What Even Is The Dark Age of Sonic?

Following my video on how the Sonic Series has handled storylines, a lot of folks had wondered why I described certain games as being apart of what the fanbase has dubbed, "The Dark Age of Sonic". So in this episode, I am going to give the answer as to what this era is and what it means!
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[@supersmashbro596]

sonic the hedgehog: when it's good, no one remembers. when it's bad.... no one forgets.

[@mbdg6810]

this comment is pretty spot on

[@gamermanx3096]

supersmashbro596 that’s... unfortunately true

[@Zargorth]

And when it's a mix of good and bad a lot of people I notice just focus on the bad parts

[@RotcodFox]

I mean Sonic Unleashed is amazing and everyone remembers that.. right?

[@andrewbrigmond8784]

In other words: People just like complaining.

[@The_Admiral_Angel]

I think the issue with Sonic Team and the fandom in general is that they've experienced so many gameplay styles, that they don't even know what they want in a Sonic. Heck, Sonic Team could go back to the Sonic Adventure style of gameplay, and make a brand new game from there with a faithful dev similar to Christian Whitehead... and the fandom would still find something to complain about. Franchises like Mario and Zelda never really had these issues because they stuck with what they know works, while adding something different in the formula to keep it fresh.

[@Shad809]

The Admiral Angel That’s one of the main reasons why I hate the multiple play styles design. It does nothing but force in variety for the sake of it, and making it so that each are less developed and fun than they could’ve been if they were the only focus.

[@mep6302]

Yes but if Sonic had stuck with one type of gameplay, at some moment fans would say "it's always the same thing. We want something new" and then they start complaining again. People who like complaining always will.

[@WaterKirby1994]

The multiple playstyles design was perfectly fine, the real problem is what happened when we moved away from that. Heroes primary flaw was that Teams Sonic, Dark, & Rose were too similar being only difficulty settings in terms of gameplay. Unfortunately 06 had so many problems taking place with its development & failed to be the great game it should have been. Then the Boost Formula & "Just Sonic" mentality, only served to massively split the fanbase. I know what I want for Sonic & I fear it may never happen again.

[@RobotGlovesArt]

@@Shad809The probem with the multiple playstyle back then was how it was just padding because they couldn't make more levels with Sonic's gameplay in 3D.

[@RobotGlovesArt]

The problem is you'll have fans and non fans who hate certain Sonic games for petty reasons instead of game design reasons having bigger voices and overtaking the fanbase opinion. From the past to today's games.

[@EA-bv8zk]

I'll be the wise old man that pops out of the shadows telling this story to kids in the future in front of the great mario pedestal as the last surviving sonic fan before the *genocide* that yes, there was indeed a character that rivaled the great mario

[@Supermariorpg6]

Ha... Shadows.

[@Vice_Verse0]

@Sir Embrum49 The Great Moth The only way it would, is if Sonic can focus on being less like Mario. Which isn't what the current era is about, sadly.

[@charmyzard]

That'd be Cybeshell.

[@francisco_dias]

And suprisingly has way more potencial then mario but his own creators didn t know how to prove it...

[@elijahechicagobearsboyd5734]

I groan whenever some youtuber or 'expert' tries to tell me that the adventure series were bad games and those who like it are just blinded by nostalgia

[@elijahechicagobearsboyd5734]

Vazazell I just feel like alot of gamers are really spoiled nowadays to the point where if a game doesn't measure to their high criteria or standards or is a "relic of the past" then they shun the game and try to damage the enjoyment others have from playing that specific game

[@goldylover1000]

ECHICAGOBEARSDBZ and yet they praise mario 64 despite that game aged even worse due to that crappy n64 controller imo (sure its influential for 3D games but I’m sorry I prefer the crash bandicoot trilogy for favorite 3D platformers of the 90s I love mario 64 but I prefer point a to point b then a collectathon imo)

[@elijahechicagobearsboyd5734]

Hailtotheking00 I prefer crash as well

[@cliffturbo2146]

@@goldylover1000 What a big load of BS.

[@elijahechicagobearsboyd5734]

I know its up to the gamer, I'm just expressing my frustration towards those who bury the games just because they're too old or the game doesn't live to their petty standards.

[@MGSDude01]

I honestly really miss the so-called “dark age of Sonic”. I liked it a hell of a lot better when Sonic could be on the lighter side of tone, but still have some serious elements, like the Adventure/Heroes era. I always say the storybook games are highly underrated, and Riders/Zero Gravity was my jam as a middle schooler. Not to mention both Ryan Drummond and Jason Griffith equally tie as my favorite voice actors for Sonic.

[@mr.sleepyhead8401]

You got to admit not being able turn around is a very stupid mechanic in the storybook games...😒

[@MGSDude01]

Okay? Does that make it a bad game? I’m no development expert but Jeez I’m not gonna sit here and say “Oh GAWD I can’t turn around but just go in reverse! This game is ass!!!!” At least the motion control isn’t broken.

[@mr.sleepyhead8401]

@@MGSDude01 That was just one of the reasons the game was bad. Using the Wii remote to steer Sonic around wasn't very ideal- there where many times the motion sensor didn't pick up my movements.

[@MGSDude01]

Well I don’t care. I still enjoyed those games. And I could give 2 shits about what critics or Game Grumps think of them. You guys wanna bitch moan and complain about something that’s not even that bad, fine by me. Am I gonna sit here and say they’re the best games ever? No way. But there’s a big difference between flawed and outright broken. And don’t even get me started on the phenomenal soundtracks in both games.

[@mr.sleepyhead8401]

@@MGSDude01 Well I'm at least glad you can admit the fact that's flawed. Not trying to change your opinion- just wanted to give you a different perspective, have a casual conversation.

[@BlueTomorrows]

Interestingly, I’ve heard of another era called “The Dry Era” between the end of the Genesis trilogy and Sonic Adventure because there were no major/mainline games released

[@_Tzer]

I like to call the 2010s the bland era it has no taste.

[@Ronan34753]

At least Sonic Team were still making cool games like NiGHTS Into Dreams and Burning Rangers, they were just letting Sonic take a holiday. These days we're just left wondering where all that time and money was spent.

[@RobotGlovesArt]

@@_Tzer Colors had original levels and brought back Super Sonic.

[@_Tzer]

@@RobotGlovesArt yeah bland only super snoc

[@icee1683]

@@_Tzer colors actually had effort put into it

[@GottaBeFrank]

Hmm... I was wondering where this video would go, but it makes sense. Review scores for console games are the best indicator of the beginning and end of the Dark Age, since it will also dictate the opinion of those who aren't the dedicated fans of the series. Great video, J.

[@FabioAugustoSonic]

I just do not understand why to put sonic unleashed as Dark Age, basically ,are talking about people not coming close to the game, because it would represent everything bad in series, since this is what Dark Age means to many peoplo.I understand your opinion with sonic unleashed, but ,puts it as Dark Age would it's not too heavy that title ? (it's just my opinion)

[@popopop984]

@@FabioAugustoSonic The werehog stages

[@michaellaidley8644]

@@popopop984 yes the werehog stages and with them HALF of the game which was actually supposed to be the "more fun" gimmicky part. The werehog was just the icing on the cake but... It was actual sh*t for icing so the cake became inedible.

[@themoonhasrisen2129]

Do you chuckle?

[@MagmaPaint]

@@FabioAugustoSonic I dunno, I think the labels work pretty well, being Genesis Era (1991-1994) Growing Pains Era (1995-1998) Adventure Era (1998-2004) Dark Era (2005-2010) Meta Era (2010-present) Though with Unleashed and the Storybook series, I do like to propose 2007 to 2009 when those games came out as a subset of the Dark Era, the Experimental Period. A subset of the Dark Era where Sega had to get themselves out of the hole they dug with the 15th anniversary disaster and just throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks. Granted not all the experiments paid off and further colored critic and outsider perspectives which is why they're lumped in with the Dark Era but it shouldn't stop anyone from enjoying the games if they do, right?

[@mikester8171]

Now that you’ve brought it up, every game is the so called “dark age” did have its own theme and style which made the games unique. Forces could’ve done this as well if the game actually gave more thought to the game’s concept, a world where Eggman’s taken over. We should’ve seen many imperial cities and factories, which would’ve built the world Forces was trying to convey.

[@smflash]

I got introduced to Sonic through the Rush series, which was made during the so called Dark Ages. However, most of the general public seem to forget that handheld titles exist for some reason. All the console Sonic games I own (excluding Mania) happen to be Sonic and the Secret Rings, Unleashed, and the Black Knight (and the Olympic games series, which is more of a spinoff really). Despite these games being released in the dark ages, they were lots of fun when I was in Elementary. I revisited them recently, the story and gameplay was still as enjoyable as I remembered it to be and I appreciate them more now since there are details that I never noticed before.

[@mr_indie_fan]

Yes, the advance, rush and battle games are some of the best in the franchise!

[@ledetbrothers9210]

Sonic Eras: The Classic Era: 1991-1994 The Dry Era: 1995-1998 The Adventure Era: 1998-2004 The Dark Age: 2005-2010 The Safe Era: 2010-2014 The Meta Era: 2014-2020 The “Mulimedia” Era: 2021-????

[@mcmistle9892]

Honestly, I believe that the ‘Dark Age’ only lasted from Shadow through Secret Rings. Cause let’s be honest, the only reason the Adventure games started getting trashed on so much was because it was ‘cool’ to do so. And Heroes? It’s just...fine.

[@paperluigis2m371]

The Adventure games are definitely great and only trashed on by hipsters. I agree with you on the dark age of Sonic only being a few games. Sonic really doesn't have a lot of bad games when compared to the good games in the series.

[@gamermanx3096]

McMistle I’d argue that Chronicles was one of the dark age games, but yeah, pretty much the same time span

[@mcmistle9892]

U1GX I personally haven’t played all of the game, but from what I have played it was pretty bad.

[@gamermanx3096]

McMistle trust me, it doesn’t get a whole lot better. The plot is really shallow, the idea of using the stylus to perform mandatory actions is clunky, the music isn’t enjoyable aside from a few fight themes, and it’s practically a slog to get through. I’d sooner play the Sonic levels of 06 over Chronicles any day.

[@majamystic256]

I actually liked the game Shadow The Hedgehog Personally

[@crossfire34]

if no one can agree on a date, then the Dark Age doesn't even exist.

[@ko77sonic77]

Objectively: yes it doesn't exist Subjectively: it can exist,and for ANY franchise,hell,I think Mario has a worse dark age than Sonic

[@crossfire34]

@@ko77sonic77 Why do you think that?

