@@ItsBeastiee I think that song is popular in the fanbase but outside the fanbase Live and Learn, His World, and Open Your Heart are more recognizable.
@@Eldarin Same here! Saw your twitter banner, I'm flattered :) Btw, I should try telling you again, RU-vid automatically unsubscribed you from my channel (it says I have no subscribers) :/
I couldn't agree more, Sonic Adventure 2 is an *AMAZING* game! Even tho it's pretty old now, it's known as one of the "Best Sonic Games" up to this day😉
I liked Generations and Colors, I actually preferred the Werehog stages over the boost stages in Unleashed because a lot of the boost stages were slippery in that game
@@theminecraft2516 It's your opinion. An extremely rare opinion. Probably 0.1% of people agree with you. No offense lol. Colors is just daytime sonic except it's a slightly better version of unwiished. ya hear that? Fanboys coming.
Personally In my opinion I feel that the adventure games are quite flawed but the good elements overtake that by so so much. Despite the flaws I love them for everything they do right.
I feel like Mario Sunshine is flawed, heavily flawed, I can't even replay it because it gets so bad at times that I quit. SA2 is still a very good game and this is the Sonic Game that beat Nintendo at its own Game.
34:00 Sure, but he's also highly responsible for a lot of the damage in the franchise with his desire to constantly reinvent the wheel and abandoning formulas before completely refining them. And let's not even bring up the continuous, gross retconning of the series lore. I'm grateful for the good he has done for the franchise and his appreciation for the fans, and I admire his and Sonic Team's ambition. However, Sega needs to know where to draw the line between ambition & change, and consistency and identity.
Something a lot of past reviewers have overlooked is that Tails originally was never planned to be playable in the way he is now. His stages were the last stages made going off of general tone surrounding old interviews. As such it explains why there's a lot more surprise ambushes and tight edges in his levels. Most of Eggman's fun stages involve you destroying everything and getting a high rank for it. Tails stages are a lot more spaced out and that makes it harder to group up enemies for satisfaction. As for the treasure hunting stages it's biggest growing pain is that when you're a new player you won't know all the stage's secrets. It's why some stages that are either more compact or allow you to see more are enjoyed over tight ones like Security Hall and Death Chamber. They have a lot of nooks and crannies you have to know or else you won't be having a good day. That and of course the radar change. I think the intent for the radar change was to streamline the process so you weren't running around aimlessly between three shards. However in the end for a lot of people it did more harm then good. Still love this game though and fantastic video (even though I'm not done with it yet).
I am still waiting for someone to properly mod the SA1 radar into SA2. Because then it will show that a simple mistake made the stages hard on casuals. People just like to jump on sonic and say "omg, this is fundamentally awful!", even tho it rarely is.
There's an even better explanation for everyone mistaking Shadow for Sonic. The super sonic deign in SA1 is nearly identical to Shadow's design, and after seeing Super Sonic take out a city-destroying water dragon, they assumed Shadow was just another super sonic form and wanted to stop him. The reason Shadow and super sonic look similar in the first place is because Gerald Robotnik saw the Hidden Palace murals depicting Sonic, years before he was born. So Shadow IS a copy of Sonic, he just came first. And we know Gerald was on Angel Island because of the mechanical Master emerald alter and the perfect chaos clones aboard the ARK.
