{"id":6787,"date":"2011-11-02T00:01:44","date_gmt":"2011-11-02T06:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamesanityblog.com\/?p=6787"},"modified":"2011-11-02T00:01:44","modified_gmt":"2011-11-02T06:01:44","slug":"carys-20th-anniversary-sonic-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/02\/carys-20th-anniversary-sonic-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"Cary’s 20th Anniversary Sonic Blog!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In honor of Sonic the Hedgehog\u2019s 20th Anniversary and the recent release of Sonic Generations, here\u2019s a blog about my favorite Sonic games and characters, plus my top Sega characters overall!<\/p>\n

Now, before we get started, I have to say that I\u2019m not the biggest Sonic aficionado around. I\u2019ve never been a big fan of the gameplay of most Sonic games. All the high speed loops and twirls may look cool, but I\u2019ve always felt I was more of a passenger than a player during those times. And for a game all about high speed, they sure do penalize you for going fast, whether it be falling into a pit or unseen enemy, or speeding through a wonderfully designed level so fast that you can\u2019t enjoy it. Stop and smell the roses sometimes, Sonic. Also, I\u2019m not too keen on Sonic\u2019s \u2018too cool for school\u2019 attitude that helped him rise to the top. That kind of character always turned me off.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m not a total Sonic hater for two reasons. One, kids love Sonic. It\u2019s a fact. Every kid I know does. And you know, I can\u2019t bash on something that makes so many kids happy. The other reason why I\u2019m not a Sonic hater is because there are a few Sonic games that I actually DO like! So let\u2019s go over which ones those are right now!<\/p>\n

Sonic 3<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the first Sonic game came out, I wasn\u2019t very impressed with it. As I first saw it in a demo station at a store with a bunch of kids gawking around it, I thought to myself, \u201cThis is better than Super Mario World\u2026how?\u201d And even though the second game was better, it still didn\u2019t pull me in. But the third game? I thought it was great. Levels were designed much better; you weren\u2019t just running left to right all the time. Graphics and music were also 16-bit tops. And you could save your progress, which hadn\u2019t been done before until then! But mostly I just liked the bonus stages where you ran on a sphere collecting orbs, because it reminded me of Pac-Man!<\/p>\n

Sonic 3-D Blast<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I got a used Saturn years after it had met its demise, Sonic 3-D Blast was the only game I could find for it that I wanted to play. But while many others panned it, I loved it as it combined aspects from two of my favorite games. It had the isometric viewpoint of Marble Madness and gameplay like the old Sega arcade classic Flicky.<\/p>\n

Sonic Spinball<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the things I did like about Sonic 2 was the Casino Night Zone. As a big fan of pinball, I thought they could make a whole game out of that level. And they did about a year or so later! A lot of reviewers at the time panned it, saying it wasn\u2019t a true Sonic game. And that may have been true, but it was still a pretty fun little game of pinball!<\/p>\n

Sonic Adventure<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t like most of the 3-D Sonic games, but I actually kind of enjoyed the first one. It hasn\u2019t aged well but it still is fun. Most of the 3-D Sonics are plagued by bad camera angles. This one was, too, but the way the stages were designed, it didn\u2019t hinder you much. And while most people complained the addition of other characters\u2019 stories took away from Sonic himself, since I don\u2019t like Sonic that much, I was happy to play as other characters like Tails and Big the Cat. And the game had a neat \u2018vacation\u2019 feel to it, too.<\/p>\n

Honorable Mentions<\/strong><\/p>\n

I really couldn\u2019t think of a definitive five Sonic games I really like to make this a top five list. I would\u2019ve said Sonic & Sega All-Star Racing, but I don\u2019t know if you\u2019d consider that a true Sonic game. I did enjoy Sonic Advance 1 and 3 on GBA (but 2 was not as good). I enjoyed most of Sonic Adventure 2, except near the end when the camera angles got so bad I had to stop playing. And Sonic Heroes had a lot of good IDEAS, it\u2019s just that the game was such a buggy mess you couldn\u2019t enjoy them. That\u2019s actually how I feel about a lot of Sonic games: lots of good ideas, just not executed very well.<\/p>\n

Cary\u2019s Favorite Sonic Characters<\/strong><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s all my favorite Sonic games. Now let\u2019s look at the Sonic characters I like:<\/p>\n

Tails<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are two reasons why I like Sonic\u2019s sidekick the best. I like him from a character standpoint and a gameplay standpoint. Tails is everything Sonic isn\u2019t. Smart, honest, and humble. And from a gameplay aspect, he\u2019s cool because he uses his two tails to fly. So instead of speeding through a level, you can fly around and enjoy all the cool hidden secrets in the stages that Sonic just zips by. I would say Tails should have his own game, but he already had two on the Game Gear. Tails\u2019 Adventure was a fairly decent platformer, but the shooter Tails\u2019 Sky Patrol kind of sucked. Sorry Tails.<\/p>\n

