Johnny vs. Sonic Frontiers 

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“I feel validated.” YES, that’s the exact feeling I had too. The story was like a reward being so invested in this franchise. I’m so happy Sonic respects itself again.

It just isn’t a sonic game without a Johnny vs video

I could never forget that pain in Robotnik's voice when he said this line. "Go. Fulfill your function."

Getting Ian Flynn to write the story was the best decision for this game. The interactions between Sonic and his friends are much better than what the stories were like in previous games. It honestly feels like the characters are actually growing from both their experiences and dialogue that feels much more natural than what Gamma, Shadow and Silver got in previous games. It’s like Sonic Team were like “Oh shit, we should’ve hired this guy from the start.”

Probably my most anticipated review for a game in a long time.

Can we just talk about how Johnny Wished for Ian Flynn to be involved in the writing of sonic games and got his wish granted?

I gotta admit, I love the call backs to old games, and Eggmans development really was standout to me, and I love that reading those memos not only explores his relationship and eventual love of Sage as his daughter, but also gives us some really interesting context on some small things and things not really considered before: - It was Sonic who gave him the nickname "Eggman", and he just rolled with it and turned it into his own - He was deeply jealous of Maria for all the love and attention that she got, and implies that because of that he himself was neglected as a child - Revealing Eggmans opinions on Sonics companions, like that he considers Amy to fairly bright and someone who has come a long way since the Sonic CD days, that he thinks Tails has a very keen mind and that he's glad he's wasting his potential worshipping Sonic rather than being a thorn in his side, and him calling Knuckles "a rube" cracked me up more than I like to admit - Eggman being "man enough" to admit Sonics speed impresses him

Y'know... I never noticed this was a 41 minute long video. It felt so naturally paced, I didn't mind. Felt more like a 20 minute long video, maybe 25. Everything was kept nice and streamlined and engaging throughout. Loved the review!

In Sonic Unleashed it's been stated that the chaos emeralds can pull the world back together but at the end of the game chip made it perfectly clear that he was the one who specifically was in charge of bringing the planet back together so when he was awakened before he needed to he was not as powerful as he would be if his pressure cooking was done the chaos emeralds were used more as a Slap Chop cast for the planet to bring it back together.

The ancients actually landed on earth "tens of thousands of years ago" conveniently the same time professor pickle describes the written documents of dark gaia's calamity. It very well could have been the reason the master emerald dragged down their ship so that the ancients would help fix the planet. The Gaia temples also share an uncanny resemblance to the ruins on the star fall islands.

God, I love the endings to these Sonic videos. Not many jokes, just genuine talking. Johnny grew up with Sonic, and so did we. Sometimes, unlike most other reviewers I’ve seen, these videos actually feel like I’m sitting down with a good friend and talking about one of our favorite video game mascots. Your writing is fantastic, John. Thank you for this.

The dynamic between Eggman and SAGE hits even more when you consider that Mike Pollock himself is an actual father in real life. Also, can we just talk about the fact they basically just casually confirmed that the IDW characters are now part of the main series canon.

I hope that they keep Ian Flynn as the games' (co-)writer for the foreseeable future. It seems that his affinity for character-driven stories will be one of the major boons that the franchise will seriously need if it wants to keep the positive momentum that Frontiers is generating.

The best way to describe Frontiers to me after fully completing it is “flawed, but extremely promising”. And I don’t mean promising in the way Lost World was where, it was okay and there was room to improve. Promising in that it is good, and I WANT it to improve. And that makes me feel a little at ease, even with the numerous problems.

"I'll get into Locke microwaving his baby later." I eagerly await that day. Johnny vs Archie Sonic, a true ride through insanity.

The ending song (Dear Father) hit me so hard with emotion. I’m a big Sonic Unleashed fan I loved the friendship between Sonic and Chip but the song “Dear My Friend” always had me feeling emotional. This game brought out that exact same feeling in me. Sage is a very well written character and I really hope we see her again.

