I’m kinda torn about this one!! On the one hand, it’s still not really delivering what I would want out of a solo adventure starring me. (Heck, at this point I think my story in Sonic Adventure 1 is the closest I’m ever gonna get.) But on the other hand, the main mechanic of the game is me unlocking various gadgets (sorta Metroid-esque) and using them to progress, which is I think the first time the series has really suggested that I’m the resourceful gadget guy! Plus the Sea Fox makes a return which I’m extremely here for.

I just wish so many of the gadgets I use weren’t various forms of bombs!! What am I, Bean the Dynamite???

But, yeah. This is at least something! When I first started playing it I was rolling my eyes at it as hard as I did at Skypatrol, like, “Ah, yes, running around slowly and throwing bombs, precisely what I’m known for.” But the longer I played it, the more it grew on me, and the more it really did start feeling less weird.

Except for the freaking bombs!!

This game has alluded me for a very long time. I first found out about it on the Sonic Gems Collection, every time I tried to play it, I put it down before even getting through the first level. I believe the issue back then was my lack of patience for spin-offs... all I saw was, "This is a Sonic game, but doesn't play like one."

Fast forward to now and I truly appreciate how different and Metroidvania this game is, sure it's a very early example, but it's pretty fun none the less. Tails goes through levels using gadgets to get around and fight enemies, I really think Sega should do more with this, or even a remake adventure would be nice.

I'll admit the game is a bit slow and requires patience to search around for power-ups, and the game could REALLY use a map, the music is actually pretty decent and different from the average Sonic game, and all the power ups are pretty creative...even if nothing in the game itself tells you what the item does or is for.

It's a decent short game that deserves a bit more credit than it gets, but really feels like it could use a bit more to it.

Veredito: O pior spinoff possível.

Vale a pena jogar Tails Adventure pra conhecer a história da franquia. Várias 1ªs vezes aqui: que Tails ganha os holofotes (o que mais tarde seria ponto-chave no enredo de vários jogos, como Sonic Adventure 1 e agora no Sonic Frontiers), que ele tem a habilidade de bombardear inimigos enquanto voa, que o personagem é desenvolvido como inventor e engenheiro. É bem bacana como este jogo inovou: em vez de focar em velocidade, é quase um metroidvania/coletaton 2D, cheio de exploração metódica, acúmulo de habilidades e backtracking. Muito curioso e interessante.

...e aqui acaba qualquer elogio que eu consiga fazer a ele.

O problema não é ser lento e diferentão. É um spinoff, e spinoffs são experimentais mesmo. O problema é que TUDO nele é muito, mas muito mal feito. É bizarro, você passa uma quantidade pornográfica de raiva só pra conseguir andar pra frente.

Por que quando apanha você fica incapaz de controlar o Tails de novo até ele tocar o chão, fazendo você cair em abismos? Por que quando você se joga de uma plataforma ou cancela um voo, fica impedido de voar de novo? Por que só pode estocar 4 itens de cada vez, quando o jogo tem mais de 20? Por que os itens que você precisa pra passar dessa ou daquela parte nunca são sinalizados direito, a ponto de as paredes que você explode com a bomba normal serem IDÊNTICAS às que precisam daquela bomba específica? Por que tem que sair da fase sala por sala e voltar pra oficina do Tails leeeeeeeeeentamente só pra trocar de item, pra quem sabe talvez você dê a sorte de escolher o item certo dessa vez (spoiler: não será o item certo)? Por que TUDO nesse jogo é feito milimetricamente pra te foder, por que é que a câmera JOGA ATIVAMENTE CONTRA VOCÊ, o level design também, o backtracking também, os controles também, O SISTEMA DE SAVE TAMBÉM?!?! Sabia que se você entrar sem querer no menu de códigos de save, você NÃO PODE SAIR a menos que digite um código certo ou que REINICIE O VIDEOGAME? POR QUÊÊÊÊÊÊ??????