[@ko77sonic77]

@@crossfire34 because most of Mario's newer games have been shit like NSMB2 (I hate that game lol,and every other NSMB title after that it is bland and boring) and most spinoffs weren't interesting either (like many Mario Parties),now don't get me wrong,I like Mario,and I still think there are great games after 2007 like Galaxy and Odyessey etc... But lots of other shit was very uninteresting And Sonic is going there as well with the nostalgia worshipping and not trying anything new

[@aagh8714]

@@ko77sonic77 the main Mario titles are always pretty fire except for the New shit, which is just mf money printer when they're lazy

[@SantiagoMonroy5]

New super mario bros games are average Mario Party 9 and 10 suck But not enough games to be considered the "dark age"

[@ko77sonic77]

The dark age of Sonic is: A subjective thing,people should quit thinking games being good or bad is a fact lmao

[@mbdg6810]

exactly

[@surprisedwoody1025]

The fact that this comment is listed lower than other comments with fewer likes means that people disliked your comment. Yet, it seems none of them wanted explain themselves, probably because they'd end up looking stupid.

[@ko77sonic77]

@@surprisedwoody1025 wait,disliking comments makes them lower than other comments?

[@lonradb]

Ko77Sonic Disliking is basically downvoting. Didn’t you know? That’s why comment dislikes exist. Though idk why we can’t see them.

[@CarbonRollerCaco]

Tell that to the people that insist that you can't legitimately hate either of the Adventure games. I've got the body bags.

[@knuxuki1013]

I don't give a *damn* what anyone says, the early 2000s were and always WILL be the best era for this series and it ended in 2009 with the Black Knight, a very awesome game.

[@ko77sonic77]

Agree

[@cliffturbo2146]

I am with ya.

[@VictoryReviews]

Unleashed was dope Generations is beloved Mania is held with high praise What you saying fam

[@yoshithinksyourwrong6367]

Take your Nostalgia Goggles off

[@Sobol14]

Right here with ya, glad there are still people who get it.

[@sbells272]

I personally think it goes: 1991 - 1997: Classic Era 1998 - 2004: Adventure Era 2005 - 2010: Dark Era 2010 - 2012: Renaissance 2013 - Present: Dark Era 2

[@mep6302]

Wrong. 2010 - present: Dark age 2

[@icee1683]

@@mep6302 wrong. 2013 - present: dark age 2

[@Falkenhorst2000]

The thing is pretty simple. I agree that the "Dark Age" lasted from Shadow to Colors, but I agree that I tend to be more favorable towards the Dark Age games. The reasons for that are, and I have to admit that, blind nostalgia, since that shit *was* my youth, but also partly what you stated. During the dark age they at least tried some new stuff. Sure it was cringey and nonsensical at times, but at least they rolled with it and embraced the stupid shit they came up with. It's the reason why I like the storybook games so much, the entire idea seems like something out of a magic mushroom session, but I love ideas that were probably conceived on drugs. I mean, how else can I explain my love for stuff like Hellsing and Warhammer? Dark Age Sonic was stupid shit, but it was *good* stupid shit, if you catch my drift. The Meta Era (and I have to thank you for that name, since that explains it perfectly) is not bad by any stretch, and I still love Generations to death, but they just don't dare to do new things anymore. Everything in these games is just fanservice and nostalgia bait, and frankly, it was cool with Generations and Mania, but I think they should get back to trying some of the wacky stuff they did in the 2000s. I would at least appreciate it.

[@yoshithinksyourwrong6367]

Colors was not part of the dark age

[@theutubepower1243]

Yoshi Thinks Your Wrong they are saying colors ended the dark age

[@michaellaidley8644]

They just need to play their own game and tweak it before release tbh. Unleashed for example was 10/10 in everything except gameplay... Which is why you play a game.

[@TheDen-ec9xe]

"The meta era is not bad by any stretch" Fucking soulless Boost-to-win nostalgia fests, a Mario Galaxy rip-off, a shitty Ratchet & Clank rip-off, padding everywhere. It is horrible. Generations isn't even that good of a game to begin with. Pisspoor easy, short af, stages are way too short, the 3D sections are either empty wastelands or deathpit galore, too much 2D, Classic Sonic plays like ass, the story is embarassingly lazy for an anniversary title, there's zero replay value, looks graphically inferior to Unleashed, even feels too clunky and stiff. Even the mods are running out of steam. And Mania is just fucking....empty. It's a glorified ROM hack, so I don't give a fuck about it. Even pretending that nostalgia rehashing for 7 years in a row is fine is straight up denial.

[@TheDen-ec9xe]

@Axx The Saiyan Thank you, it's really rare these days someone level-headed.

[@9_theNightHawk]

Closing the video with "It Doesn't Matter" was the icing on the cake. I'm pumped to see you tackle the Sonic series, J!

[@vgames9207]

man, i can't wait for J to say the same thing ever other Sonic review says with very little different opinion.

[@luthe25]

Another thing to consider is that most Sonic fans growing up in the 90s, going into the 2000s, they most likely grew out of liking Sonic and viewed the series as a child's game, which can factor people's opinions on how they view a game. The same spark of interest you saw Sonic as when you were a kid can alter and now you don't have the same liking towards Sonic...or any franchise. That's not to say everyone will or has grown out of Sonic games, but their experience and things they enjoyed in the series really can hit a hard spot when they want to see more of the things they love, but get different things thrown at them that they either aren't interested in and/or simply don't want.

[@CarbonRollerCaco]

Also, it depends on what drew someone to the series ITFP. If you just wanted edginess, you were out when Sonic 2 hit because of Tails *EWWW A CUTESY CHILD CARTOON ANIMAL SEGA YOU LIED TO ME GROSS* and on to Mortal Kombat or DOOM.

[@KIRA-of6ix]

I liked Shadow The Hedgehog... do I deserve to DIE for that? BrainScratch Commentaries fans seem to think so.

[@rankrodent2772]

It’s one of my favorite in the franchise

[@EpicGamer-69]

I like Sonic Unleashed And Apparently they want me to die.

[@donathan2933]

@@EpicGamer-69 annnnd THIS is why ppl be true to themselves or express their honest nonbiased respectful opinions that may seem controversial

[@hydrorobot6610]

Honestly, people don't have to be REALLY mean when someone likes a game everyone says it's bad Like me, I like Sonic Spinball, Sonic Labyrinth, Sonic 3D Blast, etc. So I guess people should respect or don't send death threats to people

[@Zak-bv4qm]

@@hydrorobot6610 why do you like 3d blast? No disrespect?

[@Gnidel]

I've noticed that Sonic games run in cycles of 5 games. 1. New, unpolished idea: Sonic 1, Adventure, Unleashed 2. Getting rid of fat: Sonic 2/CD, Adventure 2, Colors 3. Ambition & focus: Sonic 3&K, Heroes, Generations 4. The oddball: Sonic 3D, Shadow, Lost World 5. The unpolished end: Knuckles Chaotix, 06, Forces I can't wait for the next game because it looks like a start of new era. Something fresh, something good, something which requires some more understanding of the formula. I didn't include 4 and Mania because they really are successors to handheld games, not mainline series.

[@batmabel]

The game is *literally called Sonic 4* and it's not "mainline". Ok. Also, saying that Shadow is an "oddball" or that 06 is "unpolished" is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much lol

[@TripleJump]

@@batmabel I want to say that Sonic 4 and Mania aren't mainline because they weren't made by Sonic Team or because they were radically different from the direction of the other main series game in their respective era, but the same could be said for 3D Blast, the oddball of the Classic era. My only other potential answer is that Sonic 4 was released alongside Colours, and Mania was released alongside Forces. Perhaps releasing these games so close to actual mainline titles signifies their non-mainline status?

[@lonradb]

TripleJump So you don’t think the Advance and Rush trilogy are mainline?

[@parsashirali8957]

Unleashed is pretty polished tho....except the werehog

[@Scroteydada]

I'm sorry did you just claim that Sonic is predictable?

[@telekinesticman]

This was a really interesting watch. I agree that while I dislike/hate most of the dark age games, there are elements within them that I really miss nowadays. The creativity in level themes was quite impressive at points, so it's a shame to see it gone nowadays (outside of the original zones in Mania).

[@violetthebat8810]

To me, the true "Dark Age" of Sonic began in 2010 and ended in 2020. I believe the Movie ended that Dark Age as Sonic actually became a likeable hero once more as the movie ushered in a new, possibly brighter era for Sonic!~☆☆☆😎💙😎💙😎💙⚡⚡⚡

[@quangamershyguyyz7166]

Sorry, but one decent movie isn’t gonna change anything. As far as we know we’re still in the so called “dark age”

[@violetthebat8810]

@@quangamershyguyyz7166 I KNOW we're still in the dark age. Sonic fucking SUCKED a lot during this age & Mania/ the Movie are the only few saving graces to come from it. 😒

[@tiruliru1189]

@@violetthebat8810 IMO, the dark age for me was between 2010-2018. It ended with Mania, TSR and movie.

[@njyawndra8609]

I think the "Dark Age" started with Shadow's game, not because it was bad but because it was very negatively received like most games in the late 2000s. That trend probably ended in late 2010 with Sonic Colors. There is definitely some great games in the "Dark age" like Sonic Rush, and Sonic Unleashed but yeah that's what I consider the '"Dark Age" of Sonic.

[@Netherman14TheHellblazer]

I'm going to say, the so-called "Dark Age of Sonic" doesn't actually exist. it's means to an end for people to stupidly disregard what they consider to "not belong in a Sonic game".

[@Supermariorpg6]

Hang me with a noose all you want.... Sonic Adventure is my favorite Sonic game, and favorite game of all time.

[@Vice_Verse0]

It's becoming one of my favorites too. It might just be it actually. Especially the Dreamcast version.

[@Supermariorpg6]

Be right back, I need to find my ring.. I need to purpose to you at this instant.@@Vice_Verse0

[@Vice_Verse0]

@@Supermariorpg6 Oh my..

[@Supermariorpg6]

Mister, or Miss @@Vice_Verse0 would you take my hand as my SA1 buddy?

[@paperluigis2m371]

That's a great opinion! SA1 is also one of my favorite video games.

[@PlayThenReview]

At least the old “dark age” games try to keep Sonic honest, and while some of the games may come off as cringey or dated, you can tell they are at least TRYING to make Sonic convincing and cool. Nowadays, 3D Sonic is a shell of itself character and story-wise ever since Colors.

