"Sonic Adventure", ten years later. (December 23, 1998)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_Adventure

Man........I can't believe it's been ten years already. I remember buying the November 1998 issue of EGM (with the big Sonic artwork that would eventually be used for its cover art) that fall and just salivating at the BIG feature they had for the game along with all of the screenshots (some of areas that were never featured in the final game) and descriptions of the game and the characters.......they often compared the game to Super Mario 64 at the time, and how it would blow it away and be as revolutionary as said game was upon its release. They also emphasized the OMGBBQ blazing speed, which in retrospect just didn't translate well into the complicated world of 3D.

Of course, most of us got our first taste of the game beginning on 9/9/99. The magazines and the gaming press loved it, as did most consumers. Finally, after the dry spell in quality Sonic games since the release of S3&K in 1994, the 'hog was BACK. The future sure looked bright for Sega and Sonic after the release of what ended up becoming the Dreamcast's best-selling game ever (1+ million copies.........sad isn't it?).

Ten years and several 3D Sonic installments (none of which I have played, only seen or heard of, true story) later...........where do you think Sega and the Sonic franchise are standing now?


THIS, as I assume was the case with many, was the game that made me want a Sega Dreamcast. I strongly believe that, as a kid I would've been more crazy about the Sega Saturn had "Sonic X-Treme" or any 3D Sonic game come out. It was the killer-app, the long-awaited one. I first played SA for myself on the demo disc that came with all first-gen DC's, on a then-friend's DC in the fall of 1999. Mere days before Y2K I got my own DC, and played that demo again to my heart's content until I finally got a copy of SA (along with "NBA 2K" and "WWF Attitude") on my birthday in January 2000. Having not really experienced 3D platformers before, I really enjoyed the game and it made for one of my most memorable gaming experiences of 2000........up until a couple of months ago I STILL had my completed save file for the game from the summer of 2000 (my first ever run) but I deleted it.

Honestly, since then I've yet to play another 3D Sonic game or any new Sonic game for that matter..........I just haven't been intrigued or interested enough. Not even "Sonic Adventure 2", which I followed since it was first announced. In retrospect, the first SA did its job very well, but the game was very sloppy.

I remember playing the Japanese versions of this and Virtua Fighter 3tb before the DC launched here, and feeling utterly unimpressed.

10 years and "Sonic Adventure"?

Thursday makes the 16th anniversary of me getting "Sonic 2". It's old enough to drive!

By the time the Dreamcast was released I had become too disappointed in anything Sega that I didn't pay attention to them anymore. After hoping in vain my Saturn would be blessed with a true original Sonic release (DON'T YOU DARE MENTION SONIC R!!!), I let them fall by the wayside (and I think many felt the same way).

So, the release of Sonic Adventure completely passed me by. Only when the Dreamcast had gone the way of the Dodo I noticed that there had been not only one, but TWO Sonic Adventure-games released in the years gone by.

The first "new" Sonic game I realized hitting the market again was, ironically, "Shadow the Hedgehog". And from what I've seen so far, it has gone downhill with the blue blur from then on out.

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Originally Posted by j_factor

I remember playing the Japanese versions of this and Virtua Fighter 3tb before the DC launched here, and feeling utterly unimpressed.

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I bet, considering the original Japanese releases were buggy and less polished........but it still was a step up from the likes of the PS1 & N64. I was disappointed that SA was running at 30FPS, and not 60 like I heard.

Sonic R

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Originally Posted by Rusty Venture

Sonic R

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AAAAAAaaaarrrggghhhh... *meltdown*

I would pick Sonic adventure over mario 64 anyday and I paid silly money for mario 64 brand new as I preffered nintendo over sega back then.

I was deeply disappointed in this game.
For me it's one of the reasons Sonic died.

Sonic Adventure was awesome when it first came out. I remember going to Toys R Us one day, and I saw my brother playing the demo before the DC actually came out. I ran over there, told him to get off (I'm the big brother, hehe). I remember standing there in awe of everything. Me playing the Dreamcast, seeing Sonic in 3D whizzing through the stages, etc. I HAD to have a Dreamcast that Christmas, and I sure did get it. I got a bunch of crap games though, lol. Slave Zero, WWF Attitude, and some other ones. Still though, I had the newest system on the block and I was happy. Sonic Adventure doesn't hold up as well nowadays though, but I still find it enjoyable (as long as I'm only playing with Sonic)!!

I got a Dreamcast long after its heyday, just about two years ago. Sonic Adventure to date is still my favorite DC game.