Future games should expand on that, maybe have Gerald Notes for reaching certain number of emblems that mentions how was the first contact with the Black Comet, how Mystic Ruins and Angel Island are connected (perhaps there is where the remaining echidnas lived after Chaos killed almost all of them), the Gizoid and maybe how the Biolizard was working on curing María's illness
I don’t know why people keep trying to “explain” the Sonic-Shadow mixup using the concept art. That design ISN’T in the game so should be ignored. It’s not that they didn’t rewrite the story after changing the design, it’s that they didn’t have to. Let’s look at the two major groups that confuse Sonic and Shadow: GUN - Well we know that GUN are aware of Shadow’s existence - hell, they were the ones holding him - but the point is that he’s supposed to be a top secret even from GUN’s own soldiers. When Shadow broke out, soldiers on Prison Island would have seen him and questioned who that was. GUN’s solution? Pin it on Sonic. Remember that City Escape takes place BEFORE the heist, so Shadow hasn’t even made his public debut yet. Sonic was being arrested for the sake of fooling the soldiers that saw Shadow on Prison Island, and when Shadow stole the Chaos Emerald, GUN had to double-down. The Public - This is something so many people overlook. Literally the only insight we get into the general public confusing Shadow for Sonic is that one News report, where we’re told that eye-witnesses identified the thief as Sonic. EYE-WITNESSES. As in, people who were there at the time of the heist. Now thnk about the circumstances of that heist - it was night, Shadow moves too fast for the average Joe to keep up with, his shillouette resembles Sonic’s (heck it’s a dead-ringer for Super Sonic, which is probably more recognisable to people around the world assuming the battle against Perfect Chaos was caught on camera), and Shadow only stops at the top of the bridge where he starts Radical Highway. People don’t get a good look at Shadow, they simply see a shape that vaguely resembles Sonic, at night, really far away, who can move super fast. So they identify it as Sonic, natrually. The News show a close-up of Shadow but only report what eye-witnesses said at the time of the hesit, they don’t state their own thoughts on the matter. Which makes sense, “Sonic a jewel thief?!” is a pretty compelling headline. We never see or hear what people’s thoughts are after the fact - maybe a majority of the population realised it wasn’t Sonic and demanded GUN stop chasing him, while some steadfastly believed in GUN and assumed Sonic was wearing a disguise, while others opted to wait for more info. Fact is, we aren’t told any of that, we just know that AT THE TIME, people mistook Shadow for Sonic, and given the context it was very believable. Eggman and Amy also make the mistake but Eggman’s mistake is the same as above - he sees Shadow in a dark room standing way above him. Eggman only knows of one hedgehog at this point who ALWAYS shows up to foil his plans, so he jumps the gun, but then he realises his mistake soon enough. Amy might have had the sun in her eyes and, again, only saw Shadow’s shilloeutte and not his full figure. I think when it happens with Silver in Sonic 06 that was basically Sonic Team establishing her as a bit of a klutz. Also as far as how Gerald’s message got on the ARK, it’s never ouright explained but it’s not a stretch either. GUN recorded that message as his final request, a mere formality, and most-likely kept it in their computers, untouched for 50 years. All Shadow would have to do is find that file on his way out and take it up to the ARK. Another possibility is that Gerald himself arranged for the recording to be automatically backed-up to the ARK’s computers. In external material we’re told that Gerald, after his detainment, was forced to finish Project Shadow on Prison Island, under GUN’s watch (Shadow having been recovered from his escape pod). Gerald wasn’t given a team to work with and only had soldiers watching over him so, as bright as he was, he likely had a number of oppurtunities to do this right under GUN’s nose.
There is also the factor that Amy got an additional retroactive excuse in Unleashed, but people wouldn't know because it was *translated out*. (Seriously, how does this crap keep happening before the 2010s when the stories began being written in the west?) Anyways, when she grabs werehog sonic and then apologises, she states that she really thought she "sensed" Sonic. As in, she is did the lucario with her mental powers. There is nothing wrong with her eyesight, she just saw a hedgehog with an aura resembling Sonic's during the stress of sneaking into a high security base in the middle of the ocean. And for silver, the case can be made that she actually DIDN'T make a mistake, because Sonic really WAS in that general location mere moments before.
Endgame: i'm the biggest crossover in history Nick: hold my Chao If you recognize my name then you have seen me praising this game to no end in so many videos, so i'll put it simple This is my favorite game ever
1:05 I disagree with that. I do agree that SA2 is really high up there but I personally thought that Black Knight had the best narrative. Even if we were to disregard the presentation of it (i.e. voice acting, OST, environments, character models, animation, etc.) I feel like Black Knight showcases Sonic's personality better than every Sonic game to date. I also believe that Shadow's character in 06 is just as good as SA2, arguably better. SA2's story is still top tier though.
Honestly, black Knight is probably my favorite story too but in the writing process ig it just slipped my mind. I suppose I mainly thought of it as a spin off with an different weirder story for sonic in my head but it’s version of Sonic is perfect. I say this but I still think Sonic in SA2 is amazing though and the story entertaining personally.
To everyone involved with this retrospective, this was a nice video. At this point it is harder to give a refreshing take on SA2 because everyone's talked it about it now, unlike 06 where people are FINALLY starting to talk more about its positives. Thank you for that too Nick, your video on why you love 06 is great. With that said, having multiple people made the video nice to watch because it feels good to see Sonic fans interacting with each other and appreciating their perspectives. As one myself, I know it's been a really, really frustrating road. The extra frustration this series brings may cause more arguments, but at the end of the day, we're fans with a desire to see Sonic improve, one way or the other. And as divided as the fanbase has become, I believe that most of us still appreciate what other fans have to offer and talk about. I hope to see a similar kind of harmony with your Sonic Eclipse series Nick :) While I'm not sure if it will be a series for me personally, I'm always glad to see Sonic fans working together to create a passion project. Actually, I'm happy when I simply see fans conversing happily and having a good time being a fan of Sonic, in spite of all the ups and downs and all-arounds ;)
SA 2's speed level design emphasized tricks and micro-paths breaking off for a moment. Learning these were essential to getting those A ranks. Something I never hear people really pick on.
