It’s both whimsical and callous which is fantastic, what really elevates it is that Eggman doesn’t even pay it any mind because he’s focused on a bigger picture, his grand project. The power dynamic switches in an instant and the game begins.
Unleashed was peak for me. Especially the relationship between Sonic and Amy where you can see that he actually cares and worries about what she thinks of him which is why he hides from her as the werehog while Amy has no problem with how he looks and assures him later that she cares about him for who he is not how he looks. It was just nice to see Sonic deal with an insecurity like that which he didn't have when he met up with Tails. Now Amy's character and her relationship with Sonic has kind of been scrubbed clean with Forces and Frontiers.
@@EA-bv8zkonly because they nerfed Sonic's controls to have you unlock the good movement. And the need to use the Wii's motion control made it not be simple button controls. Otherwise the gameplay is fine. The biggest sins come from the mission system padding.
@@EA-bv8zk Sonic and the Black Knight had complaints in regards of nerfing the whole game and being able to rush through it seconds flat I beat the final boss in under 30 seconds there's a way to exploit Merlinas weakness that enables you to defeat her in the matter of seconds the storyline is OKAY but I think Sega could of done better like they did in Sonic Adventure 2.
It's not just nostalga. Jason Griffith was peak Sonic voice acting. He had the charisma, the range, and even the sass that really made Sonic's personality so memorable.
Hell, they don't even really need the motion controls as everything can easily be mapped to actual normal inputs (though keep it in as an option for those of us who actually liked them).
Sonic fans hated sonic into oblivion. We only had one bad sonic game in the 2000s but 90s sonic fans swear every game was awful. Me as a 90s kid that remember when Sonic first was out, I used to have to tell people I wasn't a sonic fan in the 2000s because I actually liked Sonic games.
Part of me wish Sonic kept Caliburn after the events of the Black Knight because if you ask me I think a sword suits Sonic since you know speed type characters would be absolutely deadly with a sword and considering the moveset he eventually gets in Frontiers I just want to imagine the kind of stuff Caliburn would get. Imagine the dialogue he would have with other characters like Classic Sonic, Infinite, Eggman, Shadow and even Idw characters. You could even have him also be affected by the Cyber Energy alongside Sonic during Sonic Frontiers and become a sort of Cyber Caliburn. Not to mention the possible interactions with Sage with him being a magic sword and speaking to AI aka an ARTIFICIAL hologram from advanced technology. And with Sonic Unleashed you could have the Werehog interacting with Caliburn and somehow incorporate him into his moves like maybe Werehog Sonic could channel Dark Gaia energy into him for a deadly slash combo. I would also like to see his interactions with Chip a god of light, and the opposite of Dark Gaia. The sheer amount of conversations a Chip who has gotten his memories back and Caliburn would be interesting to see. You could even have a scene where Caliburn admiring the fact that even as being tainted with Dark Gaia’s energy Sonic is still heroic
Unfortunately, they kinda want to treat every game as a standalone type thing instead of having continuity between games. Frontiers was a nice shakeup for that but they really gotta follow up on all those callbacks.
@@FischerKinggAnd they chose the worst games out of all the series to do that: Colours and Lost World. Wisps should have been a one time thing, now they're here to stay because of all the characters that depend of them
OH. MY. GOD. I never really had an interest in secret rings growing up, so I never knew that one of the OG Sonic gameplay channels I watched as a kid, Cobanermani456, used “in the palace that was found” as his intro music THE ABSOLUTE WAVE OF NOSTALGIA OMG
literally how did frontiers fix that? sage makes several attempts to kill sonic and sonic for absolutely no reason whatsoever keeps trying to reason with her, its so weak. its better than what we've been given post storybook games but it doesnt even come close to it
Honestly, I see it as something similar to Sonic Rush with how he doesn't try fighting Blaze until the end of the story, where he's kinda forced to. I also kinda see it similarly to Sonic and the Black Knight where instead of just fighting Merlina, he askes about why she did it beforehand. In Frontiers, one of Sage's first Side Stories has Sonic say "I don't get a bad vibe off of her though.", which really could've been portrayed better, but it kinda shows that Sonic can tell there's more to her than meets the eye (although they really needed to portray that better in Sage's dialogue and actions). Sonic is definitely missing that signature edge and coolness from the Storybook games, but I don't think it's as far away as you say it is. Although I do agree that it may need a lot more than just a step in the right direction to really reach the peaks of the Storybook Games. But that's just my argument and opinion, and I get why you think that.@@M0n0chr0me
Frontiers’ story is a steaming pile of garbage that people only like because it’s *marginally* better than the meta-era writing. It butchers Eggman and Amy’s characters, trades Sonic’s bad characterization from the meta-era for a different kind of garbage, and is overly obsessed with fixing perceived faults of Knuckles and Tails’ characters. When a new writer steps onto the block and spends their debut trying to fix the past it bodes poorly for things to come.
