In every single aspect Sonic 4 aims to be, it fails completely.

It wants to be a follow-up to the classic trilogy, yet completely flunks in the physics department, as well as level design that felt like it was leftover shit regurgitated from a prison sewer.

It wants to be a mobile game, yet its outclassed by Sonic Forces Speed Battle, Sonic Dash, Sonic Runners, Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed, Sonic CD, Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic 4 Episode 2...

It wants to be a trip back to the past, yet every single replication of old levels feel soulless and dead visually and aesthetically. Even the music's fucking terrible, was Jun Senoue tied to a chair and blackmailed to use discount Genesis soundfonts at the risk of his own life?

This game tried so hard to be something special. Instead, it goes the complete opposite direction by being the most nothing game in the entire fucking series. Even Sonic Blast had a story and an extra playable character.

In retrospect, having played worse games like Blast, Shadow and 4 Episode 1...
...perhaps I treated this game too harshly. At least I could say I enjoyed some aspects of the game, like the Hover wisp accuracy, certain bits of the soundtrack, Infinite's design, and all 3 vocal themes introduced in the game. You can't tell me Fist Bump, Infinite and The Light of Hope aren't at least decent.

Don't get me wrong: It's still a really poor 3.5 game that I will constantly shit on, with some of the worst storytelling, level design and gameplay ever conceptualised in a Sonic game. But somehow, Sonic Team have done worse.

This one's for Yuri Giovanella, the greatest regen striker I've ever had.

He may not have had insane PA, but in 3 seasons he pulled 20 goals for us consistently and scored 42 in a single season , including 29 in the league to guarantee Sporting CP their first ever Liga NOS title since 2002 in unbeaten fashion.

Shoutouts to Luis Monteiro, the CAM who scored 10 and assisted 17 and eventually moved on to Real Madrid following my departure.

Dirceu Lucas, who went from Brazil Serie A relegation to POTS in a 27 goals, 17 assists season. Moved on to Barcelona where he also accomplished great stuff.

and finally, to Francisco Conceicao, the only real player in that lethal front 4 that won us the title. Signed from rivals FC Porto, he scored 18 and assisted 27, including 17 in the league that season.

Good luck in Ajax, man. You're gonna stun the world.

No matter what FM save file I play through in the future, I'll never forget those 3 years I spent in Sporting CP.

damn the power slide is so coooooooooooool

too bad its the only thing you do in literally every one of these fucking courses

also the models creep me out mom pick me up i'm scared

Let me just clarify that this 3-star score is not a reflection of my overall opinion on the game itself. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that Generations is without a doubt a 9/10 game, for reasons I'll get to in my actual review.

I'm giving it this score here because this game, at least, on PC, is really fucking unoptimised. Constant FPS stutters even on a 2019 laptop, random controller disconnections, and it also somehow seeps away at my fucking Internet speed for some reason. The amount of times I've had my enjoyment of this game taken away because of all the technical issues really ruined the experience for me, which is unfortunate because I really fucking love this game.

Full review when I finally complete it and overcome this glitchy pile of nostalgia.

The context: It's a game of online Survivor, and I'm at the final tribal council. One juror is considering voting for me to win, but has one question: do I really believe Shadow the Hedgehog really sucks?

Here was my rant, unedited, in its entirety:

cracks knuckles
yes
and let me tell you why
so for starters, the whole concept of shadow 05 is that its a cyoa where the whole theme is ‘one small change can lead to a completely different future or some shit’
anyways as i was saying
the biggest flaw of shadow 05 is that you have to beat all 10 endings in order to actually beat the game
and each ending takes about 30 minutes so that pads out the playtime to about 5 hours
which isnt much but the first level of every ending is fixed: its a burning emo city called westopolis
so you have to play through that shit
10
fucking
times
you have to hear sonic be racist towards black creatures, and you more often than not have to kill 45 aliens or 35 soldiers to progress to different branches of the story
so its kinda like team chaotix from sonic heroes
but made infinitely worse
shadow in this game is insanely slippery as well like if you thought making mario turn in 64 was bad try grabbing a gun with shadow after missing in this fucking game
the homing attack is terrible and can sometimes launch you off the stage even when there’s enemies ahead of you
the spin dash provides literally no speed at all
you cant even speed across loops with it its fucking terrible
ofc this being a gun game shadow can strafe but this shit is fucking pointless since the aim assist allows you to kill enemies with ease anyways
every single stage is unfun to play
its boring its literally all just corridors and god the art direction is terrible everything just looks so damn emo
at least i can say i like (most of) the level design and variety of sonic 06’s level themes
the only time i got a slight hinge of enjoyment was with space Gadget bc it reminded me of sa2
the boss fights are terrible
you either die to them really quickly or you nuked them in less than a minute
egg dealer is literally an rng final boss
sonic and diablon doesnt fucking work half the time because of sonic’s wonky ai and the hitbox for diablon being unclear
you cant immediately pick up another gun beside the one you just dropped
you have to jump to reset it for some reason
none of the stages’ music stands out for fucks sake
like this is a sonic game how is your soundtrack this shitty
at least 06 had a fire soundtrack
at least forces had some pretty fire bangers
to top it all off magni fi actually had a song so fire they decided not to give it to sega as the main theme because it would be wasted on a jackshit game
and as a result we got dogwater i am all of me
one of crush 40’s worst songs sorry not sorry-

He cut me off before I could go on. He'd heard enough of me brutally beating down the game, and had been fully convinced.

He voted for me to win. Sadly, I didn't get enough votes and finished 2nd.

Still felt more triumphant than I ever did playing this dogshit game. It's worse than Forces, unfortunately.

Needing a break from the absolute shitshow that is 06 (review for that coming soon), I decided to take a detour into the realm of fangames for a bit. Noah N. Copeland and his team had just released a remake for Sonic Triple Trouble, a game which I had enjoyed considerably the last time I beat it. So, I downloaded the game, and began playing.

I was not prepared to be completely blown away.

Before I go on a tirade explaining why I love Sonic Triple Trouble 16-bit so much, let’s dive into the very few negatives I noticed in my playthrough.

Technical Issues
Rings are buggy as hell. Sometimes I find myself phasing through them when I try recollecting them after taking a hit, which can be rather inconvenient, especially during boss fights. Sometimes they also phase through the level structure and end up sandwiched inside the terrain above me for some reason? And when you get hit while holding a large amount of rings, the frame rate plunges greatly for a brief moment afterwards. But these are mostly minor nitpicks. My biggest issue with the game lies with…

Atomic Destroyer Zone Act 2
Personally, the difficulty curve of Triple Trouble 16-bit is perfectly balanced. Each level gradually ramps up the challenge subtly, making progression through levels feel natural without being overwhelmed by a sudden difficulty spike. There is one outlier in this experience, however, and that’s Atomic Destroyer Act 2. The autoscrolling elevating platform, to be precise. You have to endure almost an entire minute of dodging Egg Robo lasers on a small platform, with a golden Egg Robo firing projectiles at you between intervals. One mistake can easily send you back to the beginning, forcing you to go through the mandatory 2 minute set-piece. It’s a nasty sucker punch for first time players, and by the time I finally overcame it, the ordeal had already left a foul taste in my mouth.

As for what’s good in this game? EVERYTHING. ELSE. Here why, in my opinion, Sonic Triple Trouble 16-bit surpasses the entire Classic quadrology as a whole.

Spectacle
In my review of the 8–bit version, I gave the biggest praise to the sheer spectacle the game displayed. So naturally, it would be expected for the remake to rev up the popcorn cinematics to 11, right?

Well, how about revving it up to over 9000? Because that’s exactly what Triple Trouble 16 Bit does, and that’s evident from the opening level of the game, which not only does a splendid job introducing players to the new mechanics the game introduces (more on that later), but also features well-animated cutscenes that allow for effortless transition between the stories of S3K and Triple Trouble. These cutscenes are prominently featured throughout the rest of the game, and do a splendid job depicting the revised story.

The further I got into the Triple Trouble 16–bit, the more times I counted myself being awestruck by the twists and reveals presented. For example, remember Sunset Park Act 3? Well now, it’s an entire goddamn full-scale level of its own, packed with non-stop set pieces that’ll leave you feeling euphoric by the end of it.

There are tons more moments like these lovingly implemented into the levels of Triple Trouble 16-bit, and we’ll go more in-depth with them in the level analysis.

Mechanics and Controls
Right off the bat, it’s evident that the physics and movement of the game feel natural and seamless, an accurate replication of Sonic’s handling in the Classic quadrology. The Insta-shield will be missed, but the Spin Dash, Super Peel-Out and Drop Dash all function smoothly, providing versatility in his kit as he traverses through the levels. There is one crucial difference, however: in the original Triple Trouble, Sonic had the Flying Spin Attack, which allowed him to curl up mid-air after bouncing off a Spring. This move has been reimplemented into the remake (obviously), and when paired up with the Drop Dash, Sonic is able to instantly boost forward as soon as he touches the ground without needing to manually charge a Spin Dash. It amazes me how a simple innovation can be improvised on to provide an extra movement option that complements the free-flowing, fast-paced gameplay of 2D Sonic. The elemental shields also make their return from S3K, as well as the Homing Attack Shield from 3D Blast, a nice touch. All these options combine together to provide Sonic with multiple options on how to beat the game. The speedrunners will have a field day.

That’s not all, though: there is no option to play as solo Sonic or solo Tails. That’s because Noah N. Copeland and co. took a leaf out of Sonic Classic Heroes’ book, allowing Sonic and Tails to fluidly swap between each other with the B button. Tails’ kit is similarly accurately implemented into the game, even boasting a flight cancel by pressing Down + A midair. The potent combination of Sonic and Tails is complemented by the level design (more on that later), fast traversal and fun exploration blending together as smooth as butter. Again, the speedrunners are going to fucking cream.

Finally, once you beat the game, you gain access to Knuckles, who controls about the same as he does in most 2D Sonic games; and Fang, who has a triple jump. I can already hear the quakes of the excited speedrunners trembling in their gaming chairs.


Level Design
Overall, the level design of Triple Trouble 16-bit is a tremendous improvement across the board. Like S3K, it strikes the perfect balance between the limitless speed of Sonic 2 and the limitless exploration of Sonic CD, while also feeling faster and more fun to explore than S3K itself. Part of the credit goes to the aforementioned new mechanics, Drop Dash off springs allows Sonic to continue pressing forward without skipping a beat, while the ability to swap to Tails makes exploration a lot easier, thus motivating the player to scavenge the stage for rewards like shields, extra lives and Giant Rings, which make their return from S3K as well.
Every level is layered with multiple different paths, routes and secrets that are handily accessible with enough experience and mastery of Sonic and Tails’ gameplay, with Great Turquoise and Meta Junglira being great examples in particular. The way I see it, every level in Triple Trouble 16–bit builds off the foundations laid down by Chemical Plant, Ice Cap and Launch Base. These levels are abnormally fast paced compared to the other levels in their respective games, sometimes assisted by boost pads, yet still contain plenty of alternate shortcuts or pathways that require a basic mastery of platforming skills to reach. Levels like Sunset Park and Robotnik Winter follow this formula, and are arguably the best levels in the game. Then there are anomalies like Tidal Plant, which is an evolution of Marble Garden’s philosophy of being an open-natured level that uses gimmicks to assist in progression.

Zone 0
Despite going unnamed, Zone 0 does a solid job at introducing players to the character swapping feature, while also setting up the plot of the game. It’s a short level, but it fulfills its purpose while establishing the cinematic scope of Triple Trouble 16-bit at the same time.

Great Turquoise
Act 1 is a stellar open area which is reminiscent of Green Hill, except more bustling and diverse in its layout. Like the original, it also serves as the introduction to the Flying Spin Attack, which will eventually lead into players discovering the Drop Dash follow-up. Despite its similarities to Green Hill in terms of gameplay, its distinct color palette and visual design is enough to distinguish Great Turquoise and stand out on its own.
Act 2, much like Mania’s Green Hill, sends Sonic and Tails tumbling into the deeper caverns of the level. However, it’s still different enough to stand out on its own: while Green Hill introduces zip-lines, Great Turquoise introduces geysers, and, in an interesting twist, the flowers from Meta Junglira, which does its job at keeping the momentum going while also being a flashy set-piece. Awaiting the player at the end of the level is a fake-out fight against the original’s Tart Turtle, which then leads into a much larger Tart Turtle battalion taking its place. The fight is still reasonably simple, and makes the player use the Flying Spin Attack and the geysers to their fullest advantage. Overall, it’s arguably a better opening level than all the Classic era opening levels, with the exception of Emerald Hill.