I completely agree with everything you and everyone else mentioned. Sonic Adventure 2 is an amazing game. Although it’s not my Sonic favorite game, it’s definitely a close 2nd.
I never played it but the music, story, and Shadow made it one of my favorites, even after all the Sonic games I have experienced. One day perhaps I'll play it myself but I doubt my feelings towards this game will change.
SA2 is definitely a solid game. I'll always prefer Unleashed, Colours and Generations as far as 3D Sonic games go but that's probably because the game just dropped in quality (in my view) when they reached the ARK. It's the little things adding up, I think. Plus I grew up with the Boost formula so bias is gonna be there. But if they brought back this formula and polished it as much as they polished, say, Generations, that could easily change. I do want good stories back though, Black Knight and Unleashed are ones I generally look back on and have the style I want brought back. The entire thing where Sonic accepts that he's not necessarily the good guy of SatBK's story was really cool to me.
This game continues its life of being on an endless rollercoaster of differing opinions from one extreme to the next. I think the fact people to this day still debate the adventure titles so heavily while we barely even acknowledge lost world and forces says a great deal. This game and SA1 are massively influential and sega would be stupid to leave it dormant any longer. We've had years of genesis pandering now. It's dreamcasts turn I say.
My favorite sonic games in order 1. Sonic Generations (It’s the first game I’ve beaten in my life) 2. Sonic unleashed (Only sonic game that made me shed a tear) 3. Sonic Adventure (I like the controls in this game more than sa2 and Knuckles is better in this game) 4. Sonic Mania (I would Normally put sonic 2 here but I think mania looks and feels better) 5. Sonic 2 (I genuinely prefer this game compared to sonic 3 mostly because it’s the first sonic game and video game I’ve ever played. 6. Sonic Adventure 2 (best story and ending in sonic history) 7. Sonic 3 and knuckles (I appreciate how hard this game is and I understand why people say it’s the best) 8. Sonic colors (when I first got this game I enjoyed every second of it, now I can still find enjoyment out of it) 9. Sonic 1 (After replaying it a few times, I love this game so much more) 10. Sonic 06 (shadows story carried this game hard IMO and the music is the best in the series)
I saw this video and clicked on it and was expecting a long in-depth analysis of one of my favorite games... to have all of these sudden guest appearances out of nowhere from other RU-vidrs coming up out of nowhere like DLC characters reveals. XD I mean I'm not complaining, it's great to see familiar faces. That wasn't expecting a season pass list. Okay, seriously though jokes aside. This was a great video and I enjoyed watching from start to finish. It was nice hearing all of the different thoughts from different content creators points of view as well as your own. This wasn't my first Sonic game but it definitely is one of my favorites to this day. I really do hope Sega finds it within themselves to either remaster Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 or make a Sonic Adventure 3 either those would be good in my opinion. Now of course I would prefer having both of those be done, just imagine how awesome it would be if it was revealed to have two full-blown remakes in the same game. But then just a year later it has been announced that Sonic Adventure 3 is in development? :D The only thing that bums me out though is that when people usually talk about this game it's understandable because they talk about Sonic Adventure 2 that was on the Dreamcast not the later release which was Sonic Adventure 2 Battle for the GameCube. But I remember having great fond memories playing the two-player battle mode with my older brother and friends. I found it to be lots of fun and we put countless hours into that mode alone. I think it would be awesome if Sonic Adventure 2 was remade they could make the modes more expanded upon with more levels more characters and possibly even have online with up to four players at once. If Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 are eventually remade I would instantly buy that without a doubt!
I love how this game is so great that fans have given it the extra attention and improvements that Sega didn't. Like the SA2 mod manager, SA2 re-translated, chao world extended and all the sound and visual fixes. The game basically got a remaster for the the normally terrible PC port from the community. I can say after these small changes that this is my favourite game ever, nothing from any other series can really come close.
