Why I Love Classic Sonic

[@GameApologist]

Oh neat, I think I'll check these games out. They sound kinda fun!

[@Captain_Drunky]

YOOOOOOOOOO!!! same

[@GeekCritique]

Eh, I wouldn't bother. I tried to go fast, but the game kept slowing me down with platforming and obstacles. I thought Sonic was supposed to be about speed! This just isn't correct game design.

[@Voltricity435]

didn't expect to see both you here lmao

[@longlivebread]

@@GeekCritique you should try Mario (probably never heard of him), I hear he's actually faster than sonic...

[@SECONDQUEST]

@@longlivebread I mean, he's got a mount. We all know that's faster

[@MugiMikey]

This was a really enjoyable ride. Awesome video!!

[@koro394]

hi :D

[@BBWahoo]

Omfg I love your robotnik Claus vids. You should make a robotnikocado avocado parody

[@BasementDweller_]

Crossover comment moment.

[@MercajZ]

Did you make that thumbnail

[@malharezyoutube]

ITS MIKEY!

[@grygoo2680]

Sonic 1 - platforming Sonic 2 - speed Sonic CD - exploration Sonic 3&K and Mania - perfectly balanced

[@saricubra2867]

For 3D games, SA1 and SA2 are perfectly balanced as well. For a reason, Sonic 3&K, Mania, SA1 and SA2 are my favorite games in the series. SA1 in particular being number 1 for me, even more than Sonic3&K and Mania, gosh, i love SA1 so much, 20 years latter, and i didn't know those insane shortcuts on Speed Highway existed in the first place.

[@coolestdino]

*...as all things should be.*

[@JoJoboiWav]

nah sonic & knuckles ain't perfectly balanced, levels are often way too long and the verticality makes running quitte difficult at the very least exploration is interesting

[@cesarhernandez6861]

@@JoJoboiWav And that's why Sonic 2 is better!

[@kielanENmiles]

I'd argue that mania was wasted rehashing old levels we didn't need to revisit.

[@daseal1479]

"The open sky, is blue forever. No matter how bad things get, the beautiful blue sky will always be there." That's truly a beautiful quote, no joke. Thanks for being you Liam Triforce.

[@saricubra2867]

For me, it's SA1's Dreamcast water and Emerald Coast.

[@KuromiLaBella]

Sunset and sunrise: *I don't feel so good..*

[@AviatorBean]

"just because you make it sound like a qoute doesnt mean its true" the sky can be orange or black or purple or green,etc the sky can be any color it wants to be its not confined by the limitations of what people say about it

[@harshal1153]

@@AviatorBean You must be fun at parties

[@moof9994]

“Blue skies and golden sunshine all along the way. Everyone, have a great day!”

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

People talk about how great Classic Sonic is, but Classic Dr. Eggman is the most fascinating one. It's funny how a caricature of Theodore Roosevelt in pajamas became one of the most iconic video game villains of all time. (PINGAS)

[@NitroSanitar]

SNOOPING AS USUAL I SEE bro

[@SombroKoopaGuy]

I agree. The modern eggman is a tall, fat guy scientist that thinks he's smart. The classic eggman is better. Btw, snooping as usual I see?

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

@@SombroKoopaGuy I have no problem with Modern Eggman though.

[@SombroKoopaGuy]

@@poweroffriendship2.0 same. I don't have no problem with him, I just listed some flaws I think he kinda has.

[@Sleesus]

He was also planned as the protagonist of the games in really early development which is really funny. Then there's the brief moment in the concept art where he was going to repurposed as a minor enemy in a bee costume before the final beatles reference wacky bad guy.

[@Harrinsain]

45:39 there's actually a third path here and a second way to skip the moving block section. if you go past the secret room you talk about here and continue on the main path, when you come to the tubes that wind up and down which lead you to the vertical corridor with the blocks, you can launch Sonic off the inclines of those pipes and fling him up to the top of that room from the outside up to where the horizontally moving platforms are. The easiest way to do it is just to hit the speed booster at the start of the pipes and jump off the first incline while holding right. People rag on the moving block section in that level, but it's honestly one of the most well designed parts of Sonic 2. Classic Sonic punishes poor performance or an unwillingness to experiment with Sonic's mechanics with unintuitive design. The best levels in the series will typically use these slow, clunky sections as a punishment, as if to say "oh, so you don't want to engage with me? Fine, have it your way.". Another example of this is Spring Yard Act 1, where you can completely skip both instances of needing to wait for moving blocks if you know what you're doing. The same can be said of the first loop in Green Hill act 1, where, if you jump inside the loop at just the right time, then again on the incline immediately after, Sonic will have just enough speed to make it up to the higher path without having to stop and use the slow moving platforms to get up there. Those moving platforms are the punishment. you're given a way up there even if you fail, but you're punished with inconvenience. In other words; your skill is the only thing limiting your freedom

[@reagansido5823]

That surprised me so much when you showed the 3 mascots people picked from and EGGMAN was one of them. Fricking EGGMAN! He could have been the protagonist! I can't even imagine how Sonic would go about being the bad guy, or how Eggman would go about being the good guy!

[@TheJadeFist]

Maybe he'd be trying to improve the world through science and this little blue menace keeps sabotaging and breaking things. Cure for cancer, sonic comes in, drops the bottle of the cure on the floor. You know something like that. ___________ "OH well I've still got my research" *turns around, his computer is on fire

[@Dav-zy1dw]

That would be a pretty cool turn for the new game to take with some alternate universe type stuff

[@wolftales5203]

Eggman 3 & Knuckles

[@MrProg-ey3tl]

Well when you think about how Nintendo's mascot is a fat man with a mustache, it's not a totally foreign concept...

[@elipticalecliptic481]

@@TheJadeFist Sonic would probably have Bugs Bunny energy, considering that he's supposed to be a "cool 30s-esque toon by the standards of the 90s" in character concept

[@Overbound]

"We could've witnessed Metal Sonic's journey into cognizance as he grapples between what he was designed to do and what his personality is telling him to do." - Bro.......... EXACTLY. I've been thinking this for YEARS.

[@avebave6550]

I remember buying the sonic mega collection, it was so random. I remember being at a CVS on mother's day looking for a gift for her, but also saw it for 20 bucks and grabbed that along with flowers 😭 that was a fun day

[@jewpremacist985]

Ain't no way it was at CVS bro man legendary times

[@avebave6550]

@@jewpremacist985 it was so weird! It was in the toy aisle, super unusual for CVS

[@radiokunio3738]

I think my cousin let me barrow Sonic Classic Collection for DS and I gave him Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem. Till this day I have yet to return it.

[@avebave6550]

@@radiokunio3738 let me tell you, sonic collection is better than Mario vs donkey Kong lol

[@radiokunio3738]

@@avebave6550 Yeah i kinda feel guilty for doing that, i doubt he remembers but still he got kind of cheated.

[@GiffanyCD]

Honestly, Sonic CD might still be one of my favorite games of all time, I've been suppressing it more recently, but I still adore everything about it, The Time Travel, the Music (oh god the music), the atmosphere, it's all just so beautiful

[@CybernautZero]

Agreed

[@ceeece]

So underrated. Going to the past to create a better future. Brilliant! And the levels changed to reflect it. So annoying to hit the wrong time travel section. The UFO bonus stage was extremely difficult at stuttery FPS.

