A platformer (also called a platform game , and sometimes a jump 'n' run game ) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels with uneven terrain and suspended platforms of varying height that require jumping and climbing to traverse. Other acrobatic maneuvers may factor into the gameplay, such as swinging from vines or grappling hooks, jumping off walls, gliding through the air, or bouncing from springboards or trampolines.
191-771: Sonic Adventure 2 is a 2001 platform game developed by Sonic Team USA and published by Sega for the Dreamcast . It features two good-vs-evil stories: Sonic the Hedgehog , Miles "Tails" Prower , and Knuckles the Echidna attempt to save the world, while Shadow the Hedgehog , Doctor Eggman , and Rouge the Bat attempt to conquer it. The stories are divided into three gameplay styles: fast-paced platforming for Sonic and Shadow, third-person shooting for Tails and Eggman, and action-adventure exploration for Knuckles and Rouge. Like previous Sonic
382-424: A Sonic X educational math game for its Leapster handheld game console. The game stars Sonic and Chris, who must rescue Tails, Amy, and Knuckles from Eggman. It is a fast-paced platform / action game in which Sonic runs and jumps through levels and destroys Eggman's robots along the way. Periodically, Sonic must answer math questions to continue. The game features three levels, each with its own math concepts:
573-552: A Sonic game. Senoue began writing in April 2000; he worked closely with Sonic Team USA regarding Adventure 2 's structure, design, and characters. Half the music was produced in the US, while the other half was produced in Japan. Like Iizuka, Senoue considered Adventure 2 his favorite Sonic game to work on, as he found working with a small team in a new environment invigorating. Senoue wanted
764-599: A true 3D platformer is a French computer game called Alpha Waves , created by Christophe de Dinechin and published by Infogrames in 1990 for the Atari ST , Amiga , and IBM PC compatibles . Bug! , released in 1995 for the Saturn , has a more conservative approach. It allows players to move in all directions, but it does not allow movement along more than one axis at once; the player can move orthogonally but not diagonally. Its characters were pre-rendered sprites, much like
955-481: A vinyl version of the soundtrack including interviews with Senoue and Iizuka in 2018. Sega released a port of Sonic Adventure 2 as a downloadable game for the PlayStation 3 (via PlayStation Network ) and Xbox 360 (via Xbox Live Arcade ) on October 2, 2012, and for Windows (via Steam ) on November 20. The port followed a similar reissue of the first Adventure in 2010 and was branded as part of Sega Heritage,
1146-448: A 1980 arcade release by Universal , is sometimes credited as the first platformer. Another precursor to the genre from 1980 was Nichibutsu 's Crazy Climber , in which the player character scales vertically scrolling skyscrapers. The unreleased 1979 Intellivision game Hard Hat has a similar concept. Donkey Kong , an arcade video game created by Nintendo and released in July 1981,
1337-521: A 2012 initiative in which Sega rereleased popular games from its back catalog on modern consoles. The rerelease features high-definition graphics and widescreen support, though some cutscenes are still presented in 4:3 . Otherwise, it is mostly identical to the original versions; it lacks the Dreamcast version's online features and the GameCube additions are paywalled as downloadable content (DLC). In 2017,
1528-401: A 2D plane are called 2.5D , as they are a blend of 2D and 3D. The first platformers to simulate a 3D perspective and moving camera emerged in the early-mid-1980s. An early example of this was Konami 's Antarctic Adventure , where the player controls a penguin in a forward-scrolling third-person perspective while having to jump over pits and obstacles. Originally released in 1983 for
1719-741: A 3D Sonic game, Sonic Adventure , for its Dreamcast console. It used a hub structure like Super Mario 64 , but its levels were more linear, fast-paced, and action-oriented. Sonic X This is an accepted version of this page Sonic X ( Japanese : ソニックX , Hepburn : Sonikku Ekkusu ) is a Japanese anime television series based on Sega 's Sonic the Hedgehog video game series. Produced by TMS Entertainment under partnership with Sega and Sonic Team , and directed by Hajime Kamegaki, Sonic X initially ran for 52 episodes, broadcasting on TV Tokyo from April 2003 to March 2004. A further 26 episodes aired in North America, Europe, and
1910-462: A balance between open-ended and guided exploration. Another platform-adventure released that year, Pony Canyon 's Super Pitfall , was critically panned for its vagueness and weak game design. That same year Jaleco released Esper Boukentai , a sequel to Psychic 5 that scrolled in all directions and allowed the player character to make huge multistory jumps to navigate the vertically oriented levels. Telenet Japan also released its own take on
2101-414: A bat, who became Rouge. Sonic Team saw Shadow as a one-off character who would not appear in subsequent Sonic games. Iizuka summarized Sonic Adventure 2 's development as "trying to make the impossible possible", as Sonic Team USA had to overcome the challenge of creating a game comparable in scope to the first Adventure with less than a tenth of the staff. Despite this, he considered Adventure 2
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#17328446876062292-481: A bouncing car that jumps on various platforms such as buildings, clouds, and hills. Jump Bug offered a glimpse of what was to come, with uneven, suspended platforms, levels that scroll horizontally (and in one section, vertically), and differently themed sections, such as a city, the interior of a large pyramid, and underwater. Irem's 1982 arcade game Moon Patrol combines jumping over obstacles and shooting attackers. A month later, Taito released Jungle King ,
2483-525: A brief burst of episodic platformers where the first was freely distributed and parts 2 and 3 were available for purchase. The abundance of platformers for 16-bit consoles continued late into the generation, with successful games such as Vectorman (1995), Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (1995), and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1995), but the release of new hardware caused players' attention to move away from 2D genres. The Saturn , PlayStation , and Nintendo 64 nevertheless featured
2674-399: A character, he used Adventure 2 as an opportunity to revise him to suit his tastes. Among Sonic Team's unimplemented Adventure concepts was a black hedgehog who rivaled Sonic's coolness . The idea was revived during Adventure 2 's brainstorming sessions. The rival was initially villainous, but Iizuka decided to appeal to American audiences with an antihero , a popular archetype in
2865-504: A day, while Gioeli wrote the lyrics. Senoue then sent a demo to Gioeli to record his vocals. Takeshi Taneda [ ja ] played bass and Katsuji Kirita of Gargoyle and the Cro-Magnons played drums. Poley wrote and performed "Escape from the City", the first level's theme. He found writing video game music different, as "you have to have a lot of action and alliteration. It creates
3056-543: A different genre and divided the work by which genre each composer was most interested in. For instance, Knuckles' stages feature rap music composed by Ohtani, who wanted to focus on a new musical element. Tokoi said the soundtrack explores more genres than the first game's, and other genres include pop-punk , glam metal , and orchestral arrangements. Singers featured in the soundtrack include Johnny Gioeli of Hardline , Ted Poley of Danger Danger , Tony Harnell of TNT , and Paul Shortino of Rough Cutt . The soundtrack
3247-450: A forward-scrolling effect similar to Sega's 1985 third-person rail shooter Space Harrier . 3-D WorldRunner was an early forward-scrolling pseudo-3D third-person platform-action game where players were free to move in any forward-scrolling direction and could leap over obstacles and chasms. It was notable for being one of the first stereoscopic 3-D games . Square released its sequel, JJ , later that year. The earliest example of