Sunset Park
Everyone’s favourite level from the original game, Sunset Park is restored and revised to match its former glory, with Act 1 being a familiar minecart ride down slopes, hooks and retractable platforms at blistering speeds. It even ends with a fight against Knuckles, which is a fun challenge. Act 2 is more of the same, except with more springs to boost you along the hallways and stairways at top pace, cranes that fling you from side to side and harrowing pits of lava that you have to watch your step on.
As you go further into the level, Sonic and Tails travel deep into the interior of Sunset Park, and it all culminates in the big release, every Sonic fan’s most favourite moment across all the 8-bit games: Sunset Park Act 3, AKA the one with the train and the kickass music. The soundtrack in this game is stellar, as you’d expect it to be, but this act’s music is a perfect home run. And so is the level! As mentioned earlier, the train is now its own level, much like Mirage Saloon Act 2. Beginning with the now-iconic Bombaberry attacks, Sonic and Tails then get on the train, weaving in and out while freeing the captive animals like the heroes they are. Their progress is interrupted by Fang, who then attempts to gun them down as the train goes through a tunnel. Then, Fang fucking triggers and explosion which forces Sonic and Tails to escape quickly and holy shit man this entire sequence is so jam-packed with action that words can’t describe how incredible the experience is. But all things come to an end, and you eventually take down the Marve-Shupopolous-Gou, halting the train and ending the level… but not before one last fakeout which can certainly catch you off-guard.

Meta Junglira
Much like Sunset Park, Meta Junglira feels just like it was in the original game, featuring camouflaged wooden spikes, speed boosters and barrels that propel you all around the level. With the flower gimmick being moved over to Great Turquoise, Meta Junglira now has leaves with a weaker spring and a stronger spring, as well as tree branches. Act 1 is much faster in terms of speed, with tons of loops allowing Sonic to accelerate to speeds matching those in Sunset Park. One rematch with Fang where you get to bury him later, however, and Meta Junglira flips the script by plunging you into ancient ruins, where you have to navigate the course carefully to avoid getting hit by the moving spiked pillars, while also being fast enough to outrun the arrow traps laid out carefully within the dungeon. As if that wasn’t fascinating enough of a twist, one caterpillar boss fight later and you’re not only required to dodge the falling pieces of burning robot debris; you also have to escape the ruins as the crumble below you and in a high-stakes chase, you slide across tar slides outrunning falling boulders. Talk about spectacle.
Now, up to this point every level has had a seamless transition between them, but how do you transition between a blooming jungle and a frosty mountainside? Well…

Egg Zeppelin
By adding an entirely new stage! Spectacle takes centerstage here: you start off by flying your way into Eggman’s flying fortress, smashing his turrets along the way. Then, after discovering Eggman’s schemes involving his stolen emerald, you’re immediately whisked into a Rocket Shoes set-pieces where you need to use the Flying Spin Attack to destroy the Badniks. Then you’re forced to cling onto the handles on the underside of the fortress with nothing but sky below you. And finally, you’re thrown into an escape sequence where you exit Eggman’s battleship after blowing up his engine. The moment the countdown began I immediately screamed ‘Metroid!’ and it certainly matched the atmosphere as I made my escape. It’s insane how one 4 minute level is able to pack this much action into it.

Robotnik Winter
10/10 level. It’s basically Ice Cap if it was a lot cooler. Literally. Even the fucking orb Badniks have sunglasses. And if that wasn’t cool enough there’s a literal front-facing section which calls back to SA1’s Ice Cap. It’s fast, it’s open, there’s a lot of awesome snowboarding and there’s even a secret entrance to Purple Palace, a callback to the original Triple Trouble special stages. Even the boss fight is really fun. By far the best level in Triple Trouble 16-bit, even outclassing Sunset Park. I’m dead serious.

Tidal Plant
Much like Hydrocity, it’s a water level done right. It’s got pipes tilting at such a steep angle downwards that the speeds you can attain in this level match those of Hydrocity, proven by your ability to effortlessly glide across the water. It isn’t barren like Tidal Tempest or painfully slow and linear like Labyrinth either, having multiple pathways and a gimmick that actually guarantees that you won’t drown underwater (the big bubbles from Aqua Lake, who would’ve known?). Act 2 tries a completely different approach by loading you into a submarine instead. While I would’ve much preferred tackling another full normal level before this submarine act, the gimmick is well implemented and doesn’t overstay its welcome. In the comfort of your missile launching machine you’re able to leisurely travel across the water, even taking out Knuckles in a pretty epic but one–sided submarine fight… wait, Metal Sonic? This wasn’t in the original game!

Yes, aside from the hinted Emerald clone side plot from Egg Zeppelin, Knuckles turns out to be impersonated by Metal Sonic, which is a great idea, in my opinion, since it makes Knuckles look less like an idiot, especially considering he and Sonic had departed on amicable terms after the events of S3K. One relatively easy boss fight later (with a pretty cool remix of Stardust Speedway) and the player is launched into the endgame.

Atomic Destroyer
Honestly, aside from the frustrating elevator segment at the end of Act 2, Atomic Destroyer is relatively tame and actually really fun, kinda like a faster Death Egg. Most notable would be that this level rarely ever forces the player to a halt, with mandatory waiting set pieces like the conveyor belt elevator and the Ring Shooters absent. Obviously, this being the final level of the game, the difficulty is increased substantially, but isn’t too overwhelming for new players. I actually enjoyed the 3 chambers that Act 2 throws at you, as well. The boss fights with Metal Sonic, and later Eggman’s flamethrower mech and moving chambers were all challenging but engaging, albeit brute forcing hits at the cost of rings makes these fights a bit more underwhelming than they should’ve been.

With Eggman defeated, Sonic and Tails free Knuckles, but that lingering sense of dissatisfaction remains in the player’s mind. Fret not: if the player has collected all 6 Emeralds from the various Giant Rings hidden away in previous levels, they’d gain access to the true final boss. Metal Sonic’s more prominent involvement in the story has been hinted at since Tidal Plant Act 2, and he uses the clone Emerald from Egg Zeppelin to knock out Sonic, taking his emeralds and cloning them too. But he’s halted while trying to administer the finishing blow, being held back by Knuckles and Fang as Sonic turns super.

Final Trouble
Ohhhhhhhhh shit this fight is so fucking fun. Sure, it’s miles easier compared to Doomsday Zone and the Death Egg Robo, but in my opinion, it’s easily the best final boss when compared to the entirety of the Classic era. The fight starts off simple enough, with a callback to the Metal Sonic fight from Mania, but with every upgraded phase the fight gets increasingly harder, but with Super Sonic’s omnidirectional boost and precise spacing the player can down all 4 phases of the fight and end the game.

Special Stages
I gave praise to Sonic CD for having challenging Special Stages that require mastery of the controls to beat. However, I also noted that the depth perception when hitting the UFOs was very unreliable. Triple Trouble 16-bit resolves that issue, for the most part. While incoming mines are hard to dodge because of the Tornado’s large sprite size, I’m able to visualise the upcoming obstacles, time my jumps and gauge my landing position effortlessly. I found tons of enjoyment in this new Special Stage format, which to me, feels like a great improvement over Sonic and the Fallen Star, which utilises a similar formula. Often I’d find the element of choice crucial to how I obtain the Chaos Emerald, needing to find the perfect balance in order to maintain a sufficient ring count while also keeping Fang at bay with lightning zaps. The idea works really well to the extent that I’d say these are better than even Blue Spheres. If I had to provide criticism, though, it would be the difficulty of the stages. After Special Stage 2, the stages afterwards demand absolute perfection and precision from the player that it sometimes feels suffocating. Thankfully, the programmers probably had this in mind and gave the players the ability to restart the stages at the cost of a life, which is a fair trade when you consider the abundance of rings and extra lives you can collect throughout the game.

All the Little Details and Extras
Tails freaking out from a thunderstrike. The Big Arm’s arm being the weapon that knocks Sonic out of his Super form. The fact that you can leave a fiery trail behind you in Robotnik Winter Zone. PURPLE PALACE ZONE. There’s probably a ton more that I missed but all these subtle touches really bring the entire experience together. The competition mode with a whole-ass story, which is really nice. One thing that would’ve been appreciated is a Sound Test, but I think the content provided by the game is sufficient otherwise. Triple Trouble is a 16-bit is a fantastic love letter to the original game, taking the core gameplay and improvising it for a new generation of players to enjoy. Easily surpasses even 3K in my opinion, making it one of the best Classic Sonic games period, fangame or not. Please give it a shot.

Final score: 9.5/10. Congratulations, Noah N. Copeland, you and your team created something magical.

The textbook definition of the 'I don't know what the fuck I'm doing but I really like it' game.

My biggest compliment to the game is that it feels distinguished and unique among every Sonic title for its more urban, uber-cool techno style, sort of like something that would complement Hideki Naganuma's music. The controls, while a bit confusing and wonky (why is there such a long delay on the jump?), are fun once you get the hang of it (doing tricks mid-air is fucking cool, baby), but some gimmicks like the turbulence and air recharge stations felt like completely unnecessary additions to an already souped up Mario Kart.

My biggest problem by far with the game is the story mode. Playing Sonic Riders in single-player mode is satisfactory and refreshing; the story mode, with its absurd difficulty and strict demands for absolute perfection in almost every race, just feels tedious to go through, especially when the AI is programmed to race flawlessly. Sure, it does add to the identity of the Babylon Rogues being incredibly skilled Extreme Gear riders, but from a gameplay standpoint I just couldn't bring myself to finishing Green Cave after countless attempts at trying to best Wave's stupidly difficult lap times.

Overall, still a great game, despite its many flaws, much like the Adventure Era titles. Will be the game I think of when people talk about games they enjoy despite not knowing what the fuck they're doing.

I was wrong. Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil’s original release has rightfully reclaimed its spot as my favourite game of all time (so far).

Can’t believe they screwed over the ending of DtP 4-2 this badly. Might bring myself to beat the Klonoa 2 remaster one day.

I still have hopes that one day, Bandai Namco will hire a development team with genuine passion and thorough understanding of everything Klonoa stands for to create a brand new Klonoa title, especially with sales being positive. However, as it stands, Monkeycraft only made a perfectly servicable, playable, 2.5D platformer game that has no identity, no polish and no soul. It’s contaminated by corporate greed to its core and the difference can’t be more obvious.

Not today, Klonoa, but maybe another day. It’s time for you to go…

…back to your Phantomile, the PS1 and PS2, where you truly reign supreme.

Save Klonoa #KlonoaSweep buy the games legitimately to support the series and prevent it from another painful death. We could get Klonoa 3.

You know, not to diss the backer who’s review was absolutely damning, but 1) I personally found no issue with the framerate throughout my experience with the game so far, 2) while I do agree that the PS1 version is the best way to play Klonoa 1, I would argue that for newcomers, this is certainly a great introduction to the franchise. Being a port of the Wii version means no skidding on platforms that lead to unfair deaths, and that’s really good stuff. And 3) frankly I don’t care about the DLC costumes because they’re not really the main focus of the game, don’t really provide much enhancement to the gameplay and I prefer regular Klonoa anyways.

The remasters have surprised me with how well they present themselves so far: the graphics are vibrant and colourful, bearing more similarity to the PS1 version; Klonoa’s model is also reverted back to the original design and the cutscene dialogue uses the original PS1 audio (although I would’ve gladly appreciated the quality be upscaled as well). Sure, Klonoa isn’t as expressive as his PS1 sprite counterpart due to the limitations of in-game models, and he no longer says Manyah when he gets hit (a downside of porting the Wii version); the Skip Scene button could’ve been hidden as well, but I don’t think those small nitpicks are worth completely trashing this game for. It still controls fine, plays fine, looks amazing for a Unity Engine port, soundtrack still delivers and Klonoa even has idle animations now! Again, I’m not saying this version is better because the PS1 version is clearly superior, I’m just saying that this is still a perfectly acceptable port of one of the greatest games ever made!

I’ll come back to the game as a whole when I’m done, but I’m labelling this game as my favourite game of all time because I consider both Klonoa games to be that as a collective, and putting the Phantasy Reverie Series as a placeholder works for me.

