glassmarcus

[glassmarcus]

Shadow the Hedgehog

[glassmarcus]

The Shadow That Guides Us

Sonic Adventure 2 came out 23 years ago. It's something I try not to think about, but I believe it's imperative to really understand just how old that game is. It was the first Sonic game I and a ton of other people played. After all, its Gamecube port was the 3rd party debut of the series and was released just after the launch, around the time when me and my older brother were able to get our hands on the console. When we walked into Block Buster and saw the early roster of games before us that we could rent, one game stood out. Beyond the staggering sea of licensed shovelware; Across an endless ocean of sports games that weren't Tony Hawk Proskater 3. It wasn't Luigi's Mansion that caught our eyes. It wasn't Super Monkey Ball. It was Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. The over sized game box relative to the tiny proprietary Gamecube disc sported stunning box art which called to us. That box art, stuffed with dynamic Yuji Uekawa character illustrations which would go on to define at least 6% of my art style, told us everything we needed to know about that game. It was as if we didn't need to listen to Jun Senoue and Co’s masterpiece OST for us to be seemingly lured in by its siren call. Our suburban unmedicated christian raised prepubescent minds were thoroughly captivated. We knew of Sonic the Hedgehog. We had seen gameplay of the Dreamcast version of Sonic Adventure at a friend's house. It looked like a fun time. But based on this box art alone, the sequel appeared to be on a different level. We rented it, later bought it along with Sonic Advance a few years later, and 22 years later I'm writing a 7000 word essay on the franchise.

Sonic Adventure 2 is by all conceivable accounts, Beast Media. It's fairly sloppy in both gameplay and story, but the gumption in which it approached those aspects with turned that slop into something special. It is a game that keeps running no matter how much it stumbles and proceeds with aplomb at every opportunity. Each stage has its own unique idea despite reusing assets. Every story beat is a critical hit despite the lack of detail between them. All three gameplay types are wildly different yet all feel like they belong in the same game. Sonic Adventure 2 is perfect because it knows it's not. It doesn't try to be perfect it just tries to be engaging at every turn. I think that’s why it's still my favorite. It's not the best Sonic game, a few 2D Sonics are gate keeping that slot currently. I would say that it does the most to try to keep the player invested in the game. From the second your play though starts until well after you’ve beaten it and are just collecting emblems and raising Chao, Sonic Adventure 2 never fails to be captivating.

I admit, my tone may be slightly defensive. It's somewhat of a learned reaction. The public opinion of the Sonic franchise has been a wild ride and as that ride continued, the sentiment that “3D Sonic games were never good in the first place” steadily grew. This statement as a whole is understandable, but the adventure games are exempt from this criticism. And after thinking about this for over a decade now, I’m quite certain it is not because of nostalgia.

I am a peaceful man. The thought of inflicting harm on others makes me sick to my stomach. Yet there are moments when I feel the unrelenting need to start swinging. I become overcome with blood lust and have to do my best to reject the Satsui no Hado. Those moments are usually when a sick individual is enacting a gross injustice upon the world. Such as: physically hurting people I care deeply about or spouting toxic Nazi rhetoric to impressionable youth or saying that ‘Sonic Adventure 2 was actually never good’. I've been hanging out in gaming spaces for a while now, and I've come to learn that true strength is not measured by your ability to lift an excessive amount of weight. Nor is it the ability to inflict and excessive amount of harm. True strength is simply the ability to hold yourself back when people start telling you your favorite game was actually bad and that your memories are wrong. The earliest memory I have of feeling true maturity and substantial growth as a teenager was when a friend of mine said that Sonic Adventure 2 was always bad and I didn't immediately snap his neck. And yet I still have a long journey of growth ahead of me as I still will not forgive the world for gas-lighting us into thinking that game isn't at the apex of fiction.

I don't care where you are from, if you do not crack a smile at the opening of Sonic Adventure 2 hero story, you are truly lost among the rest of us human beings. If you do not pop off at the end of story where the good guys and bad guys join forces to take down the real threat, we probably can't be friends. And yes. Shadow the Hedgehog is cool. And I don’t mean that ironically. Well, actually I kind of do, but also simultaneously I don’t. Shadow is the quantum cool character. He exist in this incomprehensible state of being try hard edgy but...he’s also actually cool. His trauma and behavior feel valid in a lot of ways. I can take him seriously and not at the same time. I could chalk this up to multiple interpretations of the characters over the years, but I think it's present in even the first game.

There's a line in the first Sonic vs Shadow boss fight where if you hit Shadow he immediately says "I'm the coolest". It's such a weird thing to say at all and even weirder to say after getting hit. It should be out of character, but it isn't. Shadow really does think he's the coolest. You can tell by the way he talks. You can tell by the way he acts. He's theatrical. Did he really need to use the Chaos Emerald to embarrass Sonic in the beginning of the game? No, but sometimes you gotta pop out and show niggas. He thinks he's the coolest and wants you to know it. So when he gets hit, he's basically just leaking his inner thoughts. It's kinda dorky and easy to laugh at.

But at the same time, he's correct. He's 100% correct. He does have a tragic backstory that justifies his hate. He does continually get shit done seemingly effortlessly. He does go toe to toe with Sonic, the most glazed character in the franchise. Shadow has chunibyo energy, but he can back it up. That's why he's great. That's why hes the perfect foil for Sonic. Sonic is cool because he's chill. Things don't really get to him as long as you aren't murdering loved ones. It doesn't really matter to him. Shadow had his loved ones murdered already. He's the opposite. He cares because he doesn't want that happen to him or anyone ever again. And I think that determination is admirable. Both surfer jocks and goths can be cool, which is the pretty much the main conclusion you can draw from their dynamic. This dichotomy is why the game works so well. Shadow is the soul of the game. The entire structure of the gameplay and story and even soundtrack is built on this duality. He's integral into what makes Sonic Adventure 2 such a legendary game despite him having the least amount of gameplay.

Sonic Adventure 2 was peak. And I mean that in a sad way. It really never got better than that for 3D Sonic games. Games came out with more polish; Games came out with more spectacle. None of them were equal to the complete package that Sonic Adventure 2 ended up being though. So when I say, Sonic Adventure 2 came out 23 years ago, I am not celebrating the longevity of the series, I am anguishing over how the Adventure games pretty much created a blueprint for the rest of the franchise and was never competently followed up on.

Sonic Heroes wasn't Sonic Adventure 3 for some reason. It was a sharp left turn from the direction the series was heading. Looking back, I can see how the design philosophy got to this point. Sonic Adventure was a game with 6 playable characters. But the levels themselves weren’t crafted to fit Sonic's gameplay. The other 5 felt like the after thoughts that they clearly were, only being able to add gimmicks and tiny sections to existing levels. It was fine, but it made the rest of the game feel like filler. Sonic Adventure 2 gave every character a level made just for them, even if assets themselves were reused frequently. Even if you weren't a fan of a particular play style, the effort put into the level design was equally distributed so everything in the game had impact.

Heroes took this a step further. Instead of having each level be crafted for 1 play style at a time, it created 1 level for 3 at a time. There were less levels, but the levels themselves were more expansive and longer as they tried to take advantage of each play style. There's really nothing wrong with this approach gameplay wise. It gives the characters far less individuality and anchors the story more, but this could have worked well in just being a game you play through for fun’s sake. The problem is that the controls are greased the fuck up and it makes engaging with the level design a complete tragedy. The acceleration for these characters is deranged. The adventure games already nailed control, they just decided to ruin it here for reasons I have not been able to ascertain in the past 20 years. If they left the control alone I would at the very least liked this game. A lot of stuff about the gameplay bugs me. Enemies having health bars, special stages returning, the 4 campaigns not being diverse enough yet all being required. I could ignore all of those gripes if the characters didn't handle like a wet bar of soap. I actually would love a remake of this game because a few tweaks to the physics and movements will make it a substantially better one. It could also improve the plastic ass textures as well, which are still off putting to me.