3438-478: A generic card game with Sonic characters than like a wholly Sonic -based product. Sonic X received divided reviews. Many reviewers were critical of its American localization. Conrad Zimmerman of Destructoid cited Sonic X 's "horrible localization" as a main reason for negativity. Tim Jones of THEM Anime gave the show two stars out of five and criticized the English voice acting: "It's really annoying how all
3629-605: A high quality of animation. The 1988 shareware game The Adventures of Captain Comic was one of the first attempts at a Nintendo-style platformer for IBM PC compatibles . It inspired Commander Keen , released by id Software in 1990, which became the first MS-DOS platformer with smooth scrolling graphics. Keen's success resulted in numerous console-styled platformers for MS-DOS compatible operating systems, including Duke Nukem , Duke Nukem II , Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure , and Dark Ages all by Apogee Software . These fueled
3820-505: A high-security Guardian Units of Nations (GUN) facility to revive it with a Chaos Emerald . The weapon—Shadow, a black hedgehog who proclaims himself the "Ultimate Lifeform"—offers to help Eggman conquer the world, telling him to rendezvous at an abandoned space colony, the ARK, with more Chaos Emeralds. Shadow has vowed to fulfill a promise he made to his friend, Eggman's cousin Maria , before she died;
4011-487: A loose adaption of Sonic Battle ). Eventually, after Eggman is thwarted from another world conquering scheme, the government learns that Earth and Sonic's world are slowly merging together, threatening to end time for them. As a result, Sonic, Eggman, and the others are forced to return home to prevent this, with Chris having to bravely allow his new friends to go, but with hope of seeing them again. Six months after returning home, Sonic and his friends find themselves battling
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#17328446876064202-825: A machine in the desert and thinks nothing of it, but after fighting with Eggman in Paris and a bizarre world created by the doctor, Eggman reveals the desert machine was his and it begins to wreck Station Square. Sonic defeats it, but he is accused of working with Eggman, so he and Eggman are both locked up. Nelson bails Sonic out of jail, and he saves Cream and Chris from some ghosts. Eggman enacts more malicious schemes based on holidays like Christmas , Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day . Afterwards, he temporarily fires Decoe and Bocoe and creates replacements, Dukow and Bukow, who kidnap Sonic and give him to an organization called S.O.N.I.C.X. Sonic escapes with ease, but S.O.N.I.C.X. repeatedly tries to ruin his reputation. Meanwhile,
4393-456: A million copies worldwide. Cumulative sales reached 1.7 million, and by July 2006, it had earned $ 44 million in the US. According to Next Generation , it was the 42nd-bestselling game for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, or Xbox between January 2000 and July 2006 in the US. It is one of the bestselling GameCube games and the bestselling third-party GameCube game. Sonic Adventure 2 received "generally favorable" reviews. Critics appreciated
4584-546: A new threat in the form of the Metarex—a race of villainous robots who seek to conquer the galaxy—aided by Cosmos, an antromorphic plant girl, who seeks to stop them. At the same time on Earth, where six years have passed , Chris finishes completing a portal device to take him to Sonic, arriving in his world to assist with his new found knowledge, despite the differences in time between the two worlds causing his body to revert back to that of his 12 year-old self. Departing their world,
4775-623: A number of successful 2D platformers. The 2D Rayman was a big success on 32-bit consoles. Mega Man 8 and Mega Man X4 helped revitalize interest in Capcom 's Mega Man character . Castlevania: Symphony of the Night revitalized its series and established a new foundation for later Castlevania games. Oddworld and Heart of Darkness kept the subgenre born from Prince of Persia alive. The difficulties of adapting platformer gameplay to three dimensions led some developers to compromise by pairing
4966-441: A quarter and a third of all console games. By 2006, the genre had experienced a decline in sales, representing a 2% market share as compared to 15% in 1998. In spite of this, platformers are still being commercially released every year, including some which have sold millions of copies. A platformer requires the player to maneuver their character across platforms to reach a goal while confronting enemies and avoiding obstacles along
5157-466: A shift in design. Later 3D platformers like Banjo-Kazooie , Spyro the Dragon , and Donkey Kong 64 borrowed its format, and the "collect-a-thon" genre began to form. In order to make this free-roaming model work, developers had to program dynamic, intelligent cameras. A free camera made it harder for players to judge the height and distance of platforms, making jumping puzzles more difficult. Some of
5348-406: A side-scrolling action game some platform elements: jumping between vines, jumping or running beneath bouncing boulders. It was quickly re-released as Jungle Hunt because of similarities to Tarzan . The 1982 Apple II game Track Attack includes a scrolling platform level where the character runs and leaps along the top of a moving train. The character is little more than a stick figure , but
5539-426: A significant improvement. Kotaku appreciated the other characters' levels for their immersion, despite their poor quality. Additional criticism has been directed at the camera for obscuring enemies and platforms, poor voice acting and audio mixing , and the story. The audio mixing, in which characters' dialogue in cutscenes frequently overlaps, has been described as infamous. The Escapist and VentureBeat called
5730-537: A standalone game rather than a sequel to appeal to a broader audience. Heroes became the first multiplatform Sonic game when it was released for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox in late 2003. Another 2003 Sonic Team game, Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg , uses an updated version of the Adventure 2 engine, and Ohtani, who first composed Sonic music for Adventure 2 , became the series' sound director with Sonic
5921-526: A still frame of a silver anthropomorphic hedgehog who never appeared in the series. Fans nicknamed the character "Nazo", based on the Japanese word for "mystery" ( 謎 , nazo ) . Years later, on April 20, 2015, Sonic Team producer Takashi Iizuka clarified the character was simply Super Sonic in its early contour. Several of the Japanese performers had voiced their characters in the games, but they were also given ample information about their characters' roles in
Sonic Adventure 2 - Misplaced Pages Continue
6112-736: A subtitled Blu-ray release of the complete series in its original Japanese language. While remastered, the series is still presented in standard definition like the previous release. Yoshihiro Ike composed the score for the Japanese version of Sonic X . Its opening theme was "Sonic Drive", performed by Hironobu Kageyama and Hideaki Takatori . The series included three ending themes: "Mi-ra-i" ( ミ・ラ・イ , Future ) by Run&Gun for episodes 1–13, "Hikaru Michi" ( 光る道 , Shining Road ) by Aya Hiroshige for episodes 14–39 and again for episodes 53–78, and "T.O.P" by KP for episodes 40–52. Three songs by Off Course , "Kotoba ni Dekinai", "Midori no Hibi" and "Natsu no Hi", were featured as insert songs in
6303-647: A team of 11—significantly smaller than Adventure 's team of 120—to begin working on Sonic Adventure 2 after they spent six months localizing Adventure for the West. As with the first game, Iizuka directed Adventure 2 while Yuji Naka , the Sonic franchise's co-creator, produced it. The development lasted around a year and a half. Shiro Maekawa, who wrote portions of Sega's Panzer Dragoon Saga (1998) and joined Sonic Team during Adventure 's production, conceived and wrote Adventure 2 's story. Maekawa accepted
