The FIRST DARK AGE of Sonic | Late 90s Retrospective

[@cliffturbo2146]

There's something very charming about these early 3D character models. Especially on the covers.

[@Klonoahedgehog]

I especially like how Mario looked like during the N64 era.

[@cliffturbo2146]

@@Klonoahedgehog Yeah!

[@kenwalkensdeadchannelcanal2886]

It's because they are adorable, and you can tell who is who by just making them a silhouette, sonic characters were really unique back then I think, they are so charismatic and so full of joy that i can't help but smile when i always see one of them in the art cover. I always loved tails' artwork for Sonic 2's Japanese art cover, because... he's just too adorable.

[@dapperfan44]

I really miss the 3D art from that era. I would stare at pictures in my manuals back then, like one in the Ape Escape manual that's two pages long with the main character in a raft chasing a monkey.

[@jon-knee-dee2133]

I absolutely love Mario kart 64 and it's pre rendered art work.

[@hugoflores1093]

I love Sonic R both unironically And ironically

[@TheBioshocksnake]

Its a decent 5$ game. But a terrible 60$ one.

[@Blueflag04]

The musics are great

[@an0rangutan]

Agreed.

[@dcbandit]

I love the game, I wish Sega would make a modern remake, as in a Sonic racing game WITHOUT the cars. They always make it a cart race, never a footrace, though, I can kind of understand why, with Sonic and all.

[@Mitchomorph15]

@@dcbandit yea that would be cool because what's the point of cars when you can run fast

[@jrspaceboy9648]

How could you forget the gem that was "They Call Me Sonic"? That song encapsulates this period perfectly!

[@lonecom685]

Imagine being a Sega kid in 1996... You go to your friends house and play Super Mario 64, experiencing full analog control in a 3D environment for the first time, while going through huge levels (for the time) and listening to one of the most iconic OSTs in gaming history. Then, you go back home and have freaking Sonic 3D Blast to play. It doesn't sounds amusing...

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

glad my dad was a nintendo guy back then, so I got to watch some of the classic nintendo titles (especially the old zeldas) instead of mid 90's sonic when it was still new.

[@Vectormantudeoz]

Just play Sonic Jam.

[@MSOGameShow]

"Sonic 3D Blast is SO BORING!" GameHut has entered the chat.

[@NinjaWeedle]

"Hello and welcome to codeing secrets. Today we'll be discussing how I fit the entirety of The Phantom menace onto a sega genesis cartridge."

[@CAT.GARDENN]

@@NinjaWeedle LMAOOO LITERALLY

[@DearMink_X]

I like 3d blast lol, I deem it a B tier sonic game

[@toxicrush]

Every franchise has spinoffs, but I've never seen one that made 30 of them in about 3 years

[@ahmadkazan7994]

12.

[@toxicrush]

@@ahmadkazan7994 that's 10 too many in my opinion

[@ahmadkazan7994]

@@toxicrush sour but not 30.

[@topsecret770]

Kingdom Hearts still has none. Everything is canon and important for the complex plot.

[@lloydthehedgehogirving6049]

@@topsecret770 “complex plot” *Final Fantasy Entered The Chat*

[@leinad3955]

Gonna be honest, I’m sad to hear you don’t like 3D Blast. I’m glad you pointed out both amazing soundtracks, but the visuals are great as well and really charming in my opinion. While I do admit the controls take practice, it’s very rewarding to zip through a stage when you know what you’re doing, or just explore stuff if you don’t. Overall, I’ve always loved the game, and I think more people should give it a chance

[@mep6302]

Agreed

[@Blueflag04]

The game gave me motion sickness

[@Turbulation1]

People also seem to forget a directors cut version of the game exists that fixes the controls and a lot of other stuff.

[@CDbiggen]

I was amazed at how good it looked on my mega drive.

[@charmyzard]

I was willing, seemed like some kind of fun to me. But the game wasn't too eager on letting me. Got heavily motion-sick at Green Grove Act 2 that my stomach wanted to puke. That's right, the very 2nd level.

[@bowmaj8666]

It always infuriates me when I hear people saying things like "Oh, Sonic Adventure totally caused the downfall of the Sonic series!" I can't help but respond with "Really?" This "Growing Pains" era as you called it truly was a weird time when Sonic games were little more than "meh!" Sonic was really starting to lose popularity at this point and I don't remember anyone talking about this series during this era, so if anything, Sonic Adventure pulled Sonic out of a slump, and I think it gets way too much flack these days, especially when games like THESE preceded it. SA was a breath of fresh air after these!