[@wasquash]

You are in a huge minority, but yeah despite playing only the Christian whitehead ports, I do enjoy sonic cd far more than most.

[@dez-m]

ABSOLUTELY!

[@jonnysac77]

@@wasquash CD is definitely an acquired taste but if you have that taste, damn it's good and actually achieving a good future, rivals the feeling I get from unlocking super Sonic in the other classic games

[@quonit37]

One really interesting quote I heard once is that "the first time you play a sonic level will be the worst time." Because you're just seeing the level for the first time, and Sonic is ALL ABOUT replayablity and getting better and better. It's REWARDING to go back and BREEZE through the level and find secrets and get that higher ring count. Sonic is one of those rare games that are better on replay.

[@quonit37]

@Thélos Sensei Man whatever it was from I watched it at least a year ago, so I wouldn't know.

[@spider13593]

This is how I beat sonic CD, replaying it over and over.

[@dragonmaster3030]

@@spider13593 this is how you beat sonic generations in an hour and a half

[@joaonitro5149]

a problem with a some of sonic games though, is that the first time is horrible, and because of that, replaying it so it can get better is not sometimes people wish to do.

[@jonnysac77]

I think almost all Sonic games are kinda like that tbh, just in different ways

[@nessesaryschoolthing]

The more you talked about the difficulty curve and the joy of mastering these games, the more I thought how this kind of game design is unfortunately less and less viable now. In this era, home consoles were still pretty new, cartridges were expensive, so if you had games at all you could expect to have a small collection, few enough to count on your fingers (+toes if you're lucky). Games had to last you a while. At the same time, they were extremely limited in how much data you could fit on a cartridge, so you couldn't exactly make a giant game with endless horizons to explore. You can't port Skyrim to Sega Genesis. It was ideal for a game to provide challenge beyond the surface level, to have multiple ways to traverse the same old levels, and to fill what little space it had with attention to detail, all to be as replayable as possible. Games could be frustrating and unrewarding at first, but as long as it wasn't ridiculously hard (which plenty of poorly made games were at the time), they could expect you to keep coming back, to TRY to have fun with the game you had. In doing so, you would learn and master the game and form a deep relationship and familiarity with it. They could expect you to not only earn endings, collectables, and achievements, but earn the fun of the game itself. But even when I was a kid, that didn't make as much sense anymore. Disks were cheaper. The market was more saturated. Now it's absolutely saturated with several generations of games and consoles, remakes/ remasters/ re-releases, a thriving indie scene, cheap games, free games, steam sales, emulation, piracy, etc. Chances are, if you have games at all, you can expect to be able to play almost any game you want to. And this is definitely a good thing, but it means that our relationship with games is different. If a game is not fun right away, we don't have the same incentive to come back to it and TRY to have fun with it. We can just as easily find another game that's fun right away. Games have become more disposable. Developers know that they have to hook the player right away or they won't keep playing long enough to see when the game becomes fun. Instead of being earned through mastery, the most enjoyable aspects of a game have to be frontloaded. As such, mastery becomes less rewarding, less meaningful, more disappointing. Our relationships with both games we enjoy and don't are more shallow Or I don't know, maybe it's just me

[@TheJadeFist]

This is why things like the Ranking system in Sonic Adventure 2, or other completionist tasks to go for work so well. They can keep you playing and replaying levels, so you do get better at it, and find shortcuts and secrets. They give you an excuse to keep playing, so that naturally the fun of getting better happens, without the player realizing they've been conned into replaying the game. The missions in Adventure 2, beyond just the ranking, vary it up a little too with what you're doing. With 2 different exploration missions that teach the level layout before challenging the player to do it quickly and land all the tricks to get A ranks. Stuff like that can add alot. Hell I love Sonic Forces too for kinda the same thing (albiet not implimented nearly as well) but the red rings and what not, and the S ranks are way too easy for most levels. The time attack missions have a few that are actually quite difficult, which are extremely fun to overcome, sadly the game doesn't really make it obvious that there are time attack missions, they're hidding away in a long list of missions for minor achievments/ clothing parts.

[@tails-spin0139]

I've thought of this so many times, but have never been able to put it into words like you just did. Thank you so much for writing this!

[@sprons4973]

those ideals arent completely dead the fact games like dark souls are so beloved shows that

[@ikagura]

@@TheJadeFist SA2 sucks tho

[@TheJadeFist]

@@ikagura Edgy opinion right there.

[@RickachuCXVI]

I never knew how much I loved listening to video essays about video games until I watch the Game Apologist's sonic 3 unapologetic video. Something about seeing someone passionately talk about something as "childish" and "unimportant" as a blue hedgehog really touched home with me. Eventually I ended up on this channel while looking for some retrospectives on the Zelda series. It's always great to see these videos because it means I get to listen to and learn from someone geeking out about a hobby I've spent literally my whole waking life entranced with. Keep at it Liam 👍

[@KairuHakubi]

yeah that guy used to make good videos before he lost his way. i miss those.

[@zerpente3]

@@KairuHakubi how did he lose his way?

[@KairuHakubi]

@@zerpente3 same way the whole world is now

[@ElementalAndFlorchy]

That was such a heart warming video, I usually NEVER post coments, but I've discovered video games with Sonic, and the classic era have been sticking with me for like 15 years. I had forgot how good they were and the impact they had on me, but this reminded me all of this, and now it makes me want to play Sonic 3 again, still one of the best games ever for me. Thank you so much for doing such a video!

[@millythompsonfromtrigun98anime]

Classic Sonic goes hard. Every era of Sonic has at least one of my favorite video games ever but the classic games are consistently some of the most fun games I've ever played.

[@SombroKoopaGuy]

Same too. I grew up with the classic sonic games and I still love them. Childhood memories.

[@williamcollis455]

Your comment was almost good. You ruined it by saying "goes hard".

[@millythompsonfromtrigun98anime]

@@williamcollis455 Your comment was almost good. You ruined it by saying "You ruined it by saying "goes hard"".

[@saricubra2867]

For me, quality over quantity, i will stick with the Adventure duology. I don't like Sonic CD, 2 and 1 as much as Sonic 3&K, meanwhile i equally like SA1 and SA2.

[@matthewcorrie3324]

I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who loves Knuckles' hat in the OVA.

[@JezElectro13]

i think many people at least likes it.

[@primalvelocity3811]

@@JezElectro13 For sure.

[@haydenmaskellplush2542]

Really enjoy knuckles hat

[@Fresh_YT]

Cowboy knuckles is the best knuckles

[@waffledfire]

Yeah he is

[@Furluge]

Fun Fact: Sega's originally an American company. Sega is short for SErvice GAmes which would provide coinop machines on military bases. If you look at the history of the company and who managed it it's easy to see how and why Sega had such a strong presence in America, very different from how Nintendo worked. The blowup between the two branches that culminated in 1996 with Tom Kalinske being sacked and Rosen and Nakayama resigning their positions contributed a lot to the the failure of the Dreamcast and the loss of their console market.

