Amidst the glory times of Sonic, a mow when launching your dreamcast definitively brought your pet to the 3D world. And today is a day to remember Sonic Adventure, its characters and secrets.
tell the story of Sonic Adventure is to tell a little bit of the last years of glory of the mow, who had just made his final move in 1998 with the dreamcast, in the best “or go or break” style. It’s also a reminder of the golden moments of the 128 bit of the mow, which was very pleasing and could have been a great success, had it not been for the problems that we already know very well what they are.
And as a big console needs a big game to come with everything, the choice of mow was obvious: use your mascot, the Sonic, in a 3D game, to show all the processing power of the console. Beloved by some, hated by others, but respected as a good reference for three-dimensional games, our invitation today is for you to remember Sonic Adventure with us.
Sonic’s failed attempts in 3D
Mario 64 arrived in 1995 (1996 in the US) and turned the video game industry inside out, defining until today how to play in three dimensions. Several 3D games were being born at that time, but it was the mustache of Nintendo who created and improved standards for gaming, including the analog stick, a piece that is now mandatory on any console.
THE mow, who lived at war with the Nintendo, was starting to lose his grip at this time, with his saturn losing to the Playstation in sales and with Nintendo’s shadow showing, so he did what he could to launch his hedgehog into the three-dimensional universe.
It started by trying to capture the classic elements of the series in an isometric vision game that could be playable in Mega Drive and in the saturn, O Sonic 3D Blast, which did not please, despite being a fun game. However, the game could not be considered a 3D title, as in addition to the vision it is similar to games like Rock’n Roll Racing, it is also a platform game, without much freedom.
In the middle of that, there was also the attempt to mow to enter the three-dimensional universe with the Sonic X-Treme, a game that can be considered one of the most problematic ever produced, so much so that it wasn’t even released. It would be an authentic 3D game, with elements that ended up being used in adventure, but countless problems of all kinds, involving diseases, infighting, confusion between the mow Japanese and American and even near death of a programmer — and they deserve a RetroBestyGames by itself — ended up causing the game to be canceled in 1996, the year it was released.
Finally, Yuji Naka, creator of Sonic and calm with the success of Nights and of yours Sonic Team, prepared for the saturn O Sonic Jam, an interesting collection that brought several games from azulão to the Mega Drive and with a lot of extra content, considering that it’s a game on CD, including commercials and the opening of Sonic CD in high quality. To access game modes, you controlled the Sonic in 3D in a small world, which also served as a laboratory to test elements that would be present in Sonic Adventure.
Anyway, Sonic is born in three dimensions
After all this troubled process, which was a reflection of a sick Sega and which was gradually ceasing to be a protagonist of the video game industry, in 1998 the world received the dreamcast and Sonic Adventure, the legitimate first 3D porcupine game, which promised to elevate the games of the Sonic to a new level, offering much more than getting from point A to B, although this mechanic was still part of the gameplay.
Starting with the plot, which is more elaborate and better explained. It was the end of the era when the plot came along with the manual, with cinema-style sequences telling details of the story as the player progressed through the stages, with much more drama and more urgency to stop. eggman for the good of humanity. And with that, we also had the voices of the characters, which gave even more identity, like Ryan Drummond, actor who was the voice of Sonic for many years, collaborating in the most youthful air for the character.
This character was very different from Sonic 1991. The blue was still there, the red shoes too, but the character underwent a slight “reform”, leaving the air more childish, to define the more cool look he had been acquiring during the last games. Sonic now it was a game accompanied by rock pauleira, a lot of attitude and a lot of adrenaline, as looping around here became much more insane, taking advantage of the success of Tony Hawk Pro Skater, game from the same period.
And just like the mustached rival, Sonic Adventure it was a game that offered a certain freedom to the player, although the phases followed in sequence. Places such as a city, a waterfall and so many others had an interesting side of exploration, albeit limited, even for its time. And although you still had to go from the beginning to the end of the levels, this time with a view from behind and not sideways, the possibilities of the levels were expanded.
The “explore my game” factor was even greater by bringing the possibility of playing with more characters besides Sonic, each with its own story and endings. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy Rose, Big the Cat and E-102 Gamma it has its own motivations, and for that reason, they have specific missions and plots. Also, it’s obvious that each character has strengths and weaknesses that influence gameplay. Interestingly, the remake of Mario 64 for Nintendo DS offered the possibility to play with Luigi, Wario and Yoshi, with its differences from the protagonist mario.
And finally, at the end of the Tamagochi era (at least for us Brazilians, since in Japan virtual pets are a fad to this day), it was possible to create Chaos rescued in stages with your VMS, and transfer them back to the console to unlock new features.
I want to play Sonic Adventure today. How to proceed?
As history goes by, everyone knows that the mow stopped being the powerful manufacturer of consoles and ideas to be a supporting role in the industry, but this democratized more access to the company’s classic games, which help pay the bills to this day. And in 2002, the Nintendo, already a former rival, received the DX version of the game in his GameCube, which being the director’s version, brought improvements and some changes. And they also brought the classics of Game Gear of the bluebird.
And over time, the consolidation of Xbox and Playstation as the great forces of video games, in addition to the digital means of game distribution, users of PSN and Xbox Live can buy the game in an updated version and with graphics suitable for playing on HD consoles. And it’s also nice to mention that in Sonic Generations, which celebrates 20 years of the first Sonic, among the honored phases of the games, we have references to the game as well.
The beginning of the end
But unfortunately, this game, which could mean a new golden age for the mow — imagine us being able to play a current console from mow with one seganet updated and all—it turned out to be the beginning of the end for a company that has blessed us so much with its innovative games. In 2000, Sonic Adventure 2 arrived and brought the same concepts, in addition to the unforgettable soundtrack (CITY ESCAPE ROCKS!).
However, after that, the mow stopped the production of consoles and after versions of its classics for Dreamcast always tried to “revitalize” the series, releasing one bad game after another, with rare exceptions — for me, Colors and Generations. And the worst thing is that the mow does this until today, wanting to redo the series and failing in all attempts, like the most recent one, Sonic Boom.
The blue mascot still earns a truckload of money for the mow and its first two games are still the best sellers in the App Stores of life. However, with PS4 and Xbox One offering thousands of features, in addition to the strong appeal of the character and its universe, it would not be better, instead of continuing to invent fashion, produce a Sonic Adventure 3 in an epic way? if Shenmue 3 has come true, it doesn’t hurt to dream a little more…
