Sonic Eras NEED A Rebrand

[@LukeStation]

Give me your best era names in the comments! I gave mine, now I wanna hear yours.

[@AquaBlueTea]

Love these new names. I was starting to get tired of referring to my favorite era of Sonic as the “Dark Age”.

[@Flameky]

There’s so many more gems in the “dark age” than flops🎉

[@Pufftarot]

The name "dark age" does make sense though. Although all my favourite Sonic games are from it, the "Dark Age" of Sonic refers to review scores, games being rushed out the door by SEGA, and just Sonic Team losing it's reputation over all. I think it makes a lot of sense to call it the Dark Age.

[@leonardoalvarenga7572]

The name could also refer to the dark tone of the stories from that time.

[@ToonyTails]

I also hate calling the era I grew up on the “meta era”. I really hate that name as it sounds really stupid imo

[@piranhalettuce]

@@ToonyTails That's because that era IS really stupid

[@sido5378]

I think meta is a pretty good word to describe that era. Its not just about meta humor. Nostalgia pandering is meta too because its self-aware of its own franchise's success from the past. Using nostalgia very deliberately as a tool to get a reaction from the audience is meta.

[@Itz_Kwame]

I mean, yeah

[@TehJellyLord]

I would prefer “nostalgia era” or something tho tbh because that is really what it is. Sonic Team and SEGA over relying on nostalgia to, in their minds, keep fans happy.

[@ahmedseen]

I mean neither meta humor nor nostalgia can really accurately explain that era. Nostalgia mainly applies for Sonic Generations but the era encompasses more games, mostly boost games, and boost was a new gameplay variation not a nostalgic one

[@TehJellyLord]

@@ahmedseen Sonic 4 Episode 1 onward, every game had some sort of reference to older games. Sonic 4 Ep1 is all nostalgia rehash, Sonic Colors was the first time badniks were brought back into mainline Sonic Team games, Sonic Generations is also a nostalgia throwback, Sonic Lost World uses Green Hill aesthetics and brings back the classic Tornado design from Sonic 2 and has even more Classic badniks, Sonic Mania is a nostalgia throwback to the Classics, and Sonic Forces continues the trend of reusing Green Hill and Chemical Plant and also having Classic Sonic there all to throwback to the classics. That’s not even counting spin-offs. The only outlier in all this is the Boom spin-off and Colors being the last fully original mainline game other than the badniks as mentioned before. Nostalgia Era, Throwback Era, the Play it Safe Era, anything like that would work.

[@TheMasonGamer]

@@TehJellyLord That wouldn't be accurate either; because while there is a lot of nostalgia pandering, there's also a lot that's "goofy kids cartoon" which wasn't a proper representation of any era before that. The only thing from the Classic Era that could be described like that was Adventures Of and early Archie (which there haven't been many callbacks to at all)

[@Romanode_]

These names need to catch on they’re so much better than the current ones.

[@mistergordonfreeman]

deez nuts

[@thegameguy429]

The “Golden Era” should have been the “Uekawa Era” as most of the games are more based off of the art style

[@XPool]

Every era is the dark age.

[@JustMaxT]

I always hated how the "Dark Age" was called the "Dark Age". There were plenty of great games released within that timeframe that were super fun and well put together.

[@thecomicsario]

I always thought that it was called the Dark Age because of how low Sonic's reputation was at the time. 06, Secret Rings, Unleashed, and Black Knight got horrible reviews back then and that was when the "Sonic was never good" thing started

[@Barkerbg001]

Personally I view dark age as refering to the darker tone of the stories(I am aware that the term originates from the series reception at the time)

[@Itz_Kwame]

It’s called dark age game for a reason

[@laronfields4529]

@@thecomicsario not just the reputation. The games were just shit

[@paulgilbert5278]

Not all of them

[@sketchsskotch1073]

Also the meta era, maybe not originated but it was at least popularized in J' Reviews video about Modern Sonic stories.