[@FlyingDuckMan360]

+Bowmaj It is true that SA1 hasn't aged perfectly, but it was the game that won back the crowd for Sega after the commercial failure of the Saturn in the US. Sadly, the Dreamcast wasn't on the market for very long (I personally blame both the PS2 and the original Xbox for this, especially because both consoles rely way too heavily on third-party support, where as Nintendo and Sega make their own games), and Sega ended up becoming another third-party company.

[@Carsonj13]

@@FlyingDuckMan360 Sega screwed up badly when they hired Bernard Stolar to run the legacy of the Saturn.

[@Novorious]

@@FlyingDuckMan360 Yeah, because of the 5th Generation Console that SEGA released, the Saturn, which was a failure, they THEN released the Dreamcast 4 years later. Altough it was a 6th Generation Console, the Dreamcast had most of the 5th Generation games, and had little of the 6th Generation games. I was a bit upset that SEGA tired from releasing Consoles, which means later on they had to make 6th Generation SEGA games for Non-SEGA Consoles, such as Gamecube, PS2 and other.

[@cookiesontoast9981]

SA 1 and 2 still have the most freedom of control out of any official Sonic game ever, we need a return that that type of gameplay... The boost formula got stale years ago.

[@rayvenkman2087]

The GameCube ports seems to have soiled the two games’ reputations.

[@smashmaster521]

All aboard the hype train for J's inevitable review of the Adventure games.

[@dudujencarelli]

10:30 - Sonic CD technically had 3 acts per level. Following on the footsteps of the 8-bit Sonic games, CD made the third act a boss act (but with rings).

[@kenwalkensdeadchannelcanal2886]

It took them 2 games for they to put rings into boss battles so you couldn't die easily and feel frustrated...

[@dapperfan44]

@@kenwalkensdeadchannelcanal2886 that's not true, you had rings if you didn't get hurt before reaching the boss. Only on the final bosses in 1 and 2, that you have to beat them without getting hit.

[@SuperZombieBros]

Yeah but CD’s 3rd Acts are just short run ups to the boss fights. There’s not much to them by comparison to Sonic 1 which had a full on Act 3 for every Zone.

[@jaysaiyajoestar1220]

so he was still KINDA right at least

[@dudujencarelli]

@@dapperfan44 I was talking about the Master System/Game Gear versions, not the Mega Drive/Genesis ones. There are NO rings in act 3 in those first two games.

[@spike1000]

I was always fascinated by this era of Sonic, the post-3K and pre-Adventure era.

[@charactersin-depth3472]

Tails Adventures is my favorite of this era.

[@kimaster5893]

Tails adventures is my favorite of this era

[@loadingusername3348]

Oh snap dude I watch your videos

[@Segvent]

Tails Adventure Best Game.

[@mep6302]

I liked Sonic 3D Blast. I see its flaws but I don't think they ruin the good stuff for me

[@JoziGaming]

Same I love 3D blast. I have a lot of memories of playing sonic 2, Sonic 3, sonic and knuckles, and especially 3D blast on one of the sega genesis collection games from back in the day. ✨😁✨

[@BetterNateThanN3ver]

*Sees Adventure teaser* Welp, the time has come.

[@MatthewCobalt]

Sidenote on why Capcom ported RE2 and MM Legends on N64: Hardware wise the consoles are easier to port gamws to each other. Sure they have different archetectures and methods to show 3D, but at least they were both built to be usable for 3D. The Sega Saturn was practically a 3D console modified to work primarily in 2D. GameHut explains it better that I could, so see him for an in depth info dump.

[@AwdryFan1997]

*Your daily reminder that Charmy Bee was first introduced in the Sonic manga, not Knuckles' Chaotix. Same with Amy.*

[@playerback7722]

Really?

[@AwdryFan1997]

@@playerback7722 Yes.

[@rayvenkman2087]

And also gave Sonic the name of Nicky as his mild mannered persona as well as wearing glasses.

[@AwdryFan1997]

@@rayvenkman2087 *gasp* It's basically Persona 5 but with Sonic! Wowzers!

[@thunderlightningbolt6597]

@AwdryFan1997 The manga predicted Persona 5. WAY before it happened. wow.

[@dio8451]

Knuckles' Chaotix might be my favorite 2D "Sonic" game, I'm not kidding. It was very fun to me when I was younger, and I have a lot of amazing nostalgic memories associated with it and it's stellar music. I still go back to it today through emulators and still love it. One day I'll find my old 32x and experience it properly again.

