Played via the Steam release with BetterSADX mods installed.

Another year, another replay of Sonic Adventure, this time with Frontiers now having released and seemingly broken the era of the stale Boost formula. It's odd too, because a lot of my criticisms with that game, especially towards the animations and cutscene directions can be also applied here, giving the impression that Sonic Team never really did have a handle on those to begin with. It doesn't help that Sonic Adventure feels older than ever before, with a camera system that's positively decrepit and any port of the game without heavy modding looking and playing like a complete travesty. Still, it remains a charming time with good controls, a decent art direction, and a banging soundtrack.

Regardless, I wanted something a little fresher from my nth playthrough of this game and attempting a chronological route (with the aid of mods allowing the unlocking of all stories straight from the get-go) really helped hold my attention this time around. If, like me, this is a comfort game for you but you want it to feel a little fresher I recommend the route laid out below. Be aware of a game-locking bug (unless you can familiarise yourself with how the SASave tool functions) when playing Tails' story, so always keep the emblem across from his workshop free for collection until a specified point. Also whilst this was a fun exercise, the cutscenes never perfectly line up and you'll have to stretch your imagination a little as to how the chronological events connect in a cohesive manner.

Knuckles - intro
Big - intro
Sonic - intro / Chaos 0
Tails - intro
Sonic - Emerald Coast / Tails - post crash
Sonic / Tails - Egg Hornet
Knuckles - Speed Highway
Sonic / Tails - Windy Valley / Casinopolis
Knuckles - Casinopolis / vision #1 / Chaos 2
Big - Twinkle Park
Sonic / Tails - Ice Cap
Knuckles - Red Mountain
Sonic / Tails / Knuckles - Character bosses / Chaos 4
Sonic / Tails - Sky Chase

Gamma - intro / Final Egg / Beta
Big - Ice Cap
Tails - Sand Hill / vision #2
Tails / Big - character cutscene (collect the emblem across from Tails' workshop immediately after meeting Big - this saves the game and prevents being locked in the vision sequence)
Amy - intro
Sonic / Amy - Casino area / Twinkle Park
Sonic - Speed Highway
Amy /Sonic - abduction
Big - Emerald Coast
Gamma - Emerald Coast
Knuckles - Lost World
Gamma - vision #3
Knuckles - vision #4 / board Egg Carrier
Sonic - Mystic Ruins cutscene
Tails - Tornado 2
Sonic - Red Mountain
Sonic / Tails - Sky Chase 2

Gamma / Amy - character cutscene
Amy - Hot Shelter / vision #5
Big - Hot Shelter
Sonic / Tails / Knuckles - Egg Carrier transform / Sky Deck
Sonic / Tails / Gamma - character bosses
Sonic - change ship shape
Big - vision #6
Knuckles - vision #7
Big - Chaos 6 [story complete]
Sonic - Chaos 6
Knuckles - Chaos 6 [story complete]

Gamma - Windy Valley
Tails - Speed Highway / Egg Walker [story complete]
Gamma - Red Mountain
Sonic - Lost World / vision #8
Gamma - Hot Shelter
Amy - Final Egg
Gamma - Beta [story complete]
Amy - Zero [story complete]
Sonic - Final Egg / Egg Viper [story complete]

Super Sonic - vision #9 / Perfect Chaos [story complete]

PAL copy played on a region-modded Dreamcast.

This game came out in 1998.

1998.

You know what else came out that year? Resident Evil 2. Spyro the Dragon. Banjo Kazooie. Half Life. Ocarina of Time. Metal Gear Solid.

So while you can fault the story for its cheesiness (when really it was pretty on par with other kids media of the time) and critisize the gameplay (when you're probably just playing the shite, buggy ports with crap lighting and art changes that the Dreamcast Conversion mod for PC fixes entirely), you cannot deny that for nineteen-ninety-fucking-eight, this was a beautful looking game that provided you with an actual goddamn adventure with some fun music that'll worm itself into your brain.

Big's levels do suck though and was the reason I never finished this game as a child, I'll grant you that.