[@games_on_phone89]

i hate what he has done to this franchise

[@sketchsskotch1073]

@@games_on_phone89 What

[@games_on_phone89]

@@sketchsskotch1073 you know, the term "meta era"

[@NovaZoneTV]

Interesting video. I can understand where you're coming from with some of it. I had some ideas a little bit differently the other day, but adding some of your thoughts consolidated my own. - Obviously no debate about the classic era. That's set in stone. - For the golden/shounen era, I don't really think we should still be seperating SA1 up through maybe Rush Adventure. Honestly I'm not too against calling that the "shounen" era, but giving that moniker to post Advance 3 doesn't sit right when Sonic Adventure 2 has some of the biggest anime tropes in the series. It's even the time span where it followed a stable continuity for the longest, similar to shounen anime. The creation and death of the Dreamcast also influenced nearly every Sonic Team decision from SA1 up until Yuji Naka's departure, so ending that era in 07 wouldn't be too crazy. - I think the pander era has too much of a negative stigma. I was always against the meta era for the same reason. Like, I agree, they definitely pandered to fans during this time, but I don't think we should be using negative terms for eras anymore. Given the rise of people defending games from the "dark era", I think we should do away with terms that might alienate fans. Boost and modern were the obvious ones at one point, but neither work now. Given that Unleashed was the first game to push "only playing as Sonic" the "Solo Era" would make some sense. - Obviously, the first mainline game for the current era isn't out yet and that could change my mind, but I'm tempted to call it the global era. Sonic's appeal has spread universally as a character, so I feel it would fit. Great editing btw, I can see you getting up there soon.

[@kaobunn]

Great video! Really love the artwork you did of Sonics render popping out of a background from a respective game I personally have always gone with: Classic Era Adventure Era Dark Era Boost Era The last three not being named what you think. Dark Era is moreso because Sega always leaned into darker storytelling for their games, Adventure Era is because of Sonic going on huge adventures but also because every game during that era honed in on gameplay styled similarly to Adventure, including Heroes..and Boost Era is pretty clear. Lost World isn't boost but with it standing out like a sore thumb I wasn't sure where to put it haha. Admittedly it's not perfect but it's hard to define an era for a franchise that changes gameplay every so often

[@games_on_phone89]

"dark era" also because 70% percent of the games were shit

[@chaoschannel3428]

I feel like it'd be simpler to just name the eras based on the decade. It makes the most sense since the games that share the same decade all tended to have a similar feel to them or share similar story beats amongst titles in the era. Plus this would mean every mainline title is perfectly divided amongst the eras, with each getting 5 mainline titles: *90's Era* ~ Sonic 1, 2, CD, 3&K, SA1 *2000's Era* ~ SA2, Heroes, Rush, 06, Unleashed *2010's Era* ~ Colors, Generations, Lost World, Mania, Forces

[@FutureFoxyOfficial]

Personally I agree with those other than the Pander Era, while it certainly does make sense, when you hear Pander Era you don't really think about the style of games that are in this era, and it doesn't mean the type of lighthearted cartoon kinda style that it is. I personally like using the name safe era that some people (i think) already use, since it is trying to be more safe and not risk-taking

[@Hugo-yz1vb]

Most of the era names got popularized J's Reviews, and even he specified that he didn't actually thought that the names represented the eras correctly, he just used them to describe trends throughout the series

[@bigsleeter]

ngl i never heard "meta era" be used until like 2019 i always thought people called it the "renaissance era"

[@sketchsskotch1073]

That's because in 2018, a youtuber called J Reviews made a video on Why Modern Sonic stories don't work and he used the name Meta-Era and it got 1.1M views so it popularized it.

[@games_on_phone89]

because some idiot coined it and doomed us all

[@Hugo-yz1vb]

I just nicknamed our current era as the New Frontiers Era or the Renaissance Era

[@Brianycus]

Here's a lengthy comment: Classic Era: 1991-1998 Reason: this is where Classic Sonic shined until the conception of the Modern Sonic design came to be for Sonic Adventure. Adventure Era: 1998-2006 Reason: While yes we have two games that are called Sonic Adventure proper, the reason this extends onto 2006 is because this is where Sonic had the most "adventures" with friends. He was cruising with tails and Knuckles, but there was Team Dark, Team Chaotix making a comeback, and Team Rose. Hell, Shadow the Hedgehog is a direct tie-in to Sonic Adventure and GUN is a thing until Sonic 06 which is also a thing from Sonic Adventure 2. Boost Era: 2006 -2011 Reason: You can argue this goes back to 2005 with Sonic Rush since that's where THE boost formula showed up, but Sonic and the Secret Rings also conceptualized it to a degree. Of course Sonic Unleashed would solidify it, but hey it's there. "Modern" Era: 2011-2017 Reason: This is where we see the Modern Sonic we are familar with despite the modern Sonic design being a thing all the way back to 1998. Sure we have Sonic Mania here and Sonic Boom, but they are more of the odd ones out in this case. As for the era of today? I like the Remedy Era, but I consider it as the following: Revival Era: 2017-?? Reason: Remedy sounds cool, but it sounds like it's trying to treat something rather than revive something all together. With the Revival Era, we see Sonic back to his roots from the previous eras and making it into something more refreshing and entirely new. As would a revival would feel like. Anyways, enjoy this, let me know your thoughts, and don't ask me when my Sonic Advance 3 review will show up.

