Sonic Generations: Difference between revisions

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[[File:rsz_7sonic_w01_l_9724.jpg|frame|3 Eras, 2 Sonics, 1 Epic Adventure.]]

 

{{quote|"''Double the speed, double the fun!''

 

 

The story is that Modern Sonic and his friends are celebrating his birthday when a mysterious new enemy named 'Time Eater' crashes the party and sends them back to the past where Sonic [[Meet Your Early Installment Weirdness|meets his younger self]], Classic Sonic. They both discover the world is losing its color, [[Taken for Granite|their friends]] [[And I Must Scream|have been petrified]] and the timeline has been disturbed. Both Modern and Classic must team up to stop this mysterious enemy, rescue their friends, restore color to the world, and fix the timeline.

** ''[[Sonic 3 and Knuckles]]'': Sky Sanctuary Zone<ref>Which also takes design cues from Marble Garden and includes an interior section reminiscent of the Hidden Palace.</ref>

* Dreamcast/Adventure Era:

** ''[[Sonic Adventure 2]]'': City Escape, Final Rush<ref>The setting for the Rival Boss Fight against Shadow.</ref>

** ''[[Sonic Heroes]]'': [[Palmtree Panic|Seaside]] [[Underwater Ruins|Hill]]<ref>This zone is mostly based on the following act, Ocean Palace. Act 1 also takes level design cues from [[Sonic 3 and Knuckles|Hydrocity Zone]]</ref>.

* Modern Era:

** ''[[Sonic Unleashed]]'': Rooftop Run<ref>Spagonia with a festival theme, with a few appearances by [[Sonic 3 and Knuckles|the Flying Battery]]</ref>., Eggmanland<ref>The setting for the fight against a completed version of the Egg Dragoon (Last Boss against Dr. Eggman in Sonic Unleashed).</ref>

** ''[[Sonic Colors]]'': [[Eternal Engine|Planet Wisp]]<ref>Pink (Spike) and Orange (Rocket) Wisps appear here. Act 1 also takes level design cues from [[Sonic the Hedgehog 2|Metropolis Zone]]</ref>.

** ''[[Sonic Colors]]'': Tropical Resort<ref>With Red (Burst) and Cyan (Laser) Wisps returning. Also the setting for the Silver race.</ref>

 

{{tropelist}}

* [[2½D]]: Used to varying degrees. Classic Sonic's gameplay focus remains strictly on a 2D plane in a 3D environment, while Modern Sonic's gameplay uses the same formula used for ''[[Sonic Colors]]'' and ''[[Sonic Unleashed]]'''s Daytime stages. The 3DS version is entirely in 2.5D, but with the ''[[Sonic Rush Series]]'' feel for Modern and a platforming-focused feel of the Genesis games for Classic.

* [[Action Commands]]: By jumping off of certain ramps or through rainbow rings, Modern Sonic can perform tricks when you press in different directions. These are also used to dodge the orca's attacks in Modern Sonic's portion of Emerald Coast in the 3DS version.

** The G.U.N. Truck in City Escape in the HD version. In Modern Sonic’s version, it even sports giant, retractable buzz saws and jet boosters.

** The orca in [[Sonic Adventure|Emerald Coast]] in the 3DS version. Classic Sonic requires pure speed to get away from it, but Modern Sonic has to dodge its bites as well after it chases him into the air.

* [[And I Must Scream]]: {{spoiler|It's heavily implied that Sonic's friends are ''self aware'' while petrified.}}

** In the epilogue, {{spoiler|two different time-period versions of Robotnik are stuck in a state of absolute ''nothing'' for what appears to be a long, long time.}} [[Pokecapn]]'s posse takes a note of how depressing it is in his [[Let's Play]].

** Apparently, this was how he was originally intended to look; however, due to technological limitations, they were unable to do it, resulting in the Chaos from ''Sonic Adventure''. (The version seen in Sonic Generations does resemble the Perfect Chaos seen in the intro cinematic for ''Sonic Adventure'' and its ''DX'' counterparts.)