[@_Tzer]

time to rely on 3d fangames with good gameplay ideas cough sonic 2020 cough

[@donathan2933]

I agree

[@icee1683]

Mania, Colors and Generations were the best games of the 2010s era.

[@Merdicano]

@@icee1683 I loved Generations!!

[@jdawson7877]

@@icee1683 well generations was the best sonic game to come out in 2010s in my opinion color would be in the same league as lost world and forces

[@Surgemaster2012]

I still think Sonic's best years are 1991-2004. I know this is a broad assumption to make, but part of what made me love them was the sheer charm, replayability and cast of characters the series kept offering. Even in its worse slumps it still manage to some how shake it off and still be enjoyable. Yes the Adventure Games have presentation problems, poor narrative structure and doesn't do well including multiple gameplay styles, but those games are still what I would consider playable games. I could never say this was the worst or that Sonic felt off track, it was still Sonic. The only exception to the rule was Sonic Battle which is a game I legit dislike and it flanderizes characters (namely Knuckles and Amy where their characters started to become inconsistent and exaggerated) But Shadow the Hedgehog onward it's been a constant back and forth battle. It's also the point where I started disliking Shadow as a character. (yes widely unpopular opinion I actually don't like Shadow the Hedgehog and his own game/2006 are the biggest offenders) he was fine in SA2 and Heroes, but don't like him afterwards. And yeah there was this problem that happened and it was hard not to notice. Soon all the characters started loosing their relevancy, Tails, Knuckles and Amy started filling more background roles when they were fairly prominate before, (mainly the latter two, even though they are still main characters) and all the character's roles in terms of being playable started happening less and less. The Pre-Heroes era (Heroes included) characters were playable like almost every game. 2006 pretty much ruined the character's chances of ever being playable in a huge title. Sure there were games on the side like Rush/Adventure, Rivals and Chronicles. But that's pretty much it as far as playable characters go. And even then Rivals 1 was limited to 4 characters and the ones who weren't playable were just limited to Damsels in distress.. And while multiple characters did exist in Black Knight they were playing other characters rather than the actual characters being themselves. But that's not to say the Dark Age didn't have its own refinements, fans could still talk about it but the quality (while not the same) still had people coming back (Classicists and Review bombers aside) But even then I noticed that a lot of characters started losing character over time, not just in terms of playable status. But a lot of them would be inconsistent following each game, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Silver etc would flip-flop roles between games or have their personalities in one game, then exaggerated the next. (or have different motivations for the sake of it) I mean don't get me wrong there are still things to enjoy and the characters weren't thrown away and were still around, but they were most certainly not as consistent as they were before. However after Black Knight and from Colors and onward all of it changed, now no character aside from Sonic, Eggman and Tails have little to no relevancy, are thrown into the background as hopeless cheerleaders/props in the background and don't really contribute to much of anything while hardly retaining their personalities. (and even then Tails doesn't do anything despite being shown with Sonic) Honestly I prefer the Dark Age era over what we have currently and I know this an extremely bold statement, I can see the argument being flipped otherwise, but that's just me. At least we had some games thrown in that still showed why I loved the series (Riders, Unleashed, Rush/Rush Adventure, Black Knight, Sega Allstars Racing/Tennis etc) while in this current era? I can't really think of any outside Generations and Racing Transformed. I've expressed many times I don't like this current direction. It's actually more of a Dark Age, than the actual Dark age, which admittedly the former started having it's fair share of bland/uninspired Sonic games (Rivals games, Chronicles, 2006, Shadow etc) Unleashed is where the characters just stopped being playable altogether it's also where Tails started declining as a character. Even so I consider Unleashed one of my favorite Dark Age era games and is certainly the best when it came to presentation, voice acting (not that it matters) and characters (even if I don't like the Boost gameplay all too much). Sonic's great, Eggman's great and while Amy is an NPC with a minimal role she starts to return to her original characterization and is more friendly and hopeful as opposed to being aggressive and angry. But really what is a Dark Age specifically is basically boiled down to subjectivity, it's pretty much all over the place with this fandom. Of course all of what I said was completely subjective.

[@speedguy8637]

Context Code you made a comment I didn’t have to spend 10 minutes typing up, thanks.

[@olpentedooiebingmandagi7557]

2004 - 2019 era was the Dark Age Of Sonic.

[@_Tzer]

06 is better than shadow the hedgehog shadows character wise he actually cares about people in that game.

[@tiruliru1189]

@@olpentedooiebingmandagi7557 More like 2010-2019.

[@vgames9207]

"Yes the Adventure Games have presentation problems, poor narrative structure" only in the english version. "doesn't do well including multiple gameplay styles" wrong? Sonic played well and was both fast and fun to control. tails hade tons space were he could fly and he hade all these rings to help make the gameplay stand out. knuckles hade his own levels as well. amy was fun to play as with her horror like gameplay. big works....but is probably not fun if you don't like fishing minigames. gamma was just so much with the ticking clock gameplay.

[@Dalvory]

While the dark age of Sonic is mainly why Sonic is so easy to talk shit about these days, I still see more good in them than the recent 3D titles. Sure, the more recent games like Colors, Lost World, and Forces aren't broken like 06, but 06 still had things I liked about it. 06 was bad in a hilarious way. In my opinion, the recent 3D games are just boring and mediocre. I think the drop in quality started during Sonic Adventure, to be honest. Yeah, I love the Adventure games, I see them as the best 3D Sonic games, and I prefer them to the classic games, but they still have their fair share of glitches, dated design, dated presentation, and they just haven't aged all that well compared to the Genesis games. However, I feel like the games REALLY took a drop in quality starting with Heroes. Simply moving around in that game is unenjoyable. But I still find more positives in Heroes, Shadow, and 06 than Colors, Lost World, and Forces. It seems like after 06 bombed, they were afraid to try anything ambitious, which is why the only character we played as after that was Sonic. The modern titles just feel soulless, because they tend to play it way too safe. Honestly, they could have made 06 work, but they were so incompetent that they spent a lot of time designing shit nobody cared about like the town missions. With Heroes, Shadow, and 06, I see a lot of wasted potential. Those games could have been great, but Sonic Team, and especially Iizuka are so incompetent that making a simple transition to 3D from the 2D games is that hard. Adventure 1 and 2 did it pretty well with those games speed stages, and even the fans have shown it's possible to make open ended level design with games such as Sonic Utopia. It feels like after they became a 3rd party company, that they just stopped trying and were like "well, we're making games for other peoples consoles now, so we don't have to try anymore!"

[@WILOVERLORD]

I agree. Also point out that they completely screw it with 06 since, if i'm not mistaken, they rushed the development so it would be out with the HD Gen (360 and PS3) making the game in like six months i think. I get mad everytime i remember that. Maybe if they just had a little patience, and did not try that stunt they would have gotten with something decent, and maybe they wouldn't start to play it safe or soulless like you said.

[@TheDen-ec9xe]

> Lost World and Forces not broken LMFAO Are you for real That said, I actually agree with most of what you said.

[@Doctor00X]

Honestly, the last amazing Sonic game was Unleashed IMO. I'd take any dark age game over any post 2010 nostalgia padding game any day.

[@1010otep]

last before Sonic and the Black Knight

[@adeptdamage3669]

Generations was way better than Unleashed.

[@lonradb]

AdeptDamage That’s just what you think. But Sonic Unleashed has a better story, better graphics, and more content than Generations could ever dream of. The day stages are much longer and are more plentiful than the modern stages of Generations and don’t feel as easy. And the Werehog is way more engaging and intuitive than Classic Sonic. The only thing Generations does better than Unleashed is by having better controls and no mandatory collectible hunting.

[@Vice_Verse0]

@@adeptdamage3669 Sonic Unleashed had it's own levels.

[@lonradb]

-X- And that too.

[@sonic5993]

The fact that nobody in the comments can even agree on what counts as the dark age kind of brings into question if there even was one to begin with.

[@chalkfourtyfive]

The Dark Age started with Shadow,paused for 2 years between Unleashed and Colors and restarted with Lost World.

[@godofwar234regi5]

It continued with Boom and Forces.

[@lpfan4491]

the modern era is honestly at least twice as bad as the dark age. sonic boom is a failed spinoff that could have been good but wasnt in the slightest(thanks for the meddling,sega. rip bigredbutton),forces is just bland and colors is a pretty alright game in its gameplay,but just does not have a soul behind it. it is really noticable that the writers knew nothing about the series when writing this one. i like gens and lost world tho.

[@bluemyu7226]

No, the dark age didn't start with Lost World. Simply because LW was shit doesn't mean it started another dark age. Mania was phenomenal, and Forces was alright.

[@lpfan4491]

how in the world is forces better than lost world?

[@bluemyu7226]

@@lpfan4491 Forces had for the most part, decent gameplay. Nothing groundbreaking, nothing terrible. The writing was also surprisingly good. Sure Classic Sonic plays like ass, but you barely play as him and he only represents 1/3rd of the Gameplay style. Lost World on the other hand is a gimmicky mess. With terrible """""Level design""""" (let's just call it random geometry) and hilarious story.

[@TheWonderfulLadthony]

How can this be the dark age? It's the Jason Griffith era.

[@Merdicano]

Best era for me, I would play each one of these games just to listen to him as Sonic

[@olpentedooiebingmandagi7557]

Or even the Crush 40 Era.

[@_Tzer]

@@Merdicano there was a voice actor before adventure so..... who was it in cd

[@missingno2401]

@@_Tzer if i wasnt forgetting everything i hear immediately i would say i think masato nishimura, or the guy you can thank for the "fun is infinite" screen

[@donathan2933]

Manuel David Rendon Acevedo I agree I love the Dark age

[@Kuzamer]

Honestly, I'd argue this is a a new Dark Age, atm. Only instead of Sonic Team releasing broken pieces of garbage, we get mediocre 3D Games with barely any substance. It's pretty depressing... -Also, it's wild how after Ryan Drummond left, the quality of the games took a nosedive... Conspiracy...? 👀-

[@Kuzamer]

@Ultimate Hedgehog The lone exception. And not made by Sonic Team.

[@JsReviews]

Well Mania is still tied down by nostalgia bs. We need Sonic to feel fresh and new again, especially in the 3D series.

