Does Sonic really need a story?

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

In the OP's defense, he's coming off rather decent and levelheaded about the topic. Otherwise he would have pissed off more than just a few people here, considering how much we talk about it.

[UltDevilDoom]

A Sonic game without a story? Sega would be fucking up all over again. You guys can argue all you want about the depth of the story, but the fact is that Sonic games need a story.

[Nattala]

Many people don't give the classic games enough credit. Putting aside the loads of backstory, dialogue and mythology from the Japanese manuals the games themselves are made up of several visual, audio and symbolic cues that indicate a story which I think many people miss because they have played the games so much.

Like take Sonic 1, the most minimal of all Sonic stories. Just the other day I was looking at how Sonic 1 conveys its story. If you've never played the game before, never even read the manual, how would you know what's going on? Well the first thing you see after the opening credits is a blue hedgehog with the words SONIC THE HEDGEHOG. So presumably that's the character's name. Now the character is smiling but he also has eyes slightly squinted and is waggling his finger in a condescending way so he's got a bit of an attitude. Behind him is mountains and water with the blue sky implying day so already we've established character, setting and time and we haven't even left the opening screen.

Start the game and you're playing as the blue hedgehog. Now usually the character you play as is the hero, not always but its the usual expectation. You're in the same place you saw in the opening screen. Walk a bit and you see a bug that appears to be made out of metal. How do you know that this bug is bad? Because it hurts you. How do you know that you're supposed to destroy it? Because doing so gives you points. Upon destroying it a blue bird comes out and flies offscreen. This can lead to two interpretations.

1. The bird was piloting the robot and is now fleeing from you because its defenseless

2. The bird was trapped in the robot and is now free, fleeing to prevent being trapped again.

Note that there's no way to interact with the bird so one can assume its of no significance once the robot is destroyed.

Travel a bit further and you see a robot bee that tries to shoot you and metal piranhas that also hurt you, all with animals inside. So for now we've established that the blue hedgehog named Sonic is the protagonist and the robots are the antagonists. the little animals allegiance is still unclear.

Get to the end of the level and you see a signpost with a smiling mustached man. Why is this man on a signpost and who put it here? Touch the signpost and Sonic spins it around to change it into a picture of himself. Happy music starts playing which means you did something good. The changing of the signpost is symbolic of a cleansing of the area done by going through and destroying the robots. Notice Sonic is doing the peace symbol with his fingers. So you're changing it from the control of Eggman to a more peaceful state thanks to Sonic. But you won't figure this out until Act 3 and your first encounter with the mustached man. For now the signpost is just foreshadowing.

You know how in movies when the villain appears the music changes to something menacing. Same deal here. In fact you hear the music a few moments before the mustached man actually appears as if the music was signalling his arrival. This is an instant indication that this guy is bad news. You're also prevented from progressing forward or backtracking so this indicates your supposed to do something here first. The fact that he uses a wrecking ball is also symbolic. Wrecking balls have one purpose; to destroy. There's no ambiguity as to why one would be using a wrecking ball. These things combined give a very strong sense that this mustached man is evil and a bigger antagonist than the robots, who didn't have their own music. Also he laughs when you get hit; what a jerk! Defeat this man and he flees but now you're allowed to progress forward to see what he was preventing you from reaching. It's a metal capsule. Hit the switch on the top and animals, much like the ones you've seen in the robots previously. Then it becomes clear that 2 is the correct interpretation. The mustached man has been trapping these animals. Also notice that the man's machine is not fully destroyed, unlike the robots, it can still fly, implying that he has the capacity to come back.

So within the first Zone you get introduced to the main character, introduced to the complication and see the cause of the complication in the introduction to the main antagonist. Beating the game should provide the resolution. Even though the mustached man escaped he's defeated and Sonic returns to the original setting, the robots and traps gone, the animals free. But if you failed to collect all the shiny jewels you find in Special Stages had more significance beyond simple collectibles. Sonic looks annoyed with you and the final shot is one of a sinister, grinning, eyebrows lowered mustached man juggling the jewels and the words TRY AGAIN. Well you stuffed up didn't you? Beat the game with all the jewels and you see them bring new plant life to the Green Hill Zone. The final shot with an angry man tells you that this time it is indeed THE END.

But yeah there's lots of little stuff like that in the classic games. Like how Sonic 2 through Sonic 3 and to Sonic and Knuckles had an ongoing storyline. Or the character development of Knuckles from laughing antagonist to realising hes been betrayed and joining the heroes with stuff like his opening to Sonic and Knuckles showing how he cares for his island. Or the fact that Sonic Cd has many plotlines going on at once; Release Eggman's control of Little Planet, Defeat Metal Sonic and rescue Amy, Undo the damage Eggman has done and ensure a good future. I could do an entire essay alone on all the little things Sonic CD does for its story such as the Metal Sonic machines to the characterisation of Amy.

Or one thing many people miss is the storyline to Wing Fortress Zone. At the start of the zone the plane gets shot and catches fire. Sonic gets to safety but Tails doesn't, instead going down with the plane as you see it falling. Add onto this the fact that Tails, who has followed you through every level up to this point, is absent for this level. Now we all know Tails comes back but generally when you see a plane on fire crashing you're going to presume the person inside is going to die if not get really hurt. Then at the end of Wing Fortress Zone Sonic chases after Eggman only to see him escape in his rocket. Sonic stands at the edge of the platform, watching the rocket fly away, no way to pursue then who should appear but Tails! Also a hint towards Tails' excellent mechanic skills since for him to reappear in such a short time means he would of had to repair the Tornado in mid air while it was on fire.