6494-715: A teenager with a rebellious personality to appeal to gamers who saw the previous generation of consoles as being for kids. The character's speed showed off the hardware capabilities of the Genesis, which had a CPU clock speed approximately double that of the Super NES. Sonic 's perceived rebellious attitude became a model for game mascots. Other companies attempted to duplicate Sega's success with their own brightly colored anthropomorphisms with attitude. These often were characterized by impatience, sarcasm, and frequent quips. A second generation of platformers for computers appeared alongside
6685-507: A time; whichever card has a lower number value is eliminated. Eliminating the other player's cards and combining the special abilities of one's own cards allows one to score rings; whichever player has the most rings at the end of the turn wins an Emerald. As the game does not emphasize collecting rare cards, a few booster packs are enough to build a competent deck. KidzWorld gave a positive review, praising its ease of learning, low cost, and inherent strategy, but also noting that it feels more like
6876-469: A total of around 500,000 copies worldwide. The Escapist wrote that these numbers were impressive given that the Dreamcast had already been discontinued. The GameCube version was significantly more successful. In Japan, it sold almost 50,000 copies during its first month, and had sold 192,186 by December 23, 2002. In North America, it was the bestselling GameCube game between January and August 2002, selling 465,000 copies. By August 2002, it had sold more than
7067-506: A trailer premiere behind closed doors and a press release. Game Informer reported that it was 40% complete at that time. Sega released the trailer online when it launched Sonic Team's website on June 30, and allowed journalists to play a demo version in December. Early copies of Sonic Team's Phantasy Star Online , released in Japan in December and worldwide in January 2001, were bundled with
7258-501: A whole mood and there's no time for breath—the song is over in a minute and a half, and it's intense." The rapper Hunnid-P performed Knuckles' level themes. Senoue made a demo for each track using an ADAT system to track guitars or vocals and a Yamaha digital console or Mackie analog mixer for mixing . He edited tracks with his Macintosh before testing them in-game. Once Senoue was satisfied and received Sonic Team USA's approval, he finished sequencing and sent demos to prepare for
7449-412: A worthy sequel to Adventure . However, journalists have characterized Adventure 2 as divisive, and the 2012 rerelease received "mixed or average reviews" according to Metacritic. Some fans regard Adventure 2 as the franchise's pinnacle, but others find it unfocused—"a jack of all trades, master of none", as The Escapist wrote. According to The Escapist , "depending on who you ask, [it] represent[s]
7640-749: A year and a half, with Takashi Iizuka directing and Yuji Naka producing. Developed during a tumultuous period in Sega's history , Adventure 2 had a significantly smaller development team than the first game. Sonic Team USA streamlined the design to emphasize faster, more action -oriented gameplay giving each character roughly equal gameplay time. The levels were influenced by American locations such as San Francisco and Yosemite National Park . The soundtrack—composed by Jun Senoue , Fumie Kumatani, Tomoya Ohtani , and Kenichi Tokoi—spans genres including pop-punk , glam metal , hip-hop , jazz and orchestral arrangements, and features several metal singers. Sonic Adventure 2
7831-488: Is central to the genre, though there are exceptions such as Nintendo 's Popeye and Data East 's BurgerTime , both from 1982. In some games, such as Donkey Kong , the trajectory of a jump is fixed, while in others it can be altered mid-air. Falling may cause damage or death. Many platformers contain environmental obstacles which kill the player's character upon contact, such as lava pits or bottomless chasms. The player may be able to collect items and power-ups and give
Sonic Adventure 2 - Misplaced Pages Continue
8022-465: Is divided into level-specific tracks and character themes, with leitmotifs similar to professional wrestler entrance music . Senoue reused most of the character theme lyrics from the first Adventure , but wrote new music. As Crush 40 , he and Gioeli recorded the main theme, "Live & Learn". Senoue recorded the introduction for the Adventure 2 demo ; he worked on the rest later and completed it within
8213-596: Is flawed, but argued this was negated by its merits. Nintendo Life said Adventure 2 's many "bizarre design choices" made it endearing, and Kotaku said it "felt equal parts triumphant and bittersweet... Adventure 2 has plenty of flaws, but you can tell Sonic Team was working hard to build off the best parts of its previous Adventure and play out Sega’s home console era with style." Following Adventure 2 , Sonic 's critical standing began to decline, which VentureBeat attributed to Sega "depending on stupid gimmicks to sell their most iconic property" following
8404-469: Is in a vector game called Major Havoc , which comprises a number of mini-games, including a simple platformer. One of the first raster -based platformers to scroll fluidly in all directions in this manner is 1985's Legend of Kage . In 1985, Enix released the action-adventure platformer Brain Breaker . The following year saw the release of Nintendo's Metroid , which was critically acclaimed for
8595-465: Is the endless runner , where the main character is always moving forward and the player must dodge or jump to avoid falling or hitting obstacles. Various names were used in the years following the release of the first established game in the genre, Donkey Kong (1981). Shigeru Miyamoto originally called it a "running/jumping/climbing game" while developing it. Miyamoto commonly used the term "athletic game" to refer to Donkey Kong and later games in
8786-611: The Atari 2600 , with 256 horizontally connected screens, became one of the best-selling games on the system and was a breakthrough for the genre. Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle was released on the ColecoVision that same year, adding uneven terrain and scrolling pans between static screens. Manic Miner (1983) and its sequel Jet Set Willy (1984) continued this style of multi-screen levels on home computers . Wanted: Monty Mole won
8977-495: The FoxBox block of Fox channels. On June 16, 2012, the bankrupt 4Kids sold its Sonic X license to Saban Brands 's Kidsco Media Ventures. On April 29, 2013, Saban Brands's Vortexx would partner with Kabillion to add shows like Sonic X to the lineup. TMS Entertainment has since taken US rights, and in 2015, Discotek Media licensed the series alongside several other TMS properties for home media releases. In 2021, FilmRise
9168-728: The Game Boy Advance (GBA) game Sonic Advance (2001), facilitated through the GameCube – GBA link cable . Visually, Battle features texture resolution increases, though some textures are blurrier, while colors are brighter. Battle was released in Japan on December 20, 2001, in North America on February 11, 2002, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. The Dreamcast version of Sonic Adventure 2 sold more than 84,000 copies during its first week in Japan (a franchise record), and
9359-675: The MSX computer, it was subsequently ported to various platforms the following year, including an arcade video game version, NES , and ColecoVision . 1986 saw the release of the sequel to forward-scrolling platformer Antarctic Adventure called Penguin Adventure , which was designed by Hideo Kojima . It included more action game elements, a greater variety of levels, RPG elements such as upgrading equipment, and multiple endings . In early 1987, Square released 3-D WorldRunner , designed by Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nasir Gebelli . Using
9550-468: The Master Emerald . Their search is guided by radar and puzzle -based clues from harmless robots. Knuckles and Rouge can glide, defeat enemies with punches and kicks, and scale walls, digging into them to find power-ups . Adventure 2 has the health system found in many other Sonic games. The player collects rings scattered throughout the levels; being hit by an enemy while holding rings causes
