I was reading something on Sonic Stadium, and I won’t post the link as they do not need anymore hits for a tacky article. But it was one of those “Top lists” that people usually make in order to generate views for the sake of gaining notoriety. It was a listing about the “most overrated Sonic games of all time”.
My only thought was “Sonic games are overrated? I thought they were over-hated“. And shit like this convinces me that Stadium’s idiocy could prove detrimental to interest in the series (if Japan didn’t completely destroy interest themselves). I think it’s clear that no one knows how to get the games back on track for there to be any real interest anymore, but a start would be going to the games that people actually enjoy in the series. And wouldn’t you know it, it’s the very games this listing attacks.
As of late, there’s been streams of defamation against the original genesis trilogy which is no doubt brought up as some sort of counter balance against the praise they get (oddly done by adventure fans). The intent being to prove that they “aren’t that good“. The problem with this line of thinking if that it goes overboard. People tend to accentuate the negative to the point that people feel that there is NOTHING good about said item (yes, I’m guilty of this shit too). And we never stop to ask ourselves if these horrible flaws are enough to deter us from enjoying this game?
The result of this conundrum is some bizarre shit like a person who enjoys 2 different things going at it with the person who also enjoys those 2 different things. For example… um… one person likes both Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors, but places Dynasty Warriors higher for so and so reasoning. Then we have the other person who enjoys the same 2 games, but places Samurai Warriors higher for so and so reasoning. Their reasons for placing one lower than the other becomes… a source of conflict. You cannot put these 2 in the same room because more than likely, they’re going to kill each other anyway. And both are going to end up hating their lower choices because they now remind them of “that asshole” who dared to think highly of their preferred choices. “I used to like Samurai Warriors, but now fuck it, it sucks monkey balls!!”
Welcome to Sonic/Pokemon fandom in a nutshell. And the existence of this list.
When it comes to Sonic, some games need to be “overrated”. If people were to ask why Sonic the Hedgehog is considered a video game icon if people hate the series, you would need some reference points. How do you have an icon when all of it’s games are considered shit? It makes no sense. Having all of these attacks on the most praised games in the series is a disservice.
Of course, the article in question tries to mitigate this by saying “all games are good, but still flawed” the same effect is in place. You knock the games down a peg so they’re not praised for being “good enough” to satisfy tastes. Afterall, the writer claims that those games are undeserving of their praise, so why bother trying to tell us they’re good anyway? As high strung as Sonic fans are, all they’re convincing them is that even the “best games in the series” are shit for one or 2 incredibly minor reasons. Afterall, if people can say the story in Sonic is bad because of one plot hole regarding the moon still being intact, this article is dangerous. Since CGS is so rampant, pointing out the flaws in any game is going to make that game automatically shit in their eyes.
Furthermore, do people really need to know why certain games “aren’t that good”? Don’t answer that, Crystalize.
I wonder why Sonic 3 wasn’t included, though. 😛
Conflicting Views 
By the by, there’s actually another video game series called Worms that is incredibly similar to Sonic in terms of its development and fanbase. It’s a 2D turn-based strategy game in which two teams of Worms try to kill each other with cartoonish weapons. It’s not as wildly successful as Sonic but it enjoys a cult status.
Like Sonic, the height of Worms’ success was in the 1990s with three beloved games. The third game, Worms Armageddon, is considered the pinnacle. Not only does it still have a thriving online community but the developers, Team17, hire a couple of people to keep the game working on modern systems and even add new features every year or so.
But here’s the funny thing. Just as Yuji Naka left Sonic Team after Sonic 3K, the man who conceived Worms also left Team17 after Armageddon. And what do the developers do immediately afterwards? They tried to make Worms work in 3D! But unlike Sonic Adventure 1+2, Worms 3D never had much of a fanbase.
Afterwards, Team17 went back to making 2D Worms games. And just like with Sonic Team, the decisions they made have been baffling and frustrating the fans ever since. The two things the Worms fans love most are the weapons and the game customisation features (for which the early games provided in spades). So the developers took all that stuff out and made the menu interface as annoying and difficult to navigate as possible. They also made the Ninja Rope, the most fun thing in the history of ever, boring and annoying to use.
