Sonic Generations (3DS)
For the 20th anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, Sega decided to produce a reflective new adventure that included plenty of callbacks to the fast blue hedgehog’s major titles while also giving them fun new twists. On consoles and PC, Sonic Generations split its action between the classic side-scrolling play of the Sega Genesis titles and the more modern 3D running of Sonic’s gameplay at the time, but that 2011 title didn’t encompass every part of the blue blur’s legacy. For a long time Sonic had smaller games released for the handhelds, and when it was decided to make a 3DS version of Sonic Generations as well, they broke from the levels picked for the console versions and selected not only new levels from the classic and modern eras but even decided to reference a few handheld only games like Sonic Rush and the DS port of Sonic Colors with their choices.
As for why Sonic finds himself running over old ground once more, the story of Sonic Generations has time corrupted and slowly being torn apart by a mysterious dark force, Sonic finding himself in a white void with only his good friend Tails. However, someone is using the dark force to specifically alter Sonic’s past, necessitating the appearance of those old locations in the void so Sonic can run through and undo the damage. Sonic and Tails aren’t alone in this quest though as a byproduct of the time alteration is that the younger versions of Sonic and Tails are on hand to help as well, although oddly enough Classic Sonic isn’t willing to speak so Modern Sonic has a lot of one-sided conversations with him. The cutscenes meant to help this tale are actually poorly adapted versions of those featured in the console version, the game unwilling to use moving characters much and relying on text boxes to tell it mostly. This does mean Classic Sonic’s silence is even more glaring, especially since still images can only really communicate with facial expressions rather than body language or meaningful actions. Sometimes a sound or color will imply something happens, but without the characters explaining it after it would be entirely unhelpful in giving these basic scenes more life.
Sonic Generations for 3DS does try to keep its focus on the gameplay mostly, the game featuring levels from classics like the original Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy, Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic Adventure 1 & 2, Sonic Rush, and Sonic Colors’s DS and Wii versions both, although it also includes character references to games like the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game. The only level concept overlap between this version and the console games comes with Green Hill Zone, a fitting choice considering its the first level from the first Sonic game, and if you want to get technical than the Casino Night Zone level shares ideas with the DLC pinball game that the console versions received. Perhaps the bigger break from the console offerings comes in how each stage is played though. Each area has 2 acts, the first being a level you play through as Classic Sonic and it involves fast-paced sidescrolling action platforming. The second act has you play as Modern Sonic, his control method coming from the Sonic Rush series and mostly a small evolution on how Classic Sonic plays. Modern Sonic runs through more intricate levels that benefit from his Boost ability, Boost power building up by collecting rings and giving you an incredible surge of speed that lets you smash through enemies and obstacles with ease. Modern Sonic also starts off with a unique homing attack he can use in midair to launch himself into enemies or objects to help with aerial navigation, but later Classic Sonic gets it as well, and while old Sonic can roll into a ball and speed up and new Sonic does a slide kick, they do start to feel more like they’re differentiated by having Boost or not after the story has both of them utilizing the homing attack.
The level design does follow a different ethos based on which Sonic you’re playing as though. Classic Sonic’s levels tend to mix speedy moments with some more focused platforming a little better, the player able to get the small thrill of zipping through a level, trying to time jumps to reach higher layers of multi-tiered stage design where you’re often safer or able to engage with more interesting gimmicks like setting up water jets and bubbles to cross in places like Water Palace. There’s a decent start and stop to the action so you get a quick surge of speed before needing to watch your jumps more carefully to cross a divide or avoid some pesky robot enemies. Modern Sonic’s levels often lean a lot more on the Boost management, perhaps overly so as success can sometimes come down to making sure you’re boosting at the right moment or not boosting to avoid throwing yourself to your doom. A jump ahead might need you going at full speed to clear it or you’ll perish, but on the other hand boosting all the time can throw you to your doom at times as well. The extreme speed can make it hard to gauge when you need to cool your jets or go full force forward, although the game does put a lot of solid barriers in both Sonics’ stages so things come to an abrupt halt. It is much better to have your progress stopped by these than the game’s bigger problem, many levels having instant death drops annoying spaced to try and catch you off guard or have you engage with a less interesting gimmick with threat of immediate failure if it doesn’t work that well.
Many of the levels in Sonic Generations for 3DS have fun little segments like bouncing across the top of dolphins, riding the wires of a bridge in Radical Highway, using Wisps to gain special powers like multiple mid air jumps in Tropical Resort, or using unusual mechanisms to carry yourself through Mushroom Hill Zone, and the remixed music of classic tunes playing throughout give it a nostalgic air with some energetic twists. However, other levels like having the orca chase you across poorly laid out piers in Emerald Coast or trying to hop across inconsistently bouncy balloons in Casino Night Zone can become frustrating as you die in a segment where movement is suddenly less responsive or heavily limited under extreme pressure. Level gimmicks become worse when the game seems too eager to throw you down instant death pits or make you ride air currents that must be leaped out of in an odd way. The ring system can soften the blow sometimes, Sonic able to take damage as long as he has picked up one ring and the rings he has collected bursting out of him when damaged so he can try to collect them before continuing. This does make it easier to accept when an enemy is used to bring your forward action to a halt, but slow and precise segments over deadly drops are neither fun nor a good addition to a game that tells you to move quickly and gives you tools like the homing attack that are supposed to help you stay airborne if you need it but come up short here.