I was genuinely surprised to see Johnny not only acknowledge the Archie comics again, but to have Locke be the first one to get some shine lol

I've been watching this guy since I was 10 years old. His sonic reviews were always so entertaining for me, years later and I'm still tuning in for a sonic review in college.

They nailed the writing and continuity respect with this one. "Validated" feels like the perfect way to describe it. Every Sonic fan, be they classic, 00s, modern, ect wins with this game. Even comments about the actual game aside, this is the most fun I've had discussing a Sonic story with other fans in ages.

Having Ian Flynn involved to write the story for Sonic Frontiers was the best thing Sega did. This is a huge step in the right direction and if Sega continues this path, they could step up their work and create more interesting stories and gameplay. Let's hope they stay on the right path

After just hitting the 10 year anniversary of the Sonic Adventure vs, this just feels right

As one of the like 3 people who became a Sonic fan because of Lost World, I totally get the way there's a huge split in the franchise, but I think Frontiers definitely does succeed at bringing us together in our take

14:30 one detail I appreciate is that the further in the game is that Sonic’s idle animation does change as he goes thru different islands, it isn’t much for the plot point but it’s a really good touch

The Adventure 2 cyberspace levels are definitely the best ones. I’ve gained a new appreciation for Sky Rail’s layout

Wait but can we talk about how Big didn’t even need saving in Cyber Space and they didn’t even acknowledge him at the end? Maybe he’s secretly the strongest in the series 👀

At this point I think I've been more excited for this video than I have been for the actual game.

As for the Dark Gaia thing, maybe it was the Master Emerald's job to do that before the Chaos Emeralds showed up.

For the future, I would love to see how characters like Shadow and even Silver and Blaze would work in this new tone

I love the fact that Johnny is wearing the same outfit he wore in the old Johnny Vs Sonic videos from a decade ago. Oh God. A decade ago.

The whole character interactions and how tight knit they are is definitely ian flynn. When watching the cutscenes, its like im reading the archie comics again. The only thing missing is sonic calling knuckles "rad red"

21:45 Agreed. I don't think it's a coincidence that the devs not only allowed you to be able to jump over the drift panels, but also leave a convenient trail of rings on most of those turns that you can lightspeed dash instead (which is faster and easier than the drift platforms, might I add.) I think even they knew this part was bad.

This has certainly been an eventful year for Sonic. Origins finally rerelaseing Sonic 3&K, the Sonic 2 movie, Mecha Sonic finally got brought back in official Sonic media (the IDW scrapnik island comics) since his creation in Sonic and Knuckles, that whole Sonic Omens drama, Sonic Prime, Frontiers, and Yuji Naka got arrested.

As soon as I finished playing Frontiers, my first thought was "I can't wait to see Johnny review this".

The slot wheel thing being right smack in front of the screen for 15 minutes is absolutely ridiculous and I'm glad you pointed it out

I'm glad Sonic is moving in the right direction after all these years. My biggest dream for a game is still simply just the inclusion of a new Chao Garden.

I love when Jonny said "It's reviewin' time!" and reviewed all over the Frontiers. Truly one of the videos of all time.

The fast way to kill Shark, and a surprising amount of Gurdian mini bosses, is to use the quick cyloop to extend the amount of time they are vulnerable so you can whale on em. Its also one of the most important combo tools for opening up the depth of the combat system, along with the dodge which allows you to cancel the special move animations, and allows you to chain them together more smoothly.

I broke down completely by the ending... this game got me so emotional that it opened up old wounds and I had to put it down after getting the platinum trophy. To be honest, I'm not too sure if I am okay right now XD

Damn, back in the old room and even futon for this review are we? Good to see Johnny embracing his legacy

This review was a treat. I can hear the conflict and uncertainty in your voice knowing we may finally have a strong product but don't know where Sonic Team will take it and what the characters like Eggman will do going forward Genuinely happy to hear the open world treatment worked wonders for Sonic

Alright, all that’s left is for Lewis to play this game live for Brainscratch

As someone who's favourite story in a game is Gamma's story from Adventure 1, hearing that Frontiers is more character driven makes me want to pick up the game even more.