I think I stretched out my last review too much. For this one, I’ll keep things simple:
Here’s why Metal Harbor is one of my favourite Sonic levels of all time, and how it embodies all of SA2’s flaws and perfections.

The Buildup
We all know how SA2 starts: Sonic jumps off a chopper after getting arrested, goes through City Escape (another fantastic level), a GUN truck destroys the streets of San Francisco chasing him (causing the local economy to plummet); Sonic incapacitates a GUN mech, Shadow Za Warudos past Sonic and the blue boi gets arrested. Tails (and Amy, Ms. Gets Gun Pointed at Her) busts into Prison Island to release him, and they succeed.

When we meet Sonic again, he’s understandably peeved about his arrest, all the while being visually restless and antsy in his cell. He’s never been one to bow down to the authorities, so them forcibly imprisoning him, alongside his determination to seek out the black hedgehog that got him into this trouble in the first place, fuels his determination to escape this wretched cage. So when Amy uses her ID card (???) to release Sonic, it was like opening a bottle of lightning. A bolt of raw energy itching to strike fast and hard.

And when it happens, it happens with a massive bang.

The Release
Right off the bat, your escape is backed by an ensemble of trumpets, the triumphant notes sounding as if celebrating your freedom, because Sonic is all about that. It’s reminiscent of Green Hill’s opening fanfare all the way back in Sonic 1, which was used to similar effect. In fact, ‘That’s The Way I Like It’ seems to carry along the energy throughout its runtime; woven together eloquently with an upbeat, high tempo electric guitar riff that pumps up the player, goading them into zipping past the stage as fast as possible. The level itself doesn’t shy away from the bombastic flair of the music, prominently featuring thrilling set pieces like Light Speed Dashing across the ocean, dodging and striking down bomber planes trying to impair your progress, and who could forget that rocket that was launched for no reason? This level does not let up from the moment you boost forward from the ramp, feeling like a victory lap where you release all that pent up frustrations over Shadow, GUN and being locked behind bars, with one huge burst of supersonic speed.

There are some points of discussion, though. At barely over 2 minutes, Metal Harbor is easily the shortest level in the game. So short, in fact, that it would fit in effortlessly as a Sonic Forces level, in terms of length. So what makes it different from the levels in that game? For starters, the level feels a lot more engaging than any of Forces’ levels, an ideal run of Metal Harbor only leaves you idling at most during the rocket launch and the automated boost pads on the loops, which CAN be skipped unlike most of the scripted loops in SA1. There’s no Boost to hold so you can plow through enemies with literally zero effort, there’s no forced 2D segment where you do incredibly slow and linear platforming, and even the ring trails take more effort to fly through. Heck, I’d even go as far as to say that Metal Harbor is an example of a Sonic Forces styled level done good, especially when you consider that Sonic has to do more than just Homing Attack and Boost.

With all that being said, my comments haven’t exactly sold my case of why I think Metal Harbor is an amazing level that defines SA2 as a whole. This is where I finally talk about what is arguably the game’s strongest aspect in terms of gameplay:

The Replayability
Sonic Adventure 2 was the first game to implement a ranking system, and I’m willing to bet that on your first attempt at Metal Harbor, you aren’t coming away with anything more than a B-rank unless you’re able to reach the top rocket handle. For someone like me who’s pretty mediocre at playing Sonic games, attempting to reach that handle is like trying to clear the Mach Speed sections of 06 on the first attempt. However, with a lot of time and effort (and some help from the Internet), I eventually managed to map a route that allowed me to A-rank Metal Harbor consistently. Here’s how it went:
1) Light Speed Dash onto the grind rail at the beginning of the level. 600 points.
2) Homing Attack the first 2 Beetles, then Bound Jump on the ground a few times to keep the action combo intact. Once you’re in range, Homing Attack the next few Blue Eagles and immediately use the Light Speed Dash. This should net you about 900 points, compared to the usual 700 you’d get.
3) Hit every single Beetle to reach the other platform, including the Gold Beetle. This should net you about 2000 points. Light Speed Dash onto the next part of the level as usual.
4) Destroy at least 3 Blue Eagles before Light Speed Dashing across the next ring trail. The easiest way to do this is to Homing Attack immediately after you hit a dash pad.
5) Travel through the level as usual, but instead of taking the boost pad across the ramp, jump over it and Spin Dash onto the grind rail, which should earn you at least 300 points. You can also skip over the loop using a well-placed Spin Dash.
6) Homing Attack onto the rocket platform as you normally would.
7) At the rocket launch base, take the spring on the bottom right corner, then make your way onto the bottom handle with at LEAST 6 seconds remaining, for 800 points.
8) Collect every single ring on the brief board-riding set piece, then complete the level. In total you should be done by at least 2:10. If all is done correctly, you’d have 20k points, therefore obtaining the A-rank.
See where I’m getting at? Sure, people can chastise SA2’s speed stages for being as linear as SA1’s, but that was the entire point. SA2 reinvented the wheel for Sonic stages going forward, taking the Sonic 2 approach, if you would. No longer was platforming a major focus, but rather the sense of speed. It’s no longer mainly about finding the most optimised route to lower your time, since the pathways are laid out cleanly before you. It’s about executing your moves on that route with precise skill, to make your run look as bastardly stylish as possible. And if you’re skilled enough at the game, you can overcome anything to obtain the elusive A-rank, and eventually, once you have a full mastery of the game, A-ranks become rewarding achievements for players who dedicate their effort into understanding and mastering the levels.
Ultimately, I think that’s what makes Metal Harbor one of my favourite Sonic levels ever: with the sole exception of Final Rush, you have to be crafty and strategic in order to nab that A-rank, or face the jank of the narrow walkways that also symbolises SA2’s gameplay. It isn’t like Sonic Forces where holding down a single button earns you rings and points for mutilating enemies, guaranteeing you an S–rank on the first try. That doesn’t feel earned. THIS truly feels like a reward. And yes, I am biased. You may argue that Final Rush, Green Forest and City Escape are better levels for Sonic in general, and I’d agree, but I’d give zero fucks. Metal Harbor, from its music to its narrative to its magical set pieces to its challenge and to its replayability, is one of my favourite Sonic levels of all time.

Conclusion
Overall, I think Metal Harbor defines what an SA2 level is like: at least, the speed stages. It’s mostly linear, but encourages style and speed over platforming and exploration. It’s got about as much jank as SA1, but the controls feel tighter and engaging. The mechs are harder to control, with the Jet Booster very inconsistent for platforming but the levels are specialised for these mechs to tear through. Tails may be glued onto the Cyclone, making levels that would’ve been otherwise more engaging with SA1 Tails like frustrating chores; but Eggman has sheer, kinetic chaos in his brutality and capability for destruction, being able to rack up amazingly high scores in Weapons Bed and Cosmic Wall. SA2 may lack SA1’s open hub worlds, but it also cuts down on the fat that was Tails, Big and Amy’s gameplay archetypes. There’ll never be a Sonic story that rivals the complexity of Gamma’s, but there will always be phenomenal character moments like Eggman knowing about the fake Emerald, but tricks Tails into exposing the bluff anyways because he’s a fucking big time villain, baby. Sonic Adventure 2 makes you feel like you have a skill issue, but rewards you with mastery with the elusive A-rank and eventually, Green Hill Zone. And then there’s- oh.

Interlude - Reworking the Treasure Hunting Stages
Knuckles and Rouge may control better, and digging is made tons easier… but the emerald radar only being able to detect one emerald at a time ultimately scuppers the whole design philosophy of the emeralds stages and makes them infinitely worse than their SA1 counterparts. I can’t imagine having to play Security Hall, Death Chamber and especially Mad Space again.
I won’t beat the dead horse that is this topic, but I can name 2 ways I would revise the treasure hunting in SA2:
- Keep the emerald radar as it is, but instead of one large open space, separate the levels into 3 smaller rooms, and only finding the emerald allows you to progress to the next.
- Reuse the SA1 radar, and instead of having a point bonus for how fast you can find an emerald shard, have the timer for the level count downwards from, for example, 8 minutes, and finding one of the 3 shards/keys awards you with 2 minutes of extra time. Destroying enemies or collecting rings will also grant you a few extra seconds. Scoring and A-ranks are dependent on your time bonus.

Finally, there’s a few reasons why I think Sonic Adventure 2 just barely edges out Sonic Adventure. For starters, SA2 is far more replayable because it has unlockable menu themes, Green Hill Zone as a secret level (and a fitting tribute to Sonic’s 10th anniversary) and even the menu interface itself facilitates replayability through its simple, clear-cut navigation processes. SA1 required you to slowly navigate through the character select screen before selecting the stage you wanted to play, overall taking a longer time to go through compared to SA2, which has a stage select on a minimap that’s tons easier to access and doesn’t make you select a character and all that. This is something that even Heroes would later on be unable to replicate. SA2 also has probably the best multiplayer in a mainline Sonic game, especially SA2 Battle which has more unlockable characters for you to play as.

Finally, the soundtrack. I’m gonna get a lot of slander for this but I honestly prefer the stronger focus on rock in SA2. I like how every character still has a distinct feel to their music based on their character, for example Eggman’s levels have grunge rock music while Shadow’s have a more techno, whispery feel to them. Some of my favourite include the aforementioned Metal Harbor, Crazy Gadget, Mission Street, Radical Highway, White Jungle and Iron Gate. I appreciate the jazzy approach they took with Rouge, even if I don’t enjoy it as much, and Knuckles… with the controversy surrounding Hunnid P I’d rather listen to Pumpkin Hill without his dumb rap lyrics.

And the vocal themes absolutely blow SA1’s out if the water: Aside from the slightly weaker versions of It Doesn’t Matter and Unknown from M.E., every single vocal theme in SA2 fucking SLAP. For True Story, Supporting Me and Throw it All Away are all great themes on their own, but then you have absolute smash hits like E.G.G.M.A.N., a song so damn catchy and ridiclously fun that it’s disappointing that Jim Carrey didn’t dance to this in the first movie. Believe in Myself got a massive glow-up from the somewhat boring composition of the SA1 version, being a lot faster and more upbeat, and oh my that guitar solo. It’s actually one of my favourite Sonic vocal themes in general. And I can’t really write an SA2 without mentioning the iconic Escape from the City and Live and Learn, 2 songs that would go on to have their lyrics engraved in the brains of Sonic fans for eternity, and who could blame them? Both songs are lyrically brilliant and masterfully composed, one giving off a sense of rebellious freedom and the other an otherworldly atmosphere of epicness only befitting of the final boss, when the world is at stake.

The last scene of SA2 encapsulates all the emotions the Sonic cast is truly capable of: Sonic’s grief towards Shadow’s death but ultimate acceptance that he gave his own life fulfilling his promise; Knuckles and Rouge bickering and beginning to form a bond less so of a rivalry and more so… something SEGA will mandate because they’re conservative fucks. Eggman’s disbelief entwined within his admiration for his grandfather, who’d just tried to destroy him and the world he attempted to conquer; Tails consoling his counterpart, one that he used to fear just one game ago by acknowledging that they were both geniuses in their own rights, and had worked together to save the world. Sonic’s final farewell to Shadow before leaving the ARK… that cutscene still gives me shivers whenever I watch it, the music being this melancholic, haunting yet somewhat peaceful composition that ties it all together.

…for all it’s jank and its weaknesses, Sonic Adventure 2 is still a great game, and Metal Harbor will continue to be one of my favourite levels ever. I don’t care how divisive the game is, because I will always cherish the unfiltered moments of joy I felt when I finally got that Metal Harbor A-rank through my own effort and dedication.

Final score: 8/10

Ah yes, the infamous ‘rough transition into 3D’ that has become common folklore. This is my second time beating SA1, and honestly, I had a fun time playing through it, but I can see why most critics and fans loathe this game. Buckle up, for this is gonna be one hell of a long, long review. Open your heart, and see my opinions as they are.

TL;DR for the lazy: 7.5/10 While it’s a janky mess with a ton of issues, so was Super Mario 64 and certain aspects of the proclaimed ‘most revolutionary platformer of the 90s’ pale in comparison to SA1. Therefore they both deserve the same score, to be treated with equal respect and appreciation for their contributions to future 3D platformers.

