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.

[@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

[@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...

[@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-????

[@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?

[@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

[@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!

[@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.

[@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.

[@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?

[@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.

[@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?

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@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".

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@Whackywohopizzaman]

@@SmashSSL tbh the werehog is pretty fun

[@SmashSSL]

@@Whackywohopizzaman ...

[@santihjusto]

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

[@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!"

[@wocelz]

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.

[@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.

[@poop-kh7ir]

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

[@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

[@farao7677]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@erinmc7321]

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

[@chipwhatever]

The Dark Age Started with Colors and is still going

[@VictoryReviews]

Colors was received well and Generations is beloved by most the fanbase Mania is also beloved by the majority Forces is pretty awful I'll give you that but even Lost World is liked by many despite it's faults

[@chipwhatever]

Smash Bros. Ultimate Trailers i don’t care

[@VictoryReviews]

@@chipwhatever aww aren't you special

[@chipwhatever]

Smash Bros. Ultimate Trailers Yeah i am special thanks for agreeing

[@lonradb]

Smash Bros. Ultimate Trailers Forces is just as bad as Colors. But Lost World sucks more than them both. Also, just because a game is received well does not automatically make it good. If that’s how your logic goes, then it sucks, it really does.

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@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

[@rankrodent2772]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@mysteriousmr.j9420]

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

[@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!

[@SilverSpireZ]

That intro line immediately gave this video a like

[@aaronpena1692]

Forces wasn’t that bad Sanic t shirt: exists

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@casualvanilla]

To me there are three eras: Classic (Sonic 1 - Sonic 3) Dreamcast (Adventure - Shadow) Modern (06 - now) I'm going by what Sega/Sonic Team officially lists. There's no official Dark Age or Adventure Era.

[@JsReviews]

Yeah, but going off of trends and such, 4 eras makes more sense. Classic has got to be Sonic 1 - R, since 1 - 3 just leaves several games in limbo. Dreamcast is pretty much the same thing as Adventure, but for me, Adventure - Advance 3. The thing is, Sonic 06 and say, Sonic Lost World have nothing in common, and can’t be considered apart of the same era because Lost World is like Generations and Colors, and 06 is like Shadow, Unleashed, Secret Rings And Black Knight, making these two distinct eras. With the official distinction there is also too many gaps. 1991 - 1994, limbo, 1999 - 2005, and 2006 -2018 Which is considerably larger than the rest.

[@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?

[@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.

[@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**

[@bowmaj8666]

Probably an unpopular opinion, but I was never a fan of this era of Sonic, and listening to people praising it so much nowadays is kind of annoying. Don't get me wrong, if you enjoy these games, then that's great, you enjoy them, I'm not trying to take that away from anyone. What annoys me is the fact that practically everything that people complain about the Sonic series nowadays (the lackluster stories, the flanderized and sidelined supporting cast, the lack of effort that seems to go into the making) only seemed to happen because Sega were responding to all of the complaints that came before! Think about it. People complained "Urgh, this story sucks! Why am I watching cutscenes when I just wanna play the game! Who cares about the story to a Sonic game? I just wanna run fast, jump on robots and defeat Robotnik! That's all a Sonic game is! Why are they taking the stories so seriously? Sonic will never be anything more than just a silly cartoon character with gloved hands, and you CAN'T take that seriously, and when you do it just comes across as pathetic! Get rid of all of his stupid friends; no one likes them, unless you're some furry weirdo who does gross things to themselves to cringey crayon drawings on Deviant Art! Sonic was NEVER good!" I honestly think that years of that crap had a truly negative affect on Sonic series throughout the 2010's. The people at Sega saw all of this and just thought to themselves "wow, we really are the only ones treating this series with any dignity and we just look like losers for doing it! We should start treating Sonic like crap, then we can be in on the joke, then everyone will love us! And even if we make a bad game, it really doesn't matter because all of the Sonic haters and detractors will still buy it so they can poke fun of it on their wannabe KZbin channels, and we'll still make money; probably MORE money than we'd ever make if we marketed a game towards actual Sonic fans!" (I'm not kidding! I once spoke to someone online who actually said that Sega shouldn't market Sonic games towards Sonic fans, because they're losing out on appealing to casual gamers.) Besides, I feel like this dark age is where a lot of the stuff started going wrong. Unleashed, everyone's "perfect" dark age game, is still the game that sidelined all of my favourite characters and replaced them with a bunch of gimmicks that will never be seen, heard of or mentioned ever again. I just can't forgive that game for that, not to mention I just found it to be boring, both in gameplay and story.