I appreciate how level headed and well thought out your Sonic reviews are.

I have to say. The games story was so amazing. I’m glad you put so much time into dissecting it.

Let’s be honest this is the review we’ve all been waiting for

Man can't wait for the inevitable Round 2 when the game's updates are all out

The game does have some rough spots, but I think it has some of the highest highs in the franchise’s history and I really hope they go further with the ideas here in the future.

Nothing makes me happier than seeing Johnny vs a sonic game

A massive step up from Forces but Frontiers is still probably one of the most 7/10 game I've played in a while and while I do love it as a whole don't get me wrong, I can't pretend it doesn't have severe issues holding it back. Some of which can be blamed on Sega for pushing it out before the game was ready of course but also Sonic Team's general design choices. It seems like for every 2 cool things I see with this game, there's at least 1 baffling design choice in there. The Cyberspace physics, the jump killing your momentum, the parry not actually being a parry, the "economy" with Big's fishing, the continued overuse of basic 2d segments in Chaos Island, the entire ending sequence being clearly rushed out the door with just the essentials, these are all things that hold the game back and the weirdest part is that the modding community has already worked out a lot of these issues to at least some degree in a matter of 2 weeks. Obviously these tweaks have their own issues but it really makes me wonder why Sonic team continues to commit to such weird design choices. The game needed another year but as is, I still had a great time with it and I will continue playing it here and there for sure especially after more polished mods come out. I even got into playing the cyberspace stages despite the flaws, they're just fun to speedrun for me.

I completely agree with everything said. When a game review is just this good (in my standards) I just imagine the board of directors and devs of the game sitting down and watching game reviews like this together while taking notes. I wish the world was like this.

Also to note the end credit music was awesome ! Idk if you talked about in the video or not I might missed it but Sage singing and telling Eggman she is sorry made me so teary eyed it was incredible and apparently sonic team also added a song basically telling us fans they have our back and they don’t plan on letting us down anymore.

Easily one of Johnny’s best reviews. This totally encapsulates how I feel about this game.

I love the sonic series, it’s been with me all my life and I’m glad that after all those rough patches it’s finally looking good for the blue blur

Man, over a decade later and I’m still here making sure to tune into Johnny’s reviews. Watching this took me right back to watching his sonic generations review when it was new.

This game gave me the feeling that SA1 and Unleashed gave me when I first played them, and the story, despite the issues at the end, was a fantastic ride. Honestly one of my new favorite Sonic games of all time

I've waiting for this review. I'm glad sonic team is taking sonic in the right direction and I hope they take a look at the criticism as well to make a stellar sequel.

21:01 While I was playing the game I ended up kinda realizing as to why the boost was put on the right trigger. It's there so you can steer Sonic with more ease in the open world with the right analog stick, since when you're boosting and you turn the camera to the left or the right, Sonic turns to that direction as well, and if the boost was mapped to a face button, it would make it harder to also steer with the right stick (Yeah, it is confusing at first, but I ended up realizing that it was a smart idea)

As a big fan of the earlier 3D Sonic games I was all for the callbacks in frontiers. I definitely see how a new player wouldn't get it at all but I just love how they went about it. They didn't go the route of the typical fan service where it's in your face about it. They chose to make it a quick mention here or there and if you get it you get it. I really appreciated that.

There are mods available that actually restore momentum and make the game feel a little closer to older 3D titles, Showin's feeling like the best one. It's not perfect by any means but the open zones turn into a parkour playground once you get the hang of it. I'm glad you mentioned wanting to carve your own path around because that's the exact reason why I DLed the mod in the first place and it delivered

It's always a fun time whenever Johnny reviews a Sonic game.

I’m impressed that Johnny put out a movie-length review of Sonic Frontiers 12 days after the game launched.

Can I just also say Mike Pollock's performance didn't just knock it out of the park, He Yeeted the Goddamn Stadium to Outer Space!

