What's Your Favorite Sonic the Hedgehog Game?
COMMUNITY QUESTION | After this week's horrifying Sonic trailer, let's look back on some brighter times.
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It's been quite a week. Somehow, the new Sonic the Hedgehog trailer still dominated discussion though. Some were horrified. Some defended the weirdly proportioned hedgehog. Most people were just fixated on his human teeth.
Largely, people weren't happy, immediately pointing to Detective Pikachu as, well, an example of how to get CGI video game characters right. The director for Sonic the Hedgehog, Jeff Fowler, took to Twitter to assuage worries in the trailer's aftermath. "The message is loud and clear... and you aren't happy with the design & you want changes. It's going to happen," he tweeted.
So we can all breathe easy now, at least until the next trailer hits. In the meantime, for this week's Community Question, tell us: What's your favorite Sonic the Hedgehog game?
Mike Williams, Reviews Editor
Every Sonic game is bad.
Nah, I'm not that far out there in the spicy takes. I do think the Sonic games haven't always been the best platformers, but I enjoyed them at the time. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was probably my favorite, and I can't get Sonic CD's opening "Sonic Boom" out of my head. But honestly I think my favorite Sonic game is actually Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, which had the honor of being the most enjoyable non-Mario Kart kart racer around. The first game was pretty good, but Transformed was fantastic, picking up where Diddy Kong Racing—make a new Diddy Kong Racing!—left off. So, it's a technicality, but that's my answer.
Matt Kim, News Editor
I'm legit terrible at Sonic games. There was just something about the way the old 2D games played that a young me couldn't quite grasp. So if you asked me this question a few years ago, my answer probably would've been Sonic Adventure 2, a game I think defined Sonic for a lot of people in my generation.
But recently I played and finished Sonic Mania, a game that finally made me understand the classic Sonic formula. The way Sonic Mania played and handled felt so much better than any of the old Sonic games I played. And I don't know if it's because of the modern flourishes in Sonic Mania's design, or if I just became a better gamer. All I know is that after Mania, I'm interested in revisiting the classic Sonic games to see what I've been missing out on.
Nadia Oxford, Staff Writer
Sonic the Hedgehog 2, without question. It might even be the only retro Sonic game I genuinely enjoy going back to and playing through, even if I tend to get stuck (so to speak) in Oil Ocean Zone.
Sonic 2 improves over the original in so many ways. With more zones and fewer acts (two versus three), Sonic 2's gameplay feels better-paced than Sonic's. Or did anybody out there really enjoy going through Marble Zone three times over?
Finally, Sonic 2 is the game that convinced Western culture that Sonic is the new hotness while Mario is old and busted. Sure, that perception didn't last very long, but it sure was an interesting time to be part of playground culture.
Caty McCarthy, Features Editor
Sonic 2 is the best Sonic game, but my personal favorite is actually Sonic Adventure 2. I have a lot of fond memories of that game, even if it doesn't hold up now. The music (the Pumpkin Hill theme is a bop), the beeping in the Knuckles and Rouge levels, racing my friends as Sonic or Shadow. Sure, the Dr. Robotnik and Tails mech levels suck, but everything else is pretty great... at least from what I remember.
Sonic Adventure 2 is remembered now just for "City Escape," which makes sense, but my best memory with it is actually from tending to my expansive Chao Garden. Taking the little guys to school, petting them accordingly, feeding them animals so they could evolve. I've been patiently waiting for a great game of just the Chao Garden stuff, and I'm convinced it will sadly never happen now.