Sega Games
Posted: August 8th, 2014, 10:29 am
Might as well have a thread for Sega games. I dig lots of Sega games.
I'll start the thread off with this pretty poor review the two dumbest Red Letter Media guys did for the first three Sonic games:
They focus on how Sonic sucks because he's a reaction to Mario and was designed to be a mascot. They also focus on how Doctor Robotnik's plan and the game's back story are both lame. They also focus on how, according to them, the games punish you for going fast despite marketing themselves as games designed for speedrunning.
In response to the mascot point, I say this: if the game's good, I don't think it should matter whether or not the character was designed from the ground up to be a mascot. Sega had plenty of original characters they could have made into mascots for the Genesis. Maybe they went with Sonic because they realized they had something special on their hands.
In response to the lame back story point, I say this: it seems silly to focus on the ridiculousness of Sonic's back story and not mention the ridiculousness of Mario's back story. I mean, damn. The Earth-plumber-saves-alien-princess-from-evil-snapping-turtle back story is famously dumb. It was a different gaming era. The games are fun. No one gives a shit.
In response to the games-punish-you-for-speed point, I say this: it seems like the guys are angry at the games because they suck at them. When watching their play footage, I noticed they aren't doing much spinning. No wonder they're getting killed at every turn. The spin's pretty integral to survival when Sonic is rampin'. (Note: I'm not referring to the spin dash. That didn't come around until Sonic 2. I'm referring to the simple spin attack.)
The first Sonic games (along with Sonic and Knuckles, which they probably should have included) are only moderately difficult. The better you get at them, the more you want to go back and improve your speed and play. You also want to seek out and unearth hidden items and pathways, just like you would with various Mario games. It requires the usual mix of skill, reaction time, and memorization required by most of the best games. It invites repeated play, and it's not brutally difficult. It's also different enough from the other side-scrolling platformers of the era to stand out.
It's not like I'm a total Sonic fanboy. I'm a Genesis fanboy, maybe, but I'm also an NES fanboy. I'm not protective of Sonic as a character or a brand, and I'm not protective of Sega as a company. I just think the early side-scrolling Sonic games are rewarding experiences. I had about twenty games for the Genesis (the majority of which were given to me by my ex-stepbrother), but I spent way more time playing Sonic games than I spent playing anything else. The only other Sonic games I've spent much time playing are that one pinball game for the Genesis and the first Sonic game for the Game Boy Advance. (The GBA one is also a side-scrolling platformer, and it's also a lot of fun to play.)
Jubbers let me play the isometric Sonic game (Sonic 3D Blast?) that was included on some GameCube disc. I was pretty terrible at it, and I didn't enjoy it all that much. I'm no good at isometric games, turns out. Maybe I'd be better if the D-pad were shaped like an X. Or maybe I'd be better if I'd ever get used to the analog stick. I think this particular game was originally released on older platforms, so I think pressing up makes you go up and left or up and right at a forty-five degree angle. I played it for a couple hours, and I never quite got the hang of it.
I'll start the thread off with this pretty poor review the two dumbest Red Letter Media guys did for the first three Sonic games:
They focus on how Sonic sucks because he's a reaction to Mario and was designed to be a mascot. They also focus on how Doctor Robotnik's plan and the game's back story are both lame. They also focus on how, according to them, the games punish you for going fast despite marketing themselves as games designed for speedrunning.
In response to the mascot point, I say this: if the game's good, I don't think it should matter whether or not the character was designed from the ground up to be a mascot. Sega had plenty of original characters they could have made into mascots for the Genesis. Maybe they went with Sonic because they realized they had something special on their hands.
In response to the lame back story point, I say this: it seems silly to focus on the ridiculousness of Sonic's back story and not mention the ridiculousness of Mario's back story. I mean, damn. The Earth-plumber-saves-alien-princess-from-evil-snapping-turtle back story is famously dumb. It was a different gaming era. The games are fun. No one gives a shit.
In response to the games-punish-you-for-speed point, I say this: it seems like the guys are angry at the games because they suck at them. When watching their play footage, I noticed they aren't doing much spinning. No wonder they're getting killed at every turn. The spin's pretty integral to survival when Sonic is rampin'. (Note: I'm not referring to the spin dash. That didn't come around until Sonic 2. I'm referring to the simple spin attack.)
The first Sonic games (along with Sonic and Knuckles, which they probably should have included) are only moderately difficult. The better you get at them, the more you want to go back and improve your speed and play. You also want to seek out and unearth hidden items and pathways, just like you would with various Mario games. It requires the usual mix of skill, reaction time, and memorization required by most of the best games. It invites repeated play, and it's not brutally difficult. It's also different enough from the other side-scrolling platformers of the era to stand out.
It's not like I'm a total Sonic fanboy. I'm a Genesis fanboy, maybe, but I'm also an NES fanboy. I'm not protective of Sonic as a character or a brand, and I'm not protective of Sega as a company. I just think the early side-scrolling Sonic games are rewarding experiences. I had about twenty games for the Genesis (the majority of which were given to me by my ex-stepbrother), but I spent way more time playing Sonic games than I spent playing anything else. The only other Sonic games I've spent much time playing are that one pinball game for the Genesis and the first Sonic game for the Game Boy Advance. (The GBA one is also a side-scrolling platformer, and it's also a lot of fun to play.)
Jubbers let me play the isometric Sonic game (Sonic 3D Blast?) that was included on some GameCube disc. I was pretty terrible at it, and I didn't enjoy it all that much. I'm no good at isometric games, turns out. Maybe I'd be better if the D-pad were shaped like an X. Or maybe I'd be better if I'd ever get used to the analog stick. I think this particular game was originally released on older platforms, so I think pressing up makes you go up and left or up and right at a forty-five degree angle. I played it for a couple hours, and I never quite got the hang of it.