[@rac1equalsbestgame853]

What I learned today: Sonic games have ALWAYS have good music even in the darkest of times

[@cd-rommasterclass19]

Man, I still think people give Sonic 3D a lot of shit... Sure it might be personal preference, but I played a lot of Sonic 3D on the Mega Drive, thought its visuals were out of this world good and I loved the thing so much I later bought it on Saturn, and man was I amazed at the visual upgrade, to me, it was one of my favourites at the time and I cannot in any way, understand how everyone gives it so much hate, controls didn't bother me one bit either, and I never had any problem with neither its perspective nor jumping precision. As for Sonic R, I remember having fun with it at the time, but have no desire to replay it any time soon; its soundtrack is mind-blowing though, pretty darn good! Never played Caotix and have no desire to at the moment, maybe one day... Spinball's art style is horrendous in my opinion, have no idea what happened there, and it's gameplay never did anything for me either. Sonic CD looks amazing, but never really clicked with me...

[@ericvargas5362]

some of these games were really cool when they launched, of course if you look today they mostly do not aged well, but i think they get more hate than they deserve

[@spicybreadproductions1972]

Yeah. I used a keyboard that has short up and down buttons, and even I'm fine with the controls of Sonic 3D! I couldn't even imagine how much better it would feel on a real controller...

[@mep6302]

I agree. I think 3D Blast is underrated

[@mep6302]

@@ericvargas5362 Games do not age. People do

[@mep6302]

@@ericvargas5362 *do not age.

[@JerseyDevils21]

The games might have been kind of bad, but you gotta admit, the soundtrack for them were great

[@kenwalkensdeadchannelcanal2886]

EVEN SONIC LABYRINTH??

[@justbny9278]

That's true for most of Sonic's ANYTHING EVER you know

[@JerseyDevils21]

@@kenwalkensdeadchannelcanal2886 dang, shouldn't have deleted my comment saying "well some of them"

[@hydrorobot6610]

@@kenwalkensdeadchannelcanal2886 Well, the first and second stage of the game has good bangers, not sure about the rest since I haven't completed it myself

[@rickyrosay33977]

I love sonic R’s soundtrack the games may be bad but they don’t skip on the soundtrack

[@edgelord8337]

When j said that he would be making more videos in 2020 he really is keeping his promise. People give the early 2000s a lot of flak but not the 90s from sonic.

[@kenwalkensdeadchannelcanal2886]

This was the moment we've been waiting for! And yeah i agree. Maybe it's because Sega split the fanbase? Meh it might be that but idk.

[@maruseu]

i always think it's cybershell for a moment when i see your comments

[@bzking24]

Lol

[@papersonic9941]

More so because the main installments were still solid. In the 2000s, meanwhile...

[@WaterKirby1994]

2000s games were quite solid we had Adventure 2 Battle, The Advance Trilogy & Sonic Battle, Sonic Heroes, the Rush Games, Riders & Zero Gravity, & Black Knight. Additionally Mega Collection, Adventure DX, & Gems Collection were things. 2010s Decade has been the worst for Sonic Games so far with everything except for 2 games being ok at best.

[@ryanwilson9555]

I love almost every vocal track in Sonic R. I definitely prefer this version of Super Sonic Racing over the Cash Cash remix in Sonic Generations.

[@darkychao]

there's nothing in later games that recons Knuckles' Chaotix. Team Chaotix could have formed the detective agency after they met and worked together in the events of the game. also, the Metal Sonic that appears in Chaotix is stated to be a rebuilt version of Metal, called Metal Sonic Kai, so the original body of Metal Sonic could still be on Little Planet for his appearances in Sonic 4 and Mania.

[@godofwar234regi5]

It actually isn't canon in both universes.

[@darkychao]

source

[@godofwar234regi5]

@@darkychao For one, Sonic Heroes was pretty much a reboot for the Chaotix. And second, they weren't familiar with Eggman nor Metal Sonic AT ALL despite the game referencing previous games a lot. And for the Classic universe, only the classic games (and SegaSonic) only happened ad the Chaotix most likely don't exist.

[@darkychao]

in the trailer for Sonic Mania Plus it's implied that Knuckles and Mighty already know each other, which would seem to imply the events of the Newtrogic High Zone incident did happen. either way, with a lack of any dialog it'd be hard to definitely state that a game isn't canon to the classic timeline.

[@lpfan4491]

So basically, Team Sonic and Team Chaotix have no major issue working together even tho they should't know each other if knuckles chaotix was truly noncanon. Like, everyone else at least knows each other but Team chaotix would just be a random groop of random guys that happened to get into skirmishes with team rose and team dark. Also, as far as I know Team chaotix never actually relate to if they know eggman or not and I don't think they even talk regarding metal sonic. I might be wrong tho.

