Sonic's Dark Age: How did you cope?

[Soniman]

I'm not sure how 2005-2010 counts as a dark age in the context of the OP in the first place. Hindsight is wonderful and all that, but when those games came out and people were actually playing them for the first time, people didn't treat them like they were the scum of the Earth. Especially not things like Chronicles or the Rivals games, which had huge amounts of love when they were new.

Ergo, most people coped with said "dark age" by playing those games listed in the OP and enjoying them for an extended period of time. The only exceptions in that period were loathed upon arrival by pretty much everyone were Black Knight and STH '06.

[Dr. Homem]

2006-2007 I didn't "cope" much. I simply stayed away from Sonic and changed interests. When Unleashed came out I got a copy for the PS2, loved it, and I objectively prefer it to the HD version. But that's not the point. In all truth, avoiding the problem was the most excellent solution to me, and I basically did not need to struggle.

[Badnik Mechanic]

*looks around*

Wait... Since when are the Rivals games considered bad? Didn't we once have a huge topic on here praising both of them a few years ago? Not many people on this forum had a PSP and there was never a TSS review on the games either. Yet one day long after SR 2 comes out someone makes a topic praising it and saying it's one of the best games for years.

After the first SOS I was sat with someone who had a PSP and rivals 2 playing and I thought it was great. When I finally got a PSP... managed to play Rivals and I loved it. In fact I remember some people at the time saying that it was the one game that people seemed to be crying out for, that being a platforming side scroller type game.

[Balding Spider]

Well I was already out of the franchise around the time of SA2 sooooo... I Guess I coped by going on with my days.

[Your Vest Friend]

*looks around*

Wait... Since when are the Rivals games considered bad? Didn't we once have a huge topic on here praising both of them a few years ago? Not many people on this forum had a PSP and there was never a TSS review on the games either. Yet one day long after SR 2 comes out someone makes a topic praising it and saying it's one of the best games for years.

After the first SOS I was sat with someone who had a PSP and rivals 2 playing and I thought it was great. When I finally got a PSP... managed to play Rivals and I loved it. In fact I remember some people at the time saying that it was the one game that people seemed to be crying out for, that being a platforming side scroller type game.

[Kiah]

As I've mentioned time and time again, I returned to the Sonic series back in 2010 after leaving in 1995, so this "Dark Age" in regards to Sonic was unknown to me. The games were great at the time that I left so that had nothing to do with why I left the series. I didn't even know Sonic was around really until that time I returned. So I can't say how I coped during that time as I didn't even know Sonic still existed to begin with.

Now if I was around the fanbase during that time, I think I would of coped or dealt with the mediocre games just fine. I'm pretty sure I would of bought the games anyway, played them, and had fun with them, and looked forward to the next one as others have mentioned. I would look forward to the next game with the hope that it will be better, as I love Sonic and wish to see his games do well. I've happened to notice that a lot of the things in the games that bothers the majority of the fans doesn't bother me at all. Besides, I see at least one thing good and something I liked about each of these games.

Nowadays, the curiosity and Sonic fan in me wants to pick up all of these games considered to be part of the "Dark Age", as I have picked up a couple of them already. Except for Shadow the Hedgehog. Amid the little positive that I think about that game, there absolutely is no way I would touch that game, even if you gave it to me for free.

[Cortez]

To be fair for all the crap the Rivals games did wrong I'd say they had the best aesthetic design of the modern series since Adventure beaten only by Colours in recent years.

[Covskin]

At first, I thought this covered the time between Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic Adventure. You had Sonic 3D and Sonic R (debateable games both) and...uh...that was it. Sure, you had Sonic Jam, but that was only a compilation. And myself, I never had a Saturn or even Dreamcast, so I didn't have a new game from Sonic 3D to Sonic Heroes. That was a tough time.

But on topic, the more recent "Dark Age". Based on overall reactions here on the SSMB, I missed out on most of the games anyway. My last one had been Shadow, and I came back with Colors. So, with my self-imposed drought, I got Sonic Gems Collections, and went through the Game Gear games I missed out on via Sonic Adventure DX. Actually, I sunk a fair bit of time into SA:DX, to make up for lost time from its original release.

Oh, and going Summer of Sonic revitalised me ahead of Sonic 4, Colors and Generations too.

[Scar]

Cope?

Sonic's darker days were hardly traumatising........

In any case, all I did was play something else, quite simple really.

[Milo]

Assuming this "dark period" took place between Heroes to Colors...