Sonic Heroes was always going to be a disappointment to me because I just don't gel with the vibes as much. Sonic Adventure, and this entire era of Sonic up to 2009 had this Shonen Aura to it. The stories went into dark places and the game took itself seriously. Sonic Heroes still has this aura, but it feels like it's diminished and is competing with the Saturday morning cartoon essence it also wants to exude. Sonic Heroes carries itself with a Xenoblade Chronicles 2 like composure, having some cool story content, but hiding it behind cheese and nonsense that the weaker audience may be put off by. And I was that weaker audience that was put off by it in both cases. This is the game where Shadow returns. There's a great twist at the end of Team Dark's story where it is revealed that Shadow might not be the same Shadow from the last game. It's a cool existential question to leave open. But that's all it does. Shadow doesn't do much other than have some banter with Sonic. The most interesting and popular character in the series gets barely any screen time because the game is structured to equally provide screen time for 11 other characters, few who actually deserve such. Each campaign follows the exact same skeleton, which means the simplest campaign is gonna have the same story beats as the most complex. This rigid structure completely neuters the story by making it predictable and limited. You play as Shadow far more in this game than Sonic Adventure 2, yet it feels like he does nothing in this game. Nothing much really happens in Sonic Heroes, which is my main issue with it.

The dueling tones bothered me a bit when I played it. But it's fine for me now. Over time, the corny elements really started growing on me. That theme song won me over and I didn't really stand a chance. This tone however went completely missing in the follow up to this game, Shadow the Hedgehog. Shadow got his own game after this and it was given the same effort and push as other mainline Sonic games. On paper, Shadow the Hedgehog is a game that uses the players own choice in morality to dictate the ways in which the character is explored. It has 327 different routes and 11 different endings, assuring each playthrough is wholly unique. It's a really special game, that really made its mark on the franchise.

This is arguably one of the worst Sonic games, which is quite the feat. It's great that the story focuses so much on Shadow, but because all 11 endings are so different there is no way to write Shadow getting to all of those points in a natural way. Most routes in Shadow the Hedgehog are complete nonsense and hollow because Shadow has no reason to act the way he does without being a gullible dumb-ass. It's the player writing the story, but the player doesn't have the tools to write a good one. And none of them really matter because they are negated by the existence of the true 11th ending you unlock after getting the other 10 endings. The approach they take with the story only makes sense with an avatar character really. Shadow has no character other than being edgy in this because how could he? His personality has to be so fluid that it has to account for 11 endings. Edge is all that Shadow has too him in this, and while I enjoy it and think it's funny, it's not solely why I like the character.

The story is a train wreck. But watching the cutscenes in this game is far more enjoyably than actually playing it. Shadow plays and feels similar to how he did in Heroes, but with the added focus of combat and gun-play which are not implemented in a reasonable way by any means. What made the speed sections in Sonic Adventure 2 good were that you could move fast while still maintaining control of your character. What made emerald hunting fun was being able to traverse an open area quickly to find what you need. What made mech sections fun was chaining together shots and maximizing your score. Shadow has levels where you play as Shadow, but you have the ability to shoot enemies and are given objectives to collect shit throughout the level. All of these things are implemented poorly because of the long linear level design with zero flow and the bad control and shooting mechanics. It's like a fucked up Frankenstein monster of Sonic Adventure concepts and the whole thing makes me violently ill. Shadow the Hedgehog was a train wreck and was a bad omen for things to come.

In the following year, Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) came out. A game whose reputation was "Worst Sonic game" for a while. Now, let's be clear, this was a step up from Shadow the Hedgehog. Shadow had less glitches and shorter load times, but as a game, Sonic 06 styles all over it. It's structured like an Adventure game at the very least so it has the potential for sober level design and plot. Some may call it Sonic Adventure 3, but I will never refer to it as such. Even if it basically is, it wasn't titled that and doesn’t have a Chao Garden. So it doesn't count. Still, it had 3 campaigns with varying play styles that intertwined with each other and led to a final level once all were completed. It even introduced a new main playable character the same way Sonic Adventure 2 did in Silver the Hedgehog, probably one of my favorite characters. It was closer to the Adventure games than Heroes and Shadow and benefited greatly from it

I will not revise history though, this game has always been a complete nightmare. I don't think I've ever trusted a game less than Sonic 06. It feels like it can fall apart at any moment. It brought back hub worlds and made them more dull than ever. Introduced side quest and mandatory minigames that really didn't need to be in the game at all. It didn't learn from Sonic Adventure and introduced even more playable characters, some which barely function at all. Even the plot, while more substantive than the last two, doesn't really click for the most part. Sonic's campaign felt like he was the Rosencranzt of his own game and doesn’t feel as fun as he usually does. Silver's campaign had promise was delivered poorly overall. It took until the comics decided to do PR on his character for me to understand how great he is. Shadow’s story had some rough parts to it, but one of the bright spots of 06 is how spot on his characterization is. He finally feels like how he felt in Sonic Adventure 2 now that he's allowed to be in a regular story. The best story moments in 06 are from Shadow and after playing it you would think they'd be more confidently utilizing the character in the future.

Shadow isn't playable in another 3D Sonic game for another 11 years after this. A version of him is technically playable in Sonic and the Black Knight, but it’s only Shadow in terms of the character model. Shadow the Hedgehog is nowhere to be found in it, only a look alike who stands in as Lancelot from Arthurian Legend. The only Sonic character who is actually playable in the Story Book sub series is Sonic himself. Sonic Team got very conservative after Sonic 06 went down and all elements associated with that game seemed to be stripped, including the inclusion of characters other than Sonic. So if you wanted to play as a different character, you’d have to resort to the self contained spin offs that have no barring on the future of the franchise’s stories and mechanics.

In 2008,Sonic Unleashed marked the start of the boost era. A shift in gameplay that values speed far more than conventional platforming. They stopped trying to make the promising Adventure gameplay function to its max potential and then threw it all away. Look, I like Sonic Unleashed. Well the good version of that game that exist on the Nintendo Wii at least. It was exhilarating in a way the Adventure games weren't. Sonic was approaching this level of spectacle naturally, so it's logical for Sonic to be speeding through levels faster than you can reasonably control him. And at the time, every one was all about this shift. This was the last time Sonic would attempt to be cutting edge and high fidelity for a while. It was the last Hail Mary before Sonic Team decided to start playing it safe. In that manner I've always respected it. But looking back, a third of the game was a version of Sonic the Hedgehog that I didn't really prefer and the rest of it was a version of God of War I didn't really prefer.

There's always been a variety of gameplay styles in 3D Sonic games, but this is first one where it didn't feel like regular Sonic gameplay was the main one. The Werehog is like 2/3rds of the playtime. And when you take into account how many levels force you into a 2D perspective, it starts to feel like it's barely a 3D Sonic game. The next game, Sonic Colors, actually reached the point where I don't even consider it a 3D Sonic game. The 3D sections are so extremely short that they get wholly eclipsed by the 2D parts. The quick step sections were basically top down 2D as well. And it was the solution apparently, as Sonic Colors was the best received Sonic game in years upon release. The key to making critically approved 3D Sonic was implementing less 3D Sonic, in every sense of the word.

I was a Day One Sonic Colors Hater. I thought I was going crazy over how people loved this game. I hated the way Sonic controlled once you were actually able to move him in 3D. I hated how little flow there was to the level design. I hated how dog water the script was. I hated how sauceless the levels were. I hated how nothing happened in the story and how few characters there were. I hated how intrusive wisp were as a power ups. This game was ass. Not just because it was mid as hell, but because it felt like it was embarrassed to be a 3D Sonic game. I have no respect for games that don't take pride in themselves. Sonic Colors was the first game in the franchise to really be like this.

Sonic Generations was the follow up to Colors and the only 3D game from this era devoid of pride that I genuinely like. The level design struck a nice balance between high speed movement and actual platforming. It bringing back past stages and bosses guaranteed vibrant and interesting motifs, music, and mechanics. It was a sort of ‘Best of Sonic’ type game, so it had to be good. But it's very much still made in the same vein as Sonic Colors. The lack of effort in its story always bothered me. It's a fun game to play, but there are no unique moments in the game that stick with me. Of course it's a title full of throwbacks, having an identity of its own is a bit hard, but having a story with memorable beats could have help with that. In terms of overall quality, it's arguably the best 3D Sonic game when you look at the PC port. But it's ultimately a greatest hits album, so it feels like cheating to say it's one of the greats. It's an issue I kinda have with Sonic Mania that I can overlook due to it having some unique levels. Generations has nothing like this, so I can't bring myself to truly love it like I love the Adventure games.