9741-516: The Master System with Alex Kidd in Miracle World . It has horizontal and vertical scrolling levels, the ability to punch enemies and obstacles, and shops for the player to buy power-ups and vehicles. Another Sega series that began that same year is Wonder Boy . The original Wonder Boy in 1986 was inspired more by Pac-Land than Super Mario Bros. , with skateboarding segments that gave
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#17328446876069932-619: The Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, became the archetype for the genre. It was bundled with Nintendo systems in North America, Japan, and Europe, and sold over 40 million copies, according to the 1999 Guinness Book of World Records . Its success as a pack-in led many companies to see platformers as vital to their success, and contributed greatly to popularizing the genre during the third and fourth generations of video game consoles. Sega attempted to emulate this success with their Alex Kidd series, which started in 1986 on
10123-519: The Sonic Adventure entries, and the 2001 sequel really amped up the action." In February 2014, IGN' s Luke Karmali called Battle his tenth-favorite game of all time. In a video interview with Sonic Team studio head Takashi Iizuka, he says Sonic Adventure 2 is his favourite game in the series. Development on the next game, Sonic Heroes (2003), began at Sonic Team USA shortly after Adventure 2 's completion. Iizuka chose to develop it as
10314-524: The amnesiac Shadow interprets the promise as one of revenge. Shadow steals a Chaos Emerald, and GUN arrests Sonic after mistaking him for Shadow. Knuckles encounters Eggman and Rouge, a government spy, attempting to steal the Master Emerald . He stops them by shattering it and searches for the scattered shards to repair it. Rouge follows Eggman to the ARK, where Shadow shows Eggman the Eclipse Cannon, another weapon created by Gerald. Shadow plans to charge
10505-584: The anime series Sonic X (2003–2006) and the live-action film Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024). Sonic Adventure 2 is a 3D platform game divided into two campaigns: Hero and Dark. In the Hero campaign, players control Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, who fight to save the world; in the Dark campaign, players control Shadow the Hedgehog, Doctor Eggman and Rouge the Bat, fighting to conquer it. Each campaign cycles through levels of its three characters, telling different sides of
10696-405: The bestselling GameCube games and the bestselling third-party GameCube game. Following Adventure 2 , Sonic became a multiplatform franchise, beginning with Sonic Heroes (2003). Sonic Adventure 2 introduced Sonic to a wider audience with its GameCube port. It originated characters and elements used in later games; Shadow became one of the most popular Sonic characters and featured in
10887-497: The fourth wall , and numerous sexual scenes. Unlike some other series that 4Kids translated around the early to mid 2000s, such as Kirby: Right Back at Ya! , Sonic X suffered no full episodes being cut. Producer Michael Haigney personally disliked realistic violence in children's programs, but had not intended to make massive changes himself. Instead, he was bound by Fox Broadcasting Company 's strict guidelines, which forbid content such as smoking and strong violence. In 2006, near
11078-607: The recording sessions . The soundtrack was recorded across five sessions in Los Angeles, New York City and Tokyo. While he enjoyed studio work, Senoue described the last three months as chaotic, as he had to travel between Tokyo, San Francisco and Los Angeles within weeks to write and record music. Senoue finished the soundtrack in February 2001, after which he worked on the sound effects. Sega announced Sonic Adventure 2 at E3 in May 2000 with
11269-523: The rock music from Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 , as well as the "pretty piano music" and "catchy" Japanese intro and outro themes. He also found the backgrounds "nice to look at" but did not like the use of CGI for Sonic's homing attack. The human characters and, to a lesser extent, the animal ones were also criticized. Jones described Chris as "a dull, boring, uninspired character" and also described Tanaka and Ella as "bland" stereotypes of Japanese and African-Americans , respectively. Jones also criticized
11460-533: The virtual camera , it had to be constrained to stop it from clipping through the environment. In 1994, a small developer called Exact released a game for the X68000 computer called Geograph Seal , which was a 3D first-person shooter game with platforming. Players piloted a frog-like mech that could jump and then double-jump or triple-jump high into the air as the camera panned down to help players line up their landings. In addition to shooting, jumping on enemies
11651-549: The 1980 arcade video game Space Panic , which has ladders but not jumping. Donkey Kong , released in 1981, established a template for what were initially called "climbing games". Donkey Kong inspired many clones and games with similar elements, such as Miner 2049er (1982) and Kangaroo (1982), while the Sega arcade game Congo Bongo (1983) adds a third dimension via isometric graphics . Another popular game of that period, Pitfall! (1982), allows moving left and right through series of non-scrolling screens, expanding
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#173284468760611842-647: The Biolizard, a colossal lizard and prototype Ultimate Lifeform. Knuckles deactivates the Chaos Emeralds with the Master Emerald, but the Biolizard fuses with the cannon to continue the ARK's collision course. Sonic and Shadow use the emeralds to transform into their super forms , destroy the Biolizard, and put the ARK back into a stable orbit. This depletes Shadow's energy and he plummets to Earth, content in fulfilling his promise to Maria. The people on Earth celebrate as
12033-474: The Black Knight 's (2009) swordplay, were not. Sonic Adventure 2 's first level, City Escape, has been described as one of the best opening stages in a video game. The level, which serves as a tutorial, depicts Sonic as he escapes GUN and features sequences in which he snowboards through streets and outruns a murderous truck. Red Bull said it was "unquestionably Sonic 's finest hour since
12224-536: The Chaos Emeralds in order to go home, the group battle against Eggman as he re-establishes himself on the planet in order to conquer it—aided by his bumbling robotic assistants Becoe and Decoe, and his robotic courier Bokkun—with Rouge joining forces with the local government as a spy in order to help them defend against his attacks. In the course of battling Eggman, Sonic and the others befriend Chris' friends Danny, Francis and Helen, while slowly becoming celebrities thanks to their exploits, eventually being accepted amongst
12415-602: The Chaotix Detective Agency also journeying into space and providing assistance where they can. The series reaches its conclusion with the group learning of the Metarex's origins, and both groups battling them to prevent them taking full control of the galaxy, culminating in Cosmos and Shadow sacrificing themselves to achieve this. The show was created by TMS Entertainment , the animation subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings . It
12606-580: The DC didn't go out with a bang, but with a sonic boom." In 2022, IGN named it one of the best Dreamcast games. The camera was largely panned. Shahed Ahmed of GameSpot criticized the "cardinal sin" of 3D platform games: forcing players to jump to an out-of-frame platform. Although players can re-orient the camera with the trigger buttons, it reverts when the character moves. According to Chau and Liu, this made searching cramped sections of Knuckles' and Rouge's levels frustrating. Edge found camera problems permeating
12797-414: The Dreamcast hardware made it possible. He felt that by then, Sonic Team had "gotten to the point where we can tap the full power of the console and deliver a much better experience to users". Sonic Team USA gave Sonic more abilities, such as grinding on rails, to add rhythm to ensure the gameplay was not only about speed. Sega collaborated with Soap , a company that produced shoes with plastic concavities in