[@TripleJump]

I'd say that Forces redefines what a Dark Age of Sonic is. In the last Dark Age, games were overly ambitious with like 30-something friend characters, gimmicks and one-off minigames everywhere. There were so many dream and ideas, which unfortunately resulted in a total lack of focus and polish. So many glitches went untested because the team was too busy adding a racing car minigame. Now we only have a couple of gameplay styles in a game, but the games are so freaking afraid of messing something up that they play everything as safe as possible. You can glitch the game if everything is automated and you can't have a scene where Sonic kisses a human if Sonic is the only character. No risks and no ambition. If you don't try, you can't fail. These are the current design philosophies of Sonic Team right now, which is heartbreaking because I trust you remember how much hope I had in Forces leading up to release. It appeared to be ambitious and risk-taking, but it was all a farce. In that sense, I guess you could say Sonic is in a Dark Age. But instead of being an unfocused mess, he's too afraid to take risks. Its sad really.

[@marx4538]

@@JsReviews Atleast it knows what Sonic is:A combination of speedrunning, gameplay enjoyability, replayability and physics. It's level design is better then all the Classic Games and it's engine, physics, animations, music are 19035918592115 times better then the whole Classic series IMO. I'd play Mania's GHZ alot of times over playing Sonic Heroes ever again. Again, It's My Opinion.

[@Vice_Verse0]

@@marx4538 Actually it doesn't know anything about Sonic. It literally by design, another platform game. Speed running gameplay my ass, it's constantly bouncing you around and being a cluttered mess. I'd rather play Sonic Heroes, at least that game has more of a feel of progression than "Oh hey let's go to Green Hill Zone, now we're suddenly in Chemical Plant. Now this new place. Okay, back on the Flying Battery." Are we going forward or going backwards? It feels like we're going backwards. Oh and they both have a Metal Sonic fight, but Mania's Metal Sonic fight is just fighting Metal Sonic like a Nintendo boss. No energy, no action, just perform action to do the thing. You did the thing. Well done."

[@Flemmli1]

If it were me, I'd make it that the Sonic series should have, at least thematically, a theme of fun and transition between being a child and an adult. Like no matter how eh to bad the games are, the ones that stuck with me are those who got some more serious plot and that have some basic childish fun elements, like being a knight and swinging a sword. And I really think Sonic should focus on having some child like fun with things a child/teen would enjoy doing, but also having enough seriousness that it isn't a complete joke.

[@poop-kh7ir]

this is the best analysis of the sonic series i've ever seen, great video.

[@AHAHHAHHA]

I loved the 3d sonic games. Unleashed, Colours and Generations are fucking amazing. Why are people giving them bad reviews? Since when were they considered bad games? It seems like only yesterday everyone was praising how unreal generations was.

[@unknownlol5084]

People are starting to hate on Colors and Gens because they have bad stories...but they're apparently okay with clunky slow stiff mechs and the repetitive broken game with terrible design choices known as Sonic Heroes.

[@superhedgehog6447]

Do you people understand?! The reason why the 2010s games are getting criticized is because well yes the gameplay is decent, the storytelling has been shitty, the characters don't even act like how there supposed to anymore, non stop Nistolgia pandering, stupid ass meme humor. Say what you want about the sonic games in the 2000s but they were far more entertaining with storytelling, the games were more fun to play tbh aside from the mech stages in sa2. Alot more creative with the ideas they had and tried to develop the characters. Like holy shit i rather play sonic heroes with its problems than play a game that I'll get bored quickly like Colors.

[@acousticslayer5883]

Colors' level design wasn't that good, but generations' was awesome. The stories tho...

[@SmashSSL]

@@superhedgehog6447 And given that we are talking about a platforming video game about a blue hedgehog, objectively, what matters most is the gameplay, not the writing. So no, that is not a valid reason.

[@superhedgehog6447]

@@SmashSSL Whatever, you really sound like a Ign employee or a Arin Hanson fan.

[@erinmc7321]

Its nice to hear sonic rush get some credit :( it feels like its so overlooked

[@parsashirali8957]

Man unleashed was and is so good .....

[@Merdicano]

Is still a great story and a very good-looking game after all these years

[@SmashSSL]

Uh yeah.... 15% of it was, anyway

[@Twilightzero]

@@SmashSSL tbh the werehog is pretty fun

[@SmashSSL]

@@Twilightzero ...

[@santihjusto]

@@SmashSSL 15% includes: -Music -Level designs -Bosses -Day stages -Story -Graphics -Challenge -Hub world

[@mikenelas7778]

I wouldn't count Colors to be in the "meta" era. It didn't really hog nostalgia too much and was relatively new for the most part. I guess some of the writing was pretty meta though.

[@markellhawthorne2921]

If only Sonic could be as consistent as Mario.

[@donathan2933]

ikr

[@ahmadkazan7994]

Yeah i do like doing the exact same thing for 30 decades.

[@donathan2933]

​@@ahmadkazan7994 it works for Mario

[@ahmadkazan7994]

@@donathan2933 what works for mario doesn't work for sonic.

[@rankrodent2772]

Markell Hawthorne so boring for the past ten years??

[@ultrairrelevantnobody1862]

A very entertaining and well thought out video that deserves my liking. As for Sonic with the whole dark age? I don't really want to talk about it, I agree with people on how bad Sonic 06 was and how eh the Sonic story duology was on the Nintendo Wii and how good the Sonic Rush games were. With that said, I don't like getting into these type of discussions as it just results in me getting stuck in redundant arguments with the rare civilized points here and there. Sonic still has his name on some of my favourite video games (Sonic 3&K, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Advance 3, Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Mania) but when it comes to talking about Sonic games and the quality of said games? Don't expect me to get into these type of discussions. That happens very rarely.

[@TCT2023]

I don't think Sonic's ever had a "dark age". I just think it has games that some people hate and some love.

[@farao7677]

Nice to see someone who thinks that the Adventure era isn't just SA1 and SA2

[@kaz101]

For me, the last great Sonic game was Generations. And I fucking ADORE Sonic Unleashed, it's my favorite Sonic game by far. I'd say that Sonic is in his dark age right now. I'd take any 2000's Sonic game over the shitty nostalgia filled games like Lost World or Forces.

[@ReverofEnola]

You didn't like Mania?

[@FengTheSlayer]

Dark age or not, I think most sonic games are good. And I hope for the best for our blue blur 🙏

[@edwardrobinson919]

Same me too.

[@FengTheSlayer]

Princelawrenz Hamlin yes that is true like you say

[@Zak-bv4qm]

Most are good and at worse sonics not even as bad as alot of games.

[@stevespud2707]

I actually like the games from the so called "Dark Age" more than the games we got recently. Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic 2006 are a couple of my favorites from the series. Yes I know they are flawed and have obvious problems but I just have more fun with them than games like Colors and Generations.

[@rankrodent2772]

Shadow was fun as hell

[@donathan2933]

I agree Dark era was darker and more serious than the current age of Sonic

[@acousticslayer5883]

I dunno, playing the same stage 10 times isn't exactly fun to me. But 06 wasn't as bad as people made it to be.

[@rankrodent2772]

Aw man, I'm a ring! There’s still more variety in stages than colors had

[@donathan2933]

@@rankrodent2772 yup

[@noxcore7128]

I started being a Sonic fan way back around 2005-2006, mainly from the Sonic X tv series that was going at the time, but my first real contact with the franchise was with unleashed on the ps2, and i loved every single bit of that game (except Eggman land, this level is literal hell) but i did not touched another game fully until i bought CD, adventure 1 and 2 off from Steam in mid 2017, and while i enjoyed Sonic CD, the adventure games grew on me in a much more positive way, say what you want about outdated graphics, wanky facial animations/ movements, jerky camera and so on, yeah the games are old and i perfectly understand that, but these games played pretty solid and for me are some of the best in the franchise. With that said i decided to break the "eras" into five different categories : - Classic era, that counts the games from Sonic 1 up until The Dreamcast's release -Adventure/Dreamcast era featuring Adventure 1/2, heroes, Advance 1 2 and 3, battle, rush and riders (i'd even put in Nights into dreams there as the adventure games where the ones to refference it the most despite not being a sonic game) -the "dark age" with STH, 06 secret rings, zero gravity, unleashed, black knight, rush adventure, free riders... -the Boom era (technically not an era but being it's own thing i can't just leave it aside) -the current era from Colors to nowdays note that's mostly about the games, but if i had to put in tv shows, Aosth, SATam and underground are in the classic era, X in the dreamcast one and Boom series goes along it's tie in game line.

[@ABMTV01]

Damn you must be really lucky to have a copy of unleashed on PS2.

[@RWBYraikou888]

Your outlook on Sonic's decline in quality is honestly similar to my own outlook on, believe it or not, SpongeBob's decline in quality. SpongeBob's track record seems to have a similar output as Sonic. Seasons 1-3 were comparable to the Genesis era, seeing as how it had just hit the mainstream and nobody could really see any faults with it at that time. Seasons 4 & 5 are pretty similar to the Adventure era's quality, seeing as how there wasn't much wrong with it, and they had their fans, but it was notable for being much more divisive than one would hope. It's no question that Seasons 6-8 are akin to the Dark Age, as they had their diamonds in the rough, but overall, people really just began to see everything these series had to offer as nothing but problematic. Season 9 is akin to the resurgence brought upon by Colors and Generations, as people started to notice how much of a rise in quality both properties were beginning to maintain, but both were really short-lived. Seasons 10 & 11 are practically the same as the Meta era's quality, as, just like how the Adventure era and Seasons 4 & 5 were critically well-received but had a bit of a divisive reputation, these era's were overall well-received, but there are still a notable amount of detractors. -Only difference for me being that the Meta era is okay to me, albeit draining, while Seasons 10 & 11 are extremely problematic to me.- I bring all of this up because what you said about people finding the Dark Age to be more refreshing in hindsight is pretty open-ended, because while I do agree with that notion on Sonic, I can find that applying to multiple media with notable declines, SpongeBob included. I find a lot more enjoyment in the best episodes of Seasons 6 & 8 than I do with the best of Season 11.

[@_Tzer]

you have infinite iq sir

[@baylordiamond8819]

Both the SB & Sonic dark ages had a character trying to kill themselves (if you count BK). I would actually compare the sonic' fanbase more to the Thomas & friends fanbase with magic railroad basically being the Thomas equivalent of 06.

[@kieranstark7213]

Thank God I’m not the only one who would think that because Nickelodeon handled it, post-Season 8 of SpongeBob is the continuation of Spongebob Squarepants just not (frequently) trying to understand what made it work in the early 2000s (from season 1 to the original movie)! But yeah, even after the Golden Age of SpongeBob, despite overstaying its welcome after TSSM, it was definitely one of the less horrible Nickelodeon franchises (until Nickelodeon finally waited for Stephen Hillenburg to die even more brutally than imaginable which is the main reason why the only thing it deserves is a satanic reputation before it finally shuts down for good).

