I’m sure we’ve all heard the news by this point. Sega has recently revealed their secret “Project Needlemouse” as Sonic the Hedgehog 4, the next iteration of the 19 year-old Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. I’ve always been a fan of that speed addicted hedgehog that could put Speedy Gonzalez to shame, but even I have to admit that the series has been on a very deadly downward spiral for the better part of the last decade, beginning with the series’ major breakthrough into 3D gameplay in 1999. If Super Mario 64 can be considered a shining example of how to translate a 2D platforming series into 3D, then Sonic could be considered the opposite. While earlier 3D entries weren’t by all means bad, there’s been a very sharp decline in quality with every successive entry, ending with the atrocious Sonic Unleashed. And with fans begging for Sonic’s return to 2D, it seems that Sega is ready to give the fans what they want. But is it too little too late for the little blue speed demon? Where exactly did Sonic go so wrong? Is it even possible for him to redeem himself at this point?

The Genesis Era

Making his debut in 1991, Sonic enjoyed major success as Sega’s mascot, placing him in direct competition with Nintendo’s own established mascot, Mario. Unlike Mario, however, Sonic’s direct emphasis was on speed, with the level design centered around speeding from Point A to Point B, all the while collecting as many rings as possible. It was a simple formula to be sure, but it worked and players, including myself, were thrilled to speed through the levels, battling Sonic’s nemesis, Dr. Eggman (I use his original Japanese name as opposed to the American imposed “Dr. Robotnik”) and his minions. The games, like many games of that era, didn’t have much in terms of story due to limitations with the gaming systems but the main conflict involved Eggman attempting to collect the powerful Chaos Emeralds, using small animals to power his robotic creations and defeat Sonic, the proverbial thorn in his side.

With each successive game, the mythos of Sonic’s world began to grow and Eggman’s schemes became grander in scale, such as his super-powered space station and Death Star rip-off, the Death Egg and Sonic being eventually revealed as a prophesized hero who would stop Eggman from gaining control of the powerful Master Emerald in the climax of Sonic and Knuckles. Throughout the three main games (technically four, though Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles were initially made as one game and split into two due to time constraints), more cast members were added to the game. Initially just Sonic and Eggman, Sonic’s sidekick, Miles “Tails” Prower was introduced in Sonic 2, and the initially antagonistic Knuckles the Echidna was introduced in Sonic 3. A few more characters were added in subsequent spin-offs, such as Metal Sonic and Amy Rose in Sonic CD. While not given much spotlight in the 2D Sonic days, these characters would make their way into the spotlight once Sonic made it into 3D, much to the chagrin of many Sonic fans. The old 2D Sonic games were all about speed and never really stopped being fun, hence their appeal. Unfortunately, the same would not hold true for later entries in the series.

The Dreamcast Era

1999 saw the release of the first true 3D Sonic game, Sonic Adventure, and with it, the beginning of the series’ decline. While it wasn’t that bad of a game, there were flaws in translating the high speed platforming that made the old 2D titles so entertaining, especially when it came to things like the camera and the addition of annoying, non-Sonic elements, like the Knuckles treasure hunting levels and the fishing levels with Big the Cat. The 2001 follow-up, Sonic Adventure 2 really didn’t fix any of those problems. The non-Sonic elements continued, with the addition of mecha levels for Tails and Eggman.

One major problem that began at this point was the addition of playable characters other than Sonic in an attempt to lengthen gameplay. While the plots were enjoyable, with stories becoming grander in scale and expanding the mythos of the Sonic world, the series quickly began to stray from the high-speed elements that made the series popular in the first place. It was enjoyable at the time, but the novelty quickly wore off. While there was several interesting characters such as Rouge the Bat and Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic’s anti-heroic rival, the fans fell in love with Sonic and his high-speed action. While the series was still enjoyable, following the fall of the Dreamcast and Sega’s withdrawal from the console race, things only got worse.

Post-Dreamcast Era

Following the fall of the Dreamcast, Sonic’s future seemed uncertain, until Sega began porting the Adventure games to the Nintendo GameCube and releasing 2D titles for the Game Boy Advance. And, with other Sega developed titles beginning to appear on other consoles, it was just a matter of time of time before Sonic went multiplatform.

Enter 2004′s Sonic Heroes, which was released for every major platform available at the time, aside from the handhelds. The game was more of a callback to the old 2D Sonic games, with most of the extra unnecessary game modes and focusing more on the high-speed linear level progression everyone knows and loves. But it was hardly that simple. With the continued adding of new playable characters, the Sonic Heroes roster consisted of four different teams, which essentially meant that you had to play through the same group of levels four times before you could access the final part of the game. However, while similar to the Adventure series, the gameplay wasn’t all that varied, making things a bit monotonous. But that was only the prelude to the fall of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Shadow With a Gun - An obvious sign that the folks at Sonic Team weren't thinking straight.