Speaking of details that are easily overlooked much like Rouge stealing the Master Emerald, you forget Shadow's memories being suggested as possibly being fake by Rouge during the cutscene before Final Chase. Additionally GUN did shut down the Space Colony Ark 50 years ago, which is the entire reason Lost Colony is dark, Shadow & Eggman reactivated The Ark during the cutscene that follows. Even ignoring the concept art thing, humanity wasn't aware of Shadow's existence with the exception of GUN. They see a blur running past them with that kind of speed they automatically would assume it was somehow Sonic. As for the models themselves keep in mind the body proportions for Sonic & Shadow are very Shonen Anime, which is how the Sonic Series is supposed to be. Sonic isn't supposed to feel like a cartoon animal, which Sega & Sonic Team forced him to be during the 2010s Decade. The Soap Shoes are epic & need to return in Sonic Adventure 3 or better yet an Adventure Timeline that has Adventure 3 in it. Treasure Hunting stages only take noobs that long to complete, experienced players can easily clear all Treasure Hunting arrangements within 5 minutes. If you're really struggling to get them on the radar, you do have the option of using the hint monitors. The Speedrunners can quickly clear each stage using only 1 hint each. If you play this mode in 2P Battle it can help refine your skills & speaking of which the GameCube version of the game would have 1 of the most extensive 2P Modes ever offered by the Sonic Series. Nintendo Sonic fans who got into the Sonic Series with GameCube remember this introductory game fondly with it being among the Top10 best sellers on the console for good reason. There was so much to this game with much more being offered here than in any of the 2010s Sonic Games had. We can only hope for a return to form in the Sonic Series to happen soon with the return of Chao Gardens.
It is downright stated in the original japanese. Instead of saying he made Shadow's mind pure(with will for revenge), he instead says that he has full control over his memory. That is why one should never ever review the story of a Sonic game unless a fantranslation of the original script is available. Gladly tho, this is not a worry for the 2010s, because Colors, Lost world, Generations and Team Sonic Racing were all written in english and Forces is barely diffrent in its original japanese.
@@lpfan4491 What are you saying? That Gerald went out & said he had full control over Shadow's memory in Japanese? The English version still heavily implies Shadow's memories were altered by Gerald even if it doesn't say it outright. It's easy to overlook details regardless of language, the official translation for SA2 was good even if the wording isn't an exact translation. The English Translation doesn't change Shadow's personality from the Japanese in Adventure 2. Shadow still keeps a refined way of speaking during the cutscene he was introduced. Sonic Adventure 2 had a much closer translation than Forces. The more recent game forced several bad jokes & a couple of plot points that weren't even in the Japanese version. I can't remember the exact quote for Rouge although I think it was "Even your own memories might not be real, you know!" Sonic Adventure 2 Battle was a masterpiece even if the English Dub for it has flaws. The spirit of the Japanese Version wasn't changed when the language was changed to English. The 2010s was Sonic's worst decade in terms of games largely because we didn't get Japanese Writing translated well into English.
@@WaterKirby1994 Eh...did you miss the last sentence? Most games in the 2010s were written in english, not japanese. I have to disagree on SA2 localisation being more faithful than Forces tho. Because they are about equal interms of faithfulness in my book. Just that forces is crap and SA2 is not.
@@lpfan4491 I have to disagree with you personally, & I didn't miss your last sentence. Pontac & Graff wrote trash for the series the entire 2010s decade & they made Forces worse for the English Translation. Had the Japanese writing been kept & adhered to rather than being entrusted to that pair who never should have been hired in the 1st place things would have been so much better. English Dub of Forces adds in so much crap that in some cases completely changes the tone for scenes. Sonic Adventure 2 didn't have its translators trying to parody its story like Forces did. Yes Forces was a bland game, although in terms of story Generations was even more bland.
@@WaterKirby1994 Why did you say the 2010s was a bad decade specifically because it didn't get japanese text translated well? I thought you missed the sentence because that implies there were multiple translations.
The radar locking the other two emeralds actually makes those stages infinitely more replayable than the ones in Adventure, imo. Once you've played the levels enough to know where all the hiding spots are, it's honestly a great feeling to find them without any hints. I think the hints do a pretty great job too. It makes it so you know where they are so when you come back to them, you're familiar with where they'll be. It also makes stumbling upon one of the locked emeralds an amazing experience. I think the main reason they locked the radar to one emerald at a time was to increase replayability and to reward familiarizing yourself with the stages, and if that's the case, they definitely succeeded. It fits their ranking system better too, so I think it was a great decision.