* [[Ascended Meme]]: A subtle one: Shadow has that [[Shadow the Hedgehog|DAMN fourth Chaos Emerald]] as a reward for his rival fight in the HD version. (His rival fight just unlocks the boss in the 3DS version, as Chaos Emeralds are gained through Special Stages in it.)

* [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever]]: Giant-sized Badniks appear in a mission in Green Hill. They're immune to any damage Sonic does, and are mostly used as bouncing platforms.

* [[Auto-Tune]]: The classic remix of "Escape from the City" has it, though it's [[Justified Trope|justified]] because it's there to pay tribute to and match the pitch of the [[Sonic 3 and Knuckles|Endless Mine]] melody.

** {{spoiler|Super Sonic loses rings at a faster rate than usual. The modern version can now fly through levels in a manner similar to the Chaos Control ability in [[Shadow the Hedgehog]]. Unfortunately, doing so drains rings ridiculously fast, limiting its usefulness. Classic Super Sonic is also not that much faster (if any faster at all) than Modern Sonic.}}

** One unlockable skill for Modern Sonic, Endless Boost, [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|provides you with a Boost Gauge that never runs out]], but also turns Sonic into a [[One-Hit-Point Wonder]], unable to collect any rings. Can be seen as a [[Take That]] at the notion that Modern Sonic gameplay is simply "boost to win".

* [[Bonus Feature Failure]]: The ability to name your skill sets in the HD version for easy identification is a good idea in theory. But here, you cannot use the PS3's keyboard feature and must instead choose two terms from a long, unalphabetized list. That in itself would not be unbearable, but after choosing two terms, they are automatically separated by an ampersand, unless the first term is "Skill Set" and/or the second term is a letter (the default naming scheme). Nearly every catchy title you can think of for your Skill Sets will be blemished by that obtrusive "&". Even PC gamers are stuck with this.

* [[Book Ends]]

* [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]: Both hedgehogs look at their totals during their Act Clear endings, as well as the "Mission Cleared" text in the 3DS version's mission completion screens.

* [[Brick Joke]]: {{spoiler|Sonic's chili dog that goes flying away at the start. Since he returns right after he left, Sonic catches it before it hits the ground.}}

* [[The Bus Came Back]]: Befitting of a [[Milestone Celebration|game celebrating 20 years of the franchise]], several characters make their first appearances in the console games since ''[[Sonic Unleashed]]'' made it a point to stop having so many characters.

* [[But for Me It Was Tuesday]]: A heroic example: Modern Sonic remarks to Tails that the Time Eater's handiwork is nothing special, considering the [[Sonic Colors|interstellar amusement parks]] and [[Sonic Storybook Series|genies in magic books]] they've dealt with in the past.

** There is a corkscrew in Classic [[Sonic the Hedgehog (video game)|Green Hill Zone]] that is similar to the one in [[Sonic the Hedgehog 2|Emerald Hill Zone]].

** There are underwater sections in [[Sonic Heroes|Seaside Hill]] in the HD version that are reminiscent of those in both the [[Sonic the Hedgehog (video game)|Labyrinth Zone]] and [[Sonic 3 and Knuckles|Hydrocity Zone]].

*** Another part in Classic Sonic's route has one reminiscent of the upwards ramp in [[Sonic the Hedgehog CD|Palmtree Panic]].

** Modern Sonic does the ''[[Sonic Adventure]]'' cover pose as his finishing trick.

** The platforms that fly when Classic Sonic runs on them in Sky Sanctuary Zone are based on the spinning blue tops of [[Sonic 3 and Knuckles|Marble Garden Zone]]. The twist, however, is that these platforms are [[Temporary Platform|temporary]] and wear out after enough running.

** Every nation from ''Unleashed'' has their flags flying in front of Spagonia University (which both Sonics pass by) at the beginning of Classic Rooftop Run in the HD version.

** One mission in Sky Sanctuary in the HD version has Classic Sonic race Amy. She races by [[Sonic Battle|spinning around like a]] [[Sonic Heroes|cyclone with her hammer in hand.]]

** One mission in Chemical Plant in the HD version has Modern Sonic have Amy [[Sonic Advance Trilogy|pound her hammer to give Sonic a higher jump.]]