[@worthybutter2004]

@@kieranstark7213 Okay, what in the actual hell were those last few words of yours? I don't wish to attack you or anything, but really? Nickelodeon murdered Stephen Hillenburg? No, that's not what happened! He only died from a disease called ALS (short for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) that resulted in the progressive loss of his motor neurons which controlled his voluntary muscles.

[@kieranstark7213]

@@worthybutter2004 I know how Stephen died. But still. It’s way too tasteless for anyone to wait for someone to die just to milk a franchise already milked for all its worth even if they didn’t actually murder the person.

[@chunkee_munkee3113]

We’ve been in the dark age since 2010 and we still are IMO

[@unknownlol5084]

How so? I don't see how the era of Colors, Gens and Mania is a Dark Age.

[@chunkee_munkee3113]

Ok, my bad on that part, those aren’t bad in terms of Gameplay but in terms of story...yeah

[@unknownlol5084]

I highly doubt that a PLATFORMER is in a dark age because it's STORIES aren't as good as they used to be. But at least you can state your opinion without insulting other people, that's already more than what most people can do on the internet.

[@superhedgehog6447]

@@unknownlol5084 im not trying to start shit but Sonic was meant to have a story since the genisis games. Its just got expanded more in the adventure games.

[@theutubepower1243]

Charles Knokels colors, generations, and mania are like the 3 exceptions, just like the sonic rush games were exceptions to the actual dark age, with them getting good reviews

[@TheRyanSucksAtGames]

We all know when the dark age *really* happened. 1991 with the release of Sonic 1 on Genesis.

[@Supermariorpg6]

No the dark age happened when Rad Mobile was released.

[@Dalvory]

The dark age REALLY happened with Sonic Adventure. ;)

[@Supermariorpg6]

Nah it really happened when the Internet existed. @@Dalvory

[@jingusflorpus4274]

the dark age started when sega was conceived

[@Supermariorpg6]

The Dark Age ACTUALLY happened during the 1300s. Yes, the Sonic Fanbase goes WAAAAAAAAAY back. @@NicksRepository

[@ellugerdelacruz2555]

So Basically, It all started with Shadow the Hedgehog's own Game!?!?!?

[@bleakburd4965]

Pretty much

[@thelonewolf7443]

I’m in the minority then because I loved playing Shadow the Hedgehog.

[@JTHMSqueeMrEffDBoy]

It's funny, your definitions of the eras were the same as mine when I was a bit more into this series (Classic, Adventure, Dark, and Meta). I also called the Dark Era the "Post-Adventure Era" since those often felt like they were trying to carry on some of the style and ideas from the previous era while also sorta taking them in new directions (most of which failed).

[@mikecoolgreen]

this is pretty much subjective but i thought adventure 1 and 2 had great soundtracks. i liked 2 more because the soundtracks were defined by the characters you play and i loved all of knuckle's stage theme......aquatic mines being my favorite

[@ahadadil786]

Favourite 2D sonic game: sonic 3 Favourite 3D sonic game: sonic unleashed (and also sonic R was one of my most liked sonic games)

[@PsychadelicoDuck]

I'd probably put responsibility for the existence of a Dark Age ( _and_ the "hip to hate" sentiments for the Adventure games today ) at the feet of Sonic '06. The reason why its so hard to pin down the start of the Dark Age is because Sonic '06 retroactively created it. tldr: The pre-'06 games (Adventures 1 and 2 included) were often flawed or inconsistent in quality but also had their bright spots. The ones after '06 maintained a similar level of quality. But '06 was such a mess that it sensitized people to those flaws, past and future, leaving the fun-but-not-perfect successors unable to break the stigma, and highlighting questionable elements in the similar-but-actually-functional Adventure games, poisoning them by association in the minds of some. Or even more tldr: Sonic games have never been perfect, and the legacy of Sonic '06 has left people treating everything with Sonic's label more harshly then they would if '06 never existed (and more harshly than non-Sonic games). The thing is, from what I've seen, 2006 really was setting up to be "Adventure 3". An epic story involving human characters and anime fantasy/sci fi elements. Similar gameplay and structure, expanding on Adventure 2's multiple characters and story lines. It feels to me like the natural evolution of the formula. I honestly think, if '06 hadn't been a literal technical train wreck when it came out, it would have been fondly remembered, human-hedgehog romance or no. Maybe not lauded like Adventure 2 (the formula was aging, as any does without successful reinvention), but probably well-regarded enough to eventually result in an Adventure 4, at least. At the very least, it wouldn't have killed Sonic's semi-serious cheesy identity, leaving him desperately scrambling to reinvent himself in a forced and unnatural evolution. But it was, and it broke the public's trust in Sonic. Later games (including those of the Meta Era) may be half-decent to good, about on par with its pre-'06 (or maybe a bit worse; loss of identity and panicky funding on the part of the publisher could be factors post-'6), but "half-decent" or even inconsistently "good" is not enough to wash away the stink of such a big flop. People were willing to overlook some clunkiness and cheese and even whole-game misses before, but the specter of Sonic '06 means that those same minor missteps (or ones similar enough) don't get the same leeway today as they once did. Similarly, in picking '06 apart, detractors found out that it wasn't that different from the Adventure games, with its occasionally awkward controls and kind of cheesy voice acting and writing, poisoning the well retroactively. After all, if '06 was basically Adventure 3, and '06 is the worst game ever, then the Adventure games couldn't have been that good in the first place, could they have been? Is this reaction really fair to Sonic, or even just basically logical? Not really, but in my observation humans are often not. This theory has a few holes. Mainly, why the critical hate for Shadow the Hedgehog? I'm not sure. My best guess would be some combination of the Adventure formula (that it was using as well) falling out of public favor (which would have consigned Sonic to a slow death regardless if that were the case, but not to becoming a laughing stock), perhaps combined with a story structure that was just too ambitious for the team to reasonably handle, and a modified control scheme that made Shadow really slippery to control (so I've heard; I've gotten an impression, though being an armchair observer I can't say for certain, that Sonic Team in this era was changing up character's movement controls just to make them different from each other, even if it resulted in one playing worse than others). Though I will say that my friend in middle school who was a big Sonic fan loved Shadow the Hedgehog along with the rest of them. It also ignores the possibility of declining quality of writing. I'm not nearly enough of a Sonic fan to tell if Sonic 2006's story would have actually been acceptable, in a functional game. It doesn't strike me as so far off base, but then again I've always viewed Sonic's stories as lying somewhere between "enjoyably cheesy" and "good intentions falling a bit short".

[@CarbonRollerCaco]

I think that the real question is "How did the Dark Age label manifest in the first place?". For that, there has to be some period of hated releases thick enough to even be considered an "age". Personally, I think that popular suspicion peaked with Heroes, although that was only some time AFTER the game had been out. Critics had praised it, yes, but when commoners tried it, they were divided pretty much down the middle, most likely due to the unintuitiveness of the formation system that informed notably more complicated gameplay than was the assumed norm for the Sonic series. Even those that COULD easily manage it could recognize that it would be a chore for a lot of others. Then came ShadowTH, which was near-universally reviled for its EXTREME tonal flip that had the titular darkhog fighting past hellish alien invaders and human military men with the aid of REALISTIC GUNS and VEHICLES in addition to his own powers through mundane-ish and more Sonic-ish environments alongside the rest of the established Sonic cast who, while technically all playable, were little more than Sonic 2 partner Tails and clones thereof in terms of the action save for Sonic who keeps his Homing Attack and is an obstacle in certain boss battles and who all would suggest missions to affect story progression to determine his fate. Damn! I'm not making any of that up! And I'm surprised YOU DIDN'T know! Basically, there were three wobbles in a row, then the runaway that was ShadowTH, then the wreck. That made most feel that Sonic was CLEARLY in a "dark age" if not outright doomed. Unleashed playing up the wolf-hog gimmick wasn't helping it win fans, as with Secret Rings botching the motion controls both tanking it and repelling people away from Black Knight. Colors was seen as a rescue, especially after Generations. So ShadowTH through Black Knight is the technical answer, just as the video says, but one could consider Adventure 1 to Heroes the "Dimming Age".

[@vgames9207]

why the heck do people keep saying that the Adventures games were flawed or inconsistent when they were not?

[@vgames9207]

​@@CarbonRollerCaco no, the real reason the Dark Age label manifest itself is because sonic heroes was not SA2 imo.

[@CarbonRollerCaco]

@@vgames9207 Because said games took Sonic in this weird-ish direction new to how people had known the series before then, that direction was a CLEAR break from the past starting with SA2, and the games had legitimate design and polish issues. Three "weird" games in a row-SA1, SA2 and Heroes-wasn't going to be universally agreeable regardless of quality. Heroes simply not being like SA2 wouldn't've inspired unconfidence in Sonic on its own.

[@PsychadelicoDuck]

​@@vgames9207 Clearly you disagree, but I said it because I think it's true. Saying the games are flawed and inconsistent is very different from saying it's bad. I don't think the Adventure games are bad. But there's always been a fundamental tension in Sonic between speed and control, and the alternative character styles have always walked the fine edge between fun novelty and annoying gimmicks, Adventures included. And these are games where major parts of the stories include things like a robot who is torn between his own survival and letting the bird that is his heart go free, an egg-shaped mad scientist blowing up the moon while normally proportioned people watch, and a definition of "the ultimate life form" that produced first a giant bloated space dragon and then an amnesiac black hedgehog on roller skates who everyone mistakes for the hero, who then has to run away from an organization called GUN. Those stories are bonkers! Bonkers in a fun way, like Kingdom Hearts, but very easy to make fun of, if people are of a mind to do so. Which was really my point of that whole long post back when I made it: Sonic '06 poisoned the well. I think that if Sonic '06 had actually been a functional game at launch, controlling as well as past Adventure games and without all the crashes and load times and glitches, that it would have been reasonably well-received, and that Sonic would not be in the situation he is in today. I maintain that Sonic '06 was a direct and logical extrapolation of what had come before, silly time travel story and doomed hedgehog-human romance and all, and that it's failure on a technical level caused people to become more critical of the minor gameplay problems and story silliness they had once been passed over or even enjoyed (again, not fair for Sonic or logical, but people rarely are fair or logical), which left Sonic in the lurch searching for an identity. Again, I don't think the Adventure games are bad, even if I don't think they're perfect. If I had any choice in where Sonic headed in the future, I'd want to see the Adventure style return, because I like those cheesy stories and having enough room in the gameplay to be able to mess up, and I feel a lot of the problems modern Sonic has today can be traced back to the developers fearing the stigma of being like Sonic '06, which because Sonic '06 was not the aberration it is popularly made out to be, just a game rushed out far too soon, leaves them fearing Sonic's identity itself. He can't naturally evolve, because the developers are afraid of doing anything like '06 did, because (the illogic goes) "if Sonic '06 did it like that, it must be bad", even though 06's problems were largely a lack of polish, and not foundational. Of course, this whole theory lies on the premise that Sonic '06 was spiritually Adventure 3, and would have been well-received if it hadn't been riddled with bugs and technical problems. Perhaps, as a fan, you could correct my assumption. If '06 would've been a bad Sonic game, even if all the bugs and bad controls were polished up and fixed, please tell me why. What is it that Adventures 1&2 have or did that '06 wouldn't have had or done badly, to mark it as the black sheep? Because as a mostly-outsider to the fandom, I just don't see the difference.

