Sonic

[Benji]

He's got an attitude...

He's the fastest thing aliiiii-i-iiiive

Yeah, so I'm playing old school Sonic and I felt a need to say that Shadow the Hedgehog sucks ass, Sonic and Knuckles rule and Tails is good as the bitch. Chaotix Crew > *

Also, the Marble Zone in Sonic 1 is the best level of anything ever*, I love the architecture and layout. Also, the very first boss battle is the best first boss battle ever too**.

* This may not be true

** This is true, screw you

[Hobo]

Once Sonic (and Mario, and DK) went 3D... It killed it for me.

I always liked Sonic 2 the best, just everything about it was

[stokeriño]

Sonic 2 was my very first computer game ever and I'm still playing it regularing 15 years later. Meanwhile, dozens of games I've bought over the years rot amidst dusty cupboards. 'Nuff said?

I'm wary about including the Chaotix Crew in what I call 'kosher' Sonic, given that they were originally limited to the 32X which, as we know, was an abomination. I'm also with Hobo in saying that Sonic in the 3D realm (with the exception of Sonic 3D: Flickies Island) may as well be written off from the start.

I know there are fellow 'Sonic the Comic' geeks out there on the board. I forget who you are, so make yourselves known.

And if I catch people using the name 'Eggman' instead of 'Robotnik', they deserve a strong slapping. >_>

[Benji]

I was a STC geek, that was where Chaotix were awesome, not so much in the games.

And fuck Eggman, he'll always be Robotnik for me, it's like when they changed Coco Pops, only trillions of times worse because it's a geeky thing

Edited February 12, 2008 by Benji

[apsham]

Sonic had a good initial 3D game, but past that it was rather meh. Taking Mario and DK into 3D was pretty awesome though, I wouldn't mind playing another DK 3D platformer if I had the chance.

[stokeriño]

Ah well, that's different. I mean, they live in the Special Zone for God's sake. That's cool in itself.

The biggest highlights of STC for as much as I read (which I think was the first 100 issues) were:

* Super Sonic splitting from regular Sonic and being batshit insane

* The Brotherhood of Metallix

There's a lot of stuff I won't remember until someone else reminds me, but those were certainly the two best bits that I can recall right now.

[Benji]

Ah well, that's different. I mean, they live in the Special Zone for God's sake. That's cool in itself.

The biggest highlights of STC for as much as I read (which I think was the first 100 issues) were:

* Super Sonic splitting from regular Sonic and being batshit insane

* The Brotherhood of Metallix

There's a lot of stuff I won't remember until someone else reminds me, but those were certainly the two best bits that I can recall right now.

Fuck yes! The whole amnesia thing was great too. I loved Issue #100, perfect 'end' to Robotnik's reign, at least for the time it lasted.

[stokeriño]

The fact that the reign started really, really early on (my mind is saying issue #8 for some reason) and lasted up till #100 is impressive in itself. Long story arcs FTW.

And I had decided to stop reading at #100 several issues in advance, because it seemed like a good number to stop (and I was about 13 by this point, being pathetically teenager-ish and self-conscious about my interests). They just so happened to bring the arc to its climax at the same time, which was nice of them.

What happened with Super Sonic's amnesia? Since when I stopped reading some random old woman had just taken him in off the streets. >_>

[Benji]

He dissapeared for a REALLY long time (like 60 issues or so) and then returned in the very final arc, I'll quote the Wiki, although Super Sonic is only mentioned at the end...

This proved to be one defeat too many for Robotnik - retreating physically and mentally, he languished in darkness, until Grimer, desperate to snap his master out of his depression, initiated the events of the comic's final storyline, the adaptation of Sonic Adventure (although in practice, this would prove to be the loosest game adaptation yet, as the game's wildly different approach was largely incompatible with the STC universe). Discovering a canister containing a creature of living chaos energy, Grimer unleashed the fear-inducing "Chaos" upon the Freedom Fighters, leading to the death of Johnny Lightfoot. Rampaging out of Grimer's control, Chaos then attacked the Floating Island, intended to absorb the Chaos Emeralds, but Knuckles jettisoned the emeralds before he could absorb more than one, causing the island itself to plunge into the ocean. While Robotnik then set about gathering the emeralds to lure all the players to his fortress that they might all die together, Sonic was transported into the ancient past of Mobius by Tikal and Pochacamac, two of the planet's race of echidnas, where he witnessed the beginning of the war between the Echidnas ans the Drakon Empire, the origins of the Chaos Emeralds, and the creation of Chaos, who proved to be a Drakon prosecutor, mutated by exposure to the emeralds. Returning to the present, Sonic arrived just as Chaos absorbed the remaining emeralds and became Perfect Chaos. Robotnik's suicide plan was thwarted, however, by the unexpected appearance of Super Sonic, dying due to depletion of his own chaos energy. Absorbing Chaos's energy, reverting him back to his Drakon form, Super Sonic became his old evil self again and turned on the Freedom Fighters, until Ebony used her magics to fused Sonic and Super Sonic back together again.

