Classic Sonic's Sustainability

With this year marking the release of both Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces, a worrying trend seems to have stuck itself to new Sonic games; that of leveraging ‘classic’ imagery and sentiment as a crutch to stay relevant. This isn’t entirely new, but it is an unsustainable method that will only yield returns for so long before we get tired.

Sonic Mania looks like a wonderful throwback to a time gone past, and looks well worth playing – the reviews of the game agree with this point. But the problem is in the game’s premise rather than its execution. It is part of a growing number of ‘flashback’ titles that leverage a desire for Sonic to ‘go back to his roots’ (a cliché phrasing of modern Sonic criticism if ever there was one).

How sustainable is this idea, really? Between Sonic 4 episodes 1 and 2, Sonic Generations, Sonic Mania, Classic Sonic’s return in Sonic Forces, not to mention a huge number of re-releases on virtual console systems, how much longer can SEGA milk what’s left of gamer’s nostalgia before gamers get bored of this trend? We can only see remakes and re-releases of Green Hill Zone so many times before it will inevitably lose its charm.

The unfortunate fact is that despite major positive steps forward in the form of Sonic Colours and Generations, the series still evokes an image of Bambi on ice, with shaky foundations that look so horribly precarious it’s almost hard to watch as the series goes on.

In its struggle for an identity in modern times, Sonic’s leveraging of its classics may have been a successful experiment, with the appearance of Classic Sonic in Generations and Forces, but now the trend is quickly becoming a tired trope. It’s time for gamers’ favourite hedgehog to drop these crutches and run – after all, isn’t this what Sonic is best known for?

More than anything, SEGA needs to reinvent Sonic’s identity, perhaps by looking at current Sonic conventions and throwing them out of the window. The transition wouldn’t be painless; many fans cling dearly to their nostalgic love of the ‘classic’ Sonic series that ended in the 90’s. But it won’t be long before this love runs out and instead we groan every time we see SEGA march out Classic Sonic only to expose him to further indignity. Let Classic Sonic rest now, and perhaps nail the final coffin in Modern Sonic’s grave, and give us a true reinvention of the character and his conventions before he winds up stuck in that grave permanently. 

My Favourite Gaming Sequels: Sonic 2

The modern age of the gaming sequel has given it a bad rep. It is hard to remember a time when a sequel wasn’t a rehash of an old formula with slightly better graphics. As hard as it is to believe, video game sequels used to be more than a creatively-bankrupt exercise in selling to the lowest common denominator.

Even today, there are still some excellent sequels that come out and show us how well a formula can be iterated upon. The best sequels are the ones that are still familiar in formula, but offer a logical iteration and quality-of-life improvements to the underlying mechanics in a way that expands upon the game, its story and universe in a way that makes it feel fresh and exciting.

With that in mind, I made a list of my favourite gaming sequels, which will form the next few posts, as well as the typical long-winded, overthinking explanations reasoning why I found them so intriguing.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

The first title on this list is also my least favourite of my favourite sequels. Don’t get me wrong, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a great game, and a good sequel; it just doesn’t quite hit the same lofty heights as other sequel titles.

What makes Sonic 2 so great as a sequel is that it improved on the tropes in Sonic 1 to create new, interesting ways to play, while at the same time adding an iconic quality-of-life upgrade in the form of the Spin Dash; a move that allows a player to build up speed before exploding forward in a spin attack. 

Sonic’s pinball physics get their logical iteration in the form of the Casino Night Zone, with interesting gambling mechanics to boot. The underwater levels, seen as one of the worst elements of the preceding title in the series, are also improved upon and are given an improved design that allows skilled players to speed through with the relative ease that wasn’t found in Labyrinth Zone. 

Casino Night Zone is an iconic implementation of pinball physics, and very pretty to look at.
Image credit: http://www.soniczone0.com/games/sonic2/casinonight/

Colours, graphics and music are all improved upon, and the experience as a whole is streamlined. The addition of Tails as a character is decidedly take-it-or-leave-it, but before Modern Sonic’s menagerie of forgettable amigos, this was a breath of fresh air.

What makes Sonic 2 less of a favourite sequel than other video game sequels is that it has too many of ‘those’ levels. The levels where progress is slow and plodding and based less on the flow of high-speed hold-right platforming in the style of Green Hill Zone. 

There are a lot of times where you have to stop all forward motion to work out which direction to go and where to find that elusive platform upward to the next part of the stage. I found the Mystic Cave Zone, famous for that hole, to be among the worst offenders, with Metropolis Zone and Oil Ocean Zone equally guilty of this. Sonic is about flow and these levels just don’t let the gameplay shine in its best way. 

THAT hole; one of the most infuriating elements of game design I've ever experienced.
Video credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LD9Yekzajk

The infuriating Special Stages, while never a strong point for any Sonic game, were among my least favourite in the series (requiring course memory or psychic powers to complete).

The Special Stages can be unfair and require fast reflexes, and are even harder to navigate with Tails.
Image credit: http://info.sonicretro.org/Special_Stage_(Sonic_the_Hedgehog_2_16-bit)

However, as far as iterating on the previous title, Sonic 2 introduced many of the new mechanics and tropes that stuck with the series for a while; the Death Egg, the spin-dash and 2-acts per level instead of 3 acts. It improves upon the formula of the previous title excellently, with improvements in graphics and sound among the most memorable of alterations. For that reason, Sonic 2 makes a good first contender for one of my favourite gaming sequels.