The Scary World Of 90's Sonic

[@blackdressbess195]

Anyone who gives the Sonic OVA its due gets an A+ in my book. It really does have a mysterious "Post-Post Apocalyptic" style going on that I can think of in few other places. I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw Sonic Xtreme as being insanely psychedelic and borderline incomprehensible, which while maybe not the direction the franchise needed to go in, is very fascinating to watch in old footage and the various builds that have been leaked over the years.

[@broomstick-r8c]

Don't let this dude look into Wario Land 4 😭

[@brandonspain12345]

This is also why it's hard to say Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic were the same considering both their worlds and environments are so different that there's no way they can be the same.

[@Stonehawk]

Vaporwave was the future we were *going* to have, except 9/11 happened and derailed history. That alternate future still stands, empty, without us, echoing with the hallucinations of the good times we were _supposed_ to have... But never did.

[@sans2291]

Sonic CD makes me feel the same way as the OVA

[@LuisGabrieldeMelloFerreira]

Maybe because it's from the same people who made the intro, if i'm not wrong, TOEI animation, same guys who made Dragon Ball and ONE PIECE

[@Hiro04]

I really have a soft spot for the bizarre and empty land scapes of the old art

[@tntsonic7482]

90s Sonics world always felt weird. The older games lacked alot of finer detail to make it unnerving but the various box arts, promotional media, and the cartoons gave life to these worlds that made it feel alien and strange. But even those had some warmness to them. With the 3D rendered worlds from the cancelled Sonic Mars and Sonic Xtreme, it felt like all these weird traits times 10. Surreal early 3 dimensional worlds with no living world. Just objects and shapes in a surreal space housed by a silky smooth 3d rendered Sonic who lacks life. Rant asside this was a great video! It really got me thinking on the aesthetics of pre adventure Sonic.

[@LuisGabrieldeMelloFerreira]

Like, mostly these aesthetics of Pre-Adventure Sonic are because of the less powerful graphics for videogames and how there wasn't computers to do the 2D art of Sonic, everything except games was made by hand, and another reason, people just didn't really care for LORE so much, i mean, the most there was of lore for Sonic was "He's a blue hedgehog, he fights Dr Robotnick to free his friends from the badnick's INSIDES and collects emeralds to get the good ending/also turning Super", at the time ANY Sonic character could turn Super, not just Sonic and Shadow

[@gooeydude574]

I like to think that COPE was put there as a message by Eggman

[@hanezutchins2786]

Honestly, the feeling if the unknown and unexplainable in 90s Sonic was what I found to be interesting as a kid. I grew up in the late 80s, early 90s, and not knowing much about Sonic's world was what drew me to it. Green Hill looked like it could exist irl, but just barely. Chemical Plant looked like it could exist irl but just barely. Alot of Sonic's zones looked just real enough that it could exist, but just barely. We didn't have a name for Sonic's world until the comics and cartoons, and the questions of "Where is civilization" "Why is everything sloped?" "Are there other people like Sonic and his friends?" "Are there other humans like Robotnik?" All these questions, about how things worked and trying to figure things out was what I loved about Sonic as a kid. Heck, Sonic himself was mysterious. Where did he come from? Where does he live? And where did the chaos emeralds come from? Answer: It just is. It's just how it works. And in my opinion, and this is probably a hot take to most of his fans, but I feel the modern lore for Sonic kind of takes away that mystical feeling, now that everything has to tie in or be explained. Even in the GameGear titles, seeing Sunset Park or Meta Junglira or Great Turquoise Zone made Sonic's world feel so beautiful. From islands to abandoned parks and cities, I loved that feeling.

[@mechamanw668]

My headcanon for why the special zones are always so weird is because it's you going inside the chaos emeralds themselves. They're mysterious, powerful artifacts that hold great power but also contain universes inside of them. When a character enters a special stage, I see it as the Emerald testing them, to see if they are worthy of the power they provide, a test of skill and dedication. Could also explain why most special stages involve chasing the emerald in some way and require some degree of challenge, be it making it to the end of an act with 50+ rings, exploring and discovering secret areas that contain a giant warp ring, etc. A comparison would be something like the trials in BOTW or TOTK, as they too send you to an empty, mystical reality where you overcome a challenge for a reward at the end. I know this doesn't have anything to do with the video. I just like having my little tism moments when they present themselves!

