Sonic’s Weird History on Obscure Handhelds & More

[@gillythekid]

What’s YOUR favorite handheld Sonic game?🤔

[@PotatoGun9000]

Sonic Battle and Sonic Advance, those games kept me busy during those long ass car rides.

[@Dat1snivy]

I only ever played Lost World 3ds, Colors DS, and Advance 2, but out of the three I'd have to say Colors DS.

[@thedeputyofcommonsensevids]

Sonic Chaos. That was the first Sonic game I ever played and I wish I still had a game gear plus a copy of the game. By the way, Gill, I’ve been subscribed for years ever since I found your first Peta Games video. I’m also a big fan of Vigils. Rock out and rock on.

[@AkiDave]

Rivals lol

[@generalwilliams5282]

My favorite has to be either sonic advance 3 or sonic colors ds you did a really great job on this video man keep up the great work :D

[@Cybershell13]

Thank god someone out there is preserving the didj sonic lore

[@TheRealAmericanMan]

As someone who almost bought a didj just to see what the Sonic content was this video was a welcome surprise

[@Robert-tl2vg]

@@TheRealAmericanMan and it was a surprises to those who didn’t also buy this or that handheld back in the day.

[@Vulpas]

I read this in your voice. Is that creepy?

[@sonicmaiden2871]

@@Robert-tl2vg Honestly, I never had the leapfrog and the didj consoles and I already passed the age these games and consoles were made for so seeing more coverage of them is nice since I don't have any reasons to get the consoles. I would like to try them on an emulator if it's possible though.

[@RodrigoBadin]

I am impressed that no one recreated it as rom hack yet

[@krimsonkatt]

Sonic X on leapster actually does have an ending. There are 6 chaos emeralds and you get one for getting 100 rings on either act 1 or act 2 of any of the three zones. Once you have all 6 emeralds and beat Eggman's Base Act 3 you get the ending and credits. There is no super sonic in that game. Also, fun facts about the game, there is a soft lock in Angel Island Zone Act 2 and the game has an unironicly good soundtrack (which is entirely original) that was sadly never remixed anywhere, even by fans. The OST was only held back by the god-awful sound quality.

[@shadow0fx]

Man I remember playing the Leapfrog Sonic X. That takes me back

[@WilliamKnee]

Forget the Mean Bean Machine, the Super Sucky Machine is where its at!

[@krimsonkatt]

It's called that because it sucks at doing anything meaningful. Also, canonicly, (at least in the Sonic X continuity) Knuckles and Amy don't know math but Sonic does.

[@Kittenfox_55]

Unrelated to Handhelds but, There's an obscure Sonic game I've come across the existence of, It's a bowling game with the Sonic X brand that was featured on JETIX-I in the UK. I was part of early on Demand cable services. I only know about it cause it was featured in a promo for Jetix-I

[@e102gamma]

Was it ever archived or documented anywhere?

[@Kittenfox_55]

@@e102gamma I only know about it cause it was featured in a promo for Jetix I, had a brief bit of footage

[@AizakkuAnalysis]

Yeah, I remember that game. I doubt it was archived, I don't think many of those sky games were. I know some people are addicted to finding lost media, but it's not something worth finding. Most sky games weren't good. The only ones I remember liking was a Tom & Jerry one and Behive Bedlam. But I actually believe that one was saved or atleast remade. But compared to that random sonic X bowling game, Behive Bedlam was actually popular and you could play those few levels for free.

[@jondot.fullstop]

@@AizakkuAnalysis sky games were weird

[@RKAlucard]

This video was incredible for the simple fact that I got to hear the words Eggman’s Super Sucky Machine spoken out loud.

[@stilljamming]

In many of the adverts, the Sonic Jam G.C was shown in 1.5+ the original speed, which makes me wonder how playable it is with that setting.

[@ChaseMC215]

I suspect that the screenshots on the adverts were from a earlier build of the game that ended up lost due to a possible development reset, as Sonic 3D Blast was once considered for Sonic Jam on the Game-Com.

[@undertaleislife7210]

“Sonic doesn’t always get it right, but when he does… boy does he nail it” Sonic and or Sega watching this:(sniff) thank you.

[@awesomeocelot7475]

I like how sonic pocket adventure is literally a transition from classic to modern sonic (and Eggman) as Sonic’s eye color changes mid game and so does Eggman’s design.