[@ypremium4609]

I know it's a bit late, but I needed a video for my way back home and your video saved me. So thanks!

[@Shad809]

‘06 is beyond overhated, just like games such as ET on Atari 2600. So many people shit so hard on the game just because they had negative experiences with it that were only further magnified by the game’s general design and quality faults. But frankly, I do not see how that’s any different than any of the previous games. I hate the mech shooting and treasure hunting in SA2 because I don’t have any fun playing them and I feel that they’re designed worse than Gamma and Knuckles’ play styles were in SA1, but if I tried to criticize it for that, then those same people who treat ‘06 like the plague would burn me at the stake for daring to be so biased against SA2. Bias is bias people, no matter if the game is good or bad.

[@stormcutter59]

I'm at the halfway point and I just want to tell you THANK YOU for giving the unpopular but oh so true FACTS about the reception the series was still being given during the Adventure games and Heroes!!Its so fucking true! The early 2000s was still a GREAT time for Sonic as a series. The beginning of the dark was definitely Shadow and 06. All the way up to Jnleashed the games have been getting worse and worse reception but when you think about it.......it was only a couple years since Unleashed that things were really falling off weren't they? The series never gets the credit it deserves

[@entruh4520]

3:58 gonna remember this strat next time I play unleashed

[@SilverSpireZ]

That intro line immediately gave this video a like

[@BrokenAce1295]

The so called "dark age of Sonic" is basically a conception made by people where they point out a specific period in the Sonic series they didn't like and label it as the dark age. Case in point, it's entirely a subjective concept. I enjoyed the Adventure-era games like Heroes, Shadow and 06 quite a lot, so I never saw them as part of the dark age of Sonic. My personal perception of the series is that once the Sonic games focused solely on mindless speed and the boost formula, that's when I believe the series went through a dark age because the series stopped being a genuine platform series. I also enjoyed Lost World (3DS version specifically) and the Boom games (Shattered Crystal and Fire And Ice). Then there's Forces, which is the Sonic game I hate the most and view as one of the worst Sonic games in the series.

[@jdawson7877]

that how i feel about sonic games as adventure, 06, and heroes, are my favorite games in the series i feel the series started to go down hill with colors

[@2bean166]

I swear this video attracted the COLOURS RUINED THE FRANCHISE folks. Honestly, the term "dark age" was coined after '06. That is THE game which ruined Sonic's reputation forever.

[@JsReviews]

Yes. This was said in the video. Shadow - Free Riders is the dark age. Colors onward is the meta era, whether I like the games or not.

[@Z3RO5286]

@@JsReviews Lost World, Colors, Forces are garbage cancer.

[@bluemyu7226]

True. The Colors hate bandwagon is getting ridiculous. They even went as far as to say that both Colors and Generations suck and are WORSE THAN 06

[@SmashSSL]

@@JsReviews I just don't get where the irrational hate for tightly designed, solid games comes, just because "mUh hUmOr". It's a platforming video game about a blue hedgehog. What matters is gameplay, not the jokes. And it's not like the pathetically edgy and pretentious shit from Shadow and 06 was any easier to take seriously.

[@HubPie3]

One thing that I don't think helps Sonic much is that this is one of the most inconsistent franchises in general. The series went through so many directions, from story to gameplay, that each time the franchise does something new, it'll make a new divide within the fanbase. It doesn't help that the quality shifts a lot. Sure, you may get some games that are mixed like Lost World, but then you'd get either masterpieces like Generations and Mania, to terrible games like 06 and Shadow.

[@batmabel]

They throw shit at the wall and see what sticks... then they wash away what sticks and throw new shit at the wall again. They never keep ideas around long enough to polish them, so either the game gets it right on the first try or it doesn't, there's no second chance. This sucks and it's the main reason why there isn't a good Sonic game in ages imo.

[@theimpersonator7086]

Yeah,it’s a shame that Sonic Team can never seem to focus on one thing and then perfect. The jump on quality from Sonic 1 to Sonic 3K is truly impressive and even rivals the improvement from Mario 1 to World

[@skyscavenger7732]

Aside from being inconsistent with style, It's also really inconsistent with it's canon. There's been so many things retconned or forgotten by the story that I really don't know what can be considered canon anymore. I mean, really, that scene in Forces of Tails shitting himself at the sight of Chaos when he has gone head to head against Chaos before just left dumbfounded. It's even more confusing than Zelda sometimes. Sega should just come out and say that the games stories don't have any relation to each other. At least that would explain why we haven't seen places like Angel Island, Station Square, Mystic Ruins, Space Colony ARK, Soleanna or any of the regions in Unleashed anymore (heck wasn't Knuckles supposed to be the guardian of the Master Emerald? Whatever happened to that? And where was G.U.N during the entire plot of Forces?).

[@aliciadrigo3277]

@@batmabel This.I agree with all of this. Especially the OP by Hub Pie. I honestly believe that for all the flaws Adventure 1 had,there was genuine potential there for it to form a good base for 3D Sonic and how he plays.(particularly it's open ended level design) If they had listen to criticisms,fixed the gameplay, get good voice actors,animators, and built upon it they could've had something special. I believe that's a big part of the reason why fans have been asking for an Adventure 1 remake forever. I don't count Adventure 2 because the way it plays so different from 1 that they basically threw out the baby with the bathwater like they always do. But because of how badly Sega screwed up 06,I doubt they'll ever return to that style because of the stigma attached.

[@aliciadrigo3277]

@@skyscavenger7732 I also agree with this. the fact that sega has so many different canons in different tones in the forms of the games,comics(both Archie and IDW),and TV shows(Satam,AotS,and Sonic X,and Boom) only split the fanbase even further and doesn't help Sonic with having a solid brand identity. I also agree with how the games themselves do a a piss poor job of respecting continuity and consistent worldbuilding. The proof that Sega doesn't respect this is when they came up with that bullshit Two Worlds idea to explain away the huge plothole of why different plot elements,locations and characters never came back after the game they were introduced in.

[@rankrodent2772]

I will always defend shadow 05 as one of my favorite games in the series

[@megasoniczxx]

As long as we don't get anything like forces again (and they actually do lost world gameplay again but proper instead of being a collection of half baked ideas) I think the series should be alright. Of course, that's banking on sonic team learning from why sonic mania succeeded and that's probably way more faith than I should be giving them at this point.

[@LucasMBoysOurRoy]

IMO it started with Colors. While most of the games were not as broken as the real Dark Age, they lack two main things those games had: personality and identity. Colors shifted the series drastically onto the other side of the spectrum. Now instead of edgy serious 3D games, we now got hur-dur Teen Titans GO 2D nostalgia pandering. Sonic 4 brought back 2D gameplay. Gens used only old levels, brought back Classic Sonic, and had much to be desired in story, though I'll excuse it for being an anniversary game. Lost World was trying too hard to be a bubbly Mario rip-off whilst having a script as crappy as Colors. Also 2D sections. While Boom was definitely an outlier, it still had Baldy Nosehair Syndrome. Forces is just an accumulation of everything wrong with the Modern era. Besides, Boom, you know what these games also have in common? *They're all so short.* Every game in the Modern Era can be beat in 2-3 hours. I don't want to spend $60 dollars on a game that I'm gonna put down after a few hours. You could argue that the Dark Age games had lots of filler, but you weren't going to stop playing it because the game was already over. I'm craving a true return to the Adventure formula. No 2D sections, no Classic Sonic, no Wisps, no Green Hill, and no Pontac and Graff.

[@WaterKirby1994]

Agreed 100% 2010 was the beginning of Sonic's Worst Decade with trash like Free Riders, Sonic 4, & Colors. We need a return to form for 3D Sonic with stories & gameplay like we got in the Adventure Games. I want to play as at least 6 Characters per game, which should be the normal for the series & would have been if the misguided "Just Sonic" mentality never happened. We should get to raise chao again & it really was a mistake to have Cream be entirely absent from the series except crossovers & Mobile Phone Games.

[@olpentedooiebingmandagi7557]

2010 was really bad for Sonic.

[@_Tzer]

I'm actually craving something different a 3d sonic mania aka a full game of sonic utopia i want my damn rolling physics

[@Ronan34753]

@@_Tzer So if it had the same rolling physics system as Utopia, would you personally be fine with the Adventure formula? Because the rolling physics are mostly the same as Adventure's, it's just you can curl into a roll midair.

[@_Tzer]

@@Ronan34753 That is correct

[@asbelirving5536]

to me "the dark age of sonic" should be called the "rushed product by sega ages"... It's literally the only reason we remember most of this game being broken after all : rushed buggy mess with some hidden potential behind all the s**t... So frustrating...

[@mysteriousmr.j9420]

Holy shit I thought you were ExoParadigm the entire time before scrolling down.

[@train4292]

I thought Shadow always was the beginning of the dark age. In my eyes it was always the worst sonic game at the time. But also your view sorta gives me a new perspective on the start of the dark age! Neat!

[@olpentedooiebingmandagi7557]

PS2 and Wii Era was the dark age of Sonic.

[@227060]

Sonic didnt seamlessly transition but for their times SA1 was mostly fine and SA2 was like an 8 out of 10. Back then the consensus was he had successfully transitioned. But Heroes was a bit more divisive then between Shadow snd 06 it created an unfair perception of Sonic wherein retroactively everything 3D was viewed as broken when it wasnt.

[@ReverofEnola]

Agreed. And unfortunately SEGA thought the same thing too at the time and completely abandoned the Adventure style gameplay.