Part 1: The Generalization of the Mundane

Cutscenes and Animation
People weren’t wrong: the cutscenes in this game are deadass painful to look at. Granted, the fact that these cutscenes were fully animated and voiced is something worth praising to this day, considering this game was originally released in 1999, only a year after we got Metal Gear Solid. However, looking at them today… yeah, the animation of the characters are severely limited by the usage of the in game models. Characters sometimes shuffle their feet while awkwardly moving in place. The lip syncing is non-existent (because localisation didn’t bother doing it after they were animated for the Japanese release). Their ears move when they open their mouths for some reason, for fucks sake.

And it isn’t just the animation. Shoddy audio mixing causes obnoxiously loud music playing in the background can sometimes overpower the character’s dialogue. The animation limitations force Sonic and co. to remain stationary or in their poses, giving Eggman/Chaos all the sweet time in the universe to execute their devious tricks. There is no urgency to any of these cutscenes as a result. And don’t even get me started on the awkward, long pauses between dialogue! Want proof? There’s a literal 12-second gap in a cutscene with Knuckles and Eggman where Knuckles walks at an sluggishly slow place, shuffles his feet, then skids and stops even though HE WASN’T FUCKING RUNNING. NOTHING ELSE HAPPENED IN THAT SCENE.

But I would be lying if I said I didn’t at least enjoy them. There’s an odd, goofy charm to the hilariously exaggerated facial expressions of the characters, which enhances scenes like ‘Watch out! You’re gonna crash! Ahh!’ to make them more memorable… although not exactly for the best reasons.

Hub Worlds
Sonic Adventure also has 3 hub worlds that require the player to guide their character through to reach their next objective, and all 3 of them are impressively detailed. Station Square is a bustling, busy city that never really seems to sleep, padded out with a population of… humans? Honestly, I’ve always been more attached to the idea that the Sonic-verse’s Earth is mostly populated by anthropomorphic characters, but I guess this is fine. The most impressive part about this town is you can interact with almost all of the NPCs, and each of them have their own little story going on. There’s this one guy who’s trying to be slick and cheating on his girl with another; there’s this one kid who can only helplessly watch as his mother succumbs to an unhealthy gambling addiction, and there are many more things going on in this little hub than you’d expect! Granted, it's no Majora’s Mask, but it certainly makes Station Square feel more like an actual location in an actual city than most games did at the time.
The other two hub worlds aren’t as impressive as Station Square by comparison, but they’re certainly well designed from a thematic standpoint. Eggman’s floating masterpiece, the Egg Carrier is filled to the brim with all of Eggman’s bombastic, narcissistic flair, and every pixel of this majestic contraption feels exactly like something the greatest scientific genius in the world would create. The fucker even allocate the time, budget and materials to build a god damn swimming pool with his devious face engraved on the bottom of the pool. AND ARE THOSE MAID ROBOTS?! The absolute nerve of this maniac!

Finally, the Mystic Ruins is the main connecting point between most of the levels in the game, and the area is justifiably empty. I mean, it’s the ruins, who’d want to settle down or even set foot there? Aside from Tails’ workshop, the only real point of interest is the Aztec temple that’s blocked by a really frustrating maze barricaded by shrubbery and pathways that look identical. I’m sure that was the original intention, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying. Funnily enough, you can actually walk on the leaves of the treetops enveloping the ground below, making navigation redundant for someone like Knuckles or Tails who can fly above the canopy. Angel Island is similarly deserted, having fallen from the sky conveniently right next to the ruins themselves. The Master Emerald altar, oddly enough, is now an open area where the most powerful MacGuffin in the world is visible to everyone. Questionable choice from Knuckles to move it outside from its original resting place in Hidden Palace, especially after the treachery of Eggman in S3K.

In general, I do feel that the character movement and constant necessity to transition between locations eventually wears off the appeal of the hub world navigation into more of a chore;but other than that, I appreciate the effort made into making each of these hub worlds as unique as possible, while making them feel interactive and meaningful to explore.

Sideshow - Item Interaction
Unfortunately, and this is probably just me nitpicking, I do not like the way Sonic and co. interact with objects within the hub world. Items like the Wind Stone and Ice Stone feel annoying to pick up, especially because you have to be completely stationary while also praying to the ancient echidnas that you’re close enough to the point where Sonic is able to extend his palms, curl them against the surface of the stones, apply pressure onto it before exerting strength in his muscles to lift the stone up. BECAUSE HALF THE FUCKING TIME HE WON’T DO IT! How hard can it be for the programmers to allow Sonic to automatically pick up an item just by running past it? Why make it so needlessly complicated and annoying, even if it’s for a few mere moments?

But again, that’s just me nitpicking. Let’s get back on topic:

Chao Garden + Additional Content
To be honest, I don’t really like the appeal of the Chao Garden. I can understand its role in the game as a relaxing, leisurely activity where players can take a breather from the high-paced action and experience the genre of a life simulator. But it’s really not my thing, especially when I’m on a tight schedule that demands beating every Sonic game left within the next fortnight or so. Chao > Wisps any day, I like their design and I wish they were utilised more often in the Sonic franchise. There’s also the 130 collectible emblems which you can collect by completing all the missions for every character, as well as a small amount of emblems scattered throughout the overworld. Doing so in SADX earns you the ability to play as Metal Sonic, which I always thought was a nice touch. Collecting the emblems also unlocks the Game Gear titles on SADX, one of the only legitimate ways of playing some of those games other than owning original copies of them! Because SEGA just loves those classic Genesis titles so much! Sonic 1 Master System? Sonic Triple Trouble? What are those? Why even think about those when you could go through Chemical Plant and Hydrocity and go weeeeeeeeeeeee-

(In all seriousness, though, go play Sonic 1 8 bit and Triple Trouble they’re both stellar games for 8-bit titles)

Scope and Atmosphere
In my opinion, this is where SA1 stands out among the crowd as a revolutionary platformer game of its own. Super Mario 64's story was: ‘Mario saves Peach. Witty dialogue here and there but otherwise it's just a standard platformer story but in 3D’. Banjo-Kazooie’s story was ‘You and your sassy, sharp-tongued bird rescue your ungrateful sister from the clutches of discount Evil Queen from Snow White’. These games had childlike plots that had bright, colourful environments that may potentially wrestle the attention of your toddler from the allure of Youtube Shorts. Sonic Adventure wasn’t gonna fall into that same category. Sonic Adventure was going to be genuinely epic.

It had a large, overarching plot revolving around the fearsome titan known as Chaos, a floating orb and the past of the Emeralds. It featured characters with their own distinct personalities, some having character development that while not as intricate as your average RPG character, allows the players to grow attached to them over the course of the game. (On paper, at least. More on that later). It had actual apocalyptic stakes on the line, with the fate of countless lives at risk under the rising threat of Eggman and Chaos. And most importantly, it had a kickass soundtrack masterfully composed by Jun Senoue that aided in making the epic scale of this entire game convincing, by immersing the player completely into the atmosphere and aesthetics enveloping their pupils.

This was what the Sonic franchise was always about. It was always different, it was always cooler, it was always ambitious as all hell and it definitely wasn’t afraid to stand out from the crowd. It was the foundation and ideology behind the creation of Sonic himself, and it was most certainly the blueprint for the production Sonic Adventure. And I applaud the bravery of Sonic Team to make such a bold leap for Sonic’s first deep dive into the third dimension.

But how does the gameplay itself fare against the wear and tear of age?

Part 2: Diversifying the Roster
Sonic
Sonic Adventure was made during a time when Sonic Team attempted to transition the classic gameplay of the Genesis trilogy to 3D, before deciding to redesign the wheel entirely with the development of SA2. And that is most evident in the gameplay of the main trio, starting with Sonic. Tons of core aspects of the old gameplay is still present in Sonic’s movement and control, effortlessly brought to life by the programmers: he slows down uphill and speeds up downhill, he starts with a slow jog that gradually becomes a speedy, energetic run, he retains momentum with every turn and leap, he can blow up enemies with a single Spin Jump, he can… Spin Dash with a single tap of the button? Yep, everyone knows of the notorious Spin Dash and how spammable it was, and it is very much true. It’s mind blowingly hilarious how broken Sonic’s speed can get by repeatedly spamming the X or B button, because Sonic’s initial burst of speed off a Spin Dash is higher than anything you’ll ever achieve by merely running. Hah, puny imbeciles. Running? What’s that? Spin Dash jumping is also ever-present in this game, and it’s almost like the developers knew that fact, so they intentionally placed shortcuts and secrets throughout Sonic’s levels for adventurous players to take advantage of. I’ve personally found tons of fun using the Spin Dash jumps to clear entire parts of levels or finding extra lives, or heck, just to lower my times. Or it could just be me screaming ‘GAS GAS GAS GAS’ every time I perform the Spin Dash spam. To conclude, Sonic’s SA1 Spin Dash was conventional, game-breaking, and has become part of the SA1 legacy that can’t be unshaken easily, but in a positive way.

And then there’s the Homing Attack, which many have complained made attacking enemies feel automated and disgustingly easy. I’m personally against this idea, primarily because Sonic 3D Blast, for all its flaws, had demonstrated the difficulty players might experience hitting enemies in a 3D environment accurately, so having the Homing Attack to streamline the process is a godsend. Using a Homing Attack in midair also provides you with an Air Dash akin to a Fire Shield dash in S3K, which serves not only as a backup survival tool when attempting tight platforming segments, but also as an extra pinch of aerial mobility to guide Sonic to secrets and shortcuts with ease, further assisted by the high velocity attained through a Spin Dash jump. Heck, there are parts of a level that can sometimes only be accessed by Homing Attacking a line of enemies, something that hadn’t been done in a Genesis level (unless you’re a Sonic 1 speedrunner who takes the top route method for GHZ Act 3), which can lead to lucrative rewards like extra lives or a faster route. Unfortunately, these interesting tidbits are made redundant by the Spin Dash jump. Furthermore, I have found the Homing Attack to be rather inaccurate at times, as I’ve ended up Air Dashing off the stage despite the target being within Sonic’s line of sight.

The Light Speed Dash was also introduced in this game, and while it is utilised well in certain stages to access shortcuts, your method of performing the move requires you to Spin Dash for at least a few seconds, killing off all momentum you could’ve potentially had before charging up the dash. It’s sort of like the Super Peel Out, except that instead of maintaining the speed from the charge to clear a level at high speeds, you sporadically go through a large trail of rings after tons of waiting and praying you don’t accidentally do a Light Speed Attack and lose the charge you’ve been building up!

Loops are also reintroduced in SA1, but are now flanked by boost pads which automates the section for the player. This leads to what used to be an obstacle that required the player to gather momentum to bypass in the classic games becoming nothing more than a spectacle. But personally, I’m not offended by this decision, since the spectacle does deliver a sense of speed that keeps players entertained and astonished, while the levels still contain a reasonable amount of challenge remaining for them to tackle. Besides that, the coding limitations as well as a lack of knowledge may have hampered the programmers ability to allow Sonic to go through a loop by means of his own speed. If only…

Finally, Sonic, while being as fast as ever, also feels rather slippery and difficult to control when he’s sprinting across levels. Holding straight can sometimes, for some reason, cause you to teeter left or right and cause you to collide with the edges of pathways due to the game's somewhat inconsistent collision detection. Overall, though, I would say SA1 Sonic feels great to control for his first full foray in 3D, the Spin Dash jump giving experienced players the opportunity to play around with the levels to their hearts’ content, while the Homing Attack allows newcomers to ease themselves into the core gameplay of Sonic’s story with effortless ease.

…and that’s just discussing Sonic’s controls and gameplay. What about the other crucial aspects of Sonic that should be mentioned? Well, for starters, I really like Yuji Uekawa’s modern redesign of Sonic. Yes, it is a bit weird that he’s double the height of what we now recognize as Classic Sonic, but it also makes him look like he’s grown up alongside the kids who played his games in the early 90s. Now Sonic’s a gangly, lanky teenager like the fans who’ve been beside him since the very beginning, whilst still retaining that rebellious, carefree, ‘too cool for school’ attitude that defined his design in the 90s. And something about the emerald green of his eyes contrasting against the striking cobalt blue of his fur makes perfect sense, yet I can’t find the words to describe it. It just feels… right. Ryan Drummond makes his debut as the voice of Sonic in this game, and while he sounds somewhat offbeat compared to his later, much more era-defining portrayals (Sonic’s death cry reminds me of Tyson Granger from Beyblade and that thought makes me uncomfortable), I think his performance here laid a solid groundwork for the future of the character. That same rebellious, cool attitude I mentioned earlier is accompanied by a sense of stubborn fearlessness and unwavering kindness that only a character like Sonic could ever display in a 3D platformer, and I believe those traits are ever-present in his voice.

