Sonic: The Dark Form | Episode 5 | Dark Waken | 

Something I genuinely appreciate is how Vulnerable and imperfect the characters are still shown to be, like when Knuckles blocks the big blast from Gizoid and Decoy, he actually gets hurt and slouches, when fighting Decoy with Sonic, Shadow is easily able to be tricked into hitting Sonic by Decoy switching them around and also when Shadow gets Decoy off of Knuckles with a chaos blast, he ends up hurting Knuckles aswell. And the best showing of this has to be with Dark Sonic still having red flashes when he gets hit showing he still gets damaged, he’s just stronger. I also really appreciate times where Tail’s weapons get used against him and his friends. It shows that these aren’t like indestructible killing machines, they’re just really strong, but they can still be damaged and hurt for more reasons then just for the plot like in other Flash animations.

Every fight feels like the characters are actually putting thought into how they fight. The combo moves, the feints, the dodges, the way you can tell they’ve fought together for a long time by the way they set each other up, it’s all amazing. When Gizoid faked Sonic out by pretending to teleport towards Tails I was genuinely impressed. That actually demonstrates his knowledge on Sonic’s combat data really well because it shows that Gizoid knows Sonic will prioritize Tails’ safety over his own and is using that to create openings. It never feels like characters are just standing on the sidelines and approaching their enemies one at a time. When the heroes aren’t assisting each other it’s because their enemies have knocked them away or managed to separate them somehow. But they always rejoin the fight.

3:52 There is literally not another sprite combat sequence that comes close to this level, everything is so deliberate and impactful that I can't help but wonder how it's taken this long for someone to master this art form. No energy abuse, no over the top special effects, no characters flashing across the screen with re-used animation for padding, this is perfect in every sense of the word.

I love how Knuckles broke Tails' hand at 3:05 and his face expression was hilarious!

3:39 One thing I'm just realizing as I'm rewatching is that Eggman has an insta-shield protecting him from any incoming attacks, it's small details like these that make you appreciate the animation more.

I think a big thing that makes these fights feel different from a lot of other sprite fights is the lack of a shaking camera to sell the impact of a hit. This keeps the camera pretty still comparatively and instead shows damage and impact through quick red flashes. A blue flash means the attack was blocked. This is a big part of why the fights feel so "smooth".

Man, Decoy is SUCH a cool character. He's like a proper fusion between Sonic and Metal Sonic. Cruel and ruthless, but also capable of empathy and compassion (he genuinely cared about Gizoid, and when Mecha destroyed him, he fought to avenge him, even when he knew he couldn't win). It even shows in the subtler moments too. Like when Sonic was about to finish off Gizoid at 4:54, but Decoy put himself between them. Actually, something I just noticed.. Decoy's full power state at 6:07, actually mirrors Sonic's dark transformation at 9:33. I love all these little details! And of course, _excellent animation_ as always dude! 👌🏾

Tails is forced with more responsibility in this series, I love that

12 min of super smooth fighting scenes. That's just great. It was worth the wait! Also the story development is cool, as well as Dark Form badassery.

Can we just truly appreciate how delicate this man is to make sure everything is a smooth 60 FPS by ensuring every tiny detail looks smooth. I'll put some timestamps to look at in slow mo to understand what i mean 1:53 1:57 2:35 2:36 3:03 - 3:06 4:32 - 4:33 Theres obvoiusly alot more but these are just examples of that

I can't get enough of your animation style. it's so buttery smooth, and every attack has this weight to it. Keep up the good work!

I love how Knuckles "broke" Tails' hand while giving him an high five at 3:04 😂😂

God the fights/choreography in this is so difficult to not replay every single interaction, this has been worked on meticulously, I can tell. Very excellent work!

There's something about how smooth these fights are that make them so mesmerizing, like it has its own unique flow that I don't think ive seen on any other channel. This was amazing.

I can see why it took so long. It's absolutely amazing.

This is absolutely awesome! A delish for the eyes! Also, unexpected turn of sides with Sonic Decoy!

3:52 I loved it thats when things got real🔥

The fight was SO GOOD! Pretty clean and smooth the movements. And some parts of the Dialogue was very cool.