I think I got lucky. Up until 2005, I lived in a "time capsule" of sorts regarding the Sonic franchise; and despite this I was able to get up to speed in terms of games. And even then, it wasn't until 2010 did I really know about the reputation of the franchise (at that time) or the fanbase. Meanwhile between that 2005-2010 gap, the mainstream/spinoff Sonic games I owned and played during that era (SA2, Heroes, ShTH, Rush, Riders, Secret Rings, and SR:ZG) I for the most part enjoyed them all. Although I will admit that from 2003, I did have a N64 and PS2 in addition to my sister owning a Xbox, so I was busy playing whatever games we had on them during that time, while every now and then I would play whatever Sonic games I had during that time, which was mostly Sonic 2, 3&K, and R; thus while being in a "time capsule" I was having fun with other games at the time.

You may not believe or agree but for me the dark Sonic's ages are now.

- No good stories

- No other playable characters

- No characters involved into the stories

- Lack of rock music

- Short games

- Incredibly linear games

- Easy games

- Low replayability and lack of bonus content

I miss the times that many people label as Sonic's dark ages. For me it was much better and lively than what I have now.

I still hope they'll bring back some of things I loved (including playable characters and good stories) though.

I wouldn't really consider this period part of Sonic's "dark period" than I would consider it a seperate "'mediocrity/playing-it-safe' period."

[Indigo Rush]

Sonic Heroes: Thought it was good, didn't care

Sonic Rivals: Thought it was good, didn't care

Sonic Riders: Thought it was good, didn't care

Shadow the Hedgehog: Hyped it like crazy, got bored with it, played Gems Collection and SADX

Sonic 2006: Denial

Sonic and the Secret Rings: Enjoyed it for a bit, got bored, played Rush

Sonic Unleashed: Didn't get around to playing it until 2 years after release... mostly enjoyed it

Sonic and the Black Knight: Played once, never touched again. Played Sonic 3 & Knuckles and learned to love it like a blind hemophiliac kitten.

That's pretty much how I thought about it. Played other Sonic games that were less terrible, really. I didn't grow out of my "SONIC CAN DO NO WRONG" phase until the past few years, really.

[Wraith]

Well, I had a gamecube and a wii at the time so I just found other shit to play.

....Now that I think about it, the dark age of Sonic is when I started getting into Zelda...

[Vertekins]

I was less jaded back then. Heck, it proves something when I tolerated ShTH enough to attain all A ranks on it. I liked the Storybook games and I adored Unleashed. To me, '06 and Chronicles were the terribad ones.

1996-2002 were the "dark ages of Sonic" to me really. I first played SA and SA2 in 2002 and those games broke the dark age of no great Sonic games when Sonic was practically dead. During that time, I was into the Game Boy and Playstation.

[sonfan1984]

You may not believe or agree but for me the dark Sonic's ages are now.

- No good stories

- No other playable characters

- No characters involved into the stories

- Lack of rock music

- Short games

- Incredibly linear games

- Easy games

- Low replayability and lack of bonus content

I miss the times that many people label as Sonic's dark ages. For me it was much better and lively than what I have now.

I still hope they'll bring back some of things I loved (including playable characters and good stories) though.

Nope, that sounds more like the series is playing it safe and trying to dig itself out rather then almost hitting rock bottom like his 'dark ages'.

[Diogenes]

The Lame Age

[Ferno]

I started with Advance and Heroes, so I was pretty much completely oblivious to this "dark age" as a teen. To me, Sonic games always had the current level of "quality" that they had at the time, and I didn't know the older games were objectively better, I just saw them as "the old 2D games." Didn't really get into the online fanbase until around 2006, so I basically got on board near the end of the whole thing, but throughout all that time, I still liked most of the games being released, and didn't see them for what they were until years later. I didn't start getting really active in the fanbase until around 2008 when news about Unleashed started coming in and the future seemed bright to everyone again, which was quite the big morale boost after the crushing blow that was '06. It's a touchy issue, but for me, Unleashed was the game to deal a massive blow to the "Dark age's" armor, while Colors finished it off in it's weakened state later on.

Edited November 14, 2012 by Inferno

[batson]

The only exceptions in that period were loathed upon arrival by pretty much everyone were Black Knight and STH '06.

Well, there was also Shadow the Hedgehog, which could at the very least be described as being highly controversial when it first came out. Also, its probably the only game in the series that a huge amount of people hated even before it came out.

