Least divisive Sonic game

[RougePatron]

Honestly, I don't know, but I think the least divisive that are generally liked by the fan base are the original 2D games and the Sonic Adventure games. Whereas the one generally disliked by the fan base are 06, the Storybook games, and Forces.

[MetalSkulkBane]

Bad: Rise of Lyric. Is there a single fan or at least apologist to this game?

Good: I'll say Mania. I feel like even the "Classic Sonic is overrated" crowd liked that game. If you bring Green Hills for the 10th time and people are still happy, you're doing something right.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

The least divisive game has definitely got to be S3&K.

Insult that game at your own risk!

Even Mania is more divisive than it, even if it’s not by all that much.

[castell-neath]

29 minutes ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

The least divisive game has definitely got to be S3&K.

Insult that game at your own risk!

Even Mania is more divisive than it, even if it’s not by all that much.

I 100% second this opinion. S3&K hands down.

I will add Sonic 2 16bit to this too as a close 2nd.

Worst. Toss up between 06 and SA2 for me. I did NOT like the Non Speed stages at all!

[Cayenne]

Bad games: Sonic Lost World 3DS. Finding one fan who likes this game is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Good games: As others said, Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles are still seen as masterpieces by many people. The same can't be said about Genesis/MD Sonic 1, though (from my experience, some would rather play the Master System version).

I still think Sonic 1 is an awesome game. It isn't as polished as the other 2/3 but still super fun to play.

 

Edited February 19 by Cayenne

[MetalSkulkBane]

47 minutes ago, castell-neath said:

Worst. Toss up between 06 and SA2 for me. I did NOT like the Non Speed stages at all!

Umm, this is the "Least divisive Sonic game" topic. If you don't like SA2 (heretic) that's fine (HERETIC!!!) but it is a divisive opinion (burn in deepest layers of hell!!!)

Edited February 19 by MetalSkulkBane

[castell-neath]

19 minutes ago, Cayenne said:

Bad games: Sonic Lost World 3DS. Finding one fan who likes this game is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Good games: As others said, Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles are still seen as masterpieces by many people. The same can't be said about Genesis/MD Sonic 1, though (from my experience, some would rather play the Master System version).

I still think Sonic 1 is an awesome game. It isn't as polished as the other 2/3 but still super fun to play.

 

You found one! Lol. Never owned a wii so this is my only experience if it....and I like it!

 

19 minutes ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

Umm, this is the "Least divisive Sonic game" topic. If you don't like SA2 (heretic) that's fine (HERETIC!!!) but it is a divisive opinion (burn in deepest layers of hell!!!)

Indeed it is. I formally recant my statement regarding SA2 lol!

Edited February 19 by castell-neath

[MetalSkulkBane]

I will say that I don't believe in a "perfect" game or any other medium.

S3&K I think some zones have some annoying level design. Marble Garden has a lot of impossible-to-see traps.
SA2 (even if you only play Sonic/Shadow) mapped too many actions to a single button.
Mania has a weak story, stupidly tied to Forces.
Heck almost all Sonic games have at least one pathetic boos fight (looking at you, Time Eater).

So while some games are un-divisive good, I refuse to say they are "perfect". Ironically I think "Murder of Sonic" was the closest to that.

[Cayenne]

1 hour ago, castell-neath said:

You found one! Lol. Never owned a wii so this is my only experience if it....and I like it!

I still have my copy but I don't have the 3DS or the desire to play it anymore. I only own it because I'm making a Sonic collection. : X

For some reason, my 3DS' gyroscope never worked correctly in the special stages. I don't know if this was my entire fault or the game just sucked during those sections.

Edited February 19 by Cayenne

[Technically Inept]

The least divisive games in the series are obviously SA2 and Unleashed.

Sonic 1 has some zones I imagine aren’t a favorite of most. But I think that’s kind of a consensus. A majority don’t think it’s the greatest, so there is little division there.

Sonic 2 may cause some less experienced fans to criticize enemy placement, the epitome of it being things like Metropolis Zone. But I don’t think many will feel strongly enough about those to hate the game either, so another game that I imagine there isn’t much fighting on. Most just think it’s good.

The only real “division” I ever really see on 3K is when a minority claims that is slightly inferior to 2.

CD is probably the one main series Classic game that is likely divisive. Divisive on the soundtrack. Divisive on the level design.

 

[Iko]

Sonic 3 & Knuckles for good, Sonic 06 for bad. and even 06 has some people telling you that it had potential and there was some good in it, so at the very end Sonic 3 & Knuckles is the only winner. Maybe the murder game too, but it's an obscure spin-off.