[@DamageMaximo]

whatever lol

[@satelliteprime]

@@DamageMaximo Rude. It's just a fun bit of trivia, it wasn't meant to imply anything one way or the other.

[@Furluge]

@@DamageMaximo What do you have against a small trivia snippet about a company you like? Knowing their history and what was going on inside the company helps understand how it affected the games they produce.

[@marsf6080]

@@Furluge Because "Sega's an American company" is never brought up as just a random fun little bit of trivia but as some grandstanding contest about who gets to claim the success of the 90s. It also ignores multiple cultural aspects and decades of history- by America you mean Hawaii, which was already closer to Japan, and "Sega's stronger presence in America" means some pub games in the 50s and 60s before it became fully Japanese-presence and later European-presence in the 70s and 80s. Sega alreayd had a massive presence in Japan, just in Arcades, not Home Consoles.

[@Furluge]

@@marsf6080 I think you need to go outside and calm down friend. No one is trying to do all these negative things you have made up in your head to accuse me with. I'm not sure what your problem is but your tirade doesn't match up with Sega's history which is freely available for anyone to read online. I'm not going to give a 100% retelling of that but the briefest summary I can come up with which still ensures you're familiar with a lot of the important people and groups are would be as follows: The company started out as Standard Games offering amusement coinop and slot machines to military bases in 1940. In 1945 they sold the Standard Games business and reformed in 1946 as Service Games to focus on supplying machines to the military. After the US started cracking down on gambling in 1952 they moved operations to Japan. In 1960 Martin Bromley dissolved the company to avoid legal trouble in the USA, and reincorporated the business as two separate pieces based in Japan, Nihon Goraku Bussan and Nihon Kikai Seizō, which merged together as Nihon Goraku Bussan in 1964. In 1965 they acquired Rosen Enterprises and reformed to create Sega Enterprises, Ltd. and installed David Rosen as CEO. It's also around this time they stopped focusing on supply games to military bases. Then they were bought by US company Gulf and Western Industries 1969, with David Rosen still as CEO. In 1974 Gulf and Western made Sega Enterprises Ltd. into a subsidiary of US company Sega Enterprises, Inc headed by Rosen. They benefited greatly from the 1970s arcade boom and Sega acquired Esco Boueki owned by Hayao Nakayama who was placed of Sega's Japanese operations. It's during the 70s they became one of the top 5 arcade manufactuers. In 1982 Gulf and Western Industries sold off their North American game manufacturing and rights to Balley but sitll kept the Sega's North American R&D and Sega Enterprised Ltd. It's about this time that Nakayama started pushing for Sega to move into the home console market. Right after the SG-1000 released Gulf and Western began selling off secondary businesses in 1983 due to their founder dying and Rosen and Nakayama arranged a buyout of the company from Gulf and Western with backing from CSK Corporation. After the buyout Okawa Nakayama became CEO of Sega Enterprises, Ltd. and CSK head became chairman. After the SG-1000 was the Mark III. They continued in the home console market and in arcades and in 1984 established their European divsion and in 1986 established the modern Sega of America, and in 1988 they released the Mega Drive and brought on Tom Kalinske in 1990 which is around when the Mega Drive really took off in North America thanks to clever, aggressive marketing plan created by Kalinske, and a phenomenal stable of games. So why is this important. Well 1, I mostly brought it up because of the name, Sega, it's kind of hard to just say Sega is short for SErvice GAmes without at least mentioning the origin. But secondly it outlines how important multinational connections are for a business of this scale. Sega was largely able to do so well in the North American market because members like Rosen from the original founding could help navigate business across the water and could leverage connections. Compare that to Microsoft's abysmal attempts to penetrate the Japanese market with the original Xbox. They had very little in the way of connections in Japan and essentially got stonewalled. Western made games did not really start to take off in Japan until Square Enix started publishing a lot of them. Conversely you can see a lot of Sega's big issues start to happen right around 1994-1996 where there is major fighting between the two branches which ultimately leads to lots of the old guard leaving the company, meaning there's a critical shakeup in management at a critical time which ultimately sets the stage for the Dreamcast's failure and a cascade of issues that continued on after into their software development. If Sega had been able to work out the differences and keep all that talent they lost we'd likely see a stronger Sega in the market today. A better world where Yuji Naka doesn't leave to make Balan Wonderworld. Or maybe not. Maybe Balan Wonderworld is destined by fate. TL:DR - Shame on you, you should read, history is fun. Well I think it's fun. I'm an old man you know. Why back in my day we had learn the command line and how reconfigure all the system files before we could play them computer games. While all the physically fit kids walked 50 miles in the snow.

[@beeperonithe2nd]

This video single-handedly changed my entire perspective on Sonic forever probably... I was always stuck up on saying the classic games and adventure games where what the series should have been forever, but now I'm seeing that it's not always cloudy days outside. I do have hope for the series in the future with whatever changes they make and have to offer, and I will learn to appreciate and love whatever new incarnation of Sonic they make.

[@saricubra2867]

For me, Sonic games died with the Dreamcast, just like Sonic Team.

[@theoneandonlymystichydra]

@@saricubra2867 i think it died after unleashed, dosent mean there were good games but it was less mainstream and only harcore gamers would notice it

[@iregretsomeofmypreviouscom3284]

Sonic never died

[@NoCareLuke]

My household never owned a Nintendo console back when I was young, me and my brothers had a Mega Drive, Sonic 1+2 (with 3 and Sonic and Knuckles down the line) and a compilation cart with Streets of Rage and Columns on it. I absolutely adored how crunchy and grungy the Mega Drive's sound chip was and Chemical Plant Zone's music will always live rent-free in my subconsious. It was only till the Gamecube that we got a Nintendo console in the house, but Sega always wormed itself back into my life with SA2 Battle and Super Monkey Ball taking up my play time. Now, I look back to those days while playing Yakuza and Sonic Mania. Once a Sega kid, always a Sega kid.

[@theultimategaminghero3652]

Streets of rage 4 is also a great one to buy! Amazing game. And of course don't forget the upcomming Sonic movie ;)

[@aaronsarchive82]

Hell yeah, bro! Sega for life! ✊

[@saricubra2867]

SA1 and SA2 music still are better than 99% of modern POP, same for Sonic 3&K (ironically, due to problems that Michael Jackson had, his songs were kinda the weakest?).

[@ceeece]

Sega kid here. Master System, Genesis, Sega CD, 32x. Not sure why I didn’t get a Saturn or Dreamcast. Sonic is my all time favorite game.

[@BloxyReimu]

Ym2612 on top brother, I love the genesis sound chip.

[@leandronc]

Oh, man, when you fell into the pit at the end of the Sonic 2 section I nearly choked on my drink! I had no idea this was a thing, so cool! Chris Whitehead is a beast! Sonic was my childhood, I got Sonic 2 for my birthday in January 1993.

[@tripplejaz]

Dude YES! I haven't watched it yet but I'm really excited to. Thanks again for commissioning me!