[@caidonnelly3942]

1st Classic Era 1991 -1994 Awkward Era 1995 - 1997 Comeback Era 1998 - 2004 Bad Place 2005 - 2009 Experimental Era 2010 - 2019 Remedy Era 2020 - 2029

[@SuperSireBoyYT]

So the “meta era” term was coined by j’s reviews, and he came up with it simply because he needed a term that described how nostalgia heavy and self referential that era was

[@games_on_phone89]

but it wasn't even THAT nostalgia heavy and self referential, the only bit of the "meta era" i'd ACTUALLY call meta is boom, and the only ones that are actually nostalgia heavy would be gens, mania, and forces, because those were anniversary titles

[@mcnuggwtscreations]

@@games_on_phone89 Forces doesn't feel like a Anniversary title.

[@stoopitnamls]

I agree with all the names you've given to these eras, they sound and represent much better how the eras were basing mostly out of the majority of the community's opinions.

[@Romanode_]

Flicky Era Chao Era Wisp Era Koco Era

[@games_on_phone89]

honestly it'd be depressing to have the kocos return considering their context

[@mcnuggwtscreations]

@@games_on_phone89 What's wrong with the Kocos?

[@TronicSSJ07]

I think Shonen Era is perfect as Shonen is aimed at 7-year old to Teenage Boys and Shonen era just screams Sonic.

[@SlightlyCreative]

KZbin recommended is doing its magic, I really love these names! These are way more accurate, I hope this video reaches more people.

[@games_on_phone89]

these names are terrible what is bro cooking

[@SlightlyCreative]

@@games_on_phone89 they're better than what we got now lmfao

[@games_on_phone89]

@@SlightlyCreative no they're fucking not, you only like these names because you grew up in the dark age and are salty about it

[@SlightlyCreative]

@@games_on_phone89 you seem salty given how aggressive you're being lol

[@games_on_phone89]

@@SlightlyCreative i'm not salty, you people are really annoying

[@Nativefall]

If I catch anyone using Shonen or Remedy as an era name. You are banned from sonic. Just entirely

[@games_on_phone89]

finally someone with an actual fucking brain here

[@SuperSireBoyYT]

If theres one issue i have with these names, is that like the original names, they’re still get more kind of opinion based as they get closer to modern day, with words like pander having a negative connotation. Theres not really much that can be done about that though, since these are very accurate to what happened

[@TheMasonGamer]

That's fine, the general opinion on each era is accurately represented with these names; and are still more clearly defining for what each era consisted of. Bias is fine here if it's warrented

[@tylerb.gaming762]

Here’s why I think the original names work The classic era (Sonic The Hedgehog-Sonic 3D Blast) most of these games were sprite based so it’s classic makes sense Adventure era (Sonic Adventure -Shadow The Hedgehog) I think the reason for this name is because this era had most of sonics most high stakes adventures yet The Dark Era (Sonic The Hedgehog-Sonic and the black knight) I feel this is less because the quality of the games overall was bad but because these stories took themselves way more seriously then games like sonic heroes or sonic colors The stories around this time had a sense of nuance that we don’t really see now The Meta Era (Sonic The Hedgehog 4-Sonic Frontiers) The namesake for this one is less that the games are meta but because of these games rampant nostalgia pandering Take your pick Sonic 4 Sonic Gens Sonic mania sonic forces Sonic frontiers Weather you like these games or not it’s very apparent how much they want to appeal to classic fans I think the way people see these eras is all a matter of perspective

[@chappyvevo.]

hi luke station i’m going to bed but i will watch your video in the morning

[@TheMasonGamer]

I was on the fence at first, but honestly I really agree with these names. They do properly represent each era much better, even if they'll take some adjusting. I'm gonna start using these names, hopefully the community follows

[@seamistseamist]

Adventure era makes sense since Heroes uses the Adventure engine, or a modified version of it.

[@XPool]

Rename the Classic era to the “Pre-Labyrinth Era”’and everything else to the “Post-Labyrinth Era”. When’s the Labyrinth review, Luke?

