Sonic Forces is easily one of the most overhated games in this series, as well as one of the most underwhelming. This game blends several great things about this franchise into one of the most average games the series has seen. It absolutely has its qualities, as well as some stupid design choices, this is quite an oddball of a game.

Forces’ story is nothing much despite the initially interesting premise. Dr Eggman, using the power of Sonic Mania’s phantom Ruby which appeared in front of him, enhances a member of a gang creating a being named “Infinite” who is able to create illusions so real they can kill. He uses infinite to finally beat up Sonic, capture him and take over 99% of the world. So a resistance led by Knuckles and joined by your own Avatar character front the fight to take back the planet. Classic Sonic from Mania is here as the phantom Ruby brought him to this timeline, and Modern Sonic is rescued quickly and then it’s just a case of defeating Infinite’s illusions of previous Sonic villains and defeating Eggman. There’s not much going on here, there’s a lot of dialouge but most of it is done through radio conversations as opposed to full on cutscenes. The cutscenes are okay, animation is good and the acting is on point, but the actual writing is pretty bad and doesn’t seem to know what tone it’s trying to present. Things wrap up quickly and there isn’t much else to say after that.

Forces’ gameplay is split into 3 styles, Modern Sonic, Classic Sonic and your own Avatar. It’s a cool idea to be able to join the fight alongside the Sonic’s, but not much is really done with that as we’ve discussed. There’s 30 stages including boss fights, and you simply select them from a world map. It sounds like a lot, it’s not, but bear with.

Modern Sonic has gone back to the boost formula, he can blaze through stages, homing attack, air boost, stomp and grind on rails. All the boxes are checked, but not only is the control even more stiff than Colours when on the ground, but the levels really don’t ask for much. To be fair this means the control isn’t really a problem, but these stages are almost always a straight line with the occasional deviation for a red ring collectible. They also end in no time leading to stages that have a lot of energy, but constantly leave you wanting more.

Classic Sonic didn’t get treated well here, he’s been slowed down significantly since generations, especially with his Spindash which has been nerfed. There’s no rolling physics either and whenever you make a jump, it feels so heavy. One positive I can say is that the drop dash appears here, and it works pretty well. But this is one of Classic Sonic’s worst appearances by far, even if he ends up having some of the longer levels.

The avatar is interesting, it’s basically modern Sonic without the boost, but they give you a grappling hook and a whole ton of weapons called Wispons. The grappling hook is almost always automatic so that’s very unfortunate, but the wispons.. they had a good idea here. Every wispon has a different attack, from a flamethrower, to a lightning whip to a black hole gun, they are (mostly) fun to use. They also all let you activate the wisp power associated with the gun, letting you take some different paths in stages. It’s a shame this is all under-utilised due to the games short levels and low difficulty. It doesn’t really matter what you end up using because every gun is fit for the job. But I do enjoy customising the Avatar, it’s one of the better things about this game.

Sometimes you’ll play a stage with both Sonic and the Avatar, and genuinely I think these are fun due to the different approach options you can take. You also get to “Double Boost” where in a quick time event, you blast off at a much higher speed. I like the energy of these parts… but you don’t even need to touch the controller during them.

Boss fights are pretty weak overall, some of them being exact copies of one another. They either go down pathetically easy, or drag out for ages and there’s not much In between.

Forces has a great pace, it just keeps moving, there’s no stupid gimmick levels, no confusing gameplay styles, it’s just faced paced action… for about 3-4 hours till it’s over. Don’t get me wrong Colours and Generations were just as short, but they gave you more to do outside of the basics. Forces extra content comes down to a few extra stages and collectible hunting for no actual reason besides an achievement.

The game looks great and I actually like the OST more than most, it gives a different vibe but i do like these tunes.

Forces could have been a lot of things, but it never feels like it wanted to be. It’s a very safe game, one that is not terrible or broken, it’s just underwhelming, and that’s a shame.

