Sonic the Hedgehog (universe): Difference between revisions
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As a third-party developer, Sega was now in a position to release its titles for consoles that were formerly its competitors. The first releases of ''Sonic'' games on systems owned by Nintendo, its former archrival, were widely publicized; these included enhanced ports of both ''Sonic Adventure'' and its direct sequel on the [[Nintendo GameCube]], as well as the ''Sonic Advance'' subseries on the [[Game Boy Advance]]. The ''Sonic'' franchise settled into a more stable release schedule, and the series continually branched out into a variety of genres for all of the competing platforms, though there were several releases that were met with notably mixed or negative reception; ''Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)'', for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2006, was notorious for technical issues (resulting from it being rushed into the system's launch window, while also coinciding with the franchise's 15th anniversary), control problems, and a slant towards story and characterization that were negatively received as uncomfortably melodramatic, while ''Sonic Free Riders'' served to highlight control issues with the Kinect peripheral for the Xbox 360. | As a third-party developer, Sega was now in a position to release its titles for consoles that were formerly its competitors. The first releases of ''Sonic'' games on systems owned by Nintendo, its former archrival, were widely publicized; these included enhanced ports of both ''Sonic Adventure'' and its direct sequel on the [[Nintendo GameCube]], as well as the ''Sonic Advance'' subseries on the [[Game Boy Advance]]. The ''Sonic'' franchise settled into a more stable release schedule, and the series continually branched out into a variety of genres for all of the competing platforms, though there were several releases that were met with notably mixed or negative reception; ''Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)'', for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2006, was notorious for technical issues (resulting from it being rushed into the system's launch window, while also coinciding with the franchise's 15th anniversary), control problems, and a slant towards story and characterization that were negatively received as uncomfortably melodramatic, while ''Sonic Free Riders'' served to highlight control issues with the Kinect peripheral for the Xbox 360. | ||
Nonetheless, there have also been commercially successful forays back into the series' platforming roots, particularly throughout the 2010s. ''{{s|wikipedia|Sonic the Hedgehog 4}}'' releases on modern consoles' downloadable services in an episodic format starting in October 2010, albeit ending prematurely at ''Episode II'' due to both episodes' commercial failure. ''{{s|wikipedia|Sonic Colors}}'' was released exclusively on Nintendo hardware in November 2010, bringing the focus back to a simple lighthearted story premise and introducing new power-ups to the franchise known as | Nonetheless, there have also been commercially successful forays back into the series' platforming roots, particularly throughout the 2010s. ''{{s|wikipedia|Sonic the Hedgehog 4}}'' releases on modern consoles' downloadable services in an episodic format starting in October 2010, albeit ending prematurely at ''Episode II'' due to both episodes' commercial failure. ''{{s|wikipedia|Sonic Colors}}'' was released exclusively on Nintendo hardware in November 2010, bringing the focus back to a simple lighthearted story premise and introducing new power-ups to the franchise known as "Wisps". ''{{s|wikipedia|Sonic Generations}}'' was released for the [[Nintendo 3DS]] and other home consoles in November 2011 and celebrated the franchise's 20th anniversary by revitalizing many levels from the most noteworthy core games in the franchise in both the modern "boost" gameplay and the classic momentum-based platforming gameplay, the latter of which also brought about the reintroduction of "Classic Sonic" as his own entity. The most recent of these back-to-basics forays is ''{{s|wikipedia|Sonic Mania}}'' for eighth generation consoles in August 2017, including the [[Nintendo Switch]], which was developed by experienced indie developers in the ''Sonic'' fan community and received universal acclaim for its gameplay and presentation, with many outlets claiming ''Sonic Mania'' to be the best game in the franchise in over 20 years. | ||
The legendary scenario of former video game archrivals Sonic and Mario crossing over in the same game was finally realized in late 2007 with the release of a game that pit the two against each other in a very unexpected scenario: a sports-themed minigame collection titled ''Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games'', where selectable characters from both the ''Sonic'' and ''Mario'' franchises compete against each other in all of the sporting competitions associated with the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing, China. This became a subseries - developed by Sega, published by Nintendo, and officially licensed by the International Olympic Committee - that would regularly release new installments for both Nintendo's consoles and handhelds at a biennial rate to correspond to each of the subsequent Olympic seasons - the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver, British Columbia; the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London, England; the 2014 Winter Olympics held in Sochi, Russia; the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan, with a new 2D retro mode set at the Tokyo 1964 Olympics. Meanwhile, Sonic was chosen as one of the first two third-party characters to co-star alongside Mario and many other Nintendo characters in the ''{{b|Super Smash Bros.|series}}'' fighting game series, in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'', becoming a mainstay of the series ever since. | The legendary scenario of former video game archrivals Sonic and Mario crossing over in the same game was finally realized in late 2007 with the release of a game that pit the two against each other in a very unexpected scenario: a sports-themed minigame collection titled ''Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games'', where selectable characters from both the ''Sonic'' and ''Mario'' franchises compete against each other in all of the sporting competitions associated with the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing, China. This became a subseries - developed by Sega, published by Nintendo, and officially licensed by the International Olympic Committee - that would regularly release new installments for both Nintendo's consoles and handhelds at a biennial rate to correspond to each of the subsequent Olympic seasons - the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver, British Columbia; the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London, England; the 2014 Winter Olympics held in Sochi, Russia; the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan, with a new 2D retro mode set at the Tokyo 1964 Olympics. Meanwhile, Sonic was chosen as one of the first two third-party characters to co-star alongside Mario and many other Nintendo characters in the ''{{b|Super Smash Bros.|series}}'' fighting game series, in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'', becoming a mainstay of the series ever since. | ||