[@nile2128]

the dark ages haven’t ended yet. it started with heroes, but it is never going to end with the current sonic team we have

[@lonradb]

smoking wand Heroes?

[@chewruru]

If it could keep a consistant frame rate and was bug free, 06 would've been one of the best Sonic games. Fight me

[@SevenSwordsExia]

Still have those loading screens, though.

[@icee1683]

You forgot about the awful story and Elise.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

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

[@GoldenBoyBlue]

Sonic 1 and onwards -IGN

[@amyprobets9325]

Sonic was never good.

[@CarbonRollerCaco]

@@amyprobets9325 I know, right? He's just fast. Tails is EVERYTHING. At HALF Sonic's age. AND nicer. HE should be the mascot. Attitude's just begging. Real greats EARN their status. WITH AUTHORITY.

[@Chillipeffer]

"The Dark Age" definitively begins at Sonic Heroes and ends at Sonic and the Black Knight.

[@peacockqueen]

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

[@SpectrumAssociates]

Mario had a dark age. Gamecube era.

[@bluemyu7226]

Ehh, i'd argue Mario's dark age started with the NSMB Games. I don't know why but there is something extremely offputing about the new Mario jumping around in a 2 Dimensional plane with wonky physics.

[@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!

[@jesseallen3910]

3 ways to fix sonic 06: 1. Use the sonic fisicks from sonic generations 2. Have the cutscenes have the same qualitie as the opening ones 3. Edit/burn that mother fucking scene in the fires of hell

[@mep6302]

From Generations? Never! Stop overrating Generations. They have to use Adventure 1 or 2 physics. Generations doesn't work for Adventure games

[@OrgNobody13]

I agree with the dark era being 2005-2009, I loved black knight and unleashed but 06 and shadow were so bad. However I have a soft spot for 06 as I grew up with it and now I play P06 and it's a fantastic remake of 06. I wanna see that done for the story book games or unleashed, making the graphics 4k and running 60fps without hindering it with lag spikes like in the dreaded ps3 version of unleashed. Hell what would be cool if unleashed got the P06 treatment would be that we get both the HD and Wii versions on pc and update things in those games that dimps and sonic team made. Knowing this community, I think it would be possible. While we do have the unleashed project, that's only a generations mod and doesn't have the night stages or bosses. This series deserves better and a fresh new crew that cares about sonic as a whole.

[@ultimatehope549]

The Dark Age of Sonic started with Sonic Mania and ended with Sonic Forces. Forces saved Sonic from the Dark Age. BY TAKING HIM INTO THE DARKER AGE!

[@marx4538]

Sonic Mania was a dark age with it's Level Design that is better then 3&K?

[@forestreflection2066]

@@marx4538 it's not made by sonic team. It was made by fans and is a one off thing. Sonic team makes the main sonic games. Mania was just a one time thing. And even then mania is setting sonic backwards and has more Nostagia pandering and more rehashed levels.

[@marx4538]

@@forestreflection2066 It was made by fans who studied Sonic FOR YEARS. Setting Sonic backwards? What about the level design that is literally a perfection of the formula, engine that is less bugger then Classic Sonics all combined, do i need to remind that Sonic 1's first glitch was on it's title screen and that Sonic 3's instruction book had a bug warning? A literal glitch warning. Also, smooth animations, better music, 32 bit instead of 16 bit, new characters and mechanics, better bosses, smooth 60FPS, good controls and the best Sonic ability (SpinDash can be replaced by it in 100% of times because DropDash is far more fun and easier to use, Peel Out was useless, Homing Attack was only for 3D, Drop-Shield was just useless and unenjoyable). But noo, because fanservice and levels that were made out of levels that SUCKED (Flying Battery, Oil Ocean, Metallic Madness, Stardust Speedway, HydroCity) turned into AWESOME levels ruin the game, blah blah! And you ask why everyone actually believes that Sonic fanatics are crazy and want to do some bad things with Big The Cat.