Querem saber até que ponto exatamente Tails Adventure joga contra você? Ele tem a pior fase da água que já joguei, de longe. De muito, muito longe. "Injusta pra caralho" seria um puta eufemismo. O único jeito possível de passar dela é calculando pixel por pixel + abusar dos save states + decidir onde e de quem você vai tankar dano e aproveitar a invencibilidade piscando pós dano. Isso, claro, tendo upado a vida no máximo antes de começar, senão nem com técnicas de speedrun avançadas.

Se você quer muito, MAS MUITO MESMO conhecer um pedaço interessante e pouco conhecido da história da franquia, vai fundo. Mas vá psicologicamente preparado, e com um guia numa mão e o dedo do save state na outra. Respire, faça pausas, beba água, e talvez você saia do outro lado com a expectativa de vida intacta. Apenas talvez.

Mas se você quer um joguinho legal, bem, eu só recomendo ele pros meus piores inimigos.

It shouldn't be possible to sleep on a Sonic game considering that the blue hedgehog and whether or not he was "ever good" feels like the most prominent and endlessly regurgitated topic amongst YouTubers and the internet at large, but I really think the series' Game Gear output is hugely overlooked in both its quality and its creativity. They did an excellent job adapting the 16-bit formula through Sonic 1, 2, Chaos, and Triple Trouble, but even after they nailed that down, they didn't hesitate to get weird with the very concept of Sonic. Sonic Drift 1+2 are pretty bog standard kart racers (I like 'em), but putting Sonic in a kart instead of making him run is inherently kinda weird, isn't it? Sonic R "fixes" that (I unironically love Sonic R), but that's a story for another day. There was Tails' Sky Patrol, an auto scrolling flying game that played nothing like a typical Sonic and only had Tails as a playable character. "What would Sonic be like without Sonic?" is what they were putting down here, and this wasn't the last time they'd interrogate the series' core identity. Sonic Labyrinth, a much maligned game from what I've seen, is more of a puzzle-like game that asks the incredibly bold question of, "what if Sonic was slow?". Seems like a downright heretical thing to ask, but Tails Adventure goes even further by bundling this and the previous question together:

"What if Sonic didn't have Sonic and was also slow?"

It turns out that such a question makes for a really impressive and enjoyable Metroidvania!

The Game Gear was more or less on its way out in 1995, which led to some really impressive games coming out around then and Tails Adventure really makes a statement with its scope. The other Sonic games tended to have runtimes of an hour or less, but this game gives you over 10 areas to explore and find and enough to do within then that you can easily get 4 hours or more out of it if you're thorough! I'm not normally one to give much credence at all to game length, but you really didn't see this kind of thing on the Game Gear much beyond RPGs, so I can't help but be impressed. These areas are pretty huge, too, oftentimes requiring multiple trips to find everything within them. They even brought the submarine back from Triple Trouble and gave it its own batch of items to use and nonlinear areas to traverse. Sometimes you'll find a cave you didn't know existed by exploring a new route with a different weapon and sometimes you'll stumble upon a boss entirely by accident. It's the kind of game that has me constantly going "how did they do this!?" and helps to validate my feelings towards the Game Gear as something that's far better than people often give it credit for nowadays.

You only get two buttons on the Game Gear (not counting start or the d-pad), but Tails Adventure gives you over 20 items and lets you swap between four at a time! Sure, this means you have to pause to swap items and can't bring everything with you, but it makes exploration a joy because you never know what you're going to get, especially since they were clever enough to make every item box look the same and hide the surprise every time. Sometimes, you get a new bomb or weapon that lets you get past things you previously couldn't, but other times, you get something that's just fun to have. The radio is technically "useless", but it lets you change the music in any level to any song from the game's soundtrack, which is pretty neat! Though they aren't in the game, you can get items that let you pull a trick out of Sonic and Knuckles' arsenals. Getting up close in this game isn't usually a good idea, but hey, seeing Tails punch like Knuckles does is pretty cute!

