Soapbox options allow our particular person writers and contributors to voice their opinions on scorching matters and random stuff they have been chewing over. Today, on the twentieth anniversary of Sonic’s final combating sport, Paul appears again and wonders why Sonic hasn’t in twenty years…
In the early- to mid-2000s, Nintendo handhelds have been dwelling to many Sonic the Hedgehog video games that gamers couldn’t discover anyplace else. One of probably the most distinctive of the lot was 2003’s Sonic Battle, the franchise’s second try at tackling the combating sport style following 1996’s Sonic the Fighters.
Unfortunately, as of this writing, it’s additionally its final. It was 20 years in the past at present that Sonic Battle hit the Game Boy Advance, and regardless of changing into a mainstay on the Super Smash Bros. roster not lengthy after, Sonic hasn’t had a combating sport to name his personal since then. It’s an amazing disgrace, since Sonic Battle, regardless of not fairly lighting up the gross sales charts, laid a implausible groundwork for potential future Sonic combating video games to construct off on.
For a cartoony handheld fighter from 2003, Sonic Battle provided a reasonably hefty story mode. After failing to activate an historic robotic he lately found, collection villain Doctor Eggman unceremoniously dumps the unresponsive piece of tech on the seashore, the place it’s found by Sonic. Naturally, the robotic prompts, and on taking it to Tails’ workshop for examination, they study that Chaos Emeralds can improve each the bot’s cognitive features and combating skills.
Ever the adventure-seeker, Sonic jumps on the probability to create the last word sparring associate (this can be a combating sport, in spite of everything), and heads off with the newly dubbed “Emerl” to search out the gems and see simply what his new buddy is able to. But as a number of factions reveal that they’re on the hunt for the enigmatic robotic, it turns into clear there may be rather more to Emerl than simply being a easy combating associate.
The plot’s not about to win any awards for complexity—once more, combating sport—however what actually carries it’s the wealthy tapestry of personalities that the Sonic solid gives. Emerl himself grows from a digital clean slate to a surprisingly multifaceted character in his personal proper, a captivating combination of Sonic and crew’s finest (and admittedly, generally worst) persona traits. Seeing him develop and alter because the story progresses makes his final destiny on the sport’s finish all of the extra poignant.
Of course, what’s a combating sport with out numerous punching and kicking? Sonic Battle delivers on that entrance, with ten playable characters from the standard Sonic lineup: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Rouge, Cream, Chaos, E-102 Gamma, and newcomer Emerl. Battles characteristic two to 4 fighters duking it out in 3D arenas. In addition to the usual punches and kicks that you just’d anticipate, every combatant has quite a lot of particular strikes that really feel pure to their characters. Sonic can shoot out waves of wind power, Amy smacks opponents round together with her hammer, Knuckles throws rocks and punches actually laborious, and Shadow makes use of his chaos-based power powers, amongst many others.
The true star of the present, although, is Emerl. As you struggle characters all through the story mode, you earn talent playing cards for every of their strikes. There’s a talent card for each single motion a personality can do—punching, kicking, even how they run and leap—and each one in every of them may be built-in into Emerl’s transfer set, offered you’ve discovered the corresponding card. Want Emerl to shoot off a shockwave of Sonic power whereas airborne, then observe up with Shadow’s chaos power burst on the bottom? Maybe throw in Cream’s completely happy skipping animation so as to add insult to your opponent’s harm? The customization choices are huge, and there’s numerous enjoyable available in cherry-picking your favourite strikes and creating the last word fighter that fits your private model.
Speaking of fashion, Sonic Battle oozes it from each crevice of its cartridge. The characters are rendered with sharp angles and further thick outlines, giving the sport a daring, edgy look that basically hammers dwelling the truth that Sonic and crew are able to throw down. I’d be remiss if I failed to say the sport’s sensible sprite work. Using the sprites from the Sonic Advance video games as a base, each character is intricately and fantastically animated with a fluidity not seen in Sonic titles earlier than or since.
That isn’t to say that Sonic Battle didn’t have its flaws. Arguably probably the most notable introduced up by sport journalists on the time and followers alike was the sport’s give attention to repeat battles to pad out play time, which is actually a warranted criticism. Unfortunately, the issues have been apparently sufficient to garner the sport usually lukewarm critiques, and as talked about on the outset, lukewarm gross sales to match.
So, is that the rationale why we haven’t seen a brand new Sonic combating sport in 20 years? Any try at answering that query could be conjecture, however it’s actually a risk that Sonic Team is hesitant to sort out the combating sport style once more after Sonic Battle’s less-than-stellar gross sales. The sport additionally got here out throughout a time when Sonic Team was keen to be a bit extra experimental with the Sonic model, and having a devoted handheld just like the Game Boy Advance offered a terrific alternative to try this with a smaller-scale title.
That isn’t to say that there isn’t an viewers for it. Even if Sonic Battle tends to be missed by the bigger gaming populace, many hardcore and informal Sonic followers nonetheless look again on the title fondly and clamor for a re-release, whether or not through Nintendo Switch Online or different means.
Whatever the rationale the sport continues to languish in obscurity, even a cursory look at Sonic Battle showcases the great quantity of coronary heart the builders put into it. From the frantic combating gameplay that complimented Sonic’s model, participating narrative, intricate spritework, and daring artwork model, the sport has loads to like, even by at present’s requirements. Several parts might not fairly be knockouts, however the potential it showcased may simply be constructed on to make Sonic a real contender within the combating sport style if Sonic Team ever sees match to let him again into the ring.