I’m not even gonna lead into Sonic Lost World with a smooth transition. It's the game that followed up Sonic Generations and it is the worst Sonic game. Doesn’t matter what system you play it on. It's diametrically opposed to everything I like about these games. From its awkward controls, to its baffling design philosophy, to its bottom rung story, it is a waste of time. There are games in this franchise that are more frustrating. There are games that are more boring. But none make me feel like I'm committing a sin just by playing them. Lost World sheds the boost formula and instead of veering towards something more like the Adventure games, it decides to be a Mario game instead. And a bad one at that. Mario games at least want you to have some way to gradually build and lose speed. In Lost World, Sonic can only exist in two digital states of velocity and thus feels awkward at all times. They gave my boy a run button. What the hell were they cooking? It’s an abomination brought to life by suturing dozens of bad ideas together, none of which resemble something I want in a Sonic game. In just one release, all the momentum that Sonic Generations built up was lost thanks to this entry.

It took 4 years for a follow up to release. Sonic Forces, the most middling Sonic game of all time. I don't have much to say about Forces because no one really does. It's the return of Generations gameplay, but has basically no level design to make it fun. It has a voiceless player avatar character, which ends up absorbing any potential character interactions we may have gotten for the ones we want to see. It has music that is good, but levels that aren't long enough to hear them actually start. It pretends like it has an epic story to tell when it really doesn't. It doesn't offend me like Lost World does. It's just anemic, with a few good moments here and there. Shadow returns in it for a free prequel DLC that last 30 minutes and is slightly higher in quality than the other levels. Which is better than nothing I suppose.

Forces is pretty half hearted, but half of that heart is in the right place. The cast does return. There are multiple playable characters and campaigns. I can remember some story moments at least. It did attempt to cater to modern Sonic fans for the first time in a decade. It just did it poorly. Forces was the first step in the right direction. The next step was 5 years later when Sonic Frontiers came out. The first 3D Sonic game since Sonic in the Black Knight to feel like it sincerely wanted to be a Sonic game. There are parts of it that are embarrassing in terms of budget and control. But the story took itself seriously again. The gameplay loop was fun and complemented Sonic gameplay very nicely. It took a bit of a middle ground between Adventure and Boost game play and it felt like the 3D formula was evolving instead of flinging shit at the wall hoping something sticks. Frontiers was the shining light and that shining light led to Shadow X Sonic Generations.

People refer to the stretch between Shadow the Hedgehog and Black Knight as The Dark Age of Sonic. They are half right. I don't think we ever left it. Sure there were good games, some slams dunks every now and then, but that never made the franchise feel like it was in a good spot because they were always followed up with shit. But now, we've gotten like 4 hits in a row. Frontiers was good but still felt woefully unfinished. Sonic Super Stars was decent enough to not do any damage to the franchise. The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog was great in that it was a Free Visual Novel that only strengthened the brand. Sonic Dream Team is pretty great for a game stuck in apple arcade jail. Maybe ‘Hits’ wasn’t the right word to describe this string of games. Jabs is probably more accurate, and the next game is a clean body blow. We have this pack in title staring Shadow himself and I'm not gonna mince words here, it's fucking spectacular. This dark age started with Shadow so it's only fair that he be the one to end it.

I should probably explain what Shadow Generations actually is. Sonic Generations is a game where Sonic goes through 9 different stages and 6 bosses from previous Sonic games. Each stage has 2 acts, 1 where you play as a version of Sonic from the classic genesis games and another where you play as modern Sonic with his boost game play. Shadow Generations is a new game that takes place at the same time as Sonic Generations. It's a pack in bonus game included for the Sonic Generations rerelease. The structure of this product is similar to Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury, where it’s a remaster with a short game attached to it to make the whole package a better value proposition. The difference with Shadow Generations is that there's far more effort put into it than you'd expect.

There are two parts to this effort. First is the marketing for this game. They went a bit sicko mode with the marketing campaign for Shadow. In the same vein as the "Year of Luigi" stunt Nintendo pulled a decade ago, Sega declared 2024 The Year of Shadow. This was a push to celebrate the character through multiple mediums. There's was tons of merchandise for Shadow developed, a clothing brand, a manga, hell even a movie. Yes, the Movie was gonna come out no matter what. It's not like the Movie came out to promote the game, hell it was likely the other way around. But they still fed into each other. The hype built for the third Sonic the Hedgehog movie definitely put eyes on Shadow Generations, and the DLC level based on Sonic 3 that dropped around its release did the same. It was a cross promotional slam dunk. I played the DLC, and got even more hyped for the movie than I already was. And then I watched the movie and felt euphoric vindication over how well they adapted parts of the Sonic Adventure 2 story. We now have box office numbers to serve as undeniable proof that even in the modern age, the children yearn for Sonic Adventure 2. It’s surreal.

For me, the highlight of this Year of Shadow push had to be the Dark Beginnings Web series. It's a 3 part 15 minute total animation on YouTube that acts as prelude for Shadow Generations. It's not necessary and the plot would be perfectly understandable without it, but I couldn't be more grateful for it. This comfortably stands among the best pieces of animated Sonic media. I say this as a certified Sonic CD opening glazer. I say this as a seasoned Sonic CG cutscene enjoyer. I say this as one of the Sonic OVA’s strongest soldiers. In terms of writing, art, and direction, it's firing on all cylinders. It didn't need to be so heart felt, but it was. It delivers on the character interaction and action that I want out of Sonic media and is fully sincere the whole time. It made me extremely optimistic with the game going forward. Dark Beginnings made it clear that Shadow Generations is a love letter. And if that wasn't enough, the printed lore diary included with the physical copy and the purchasable Shadow beta design skin made it crystal. There is no cynicism in this series anymore.

The build up was perfect, but what about the second part of this effort? The game itself. You'd expect a pack in title to be a fraction of the size of the base game. While Shadow Generations is only 6 stages and 4 bosses compared to Generation’s 9 and 6, it is not 2/3rds as big. It's basically the same size. The levels are longer and there's far more to do in between levels as well. This is essentially Sonic Generations 2. It's also basically everything I would want out of a sequel to that game as well. It truly celebrates every aspect of the franchise while also pushing the gameplay forward.

Within Shadow Generations lies the blueprint for a true 10/10 Sonic title. All the ingredients are there, it just needs to be done in a different context. For one, we finally got a playable version of a character that is faster than any adventure era character, yet also has smooth control. It strikes the perfect balance. You aren't constantly bumping into walls when in a confined area, I not longer piss myself when presented with any precise platforming challenge. Yet you still get that exhilaration of blasting through a stage. It's not as much exhilaration as in Unleashed or Generations, but I'll take that trade off any day. Having the boost be as fast as it was led to me not appreciating and studying the levels as much. It was the definition of amusement park ride level design. Even though I'm still being pushed forward through the level, I have ample room to pace myself and observe my surroundings because I have the freedom of not going extremely fast, and even at the highest speed, the world can easily be parsed. The movement speed is near ideal. The ground control is perfect. No longer do we have to make the hard decision between navigating a grease slip stream and trudging through mud. Shadow controls tight enough to perform precise movement while also being capable of fluidity. The turning mid air could use some work, but other than that I have no notes. And it’s not just the 3D gameplay that’s at it’s best this time.

2D levels in 3D Sonic games have always been a huge drag. They cost less to produce than the 3D ones, which is why so many Boost Era games have mostly 2D content. It’s always disappointing because the ability to see straight ahead of you is what makes the blistering speed of the boost games manageable and not completely reliant on rote memorization in order to speed through them. It works for Classic Sonic because he doesn’t control that fast unless you are spin dashing. It works for the DS games because there’s a second screen warning you what’s up ahead. It has never worked as well for console Modern Sonic. Sonic Frontiers even made a point to not have any 2D levels in it’s DLC because they knew how underwhelmed fans were by them. Shadow Generations creates the solution to this by doing something Sonic Team already figured out how to do in 2007. Nights Into Dreams was a sidescroller with a pretty close camera that made it hard to see what was in front of you. The sequel, Night Journey into Dreams, doesn’t improve on the original in many ways. It does however, tilt the camera so that the player can see slightly ahead. It’s a 2.5D game so there’s no reason to not take advantage of the 3D environment. Shadow Generations understands this. There are many points in the Side Scrolling Shadow stages where the camera shifts so that you can see what’s up ahead. The dynamic camera assures the player has the necessary amount of screen information and allows for more cinematic direction as well. The complete segregation between 3D and 2D Stages also helps the two styles not get in the way of each other. It’s the one case case where ‘Separate, but Equal’ actually applies.