** Perhaps the biggest - The game starts the exact same way as [[Sonic the Hedgehog (video game)|the original]]: Green Hill Act 1, with the level even starting the same way the original level did.

** If you hit the ship in Modern Rooftop Run with enough robots, it will drop rings, like the bosses in ''[[Sonic Colors]]'' did.

* [[Call Forward]]: Classic Sonic has several skills that reference the abilities and shields he can use past the [[Sonic the Hedgehog (video game)|original game]]. One of his last skills is the Homing Attack, a move that Modern Sonic can already use naturally.

* [[CamelCase]]: ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog CD]]'''s Japanese soundtrack's music for the present time period of Palmtree Panic can be unlocked and the song has the title capitalized as "PalmTree Panic."

** {{spoiler|Orbot and Cubot appear in Eggman's flashback to [[The Stinger]] of ''[[Sonic Colors]]'', which also explains why they are otherwise absent from ''Generations''.}}

** Omega gets another cameo in Speed Highway, as one of the roads is 123 Omega Road. 123 is his number in the "E" Series.

** Look carefully at the beginning of both stages of Planet Wisp and you'll see some White Wisps. There's even [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jgzs63pTvc0 one] in Classic Planet Wisp who dances exactly like Yacker does in the [[Loading Screen|Loading Screens]] of ''Colors''!

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: {{spoiler|There's some effort hiding Dr. Eggman from the player on the Death Egg Robot boss in the HD version and the Big Arm boss in the 3DS version, especially when he's "kidnapped" by Time Eater...}}

* [[Collection Sidequest]]: The Red Star Rings in the HD version, returning from ''[[Sonic Colors]]''.

** Even more so considering {{spoiler|the nature of the game as a sequel to the events of ''Colors''; direct continuity is something rarely seen in more recent Sonic titles, so having it established and directly referred to ''in a game all about Sonic's history'' is a notable achievement on Sonic Team's part.}}

** The preferred name or moniker for Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik can be thrown into confusion when {{spoiler|Classic}} Eggman states no one calls him by his real name anymore. In as early in modern (western) continuity as [[Sonic Adventure]], Eggman and Sonic use the Robotnik name, still preferring his real name in that time, Sonic using both.

* [[Cool Board]]: Classic Sonic has a skateboard, in true early 90's fashion. Modern Sonic uses a snowboard in City Escape, just like old times, as well as in a mission in Rooftop Run.

* [[Cosmic Retcon]]: After the final boss battle, {{spoiler|Silver is shown in the present with the rest of the cast}}.

* [[Credits Medley]]

* [[Cruel Mercy|Cruel Me]][[Mercy Mode|rcy Mode]]<ref>[[Not to Be Confused With]] [[Easy Mode Mockery]].</ref>: The [[Nintendo 3DS]] version of the game's [[Time Attack]] mode and the Challenges in the other versions counts as this. Previous [[Sonic Advance Trilogy|handheld]] [[Sonic Rush Series|Sonic]] [[Sonic Colors|games]]' time attacks sent you straight to the "retry/change-zone/change-character/quit" menu after either finishing the level or dying, but in ''Generations'' this happens only after having completed the stage; dying results in either restarting the stage or respawning at the last checkpoint instead. While this makes the game's time attack the ultimate example of a practice mode ever seen in a videogame, it comes with a detail that deserves mention: respawning at a checkpoint ''[[Continuing Is Painful|doesn't set the timer to whatever time you happened to run past said checkpoint.]]'' So, if scoring a perfect time is your top priority, you have to restart the level manually.

** There's also the issue of trying to do a Homing Attack as Classic Sonic and trying to do a Spin Dash as Modern Sonic.

** Anyone who was used to playing Colors on the Wii's Classic Controller may have difficulty pressing the slide/stomp button without instinctively reaching for the Y/Triangle button.

*** The double-jump in Colors isn't present in Generations (double-tapping the jump button as Modern Sonic does the forward-air-dash move), which can seriously screw the player up when they accidentally try to double-jump up to a higher platform.

* [[Deflector Shields]]: The [[Playing with Fire|Flame]], [[Making a Splash|Aqua]], and [[Shock and Awe|Thunder]] shields return from ''Sonic 3'' in certain missions, and can be equipped in any main level once said missions are completed. The bounce, flame dash, and spark jump capabilities are fully intact.