@@Hewasnumber1 That's an interesting take. A little agressive, but I do see where you're getting at. I personally love Frontiers' story; even though it does have a lot of problems with pacing, being too wordy, personalities sometimes being dull, not alot happening, feeling undercooked, too many references, focusing WAY too much on course correcting the 2010s games, etc. But I love the things it tries new (although it could've been done a lot better) mainly with the lore about the Ancients and their history, and what The End implies in their big monologue at the end of the game. I don't know why I like the story despite all the things I don't like about it, but maybe I just find it charming.
@@Hewasnumber1you do realize the game is coming off the back of whatever butchered story Forces was. It is also going off the attitude of sonic in the comics too
Glad more people are talking about the story book games, really enjoyed them. Not only did they have amazing soundtracks to them but Sonic's character was the best in those games too.
MANNNNN TAKE THIS SUBSCRIPTION DAWG, i agree with so many points in this video you have, especially Jason Griffith being the BEST sonic voice of all time. FACTS! he is and nobody can ever top his position. I wish theyd bring him back and bring back the story book sonic games cuz they were soooo freaking good. the closer we got to games as good as sonic and the black knight/ secret rings/unleashed has been sonic frontiers in the 2020s.
Damn! Jason Griffith is an absolute DILF! Huh! I like the Sonic’s final wish was to trap the genie in his lamp for eternity. The exact opposite of Aladdin’s final wish. It’s a cool way to differentiate between the two.
He didn't dream himself into books. Shahra used her magic to pull herself and Sonic into the world of the Arabian Nights, and in Black Knight, Merlina used her magic to summon Sonic into Camelot. The bigger questions are: 1:How did he get out of the world of the Arabian Nights, because in the epilogue Sharha explains that he ran his way back into his own world. But like, unless there's some magic gateway or portal that leads back to the real world, I don't see how that would be possible. 2:Did Black Knight actually happen or was it a story Sonic made up to get out of going on a date with Amy?
@@mazkeraid4039 That would be some evil black magic to do. Even Sonic Colors (a wii game also) got a port on other consoles rather than just the Switch.
Jason might not been my favorite voice, but I won't lie DarkSpine's opening dialouge just before the fight with Erazor was one of the coldest line drops in the series.
Imagine this being your first sonic game, nothing to live up to, nothing to replicate, and nothing to stop it except for wii motion controls. Supposedly they felt like that was better than using the nunchucks or classic controller. And yeah having all of them wouldn't feel right to switch between because the levels are paced around the motion controls but that doesn't make them good.
THANK YOU FOR THIS OMG Secret Rings is often thrown aside and ignored when talking about Sonic's Characterization and Story, while Black Knight (while still amazing!) gets all the attention. So it's nice to see someone talk about how great its story, characterization, OST, and so much more of it is. Heck, it's one of my favorite pieces of Sonic media for those reasons. The controls might suck, but everything else in Secret Rings is just PEAK Sonic, and I hope we see more of it in the future.
The thing is, it's not even that bad to control... once you unlock everything. Yeah, for some reason, the game devs thought it was a good idea to make decent controls an unlockable 😅
@@Plexi.T I started doing speedruns of secret rings stages, and the controls aren't that difficult to use. The game starts you off at a slow pace at the beginning to get the hang of things and by the time you unlock everything and mastered the level layouts you pretty much gotten used to the controls, at least for me that is.
glad someone shares a similar i have toward the storybook games. say what you want about the gameplay but so many other things the game did right went under appreciated.but the ost, sonic character, the weight of the story, intricate stage designs, villains, voice acting and aesthetic were top notch.
Bro, we need another storybook game. They should do Journey to The West, and call it either "Sonic and The Journey to The West" or "Sonic and The Monkey King". Where it's about Sonic being transported in ancient China and meets the trickster Monkey King Sun Wukong, and helps him defeat the Bull Demon King, while Sonic teaches Wukong to never be so prideful and use his powers for good as he takes them for granted. I think that it would make a good storybook game, and the music with rock and Chinese instruments would go hard
@@mazkeraid4039 True. Plus, the dynamic between Sonic and Sun Wukong would be interesting, since they're both pretty fast and cocky. But while Sonic is more ethical, Sun Wukong is more of a trouble maker
Secret rings was probably one of my earliest games I have ever played, I remember getting it as a gift from my mom probably a few days before my sister was born, I played a lot because all I had was this and new super Mario bros. A few years later I finished it and… after replaying it a few years ago from now… I think it’s aged pretty well, at least to me it’s aged well.
