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Description
Last time I gave my brief thoughts on the idea of what if Sonic Adventure 2, the most popular Sonic game to exist in history, was the last game in the series, spoken a little through the perspective of recent events in the franchise, primarily disappointment in the fanbase due to issues regarding the writing and characterization in the recent games, some sources showing dissatisfaction as early as Heroes. (www.deviantart.com/animatedone… )

Now I said that SA2 was the most popular game in Sonic's history, but now several things here ultimately leave you to ask, what's the subject for this one...?
This ties to the title and serves as one of my issues I said I'd go into before. I might go on a rant here too, so strap in, folks.

These three games in Sonic's roster have the audacity to exist and have absolutely no reason to, for multiple reasons.
And NO, I say that 06 and Forces do not belong in this conversation. Well, to this extent, anyway, but still...

The three games that I have here have the reputation of damaging the Sonic franchise to its current state and position (heck, as I'm writing this, we're getting closer and closer to the release of Frontiers, a game I hope does well despite my fears), and all have the same exact vibe. Different circumstances and approaches, yeah, but similar nonetheless: being shameless cash-grabs equipped with faulty controls, truly atrocious writing issues, and having negative influences on the franchise in the long-term.

I have my issues with each game, and I'll list them individually, starting by this...
If I had the chance to remove a max of three Sonic games from history, these would be my choices:

3. 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆𝒉𝒐𝒈
The infamous "Dark Age" of Sonic starts all the way back in 2005 with this "game". Arriving with the purpose of cashing in on the gaming demographics changing to the more mature-toned games released at the time, this game was the oil spill of Sonic's "laughingstock" reputation (of course, we all know what started the fire after...). I honestly have more of a soft spot for 06 than this game, as even though I want to give the Shadow game a shot for myself, it can't be ignored that it was the true start of everything going wrong. Doesn't help that this serves as a complete waste of time as well, as the answers to Shadow's character is locked DEEP into the final boss of the Last Story, which is unlocked by playing the main game a total of 10 times. Of course, the idea of plopping an assault rifle into the hands of Shadow--a character initially shown to be a selfless, kind-hearted and noble hero who is devoted to protect the world--would never have worked from the start. Thanks to this, the negative influence on the series is that Shadow as a character is--and probably forever will be--influenced and "driven" thanks to reference material taken from this game, and fans have discussed utmost disappointment with this. Like many have said, Shadow the Hedgehog is an embarrassing release for Sonic.

2. 𝑺𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒄 𝑳𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅
After the releases of the positively-received Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations, a much-well needed redemption Sonic needed after pretty much all of his outings of the mid-to-late 2000s--the aforementioned "Dark Age"--were deemed utterly atrocious for various reasons, this game hit the reset button and depression in the series set in once again. This time, Lost World has a multitude of issues in its own right. For one, the gameplay style served as a radical departure from the last three mainline games: Unleashed, Colors, and Generations, all of which set to establish the 3D Boost style of gameplay. Like my number one pick, gimmicks are scattered all across the game...every few stages. Writing suffers at an all time low here, as the portrayal of Tails--a kind-hearted character all his own--is reinforced to be annoying as fans have said him to "be" in the past, and later made somehow worse in Forces, as I'm sure we all know. Lore is also completely nonexistent here; at least the Shadow game expanded on the world-building and lore of the character, regardless of whatever your stances are with it. But in Lost World, nothing regarding the history of the Lost Hex or its inhabitants are told. The obvious big sin in the room regarding this game is that Colors' appeal to Nintendo fans is doubled-down to the max by flat-out copying Mario. Mario--the gaming superstar who Sonic was striving to be better than, especially in the early 90's. The weirdest thing with this is that elements that no one liked in this game still show up later regardless, further bringing up the question as to why.

I'll give Shadow and Lost World, and even Secret Rings this: they're not the worst of the worst...

1. 𝑺𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒄 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝑹𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔
Yeah. This game. This 𝓞𝓝𝓔 game is the mother of all examples; the title of my deviation, the reputation it has...EVERYTHING!

I mentioned Secret Rings before because that game had gotten flack for repetitiveness and especially its flawed control scheme all the same. But Secret Rings is 𝑬𝑶𝑵𝑺 better than Free Riders, if you were to ask me.

