Sonic ~ Fast Food of Video Games?

I love Sonic. I love the design, I love the series, I love the speed. I am a huge fan of it all, or rather, the Genesis titles.


I'm also not a fan of comparing Nintendo's releases with Sega, as they are two very different companies with different styles. But lately I've been playing some of the early Sonic games, and then playing Nintendo's games from the same time, and my thoughts on the Sega titles have been slowly changing. Not changing to negative thoughts, just a different perspective.


Let's just start with something I said I hate: a comparison of two of the games. Yesterday I compared the game-play of Super Mario World and Sonic 1, both two of my favorite games, and I noticed one thing right off the bat: While SMW isn't as fast, the story and world map is enormous! Clearly the game developers wanted to literally create a WORLD for Mario to explore. With the endless tricks, levels and secrets, it's no wonder why this game is so beloved. After almost 20 years, the game still holds up. The finished product truly is a world for the consumer to experience.


Now, Sonic. Instantly we experience the unique game play. This dude is FAST. The loops, the spinning and the bosses. The bonus games and beautiful sprites. And the unique character design. WTF is that thing anyway. I didn't know what a hedgehog was until I heard about Sonic. Clearly this game is different from SMW. It's designed for a thrill, the thrill of going fast and focusing on speed.


But maybe that's just the problem. Sonic (and 2 and 3) are all about speed. Speed and action. So where is the story? Where is the exploration? Surely there must be hidden treasures and secret quests to complete. There are some hidden rooms, but that's not the aim of the game. While not all levels are like this (some are intentionally slow), the majority of them encourage you to zip through the map at top speed, beating your last score and racking up points.


Around the release of Sonic, Sega wanted to come up with a game that would challenge the dominant video game company, Nintendo. In an effort to compete, SEGA decided to make a game that was quicker than their rivals.


Back to SMW. As a game, SMW truly stands the test of time. Yes, I am biased, but perhaps for a reason. I was exposed to both games around the same time, but in the end SMW has stuck with me because of it's value. IT IS SO BIG. And took so much work to create. You can tell, by all the intricate details the programmers put in the maps.


Then you take Sonic. Sonic is fast. I love fast, and I love Sonic, but does it really stand the test of time? Or is it just all about going fast? Where's the re playability? (and yes, sonic took a lot of work to create. I'm sure a lot of blood sweat and tears went into that game. Do not think I am insinuating that it took 5 minutes!)

Now you see why people complain he's too fast. It's easy and quick to get through, while other games take time and do stuff. The speed also shortens the game, since the huge levels take time to make, and, like for SU, you can blast through them in about 4 minutes.

I'd say just make tons more levels and give them each multiple acts.

While I'll admit that it's enjoyable to rush down a long corridor filled with loops and twists, occasionally there's going to be a pitfall or a bunch of spikes pointed directly at Sonic, so from where I'm standing it seems that people just want to blindly blaze through each and every Zone without pause, and that's not how I play it--nor do I think anyone should be playing it like that, lest they complain that a trap or two is "some arbitrary way of punishing the player for doing that which one is encouraged to do" (Secret Rings did tend to do that with some extremely tight turns and long jumps, it's what turned me off that game).

That is why I think Sonic Unleashed was a bit too fast. Some goes for Rush.

To me, the thrill of it all was to go fast. To know that at the speed you were going in the game, the camera couldn't catch up, and you wouldn't know what was coming up, since the camera was way way back there (reference: Chemical Plant Sonic 2)

That's what Sonic is. That is what Sonic will continue to be, which is why I personally found Unleashed to be something like a blast from the past (don't get me wrong, I love the werehog levels as well. ^^)

Basically the story was for Sonic to stop Dr. Robotnik from taking over South Island and obtaining the Chaos Emeralds. It's been the recurring theme.