[@lonradb]

Wheatley Isn’t the level design the same? I don’t notice any differences. And the *insta shield is useless? What?

[@marx4538]

@@lonradb GHZ and CPZ Act 1's are basically ther originals combined, but 3&K, CD and 2 zones' new level design (and second acts) are completely new and FAR BETTER level design. If not for new Level Design, Oil Ocean Mania would suck as much as original Oil Ocean, same with Flying Battery, HydroCity, Metallic Madness and in some parts Lava Reef.

[@infamousplayer8772]

I've said before, I'll say it again, Unleashed needs a sequel. Or a remaster or a remake. Whatever it is. I just want it.

[@ReverofEnola]

I want a PC port of that game so much. :(

[@acousticslayer5883]

Unleashed still holds up, so a remake would be useless. Maybe a Sonic Unleashed DX, or a pc port that fixes performance issues

[@mep6302]

@@acousticslayer5883 Games don't hold up. They're good or bad

[@acousticslayer5883]

@@mep6302 i meant the graphics, not the gameplay (because the gameplay was always good)

[@SmashSSL]

@@acousticslayer5883 15% of it was, anyway

[@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

[@IgnisRex64]

As a kid, I really liked Shadow the Hedgehog, and I still think the basic premise is good: Shadow must uncover his past and come to grips with having a role as protector of humanity. I think the idea that some aliens assisted Professor Gerald in creating him and the Devil always returns to collect his due. The problems I see now are 1: how all over the place the story and characterization are with all the different endings, 2: the gun gameplay, while not bad as a gameplay element, is super cringe levels of edge and 3: Shadow already had that character arc in SA2, which was a way better game overall

[@therinsecityshow]

The golden age…

[@jacklaw7412]

100% actually liked sonic 06 the only thing that put me off was glitches and load screens but otherwise had potential to become one of the biggest sonic games to date anyone agree?

[@hehexd3778]

Sonic unleashed the best modern sonic game

[@jackisthebest1365]

Here's how the eras in my opinion 1991-1997 the classic era 1998-2009 the adventure era 2010-2019 the nostalgia pandering

[@Turbulation1]

Subjectively 1995-1997 would be the dry era since there was a lack of mainline sonic title and sonic was really losing popularity at this time (mostly because Sonic X-treme failed). Didn't help that the spinoffs didn't take off like the Genesis games (3D Blast, Sonic R, and Sonic Jam).

[@jackisthebest1365]

ChefUTG3 that's the same thing goes to 2018-2020

[@Turbulation1]

@@jackisthebest1365 yea and except there were even less spinoffs that time.

[@theofficialliedetector1545]

Colours didn't even pander to nostalgia unless you're referring to Sonic 4

[@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.😈

[@nathanthomaspt]

we need a sonic unleashed 2

[@smugcat723]

Shadow the Hedgehog is actually one of the better 3D sonics. You just play as one character, it has an interesting idea of alternate paths, and it's consistent. At least it's not a glitchy mess like 06. The only 3D Sonics after that truly let you play as one character type was Colors and Lost World, and even then Colors was mostly 2D

[@SmashSSL]

@Johannes Brahms It's a positive when Sonic Team thinks that more characters means more forced, stupid, unnecessary gamplay styles. One gameplay style is enough. If they could do multiple characters like in the 2D games (aka, not changing completely the game to a whole different genre altogether), it would be fine. But the 3D games seem to never get that right, so one character is, in the end, a positive

[@SmashSSL]

@Johannes Brahms The werehog, the mech shooting stages, BIG THE CAT.....

[@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)!

[@MrLatrunks14]

So, basically the dark age of Sonic games started with the dark and edgy Shadow The Edgehog? I'm not surprised

[@TripleJump]

It was a point of Sonic's history that had a lot of games that people didn't like at the time, but now pine for.

[@williamwhite2568]

The Dark Age was 2005-2010

[@williamwhite2568]

@Ultimate Hedgehog I was indifferent to it

[@CarvedDaWarped]

Honestly in my opinion, the Dark Age properly started with Colors.

[@CarvedDaWarped]

@Ultimate Hedgehog Thanks, I guess, that's kinda the idea? I already knew it was going to be unpopular for the get-go. What I'm really surprised about is well, no one said else has said that before.

