Give me a guide to the recent Sonic games...

[Ziggy]

It seems like Sega can't stop releasing Sonic games, whether we want them or not. Quantity over quality?. Every time one comes out it promises the moon but usually falls short. I know that some are praised, some are awful, and some are just mediocre. The problem is, so many Sonic games have come out in the past decade or so that I really lost track of them. I don't know what's what anymore. I got off the Sonic train at Shadow town and now it's on the other side of the country.

Really, the seventh gen is where it seems to explode with never ending Sonic releases. The franchise is easy to understand up to this point, at least, so that's where I'm gonna start.

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)
Sonic and the Secret Rings
Sonic Unleashed
Sonic and the Black Knight
Sonic Colors
Sonic Generations
Sonic: Lost World
Sonic Boom

Am I missing any? I feel like there's more.

I don't wanna include spin-offs like Mario & Sonic, All-Star Racing, etc (although apparently Sonic Boom is a spin-off?). I picked up Sonic and the Black Knight from a GameStop last week, thinking it was another Sonic game that I read about. Turns out, I was thinking of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. That's when I realized that the entire Sonic series has become pretty bloated and not so easy to get into.

Here's my basic understanding of each game...

Sonic (2006): It sucks, don't get it.

Sonic and the Secret Rings: I actually owned this one briefly. IIRC, you are perpetually moving forward, and that's why I got rid of the game.

Sonic Unleashed: Sonic turns into a werewolf at night, I think?

Sonic and the Black Knight: Sonic with a sword.

Sonic Colors: It's one of the good ones.

Sonic Generations: It's one of the good ones.

Sonic Lost World: It's one of the good ones.

Sonic Boom: It sucks, don't get it.

Can some one give me a brief rundown of each game? I know I can just look up reviews, but I'm more looking to chat about what's good AND bad about each game. I wanna know WHY it's good and WHY it's bad.

[AppleQueso]

I've got a friend who's a HUGE Sonic fan and has thoroughly played through all of them (much to his own suffering in the case of stuff like Sonic 06 lol). He's got a pretty good perspective (he's definitely not a 'fanboy') so I'll give him a shout out for you.

In a nutshell though, Colors and Generations are good, 06 is kinda super broken and is basically everything wrong with modern Sonic, apparently Boom is also really super broken.

[noiseredux]

Don't forget Sonic 4. (It sucks).

Sonic Generations is brilliant though. It's a mix of side scrolling levels and 3D levels. Basically it's all the good parts of Sonic games mashed together.

[dunpeal2064]

Sonic Colors is awesome, really liked that one. Generations is good as well, but not as good as Colors. Both are well worth checking out.

Worth mentioning the Sonic CD port, since it uses a new engine.

Sonic 4 was very disappointing.

I still need to try Lost World.

[Jagosaurus]

Missing the 2 Sonic Rush games on the DS which I haven't personally played but were fairly well rrceived.

[samsonlonghair]

I played Sonic Rush for DS and thoroughly enjoyed it. Sonic Rush doesn't use much touch screen function. It's basically Sonic Advance 4, except the playable field stretches across both screens. Boss battles are in 3D; regular gameplay is in 2D.

[samsonlonghair]

Sorry to double post. This next part is an independent post from my last thought.

Regarding Ziggy's original post, The Sonic franchise has undergone a "balkanization" of sorts by splitting into fragmented series headed by different studios. I've typed up this list to illustrate:

• Sonic Storybook Series - Wii games wherein Sonic is trapped in the setting of a famous storybook
  • Sonic and the Secret Rings - set in Arabian Nights
  • Sonic and the Black Knight - set in Camelot
  • Unnamed third game - set in Greek Myth. This game was never produced after poor sales from the first two games.
• Sonic Rush Series - DS games made by DIMPS (the same team that made the Advance series). This series introduces Blaze the Cat and the Nega-characters.
  • Sonic Rush
  • Sonic Rush Adventure
• Sonic Rivals Series - 2.5D platformers developed by Backbone Entertainment (who made the Death Jr. games) for PSP. Silver the Hedgehod returns from the 2006 game. This series is notable for multiplayer.
  • Sonic Rivals
  • Sonic Rivals 2
• Sonic Post-Adventure Series - 3D platformers developed by Sonic Team for many home consoles after the fall of the dreamcast. These games feature character designs from the Adventure games.
  • Sonic Heroes - GCN, XBOX, PS2, WinXP, PSN
  • Shadow the Hedgehog - GCN, PS2, XBOX
  • Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) - XBOX 360, PS3
  • Sonic Unleashed - XBOX 360, PS3, PSN
  • Sonic Unleashed - PS2, Wii (different daytime levels developed by DIMPS)
• Sonic Riders Series - platform agnostic games developed by Sonic Team where Sonic races other characters on hover boards.
  • Sonic Riders - GCN, PS2, XBOX
  • Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity - Wii, PS2
  • Sonic Free Riders - XBOX 360 Kinect
• Sega Superstars Series - Party, sports, and racing games by Sumo Digital (who developed recent entries in sega racers like Forza, F1, and Outrun). This series serves as an answer to Nintendo's Mario Party, Mario Tennis, and Mario Kart.
  • Sega Superstars - PS2 eyetoy
  • Sega Superstars Tennis - PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, DS, Mac OS X
  • Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing - Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, DS, Win7, Mac OS X, Arcade, iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Java ME
  • Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed - PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, Win8, PS Vita, 3DS, iOS, Android
• Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Series - Games by Sega Sports R&D (formerly AM6) only for Nintendo consoles of course.
  • Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games - Wii, DS
  • Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games - Wii, DS
  • Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games - Wii, 3DS
  • Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games - WiiU, 3DS
• Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Series - Downloadable titles by DIMPS divided into episodes.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I - iOS, WiiWare, PSN, XBLA, WinPhone 7, Win7, Android, Ouya
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II - Win7, PSN, XBLA, Android, iOS, Ouya, Nvidia Shield
• Sonic Boom Series - This series is Published by Sega but all the development is farmed out to outside developers.
  • Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric - WiiU
  • Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal - 3DS
• Sonic Touch Screen Series- These new mobile games are developed by Hardlight specifically to utilize touchscreen controls. The iOS version always precedes the Android version
  • Sonic Jump
  • Sonic Jump Fever
  • Sonic Dash
• Sonic Wisp Series - These games are developed by Sonic Team and DIMPS. Consider these the flagship Sonic titles. These console games blend 2D and 3D gameply well. Wisps bring new color-based powers.
  • Sonic Colors - Wii
  • Sonic Colors - DS (this is a different game with the same title)
  • Sonic Generations - 360, PS3
  • Sonic Generations - 3DS (same deal)
  • Sonic Lost World - WiiU
  • Sonic Lost World - 3DS (same deal)

Standard disclaimer: This list is not comprehensive of all Sonic games. This list is not on chronological order.

[CRTGAMER]

I played a Sonic demo about a year ago on either a Wii, PS3 or 360 which was pretty cool. Been going nuts trying to find out which Sonic game. I was thinking it was Black Knight due to the dungeon levels with the floors dropping. However, I do not recall Sonic carrying a sword, does anyone know what game?

Sonic Colors as mentioned is very good on the Wii and support Classic as well as NES (sideways Wiimote) style of game play. I got lucky and found a "foil reflection" cover edition and cannot find any info on that either. Only have seen that cover twice compared to so many of the regular covers. Same exact artwork, but some colors in the cover have that foil refelection, I am guessing a first edition?

[BoneSnapDeez]

I will be keeping an eye on this thread.

I've only played four Sonic games that I actually enjoyed (1, 2, CD, Pocket Adventure). I believe the most current Sonic installment I played was Advance 2. Horrendous.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

I have not played all the modern Sonic games but I have played a lot of them.

Unleashed is okay. Good 2D sections and mediocre 3D combat sections.

Generations is a very good game with lots of fan-service. Controls can be a bit iffy at times but it really does play well most of the time. Lots of content especially if you get the PC version, where you can play Sonic Unleashed's 2D stages.

Colors is super good from the limited time I've had with it. Probably the best of the modern games so far.

Lost World is heavily flawed but in my opinion it's the only Sonic game where they've really nailed down his movement in a 3D space. There's a demo on the Wii U eShop that gives you a pretty good taste of what the game is like. Lost World also ends up being the most disappointing though since the potential for a very good game is definitely there. Some tighter level design and more content would probably go a long way. Unfortunately, because Sega is grossly incompetent, we probably wont ever see a sequel.

Boom looks like the new Sonic 06 so I'd advise you to avoid it. It appears to be legitimately broken. I have not played it but there's some pretty awful gameplay videos out showcasing exactly why you should not spend money on it.

I will be keeping an eye on this thread.

I've only played four Sonic games that I actually enjoyed (1, 2, CD, Pocket Adventure). I believe the most current Sonic installment I played was Advance 2. Horrendous.

You monster. Advance 2 is awesome.