[@deliriumzer0]

Aw man I wasn't expecting to get teary-eyed at the end of this but dang, now I have all these feels cuz classic sonic will always be there! Well heck, I feel all cozy now. :`)

[@kingbash6466]

I was born as an Adventure era fan, since I was introduce to the series with Sonic X. Yet despite Mega Collection not even being my first Sonic game (that honor goes to Advance 3), it still remains the most nostalgic to me. Without it, I would have never grow an appreciation for the classics and have Sonic 3 & Knuckles as one of my favorite games of all time.

[@saricubra2867]

Sonic 3&K is my favorite 2D platformer and SA1 my favorite 3D one.

[@ablationer]

To be fair, Advance 3 had a lot going for it. Shame nobody ever brings up the advance titles, really.

[@kingbash6466]

@@ablationer Oh no, I love Advance 3. It’s my favorite 2D Sonic game outside of 3&K and Mania. It’s just that I share more memories of Mega Collection than that game.

[@jaredpatterson1701]

You still got the good part Sonic Advance 1-3 are classics to me and all for almost the same exact reasons as Sonic 1-3 as stated in this video

[@obama_man9933]

@@saricubra2867 for me my favorite 2d platform is either sonic 3&k, Mario 3, or Mario world, and my favorite 3d platformer is probably Mario odyssey

[@Furluge]

52:42 - Liam, you missed the best random factoid about that ballon. It broke on a LAMP POST. You know, what the checkpoints are in Sonic the Hedgehog games? Yeah. Sonic Balloon died trying to hit the checkpoint IRL. And Sonic Balloon 2 ALSO died the same way. It's so crazy you'd think someone made it up.

[@TheJadeFist]

The Super Emeralds are the Chaos Emeralds, being super charged by the Master Emerald. They don't make the super emeralds appear, they are the same emeralds that have been taken away from you so they can be super-ified. At least that was always the impression the game's presentation of the "cutscenes" gave me.

[@JamesChessman]

49:24: that pit taught me about life, the inevitability of slow death, everything becomes dust in the wind. :(

[@matthewwonks2534]

Your videos always bring some new angle I never thought of, or reseach I never knew. The original Sonics are my favorite video game series, and this has been a informative video to watch. Your videos are equal parts emotional storytelling and hard work/research.

[@kenmun2168]

The more I watch this video, the more I appreciate classic sonic. I can feel the love you have for these games. I love every era of sonic, but watching this makes me feel like I experienced the games during it’s prime. Fs one of my favorite yt videos

[@cheesydraws]

amazing video, i remember my first introduction to sonic being mega collection as well, and it left a lasting impression on me. i never was able to beat any of the games though because they were legitimately too hard for me, and they still are actually. i always loved them though.

[@KairuHakubi]

What's truly amazing to me about classic Sonic's levels is how it was unfeasible in the extreme to actually see the entire level in one go... really rewarding how games back then were about starting over, not just playing through once and putting it away some 40-100 hours later. Most games were like half an hour long or maybe 90 minutes... modern sonic would never waste so much level design on a level you can zoom through and miss 80% of. but at the time, it made you WANT to replay. every time you zoomed past something important, missed it, could not get back.. you were like "howww do i GET there?" and maybe youd never find out. and then one day Knuckles shows up, and can connect to previous games.. and now you can access things in ways you never could before.

[@ima311boy]

This video was amazing. Everything that I've felt when I played through the classic Sonic games was explained in perfection. Thank you for the enjoyable video keep up the good work.

[@SirGenesisTheGreat]

I gotta say, your points are very understandable. I love games without much dialogue but with a lot of lore, amazing video and breakdown!

[@Furluge]

1:08:10 - "I just recently got Hyper Sonic." And I here I am abusing the save file and beating the game once which unlocks the stage select so I can then go back to previous stages, cheese the same ring again and again and collect all the emeralds and then unlocking the last zone.

[@raak1010]

I don't entirely agree with the idea of "Change is necessary." At least not to the extremes Sonic Team takes it. To take your own example with Zelda: Sure, the series is willing to experiment with some of its features, but the core of Zelda has remained mostly the same. If you play Ocarina of Time and Breath of the Wild, the games are wildly different, but you can tell one is an evolution of the other. Things like the swordplay, Link's basic movement, UI, tools, etc have only been refined, not outright changed. The same can be seen between Sonic 1, Sonic 3&K, and Sonic Mania years later. Same foundation, but refined and polished. I cannot say the same between, let's say, Sonic Adventure, Sonic Unleashed, and Sonic Lost World. The core gameplay of those games varies wildly. You can see improvement between SA1 and SA2, or between Unleashed and Generations. Those sequels took an idea and polished it. And they are better for it. I welcome experimentation. But in Sonic's case, I believe they could dial down on the experimentation and work on its foundations. As well as have better leadership and take their times. I believe those are the keys to why games like Mario and Zelda, even at their worst, are still considered competent games. I'm looking forward to Sonic Frontiers. But not because it's trying a new thing. If anything, that has me anxious. I'm looking forward to it because it seems they are taking their time and, at least on the story front, using use of the talent they have. That said, loved the video. Good job.

[@EhrisaiaOShannon]

I'm just so glad that I can share with and pass these amazing games down to my daughter. She's 8, and OBSESSED! Lmiao. Great video. The passion sent chills down my spine. 💜

[@Wiiman365]

Cool that was how it was with my dad he played when he was in the 90s and he introduced me when I'm 3 its been 10 years and I'm still playing and having fun

[@tylersalter9133]

I was 3 when I first played Sonic 1 back in 2000, and I grew up playing them on my family's Genesis with my brother and even my mom. When Mania came out in 2017, my mom played it with me just like the good old days. Now, at 25 years old I'm playing with my wife. Crazy how some things are so good they stick with you throughout your life.

[@EhrisaiaOShannon]

@@tylersalter9133 Absolutely!!! You and your wife have GREAT taste!!! Thanks for the beautiful comment. 💜

[@JasonTakesOmegle]

45:52 Another solution to that section of Chemical Plant I discovered, whilst learning to speedrun it in Sonic Mania. Whether you trigger the water rising, or not (Mania, near the gate & S2, just inside the gate, but don't get locked in), you can use a spindash and those wavy platforms to launch yourself either side of the "floating" platforms above.

[@krisfrederick5001]

The satisfaction of feeling that connection into the SEGA between the cartridge is oddly satisfying. Pushing buttons on emulators doesn't do it. Nostalgia

[@mechajay3358]

Phenomenal video, it sums up what makes Classic Sonic a true inspiration for Game Design and Gameplay to this day.

[@Ruckus707]

My favorite series of all time, can’t wait to sit down and watch this over the weekend

[@LessTh3nThree]

Man your videos essays are an art. From your thumbnails, to your easy to comprehend yet still eloquent dialogue throughout the videos. It’s silly but I definitely started tearing up more than once from the way you verbalize the nostalgia many of us have for these games. Ive watched hundreds of sonic retrospectives throughout the year, i think this one takes the cake

[@thisisasupersayin376]

Something I like that you didn't talk about is how the ring system isn't just an incentive to get better, it's a literal life ring to casual players who don't care to learn the levels inside and out. The game isn't made for them, but nonetheless, it accommodates them by letting them take unlimited hits without compromising the point of the game

[@Mattmann97]

I appreciate the uplifting message at the end of the video. I actually hope to see certain aspects of CD in Frontiers and future titles, like the emphasis on exploration and the exceptionally rich environments and soundtrack. Sonic has always been, in character and mechanics, about embracing change and going with the flow, but that doesn't mean Sonic Team can't take cues from his past to help pave the road ahead.