There are a few levels in Sonic Generations that break from the side-scrolling platforming, these being special stages and boss gates. Special Stages are the more smoothly designed alternatives, Sonic needing to run through an ethereal space to catch a Chaos Emerald. The ground around him curls up so you’re essentially inside a pipe and able to run up the sides or on the ceiling if you have enough speed, the challenge being to grab orbs that build up your Boost while avoiding spiky balls that bring you to an immediate halt. So long as you reach the escaping emerald in time you’ll beat the stage, and since you’re running forward in full 3D you can view upcoming dangers and goodies easily and react quickly even at high speed. These simple extra stages do feel more like bonuses despite their story importance while the boss fights come up short as well. A few are styled as races against familiar characters like Shadow the Hedgehog and Silver the Hedgehog, these side-scrolling races either fairly easy to invalidate if you bully your rival or basically only reliant on the last few seconds since Silver can teleport ahead of you to keep up if he so chooses. Actual battles include final bosses from other games like the Big Arm robot from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 are often pretty simple to figure out but require active dodging, so even though they limit your movement or involve just moving forward across a looping floor for a while they can be decent breaks from the regular play instead of the poor mix of racing against a bothersome rival who doesn’t always play by the same rules limiting you.
The main story can actually be cleared fairly quickly, especially once you start to remember where death drops are and either take alternate paths to avoid them or learn from failure on when to jump or boost. Sonic Generation for 3DS does have a huge secondary mode of play in the form of its Missions though, and some creative reuse of main game levels appears here. There are 100 missions, with there being 10 different major types and one special rematch with the final boss. Other than the one ring boss fights and the sphere collection quotas for special stages, most of these recontextualize familiar levels with new goals like needing to kill a certain amount of an enemy type you might have not even noticed before, trying to find a way to clear a level without killing any robots, or collecting certain objects within a stage. Some of the more interesting ones actually cordon of parts of the level and ask for more exploratory play as you need to grab every ring or smash every item monitor to beat the level in time, although unlocking these short missions either requires spending Play Coins you earn for walking around with your 3DS or doing other tasks like playing the VS. race mode or earning S ranks in main game levels to unlock. Getting all the Missions is a time-intensive task that involves doing some repetitive things to often get a short challenge that might not take you long to beat, and while there are some Special Trial missions that ask you to do something unique with a stage gimmick as their goal, the work required to experience the Mission mode isn’t really worth for the minimal gameplay on offer or the small concept art and character figure rewards you get for completing them.
THE VERDICT: The 3DS version of Sonic Generations containing old levels from both the main and handheld Sonic games that the console versions couldn’t cover was a great way to differentiate it conceptually, but the actual stage design is often lacking. Modern Sonic’s boost has a rocky relationship with when it should or shouldn’t be active and both Sonics encounter gimmicks that don’t function well or segments with instant death drops they must carefully cross while engaging with boring level design. The Mission Mode puts up too many walls to access its interesting level recontextualization and bosses range from decent fights to weak rival races. Hearing remixed classic Sonic music, seeing old locations realized in two different play styles, and the moments where level design ideas do come together well make Sonic Generations for 3DS interesting, but this short experience often struggles with having the gameplay provide much worth experiencing.
And so, I give Sonic Generations for Nintendo 3DS…
A BAD rating. I do appreciate Sonic Generations for 3DS trying to offer an appreciably different experience from the console version and at many times it did pluck at my nostalgia as some of its picks for classic stages are at least conceptually superior to some featured over on PS3, PC, and Xbox 360. Roping in Sonic Rush and even specifically referencing the DS port of Sonic Colors is a special kind of touch many huge fans of the Sonic series would appreciate, and hearing old music or seeing what enemy or environmental piece pops up next is a treat for those who recognize them. Even the menus use an art style similar to old Japanese Sonic box art and have the music from the Sonic Mega Collection, and all the unlockable art reaches through the 20 years of the series history for some nice pulls as well. Problem is, Sonic Generations for 3DS doesn’t play in the way that makes those old titles good nor does it have new ideas to replace them. It adapts old set pieces into the Boost and basic styles of play but the action often fails to challenge either well, the greatest dangers caused by annoying drops to your doom or segments where things aren’t smooth to navigate. At other times the Boost invalidates a lot of the interaction with the level only for it to suddenly be necessary and you’d be punished for not leaning on it so much. Everything feels a little off or weakly realized, some gimmicks or flashes of old recycled level layouts from the games being referenced briefly giving it life but not lasting long enough to keep you engaged. The Missions probably had the best hope of salvaging the experience, the extra goals able to squeeze new life out of designs and condense the focus to make more structured challenges, but those are walled off behind the need to replay the weak levels so often or just walk around a lot in real life to earn the coins needed to unlock them.
The appeal of Sonic Generation for 3DS is definitely its reincorporation of classic elements from all throughout the Sonic franchise, even including mostly unique choices differing from its console counterpart, but in doing so it also raises the question of why you aren’t just playing the old, better designed games instead. It’s nice to see some remixing of the old content in how it’s played and presented but at the same time the execution isn’t where it needs to be for those new twists to work as well as they should. There are mundane moments where you can drink in the scenery and soundtrack, but mostly the level design stands out when the more interactive moments aren’t hitting their marks well. Even the pinball flippers in Casino Night Zone, an idea used across Sonic titles before, don’t quite work right in terms of timing and launch power, so it can feel more like a poor imitator of old ideas rather than a reproduction or reimagining. The nostalgic references might sustain the short playthrough for some despite its flaws, but these bumpy retreads aren’t offering enough beyond those callbacks to make this game a memorable visit.