[@KYRA_RISING]

I was unironically obsessed with Sonic X Leapster when I was little. I remember it used an enhanced version of the scrapped Sonic 3 idle animation… which younger me thought was adorable😅

[@Mov2anacc]

Gamecom's sonic jam is the first sonic game that i can confidently say it looks, sounds and feels like a bootleg

[@krimsonkatt]

Yeah. It looks sorta like Taz Mania on the GBC, which is also an "official" game that looks, plays, and sounds like a bootleg. I don't get why most bootlegs are trash. Some really have potential like Kart Fighter, which was a street fighter 2 port for NES with Nintendo characters over 5 years before Smash 64 and with really solid controls and graphics. There was also FFVII NES which faithfully ported FFVII to NES which even has a fan patch that fixes the issues and inserts the US script into the game instead of broken Chinese. Donkey Kong 4: Journey of over Time and Space has a super ambitious story, but sadly it's neigh incomprehensible due to the broken English and in the end is just a Super Mario Bros DX reskin.

[@PowerPuffBoysZ]

My Boy have you ever seen the duel masters games on gba. There are several and they all look like bootlegs

[@tailpig6417]

There's also Sonic Pocket Adventure, but in its case, the game is actually pretty good

[@MissAshley42]

I love the image of Gilly bounding upstream as a majestic trout. Not sure why.

[@BugsyFoga]

I remember owning sonic x on leapster when I was a kid, definitely gave me quite a few memories.

[@krimsonkatt]

Same. That crappy game was a major part of my childhood along with the rest of the leapster games like Star Wars The Clone Wars Jedi Math and Batman Counting in Numbers. Plus the crappy Pixar minigame collection games and one theme park simulator game.

[@g.u.959]

Pocket Adventure is the only game I have for my Neo Geo Pocket Color. And it’s fantastic. Clicky-stick forever. ❤️

[@seanmyster6]

I hope that Pocket Adventure gets released on the Switch as part of the NGPC line. And also that some third-party controller company makes a special Joy Con that replaces the normal sticks with NGPC-style clicky sticks.

[@Vulpas]

That's basically the only great game for it, unless you're into fighting games. Very small library.

[@TheLuckyDingo]

I really wish it took off like the Gameboy did. It's such a great handheld that felt really nice to hold.

[@Vulpas]

@@TheLuckyDingo Me too, they really needed more 3rd party support. I'd love a new Neo Geo Pocket system.

[@PhantomOfficial07]

@@seanmyster6 I don't know if we're even gonna get a NGPC line

[@AceTrainerX3]

Neo Geo Pocket in general was an amazing handheld, with some of the best portable fighters of it's time (and even now). Thanks for another great video, Gilly!

[@Akaykimuy]

terribly underrated too, it's my favorite handheld of the 90s

[@pictonomii3295]

Sonic Didj might be the most obscure Sonic game I've ever heard of.

[@krimsonkatt]

Yeah even I never heard of it and I know of the existance of Sonic X on Leapster and the Japanese Sonic Arcade edutainment games! Even the obscure Java games I know about, like Sonic Unleashed 2 aka Sonic Rush 5.

[@pgj1997]

To be honest, a remake of the didj game in the form of a ROM hack or something could work really well. Helping is that it's the only Leapster game that's the closest to an actual Sonic game. Fix up the controls a bit, and we actually got something competent. There's already a precedent for remakes of the more obscure Sonic games, so it's more than possible. I'm going to coin it "Sonic the Hedgehog didj", or just "Sonic didj" for short.

[@codyssmith73]

This seems like a fun project for the SHC.

[@MyRetroLife]

This video is so good. Thank you for going to great lengths to breakdown some of these. I had the Game Com Sonic Jam as a kid and never made it very far. Never saw that special stage!

[@Crankthatsnes]

There is an official Tiger Gamecom emulator which exists. Check out the speedrun Sonic Jam page for more info. Also, nothing happens when you get all the black spheres in Jam, you just get extra points.

[@GameApologist]

I can't believe you tracked down a didj

[@danielwallwork1071]

The Didj was how I was first introduced to the Sonic franchise. After replaying the game a million times, I managed to find the Archie sonic comics in libraries and book stores and got pretty invested in the series. Thanks for bringing back great memories! I couldn't remember how I first played sonic for a while and only remembered brief flashbacks.

[@sarasaland4709]

A Gilly video over half an hour long? Hell yeah.

[@krimsonkatt]

They're almost always about this long. I've seen videos from this guy that have reached around 45 minutes, like his video on Platinum Games x Nick crossover games.

[@brapcast]

This video was well done, entertaining, and informative! I like your voice and your cadence. Definitely subscribing.