[@Jotters92]

Sonic CD is so so good, it's almost like a standalone game but just feels a bit more grown up. So good.

[@salmence100]

52:50 Losing my mind because I've played so much classic Sonic and I've NEVER seen that bouncy spike before.

[@Anakunus]

"In contrast, Star Light Zone feels like a reward for climbing out of Labyrinth Zone." That was pretty much my thought, too, when I made it to the Star Light Zone for the fist time. I was astonished why the fifth zone was so much easier than the fourth, and to some degree, I still am. Even though you did not say it, Liam Triforce, I would even argue that Star Light Zone is a series of levels with almost as good a balance between speed and platforming as Green Hill Zone is. It really is a shame that the rest of the zones are so far off what Yuji Naka originally had in mind. Thankfully, that mistake was well remedied in the sequels.

[@EmrlsCommunity]

This was nice and way longer than I anticipated watching but I really enjoyed your takes 🙂

[@uraynuke]

about your conclusion: I certainly am excited for the future of Sonic with Frontiers and all projects beyond that, but I still don't think that 2D Classic Sonic hasn't met it's FULL potential yet. many ideas spin around my mind for a sequel for Sonic Mania with all-new stages, new characters and maybe even new villains. there are still refinements that can be added to the formula to make the TRUE potential of Classic Sonic reach it's absolute limit. Sonic Mania is one of my favorite games, it was my first Sonic game and even after playing all the others... I still like it's selection of stages and new stages to be the best one yet! I'd like a sequel elaborating more on the Phantom Ruby and all that, especially since I interpreted the Ruby to have sentience by itself. anyways, GREAT video! I'm excited for Sonic Origins so that I can replay all of these games again (for the 500th time). the only thing that would be neat for them to add to the originals would be Mighty and Ray, I always loved them. oh! and elemental shields to Sonic 1, 2 and CD, too! maybe as an unlockable? I'm kinda rambling, so I'll wrap it up here before I write too much. *thank you for the awesome video!*

[@HowdyImAlex]

This was an amazing video. Your formatting and editing combined with a great script that really just feels like you genuinely pouring your heart in a clear fashion makes for a favorite.

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

I literally grew up with Sonic the Hedgehog. It was my first ever contact with 16 Bit games in general when back in late summer of 1991 my father borrowed a Mega Drive from a friend and it came with Sonic the hedgehog. It completely blew me away. The whole look and sound of the game felt like touching the future. The CGI rendered sprites and the parallax scrolling is what impressed me the most. We fooled around together in that game and even tried out the object spawning cheats. These are some of the most awesome gaming memories i have with my dad. I then instantly became a huge Sonic fan. I started to draw several pictures of Sonic in various levels and a few years later i got my own Mega Drive. I also still remember when Sonic 2 came out and i saw the TV ads for it. Heck, in 1993 i even got a sonic Plush toy. I couldn't sleep without it. I was reading and collecting the monthly Sonic Comics (the GOOD canon ones. Not the crappy Archie comic ones) and even had a Pin Set. When my uncle got a Mega CD back in 1995, Sonic CD was one of his first titles and i still remember the excitement watching the Cartoon intro over and over again and playing the heck out of that game. My dad even got me all the Sonic Games for my Mega Drive in 1995 when Mega Drive games were being phased out of stores and sold for around 20-30 bucks per game. Till this day i still have them all just feel soooo lucky having grown up with Sonic in my Childhood.

[@constantinoszarbalas4066]

Bro… your videos are INCREDIBLE. I feel like I’m sitting down with a pot of coffee and an old friend, doing deep dives on some of the greatest games and their beautiful memories whenever I watch one of your videos. Keep on doing your thing my friend!

[@vanilla8956]

As a Sonic CD fanboy I'm very happy to see a youtuber talk about the game that finally has footage of them playing with the mechanic correctly instead of bumbling in a straight line and then complaining that time travel sucks

[@demetriuskafkoulas5005]

KZbinrs like Radical Soda and Relax Alax could be taught a thing or two about how to properly time travel from this dude

[@vanilla8956]

@@demetriuskafkoulas5005 You gave me war flashbacks

[@keybladeapologist.1131]

I have to say man. WOW that was Fantastic. you explained each game fairly but critically and your sentiment at the end was one of the best i've heard in a long time.

[@TheJadeFist]

@Multiple Characters, for S3K, all the characters basically played the same with a few differences, and Mania proved how effective that can be, even adding 2 "new"characters. Of course Adventure 1 kinda stumbled but the other characters are fine enough, Adventure 2 made good use of the other characters. Adventure 2 was kind of brilliant with it's large variety of play types, which is an absolute blessing when going for A ranks /100%, because it helps you from getting bored, you can go from Speed levels, to chilling in the chao garden, to doing some shooting gallery levels, maybe a few kart races (even if not the best). This game shows how good that concept can be over the long haul of a game for those looking to complete everything, with even the few things that weren't the greatest or could be greatly improved managed to be non-offensive enough. Sega and fans using 2006 as a reason to quit having multiple characters is really missing where the fault there, which lay in the hands of the development being interupted by leadership quiting part way through and a strict deadline, on a game that needed a little more time in the oven to iron out the bugs and smooth out the game a bit. Sega shot themselves in the foot by demanding a 15 year aniversry release.

[@jaredpatterson1701]

I can't believe you made me wait 1 hour and 22 minutes to finally talk about Sonic CD. It was the 1st Sonic game I ever played, and despite the flaws it still had the charm a Sonic game should have

[@megasoniczxx]

One of the most vivid memories of my childhood is coming back from Hollywood Video with Sonic Mega Collection Plus to my cousins house in the summer and just playing it for most of the day with him. It wasn't the first time I had played classic sonic but so much about this collection just made me happy, the music, the menu's, all the extra stuff you could look at in the history section, it was just perfect. Never has there since been a single game collection that's impacted me as much as this one did and i'm hoping the upcoming origins collection does this series as much justice for kids now as it did for me and him back when we played MCP.

[@jeremymitchell4370]

What an excellent lil video you made of my favorite blue hedgehog thank you I feel the same way about sonic too. And i just turned 40 so i grew up with sonic and sega amd mario and nintendo

[@Mante_killa]

I love you going through the story of the best sonic games! This is like a legitimate documentary

[@Rafa-Osti]

what a good video, bro! the end makes me emotional. My father and mother had worked on tectoy, who’s the one who make sonic came to Brazil and since I was a little kid, I remember that sonic was my first and must loved hero. Good video, NEVER STOP IT! And also…. GOTTA GO FAST!

[@LimeGreenCouchPotato]

I truly wish they kept with the original design of Sonic. I recently played through Sonic Mania, and I felt that same excitement I got when I used to play the original games everyday after school. Im so glad that project succeeded!

[@ignaciomunoz6753]

Sonic 1 was my first video game, and it’s classic saga was my milestone for a long, long time. Watching your video brought me thousands of memories I treasure in my gamer mind. Thanks a lot, it was an honor!!