[Indigo Rush]

Does Sonic need a story? Not really - he doesn't need it in the same way he doesn't need names for the levels, or a manual with a backstory, or a host of consistent characters, or recognizable music and jingles, or even Sonic himself - as long as the game plays well, right? Wait, that seems kind of off.

The fact of the matter is that we have a set establishment for all of the above, and one of those things is the existence of some kind of narrative or some form of context. As the brilliant post by Nattala above me says, you can pick out pieces of the story as you progress simply by observing the world around you - and of course by consulting the manual if you're curious enough.

Sonic isn't just a mindless avatar used to progress through some levels - Mario started out like that, but grew a personality (as simple as it is), Sonic had one from the start. This isn't a tetrimono block or a nameless hero - this is Sonic the Hedgehog - he is a rebel with an attitude, he fights for what he believes is morally right and has a bit of a smugness to boot. Right now, I've just established his personality (not in full, but pretty much the basics). What are you going to reflect this attitude on? His idle animation? That's one way, but how Sonic interacts with your hesitance to touch the controller is hardly worth something - Sonic interacts with other characters, be it friends, rivals or enemies. To get that far, you need dialogue or some sort of pantomime interaction at the very least. Then you need to establish why they're interacting - why they are meeting with each other, why there is conflict.

Eggman is the bad guy. Why? It's because, as we have observed, that he desires to rule the world with his robot army. That's a story right there. It isn't Citizen Kane, but it's context. One does not simply forgo a story - it is absolutely essential! In fact, it's unavoidable! No matter how you play the game, you are going to be confronted by a villain, and you as a human being are going to ponder the reasoning for this. This isn't simply a puzzle game, this isn't Pac Man, this isn't a game of cards - this is a platformer with a narrative.

Beyond that basic truth, we are given an opportunity to expand on the Sonic narrative. It hasn't been consistent, it hasn't even been that good, but for goodness sake, we have very interesting and believable 3-dimensional characters! We have to have something to do with them!

[Bright Eyes]

I think I can admit I've been thoroughly beaten in this topic.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Beyond that basic truth, we are given an opportunity to expand on the Sonic narrative. It hasn't been consistent, it hasn't even been that good, but for goodness sake, we have very interesting and believable 3-dimensional characters! We have to have something to do with them!

I'm gonna have to disagree with them being 3-dimensional.

Not exactly 2-dimensional either, but they can easily come off as shallow archetypes than characters to a more cynical person.

[Diogenes]

I'm gonna have to disagree with them being 3-dimensional.

Not exactly 2-dimensional either, but they can easily come off as shallow archetypes than characters to a more cynical person.

That'd be me.

I mean I'm sure they could do interesting things with the characters if they...well, if they actually tried...but they aren't there yet. There's barely been anything to push the characters out of their stock personalities.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

That'd be me.

Kinda describing myself too, even though you're more so a cynic than I am.

[Kuzu]

I wouldn't exactly say I'm a cynic, but I am aware the cast are mostly just shallow archetypes and haven't really moved on from that.

I still maintain that Sonic is the most fleshed out among them, and that's never gonna change.

[Indigo Rush]

I should rephrase my ending post then - *potentially* three-dimensional characters. The potential is there... right?

[Mauro Fonseca]

I think I can admit I've been thoroughly beaten in this topic.

And it takes the better man to do so

I mean, I do think people here overestimate the importance of story- I get by pretty well on Tetris- but in the case of Sonic, story (not manuals, though, since people here also tend to retroactively forget you wouldn't be able to see the JP Manuals in the 90's) has been an element of the series from the start, just subtle.

I think Sonic 4 Episode 2 did it well.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I should rephrase my ending post then - *potentially* three-dimensional characters. The potential is there... right?

The potential is, yes. But right now, no.

[Crash]

Yes, Sonic needs a story. Sometimes it comes out bad but with what Sonic is up against in the gaming community it makes sense to include a story. Otherwise, Sonic will crumble.

[MegaMan_EXE]

I would like a story driven Sonic game, where each character has their own story and can change paths in the story.

[Faseeh]

...can change paths in the story.

Remember where the got us last time? Thank god it wasn't implemented in SA2.

Anyways, I just want at least a story like Colors. I mean, yeah... If not, what's the motivation other than music and gameplay? O.O

[MegaMan_EXE]

Remember where the got us last time? Thank god it wasn't implemented in SA2.

Anyways, I just want at least a story like Colors. I mean, yeah... If not, what's the motivation other than music and gameplay? O.O

Well, not in the sense where it was over complicated. Just where you can...

You know what? Fuck that, I just want a more character driven story.

[Jack / Joker]

What is Sonic without a story? Without one he'd just run through a monotonous level or two and the game would just end there. No Eggman or Badnik Army trying to conquer the world, no Tails to put things in motion and no Knuckles to throw them out the window. It's literally impossible to actually achieve this. Everything tells a story, be it the Mega Mack in Scrap Brain/Chemical Plant or the little details on the Egg-O-Matic. Of course Sonic needs a story, we just haven't got one yet since we-- erm, you assholes scared SEGA into ditching it as well as the characters!