[@Richforce1]

I think it was the Sonic comic books that carried the brand and fandom through this era, a weird as those could get. Then the Adventure era came up and as successful as it was the comics trying to tie into the game stories was difficult, something that helped lead to a lot of drama down the road.

[@rayvenkman2087]

Kind of missed the days when the comics were allowed to do their own thing without being handcuffed to the game’s themselves. A lot of it was bizarre but so was Transformers Marvel UK and that’s still being celebrated to this day in the fandom. Sega outta start acknowledging other parts of the Sonic brand beyond the 1-3K and CD well and embrace them rather than pretend they don’t exist. Hasbro has learned to do that with their flagship series by homaging and releasing figures of non-toy characters. That or remember the countless IP’s they have neglected and start using them again like Vectorman for example.

[@zero-sama2879]

They even made games that need the 32x and the Sega CD!

[@chriscannon8144]

I can't wait until you make a video SOLEY on the Adventure Era, especially 2, we've been waiting YEARS and I can almost taste it!

[@Klonoahedgehog]

Meanwhile while Sonic was sort of dormant in this period the series that Sega was pushing as their second mascot series was Japan exclusive until the 2010's.

[@justapickedminfan]

Sakura Taisen?

[@JdRDMS]

So basically when Sonic took a nosedive Sega brought their other mascot over? It all makes sense. Okay just kidding but that’s a pretty big coincidence.

[@MateusDrake]

Sonic R was one of my favorite games on Saturn. Every time the battery would die, I'd buy a new one and beat the game again. Or even delete the data myself or keep beating it again and again before I was able to get a new battery. I still have the soundtrack on my playlists on Spotify. Number One being my favorite. I really liked how J described it. "Out of place? Sure. Is it bad? Absolutely not"

[@rickyrosay33977]

I hate the game but I love the soundtrack 😂

[@BasedTaskForceRepres]

Sonic R’s music is so good that by itself is worth going through the stages

[@-PV-]

@mem reflect Sonic R controls pretty great. Even with the keyboard I feel confident in drifting and turning and leaping, it just feels right and so kinetic.

[@SabinStargem]

The Saturn is an awful console when it comes to developing 3D games, which made the N64 more viable for those. It was excellent where 2D games were concerned, but the Sega American management opposed bringing over "old" games like that. Saturn was essentially a primitive "dual core" CPU machine, similar to Jaguar. The weird architecture made it hard to make games and was expensive, which allowed the more generic Playstation to take the crown. It should be noted that the N64 lost that generation due to using the expensive cartridge format, and the Gamecube also lost partially due to disc media that had halved capacity. The moral of the story: Keep your hardware simple.

[@Carsonj13]

3D game development on the Saturn would have been SIGNIFICANTLY smoother if Sega had simply gone with a single, faster SH-2 with integrated T&L hardware. Their thinking was that a second SH-2 would pick up the slack and handle T&L in software. The problem is, parallel processing is difficult for developers. Even today.

[@mep6302]

The Wii wasn't simple and won the generation. So I don't think that matters entirely

[@MrConnman123]

@@mep6302 The Wii only outsold the other consoles because it also appealed to non-gamers, nothing on the Wii sold significantly well compared to stuff like Call of Duty outside of Wii Sports.

[@WaterKirby1994]

You don't know what you're talking about GameCube's smaller discs were much more efficient. N64 Cartridge format may have been expensive, although it was the superior console to PlayStation in terms of power/graphics, & Cartridges greatly reduced wait time. GameCube had better hardware than PlayStation 2 & the smaller discs meant faster load times. Besides most games at that time could fit on a single GC Disc, & the few that didn't could easily just use 2 Discs. GC Discs also cost less to manufacture than Xbox/PS2 Discs. The only reasons PS2 won were it being a DVD Player & certain exclusives like Kingdom Hearts in addition to the interference of Xbox in the console war.

[@SabinStargem]

@@WaterKirby1994 My history books say otherwise about the virtues of the mini-disc, aside from the faster loading. Anyhow, there were various reasons why Nintendo failed to really compete during the N64 and Gamecube eras, but the biggest by far was their iron-fisted negotiation tactics. They liked to use very draconian contracts that favored themselves at the expense of the game developers, taking little risk. While there was merit in assuring quality control, most of the measures Nintendo took were solely to exploit developers. That is why developers jumped ship when SEGA and Sony arrived for their defining generations. During the Gamecube era, Nintendo made a deliberate effort to not provide adequate development kits. They believed that by making it hard to make games for their console, only "the best" developers would stick around for their console. While the console certainly had a quality library, the lack of third party support hamstrung the platform.

