Wii

I just lost 20 minutes of gameplayy I'm so annoyedd :sob:

Sonic P06

Wii/Wii U model

SHTH (CGI)

Heroes (CGI)

Jun Senoue used a Korg Triton (either the actual synthesizer or a VST), a Vacuum VST, and Xpand!2 to compose music for Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I, Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode Metal, and Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II, as well as Sonic Origins and Sonic Superstars (just the Vacuum VST and/or Xpand!2). Not to mention, he also used the Korg Triton VST and put it into a SoundFont for the WiiWare version of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I.

Do YOU have any of those VSTs?

2010 had a lot of interesting stuff happening. One of those was to go to the Sonic website and check the new Sonic game. The year’s game was Sonic Colors exclusive to the Nintendo Wii. I guess it’s fair, as the Wii hasn’t really got anything really big since it’s not powerful enough. And as a mostly Nintendo gamer (not profession) I don’t mind. After a long time, a Sonic game was actually received well. Colors was actually successful. It took the day time gameplay from unleashed and got rid of the werehog. The real reason unleashed wasn’t very well received at launch was the werehog, so taking what’s right and throwing the wrong is a good move from them instead of scrapping everything like usual. Sonci has all the moves he had in day time unleashed. I also think that Colors is a very good game. When you start right away the game puts you in the first level with no cutscene in sight. When you do finally get to a cutscene, you see the game’s pretty light on story. Eggman has opened a space amusement park to “right the wrongs of the past” so Sonic is here to beat him up because this is most likely one of his plans. Tails is skeptical and thinks that Eggman really is trying to make up for his evil. Which is so stupid. Like, seriously, this man freed the god of destruction, blew up half the moon, created a robotic copy of Sonic that became the strongest being in the series in Heroes, and unleashed Dark Gaia.

Sonic meets these cute creatures called wisps that give him special powers. Eggman has six parts to his new amusement park- Tropical Resort, Sweet Mountain, Starlight Carnival, Planet Wisp, Aquarium Park, and Asteroid Coaster, each having unique themes and attractions. Tropical Resort is the first zone. This game has six acts per zone, the same system as the classics. Only the classics had three or two acts. There’s a huge problem with Colors, though- filler levels. Some acts are just short 2D side scrollers or sections that are just so boring to play. Tropical resort’s act 4 or something reuses assets from act 1, and these levels drain life out of the experience. Tropical Resort though looks very nice and is at the center. I’ll mostly just show images so you see for yourself these areas. After the first zone you unlock Sweet Mountain and Starlight Carnival, which is cool because the boss cutscenes switch depending on the one you played first. Sweet Mountain (SM) is a mountain completely made of fake sweets. Starlight Carnival (SC) is a beautiful festival in space.

Now- the wisps. The wisps are the new gimmick for this game. Also I’ve noticed that every boost game has had a new mechanic with it, but after the werehog it just resulted in the games being two to three hours long. Sonic and Tails meet a wisp which they name Yacker, and Yacker is a white wisp.

Instead of rings these White Wisps in capsules will fill your boost gauge. The Cyan Laser Wisp gives you a few seconds to choose your direction and then you go off as a laser and destroy any enemies. The Yellow Drill lets you drill into the ground and take shortcuts. Pink Spike lets you climb on walls and spindash. Orange Rocket sends you flying as a rocket as you destroy everything and get momentum in air or as you’ll be sent flying afterwards towards the ground. Green Hover can light speed dash, which means dashing through rings, and hover for a bit. Blue Cube turns Blue Cubes into Blue Rings and vice versa, which helps tremendously in platforming. Purple Frenzy lets you go into a frenzy as you destroy specific obstacles. The wisps really make the gameplay fun. Without them, the gameplay would be dull and boring.

After you’ve finished Sweet Mountain and Starlight Carnival you unlock Aquarium Park, Planet Wisp, and Asteroid Coaster. The game drops the act of switching cutscenes as Sonic and Tails are talking about the end of the game when I beat Asteroid Coaster first. In one of the boss cutscenes in SM/SC Eggman sneaks up and mind controls Tails with some negative energy, and from then on Tails is convinced Eggman is evil. They could’ve had a moment where Sonic needed to attack his best bud, but no, and Tails just magically snaps out of it. There’s a reason the meta era is called the colors era because it was the downfall of storytelling in Sonic. Ken Pontac and Will Graff were the writers of the games in the 2010s- and no offense, but they absolutely destroyed almost all the main cast and everything good about them.