12988-404: The Dreamcast version, the GameCube version released six months later received mixed reviews: respective Metacritic and GameRankings scores of 73 percent and 72.33 percent. Critics generally felt that it was not significantly improved from the Dreamcast original. However, Shane Bettenhausen of GameSpy saw Battle as noticeably superior; in addition to its upgrades, its action was better suited to
13179-460: The Enchanted Castle , which was only modestly successful. That same year, Capcom released Strider in arcades, which scrolled in multiple directions and allowed the player to summon artificial intelligence partners, such as a droid, tiger, and hawk, to help fight enemies. Another Sega release in 1989 was Shadow Dancer , which is a game that also included an AI partner: a dog who followed
13370-490: The English-dubbed Season 3 (episodes 53–78) on December 6, 2016. On May 28, 2019, Discotek Media released a 2-disc Blu-ray set of the English dub of the series with all three seasons and seventy-eight episodes. Despite the upgraded format, the series is based on the original 4Kids beta tape, retaining a 480p resolution as opposed to the standard 1080p resolution on most Blu-rays. On April 25, 2023, Discotek released
13561-414: The GameCube's controller than the Dreamcast's. Sonic Adventure 2 received several accolades, including the 2001 IGN's Editors' Choice Award. ScrewAttack called it the fifth-best Dreamcast game , and GamesRadar rated it the tenth-greatest Dreamcast game out of 25: "Despite trailing off significantly in recent years, the 3D side of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise had a surprisingly stellar start with
13752-475: The Hedgehog (2006). Sega's discontinuation of the Dreamcast made Sonic Adventure 2 the last Sonic game that Sonic Team—which had worked with Sega hardware teams to take advantage of their consoles—produced with the benefits of first-party development. Whereas Adventure 2 had been made using proprietary software , Sonic Team USA partnered with Criterion Software to use RenderWare so Heroes could be programmed and ported across platforms. Iizuka described
13943-402: The Hedgehog games, the player completes levels while collecting rings and defeating enemies. Outside the main gameplay, they can interact with Chao , a virtual pet , and compete in multiplayer battles. After the release of Sonic Adventure (1998), Sonic Team was downsized and a portion of the staff moved to San Francisco to establish Sonic Team USA. They worked on Adventure 2 for
14134-522: The Hedgehog comics until 2017, started a Sonic X series in 2005. It was originally set to run for only four issues, but was extended to 40 issues due to high demand. The last issue was released on January 1, 2009, and led into the first arc of the Sonic Universe series. The comics were written by Ian Flynn , who also authored the main comic series. Some issues were published in Jetix Magazine in
14325-424: The Hedgehog into 3D. Their project, titled Sonic Xtreme , was to have featured a radically different approach for the series, with an exaggerated fisheye camera and multidirectional gameplay reminiscent of Bug! . Due in part to conflicts with Sega Enterprises in Japan and a rushed schedule, the game never made it to market. In the 1990s, platforming games started to shift from pseudo-3D to "true 3D," which gave
14516-595: The Middle East from 2005 to 2006. The American localization and broadcasting were handled by 4Kids Entertainment , which edited it and created new music. The series follows a group of anthropomorphic animals that accidentally teleport from their home planet to Earth after attempting to save one of their friends from their enemy Doctor Eggman . Separated, Sonic the Hedgehog is saved by a human boy named Chris Thorndyke, who helps him find his friends while repeatedly scuffling with Doctor Eggman and his robots over control of
14707-562: The PlayStation 3 version was made playable on the PlayStation 4 and Windows via the cloud gaming service PlayStation Now , and the Xbox 360 version was made backward compatible with the Xbox One . Sonic Adventure 2 is frequently ranked among the best Sonic games. GameSpot and Kotaku deemed it a satisfying conclusion to Sonic 's run on Sega hardware, and Game Informer considered it
14898-584: The Rabbit and her pet Chao Cheese , Knuckles the Echidna , and Rouge the Bat , to be transported into a parallel universe containing Earth. Sonic and his friends find themselves landing in the city of Station Square, where they befriend twelve-year-old Christopher "Chris" Thorndyke—a lonely young boy, who parents, movie-star mother Lindsey, and corporate executive father Nelson, tend to be absent with work, leaving him to be looked after by his grandfather Chuck, maid and chef Ella, and butler Mr. Tanaka. Seeking to find
15089-524: The Sonic and Shadow levels; retrospective reviewers have criticized the other characters as frustrating and cumbersome. Game Informer found Tails and Eggman's levels fine, but Knuckles and Rouge's annoying. Nintendo Life disagreed, writing Knuckles and Rouge were "entertaining enough" while Tails and Eggman were "rubbish". To TechRadar , the gameplay variety meant the quality of levels fluctuated more than it did in Adventure , though Sonic and Shadow's levels were
15280-482: The US by the end of 2000 to remain a viable platform, but Sega fell short of this goal with three million units sold. Moreover, Sega's attempts to spur sales through lower prices and cash rebates caused escalating financial losses. On January 31, 2001, Sega announced it was discontinuing the Dreamcast to become a third-party developer, although it remained committed to releasing first-party Dreamcast software through 2001. The third-party transition made Adventure 2 one of
15471-536: The US. He cited the Image Comics character Spawn as an influence. Maekawa struggled to develop the concept until writing lines for a scene in which Sonic confronts the hedgehog for impersonating him. Maekawa settled on a delicate, pure character who would refer to himself using the more humble Japanese pronoun boku ( 僕 ) . He was originally named Terios the Prisoner, but was renamed Shadow after another new character,
15662-462: The United Kingdom press. Examples include referring to the " Super Mario mould" (such as Kato-chan & Ken-chan ) as platform games, and calling Strider a "platform and ladders" game. The genre originated in the early 1980s. Levels in early platform games were confined to a single screen, viewed in profile, and based on climbing between platforms rather than jumping. Space Panic ,
15853-461: The United Kingdom, Italy and Poland. While the comics are set during the Sonic X timeline, their plot is original. Eggman imprisons humans inside robots and tries to use them to kill the animals, but the animals destroy the robots. Eggman uses malicious Chao to destroy Station Square, but Tikal and Chaos arrive from the past, return the Chao to normal, and bring them back to the past. Soon, Sonic finds
16044-456: The United States, 4Kids Home Video and their exclusive distributor FUNimation Entertainment released VHS tapes (until 2005) and DVDs of the series in single-release volumes and later multi-disc boxsets. The first two to be released were "A Super Sonic Hero" and "The Chaos Factor," released on June 1, 2004. Another such volume released was "Project Shadow," released on November 15, 2005. It
16235-451: The Year". Another term used in the late 1980s to 1990s was "character action games", in reference to games such as Super Mario Bros. , Sonic the Hedgehog , and Bubsy . It was also applied more generally to side-scrolling video games , including run and gun video games such as Gunstar Heroes . Platform game became a common term for the genre by 1989, popularized by its usage in
16426-445: The [Genesis] days", and Destructoid called it a perfect introduction to modern Sonic gameplay that encapsulates the strengths of the Adventure games. USgamer wrote that Adventure 2 is remembered more for City Escape than anything else, and Polygon said that it "represents the epitome of Sonic the Hedgehog . It's fast-paced, full of secret pathways, and more than a little absurd." Platform game The genre started with
