thewaether
@thewaether

it is weird that Sonic's reputation never recovered from Sonic '06, a nearly 20-year-old game. they rushed it out about a year too early and ended up with lasting repercussions way beyond that


thewaether
@thewaether

they could recover from it some day but- here's the thing..... since '06, which was followed pretty swiftly by Sonic Unleashed (2008), sonic has been putting out some pretty okay, not revolutionary, but okay, material. but the shadow of Sonic '06 is always looming over it. "The Sonic Cycle", and "will this be sonic's return to form?" etc.

without '06, you feel that they could have cruised by as a bit of a nostalgic product where the biggest lows of the series were things like "shadow the hedgehog" and other corny spin-offs


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in reply to @thewaether's post:

I think the case of Sonic was a downward spiral that hit rock bottom with '06 but it wasn't great before. The Adventure games were decently recieved at first on DC but once they showed up on other platforms they hurt from second sight a bit. I remember Sonic Heroes being seen as largely mediocre too. Then there was '06.
I don't think there were any standout games after that, aside from Colors, Generations and 2D games. Sonic Boom was another rock bottom judging from the demo (I can't remember the reception). I don't think there's been games since then as well received as Adventures. Lost World wasn't quite there I think. Frontiers was seen as interesting, I know I really liked it but it's not something I'd recommend to anyone.
tl;dr I think that '06 was just a rotten infested cherry on a suspicious cake.

I definitely agree and I remember when sonic heroes and shadow the hedgehog came out for instance they were the subject of mockery- I think the circumstances surrounding '06 where they were also rushing it out for the 15th anniversary as well as it being the first sonic for a new console generation with a lot to prove, is what made it stand out as so bad even in comparison to their previous flops

I played SA1 and 2 long after their releases and was taken aback by how janky those games are. unacceptably so in many ways. playing them was a bit like looking at a museum peice that was about all the ways that we don't make games anymore so it was fascinating for my game designer brain but wow they've aged