Feeling acknowledged by the story is exactly how I described it when I was playing. Made me feel like I was watching the characters I had kept up with for years, and not just another episode of the week. Also the music in this game is the best goddamn thing ever. Love the metalcore boss themes, love the Cyberspace music.

Frontiers was such a fun game, can't wait for the next game that Sonic team has in store

This was the first game in a while where I had to make myself disengage from the internet just so I can experience it blind, and boy do I appreciate having done that. Frontiers has its flaws, and I understand many people's hesitance with whether or not this formula will stick considering last time Sonic Team changed things up (for mainline games) was Lost World and they very quickly backpedaled with Forces, but they also have to remember a few noteworthy differences with then and now: 1. Lost World was made mostly in response to a lot of staff on Sonic Team leaving for Nintendo following Generations, with the ones sticking around deciding to try something new since the new folk likely have very little experience with the boost formula. Frontiers also had a relatively small team working on it (iirc it was some 60 devs?) for the scale of game they were going for, but these guys have the experience with Sonic now. 2. Lost World had a very polarizing reception when it came out, with many split on it either being a great game or a terrible game. This is probably one of the bigger, if not the biggest, reasons why Forces went back to the boost formula. Frontiers, while still not received amazingly, has a closer general consensus of it being at least decent, with many reading the game as more of a test ground to see if people will like a new gameplay loop for the series going forward. 3. Related to the above, the games they followed up after. Generations was very much appraised as a great game and a fantastic celebration of the blue blur's 20-year history, only to be followed up with a middling and polarizing game almost completely disconnected from it. Forces was panned as a boring and middling experience both as a standalone and an anniversary game, so to see Frontiers be so accepted by many is a massive breath of fresh air for us. 4. Sonic Team has more or less stated that if Frontiers does well- which definitely does seem to be the case- that, again, they're willing to go this path for the series going forward. I don't remember if they said anything similar for Lost World, though I doubt that's the case.

I actually loved the Cyberspace levels. They felt odd at first, given the new controls, but by the time I S ranked 1-2, I had a pretty good understanding of how to play efficiently. To me, it felt amazing! There are a lot of actions that can halt or slowdown momentum, but in the end, it feels so satisfying.

Fun fact: During the infamous pinball section, I was just about to finish the whole thing, but my thumb accidentally pressed the circle button. Most games would ask “are you sure you want to quit”, but it just kicks me out of the minigame immediately with no warning, causing me to start the whole thing over. 💀

This makes me feel even more excited for the next game because it seems they finally have a solid foundation for 3D Sonic

SAGE was adorable. Imagie her interacting with Orbot, Cubot and Metal.

36:05-I went to this exact spot now with the new spin dash from update 2 and it felt great launching right off of it

To me, Sonic Frontiers feels like a more mature Sonic game. It seems more focused towards the older Sonic fanbase instead of trying to pull in new people. Every character appears more seasoned, even Eggman. I like the idea of a shift from shallow character arcs and new introductions, like the OC in Sonic Forces, to keeping a small cast and going deeper into them.

John: People are gonna hate this, another gameplay shift Me: After forces was so brain dead easy, I welcome some kind of difficulty. This is the apology boss. What a god send

Once all 3 updates are out this needs a round 2!

It _cannot_ be understated just _how_ good Ian Flynn's writing is. Comic fans in the know have been asking for him to work on a game for the longest time, and now that he's here, I want him to _stay_ He alone quite honestly bumps up my personal score of the game like 2 grades, it's quite excellent. Round of applause to him, and the narrative team too!

It’s interesting. I just finished rewatching Jonny’s review on Adventure 2 and jumping onto this one. His voice and mannerisms have changed dramatically over the years. Almost as if I’m listening to someone else entirely. Had to rewind a few times cause his drawls and deep cuts were so surprising that I had to make sure I caught what he said lol

41 minutes!? Time to bundle up! Get my snacks and food ready for this feature-length presentation!

