It could be Shadow.

for me it all started with sonic 1 back in '93

I don't think it was Shadow, I think it was far before that. Around the time Sonic 2 and Sonic CD hit two new characters were introduced - Tails and Amy. A typical sidekick and damsel in distress. These two additions were enough for the Sonic series, with the exception of Knuckles (who is still the most badass Sonic character IMO) Sonic needed no more. After Sonic's 16-bit days were over THAT'S when he got in a mess. After this, there was not a straightforward Sonic (console) game until 1999.

1. When Sega attempted to make a 32-bit Sonic game, it had a ton of bumps and delays along the way, and it eventually was canceled. (More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_X-treme ) The only Sonic game developed for the Saturn was Sonic R, and as we can already tell from this thread, we all didn't really like the game.
I think that was on of the first nails on Sonic's coffin.

2. Sonic Adventure 2 dropped the formula that its previous game had and went back with the root of going level by level. This wouldn't of been so bad if there weren't so many blasted characters. Having a good and bad side was cool, but still it was not like Adventure 1 and jumped between characters with each level. Tails and Robotnik were in odd mech walker things, Rouge is likely one of most hideous Sonic characters of all time, and where the hell is the actual Adventure? I really have no problem with Shadow. This game was just a mess IMO. I beat it all the way through and felt sad how it was nearly nothing like its previous game. Adventure 1 rocked because you could play the whole game as ONE character then switch onto another whenever you wanted to. This made the game cool because even though the Sonic world now had a crapton of characters, you could play as all of them! That is what made Adventure rock. Adventure 2 switched between characters with each level, each character was still playable, but with no more actual Adventure in the game, it was just bad.
This was the second nail on Sonic's coffin.

3. Sonic the Hedgehog on 360/PS3.
I've never played this game. I probably never will. I just know its bad. Really bad.
Third nail on his coffin.

4. Sonic and the Secret Rings on Wii
I rented this thinking this would actually be a good game. Oh man, was I so very wrong. I give them credit for making a original sonic story and for him being solo. This was a good new start. The gameplay and odd control was the problem. Playing Sonic like Excite Truck and Mario Kart Wii just felt like crap, the whole time I was wishing I could just plug in a Gamecube controller and actually play the game.
Fourth nail on his coffin.

If you're wondering why I excluded the portables, its because nearly all of the Portables rocked. Sonic Advance 1-3, Sonic Rush 1 & 2: Adventure, all are great games. Sonic Battle is also a very good game. If you have a DS, just buy them all and STAY away from that Sonic 1 port on GBA. You won't regret it. I think Heroes was actually a decent Sonic game, and since it didn't use "Adventure" in it, its not bad. I've never played Rivals and its sequel on PSP, and I really don't know how those games ever faired up because since I never hear anything about it, that probably answers my question. Shadow the Shithog was his own game. Not really a Sonic game.

I like Sonic. I'm obviously not a hardcore Sonic fan, but I only hope Unleashed fixes who these three games screwed up.

You guys are forgetting the abortion of a game that is Sonic the Hedgehog on 360 and PS3.
Id rather play Sonic R whislt having my dick in a grinder than play this horrible horrible game.
Glitchy, bad controls and absoloutly awful loading times.
They said they'd reinvent the Sonic series, THEY LIED. Just Sonic as a playable character they said! Awesome I thought, an awesome adventure starring Sonic v.s Robotnik just how it was when i was a nipper.
And to top it all off they added Silver.
Fucking Silver. I mean Shadow's not too bad per say but compared to Silver. Another pointless character to add onto the pile of crap furry wankers.
Now if they had actually fucking beta tested this pile of crap then it could have been really good.
Its a rushed unfinished pile of steaming walrus fecal matter that doesn't deserve to be a game.
NERD RAGEEEEEE
Any Sonic newbies out there, stick to the original Megadrive/Genesis games. Dont blow your hard earned cash on this game!

They need to take Sonic the route of SF4. Have updated graphics, but stick to the basics.

Either that or make a game as good as Sonic Adventure was/is on DC.

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG GENESIS (Gameboy Advance) IS THE WORST SONIC GAME IN HISTORY! ITS WORSE THAN SONIC R AND SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2006!!!!

I know Sonic isn't really known for his story, but there is one thing I think that must be stopped: Sega needs to stop merging the Sonic characters with humans. The stories come off as way too cheesy. The only one that worked out was the original SA's. It would work so much better in its own universe.