Sonic 06 doesn't need a review. Everyone knows what this game is, one of the prominent examples of true potential buried under heaps and heaps of stupid design choices, an awful rushed development period and an overly ambitious structure that was simply just not feasible considering how much they wanted to include.

This starts with the story, which frankly, sucks. Sonic 06 attempts the multi story narrative approach from the adventure games, except its even more sloppily handled than those if you can believe it. Not only did they force each of the 3 main hedgehogs to travel to every stage no matter how non sensical it is to the plot, but the connecting threads are so loosely handled and the amount of plot holes is staggering, to the point the story begins to make almost no sense. The basic gist is easy to follow but with the time travel elements being handled so poorly, you could probably write a book on all the holes in this one. It's not even entertaining, the writing is boring, the animation is extremely stilted and the actors all sound uninterested. Mephilis is an interesting idea for a character, but his manipulation of Silver to kill Sonic makes almost no sense. All the characters act like dumbasses and the series continuity is almost completely ignored. Elise is a terrible character, and the infamous kiss scene just speaks for itself. Some of the CGI cutscenes are great, and the Super transformations are some of the coolest so far. But this story is a disaster.

The gameplay is very similar to Sonic Adventure 1 in how it’s structured, as either Sonic, Shadow or Silver, you run around hub worlds, heading to the next stage when prompted and even completing side quests which are not only completely boring, but are nigh on pointless unless you’re playing as Sonic. Every character can buy upgrades using rings as currency, and side missions are the best way to collect more rings if you’re not able to get S-ranks on your first try in stages. Sonic has a ton of upgrades, most are totally broken sure, but they can be fun to mess around with. But for Shadow and Silver this isn’t necessary as they only have like 4/5 upgrades, rendering the side missions as pointless time consuming distractions. As there is absolutely positively nothing of interest in these hub worlds otherwise, they just serve as pace breakers for the game.

There are 9 playable characters, and within them there are other gameplay styles like snowboarding or vehicles. Most gameplay styles have been taken and adapated from Adventure, but while recognisable, it’s noticeably more stiff and rigid than the adventure games. Each of the 3 main characters has 2 side characters you will occasionally switch to, it’s pretty infrequent but it does happen.

Sonic has his normal move set, but he’s considerably slower than before, his homing attack is delayed, you can’t Spindash while moving and also can’t jump out of it rendering it pretty much useless, and his bounce move isn’t really used much for level design, it’s only really useful for killing enemies faster. So sonic isn’t a lot of fun to play in this game. He also has these absolutely atrocious Mach speed sections which, without practice, are stupidly hard to beat, and a snowboard that literally cannot turn without locking up. He had a ton of upgrades and these are fun for the fact that most if not all allow you to break the game. Great. Tails is playable here, but he’s even slower than Sonic, has broken flight which just drops you like a rock after a while, and terrible attack options. Knuckles is also slow, his glide is very heavy and he gets stuck on walks when climbing them, rendering Knuckles nearly unplayable. His combat barely works and this is just an embarrassment, luckily you don’t play as him much.

Shadow is a more “combat focussed” sonic, he’s slower but can deal with enemies faster… in theory, it’s mostly just mashing the X button until enemies die, sometimes he has vehicles to help him do the job but these, without fail control, like utter ass. Shadows levels mostly come down to beating up rooms of enemies, and it’s boring. Rouge is similar to Knuckles, same problems expect her glide is slightly better and her bombs are stronger than Tails’, but she still gets stuck on walls. Omega is actually okay, he’s pretty fast, can use a few different attacks to deal with enemies and he has a hover which is fun to use. I don’t mind when I’m in control of Omega, shame it’s not very often.