Sonic Frontiers gameplay was actually very similar to Shadow Generations and even came pretty close to the ideal control for Sonic. The only huge issue was how awkward Sonic’s momentum behaved when in levels, which stuck out a lot due to how good he felt to control in the overworld. Sonic Frontiers was a great experiment that could have really used refinement. And that's exactly what Shadow Generations is. Frontiers was the proof of concept; Shadow Generations is just the proof. It finds a control scheme that works for both the overworld and the stages and fleshes both of them out. The open world aspect of Frontiers was the real focus of that game while the individual levels were far too short, had no personality and copied level design from other games. I'd say the focus is swapped in Shadow Generations. The levels are gourmet here, just as you'd expect from a Generations game. These stages don't just have great design, they have great direction. There's cinematic flare and a narrative through line in them that has been missing since Sonic Team decided to cater to Mario fans. Set pieces are back while seldom taking control away from the player. Every stage is stuffed with multiple paths and a wide variety of level mechanics. Every time I played through them, I figure out a new shortcut or alternate way to handle an obstacle. They don't even hand out S ranks like they have since the original Generations… sometimes. A handful of the levels require careful study to clear that achievement, and I had a blast learning their intricacies. I think the mark of a good level that’s designed to be played fast is how immediately you want to replay it after getting anything less than the highest rank. I added hours of play time to my initial playthrough by constantly replaying levels before moving on to the next one. I felt this way about Sonic Frontiers, but those levels are usually a minute long. These Shadow levels are 4 times longer on average, yet I have no reservations jumping back in and avoiding any hint of progress.

I can’t credit my bloated total playtime of this game entirely to replays though. I found that the overworld is a huge source of distraction as well. Most overworlds in Sonic games I haven't vibed with and would almost always prefer a stage select menu. Frontiers was an exception, because the overworld was the point of the game, so it never felt like a way to pad out the game and keep me from the gameplay I enjoy. Sonic Adventure's overworld is basically why I will always prefer a start to finish playthrough of Adventure 2. I just want to play the levels and experience the story. Exploring ultimately uninteresting areas separated by load times is not my idea of a good time. I won't deny there's a chill groove to it, but the novelty wears off quickly to me. The overworld(s) in Unleashed was even worse because of how cramped it was despite adding more actual level design to the hub world areas. The 2D overworlds found in Sonic Advance 3 and Generations ended up being my least favorite due to how impossible they were to navigate.

Every attempt at an overworld/hubworld before Frontiers came off as a restriction. Something to slow me down forcibly. Frontiers was open enough and had enough content in it to the point where I preferred the overworld above the stages. But even then, there was a lot of room for improvement. The overworld was great, but was full of puzzles and challenges that didn't really feel like they belonged in the game. Getting from challenge to challenge was where the enjoyment laid and the large open areas allowed for the paths between those challenges to be a blast. Shadow Generations does not have the luxury of size though. Yet I think its hubworld just as fun as the levels and never came off as an impediment. This is due to the density of collectibles and more natural playground challenges. The overworld in Shadow Generations is stuffed full of rewards, each which require some level of platforming or thorough investigation of the area. It lacks the grandeur of Frontiers and it doesn't flow as well because of it, but the quality of the overworld itself per square foot is better than anything else in the franchise. It absolutely dunks on the Sonic Generation’s hub world, despite having the same structure.

The high quality content throughout both stages and the overworld led this 3 hour game to become an 18 game to me. I couldn’t help but do every single thing in this. Even the boss fights in this are of a higher caliber than what we've seen before. They all function as well directed fight scenes that have tricks hidden in them which allow for faster completion. Figuring out how to skip entire phases of the fight and make Shadow look like the coldest dude on face earth was always gratifying. Mastering these fights was just as fun as mastering a level and that is something that has NEVER been true about this franchise. Shadow Generation delivers on all fronts. The only thing that is remotely disappointing is the music. The music is still good obviously, but most of the remixes were lateral moves and nothing got me to pop off like when when they added a unique bridge to City Escape in Sonic Generations. And when you consider how the Sega Sound Team has been carrying this franchise on its back for 20 years, it becomes perfectly acceptable that the soundtrack is the worst part of this game.

Shadow Generations is a phenomenal, yet short experience. It's only really held back by its size and premise of being a throwback game. And like the other Greatest Hits Sonic games, I feel uneasy to say it's the best 3D Sonic game and that the Adventure games have been surpassed. Maybe I'll feel different about this after it sinks deeper into my mind, as Sonic Adventure 2 has had a 23 year head start. I will say though, I'm pretty confident the next 3D Sonic game has the potential to be the best one. All the ingredients are here.

Even within the confines of a short game that has to be about past events, the writing in this game hits exactly how it should. There's a clear reverence and respect towards every character and piece of lore. It was a joy going through the hubworld and exhausting dialogue options. Every character felt distinct and acted in line with last interpretations of the characters. Elements of the past stories come back in legitimately clever ways, which fits especially well in a game about traveling through time. The motif of the past is used to further delve into Shadow's mind set. As a Character who has had to overcome great trauma, he's pretty much forced to re-frame the way he's been coping with his issues now that the past has been rooted up. It's crazy seeing how much Shadow has grown throughout the series while still feeling like he's the same guy he was when he was introduced. I’ve never been a fan of Kirk Thornton voicing Shadow until now. He always felt like a guy doing a bad Shadow impression. But now that he has a competent script and that he's been voicing the character for a decade, I'm finally on board. Still prefer the other two guys, but I can comfortably say he is Shadow the Hedgehog.

The writing is here, the gameplay is here. All we need is an original plot and more characters to have stakes in it. And I do think that last part is important. What made the Adventure games so engaging was that characters had large parts of gameplay and story attached to them. Since Sonic Unleashed, it's just been the Oops all Sonic. Sonic’s friends never do anything of note and it's just Sonic quipping up a storm for the duration of the game. That's not a bad experience really. It's good enough. But it makes the world feel cramped and the plot predictable when Sonic is the only one who gets to do things. I need other characters to get their time to shine and the most satisfying way to do this is making them playable characters.

Shadow Generations shows they can make a character that plays similar yet incredibly distinct from Sonic, in a way I feel the Sonic Frontiers DLC failed to do. Shadow has basically built a frame work for characters who aren't Sonic to follow now that it's been proven that mechanics other than go faster can exist in this gameplay style. Shadow doesn't have the light speed dash like Sonic does, he uses Chaos Spears to stun enemies and activate switches. Shadow doesn't have a way to fast forward through large chunks of the level like Sonic would in the Story Book Games, he uses Chaos Control to slow time and use flying projectiles as platforms. Shadow doesn't have a weird charged homing attack that does nothing visually different like Sonic does in Lost World, he has a melee combo that launches an enemy into any direction you want. All of these mechanics are unique to Shadow and can be used to deal with obstacles quicker than you would have to without them.

These powers are integrated into Shadow's moveset and make him feel like a character equal but different than Sonic. The more I think about it, the more obvious it seems that they could implement this philosophy for each character they want to add in the future. Just 3 or 4 mechanics and some changes in the properties of how fast they move at top speed and how high they jump is all they need to make a fully fleshed out character. I'm over here brain storming how they can implement Silver the Hedgehog in this style. I'm serious, I have notes. This is how I know we are out of the dark ages. I haven't brained stormed about Sonic Team implementing cool shit in their games in over a decade. I kinda checked out after a while because I knew they'd just do something out of left field. And now it's like I'm 8 again and the future is bright.

Shadow has gifted us the blue print to success and it seems like all the pieces are in play. We just need to keep this momentum and not make another Sonic Lost World. Even of it’s not by title, we will have a game that is spiritually a Sonic Adventure game. I don’t need the gameplay to go back to what it was, I just need the general structure to return, and I’m confident they can pull it off if they use Shadow as a jumping off point. It feels strange to not be cynical about this series anymore, but I’m not. How could I when the franchise is as earnest as its been in over a decade? It was already leading to this point, but I think by taking the most easy to make fun of character in the franchise and treating him with the utmost respect, a curse has been broken. The path ahead finally looks bright.