Also amazing fight cheography, i love watching characters work as a team and do a bunch of team attacks off each other and need to watch where their swinging or they'll hit each other. I'm glad i never have to worry about people standing around doing one v one fights.

i gotta be honest, the last time i was ever into sonic sprite animations was legit over ten years ago when i was a young kid. they were my childhood and brought me such an amazing thrilling feeling wat ging them. Seeing fan stories comes to life with such cool fighting animation and forms/stories that the canon sonic series wouldn’t touch. but shortly after sonic colors and the series taking a turn in a direction i couldn’t quite keep interested in, i fell out of the sonic loop now as an adult, after playing sonic frontiers, the first sonic game i’ve played in so long after seeing the positive reception, i fell in love with the series again, and stumble across this animation in my youtube recommended. Watching from episode 1, it brought back that same excitement i felt as a young kid watching sonic sprite animations, if not even more. i can feel the passion put into this project. this is so damn good, as someone who plays fighting games, i love the added elements of combos, parties, dodges and especially the fake-outs. So damn well choreographed and easy for the viewer to clearly see what’s happening, i like this more precise clean way of fighting more than the super fast paced repetive fighting id see in other animations. And not just the fighting but the story itself with the twists, the sprinkle of humor, the characterizations, their interactions, especially with how you portray Tails. Also you captured their canon personalities sooo well, as it’s so easy to have characters act OOC but And then the way you handled dark sonic, i love that he’s not just an mavolent mindless evil entity like a lot of other dark sonic fan stories portray him as, but rather he’s still the same old Sonic we know with himself in control (for now), but more brutal in combat. well at least for now since it seems like there is an eviler side to this form being hinted at, which potentially would put sonic under mental turmoil later down which i find veryyy interesting Decoy is such a good character and I love how he’s a 3 dimensional character that has grown attached to his comrade. and as someone who watches a lot of anime, MAN you bring out that exciting adrenaline rush associated with that medium when it comes to characters pushing through and never giving up, and the music choices fit so well, from the old sonic OVA to sticker bush symphony, the Genos vs Saitama OST and so much more, istg this series drove so much serotonin to my brain. anyways, enough of my gushing, thank you for providing such a wonderful series for us on youtube so far, you’re criminally underrated and i greatly look forward to more of your work!

What a shock, a sprite animation with actual choreography. This is a masterpiece.

Another clever move after a rewatch, this series is distinct because Mecha Sonic was ruled out as the main villan from the start.

Now that is 1 badass way for the dark form to come out in full swing! And Also, Smooth fight. :3

Finally more representation of emerl

Great animation and episode I really enjoyed it! I especially like how Decoy went with sonic and the others, perhaps if Decoy gets knocked out tails can repair him and remove the programming to destroy Sonic. Overall I look forward to seeing what you come up with next and how this will play out. Overall great work can't wait for the next Episode!!!! 😀

amazing animation, it feels like playing final fantasy sonic all over again with a complete plot great job funny how ppl made dark sonic look op ( he is weaker than super sonic and even base form at full power) but sonic is finnaly edgy and badass as he was destined to be so no complaints

How he only has 5k subs is beyond me. You guys need to support this man for his brilliant work! 😁

I like the fact that made dark sonic a good person instead of a bad guy which is awesome

Bro the movement is nothing like I have ever seen, and the amount of costume sprites is amazing and the way you are using existing sprites is also really good.

Duuuuude, your animations are insane! I love your fight style!!! Keep up the wonderful work, literally made my day with this 🥰🥰🥰🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

This was a great episode, nice job on this!

OH I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS! Just started the video and I’m hypedddd YOOOOO THAT WAS SICK! The fights were so cool, the transitions were so smooth and the story was so well developed! Congrats on finishing this!!!

I thought I was gonna have to scream DECOY NOOOOO, I liked the fact that Decoy defected 🌝 that’s what I call “character development”

Amazing screen transitions during the fight scenes!! That’s was awesome!! Keep up the good work 👍

this is the best sprite animation i’ve ever witnessed on my entire 18 years on this planet.

Bro I’m binging all these fight and it looks so clean and smooth. I’m loving these so far and I love how they fight true to the characters style and personality. Please keep these up

The animation is perfect. It flows so effortlessly and is so satisfying to watch. It’s so good to see mecha sonic again

Fantastic work man! The detail in animation makes this stuff hella rewatchable!

this series is very good, from script to animation production is very perfect, seriously, congratulations for the content, I'm glad they have good animators just like you.

Dude the animation is so smooth I love it so much! Keep up the great work!