The premise of the game itself also feels like a stride towards wanting to make Sonic into something bigger than it was narratively in the video game space. Later games in the series like Sonic Adventure and Sonic Frontiers have Tails struggle with the idea of remaining in Sonic's shadow and earning the confidence needed to become the hero, but here he was cleaning up messes all by himself back in 1995! Making Tails slow seems like a weird choice, but I love how it gives him an identity that isn't just "Sonic but you can fly". Tails has always been the smart one of the group and the pacing of the game and the tools you use leverage his specialty, which is something that I feel like some of the other games forget about his character. He's an inventor, so instead of brute forcing or speeding past everything, you find new solutions to new problems by finding new things to use. Enemies are threats that you have to approach with the right tool from the right position. You're not barreling through foes, but instead calculating the best angle to throw bombs from. Your little robot friend can even be used to scout ahead and see what threats await you in the distance. Said robot is utilized for a whole bunch of puzzles as well since it can get into areas Tails can't due to its small size. You also have to earn the ability to fly for longer periods of time and take more hits by finding more Chaos Emeralds, which feels like a subtle way of showing the player Tails' increased confidence and skills as the adventure goes on. It's a solitary adventure so Tails doesn't have anyone to bounce ideas off of and it doesn't spell anything out, but because of its quieter and slower nature, the gameplay manages to convey a story of Tails gradually rising up to a challenge that only he can handle. It's nice when Sonic games take themselves seriously and try to grow their characters, you know?

I've always had a soft spot for this one since I had it when I was young, but I'm very pleased to see it's even better than I remembered it being. Aside from some underwhelming final bosses, it's a consistently compelling adventure that grows on you more and more as you keep unraveling its mysteries and discover just how deep it goes. I tend to find myself fatigued with the Metroidvania genre nowadays, but I guess all it takes to bring me back in is an unexpected spin on two formulas combined into one!

damn solid game gear sonic game. Slower paced than a traditional sonic game and takes more inspiration from things like adventure games. Definitely more monster world-y than metroidvania-y. Feels more fleshed out and content-full than most other sonic game gear games. Tails shows no remorse towards his enemies in this game. I do wish I could have had a bigger screen to see the levels in though, that game gear screen crunch do be real and made level navigation a bit difficult. I'm surprised that sega never tried the concept again, cuz this is probably one of the most unique sonic spinoffs you can get.

I played this as a kid and forgot to put it here, along with some other games I’m adding after this.

Tails Adventure is probably my first experience with a Metroidvania style game, if a more simplistic take on it. I enjoyed the game a lot, especially being young and unfamiliar with a lot of other Sonic games.

To me, it’s really what Tails needed to stand on his own. Having him be his own character with strengths attributed to his inventive mind. Seriously, I pray someone remakes this game in a modern style (cause I highly doubt Sega at all cares about this one)

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played on Retroarch

Yet another game done on my Sonic marathon, and wasn't a bad one in the end all things considered! Sure wasn't like the very best, but I didn't dislike my time with it. It was ok, just needed a bit more to really hit.

A nice little simple plot to get the game started, was nice that Eggman and Sonic weren't in this letting Tails really get to shine, too bad these enemies haven't appeared again since then though considering Tails literally bombed the fuck out of them and straight up dropped a boulder on one's head maybe there's a reason lol. Either way was a nice little set up.

Gameplay was where I was a bit mixed, I like Metroidvania's but this one def did a bit too slow. Tails' default walking speed stays like that the entire game and the only way to speed up is to have a power-up which feels so counter intuitive. In fact, that's honestly my main problem with the game, having to go back and forth to Tails' house just to equip or try out new power-us is annoying more often than not. Plus, a good majority of them aren't really needed outside the bombs. I ended up only using those since having ones like the Speed Boots and Super Glove are a waste of space or ones like the Knuckles' or Large Bomb were just not that good.

Aside from screen crunch that's really all I have complaint wise, game was fine pretty much. The areas are varied, the graphics look nice, and Tails' is very bloodthirsty and possibly has connections to the Unabomber. Nice little romp that didn't overstay it's welcome, but still has room for improvement. Tbh, I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel that work out the kinks and improve on what we have here, there's very much room for potential and I could honestly see a Metroidvania style spinoff for Tails' feelings right at home for the little guy. Too bad Sega never really tried this again :/.