It still think it doesn't work well in story mode, since it kills the pacing. If you know all the hiding spots, you still wouldn't know if the emerald is hidden there in the current gameplay since it's randomized. The SA1 radar at least leaves the knowledge of those hiding spots more of some use since you can choose which order to look through, along with some of the hints to find the first on the radar. Being forced to look for emeralds in an order goes against the free and open world and honestly feels discouraging to explore the hiding spots, since you're going to take longer in the stage without knowing if you're exploration out of the railroaded path is closer or not. It was a huge sin to take an open world stage in a Sonic game and make it linear. You might not have a problem with it, but mods shown there's no harm in making sure the pacing is consistent in SA2.
You just earned a follow from me, I'm glad I'm not alone in how I feel about this game it's my all time favorite from my childhood and I enjoy playing it more than any other game
What an excellently done video. Not gonna lie, I was completely sold once you compared Sonic with Marvel/MCU. I have been saying this since I don't remember when, but Sonic has always felt like an cinematic experience to me. What's amazing about the MCU is that it not only takes many superheroes into the movie scene, but also expands upon them into this epic universe, filled with complex characters and stories. That's exactly how I've always seen Sonic, especially in all the 3D games before Colors, and no game showcases that feeling quite like this game. There's a lot more that you said that I really like and agree with. There's a few things that differ in terms of opinion, as I love the treasure hunting stages way more than most and ofc love the Chao Garden, but that's all understandable. Something I really love about this game is its perfect execution. While I would typically prefer hub worlds, not care for ranks, and so on, this game does it so masterfully that I could not imagine it any other way. And don't even get me STARTED on the characters. This is hands down the best written Eggman, Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, and more ever. And what makes these characters even greater is their complex feelings and interesting interactions with each other. And man, this game's got style in spades. I gotta thank you for this video. Like many who have made hour-long videos discussing their love for this game, this video truly felt like something special. With the care and passion present with you, combined with having so many from the community jump in to collaborate, this truly feels like a love letter not just to Sonic Adventure 2, but really for Sonic the Hedgehog. I don't normally comment very much, but I gotta say how wonderful this video was. Great job!!
Me and my buddies absolutely adored the Chao garden while growing up. God I can't even imagine the sheer amount of hours we've collectively spent raising and competing Chao. If they made a new one now, we'd probably be sucked back in all over again.
There's so many layers to it. Whilst nostalgic pull is a significant factor for many of us, it's not just that. The storyline, the soundtrack, and the variety of worlds and levels all make it an amazing game. The music is some of the best of any video game in my opinion. And then you have the Chao Garden which some people still play today. It's a phenomenal game and it's a real shame that in the 20 years since there has not been anything majorly resembling it in the series.
Unpopular opinion, the treasure hunting stages is my favorite part. Knuckles and Rouge, aside from being my two favorite characters, have the most fun stages for me. Yes, the radar does drag it down a bit. But if you're playing it on PC then just use the SA1 radar mod and boom, they are basically perfect.
I'm so grateful that Shadow doesn't get stuck in this game and get back together with Rouge. Sonic Heroes would be totally different and would impact the entire franchise, with the teams being: Team Sonic, Team Chaotix, Team "Gals" (formed by Amy, Cream and Rouge), Team "Hooligans" (formed by Fang, Bean and Bark), Team "Adventure" (formed by Chaos, Gamma and Big, strangely) and Team "Metal" (formed by Metal Sonic, Ray and Mighty). Omega would never exist, neither Team Dark nor Shadow The Hedgehog (The game), Sonic 2006 could be totally different and EVERYTHING would be altedered. Glad that they bring him back.
I've never had a problem with SA2s radar. My only gripes I have with the treasure hunting levels are the tight pyramid ones just being really unfun to traverse, but besides that I think I may even prefer them to the speed segments of the game.
Personally I think the radar nerf was a necessary thing due to one big thing Adventure 2 improved over Adventure 1....the hint system. There's almost no point to the hint system if all three emerald shards are trackable at the same time since it is giving you actual clues to piece together with the first two hint monitors before being told the exact location with the third one instead of just showing you exactly where to go with no actual thought needed like the Tikal Orbs of the first game. Plus an added benefit of the nerfed radar is that it helps incentivize you exploring the level more and memorize all the different potential locations for the Emerald Shards/Chaos Emeralds/Keys. It helps you to gain more experience for repeat playthroughs and the extra missions for how to streamline your run. Personally I think if they remake Sonic Adventure 2, they should keep the radar system generally the same as the other Non-Dreamcast versions, but give the radar the weakest Blue level of detection from the first game, that way finding the emerald shards is easier without making the Hint System worthless.