Thentwist and turns of the story is insane not to mention the animations keep up fhe good work Edit: i still cant get used to mecha sonic being killed

holy cow the amount of customs in this are crazy ngl very good animation and story btw

I love the fighting styles you've crafted for each character, especially Dark form Sonic. He's a combination of the perfect offense and defense with quick reaction speed and strong attacks. Truly a spectacle to watch!

Oh my God I seriously don't know how you don't have more subscribers. Very few sprite animators can make fights this smooth and coordinated, it's so satisfying to watch!

Loved the sonic battle logo you use for dark sonic power up these 12 min where simply amazing

Pure talent and great story, I enjoyed this please continue with this series

Yessss,the fifth episode is here!Thanks franco!

Just awesome,cool animation,original story,amazing music 10/10 what could you posibly want,looking forward to see the next episode,if you ever consider to stop,just don't you're very good in what your doing

geezzzz dude this is awesome

Amazing work 👏

Beautiful spritework!

BRO THIS IS AMAZING HOW U MAKE THIS SO SMOOTH

I can't believe how smooth this animation is! It's amazing!

Wow:0 THIS AMAZING!

That reminds me kunckles vs mecha

Mecha Sonic being powered by Gizoid's chaos emerald here 5:40 could explain why he seemingly defeated Sonic and friends near flawlessly, and also why Mecha couldn't handle Decoy nearly as effortlessly in their rematch.

this is the best thing i've ever watched since i watched a sprite animation.

Man the level of this animation is just incredibly insane that i can not understand how you can make the animation have an clean and smooth movement like that

that is what i call an animation. HOLY. CRAP. THIS IS GOOD! The attacks! The sequence! Amazing!

We neeed moreeee! This was amazing

Amazing design great background music

BRO THIS IS FIRE

Highly underrated never seen sprite animation so smooth don’t know how you do it!

smooth as always.

Okay, the animation is amazing

Man decoy being a hero is awesome

Black/Dark Sonic's combats are epic, I appreciate of who made this.

The best animation in the life :,)

Muy bien, pero las partes que no me gustaron del todo fueron Cuando Sonic se transformó en dark Sonic, ahí le faltó como que se moviera la pantalla y hacer como ese efecto de que la tierra vibrara. La otra es que shadow hizo el chaos control y eso debería haber explotado toda la base? Porque según sé el ataque es muy poderoso, pero en fin Muy buena animación sigue así 👍

Nice Animation I really like it

man que animacion tan buena, me encanta que no exageres el poder de dark sonic como otros animadores sigue asi

Beautiful

They're really smooth

everything down to the way it seems as if the characters are thinking out their attacks and showing vulnerability instead of just mindlessly throwing punches and kicks and what not is so fucking raw bro this is some top tier sonic shit

this is so good and on faster playback speed look so smooth

Amazing just amazing

So cool SO COOL

well worth the wait 10/10

very good so far keep up the good work 👍 plus now i think decoy or whatever is now my fav sonic fake

SICK AF! Dare I say you may be the Mark Haynes of 2021!

metal im proud of you stopibg mecha preparung for sonic's spindash

What a steller animation! Keep it up if you can!

pls make more series of this masterpiece its just too good

God that double team of shadow and dark sonic had me hyped up

Muy buena animación, esas peleas muy bien elaboradas, no se porque no tiene tanto apollo, sigue así!

Great episode! When you think about it, Knuckles was well fooled by Eggman. x)

THIS IS SO UNDERRATED!

Good job man

Amazing

This was so epic! Be cool if this was its own Tv show

Truly a legendary animator B)

I loved it

Ok the emerl animations look sick as hell

Top

OH MY GOD IS THAT THE BLACK CLOVER OP 1 YOUR CHANNEL NEEDS MORE ATTENTION

"Finally something interesting"

sonics eyes turning red inbetween attacks was such a cool detail

The choreography is off. The. PhUcKiNg. CHARTSS!!! This is how you emulate sprite fights to its pinnacle! 👍🏽👏🏽 Well done.

I bad know the English, but i will find what to say. Franco, your animation scenes are one from the best works on RU-vid! They are awesome and make my eyes to be glad! I will be waiting next episode, because your work is beautiful! I am sure i said something wrong somewhere, but i hope sense is understood 🙂.

I like how the metal sonic makes sense, he pretty much copied all of sonic's emotion's it'd make since if he'd rebel since you know how sonic is!