Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 video game)/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


It's good that these tropes are located here, but that alone is insufficient!

  • 8.8: Play magazine initially gave the game a 9.5 out of 10, then dropped down to 8.5 in the next issue; the reviewer said that he had been told flaws in his copy would be removed in the finished product. The Play Station 3 version received a 5.5, with the same reviewer expressing disgust that nothing changed.
  • Accentuate the Negative: No one is calling this game a masterpiece, (Well...) but most people tend to view it as the most awful game in the entire history of existence. Even when it first came out it managed to receive a few (mildly) positive reviews (Game Informer gave it a 6.0 out of 10 for example - and they hated Shadow the Hedgehog), but due to its reputation, it's become one of the most despised games ever, even beating out Big Rigs Over the Road Racing as Worst Game Of The Decade.
  • Alternate Character Interpretation: The Duke of Soleanna, caring father... Or a selfish, vile man who caused the events of the game?
  • Anticlimax Boss: For a god of light and time, Solaris is pathetically easy to defeat. Doubles as a Breather Boss, considering what you have to go through getting to it.
  • Awesome Music: The one thing which most people actually like in this game is the soundtrack, which, in true Sonic tradition, is awesome. Some highlights are Wave Ocean, Aquatic Base, Kingdom Valley, Flame Core, and White Acropolis.
    • Most of the character themes are pretty great too, but the one that stands out is Dreams of an Absolution, which is Silver's theme. The original song is great, but the remix on the Several Wills vocal album is something else, especially with Jun Senoue's wonderful guitar work.
    • Solaris Phase 2, an epic remix of Sonic's theme (His World).
  • Awesome: Video Game Levels: Sure, the game may not be that good to invoke this trope, but those who did play it would agree that Crisis City stands out among the other levels. So much so, that it was the level to represent this game in Sonic Generations.
    • Sonic's stages when he carries Elise, and the stages with Blaze do get a mention of being considerably less broken and more enjoyable than the rest of the game.
  • Base Breaker: Silver. Ensemble Darkhorse with an interesting and deep plot and characterization, or The Scrappy who is a whiny Jerkass and a huge idiot?
    • Princess Elise as well. Unique human heroine for the series with a strong character, great design, and instrumental part in the resolution of the story, or Uncanny Valley Girl Damsel Scrappy who's possibly the worst and most needless character in the history of the franchise? The notorious kiss scene does not help this matter at all.
  • Complaining About Games You Don't Play: A lot of people have never played the game themselves and only watched the Let's Play.
  • Complete Monster: Not a very effective one, but Mephiles counts. He wanted to try and essentially eliminate Time itself, as well as the fact that he killed Sonic the Hedgehog for little reason than to make Elise cry so he could merge with Iblis and thus destroy time itself. Although Sonic got better, it's still quite the Moral Event Horizon. Its also implied that he was part of the reason why Shadow ended up sealed away by humanity as well as an unwilling Omega carrying out the deed (he had some resemblance to Shadow thanks to absorbing his shadow, so its not unreasonable that he would have done deeds that the populace will blame Shadow with), and he manipulated Silver into attempting to kill Sonic with the implied intention of destroying the past. If that's not enough, he also enjoyed the carnage he inflicted. He ranks among the most evil characters in the entire franchise not only because of his motives simply being to wreck and destroy anything and everything he can for no reason other than For the Evulz at best (even Black Doom at least desired to rule over the Galaxy), but also at how frighteningly close he came to succeeding in his goal to destroy everything, heavily damaging the time-space continuum.
  • Critical Backlash: There is a surprising amount of people who think all of the hate surrounding this game is overblown, and that, at the very least, it's generally playable.
  • Damsel Scrappy: Princess Elise, who manages to get kidnapped more times in one game than most video game princesses do over the course of their entire franchises.
  • Demonic Spiders: The eyeball-like spheres in the final level, which will spawn in the most inconvenient places and have two variations: one that sucks you towards them for an instant death, and one that throws objects at you at extremely high velocities. They are single-handedly responsible for the majority of game overs in the last level.