I never found a problem with the radar. And I and almost every sonic fan I know, actually did care for the Chao garden. The grind really wasn't bad. Didn't even feel like a grind. Also u say the lack of the leaderboard means it makes it not matter or persuade you into mastering a stage. That is heavily subjective and should be irrelevant in the argument. The game was released in the 90s and remade for the GameCube. Sure the dream cast had the capability to connect to the internet. But for 98% of games, went unused. Fun... fun was the incentive. Being able to show off to friends (if we had any) was the reason. I don't need my time attack score posted online for it to matter.
Well we know from the writing on the walls on Gerald's cell on Prison sland that they allowed him to continue his work which would explain how he was able to reprogram the ark to crash into Earth and tamper with shadow's memories, and possibly programmed the camera to upload itself to the ark. Also for those who say Rouge has no purpose in the story: SHE WAS LITERALLY SENT TO GET INFO ON PROJECT SHADOW AND THIS IS HOW WE LEARN OF THE BIOLIZARD
@@connorplays6263 Rouge also serves as a reason for the plot to actually go the way it did. She brings Eggman back to prison island, which leads to Shadow installing the bomb. She then gets trapped, which leads to Shadow running into Sonic and Sonic escaping the island quicker. If she didn't exist, then team dark would be running around the world without plan and team hero would be randomly sidequesting until they figure out who Shadow is. Not to mention KNUCKLES is the one who led them to the desert and he wouldn't even be in the plot or know anything without Rouge.
Yesterday I realized Unleashed is the one true SA3. - Takes place in the human world. - Has fewer stories and playable characters than the last Adventure game - Doesn't feature the inciting enemy of the last Adventure game(Chaos, Shadow) - Antagonist Evolution: Chaos wasn't playable. Shadow was, but was a clone of Sonic. Dark Gaia influences Sonic, introducing a new gameplay style; the Werehog. - Eggman having at least two bases(SA1: Final Egg and Egg Carrier, SA2: Pyramid Base and Ark, SU: Space place and Eggman Land). - Involves something mentioned in the last Adventure game(ex: Tails and the Chaos Emerald, Artificial Chaos): the Moon(technically). ...wait.
i think the main reason why the adventure games have been getting alot of hate recently is because fans realized their nothing they can say about 06 that hasn't already been said millions of times so they started hating on the adventure games because their the games that are the most similar to 06
I get the feeling these 'fans' (mostly non-fans) didn't like the adventure games when they came out. And are actually happy Sonic 06 was such a trainwreck, because they can use 06 as their argument Trump card for "Why the Adventure games were never good, and are OBJECTIVELY bad" "Remember Sonic 06? It did that and it was terrible!".
@@Ronan34753 those non fans and sega need to realized that 06 didnt fail because of the gameplay itself but because it was rushed and glitchy. And this is coming from someone who loves 06
@@jdawson7877 Oh they realise, they just don't want anyone else to realise. Or else we might actually get a fun 3D Sonic game with guts and integrity again (The Horror!) .
Pretty much. People just don't even want to give the games a fair chance. Keyword being fair. I thought SA1 was absolutely attrocious when I first played it, but I played the gamecube-version emulated at the time. Then I just decided to try out the mods when the steamversion was on sale and...the story is still a bit crap, even with the japanese script, but the game overall went from one of my least favorites in the series to one of my my most favorites in a single playthrough. Tldr: Design of the games is not at fault, Sega just mistreats them. Edit: Fixed the statement. SA1 is not literally my favorite Sonic Game, just up there.
@@lpfan4491 Fair point, although I'm a little triggered by the story comment. But yeah, the way Sega treated the ports/preservation of these games are a lesson in what not to do, as they'll easily negatively affect someone's first impression of these games.
I’d compare the speed character level design of SA2 to something more like an obstacle course. It’s about self expression through movement options. The routes in the speed character sections are always simultaneously filled with a grinding rail, a bundle of badnicks to homing attack off of, and a run n jump areas. The game through its physics, movement options, and level design is built for the player to express their own style. It’s very reductive to derogatorily call it linear. It hyper focuses on the philosophy that simply moving your character should be fun. It’s also much like a skateboarding game in that aspect.
Ya know, it's nice knowing how the emerald got off angel island. But now I'm questioning how Rouge lifted that giant gem in the first place. Just how much does she lift?! Is Rouge actually swole?!