As for the story itself, it’s reminiscent of the plot of classic Sonic games. Eggman has plans to steal the Emeralds, Sonic goes on an adventure to stop him, falls from altitudes of over thousands of feet completely unharmed; running into old friends and rivals along the way, before eventually overcoming Eggman and his new minion, Chaos and saving the day. It’s simple, but does provide enough information for newcomers regarding Sonic’s relationship with all of these characters, from his friendly rivalry with Knuckles, his formidable bond with Tails, his somewhat reluctant acceptance of Amy as a friend, and his smack talk with Eggman that can get serious at at the right moments. Overall, Sonic’s story, being the lengthiest and meatiest of the entire game, is a worthwhile experience that should be given a chance by every Sonic fan, and I’m sure the gameplay, handling, levels, and Sonic’s character will impress them just as much as they did me.

Wait a second- are those- individual character themes? Yes, Sonic Adventure also marked the first time each character got their own theme that plays whenever they’re introduced in a cutscene. It Doesn’t Matter is a great song that, while slow and awkward with its verses, effectively puts Sonic’s determination and free-spirited mindset on full display. ‘Don’t ask me why, I don’t need a reason’ symbolises his free will and ‘I just only have a steadfast heart of gold’ symbolises his beliefs in doing the right thing. To get a full understanding of Sonic’s character, I would definitely suggest listening to the song because it’s kickass and also a pretty well written introspective of the blue blur himself.

…shit, I’ve written 1300 words on just Sonic? I dread the length of the rest of this review.

Tails
Much like Sonic, Tails’ movement from S3K has been faithfully carried over flawlessly into Sonic Adventure, being capable of swift acceleration, Spin Attacking, Spin Rolling and the ability to run just as fast as Sonic. There are some key differences, though. For one, Tails’ flight in S3K was this somewhat slow, but steady ascent. In SA1 Tails just shoots upwards rapidly like a rocket, but unlike in later games (AHEM 06 AHEM), it feels natural, easy to control and most importantly, you don’t drop like the Dreamcast sales did when the PS2 was launched. The increased flight speed isn’t the only quality-of-life change Tails received: He also has this Tail Swipe that provides him with a reliable ground melee attack to quickly eliminate enemies without losing your momentum. My one complaint with this is that sometimes you may accidentally do a Spin Attack instead of a Tail Swipe, and that ends up killing your momentum instead. Still, at least you have the safety cushion of the Spin Attack when confronted with an enemy, so it isn’t much of a hassle, personally.

And it’s these additions and enhancements to Tails’ kit that gets the Level Up Item treatment in SA1, with the Jet Anklet increasing Tails’ flight speed to blazingly fast levels; and the Rhythm Badge allowing him to Tail Swipe forever, creating this goofy animation where the fox would whirl around while moving through Station Square like a drunken bastard. It’s safe to say that with such powerful abilities, Tails’ would be the most broken character in the game, even surpassing the outrageously broken Spin Dash jump.

Which is why his levels are some of the most disappointing in the game. Tails’ whole gimmick is racing against Sonic (and Eggman, in the case of Speed Highway) through his levels; which while completely understandable from a story standpoint, is rather annoying because with the exception of Ice Cap which confines you to a snowboard, Tails can fucking fly! He can take shortcuts that Sonic could only dream of, and that leads to levels like Windy Valley and Sky Deck being absolute jokes with no challenge whatsoever. They also had the neat idea of padding out Tails’ story with an additional level in Sand Hill, but instead of making it this open, diverse area of sand banks and secret shortcuts which takes full advantage of Tails’ flight and you have to run from a sandstorm or whatever, IT’S A FUCKING SNOWBOARD LEVEL! Add on to the fact that you have to fight Chaos 4 (more on that later) as well as play through both Sky Chase acts AGAIN to be compliant to the overall plot of the game, and you have one of the most boring, frustrating cases of missed potential in a Sonic game, in terms of gameplay. Did he really need to be the ‘racing character’ archetype?

But as for the story, I’d say it’s absolutely worthwhile. After years of merely being known as ‘Sonic’s little sidekick’, the two-tailed fox finally gets some limelight and some much-needed character development to make him his own character. Sonic R’s plot summary hinted at this, with Tails’ showing interest towards racing in the World Grand Prix to ‘compare himself against others’. Sonic Adventure further develops this idea, showing Tails’ fear and insecurities about being in Sonic’s shadow. He sees Eggman from a more menacing perspective, with the villain sounding far more sinister and evil compared to his depiction in Sonic’s story. But throughout the game, he begins slowly going off track and comes to the realisation that he can accomplish many things without needing to follow Sonic’s footsteps. This leads to him standing up to Eggman, taking out his Egg Walker and saving Station Square from being blown up all through his own efforts. Like that mattered, anyway, since the whole city just gets tsunami’d later on, but still, this was a pivotal moment in Tails’ character arc, in arguably his second best portrayal in the whole series after SA2. And his theme ‘Believe in Myself’ further exemplifies the thematics of his story, and his desire to improve himself without being exactly like Sonic. The lyrics are very wordy and awkward, with the pre-chorus in particular feeling messy, but the message is delivered loud and clear. Looking back, Tails’ story makes me more sad, because games like Lost World, Unleashed and especially Forces end up making us yearn for a time when Tails’ was courageous, bold and always ready to stand by Sonic no matter how dangerous things can get. We’ll always have SA1 Tails, though, and his relatable desire to stand up for himself, by himself.

Also Corey Bringas isn’t the worst Tails voice actor but damn his voice gets on my nerves, and his line delivery is not good at all I’m sorry-

Knuckles, who, unlike Sonic doesn’t chuckle
He’d rather flex his muscles. I apologise, but I should start out by saying that Unknown from M.E. is a deliciously jazzy banger, perfectly capturing the essence of Knuckles character while also having one of the most iconic rap verses of the 90s, no I will not elaborate.

Back to discussing Knuckles himself. Eggman shattering the Master Emerald serves as the point of origin for this game’s main story (great job moving the altar into the open, Knucklehead), which causes the shards of the jewel to… scatter all over Station Square? And the Egg Carrier, which was above the Master Emerald when it was shattered? Yeah, Knuckles’ reason for traveling through Sonic’s levels is completely contrived and unrealistic, but at least they do a good job with the level choices, more on that later. I genuinely wish we could’ve gotten more levels like Red Mountain, a wide, spacious area littered with diverse terrain and unique features, heck, maybe make some original levels for Knuckles located within Angel Island! I’d love to see levels like Marble Garden or Mushroom Hill recreated in a fully 3D environment. But it is what it is, Knuckles still needs to interact with the main characters for the plot to happen, after all.

Speaking of, Knuckles’ story follows a familiar plotbeat, with him getting jebaited by Eggman into fighting Sonic, causing him to conveniently drop the 2 of the Chaos Emeralds for Eggman to collect without any resistance whatsoever from the heroes. Talk about competency. Afterwards, Knuckles eventually collects all the Emerald shards, rebuilds the Master Emerald, and laments sadly on the fact that he may be shackled by the burden of guarding it for as long as he lives. While this all makes for a good story, there are some elements that just ended up disappointing me.

Throughout the game, Tikal aka Floating Orb will send your character back in time to a flashback explaining the overarching plot revolving around her, the Master Emerald and Chaos. In certain characters’ stories you can even explore Angel Island and the Mystic Ruins when they were inhabited by none other than the now extinct Echidna tribe. You’d expect Knuckles to get more of a kick out of seeing another of his kind, but nope. ‘Is this a dream? It’s more like a nightmare!’ He remains emotionless and dry even when he discovers the existence of other echidnas, for whatever reason. Tons of missed potential there. Michael McGaharn, who only voices Knuckles in this game, interestingly, does a good job depicting the character’s gullibility, stoicism and overall laid-back nature pretty well, and his monologues in the beginning and the end of the story are expertly delivered. I still prefer Scott Dreier’s later portrayal of Knuckles, but I think McGaharn does a great enough job for this game.

In terms of gameplay, Knuckles controls similarly to how he did in the Genesis games, much like Sonic and Tails. He runs fast, glides, climbs and can do a Spin Roll. Also new to his arsenal is the ability to fistfight enemies with a Punch Attack (which can be upgraded to the Super Heat Knuckles Attack with the ugliest accessory Knuckles can obtain), a move that is pretty useless when simply jumping or gliding into them is more reliable regardless; and with the Shovel Claw, the echidna also gains the ability to dig, although the button scheme for it is needlessly complicated and a momentum killer because of how long Knuckles takes to dig in and out of the soil. Glad Adventure 2 fixed that. I prefer the emerald radar of SA1, much like others have discussed, but that may be the biggest dead horse I can beat in the Adventure series so I won’t push the topic any further. I will argue that Tikal’s hints are too on-the-nose, however, and could’ve used more subtlety. Overall, I did enjoy playing as Knuckles, despite the multiple plot conveniences and lack of emotional depth with the ancient echidna flashbacks.

Amy
“But the Sphinx looked so cute I had to shave it”
Woah woah shit ok Amy I did not need to know that… Anyways, ‘My Sweet Passion’ is probably my least favourite vocal theme in Adventure, and still stands as one of my least favourite vocal tracks in the Sonic franchise, period. I’m sorry, the disgustingly overwhelming and sugercoated lyrics of this song just doesn’t vibe well with me, the opening in particular always annoys me for irrational reasons. That’s not to say I don’t like upbeat 90s R&B music, I mean, I absolutely adore the cheesy music of Sonic R, but something about My Sweet Passion just gets on my nerves.

I like the approach they took when modernizing Amy’s design, with her looking more like her own character rather than a female Sonic recolor wearing a dress, although her animation and poses can sometimes lead to the players seeing… inappropriate stuff we really don’t want to see in a Sonic game, for fucks sake she’s a kid, Japanese culture.

…with that awkward interlude out of the way, let’s discuss Rosey the Rascal, now known as Amy Rose, and her character development. Amy starts off as your typical cutesy girl pining for her hero, Sonic, even referencing the events of Sonic CD in her opening monologue. Soon after, she’s dragged into the plot by a flicky carrying the largest fucking pendant in the universe that’s also somehow carrying a Chaos Emerald? I’m not going to push further with the logical inconsistency here but that’s just downright baffling. Anyways this attracts the attention of Zero, who kinda looks like a chef wearing a green toque or something. Zero then proceeds to stalk Amy and the Flicky for the rest of the game, with Amy vowing to protect the bird and escort it to its destination. On the way, she runs into Sonic and obviously, immediately fawns over the blue blur; but Sonic, who’s known to groan at the thought of settling down, immediately rebuffs her advances. What’s interesting here is that in Sonic’s story, Sonic did initially try ditching Amy, but eventually relented and reluctantly allowed her to tag along. The game is stuffed with subtle changes like this, as seen with Tails’ impression of a more sinister Eggman in his story. Anyways Amy runs through Twinkle Park, gets kidnapped anyway and gets locked up in a prison cell. There, she runs into Gamma, and this is where her most character-defining quality is introduced.

Most people would say that it would be her attraction towards Sonic, but to me, Amy’s unwavering and infectious kindness towards everyone is her strongest characteristic. Need further proof? Look no further than her reasoning with Gamma, despite the robot clearly being a minion of his. Her faith and kindness towards Gamma ended up getting through to him, much like it later would for Shadow, and then Silver (somewhat) in 06. Unlike Sonic, who’s merely a kind-natured soul by heart, Amy is a pure spirit of uncontaminated kindness that shines light even in the darkness of the hearts of others. Which is why it frustrates me and many others that she and Metal Sonic have never had the opportunity to have a solo interaction, especially considering their past with Metal having kidnapped her on Little Planet. It would be interesting trying to see Amy trying to reason and perhaps even connect with the mech that made her experience her most traumatic ordeal thus far. But enough sidetracking, back to Amy’s story. She then escapes through the Hot Shelter, shields Gamma from Sonic and Tails, and escapes the Egg Carrier as it crashes into the Mystic Ruins. She then returns to the Egg Carrier for no other reason than to help the Flicky find its parents. Again, her kindness knows no limits in terms of what she’d do for others. This time, they do find its parents, being the Flickies trapped within Beta and Gamma, and then Zero commits animal abuse, Amy gets mad and finally nukes the robot once and for all. Through this journey, Amy realises she needs to become more of an independent person in order to gain Sonic’s respect, and her love and devotion towards him further fuels her motivation to do so, and we’ll see that… NOT REALLY IN SA2 but certainly in Heroes and Advance. But those are stories for another day.