I kinda wish we had more Sonic Storybook stuff. What was really cool was seeing Sonic's outlook on life clash with the world he was thrown in. Maybe that's more of a SatBK thing, but I still think that was the key to why Sonic felt so expressive in these games.
Sonic and the secret rings was my very first sonic game after watching my friend playing adventures 1 and 2 and heroes. Killer soundtrack, fun gameplay and that final battle absolutely made it all worth it.
Sonic and the Secret Rings was the first sonic game I played, and the only one my family owned for a long while. It holds a special place in my heart, along with the memories of playing it with my sister (and how much my arms hurt after the final battle lol) It's nice seeing someone talking positive about it :)
I just realized that King Solomon is mentioned in official Sonic canon media. So that at least implies that Judeaism exists in Sonic's world. Which also likely means that Christianity is also a possiblilty. And, as a Christian whose favorite videogame character is Sonic, thats pretty cool honestly. But, I also could be reaching for things on that last one. Either way its cool that a figure from the Bible ended up in official Sonic media.😅
Dude you're timing couldn't have been better! Literally yesterday I was like "I need to re-listen to the Secret Rings soundtrack, since it's got more good stuff than I remember" and here this video is talking about the book games. 👏
Sonic and The Secret Rings is definitly one of those games where they put everything into the story and nothing to the actual game, I really wish they remade the storybook series, sadly not happening any time soon :(
If Sonic'06 gave us the best version of Shadow (probably the only good thing about that game) then the story book series gave us the best version of Sonic. SatSR was probably Sonic at his coldest in the games especially with how downright vicious Darkspine Sonic was. Super Sonic may take inspiration from Super Saiyain transformation but Darkspine Sonic had all raw anger and savagery of Super Saiyain. When you think about all the enemies has Sonic fought before Erazor Djin was definitely the vilest of them (Mephiles was more of an enemy to Shadow so I don't count him). Dude had zero funny moments or sympathetic traits (was also an abusive lover). Didn't even feel a thing when he killed Shara which is why he deserved one of the most brutal beatdowns Sonic has ever given someone. Sonic even made sure to kick him while he was down too.
Secret Rings was my first sonic game after I was introduced to him in Smash Bros. Brawl, I got it for my 6th birthday and I had a blast playing it as a kid. Good vid bro 👍
FR like those people who are like “Archie sonic solos🤓” and “frontiers sonic solos🤓” like sonic was actually him in the early 2000s like sonic can go beyond super and even keep super when we learn from sa2 that even the ultimate life form struggle to keep a super from or in secret rings how the world rings can mentally destroy a person he is fine
Sonic 06 still had the best villain and an amazing story. If it was remastered properly it could be good. Anyways, the story games were hella good ngl, though I prefer sonic and the black knight. The music and sword fighting was just too badass not to love. Plus the Excalibur Sonic form was so unbelievably cool.
I always wondered what other possibilities there were for other Storybook games. Maybe one based on classic horror like Dracula, Frankenstein, Edgar Allan Poe, etc. That could also be an excuse for a game based around the Werehog, allowing it to be better fleshed out. Or one just based on classic fairy tales- there’s plenty of level and story concepts in that.
12:00, actually, both Erazor AND Sonic do NOT get all seven of the rings. Sonic gets Rage, Hatred, and Sadness, hence the Darkspine Form that he turns into, whole Erazor becomes that abomination through the other four.
really minor, but the way i always thought of sonics speedboost he got throughout the game were just how fast he was reading through the book, its nice But god does hyper speed make the game into something
2:22 You're definitely right about the music, especially with the rock 'n roll vocal tracks, but the somber, slower songs like The White of Sky are my personal favourites.
I always liked that idea of Sonic slowly being eroded or consumed by a life poison of some kind. It really digs into his character. Sadly, Frontiers just bails him out at the last second.
Secret Rings was my first ever Sonic game and Unleashed was my second. When Sonic is put into danger like that, it makes it much more exciting to play imo. Frontiers didn’t do it well for me, though. It didn’t feel dramatic enough and I felt like it kind of disappeared outside of cutscenes. With Secret Rings, you see the fire on his chest at the beginning of every level, reminding you that time is running out. And with Unleashed, you have the Werehog form, which also reminds you “another day has passed. You need to hurry and save yourself(Sonic) before it’s too late!” I honestly barely remember the cyber corruption despite Frontiers being the last Sonic game I played. I guess the danger didn’t feel as intense to me then.