[@StudioEmpirah]

That’s one awesome explanation actually. Tism all the way bro. Tism. All. The. Way.

[@SocksFCGameArchives]

I miss the bizarre atmosphere contrasting with themes of danger of the old games/media from that time. Such as the Xtreme screenshots of the giant polygonal Metal Sonic boss in the purple hazy city, the zany vibe of CD warning against Bad Futures, the OVA's lively sky world juxtaposing with the dead and forgotten world that lay beneath, Robotnik wanting the chaos emeralds for literal nukes in Sonic Chaos' manual, the Special Stages in 1 and CD specifically, the trippy visuals of Chaotix but also the bad ending of a whole city on fire. That time definitely had the perfect balance of zany, wild, trippy atmosphere but also with a hint of warnings against apocalypse. I feel that Adventure 1 was the last game that felt like this, other than the NPCs there. In regards to what you said about the merchandise checkerboard floor art, I get the same feeling from Wallace and Gromit A Grand Day Out, especially the moon, how it's endless barren dim yellow and an overwhelming sky. Also have you seen the scrapped cut scene from Sonic Mars (before it became Xtreme) where it depicts a very rough polygonal Sonic model in a pitch black room on a computer before running in an open area, which has no life to be found at all?

[@AlexaCherryPLUS]

all this "edge of the world" thing, post-apocalyptic peaceful nature reminds me of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou. A lost paradise where nothing matters anymore, but at the same time, small everyday things do. There's manga and an OVA for all who's interested and it's very chill but ultimately, everything in this video just shows how people were back then, what was their vision, melancholy and hopes for this world. Great vid, loved it!

[@Colin7555MO]

insert that one gif of spongebob and patrick on roller coaster

[@cool_sonic_gaming]

Its not that the games didnt try to tell a story, its just that the external media was there to help visualize and flesh out the world you were playing through. And really, Sonic has always been a mass media icon.

[@Arexion5293]

Congrats, you've made Sonic sound like liminal analog horror. This cartoon mascot character that doesn't belong, from a world that doesn't feel right and yet he is there. Is he an idea incepted into our perception, or is he a character living in a nightmare of an unrealised world, of surreal reality that has no escape from?

[@blueNyellow]

If we imprint Sonic's more modern personality and goals onto this older one, it gets more sad. He's in a strange void of mystical and robotic islands, desperately trying to enjoy life and live it to the full, but he's alone. That's why he sticks around with Tails and Knuckles, so he doesn't go insane from the lonely psychedelic world.

[@EatinBubsy]

Grew up with Adventure/Heroes but also loved the 90s games for the weird atmosphere. Accurate video!!!

[@nicholaskearns6669]

Interesting perspective. I never felt that way with some of the art work but now that you mention it it really does provide that same Eeriness that early 32 bit ps1 games had

[@obd9660]

Why would you need to "confess" you're a Sonic fan?

[@Capydapy]

"Mum...Dad. I'm...I'm a Sonic fan!" "Gaaaasp! Out of the house right now!"

[@the120cxx]

When I did to some people back in my high school days they were surprised I wasn't more like Chris chan or something.

[@jermiah3014]

probably cuz of the weird ships and vore

[@Cretaceous158]

Imagine if, instead of Chaotix for the 32x, we got an OVA tie in for the Saturn. That probably would have gotten Sonic decently popular in Japan, as the Saturn was the first successful Sega console there, and the Saturn would have been more popular here in the US.

[@ShaneStapler]

thanks for the video. great stuff. double thnaks for pointing out things i never even thought of. another reason why i feel sonic needs a reboot of sorts is exactly this, the entire franchise is insanely scattered.

[@Sonkkiustopmotion]

I love mid 90s sonic and this video explains why i love this esthetic of sonic heck sonic in general

[@PregnantAdamSandler]

The feelings in this video really nails why I ended up bouncing off of sonic as a kid. I grew aware of sonic through clips of sonic X, 06, adventure, heroes, etc. I was really interested in these colorful animal people. Then I played a classic sonic game collection which had none of the story and character interaction i wanted which soured me on sonic.

