Your Personal Worsts from the Past of Sonic

[Nz17]

No, not Sonic Blast Man. We're talking Sonic The Hedgehog here. The blue blur, the speed keed (kid), the 'hog that keeps on running and funning while the bots are gunning. It has been twenty years of him cookin' and staying good lookin' but it has not all been fun and games with the hedgehog... sometimes it was just games without the fun for some.

As a long-time fan of Sonic, I have tried to collect as much of his merchandise, games, and other media as possible. But even I admit that not all which has been officially stamped with the SEGA seal is top quality. There have been missteps and poorly constructed concepts. Yet I'll probably stay by this series until I physically can no more.

What - from your personal experiences and stories - are the worst of Sonic The Hedgehog? I won't name names from my point of view as I have a certain affinity for almost all the speedy media out there. Instead let's get started with a small list of common disdain that will get the ball rolling for many.

-Sonic Labyrinth (Game Gear)
-Sonic Blast (Game Gear)
-Tails' Adventure (Game Gear)
-Tails' Sky Patrol (Game Gear)
-Sonic Spinball (Genesis, Game Gear)
-Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (Genesis, Game Gear)
-Sonic The Fighters (Arcade)
-Sonic's Schoolhouse (Windows)
-Sonic Underground (cartoon)
-Knuckles' Chaotix (32X)
-Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie (anime)
-Sonic R (Saturn)
-Sonic Riders (racing series - Gamecube, Wii, PS2, XBOX Kinect)
-Shadow The Hedgehog (Gamecube)
-Sonic Heroes (Gamecube)
-Sonic Battle (GBA)
-Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (sports series - Wii, DS)
-Sonic & The Black Knight (Wii)
-Sonic Unleashed (Wii, XBOX 360, PlayStation 3)
-Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (DS)
-Sonic The Hedgehog (2006 - XBOX 360, PlayStation 3)
-Sonic 4 (downloadable, many platforms)

Any bad experiences with these game and media? Perhaps some we're missing which you can attest to the awfulness of?

[Tupin]

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) was one of the worst games I have ever played. Coupled with the horrible port of the original Genesis game on the GBA, Sonic sure fell quickly between his tenth and fifteenth anniversaries.

Sonic Unleashed was a disappointment as well. It had potential, but they just had to have a gimmick, and that ruined it.

[SteveSpeeze]

No, not Sonic Blast Man. We're talking Sonic The Hedgehog here. The blue blur, the speed keed (kid), the 'hog that keeps on running and funning while the bots are gunning. It has been twenty years of him cookin' and staying good lookin' but it has not all been fun and games with the hedgehog... sometimes it was just games without the fun for some.

As a long-time fan of Sonic, I have tried to collect as much of his merchandise, games, and other media as possible. But even I admit that not all which has been officially stamped with the SEGA seal is top quality. There have been missteps and poorly constructed concepts. Yet I'll probably stay by this series until I physically can no more.

What - from your personal experiences and stories - are the worst of Sonic The Hedgehog? I won't name names from my point of view as I have a certain affinity for almost all the speedy media out there. Instead let's get started with a small list of common disdain that will get the ball rolling for many.

-Sonic Labyrinth (Game Gear)
-Sonic Blast (Game Gear)
-Tails' Adventure (Game Gear)
-Tails' Sky Patrol (Game Gear)
-Sonic Spinball (Genesis, Game Gear)
-Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (Genesis, Game Gear)
-Sonic The Fighters (Arcade)
-Sonic's Schoolhouse (Windows)
-Sonic Underground (cartoon)
-Knuckles' Chaotix (32X)
-Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie (anime)
-Sonic R (Saturn)
-Sonic Riders (racing series - Gamecube, Wii, PS2, XBOX Kinect)
-Shadow The Hedgehog (Gamecube)
-Sonic Heroes (Gamecube)
-Sonic Battle (GBA)
-Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (sports series - Wii, DS)
-Sonic & The Black Knight (Wii)
-Sonic Unleashed (Wii, XBOX 360, PlayStation 3)
-Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (DS)
-Sonic The Hedgehog (2006 - XBOX 360, PlayStation 3)
-Sonic 4 (downloadable, many platforms)

Any bad experiences with these game and media? Perhaps some we're missing which you can attest to the awfulness of?

sitting there for 3 hours having a tattooist drill his image into my arm .

[PresidentLeever]

I liked Tails Adventure. Don't see what's so bad about Sonic Battle either but I've only tried it for like 10 minutes in an emulator.