[@baneenab]

I love every classic Sonic game, but Sonic CD always was my favorite

[@Itshomski]

Same

[@floatyghost633]

that game is weird, I love it

[@Victor_Dedede]

same, everything about is just so incredible

[@Itshomski]

@@Victor_Dedede now we gotta say how godlike the ost is

[@koro394]

@@Itshomski that stuff is addicting

[@ModBros8434]

I haven't watched the whole video, but I truly appreciate that you said "we can't predict the future" rather than something like "don't get your hopes up". I notice that a lot of the fanbase tries to predict the future, but they can't. It's really that simple.

[@56brandonray]

Love your videos man. Wish that you, Johnny, Cobonermani, and the other Sonic tubers could get together and hash out what the next big Sonic installment could be like. Look what happened when Sega hired Christian Whitehead, with some people who actually cared about Sonic in the dev team things could be so great

[@KopperNeoman]

I think Cobi got cancelled or something. Loads of creators are too cowardly to back the cancelled, even if they lose out hard for it. **coughmekkahcough**

[@56brandonray]

@@KopperNeoman I heard he’s been self harming or something along those lines

[@peterfreeman2380]

You are an amazing guy! Thank you for all the work you do! Sonic the Hedgehog was my first cartridge for my first ever game console-Mega Drive. And your essays and retrospectives, on the one hand, point out something new that I didn’t notice as a child and, on the other hand, simply provide me with a piece of nostalgic joy that I love rewatching. I have no idea how much money you are making on KZbin now and if it is enough to provide a normal living... I just hope that you are happy with what you do and you are able to gain some financial benefits from it. Thank you, Liam! Good luck with new videos!

[@lukedrotos8718]

I used to have the Plus version of the Mega Collection back when my family owned an XBOX. I wasn’t old enough to really grasp the gameplay yet, but the menu and soundtrack of that collection has always stuck out to me. They perfectly capture the feel of Sonic.

[@Orangebowl98]

I appreciate a lot of the things you mentioned in this video. There's a lot of stuff you said about replayability and getting better the more times you play each level in the classic games that make me realize why I got interested in Sonic to begin with. I'll admit that, while I have interest in playing more of the 3D games, outside of Generations and from what I've played so far of Adventure 1, I easily see myself going back to the classic games more often since, as you said, they are very easy to pick up and play. Video essays like this one are deserved to be praised for how well it was done. Really awesome work!

[@illmitchjax]

You might not get the same sense of achievement in doing so, but once you've finished sonic 3 and knuckles you can use the save feature to revisit the first level and find the first giant ring, once you've got an emerald from it, it will save it, restart the game and repeat until you've gotten all of the emeralds.

[@JoshuaJacobs83]

Thank you for this. I never played Sonic as a kid but I adored him so much. And everything you say is so spot on.

[@HACSSuperbMiner]

Personally I prefer the Adventure era and “Dark Age” games , but I’ve always enjoyed the classic games (it’s honestly their fanbase that rubs me the wrong way, not the games themselves) and this is a great video about them!

[@saricubra2867]

"not the games themselves" The only genesis/megadrive game that i truly like is Sonic 3&K, i don't like CD and i don't care for the first two. For me it's all about quality over quantity, i take SA1 and 2 almost over the entire genesis/megadrive Sonic games.

[@DanSutherland]

@@saricubra2867 Quality over quantity and then Sonic Adventure over the Genesis games? The Sonic Adventure games are renown for being the exact inverse of that. And the Genesis games while actually being quite short are remarkable for their quality and replayability. Feel free to enjoy it over the OGs but quality over quantity is definitely not a strong argument for why.

[@saricubra2867]

@@DanSutherland "are renown for being the exact inverse" For people that never played SA1&2 and don't know anything. I don't find the older classic genesis games as a whole very replayable, level design outside Sonic 3&K is kinda lackluster, and vainilla experience on Genesis can be rough with the 4:3 aspect ratio, you can't see anything going foward. Even on 16:9, enemy placement seems like it's all over the place. SA1 and SA2 meanwhile can't punish me if i want to go fast, in fact i remembrred that i finished Emeral Coast almost around 40 or 50 seconds, part of that is because it's 3D. Sonic CD has godawful levels that reminds me of Sonic Forces before Sonic Forces. SA1 almost is the perfectly paced Sonic Game, SA2 for some reason did some things wrong (overrated by the community)... still lightyears better than 3D Mario without the stars, moons, or whathever the insane padding from those.

[@JoJoboiWav]

fr classic sonic fans are unbearable

[@tanyaharmon6739]

@@spitefulcrow5026 Are you sure that ain't you, buddy?

[@donny2147]

Way past cool! I remember playing Sonic 1 somehow on a flip phone and watching the video takes me back. Liked and subbed

[@DaCaptainDerpy]

I always love your reviews! I would love to see you do a retrospective on the other Ty the Tasmanian Tiger games!

[@decayedwolf1997]

That ending sentiment on how the ups and downs of Sonic as a franchise are good for its evolution... that resonates with me. My first ever video game was Sonic Colors (technically Sonic 4, but I don't remember a thing about it), and I think it was an amazing introduction. I grew to love the boost formula's use in games like Unleashed, which is my current favorite Sonic game, but I didn't know how controversial it was among fans. When I played Mania for the first time, I saw the ideas that people loved from the past. When I was finally able to play the classic games with Origins, I was able to experience those ideas... but they didn't have as much of an effect. I acknowledge them as amazing games, but I can look at them more objectively because I didn't start with them. Comparing them to the modern games, I can see a new philosophy emerging for the franchise as a whole: experiment with what you have, and don't feel bad if you mess up. Look back on those mistakes and use them to better yourself in the future. When Sonic Team realized how stale the boost formula was getting, they decided to go in a brand-new direction with Frontiers. After most previous video game movies had failed, Sega went all-in on the Sonic movie. At least to me, that is the essence of Sonic the Hedgehog. Mario games haven't really deviated much from Super Mario 64, but everyone appreciates them because they're consistent. I prefer Sonic to almost all other series because it dares to be different. Also, it's a miracle that Sonic Mania Adventures exists. Long live Tyson Hesse's interpretation of Classic Sonic, his reintroduction of Mighty and Ray, and Tails accidentally choking on a chili dog.

[@cube6gamer]

To be fair, it feels like even SEGA doesn't even know what they want out of this franchise.

[@jaredpatterson1701]

Show fatigue. Happened with Pokemon games, Dragon ball GT Stuff just went on too long

[@Eldoofus]

also happened to near every iteration of MegaMan, except MMZ

[@alexandrpeterberg390]

As Liam said, the majority (or all of them) of the Sonic team have left Sega leaving new guys to fill the shoes and these new guys probably have no idea where to take this series. The Sonic fanbase isn't being exactly helpful either.

[@the757general2]

@@jaredpatterson1701 Dragon Ball GT is a bad example. It literally got ended early due to poor ratings. Series' creator Akira Toriyama also had next to no involvement with GT aside from character designs.