[@gamemaster9612]

As a kid in the 90's I definitely remember feeling like the levels in the Sonic games seemed like they could be actual places, what with the ancient ruins and Robotniks factories, and of course Casino Night with the vibrant cityscape in the background. Compare that to the 2D Mario games of that same period where the levels are solely designed to be obstacle courses in generic grassy plains, deserts, castles etc. Whereas Sonic levels are both obstacle courses yet also subtly telling you this is very much a lived in world with things that are or have happened in the background. Its probably why I loved the Archie comics and SatAM so much, because while there were a bunch of characters and other concepts not from the games, the world they created really didn't seem that far removed from what conceivably could be in the original games themselves, giving the atmosphere a lot of the those levels could evoke. Really made it seem like the cartoons and comics were just simply what was happing in-between the games.

[@therobotjesterz]

Awesome video! May I suggest, for the future, for your videos to contain chapters?

[@LuisGabrieldeMelloFerreira]

I find it funny how someone can find 90's Sonic weird and scary when he was just a average 90's Cartoon Character inspired on 20's-30's cartoon characters like Felix the Cat and Mickey Mouse while there was children's games like Alone in the Dark, MediEvil, Castlevania and Ren & Stimpy VEEDIOTS

[@WeAreTheEggmen22]

4:57 and that became the new establishment which was even worse than the prior one

[@apollogeistgames]

wooo what a great vid! i cheered out-loud when blue submarine no 6 popped up. one of my all-time favs. you sort of touched upon it when mentioning vaporwave, but i think so much of what makes 90s japanese sonic feel the way it does is that it represents the twilight between the late 80s & early 90s. the 80s was a glossy hyperconsumeristic era that often played around with greco-roman aesthetics (for example the pomo-ruins consumer aesthetic) which you can see in some of the background design for genesis-era sonic artwork. i think this is partially why that era of sonic aged itself out so quickly (probably mitigated by the 90s "attitude"-depiction of western sonic) and necessitated his reinvention in the dreamcast era. at least for me, this is why 90s sonic's "one foot in the 80s the other in the 90s" look always stuck out to me as a kid since my first exposure to sonic was also his dreamcast-era rebranding. great job putting to words the at-times enigmatic feel of the games from this time!

[@SSJKamui]

I always fascinated by sonic xtreme. Especially due to its early cgi and surrealist look and it's weird lense

[@ViewpointProd]

I was just at Sega World Sydney's former location not too long ago, Figured i was in the area, and tried to find where it once stood. Matched the sightlines (the old IBM building, Centerpoint tower) The entire area is a public park and water feature nowdays, though it was back then as well.

[@aliastheabnormal]

There's Sonic, Yakuza, and that's it.

[@PhilipAJones]

I have kinda the opposite experience. Sonic Schoolhouse was my first Sonic game, because nothing about the world was really explained, it whett my appitite to discover what [HIS WORLD] was all about.

[@WeAreTheEggmen22]

Also the 1991 art was not done by Greg Martin 1992 onwards it was

[@WeAreTheEggmen22]

I really like the hellish fever dream nightmare Sonic a lot which is why if Sonic Xtreme came out I would probably love it even if it was terrible I still like games that people consider terrible

[@theraptorus]

What’s the name of the music playing at 2:38?

[@Alaqeam]

Somebody pleassssseeeee come in clutch, I tried to Shazam the music and ended up with two different tracks that weren’t this 😭😭😭😭

[@StudioEmpirah]

The song is “Performa - Somebody Say Hallelujah (Instrumental Mix)” ✌️

[@TheTrueNehme]

I _WISH_ sonic had stayed simple and whimsical, dragging him to our world was stupid.

[@prod.fullright8319]

Great video

[@MCDUltra]

Great video, always felt like the OVA shouldve been the blueprint for sonics world

[@MCDUltra]

Dont mind my last comment about man of the year i didn’t hear the part with you mentioning it my bad 💀

[@Levinewak]

The most creepy thing of the original sonic games was Majin Sonic

[@blueNyellow]

Reminds me of Chucky Cheese and McDonalds in the early 2000s.