16617-519: The acrobatics evoke the movement that games such as Prince of Persia would feature. B.C.'s Quest For Tires (1983) put a recognizable character from American comic strips into side-scrolling, jumping gameplay similar to Moon Patrol . The same year, Snokie for the Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit computers added uneven terrain to a scrolling platformer. Based on the Saturday morning cartoon rather than
16808-463: The animals take on Eggman in his various schemes—including becoming a wrestler and creating a circus—to keep the Emeralds from him. In the final issue, a crossover with the continuity of the main comic series , that continuity's Metal Sonic appears and allies with Eggman to defeat Sonic, but that continuity's version of Shadow steps in and warps himself and Metal Sonic to another dimension, leading into
16999-476: The anime. Chris' voice actress Sanae Kobayashi was not sure she would be able to effectively communicate Chris' growth as a person owing to Sonic's presence, but found that a worthwhile goal. Chikao Ōtsuka , who voiced Eggman, found him a difficult character to play due to the tension in his voice and the desire to have children who watched the show recognize the character as a villain but not hate him. Iizuka believed that Sonic X and its merchandise, along with
17190-415: The basis for the non-linear mission structure found in most open-world, multi-mission, sidequest -heavy games. Another Capcom platformer that year was Bionic Commando , which popularized a grappling hook mechanic that has since appeared in dozens of games, including Earthworm Jim and Tomb Raider . Scrolling platformers went portable in the late 1980s with games such as Super Mario Land , and
17381-440: The cannon with the Chaos Emeralds and use it to take over the world. Rouge offers her services and gives Shadow and Eggman a Chaos Emerald to gain their trust. Tails and Amy infiltrate GUN's base and rescue Sonic, while Rouge retrieves three emeralds from the base before Eggman destroys it. Eggman makes a global broadcast in which he threatens to destroy the planet if he is not accepted as Earth's ruler within 24 hours. He demonstrates
17572-526: The cannon's power by destroying half of the Moon. While avoiding GUN forces, Sonic, Tails, and Amy meet up with Knuckles and use a Chaos Emerald to track the others to the ARK. Knuckles separates from the group and finishes repairing the Master Emerald. On the ARK, Tails gives Sonic a counterfeit Chaos Emerald to destroy the Eclipse Cannon. As Sonic is about to use it, Eggman captures Tails and Amy, forcing Sonic to return and rescue them. Sonic tries to trick Eggman with
17763-603: The character development that built on the stories of the original games, especially Sonic and Amy's relationship and the Chaotix's newfound viability as comedy devices. Concurrently, he found the show "surprisingly touching," particularly in its "emotional" final climax, and favorably compared the space exploration of season three to Star Trek . Famitsu ' s first preview called the story profound ( 重厚 , jūkō ) . Common Sense Media gave it three stars out of five and, while not commenting further on its quality, stated that it
17954-404: The characters; for example, a Chao which likes Tails will gradually become more heroic. Playing with Chao increases affection, and when a Chao becomes fully Hero or Dark, it assumes that form permanently. Although Chao eventually die, if they receive enough affection during their lives they reincarnate. Adventure 2 has 180 emblems, earned for a variety of tasks. Each level has five missions; only
18145-483: The city Station Square (sequencing, counting in increments); Angel Island, the home of the Master Emerald (addition), and Eggman's base (subtraction). There are also math-based minigames unrelated to the levels to supplement these skills. Score Entertainment created a Sonic X collectible card game for two players released in 2005. Players battle for Chaos Emeralds, whoever gets three first wins. Each turn, both players lay out five cards face-down and flip over one at
18336-452: The conflict between good and evil. Sonic Team USA gave Chao the ability to socialize and interact, which Naka felt "took [them] a step closer to a real artificial life form ". Sonic Adventure 2 's soundtrack was composed by Jun Senoue , Fumie Kumatani, Tomoya Ohtani , and Kenichi Tokoi, with Senoue as the lead composer and sound director. Senoue, Kumatani and Tokoi returned from Adventure , while Ohtani made his first contributions to
18527-589: The console as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in North America, along with Super Mario World , while Sega released Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis . Sonic showcased a new style of design made possible by a new generation of hardware: large stages that scrolled in all directions, curved hills, loops, and a physics system allowing players to rush through its levels with well-placed jumps and rolls. Sega characterized Sonic as
18718-421: The criteria of a platformer, and was billed as an action adventure . It used true 3D characters and set pieces, but its environments were rendered using a rigid engine similar to the one used by Wolfenstein 3D , in that it could only render square, flat corridors, rather than suspended platforms that could be jumped between. Sega had tasked their American studio, Sega Technical Institute , with bringing Sonic
18909-403: The demo. It features the opening cutscene and level, ending with a trailer showcasing later levels. Sega showcased Adventure 2 again at E3 2001. On June 13, Archie Comics published a brief adaptation in its Sonic the Hedgehog comic book, written by Karl Bollers and penciled by Patrick Spaziante . According to Ken Penders , one of the series' writers, the creative team was unable to adapt
19100-480: The dialogue when lines "[didn't] work for some reason." He recalled being given only short samples of Eggman's voice from the games—he was not told specifically which game—and brief descriptions of his characters' roles. The rest of the cast assumed their characters' voice roles after their auditions. Beginning with Shadow the Hedgehog , the cast of Sonic X would assume their respective voice roles in all Sonic games released between 2005 and 2010, at which point all
19291-419: The earlier Clockwork Knight . The game plays very similarly to 2D platformers, but lets players walk up walls and on ceilings. In 1995, Delphine Software released a 3D sequel to their 2D platformer Flashback . Entitled Fade to Black , it was the first attempt to bring a popular 2D platformer series into 3D. While it retained the puzzle-oriented level design style and step-based control, it did not meet
19482-409: The emeralds were used, a retaliation against the government for condemning his research and killing his colleagues, including Maria. Everyone but Shadow works together to access the cannon's core and neutralize the ARK using the Master Emerald. Amy pleads for Shadow's help, and he remembers that Maria really requested for him to help mankind. Shadow joins Sonic and Knuckles in the core as they encounter
19673-627: The end of the show's American production, Haigney stated in an interview that he had never played a Sonic game, read the comics , or watched any of the previous Sonic animated series. 4Kids found new voice actors rather than using those from the games. 4Kids president Norman J. Grossfeld invited Jason Griffith and Mike Pollock to audition for Sonic and Eggman, having known them from their work on Ultimate Muscle and Kirby: Right Back at Ya! and chose him for his yelling and pitch-wavering talents; Pollock and Griffith also voiced Ella and Shadow. 4Kids allowed Pollock to make minor alterations to
19864-450: The events of the first issue of Sonic Universe . In 2003, McDonald's packaged five different single-button dedicated console games, mostly based on various sports, with Happy Meals to promote Sonic X : two featuring Sonic and one each for Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow. Another Happy Meal game based on Big the Cat fishing arrived the following year. In 2007, LeapFrog Enterprises released