[@dadrockband]

Another amazing video highlighting and showing the amazing history and meticulous craft that created the blue blur we all love. Thank you again Liam for reminding me I'm not alone :)

[@thebigboy-fr9bg]

My first time in the Eggman final boss in Sonic 2, I just kept on persevering through all the deaths until I finally hit Eggman enough times. Probably the most satisfying ending ever, especially since it doesn't use any dialogue.

[@renexdj]

This is the most incredible video I've ever see in my entire life about Sonic. Informative, passionate, brilliant! Congratulations. You've got I new subscriber

[@GLitiatc0]

Man that thumbnail art really shows how Sega really screwed up Knuckles as a character. He was a cunning and powerful character but his lonely life made him susceptible to being manipulated; somehow today that = Knuckles is clumsily and stupid. Man, this was the guy who knocked out Super Sonic.

[@mazen7661]

Thanks for another great video. Sonic The Hedgehog was the first game I ever played. I could never get enough of the Genesis series. I remember how mind-blowing it was to be able to play as Knuckles in Sonic 2. I totally agree with your outlook on the past games and looking to the future. Those games will always be there when we need them!

[@BadMarriageKawagoe]

Funny to see that the speedrun record in the warpless category for SMB is 18:56 while the closest equivalent for Sonic (glitchless) is 19:01. I don't even have any conclusions to draw from this. Just interesting

[@FrankWAlfieri]

Dude you're just so freaking awesome! Thank you for this video and this channel!

[@mrvpwr1616]

Looking at the ova, at the end, spoiler of course, when metal sonic slaps sonics hand metal specifically wanted to climb up to sonic just to reject him anyway. I think about that scene a bit each time I remember the ova.

[@bregowine]

Great and engaging video as usual Liam. The structure, footage and shared ideas, always enjoyable. Keep up the great work

[@baggelissonic]

Honestly, I always play this game. The way he sometimes messes with you while ither times he miraculously saves you makes the game feel much more alive. He is trying his best to help. Tails taking the lifts by himself in Hill Top zone is such a stupid little thing, but it stucks with you. But, sometimes he will pick up when you are about to die, he will grab that one ring you need, while other times he will be there to deal the final blow. Playing with Sonic only, just feels... kinda lonely.

[@SuperstarSavory]

This was an amazing essay. Kudos for all of the work to put this together!

[@StereoPixelMusic]

I've been playing since the first ever game and I didn't know you was meant to go to Hidden Palace once you've collected the emeralds to unlock Super Sonic. Plus I didn't know about the Chemical Plant shortcut either, Thank you, Great video, I can tell your passion and dedication to research for this franchise and it's appreciated ☺️

[@Shichism]

Damn you didn't have to make me cry at the end dude. Spectacular video.

[@JoJoboiWav]

Sonic CD is my favorite Classic game and it's a shame its level design as well as its bosses were lame. This game wants you to go fast in order to perform a time travel but a ridiculous amount of walls and other obstacles prevent you from doing this. It was such a mess they had to put spring loops so you can travel whenever you want, that's clearly like openly admitting its own weaknesses.

[@LiamTriforce]

Yeah, I think I have to agree looking back...does feel like they were compensating for that weakness in hindsight

[@LunaP1]

Same along with Sonic 2.

[@JoJoboiWav]

@@LunaP1 wym

[@RealAGuy]

CD is my favorite sonic game too, the game is weirdly designed but it still feels like a sonic game plus the music is absolutely sublime

[@saricubra2867]

Sonic CD is Sonic Forces before Sonic Forces for level design, but instead of one "floor", you have 4 of them. I mean, take a look at the level layout on screenshots, lmao.

[@kazach.]

Thank you for this video! It was really cool to be able to watch something like this.

[@GoldenHedgy]

"Without the experimentation, we wouldn't have Sonic CD." Me: instant like and subscribe you made me almost tear up on your talk about Sonic CD. It was the game that made me become a Sonic fan, it was my first Sonic game and I always loved it. It was my to go game when I feel down or when I feel like playing one of the classics. The game was beautiful and the music was amazing. I heard the U.S. soundtrack first and I hold it as my most favorite.

[@saricubra2867]

Sonic CD OST is amazing, but being honest, SA1 and Unleashed blows it out of the water.

[@GoldenHedgy]

@@saricubra2867 i almost agree but i cannot let go of the 90s 80s esque style.

[@saricubra2867]

@@GoldenHedgy SA1 is 90s.

[@GoldenHedgy]

@@saricubra2867 it may have been out in the 90s but the music is mostly rock. Sonic Cd has a more 80s dance party music.

[@saricubra2867]

@@GoldenHedgy 90s was also a boom for rock. And SA1 isn't all about rock.

[@ankraider1895]

This video is by far the best I’ve seen from Sonic, and I have seen a lot already, but hearing you as a fan capable of seeing the faults without losing any love for the classics, is inspiring

[@cqllel5186]

Upon completing Sonic Mania (My first 2D sonic game), it only ended up making me appreciate modern Sonic more. While I love pixel art, platformers, and the addicting blue sphere stages, etc.. It were the controls that really made it an uphill battle and the lack of homing attack meaned that "Stop n Go" nature where I had to wait and time my attacks to bop the bots. Same for Adventure 2 with all the abilities being bound to one button and often messed me up, that was horrible. Especially when even the Genesis and GC had more than 2 mf buttons. It could've resulted in more fluent gameplay I'm currently playing Sonic Generations and it gives me the things I never knew I wanted in a Sonic game. Replay value and SPEED. It's genuinely the most fun I've had in any game since Mario Odyssey. -Unlike Mania, Generations and Adventure 2 had replay value. They both gave me a reason to memorize the stages and finish them as quickly as possible for the highest Ranks. -Unlike Adventure 2, Generations and Mania both had so many different paths to take and explore and not just mini short cuts. -Unlike Mania, I had reason to explore and find all the different paths to collect the Red Rings (Or upgrades in Adventure 2) and to finish as fast as possible in Generations with so many different variants of the same maps with many different unique challenges that were worth completing. -While Adventure 2 had emblems and the achievement for collecting them all and giving me a kind of okay version of Green Hill Zone. In Generations, I felt like I was getting back what I put in. OSTs, Artwork, upgrades, points/currency, etc. Actually rewarding me for completing the game and overcoming it's challenges. And not just a single reward for completing the WHOLE game, but a reward for each thing you DO complete in the game. What I would've loved in Mania, is not only a separate button for the spindash (and not use dated controls that worked for me half the time), but a reason to speedrun the stages for the highest rank and a reason to replay them to collect hidden collectibles. The only replay value anything this game had, was Bonus Stages if I messed up with a Silver Medallion. It made me memorize each sphere map and perfect all 32 stages. I played all the maps no less than at least 5 times *The only thing that gives me mixed feelings about Sonic as a Franchise (At least on PC) are the PORTS* 1. Adventure 2 was RIDDLED with glitches, clipping thru the maps a lot with knuckles, or the camera breaking and control input completely nullified, giving me no choice but to force close the game often. I spent hours trying to figure out why my Chao were flying off the paths if their level was over 70, regardless of stat ranks (Specifically their flight). 2. Sonic Mania was by far the most solid experience, but it still had it's issues. Whenever I swapped audio outputs, it completely broke my audio. So when I unplugged/plugged my headphones into my laptop, I was guaranteed a BLACK SCREEN around 60 seconds after doing this. Every Single Time. I've solved it by NOT swapping audio outputs (between speakers and headphones) while the app is open, but that just made my AUDIO have some sort of FRAME SKIP-like thing. Of course, making not just my game, but my WHOLE ASS PC LAG for no reason. Happened 3 times in the course of 2 weeks tho. But other than that, it was fine 3. Generations is BY FAR the worst of them. I thought the game breaking glitches of Adventure 2 was annoying or the PC Black Screen caused by Mania was awful. But AT LEAST I WAS ABLE TO FCN PLAY THEM. Generations is the most botched and unoptimized game I've ever played on any PC/console. The controls are tied in with frame rate, so way too often my inputs will not register. The game crashes so fcn MUCH. And worst of all, despite me having much superior hardware in errysingle category from the Recommended requirements, I CANNOT PLAY THE GAME AT 1080p FOR A STABLE FRAME RATE. I can get 60, SOMETIMES. But it's a stuttery and jittery experience and depends on where I am. And far too often, my frame rate, even while at 720p, will DRAMATICALLY DROP depending on the specific areas of the stages. I will go down a water slide and tank down into 25 fps for a couple seconds, then get launched out back into 60fps then hit the ground for an instant 20fps and then back up to 60 once I leave that area So ever since playing and completing my only experiences with Sonic (Outside of Adventure 2 on my GC I played a decade ago now) has been awful. And Seeing COLORS ULTIMATE just made me lose hope. That is the one game I wanna play MOST OF ALL, and they completely BOTCHED IT on not just PC but ALL platforms. And if it comes to Steam, there's NO FCN WAY it'll run well without the highest end PCs. I have higher perrformance and optimization expectations of Frontiers on my SWITCH than I do as a PC port. And I am not gonna go out of my way to buy some other random console just to play SONIC I'll get Sonic Origins if it comes to PC (If it's not botched), but that's it for me for Sonic AT ALL until they start giving a sit about Sonic on PC. PC which has like 80% of the world's vidya gamers! Yeah, most sonic games are played on Nintendo, but I have access to PC which is superior to any console in erry possible way and I don't wanna play them anywhere else but PC