In Planet Wisp we see Eggman is constructing a theme park there, but it’s the Wisps’ home. Aquarium Park is an underwater sushi restaurant and park. Asteroid Coaster is as the name implies- a roller coaster near asteroids. In AC Sonic and Tails find out Eggman is converting Wisps into purple frenzy wisps, who are actually negative energy. Eggman is capturing the wisps and using them. The new storytelling has a heavy emphasis on comedy- sometimes these jokes are good, but others last too long. Like the Bucket O’ Sushi restaurant gag.

Eggman has these voice lines in the stages which are also the same case. But Mike Pollock’s having fun with it. I mentioned in Zero Gravity that it was noticeable how it was just the characters standing around and talking. That’s the same here. It’s like the action is now just restricted to gameplay. I miss the action cutscenes.

To stop Eggman’s plans they need to shut down the generators of each part of the park. I find it so weird that these characters can just breathe in space. In Starlight Carnival and Asteroid Coaster this brings your attention. But that’s not a nitpick, I don’t want them getting any ideas. At each generator there is a boss. There are three types of bosses- Ferris Wheel, Frigate Chase, and Jelly Ships, as I’ve named them. In Tropical Resort and Planet Wisp, you fight a Ferris Wheel as you do some platforming until you homing attack the face of the wheel, or use the Cyan Laser and Pink Spike.

In Frigate Chase you Chase a party ship of sorts in Starlight Carnival and Asteroid Coaster and homing attack it. Frigate Skullian will have more attacks. You can use Cyan Laser and Orange Rocket to attack as well. In the Jelly Ships at Sweet Mountain and Aquarium Park, a ship is led by Captain/Admiral Jelly and you sabotage the ship until it falls and you fight Jelly and his minions. There’s also Game Land which has extra levels you unlock by collecting Red Rings in levels, which are collectibles, but most importantly, they let you unlock the Chaos Emeralds, which have nothing to do with the story, to turn into Super Sonic. I guess they listened to the fans wanting Super Sonic to be playable outside final bosses. I don’t like using Super Sonic because you can’t use Wisps while you have him enabled, and he’s just not useful in a lot of this game’s slow platforming.

Once Sonic has disabled all the generators Eggman starts to use his mind control cannon to make the earth his star attraction. The entire park starts shaking so Sonic and Tails go to fight Eggy. You go through Terminal Velocity act 1 and destroy the robots. After that, they encounter the fat doctor. Sonic sends Tails down to earth with the train or something and you fight the Nega Wisp Armor. The theme for this boss is epic, but the story makes it hard to think of it as a final boss theme for me. This boss is climactic as Eggman uses the same wisp powers you’ve been using the entire game against you. At the end you do a final blow combined with all of the wisp powers. Eggman gets stranded in space with Orbot and Cubot, who I’ve neglected to mention. Orbot was a character in Unleashed but wasn’t named that. In Unleashed he made fun of Eggman’s stupid decisions but the doctor needs him to do all the planning, control machines he isn’t, etc.

In Colors Orbot is just standing around doing nothing along with a new character Cubot. Cubot’s design is interesting, but he’s just a useless guy who just can’t stop talking. I do like them, though, unlike most other fans. A black hole comes and though Sonic manages to outrun it for quite a bit, he gets sucked in. But no worry, the wisps save him and send him back to earth. Their planets are saved from Eggman, so Sonic and Tails say goodbye to Yacker and the other wisps. The songs are the same as Unleashed, one as the main theme, and one for the credits. Reach For The Stars and Speak With Your Heart are songs by Cash Cash. Sonic Colors has a really good soundtrack. Each theme fits its area well. Well, that’s it for our Sonic Colors discussion.

2009 had the second installment in the Sonic Storybook Series, Sonic and the Black Knight, a sequel to Sonic and the Secret Rings, released exclusively on the Wii. Black Knight (BK) is the second and final game in the storybook series, however. They obviously wanted to do more of these but just didn’t. I think BK is much, much better than its predecessor. The levels and mechanics are more enjoyable. The guidance is much better- the game tells which are optional and in which stages the new missions have been unlocked. You’d just do all of them in Secret Rings because the game never tells you which ones you need to do or which ones you don’t. The UI is better, instead of a level select there’s a nice world map. The story. Instead of some book page style cutscenes and then into the action, boom! CGI cutscene right away in the beginning. It starts with Sonic falling into the ground somewhere else in the middle of nowhere with nothing but chili dogs in hand. The SatAM cartoons and underground in the 90’s really established Sonic’s love for chili dogs which made it into the games with unleashed.