* [[Department of Redundancy Department]]: In a cutscene after Chemical Plant in the HD version, Modern Sonic says that he's getting "deja vu all over again," paraphrasing a famous quote from Yogi Berra.

** Cream asks Classic Sonic this upon being rescued.

* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]: {{spoiler|Modern Sonic facing Perfect Chaos ''while not in [[Super Mode]]''.}}

* [[Difficulty Spike]]: Crisis City.

* [[Divergent Character Evolution|Divergent Zone Evolution]]: As [[Sonic the Hedgehog (video game)|Green Hill Zone]] has been brought back, [[Sonic Heroes|Seaside Hill]] has understandably taken many liberties to differentiate itself from the zone it was originally supposed to be a throwback to. Most notably, it's incorporated some aspects of Ocean Palace from Heroes as well as added a water section.

* [[Double Unlock]]: Many skills require you to first complete a specific challenge, then buy it from the store.

* [[Do Well, But Not Perfect]]: Some of the Red Star Rings require you to take a lower path, going against regular Sonic logic to always take the highest path

{{quote|{{spoiler|'''Classic Eggman:''' Wow. Will I really get that crazy?}}}}

* [[Excuse Plot]]: A giant monster has caused Sonic's friends to become lost in time, and Sonic has to team up with his past self to race through locales from his earlier adventures in order to save them! [[Rule of Fun|Sounds good to me!]]

* [[Face on a Milk Carton|Face On A Poster]]: The fate of Mighty and Ray.

** Modern Sonic, in response to Amy when he frees her.

** Modern Sonic also has one when he finds out that {{spoiler|Eggman is controlling the Time Eater, and [[Hijacked by Ganon|is thus the]] [[Big Bad]]}}.

* [[Failure Is the Only Option]]: {{spoiler|After the ending credits, Classic Eggman finds out that Modern Eggman has never beaten Sonic. He gets discouraged by this and decides to go get his teaching degree. Modern Eggman thinks that's not a bad idea since he enjoys telling people what to do.}}

* [[Fastball Special]]: Vector's ability in his Co-Op mission.

* [[Final Boss]]: Hedgehog rivals aside, the boss fights are all final/true final boss fights from other Sonic games; the Time Eater is their successor for this game. The only exception to this is the Egg Dragoon (which was only the penultimate boss in ''[[Sonic Unleashed]]'', although it did serve as the Werehog's [[Final Boss]]); it should also be noted that Shadow served as the [[Final Boss]] in ''[[Sonic Adventure 2]]'''s Hero Side story.

* [[Finishing Each Other's Sentences]]: Done by Classic and Modern Tails sometimes. {{spoiler|The Eggmen, as well.}}

* [[Flight]]: The Orange Rocket Wisps return in Planet Wisp in the console version.

** {{spoiler|Modern Super Sonic is capable of limited flight (much higher than the few inches above the ground usually associated with in-level Super), though it eats through rings too quickly to be very useful.}}

* [[Frickin' Laser Beams]]: The Cyan Laser Wisps return in Tropical Resort in the 3DS version.

* [[Floating Continent]]: Sky Sanctuary.

* [[Follow the Money]]: Naturally, especially evident when rings appear after hitting a switch.

* [[Fungus Humongous]]: Mushroom Hill in the 3DS version.

* [[Future Me Scares Me]]: {{spoiler|Classic Doctor Eggman is surprised at how maniacal his future self is.}}

** In the PC version, it is literally impossible to play the game with most non-Xbox 360 gamepads. Due to a different input format between the 360 controller and other PC controllers, the game will interpret a non-360 controller as having random buttons fired at intervals, making Modern Sonic randomly quick-step left and right and cutscenes skip themselves (the game thinks that the player has pressed Start repeatedly when they haven't). The quick-stepping bug actually renders Seaside Hill Act 2 [[Unwinnable]] with a non-360 gamepad unless you hammer the boost button and get lucky.

** The PC version has a couple of consistently-crash-causing spots. The most notable is Rouge the Bat's challenge for Modern Sonic in Seaside Hill, which has a very high chance to crash to desktop at any point during the stage.