Big the Cat<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I pick my favorite characters in things, I usually gravitate toward the smallest, cutest characters, or the biggest, dumbest ones. Guess where Big lands. I also like him because it\u2019s like he was created to spite die-hard Sonic fans. In his first appearance in Sonic Adventure, instead of going on high speed chases, your goal was much more slower paced\u2026fishing! I loved the irony! And the last boss you face as Big in that game is one of the easiest boss fights in the world! Plus, Big is annoying, and I like annoying characters. Like Xianghua.<\/p>\n

Metal Sonic<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the reasons why I don\u2019t like Shadow the Hedgehog is how they made him be like Sonic\u2019s rival. But Sonic already HAD a rival! Metal Sonic! I just thought Metal Sonic looked cool, and he was even kind of neat in that awful Sonic anime movie they made in the mid-90\u2019s (actually it wasn\u2019t THAT bad, considering what else is out there). They should bring back Metal Sonic more and ditch dumb ol\u2019 Shadow.<\/p>\n

Knuckles<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t really like Knuckles that much, but he\u2019s my brother Jeff\u2019s favorite Sonic character, and anything Jeff likes is OK in my book. While he\u2019s not more fun to play as than Tails, it\u2019s still pretty neat to explore levels with Knuckles\u2019 gliding and wall climbing abilities. I do have to tell one sad story that involves Knuckles, though. At my dad\u2019s house, they used to have a neighbor family with two kids, and the littlest one was good friends with some of my younger brothers. We saw him all the time at the house, so he was almost like family. Well, that little kid drowned on vacation and when I found out, I was so sad that I couldn\u2019t work for the rest of the day. When we visited his gravesite, they had one of his favorite plush toys, a stuffed Knuckles, by his grave. When I saw that, I just lost it. So now I always think of that little boy every time I see Knuckles. See, I told you kids love Sonic games!<\/p>\n

Chao<\/strong><\/p>\n

I guess Sonic Adventure came out at the tail end of the keychain virtual pet craze. And since I\u2019m fascinated with that kind of stuff, I did get into the Chao raising mini-game a slight bit for a while. Plus, the Chao are just adorable. I have a plush Chao in my room that a friend gave me a long time ago.<\/p>\n

Cary\u2019s Favorite Sega Characters<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sonic may be the most popular, but Sega has a lot of other great characters and games, too! So I wanted to honor them a bit as well, so here are my other favorite Sega characters.<\/p>\n

Ulala<\/strong><\/p>\n

I love the fun future setting of the Space Channel 5 games. And Ulala has pink hair, so that\u2019s cool.\u00a0 Honestly, though, I\u2019m not very good at the Space Channel 5 games, but I do have fun playing as her in Sega Superstars Tennis and Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing.<\/p>\n

Ristar<\/strong><\/p>\n

I actually enjoy the gameplay of Ristar better than Sonic. I remember when Ristar came out, everyone was mad because they thought he was going to replace Sonic as Sega\u2019s mascot. Did you know the gameplay of Ristar was what Sonic was originally going to be like? I think Sega should bring back Ristar. One time I had a dream that I played a sequel to Ristar, and it was two player simultaneous. Player 2 was a girl named Comette. She looked like Ristar but she was pink and had a long ponytail like a comet. Even though it was just a dream, I thought that was a neat idea, don\u2019t you?<\/p>\n

Bonanza Bros.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I played the heck out of this game in the arcade! You played as robbers and had to sneak around to get all the treasure. I loved the simple art style, and I was pleasantly surprised to see them in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing.<\/p>\n

Opa Opa<\/strong><\/p>\n

You know, before Sonic, Sega had other mascots, and the cute spaceship from Fantasy Zone was one of them. They put him in other games as well, such as his world was in Space Harrier, and sometimes an icon of him was a bonus item in other titles. Again, I was happy to see him in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, too.<\/p>\n

Amigo<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before Taiko Drum Master, Samba de Amigo on the Dreamcast was my favorite music game (too bad the Wii version sucked, but at least Ulala was in it). Amigo the monkey is just so crazy freaky looking! Speaking of monkeys, when I play a Super Monkey Ball game, I always pick the Baby, so I guess he\u2019s a favorite Sega monkey, too.<\/p>\n

Honorable Mentions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another pre-Sonic Sega mascot was the bird Flicky. He even appears in many Sonic games, and the original Flicky arcade game is one of my favorites because it kind of reminds me of Mappy. Speaking of arcades, in Golden Axe I always picked Tyris Flare for some reason.\u00a0 She had cool magic attacks.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s all I feel like talking about Sonic. Hopefully I\u2019ll get to review Sonic Generations later, so check back in a week or two to read it! In the comment section, let me know what you think of my picks, and tell me your favorite Sonic games and Sega titles, as well as your favorite characters! Later! –Cary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In honor of Sonic the Hedgehog\u2019s 20th Anniversary and the recent release of Sonic Generations, here\u2019s a blog about my favorite Sonic games and characters, plus my top Sega characters overall! Now, before we get started, I have to say that I\u2019m not the biggest Sonic aficionado around. I\u2019ve never been a big fan of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6787\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}