Silver sucks, which is a shame, he’s a Hedgehog with psychic powers, which unfortunately only means he can hover, pick up stunned enemies, and manipulate contact sensitive objects. He can catch enemy bullets, but not only is this inconsistent, but you can only catch so many. Silver is the slowest character in the game, and again he mostly just kills room after room of enemies. A fun idea for a character but one that missed every mark. Blaze is fun, she’s basically Sonic with a double jump, a faster yet unreliable homing attack, and a cool fire spin move. Shes great, shame you only play as her twice. Amy is the worst character in the game. She’s extremely slow, her hammer attack has 0 reach, she can’t attack in the air, her double jump barely lets her move, god what happened here.

The characters suck, but some of the levels are actually pretty good! Level design often offers multiple paths to take, secrets to find and a decent sense of flow, which is hampered by the characters but… it is there. It’s a shame that 2 of the 3 stories just fill these stages with enemy mandatory enemy encounters instead of just letting you explore.

Boss fights aren’t great, most of them drag on to a stupid degree or are just unfair. I will say though, the final boss, Solaris, is a great Super Sonic fight.

The more you play of this game, the more you can learn to work around the awful design, there is fun to be had here if you put enough time into it. But is it worth it for a game that at its best doesn’t even hit the level of either adventure games? I don’t think so. The basic “get to the goal” structure makes this game easier to digest than “Shadow the Hedgehog”, but that doesn’t make 06 this “overhated gem” that people are making it out to be. This game is a disaster, and I say that as someone who’s 100% completed it. I can get fun out of it at times and hey I don’t think it looks awful. The music also can’t be ignored, it’s incredible, no doubt the best thing about the game. But it’s not enough.

Sonic 06 is truly a low point for this franchise. It missed the mark hard, and unless you’re super curious, I wouldn’t give this one the time of day, play the fan remake “P06” instead.

This was one of the first games I ever played, after 20 years I finally got around to beating it.. Crash XS was the first attempt to bring Crash to the handheld, and while not perfect, it’s a fun game that does its job well.

Cortex decides to shrink the whole planet, this doesn’t really change anything because everything was shrunk, but Crash must collect 20 crystals and restore the planet.

The structure is the exact same from the original trilogy, there’s gems to collect for breaking boxes in levels and colour gems allowing you to find new routes in older stages.
There is quite a bit of backtracking to get 100% here, but the game is pretty short so I didn’t mind too much.

The game doesn’t really do anything new, except a new take on jet pack levels, it’s a safe game with a bit of swimming, bit of flying, but mostly 2D Crash gameplay.

The control is good but not perfect, it’s a little unresponsive, but this only really matters during the returning time trials.

XS doesn’t do much beyond that, there’s only a few stage themes, but generally level design brought satisfying platforming the series is known for. It’s aged graphically, though it does look better on original hardware. The music is mostly just Remixed Crash 2 music, but it works.

Crash XS is a fine game, but when the original games are so easily available, I feel it has less significance - still glad to finally beat it - 7/10

This is a double review for Xtreme 1 and 2. Main reason, Xt1 isn’t much of anything, it’s basically an 8bit mix of Megaman X1 and 2, and as the gameplay is the same across both of these, it’s easier to just merge them.

Both games involve travelling through stages from the console games, but in 2 There is a fair bit of originality. X controls okay but he’s pretty floaty, making it easy to lose control during tight platforming sections. In 2 you can play as Zero, who sucks compared to his PS1 outings, no range and lacking attacks. However X Can become ridiculously powerful using just his base weapon, it quickly became the best way to kill everything in seconds, and it was fun no doubt, but pretty limiting.

Extra weapons are borrowed from other games, and 1 has the better selection no doubt, as pulling from X1 and X2 is bound to have strong results. Xtreme 2 really doesn’t have much utility in the weapon department at all, it’s better to just stick to your base weapon as previously mentioned.

In both games you essentially have to play the game 3 times to see everything, as the second run brings new stages and bosses, and the 3rd combines everything in one “big” adventure. A cool thing is that in 2, you can switch characters on the fly, marking the first time this was possible in the series. It’s great for having that extra support in bosses.