My brother paid the extra bucks for a Japanese DC. It was freak'n awesome at the time. He got Sonic, Sega Rally 2, and Pin Pin. Only PinPin sucked. My only complaint with Sonic is that took a while to find any real action when I did it was great. I prefer his voice in the Japanese version " YOU CAN DOOOO IT"

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Originally Posted by Aarzak

I strongly believe that, as a kid I would've been more crazy about the Sega Saturn had "Knuckles Chaotix" or any 2D Sonic game come out.

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There, I fixed that for you :)

I never really 'lost faith' in Sega, after the Saturn was canceled I literally stopped keeping track. I got a DC later on, disliked it and sold it off. I remember somewhat rooting for the Dreamcast but something inside me always knew it would fail.

Sonic Adventure is pretty cool, it certainly wowed me when it came out (graphically at least). But like most games that have come out since, it really doesn't have the replay value of the original sonic games...I beat it once and I was basically done forever.


I still play Sonic 1-3/knuckles. Constantly.

I wonder why that is...because I am literally not bored, I'm always trying to out do myself in the originals, higher score, all chaos emeralds, better time, more extra lives, more continues etc.

For some reason modern games just don't seem to offer the variety of challenge.

Btw: the Saturn does it for me without a new Sonic Game. Sonic Jam is amazing and keeps me satisfied. I think the Saturn is well represented by Nights into Dreams, that game is amazing pure and simple. The Panzer Dragoon series also makes it kickass. It just kicks ass. Saturn FTW.

I agree with nearly everything you just said tanegashima. Today's games are more immersive experiences (for the most part), but they suffer horribly in replay value. I may have enjoyed every second of a 20 hour zelda game, but I'm not too keen to invest that time a second time.

By the way, are Saturns expensive these days? I think it might be time to add one to my collection. Thing is, I haven't even seen one since 1998, let alone the games.

I used to have a Saturn back in the day, but I sold it to some kid for $400 in high school. Lol, I remember he used to give me his lunch money every single day in order to pay for the Saturn. Poor kid starved himself for a Saturn, lol. Anyway, I regret having sold it now. I used to have probably close to 50 games back then...sigh...

Sonic Adventure is by far and beyond my favourite Dreamcast game. The music, the silly,-simple-but-fun plot, and the brilliant final boss all come together in a wonderful way!

Ironically I didn't get Sonic Adventure until way after I collected most of my DC games. I have the "Sega All Stars" version of Sonic Adventure 1 and I just purchased a used copy of Sonic Adventure 2 a few months ago at a flee market.

Both games are great and both got phenomenal reviews, after that however lets just say its been all down hill.

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Originally Posted by TheEdge

Both games are great and both got phenomenal reviews, after that however lets just say its been all down hill.

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Probably not so much as down hill as straight off a cliff!:)

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Originally Posted by johnnyb37

Probably not so much as down hill as straight off a cliff!:)

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lol :cool:

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Originally Posted by Aarzak

I bet, considering the original Japanese releases were buggy and less polished........but it still was a step up from the likes of the PS1 & N64. I was disappointed that SA was running at 30FPS, and not 60 like I heard.

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Oh yeah, it was definitely still a step up, but it didn't quite feel like a whole new generation. It felt more like the difference between Playstation and 3DO. At the time I didn't really have a concept of just how rushed the Japanese Dreamcast launch was, and I didn't know that the DC port of VF3tb was done in six weeks by Genki. Close to the US launch, when I saw Tokyo Xtreme Racer and Soul Calibur, my mind was changed about the system's prowess. There's also the fact that the Dreamcast came so much earlier than the competition that we had no idea what the other systems would look like, so we didn't really have a frame of reference. Once the PS2 came out and I saw what its games looked like, I was extra convinced that the Dreamcast was firmly in the new generation. But the Dreamcast's first several months in Japan were very rough, and it's not hard to see why it didn't do too well there early on (especially considering the situation with the Saturn).

I don't think I've ever beaten the last run of the first stage of SA1, and I got bored of SA2 in one of the early Knuckles levels.

To be honest I'd rather play Sonic Heroes than a SA.

^

I hate the knuckle stages as well. Boring and tedious.

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Originally Posted by johnnyb37

Probably not so much as down hill as straight off a cliff!:)

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The cliff's at the bottom of the hill.

Yeah, SA 2 should have just been called "Knuckles Scavenger Hunt." I loved the first game, but the second one just never grew on me.

The Knuckles stages are where I got bored with the game too.