If only I could write more about Amy’s gameplay, but honestly it just isn’t as interesting. Amy is significantly slower than the main trio, and while it’s ok to be slow, Amy’s acceleration is pathetically and agonizingly long to reach its peak. She has a Hammer Swing that kills all momentum and has tons of endlag when used, but also a really useful Hammer Jump that allows her to leap over obstacles with immaculate ease… that can only be used when Amy reaches peak acceleration, and it’s frustratingly easy to lose your acceleration as Amy as a result. Zero is supposed to be chasing you throughout the levels, but it’s so easy to stun and so easy to outrun that this additional gimmick feels more like a non-factor. Thankfully, Amy’s campaign, story aside is mercifully short, spanning only 3 levels and a boss fight. Definitely one of the least fun campaigns to play in the game.

Alright, who’s next? Certainly it has to be something interesting that constantly stays true to the platforming roots of the franchise, right? Maybe it could be Mighty or Ray from SEGASonic! Maybe it could be Espio of the Chaotix! Maybe it could be-

BIG THE CAT
…let’s talk about some positives first, shall we? I really like the concept of Big the Cat’s character, actually! Big essentially serves as the everyman in this game, being a simple-minded guy who wants nothing more in life than to enjoy fishing with his best friend who’s a real frog. Unfortunately, we don’t get to see his big hearted personality until the later games and comics, but in SA1, Big is primarily fueled by his goal of retrieving Froggy to go back to his normal life. And so, he bumbles and stumbles his way into the main plot because Froggy swallowed a Chaos Emerald he happened to fish from the lakes one day, as well the tail of Chaos. Convenient, but I don’t think you could’ve handled it any other way considering the circumstances. He then proceeds to fly the fucking Tornado 2 off the Egg Carrier. Somehow. But at least it’s later shown that he crashed it, though.

If only his gameplay was good, though. The word is SEGA wanted to demonstrate the Dreamcast’s ability to emulate cool water effects, which is why part of the budget was allocated to fishing levels in a fucking Sonic game. Do you see the problem here? It’s fishing. As a main gameplay archetype. In a Sonic game. IN A PLATFORMER. Unlike Ocarina of Time, whose fishing minigame isn’t mandatory to beat the game, Big’s story is somehow important enough to warrant its own chapter. And it’s not like there’s much depth to Big’s gameplay, either. It’s rather simple once you know exactly what to do. Sit in the general radius of Froggy’s location, fish about 10m away, hold down when you lure in that damn frog until you get a hit, hold A until the tension meter reaches its breaking point, then hold B. Rinse and repeat until frog is obtained. The other fish don’t matter at all, and don’t really grant any sort of reward when you capture them other than a higher score. But a lack of a ranking system in SA1 really makes fishing for other fish unimportant. Once you really nail it down there’s really nothing you need to do in Big’s story, since Froggy’s location is always near where you’re spawned. In general, it's a passible attempt at fishing gameplay, but we really didn’t need to shoehorn it into a Sonic game. Thankfully, like Amy’s story, it’s short enough that you won’t want to jump off a cliff like Big randomly does at the ending of this story. No seriously, he jumps off the edge to return to his Mystic Ruins hideout.

Gamma
E102 Gamma is an interesting anecdote to dissect among the cast of cartoonish anthropomorphic animals, because unlike all of them, well, he’s one of Eggman’s Badniks. But that makes it all the more surprising when Gamma’s story ends up being the pinnacle of Sonic storytelling, in my opinion. Here’s why:

Throughout the previous Sonic games, the player gradually learns the concept behind Eggman’s Badniks. He captures them, stuffs them into mechanical shells and uses their… energy(?) to power them. Sonic Adventure further explores this theme by flipping the perspective: What is a Sonic game like from the view of a Badnik? Hence, Gamma’s story was created, delving into topics the other more light-hearted stories of SA1 shy away from.

As soon as you boot into the system of Gamma, the true nature of Eggman’s relationship with his Badniks is uncovered, and boy is he an asshole. Constantly belittling his own Badniks, demanding absolute perfection from each and every one of them, and sending them off to be deformed/turned into scrap when he deems them ‘unworthy’ of being a servant of the Eggman Empire. Seeing this side of Eggman is scathing, and encourages the player to whoop his ass even more when you run into him. Sadly, however, Gamma doesn’t get to confront his maker before his eventual demise.

Instead, he starts off as this mindless machine made to fight his own ‘brother’ (or sister?), blindly follow orders and catch some stupid frog, before unintentionally witness that same sibling get deformed and tortured before his eyes. This causes a stir in the machinery of Gamma, which is further deepened by Amy’s conversation with Gamma. The cracks in the code continue to expand as his physical husk is beaten down in an intense fight with Sonic and Tails, but Amy’s genuine act of kindness is what finally causes him to break free from it: from now on Gamma acts on his own free will, and his mission? Rescuing his fellow brothers, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta and of course, Beta. At this point, it can be assumed that the fight between him, Sonic and Tails lead to him receiving somewhat damaging blows to his system, so personally I like to view this as Gamma racing against the clock (literally his gameplay) to disable all the E-series robots before he himself is permanently put out of commission. One last act of goodwill to resonate with Amy’s wish for him, by not just freeing the animals encaged within the robots, but also freeing them from the merciless servitude of their master. This multi-layered plotline is astounding for what is merely a snippet of SA1 that doesn’t intertwine with the main plot, and by this point I’m absolutely fucking floored.

Eventually, he does eliminate most of the robots (in some of the easiest boss fights in the history of the Sonic franchise), before boarding the fallen Egg Carrier one final time to eliminate Beta, who after being remodeled by Eggman is barely distinguishable. Gamma wins, though, but leaves himself unguarded long enough for Beta to aim one final cannon blast at Gamma, effectively destroying both of them. And as Gamma’s systems melt down, the last image that flashes before his screen is the image of a family of Flickies. The parents of the Flicky Amy was escorting. How fitting is it that the one robot that freed them from the Egg Carrier was the bird Amy was searching for the entire time? A parent saving their child’s life. But alas, Gamma succumbs, setting off an explosion larger than the life he lived. A melancholic piano verse accompanies this scene, bringing the story of E-102 Gamma to a sad yet poetic end. Actually, how did the Flicky inside Gamma survive such a massive explosion? That was never explained.

I didn’t fucking care, though, because at that point I was in tears. Only in Gamma’s story can you see the Sonic franchise tell a strong story about slavery, free will and self-sacrifice for the greater good? By far and away, this is the best story among the 6 playable characters, and it isn’t even close.

But how does Gamma play, then?

Well, he’s the one that has guns, being loaded with regular bullets and lock-on homing missiles, and his main objective is to reach the end of a level before his timer runs out. However, the timer is rendered irrelevant when you consider the length of all of Gamma’s stages, which is disappointingly short. Which is frustrating, too, considering Gamma movement is very fluid, his turns are responsive, his Jet Booster allows him to hover for a surprisingly long duration (which makes platforming easier due to Gamma’s rather short jump height), and the missile lock is so, so satisfying. In the end, the only bit of original content that Gamma has other than his painfully easy boss fights is the train segment in Final Egg. Much like Tails and Knuckles, I genuinely feel that Gamma’s gameplay could've left me more satisfied if there were more original levels, longer stage length or at the very least, a stricter timer. Overall, still my 2nd favourite playstyle in the entire game, I really like Gamma.

Dr. Ivo ‘Eggman’ Robotnik
…alright, so I know Dr Eggman isn’t exactly a playable character just yet, but I just wanted to take a moment to gush about Deem Bristow’s portrayal of the character. I’m just as much of a Mike Pollock fan, but personally I think Bristow takes Eggman to another level, encapsulating every single aspect of Eggman’s character. He can effortlessly make Eggman sound dramatic, sinister, diabolical, batshit crazy and whimsical with the flick of a switch. ‘Behold my floating masterpiece, the Egg Carrier!’ is still my favourite line in Sonic Adventure simply because of Bristow’s expert line delivery here: the way Eggman boldly introduces his Egg Carrier in the most showman-like way possible, while constantly shifting his vocal pitch to make it sound as ridiculous as possible at the same time is forever etched in my brain. Not to mention iconic lines like ‘All systems! Full power!’ or ‘No way! I can’t believe this!’ that even to this day remains associated to Eggman because of how memorable they are. Rest in peace, Deem Bristow. You were a legend.

Part 3: Action on a Third Axis

And now, we finally move on to my favourite aspect of a Sonic game review - discussing each and every level presented in the game. This review’s already gone on for long enough, so let’s dig into the meat and potatoes:

Emerald Coast
Sonic - as far as things go, this is a fantastic starting level to introduce the world to 3D Sonic. Right off the bat, there are already 3 options to reach the first loop of the game available to you: you could either Homing Attack onto the springs and follow the bungee lines, go under the wooden bridges to reach a spring blocked by a spinning ball and chain, OR use the Spin Dash jump to reach the loop in record time. Keep in mind, this is SECONDS into the first section of Emerald Coast, and they’re already challenging your knowledge of the level as well as your skill mastery. That’s brilliant level design. Then what follows is a sadly automated loop section but I’ll let bygones be bygones. Then another dash pad into the next section of Emerald Coast, which honestly could’ve been negated because you should be able to Spin Dash jump across the ocean anyways. Then another automated loop, this time uninterruptable if you don’t want to fucking die. Then you get the iconic killer whale sequence where boost pads do all the work for you. Yeah, the first half of Emerald Coast can sometimes be unnecessarily automated, but the second half is much better. Multiple shortcuts available to be taken, a top path that rewards your control of the game by allowing you to bypass an annoying lilypad platforming set piece, and tons of secrets littered throughout to encourage players to explore the level.

Gamma - literally the first third of Sonic’s level, making for a pathetically short, watered down variant of Emerald Coast. We already had the tutorial level in Final Egg, we didn’t need the level to be this short…

Big - why. At least Froggy is easy to find, though.

Music - Azure Blue World’s opening riff is iconic, introducing the world to Jun Senoue’s signature rock in glorious fashion. As is Windy and Ripply, which is more relaxed and laid back after the intensity of the whale chase sequence that preceded it.

Windy Valley
Sonic - Unlike Emerald Coast’s red-hot opening, Windy Valley starts off being more calming and soothing with its music and tamer level design. A breeze of crisp autumn leaves carries you over to your next platform and this time, you’re required to hold forward to continue walking on them. It’s all fun and games until the Tornado sucks you in. This next part is lowkey kinda disappointed since it’s just a bunch of stationary platforms floating inside a Tornado, rather than having you perform some high-octane action sequence where Sonic jumps across floating chunks of land in the debris fountain to reach the condensation funnel, which ejects him out into the final third of Windy Valley. But nope, springs and jump pads. Oh, joy.

Speaking of the final third, Green Grove Act 1 from 3D Blast Genesis, is that you? Yes, the theme of The Air is a remix, whose original creator was (you guessed it) Jun Senoue himself. Sadly, this final third of Windy Valley mostly consists of you traveling along one, singular linear path. While there are shortcuts, there are also kill planes aplenty ready to break your fall and bring you back to your next checkpoint. It really makes no difference though. Check out this Windy Valley speedrun by renowned SA1 speedrunner Niczur. Apparently Windy Valley was originally planned to be a much more open level, but got scrapped during development for unknown reasons, which is a shame, because the recovered level that can be playable through mods is a genuinely fun experience.

Tails - as aforementioned, Tails’ Windy Valley is significantly easier than Sonic’s because 1) he can fly and 2) It’s the final third of Windy Valley, so Tails’ can easily take shortcuts that Sonic could never imagine taking, making this level pathetically simple to beat.

Gamma - Gamma’s version of Windy Valley is derived from Sonic’s first third of the level, with the key difference being that the bridges are constantly being blown up, forcing him to use his Jet Booster to its fullest potential. There are also tons of Boa-boa, huge caterpillar-like Badniks that when stricken down grants Gamma 20 seconds of extra time, thus making the level a cakewalk, much like Tails.