These games really struggle to stand up to the console X games, but I did have fun with 2. They are little rough around the edges, But did their job at the time. So for Xtreme 1 it gets a 5/10, and 2 gets a 6/10

Despite coming out after IV, this isn’t really a continuation, this is the only CastleVania game ever made for the Genesis. What I mean by this is Bloodlines is doing it’s own thing, it takes a few steps back, but easily has some of the most well designed levels so far.

The story involves 2 new protagonists going after a woman trying to revive Dracula, we kill her, then we kill him. The ending is laughably short, literally about 2 seconds then the credits roll.

Bloodlines only has 6 stages, but not only are they some of the best so far, but they are way more creative. Instead of crypts and mansions, you travel through Europe, in a museum, a munitions factory, walking along the skeleton of a dinosaur to get by. It’s extremely memorable, and overall I think the difficulty is spot on, the bosses are great here.

You have 2 playable characters, both proving a different experience, and while the control has gone back to having a stiff jump, I really don’t mind it much here.

It’s a hard game, and for some reason you have limited continues, but there really isn’t much here I’d consider unfair. Loved the music too, and it’s easily the best looking game so far. It’s a shame there aren’t more stages, and both characters share about 90% of the same adventure, but considering how much more complex these levels are, I didn’t mind - 7.5/10

I’ve had a love-hate relationship with Sonic CD for years, I used to despise this game with a passion, but over time I have grown to appreciate more of what this game tries to do, despite the fact I still stand by most of my criticisms.

At its core it’s a classic Sonic game, Dr Robotnick has set his sights on Little Planet, where he plans to use the 7 Time Stones to turn the planet into a weapons base. Sonic sets off to stop him in the first animated cutscene to grace the franchise, which is to this day, absolutely awesome. This was the game to introduce Amy Rose as well as her kidnapper, Metal Sonic, 2 iconic characters who would be here to stay.

Sonic’s control is about the same as in Sonic 1, there is a Spindash but in the original release it was pretty bad, requiring a lot more windup for a not so stellar performance. However you can use the Super Peel Out in this game, which allows sonic to take off at a much greater speed, at the cost of not being protected from hazards… unless you just roll after using it. So do that instead.

You can play the game as you normally would, but doing that isn’t going to be very fulfilling. Stages in this game are very vertical in design, so just going left to right takes almost no time at all. Bosses are mostly pathetic, including the final one, as a classic sonic game, CD has pretty simple level design that doesn’t make for the best adventure.

But it’s the other stuff you can do that makes the game much better. CD has 2 endings, The Bad ending where you rescue Amy but Little Planet goes on to be Eggmans base as he wanted, or the good ending where Sonic saves the planet and releases it from its shackles.

In order to do this you have 2 options, the first and main choice is time travelling, but finding a sign labelled “past” or “future” and running at a consistent speed, Sonic can travel to a different time period within the level, and this is such a cool concept. In the past of every zone you must locate an destroy a robot generator, which encourages exploration. Then you can see the fruits of your labour by optionally returning to the future and seeing little planet freed from Eggman’s oppression. It’s a really satisfying gameplay/story intergration, despite time travelling being harder than necessary at certain points, especially in the original with its dodgy hit detection.

If you don’t want to do that, simple collect 50 rings and enter the levels special stage at the end of an act. These special stages were horrid in the original, and I still find them very hard. But collecting all the time stones guarantees the good ending. So you have options.

With these elements, Sonic CD becomes a much bigger and more interesting game. This is helped by how colourful the presentation is, and the INCREDIBLE Japanese soundtrack. I don’t mind the US soundtrack, it gave us “Sonic Boom”, but the Japanese OST clears.

Sonic CD is an oddball for sure. I’m not sure I can even explain why it works when the pieces seem so lacking individually. But it does work, and nowadays I really enjoy it.

As a first attempt of a 3D Sonic game, SA1 fires on all cylinders to try and cover pretty much every basis possible, with mixed results of course but I think on the whole, this is a game with a lot of heart.

