Sonic's Dark Age: How did you cope?

[Antronach]

During Sonic'd Dark Age I really wasn't too concerned with video games that much until I settled down. By then, Colours was coming out and it didn't really affect me. I did play Heroes, Shadow and Riders to death when they came out and I still enjoy them. Unleashed SD wasn't as good as I thought it would, but I thought of it better than the HD version. '06 was more or less a self inflicted challenge, even though the people watching me play the game enjoyed it more than I did. Never got to play the Rush or Rivals games though.

[Cambot]

You think you guys got it bad? (well, most of you don't, but still...)

I actually became a Sonic fan DURING the Dark Age! I got my first Sonic game, Mega Collection Plus, for the Xbox for my birthday, December 4th, 2005. I gradually got sucked into the franchise, and all I see on the Sonic fansites are, "Sonic is dead!" "What will it take to make Sonic loved again?" I couldn't understand what was going on.

I was also following the development of this little Xbox 360 game called Sonic the Hedgehog. By the time it came out, I couldn't wait to play it, even though I didn't have an Xbox 360 yet. By chance, I'm on the game's Wikipedia page, and I scrolled down to the "Reception" section, and I just remember feeling sunk when I read this:

"The game, thus far, has recieved generally abysmal reviews."

(Rivals was cool, though.)

[Spin Attaxx]

Same here. Believe it or not, I thought Shadow was awesome and I wanted it. Then, years later, I actually played it...

[batson]

Same here. Believe it or not, I thought Shadow was awesome and I wanted it. Then, years later, I actually played it...

I actually enjoyed Shadow, even though i could tell from the start that it objectively wasnt a very good game. The only Sonic games that i felt were so terrible that i didnt even enjoyed them were Labyrinth, 06, and Black Knight.

[Multikaris]

I did play Secret Rings and liked it.

[Rexeljet]

Same here. Believe it or not, I thought Shadow was awesome and I wanted it. Then, years later, I actually played it...

I remember getting Shadow the Hedgehog many Christmases ago. I thought it would be awesome, because I'd heard from someone at school that it was an awesome game. After getting it, I found it so frustrating and uninteresting that I never played it again. I don't think I've played it for about five years now. Maybe I should give it another shot and relive my short but hateful experience.

[Dr. Crusher]

I'll admit, there are times in which I consider doing that with Sonic 06. Sometimes, very rarely, I think to myself "Maybe I could show my friend this. Maybe I could have another go at facing those many design choices, glitches and plot points again. It's been a long time, maybe things will be different..."

"..."

"...NAH."

*plays S3&K/Generations*

[Platinumb]

Sonic Unleashed HD was part of these bad games. From bad level design, uniqueness, failing at being a Sonic game, not a game featuring Sonic, cheapness in difficulty, and so on.

Generations would have been the same way if it wasn't a fanservice game. Luckily, Sonic Team utilised the gimmicks from the stages well. Some even gained some.

Edited November 25, 2012 by Platinumb

[Dizcrybe]

I wasn't much of a Sonic fan back then, so I played stuff like SSX 3, Driver 3, and NBA Street instead. I didn't really get into Sonic until 2008 when I got the Mega Collection and did surprisingly well at the games after my massive suckage when I was five.

[FireBird75]

I just assumed people stuck with the handhelds until 2010.

 

Me? Well, I got Shadow the Hedgehog for Christmas. it sucked. Heard about 06 around March of that year.  The game came out that November, I saw that its reception was worse than Shadow's and said "Fuck this I'm out. Sonic come back when you know what you are doing again." Little did I know, Sonic was still succeeding on Handheld consoles. Oops.  I should of did this:

2005: Shadow's not good? Fine Sonic Rush it is

2006: Sonic 06 was terrible? Ok I get Rivals instead

2007: Secret Rings not that great? Alright let me pick up the Rush and Rivals sequels that came out.

2008: Unleashed is only half good? Uhhh...nah.  I'll get this Sonic RPG that came out that's gotten a lot of critical praise.

2009: Black Knight? No thanks. I'll stick with mah handhelds.

2010: Ok we're back on track now. Sega and Sonic Team seem to know what they're doing now.