[@silveramyknux241]

This is my interpretation of what the series and it’s world wide reputation put into eras. 1991-94: The Golden Age Era 1995-97/8: The Main N/A Era 1998-2001: The Adventure/Dreamcast Era 2002-2004: The New Beginnings Era 2005-2009: The Dark Age Era 2010-2013: The Renaissance Era 2014-2016: The Boom Era 2017-2019: The Mediocre Return Era 2020-Present Day: The Marketing Boost Era 2010-except Boom-Present Day: The Pander Era

[@3rdstrikestan930]

Im calling the early 2000s era 'the millenium era'

[@mr__switch1825]

Nah It's the multi media era And yes, Sonic was always multi media But quite literally The franchise got saved by multi media

[@jerrisatyourwindow]

It seems like sonic fans group eras by whoever the current voice actor is. I won’t lie and say that things haven’t been pretty when Jason griffin was voice acting sonic

[@silveramyknux241]

2:23 I disagree, after 3&K and before Adventure, we got nothing but spin-offs that are mostly considered mediocre, and Sonic was mostly forgotten thanks to the terrible development for X-treme and no other Main Series title. It’s why I called 1995-1997/8 The Main N/A Era or whatever more catchy name.

[@Laekith]

1) Classic era 2) Adventure era (everything revolved around Adventure up until 06) 3) Shonen era kinda works but the Adventure era also had a lot of shonen influence, Adventure 2 was literally written as a typical battle shonen story, the same writer (Shiro Maekawa) also wrote Heroes, and Sonic X started airing in 2003. Not to mention Sonic _Battle_ . That said, Maekawa also wrote Black Knight, and it's clear that 06, Secret Rings and Unleashed also leaned into shonen, so yeah it kinda works. 4) Nostalgia era. Enough said. 5) Sonic Renaissance or multimedia era. Both work, I think this is gonna be decided with time. I've seen a few people call it the multimedia era even before Sammy finally realized this franchise was worth something.

[@DSmith3279]

I agree with the titles Classic and Golden Eras, but Pander Era and Remety are just awful... The 2010s should either be called the Color Era due to the prevalence of the Wisps and Color Powers throughout the era in both spinoff and mainline games, or the Nostalgic Era due to the abundance of nostalgic call backs and whatnot to the previous eras. And until we see more of this new era, the safest way we can refer to it is the Open Zone Era.

[@BoostBracelet]

the current era should be called The Dark Age 2 Electric Boogaloo

[@BashyMcBash]

My name ideas: 1991-1997 - Classic Era 1998-2004 - Adventure Era 2005-2009 - Shonen Era 2010-2020 - Meta Era 2021-??? - Renaissance Era

[@niwi7642]

Imo: 1991 - 1995 = Classic Era 1998 - 2009 = Experimental Era 2010 - 2017 = Nostalgic Era 2022 - ? = *Modern Era* (The last one will probably change to something better later) Im not a Fan of calling it "Dark Age" or "Meta Era" because they both make it sound like, theyr objectivly bad (Both had good and bad Games) I tried to be as objective and simple as possible

[@spindashstudios9720]

2024 guy here. Here are my names for these eras: Classic Era: 1991-1997 Adventure Era: 1998-2005 Modern Era: 2006-2014 Neo Modern Era: 2014-2021 New Frontier Era: 2022+ There we go those are my names thank you

[@Sonic12Lexi]

The New Names are better but I would say Classic Era is 1991 to Early 1995 and Mid 1995 to Late 1998 is the Transitioning Era.

[@BingoHighway]

WOAH CHILL ON THE HEROES SLANDER

[@Itz_Kwame]

Pander era, it just doesn’t sit well with me

[@GoldenGoofball]

I agree with the names. it'd be cool if they caught on

[@games_on_phone89]

please don't

[@Cobra-yo7fx]

Nice video! You seriously have a lot of potential my friend! I wish you great amounts of happiness and success! :)

[@Eclipsmon8421]