17 hours ago, Cayenne said:

Bad games: Sonic Lost World 3DS. Finding one fan who likes this game is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

I don't "like" it, it's a bad game offcourse, though I had some fun with it and it did some stuff right (the gameplay was more "sonic-y" than the HD counterpart), plus there was a small amount of levels that were good enough (like just 2 or 3 sadly). The competitive multiplayer was insane and fun, people exploited the hell out of the level design to skip the most time-consuming gimmicks by doing pixel-perfect jumps.

Edited February 20 by Iko

[LongcrierCat]

20 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

Bad: Rise of Lyric. Is there a single fan or at least apologist to this game?

 I'm the apologist.

Because that game was almost good before Sega made a game plan last minute long after the game was in its later stages of development to be a console exclusive for a system that didn't support the CryEngine.

New Frame Plus was right. The animation in the game is top notch. Honestly on par with Crash 4: It's About Time most of the time.

As for a game that is divisive: Sonic Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood has a lot of people split but I genuinely thought it was a good idea and the story was quite fun in places. Shame it couldn't be a straight up Archie Sonic adaptation like they clearly wanted to make and that caused a bigger lawsuit than was needed. Another arrogant choice on Sega's behalf.

Least divisive is definitely Sonic Mania because it really is a near perfect game and people who aren't even Sonic fans agree it's good.

Meanwhile Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 would have been least divisive in 1998-2001, but then public perception changed after the Gamecube ports were ported to Steam and now people don't remember how good the GameCube ports were even if they weren't perfect and Sonic Adventure DX is graphically not as good as the original but it's still good for a non Sega family's first Sonic game on a Nintendo system. Like yes, there's nitpicks to be had on the port jobs, but they really were good at the time.

A lot better than Sonic Colours Ultimate, that's for sure.

Edited February 20 by LongcrierCat

[Cayenne]

2 hours ago, Iko said:

I don't "like" it, it's a bad game offcourse, though I had some fun with it and it did some stuff right (the gameplay was more "sonic-y" than the HD counterpart), plus there was a small amount of levels that were good enough (like just 2 or 3 sadly). The competitive multiplayer was insane and fun, people exploited the hell out of the level design to skip the most time-consuming gimmicks by doing pixel-perfect jumps.

I never played the MP mode but can imagine how much fun it was. 3DS LW's best and most enjoyable levels were the ones where you could do some very cool stunts with the parkout: Windy Hill Act 1 and 2, Silent Forest Act 2 and Sky Road 3.

[MetalSkulkBane]

1 hour ago, LongcrierCat said:

 I'm the apologist.

Because that game was almost good before Sega made a game plan last minute long after the game was in its later stages of development to be a console exclusive for a system that didn't support the CryEngine.

New Frame Plus was right. The animation in the game is top notch. Honestly on par with Crash 4: It's About Time most of the time.

So the game would look nice (kinda, a lot of very pretty sketches in this video) and probably have fewer glitches. Its flaws didn't end there.

[FlameStream]

I do appreciate what it was going for. There are a lot of elements I do feel it did right/better. At conceptual level, the world building, at execution level the animation and art style.

Edited February 20 by FlameStream

[SadVlad]

I would have to say Sonic Jam. 

[captobvious42]

I think the original Genesis games are the one's that are the least divisive, though I imagine a lot of the more modern fans would probably call us out for being nostalgic... which they're probably right to an extent. I personally think Sonic 3 (& Knuckles) would be considered the perfect game if it weren't for having to have the game split because McDonald's, not to mention the whole thing with Michael Jackson's music. 

[batson]

Yeah, definitely S3&K. Saying good things about that game is literally the least controversial thing one can do in this fanbase. Saying good things about Sonic 2 is also entirely safe, however in that games case there are nowadays a fair share of people saying that it's overrated.

Saying that Rise of Lyric is bad is also up there as a statement that is likely to exclusively be met with "No arguments here". Sonic 06 is kind of in that same ballpark, but that game has over the years gotten a fair share of fans saying "Well it's not entirely bad..." and calling into question it's popular status as one of the wort games of all time.

Every other game in the franchise are divisive. Even Sonic 1 is a game where common opinions range from it still being great to it being good for it's time but nothing special by today's standards.