[SkyLlama]

I didn't go though the whole "dark age". Like I said somewhere else I went from S3&K to Generations without playing anything in between.

It's only just recently I've started playing some of the games like Adventure 1 and 2, Heroes, etc.

[-blank-]

I didn't have a problem 'coping' in Sonic's 'Dark Age'. I actually wasn't interested in the main series games post-Heroes until Unleashed came out, meaning I pretty much avoided Shadow the Hedgehog and 06 (other than a shot at a demo for the PS2 version of Shadow). I did play the handhelds and spin-offs though, but aside from Secret Rings I didn't have a problem with them.

[Chaos Warp]

I've been thinking. Did Sonic truly have a "Dark Age" where no games were good? If you think about it, there was never a time when Sonic didn't have at least decent games coming out. Case in point: The Rush and Rivals series during the Shadow-06 "dark ages". Say what you will about them, but they were at the very least decent. I wound not honestly call it a "Dark Age" I'd more likely call it a bit of a slump until things started picking up again at Unleashed. 

[AcidicDissonance]

There was no dark age for me, and even if there was, then I never noticed. I had Sonic X, so that was enough for me.

[Emmett L. Brown]

I've been thinking. Did Sonic truly have a "Dark Age" where no games were good? If you think about it, there was never a time when Sonic didn't have at least decent games coming out. Case in point: The Rush and Rivals series during the Shadow-06 "dark ages". Say what you will about them, but they were at the very least decent. I wound not honestly call it a "Dark Age" I'd more likely call it a bit of a slump until things started picking up again at Unleashed.

Between Shadow the Hedgehog's miserably failed attempt at being dark and edgy (with guns) and Sonic 06's complete and utter trainwreck (complete with dead hedgehog smoochin') Sonic became a joke in the media, and the franchise is still struggling to shake off the reputation it got from that lovely little period between Sonic Heroes and Sonic Colors.

 

Why Colors? Because Sonic Unleashed just made Sonic even more of a joke by first introducing brand new gameplay that actually had people going "Holy crap, that looks awesome! What an amazing turn-around for the franchi- Did Sonic just turn into a Werewolf!?" and the jokes merrily resumed at Sonic and Sega's expense, because seriously what the hell?

 

So, yeah. Dark age.

Edited March 21, 2013 by Emmett L. Brown

[Chaos Warp]

Between Shadow the Hedgehog's miserably failed attempt at being dark and edgy (with guns) and Sonic 06's complete and utter trainwreck (complete with dead hedgehog smoochin') Sonic became a joke in the media, and the franchise is still struggling to shake off the reputation it got from that lovely little period between Sonic Heroes and Sonic Colors.

 

Why Colors? Because Sonic Unleashed just made Sonic even more of a joke by first introducing brand new gameplay that actually had people going "Holy crap, that looks awesome! What an amazing turn-around for the franchi- Did Sonic just turn into a Werewolf!?" and the jokes merrily resumed at Sonic and Sega's expense, because seriously what the hell?

 

So, yeah. Dark age.

Maybe in terms of reception there was a dark age, but in terms of actual game quality there always was a good Sonic game through those years.

[Spin Attaxx]

True, but really, which game would get more attention: a simple stopgap handheld game, or a big budget meaty game-of-the-year main console game?

 

Better yet, which would get more attention: a DECENT simple stopgap handheld game, or a TERRIBLE big budget meaty game-of-the-year main console game?

Edited March 21, 2013 by Spin Attaxx

[ChikaBoing]

I think there were was never a time were there weren't bad Sonic game around.

 

Bad cash-in spin-offs were always there

[CanofEpicSauce]

I lost interest in the series after Heroes, I still played the portables and remember having fun with Secret Rings.  Black Knight was a pathetic piece of garbage.  I then tried Sonic Unleashed and got frustrated because of the stark contrast between the fun, fast paced gameplay of the Daytime Stages and the repetitive nature of the game, don't know why they needed the Werehog, it was a shitty excuse of a gimmick.  The overall mood and atmosphere of the Daytime Stages revitalized my interest in Sonic, then came 4 which I liked, then Colors, and the rest is history 

[Mangoaxe5]

Well other then Sonic 2006(which I never played) I like some of the games that the majority of the fandom disliked such as Shadow the Hedgehog which is not really as bad as the fandom makes it out to be.