[glassmarcus]

The Demolitionist Who Stole Christmas

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Wario Land Deconstructed

Anton Blast is a game that completely revels in being a clusterfuck. I say this with love. The way Wario Land like games have evolved, they need to satisfy a quota of pure chaos in order to sate its audience. Anton Blast is likely the most chaotic of them all. Pizza Tower has a more manic art style, but is far more visually comprehensible. Anton Blast is not as clean. It is about fucking shit up, and fucking shit up is messy. That can really be said about the game as a whole. The beginning of the game is where it shines. They don’t throw an extreme amount of mechanics at you and the enemies aren’t too much of a hassle, so you are free to destroy and explore the stage to your hearts content. I naturally replayed the earlier levels in this game because I just had a really good time with them.

Every action you take in Anton Blast is explosive. The standard attack gives you insane acceleration and every air action either launches you back into the sky or sends you directly into the pavement. The bounce and impact of the animations allows you to feel like a truly frantic force. Flinging yourself at high speeds to smack enemies across the room; Bouncing up and down, destroying any ill fated structure that happens to be underneath you; Chaining together actions to build and maintain speed as you rush through the level, wrecking everything in your path. The sharp and vibrant art style paired with the crunchy sound design makes destroying enemies and structures euphoric. The core gameplay of Anton Blast is glorious demolition and I could see myself really getting addicted to it. But there are three hurdles that I am unable to overcome to get to that point in regards to the later levels.

This game is way harder than any other Wario Land likes. Most of these games give you a bountiful amount of health or outright make you invincible during the level. Here is different. You cannot make many mistakes. And in a game as chaotic and frantic as this, where the character is intentionally a bit hard to control, I prefer the base line leniency to higher. It feels like I’m getting interrupted by death whenever I start to even approach a flowstate. I have to be cautiously locked in at all times which is not a state I want to be in during my first playthrough. There are still incentives to get better at the game with the time attack and score attack modes. The game doesn’t really benefit from being so hard in regards to the levels. I think it’s actually a great boon during the boss fights though, because the fun of those boss fights is learning the ins and out of the opponent, not trying to create a consistent flow of maiming everything in your path. While they are hard, they have plenty of checkpoints so you can quickly download each phase of the fights individually.

Every Wario Land like has parts in their levels where the main character transforms and gameplay entirely shifts. The quality of these may vary. Some aren’t fun, but are harmless and short. Some are a joy that I can’t get enough of. Some are dreadful and last way too long. There are far too many of that third category in Anton Blast. The horrid flappy bird and torpedo sections never fail to damper any level they preside in. They aren’t inherently bad, I just hate how they feel to control. What is inherently bad is the pinball transformation. I have a vendetta against pinball mechanics in games that grows with each passing day. I despise pinball. And having 2 out of 12 levels feature pinball in the game is absolutely heart breaking. I kid you not, it pretty much ruins these levels for me and assures I never return to them.

The final thing keeping me from being a future Anton Head is the visual clutter. I think the screen pollution adds a lot to the personality of this game. There is a certain satisfaction to understanding exactly what the fuck is happening among the chaos. I would never want this aspect of Anton Blast to be taken out because it is one of its greatest strengths. Power fantasy is an important aspect of Wario Land likes. Feeling strong and unstoppable is partially what I come to these games for, and I think Anton might do it the best. It feels like you are controlling a hurricane sometimes, where every action you do leaves a mess. I love that. They just go too far with it. The power creep for how much shit happens on screen gets way out of control in the later parts of the game. Chaos is fine when it is something that you eventually overcome. I overcame the game, but did not overcome the chaos. I came out of levels and bosses still not even 50% sure what was actually happening. Even cutscenes are directed in a way which I was not sure what was going on. I still don’t understand how I beat the final boss, I just mashed buttons and eventually it was dead. It’s almost as if the chaos outpaces the game design because it feels like they lose the ability to account for it.

Anton is still a great game. Just not one I see myself coming back to. I appreciate how it took the chaotic and destructive aspect of Wario Land and pushed it to the limits. And now that I know what those limits look like, I can be wary of it in the future. Anton’s contributions to the body of Wario Land like research shall be remembered fondly.

[glassmarcus]

Yunifi, Unicorn Overlord

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Travis, Unicorn Overlord

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Selvie, Unicorn Overlord

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Rosalinde, Unicorn Overlord

[glassmarcus]

UI Overlord

So after going through the Kingdom Hearts games again, I've been thinking a lot about menus. Mainly what percentage of a game can I handle being comprised of navigating menus. And I'm gonna cut to the chase and say that my conclusion was that the percentage doesn't matter at all. Navigating menus actually rules as long as the menu is worth navigating.

I've found that a good menu is either extremely complex or extremely simple. Look at the first Kingdom Hearts game for a perfect example. There are 4 options and 3 drop downs. That's it. In fact it’s so lean that it expects you to play an action game while navigating the menu in real time. Secondary actions such as using items, magic, and summons are done though menu navigation. Simplicity breeds brevity, and Kingdom Hearts keeps it simple so that you spend as little time in a menu as possible. And this isn't cutting out the fat, this is turning menu navigation into an entirely new layer of challenge in a way that Active Time Battles were never able to do. Active Time Battles are basically normal turn based battles that replace turns with cool down timers added to any character action. I've always disliked them because they add unnecessary stress in a way I don’t find all that engaging. I find no pleasure in navigating a menu quickly if that's the only thing I'm doing, so I'd rather just sit still and play at my own pace. The menu in Kingdom Hearts acts as a way to do non standard actions in combat as opposed to being the sole interface in the game, hence why I’m perfectly content with how it is implemented.

Navigating menus is not stimulating, at least not for me. Thinking is stimulating, which is why I love complex ones as well, as they show you a myriad of options to solve any problem thrown your way. Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories has more of a rolodex instead of a traditional menu, which isn't any more or less complicated than the original. The complexity comes from the deck builder outside of combat. This is the actual fun part of the game. The combat is just executing on a gameplan you decided on before the encounter started. Ordering cards in the perfect sequence and predicting where the cards will be positioned later in a fight. That's the good stuff and it's certainly better than playing the actual game.

What does this have to do with Unicorn Overlord, the 2024 Vanillaware developed strategy RPG? Well, in Unicorn Overlord, the menu IS the game. It's got wonderful art, charming writing, and a simple yet engaging story, but if you look at its body composition it is like 80% menu. Setting up your party of 50 soldiers is done through a menu. Customizing your character's actions for specific scenarios is done through a menu. Positioning your units before a skirmish is done through a menu. You can explore the overworld to your heart's content, watch the gorgeous fights play out, and view a few cutscenes every now and again, but it won't be long until you return to the warm nutritious bosom of the unit editing menu. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

What separates Unicorn Overlord from a lot of RPGs I've experienced is that you don't play as individual characters, but multiple groups of characters. You normally expect to control a single party of colorful protagonist, or in a lot of SRPG’s cases, multiple individual characters. Unicorn Overlord does both, having you build multiple RPG parties that you can control on a field. I found that the core joy in this game was constantly tweaking my units so that they synergize perfectly. I've always enjoyed doing this with a single party in games, so it's not surprising that doing it with 10 parties gets a little addicting. It’s fun forming a team built for a specific niche and tunnel visioning them into a special ops unit. It's fun getting all the characters you find aesthetically congruent into a squad and making then work. If fun making the most busted all purpose posse you can make. And a big part of that fun is that it lets you use its large cast of wonderful characters instead of letting them rot in the reserves.

I've talked a bit in the past about RPG party structure and I how I prefer all characters be involved in some way rather than being benched for the whole adventure. The way Overlord gets around this is by just having a large amount of those characters be playable at once. There are 10 parties of 5 characters you'll end up making by the end of the game. This means most units are gonna see some action as there are only like 60 unique characters you’ll end up recruiting. I say ‘only’ as if that's not a huge amount, but it really doesn't feel that way. You're never overwhelmed by choices in party members. As you get more available slots for your initially small roster, there will continually be a few characters left out of fray. Every new unit you get and every new slot for your party you unlock makes you rethink your team’s composition and your ability to do so slowly grows. You'll steadily end up managing dozens of characters, eventually building parties not only by battle strength but character affinity as well.

