I actually remember how I learned about this game:I was in the checkout aisle at the grocery store as a young kid and while my mom was actually putting stuff on the scanner I would look at the Archie comics they had next to the tabloids. Specifically I’d look at the back cover because it would always have promos for some new game or show coming out and it was usually something I liked. I kept seeing promos for this game and my child brain went Sonic+Dark Brotherhood/Edgy+RPG=yes please. I played this game multiple times as a kid, and my vague memory is that I found certain bits very frustrating but I beat the game at least a couple times and it was something I would keep going back to even several years later, so I was curious how it would hold up today.

Ok so now I will be very blunt and say this is not a good game. To even make the game somewhat tolerable I had to use save states/rng manipulation to luck my way into getting multiple copies of the Chao that removes button inputs for POW moves because especially on an emulator that shit is obnoxious. Even then most of the game is a slog. The one positive thing I can say about this game is I actually have a soft spot for the music contrary to most people who’ve played this; it is horrendous but in a weirdly charming way, and a couple tracks are actually somewhat good. Also while the story is forgettable and the graphics themselves are ugly even by early/mid era DS standards, I admittedly find the character portraits very nostalgia inducing from that Sonic X era I grew up with, and the dialogue can be pretty funny.

But ya, unless you have a similar sort of Introspectiveness about your childhood nostalgia there is literally 0 reason to play this. Hopefully somebody will give another go at a Sonic RPG, that’s such a good idea waiting to happen if done right.