Free Riders was a launch title for the Xbox 360's Kinect peripheral, meaning full-on motion controls using your entire is required. Like I implied, be grateful Secret Rings simply uses the standalone Wii remote. Free Riders is not a waste of time on its own...it's painful. Both figuratively AND LITERALLY! Execution is just horrid with this game. Narrative also suffers here, and fans who have displeasure with the current characterization of Sonic's friends in the Colors era would be happy to know these trends began their 𝑜𝒽, 𝓈𝑜 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒𝒶𝒷𝓁𝑒 fall from the gaming gods here. I'm going to mention the most abysmal form of cynicism in the gaming fanbase I have EVER SEEN:
When looking at the Wikipedia page of this game, I noticed that the controls were given major criticism...Okay, no problem there. But then I have issue with the story being praised. I'm sorry. Praised for 𝓦𝓗𝓐𝓣, exactly...? There's ZERO lore expansion like Lost World. Especially compared to the last two Riders games, where some lore regarding the Babylon Rogues--characters I LOVE--were given insight on. And there's ACTUAL animation in both titles, even if ZG sacrificed a lot of complexity and cartoony elements from the first. Oh, and let's not forget--Amy Rose's 𝒢𝐿𝒪𝑅𝐼𝒪𝒰𝒮 moment of her calling Cream the Rabbit, her best friend, a useless kid. ... 𝙒𝙃𝘼𝙏?! Like I said, this game is the mother of all terrible Sonic games. Oh yeah, and the worst sin of all...?

𝓘𝓣 𝓚𝓘𝓛𝓛𝓔𝓓 𝓣𝓗𝓔 𝓢𝓞𝓝𝓘𝓒 𝓡𝓘𝓓𝓔𝓡𝓢 𝓢𝓔𝓡𝓘𝓔𝓢!!! That makes me the angriest I've ever been when it comes to Sonic the Hedgehog.
We've never gotten another Riders game since, and never even WILL! But that starts another discussion I'll delve into another time.

*sigh* So yeah, that's it...

These games have no right to exist, and I laid out my honest opinions and reasons why. The music the games have is nice to jam out to of course, but that's not even an excuse. In fact, I feel the music is the ONLY good thing everyone says about a Sonic game.

If these three never came to be, I don't think Sonic's current status would be...nearly as disheartening as it is.

Description
Last time I gave my brief thoughts on the idea of what if Sonic Adventure 2, the most popular Sonic game to exist in history, was the last game in the series, spoken a little through the perspective of recent events in the franchise, primarily disappointment in the fanbase due to issues regarding the writing and characterization in the recent games, some sources showing dissatisfaction as early as Heroes. (www.deviantart.com/animatedone… )

Now I said that SA2 was the most popular game in Sonic's history, but now several things here ultimately leave you to ask, what's the subject for this one...?
This ties to the title and serves as one of my issues I said I'd go into before. I might go on a rant here too, so strap in, folks.

These three games in Sonic's roster have the audacity to exist and have absolutely no reason to, for multiple reasons.
And NO, I say that 06 and Forces do not belong in this conversation. Well, to this extent, anyway, but still...

The three games that I have here have the reputation of damaging the Sonic franchise to its current state and position (heck, as I'm writing this, we're getting closer and closer to the release of Frontiers, a game I hope does well despite my fears), and all have the same exact vibe. Different circumstances and approaches, yeah, but similar nonetheless: being shameless cash-grabs equipped with faulty controls, truly atrocious writing issues, and having negative influences on the franchise in the long-term.

I have my issues with each game, and I'll list them individually, starting by this...
If I had the chance to remove a max of three Sonic games from history, these would be my choices:

3. 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆𝒉𝒐𝒈
The infamous "Dark Age" of Sonic starts all the way back in 2005 with this "game". Arriving with the purpose of cashing in on the gaming demographics changing to the more mature-toned games released at the time, this game was the oil spill of Sonic's "laughingstock" reputation (of course, we all know what started the fire after...). I honestly have more of a soft spot for 06 than this game, as even though I want to give the Shadow game a shot for myself, it can't be ignored that it was the true start of everything going wrong. Doesn't help that this serves as a complete waste of time as well, as the answers to Shadow's character is locked DEEP into the final boss of the Last Story, which is unlocked by playing the main game a total of 10 times. Of course, the idea of plopping an assault rifle into the hands of Shadow--a character initially shown to be a selfless, kind-hearted and noble hero who is devoted to protect the world--would never have worked from the start. Thanks to this, the negative influence on the series is that Shadow as a character is--and probably forever will be--influenced and "driven" thanks to reference material taken from this game, and fans have discussed utmost disappointment with this. Like many have said, Shadow the Hedgehog is an embarrassing release for Sonic.