Each character has their own social link with any other character. This link is built up through having them fight in the same squad and dine together (a completely optional mechanic that allows the artist of this game to flex their ability to draw mouth watering food). As the social links build, you unlock buffs to show how your characters are now working with each other more effectively. They unlock scenes which you can find on the map that show off that individual character dynamic. Basically, it's Xenoblade Chronicles, but with 10 times the amount of party characters. And just like in Xenoblade you can track the affection of every character through a large yet easy to navigate menu. Everything in this game is pulled together through menus. I don't really have a larger point than that, I just think it's neat how engaging menus can be. Probably didn’t need to write that much about Kingdom Hearts in the beginning. They’re really only superficially connected. This write up is a mess.

A few more things I wanna mention about this game. For as much of it is quality menus, its time spent being interactive gameplay is just as good. There's a solid gameplay loop in exploring the continents, finding new villages, saving villages from enemies through missions, foraging for materials to give to the villages, and repeating the process until the whole nation is prosperous. On map enemy encounters are also fun because they introduce a way to gain experience and practice without doing missions.

The story is not 13 Sentinels tier. Few things are. But it's satisfactory for what it is going for. It's a simple fantasy narrative, with great voice acting and it is easy to get attached to characters. And boy these characters all have banger designs. Not a single miss. Especially Selphie, Rosalinde and Yunifi, a trio of girls which mark so many of my boxes it's kind of eerie. There's something for everyone here, and most of them aren't extremely horny. There's clearly restraint taken. Though if you are a degenerate, you will be served as this is still Vanillaware we’re talking about. I really want to go back and play their entire ludography one day, because they seem to just never miss.

[glassmarcus]

Maria Renard. She's attractive and the size of an average human slayer

[glassmarcus]

Vampire Survivors' True Form

I picked up Vampire Survivors two years ago because it was a game that clearly wanted to be a Castlevania game. I'll gladly take a yearning ripoff over the absolute nothing Konami has been serving us Castlevania fans for 15 years. I ended up really enjoying, completing every achievement, and then deleting the game due to how addicting it was. DLC came and went and I ignored all of it. I had my fill and knew any more would just be a result of Neurodivergence and addiction. The healthy option was to go cold turkey. I vowed to never play it again after I beat it the first time. Then they did it. The bastards did it. They did the one and only thing you can do with Castlevania in this day and age. Make a crossover DLC. The Ode to Castlevania DLC is a rare example of the parody becoming so legit that it becomes the official product. The gameplay may be nothing like Castlevania, but every other element is there to the point where is the closest we’ll get without pulling a bloodstained.

This DLC includes 1 map, around 30 weapons, and basically every Castlevania character ever made. The amount of content in this game is staggering. It's basically a new game. It's more of a sequel to the original than Shadow or the Erdtree is to Elden Ring. Even though it's just one map, the map has far more secrets to find in it. You unlock different parts of it as you progress in each run. It's the Vampire Survivors equivalent of a Igavania map. You explore rooms and halls, fighting different bosses and unlocking fast travel points. It emulates the progression of a Castlevania game. That one map is magnitudes more fun to play in than any other one in the game. This is a fully fleshed out version of the Vampire Survivors design.

As a Castlevania fan I am completely stuffed. All my favorite characters are in this. They all have fitting weapons that have more going on with them than the base game and they all have remixes of Castlevania songs that end up all being winners. You can feel the love for the franchise pouring out of the game in every frame. These devs love Castlevania, and I think that's why this DLC is such a huge jump in quality. It's as if because it could truly be a Castlevania game, it could assume it's final form. This is the game it was always supposed to be, and everything before now feels like a lead up to it.

I expected to have to delete the game again, but I think my addiction has been cured. It might be that I completed enough runs that the dopamine has dulled or it could be that I as a person have more self control two years later. But there are still like 20 characters I have yet to unlock, yet I don’t feel obligated to unlock them because I already got the ones I like. The amount of content in this game outpaced my obsession and now it's just a game that I'll get back to later. While that is kind of a bummer, it’s also a tremendous feat. I honestly could not ask more of a Castlevania DLC. Any future DLC that comes out for any franchise that guest stars another franchise now has an impossible standard to live up to. The ending alone is one of the most passionate love letter sequences I’ve experienced in a game. I swear, Vampire Survivors could just keep doing crossovers with franchises I care about for an indefinite amount of time and I would buy each and every one of them.

[glassmarcus]

Trip the Sungazer

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Super Inconsistent

Sonic Superstars should be a safe 8/10 lay up. An inoffensive, but solid product. That's what this game seems like it's gonna be when you look at any footage of it. And that's what this game almost is. You view the trailer and the first thought that comes to mind is "New Super Sonic Bros Wii". Something that should be a good time with some neat ideas and level design when played alone, but a hilarious nightmare when played with co-op. I was all for that. I would have preferred a Sonic Mania quality game of course, but I was curious as to how the New Super Mario Bros/Rayman Origins school of thought would work for a Sonic game. It feels 15 years too late, but it’s better late than never.

I held off on playing Sonic Superstars until now because I knew in my gut it wouldn't be worth paying 60 bucks for. I couldn't in good consciousness spend more on it than Mania. So after I saw a 70% off sale of this game, I gave it a whirl. I can say for certain that there is a great video game trapped somewhere in this title. There's some honestly inspired choices here that just so happened to be weighed down by some rancid decisions I can't wrap my head around.

The physics in Superstars are the same as Mania’s and the level design has a bounty of slopes to interact with, so on a fundamental level, this is a wonderful game to play. A lot of level design takes advantage of Sonic's momentum and builds new mechanics specifically for it. I was generally impressed with it and would say it has the 3rd best level design among the classic series. And while the physics are maintained from Mania, it's not afraid to add to the gameplay. Superstars includes the use of an entire second analog stick for you to use to select individual powers which you can unlock by collecting Chaos Emeralds. Chaos Emerald collecting has always been an all or nothing kind of deal, so I welcome any a la carte reward for completing special stages. And the special stages and bonus stages are handled a lot better than most Sonic games. The special stages are this fully 3D Bionic Commando mini game that, while doesn't work perfectly, is painless and easy enough to complete. The bonus stages are just good versions of the original Sonic the Hedgehog special stage and I actually ended up enjoying them. I enjoyed the increased control they give you in this iteration and many of the later ones have legitimately clever mechanics.

The structure of Sonic Superstars also differs from other classic sonic games. Instead of the strict 2 act structure Mania has, Superstars opts to have a less homogeneous division of levels. Stages can have 1 to 3 acts including an optional act. I would love to see something of this nature replicated in the future. Requiring every level to have two acts is a stale way to handle things. I always appreciated Sky Sanctuary in Sonic 3 & Knuckles only being 1 act and not ruining the momentum built in that stage. I also appreciate the optional acts as they don't end up stiffing the pace of the game. The way optional acts work is that there is either a Melon act or a Character act. The Melon acts are just bonus levels where you collect rings and medals. The character acts are stages that focus on the abilities of the individual characters. You can initially play as Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles. They all have completely exclusive stages with story elements that showcase parts of their characters and unique abilities. It's probably a bit awkward in multiplayer mode where suddenly only one player can play the game. I only explored the single player mode though, so I just think it's neat.

And now, I must interrupt this positive review of Superstars with a bunch of negative stuff that makes its way into the game.

The physics are maintained, but the screen real estate is not. Apparently the camera zoom is exactly the same, but it never feels that way because of how large the assets are and how high up the ground usually is. I swear, this camera needs to be reported to HR because it does not have any concept of personal space. The whole game feels a bit too cramped for my liking, but that’s an overall minor issue.

I appreciate there being a new collectible in medals which encourages you to explore, complete bonus stages, and collect rings. It's a great exchange for the previous lives system. But medals can only be used as currency for a multiplayer mode I don't want to engage with. It's just customization options, but because they aren't available in single player, they are worthless. The medals in Mania that you get exclusively from bonus stages at least give you special features. The medals here are useless and it astounds me they didn't just make these cosmetics part of single player.

