We wear our hearts on our sleeves here at 61 Frames Per Second. You may have noticed certain predilections that dominate our mutual attentions, loves and desires that may, when considered under the right conditions, call our journalistic integrity into question. We all love Mega Man. We yearn for the creations of a long dead corporation once known as Squaresoft. We burn incense at an 8 and 16-bit altar, muttering somber devotionals to the arcane arts of platforming, of acquiring power-ups from felled foes, while clutching frayed totems depicting our saints as well as our sinners. Some of us, and I won’t say who, like Bionic Commando too much. But there are other icons of gaming’s pantheon that I find us continuously, and inexplicably, returning to again and again. Why is it that 61FPS, as a collective, torrid consciousness, keeps discussing Sonic the Hedgehog? Especially considering the regular topic of discussion is how crap Sonic has become as a franchise?
I suppose the answer is two fold. Once upon a time, Sonic the Hedgehog games were truly special. The original quintet of platformers, including Sonics 1 through 3, Sonic and Knuckles, and Sonic CD, were a legitimate paradigm shift for their genre and endure as eminently playable games today. But Sonic is also the poster child for brand dilution through over-saturation. Abused mascots like Mega Man, Spyro the Dragon, and Crash Bandicoot have nothing on good old Sonic; ten console titles in the main series, close to twenty spin-offs, and fifteen handheld titles, and all of them are, at best, inoffensively forgettable and, at worst, downright bad. To make matters much worse, the core Sonic series (the games Sega positions as flagship titles) has never successfully made the leap to three-dimensions. The Sonic Adventures, Sonic Heroes, and Sonic the Hedgehog ’06 failed as attempts at translating the Genesis titles’ frenetic platforming but further watered down the formula by not allowing Sonic to carry the games on his own (read: shitty friends.) It’s no wonder we’re fascinated by Sonic: he’s the fastest train wreck alive.
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