Casinopolis
Sonic - After the mixture of relaxing soft rock and upbeat guitar shreds of the last 2 levels, Casinopolis mellows out with a slow, jazzy beat fitting for, well, a casino. Your primary objective in this level is collecting 400 rings to obtain the Chaos Emerald, but the process of obtaining said rings is painstaking and boring if you’re merely focusing on the casino and pinball machines. There is a fitting tribute to the Nights franchise with one of them, so respect to Sonic Team for giving some attention to other successful franchises spawned from SEGA. There are 2 ways you can speed up the process: the first is through the sewers by failing at the pinball stages with less than 100 rings, or just uh… using glitches to get onto the platform without any rings needed. Yeah, this game had tons of jank but to be fair, so did Mario 64. Overall one of the more duller levels in the game.

Tails - This level only takes the sewer portion of Casinopolis. I can’t really go into detail about how lame it was because that entire level was a snoozefest and I stopped paying attention.

Knuckles - First question: how did the Master Emerald shards somehow worm their way into some casino within a city? Second question: HOW THE HELL DID ONE OF THEM GET EMBEDDED INSIDE A RANDOM STATUE OF SONIC FOR NO FUCKING REASON? Third question: WHY DOES EVERY SINGLE PART OF THIS LEVEL LOOK THE EXACT FUCKING SAME? This is by far my least favourite Knuckles level in the game, bar none.

Ice Cap
Sonic - We’re presumably back on Angel Island’s Ice Cap, so you’d assume the level has the same levels of high speed exhilaration that S3K delivered, but you’ll be bitterly disappointed by half of the level being a slow crawl of confusing platforming with no clear direction on where to go. I appreciate the fact that there is a shortcut early into the level that can be accessed using the Light Speed Dash, but the fact that the player then has to grit your teeth past some of the slowest platforming in a Sonic stage across both Adventure games angers me, personally. Even the extended snowboard sequence with the always incredibly catchy Be Wild, Be Cool and Be Groovy blaring in the background kinda bores me, because while it is a flashy set piece, it’s really just that, an extended set piece where all you do is collect rings and jump off a few ramps. Unlike City Escape, this snowboard overstays its welcome, I mean come on how hard can it be for Sonic to run downhill from an avalanche, that’s be so fucking awesome… another mediocre level for Sonic.

Tails - A snowboard level. Next.

Big - sighs Imagine laying out all the assets of that small chamber with an entire underwater section only accessible by Big, only to have Froggy be found right next to where the huge rock used to break the ice is. At least that damn Frog is easy to catch now.

Sky Chase Act 1 - I did not ask to have Star Fox 64 in my Sonic game. Neither did I ask to play it twice. Next.

Twinkle Park
Sonic - Ahh, the relief. Finally, a pretty solid stage with tons of platforming and ample opportunities for Spin Dash jump facilitated shortcuts. The music in the Twinkle Circuit section of the level is yet another remix from Jun Senoue’s 3D Blast Genesis soundtrack, this being Panic Puppet Act 1, while Pleasure Castle adds another twist to this game’s various upbeat rock tracks with a synth verse. As mentioned before, there are a ton of shortcuts available to the player via Spin Dash jumping, so a run of this level can really be optimised once the player has a fair grasp on the level layout, much like Emerald Coast. This also marks the return of the Badnik Capsules, so that’s nice. Nothing more I can add here, it’s a pretty decent level.

Amy - In all honesty, I do appreciate Sonic Team at least making Amy’s Twinkle Park mostly different from Sonic’s, but Amy’s gameplay is too stop and go, and the mirrored puzzles of the level are too easy to solve, in my opinion.

Big - Why the fuck is the most annoying level in Big’s story the first level? Sure, finding Froggy isn’t a problem, but see, they decided to add steps to the pool because Big still can’t swim at this point, so half the time I get to see Froggy hyperventilating and phasing through the fucking step because for some reason the line just gets stuck there instead of continuing to pull upwards, no matter how much I press the A button.

Speed Highway
Sonic - NU NUH NUH NUH NUH NUH NUH UP AND DOWN AND ALL AROUND. The rock music you’ve been hearing so far throughout the game kicks into overdrive as you sprint through this level that was clearly built for the need of speed. Unfortunately, your immersion in the level is somewhat distorted due to the collision detection and slippery controls which cause you to hit the sides of a pathway and lose your speed. There are tons of unnecessary secrets hidden behind Spin Dash jumps in this level, such as this one skyscraper you can climb up to find an extra life and a number of rings. And unlike the more linear levels of SA2’s speed stages, Speed Highway does offer some alternate pathways leading to other little trinkets, while never losing sight of its main theme of going fast. There are plenty of snappy looking set pieces too, such as Sonic hitching a ride on a helicopter or the iconic rapid descent from the roof of a skyscraper. This leads you to the busy streets of Station Square as the sunrise begins to dawn upon Sonic, and he makes his way past cars and roofs before ringing the bell of the Station Square city hall (presumably), signifying the start of a new day. You’d been spending the whole night blitzing your way through the city for no particular reason, just for the thrills and adrenaline rush. My biggest complaint with the Speed Highway, though? It has almost no relation to the plot and you unlock it thanks to the largest ID card falling from the fucking sky right in front of the entrance to the level.

Tails - Once again, Tails is plopped onto a Sonic level where he has to stop Eggman from triggering a rocket explosion in Station Square, so he must beat the diabolical doctor to the missile. And it’s unfortunately still very simple despite this being the last action stage for Tails in this game. You would expect Eggman’s AI to put up a better challenge other than rubberbanding all over the place, but if Sonic couldn’t catch up to Tails, why would this fat fucko have a chance? Still, the low difficulty of this stage as it signals the end of his story makes me sad, if only he could have tagged along more with Sonic.

Knuckles - Knuckles version of the level is the daytime portion of Sonic’s Speed Highway, which works in his favour mainly because the city scape is very branched out with its pathways, allowing healthy amounts of space for players to work with Knuckles’ controls. Although much like Casinopolis, some of the structures of Speed Highway look the same, so it can get confusing determining your location in the level.

Red Mountain
Sonic - This is arguably the best level in Sonic Adventure. As you set off, an energetic jazz piece moves you through the deserted mountaintops of Angel Island, with non-intrusive set pieces sprinkled in discreetly throughout. Spin Dash jumps are put to full use here, with endless options available to the player on how they want to traverse through the level. Even the Light Speed Dash finds the most use in this level to unlock shortcuts and secrets. Incredibly fun level with a formula that sadly isn’t as well replicated in the other levels.

…wait, there’s a secret hatch here. Let’s go inside and-

WOAH what is that trippy music? Wait, is that lava? Are those skeletons in prisons? What the fuck is going on here? And why is that music getting catchier and intense by the second? If the open-natured platforming of Red Mountain’s exterior is heaven incarnate, then Red Mountain’s plummets you into a bleak, dreadful hellscape. One that despite its terrifying atmosphere, still carries over the amazing gameplay of the first half. Sure, it is a bit more linear, but there’s healthy doses of secret hunting within this Zelda lava dungeon, and Spin Dash jumps can still be abused to bypass entire platforming pieces. And when you finally reach the peak of Red Mountain and see the Egg Carrier, all that’s in your mind is how fun and wonderful Red Mountain was. 10/10 level.

Knuckles - Red Mountain’s first half is so fucking good that even its first half is sufficient enough to become Knuckles’ best level. This is by far the largest map Knuckles can glide through, and the emerald locations are well thought out and well spaced, too.

Gamma - Unlike Knuckles’, Gamma goes into the lava dungeon to strike down one of the E-Series robots, and unfortunately I’m not much of a fan of how much ‘shoot down this pillar to become a platform’ set pieces there are in the level. And I don’t know about the rest of you, but the Jet Booster kinda makes the platforming bits more boring than they should be. There’s a ton of Badniks to shoot down here, at least.

Sky Chase Act 2 - The only Sky Chase level we really needed, and even then it's such a chore to slog through. Why Tails couldn’t just, you know, change modes when landing on the Egg Carrier is beyond me, though.

Sky Deck
…oh boy.

Sonic - this level follows the same level design philosophy that the other stages do: alternate routes, accessible shortcuts, high octane speed section. The problem with Sky Deck is the multitude of gimmicks introduced in this level. For starters, you have those circular canisters that you’re supposed to grip as you jump higher and higher, but here’s where the biggest problem with SA1’s levels in general starts to kick in: the camera in this level is atrocious, leaving the players prone to falling to their doom because they’re unable to gauge the depth of the ground below them properly. Afterwards, you’re met by a square room of confusing, winding walkways leading to a rocket at the center, which takes ages to go through normally. You could try using Spin Dash jumps to clear this portion without much trouble, but good luck trying to figure out where you’re supposed to reach when every single walkway looks and feels the fucking same.

Then you’re at the exterior of the Egg Carrier, which had taken considerable damage from the siege of the Tornado II that you committed earlier. Of course, the developers just had to challenge you, so instead of introducing actual challenging enemies, you now have to move and wait for no reason other than to not be blown off by strong winds. And again, every single part of the exterior looks the same, so you have no clue where your destination is until you stumble clumsily towards this section’s rocket launcher.

Finally, you come face-to-face with Sonic’s worst enemy in this game: gravity. Now granted, most people well-versed with Sonic Adventure know how to clear this entire set piece in a single Spin Dash jump; but for everyone else, you’re out of luck! Did you love the icicle climbing in Ice Cap? Wanna do it again! Wish granted, except this time, THE CAMERA IS 10 TIMES WORSE! GRAVITY FUCKS WITH YOU EVERY FUCKING TIME AND YOU WILL BE STUCK THERE FOR AT LEAST 3 FUCKING MINUTES! WHY? BECAUSE FUCK YOU, THAT’S WHY!
Ugh, fuck this level. It has so much good stuff but throws it all away for nothing. Skydeck A Go! Go! Is one of my favourite level themes in SA1, and its a shame that the level fucking sucks for this reason.

Tails – As aforementioned, Tails’ ability to fly absolutely cheeses the square room section of the level, which makes this level arguably the easiest in Tails’ story.

Knuckles - Can I please just move on? It’s an interesting idea to have Knuckles doing the tilting of the ship to find emeralds but that’s kinda it for me, honestly.

Lost World
The water snake and the rolling boulder and the lame anti-gravity square tile and the infuriating depth perception in the mirror room and the camera being the worst it’s been all game. All of these make me feel more lost, much like Sonic Lost World. HA!

Hot Shelter
I don’t really have much to say about this level, honestly. Amy’s version of the level is easily the worst, having tons of irritating pacebreakers such as spinning a wheel, pushing some stairs and matching color blocks with their corresponding holes that for some reason have garbage hit detection so they won’t automatically slot in even when you put it a few nanometers away from the hitbox threshold; the Gamma variant of the level has this awesome moving train set piece that finally provides some challenge to Gamma’s story; and the Big level is, well, just a slow walk to the water chamber where you can catch Froggy without much difficulty. The best part about this level is the whole ‘running on top of working machinery’ shtick, and even that’s rather forgettable.

Final Egg
Sonic - Befitting for a final level taking place in Eggman’s base, Final Egg is backed by Mechanical Resonance, an oddly lowkey grunge rock song, completing the atmosphere of the Egg Carrier’s of the dreary, prison-like inner belly. When you do reach the epicenter of the base, though, you’re treated to Crank the Heat Up, which lives up to its name by literally cranking the intensity of the level tenfold… by making you wait for rising platforms and swinging hammers. Yay? This level isn’t actually half bad, actually, being one of the more explorative levels in Sonic’s story, with tons of extra lives tucked away for those willing to spend the time seeking them out. It’s a shame that this level also has the worst camera angles possible in a fully 3D Sonic game, which means that in your hunt for these secrets you will die, die, and then die 10 more times, because the game refuses to give you good camera quality. Why isn’t there a camera mode which forces the camera behind Sonic at all times? Better yet, why couldn’t SEGA have made the unused Y button to instantly do that exact same thing? Why torture us by praying that we narrowly stick unnecessarily difficult landings in otherwise easy platforming bits?

And it only gets worse from here on out…

Gamma - tutorial level. Enough said. You can literally figure out the controls yourself without Eggman blaring them out from the loudspeaker.

Amy - Wait, Amy was playable in Final Egg?

Interlude - Boss Fights
Obviously, an action platformer game wouldn’t be complete without a slew of interesting boss fights, so I’ll cover those briefly, too. I won’t be touching the playable character vs playable character fights, or the E–series fights, since those are all beatable in quick succession faster than Knuckles can say ‘oh no’.

