I once had this game for PC, it was the DX cut, enjoyed it, but never finished it because of Big the Cat (never found out how to reel in froggy), I never thought I would think back on those times as the times I had control over my body, but like here we are, it is what it is, trauma is real.

Found out the game was BC on Series X and decided to give it a try, it was a surprising good time, a lot of jank, but it was fun jank, didn't find anything game breaking.

It really is a shame that a lot of the ideas here where never improved upon on, kind of a wasted potential.

I get that the game is really old, but it does feel really clunky. That said, for a game originally released in 1998, it's still really good. The first time I played this was back in 2018, and the younger me couldn't appreciate older media back then, but playing it now I can see how much better it was and why people praise the Adventure games. I like the formula a lot, my only issue is the other playable characters. While Sonic is really fun to play, the other characters can be a hit or miss. Tails doesn't add much from Sonic, Knuckles hunts for emerald shards but that can either be fun or annoying, Amy runs from a robot and her levels are slow and tedious, Big is just awful, and Gamma's run and gun type gameplay is pretty good. If I had to rank each story, I'd say:
1. Sonic
2. Super Sonic
3. Gamma
4. Tails
5. Knuckles
6. Amy
7. Big
Even though some of the characters aren't that fun, I do like seeing certain events happening from the other characters' perspectives. Not only that, but a lot of the other character stories are pretty short. Big's story is awful gameplay wise, but the story itself is extremely short especially without counting the cutscenes. Speaking of the cutscenes, the animations and voice acting sometimes feel really stiff. Tails is a good example of this; his voice feels almost too awkward for my liking. Though some of the other voices like Sonic and Eggman work very well for their characterization in this game. Honestly the only things holding me back from giving it 5 stars enjoyment wise are how old the game is. I said earlier I can appreciate older media but the game is still very clunky at times and I feel like a modern remake of the game would do it justice. That being said, the game is still fine as it is now, but it's not perfect. Overall, I really enjoyed this game despite all the flaws and I'm glad I can appreciate it more than I did when I was younger.

I wouldn’t describe myself as a big Sonic guy, but man, Sonic Adventure is probably one of the most ambitious games I’ve ever played.

I understand that there’s an element of so-bad-it’s-good to the dialogue, animations, and glitches (especially in this version of the game). My wife and I laughed out loud quite a few times, but those things are honestly common for platforming games in the Dreamcast era. What’s not common is the insane amount of stuff in this game.

Not only are there six playable characters with their own unique campaigns and cutscenes, a large hub-world, and a bunch of stages, but there’s also a bizarre amount of minigames. Pinball, kart racing, whack-a-mole, chao ranching, snowboarding, and even Star Fox style airplane segments. One of the campaigns is 100% fishing. Absolutely wild!

Could they have used some of the time spent developing those on fixing the camera? Maybe, but I think they would have been giving up a major part of this game’s charm. I guess from the way people talked about it, I was expecting Sonic Adventure to be way worse than it was.

Although to be fair I did play through this with my wife, who alternated between “this game rocks” to “this is the worst game I’ve ever played” depending on how annoying each section was. BUT she did want to keep playing it, and that’s saying something; this was the first game she’s ever not quit after getting frustrated.

Campaigns ranked:
1. Sonic
2. Knuckles
3. Gamma (best narrative tbh)
4. Tails
5. Big (I really didn’t hate this one, idk what the fuss is about)
6. ?
7. Amy

It's been objectively obliterated by the passage of time, but honestly it's still very fun to this day. Sonic controls very well and the level design is still pretty good, really it's the shoddy camera and bloat in the form of hub worlds and unfun stories that bring it down. The immense replay value of Sonic, Knuckles, and Gamma's action stages make up for the lackluster bits to me, though. I can see why one may not like it though.

Just make sure you play the original dreamcast release insteaed of the shitty DX port on gamecube.