2. 𝑺𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒄 𝑳𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅
After the releases of the positively-received Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations, a much-well needed redemption Sonic needed after pretty much all of his outings of the mid-to-late 2000s--the aforementioned "Dark Age"--were deemed utterly atrocious for various reasons, this game hit the reset button and depression in the series set in once again. This time, Lost World has a multitude of issues in its own right. For one, the gameplay style served as a radical departure from the last three mainline games: Unleashed, Colors, and Generations, all of which set to establish the 3D Boost style of gameplay. Like my number one pick, gimmicks are scattered all across the game...every few stages. Writing suffers at an all time low here, as the portrayal of Tails--a kind-hearted character all his own--is reinforced to be annoying as fans have said him to "be" in the past, and later made somehow worse in Forces, as I'm sure we all know. Lore is also completely nonexistent here; at least the Shadow game expanded on the world-building and lore of the character, regardless of whatever your stances are with it. But in Lost World, nothing regarding the history of the Lost Hex or its inhabitants are told. The obvious big sin in the room regarding this game is that Colors' appeal to Nintendo fans is doubled-down to the max by flat-out copying Mario. Mario--the gaming superstar who Sonic was striving to be better than, especially in the early 90's. The weirdest thing with this is that elements that no one liked in this game still show up later regardless, further bringing up the question as to why.

I'll give Shadow and Lost World, and even Secret Rings this: they're not the worst of the worst...

1. 𝑺𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒄 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝑹𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔
Yeah. This game. This 𝓞𝓝𝓔 game is the mother of all examples; the title of my deviation, the reputation it has...EVERYTHING!

I mentioned Secret Rings before because that game had gotten flack for repetitiveness and especially its flawed control scheme all the same. But Secret Rings is 𝑬𝑶𝑵𝑺 better than Free Riders, if you were to ask me.

Free Riders was a launch title for the Xbox 360's Kinect peripheral, meaning full-on motion controls using your entire is required. Like I implied, be grateful Secret Rings simply uses the standalone Wii remote. Free Riders is not a waste of time on its own...it's painful. Both figuratively AND LITERALLY! Execution is just horrid with this game. Narrative also suffers here, and fans who have displeasure with the current characterization of Sonic's friends in the Colors era would be happy to know these trends began their 𝑜𝒽, 𝓈𝑜 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒𝒶𝒷𝓁𝑒 fall from the gaming gods here. I'm going to mention the most abysmal form of cynicism in the gaming fanbase I have EVER SEEN:
When looking at the Wikipedia page of this game, I noticed that the controls were given major criticism...Okay, no problem there. But then I have issue with the story being praised. I'm sorry. Praised for 𝓦𝓗𝓐𝓣, exactly...? There's ZERO lore expansion like Lost World. Especially compared to the last two Riders games, where some lore regarding the Babylon Rogues--characters I LOVE--were given insight on. And there's ACTUAL animation in both titles, even if ZG sacrificed a lot of complexity and cartoony elements from the first. Oh, and let's not forget--Amy Rose's 𝒢𝐿𝒪𝑅𝐼𝒪𝒰𝒮 moment of her calling Cream the Rabbit, her best friend, a useless kid. ... 𝙒𝙃𝘼𝙏?! Like I said, this game is the mother of all terrible Sonic games. Oh yeah, and the worst sin of all...?

𝓘𝓣 𝓚𝓘𝓛𝓛𝓔𝓓 𝓣𝓗𝓔 𝓢𝓞𝓝𝓘𝓒 𝓡𝓘𝓓𝓔𝓡𝓢 𝓢𝓔𝓡𝓘𝓔𝓢!!! That makes me the angriest I've ever been when it comes to Sonic the Hedgehog.
We've never gotten another Riders game since, and never even WILL! But that starts another discussion I'll delve into another time.

*sigh* So yeah, that's it...

These games have no right to exist, and I laid out my honest opinions and reasons why. The music the games have is nice to jam out to of course, but that's not even an excuse. In fact, I feel the music is the ONLY good thing everyone says about a Sonic game.

If these three never came to be, I don't think Sonic's current status would be...nearly as disheartening as it is.