The story attempts to merge 6 narratives into 1 cohesive story, though the significance massive depends on the character in question. The story as a whole is entertaining but the acting is pretty bad and the presentation is awful.

The gameplay is split into 6 styles, Sonic is the most straightforward, as you speed and explore 10 stages which are all designed absolutely brilliantly. Some stages are better than others but Adventure delivers on spectacle, high speed, exploration and style almost perfectly on their first go, combined with some of the tightest control in a Sonic game to date, and that goes for all the characters.

Tails doesn’t get the same level of depth as he is constantly racing an opponent, but his gameplay is super fun despite how underdeveloped it is. Knuckles’ gameplay involved hunting for 3 emerald pieces in sandbox style levels, and this is great, he’s super acrobatic and gliding around levels to find emeralds is a lot of fun.

Amy only gets 3 stages and she is capeable of some pretty cool stunts, but she is much slower than the others, and her level design doesn’t really encourage speed much, instead opting for a take on Mr X from Resident Evil, as she constantly is chased by Eggmans robot Zero. It’s okay, but nothing special.

Big is a fishing game. I think that speaks for itself. His story can be over in about 20 minutes if you just keep going but… why.

Gamma has shooter sections with a timer, which you can extend by blowing up as much as possible. It’s fun, fast paced action that is pretty underdeveloped for sure, but I always have fun in Gammas stages.

Bosses are overall pretty good, though a couple of them are fought multiple times due to the games structure. I love fight against the Egg Walker with Tails due to its huge size, Sonics fight with the Egg Viper is a great time, and Amy clobbering Zero will always be satisfying. The final Super Sonic boss against Perfect Chaos is also amazing, supplemented by the main theme “Open your Heart”.

The game also has hub area between stages, and I find this very charming. You can still zoom about, there’s plenty of people to talk to with some interesting side stories to share, and you can even find upgrades for characters here rewarding exploration, something SA1 does a lot.

This game can be messy. Some sections are awkward, some gameplay styles are clearly more polished than others. There’s sub stages you have to play multiple times to beat the game, an awkward camera that constantly seems to be fighting with you and a hell of a lot of experimentation. But on the whole I think all together, it makes for a really hearty game that tries to look out for all players, and in a weird way, succeeds.

Sonic Adventure is far from perfect, but I love it anyway.

When they dropped this 80s RPG on the switch, I thought that I’d give It another go, I did try this when they first released on the wii u, and didn’t get very far.. but I did manage to get through this time and.. huh.

I’ll say I totally dig the Setting. Instead of dungeons and dragons we have a contemporary setting, where you have a cash card and evil hippies attack. Considering the time of release, it’s refreshing, as well as very wierd at times. I can’t lie I enjoy the vibe the game gives with the look reminding me of the peanuts cartoon and a basic story that confused me a bit but was okay for the time. The music is hella catchy aswell, seriously the theme of the first area is an absolutely great piece.

The battles are simple too, with some wacky enemy sprites that again, feels different. But it doesn’t mean the battles are any less traditional. No you can hit and you have magic, that’s that and while it works, it gets samey with most enemies. You can try for status effects but what you can inflict doesn’t compare to what your enemies can. At least though, it is fast paced and battles are often overly quick, a must in a game with Random encounters.

The locations you visit keep the adventure spiced up, especially Magicant, a really crazy and trippy place that has some of the best equipment in the game available very early on. It’ll take a bit, but it’s totally worth getting this as soon as possible.

This game can get unfairly hard very fast and unfortunately to make any progress, you have to grind. A lot. It’s the main reason this game doesn’t work, as without grinding you’re going nowhere fast. This is a shame, as the game has an undeniable charm to it, yet the grinding, plus the need to follow a guide to get anywhere just bogs any experience of this game down. NPC’s don’t really help much if at all, and all the time spent grinding makes it hard to remember where you’re going anyway.

