I'd argue that sonic always had gimmicks; the series had strong gameplay since the start, but much of the advertising always focused on these gimmicks. Things like the blast processing special stages or the time mechanic in CD show that these gimmicks have been a core point of the series from the get-go.
Considering that your point is factually true it makes you wonder why people always complain without giving said gimmick a shot, sure you may not like it but repetition doesn't sell you need to make gambles to succeed in business, The problem is just implementing in a way that it doesn't ruin the experience for players who want sonic. (Hence why generations is an amazing game if short as it uses said gimmicks in the stages and it feels more of an extension till arguably planet wisp)
@@bebopknux5857 Exactly, gimmicks keep things fresh. Granted they don't always work cause they're implemented like crap (ex. the Wisps in Lost World) but that doesn't mean that if you see a gimmick you go "ugh!" Play the game, try the gimmick and determine then if it's good or bad to you. Personally I like when different gimmicks are implemented within different levels (ex. Super Mario 3D World) more than adding to a characters moveset but I don't completely right the new move terrible from the word "go" cause it's a gimmick.
Damn, not even a direct mention of Lost World's parkour system. If the game was better built around it, it would probably be one of the best Sonic gimmicks imo
I think in this case it's that parkour isn't so much as a gimmick as it is meant to be an extension to Sonic's moveset, and a nice one at that. Problem is how the level design barely takes advantage of it.
@@spartanq7781 Agreed! When Lost World came out I was like "Uhh, I can run on walls in SA1 and '06..." It felt like if the new Mario game said "Introducing the brand new long jump" despite it being in Mario 64.
@@spartanq7781 Not every wall, just the ones that explicitly had floor curving up to them. LW made it universal, but screwed it up with the run button thing because that's how Mini Mario did it in the New SMB games and we gotta REALLY be like Mario to appeal to Nintendo fans duh huh, plus they don't really design the levels well around the move.
Silver was done so dirty, I know that he’ll never get the representation and fleshing out he deserves but damn it I love him. He was a gimmick that people in the fandom actually really like thanks to the comics, I really do hope he gets another shot at being either playable or being a more dynamic character.
I don't think SEGA will ever give him a more dynamic role. Not because I hate him, I love the guy. But because if SEGA has learned one thing, it's that "06 bad". They wouldn't give Silver a prominent role in a game if their life depended on it.
The problem is that they made him wrong the Rivals series made him a lot better, they should made him fast but with the telekinesis powers to kill enemies or harzads in the way
@@kauanjos3199 No, as shown by P-06, Silver's gameplay is perfectly tailored for him given his background. Unfortunately, I'm talking about P-06 and not '06 itself.
Man, having the gimmicks attached to the stages and not sonic? No no no, that would mean actually trying to think about the level design duh who would want to do that in the first place duh
I remember asking what would’ve happened if the Werehog’s gameplay was positively received. One replied that maybe if the werehog impressed critics, they would’ve said that it was better being expanded in its own game
agree, all it needed in my eyes was more creative platforming to keep a good pace and better flow in combat (outside the bosses, those were just awesome)
Not a horrible idea, actually, i feel like there are a lot of characters in the Sonic Universe that could use a spin-off, as theur characters and ability sets don't really match with the high-speed platforming from where they come
@@baneofthebread Yeah, Knuckles for example would be pretty much unplayable in a boost sort of game since unlike the hedgehogs boosting isn’t really part of his skillset, but would be right at home in a fighting and platforming sort of game.
You said what i've been thinking this entire time. The wisps were only good in Colors. They didn't stop gameplay completely, except ■, and they were used in their own way without being all over the place.
I'm really surprised you didn't talk about Sonic CD. Its time travel gimmick is what caused the level design philosophy to be completely different, and it's what makes the game so unbelievably divisive amongst the fanbase.
@@BitchChill I think that to fix the time travel mechanic to make it more tolerable, they just needed to do two things: 1: Don't make it so that you lose your time travel potential when you lose your speed midway. 2: Have an indication for where the machine generator is, like a radar of some sorts.
I really like the time travel mechanic, even though I admit it’s execution could be VASTLY improved. Then again CD is my favorite game in the series in spite of its flaws
Demetrius Kafkoulas I don’t think a radar for the generators is necessary. The point of the game is to explore the levels and find them yourself, and they’re generally not very difficult to find (except for Wacky Workbench Act 1, I have no idea what they were thinking with that one)
@@LongSinceDead1 Oh hey! I actually remember you from one of Sonic Central's videos on Sonic CD where I made another comment about the game's time travel gimmick. That was a pretty long time ago though. But yeah, I still wouldn't say Sonic CD's time travel gimmick is downright bad (I actually like playing the game that way), it just could've been better and that's it.