Ok. Here is how I label each era. 1991-1998: Classic Era. I mean, almost every first era of any franchises should get a similar name to that. They are classic games that represents the earliest point in the franchise. Nothing against that. 1998-2010: Shonen Era. So with this era you probably notice two things. First, I combined what people considered the Dreamcast Era, and Dark Age together. Second, I took the name of Shonen Era from LukeStation, but not the name of Golden Age. Here I will try to explain everything. First thing to note is that when I name an era, I try to be as unbiased as possible. As a result, I don't take my opinion of the games into consideration, and mainly the reception of the games when they released into account. If I call an era "Golden", I would say those games were well received at the time. That being said, if I would call any era "Golden", it would be the Classic Era, because whether you want it or not, this is the era where Sonic was at his most powerful. When he almost singlehandedly gave Nintendo for the first time some true competition in the console market and influenced the creation of other games later down the line. Therefore, I wouldn't call 1998-2005 the Golden Age, and even less if you add 2005-2010 into the mix like I do. Why do I do that in the first place though? Well, the reason why 2005-2010 is often considered its own separate era from 1998-2005 is because this is where the reception of games and the brand of Sonic in general started to go downhill, which is why it is often called the Dark age. Personally, this is the only thing that separates those two periods of time, because 2005-2010 is less of a new direction for Sonic, and more a continuation of what we got in 1998-2005, so if it isn't for that "Dark Age" distinction, I don't see the point of separating those eras. The thing is though, I disagree with having a distinct era being considered a Dark Age. Why? Well, it's because in my opinion, every era of Sonic, except the one we are currently in because it just started, have their OWN dark period. The classic era had that period where there wasn't a big game on the Saturn, and the 2010s had that period with Sonic Boom, Forces, and everything. Those eras were arguably very comparable to 2005-2010, it's just that 2005-2010 is the Dark Age of the Shonen Era that started with Adventure. Like the reason why we even got multiple eras like this is that Sonic Team was always trying to reinvent itself and respond to criticism. The reason we got the era of the 2010s after the Shonen era is because the direction in which this era went was getting more and more criticized, in the same way that the reason we are in a new era at the moment is that the 2010s era was getting more and more criticized as time went on. And yes, I do think the period from 1998-2005 could be considered the Shonen Era. The heavy shonen energy started to take off with the Adventure games, especially Adventure 2. 2010-2021 or 2010-2022 (it depends on what we'll get in the future): Childhood Era. I already gave a new name to this one before. So why do I call what a lot of people call the "Meta Era" the "Childhood Era". Well, it is because this era either tried to appeal to a very young demographic, and they used nostalgia from the generation that grew up with the classic games to make their games appealing to them. Or both. We got both in Sonic Generations and Forces, we got the former with Colors, Lost World and Sonic Boom, and we got the latter for Sonic 4 and Sonic Mania. Heck, you could argue Colors and Lost World were kind of trying to go back to some elements from the classic games on top of trying to be appealing to young kids. To be clear, Sonic was always for kids first and trying to be appealing to adults as well as a bonus, but this is kind of accentuated during that era. Basically, it's an era that tries to appeal to two kinds of childhoods at the same time, which is why I call it the childhood era. 2021/2022-now: Let's wait and see. Really, to know what we should call that era, we should know what games we will get during that period, and especially when (and if) we'll get a dark age to end this era like all the previous ones, we will get a better idea of what to call it. Maybe we could call it the "Open World Era" because that era will be defined by open world Sonic games. Maybe it will be more an era defined by more grounded storytelling and a somewhat realistic ambiance. Maybe it will be defined by rereleases like Sonic Origins or Sonic Colors Ultimate, which is also the reason why I hesitate to say that 2021 marked the start of the era we are currently in or not, because I don't know if we got Sonic Origins and Colors Ultimate because of the Childhood Era's tendency of using nostalgia or if it actually is what will define parts of the new era. It all depends in which direction the franchise will go forward.

[@raphaelmartins6529]

The true dark age is the "meta era" because most games in this time period were not successes and it was the low point in Sonic history in terms of popularity. Low sales, low budget, drought, etc. Started good with Sonic Colors, but they did not manage to keep the momentum going. I think the so called "dark age" looks actually positive compared to the meta-era. I missed being "unhappy" in the dark age era. Yes, some controversial games, but there were games coming more often, so, in the end of the day, there were more things to like because there were more options in general. And I actually like Shadow the Hedgehog the video game and I can't deny it...

[@Inactivechannel-r6]

Sonic frontiers gives me hope that remedy era won’t be trash

[@SweaterSwagg]

Great video!

[@buffkangaroodog]

I would be careful calling the dark age the shonen era. Stylistically, frontiers is the most shonen game we’ve gotten. Mix that with the ending of sonic movie 2… idk we might want to hold off on that for now

[@alguienmasbruh695]

This Man Deserves More subs bro,His Content It's Awesome And He Puts Love into this videos Talking about what he likes.

[@games_on_phone89]

"his content is awesome" HAHAHA, don't make me laugh

[@wfrm1487]

Idk about remedy era what about paracetamol

[@XxLAMMYxX]

Yea I need one I'm kinda getting old

[@dvuediniy]

Amesome montage! I'm sure, you'll go a long way.