We see a wizard, Merlina, use a spell against King Arthur and his army. Arthur retreats as Merlina and Sonic get away. Merlina explains she brought him here to help her, which is to get Caliburn, a sword, and defeat the knights of the round table, Lancelot, Percival, and Gawain, to even stand a chance against King Arthur. The levels aren’t as original and unique as the ones in Secret Rings, here there’s levels such as kingdoms and dragon lairs and stuff- but we’ve seen these ideas in the series. Secret Rings has Dinosaur Jungle and Levitated Ruin. Now, what does Sonic with a sword feel like? I think it’s pretty interesting to give a sword to a fast paced character like Sonic. I personally think using Caliburn is quite fun. The soul gauge lets you attack with extreme percussion. I’ve always liked combat in Sonic games, as it’s a nice break from all the running. The stages feature townspeople that the player can choose to help or injure; these actions and the player's deeds will be judged at the end of each stage, updating your Knight’s Honor Bonus.

Helping the townspeople will boost the bonus, while hurting them will make it drop. By helping out citizens, you can purchase items from them, such as new swords, gauntlets, and magical tomes. There are so many things to do in the game, which I find really nice. There are also character look-alikes in this game, Nimue as Amy, the Blacksmith as Tails, Lancelot as Shadow, Gawain as Knuckles, and Percival as Blaze. I also believe this is the last Sonic game Crush 40 performed in until 2019. Yeah, and these songs were bangers. With Me, Live Life, Fight the Knight, Knight Of The Wind, they’re all great. Crush 40 will be missed.

Resuming the story, Sonic acquires Caliburn. Merlina explains that King Arthur was once a good ruler, but was corrupted by Excalibur’s scabbard, and is immortal. Caliburn is a talking sword who is skeptical of Sonic’s abilities, and the hedgehog heads into town while Merlina goes into hiding as she would be recognized. Sonic finds the Blacksmith in Castle Town, in order to sharpen Caliburn’s blade. Sonic heads off to see Nimue, the Lady of the Lake and previous owners of the scabbard of Excalibur, to find out how to stop King Arthur. On his way he encounters Lancelot, and claims his sword. Nimue reveals that she will only assist Sonic when he is a true knight and presents him three tests to complete. After completing them, Sonic encounters the other knights of the round table- Gawain and Percival, while also claiming their swords. Sonic and Caliburn pursue to defeat Arthur with the three swords they have obtained. Sonic defeats Arthur and then the credits roll. Seems anticlimactic, right?

No. Because… These are fake credits. Yes, it’s still credits for the people who worked on the game- but the game isn’t over yet. Merlina then proceeds to take the Excalibur scabbard and to become the new queen, and that Arthur was an illusion. Sonic tries to fight her, but is too weak and Caliburn breaks in half. Sonic’s determination and the power of all the swords transform him and Caliburn into Excalibur Sonic, another new form. Then you defeat her in the final boss- and it’s over. Sonic gives her a flower and says to live life to the fullest while it lasts. Sonic is said as King Arthur and the real credits roll. In the post credits scene Sonic tells his adventure to Amy but she jumps to conclusions and lies that he forgot their date. We see the book title change from “King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table” to “Sonic and the Black Knight”, just like the first game.

Id rate it a 7/10, could still use better controls and some polish.

This this game… just no. Sonic Free Riders is the 3rd installment of the Riders series. The first Sonic Riders released in 2006 for the original XBOX, PS2, and GameCube (the best experience for me), and I thought it was a great game that distinguished itself from MarioKart with its tricks. Zero Gravity was not a bad game but oversimplified the challenge of the first, and came out two years after the first game for the Wii and PS2. And in 2010, we got Sonic Free Riders for the XBOX 360. The Wii was very unique at the time for its motion controls, and it was a money printer, along with being the talk of the town. So the competitors would try to get into it. PlayStation just shamelessly copied the Wii. Xbox, however, were a bit more original with the XBOX Kinect. You played the game without a controller and moved your body to play. Most Kinect games got bashed by critics because of the add-on being very unresponsive. It was hard to make a sale with the 360 being $200 and the Kinect being $150. Sonic Free Riders was released for the Kinect. Unluckily, it landed on the bad bunch. It was also bashed by critics and, most tragic of all, killed the Riders series. After this game, there were no more Riders games at least at the time of this writing, but I doubt this series will come back. So, let’s get into the game.