Personally for me I consider the Sonic games that we're getting now to be the dark age in terms of tone/story. I'm also not a fan of the mixing of 2-D and 3-D in the level designs.

[UltDevilDoom]

When Sonic Unleashed came out, I was so skeptical that I bought the inferior PS2 version. It sucked.

 

I liked two Sonic games enough to keep them around before Sonic Colors: Sonic Rush and Shadow. Heroes, '06 and Unleashed were terrible and will never be justified by me.

 

But yeah, I did like Shadow. My opinion might be biased because he's my favorite, but I did like it.

[Kuzu]

Guess it comes down what you consider a dark age.

[Tani Coyote]

I think there were was never a time were there weren't bad Sonic game around.

 

Bad cash-in spin-offs were always there

 

This is very true. It's the joys of him being the main character who brings home the bacon for SEGA.

 

Guess it comes down what you consider a dark age.

 

This is true. Especially when enjoyment is really subjective... most games tend to fall into Dark Age status because the majority of opinions dislike them, or at least a very large minority. While graphics quality is pretty objective, the liking of the story, gameplay, etc. tends to be very subjective and muddied.

[NocturnalTwilight]

Let's see if I can remember then all, haha.

 

Riders - I actually loved the Riders Series, my only regret is I never completed all the challenges to get Super Sonic. I haven't got to play Free Riders yet, it looks amazing, though. The theme song is great too! I hope to play it someday. Zero Gravity was good, I like how they included Silver in it! Also, the original was amazing.

 

Rivals - I've played the Rivals series, I never had a problem with it. I just couldn't do very good at 2D racing. I loved how they included voices in SR2, great feature. You don't see that too often in a Mobile Sonic game! Not my favorite of all Sonic though.

 

Chronicles - I thought this game was cool, I played most of it, but being bad at RPG games, I didn't get to finish it, sadly. It was a great game though, no doubt.

 

Unleashed SD - Although I did prefer the HD version (who wouldn't?), I thought it was still a cool version. I mean, it's kind of like Sonic's last SD game, you know? Or at least his last PS2 game, let's think of it that way. Sure, it wasn't as good as the HD version, but it's still Sonic Unleashed.

 

Black Knight - Probably my favorite of the 2 storybook series. I wish Darkspine would have made a return. I had no problem with Excalibur though! Music was also really good. Crush 40 did a cover of With Me in case you didn't know, go listen to it!

 

Sonic 4 - I absolutely adored this game. The thing is, I was never too fond of the old 2D Sonic games, I didn't hate them or anything, I just didn't care for them. But, since this one had HD graphics, and they added the homing attack, I made a strong exception. I really liked this game, and the Music for Splash Hill Zone? Nothing short from amazing. 

 

Sonic '06 - I've said it before, I loved this game. 

 

Secret Rings - Besides from the slightly frustrating controls, I loved this game. The levels were fun, and the missions weren't that bad. Darkspine for the win! 

 

Shadow the Hedgehog - Another amazing Sonic game, loved the music. Especially the Chaos Blast, couldn't get enough of it. 

 

 

Like I said before, I love all Modern Sonic games (Sonic Adventure+).

[Dandp]

I completely left the series alone... yeah....

After playing a few of the "Dark ages" games (funnily enough, the worst ones too, like secret rings, UnWiished) and I thought the franchise was dead, so I moved onto other series'. I played alot of assassins creed, and pretty much loved AC2, and played that to death (I think I'm on my 4th save file, after 100%ing my 3rd one). I played COD, mostly for the campaigns, I really love the campaigns. I played some FPS games like Deus Ex HR, seeing as all that was released on Xbox that I heard about was FPS games, I hadn't got into using the internet to learn about new games. I went off of Nintendo for a while, not sure why. Later, I got into LBP and got back into platformers and eventually got into Minecraft. That kept me occupied for abooooooouuuutttt a year. Then Sonic Generations came into my life. I played it because i always loved the classic games, thought I would endure the Modern stages so I could play the Classic ones, ended up loving it all. Bought a Megadrive and all the classics, played them, loved them, got hooked on the franchise again. So yay for generations.