It’s got a cool concept, but the execution is antiquated and there are much better RPG’s on the NES alone that I think are more worth your time - 4/10

Sonic Generations perfectly captures what it is I love about this series, from its stellar recreation of classic stages both 2D and 3D to the fantastic refined gameplay, Generations is truly a whole package.

Well except for the story, there’s not much there and while I enjoy the call backs it’s pretty downplayed for an anniversary title. A step down from Unleashed and even Colours.

But the gameplay more than makes up for it, through 9 zones from Sonic’s past, you play a Classic Sonic stage and a Modern Sonic stage.

Classic Sonic is a lot of fun, and as the second real attempt to bring this style back since the Advance games, it’s pretty damn good. Now it isn’t exactly like the old days, rolling physics aren’t really a thing, but you can badnick bounce, jumps feel really smooth and it’s not atall stiff. The Spindash is also really powerful in this game, it’s so much fun to use here. Classic Sonic’s stages are absolutely fantastic, tons of alternate routes and clever spins on ideas from the 3D games brought super well into a 2D setting. You can unlock elemental shields to play around with in stages, and it’s great to see these back.

But modern Sonic really steals the show, these are some of the best 3D stages in the franchise, almost consistently hitting a high bar for how 3D boost Sonic should play. He’s still a little stiff when it comes to slower moments, but the boost formula has been perfected here, with a much more reliable homing attack, no quick time events, a drift that actually can turn sharp corners with ease and the Colours stomp which helps cut your speed when needed. These stages are far less punishing than the ones in Unleashed, and yet still provide the same blood pumping action as before. There’s tons of routes to find and secrets around every corner. The non stop energy of these levels makes them endlessly replayable… except planet wisp that one isn’t so fun and is way too long. But City Escape Modern is legitimately my favourite level in the whole franchise.

The boss fights are pretty hit and miss honestly, the fights with Metal Sonic, Death Egg Robot, Perfect Chaos and Silver are all really brilliant recreations that are a blast every time, but the others can really drag, especially the Time Eater which… just blows. What is this boss.

There’s a ton of extra missions to do to get more out of the experience, and these are fun distractions but nothing essential. The games pretty short, but super replay-able, it’s visually gorgeous even now, and the remixes of classic tunes are just incredible.

If you want a fast paced platformer, honestly this is one of the best out there, as well as one of Sonic’s finest. I know nowadays the nostalgic pandering has gotten a little out of hand, but at the time Generations was an incredible way of making something new out of something old.

Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity is a sequel clearly designed with the Wii in mind, attempting to immerse you further using motion controls, while simplifying the gameplay from the first Riders game. While I think this was ultimately necessary to make the game more beginner friendly, it does make this game feel lesser once you've got a feel for the mechanics. Basic drifts and boosts are a thing of the past, as these have been replaced by with Gravity mechanics. This is a really cool thing about this game, you can slow down time, and fly around sharp bends, you can fling yourself onto the ceiling and you can fly up into the air on straights in the track and boost by bouncing off debris. Its visually striking and a lot of fun, but does water down the track design to a degree as there are plenty of open straights with nothing on it.

Control is also a little unresponsive, I often found myself bumping off the walls when trying to make basic turns. It lacks the skill ceiling of the original, and while this makes it much easier to win races, it's less satisfying to play. Not to say it's not fun, it is, especially with friends.

The story mode attached is a fun time, The Babylon Rouges are once again fun characters, and the CGI cutscenes are really enjoyable to watch. The logic as to why your racing is pretty dumb, as there isn't actually a racing competition this time, but it still works.

The musics great, I love the remix of "Catch me if you Can" and the main theme "Ungravitfy" is a true great.

I do really enjoy this game, I think it's a step down, but still a really solid game. The final boss is absolutely awful, like utter crap. But Zero Gravity still manages to earn its spot in the Riders line-up

Sonic Drift 2 is an improvement over the original game, one that actually got an original western release, and it's competent as an 8 bit racer.