[@maroonkennedy6213]

I personally just call everything from Adventure 1 to 06, and maybe Unleashed, the Adventure era since the games past Adventure 2 still used similar gameplay styles and story tropes as the Adventure games Sonic 06 is basically Sonic Adventure 3 and the handhepd games during this time still had that Adventure flavor if you know what I mean.

[@rainbowdrinker_]

"0:00 - 5:57" 🤓

[@swr.nezumi]

I think J's Reviews coined the term Meta Era?

[@jateyboi1108]

We should name every era the sonic labyrinth era ( *ok these names are pretty good* )

[@chibie3384]

3:26 *cough* I wonder who taught you that *cough cough*🤧

[@kuklama0706]

Maekawa era

[@reservoir4798]

Been having a weird itch to start my own video essay channel. So I want to ask how did you improve on your editing?

[@EpicTails]

IS THAT AN AMONG US IN THE BACKGROUND

[@lupinthenerd439]

So that explains why that Era image was made: it was all cause by a 12 year old that doesn't understand discussion ofc

[@laronfields4529]

5:03 "going back to the Adventure-y roots"? Doesnt that also make it part of the Pander era since they're pandering to the people who like the "golden/shonen" era? (The true golden era was the classic era lmao) is nostalgia pandering only bad when it doesn't pander to YOUR nostalgia? Having eras in the first place is dumb and unnecessary. Why can't we just say good Sonic games and bad Sonic games? Also isn't it a bit early to say "Remedy era"? This era could turn out to be utter dogshit. Everyone thought Colors and Generations started the "remedy era" when they released

[@lpfan4491]

Because splitting games interms of quality is not the point of it.

[@laronfields4529]

@@lpfan4491 to me it doesn't feel like there's a point at all

[@lpfan4491]

@@laronfields4529 It is to document diffrent stylistic groups and the chronological evolution in the series...which is individually relevant. A similar logic can be applied to the Zelda timeline, where even tho it doesn't have anything to do with releasedates, but it still simplifies 90% of the diffrent conceptual groups of its series(With adult timeline being more cartooney and pre-split being origin-stories, etc). And other IPs also have similar sub-categories that help fans remember the huge catalogue of games without it all blending together.

[@crashban4t.f.s.b783]

THESE ARE GREAT NAMES FOR THE ERAS!!!

[@jerrisatyourwindow]

Your wrong about no one giving a name for the current era of sonic. Most people are calling it the “multimedia” era

[@odd-eyesvon]

Colors had a lot of 4th wall breaks, and jokes that came at the expense of how trope-y certain moments were. An example was Sonic telling Eggman to stop making jokes and just give an evil speech, and after the evil speech, Eggman's like "was that good?" and Sonic says "yes, like 100 times better". Generations and Forces are FILLED with Meta moments, though Generations was a anniversary celebration so it gets a bit of a pass.

[@games_on_phone89]

forces is ALSO an anniversary celebration

[@GrayFoxHound9]

A bit complex in my opinion For me it's a bit more simple Classic era - all games prior to sonic adventure. Adventure era - all games up to Unleashed - most of them had similar fundamental gameplay (including 06), almost all of them followed the same continuity (including GBA games) and they looked similar. The only problem is Secret Rings/Black knight because they feel like in-between of adventure and next era; and Rivals are there i guess. Last era (still in progress) - boost era - started with Unleashed (what a great start! It's still the best-looking sonic game and IMO the best looking xbox360 era game) time when all main games use boost formula, Sonic is usually the only relevant character, all of games moved from Adventure-style continuity writing to kinda comedic cartoon and everything gets a slight redesign with every game and non-boost (and boost games as well i guess) being experimental (and usually not good. Yeah, Boom, Lost World and Forces weren't great. Colors remaster is okay at best too. Generations and Unleashed were cool though). Mania is the only outlier there - i think that we can just throw it in it's own "official fangames" or "sega don't what fans do" category. And origins i guess into "sega ruins even what fans do".