I see the Sonic Adventure games being mentioned in this thread, but nah, they're controversial. True that that have gotten significantly less controversial over the years though. They used to hate a lot of haters among older Sonic fans, by the generational shift in the fanbase means that the part who considers the Adventure games to examplify everything bad about modern Sonic are dwindling in numbers. I'd still say they're controversial in a larger perspective though since they're still widely divisive among peoplöe outside of the core fanbase. Like, among gamers in general but who may not be super fans of Sonic in particular. Mention Sonic Adventure 1 among people outside of forums like this and there is a good chance they'll be like "lol, Big the Cat is lame and cringe. Poor Game Grumps who had to suffer throgh all that crap. Sonic Adventure is where Sonic went wrong" and mention Sonic Adventure 2 and they'll be like "lol that was when Sega thought Sonic needed to be dark and have a story. Shadow is trying so hard to be cool, it's so cringe".

[captobvious42]

I'll admit, I didn't think Rise of Lyric was that bad... though I played it almost a year AFTER its release and maybe they got it down to an almost playable state. Sonic '06 was probably the first Sonic game where I went "Yeah, this is unplayably bad." 

I kinda wonder if the Adventure era games trying to bring the whole franchise in line with the Japanese side created a bit of a rift. Especially in regards to the whole the whole "Robotnik/Eggman" naming convention. I did like the games, even having some fond memories, though I didn't at first like the style of the character art; a bit too zany for my liking. SA2 toned it down.

[Wraith]

On 3/2/2024 at 5:14 AM, batson said:

I see the Sonic Adventure games being mentioned in this thread, but nah, they're controversial. True that that have gotten significantly less controversial over the years though. They used to hate a lot of haters among older Sonic fans, by the generational shift in the fanbase means that the part who considers the Adventure games to examplify everything bad about modern Sonic are dwindling in numbers. I'd still say they're controversial in a larger perspective though since they're still widely divisive among peoplöe outside of the core fanbase. Like, among gamers in general but who may not be super fans of Sonic in particular. Mention Sonic Adventure 1 among people outside of forums like this and there is a good chance they'll be like "lol, Big the Cat is lame and cringe. Poor Game Grumps who had to suffer throgh all that crap. Sonic Adventure is where Sonic went wrong" and mention Sonic Adventure 2 and they'll be like "lol that was when Sega thought Sonic needed to be dark and have a story. Shadow is trying so hard to be cool, it's so cringe".

You can also dig up general gaming discussion about Sonic Adventure noting that it was pretty buggy and unfocused even on release. It was never considered the uncontested great that the classic games were, and a sea of shitty Sonic spinoffs between 1994 and 1998 probably didn't help things either. The series legacy was being contested earlier than most would like to believe.

Anyway yeah the answer within the Sonic fanbase is Sonic 3. There's enough lore for post aught fans to chew on unlike Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2, with gameplay that's easy to pick up and play unlike Sonic CD. On the flipside, the gameplay is enough of a step up here for classic fans to give a pass to things like the cranked up realism in the artstyle and increased emphasis on setpieces. Things that would come to define the 3D games a decade from now but seem like harmless enough inclusions at the onset.

If you factor in the larger gaming population I'd argue there's an increasingly aging that either doesn't know they kept making Sonic games after Sonic 2 or doesn't think they should have, so I'd probably say that one. People were tired of the Sonic formula in 1994 and technological changes came more rapidly in the industry back then, so combine that with it's insane release strategy and Sonic 3's greatness largely went overlooked. I only appreciate it the way I do now because later collections put the "complete" edition in your lap.

Talk to the right demographic and I'd argue Sonic Adventure 2 lands in second but the Gamecube had limited reach wrt the mainstream.  Generations's evergreen status points to a game that has a staying power most Sonic games lack, but I doubt it has the same cultural chokehold Sonic 2 has.

 

[Sonicfan787]

On 2/19/2024 at 11:53 AM, castell-neath said:

I 100% second this opinion. S3&K hands down.

I will add Sonic 2 16bit to this too as a close 2nd.

Worst. Toss up between 06 and SA2 for me. I did NOT like the Non Speed stages at all!

I liked SA2 very much, but I get where your coming from with the speed stages.

[cybwer]

As basically everyone has said, the classics, especially 3aK and Mania (well… if you count that as a classic game). 

[Cyb3rkn1ght]

On 2/19/2024 at 10:09 AM, RougePatron said:

the Storybook games

Honestly, i dont get it. when i hear this, it kinda makes me want to genuinely cry. sure, the gameplay is bad, and so are the graphics, but come ON yall, it has such a heartfelt story! do do this like yall did Alphadream: shunt it because of buisness desicions and then we never see them again, like the storybook games have the most fleshed out sonic ive ever seen. it has better story than the boost game, hell, i would put it with the adventure type stories. i hate when people overlook the best part of games, just because one thing is off. sure, id take a game with perfect story and bad gameplay, and id take it the other way around aswell: bad story with good gameplay. id just wish, that people start rating games off of minor things, just love it. its given to us, why not like it like the rest?