They gradually brought back the fan favourites and added some new weapons but they never went so far as to give the players the experience they actually wanted. The old games were very funny, the new games felt soulless in comparison. If you go to the Worms Knowledge Base (fansite), the fans have a listing for a “hypothetical perfect Worms game” because they are so frustrated. Compared to the Sonic fanbase, they have a much better idea what they want.
I don’t agree with the fans that simply giving the players complete customisation is enough to save the Worms franchise (I think the humour was a big part of its initial popularity). But it’s interesting to see the comparisons between Sonic and Worms.
PS: Worms Armageddon is not the same game as Worms 2: Armageddon. Worms 2: Armageddon was one of the lame post-3D sequels. I’m sure the title was chosen just to confuse people who heard that Worms Armageddon was great.
That is interesting. Almost scary even.
I wouldn’t say Sonic fans don’t know what they want (though it’s probably true), but considering how split everyone is and how often goddamn everything in this series is attacked (even the original titles are called into question on their quality), I’d have to agree, even though I know nothing about Worms fans.
“But here’s the funny thing. Just as Yuji Naka left Sonic Team after Sonic 3K, the man who conceived Worms also left Team17 after Armageddon.”
Ummm…except Yuji Naka didn’t leave Sonic Team at that point. Naka only took the producer’s role instead of being lead programmer of the team after Nights into Dreams was finished and he was still involved in later 3D Sonic games and spin-offs. He did leave Sonic Team much later in 2006 when the infamous game in the Sonic series we love to hate was on the production and Naka himself decided to set up his own game studio called Prope.
The sheer amount of mooks on that article you mentioned…..quite disheartening.
Fanbase Hope: 20% and dropping
Ah, the Stadium, resting place for many brain cells, including mine. Ok, maybe they’re not that bad, but that Serious or Lighthearted topic was just painful. What you said about having few or several flaws making something crap in people’s eyes reminded me of one comment on the Sonic Dissected Dissected article. People were complaining about the plot holes of SA2, and Roger commented saying that everything has flaws and that if you look closely enough you’ll find a problem in anything, but at what point are you trying to enjoy a story and at what point are you trying to prove fiction is fiction? That kinda sums up CGS as it could be applied to other aspects of games. It’s ironic people attack Sonic’s history when some aspects of it, especially the genesis games, are why the games are still being made.
Good points, and even being an adventure fan myself, I can at least recognize what it was about the classics that made them great, dare I say edgy at times, games, and for me, it’s not just the main trilogy. Though, this can be credited to faithfully reading Heru’s articles and comparing his thoughts views, and other sources to me own thoughts on what appealed to me. That being said, it barely had anything to do with gameplay because many games around that time was just as good, Sonic’s deal was having appealing content for a game of it’s nature. I said this before in one of my own articles, Even less cartoony games weren’t this epic. http://psyco-the-frog.deviantart.com/art/Serious-and-Engaging-Elements-398119986
Yeah. I remember a user on TSSZ (Jmack or something) that kept clinging to the idea that Sonic was “whimsical” even after I pointed out that not all levels were bright islands and even brought up some of CD’s edgy content. I wouldn’t even mind the idea of Sonic having simple and laid back content for some of his games, if it were akin to the PS2 Ratchet and Clank games. Those games were focused more on humor, like Sonic is now, but they had attitude and weren’t childish. Like you said, lots of games can have good gameplay, but they should have something to set them apart, something more than gameplay to justify their price tag definitely.
Especially if games these cost the way they do these days. Lost of people can’t buy new games all the time, so when they get one, they would expect it to be good. I can see the hatred people have for 3D Sonic games to an extent, but a lot of them take it to critical levels. Not to mention the whole agenda of trying to push anything with the slightest of “edgy” or “dark” out of the series for the sake of these childish games, but when you get to the point that even Sonic Riders was bashed just for sonic being on a board, something’s wrong. In any case, I’m in the middle of writing my own article now regarding this subject. As for now, you can look at this one if you’d like.
Um, what?…
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I don’t think lists like this would turn newbies away from the good games, like those in the classic series. Every series has these types of fans, that consider the most loved games ‘overrated,’ and bashes them continually.
That said this list you found, and any ‘top ten overrated games’ lists like it, are still all kinds of stupid.