[@beesbeesbeesbeesbees]

I always loved Knuckles' Chaotix to be honest. Everyone says it's a dumpster fire, but as it's own thing it's pretty damn nice! Will say, it's a bit difficult to get around at times, but I always had fun with it :3 Edit: You need to use the tether to slingshot, by the way, as opposed to just going up the hill like normal.

[@SerpentHashiraObanaiIguro]

4:07 Funny thing is, the Puyo Puyo Tetris games actually _did_ get unaltered international releases.

[@donkeykong75m]

late comments but i'm appreciating your review on sonic history, you summed it up cleanly in that one sentence "competing with yourselves as well as your rivals is never the way to go" perfectly sums up the Saturn era with how much clashing there was between SEGA of japan, and SEGA of america with the consoles local and over seas performances its night and day.

[@projectikaruga]

Fact: Sonic 3D Blast is a great game on Genesis. It's a miracle on the system, the OST is great.

[@kanekiken2376]

I swear Sonic R soundtrack has absolutely no business having such an incredible soundtrack 😂

[@contentdeleted1621]

5:02 "oh YES, more, MORE! faster, FASTER, *F a s t e r !"* So... that's where this type of s p e l l i n g came from, I suppose. Unless there's even older source.

[@KlonoaPrime]

3:32 Tails Adventure was always meant to be a Tails game. Although Skypatrol wasn't. Originally it was meant to be a Mickey Mouse game until Sega lost the license do they reskinned it to Tails

[@Wise_Person]

“Mommy, what are those two Sega machines doing?” “Making a new console, dear.” HOW DID THEY GET AWAY WITH THIS

[@alaakalash1980]

Sonic R is one of my earliest childhood games I adore it ! I was so young that is was hard to figure out how to unlock stuff so finding all the unlockable characters & super sonic was so satisfying !

[@GoldenJLR]

I think from all your videos this one I disagree the most, especially about Sonic 3D. Sonic 3D is called “Sonic 3D flickies' island” outside US for a good reason, this is a crossover with the arcade game flicky, for some reason a lot of people forgets about this and things it’s weird that Sonic has to collect birds on the levels. Sonic 3D is a nice exploration game, not all game of this franchise needs to be fast, especially a spin-off. I love the exploration and the level design, never had trouble with the controls, actually I think they are really good, some platforming can be a problem, especially in rusty ruins but this design is clearly made for this sections to skippable with a single jump, this section are not good but they are a small portion of great game. This is a isometric game, trying to destroy an enemy by jumping is a bad idea, that’s why the spin is there, there was just few seconds of gameplay on this video and that was already enough to give me that same sensation of watching some playing sonic without rolling. At this point I recommend everybody to try the director’s cut, is not official but it was made by Jon Burton himself and that is what really counts for me. Not only a lot of extras was added like super sonic and time attack without Flickies but also some gameplay changes too: The controls changed a little, the collision on some platforms were changed too, you can only crab a chaos emerald per zone, giving more reason to explore the later level and etc. Even of without the director’s cut Sonic 3D flickies' island still is a enjoyable and fun exploration game, that I recommend to everybody.

[@TheBioshocksnake]

I disagreed with almost everything in this video. Sonic CD *is* probably the best Sonic game. And Knuckles Chaotix is among the top 5 best, if you ask me. Heck, I love that game. Levels were easy, but keeping 50 rings to the end was an alright challenge, and the bonus stages were awesome. I mean, look at Mania. Also ridiculously easy, and getting more than 1 ring was usually pointless. I'd take Chaotix over Mania any day. Sonic 3D was pretty alright. Love the special stages in that one.

[@aliastheabnormal]

The ROM's for the 32X and Saturn games were either lost by Sega when moving or lost in a fire and Sega of Japan felt that nothing was lost important that day. That's why there are no remakes of most Saturn and 32X exclusives.

[@CecilTheDarkKnight234]

.... panzer dragoon saga's, burning rangers would like a word with you.

[@aliastheabnormal]

@@CecilTheDarkKnight234 Well yeah, Sega basically said. We have the Dreamcast now so let the past burn. Literally.

[@CecilTheDarkKnight234]

@@aliastheabnormal which makes me sad. The Saturn was a beast in Japan...

[@justsome500yearoldwithsmug2]

3D blast had some amazing theme choices tho... well expect a certain Stadium

[@Professor_SpaceTime]

Thank you for highlighting how Sonic R's soundtrack is full of straight BANGERS

[@jayswithjam8754]

American Sonic lore and the cartoon TV shows: We want to be together and mix our lore into this series. Sonic 3&K: Haha, epic story go brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

[@aortaplatinum]

I absolutely adore Vector's original design in Sonic 1's concept art and Chaotix, it perfectly fits his goofy personality. I do wish Mighty had been Team Chaotix' power character, since he was already supposed to be super tough, so Vector could keep the awkward, doofy look. Hell, keep him as one of the Chaotix but just make him the lazy one who was asleep when the team got the call for help from Eggman.