I also hate this game with all my might and think it’s the worst Sonic game of all time. And if you’re like “you’re too lazy to exercise or move your body” or something like that, you have got it all wrong. Free Riders does provide exercise, but what it does more is tiring in your muscles, pain, and I believe playing this can get you sent to the doctor. The controls are extremely unresponsive, so you end up doing it over and over again and these movements and strategies require you to move very quickly and frequently, so it can be tiring. Your body will really hurt after playing from doing actions so frequently and over and over because the game is so unresponsive. Even when you’ve done the body movement it just doesn’t register. The turns require you to stretch your body with legs wide open and that can cause tiredness and pain, at least from my experience. But again, it barely registers and leaves you frustrated in races. To summarize the gameplay, it just makes you feel pain and frustration. When you want to do a trick it registers a punch and it’s so annoying. This game is worse h than chronicles, a game I skipped from frustration, but this is different. I just couldn’t stand playing the game and didn't want to do research on it because of how bad it was, but I’ve already played Free Riders and don’t need to play it again. The menu is some circle kind of thing you rotate around with your finger. Literally it’s always gonna out you in the wrong option and when you do get the option you wanted, it won’t register when you try to select. It's just nothing but frustrating. There’s a mission where you need to break ice or something but my punches would just not register or register the wrong action. In another mission for the Babylon story it has a similar mission. There are two punch icons which are supposed to indicate which hand you punch with, but it’s just so unclear. You also have to play sideways to match your character, which makes it so you have to move your neck to see the screen which probably causes pain in the neck.

Phew, so what is the story mode? There are now four teams: Heroes, still with Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, Babylon which still has Jet, Wave, and Storm, Team Dark has Shadow, Rouge, and E-10000B, and finally Team Rose with Amy, Cream, and Vector. Oh, sorry to Big and Omega, I guess. The Teams have ten missions: three races with each of the other teams and one final race- but unlike the last two games- Free Riders mostly consists of solo missions, like the punching one. That’s just boring to me. There’s also a tutorial which teaches the basics, which you have to do if you wanna survive the entire campaign. One of the solo missions in Team Rose as Cream is just so unresponsive and I couldn’t do my tricks so my speed gauge kept running out and I had to retry again and again. The story is Eggman held a Grand Prix in disguise and that goes on until the doctors find out Metal Sonic has been copying the data of the racers and becomes the main villain of the game- which is cool I guess. Metal has slowly faded into nothing after Sonic Heroes, so this was nice. He’s just put into games so Metal Sonic fans buy the game. The cutscenes are unappealing- they’re made to look like a tv screen with some pngs on the screen. I really miss the action cutscenes. I absolutely hate Free Riders because it killed this wonderful spin off, and it was sad for it to get worse each entry. They’ve switched to more traditional kart racers now, which just doesn’t fit this series. Sonic The Hedgehog is a series with style and too-cool for school vibes- which Riders perfectly implemented. Goodbye, Sonic Riders. This discussion is done.

I wont bother editing it but ignore the “PlayStation shamelessly copied the Wii” part. I now know the truth.

What Sonic game should I get for it?

So apparently every big Sonic anniversary that comes every 5 years is close to or in the same year as the release of a new Nintendo console. Think about it…

1996: Sonic’s 5th and the launch of the Nintendo 64

2001: Sonic’s 10th and the launch of the Game Boy Advance and Gamecube

2006: Sonic’s 15th and the launch of the Wii

2011: Sonic’s 20th and the launch of the 3DS (and one year close to the launch of the Wii U)

2016: Sonic’s 25th and one year close to the launch of the Switch (where the anniversary games were released)

2021: Sonic’s 30th and the Switch has still yet to be retired

The Master Core looks slightly different in each version of Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity.

Which one do you think looks the best?

PlayStation 2 on the top & the Wii on the bottom.

I prefer the PS2 version as thicker purple aura as well as the visible circuitry make Master Core look more threatening & menacing.

The triva section of Master Core's SNN page mentions this.