The chaos powers are cool in concept, but don't gel with me in execution. Having to choose powers from a weapon wheel is awkward. I’m glad this is more than a one button + one control stick game now, but there are still so many buttons on the controller. Why must every single one of them be controlled by one? If Shadow Generations teaches us anything, it is to make use out of every single button to make the unlocked abilities flow. I would have used these much more if they were at the press of a button, but they aren't. I'm already less inclined to use these powers in the first place because they are single use per checkpoint. Even though there are plenty of checkpoints in the game, it feels really bad to use a power, have it not work as planned, and then not be able to use that power for the rest of that section of the stage. It makes me feel like I wasted something because I can’t just try again. So I end up not using any of them because I might need them later in the level. Yea a lot of the powers are busted, but I'd rather them be less busted and have a cool down or more ammo rather than what they have now. That’s just how my brain works. If every weapon in Rachet and Clank was stronger yet had only one ammo, I’d probably just use the wrench the whole game. It never feels natural or worth it to use the emerald powers during the levels, so I really only tried them out during bosses. But even during the bosses I found myself being on the conservative side because I was not used to the powers and didn’t want to kill myself by accident.

I didn’t mention it before, but the music in this game is good for the most part. I think it’s usually below par as far as Sonic games go, but Tee Lopes and company frequently do a good job. But every once in a while there’s a classic Jun dud. Someone needs to file a restraining order between him and chip tune sound fonts. For some reason in these classic styled games, Jun Senoue always crafts good melodies that have no build up to them and the most ass instrumentals possible. It only gets bad for tracks that are fully composed and arranged by him which there aren’t that many of. But there are enough to make the soundtrack come off like the ashamed offspring of the Sonic the Hedgehog 4 OST.

Speaking of Sonic 4, these bosses are fucking atrocious. Not because they are hard. Few of them are truly difficult. But almost all of them are longer than they need to be. Sonic 4 had an annoying habit of this. Episode 1 would make bosses just take too many hits. Episode 2 would introduce longer down time between boss attacks. Superstars decides to do both of these things. Bosses aren't much more complex than previous games, but they aren’t vulnerable for long after an attack. It takes around 15 or so seconds for the boss to actually do anything. You’re essentially standing and waiting around for an eternity for Eggman to do anything and then repeat 5 more times. Bosses completely dictate the pace of the fight and it's annoying because you aren't doing anything thrilling during the wait period. In any other Sonic game there would be some skill based exploit to make the fight go faster by getting multiple hits in on a cycle. That's impossible in Superstars due to bosses having obnoxious amounts of invincibility frames. These bosses will be invincible for no reason for several seconds until they become invulnerable because they simply decided to be. They are far and away the worst part of this game and make me extremely unlikely to return to it. They completely knock the wind out of the level's sails and leave a bad taste in my mouth. The other issues I have with the game aren’t too bad, but the boss fights actively destroy its ability to be a good game. If I ever replay this, it will be with Amy. Her double jump would have made these fights at least bearable because she’d have more openings for attacks.

I don't get it. There's clearly sauce here, so why did they keep injecting it with bad ideas? They could have just continued to rely on new artist or handed Jun a guitar and we could have had a consistently great OST. They could have implemented an actual reward for the medals and I would have been more inclined to explore in the game more. If they had not given every boss invincibility periods and slow attack rates, I would have engaged in the second campaign Superstars unlocks after beating it. This game feels like it was play tested by people without ADHD, and I think that was HUGE mistake. A lot of obvious boring moments should have been cut from Superstars that simply weren't and I can't figure out why. This game is in a constant tug of war between good and bad and then ends at mid. I really wanted it to land closer to good, but the final boss really soured me on it. The final level is conceptually one of the most interesting levels in Sonic history and I thought both acts were quality. It really displayed the ingenuity and love the game was crafted with, only to be book ended with a not too uncommon Shitty Sonic Final Boss. And it might not be as hard or frustrating as some of the more notorious ones, but it is magnitudes more boring and any of them. I beat Shadow the Hedgehog again earlier this year and I genuinely had more fun with that final boss despite it being a way bigger mess. Having good music and killer vibes can do a lot for a boss fight, and Superstars boss fights rarely have either of these things. In the last moments of Superstars, all I could feel was ennui and that is the last emotion I want to feel in the finale of a Sonic game. And because of how unlikely me wanting the replay this is, all I’m going to think about when looking back on it is the last emotion it made me feel. Nothing.

[glassmarcus]

Data Sora

[glassmarcus]

Official Square Enix Mod Support

As someone who has been with this franchise since 2005, and as someone who adores the original Kingdom Hearts, I feel like I have ample credibility to state that there are officially too many versions of Kingdom Hearts. And I don't mean releases and remixes. I mean portable games that heavily recycle content from the first game. It's been happening since 2004 and I don’t think it has truly stopped. Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories was the first and most egregious offender when viewing the major games in the franchise. Mainly because it only served to reuse motifs from the first game. The maps of that game are procedurally generated, so you don't even get the charm of being in a Disney World. It’s just a card game based remake of the first game when viewing it on a game play level. Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 days actually had 3D worlds to explore, though none of them were as big as their Kingdom Hearts 1 counter parts. It does however benefit from having Kingdom Hearts 2 levels as well. Both of these games don’t introduce much in terms of new visual motifs, but they do have some of the best stories in the series so it’s easy for me to give them a pass. Some other games do not have that luxury.

Kingdom Hearts Coded is pretty similar to Chain of Memories as you are just going through Kingdom Hearts levels again. The twist in Chain of Memories was that you were just going through Sora’s memories. In Coded and its DS remaster Re: Coded, you are going through the data of those worlds. You play as a virtual version of Sora venturing through simulated Kingdom Hearts worlds. It reeks of a poor excuse to rehash the first game again. Yet, it's perhaps the best reuse of those assets so far and mixes things up quite a bit.

Let me be clear, I didn't not engage with this story in any capacity. I skipped every cutscene in Re: Coded. I've seen HD versions of the cutscenes years prior, I know that it would detract from my experience to sit through it all again. I wanted to be as charitable as possible, and thus only looked at the gameplay, an aspect that had a chance of not letting me down. And in terms of gameplay, it blows the other two previous two portable games out of the water. It's pretty close to feeling like the first game. It performs better than 358/2 Days and its interface is more suited to portable systems as well.

The menu in Kingdom Hearts works because there are enough buttons and options to make it work. The DS is lacking in the button department. 358/2 Days attempted to implement the action menu and it ended up being hard to navigate and I dreaded engaging with it. Chain of Memories and Re: Coded have the right idea. Simply cycling through options is as complex as the system can handle. In Chain of Memories you cycled through cards, but in Re: Coded, you cycle through commands. Commands are a simplification of any action you can do in the game that's not attacking or moving. Commands can be items, magic, and most importantly special attacks.

Kingdom Hearts has always tried to give players a way to unleash a special attack. Kingdom Hearts 1 implements Limits, High MP cost attacks that Sora can equip. The issue with this is only 1 can be equipped at a time. Chain of Memories’ version of special attacks are in the form of slates, moves which are unleashed upon using a certain combination of 3 cards. Slates are the best part of Chain of Memories and allows you to experiment with multiple special attacks at once. Unfortunately their implementation really only worked with the Chain of Memories combat, so this concept is never expand upon in the future despite being pretty fun. Kingdom Hearts 2 adds reaction commands, which are special moves that can be used as a counter to a certain enemy. They are also the best part of that game, though they can only be activated in response and not at will. Re: Coded’s command deck is the way special attacks are managed. Commands give the player the ability to pull off cool anime shit at the press of the button, but limits your use of them due to cool downs and limited space in your command deck.

The command deck works best for the portable games due it's ease of use, but it also allows more options to choose from. There are dozens of commands to choose from, and only a limited amount of slots, meaning that everyone's deck is going to look a bit different. It allows for more player expression. I still prefer the action menu, but that's because the console games are more execution heavy and tightly designed, so a wide array of permutations of actions might end up over whelming. Coded and the portable games in the future that use its mechanics are a bit looser in their encounters, so it fits better for them.

