sections in the main Sonic games.

Agree. Control and physics ARE Sonic. That is why otherwise fine games like Sonic Generations are failures. They lost sight of the fundamentals while pouring on graphics and content.

Hopefully the new game doesn't fail in some painfully obvious fundamental way that wastes yet another otherwise fine Sonic title.
 

BlackTron

Member
Sonic games were always fast and very good looking..
they were never good games... now I have not played every Sonic
I played the original a lot and was like meh.
played some of the early 3d ones and was even more meh..
perhaps a good game exists but I've not experienced it.

Sonic 2 is the Mario 3 of Sonic games. The first game is required just for the first Zone, but you missed the best games in the franchise skipping right ahead to 3D.
 

Ristifer

Member
They don't punish you for going fast, speed is the reward you get by doing well.
I think it's both. It can punish you if you try to breeze through with speed and end up being crushed by something you never saw. But it can also be the reward you use for building up momentum and carrying you through a different path. Once you know the layouts of the various zones, speed definitely becomes more interesting. Another fun aspect of the older Sonic games.
 

RetroAV

Member
Well, that was interesting! :messenger_beaming: Admittedly, as a Sonic fan (especially of the classics), I could never understand what people found so "bad" about the games. Having finished watching the video, I think I can finally relate.

Within the first 15 or so minutes of the video, it had already communicated to me what is so good about Sonic (if it took anyone longer than that, that is on you). But by the time the video addressed Sonic CD (which is near the end of the video and I have never been a fan of), it finally hit me! No matter what was said in the video, I could not get myself to feel differently about Sonic CD. So, I think I finally understand the other side.

Anyways, I'm grateful for the video. I gained knowledge, appreciation, and perspective from it. Liam Triforce did a tremendous job! (y)
 

SomeGit

Member
I think it's both. It can punish you if you try to breeze through with speed and end up being crushed by something you never saw. But it can also be the reward you use for building up momentum and carrying you through a different path. Once you know the layouts of the various zones, speed definitely becomes more interesting. Another fun aspect of the older Sonic games.

It punishes you if you run mindlessly, just like you are punished in Mario is you just hold down the jump button. But it's absurd to say Mario punishes you for jumping, just because you can't just jump spam.

The level design clues you in on what's going to happen, downhill is an indication to roll, steep uphill is an indication to jump, platforming zone and speed zones are telegraphed way in advanced, usually by forcefully slowing down the player, etc. etc. Yeah, if you can't read the level design yes, it's annoying but the clues are there.

It's one of the reasons why the Dimps games aren't as good, because danger is never clued in. You'll just be holding right and a bottomless pit appears.
 
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Agree. Control and physics ARE Sonic. That is why otherwise fine games like Sonic Generations are failures. They lost sight of the fundamentals while pouring on graphics and content.

Hopefully the new game doesn't fail in some painfully obvious fundamental way that wastes yet another otherwise fine Sonic title.
Idk, Generations was also pretty good in it's own way.
 
Anyone over the age of 25 knows Sonic was amazing at one point.

If someone only lived during the last 20 years of games I'd see why they'd think Sonic was never good.

It'd be like expecting someone who only knows the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy to somehow understand that the series used to be good.
Idk back in the day it was mostly the old farts who only grew up with a SNES that said Sonic was Never good. Ironically the younger the people were the more likely they'd like the newer games.
Imagine needing videos to explain why Mario games are good.
There's a lot of essays on how great Mario is though.
while it's not true that Sonic was never good, it is however very true that Sonic Adventure 1 is an absolute atrocious game with terrible controls, awful Leveldesign and atrocious boss fights... also absolutely stupid mission types when playing other characters

and it is also true that about at least 1/3 of the levels of the original 2D games were complete ass, as soon as water was brought into the mix it was just awful.
Disagree there, I think the opposite, level design, controls, boss fights and alternate missions (besides Big) were pretty good. Adventure 1 is a good game, it just hasn't aged that well due to console limitations.
 
That's your opinion. I largely prefer Sonic games to Mario. I don't really get the comparison anyway. They are very different series.
People only compare Sonic and Mario because Sonic was created to as a mascot to compete against Mario.
But they might aswell be completely different gameplay styles.
 
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The special thing about the Sonic Franchise is that you will never get anyone to agree on what's better. Old School Genesis fans, GBA/DS fans, Adventure Fans, and Boost Fans all have different opinions on which Sonic games are the best and which are the worst. I like that the franchise is so varied, for better or for worse, that there's no universally agreed upon opinion.
 

