3/31/2024 0 Comments Does sonic mania include old games![]() ![]() If a franchise is struggling and recent installments of it feel like cynical hatchet jobs that totally miss the mark because the people in charge have zero passion or attachment to the IP, the logical thing to do is find people who will bring that passion and desire to do right by fans to the table. So, in case you didn’t know, after Generations face-planted, Sega sort of threw up their hands and had a guy named Christian Whitehead, an up-jumped fangame creator who they hired previously to do porting work, round-up a posse to make the ultimate fan-service Sonic game in time for the little blue shit’s 25th anniversary. The odds were kinda stacked in your favor. What’s fun about that? It’s like beating someone with Osteoporosis at Twister. Someone who played through the game will have a significant and unavoidable advantage over someone who hasn’t. I hated it, and can’t imagine anyone enjoying it unless all players are equally familiar with most of the levels available. Mutliplayer is done in Squish-O-Vision™ and isn’t really all that entertaining. (2) They actually made a good point that I should have reviewed it, if I fancy myself as an indie enthusiast. It’s kind of hilarious when you think about it. ![]() Two things: (1) I’m guessing they don’t realize what they’re saying when they say that. In fact, I’ve heard people accuse me of deliberating ignoring it because I was afraid to admit there was finally a good Sonic game. That’s probably a good sign that they might have actually made a decent game for once. ![]() It released a year ago, and those who liked it in 2017 aren’t struggling to convince themselves in 2018 that it actually had merit and didn’t suck as much as their brain is trying desperately to tell them it did. Well, that didn’t happen with Sonic Mania. It does have some fans, but for the most part people had the same reaction they did to any Sonic game for the last two decades: incredible hype, a dopamine-fueled ecstatic honeymoon period, and then the realization that what they just experienced really wasn’t what they were hoping it would be. In fact, it’s toothless and kind of sucks.” I’m guessing no game has ever failed to live up to its own towering reputation quite like Sonic CD did. Seemed like it probably should have been better given the hype and vaunted status. And then consensus from the Sonic super-fans was “it was alright. I mean, it was also already released on GameCube/PlayStation 2 in a compilation called Sonic Gems Collection, but that would have required owning Sonic R and Sonic Fighters (AKA Virtua Fighter with Sonic) and even the most slobbering Sonic fans aren’t willing to go that far so nobody bought it. What a steal, right? Finally a chance to get your hands on the holy grail of Sonic. Then Sonic CD came out on Xbox Live for the astonishing price of 400 Microsoft Points (that’s $5 for you kids that didn’t have to suffer through Microsoft Points). And let’s be real here: if their parents could have afforded that, they’d been a Super Nintendo house anyway. They never actually played it back in the day, because their parents didn’t fork over $300 for a Sega CD. The funny thing is, at the time of its resurrection on XBLA, everyone knew FOR SURE that Sonic CD was the legendary “really good one” of the series. It’s a “look at me” review and a bush league move, even if I stand by my opinion that it’s not a very good game. I was 22-years-old when I wrote that, and I wouldn’t do something like that today. This is one of those things you have to learn growing up. Now, it was quite stupid of me to review a non-indie that I was fairly certain I wouldn’t like (though I swear I went into it with an open mind, just like I do with every game I review) that would certainly get me hate mail for the rest of my existence. Five months into my tenure as Indie Gamer Chick, in December 2011, I wrote a review of Sonic CD. ![]()
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