[@jingusflorpus4274]

But sonic rush came out in 2005 ;_;

[@MS46532]

@@CarvedDaWarped So is Mania a Dark Age Game?

[@slavicgaming]

When I was younger my favorite sonic game was sonic riders

[@Sonic171K]

I miss the dark age tbh.

[@RedVGFox]

Dark Age: 2006-2018... maybe except Generations.

[@lonradb]

nah

[@enirehtaksuez]

Now on a more lighthearted note, I'd say that the Dark Age of Sonic consisted of our boy walking around weird places collecting waifus like Infinity Stones.

[@Nintendogoverment]

Then there were Glimpses of brightness Sonic Colors Sonic Generations but sadly the darkness returned

[@shadeblackwolf1508]

I see 4 lines through the franchise. Classic + mania, adventure-black knight, the dimps handheld games from advance to boom 2, and the boost era. And i can't wait to see what happens when we finally turn the corner on the era we've been in. hopefully a return to ambitious games.

[@D-G0]

Sonic Adventure 2 and sonic heroes were amazing!

[@spritvio639]

SA2 is pretty eh for me. Heroes is good, then again i havent played it in awhile.

[@mep6302]

@@spritvio639 Eh is not an opinion

[@lapizza7206]

Yeah the "dark age of sonic" is pretty clearly defined to be at sonic heros or shadow's game. Problem is the guys who were kids when those games came out mostly liked them. That leaves us with a old fan base that thinks they are trash and a new fan base that really didn't mind them at all. It makes sense I mean heros and shadow were games made for kids after all. Edgy wasn't an the "extreme rad" of the 90s anymore the trend was very much the dark moody edgy of the 2000s which they capitalize pretty well on.

[@Jonathan83X]

Me personally, I see the Dark Age of Sonic began with Sonic Lost World. While Sonic 06 could be classified as that or even Shadow the Hedgehog, those games at least tried to be ambitious and even felt somewhat like a Sonic game in one way or another. Sonic Lost World on the other world was just a soulless game with the some of the worst characterization and story telling I've ever seen in a Sonic game. Even the gameplay was soulless in a sense too being a blatant rip off of Mario Galaxy. It was creatively bankrupt as far as I'm concerned. Say what you will about Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic 06's stories. They were bad, but they at least tried to be something good. Yea, they failed miserably at it, but they still tried nonetheless. Sonic Lost World on the other hand didn't even try when it came to the story. It instead focused on abysmal comedy and painful one liners. Not to mention the so called drama and stakes were so gutless, they couldn't even make the player feel any sort of urgency about the situation. It was a complete disgrace. Another reason why I say Sonic Lost World was the beginning of the Dark Age for Sonic because at least after Sonic 06, Sonic had a few good games afterwards with Sonic Unleashed, Sonic and the Black Knight, even Sonic Generations to a certain extent. But since Sonic Lost World, there has been no good Sonic games to follow. And no, Sonic Mania doesn't count because that was based on the classic era. Not to mention SEGA didn't even make that game. The fans did. When it comes to the games SEGA has made, Sonic has been in a tailspin ever since Sonic Lost World, releasing not one, but two awful spin-off games in Sonic Boom and one of the most putrid excuses of a game in Sonic Forces. As of this moment, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. I don't even know what the next Sonic game will be, nor am I curious to find out. If anything, I dread and shudder at the thought of what it could be because unless SEGA actually finally got a clue about why Sonic is not going anywhere and gets its act together, we're going to get more of the same: another generic, cookie-cutter, nostalgic vomiting inducing Sonic game with more bland and repetitive gameplay, a pathetic excuse of a story with more painful dialogue and comedy acts that ends up leading to yet another mediocre and boring gaming experience. I really hope I'm wrong about this, but for the time being I just don't see it.

[@mep6302]

You're wrong. Sonic Lost World isn't the beginning of the dark age. The gameplay is not bad and it's not even similar to Super Mario Galaxy. The dark age started with Colors

[@DatMentalGamer]

Sonic 06. i do love the classics. i even like some of the oddballs like Shadow and some modern games too lol sonics always been 50/50 for me

[@Lanewreck]

I thought we agreed to never go back......oh great scott Marty! It's your parents! They play sonic and never let go of the nostalgia! We have to go back and save them.