By being the one to create the command deck (though I don’t know how similar the remaster combat is to the original, All the praise I give to this game could be attributed to Birth by Sleep), Coded earns its right to exist despite adding nothing to the story or world. The gameplay outside of the combat is decent as well. The level up system being a branching tree that you need to connect together to receive bonuses was a very cool way to implement progression. Combining commands to make new ones made sure there was always value in collecting them. Auto jumping is a good addition due to how ass the camera still is coming from 358/2 Days, though as you get to the end of the game, it ends up being more of a hindrance. And to reiterate, the camera is deplorable. This game is still full of technical problems, but I think that kinda adds to the charm.

The whole of Coded takes place in a datascape. So when a tech problem arises, it sort of fits with the aesthetic of the game. Re: Coded is coated with glitch effects, fuzzy cutscenes, and nonsense fantasy tech jargon. It has those early 2000s Megaman: Battle Network vibes that I crave. I love how the glitches in the datascape are used to spice up old environments, adding more verticality to the existing design, while also mixing up parts of the levels to test your perception. I said earlier this wasn’t a remix, but it kinda of is. Just not in the meager ways the final mix games are. Coded is transformative media and if it wasn't an official game, I would argue it should be protected by fair use. It's a romhack, but a romhack that goes above and beyond. This can be seen the best by examining how it shoe horns new gameplay types into an existing scenarios. I thought I would fight the same Traverse Town boss I always fight. But I was shocked when I was suddenly playing a sidescroller. partially annoyed because it wasn't a good sidescroller, but it was overall a fun experience. Coded is filled with stiff like this. I don’t know why they made the Olympus world a turn based RPG, but they did and I respect it.

It's just weird, and that weirdness gives it soul that I wasn't expecting from a game I perceived as soulless for so long. This is a remake of a phone game. But it goes unreasonably hard. From what little the plot has to offer, the main takeaway is that anything can have heart. It’s really fitting for what this game is. If I remember correctly, Data Sora, a facsimile of the protagonist ends up having a real heart and I think the reason that’s the only thing I remember about the game’s plot is because it’s the only thing that really matters about Coded on a conceptual level. If a xerox of Sora can have a heart, then why can’t a xerox of Kingdom Hearts 1 also have one?

[glassmarcus]

The Strangely Important Game Boy Mega Man Games

The portable Mega Man games have an interesting spot in the franchise. It starts with Mega Man: Dr Wily's Revenge and it's everything I’d expect from a portable version of the first Mega Man game. It has pretty bad level design where damage feels unavoidable, like the original. It's pretty stingy with lives and health drops, like the original. And it runs about as well as the first game, which is surprising considering it’s on the Game Boy. The sprites are bigger to accommodate the smaller screen, and knock back is reduced the make up for the increased amount of things flying off screen to hit you. It's not great, but it's about as good as the original. I actually prefer this version as it’s shorter and I don’t like either game. The cool thing that sets it apart from just being a Game Boy port with different level design comes at the very end. Instead of the traditional boss rush against the same Robot Masters from earlier in the game, you have 4 new fights from bosses that appear in Mega Man 2. This is legitimately cool and a great way to shake up the structure of the franchise.

Mega Man II is the Game Boy analogue of Mega Man 2. It has fair level design like Mega Man 2. Plenty of item drops like Mega Man 2. For the most part is easy like Mega Man 2. These games seem to understand the assignment. They are good reflections of their NES counterparts. What isn't reflected is the sound track which sounds grating in a way different from the other Game Boy Mega Man games. Not sure what happened there. I guess they made some sort of ritual sacrifice to get the game to run decently. It also might involve the small fact that this game wasn’t developed by Minakuchi Engineering like the others are. II is a big step up and continues what Wily’s Revenge did in introducing Robot Masters from the next corresponding console game. Here they aren’t just fights, but stages. What's weird is that it's basically just 4 stages in one big stage. Really glad I'm not playing this on original hardware, because I would have lost my shit when I got a game over near the end of that level. II is probably something I'll come back to. It has the same level design ideas as Mega Man 2, but you also have the slide ability from Mega Man 3. It's neat to explore prior level motifs with new abilities.

Mega Man III kind of lends to my theory that II has a bad soundtrack because it runs the best. III sounds great, but it suffers frames more than any of the Game Boy games. III follows the same structure as the last games in that it's a mixture of Mega Man 3 and 4. This time it actually gives the Mega Man 4 bosses their own levels and splits the game into 3 acts. The first act where you fight a set of 4 Robot Masters from Mega Man 3, a second act where you fight 4 from Mega Man 4, and the third act where you take on the Wily Castle. This is something that the main series sort of adopts in Mega Man 7. You also get the Charge Shot from Mega Man 4 and get to use that with Mega Man 3 type levels. These levels are too damn long though and I'm not a fan of how they are designed, which is again reflected in the NES counterparts well, because the stages I don't like are also the stages from Mega Man 4, a game that I don’t remember having good level design.

Mega Man IV fucking rules. This game has levels with Multiple paths. This game has collectible currency and an item shop. This game has unique level select graphics. This game has a unique stage between acts 1 and 2. This game has cutscenes with dialogue. All of these things end up being series staples later on and they all derive from IV. It's still the same song and dance from the last few games, it still performs kinda bad and has an absolutely mental final level. But it's basically as refined as it can be for what the formula calls for. The really went above and beyond with this one. Here is where we really start to see how integral these Game Boy games are to the evolution of the franchise.

Mega Man V acts as the finale. Quality wise it's the same as IV. It doesn't bring as many ideas to the table regarding the whole franchise, only the rocket punch really sticks, but as a game, it's the best one because it has the strongest identity. It's not a Game Boy version of Mega Man 5 by any means. It is it's own game. It has its own level ideas, story, and bosses and feels like what the portable games were leading up to. They slowly broke away from being happy meal versions of classic games to being games that influenced the mainline ones greatly, to a game which is on par with any NES Mega Man game. It was quite a journey and it makes me more curious about how many other series are like this, where an outsource developer makes portable games for a franchise that have lasting impact on the main games. It cant be just be Sonic the Hedgehog with Dimps and Mega Man with Minakuchi Engineering. Makes me want to investigate what contributions Vicarious Visions and Digital Eclipse may have made to Crash Bandicoot and Spyro. Not anytime soon. But maybe one day.

[glassmarcus]

Mega Man Boss Rush Simulator

The Mega Man Arcade games are interesting in that they aren't fighting games. They're just Mega Man games with no levels. They are essentially the last part of every Mega Man game where you have to fight all the Robot Masters and then a few bosses afterwards in one sequence. They're similar to the end of Mega Man: Dr Wily’s Revenge, in that these aren't re-fights, you're just using boss weaknesses immediately after getting them.

There's a clear value in these games. They have multiple short campaigns, so instead of the usual 8 Robot Masters you battle per game, you get 18. Because the game is only boss fights, the move set for the robot masters are far more varied and involved. These games also translate NES Robot Masters into the Mega Man 7 art style which is much appreciated. Instead of just playing as Mega Man you have the option of fighting as him, Proto Man or Bass, each who have slightly differing play styles. The sequel added Duo to the mix, who feels the most like a new character as he doesn't have as much range as the others, but more power. Duo is a nice addition, though I still ended up liking the first game more due to the art. The sprites in the sequel are smaller in order to give the player more space to move around in, but the sprite art ends up being less detailed and off model as a result. There are some real ugos in this line up. Luckily they end up attacking off screen for half of the fight most of the time, so you don’t have to deal with how bad they look. Both games are a fun time despite their flaws though. They aren't too difficult to complete and I could probably get through on 1 credit if I played one of the campaigns again. Which works out because it's not about beating the game, it's about getting the best score. It's not Metal Slug, you aren't gonna be sinking money into this machine unless you genuinely want to get good at it.

But...why aren't they fighting games? These games are called Mega Man the Power Battle and the Power Fighters. These are fighting game titles. And a Mega Man fighting game would be fucking sick as hell. A Mega Man fighting game where you play as 18 robot masters and 3-4 of the protagonists is instant obsession fuel. I would play this game and suck ass at it for so long. So the fact that this is a boss rush sim is disappointing. Even if it was a bad fighting game I’d tap into it. Seriously, every mascot franchise needs a fighting game and not having one is honestly stupid. Sonic the Hedgehog has two, neither of them are all that great, but I'm glad they exist. Super Smash Bros is not enough, Marvel vs Capcom is not enough. We need a Mega Man fighting game.