@@thefantasylife I think the video itself pretty much nailed the issue, it's not so much that it was bad (in fact it's very solid for a first attempt at a beat 'em up) that it doesn't mesh well with the day stages. Honestly the Werehog might have fared better in a spin-off title.
with sonic colors ultimate and rise of the wisps doesnt look like theyre going away anytime soon, which sucks. they were cool at first but fuuuuuck im tired of them.
I disagree. Kind of. The wisps belong in Colours, so obviously they're in the game and the animation. They should be exclusive to Colours though, it makes no sense that they would be in games such as Forces and Lost World.
@@LexVanguard2004 Well the story reason is that they liked Sonic's world and some decided to stick around. This explanation was never given in a main game mind you. Just a mobile game and the comics.
But its just gonna be colours again so they will still work well maybe even better the worst thing I can see is the sonic movie boost for the digital like extreme version and the new wisp since it doesn’t seem very speed based
Now I wonder how the Jade Ghost Wisp will be incorporated into Sonic Colors Ultimate, since it appears in the trailer for both the game and Rise of the Wisps. Maybe you can walk through enemies and hazards without getting hurt, or pass through certain walls and floors?
holy shit, I've thought the same thing about the wisps in sonic colors for a while yet everyone I talk to just says that they're bad. the only legitimate argument I've heard from them was that a couple of the wisps did what sonic could already do in past games.
A lot of these mechanics I don’t mind, I kinda like the werehog in short bursts, the wisps are a mixed bag and for forth, the only mechanics I truly despise is that god awful fishing mini game. A lot of gimmicks from adventure should be revisited imo, everything from the chao garden to the tails mech stages could easily be redone and expanded on but dear god, if there’s one thing I won’t miss from that game is that infernal frog.
I dare say that I could accept fishing returning but only if it's 100% optional. And a hell lot better. The problem with fishing in SA1 isn't just how it doesn't mesh with everything else and rather that it's not even good for a fishing game's standards.
"Gimmicks" is a word that always has a negative connotation not only with Sonic but gaming as a whole which I disagree with. Gimmicks CAN damper an experience if handled poorly but just because something is a gimmick doesn't mean it's inherently bad. It all depends on it's implementation and usage. I think the Wisps were implemented pretty well in what little story Colours had and were used well.....in exclusively Colours. Another gimmick, the parkour system from Lost World was pretty cool all around even with how little it was used.
I honestly don’t see the problem that everyone else seems to have with the Wisps. They’ve honestly just become another type of power-up within the games that you can use to get to alternate pathways. Yes, they were implemented well in Colors but there were also sections in Colors where using a certain type of Wisp was necessary for progressing forward. After Colors, the Wisps are basically just power-ups that can help you branch off onto a different path and you normally aren’t forced to use them in order to beat a level. It seriously just seems everyone else is more annoyed with the fact that they’re simply still here rather than how they’ve used in games after Colors, which honestly just makes the “complains” sound more like personal nitpicks than anything else. Besides, from the Wispon mechanic in Forces, we ended up getting a new favorite character in the comics; Whisper the Wolf. Part of her whole thing is using her own team of Wisps along with her Wispon as a way of attacking and traveling around and despite using them as ammo fuel, Whisper genuinely and deeply cares for her Wisps and they feel the same way right back. Whisper is to Wisps as Tikal is to Chao; they helped in building upon who she is as a character.
The issue is that these alternate pathways in Lost World are either insignificant (any instance of the Eagle wisp) or just used to skip hard sections (Hover being shoved in the penultimate stage so you can skip the wall running segment), and some of the mandatory uses are plain boring (Rhythm, what in the world were they thinking with that ones). The level designs no longer reward you for using them, rather they just feel like they're there because people liked them in Colors. Forces also suffers a similar fate, in part because of the concept of only bringing a single wispon to a stage, meaning that no wisp can be mandatory to progress since you could get stuck if you had the wrong one, and yet they also barely give any interesting areas to explore. No point in them being there if all they do is make you skip level segments (even more so when there's barely any level segments as it is), Imperial Tower is an absolute joke with the Hover wispon for example. And sure, most people loves Whisper, but here's the thing: they actually made something interesting out of her and the wisps. The same can't be said for Lost World and Forces.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who feels that way about the OG Wisps. They add so much flow and variety to the stages when used correctly and I think that's why the 2D sections are relatively simplistic platforming wise. It encourages you to experiment with the Wisps, but also gives newcomers a slower but somewhat more manageable way through. That said, I notice that most people I've seen who slag off the Wisps in Colours straight up don't use them properly. It's clear they don't even try to experiment with them and just write them off entirely
Imo Sonic gimmicks are typically better when they bring a new, at least somewhat fleshed out gameplay style to the series, not something rushed or a minor gimmick to pad out stages. I'll take werehogs or mech stages over shit like wisps any day.