[@MangoMarc]

This Dark Age was worse than the actual "Dark Age".

[@rayvenkman2087]

MangoMarc At least the Dark Age tried. By that I mean actually caring about the characters.

[@thatkindofboi9955]

@@rayvenkman2087 This tbh

[@TheRegularMuiGoku]

Dark age stan detected.... "This dark ages was worse than the actual dark ages" and it's funny how sonic was alot more popular than your "aTleast iT tRied aNd hAve tHe bEst stOry" era.

[@sambridgers9543]

@@TheRegularMuiGoku He's not wrong, though.

[@xscythe67]

I'd say the 3rd one is the worst, while having decently playable games, as it became the era where the stories and characters took a nosedive all the while having Sonic be the only playable character for a majority of it.

[@hoseinbmr3449]

4:54 " completely unrelated footage of mega man x7 & Zero2 " That was HILARIOUS 👍😂

[@anothergamer112]

This just proves that Sega had no long term vision with Sonic and just slapped him on to insult Mario.

[@playerback7722]

Got a point there

[@ahmadkazan7994]

Really?Then why does the drawing in hidden palace foreshadow sonic adventure?

[@ahmadkazan7994]

Oh yeah,and if you hate that,no one is really asking you to watch.

[@AnAverageGoblin]

@@ahmadkazan7994 You can't possibly be that stupid.

[@kylecampbell565]

Yeah whenever anybody brings up “X completely goes against the Sonic series!” I point out Sonic’s purpose was to kill Mario: something he failed to do

[@Zachanator1213]

Literally the only reason why there was eight chaos emeralds in Sonic the fighters was because there was eight playable characters

[@12majixajinxixcolorchartdi25]

17:19 I believe that maybe the 8th Chaos Emerald could be the Master Emerald. Also I like Tails Adventure, Sonic Chaos aka Sonic and Tails in some places, Knuckles Chaotix and Sonic Triple Trouble. They at least to me are decently enough games.

[@rayvenkman2087]

12MajixaJinxixColorChartDisplay 12MJCCD I’d like for Sega to start branching out again with the series. He’s been around long enough and it’s time they start freshen things up.

[@TheRealDustinNunn]

Most of the 8-bit Sonic games are best played on the Sega Master System. Plus, there is an add-on for the Sega Game Gear called the Gear Master and you can use it to play Master System games on your Game Gear via the Gear Master. In the Master System Sonic games, there are no slow-downs and there are no screen-crunches.

[@-PV-]

>Best played on Master System Ah yes, the unpolished and dumb down versions, especially for Sonic 2.

[@antusFireNova]

Great Video! Looking foward to the Adventure era games reviews!

[@kabesilvermaine4768]

This era of Sonic was hell all we had was the archie comic the Sonic Jam collection and the hope of a new mainline game to keep us going. unless you lived in this era you dont know real pain when it comes to being a Sonic fan.

[@theminecraft2516]

Sonic R is definitely the best out of this era, it’s weird but fun

[@XBladenoJutsu]

In regards to Knuckles' Chaotix: "The 32X is put to great use to produce a great soundtrack" Funny thing, the soundtrack uses mostly the Genesis for music, with the 32X side only doing the drums.

[@GamingintheAM0801]

Funny enough, the first Tomb Raider game actually came out on Saturn BEFORE the PlayStation. But nobody thinks of Tomb Raider as a "Saturn game." This is a testament to how much of a flop the Saturn really was, and to how canny Sony was to nab those exclusive sequel rights!

[@ADiretoria100]

YES, THANK YOU Not a lot of people recognize the 94/95-99 as the first Dark Era, all 3 main generations had a Dark Era

[@rayvenkman2087]

Sonic THD What would you define the three eras as?

[@fnaf2isthegoat75]

@@rayvenkman2087 1 the dry Era 1994 -1997 2. The Dark Age 2003 -2005 3. The Nostalgia age 2012 -2018

[@Thor-Orion]

Sonic Spinball was the only videogame my mom played with us growing up. So I have fond memories of that game. Love it to death.

[@Terror0619]

You're a curb your enthusiasm fan?. Good man if your are. That show is my favorite comedy.

[@KentuckyFriedKitten666]

Having flashbacks to the classic AVGN episodes. Good stuff man!