[@cloudstrife3074]

You need more views with how much effort and humor are in your vids Gil.

[@junethefox5834]

I'm just shocked the Leapster one not only uses modified Sonic 3 sprites, but they look surprisingly good and smooth.

[@samwill7259]

If the pure, undiluted EFFORT in this video isn't worth a like...then I dunno what to tell you man.

[@ChaseMC215]

IGN gave Sonic Pocket Adventure a 10 out of 10. It was the same IGN that made that horrible Game Scoop podcast episode that is insulting the series, with one of the people saying that Sonic was never good...... They admit that they hated Sonic and wanted the series to die out, despite Sonic being estated into the Gaming Hall Of Fame.

[@ScradeCottontail]

Honestly, the original sprite work for Sonic X is quite nice, especially those super smooth victory animations for all the characters. Clearly *someone* had put some passion into the game

[@krimsonkatt]

The OST too. It's unironicly really good.

[@tafua_a]

Honestly, I loved Sonic Rivals 2. The story was confusing (trust me, it's way more confusing once you start playing literally any of the other teams), I don't get why Shadow and Eggman were still friends, but the gameplay itself was really fun to me.

[@pgj1997]

19:18 Reminds me of that episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! where Yugi's grandpa gets trapped inside of a Yu-Gi-Oh! card. Somehow. (I don't remember much of the details)

[@parkermaltbie8583]

My fave is Sonic advance, unless Genesis games on the Nomad count. Then its Sonic 3 and knuckles which made the Nomad even less portable.

[@annigram]

I love Sonic Pocket Adventure. It’s such a charming game with gorgeous art, stellar music (despite the fact they are placed weirdly) and just a general fun time. My favourite Sonic handheld game hands down.

[@TommyDeonauthsArchives]

Man, this video was certainly worth the wait! These were definitely interesting Sonic games on very different handheld systems... and Sonic Pocket Adventure is the big champ of them all! Which, son of a gun, is the second time I have seen a video in which SNK is involved. This one being the SNK Neo Geo Pocket Color and its dedicated Sonic game! This is the day after I have watched GuileWinQuotes' video on Athena: Awakening from the ordinary life on PS1. Strange, isn't it?

[@SamH1989]

Glad to see you posting, best retro reviews on KZbin bro 👊

[@JustJohn43]

That Knuckles animation in the leapster Sonic X game was quite impressive. I also noticed an Amy sprite in the style of 3K

[@fizz576]

Man the neo geo pocket color is such a good handheld console I love that the joystick nub thing uses micro switches.

[@supper_e1823]

Clicky stick forever!

[@fizz576]

@@supper_e1823 Hell yeah brother.

[@jeffypeters333]

I can’t believe Didj is the name of a Console and not just a typo lol I thought I used to be fairly knowledgeable when it came to video games and some of the weirder more obscure retro stuff, but man I think I can whole heartedly say, I don’t think the Didj was even the faintest whisper, in the background conversation that is my mind. Like it wasn’t just not on my radar, I don’t think it’s existence was in my solar system. Also speaking of the Milky Way did anyone else know that the name “Milky Way” in part owes itself to a Greek fable that involved Hercules Breast Feeding from Zeus’s Wife, and in said action he somehow hurt her, which then cause her to somehow spray Godly breast milk all over, which in turn was the creation of our galaxy hence the name “Milky Way” I’m sorry that tidbit of trivia was just too weird not to mention after I just briefly mentioned our galaxy! Anyways thanks again a Gilly for another funny and informative video. And I’m always looking forward to more! Keep it up dude, your 1 of my favourite creators!

[@fieori1170]

Fun fact: The Game com Sonic Jam has some early sprites not found in the main Sonic 3 roms/prototypes. One of them is Knuckles' weird Sonic 2 proto design (at 5:14 when he's skidding) . Apparently, no one noticed them until the Sonic 3 proto came out.

[@KYRA_RISING]

Oh god, I paused in the middle of his skid and he was doing a poggers face🤣

[@rageinternet9391]

It's sure been a ride. Glad we can finally closure this shindig.

[@JackMcSomeone]

I don't see how the PSP is considered an "obscure handheld" when it sold roughly the same amount of units as the GBA

[@gillythekid]

“& More”

[@IttzAndrew]

Hell yeah! New GillyTheKid video!

