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Released on and alongside the Sega Dreamcast in North America on
September 9, 1999, and developed by Sonic Team,
Sonic Adventure takes the speedy blue hedgehog into the 3rd
dimension
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9/9/99. One of the greatest days in human existence. Sega hyped me up to a fever
pitch for the release of what turned out to be their final home console, the
Sega Dreamcast. Selling for only $199 on that incredible day just before my 18th
birthday, the Sega Dreamcast was irresistible. I drove straight from my cashier
job at Winn Dixie that afternoon to head to Wal-Mart, realized I didn't have
enough money, drove home and begged my mother for a loan (I paid her back with
my next Winn Dixie paycheck), then sped back to Wal-Mart and snagged one. I also
didn't have enough money leftover for a game, but thankfully the system came
with a demo disc, and one of the game's featured was
Sonic Adventure,
Sega's blue mascot's first fully 3D adventure. Only the first level was
included, but I played that first level 100 times in the two weeks it took me to
scrounge up enough cash to purchase the full game. I loved Sonic, had great
memories of the Genesis games, and couldn't wait to make more. And I did. But
now, I'm revisiting the game after 25 years. Does
Sonic Adventure still
hold up, long after the hype of 9/9/99 has faded back into the annals of time?
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You don't have to pull my arm...
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Sonic Adventure kicks off with a stunning FMV of a city being
destroyed by some type of water monster. At the time, the quality of the
graphics blew my mind. My teenaged son just happened to be in the room when I
started this current playthrough, and even he said the FMV still looks good
for 2024. The cinematics definitely set the tone for the game, particularly
when Sonic's cool hair metal theme starts blasting and he runs his way into
the FMV.
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The Chaos Monster is still pretty freaky looking too--great
character design by Team Sonic
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For me the Dreamcast is a vision of the sunny, optimistic 21st Century
that never came to be. The bright, blue sky aesthetic of the system's games
when the Sega Dreamcast was in the production for the United States from
September of 1999 to March of 2001 are a sort of what could have been, before
two planes slammed into the World Trade Center a few months later and shrouded
the new millennium in darkness. You can feel the birth of that optimism in
this opening cinematic, as the opening cutscene is representative of the
dread, or Fin de Siècle, over the coming Y2K millennium change, death and
destruction raining down, before a brave and resilient Sonic rises to defeat
it. The game then casts the player into the lovely white sands, blue skies,
and crystal green surf of
Sonic Adventure's opening level. For me, the
Dreamcast will always be representative of the sunny and optimistic 21st
Century that could have been. This makes the eventual defeat of the apocalypse
by Sonic, and the resulting blue, sunny sky victory feel more poignant, and
gives
Sonic Adventure an even greater tone of escapism than it held in
1999.
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Is there a more Sega Dreamcast image than Sonic running through
golden rings over a sandy shore, under a vivid blue sky, sunshine
glistening in the dew as it drips from the backs of dolphins?
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Sonic Team does it's best with this first stage to show what Sonic in 3D can
be. He's faster than ever, he can still run up a wall, through a loop, can
spin and launch his body like a deadly whirling buzzsaw. The sense of speed
here is fine-tuned and exhilarating. There are still enemies or spikes in
inconvenient places, and players will need fast reflexes to avoid them. There
are even still alternate paths through stages--not completely alternate, more
like frequent offshoots that meet back with the main path. Due to the 3D
layout, there's not really a way to layer a lower, middle, and higher path
like in the 2D games, but the offshoot paths are still a lot of fun, and much
appreciated. Thankfully, the controls, for Sonic at least, feel pretty
fine-tuned as well. Jumping and dashing all feel natural and new moves,
like a light dash, or the ability to hone in on the next enemy after jumping
are quite satisfying. The camera is usually easily controllable, though it
does get stuck in a bad place every once in a while, particularly in the later
stages.
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Not a big deal when you're running around in the cozy overworld...a
very big deal when you're standing on a platform above a bottomless
pit in an action stage
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Between stages, the player moves Sonic around a fairly small overhead
world. This includes two main areas. The first, Station Square, is a city
location, housing Sonic's hotel (and pool), and numerous building locations,
including a casino and train station. From the train station, the player can
head to the second major area, Mystic Ruins, which houses caves, a
jungle, and...some ruins. The player will have to solve some simple puzzles,
fight some bosses, or interact with certain characters to access the next
action stage through the overworld. Once an action stage is unlocked in the
overworld, Sonic can return to it at any point.
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I need to be able to go to the pit of this volcano whenever I
choose!
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Sonic's action stages are fun and highly memorable. From the beach opener, to
windy, tornado-ridden hills, to an icy mountain, to an active volcano, to
Eggman's ship, to my two personal favorites, the Mayan-inspired Lost World and
a huge skyscraper metropolis stage called Speed Highway. Each of the game's
levels feature multiple, highly memorable set pieces, from the first stage's
famous orca chase, to an avalanche snowboarding run on the mountain level, to
a run down a building in the city, to a ride on an enormous stone snake in the
ancient ruins of Lost World.
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It's like a level based on a Doors song...
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Ride the snake, ride the snake, to the lake, the ancient lake,
baby
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Ride the snake, he's old and his skin is cold
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Or ride this helicopter...