2005 was probably one of the worst years that Sonic could’ve had. Despite the success of Sonic Heroes, Sega’s next installment in the Sonic series was one that put a bad taste in gamers’ mouths. To put it bluntly, it was garbage. Deciding to put an end to a lingering plot thread, that began with Shadow the Hedgehog’s apparent death in Sonic Adventure 2 and revival in Sonic Heroes, Sega devoted their following game to the black hedgehog himself, answering questions about the character’s creation and past as well as answering, once and for all, whether Shadow was an android as was hinted at in Sonic Heroes. The aptly titled Shadow the Hedgehog introduced a different type of gameplay to the Sonic series. Aside from having to go through beginning to end of a level, the stages had both hero and dark missions attached to them. Completing either of the objective changes the story path, which fit with the game’s tagline: “Hero or Villain? You Decide.” Essentially, however, this just meant that you had to play through the game 10 times in order to get all the story endings before you were allowed to play the true ending of the game. It wouldn’t have been such a bad thing, had the game been tolerable. But it wasn’t. It was utter trash and I’ll tell you why. The controls still sucked, the camera was horrible, and the new gameplay additions were laughable. In order to separate it from the standard Sonic style, they gave Shadow the ability to use guns and drive vehicles. Stupid move, I know. I mean, the darker, edgier type of story wasn’t bad, though very repetitive, but the only thing the game did was distance itself further from the successful Sonic formula with disastrous results. However, it did resolve Shadow’s storyline, prepping him to be one of the central characters in the following Sonic game, 2006’s Sonic the Hedgehog.

The Modern Era

While Sega continued making 2D Sonic games such as Sonic Rivals and Sonic Rush for the DS and PSP, their ventures into 3D continued to fail. For Sonic’s 15^th Anniversary, Sega released Sonic the Hedgehog. It wasn’t a remake of the original Sonic, but rather given that title as a tribute. Continuing some time after Shadow, Sonic finds himself in the city of Soleanna, whose Princess has just been kidnapped by Eggman so that he may learn about the secrets of something known as the flames of disaster. Following in the tradition of grander storyline’s, Sonic the Hedgehog’s storyline was something I rather enjoyed. But the game itself was still crap. It was as glitchy as ever and exploring Soleanna in between levels was boring. The game was broken up into 3 different scenarios, starting with Sonic’s story and subsequently unlocking Shadow and Silver’s stories. But wait, who is Silver you ask? Silver is a hedgehog from the future with telekinetic abilities who travels back in time to stop the future from being destroyed. So, essentially, the storyline of Sonic the Hedgehog is similar to the Dragonball Z Android Saga, with Sonic as Goku, Shadow as Vegeta, and Silver as Trunks, except that Silver isn’t Shadow’s son. And, as always, completing the three scenarios unlocks the Final Story, which includes a dreadfully painful Chaos Emerald hunt, which are needed to revive a dead Sonic…again, it feels like the Sonic devs received the wrong script in the mail or something, with the similarities to DBZ and all. To be honest, I actually enjoyed this game, but some lack of polish, unresponsive controls, and some bad decisions such as the return of Shadow’s useless vehicle segments and one of the most cringeworthy moments in Sonic history (I can’t even describe it…skip to 4:55) halted what could’ve been a good 3D Sonic title. And just when all seemed to point to a return to form, Sonic fans everywhere were once again disappointed.

Enter 2008’s Sonic Unleashed. Now I’ll be honest, Sonic Unleashed actually had some promise. Sega had finally completed their “Hedgehog Engine” for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game and the seamless transition between 2D and 3D gameplay for the daytime stages seemed to hold up strong. It seemed like Sega had found a compromise between 3D gameplay and standard Sonic action that fans had been longing for. Finally, Eggman was once again a credible villain, unlike the antagonistic buffoon and part-time ally he had been in recent years. Everything seemed to be in place for an epic revival. And, if the entire game had been like this, it could’ve been a hit. But, alas, Sega could not resist the gimmick, and that served as their downfall in this outing. Enter Sonic the Werehog (ridiculously stupid name, I know.). During nighttime segments of the game, Sonic would transform into a hairy, beastly version of himself with stretchy arms known as a werehog. It was these stages that brought down the game, along with more tedious hub towns similar to Soleanna from the previous game. In addition, the tone of the game was a lot more childish, in contrast with the other recent entries in the series, which was something that personally disappointed me. At this point, my faith in Sega’s ability to produce a quality Sonic game disappeared. Like a fan clinging to false hope, I began to realize that Sonic’s glory days were a thing of the past. After all, with most entries aside from a few spin-offs and handheld titles being absolute garbage, it seemed as though the blue hedgehog had finally run out of steam…

Ah...what could have been.

Onward to the Future

Or so I thought. I heard about Sega’s Project Needlemouse back in September, and all signs once again pointed to a return to form, only this time, it was looking more and more likely that it would be a 2.5D Sonic game for PSN and XBLA, and, to be honest, I was not surprised that Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is what it is. Some games just don’t translate well into 3D and Sonic is proof of that. But, despite some hopes for the future of the Sonic franchise, I still remain skeptical, especially since it seems that Sonic 4 is going to retcon everything that has come in the last decade. As much as I enjoyed the old Sonic games, I am a fan of the edgier, somewhat epic storylines and I worry that a return to the old style means more cartoonish and colorful plots, especially if they get rid of Shadow. Then again, this may just be what the Sonic series needs. After all, Sega seems to have trouble keeping their continuity straight, such as the inability to decide whether Eggman Nega and Blaze the Cat are from an alternate universe or from the future. But hey, only time will tell what will happen with the franchise. As for me, I think I’ll wait and see, not really wanting to get my hopes about Sonic 4.