I actually disagree about the radar. There is actually a big reason why the radar being 'nerfed' was a great design choice and it's going to take some explaining. If you want then I can break it down.
There was no mistake. Project shadow was a cover up and they merely used sonic as scape goat as shadows mere existence was still a sore subject for GUN.
@@ItsNickForShort also sonic has had various other forms before this entry and if you're not even aware shadow exists, not the worst logic to assume it may also be sonic
It's a shame about the story of Adventure 2 was inspiration to a certain japanese anime franchise that has a girl with a scissor blade and can turn super. And people criticise it that it's the same thing as Sonic Adventure 2.
I genuinely don't understand why people have a problem with Shadow being mistaken for Sonic. It makes enough sense in context given the citizens' knowledge of both Sonic and Shadow. This would be like if many people mistook Venom's first appearance in a Spiderman story for Spiderman. I mean he's basically just Spiderman in dark clothes aesthetically speaking, with minor differences in details. Same with Shadow having differences in details, details that people wouldn't notice if their first sighting of Shadow is just a *fast moving silhouette of a hedgehog.* Which is exactly that. In the story Shadow's first introduction to the world is as a fast moving hedgehog figure blitzing through the city (Radical Highway) *at night* after stealing a Chaos Emerald. And given that people are aware that Sonic can change his form, it would make more sense within the context of the story for people to initially assume that Shadow is some new form of Sonic, not some entriely different fast moving hedgehog given that before Shadow, Sonic is literally the only hedgehog known to the citizens that can move fast. Especially since Shadow's quills are shaped exactly like Super Sonic. I honestly think people's hindsight of knowing Shadow is not Sonic is whats blinding them from putting themselves into a position in the sotry where they are exposed to Shadow for the first time with no context. Also the emerald radar is possibly the dumbest nitpick ever. If you're spending 30 minutes in a level it's because you're not using the hints to find the pieces. You can still get A ranks from uising hints, but it's entirely on you if you're not able to find them quickly enough to get an A even with hints. Like in Sonic's levels, you need to get better in order to go faster. That means memorizing the emerald locations through the hint system. If you want to use a mod to make it easier fine, but don't pretend like you're "fixing a flaw." Just because you're not willing to get use to the way it works with the hints does not mean it's a flaw.
Pretty much. Sonic is known for changing his shoes already, so the only actual clue the normal population and the police have that Shadow is not Sonic is that he had chesthair. Wow, super great evidence. The military meanwhile is logically mislead by their higherups(Which is as easy to figure out as just using ones brain) and Amy's case is actually indirectly explained in a later game.
Sonic Adventure 2 definitely has remained the best 3D game in the series. The best game in general of the franchise imo being Sonic the Hedgehog 2. It truly improved on the original Adventure game in almost everyway. Just like EnderElectrics was implying briefly, many people criticized SA2 for being too linear when it comes to the gameplay and level design. You know, like nearly every video game critic does smh lol. The thing is though, most platformers are. A lot of people have also criticized this game for not aging well which is of course because of the mouth animation (or as what most people call it the lip synching) and the voice acting (with the exception of Ryan Drummond, David Humphrey, Deem Bristow, and Lani Minella as Rouge). However, just because something hasn't aged well doesn't mean it does not still hold up. I mean look at Super Mario 64. That game hasn't aged well either. Mostly because of the graphics and the polygon and geometric shaped platforming but it still holds up pretty dang well too. Also, about the part you were saying with the Knuckles and Rouge segments; I wouldn't exactly say they're mediocre. The whole radar mechanic is part of the challenge. Part of the difficulty. But yes. It can be VERY difficult and frustrating at times. I personally didn't have a hard time with them. Well, up until Meteor Herd and Mad Space. I was starting to suck at them and was having trouble when I got to Death Chamber and Egg Quarters. Anyways, great video. It was well done, Nick. You along with everyone who appeared on it did an excellent job.
Wet dry world in particular just isn't well designed. Both sections feel artificially seperated and the main-section specifically is just a jumbled mess of random assets and plattforms. Meanwhile people call Sonic out for having a few bad moments in levels.
@@lpfan4491 I mean tbf Mario usually doesn't have bad or at the very least mediocre levels. Sonic's are more obvious. But yeah, it's definitely ridiculous lol. Also, Wet Dry World wasn't bad in design imo. Draining and rising the water was creative mechanic. Sure it was tedious at times but still.