[@ProjectMirai64]

great work

[@Brabbs]

Ayooo. I RECOGNIZED that song at the OVA. You into techno or jungle too? I got reccomendations

[@StudioEmpirah]

A BROTHER IN ARMS?! Yeah I’m super into both genres. The more obscure, the better. Comment any recommendations you got, I’m pretty sure I’ll enjoy all of it!🤟🤟🤟

[@lara3780]

fortunately i grew up with a sega genesis model 3 and didn't knew about modern sonic till i got my ps2 and my first pc, it was like in 2009, my firsts modern games were the sonic adventure dx demo for windows and the ps2 version of sonic unleashed

[@davecross4493]

People who didn't play the original 3 mega drive / genesis sonic games first don't seem to quite get what sonic is. They just take what they want from it.

[@daddad9978]

I Always Feel Like the level in sonic x-treme just feel more like an test level rather then something that would be in the actual game that would be replaced by level that were longer and less insanely psychedelic and borderline incomprehensible remember this was before mario 64 even exists so the idea of sonic being in 3d can be an difficult task to pull off with many trials and errors along the way and I Honestly Never Find Sonic Level in the genesis to be scary really I Just Want to Talked to the dev who works in the games and tell them if this was actually intended not some dude who overthinking about an kids games

[@bewearstar9462]

22:31 Tails in Sonic heros be like

[@SSJKamui]

Every copy of sonic xtreme is personalized 😅

[@WeAreTheEggmen22]

11:45 maybe for you city dwellers but not for me

[@whynot6424]

18:45 the reason he looks like it its just cause its the desighn of japanice sonic

[@PixelFlicksStudios]

21:50 WOOOO!

[@OnlySnakesCanLove]

I fuck with this SO. HARD. What you described was exactly what I loved about 90's Western Sonic, and one of the reasons I developed an insane hyper-fixation that lasts to this day. I can't begin to explain how you finally put that feeling into words. THANK. YOU.

[@tylermorgan5230]

Dud overthinking

[@silenthazardz]

Its rather funny how people think Classic Sonic was just generic cute crap when this video showcased it wasn't lol. What anime is this at 29:16

[@brokenear1839]

4:09 tails?

[@danielscomentclub2636]

Bro, you should see a doctor

[@swisserty]

this baby buddy... he is scared.. he is trying.. to scare, me? is he trying,, i need to take another ambien quick, i see the shadow peop/;e.

[@swisserty]

also you missed the allegory of him living on "mobius", a mobius strip; indefinable shape/distorting time and space. sniff me

[@entelechyy]

What is the anime at 29:16 - 29:28 ? It looks pretty awesome

[@riqopowpow]

Dragon Ball GT

[@StudioEmpirah]

The anime is episode 2 of the “Birdy The Mighty” OVA

[@entelechyy]

@ Thank you! Awesome video, btw. It deserves to blow up. The fascination with the classic sonic lore/world has struck me for my entire life. The OVA really was the best representation of it.

[@StudioEmpirah]

Thanks man, I super appreciate the support! Sonic’s world and art design I’ve always had a passion for too, classic and modern both!

[@meowpower0022]

Sonic xtreme looks scary other than that I dont find the world of Sonic scary.

[@raelogan]

I remember seeing the leaked images of the Metal Sonic boss battle as a kid, and had nightmares about that void.

[@PixelFlicksStudios]

Sonic is an overall scary world.

[@blackdressbess195]

On one hand: Perfect Chaos annihilated a major metropolitan city, G.U.N has a shadowy history, the moon has been blown up, carnivorous hellish aliens have invaded, a Solar Deity had to be prevented from destroying the world by being removed from existence via time travel, Dark Gaia split the Earth apart, everything going on with The End. But on the other hand: you have Chao. So it all evens out.

[@daddad9978]

Well I Never Found sonic world to be scary I Always feel like the worlds in the genesis sonic games just feel like they just belong here just exists without an reason for why it even exists in the first place because sonic lore was not an thing that most at sega really care about they were just trying to fight with mario and beat nintendo really After all It Feel like the level and worlds in the sonic feel more like an afterthought really the reason why sonic even exists in the first place is because they were trying to beat nintendo without mario there will be no sonic