Day made whenever he uploads!!! Here’s to hoping he enjoyed it as much as I did ❤

36:05 man would johnny love update 2

Binge watching Sonic reviews is something I'll never get tired of. Yours being my favorite one yet.

Honestly my most hyped video of this year ever since they announced the game, I knew it was coming we all knew it was coming.

Never clicked a Johnny notification so quickly.

It’s so crazy to think I’ve been watching your videos for a decade Johnny. This review really made me smile and I’m glad that we felt similar about it. It wasn’t perfect but as a long time Sonic fan who is very critical about a lot of the from the past 10 years, I can say that this is a step in the right direction. I’m always looking forward to the next one.

One of things that Eggman having a daughter made me do was recontextualize his old plans and just add "for my daughter" at the end. For instants, "I am going to destroy the world so that I may make an amusement park, for my daughter."

Your take on how you view stories and how the genre doesn't affect how you look at it is rather refreshing. I have a tendency of delving deep into stories of certain games in genres that aren't particularly known for expansive stories (Kirby and Ratchet and Clank for platformers, and Guilty gear, a fighting game). I know people who prefer not having a plot in their platformers, but I always like it when devs go the extra effort in trying to make an interesting world and plot.

Really happy to hear good things about the story and character work. Ian Flynn has been doing amazing work with the Sonic comics and Im glad that has translated well to the video game stage.

Sonic Team has REALLY been cooking with these updates, so I look forward to your inevitable round two for this game.

When you brought up how The End was a Kirby final boss slapped into a Sonic game.... I also had the same thought. Sudden gameplay change into a shoot'n'up playstyle. A death God sealed away by the ancients. That alone sounds like Kirby lore. Heck, even the name... The End, reminds me of a Kirby final boss. Void Termina, or as it's named in Japan.... Ende Nil. "I am nothing."

The Dr. Pepper out of your system and the depressed child lines had me the only laugh I had all day (nothing bad just busy)

Pop-in is such an easy problem to fix. All you need to do is reduce draw distance by writing into the story that a mysterious fog has overtaken Metropoli....uh, I mean Silent Hi....uh, I mean Green Hill Zone.

There were cut lines implying that Sonic was losing his memory as he kept attempting to corrupt himself.

happy 1st anniversary sonic forces!!!(can't fully explain it well but this review not only reminded me of the passion you have for the series johnny that brings a smile to my face but also my own love for the blue blur that introduced me to you in the 1st place.:3) love the story as it reminded me of unleashed being simplistic but ,seeing super sonic used more than just the final boss,the callbacks to the series(that never got bubsy/gex or family guy levels of bad to me with how bare the series got with lost world though seriously want to see how the gang met sticks with how they only met in worlds unite/the sonic channel stories.),the exploration(especially the options it gives like the final islands being my favorite for platforming/actually used that bird to tails location too.),while clunky like it bringing back combat,actually loved big the cat in this game(especially how sonic cares for him,being since heroes he was so enjoyable that i would like if for an adventure remake they made it like this/have an equivalent to his stories in secret rings.) ,showing the origin of the chaos emeralds(that with the master emerald/echidnas find interesting as they didn't go into chip or dark gaia's connections with them in unleashed either.). & especially the characters being reflective like sonic(absolutely alongside colors & the boom cartoon my favorite of roger as the hedgehog with how mature he is caring for his friends.),tails(addressing him being a coward in forces/brat in lost world trying to grow from it with help from sonic being there for him.),knuckles(showing his history with the echidnas/tikal still being around,his rivalry with sonic especially super sonic flinching at his fist yet being a bro. being there for knuckles when he sees how lonely the echidna is after what happened to him in that awesome short.) ,amy(love they are bringing back her confident sa1 characterization that idw,to an extent lost world and boom brought back alongside her tarot cards just wish she used her hammer more/bring cream back more.) & especially dr. eggman(compared to idw where the stuff with belle/him changing went nowhere really love how humanized he got being a father to sage especially at the end,having respect for sonic & his friends,handling well eggman changing his name from robotnik and even actually showing his thoughts on maria that sa2 never gave a thought to that makes me want to see shadow have a similar dynamic to sage.) with sage being my favorite new character since blaze(feeling like eggman's equivalent to chip with sonic and being a sister to orbot & cubot/even metal sonic implied from murder of sonic.)/love in areas way more than shadow. overall to me this game was a "foundation" game like the adventure series for adventure(which is great but was a mes/sa2 being a downgrade with idiot plots.) or rush/unleashed(that has a great tone but the werehog should've been knuckles,shortened and with more setpieces alongside doing more with tails.) for boost as while i have issues with the game like similarly to botw or recent collect-o-thon's being too big at points with some of the challenges,think the casino events could've instead been events with the end causing mayhem to foreshadow her more also wish she had a goddess form. while they do show it visually affecting him later on do think maybe they could've shown the cyberspace infection affecting him more(don't find it secret rings levels of bad where it didn't matter at all or shantae where even when it got fleshed out it was pointless other than showing rottytop's/poor bolo a better friend than sky just being a bitch.),agree the memo's should've been cutscenes(actually a similar a complaint i had with kingdom hearts.),the cyberspace are the worst parts of the game to me both for not doing much with the games they could've done levels for being taken from sonic's memories ala sonic reminiscent showing the boost formula's had a huge downgrade since generations(or just bring it's producer back.) and some of the controls could've been handled better for combat. but it doesn't outweigh my love for what the series is doing,what i enjoyed from this and especially sega being more serious about reflecting on what did & didn't work for the series while reworking/reimagining it as best as they can that i'm actually excited in the new direction and hope they continue with what they have adding and doing more of acknowledging(like with what they are doing with sonic channel for the other characters especially with tailstube fixing the lore connecting it like confirming the classic characters still exist.:3)the history of this wonderful hedgehog.