[@OneAndOnlyDanky]

I don’t remember where I found it but there is actually an official emulator for the gamecom, and from what I remember it was able to run this game pretty easily. I did this like a few months back so it should still work

[@codygratias9780]

Loved the vid! I’ll always have a special place in my heart for the advance series, personally

[@supper_e1823]

26:12 interesting how this game is 90% Genesis sonic styled, but came out when sonic reference material was still based off of sonic 06, so the logo is styled that way. But it also has adventure sonic styled art in the menus, so it really is a sonic generational frankincense monster.

[@enlongjones2394]

“Hey, what are you doing?” “Oh, I’m Sonic’n”

[@johneygd]

Well sonic jam on the gamecom clearly proves that great graphics alone just don’t make a game.

[@Demonskunk]

Real talk, though, the new sprite animations made for the Leapster game are actually really well made.

[@arkjag2991]

Great video as always. Pocket Adventure is indeed a great game.

[@KperaOfficial]

When people says that 06 is the worst sonic game, please... *sonic jam*

[@mikeshow1016]

Fun fact! The Gamecom screen was so bad, that it could not even handle this game as you see it. I had a Gamecom it was absolute trash.

[@atomicbrat879]

Love the video Gil, keep it up man.

[@no64256]

I remember actually liking Sonic Rivals 2, despite playing it way past it's prime. Maybe I just got used to the jank, but I remember having a lot of fun with it. Plus it was my first PSP game (and only non-Final Fantasy game until I got Metal Gear Ac!d years later), so I suppose that contributed to my enjoyment of it

[@jdb2002]

When the N-Gage came out, you could trade in a GBA and a certain number of GBA games to get an N-Gage for free. Yeah, trade in a handled from a proven company with a proven track record and a proven library of games for a system that had none of these things.

[@Ubylmoen]

This is the first video of yours I've seen, and I like it. I'm gonna go watch more now.

[@CyberDragoon656]

15:37 now Eggman is really ready to taste de-feet.

[@Wayneisboss]

Man this was a cool video, I wish handhelds were real

[@Philnemba]

I remember owning a Gamecom with Sonic Jam back in 97 a year before I got a Gameboy Pocket with Pokemon Blue. The worst thing about is that I legit enjoy the Gamecom Sonic Jam because it was the only handheld I own at the time even though many years later I question myself on why I like that game 😂 😅

[@DIASTCartoons]

Watching the Sonic Didj portion made me happy that I chose to get a Nintendo DS Lite over that system although I originally considered getting a Didj growing up.

[@onthedre]

Wow a gilly video thats longer than 10 minutes, it felt like you didn’t care about us tbh

[@Tielesiti]

can't believe Sonic Rivals predicted Inscryption

[@krimsonkatt]

How exactly?

[@DissociatedWomenIncorporated]

Great video 💙 you ever gonna cover the handheld LCD games by Tiger and others?

[@RobertSeeJen]

It's interesting to me that the Sonic edutainment game had unique sprites.

[@ChronicSynchronizer]

Glad to see you post again!

[@Vezon2121]

I remember being a kid and playing sonic rush. It was my second psp game. I 100% loved then cause you could play as silver..... thats it. Only reason why I liked the game lol.

[@ddjsoyenby]

ah sonic didj will not be forgotten.

[@AbeM.]

Ironically, if I remember correctly, Sonic Pinball Party takes place solely in the universe of Sonic the Hedgehog.

[@undertaleislife7210]

Good job gilly now do those spin-off games you skipped over

[@LangeManGlenn]

Some of the animations on the classic Sonic sprite in that Sonic X game are very nice.

[@RetroGamerBB]

When using the official gamecom sdk emulator, set the speed to 125. You can't do it directly from the emulator, only can set up to 100%. That has to be done in the config file. A ini file. The emulator will throw an error but works if you click ok when prompted. I have not had any success in mame for Android other than loading the bios. I haven't tried the PC port yet

[@arandomanimator9020]

Honestly sonic rivals is a game that I played so much as a kid and my memories of it are so vague I had a hard time trying to find it again recently. Those menus hit like a truck tho and now I want to play it again. Shame the psp was my dads and I’ve recently moved out so I’d have to go far if I wanted the original back qwq

[@applemctom]

Nice video! If you do a compilation video of all Sonic handheld games, could you also include the Sega Pico games (Sonic's Gameworld and Tails and the Music Maker) as additional bonus and to be even more complete? I guess they count as handheld games as a well.

[@sehtuk3953]

okay those Sonic 3 style sprites with Sonic Advance-esque animations from Sonix X Leapster look really, really nice. I'm impressed by Amy in particular since she didn't have a Genesis era sprite to go off of, so they had to make her from scratch (and from editing/tracing(?) her Advance 3 sprites I guess).