* [[Hailfire Peaks]]: As in [[Sonic Colors]], Planet Wisp combines the [[Green Hill Zone]] motif with an [[Eternal Engine]]. Crisis City is [[Lethal Lava Land]] mixed with [[After the End]]. Most of the levels are combined tropes, really, considering it's a Sonic game.

* [[Hammerspace]]: Lampshaded by Modern & Classic Tails after the final boss. {{spoiler|Specifically, where Sonic keeps all those rings he collects.}}

* [[Heroic Mime]]: Classic Sonic. The 3DS game, which has text boxes to make up for having less voice acting, only has punctuation like "?," "!," and "..." similar to the main characters of Nintendo and Camelot's ''[[Golden Sun]]'' series.

* [[Hijacked by Ganon]]/[[The Man Behind the Man]]: {{spoiler|The Time Eater is really just a creature transformed into a manned machine by Classic and Modern Eggman.}}

* [[Human Cannonball]]: There are cannons which shoot Sonic out of them.

* [[Humongous Mecha]]: The Death Egg Robot, Egg Dragoon, and Egg Emperor. {{spoiler|The Time Eater is also revealed to be one}}.

** Modern Sonic's animations are from ''Unleashed'' and ''Colors'', plus a unique idle animation if he's standing in water.

* [[I Got Bigger]]: Classic Sonic and Tails are Modern Sonic and Tails as young children.

* [[Indy Escape]]: Both acts of City Escape, and other levels.

* [[Internal Homage]]: Tons of them. Rooftop Run (originally from ''Sonic Unleashed'') has zipline platforms like in ''Sonic 2'''s Hilltop Zone and dropping platforms with spikes on them like in the original game's Marble Zone.

* [[Lampshade Hanging]]: [[The Goomba|Crabmeats]] do a little happy dance and fall laughing when they hurt Sonic.

** Modern & Classic Tails have a conversation about {{spoiler|where Sonic actually puts all of those rings, with Modern Tails mentioning that he keeps forgetting to ask}}.

** {{spoiler|Right before the final battle, Tails refers to Classic Dr. Eggman as Dr. Robotnik. Classic Eggman replies in a matter-of-fact way that nobody calls him that anymore.}}

* [[Large Ham]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoRipW5tMlE Spanish Sonic]. Also, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yJY48EzJX0 German Doctor Eggman] has been acknowledged by Sonic Team to be the perfect voice for the good doctor. To be fair, he's also the standard German dubbing voice for [[William Shatner|a certain other]] [[Boston Legal|large ham]].

* [[Lethal Lava Land]]: Crisis City.

* [[Lighter and Softer]]: The general tone of the game’s plot.

* [[Literal Ass-Kicking]]: How Classic Sonic deals damage to the Death Egg Robot boss in the HD version in the first phase of the battle.

* [[Made of Explodium]]: Just about anything the GUN truck plows through.

* [[Meet Your Early Installment Weirdness]]

* [[Mirror Boss]]: The Rival Battle with Shadow. Until one of them gets a power-up, or Sonic falls too far behind Shadow, the two hedgehogs basically have identical abilities, boosting included.

* [[Missing Trailer Scene]], [[Never Trust a Trailer]]: Remember all that cool CGI footage from various trailers? Yeah, only ''one'' of those is in the game... snucked away in the [[Attract Mode]] (and is thus entirely missable), which is quite unusual for a modern ''Sonic'' game.

* [[Mission Control]]: Omochao, to some extent. {{spoiler|All of Sonic's friends join in as well in the final boss battle, calling out incoming attacks. Might qualify as a case of [[Stop Helping Me!]].}}

* [[Monster of the Week]]: A tradition since ''Sonic Adventure'', Time Eater is the one for this game. {{spoiler|Subverted: it ''was'' a monster but it's turned into a manned robot by Dr. Eggman with the help of his past self.}}

** Classic "Escape from the City" has a brief remix of Endless Mine, from ''Sonic 3'' and the melody of the City Escape trial version.

** Modern's version of "Escape from the City" uses pieces of the theme for the Snowboard Race multi-player level and "It Doesn't Matter" from ''Sonic Adventure 2''.