[@FlyingDuckMan360]

+Nazi Punks Back Off Especially since AVGN actually reviewed a few of these games in his "Wish List Part 1" video at the requests of his fans (particularly Blast, Labyrinth, and R, as well as Shuffle and Shadow, the latter two having come out after Sonic's first dork age ended).

[@EWOODJ]

When I see people play Sonic R on the Gems Collection specifically on videos, I always question if they even know the controls. It always looks like they’re pressing up instead of B to accelerate and they never press the drift buttons.

[@an0rangutan]

And then blame the game for having awful controls.

[@rickyrosay33977]

I always use a slower character first before sonic so I can relearn the mechanics when I go back to this game

[@PsychoticWonders0725]

"...or as I like to call it, Sonic 3D 'BELONGS IN THE TRASH'" That made me laugh harder than it should've.

[@zero-sama2879]

Idk why but i really like Sonic R gameplay and i love Knuckles Chaotix! I think they're neat!

[@JerseyDevils21]

Sonic R's Soundtrack slaps

[@KamisamanoOtaku]

I really liked Sonic R *but* not only did it take getting used to the controls, but I played it only via whatever Collection game (Gems?) On the GCN, not the Saturn.

[@eishikibahamut]

I think I played/liked sonic R more than super mario kart.

[@JerseyDevils21]

@@eishikibahamut oh yeah, I liked sonic r better than super Mario kart, at least the map doesn't take up half of the screen

[@KamisamanoOtaku]

@@JerseyDevils21 I think I like Sonic R more than the first Mario Kart, the one on the SNES... but that is a low bar to clear. Mario Kart didn't get really good until the N64 version.

[@ChrisTheChocobo]

I personally loved so much that first ''Dark Age''

[@thekingofpotatoes1932]

Door Into Summer justified the entirety of Knuckles' chaotix existence

[@Carsonj13]

It's funny, he said that the 32X sound hardware was used to great effect... It WAS, but barely. Because there was hardly any hardware TO use. The PWM chip handles drum samples. Everything else is entirely possible on base Genesis hardware!

[@curlsey]

I had sonic mega collection on the PS2 and my Mum used to play Sonic 3D blast for hours 🤣

[@NintendoTV64]

I honestly thought 3D Blast was a fantastic game, to tell you the truth. The isometric 3D gameplay is just something you don't see everyday in video games, let alone Sonic the Hedgehog games, so it was nice to see Sonic take that style of gameplay and run with it (no pun intended) for a change. That said, literally every other game released during this era (except for Spinball Genesis, Mean Bean Machine, and Fighters) is either decent at best or absolute dogshit at worst. And that's not even touching upon Sonic's Schoolhouse, quite frankly the single WORST Sonic game in existence. That game makes Shadow and '06 look like masterpieces!

[@Zak-bv4qm]

Id rather play Boom than School house tbh.

[@maude7420]

You kidding me lol 06 is far better than this, way more epic

[@AgusTTBlue]

@@maude7420 At least 3d blast is passable, 06 not

[@maude7420]

Wdym 06 is passable, it's just unfinished but definitely playable if you have an open mind

[@AgusTTBlue]

@@maude7420 My mind is so open that I recognize that the game is full of bugs, poor gameplay, poorly polished graphics and a disastrous story

[@geno9919]

This whole video also proves that no matter how bad sonic games get the music is always gonna be a 10/10 forever

[@HeavenOnlyKnows2002]

Ok that Spongebob refrence deserves a like😂

[@T0ffy021]

Your Eggman impression fills me with joy

[@gertytk5528]

Sonic series is an interesting one. No matter how bad the game, the music seems to be always awesome. Much like in Mega Man series.

[@kenwalkensdeadchannelcanal2886]

What about sonic chronicles and the dark brotherhood? Yeah, the music was so amazing that i couldn't even tell if I was really listening to music. I'm sorry for the ones who like the game, it's just that some of the music in the game isn't too great...

[@Sakf504]

Except for Sonic Spinball and Sonic Chronicles, those had awful soundtracks.

[@Mobysimo]

And now I know where that awesome track from the Generations Extras room came from! I think that's the biggest reference Chaotix has ever gotten

[@an0rangutan]

Sonic R is like... Amazing, one of my favorite games I've ever played, the worst thing about it is the character balancing, characters like Amy, Puppet Tails (Tails Doll...whatever) and Egg Robo are unsalvageable, but as long as you avoid those characters, learn the maps and controls, it's actually a damn fun game. What's unfortunate is people pick it up for 10 seconds say "The handling is bad" and never play it again, rather than actually getting better and realizing the handling is actually fine, you're bad.