Love this game, it was everything I wanted as a kid playing Sonic Adventure DX.

Your review is awesome. I think it's the best review so far. BTW 38:58 You can skip this fight if you put the difficulty to normal. It was a wise choice for Sonic Team to make it optional

The perfect reward is after a long days work today is to come home, put on some dinner, and put on this video. Cannot wait for tonight

Fun fact: Vandalize, the ending song that plays after Dear Father when you beat the game on normal or easy mode has an explicit version that drops the F-bomb like 5 or 6 times. And also changes the meaning of the song from a father grieving the loss of his daughter to an angsty teen dealing with a breakup!

Johnny's here, reaching far across these new frontiers!

Johnny, gosh darn bro. I've been watching you on and off for years at this point. But every single time I come back to watch ya, it's a vibe every single time. Please never stop what you do.

I actually really liked the Pinball section; I actually managed to beat it on the first attempt with only one ball and was pleasantly surprised since everything I saw online about it was hostile. If anything, I wish there was a way to go back and play it again after you reach the goal, though I do wish the table itself was a bit bigger. As for the plot, the Ancients being Chaos ancestors was something I found out before I even saw them in a flashback, so I kinda screwed myself out of a neat reveal. That being said, them being the ones to bring the Chaos Emeralds and create the ruins from the OG 2D games, especially Angel Island, was really cool even if it contradicts with Unleashed a bit. It's even got me theory-crafting a bit. Since Chaos is supposed to be a Chao that was mutated by the energies of the Master Emerald, that would also suggest that the Chao are the descendants of the Ancients. Lore-wise, that means that the Ancients that escaped the Starfall Islands with the emeralds evolved (or more specifically, DEVOLVED) into a less threatening race to avoid The End if it ever broke free. The emerald's power just tapped into Chaos and re-evolved it into the form of its ancestors. That explains why they completely vanished without a trace prior to the Echidna tribes taking over. It also explains why the Koco are so similar to them in appearance AND why there are no Chao on those islands. Plus, it's even foreshadowed by the Knuckles prologue and the Chao's interest in a Koco mask. For all the stumbles the gameplay has, the worldbuilding this time around it top notch.

I just need a yearly notification now with that starting clip: “look alive the holidays have come” SMACK