[S] My Favorite Era of Sonic!!

now, you can probably guess this by looking at my profile and blog themes, but my absolute favorite era of sonic, what i personally view as peak sonic, is the gamecube era. i don't know if "adventure era" applies, but i'm mostly referring to the likes of SA1(/DX), SA2(/B), Sonic Heroes, an Shadow the Hedgehog!!

i'm not entirely sure why, but that's what i find the most compelling-- especially the adventure and shadow games. i think that maybe it's just because of how much more important everything feels when you're running around saving a city and world connected by relative civilization rather than "the world" told through various open locations. don't get me wrong, i have plenty of fun and feel accomplished saving green hill or the lost hex, or even my friends after they've been thrown into limbo by a time monster, but as much fun as other games are, i don't think any of their stories have made me feel as important as the relatively small scale of saving a city as sonic and co. not even sonic unleashed, which should tick all of the boxes the adventure games tick in that regard (and MORE since you're traveling the whole world and it's told through so many different and diverse locations), but for whatever reason, it just kinda doesn't. 

i think tails's story enxapsulates it the best. getting to save the world and be a small town hero. i also feel like there's much more a sense of "oh no, if i don't win, these people will die!" than there is in any other game. maybe it's just because it takes place in a setting i'm extremely familiar with rather than a setting that doesn't have any close comparison to any places in real life.

i also think part of it is just the general atmosphere, too, though. i love seeing sonic and his buddies running around in station squarre. i adore sonic x partially because of it, just seeing them integrated into regular-ish society. it's cool! 

i'd be lying if i said i could pinpoint what exactly about all this makes me so giddy (other than the fact that it's sonic), but this era truly is my most favorite and i would love to see another game or tv show or movie or, like, ANYTHING that puts them in a scenario like that again.

(also, likewise to how unleashed ticks all the boxes and doesn't elicit the feeling, heroes doesn't tick any of them outside of gameplay kind of, but i still feel the same way about it despite the setting very much being "settings that don't have any close comparison to real places".

anyways, i love this era of sonic. it will always hold a special place in my heart.