Now Sonic Labyrinth is one I can get behind. Poor (and poorly executed) concept, low challenge level and annoyingly slow/choppy gameplay made it lack any entertainment value. Even the music is pretty bad which is rare for the older Sonic games. It barely felt like a Sonic game.

[chrisbid]

puyo puyo is my favorite puzzler of all time. mean bean machine may be a silly rebranding, but its still a great game.

[Emperor Megas]

People hate Sonic Spinball? I mean, of course every game some people who hate it, but like, a LOT of people do? I didn't realize that. I think Spinball is great. Bean Machine is just Puyo Puyo. I didn't realize that people hated on it either.

[treismac]

puyo puyo is my favorite puzzler of all time. mean bean machine may be a silly rebranding, but its still a great game.

I'll take Kirby's Avalanche over Mean Bean Machine any day of the week. ;)

Puyp Puyo is the greatest TWO player puzzler of all time. Fortunately, Tetris being a one player puzzler keeps me from choosing between the two games. With that said, Tetris Battle Gaiden for the Super Famicom rocks! It is easily one of my favorite games in my collection.

[isufje]

Puyo Puyo, Kirby's Avalanche and Dr Robotnik Mean Bean Machine are all the same. Except for poppy brother senior, they're practically identical.

[Rickstilwell1]

Sonic Spinball for Game Gear & SMS is terrible and hard to control, but it's really fun on Genesis.

I actually beat Tails Skypatrol on Game Gear. The hardest part is the last level but there's a way in that level to get a ton of extra lives. It was fun for me.

The game that frustrates me the most is Sonic Heroes because of how easy it is to fall into a hole.

Sonic Labyrinth is just too slow.

[SpaceHarrier]

Shouldn't the Sonic Heroes listing at least be the PS2 version?

Personally I liked Heroes (GC) alot.

I couldn't handle much of 2006, it felt thoroughly amateurish. Cool CG though, aside from the beastiality.

[treismac]

Puyo Puyo, Kirby's Avalanche and Dr Robotnik Mean Bean Machine are all the same.

I'll prefer the aesthetics of Kirby over Dr. Robotnik, thank you very much. Super Puyo Puyo 2 is where it's at, because that is the entry in the series where you first are able to flip the puyos when they are going down a narrow aisle with no wiggle room. Like this:

X X
XoX
XoX
X X
X X
---------

[Rickstilwell1]

Shouldn't the Sonic Heroes listing at least be the PS2 version?

Personally I liked Heroes (GC) alot.

I couldn't handle much of 2006, it felt thoroughly amateurish. Cool CG though, aside from the beastiality.

Heroes for GC is the one I'm having problems with. There's no difference between versions

[djshok]

I'd agree with everything on that list except Spinball. On the Genesis it's actually quite fun once you approach it with the attitude that's it's not a traditional Sonic game. Plus the music in that game is just jawsum. Howard Drossin is one of the best videogame music composers ever.

Also I would add the Genesis version of Sonic 3D Blast. It was fine on the Saturn but the Genesis one just wasn't happening.

[Haoie]

I'll be a dissenter: Shadow the Hedgehog isn't all that bad, quite well playable actually.

Man, everyone loves to rail on it though.

[Zama]

Sonic Unleashed and Sonic (2006) gets the vote for me @_@

[exit]

Anything past Sonic 3/Sonic and Knuckles.

[pseudonym]

Sonic 2006 is the worst Sonic game I've played.

[Tempest]

I guess I'm in the minority because I like Knuckles Chaotix.

[SonicBoom]

I'd go with Sonic The Hedgehog on Xbox 360. It's just confusing.
Maybe the worst game I've played in a while.

[substantial_snake]

I guess I'm in the minority because I like Knuckles Chaotix.

Your not, the game is fun, colorful, and the music is kickass. :)

Despite all the times I've tried to get into it I really just don't like Sonic Spinball. As a kid I always found it a confusing, frustrating, but ultimately boring game and that hasn't changed over the years. I played through a ton of 3D blast with the same feel, I gave up because it became a boring and confusing mess.

I haven't played a post Sonic Adventure outside of COLORS and even Sonic Adventure didn't impress me very much. It was an ok game but nothing I can get nostalgic over since I didn't own a Dreamcast back when it was new.

I am pretty surprised that the OP didn't list the Sonic Rush series. I hear hardcore Sonic fans bash those games all day long. I actually found them to be pretty fun and a rare positive change to the Sonic formula.

[Nebagram]

I guess I'm in the minority because I like Knuckles Chaotix.