There's a few more characters, way more track variety and an attempt at a more dynamic presentation. But still, there isn't much to this game, the racing mechanics are bare and the control is poor.

You can play this 2 player with Sonic Origins Plus, which adds some more value, but why would you go back to this now. Its aged graphically and the music is forgettable.

SD2 is only really something you play for the sake of completing the collection, and nothing more. Better than 1, but not by much.

Sonic Rivals 2 is a game I have a lot of nostalgia for, but objectively it’s just an expanded version of Rivals 1 with more content and overall more variety.

The games story is very simple, but here you can experience 4 stories from 8 different characters perspectives if you want! This game could really have done with a “Last Story” segment to make this worth it because despite a single run not taking too long, 8 playthroughs is a lot to ask just to say you’ve beaten this. Realistically single player is probably all you’re getting out of this, as the likelihood of playing multiplayer on this PSP game in 2024 is pretty slim.

Honestly the level design is actually pretty good. Better than R1 for sure, much more vibrant backgrounds and more engaging design. There’s also a few modes to break up the racing, nothing amazing but it breaks up the gameplay well enough.

I think the bosses are a step up, but that’s not saying much, you fight each of them 8 times so they get stale.

I’ll give them a plus one for fully voicing all the dialogue , and the game looks better on the whole. The soundtrack is pretty great, especially the main theme “Race to Win”, this feels right out of the adventure era and I love it.

Rivals 2 isn’t a bad game, it’s sort of just there, not one to go out of your way for, but not one to avoid either.

Sonic Advance 2 was the first time a sonic game prioritised pure speed over everything else. It’s a precursor to the boost formula while still retaining plenty of what made the previous Sonic Advance so much fun.

There’s not much going in story wise, but the presentation in those comic strip like moments are great, alongside easily one of the coolest Super Sonic transformations ever.

Gameplay is Classic Sonic with a twist, as either Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy (when unlocked) or newcomer Cream, you race to the end of levels designed less to be explored and more to go as fast as possible and keep the speed going. If your able to stay at top speed for a few seconds you enter a boost like state in which you move even faster until you come to a stop, and with the new acrobatic abilities each character have, it’s very fun to just keep moving, honestly I love the levels in this game. Not the boss fights though, the constant movement is energetic but makes most of these fights feel the exact same, unless you’re playing as Cream where nothing can stop you.

This games biggest fault is with the chaos emeralds, collecting them involves hunting down 7 gold medals in a stage, and this requires you to go against the whole games design, forcing you to slow down and explore. Emeralds also aren’t shared between characters so if you want to unlock everything you need to do it with every character, not a fun time let me tell you. The special stages themselves are pretty simply, but it’s really a shame these are so hard to get too.

The game looks great and the OST is ace, Sonic Advance 2 stumbles with its completion process, but as a game to just jump into, it’s fantastic.

Sonic Battle is a game that shouldn’t be stuck on the GBA, as it has so much potential as a simple but fun fighting game.

I love the presentation, the jagged outlines and black borders give it a unique and striking look, and the way the sprites move are a fantastic evolution of the Advance sprites.

Combat wise it does work, every character has a few different options for special moves as well as their own basic attacks and movement. There’s also newcomer Emerl, who can copy other characters abilities through the games story mode, and he can become unbelievably powerful, something that would be fun to play against friends with their own emerls…

But what’s the likelihood of that happening now, you need link cables to play multiplayer and this game never got rereleased. Also levelling up Emerl takes forever, learning good skills is a nightmare, and equipping them requires so many skill points.

You also have to play this games story mode which… is awful. The story itself isn’t bad at all, it’s very similar in tone to the Adventure era, and I like how we see so many perspectives on the plot. But the structure kills it, as you repeat the same battles again and again and again. It’s incredibly tedious and I just can’t ever imagine completing this more than once.

It’s a shame because there’s tons of potential here, but Sonic Battle just ain’t there.