[@anxhelovucinaj8076]

This video is great but sadly I've given up on sonic because of this nostalgia garbage that you mentioned and that the adventure series is being bashed and sonic in general is being bashed by some of the most popular youtubers and critics.Game grumps stated that the adventure series is just like sonic 06 and ign made a video about the sonic mania announcement and said that sonic was never good and that it was all about having sex with big the cat.(I am not kidding) even if I love sonic what will that change?Nothing.The next generation will listen to these youtubers and critics and sonic will die forever.I don't know anymore what to do.

[@AlphaladZXA]

I guess I'm glad I never played a sonic till last year and it was from the sonic mega collection

[@anxhelovucinaj8076]

@@AlphaladZXA don't get the wrong idea, the only reason why I am sad is not because I now believe that sonic was never good but because many people are starting to believe that sonic was never good when it's not true.And because of this sega believes that presenting nostalgia filler games is the right way for sonic when it's not.

[@AlphaladZXA]

@@anxhelovucinaj8076 if anything the best thing is to make remakes of all these games that were half decent and fix the bad ideas in them like sonic adventure remake holy shit

[@anxhelovucinaj8076]

@@AlphaladZXA I absolutely agree but the chances of that are next to none.Sega is scared shit of repeating the same thing as sonic 06 which nearly killed sonic and because of popular youtubers and critics saying that the adventure series sega should be more convinced to remaking these games but instead nostalgia is all that we are getting.

[@anxhelovucinaj8076]

@@NicksRepository thanks for the advice but to tell you the truth the reason why I am sad about this is because I am not an American but when I was a kid I found out about sonic and I fell in love with him and his games I started to be interested in his world his characters so I kept playing more sonic games and before I knew it I had learned to speak english perfectly through playing sonic games.It's thanks to sonic that I am the best in my class in english and I know that this will help me a lot in the future.So I find it heartbreaking that youtubers who try to defend sonic get so little attention.While those who bash on him are some of the most popular youtubers and that makes me sick.It makes me sick that people have forgotten how to think with their heads and be reasonable about a game's faults and strong points.To be honest I don't really hang out with people that much because of that.Because I find it hard to find someone who I can talk about my favourite franchise of all time and not tell me that you are a loser if you like sonic.

[@icee1683]

Here's the thing: there is no Dark Age of Sonic, there are only good sonic games and bad sonic games. And there are more good sonic games than bad ones.

[@entertainer_ev2747]

Yo I swear when I first looked I thought my name was in the title lmao

[@JDubs1464]

For me, the Dark age starts with Shadow the Hedgehog, then you can either argue if the Unleashed was a dark age game or not purely because of the night levels

[@greyrifterrellik5837]

I still enjoy Shadow the Hedgehog. I still enjoy both day and night stages of Unleashed. I don't hate Lost World I just don't really understand it? And I will *die* on the hill of saying Black Knight was fun as heck for me. Does it have flaws? Yes. Do I give a single flip about any of them? *NOPE.* Secret Rings can go die in it's own fire though; at least '06 had a *normal, sensible control scheme.*

[@Ev3rm00n]

Do you plan on doing Castlevania reviews? Love your channel!

[@JsReviews]

I’ve hardly touched the franchise, but I’m always open to try new things!

[@Snakeshroom]

To me personally, I believe the dark age of Sonic is essentially Post-Triple Trouble to Pre-SA1. My reasoning for this is because everyone was expecting Sonic's jump to 3D, but games nobody cared about were flooding the series. 3D Blast, Chaotix, anything on the Saturn, Blast, it was probably a scary time to be a Sonic fan, what with Mario 64 and Crash Bandicoot completely throwing Sonic out of the window. Sonic was probably considered a dead/dying brand, and the Xtreme's situation didn't help at all.

[@Blondie_117]

Dark age started w Shadow the Hedgehog and ended w the release of Unleashed the only game that is outright terrible after that is Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric. The diamonds in the dark age are Sonic Riders 1&2, the Sonic Rush series, the Sonic and sega racing games, and the Super Smash Bros series (if you count that)

[@_Tzer]

The dark age> the bland age (2010s)