Sonic platformers have NEVER been good.

2D, 3D whatever. They go from absolute shit to mediocre.

A series sold mostly on the novelty of speedy side scrolling graphics and riding the cheesy wave of 90's badittude.

A mascot that was admittedly created by committee to counter whatever Mario was doing and an overall approach that valued style over substance. Visual fluff over depth. Pop culture over timeless archetypes. Buzz words (BLAST PROCESSING) over a quality, solid gameplay foundation.

Sonic is like Obama's presidency. Where the ideals, dreams and promise were (are) so strong it STILL seems to overpower the continuous disappointment of what the real thing actually has to offer. And no matter how bad things get, the novelty of this disruptive situation elevates it to a far higher level than it ever earned the right to be.

I started gaming on a Sega Master System and was able to see this at the age of 7 as soon as I glimpsed a proper platformer.

Now I ask; how on EARTH does this IP, made by the most overvalued dev team ever, still to this day have such a huge, HUGE following? Especially within the same gaming community that can be so vile and vindictive over the smallest of things?

Sanic plz

lol, believe what you want to buddy. I'll take Sonic over any other platformer series then and now. u mad?

lol TC you're mad.

TLDR : Sonic was great on Mega Drive and Master System.

I never cared much for Sonic. I liked the Chao part of Sonic: Battle Adventure 2: Rise of Lyric Boom on Gamecube.

Mario>>>

I loved Sonic back in the sega days and not since.

Nah. Ristar, Alex the Kidd and a bunch of other better, forgotten SEGA mascots are though.

They got robbed big time.

Sonic 1 and 2 are awesome

You, are not.

Stopped reading when I read Obama

But they go together so well

The Genesis vs. SNES "war" ended 20 years ago, it's time to move on.

Dis guy never played Generations?

I never like Sonic even in the Sgea Gen. days, but I see why some would. Sonic has been shit for such a long time, I find it unbelievable that he's still around tbh.

This

I don't understand why the franchise still even exists to be honest.

It certainly never achieved the critical acclaim or popularity of Mario where it warrants hanging around for 25+ years.

Unleashed, Secret Rings, and Colors are so good.

Fucking Preach

It blows my mind that Sonic 2 and 3 are considered good games (much less the fact that they are argued as something excellent) in an era that would see substantially better platformers on both the SNES and Genesis. His games are fucking garbage.

Sonic was great on the Genesis and Master System...And good on the DC as well. Then again I can't take a thread seriously when the TC is clueless.

The fun I had playing the 16bit games as a kid begs to differ.

TC has shit tastes confirmed

Sonic Generations is great

No. Sonic 1, 2 and 3 were some of the best platformers of the 16bit era.

Honestly, I'd agree. Both the level design and the mechanics in the Genesis titles were frustratingly flimsy. They're lousy platformers compared to what else was available in the 16-bit era.

You see how much we agree, and you still won't play Metroid. Be more ebola.

i actually agree, i never understood why folks were so in love with them. mario is the standard imo, sonic is c quality by comparison.

2 and 3 are really good and Sonic 1 is flawless.

Sonic the Hedgehog was created for the 16 bit Genesis and released on that first, the 8bit port to the Master System wasn't even developed by Sonic team. It was actually a different game due to the Master Systems limits. Maybe your opinion of the series would be different had you played the original, Sonic Team developed 16-bit Sonic game first instead of the downported, different 8 bit port. It's too late now as those formative gaming years have passed, but it's certainly worth suggesting.

I'm a Mario fan myself, but I don't hate Sonic.

I'm a Sonic fan myself, but I don't hate Mario....he's just a little slow. LOL.

1, 2, 3 & S&K are all great the only argument I could realistically see aimed towards them is that sometimes you're watching a bit more than playing in fast sections but they all have parts that require "precision platforming" so if anything it mixed it up more than a lot of other platformers at the time. I liked SA1 & 2 and generations was a nice little throwback.