20055-480: The experience while retaining Adventure 's "bulkiness". They removed the hub worlds in favor of linear level progression more in line with the older Sonic games, and divided action and exploration sequences among the characters rather than mixing them. Each level was tailored for its character, and unlike Adventure , in which some playable characters had short campaigns, all six Adventure 2 characters have roughly equal gameplay time. Iizuka said Adventure 2
20246-410: The fake emerald, but Eggman deduces the plan and jettisons him in an escape pod rigged with explosives. Sonic uses the power of the fake emerald to escape; Shadow is sent to intercept him. Eggman sneaks away with the last emerald and arms the Eclipse Cannon. The entire colony suddenly starts falling, and a prerecorded message from Gerald is broadcast globally: he programmed the ARK to collide with Earth if
20437-521: The first award for Best Platform game in 1984 from Crash magazine. Later that same year, Epyx released Impossible Mission , and Parker Brothers released Montezuma's Revenge , which further expanded on the exploration aspect. The first platformer to use scrolling graphics came years before the genre became popular. Jump Bug is a platform-shooter developed by Alpha Denshi under contract for Hoei/Coreland and released to arcades in 1981, only five months after Donkey Kong . Players control
20628-660: The first is required to continue the campaign, and other missions include completing a harder version of a level and collecting 100 rings. The player earns emblems by completing missions and other tasks, many related to Chao raising. Collecting all the emblems unlocks a 3D version of the Green Hill Zone stage from the original Sonic the Hedgehog . The game has several two-player modes. Players may race on foot through new (or altered) levels, have shoot-'em-up battles in mechs, hunt for Master Emerald shards or race in go-karts . A few characters are playable in these modes, but not in
20819-592: The first two Seasons. 4Kids musicians John Angier, Craig Marks, Joel Douek, Louis Cortelezzi, Manny Corallo, Matt McGuire, and Ralph Schuckett, known for their work on the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, composed a new background score for the North American release "for both artistic and commercial reasons." The North American opening and closing theme (also used as the closing theme in the European version), titled "Gotta Go Fast,"
21010-477: The foreground and background, and the camera panning and curving around corners. Meanwhile, Pandemonium and Klonoa brought the 2.5D style to the PlayStation . In a break from the past, the Nintendo 64 had the fewest side scrolling platformers with only four; Yoshi's Story , Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards , Goemon's Great Adventure , and Mischief Makers —and most met with a tepid response from critics at
21201-495: The four larger networks ( Aomori Asahi Broadcasting (ANN), Nagasaki International Television ), SBS (JNN) and Sendai Broadcasting (FNN)). In Japan, the third season was never aired on TV until 2020 or released on DVD, but was available through rental streaming services. 4Kids licensed the series in North America from the beginning, ShoPro Entertainment was also made a license holder in November 2003. It aired in North America on
21392-501: The franchise at its best and at its worst." Common elements of retrospective praise include Sonic and Shadow's levels, the Chao Garden, and the soundtrack. GamesRadar+ felt Adventure 2 's increased speed and emphasis on spectacle positively influenced the series. Conversely, its focus on multiple characters with different gameplay styles has been divisive. While IGN praised the gameplay variety, Kotaku noted that many only like
21583-459: The full two-disc soundtrack album , Multi-dimensional Sonic Adventure 2 Original Sound Track , on September 5. Tokyopop released a soundtrack in the US on February 5, 2002, ahead of the GameCube version's release, featuring 26 tracks selected by Senoue and US-exclusive remixes. On November 30, 2011, Sega released the soundtrack on iTunes via its Wave Master label to coincide with the franchise's 20th anniversary. Brave Wave Productions released
21774-721: The game Sonic Heroes , had helped expose the Sonic franchise to a new generation of potential gamers in 2003, and he dubbed it a "Sonic Year" as a result. More boldly, Naka hoped that Sonic X alone would cause the popularity of the Sonic series to skyrocket, as that of the Pokémon series did after its anime adaptation was first released. 4Kids Entertainment handled the show's American localization. The episodes were heavily edited for content and length ; 4Kids has been described by Destructoid as being "infamous" among anime fans for this type of overzealous editing. 4Kids removed alcohol consumption, coarse language, instances of breaking
21965-464: The game a greater sense of speed than other platformers at the time, while its sequel, Wonder Boy in Monster Land added action-adventure and role-playing elements. Wonder Boy in turn inspired games such as Adventure Island , Dynastic Hero , Popful Mail , and Shantae . One of the first platformers to scroll in all four directions freely and follow the on-screen character's movement
22156-472: The game's multiple playing styles. According to Edge and reviewer Four-Eyed Dragon of GamePro , the core game's three styles and bonus features such as Chao gardens made the game engaging. Johnny Liu of GameRevolution praised its replay value of multiple playing styles and 180 different goals. Anthony Chau of IGN called it one of the best Sonic games: "If this is the last Sonic game in these declining Dreamcast years, it's satisfying to know that
22347-432: The game, with no significant improvement from Adventure . The visuals received positive reviews. Liu called them "sweet, sweet eye-crack". Four-Eyed Dragon wrote that the game "is simply jaw-dropping beautiful," citing its detailed backgrounds and scenery and the characters' extensive color palettes. According to Chau, the game had "some of the best textures ever seen" and was one of the most beautiful Dreamcast games. Edge
22538-498: The gameplay from its precursor but traded the frog-like mech for a cartoony rabbit mech called Robbit. The title was successful enough to get two sequels and is remembered for being the first 3D platformer on a console. Rob Fahey of Eurogamer said Jumping Flash was perhaps "one of the most important ancestors of every 3D platformer in the following decade." It holds the record of "First platform videogame in true 3D" according to Guinness World Records . Another early 3D platformer
22729-452: The genre continued to maintain its popularity, with many games released for the handheld Game Boy and Game Gear systems. By the time the Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 launched, platformers were the most popular genre in console gaming. There was a particular emphasis on having a flagship platform title exclusive to a system, featuring a mascot character. In 1989, Sega released Alex Kidd in
22920-413: The genre, such as Super Mario Bros. (1985). Donkey Kong spawned other games with a mix of running, jumping, and vertical traversal, a novel genre that did not match the style of games that came before it, leaving journalists and writers to offer their own terms. Computer and Video Games magazine, among others, referred to the genre as "Donkey Kong-type" or "Kong-style" games. "Climbing games"
23111-511: The government works to establish better defences in anticipation of another attack by Eggman, including the creation of a robotic army to counter the evil scientist's own creations. Much of the first half of this season is focused on adaptations of both Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 . After Station Square is rebuilt following the attack by Chaos , and Sonic and Shadow prevent Space Colony ARK from crashing into Earth, another Chaos Control event brings several inhabitants of Sonic's world to