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The driving bass at the start of this level and the preceding run
downhill is one of the more exhilarating moments in video gaming
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This is the best loop in a Sonic game. Twists my head around every
time I run it.
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Running...down a building
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While moments in the game like this often aren't difficult, they
are awesome
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Overall, while Sonic's mode in
Sonic Adventure might not reach
the heights of some of the 90s 2D Sonic games, it's still a lot of fun. There
are even some fun mini-stages, like an air-battle from Tails' plane. Speaking
of Tails,
Sonic Adventure features a large handful of characters that
are unlocked as Sonic progresses. Each have their own individual gameplay and
storyline to complete, though each's seems to be decreasingly rewarding and
increasingly half-baked.
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I highly recommend you select Sonic...
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Tails' stages generally involve racing against Sonic through the
majority of Sonic's stages, with the hook that Tails can glide great distances
(and sometimes access new areas...though again, he doesn't get as many stages
as Sonic). Knuckles the Echidna, who can dig and fly, must find three emeralds
in several of Sonic's stages, and his gameplay is actually incredibly fun, but
there are so few levels in his mode, it's over far too quickly, and the stages
are far too short. Amy the Hedgehog hits things with a hammer, but she's
constantly hounded by an unkillable, stalking robot, and her few stages are
short and not at all fun. E-102 the robot fires missiles, which the player can
fire either freely or through locking on--like Knuckles, his gameplay is also
incredibly fun, as it's a blast essentially blowing up some of the stages the
player visited with the previous characters, but also like Knuckles, E-102's
gameplay is frustratingly short, essentially over in an hour. Finally, there's
Big the Cat; Big's gameplay, I kid you not, is fishing, which is fitting,
since the Sega Dreamcast may be the console with the best overall fishing game
library (Particularly first party, and there's even a fishing rod and reel
controller for the system!), but Big's gameplay is not very polished and a bit
tedious, does not fit with the other modes, and is probably the worst.
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Time to do it again...but with Tails
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I can't believe both how fun this mode is and how short it is
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I mean, he can fly! Knuckles is basically a morally inferior
Superman!
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Amy, your mode stinks! Hit the showers, you're done!
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Flying through a Sonic stage and blowing everything up is so fun.
You can't tell me they didn't just think of this at the last minute
because if they had thought of it earlier, the mode would be twice
as long!
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Man, what is it with late 90s 3D games and bathrooms? Poor E-102
can't even use it!
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I love a big, stupid cat, but Big is a bridge too far
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Straight out of Sega Marine Fishing! ...or Sega Bass Fishing!...or
Sega Bass Fishing 2!
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Sonic Adventure's character design is extremely memorable, and
the graphics are bright, colorful, and vibrant. The textures still look pretty
good 25 years later, though certain environmental effects, like say, water
splashes, are pretty simple to ensure that the game always moves as
unimaginably fast as possible. Increasingly detailed water splashes were
essentially the 3D platforming games' arms race on the previous generation's
Nintendo 64, so it feels a bit strange that droplets don't individually fall
down and create individual ripples here, but I must admit, considering just
how fast you can move through these levels as Sonic, the graphics are highly
impressive, and overall a huge jump from that previous generation.
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The sheer speed of the Orca section is still stunning, and even if
the graphics are no longer top of the line, it's tough to beat that
turn-of-the-century arcade aesthetic
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The soundtrack is just as bright, fun, and sunny as Sonic's gameplay.
Each character has their own full band theme (with lyrics!), generally
energetic late 90's pop-punk, with a horn quartet (East 4th Horns) providing
support. However, some of the stages and overworld areas feature beautiful,
atmospheric, orchestrated music. I must again bring up the ancient ruins Lost
World stage, as its theme is as good as anything in any modern action film.
It's incredible, absolutely thrilling music. The weird techno/hair metal
mashup in Speed Highway is also particularly satisfying. The game's sound
effects are fun, and the voice acting is solid. Sonic in particular sounds
great.
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Generally, Sonic can do no wrong here
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Overall, Sonic has by far the longest and most involved gameplay, and
even when the other characters' modes are added,
Sonic Adventure is
only about 15 hours long. There is a little chao minigame, where you can
collect and hatch the little blue blob's eggs, train them for battle, and play
around with them on your VMU (memory card), and possibly even fight against
others. This mode did not interest me when I was 18, and unfortunately, does
not interest me now.
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Sorry. I promise it's not because you're blue.
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The storyline has the same general Dr. Robotnik is doing something bad
framing, but there is a cool intertwined story about an ancient civilization,
and the game finds fun ways to develop and explore different facets of the
story with each character. It's not Shakespeare, but it's not a nonsensical,
completely silly mess , either.
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Plus, there's pinball! (in the Casino stage, a fun nod to
Sonic 2)
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There's even a a Nights pinball table, so Sega can show some love
to the handful of folks who bought a Sega Saturn
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While it's not a long game, and Sonic's story and gameplay is
really the only one that feels complete,
Sonic Adventure is still quite
a fun, worthwhile game. It's a reminder of a more optimistic time, and an
instant mood lifter. Sonic may work best in 2D, but
Sonic Adventure is
a very good preliminary argument for his existence in the 3D realm.
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| And here are a couple more picture from the Lost World level... |
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| Because I love it so much! Look at how cool it is! 1999 was such a great year! |
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