For me the auto run and the slightly jank motion controls held the story book games back a lil cuz damn they where so close sonic b team rlly cooked with these games if it wasn't for those to things they would be high on my list I still had fun for the most part playing these games growing up on wii
I really enjoyed this game when I was younger, it was my very first contact with 3d Sonic and I loved every moment. I still remember binging the game almost half of the game on christmas eve (I think I was about to fight the Pirate Storm boss) and stopped at the Erazor Djinn boss fight and it was so epic. After revisiting it recently, and having played most of the games on the franchise, I think we have most of what we've had to Sonic 06. There's so much DNA of it that guided the franchise for so much time, from characterization some aspects of the gameplay. I mean, the Mach Speed Section and Secret Rings gameplay have so much in common, both are on rails stages where Sonic accelerates and keeps running automaticaly, it almost feels like Secret Rings used some notes from Mach Speed and tried to improve it (It wouldn't surprise me if it's true, considering the history between both games). We can even kinda see some Sonic 06 DNA transpire to the boost games, they have gameplay delivers exactly what Sonic 06 wanted to deliver to us with the Mach Speed Sections, an spectacle of high speed where you're constantly on edge dodging obstacles. Of course, this is just me over analysing stuff, but I think it kinda makes sense. Also, is it just me, or Frontiers kinda have exactly an formula that could be reworked to better tackle an 06 pseudo-remake (like FFVII). - We have the boost gameplay in Cyberspace, where the level design is more linear and it could accomodate level design similar to what Mach Speed sections had. - In the open zones, the game offers the best Sonic controls in a 3d space since the Adventure games, that could easily be tweaked and perfected to have physics next to what SA1 had (have you tried to roll with Knuckles in the DLC? That's real momentum baby, and that's a signal that they are testing everything this engine can do) and also has *real combat* that can also be used for Shadow's gameplay. - An competent writer that kinda gets what an early 2000's Sonic feels like: I feel like Ian Flynn is more than capable of reworking 06 story bits into something decent (Mephiles could be such a good villain, he's saddistic, manipulative and really evil). And since Sega decided to remove any signs of romance in the franchise, we wouldn't have to worry about any awkward scenes where an woman kiss an anthropomorphic animal. - Real combat gameplay with Super Sonic that could rock hard in a Solaris boss fight (just think about it, Sonic going straight melee, Silver fighting using psychokinectic blasts and being more of a Zoner, and Shadow balancing both using Chaos attacks)
This was my first proper sonic game outside of a demo I had on my tablet growing up, and honestly, I loved the whole experience, sure, most of the difficulty came from the controls relying on funky Wii remote motions sensors, but overall, I loved this game anf the story it told
"If that's not the coldest line you've heard come out of this guy's mouth, I don't know what is" Moments before... *_"If this is your world, than it's a world I don't want any part of!"_* By the way, Sonic doesn't absorb all seven rings, instead getting only three that escape Alf Layla wa-Layla's incomplete form: the rings tied to the emotions of rage, hatred, and sadness, masterfully portrayed in the aggression your favorite VA put into Dark Spine Sonic's voicelines.
Yeah, that was a major mistake I made in video. To be honest, I literally though it was all 7 since I was like 5, so hearing out now that it was only the 3 is pretty shocking ngl.
My favorite sonic games are the non traditional ones. Classic sonic and modern sonic are cool, but games like Unleashed make the experience feel more exciting.
Damn, Sonic's characterization in these games was on point 👌🏾 This was so sorely missed in the 2010s Era. At least Frontiers is somewhat bringing back that badass side of Sonic again. As for the gameplay itself i tried to play the game when i was kid back in 2011. But the controls was so frustrating to 8 year old me that i just gave up at the tutorial and send the game back But this video convinced me to the point of trying the game out again just for the story and badass moments Great video man keep up the good work 👏🏾
@Plexi.T Facts, Sonic and the black knight's villain was top teir The story in that game in general is up there as one of the BEST in the series. I'm looking forward to your analysis of the story
The way how I never had a wii to experience this game or the black knight 😪 but I gotta agree the final confrontation with erazor jinn goes hard as fuck
What made me like storybook era Sonic was his empathy. Sonic was putting himself in trouble and side tracking off his original quest simply to help people, simply because there were people who needed his help. He didn't just beat up the Knights of the Roundtable and call it a day (except for his first fight with Lancelot), he actually talked to them. His talk with Merlina really stands out even to this day among the final bosses he's beaten. This is why I appreciate the recent comics for bringing this side of Sonic back. Sure, it's not perfect and I'll admit the execution is a bit flawed every now and then, but it's still nice seeing Sonic show empathy towards his enemies again like he did in Black Knight.
And yet Sonic lets Eggman go even though he beats the egg out of him out him time and time again, the Deadly Six that drains the world and literally uses them as fuel, acts irrational to his pals, and didn’t think about the consequences he brings.
@@mazkeraid4039 I didn't say he was perfect. Plus, the whole "Hero keeps letting the villain live/go" thing is something you can criticize a lot of other characters across fiction for.