I'm seeing a pattern here.

I wasn't crazy about the Knuckles stages in SA2 either, but I thought they were at least better than SA1's Knuckles stages.

I remember playing the Japanese release of Sonic Adventure at Babbage's months before it was released in America. I was one of the few too, I asked one of the employees about it and he took the controller out of cabinet and just let me play, it wasn't a store display or anything. I almost shit my pants that every footprint stayed in the sand of the beach on the first level. Man I wish I had a dreamcast back then, oh well, I have one now :) . Tony Hawk is also the best on Dreamcast.

The Pumpkin Hill theme is head-boppingly brilliant - I prefer the SA1 version of Knuckles' theme over the SA2 version, funnily enough. Love the gospel-y chorus :)

I got Sonic Adventure 2 in MINT condition at a friggin' Goodwill for $5 back in San Antonio while I was in Tech School.

The week before they tried to sell me a SHIT condition POD Speedzone for $8!

:D

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Originally Posted by j_factor

Oh yeah, it was definitely still a step up, but it didn't quite feel like a whole new generation. It felt more like the difference between Playstation and 3DO. At the time I didn't really have a concept of just how rushed the Japanese Dreamcast launch was, and I didn't know that the DC port of VF3tb was done in six weeks by Genki. Close to the US launch, when I saw Tokyo Xtreme Racer and Soul Calibur, my mind was changed about the system's prowess. There's also the fact that the Dreamcast came so much earlier than the competition that we had no idea what the other systems would look like, so we didn't really have a frame of reference. Once the PS2 came out and I saw what its games looked like, I was extra convinced that the Dreamcast was firmly in the new generation. But the Dreamcast's first several months in Japan were very rough, and it's not hard to see why it didn't do too well there early on (especially considering the situation with the Saturn).

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I sorta felt like that as well until I went over to my friends house and played his PS1 after I become used to the Dreamcast. It was difficult going back.

I've never tried this game, so I don't have anything to say about it.

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Originally Posted by Iron Lizard

I sorta felt like that as well until I went over to my friends house and played his PS1 after I become used to the Dreamcast. It was difficult going back.

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not me, the second I played Dreamcast I instantly heralded it as lightyears better than PSX or N64. I still think Dreamcast is completely on par with PS2, XBOX, and Gamecube and had it stuck around we would've seen the games to prove it.

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Originally Posted by MrMatthews

I agree with nearly everything you just said tanegashima. Today's games are more immersive experiences (for the most part), but they suffer horribly in replay value. I may have enjoyed every second of a 20 hour zelda game, but I'm not too keen to invest that time a second time.

By the way, are Saturns expensive these days? I think it might be time to add one to my collection. Thing is, I haven't even seen one since 1998, let alone the games.

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they cost about 20$ to 30$

People here seem really emo about this and the Dreamcast; it is a good game. I would consider it the last good Sonic game on a console that was new (not collections and so on).

Most 3D platformers are either clunky, slow crap (Mario) or just weird shooting stuff (those Sony ones). This is the only 3D one I can think of that is still fun, the rest all aged badly.

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Originally Posted by 17daysolderthannes

not me, the second I played Dreamcast I instantly heralded it as lightyears better than PSX or N64. I still think Dreamcast is completely on par with PS2, XBOX, and Gamecube and had it stuck around we would've seen the games to prove it.

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Actually I agree. Dreamcast especially compares favorably to PS2. IMO Dreamcast games tended to have significantly better texturing than PS2 games; this may have something to do with the fact that PS2 has half the VRAM. I don't believe the PS2 hardware supports anti-aliasing or bump mapping (except in software of course), and only a fraction of PS2 games support progressive scan. In terms of pure power, the Dreamcast makes up for its comparatively weaker CPU/GPU by using deferred rendering.

And even though the DC's life was cut short, I can only think of a small number of Gamecube and Xbox games (and no PS2 games) that are really significantly beyond what had been done on Dreamcast. I remember when technical details of the PS2 port of RE4 were leaked, the poly counts were comfortably within what had been done in released Dreamcast games.

Is there a Dreamcast game in particular that is a "graphical showcase?" Most of my GameCube/PS2 games look a lot better than any of my Dreamcast games . . . but I really only have the "cartoony" games for the DC.

you people and Shenmue...

*stands beside Tanegashima, crosses arms, and shakes head disapprovingly at the rest of the forum.

Shenmue is one of my all time favourite games, I should have never sold my dreamcast all those years ago... just as well I plan on buying another soon and starting a new collection!:D