[@-PV-]

Literally this.

[@StrangeSunset7]

I agree with you!

[@nibot2101]

Amazing video

[@mjc0961]

Holy crap, I never noticed the apostrophe. Knuckles' Chaotix 🤣

[@iac8757]

Sonic R is like a really good demo for a game that never got released

[@thajocoth]

I enjoy 3D Blast. It really could've used a save feature, but aside from that, I enjoy the exploration, finding hidden areas, etc... I wouldn't say it has the easiest special stages of the classic games. Sonic 2's are definitely easier.

[@xww6849]

Sonic 2? I wouldn’t say that

[@petwisk2012]

"Sonic The Figthers is actualy really good" i laughed hard with that One Really good Joke

[@JsReviews]

I mean, is there something wrong with it that puts it below these other dumpster fires?

[@petwisk2012]

@@JsReviews bellow them no, but is not really a good game, If you want a good figthing game on the Same Engine i suggest Figthing Vipers or Figthers Megamix, because at least there i can Tell when my attacks Land or not (plus in one of them you can play as the Daytona USA car

[@mep6302]

@@petwisk2012 It is good once you understand all the combinations of buttons to fight, like in every fighting game

[@IAmAndrew1]

God I love that City Pop inspired Sonic R soundtrack. Shit is crisp

[@heppuplays9125]

I like how I'm pretty sure Sonic R is still to this day the only Sonic Racing game that actually has sonic running instead of being in a Car for some reason.

[@nibot2101]

Sonic fighters is awesome

[@mengo329]

Sonic R is really cool for the novelty alone

[@FelipeCotti]

...Saddening to see the GG versions of games available on the Master System being used. While Sonic Blast is still terrible on it, the increased screen space certainly makes a huge difference for Sonic 2, which is pretty good. Sky High Zone also has one of the best tracks ever composed in the franchise.

[@Harrinsain]

"Growing Pain Years" A.K.A "The True Rough Transition To 3D"

[@joseluissifuentes8639]

I like how you just give love to sonic the fighters that a sonic fighting game can work if given the right formula. Sonic smack down has entered the chat

[@Sonic171K]

I still want to play Sonic R.

[@StrangeSunset7]

I would recommend getting the pc version or gems collection for gamecube

[@SolidSpartanX]

In the GameCube version of Sonic R on the Gems Collection, holding down the L and R shoulder buttons while running can cause the player character to lean, allowing you to turn corners easier. L for leaning left and R for leaning right, respectively. So you don't have to turn the control stick left or right. Just hold up and use L and R.

[@-PV-]

That's a thing in the Saturn version as well.

[@F1ghtGam3r]

I mainly bought Sonic Gems collection for Sonic the Fighters & Sonic R. You're my number 1 was my wedding song ❤

[@ليديا-ي4ح]

I love and enjoy every you had mentioned

[@nixonszombie]

Loved the Curb beans edit.

[@kavenewell72]

Very convenient that I just found this video. Me, a weird dude that has in his personal top Sonic games: Sonic R, Knuckles Chaotix, Sonic The Fighters and Sonic 3D Blast (And Sonic CD as well, but... seems the game doesn't belong to that dark era) just... LOL. Nice video, makes me wanna try some of the Game Gear games XD

[@-PV-]

Do so. The Game Gear games are really cool, especially Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 Game Gear.

[@competitivedishwasher6579]

SEGA: "How about this one? I call it "Sonic 3D Blast." J: *"More like, Belongs in the Trash!"*

[@michaeloverton04]

5:09, Console f€"(£!^, you were talking about console f€"(£!^.

[@mkayrose6070]

Actually Spinball was a mixture of all the continuities at the time, Scratch was in there as well as the canon version of Robotnik.

[@Robotvike1996]

In the sonic the fighter character select section you forgot to mention Honey the cat who is a secret character if you press star on Amy and honey is really good and may i say underrated and needs to come back in a future sonic game

[@davidzea-smith1417]

I have Tails Adventure on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console. I got stuck, but it's one of my favourite Sonic games. The graphics are surprisingly detailed, it controls well, the exploration is fun, the weapons are great and Tails is my favourite Sonic character, so him being the main character gets points.

[@Low_Standards_Gaming_YT]

4:52 I see exactly what you did there. X7 and Zero 2 released on the exact same day.

[@dcbandit]

Knuckles' Chaotics is what you get when the Sonic Series gets TOO 90s.

[@zero-sama2879]

Boy the soundtrack of Sonic R is so amazing! Its just so GREAT!!!

[@dimasandhahaknuckles3039]

I need to admit knuckles' chaotix is pretty good game