[@227060]

@@ReverofEnola There needs to be a visionary who knows what the hardware of whatever the latest system is. They need to step in figure out how to maximise that system to best capture Sonic's speed and get a Ian Flynn level writer to deliver a strong script. not a reboot but a re-evaluation of the character and brand.

[@JonnySpec]

Classic era: 1991-1997 Adventure era: 1998-2009 Soulless era: 2010-???? Also, it's kinda funny how Secret Rings got better review scores than Sonic 06 and Black Knight, and that the Wii version of Sonic Unleashed got better review scores than the Xbox 360 version.

[@mep6302]

Because people are dumb

[@UnknownFlyingPancake]

I feel like a lot of people either forget or just weren't on the internet in the early 2000's because I remember when the Adventure series was new that there was basically a war between the "classic" fans and those who liked adventure even back then. So I wouldn't say it was universally praised since a big segment of the fandom didn't like the direction of the 3D games. Sonic fancharacters were also a huge thing even back then, I just think fandoms were so fractured into various collections of small separate websites and forums rather than the more centralized hubs of social media that a lot of people just weren't aware of it.

[@AJForShort]

I'm actually a really big fan on Sonic Riders. My brother and I made a lot of great memories with that game, but it's also a lot of fun. The production quality might not be great, but it is pretty charming. Hopefully, I can get some of these other games like Colors or Heroes, so that I can see more of where everyone is coming from.

[@aaronpena1692]

Forces wasn’t that bad Sanic t shirt: exists

[@iggyminious]

3:34 Pretty sure that Secret Rings got relatively decent reviews at the time, so I don't think it was the third act of the series' gut punch. 4:48 ...so 57 on metacritic was better than you expected? I don't blame you too much.

[@lilacthornbutt1503]

I'm ready for my witch trial, but Secret Rings doesn't really deserve all that flak. The controls were insufferable, I admit it. I will never forget my agony in that pirate stage and those damn minigames. However, I believe that this game was a groggy step in the right direction, for games like SatBK, Unleashed, and Generations. Why do I say that? Because of the writing. From the concept, to the character dynamics, the story in SatSR caught Sonic's character on fleek, alongside introducing us to colorful characters like Sharha and Erazor- I don't know about you, but Erazor is one hell of a terrifying villain; from wanting to simply wipe away the existence of his world to the underlying tones of an abusive relationship between him and Sharha, which caught me off-guard and hit me kind of hard. Ramblings aside, the game also spewed with creativity here and there. The enemy designs, the stages, and fucking *Darkspine Sonic* , they were colorful, yet not flashy. The stages don't become an eyesore and a "plastic land" after looking at them for long, and Darkspine has so much mystery behind it it's kind of crazy; like, what would happen if Sonic only absorbed the rings of positive emotion? What if he got all seven? Would it he a totally different super form? Would he die from it? Anywho, that's my tea.

[@SmashSSL]

It's a platforming video game about a blue hedgehog. What matters is gameplay, not "writing". So no. The game absolutely deserves the hate it gets. If a video game is not fun to play, it's bad. Simple as that.

[@RealBroccoliHour]

I agree with pretty much everything in this video, but regarding what’s ‘faithful’ to sonic in your last point, just because you don’t like the ‘Meta’ era of sonic doesn’t mean you can pretend like it didn’t have any of the flare or faithfulness that you describe. In sonic colors, sonic does things like travel to an interstellar amusement park and run on the literal rings of Saturn, in sonic generations sonic must use his speed to run through time and restore space, in forces he has to escape from an intergalactic prison cell where eggman was keeping him, and fight against a force that’s constantly warping the planet. Say what you want about those individual stories but it still had pretty cool moments like those tbh.

[@fuzzybuzzy3159]

Really hot fucking take: Sonic 06 isn't as bad as people say it is, most of it is exaggeration due to it being an intense stark in quality in comparison to previous releases at that time. The glitches are horrible and story nonsensical but it's still a serviceable game.

[@SmashSSL]

It would be, if 10% of the time wasn't spent on loading screens, and 2/3 of the gameplay styles didn't consist of boring, repetitive combat. So no, it's not.

[@jackisthebest1365]

SmashSSL the gameplay styles are great

[@SacrificAbominat]

I haven't played every game, but the only Sonic game I've played so far that I've absolutely hated was Shadow the Hedgehog, the mission based structure does not work with this series. I actually liked 06 to some extent, and I feel if it was actually given more development time to iron out the bugs it would have been a pretty competent game, this is why I'm looking forward to the fan remake using the Unity Engine. I've also heard the current age of Sonic from Unleashed to Forces referred to as the Boost age since that's a common mechanic a lot of the games share. I think they're good from what I've played, but I'll be honest I'm finding myself gravitating towards Adventure 2 way more in terms of gameplay, even the two "bad" gameplay types appeal to me more than the more modern games to be honest. Call it Nostalgia or personal preference I find it hard to get into the newer games.

[@thaneros]

The missions in Shadow were just streamline play styles of SA2. You're just using one character. I'd gladly play Shadow over SA@ any day.

[@SacrificAbominat]

@@thanerosIf you like it that's fine, but Personally I'd much rather collect 3 emerald pieces with vague hints and a gimped radar, when compared to SA1, than have to make sure I kill every enemy in a stage backtracking through it over an over again to find that one I missed. I'd much rather slowly go through corridors targeting as many enemies as I can in one lock on session racking up the points as I go than try and keep up with a UFO, slowly whittling down its health, as I also go through a somewhat frustrating obstacle course. This is not what I would call streamlining. Even the longest SA2 levels were 12 minutes at most if you took your time, and I can easily get up to 30 and 40 minutes in some levels in Shadow because of those missions. Not to mention you have to play through the game a minimum of 10 times to get the true ending and I honestly couldn't stomach much more than 1 and a half with all the BS involved in trying to go down the path I wanted. I'm sorry but while Shadow is a more functional game than 06 it has some of the most obtuse mission structures I've seen in a game, and those later levels are nightmarish to say the least with their missions. I'd much rather deal with the glitches and quirks of 06 because each level's goal is just get to the goal ring. As for SA2 I can definitely admit it hasn't aged that well and the gameplay is janky at times, but at least the flow of the gameplay isn't unbearably slow like Shadow is. Most stages are quick affairs and the Chao garden gives the player a good incentive to play through stages over and over again perfecting their run of them. I recently got all 120 medals and had the time of my life, even with the more tedious aspects of the game. Again if you like Shadow that is fine. It's definitely not my cup of tea though.

[@thaneros]

@@SacrificAbominat Personal taste. I couldn't stand either the Mech and Hunting stages in SA2 and could not even play them more than once. I never was into Chao either. Each to their own, right?

[@SacrificAbominat]

@@thaneros Yep pretty much.

[@theutubepower1243]

I enjoyed the mech in sonic adventure 2 but i felt it was done better with gamma in sonic adventure because of how slow the mechs move. I feel like the treasure hunting was also better in sonic adventure because of the radar tracking multiple emeralds, well except for it making the game too easy

[@itachisusanoo3689]

Great video! I wonder if forces has started its own new era, since much of the larger points of the story doesnt really cater to a meta-re-innovating-orientation. Hopefully the following games have better gameplay and better story climax (and better antagonist motivations)!

[@Shad809]

Trying to legitimately hate on ‘06 by this point is like trying to legitimately hate on Birdemic or The Roon.

[@VentusvsVantias]

Not to undermine this video, but the Geek Critique has a great Sonic Retrospective. The "Adventure Era" as it's called wasn't as highly liked as it is now according to him. Back then it was 2d classic fans vs 3d Sonic fans on fan forums. He also provides evidence of this which make his Sonic videos the definitive showcase of the franchise's history.

[@mep6302]

But he's totally biased towards the Adventure games because he hates Heroes for dumb reasons

[@Planet_JFT]

To me, the "Dark Age of Sonic" is near non-existent. It only lasted three games: Shadow, '06, and Secret Rings. Every other game that released in that era was at least passible, if not pretty good. This includes Primary (Priority Console platformers), Secondary (lower-level console platformers, handheld platformers), AND spin-offs (other-genre games).

[@JsReviews]

Yeah, but the point of this video is that opinions of game quality has nothing to do with it, it was just a bad spot for sonic for five years

[@Launchpad05]

I would argue that the classic era had some duds like 'Sonic R', and 'Sonic 3D Blast'.

[@ko77sonic77]

"I would argue that the classic era had some duds" I agree "Like 'Sonic R' and 'Sonic 3D Blast' " I no longer agree I would complain about other bullshit classic games,I loved these two

[@Launchpad05]

@@ko77sonic77 I'm sorry, but those didn't feel like true 'Sonic' games, and 'Sonic R' is considered bad bu most fans.

[@ko77sonic77]

@@Launchpad05 it's ok I just stated my opinion

[@RosheenQuynh]

There is no "Dark Age"... If no one can agree on it and if one's own opinions on any particular game gets in the way, then the entire series is a Dark Age or a Golden Age. It is better to ignore that which you don't like and focus on what you love.

[@waifu_png_pl6854]

i think the dark age started with heroes

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

+Tal Ken You mean mid to late 2000s, right? If so, then Sonic 06 was BELLOW mediocre. If Sega had bothered to take the story through additional editing process in regards to things like Elise, they ironed out the bugs, removed the Shadow vehicle segments, and polished things like the mach speed stages and the infamous Silver ball puzzle..it could have been a decent game. But alas Sega only cared for a quick buck at the time. There is also that horrendous Sonic GBA port; which is especially pointless now that Sonic Classic Collection DS and the Whitehead versions exist. Even in the literal midpoint that is 2005, Shadow made some controversial gameplay decisions (there is a reason they scrapped branching levels early on in SA2) and happened to use the same engine as Heroes (meaning for example; slippery controls persisted). You want to know why the stories became simpler and Sonic the only character? Because of the fanbase; the fanbase literally told Sega to do all of this. Contrary to popular belief, Sega didn't make those decisions just because they felt like it or to cut corners. However, I am willing to defend Generations. Generations was meant to be a celebration of Sonic's history; before it had spiraled out of control by the time of Forces. It's story wasn't as painfully bad as what would happen in Lost World and Forces. Compared to the run happy day time stages of Unleashed and the overly platform heavy Colors, Generations finally found a workable balance between speed and platforming. They also nerfed the boost mechanic so it wasn't as broken as back in Unleashed. If anything, the only game that fits "boot to win" stereotype fully from start to finish is Forces. Even Unleashed had Eggmanland; which does not encourage rampant boosting. As for Forces story; it is arguable MUCH more painful than Colors could ever be in that department; even with Sega of Japan involved much more this time. The desperate attempt at edge does not help; especially with Infinite himself.