Funnily enough, the "gimmick" of Forces is atleast somewhat decently executed, but ONLY ON THE NON GAMEPLAY PARTS LOL (you know, the custom OCs, specifically the Wispons)
I think that one of the worst aspects of the Dimps games (especially the later ones) was that every level felt the same. The lack of level-specific gimmicks may be a major culprit.
level gimmicks is definitely the way to go. I dont mind the different characters for gameplay styles as much as most and sometimes prefer them to sonics normal gameplay. As for the wisps I've never liked them. Would rather bring back monitors with power ups than weird pixar aliens.
Honestly Sonic Unleashed overall felt better paced, mostly with how the story is done. And all the boost games show how the boost formula can't be enough for one game and needs something else.
Forces does have good gimmicks being classic sonic and the avatar with wispons also it has good stage gimmicks like the pink water in Chemical Plant Network Terminal and the casino gimmicks in Mystic Jungle Casino Forest or the water slide gimmick in Mystic Jungle Aqua Road
@@Yoshinator even if he didn't control how YOU or other people wanted that doesn't mean he is just terrible. His controls work with the levels all people do to show he has bad controls is show that one part in chemical plant which in a standard playthrough you would just spindash not a really good complaint
I'm surprised you didn't mention other gimmicks that the games have like Heroes's Speed, Power, Flight mechanics and Shadow's guns, vehicles, and chaos powers. Those are examples of gimmicks done well.
I guess my favorite gimmick would be Sonic Heroes. I actually wasn't crazy about the game on release. I slept on it. Gave it another chance years later and man its so fun. Not a perfect game by any means but the concept of playing as three characters and switching to traverse different obstacles was satisfying for me. My only real negative is rather than four teams I would have just loved to see a Heroes like game with just Sonic, Tails and Knuckles for more levels. Heroes aged like a fine wine for me.
I have a perfect "gimmick" for sonic. What about a parkour gimmick? Not like Sonic Lost World, but something that enhances his speed naturally. Like wall running, If you have enough speed you can run up buildings. Just a parkour/speed gimmick that enhances the gameplay in a natural way?
Honestly the moral of the story is if you're going to add a gimmick, make it fun, and make it make sense. Wisps are cool in Sonic Colors but make absolutely no sense in any of the other games.
I still think the wispons was an interesting way to give power to the custom character despite the mediocre gameplay, it was really just lost world that made no sense for such a different location.
Honestly I've always liked how in the classic Sonic games as well as Sonic mania and yes in some of the 3D games the gimmicks were stage based and not like something that was something you would have to deal with throughout the whole game.
I had a lot of fun with Sonic And The Black Knight sure the controls were a bit wonky but most the time it never dampened my experience with it! (Besides the second stupid King Arthur Fight) And honestly the story and the music are some of the best in any Sonic game.
I think the problem with Gimmicks in most games from the problem that they got rid of Sonic's "Too many friends" and the gameplay gimmicks and changes can't be put across different characters. Wouldn't the Werehog Gameplay have worked better with someone like Knuckles? Letting different characters shine as opposed to kneecapping Sonic to make the new abilities more viable.
I’m sensing a pattern with your videos splash dash. A lot of them seem to just be an excuse to crap on forces. Could this be leading up to something? Maybe a giant forces review/rant in the future? Ala clement building up to a giant review/rant on sonic 06 in his sonic marathon?
its funny to me that everyone in the sonic community, unleashed fans, colored fans, and even the 06 apologists, are all united in disliking 06. It says something about the game I think
I would argue that Colors combines a regular gameplay gimmick with the kind of stage gimmicks you’re talking about. Starlight Carnival has the hardlight platforms and giant crushing corridors, Asteroid Coaster has the coasters and gravity mechanics, Aquarium Park has the water you can infinitely jump in or run on. And then the wisps have specific gimmicks in each zone too, like the focus on the Drill in Sweet Mountain or how Planet Wisp focuses a lot on climbing with the pink spikes
You know another 2D platformer that does gimmicks right? The Donkey Kong Country series, including Returns. Every new level in those games have new mechanics, new obstacles and the gameplay and moveset never stray too much from the default. And can I just say the Returns games had MASTERFUL level design?
I think gimmicks are completely subjective when it comes to people. Some liked some gimmicks while other didn't. I for one found the wisps quite uninteresting.
In hindsight, I'm really curious as to what gimmicks the open zone formula will have, if at all. It seems like Sonic Team is focused on expanding and improving the formula rn, but I wonder what they're gonna do with the open zone gameplay afterwards.