You're also in a minority because you played it, lol.

Got to admit I loved a great many of the games on that list- Spinball- 16-bit only, the GG port was diabolical- Mean Bean Machine, Sonic R (if only for the music) and to a certain extent Sonic Heroes were all really fun.

Sonic Genesis though- and I may have stated this before- was so god-awful it actually managed to travel back in time to 1992 and rape my 9-year old self senseless. Sonic 2006 was also beyond awful and had a baffling achievement system, to the extent I actually managed to complete half the game and not unlock a single bloody one of them before getting fed up and switching off. Sonic Unleashed also managed to hold my interest for all of one level, then came the werehog and a loud cry of 'fuck this'.

I loved Colours, though. And I'm really looking forward to Generations. More fool me.

[Tempest]

Spinball is one of those games I kept trying to like, but it was too hard for its own good. The high concept was a neat idea, but it was far too frustrating in practice.

[SEGA_Queen]

I'm a huge Sonic fan myself, so I've played or watched most of the media on the list, with exception of Sonic '06.

Really, the only thing I consider absolutely horrible is Sonic Labyrinth. Every thing else has at least some redeeming qualities.

I owned Sonic Labyrinth briefly years ago. I had asked for Sonic Blast (Game Gear) for Christmas, but my mom couldn't find it at EB Games. So she decided to get me this game instead. I tried playing it on Christmas Eve, but gave up within a half hour. Fortunately, at that time EB Games still had the policy where you could return a game if you didn't like it, no questions asked. So I returned that piece of crap, and eventually found a copy of Sonic Blast.

[chrisbid]

i plowed my way through spinball in the day, the last level is brutal, but if you grind enough extra men by collecting all the rings in each stage, its doable

i also liked chaotix. its not great, but its not bad either

im also in the minority in that i did not like either sonic adventure game on the dreamcast. neither sonic nor mario work for me in 3D.

[djshok]

neither sonic nor mario work for me in 3D.

Agreed. Plus they just look weird in 3D, their texture is not right.

And yeah I forgot to mention Chaotix, I didn't see it on the list, I actually like that game quite a bit.

[Baloo]

I guess I'm in the minority because I like Knuckles Chaotix.


Your not, the game is fun, colorful, and the music is kickass. :)

Count in another for Knuckles Chaotix! I actually LOVE the game, it's my favorite out of all the Sonic series to be honest. And come on, Tails' Adventure on Game Gear is awesome too! And Sonic R? Man, the music alone makes the game! Not to mention it's actually quite fun, and the graphics are some of the best on the Saturn.

Mean Bean Machine isn't too bad either, I think it gets too much hate simply because it was given a different license from plain old Puyo Pop here in the States. Spinball had some awesome special stages, but the rest of the game was meh. Sonic Blast on Game Gear was a decent platformer, not amazing but not awful either.

Everything else on that list I agree with though, mostly because it's after the Sonic Adventure period, that's when Sonic just went downhill for me. Hopefully Generations will be a good game, it looks promising.

[Baloo]

Grrrr, Error 500!!

[SpaceHarrier]

Heroes for GC is the one I'm having problems with. There's no difference between versions

The PS2 version is inferior. Half the frame-rate for starters.

I experienced some occasional control issues with the GC version, no doubt. Still, I don't understand the general dislike aimed at this game. Though, I do think the primary gameplay mechanic was somewhat forced.

FLY HERE

PUNCH THIS

UH.. GO FAST!

I didn't need all the road signs LOL

[j_factor]

Who doesn't like Tails Adventure? That's a great game.

[Nz17]

Now, now, I wasn't saying those were bad games - I was just stating that those are games which are often cited by Sonic "fans" as being inferior for one reason or another. Typically it is just because those games try something different from the usual and the stringent don't like deviating from the norm.

Anyone here not like Sonic Rivals? I only played it for a short while on a friend's PSP, but the whole thing felt pointless to me. It was like the two-player mode from Sonic 2 ballooned up into a full, 3D game - and just like that mode, I was not impressed with it but instead found it to be rather dull. However, being a Sonic fan I'd still play it to completion if I owned a PSP. :p

[Kirbysuperstar]

You know, if Sonic Adventure 1/2 were only the Sonic/Shadow stages, I'd probably be okay with them. But oh my God, the Tails/Eggman and Knuckles/Rogue stages are so Goddamned bad it makes me angry just thinking about them.

I have a big ol' soft spot for Sonic Heroes, though. I don't know why. Also Mean Bean Machine is one of my favourite games of all time.