Opinion: I’ve fallen back into the Sonic Cycle

Sonic fans know the infamous 'Sonic Cycle.' When a new Sonic game is announced, fans get their hopes up, when the new Sonic game sucks, fans get burned. “Never again!” cry the jaded fans. Then a new Sonic game is announced…and the cycle repeats in an endless waltz of hope, hype, and disappointment. I thought I could avoid it this time, but here we are, two new Sonic game announcements later, and I could be a spokesman for Viagra.

“But this time it's different!” I say to myself, for the umpteenth time and I believe it. I earnestly believe it, with ever fiber of my being. This time there is something different, though, something that sets it apart from all the others.

For starters, Sonic Mania is being made with the help of indie devs. If that's not a positive to you, or especially if that's a negative in your opinion, please remove your head from your a**, and join us in [Current Year]. Indie devs have created some of the best games in recent years, particularly in 8/16-bit and platforming. Shovel Knight, Mutant Mudds, Freedom Planet, etc. were all rock solid, amazing games. Indie devs have come a long way and bring us the most innovative gaming experiences today.

Freedom Planet was the best Sonic game since Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

The pedigree is there, Christian Whitehead and Headcannon have experience working on the remasters of the 16-bit Sonic games, and Pagoda West Games is an indie studio that found success with the paid app Major Magnet, a game that has a distinct Sonic feel to its curves and speed potential. Unlike Big Red Button, this group has had proven success and isn't being forced to use garbage engines on consoles that aren't fit to run them. Sonic Mania isn't exactly a grand scale production either, it's taking the classics, adding to them in smart ways, then taking those principles and trying to create new levels. This could work.

Seeing the addition of the Drop Dash is what pulled me back into the Sonic Cycle, clinging to the belief this could be the game to break it. To the untrained eye the Drop Dash is just a neat new move, but when you look closer, it's a simple addition that's a total game changer for 16-bit Sonic games.

Sonic games have always emphasized speed before everything else, including sound platforming and smart game design. It's the reason Sonic games have a reputation for playing themselves, the games have sections where Sonic moves so fast that players don't have the tools to change directions on their own, necessitating things like springs and looping tracks to keep some speed while changing directions. Those things worked, but they took control out of players' hands.

The Orca was an "Oh Sh!t!" moment in Sonic Adventure, but it really plays itself.

Eventually, those little hands off moments grew into a focus on high speed set pieces in the 3D games. We all remember the Orca chasing Sonic, we didn't have to do a damn thing, but we all remember it. Gotta go fast, who cares if you have control or not? Most gamers apparently, and the spectacle of speed has been seen as a detractor to the series ever since.

The Drop Dash eliminates some of the need for hands off elements, though you have to have some of it in the game or it isn't really Sonic, and provides more speed overall. In classic Sonic games, when you needed to increase your speed quickly, say to make it through a loop or up a wall ramp, players would have to come to a complete stop, curl up, and then use a Spin Dash. Now, players can get an instant burst of speed from Drop Dash off of any jump, removing the need to come to a complete stop, the antithesis of any Sonic game. Furthermore, it seems the Drop Dash can be used to change Sonic's direction on contact with the ground, giving players the ability to run to the right as full speed, jump, change the desired direction Sonic is facing in the air, and land with a burst of speed rocketing him to the left. If that's how the Drop Dash functions, it's an even bigger game changer for the speed obsessed.

My faith in a game is always bolstered when I see changes that don't seem too big, but fix flaws with the original formula. Not because it's a ground breaking change that will revolutionize the way everyone looks at the game, I doubt most casual Sonic fans will give two shits about how Drop Dash can be exploited, but because it shows the team working on this release has a strong enough understanding of the Sonic mechanics that they can recognize the flaws, and are smart enough to provide new tools to overcome them. That's why I feel really good about Sonic Mania's chances to break the Sonic Cycle.

Cinematic trailer, no footage, somehow still hyped.

However, Sonic Mania wasn't the only game revealed, was it? No, we also got a peak at the unnamed Project Sonic 2017. It was a brief glimpse of a world where Eggman had taken over. Modern and Classic Sonic are going to team up once again, but the game was emphatically stated to not be a sequel to Sonic Generations. The teaser ends with the words JOIN THE RESISTANCE.

If you're a fan of Sonic media, you may know why social media was sat ablaze by this reveal. There's a famous bit of Sonic media that has endured for roughly 25 years: Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog, the longest running comic based on a video game, and the longest running continuously published licensed comic series of all time (eat that Spider-Man), that has spawned at least four spinoff comic series and a TV show (Sonic SatAM).

None of the video games have mentioned the Archie Comics continuity, despite some of their awesome story lines, constant tie-ins with upcoming Sonic games, and some really great characters. Perhaps the Japanese branch of Sega felt they were above a Western comic series, but at this point it wouldn't surprise me if the Sonic Comics are more popular than the games. Has Sega finally brought that untapped universe to the latest Sonic video game?

In the comics, Sonic and Robotnik had a fist fight to the f&*@ing death for control of the planet..

Normally, I'd have little faith in the 3D Sonic game. No offense to the team behind Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations, totally okay Sonic games in their own right, but they did also make Sonic 06 and Shadow the Hedgehog…However, if Project Sonic 2017 really is set in the Archie Comics continuity, it could be a sign of much needed change in Sega's own internal approach to the franchise. It can't get worse than the unholy trinity, right?

So here I am again. Stuck in the Sonic Cycle, caught between hope and hype, clinging to the same desire for one of my childhood heroes to get his shit together. In the back of my mind I'm repeating the familiar mantra to myself all over again.

“But this time it's different!”