[played via Like A Dragon Gaiden]

I don't think this game is necessarily bad, but is sadly held back by its place in time. I actually love the animations and character work in here (honestly 2-D chubby sonic should be acting more like a looney toon just like here rather than just vacant protagonist).

My big problem is fighting in the 3D space just doesn't feel that good, especially compared to early Virtual Fighter around this same timeframe making things feel much smoother.

The extra half star is dedicated to Sonic being able to grab the gun from the cowboy and blasting them.

Similar to colour-matching puzzle games, fighting games is another genre that I can’t get my head around properly, with combos that you need to remember and pull off. So I can’t say how Sonic the Fighters compares to other fighting games, but I will say that with the “automatic” mode for people like me, who are awful at the game, I enjoyed the rather brief game.

There’s something very charming about the low poly models for this game, there’s a really nice polygonal style to them. The stages themselves also look really nice, especially the ice stage which takes place on a giant mirror – it’s rather beautiful.

The characters include the main four heroes (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy), with characters from Knuckles Chaotix, Triple Trouble and some new additions to the franchise, with Metal Sonic and Robotnik as bosses. It’s a really odd mix. Each character’s moves do feel quite different, even with just the more basic moves.