One could make a case for Dr. Robotnik, but even his style clashes with that of the humans we see in Station Square/Mystic Ruins of SA and in the cutscenes in SA2.

Here's a good topic to discuss about:


Eggman or Robotnik?

Robotnik.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles is my favorite Sonic game and the single best game on the Genesis. Probably one of the best ever, too.

Such great music, too. Who doesn't love the Lava Reef music?

I've considered taking a hammer to my copy of that game, I originally bought it because I never had a Genesis (I was late to the console party in general) and didn't have the Sonic Collection, and this was apparently a remake of the original. I'm still wondering how the hell Sega managed to screw up EVERYTHING about it, from the sound (and, if I'm not mistaken, the GBA was able to recreate SNES/Genesis-level sounds) to the fact that Sonic slides around like he's on ice no matter what you do. Even so, I think I made it 3-4 stages in before I finally threw my hands up and tossed the cartridge at a wall.

Oh, and I vastly prefer Robotnik to Eggman. I kinda disagree with the change to his name over here, although I can't blame Sega for wanting to keep character names similar between the Japanese and NA releases, and Robotnik makes him sound like an evil scientist, not Humpty.

I say Robotnik because I grew up watching Adventure of Sonic the Hedgehog on TV, and he was Robotnik, so it's sticked with me.


As for Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis...


The Sonic Advance series PROVES that the GBA IS CAPABLE OF BLAST PROCESSING, SO WHY DID SONIC THE HEDGEHOG GENESIS MOVE SO FUCKING SLOW?!?!

Eggman just sounds horrid in my opinion. Or at least in English. Why couldn't he stay Dr. Robotnik. It's like Clue. In the European versions it's Rev. Green and in America (North and South if I remember correctly) it's Mr. Green. The 2003 tried to merge the two. Both sides of the ocean knew their versions and were happy to have their version. No need to try to explain it.

I wonder if he was Robotnik because of the Cold War. The last name is Slavic and Ivo sounds so as well. Granted it supposedly is the revers of the Latin word for egg, but I'm going to go with the Robotnik is the Second World and Sonic is the First World

Sonic 2 for me but all 3 were great games hell sonic only got bad after the adventure series which IMO was 2 very solid 3D sonic games. It seems like sonic is starting to pick up a little the rush series is really good Ive herd good things about the secret rings and the advance series was good and bioware is helping develop a sonic rpg for the DS thats awesome my favorite game series with my favorite RPG developer, and I hope they make Unleashed good things are looking up for sonic he might still have a little life left in him.

Sad thing is, weren't Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) and Sonic the Hedgehog (GBA Port) supposed to be celebrating his 15 year anniversary? Talk about worst birthday ever.

I am also very excited about the Sonic RPG coming out. I still can't believe Bioware is the one creating it (in a good way), and I have faith that they will create a worthy Sonic title. On a side note, Sonic Rush has been $20 for some time now, and if you are even thinking about getting a DS I would pick it up. The DS is his best platform at the moment.

It’ll always be Dr. Robotnik for me – partially because that’s what I first learned his name as and partially because it just fits his character so well. Therefore the “change” just doesn’t stick too well. Though those types of inconsistencies kind of bug me, in this case it actually seems to make some sense.

That's even worse than my last birthday. I was locked in my room with no one saying shit to me at all

I figured out the whole Eggman/Robotnik thing when I was playing Sonic Adventure.

His name is Ivo Robotnik, BUT! they call him "Eggman" as an insult. He's shaped big and round like an egg, meaning he's fat. It's used as an insult. That's how I make sense of it at least. I still say Robotnik.

I hated that explanation. I prefer Robotnik to Eggman, myself, but I could settle for either. But Sega's attempt to coopt both names just made me roll my eyes.

I would have preferred if they had just started calling him Eggman, the way Nintendo suddenly switched from Princess Toadstool to Peach without much of an explanation. It didn't need one. It's not like either series has a deep story.

If they wanted him to have the same name in all regions, they should have just started calling him Eggman and retconned all classic games to match.

Robotnik all the way.
Im glad to see you lads prefer to call him by his proper name.
Good times.

I still and will call him Robotnik.

It's funny how in the show Sonic came up with funny names for him.

Ro-bum-nik lol