[@PersTG]

SA2 doesn't have many glitches... Tf? Maybe it's kinda funky to control but I've played it for 10 years now and never clipped as Knuckles. On 360, DC, PS3, PC or GCN Also get mods for Gens. DirectX9 Ex and Better FXPipeline make the game so much more optimized. The mods are also excellent. SA2 Chao will break the game if the stats are ridiculously high, which shouldn't happen under regular circumstances. Is your PC ok??? Like, this is abnormal.

[@Tom-jw7ii]

@@PersTG It’s the PC port. To be honest a lot of Sega’s PC ports are glitchy and poorly optimized.

[@PersTG]

@@Tom-jw7ii True, but I did play SA2 on it and it was pretty much the same as 360. High framerates will make the game faster however, and SADX is busted for sure.

[@ikagura]

Modern Sonic is bad. Mania is how it should be

[@cqllel5186]

@@PersTG In wild canyon, taking the wind up to the level, I clipped into the ground there. I did it twice unintentionally but managed to escape Cutscenes were broken, too. I think it's because I unlocked uprades for characters, so seeing them in cutscenes breaks the cutscenes. Sonic could just be on the edge of the screen in idle animation. or knuckles vs rouge, knuckles wouldnlt show up at all. Cutscene would end and I'd tale dmg instantly. SA2 being riddled with glitches is an exagheration. But I used to play this on GC and have never had these issues ever And the chao stats were fine. I had a lvl 70ish chao in flight with about 2k points or sonething (I donlt remember) and it started going crazy and flying circles in the map. I managed to fix it by using a lower level chao and disabling all chao mods. It also happened in 1 specific map, too. I will also try that Gen mod. I hope inputs are better bcuz it's gotten extremely frustrating

[@masterreece1098]

This video is just as good as the thumbnail sonic has been part of my childhood for so long and to see someone talk about the classic era of sonic puts a smile on my face :)

[@frannavarro-efejota-5018]

I never knew about the time travel time being extended. It surprises me that it wasn't something you could toggle in the options, to be honest.

[@imjupid]

Honest to god, inSANE video, Liam Triforce! I've recently lost motivation on a big mainline sonic retrospective opinion video I was working on myself. I'll get it out someday. Keep up the good work!

[@Yipper64]

28:02 thats one of the things I love about tails, he's always had "young kid but mature for his age" energy. He goes by his middle name, idk that just makes him seem more mature.

[@MarcoFD]

what a lovingly crafted retrospective liam. it must have been a challenge to make (yet another) sonic retrospective out of the countless there already are and still come up with new things. the personal stuff is always unique, was great to hear about the relation to tails

[@Muldoon93]

I too grew up with sonic the hedgehog as a kid lucky for me I was born in 1990 so iv pretty much lived threw sonics golden years I love the nostalgia of classic sonic brings me back to so many childhood memories iv still got my sega Genesis or Mega drive that iv had since I was six years old iv also got the Dreamcast and both sonic adventures but the 90s sonic games are totally my favourite

[@Muldoon93]

Not only that but the music tracks for levels are also iconic

[@HeadHonchoPigLoc]

Hell ya man. Your videos are pretty dang cool! Keep up the good work

[@AJ_hwd954]

As far as I’m concerned, Sonic ended when the Dreamcast was discontinued, and Adventure 2 was the swan song

[@squd322]

Nice video, talking about Sonic 2, i think Chemical Plant is the best stage in the game, so here's some fun facts: - When you enter a pipe, the last number of your timer, being either even or odd, define the path in which it will take you. Example : in act 1, if you take the lower path at the beginning, then the tube with an even timer (such as 01:02, 01:04, 02:46..) it will take you to the red bumper, same as if you take the upper path at the very beginning. If you take this pipe with an odd timer however (01:17, 02:01..) you'll be sent in another path with monitors and other things. There is a pipe later in this act that can go either backwards or forward with that gimmick, and the final pipe of this act brings you to the finish line anyway but with a different manner regarding your timer. This is also in act 2. - This zone puts the emphasis on playing with physics with slopes: while going downhill you build a lot of speed, then be ready to jump on the incoming upward slope to reach high parts of the stage, leading to shortcuts and bonuses. Examples : At the beginning of act 2, you have a big downward slope to build momentum. If you turn into a ball during it, it will send you in the air at the end of it, which is a pretty known shortcut. However, if you don't turn into a ball, and jump at the very end of it, you can jump even higher and reach an hidden checkpoint that's very high. You can even launch yourself higher than that to take a huge shortcut and another checkpoint but this is extremely difficult. There is a lot of other instances in both act 1 and 2, such as before the infamous raising water section of act 2, you can do the skip you mentioned in the video, or taking a slope from down to up towards the left to skip it and land very high, or in act 1 you can meet the middle path by taking the lower path at the start + an odd timer at the pipe + jumping thanks to the upward slope at the end to reach high platforms, and more. You have a lot of slopes to exploit basically. I love the way this zone have branching paths and is a physics playground with those slopes, if you skilled enough you can never touch water