  • Die for Our Ship: Elise.
  • Disappointing Last Level: The End of the World may be the worst part of the game, with the instant death black holes, ridiculous length, and more loading screens than ever (since you switch between characters at certain points).
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Of the characters introduced in the game, Mephiles was incredibly well received.
    • Among all the upgrades the hedgehogs get, Shadow's Memory Shards that make up his Chaos Boost are well received due to the fact they don't have glaring flaws (upside Chaos Blast's range) and actually have a impact in the plot, during Shadow's fights with Mephiles.
  • Epileptic Trees: A somewhat popular fan theory is that the world Blaze seals herself in is her world from Sonic Rush Series. A few other fan theories say the Reset Button didn't touch her there.
  • Game Breaker: Sonic's Red Gem and Purple Gem custom actions. The former slows down enemies (and the timer), while the latter turns him small and allows him to jump forever.
  • Goddamned Bats: Burrowing worms, especially the stronger purple variety.
  • Good Bad Bugs: The Havok physics engine is so poorly implemented that a great deal of fun can be had by playing around with it: Silver's telekinetic powers, flying crates and boulders, etc.
    • Also, you can glitch through the final door in Silver's version of Dusty Desert by jumping on a box and hovering it towards the door. This allows you to skip the ridiculous Egyptian billiard ball puzzle (no, really!).
    • The gauge for Sonic's gem powers never decreases, so you can slow time constantly and use constant Metroid-esque Space Jumps to bypass any obstacle.
    • Also, some bugs allow you to finish Flame Core as Knuckles, Crisis City as Blaze, and White Acropolis as Tails. The Rank Screen still appears, which is notable with Knuckles, who never gets to finish a level.
    • Omega can float upwards if you hit corners just right.
      • Failing at that you can still rapidly tap the button, turning his gliding power into flying.
    • Sonic's purple shoe gem, which shrinks you, makes you a difficult target for enemies, moves you a bit faster, and allows you to infinite jump. It's great for getting medals and, if coupled with the right angle and speed, is a faster way to get across chasms that would normally require a puzzle or combo path.
  • Hell Is That Noise:
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: Eggman's goal is to use Solaris to conquer time itself. While it's not the same Eldritch Abomination, he definitely achieved something close to it with the Time Eater.
  • Hype Backlash: Surprisingly, yes. The game didn't get the the best press upon release, but before the game came out, Sega really hyped up the game. They promised a lot that was never delivered on. The E3 trailers alone shows features that were never implemented, or cut before release. Even if the game did manage to deliver everything it promised, it's safe to say that the game still wouldn't have been able to live up to the hype, partly due to the Broken Base, but also due to Sega hyping it as the BIGGEST, BADDEST, BEST Sonic game ever created.
  • Idiot Plot: The entire story depends on the characters taking every single bit of information given by known villains at face value, a completely helpless princess repeatedly throwing herself at a villain who already kidnapped her multiple times, and everybody completely failing to comprehend the potential applications of their ability to time travel at will.
  • Internet Backdraft: Everything about this game, but especially Sonic and Elise's romance.
  • Misblamed: Several Sonic 2006 defenders insist that the Let's Play is to blame for the game's bad reputation. The reality is that the game had been out for well over a year before Pokecapn played it, and in that time it had sold over a million copies and earned a highly negative critical and fan reception. In fact, it was the game's negative reception that motivated pokecapn to play it in the first place.
    • Also Fan Myopia: even if the total views of multiple video hosting sites are combined, it can be assumed that fewer than 100,000 people have seen this Let's Play, and the game had sold well over a million units before the Let's Play even began.
  • Moment of Awesome: Plenty.
  • Most Annoying Sound:
  • Never Live It Down: The fanbase's feelings towards Sonic Team in regards to Elise's kiss. To this day, Sonic-related articles, even in professional media, tend to use snarky lines like "hopefully this time Sonic won't be trading saliva with human females!", just to make sure no one forgives and forgets.