BlackTron

Member
Idk, Generations was also pretty good in it's own way.

The control and physics were trash, so no matter how well other aspects of the game were handled, it's a failure of a Sonic game.

Like imagine a mainline Mario platformer that's really great except the jump sucks. I won't have anyone telling me "oh it's good in its own way". Let's not sugarcoat their failures.

I say this as someone who played Sonic Adventure for over 200 hours. So my standards are not even that high, as long as the fundamentals are in order. I only played through Gens once and never looked back.
 
S

SpongebobSquaredance

Unconfirmed Member
- Sonic, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles
- Sonic CD
- Sonic Adventure (DX) & Sonic Adventure 2 (Battle)
- Sonic Unleashed
- Sonic Generations
- Sonic Mania (Plus)
Bonus: Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing Transformed

These are good Sonic games
additionally, the Sonic Advance games (especially the first one), while not as good classic Sonic, are still very solid games. The small screen size can make things a little tricky though. I hope there will be versions of those games one day with full visibility.
 
The control and physics were trash, so no matter how well other aspects of the game were handled, it's a failure of a Sonic game.

Like imagine a mainline Mario platformer that's really great except the jump sucks. I won't have anyone telling me "oh it's good in its own way". Let's not sugarcoat their failures.

I say this as someone who played Sonic Adventure for over 200 hours. So my standards are not even that high, as long as the fundamentals are in order. I only played through Gens once and never looked back.
Disagree because I personally enjoyed Gens, I'd say the classic physics are maybe as off as something like NSMB compared to 3, but i don't think it's that bad.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
Ok just finished tracking down all the kids that bullied me in the early 90s and sent them this video. I finally feel a sense of closure.
 

nkarafo

Member
The special thing about the Sonic Franchise is that you will never get anyone to agree on what's better. Old School Genesis fans, GBA/DS fans, Adventure Fans, and Boost Fans all have different opinions on which Sonic games are the best and which are the worst. I like that the franchise is so varied, for better or for worse, that there's no universally agreed upon opinion.
Its universally ageed Sonic 3 & K is the best Sonic game.
 
The games are pretty bad but i did find them fun on pc when i didn’t know any better.

What I will say is of all the gaming ‘mascots’ someone heavily into sonic will always be top of my list to keep well away from any children. Your average sonic fan is a threat to society and should always be monitored heavily.
 

Ma-Yuan

Member
My son 5 years old loves sonic 1 and 2 on the Genesis/Mega Drive like crazy so it must have been good. Honestly right now he prefers these two games compared to super Mario bros.
 
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Griffon

Member
I never liked the very slow inertia from 2d sonic, and when you finally manage to go fast you can't anticipate traps unless you already know the game by heart. Either you're slow as a slug and barely feel in control, or you get fast AF and barely in control either...

Donkey Kong Country is legitimately a better "fast game" with better acceleration and sense of control.

While Sonic Adventure game was a rushed out game with a lot of issues, it managed to have the better controlling Sonic, the character felt responsive and fun to play (most of the time, but I admit it had issues that needed to be worked on).
 
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I'm 42. I owned Sega Genesis, Sega CD, Sega GameGear, Sega Saturn and Sega Dreamcast.

Sonic was never good.
This kind of statement annoys me because it implies that somehow your Sega console collection gives your opinion more credibility. And this is coming from a guy who'd beat you in that regard because I have all those AS WELL AS as 32X and a Sega Pico, and a Power Base for Sega Master System compatibility.

If you're going to say "Sonic was never good", what do you think that says about most of Sega's more forgotten output, which you implicitly supported through those system ownerships? I could unironically argue that "Altered Beast or "Bug!" was "never good" and it'd both have more valid reasoning and cause less backlash, but I suppose baiting the backlash is the entire point, isn't it?
 
This kind of statement annoys me because it implies that somehow your Sega console collection gives your opinion more credibility. And this is coming from a guy who'd beat you in that regard because I have all those AS WELL AS as 32X and a Sega Pico, and a Power Base for Sega Master System compatibility.

If you're going to say "Sonic was never good", what do you think that says about most of Sega's more forgotten output, which you implicitly supported through those system ownerships? I could unironically argue that "Altered Beast or "Bug!" was "never good" and it'd both have more valid reasoning and cause less backlash, but I suppose baiting the backlash is the entire point, isn't it?
My comment was directed to the guy who said anyone who says Sonic was never good either wasn't older than 25 or hasn't played many Sonic games.

Also, Altered Beast and Bug were never good.
 
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