[Skummy]

I'm the Sonic The Comic geek, damn it!

That said, I appear to have lost my bookmark to the website with all the back issues in PDF format, damn it!

Anyhow, I suck at Sonic 2. I suck HARD at Sonic 2. I never owned it on the Mega Drive, so playing it on the Sonic Mega Collection or on X-Box Arcade now, I'm utterly dreadful at it. Sonic 1 I own at, I can finish it in about forty minutes with all the Chaos Emeralds and only losing a couple of lives, and Sonic 3 I know pretty well, but 2 is my Achilles heel.

[IAceI]

I love everything Sonic. Even as a fanboy I still like Shadow the Hedgehog game.. because it's Sonic related.

I went bowling once and my name was put in as 'Knuckles' .. its that bad ¬_¬

[stokeriño]

Anyhow, I suck at Sonic 2. I suck HARD at Sonic 2. I never owned it on the Mega Drive, so playing it on the Sonic Mega Collection or on X-Box Arcade now, I'm utterly dreadful at it. Sonic 1 I own at, I can finish it in about forty minutes with all the Chaos Emeralds and only losing a couple of lives, and Sonic 3 I know pretty well, but 2 is my Achilles heel.

Surely the gameplay doesn't differ so immensely? I mean, there's a difference between being competant at it and knowing a game like the back of your hand, but still...?

Oh, and uh, Sonic geeks' personal judgement time:

- Sonic 1: Mega Drive version (bought second-hand for £2 around 1994, though Mega Drive no longer works reliably)

- Sonic 1: Wii Virtual Console version (bought for 800 points, whatever that is...about £6-7 I think?)

Is it now wrong of me to want to buy the game AGAIN on the XBox 360 (for about £4-5), purely because I get all giddy at the prospect of the XBox 'achievements' I could do for it? (I have already bought Sonic 2 on the 360, but that was because I hadn't already bought it on the Wii)

I await my judgement.

[IAceI]

Sonic > Mario.

It's true.

Although me and my best friend disagree vehemently on this. I'm right.

[Skummy]

I think it's more that I get over-confident at Sonic 2, thinking "Pah, I'll be able to handle this", and just end up flinging myself down a waterfall, or losing far too many lives the second time you fight Robotnik (disappearing floorboards are always my comeuppance), whereas on Sonic 1 or 3 I'm always aware of what's lurking around the corner, and I've had years of practice in comparison.

Oh, and I hate having Tails following you on Sonic 2, all he does is lose rings in the Special Stages. Two-tailed little prick.

I'd get it as well on 360. Why the heck not? It's only a couple of quid, you win free stuff, and you get to play Sonic 1. Everyone's a winner!

Why does Tails fawn over Sonic so much anyway? He's just as fast, AND he can fly, AND he can swim. AND he has to put with the indignity of having "SONIC" plastered down the side of the Bi-Plane that's clearly his, as he's the only one who can pilot it. At least Knuckles has the decency to not get on with Sonic half the time.

Oh yeah, and is it wrong that I only discovered (or at least, to the best of my recollection) the Invincibility box hiding in a tree right before you fight Robotnik for the first time on Sonic 1? It lasts you pretty much the duration of the boss battle, making the first boss slightly less bad-ass, but even easier than usual.

And, finally, about a month or so ago I found a tin emblazoned "SEGA" while clearing out my room ready to move house; I'd completely forgotten about it, I'd had it since I was wee, from just before Sonic 2 came out, and it's a load of promotional badges for Sonic 2...one of Tails, one of Robotnik in the Starlight Zone Egg-O-Matic (dropping a spiky ball), one of Sonic leaning on the number 2, and one of Sonic on a handglider....and under them all, there's another loads of badges from a Sega CGI cartoon thing that I only very vaguely remember. I got all giddy with excitement when I found it, and Tails and Robotnik now adorn the lapels of my favourite jackets.