[@miqwerty]

I love all of these, although I'd probably keep the "Meta Era" title because it seems less derogatory and more descriptive. As for the current era I'd probably say the "Postmodern Era" is a good descriptor, because it's tried to remedy many of the issues with the modern era of Sonic that SEGA seemed to want to advertise as "Sonic finally finding its footing" and because it's willing to try more outlandish ideas and experiment more like the pre-modern eras

[@randomenglish5056]

Cool

[@vegetafan9922]

Classic Era Golden Era Shonen Era Pontaff Era Renaissance Era

[@sketchsskotch1073]

Honestly, I never had a problem with the Sonic era names. The only one I had an issue with is the whole Dreamcast Era containing Heroes, ShTh and Advance. (Though to me, Era names aren't supposed to fit every game within them, just to give a general theme of that timespan, like not every game in the "Adventure" era has to be an adventure game, example being the advance series.) I also think you misunderstand the meaning of the Dark Age, you seem to be interpreting it as the era defined by the games that people don't like; which may have been the start of the name's use but has grown to mean more the era of Sonic where his reputation was at it's lowest, from 2005-2009. Otherwise if it's just defined by the games that people don't like, then the era could literally be any timespan because it would be subjective to the individual. Also I don't see the Meta Era as a bad name because I don't see it saying "The era where Sonic stories were meta" but more-so meta in a general franchise sense; like Sonic Team was so self aware that they responded to every criticism that Sonic got in the 2000s. Other playable characters? Gone! Story that takes it seriously? Gone! Sonic friends being important and not just cheerleaders? Gone! And I believe the pandering you talk about in your pander era rebrand; SEGA/Sonic Team were trying to pander and reference the Classics with Green Hill and all the classic zones in Mania and Forces to call back to the general audience view of the "only good sonic games". Plus while it does sound a bit stupid to bring up the Twitter account, that was the essence of Sonic for the longest time between releases, funny self-aware "Remember how bad we were!?!?!" jokes.

[@reeereeebriieee8661]

I hate what J reviews has done to this fanbase.

[@games_on_phone89]

me too at least he called colors and generations good so there's that

[@RicardoJAJA]

You are still a child you'll grow out of it.

[@lpfan4491]

My opinions: -Golden age may as well be more inaccurate than dreamcast era. At least one can make the case that the latter half of the era expand on and finish business with plotlines started by the games on the DC and that the era was very much defined by Sega's exit out of the console market, both in direction and interms of the games themselves. The proposed change implies what people think "dark age" implies, except in reverse. There are at least as many holes with this as with "but the dark age isn't bad", except dark age can have diffrent connotations depending on the individual and viewpoint, golden age sorta can't. -Shonen era? How was that aspect at its peak here? X is a secondary material to the era before(It partially running during this era is also false from an intention-standpoint. From japan's perspective, the series effectively wrapped up in 2004. And no, we are not splitting eras diffrently between languages because of 4kids and international channels messing the schedule up.), I wouldn'd call Shadow or 06 as particularly anime compared to the SA-games, Unleashed already started replacing this aspect with cartooniness. I guess the rush games and the storybook games, but at that point I don't think it really counts for much anymore. If anything, the DC-era has a bigger case for this name. -I never really cared about the 2010s-era and just called it the "modern era" because it was the "modern approach to the series" and too bland for a descriptive name. None of the other names particularly fit either. It's not like games before and after didn't have fanservice galore and that they recycled old things for the heck of it. Just that it's more noticable when the actual flavor is missing. -The current era isn't far enough along yet. It's currently just a thrown together thing of comics that started in the previous era, two movies and more nostalgia pandering. Frontiers will hopefully define the era, but until then, it doesn't have any worthwhile definition to name.

[@MadSociety-uy6zg]

Okay you win lol I actually prefer the names you gave for the era they honestly fit more than the names they were given the only game that was meta is Sonic colors otherwise ya it would be either nostalgia or pandering era for the 2010s Sonic games.

[@games_on_phone89]

how in the actual hell would these be more fitting

[@arjunmenon1796]

I subscribed. Also shonen era is the perfect name.

[@lpfan4491]

It's really not, it is just inaccurate along with the reationale of Sonic X just happening to still run during those years...in the dub.(It wrapped up in 2004 in japan)

[@games_on_phone89]

not accurate

[@m3nmin]

ngl your voice sounds like an ad

[@kayofficial-2012]

fax

[@Barkerbg001]

I think Shonen is a better name for the dark age but the adventure games and shadow and heroes also had that same Shonen tone Meta still works better than pander just because it sounds better Andie still accurate Golden age could work though

[@ZukoPrince]

Pander Era is superior name to Meta Era, we all can agree on that at least

[@games_on_phone89]

no it's fucking not what's up with you

[@CassiusStelar]

you had me then you lost me at "shonen era." we as westerners need to stop misinterpreting japanese marketing terms as genres. dislike well earned

[@games_on_phone89]

finally someone with an actual brain here

[@CassiusStelar]