But yeah, Black Knight and Sonic 06 were probably the only ones that damn near everyone disliked as soon as they came out. And like you also said, some of the games that are nowadays often counted among the bad games of the series were actually widely praised when they first came out. Unleashed and especially Chronicles are the ones that foremost comes to mind.

[SilJeff]

Let's see...

Heroes: I loved the game. I definitely thought it was a step down from the Adventures, but still good.

NOW the dark age begins for me.

Shadow: i honestly have no idea how I first came-across/heard-about this game, but being the loyal fan (more specifically, an OCD collector), I gave it a try. Thought it controlled fair, but everything else was pure s***. I didn't like it, but I gave SEGA the benefit of the doubt, thinking "oh, SEGA isn't perfect, maybe they just goofed"

06: I absolutely hated this glob of bad programming and design. Because I had spent over $200 to get this "game" (I bought my first Xbox 360 just to play this game), I changed my "oh they just goofed up" mentality to a "three strikes and you're out" mentality with this being strike one. Three shit games in a row = i would stop being a sonic fan (I'd still play the older stuff, but I would have nothing to do with the franchise from strike three onward)

Unleashed: i did not like game at all. Pretty to look at, but has absolutely horrible controls and the werehog is just short of being shit. Strike two for SEGA

Colors: this game saved them for me. Because they actually came out with a fun game, i didnt have to give them the dreaded strike three!

I don't count spinoffs in my opinion of the state of franchise (I count the Rush and Advance series as minor games, not Spin-offs BTW), but i'll talk about them:

Riders: I hated it. However, again I brushed it aside, because I have no liked most spin-offs since the Genesis sin-offs (DRMBM, Spinball, etc).

Rivals: horrible

Battle: meh

Chronicles: horrible

Secret rings: garbage

Black night: garbage

Edited November 14, 2012 by Mr.Snarf

[GenesisCodeX]

Sonic 4 was a breath of fresh air for me, I could play a Sonic game again that (obviously sans the physics) was just Sonic again. No weird alternate gameplay styles or cheesy dialogue. I mean I enjoyed and played the shit out of Unleashed 360 but those cutscenes.... And I didn't absolutely hate the Werehog but was it really necessary? And even if I hated every one of the games during this 'dark era' I would always have the classics to play until something good game out.

Edited November 14, 2012 by GenesisCodeX

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

...You were a pain in the ass back then xD.

Bitch, please. EVERYONE was a pain in the ass back then.

I just so happened to be the pain in the ass that gave everyone else a taste of their own medicine. I believe Chooch referred to me in the first Appreciation Topic that I was a "Flaming cauldron of RAGE".

[Kuzu]

The Lame Age

More like "The Boring Age"

[Phos]

Adventure 2 made it no longer special (Man that game is terrible), Heroes ensured I wouldn't pay attention again for years.

[UltDevilDoom]

I liked Shadow the Hedgehog enough to keep me in the franchise, but it just had to be the game that divided fans more than any other.

Optimism for the next Sonic game (and a few others) quickly turned into trade-in value at Gamestop.

Edited November 15, 2012 by UltDevilDoom

[Rexeljet]

I was never really part of the fandom until last year, but the year before that I was lurking around to find out about Sonic 4 Episode 1, which I suppose might count as being in the "dark age"? (assuming that 1995-1998 wasn't more of a dark age?). I was quite excited for the game initially; to begin with all we had was the title screen music and that trailer that showed 3 seconds of gameplay. I thought it would be a brilliant game. (I assumed that the Sonic 2 percussion and the low-quality synths were only going to be for the title music as a neat little homage...) I assumed that Splash hill was only a Green Hill rehash as part of a tradition that all classic Sonic games start with a tropical island level (i.e. Green Hill>Emerald Hill>Angel Island).

Then the PartnerNet version was leaked and all my optimism was killed off.

It actually wasn't the physics that annoyed me the most (though they certainly didn't help), but the fact that the levels, badniks and even bosses were rehashes despite the fact that the game was billed as a sequel. Plus, I hated the blatent lies the spokespeople at Sega told about the game. Now I understand that their budget was low so it wasn't going to be the greatest game of all time either way but I still dislike the things about the game that I disliked as a 16 year old.

Edited November 15, 2012 by OldFreddy

[Alice Twilight]

Did anyone legit cry themselves to sleep?

That's how I imagine most people who go through the dark age, clutching their Sonic 3 cartridges eating ice cream.