Not having played any games related to the Sonic franchise before, I picked up The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog and played through it in one sitting after having read about it in a post here on Lemmy. Safe to say, I absolutely loved every second of it. The art style, the characters and their dynamics, the murder mystery setting and the music. God, the music is bloody amazing, I’ve been listening to the OST nonstop. Anyway, the whole experience got me interested in the franchise the game is based on. I understand that TMOSTH was released as an April fools joke, making it quite different from the other games. Nevertheless I assume that especially the characters and music are of similar quality in the other entries. The issue I now have at hand is that due to my lack of knowledge about these games I’m unsure which ones to begin with and which ones to prefer or even avoid. Lists that I found online have been rather inconclusive and partially confusing to me. For this reason I’m looking for advice through this post. What’s a good starting point based on the aspects important to me and the experience I described? I suppose it is also important to note that my only gaming platform is a PC. I appreciate you reading through this post and thanks for any advice! <3
Sonic fan for more than two decades here! It’s always great to see more people interested in the franchise!
I would say that maybe it would be good to start with Sonic Generations (or Sonic x Shadow Generations if you can afford it, which is the same but with the Shadow The Hedgehog story as an extra), so you get familiar with the gameplay of both classic and modern games, have a sense of where it’s going and decide whether to go ahead or not.
I see that your interest is more focused on the characters and their dynamics, fantastic! the best part of the franchise in my opinion!. In that sense I would say that your best option to go deeper after Sonic Generations would be the mythical Adventure saga (Adventure 1 and Adventure 2). They are the games in which much more emphasis was put on the characters and the story.
Already after this and if you are hooked is that I recommend that you play the classics. You can play Sonic 1, Sonic CD, Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles in Sonic Origins (although you can also emulate the Mega Drive games), and then there is Sonic Mania. Why not start with the classics? Because they are very much of their time: pure gameplay, simple and not so deep story, but very fun to play!
You talk about games, but let me recommend you to read the IDW Comics in a complementary way. They are REALLY good! If I remember correctly, one of the artists on the comics, Evan Stanley, worked on The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, and the story of the game plays out very similar to how the Comics read. It’s also where you’ll find the most depth in the characters (and you’ll encounter the best story arc EVER written for the franchise, EVER).
To sum up:
- Sonic Generations (Or Sonic x Shadow Generations)
- Sonic Adventure 1 and 2
- Sonic Origins (Which are Sonic 1, CD, 2, 3 & Knuckles)
- Sonic Mania
- Extra: IDW’s Sonic comics.
Good luck and have fun!
I recommend these old school sonic games. They are by far the best.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic the Hedgehog 3/Sonic & Knuckles
Sonic Adventure 1
Well, you could play the original Sega Genesis games, since that’s where it all started. You can either download the roms to play on an emulator, or you could probably buy an official release too. The first one is skippable since the sequels basically improve on it in every way. I would at least recommend Sonic 3 and knuckles (it’s a combination of sonic 3 and sonic and knuckles, they were originally going to be one game but got split into 2 games, but through some weird lock on cartridge technology at the time, they could be combined back into one game).
I don’t know if it’s something that only happened in digital re-releases of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, or if it always did this back in the day, since I no longer have a Genesis, but the music is different in the official modern releases of Sonic 3 & Knuckles compared to original Sonic 3. It’s better in 3.
If I recall correctly it’s related to licensing issues with the person who composed the original music in Sonic 3. Some people see it as evidence of the rumor that Michael Jackson was involved in the Sonic 3 music development.
I’d recommend Sonic Generations (or Sonic X Shadow Generations), which is kind of a best-of of previous Sonic games’ levels, tied together with a new story.
Sonic mania is also a great game, reminiscent of the first few 2d Sonic games. But, just like those games, it doesn’t really have much of a story or character interactions.
To be clear, the early 2D series of Sonic was relatively story-light, the detailed stories and characters didn’t really arrive until Sonic Adventure. Some of these you will need emulators on your PC to play. Make sure you have a good gamepad, either an Xbox controller or PS4/PS5 controller or a knockoff in the same style are ideal.
Best 2D Sonic (light on story, heavy on gameplay): Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Close 2nd 2D Sonic: Sonic 3 + Sonic & Knuckles
Best 3D Sonic (heavy on story and gameplay): Sonic Adventure
Close 2nd 3D Sonic: Sonic Adventure 2
3D “Sonic” with a cult following: Shadow the Hedgehog
Honorable Mention because it’s so fun in terms of gameplay and story: Sonic Generations and/or Shadow Generations
