He was born in 1991 to become the official mascot, the featured image, of a generation of consoles that was to rule the world for years to come. Converted into an anti-Nintendo bastion within the SEGA trenches, he made a living starring in some of the cartridges most remembered by several generations of gamers and, once his company stopped manufacturing machines, he reconverted himself with such success that it still lasts until today. our days.
31 years of history go a long way
There are those who believe that the rubicon of celebrity is not transferred until you star in a high-budget film. And in the case of Sonic, it took nearly three decades to get any studio to dare to take their adventures beyond video games, comics or animated TV series (unlike Mario, who already in 1993 suffered a film adaptation of a duty court). Now, once we have his continuation on the way, it's time to look back to see what the journey of this character has been like, who has specialized in titles where speed and monumental settings take on a unique role.
Sonic is one of those characters who are capable of making his fans remember when and what it felt like to touch the control of a Mega Drive for the first time. Thanks to his Green Hill, to the loops, the platforms and the ringsWe all have those sensations that made him unique engraved in our heads. Obviously, over the years the blue porcupine had to reinvent itself and that is precisely what this Top 10 is about: to remember how, despite the passing of each new generation of consoles, Sonic's careers remained firm against pixels, bits and polygons filled with more and better textures.
We could order this Top 10 from best to worst, and vice versa, but we have preferred to let time order them. In the end, it is almost the best criterion to understand in a simple way how things change over three decades. Oh, and we have saved ourselves car titles, Olympics and the like that are not part of the core Same as what some called the "Sonic formula" in its day. Just racing and platforms, our daily bread when we revisit the universe of SEGA's most famous character.
Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)
What to say about the original 1991 cartridge. Un Sonic that revolutionized the Mega Drive landscape and gave a console that had hit stores in November 1989 the push it needed. Huge maps, really pretty colorful enemies, music that we still hum today and a lot of speed were the ingredients of a formula that boasted of squeezing the most out of the 16 bit SEGA console. Unsurprisingly, it became an instant classic.
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (1992)
Sonic 2 It came just a year after the first cartridge and it did so by introducing us to Tails. The fox capable of maintaining flight by moving its tail and who starred with Sonic in what was a natural continuation of the phenomenon that we had experienced in 1991. Bigger, deeper, more convoluted maps and Sonic embracing some new gameplay mechanics that drove Mega Drive and SEGA fans crazy.
Sonic CD (1993)
SEGA did not rest on its laurels and for the presentation of its Mega CD it gave us the one that It is today one of the most outstanding deliveries. New, bigger maps, more fun mechanics but, above all, a use of the disco format in which it arrived: extraordinary music, introductory scenes made in Toei Animation, (almost) 3D camera movements during gameplay and the presentation in society of new characters such as Amy Rose or the famous Metal Sonic. It is surely the best of all those released in the 90s.
Sonic 3 (1994)
Curious SEGA experiment that not only brought us a new character, Knuckles, but also It raised the bar even higher than anything seen before. Although it is evident that it technically surpasses its predecessors (we are looking at the end of the generation), this is a much more established and mature title than the previous ones. where the Japanese have already had time to polish all the possible defects, few, of the previous deliveries. It's a pleasure to travel through its gigantic maps and fight Dr. Robotnik in final phases that we all still remember today.
Sonic Adventure (1998)
Saturn, curiously, never had a Sonic to put in his mouth, which speaks volumes about the success that SEGA expected from his machine. So the Japanese were reserved for Dreamcast, where they created a true wonder in 3D that was an absolute success. Sonic adventure It is huge, a game with an incredibly large size and where the blue porcupine shows that his passage to the new generations was still as good as his first appearance in 1991. A masterpiece.
Sonic Adventure 2 (2001)
https://youtu.be/vy2n2-gsWlY
The almost instant success of the first Sonic adventure prompted SEGA to develop a sequel for the Dreamcast as well. Although less surprising maintains the level and goes one step further in 3D mechanics, taking advantage of the analog crosshead of the machine's gamepad. As the company did for the first Sonic, in this Adventure 2 he made the maps bigger, added new characters (Shadow) and told us more history of each of the protagonists. Indispensable.
Sonic Advance (2002)
https://youtu.be/nbF6DQYKPNw
In 2002 the Dreamcast was in its twilight (unfortunately), with SEGA announcing that it was stopping manufacturing it so had no choice but to look for new fishing grounds in which to sell their titles. And Game Boy Advance was the perfect excuse to release the first Sonic away from the domains of Mega Drive, Master System, Game Gear, Mega CD, Dreamcast, etc. This cartridge is the pure essence of the 90s, a 16-bit school where we can enjoy a laptop of the same quality and fun as those first developments of the blue porcupine.
Sonic Generations (2011)
SEGA celebrated 20 years of Sonic, in 2011, in the most special way possible: developing a game that was a constant homage to his own creation. One part recovered the old glories of 16-bit cartridges for Mega Drive, with classic 2D characters, maps and melodies, and on the other, it dived into a more modern approach to the character that served as a starting point for what was to come. That combination was highly celebrated at the time and the demonstration that Sonic still had many battles to star in.
Sonic Mania (2017)
This game has a curious story behind it, because It is not born from a SEGA project, but from the fan work that developed a first sketch of the title. He liked it so much that the Japanese decided to endorse and support him to keep going. The product of that work is this Sonic Mania, a release that many do not hesitate to consider as the best of the franchise in its 31 years of existence, since it captures the spirit of the original releases, its same graphics and appearance, music inspired by the classic cartridges but with the At the same time, it presents them in a more renewed and modern format, using technologies that were impossible to apply with the Mega Drive hardware. A marvel at the service of the most staunch fans.
Sonic Colors Ultimate (2021)
Sonic Colors was a 2010 release that came to Wii and at the time it was very well received by all fans of the saga, exactly 19 years after its release on Mega Drive. SEGA decided to take this title and remaster it for Sonic to blow out his 30th birthday candles in 2021, further improving what we saw on the Nintendo console. Although the phases, the characters and the story against Dr. Robotnik are still in place, its developers went a step further by updating the entire graphic section to adapt it to the new titles, now practically 3D. The result is a game that respects the soul of the saga and the characters and that can serve as perfect entertainment while we wait for SEGA's next move.