Know Your Mascots: Platformers
It's time for me to arbitrarily pull another series of feature stories out of my ass because I got a good idea late one night. This is the first in several Know Your Mascots stories, a guide to understanding gamings' biggest faces based on game genre, using that genre's absolute biggest face as an archetype. This week, we'll look at platformers, and what platforming mascot is bigger than Mr. Nintendo himself, Mario? We all know him. Italian. Overall-wearing. Fire-throwing. Jumping. Voiced by Charles Martinet. But how do other mascots stack up against him? Let's find out.
Sega Celebrates Sonic’s 20th Anniversary with 20th Sonic Reboot Attempt
Sonic the Hedgehog is back! Again! Man, Sega's mascot has come back from the dead in new incarnations more times than the Doctor. Sadly, those incarnations were all played by Sylvester McCoy or Paul McGann. First Sonic 2006 would bring us back from the wreck of Sonic Adventure 2. Failed miserably. Then Sonic and the Secret Rings/Sonic and the Black Knight. Mediocre to awful. Then Sonic Unleashed. Idiotic gimmick. Then Sonic Colors. Swing and a miss.Then Sonic the Hedgehog 4. Decentish remake, but too short to take seriously.
But hey, Sonic's hitting the big 20 this year, and Sega's trying to rekindle the hedgehog's fire once again with... an unnamed Sonic game of which there are no details. Sega just released a teaser trailer on Sonic's Facebook page showing the blue speedster running through a Green/Emerald/Verdant/Angel/Turquoise Hills Zone before meeting... himself. Specifically, his 16-bit incarnation, before he got taller and his eyes got green. Then they both speed off into the foreground with only a strange Sonic game logo appearing on the screen. Way to be vague, Sega.
Maybe this time is the charm and Sonic can get back on top. Maybe I'll be able to get "Psych!" to become popular as a catchphrase again. The odds are about even.
Are Mario, Link, Sonic, and the Belmonts’ Best Days Behind Them?
I have some bad news, people. It's been staring us all right in the face for years, and it's time to come to terms with it. Your favorite game series? The ones where you eagerly wait weeks and months after preordering, the ones where you squeal when you read the announcements, the ones that have a nearly religious significance to you and helped shape your upbringing? They won't ever be as good as they were. The best chapters in those series are long gone, and all we have left is empty hope and nostalgia. Yes, there will still be competent, very good, and even downright excellent games in your favorite series, and they'll keep coming. Unfortunately, the absolute best games have come, gone, and been played to death years ago. Most Nintendo series fans are aware of this. Every Sonic fan is painfully aware of this. It's time to come to terms.
Read on, pick out your favorite game series, and strap on your nostalgia goggles. We're gonna go in.
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1: Sonic’s Back, But He Hasn’t Learned Much
Sonic the Hedgehog hasn't had a great decade. After an excellent jump to 3D in 1998, Sega's blue mascot slide straight down the mountain and into a deep, deep chasm. The series got more and more characters and more and more gimmicks, until it eventually forgot that the original games' success came from the speed and flow of running through twisting, branching levels as Sonic the Hedgehog. Not as some tertiary character nobody cares about. Not as part of a team where each member has unique powers. Not as a hedgehog that becomes a monster, or swings a sword. As Sonic.
Sega has finally gotten back to basics with Sonic the Hedgehog 4. No other characters, no gimmicks, no third dimension, just running, jumping, and beating up a fat man in a futuristic Hoveround. It's been released on every home console, plus the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. Did Sonic reach a new top speed, or did he run headfirst into some spikes? Find out after the break.
Sonic & Knuckles 3D – Mushroom Hill Zone
I've seen some impressive fan works before, but this may very well take the cake. YouTube commenter RubberRoss summed up my feelings best:
"So basically.. a fan made something that looks better then their current attempts at a 2.5D throwback? SEGA, please fire your incompetent staff and hire this talented fellow."
Friday Flashback: Jazz Jackrabbit 2
In the 90's, all the game companies wanted to make their own Mario or Sonic. Usually this manifested in a handful of crappy cash-in side-scrollers featuring some generic fuzzy animal with attitude. That flood of forgettable critters, combined with the waning PC gaming market near the end of the last millennium, is probably why Epic Megagames' Jazz Jackrabbit 2 fell through the cracks and never got the attention it deserved. Which is a shame, because Jazz Jackrabbit 2 is awesome.
Jazz Jackrabbit 2 is a surprisingly entertaining shooter/platformer that combines both high-speed adventuring and tons of gunslinging into one of the best side-scrolling experiences on the PC. The game plays like a cross between Sonic the Hedgehog and Earthworm Jim. You play the titular green alien hare, whose purpose in life is to fight the oppressive hordes of the space tortoises. To do this, you get to use tons of different guns like flamethrowers, freeze guns, and laser beams to blast enemies, all while running at near-hedgehog level speeds through conveniently curving and sloping levels.
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Sonic in Crisis
A while back, I came across The Gameover Thinker, an avid video game fan and amateur filmmaker also known as Movie Bob. He recently partnered with ScrewAttack.com after winning their "My Videos Don't Suck" contest, and has been reviewing movies for the Escapist for some time. Before this recent partnership with ScrewAttack, Movie Bob made a video two part commentary about Sonic The Hedgehog called, "Sonic In Crisis".
Wait, wait, I know what you're thinking "What does this clown have to say about Sonic that hasn't already been said by a 100 other people?" What was sure to be nothing more than a ten minute YouTube fanboy rant turned out to be a very clever and well thought-out retrospective on the Sonic franchise as a whole. In part two of the video, he even provides solutions on how to save Sonic and turn the situation around.
The ideas he suggest are excellent. Many of the story idea coming form classic mythology, or Joseph Campbell's The Hero's Journey. These basic story elements could be implemented by Sega, at very time and cost. None of which would interfere with Sega's current plans to bring back a 2D Sonic.
If Sega cares about Sonic, it will make those changes and see them through. I'd love to see Sonic The Hedgehog back on top again, instead of his current position of being cracked-out in the gutter.
Sonic In Crisis, part 1
Sonic In Crisis, part 2