As for Sonic > Mario....I never owned a NES or a SNES, briefly a Game Boy with only one Mario game, and briefly a Gamecube with Smash Bros...so Mario doesn't hold the same appeal and nostalgic love that Sonic does for me, having grown up a Sega fanboy, but I've warmed to him these last few years. Both have their appeal, but nothing in the world of Mario can compare, for me, with the glee of seeing a load of semi-3D red spheres and rings fly off the screen as I win a Chaos Emerald on Sonic 3, or the anguish and heartbreak of having drifted haphazardly into a block marked "GOAL" having already removed an entire wall of crystals protecting the Grey Emerald in the Special Zone. Sigh.

Edited February 12, 2008 by Skummy

[stokeriño]

I once completed Emerald Hill Zone Act 1 blindfolded... It was pure guesswork/luck/reliance on sound effects, but I managed it. Just. ¬_¬

I, too, despise having Tails following me. I always make sure I change that before I start a game.

one of Sonic on a handglider

Ooh, let's not forget the 8 bit incarnations! (The handglider's from Sonic 2 on the Master System/Game Gear) Although I don't rate either the MS Sonics 1 & 2 over their Mega Drive counterparts, they're some good, unique fun. Not to mention that in Sonic 2 you don't have the aforementioned problem of Tails following your around because the muppet got himself kidnapped. Win-win, I say. It's also the only of the traditional Sonic games that I can think of, off-hand, that doesn't start in a happy-happy-leafy-garden-type zone. >_>

Sonic Chaos, on the other hand, is so stupidly easy to beat (rocket boots, anyone?) that it kind of falls down there. That said, the music to Mecha Green Hill Zone is badass.

Edited February 12, 2008 by stokeriño

[Skummy]

Sonic Chaos is pretty naff.

Sonic 2 on the Game Gear/Master System had that bizarre bit where Sonic is falling to certain doom in a minecart, only to be RESCUED by Robotnik, who opts to make him fight an easily defeated robot insect thing, doesn't it? That was odd.

Speaking of the Game Gear, my friend had a US one, and had a copy of Tails Adventure on it, and I remember thinking it was brilliant. Playing it on Sonic Gems, either I was an idiot or it's aged horribly. In fact, pretty much everything on Sonic Gems is a bag of dicks.

Oh, and at what point did Nack The Weasel become Fang? He'll always be Nack The Weasel to me, but I remember him being Fang in Sonic Drift or whatever the kart game was, and then again in Sonic: The Fighters (a game I waited for with BATED BREATH when it was first announced, only for it to emerge years later and shit), and now I have difficulty rememebring any point when he was ACTUALLY called Nack. Is this another Eggman/Robotnik incident?

Oh, and I just remembered that I owned a couple of Sonic novels. One was called, I think, "Sonic The Hedgehog in the Fourth Dimension", and one was kind of vampire-themed. I remember very little else about them. A job for Wiki, methinks.

Wiki confirms that they are indeed Sonic The Hedgehog In The 4th Dimension, and Sonic The Hedgehog In Castle Robotnik. Beyond that, I have but the vaguest of memories.

Edited February 12, 2008 by Skummy

[andrethegiantstopfan]

Sonic 2 on the Game Gear/Master System had that bizarre bit where Sonic is falling to certain doom in a minecart, only to be RESCUED by Robotnik, who opts to make him fight an easily defeated robot insect thing, doesn't it? That was odd.

Edited February 12, 2008 by andrethegiantstopfan

[Benji]

Speaking of Sonic tunes, people always hum the Mario theme, but the themes from Sonic were way better in general. I dare you not to love any of the "Hill" Zone themes ^_^

[britneyspearsisgod]

I loved the old STC's! Sonic is amazing. I think it's one of those games that just doesn't lend itself to 3D that well. You can't have a world like earth & have him go that fast. It's too small a space & not enough response time. If they can solve that, then great.

I also hate the fact that they brought Sonic to earth. I don't want him on earth. Keep him on Mobius and get rid of the gay characters! Go back to basics. It's like watching WWE

As for the games, I love Sonic 2 - first game I ever completed. Sonic & Knuckles is next, Sonic 3 and Sonic 1 tied for me. I just love that whole era of Sonic - you can't beat it

[stokeriño]

I hate how impossible it is to find Sonic Master System music. Oh sure, Mega Drive tunes are easy as pie and I've got atrocious semi-pop Sonic Adventures shit coming out of my ears, but good old 8 bit tomfoolery? No chance.

So, um, in the meantime...favourite levels (least favourite in brackets)?

Sonic 1: Scrap Brain Zone (Star Light Zone)

Sonic 2: Chemical Plant Zone (Hill Top Zone)

Sonic 3: Ice Cap Zone (Marble Garden Zone)

Sonic and Knuckles: Flying Battery Zone (Sandopolis Zone)

I could go on, but it'd begin to get silly. >_>

Edited February 12, 2008 by stokeriño