[@retrofan4963]

Amy does have a Genesis era sprite in Sonic CD, even though she's not playable there. But Sonic X Leapster didn't use that sprite though and made their own.

[@ElectronerpProductions]

Sonic Rivals's plot is literally the premise of Inscryption

[@Autotrope]

Your videos are really cool I'm glad I found your channel. Didn't have consoles as a kid, only a PC which in the 80s and early 90s wasn't that inspiring for gaming so I never played sonic, mega man etc.

[@earlwilliams7754]

I actually beat both Sonic Rivals games using all the characters. In the first game, the fifth character is Metal Sonic, and he copies the other rival ability. I actually like both those games, and beat the levels and bosses on the first try. Also, in Pocket Adventure, there is a way to play as Tails in the single player mode.

[@alescano3504]

PLEASE i need to know the name of the song that you use at the end of the video (the one with the 'go' samples). PLEASE DUDE

[@E3kHatena]

I had Sonic Rivals but the UMD popped open after playing it just once so I never got to play it again.

[@Canadiansamurai]

Pocket adventure is my favorite handeld Sonic

[@Zerbraxi]

In a world of landscape development, the N-Gage outright goes portrait to be "that kid" in school.

[@Vulpas]

28:54 That really is an edutainment game, Sonic's apparently a biologist!

[@krimsonkatt]

I don't get it. What are you implying?

[@Vulpas]

@@krimsonkatt It's a joke about Ketanji Brown Jackson, a judge. When asked why she could not define "woman", she said it was because she is not a biologist (which is like saying you can't define rain because you're not a meteorologist). So the joke is that Sonic is using the word woman to spell, implying he knows what one is and therefore must be a biologist. Technically you can spell a word you can't define, but, I mean, it's just a joke.

[@fluffy_preacher]

Lmao that first one looked very unbearable 🤣🤣

[@a2pha]

22:02 This was run on PPSSPP.

[@chodicuss1889]

Ur new vid is doin great keep goin bro

[@AxelWedstar411]

I'm not even sure if the NGPC was even released in the UK. I sure don't remember seeing it advertised anywhere.

[@GOCARLOTWITCH]

Anyone Else Remember The McDonalds Handheld Sonic Video Games That Came With Happy Meals In the Early 2000's LOL

[@ribunny123]

I actually saw some tiger electronic games in GameStop the other day. They still produce them!

[@GiuseppeGaetanoSabatelli]

Sonic Rivals looks like a spiritual successor to Iggy's Reckin' Balls.

[@FoxMan_FF]

I'll say one thing about the Leapfrog Sonic games- the modified Sonic 3 sprites are super fluidly animated for no good reason and I wish someone would dump the whole spritesheets online.

[@idoghacker8008]

I think they're up on the spriters resource

[@VOAN]

Remember Sonic Pocket Adventure is made by the same dev that made the Sonic Advance and Sonic Rush series so essentially the game is like a Sonic Advance 0.

[@Diddy64wii]

It took me a while to realize the Game Com Sonic Jam themes were laughably poor renditions of Genesis Sonic tracks. I thought they were run-of-the-mill plinky-plonky background music in the first place...

[@DeftestAphid2]

It's a real shame Sonic Pocket Adventure never became part of the game collections. Like did we really need Sonic Drift 1 and 2 over this? I really like the artstyle it went with and I salute those devs for giving people the Sonic experience on the go.

[@EireProductions]

The main thing I find weird is that they made a _Sonic X_ tie-in game 2 whole years after that show stopped airing new episodes.

[@ExalinExcels]

What the heck though why are the sprites in that leapster game so good though. As you said they're based on Sonic 3 but the have extra frames and sprite sheets in weird places

[@ZetaEntity101]

I do like to know about obscure things

[@BlueTurn]

I really loved sonic rivals. I played it when I was younger then I last year played again and it was quite good.

[@speedypuppy27akatruecheese86]

Did you cover knockoff handheld sonic games?

[@TonySpike]

Lets no go down that particular rabbit hole lmao

[@pyrofur_nx]

can we talk about the custom sprite animations at 16:58 tho

[@thecleanslateshow4593]

I remember the sonic leapster game. That one and the spongebob one where you count money taught me how to count😌

[@spycrabsmokey]

Were you expecting TV quality animation from a leapfrog game?

[@TheJmack90]

16:10 Honestly…better than stuff like 19:20