Chaos 0 - A rather uninspiring fight, being barebones simple and only requiring 3 hits, but does it’s job as a Homing Attack tutorial well enough, although classic fans will still Spin Jump on Chaos 0 and thankfully, that works too.

Chaos 2 - Incredibly annoying boss fight. My main peeve with this one is that the visual feedback is unreliable, I can’t tell when Chaos is going to shield or attack, so no matter how many times I shephard him into a corner, I’m still unable to land a clean hit on him. At least I only had to fight him once, unlike…

Chaos 4 - HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT. I have to spend 3 entire minutes jumping on the water’s surface (because apparently Sonic, Tails and Knuckles have all unleashed their inner Jesus and can stand on water for at least a second now) waiting for Chaos to finish his pointless attacks on the lilypads, and I can’t do jackshit to bait him out because all his attacks are choreographed and programmed to be executed completely before he resurfaces. It’s already bad enough when a boss fight does nothing to keep you actively involved and utilising your skills to trim down the time of the fight, but you also have to do it THREE FUCKING TIMES. THREE. DO YOU SEE THE PROBLEM WITH THIS? I DO NOT WANT MY TIME WASTED ON THIS FUCKING FIGHT!

Chaos 6 - Now THIS is a good Chaos fight. Diverse variety of attacks, fixed perspective on the boss, a well communicated method of attacking the boss, and the option to use the Light Speed Attack/Super Heat Knuckles Attack for bonus damage. This is, obviously, discussing the Sonic/Knuckles fight because both of these fights were good. One drunken bastard at the Team Sonic, meanwhile, decided it would be a really hilarious prank to sneak in code for a Big the Cat boss fight against Chaos 6 where all you have to do is throw your rod in his general direction. Boom. Frog. What even was the point of this fight?

Egg Hornet – Eggman’s first boss fight in the game looks menacing with its drills and missiles, but with Sonic, you can literally end it in a single hit by mashing the A button once he drills into the floor. Kinda pointless, considering Chaos 0 was already an adequate Homing Attack tutorial~ Tails does have it harder, being forced to do 2 more Tail Swipes and generally having a more difficult time dodging the homing missiles, but otherwise it’s an easy yet satisfying opening boss fight.
Egg Viper - Now we’re talking. The Egg Viper serves well as the climactic showdown between Sonic and Eggman, Militant Missionary serving as the perfect track to amplify the tension as you… spin in a 360 degree circle to dodge Eggman’s lasers. Then Spin Dash away from his explosive laser. Stand stationary before his razor discs and jump as they approach you, hit Eggman, he goes boom and tries a suicidal dive but an easy Spin Dash fixes the situation and Sonic comes out victorious. Yes, the boss fight is pretty formulaic and easy when you strip it down, but it’s a pretty good popcorn blockbuster to cap off the entertaining gameplay of Sonic’s story.

Egg Walker - This boss fight is actually better than the Egg Viper, in my opinion, based on gameplay and its impact towards the Tails’ character. For starters, despite being able to fly, the Egg Walker’s bombs and missiles are harder to dodge than the Viper’s missiles. Plus, unlike the Egg Viper, you can actually manipulate the Egg Walker into exposing its weak point by standing right below it. Hence, the fight can actually be ended much faster than the Egg Viper fight, which requires a lot more arbitrary waiting. Secondly, this fight is also a pivotal moment in Tails’ character, being the scene where he finally fully steps out of Sonic’s shadow, triumphantly overcoming his fears to take out Eggman by himself. And for once, he is heralded as a hero of his own right, through his own merit. No matter how choppy the animations can get in SA1, seeing Tails bashfully scratch his head before flying off to the cheers of the citizens of Station Square always brings a smile to my face.

ZERO - After spending minutes of having this annoying chef hat robot swarm around you like a sandfly, it feels good to finally have the opportunity to swat it. And does Amy swat it with ease, the Spinning Hammer Attack proving its usefulness with how easy it is to knock ZERO towards the electric fence for a free hit. His attacks are all lacklusterly telegraphed and easy to predict, making this a relatively easy fight to end the most boring campaign in SA1.

Beta Mk. II - Much like Gamma’s story itself, the narrative runs thick in the veins of this boss fight: You had to bust down your own ‘brother’ to survive the ruthlessness of Eggman at the very beginning of the story. Now, after witnessing the dismemberisation and agonizing torture Beta was put through, Gamma is determined to set them free from the burden of serving their master. The fight is definitely harder than the previous E-series boss battles, with Beta having more weapons in their arsenal like a charged explosive missile, reflective force fields and a barrage of guided missiles. The attack pattern is repetitive and easy to memorise though, so taking out Mk II isn’t too big of a difficulty spike. When Beta is finally defeated, the outcome provides one last shock to the player; it’s finally revealed that Beta and Gamma were actually Amy’s Flicky’s parents the entire time: these animals were brutally forced into hurting one another, proving that Eggman is a cold-hearted bastard whose cruelty knows no boundaries.

And that essentially covers all 6 stories initially unlockable in SA1! There were ups and downs that I’ve summarized and analysed throughout this entire review, but there’s still the overarching plot line that was left hanging on a thread. The backstory of Tikal and Chaos, which can finally be unearthed by completing every story Sonic Adventure has to offer, thus unlocking the last story.

Part 4: The Servers are the Seven Chaos

Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos.

I have… mixed opinions on the last story. Let’s start from the beginning. Angel Island falls conveniently in the same spot as it did when it crashed the first time, which was already a huge convenience to begin with. As for why Angel Island fell again despite the Master Emerald being intact? It’s never explained, and even Knuckles has to turn to Sonic for advice. This actually does make sense in a way, since Sonic has had more experience tapping into the power of the Chaos Emeralds themselves compared to Knuckles. But this is where one of the smartest strategical plays occurs in the Sonic franchise, and it’s pretty underrated. Chaos, having blindsided Eggman while he was vulnerable in the Mystic Ruins jungle, used his connection to the Master Emerald to bring Angel Island down again (at least, that’s what I assume happened), seeking the Chaos Emeralds that Knuckles obtained from defeating the water monster onboard the Egg Carrier. Knowing he needed to distract the guardian echidna, Chaos dragged Eggman alongside him to serve as that distraction. Sure enough, Knuckles, being the gullible fuck he is, runs over to examine Eggman, allowing Chaos to sneak past undetected to reabsorb the 6 Chaos Emeralds. To clean up his tracks he then proceeds to knock out a defenseless Knuckles, then goes off to the wreckage of the Tornado II to steal the last Chaos Emerald, which was embedded in the propeller of the modified biplane.

Sonic, far too late to stop Chaos, is subjected to one last piece of exposition where he witnessed Chao genocide, and then echidna genocide for good measure. Oh, and there was also something about Tikal sealing Chaos and herself in the Master Emerald, too. Understandably tramatised from witnessing so much bloodshed, Sonic runs back to Station Square to cry, and cry he did because his tears summoned Perfect Chaos who fucking unleashes a tsunami onto the city of Station Square. Everything you met and knew about the city? Gone. The burger guy statue? Gone. Speed Highway? Gone. The mom who got herself addicted to gambling? Gone, good on the kid. Eitherways, they’re all dead from drowning or blunt force trauma, take your pick. The cutscene clearly showed that the city was the busiest it's ever been all game, and none of them were anticipating the flooding, let alone the fucking tsunami wave. The damage that Perfect Chaos caused turned the city into a wasteland filled with mountain loads of rubble and debris. Sonic recovers from his few seconds of psychological trauma to throw a generic ‘wow that final boss looks scary alright’ line, and then Eggman suddenly shows up with an Egg Carrier 2??? Saying he created it in case something went wrong??? Even though that doesn’t make any sense??? But yeah Perfect Chaos agrees and yeets Eggman out for the rest of the game. For the first time in Sonic history, the scientific genius has been usurped as the big baddie of the game, and warra kaiju to take his place? Tikal shows up begging for Sonic to help her seal Chaos back into the Master Emerald, and Sonic responds with something that feels so out of place that it sounds like terrible scriptwriting, which it is. But he’s right: merely sealing away Chaos wouldn’t quench the rage within his heart. It won’t change a thing and he’d be trapped within his own torrent of emotions forever. Therefore, the only solution is to beat the absolutely loving shit out of him- I mean, shower the guy in positivity using the power of friendship and Super Sonic.

Now, this next part is in my opinion, a huge missed opportunity: having the chance to play as every character one final time before the final boss, a tradition which wouldn’t exist until SA2. Taking a note from J’s Reviews’ book, we could’ve had Tails race against Chaos’ tentacles to one of the emeralds. Big diving underwater to find the other. Amy Hammer Jumping across fallen towers to reach another. Sonic using his abilities to outrun Perfect Chaos, barely snatching the Chaos Emerald before a point-blank laser fries his shoes. Knuckles rounding out the search by retrieving the final 3 emeralds. The level’s name? Honestly, I have no clue. Flooded Wasteland, I guess? But a character montage in the same vein of Cannon’s Core would’ve been awesome.

Anyways, with all the Chaos Emeralds in hand, Sonic channels the positive energy of them to transform into Super Sonic, backed by the positive support of his friends and… the citizens of Station Square? What the fuck? Shouldn’t they all be dead by now? How the fuck is this even logically comprehensible? Did no one die from the fucking tsunami wave??? Sigh. Gotta keep it kid-friendly, I guess. Plot inconsistency aside, I really appreciate how the crowd chanting for Sonic in the background was actually taken from Sonic Adventure’s official Japanese unveiling. There, Segata Sanshiro (known for being the guy who will murder you in your sleep for not buying a Saturn) roused the crowd into chanting Sonic’s name in celebration, and it’s glad to see all this genuine, real positive energy from the fanbase present in that auditorium that day be preserved in such a meaningful fashion.

Final boss time. Up till this point, I’ve yet to bring up the game’s main theme, Open Your Heart, which serves as the backing track for this boss fight. Johnny Gioeli and Crush 40’s introduction to the universe of Sonic arrives in glorious fashion, with his vocals absolutely hammering the lyrics into my head and getting me to scream out the lyrics alongside him as I play through this… admittedly mediocre depiction of a final boss fight. It’s fairly straightforward, you speed up using dash panels, collecting rings to sustain your super form like in the classic games, then climb up a waterslide and whack the shit out of Chaos’ brain, like you did at the very beginning of the game, when Chaos was nothing but a big-brained intellectual working under Eggman. You do this 3 times, and this surprisingly easy fight is over…

…there’s still a phase 2, isn’t there?

…and the awesome Crush 40 music is gone. Yeah, the imbecile who decided that replacing Open Your Heart with generic boss fight music should definitely not be working at Sonic Team right now. Perfect Chaos 2 is more of the same, except he also shoots explosions and A MEGA LASUH to try slowing you down, forcing you to be unable to reach his brain. Another 3 hits and he’s done for. Sonic fights his biggest adversary aside from Eggman, literal water to beat the game. Tails says ‘all's well that ends well’, completely oblivious to the bundle of floating corpses and crumbling debris surrounding him, and Sonic peaces out, giving the townspeople a middle finger as he leaves them to rebuild their civilisation by themselves. Wow.

This fight, despite the odd design choice with the music, was epic. Much like most of the game, it has this epic, otherworldly feel that most games couldn’t come close to replicating at that point. Sure, the story was weak at times and half of the gameplay styles didn't work, but in 1998, this was certainly one of the greatest new platformers ever made. It dared to be ambitious, it dared to be bold, it dared to be… adventurous.

My conclusion? This game was not a rough transition into 3D for Sonic. Hell, I’d go as far as to say it had the same amount of jank SM64 has today. Mario revolutionised 3D platformer controls? Sonic took what everything he was known for and faithfully recreated it in 3D, while still being faster than the fat plumber ever will be. Can you turn backwards without having to go in a circle? Thought so. Mario 64 had a pretty mediocre camera and formulaic, simplistic storylines? Sonic Adventure has a terrible camera but great stories to tell in Tails and Gamma. Point is, Mario 64 is just as fallible as SA1 is, and therefore both should be considered equals as titans of the 3D platformer genre. Their contributions to the future of this genre is unprecedented. Because of this, I emphatically believe Sonic Adventure truly was a game of its time that still holds up in numerous aspects today, and deserves a lot more appreciation than it has.

Final score: 7.5/10.

Side note: Ironically, my house gets flooded on the day I was scheduled to finish this review: June 23, 2022. The aftermath of said flood set me back physically and mentally, thus delaying my progress. Fuck you, flood, and happy belated birthday, Sonic.