5:51 But it was shut down...and full of gun mechs that were supposed to kill intruders. Heck, it is so stupidly full of gun mechs that Eggman didn't even destroy a fraction of all of them in the stage lost colony, there are still plenty left over to be enemies in the later ark-levels. When it comes to why Gun didn't just destroy the place...to what end? Gerald could have been lying, getting the soldiers killed in a deathtrap. Or destroying it could have activated a weaker version of the program by accident. Or he wanted them to try to delete the program, triggering it instead. Or it all goes well and the world demands to know why they just destroyed the place that was closed down due to an accident. It just wasn't worth taking all the potential risks.
They would’ve just destroyed it or repurposed it since it’s a giant laser pointed at the planet. I find it lazy that it was left in the sky with such little monetization that Shadow and Eggman practically walked in without a hitch.
If we are going to talk about the graphics, do take in mind, the Gamecube models are not even remotely the same as the Dreamcast models. The Dreamcast models are much better looking and the ports just ruined many of their great aspects. That's also not the only thing these ports made rather lackluster. Many stages and the Chao gardens are either untextured or completely changed. Long story short, if you use mods, do the Dreamcast mods and if you are able to, Dreamcast is the superior version.
Gotta be honest, Sonic unleashed and sonic adventure 2 are the only games to have both good gameplay and good story. I can't think of any other game. Maybe sonic adventure. Edit, never mind. I remembered about big's story and I can't say sonic adventure has a good gameplay
I can never understand how people can say SA1 is better unless they’re just saying that because it lets them only play as sonic and ignore the shitty parts All the best parts of SA1 were improved in SA2 and the gameplay styles were meshed together with a good balance unlike SA1 and not to mention the improvements to the storytelling and cutscenes Also when talking about the models you said that Amy doesn’t look the best but you’re using footage from what looks like the pc version, in the original Dreamcast version her pupils were thinner and further apart which makes her look way better but they changed it some reason when porting the game to GameCube, SPEEPShighway has a good video on other changes in the cutscenes if you haven’t seen it
It’s the other way around. Amy’s pupils are farther apart in the original. It’s them being too close together that looks bad, although that’s not even the only problem with her model.
I understand that what this game did for the franchise is good, but I just can't say it's the best tbh I have way too many problems with it and also have many questions as to why some people like certain aspects of it. I know i'm in the minority, but when I bought this game a good while ago I had hoped it was as good as some people say, but it looks like I had my hopes up. This game is a solid 5/10 for me....
There's one certain aspect of SA2 that made me more curious about Sonic's character. In the City Escape level, there's a line about Sonic wanting to "follow his rainbow". Most fans would interpret that as Sonic being homosexual, but how would you describe it? Sonic's bio in the prequel stated that the one thing he hates most is oppression. Even if Sonic isn't gay and one of his friends was gay, Sonic would still accept that character for who they are. Just to recap... During your Silver analysis video, I mentioned Silver's theme (Dreams of an Absolution) was originally meant to be written as a gay love story according to Bentley Jones. When I asked you about SEGA/Sonic Team making Silver an LGBT character, you weren't against the idea. You told me that Silver was the one male character that's most likely to be homosexual if that concept was ever explored. Also, you said that SEGA/Sonic Team should create a new character to be Silver's potential lover. I have one last question for you in regards to Sonic Eclipse. Do you plan to give Silver a boyfriend in that project? Since Silver's from the future, you could expand on worldbuilding since he's underutilized in the games. Depending on how well-received this project gets, there's potential for new ideas. Even though I mentioned the concept of Silver's sexuality, giving Silver a new character as his lover was your idea (I paired him up with Shadow beforehand).
Following your rainbow isn’t an inherent LGBTQ expression, so I never took it that way, it means to follow your dreams. As for Silvers sexuality I’ve never interpreted him as gay since he’s never seemed romantically interested in anyone really. As for him being gay in eclipse that’s not the plan no, I’m keeping the characters as close to canon as possible and since SEGA hasn’t decided to make him gay that’s not something I’m going to delve into. I want it to feel like a real sonic story that could be real canon and his focus is more on personal development not his romantic relationships.
@@ItsNickForShort Sonic wanting to follow his dreams (such as supporting his friends and stopping evildoers) is accurate for a strong hero like him. As for Silver's love life, I can understand why you wouldn't want to focus on that. Silver is the most effeminate male hedgehog, so having him fall in love with a masculine hero similar to Sonic/Shadow is something I've always wanted.
naaah those tails levels and eggman levels actually suck. like those levels are bad. I went back last year and played and i was like naaaaah this aint really it. only sonic and shadow levels are enjoyable. knuckles maps are iight