    • The game itself for the entire Sonic franchise.
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: One of the few good things about this game is Shadow's characterization. With all the Wangst throw out of the window in Shadow the Hedgehog, he's a much more bearable and overall admirable character. While Mephiles attempts to challenge Shadow into questioning his own existence, Shadow becomes a Stoic Badass. As Shadow puts it, "I determine my own destiny!" and, "If the world chooses to become my enemy, I will fight like I always have." "THIS is who I am!" indeed.
  • Scrappy Mechanic:
    • Sonic's Mach Speed sections, which is essentially Turbo Tunnel: Sonic Edition.
    • Some of Shadow's vehicle sections qualify, as do Silver's infamous billiard ball puzzles in the Dusty Desert stage.
  • So Bad It's Good: This masterpiece of a cutscene.
  • Squick: A certain cutscene from the Last Episode. In order to resurrect Sonic, Elise gives him an Emerald-powered kiss. This scene was made squicky by the fact that she, a human, kissed a hedgehog, who also happened to be dead. Needless to say, this moment still leaves a bad taste in peoples' mouths.
  • Tear Jerker:
    • In Sonic's story, Elise apparently dies because Sonic couldn't reach her in time, which causes Sonic to have a moment of true despair, something we rarely see from him in his video games.
    • The scene where Blaze seals herself in another world is surprisingly moving considering what many other scenes in the game are like.
    • And Sonic leaving Elise.
    • Sonic's murder! Sure, it may be Narm to some, but just the very fact our childhood hero was killed...
  • That One Boss: The fights against Silver, with Sonic and Shadow, are surprisingly difficult, and for the wrong reasons. Basically, if you approach him while he's not carrying something, he'll pick you up (screaming "IT'S NO USE!" in the meantime), hold you in place for several agonizing seconds, and then toss you straight away from him. In that vein, if you jump above him...he will catch you on the way down, while you're still recovering from being tossed up in the air, completely overriding your Mercy Invincibility.
  • That One Level:
    • End Of The World, this game's version of Cannon's Core.
    • Sonic's and Shadow's versions of Radical Train as well (for trying to save/blow up the train respectively, and both cases followed by ridiculously difficult-to-control chase segments), and Silver's version of Dusty Desert for the Goddamn Egyptian billiard ball (assuming you don't know about the glitch to get past the door).
    • The "Test of Courage" from Sonic's Episode is also an example of sorts. It wouldn't be bad if losing didn't mean you had to go through four loading screens just to try again. And since you don't get any rings...
  • That One Puzzle: The billiard ball puzzle in Silver's Dusty Desert. Sonic Team caught this, and as such, the Very Hard DLC mission for the stage replaced it with a gauntlet of enemies and pits.
  • They Just Didn't Care: At one point, a guard asks Rouge if she's retrieved the book of Darkness, when the MacGuffin that has Mephiles is the Scepter of Darkness. The fact that the Subtitles have the correct name for the MacGuffin may worsen it.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Blaze is the new living seal of Iblis! And now she's gone to another dimension! This had potential... then the reset button got pushed...
  • Trapped by Mountain Lions: Compared to Shadow and Silver, Sonic nigh-constantly having to rescue one princess is rather unimportant compared to Shadow fighting the Knight of Cerebus and instigator of the game's events, and Silver's quest for the truth and to save the future, Sonic barely has any role despite being the title character.
  • Uncanny Valley: The rather realistic looking humans looked out of place next to the Felix the Cat-inspired designs of our anthropomorphic heroes. Even Eggman was redesigned to look consistent with the humans, although some appreciated that they got rid of the doctor's chicken legs. NPCs will wave their limbs and heads around in a gross, pale imitation of natural human movement, and Princess Elise herself looks, literally, like porcelain. Thankfully, Sonic titles that came after this steered clear out of the valley by making the humans look more cartoony (and with this, the return of Eggman's chicken legs).
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