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

No one asked specifically for Pontaf and Graf (if anything, their strength ironically lies in with dark humor; not so much tame humor); but the fanbase DID ask Sega to make the stories "more like the good ole Genesis days". There was also complaints about Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic 06 trying WAY too hard to outdo Adventure 2 in the serious storytelling department. Those complainants played a large part of the drastic story tone shift. So no, don't pretend the fanbase is entirely innocent with some of the decisions made after Unleashed. Boost gameplay in itself is not inherently bad. As stated, they found the right balance and they went out of their way to make the boost less overpowered. The bigger problem with Forces is that its physics are notably more broken than the other boost installment and apparently Sega thought that only having THREE level designers was a "good idea". Much like how Adventure forumla isn't automatically protected form being used in a bad game just because of what it was used for in the past. They also spent WAY too much time trying to replace the Hedgehog engine with the uglier looking Hedgehog 2 engine. Generation's story is forgettable (forgettable does not always mean terrible; sometimes forgettable just means there is not that much to remember due to not having all that much substance); but it is still NOTHING compared to Pontaf and Graf getting worse in Lost World. Or Sega of Japan's painful attempt at trying to add back in edge with Forces (they had notably more involvement than with Lost World's and Generations's story; though apparently they did write the basic mainframe of Color's story; even with the regional joke differences). Only the SA2 main writer has ever managed to pull off a dark Sonic story all that well in the games. I am all in favor of replacing Pontaf and Graf; but a Sonic game doesn't need to be all dark and edgy for every instance; nor should it be afraid to tell jokes as long it does a better job of doing it than ANY of the post-Generations jokes those two have written or even a large majority of the ones in Rise of Lyric. The first two main classic games didn't really have a story in-game. The third game had cutscenes but even it was minuscule compared to Adventure. However, they made up for it with solid gameplay design. Which is extremely rare to see from Sega ever since Lost World was made. Granted; Unleashed looks beautiful, but the PC version of Generation looks graphically quite fine in its own right. If anything, I would be WAY more disappointed with Lost World's art style (flat and bland even for the INFAMOUS system it was released on), Rise of Lyric (horrifically ugly), or Forces (not as ugly as Rise of Lyric; but not very impressive even compared to Generation's and Unleashed's art style). Personally I thought Classic Sonic was decently fun in Generations; with one of my few gripes being the physics are a bit off (however, I still think Classic Sonic was handled worse both story and gameplay wise in Forces. Don't get me started with that random retcon Ilzuka approved). One of the few things I can agree with you is that Generations is short; though the developers probably didn't have the luxury of adding in that many more levels anyways due to the higher ups wanting it to be an anniversary game; though thankfully Generations is nowhere near as broken as Sonic 06 (unfortunately, that doesn't mean there wouldn't eventually be a truly broken Sonic game after Lost World; which isn't even that good in its own right despite ditching the boost formula).

[@olpentedooiebingmandagi7557]

Don't you mean GameCube and Wii Era?

[@1upGaming1up]

As much as I hate Sonic 06 with a passion and I think everything about Sonic 06 (with the exception of the Music) The Dark Age of Sonic stood fateful to Sonic. Green Hill Rehash was fine with Sonic Generations but the Meta age of Sonic strayed away from what made the series great. With rumors that Sonic Team is dissolved maybe Sega can let Sonic games (3D Modern Sonic games) be handled in the west because Sonic is more popular in the west and Sega of America has better contact with Fans than in Japan so Maybe will get a Sonic Adventure style game (not Sonic Adventure 3 but under a different name to test the waters). This is how I saw the Sonic age 1991 Through 1997: Golden age of Sonic 1998 Through 2003: Silver age of Sonic 2003 Through 2008: Dark age of Sonic 2006 Through 2013: Renaissance age of Sonic 2013 Through today: Meta age of Sonic

[@godofwar234regi5]

GothicGamer91 Through**

[@gumi6751]

Do you plan on eventually reviewing the series? Your videos about Sonic are super good, and i would love to see your opinions on specifical sonic games

[@FletcherReedsRandomness]

I'm not really sure when it was, considering that even when there were games like Sonic 06 and Secret Rings, there was also the Rush games, which were really good.

[@JsReviews]

Well, watch the video and find out how all these games fit it.

[@commandertaco1762]

Tbh after unleashed the effort kinda died, after lost world the quality kinda died

[@GINTegg]

this video made me remember just how much I LOATHE forces for being such unoriginal rushed unfinished garbage with one of the worst plots in the franchise history

[@Shad809]

Nick 46 Longplays THANK YOU! I always thought trying to take the video game equivalent to Birdemic seriously only limits how much fun you can have with it.

[@_Tzer]

dark ages> bland age

[@darthsonic4135]

@Vincent Palmer He was talking 06

[@darthsonic4135]

@Vincent Palmer Very much so.

[@Michael1800Mk2]

That was a great summarization. I have to agree that the games all across the board rock in some places, even if some glitch harder than Batman Arkham Knight on PC day of release.😂

[@lonradb]

Seth Orion Woah! Your profile pic creeps me out. Just a face with eyes staring at me, like you’re The Den or something.

[@Michael1800Mk2]

@@lonradb Well I do tend to work in the soul trade. Peer into my eyes for I wish to window shop!😈

[@lonradb]

eep

[@Michael1800Mk2]

@@lonradb You should remember your price tags. Souls can be bought cheap.😈

[@hassanghanim3966]

The Dark Age is when sonic still has a chance for redemption, but nowadays he is just a meme, so much a meme that the sonic boom tv show used many of them which made it successful enough to have 2 seasons, and now Sega finally started to feel the effect of wasting money on Sonic games that they are forced to mix developer from other series and there is a chance that Sonic Team will be gone.

[@AlphaladZXA]

Actually I thought sega was on the upswing their actually doing something with their IPs they have like syreets of rage 4 panzer dragoon remake shenmue 3 and 1&2 remaster the trade off might be putting sonic on hiatus if so... I'm ok with that

[@skyscavenger7732]

​@@AlphaladZXA At this point, I really do believe that Sonic needs a rest. I mean, look what happened with Megaman, Capcom put him on hiatus to focus on their other franchises and when he finally reappeared, people got hyped to high heaven; everyone lost their shit when they revealed him for Smash, the Megaman Legacy Collection sold 1 million, Megaman 11 got geniune praise from the gaming community and Capcom even teased a new X game. Same thing with Metroid. It was dormant for a while and then everyone started singing their praises to Nintendo when they revealed Prime 4 and Samus Returns. So I say, let Sonic take some time off and meanwhile get some new talent with passion for the franchise and then profit when he makes his grand return. It's not like Sonic will be completely MIA, people can still play as him in Smash or his new car racing game.

[@mechajay3358]

Actually, if I remember correctly _Force_ wasn't all that well received. That game had some major problems.

[@kieranstark7213]

And yet IGN has the balls to spite its haters like “Sonic was never good, but like Sonic Free Riders, this is a game of the franchise we hate everything about yet people suck at underrated gems like these!”! They need to grow the hell up!

[@CosmicSponge2004]

In My Opinion, Classic Era - 1991-1995 Saturn Era - 1996-1998 Dreamcast Era - 1998-2004⛤ Silver Era - 2005-2010 Meta Era - 2010-NOW There is No DARK Era. Just Because 06 & Secret Rings Was Bad, Dosen't Mean 2006-2009 Was The DaRk aGe

[@jackisthebest1365]

Technically the Dreamcast era is only from 1998 to 2001

[@CosmicSponge2004]

@@jackisthebest1365 If I call it the adventure Era, everyone's gonna be arguing. Plus, Heroes is *VERY* Differnt from Shadow-Black Knight compared to Adventure-Battle. Also, Voice Actors.

[@jackisthebest1365]

Elijah Pippin well technically at same time Heroes is also different from the Adventure games since it has a team gameplay and if your gonna use the voice actors as example then how about instead calling it the Drummond era

[@CosmicSponge2004]

@@jackisthebest1365 I never Heroes wasn't different. I just said it was less different to those than 2005-2010. Also, What about other games from 2001-2004 that weren't Adventure? Sonic Advance Trilogy, Pinball party, battle!?

[@kylecampbell565]

This is a good video but a small correction around when Generations released Takashi Izuka states he considers Shadow the Hedgehog the end of the Adventure Era. I agree with him since that closes all the loose ends of that era

[@JsReviews]

What do you mean? This video has nothing to do with what anyone says. This is my definition.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

Also the New York dub voice cast was the peak of high quality voice acting!

[@peacockqueen]

I liked Sonic's personality more in the dark age than in the actual

[@kevinnigins9488]

I haven’t even looked at the comment section. But I know for a fact it’s gonna be toxic af

[@KenShackler]

Since everyone's giving their opinions, I'll give mine. The dark age of Sonic started with Shadow the Hedgehog and ended with Sonic Colors. Even though tons of people love Sonic Unleashed, that game was also very hated because of the werehog stages. Right now we're in a weird age of Sonic. Nobody really knows what's gonna happen next. Perhaps we're getting a Sonic Adventure remake with amazing gamepley, or perhaps we'll get something crap again. But I'd say that if the next 3D Sonic game isn't good, then we can call this another dark age. Anyway I don't really think it's really important what the dark age was. It's much more important to discuss what Sonic games should be like in the future. Even though I kinda like the boost formula and critics seem to like it also, I do understand the problems with it. Boost to win gameplay is boring. So if they're gonna keep the boost in future Sonic games, they should tweak it a lot, so that you can't just boost through everything, but there's actually platforming and interesting gameplay in general. So less boosting and more platforming etc. Many people want them to abandon 2D sections completely. I'm not sure if that's a good idea. There's just many things that work better in 2D compared to 3D. And critics love the 2D parts. In my opinion 2D parts should stay, but the main focus should be on 3D gameplay. The stages should be mostly 3D with some 2D sections here and there. Not the other way around. At the end of the day I think most of the Sonic fanbase wants them to make games that are closer to the Sonic Adventure formula. But people have different opinions about boost gameplay and 2D-sections. Should they be tweaked or should they be removed completely. In my opinion classic Sonic isn't needed in 3D Sonic games. Just make more Mania type games and then 3D-Sonic games are a separate thing from that.

[@themoongateofficial]

The games that came out during this era were literally some of my favorite, especially with unleashed and the black knight