I agree, even the old Sonic The Hedgehog games controlled like shit and had bad level design. Not really sure why anybody ever liked those games when there was always the superior Mario games available.

They controlled fine....guess they were just to hard for you.....Mario was much slower....and easier.

Nah I'm a world class hardcore gamer, so I'd know. Sonic games were just simply crap on a stick and that's it. You can DC all you want though, but the truth hurts you.

I only played 1 and 2...they were ok, not great but not that bad either and nowhere near the awesome level that had Super Mario World 1 and 2.

You must not liked any of the classic Sonic games or Generations.......or watch too much Game Grumps.

@Thunderdrone said:

@nini200 said:

Stopped reading when I read Obama

But they go together so well

WTF?? Who would buy that?

But anyways, Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles were my favorite.

I really like the first two Sonic games but over time I've come to realize they've got flaws that are fundamental to the design.

Can't speak for OP, but I wouldn't be mad.. just sad.

So many great platformers out there and you have to gravitate towards a lowest common denominator series. At least it's not Bubsy though.

Me? Um, I would say I probably have more variety in my portfolio than most people here, considering that platformers are my favorite genre. NiGHTS, Mega Man, Rocket Knight, Shinobi, Castlevania, Ristar, Strider, Klonoa, most Mario games, and games that fall in the broader area of the genre like Gunstar Heroes, Contra, Turrican, Metroid, and so on, I love them all.

Sonic is an arcade style take on platformers, and I love it for that, and it makes me lol how some people like to rewrite history to the point where they want to believe it was never good. Yeah, a franchise that shook the industry and has been going on for 23 years was never good, lol.

I've never liked Sonic games either.

Even with the originals, the level design was a terrible mess, and I always felt that the "running really fast" concept completely clashed with the precise platforming aspects of the game - it just let to constant trial and error, and you'd sprint into enemies and spikes all the time that you couldn't feasibly react to.

Haha! That's pretty good.

Neither impact nor longevity necessarily mean good. You can be a bad game and have impact= Kill.switch. You can be a long running franchise and be completely pathetic since day 1=Dynasty Warriors.

No one is denying Sonic's impact on the medium or his popularity, but the quality of his games? like any game is arguable.

@Renegade_Fury:

Eh, Mortal Kombat shook the industry too, is still around today, and it was never really good. Anyways, it's not much of a point to base argument on. Lots of crappy things get popular and stand the test of time.

I'm half joking with you, I don't think the Sonic games were bad for their time (Genesis era), but I'll be honest, I do feel they fell far short of the competition. Obviously I won't convince you otherwise though.

I'm not just a Sonic basher though, I'm also of the very unpopular opinion that the DKC games weren't that good either and that DKCR was the truly solid platformer of the bunch.

Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy Sonic and DKC back in the day, just never thought they were big shots as far as platformers go.

Sure, just like I couldn't give a shit about Bayonetta, but that isn't what I'm saying. What I am saying, however, is that obviously enough people thought it was good, as it changed the gen IV war, and it has obtained a fan base large enough to still be going for over two decades.

the most recent MK game was pretty legit. Not up to snuff with the high end of the genre, but way more deserving of respect than older games in that franchise.And yeah DKC1 especially has horrible detection n shit, but 2 is okay. But yeah, pure game design Retro's work clowns the original DKC games so fucking easily.

I think the truth hurts you.....Sonic had no control problems. How hardcore can you be if you can't handle 2D Sonic? Hint: Not.

And again if that's your argument, then it's not much of an argument. It's more or less argumentum ad populum. Ditto for "x game you like I don't give a shit about" when it's totally irrelevant to the conversation.

I agree, running into spikes and unavoidable obstacles off the screen was always a major turn off for me. I love his attitude and style but the gameplay has always been ass.

And your argument, I can say levels on the degree of "duh." Of course, everything is subjective on an individual level, so all you can do is observe what the majority thinks. Whether you agree with them or not, is again, on you.

Then I guess no such game, movie, music etc exists that are good going by your definition.