@@games_on_phone89 thank you Deez Nuts

[@games_on_phone89]

@@CassiusStelar you're welcome

[@MadSociety-uy6zg]

The adventure era makes since Sonic heroes takes after Sonic adventure 2 then Shadow The Hedgehog games for the most part you can somewhat tell what games connected to what. It wasn't til Sonic 06 a game I love despite it's flaws wasn't originally part of the Sonic canon it was meant to be an entire reboot for the franchise and if the reboot was still a thing at the time then Sonic unleashed to Sonic and the black knight connects to Sonic 06 Sonic colors to Sonic forces really messed up any continuity with any Sonic game's canon the 2010 Sonic games continuity way worst than Sonic 06 messing things up.

[@games_on_phone89]

you make the joker look like an decent, sane, upstanding citizen every single game from the colors era beats the ever-loving shit out of sonic 06

[@DDoe6237]

3:17 Finally, a Sonic fan that actually knows what Shonen means :))))))))

[@DDoe6237]

Also, in actual response to the video itself, I totally agree with these names. It makes a lot more sense than the current names which make little to no sense once given more than a second of thought. Good ass video

[@LukeStation]

I really don't have any experience but thank you 😭

[@games_on_phone89]

do you seriously think this guy understands the meaning of "lE fUnNy sHoNeEn"

[@games_on_phone89]

@@DDoe6237 dude the names in the video make even LESS fucking sense what is up with this

[@ataladin87]

The mid 2010s didn't get bad reviews which annoyed me so much because. In order to get good scores, Sonic would have to Pander instead of Being Himself like in the Shonen Era.

[@games_on_phone89]

i really think you don't understand that sonic isn't just "shonen"

[@mcnuggwtscreations]

Sonic Generations isn't pandering

[@ataladin87]

@@games_on_phone89 Yeah, that was Back then. Now I Understand. I mean *"WRITTEN"*

[@dezzcoverz2492]

Classic, 1991 to 1998 Golden, 1998 to 2003 Shonen, 2003 to 2010 Pander, 2010 to 2020 Remedy 2020 to now

[@games_on_phone89]

awful names

[@aidanshowers8366]

Personally I’ve always seen the eras as classic referring to every game from sonic 1-sonic 3D blast, all of these games use the classic design and are the retro games. Now from SA1-generations I’ve always seen as the golden era, even with a few hiccups some small others but we still had a ton of fantastic games to play, it’s also got the most nostalgic things for a lot of sonic fans such as amvs. Now from lost world-origins is the nostalgia era, these games main priority was to remind you of the good old days without actually being good themselves. Currently I would call this the revamp age because we sonic is reinventing itself into because sonic is reinventing itself into something we haven’t seen before.

[@games_on_phone89]

name eras are a stupid thing, but if we have to go with some: -the classic era... ok, sure, fine, it works -the "golden era", that's where this all falls apart, half the games in the SA1 - Gens time period aren't even good; if anything, the classic era is more deserving of being called "le golden era" - the "nostalgia" era, lost world isn't even THAT nostalgic, generations is more nostalgic, the only other 3 games to actually try and be really nostalgic are mania, forces and frontiers, and i'd say that's justified considering they're supposed to be *anniversary* games

[@Ronan34753]

Silver Age Golden Age Dark Age ...and then there's the Meta-era. I mean if people don't like that name, we could always just call it the Beta-era. Since that's exactly how they acted this past decade. Edit: You know what... Let's just say 1991-2004 was the golden age of sonic games.

[@games_on_phone89]

switch "golden age" and "silver age" around, and make "the meta era" the bronze age

[@Ronan34753]

@@games_on_phone89 You're being way too kind to the meta-era.

[@games_on_phone89]

@@Ronan34753 of course i'm going to, it's an actually decent era, unlike the dark age

[@Ronan34753]

@@games_on_phone89 Yeah...very decent. So decent, that Sonic was presumed dead to the public for the entire decade. Not even mentioning it's own numerous trainwrecks that made 06 look good. The meta-era was a decade of humiliation, self-hate, catering to foolish critics. Not a proud one.

[@mcnuggwtscreations]

@@Ronan34753 Sonic Generations is good though.

[@Gnidel]

We're still in the pander era. It didn't end, as evidenced by cyberspace levels.

[@games_on_phone89]

except they're now pandering to the dark age stans so that makes it ok apparently

[@Koko-cy4ff]

I think the "meta era" branding and your idea convey the same idea, but yours I find a tad crude. Pandering is very much what the last decade was, but it still wasn't exactly everything.