(Played as part of Sonic X Shadow Generations on Steam Deck, with both Japanese text and voice, aka “Sonic Generations White Space” rather than 3DS’ very own “Sonic Generations Blue Adventure” 5 hours, 37 minutes and 16 seconds to see credits roll according to save file.)
If yours truly is asked to choose between Mario and Sonic, I would go with the latter every day of the week. Nintendo’s Italian plumber just was not relevant to me during my formative years like SEGA’s blue beast, with cartoons and SEGA’s influence being more of a constant than Nintendo here in the city hosting miHoYo global headquartes.
However, I had only put money where my mouth is in January, 2025: seeing a movie titled Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in a theatre, bought Sonic Origins on Switch and then the object to be reviewed here.
I would call myself a lapped Sonic and that lap is about a quarter century long. I only played Sonic R and Sonic 3 before this “buying spree”. So, suffice it to say, Generations’ intended fanservice simply flew over my head. All those characters introduced in polygonal titles would only get “Who is this again?” from me. In many ways, the game had to say for itself in front of a judge like yours truly. And I think of if rather favorably.
First released in 2011, Generations was intended as a 20th anniversary for the series. And it was nakedly so as Sonic attending his own birthday party in the beginning (Not to mention the end credits concluded with “Happy Birthday, Sonic!”). Then some sci-fi bullshit pulled him along with all the party guests into the titular-for-Japanese-release-on-big-boy-console White Space where time is more of a flat circle. Birthday boy taller Sonic would meet his shorter and younger self, and the 2 is tasked to save all the party guests and defeat the one who pulled them there.
Generations is a game composed of 9 stages and 7 boss fights. The 9 stages are made of 2 acts and several challenges each. The first acts are about 2D levels with the shorter Sonic while the second acts are 3D level with taller Sonic and his more moves. But clearing those pairs of levels would not be enough if you want to roll credits on this one. Player is asked to clear one Challenge (I usually chose the hanging with Sonic’s pals type.) each level to get a key, 3 keys grant access a boss fight against something bigger than a hedgehog. The final boss fight requires all the Emerald, 3 of which are locked behind seemed-optional boss fights against other hedgehogs.
The game’s levels are pulled from older installments, but all seemed new to my lapsed experience with the series. Got to say though, Crisis City from the 2006 game still seems to be the worst even with visual cue for lock-on and no life limit. Speed is not something I associate with older Sonic, momentum is. And this relatively new Sonic title is certainly more speed than momentum.
They say that Sonic games are better when you are not playing and Generations is no exception. Fast speed rides are roller coast for a player’s eyes. And there are certainly set-pieces made me side-eyeing Uncharted series and think “Installments in that Playstation exclusive franchise are not THAT more impressive than this multi-platform release.” Wouldn’t lie, Super Mario Galaxy is a better and meatier game than this, as the 2007 title manages its design without giving player camera control better. But I played that Wii game on Switch back in 2020, it never made my adrenaline pumping the way Generations did.
But do hear some commonly applied warning regarding Sonic games before entering this one. The who does damage to who between player character and enemy can be quite the coin toss. Lack of camera control did make me run into not-visible gaps more than once. And there is this once that I got struck in the geometry, got to restart the whole level that time.
As someone who do favor Sonic, I still find Generations to be a lot of fun. Even as the taller Sonic boosts his way into oblivion, the sound of breaking sonic barrier never gets old. This game is bit on the style-over-substance side, but it’s smooth enough to pull it off.