** An entire section of Modern [[Sonic Heroes|Seaside Hill]] is practically devoted to remastering Ocean Palace. That's right, they haven't just [[Subliminal Seduction|subliminally seduced you]] with the use of putting traits from older Sonic series selections into newer songs, but they mashed-up two themes from Zones of the same category!

*** On that note, Classic Seaside Hill greatly resembles the [[Nintendo DS]] version of ''[[Sega Superstars|Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing]]'''s Seaside Hill.

*** The song that plays for Classic Sonic's Ring Time power-up is a remix of the special stage theme from ''Knuckles Chaotix''.

** The cover of "[[Sonic R|Super Sonic Racing]]" samples [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haOCJ8wL0OA this] [[Sega Saturn]] promo; more precisely, the lines "We are five years away from entering the 21st century" and "Introducing Sega Saturn!"

** Sega pulled us a rather tricky one with this one: {{spoiler|Super Sonic}}'s theme begins with the intro of ''[[Sonic Adventure 2|Live and Learn]]'', only to be followed by a remix of {{spoiler|1=[[Sonic the Hedgehog 4]]'s Invincibility}}.

** Does the theme for obtaining an [[Rank Inflation|S Rank]] sound familiar? It's a remix of a verse from Sonic's ''[[Sonic Adventure|Adventure]]'' theme.

** Sonic shredding air guitar sure looks [[Sonic Underground|familiar]]...

** In the opening cutscene, Classic Sonic can briefly been seen having a sharp fang in his mouth. This is an obvious nod to his early concept art, which depicted him as having fangs.

* [[Never Trust a Trailer]]: Apart from the launch trailer, none of the CGI shown in the trailers exists in the game; in fact the trailer at the start is the only cutscene to ''use CGI'', the rest use gameplay models.

* [[Nintendo Hard]]: Beating {{spoiler|The Time Eater}} without getting hit gives you a trophy/achievement. On the bright side, you're free to play Star Light Zone on said fight.

* [[Nostalgia Level]]: Every level in the game is derived from old ''Sonic'' games, though the level design is mostly new. It works both ways; Modern Sonic plays through classic stages with the new style of gameplay, and Classic Sonic plays through newer stages with nostalgic gameplay.

* [[Not So Fast Bucko]]: In {{spoiler|Act 1 of Crisis City in the HD version, as you approach the goal sign, it gets carried away by a flaming tornado.}}

* [[Pinball Zone]]: Casino Night. It's a full-fledged world in the 3DS version, but just the setting for a pinball minigame in the console version.

* [[Playing Tennis With the Boss]]: One side mission requires you to bat music notes back and forth with Vector.

** The Red Burst Wisps return in Tropical Resort in the 3DS version.

** The Fire Shield power-up from Sonic 3 finally makes a return. It still allows Sonic to perform a fire tackle.

* [[Preorder Bonus]]: Preorders from GameStop in the US or GAME in the UK net you the Casino Night DLC minigame. On the other side of the pond, Japanese preorders come one of two bonus soundtrack CDs (depending on the ordered version) containing the original songs of just about every first stage in the franchise.

** The GameStop Xbox 360 preorders also come with an avatar outfit of Super Sonic and a 20th Anniversary background theme.

* [[Red Alert]]: Used during Chemical Plant's meltdown in Modern Sonic’s level.

* [[Ridiculously Cute Critter]]: Classic Sonic and Classic Tails.

* [[The Rival]]: Shadow, Silver, and Metal Sonic.

* [[Sampling]]: The JP [[Sonic the Hedgehog CD|Stardust Speedway]] remix samples the original JP [[Bad Future]] Stardust Speedway and JP Present Stardust Speedway.

** [[Scenery Gorn]]: Crisis City, and the ruined Station Square in which you fight Perfect Chaos.

** And introducing Charmy's friend challenge at [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB_yLPulBOc Planet Wisp]. My god...

* [[Shout-Out]]: Several, which is only natural considering the nature of the game:

** City Escape has new billboards that include a mock iPhone... and honey! It seems that old [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDDP9OXF354 advertisement] is back.

** The [[NiGHTS Into Dreams|NiGHTS]] Resort re-appears in Radical Highway.

** One of Planet Wisp's challenging acts features all three elemental shields. The mission itself is called "[[Captain Planet|With Your Powers Combined]]".

** The hardest achievement is called "[[MC Hammer|Can't Touch This]]".

** In Act 1 of Sky Sanctuary, there are platforms that allow Sonic a small degree of flight when he runs across them, similar to the tops from the Marble Garden Zone of ''[[Sonic 3 and Knuckles|Sonic the Hedgehog 3]]''.

* [[Shown Their Work]]: Classic Sonic looks ''exactly'' like the original Sonic design from the Genesis games, starting with the coloring details (black irises and flesh-colored eyelids), all the way to the animations and sound - even the [[Cheeky Mouth]] looks identical. He’s closer to his smaller and cuter Japanese design, as opposed to his [[American Kirby Is Hardcore|attitude-infused Western design]] used on the box-art for the US versions of the original [[Sega Genesis]] trilogy (which Sonic Team admittedly hated).

** Orcas, likely as a reference to the one that chased Sonic in Emerald Coast in ''[[Sonic Adventure]]'', help Sonic cross large bodies of water in Seaside Hill in the HD ''Sonic Generations''. Emerald Coast ''does'' appear in the 3DS version, but not the HD one, and in the former, it chases both Sonics in their acts as it did in its debut.

* [[Silent Snarker]]: Classic Sonic [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxOGYimyriI on occasion.]

* [[Soundtrack Dissonance]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyg5ojGpVTs&feature=related This] [[Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island|peaceful theme]] plays during a few Co-Op missions. Even in Crisis City's.

** The game lets you invoke this by allowing you to switch out the BGM of a stage or boss for any song you have unlocked in challenges. Yes, you are fully allowed to fight Perfect Chaos to the sound of Emerald Hill Zone if you really want to.

* [[Stealth Pun]]: In the classic stage of Speed Highway there's a ring-related pun with a bell.

** Vector's name and his [[Fastball Special]].

** The same can not be said of the rest of the cast in the final battle. It most certainly does not help that the final battle is also [[That One Boss]].

{{quote|'''Voice #1:''' It looks like a homing shot!

** When {{spoiler|Classic and Modern Super Sonic combine to strike the final blow on the Time Eater}}, the music changes to the Sonic 4 invincibility theme.

* [[Time Travel]]

** Modern Sonic, who can defeat {{spoiler|Perfect Chaos}} without {{spoiler|transforming into Super Sonic}}.

*** Also, the final hurdle of Rooftop Run for Classic Sonic is climbing a very tall clock tower fighting off lots of badnicks and performing tricky jumps along the way. Modern Sonic just runs straight up it in a matter of seconds.

** {{spoiler|Silver's psychic powers}} are shown to be considerably more powerful in this game than they've ever been shown to be before. He's also much faster, easily able to keep up with a boosting Sonic.

** In the span of two games, {{spoiler|Eggman went from enslaving an alien race to power a theme park, to transforming an [[Eldritch Abomination]] into a [[Humongous Mecha]] [[Reality Warper|that rips apart time and space]]}}.

* [[The Unexpected]]: Classic Sonic's appearance in the initial teaser trailer.

** Sonic Boom and the US Stardust Speedway [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15rGdGl0uHQ&feature=channel_video_title theme], especially since the game use the JP/EU version by default and the 2011 port of ''[[Sonic CD]]'' was thought that it only had the JP/EU soundtrack at the time.

* [[Unflinching Walk]]: After Classic Sonic defeats the Death Egg Robot and it falls over, he lands on his feet in a badass pose.

** The Time Eater's theme seamlessly changes styles {{spoiler|according to which Super Sonic is in control; from an orchestral style for Modern Super Sonic to an electronic style for Classic Super Sonic}}.

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbUGEQw36Co The hub world], which has a mix based on every stage in the game.

* [[The Voiceless]]: Classic Sonic, keeping with the spirit of the Genesis games. Oddly enough, Classic Tails and {{spoiler|Classic Eggman}} do talk.

** [[Voice for The Voiceless]]: Classic Tails speaks on C. Sonic's behalf.

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