23302-487: The ground to uncover treasure and Master Emerald pieces. Separate from the main campaigns, the player can raise Chao as virtual pets . They have five attributes (Swim, Fly, Run, Power and Stamina) and a moral continuum from Hero to Dark. From the moment they hatch, their stats can be increased with Chaos Drives or small animals, found in the main stages, which empower them to compete in karate and racing minigames . Their alignment gradually changes based on their affection for
23493-419: The group explore the galaxy for the Chaos Emeralds, after Sonic had to disperse them to avoid them being used by the Metarex. Alongside the group, Eggman also pursues after the Emeralds, accompanied by Rouge, and aided by Shadow, whom he had recovered following his supposed demise. Much of the journey sees Tails and Cosmos bonding, while Eggman secretly sides with the Metarex in order to uncover their plans, with
23684-593: The group returns, and Sonic bids Shadow farewell. Sonic Adventure , the first 3D platformer in Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, was developed by Sonic Team and released for the Dreamcast in Japan in 1998. Although the game was a critical and commercial success, Dreamcast sales struggled to meet Sega's expectations. The Adventure team was downsized, and in 1999, 12 Sonic Team members, including Adventure 's director Takashi Iizuka , relocated to San Francisco, California, to establish Sonic Team USA . Sega directed
23875-426: The human population, despite reservations of what might happen when the seven Chaos Emeralds are found. Six months after the Chaos Emeralds are found and used by Sonic in his Super Sonic form, Chaos Control causes parts of their world to appear on Earth, including Angel Island and the Master Emerald, along with the arrival of Big the Cat and his pet Froggy. Whilst the group adapt to this and carry on with their lives,
24066-463: The king responded that he could not approve the change because Christer was not eighteen years old. Extending over a decade past the show's initial release, the show has spawned internet memes and the phrase "gotta go fast", the title of the song that plays in the opening and closing sequence, has been used in the titles of video game periodical articles to represent the Sonic series and other fast-paced video games. Sonic X: Original Soundtrack
24257-458: The last major Dreamcast exclusives and the final Sonic game for a Sega console. In April 2001, Sega announced Sonic Team was working on a game for Nintendo 's GameCube . Sonic Team kept the project a secret until its reveal at Nintendo Space World in August. Naka liked the GameCube hardware, and advised Sonic Team fans to purchase GameCubes. Shortly before Space World, Sega confirmed rumors that
24448-454: The levels were open and had objectives. Completing objectives earned the player stars, and stars were used to unlock more levels. This approach allowed for more efficient use of large 3D areas and rewarded the player for exploration, but it meant less jumping and more action-adventure . Even so, a handful of boss levels offered more traditional platforming. Until then there was no settled way to make 3D platformers, but Super Mario 64 inspired
24639-546: The loss of first-party development benefits as the greatest challenge of the third-party transition, as his team "no longer [had] the ability to control what we need[ed] to make our games". Naka said he had mixed feelings about Sonic as a multiplatform franchise, and departed to form his own studio, Prope , in 2006. Shadow quickly proved popular among fans, so Sonic Team USA retconned his apparent death in Adventure 2 's finale to include him in subsequent Sonic games, beginning with Heroes . After Heroes , Sonic Team USA
24830-451: The main character new abilities for overcoming adversities. Most games of this genre consist of multiple levels of increasing difficulty that may be interleaved by boss encounters, where the character has to defeat a particularly dangerous enemy to progress. Simple logical puzzles to resolve and skill trials to overcome are other common elements in the genre. A modern variant of the platform game, especially significant on mobile platforms,
25021-453: The main game; Tikal and Chaos from the original Sonic Adventure are playable in the treasure-hunting game, as are Amy Rose and Metal Sonic in the foot-racing levels and mechs piloted by Chao and Big the Cat (replaced by a Dark Chao in Battle ) in the shooting levels. Doctor Eggman learns of a secret weapon from the diary of his grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik , and infiltrates
25212-489: The maze game, Namco's 1984 Pac-Land is a bidirectional, horizontally-scrolling, arcade video game with walking, running, jumping, springboards, power-ups , and a series of unique levels. Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani described the game as "the pioneer of action games with horizontally running background." According to Iwatani, Shigeru Miyamoto described Pac-Land as an influence on the development of Super Mario Bros. . Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. , released for
25403-405: The more linear 3D platformers like Tork: Prehistoric Punk and Wario World used scripted cameras that limited player control. Games with more open environments like Super Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie used intelligent cameras that followed the player's movements. Still, when the view was obstructed or not facing what the player needed to see, these intelligent cameras needed to be adjusted by
25594-408: The most fun Sonic game to develop, as the small team meant "we were able to condense all the good elements from the previous game, and deliver a story and game that was satisfying to players everywhere". Due to the smaller staff, Sonic Team USA split Adventure 2 into two campaigns featuring character teams instead of Adventure 's format of six starring individual characters. Adventure 2 uses
25785-430: The music "an eclectic mix of orchestrated masterpieces, guitar tunes, and melodic hip-hop voices" that "gracefully fill the game's ambiance to a perfect pitch." Reactions to the voice acting were divided; according to Ahmed, "the voice acting, and the lip-synching in particular, is executed quite well," and Liu and Chau found the English voices inferior to the Japanese ones. The plot was derided, although its presentation
25976-526: The new wave of consoles. In the latter half of the 1980s and early 1990s, the Amiga was a strong gaming platform with its custom video hardware and sound hardware . The Atari ST was solidly supported as well. Games like Shadow of the Beast and Turrican showed that computer platformers could rival their console contemporaries. Prince of Persia , originally a late release for the 8-bit Apple II in 1989, featured
26167-493: The occasion in its marketing. In Japan, Sega offered a limited edition "Birthday Pack" for two days that included the game, a gold disc containing Sonic music , a commemorative gold coin, and a 17-page booklet detailing the series' history. On June 30, Sega held a celebration at a Software Etc. in San Jose, California , where attendees could have birthday cake, partake in giveaways, and receive Naka's autograph. Sonic Adventure 2
26358-423: The original Sonic the Hedgehog 's first stage. Iizuka liked the idea but expected the rest of the team to object, so he, the artist, and a programmer spent a week working on it separately. Among Sonic Team USA's goals were a frame rate of 60 frames per second (FPS) to make the gameplay feel faster and a multiplayer mode. Achieving 60 FPS required some design tweaks, but Naka said Sonic Team's experience with
26549-435: The original broadcasts of episodes 26 and 52; these were replaced in subsequent broadcasts and home releases. Tracks from Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 were used infrequently during some episodes, including Sonic Adventure 2 theme "Live and Learn" by Crush 40 in episode 38. A soundtrack titled Sonic X ~Original Sound Tracks~ was released in Japan on March 8, 2004, it consisted of 40 tracks of original music from
26740-617: The planet, including the Chaotix Detective Agency — Vector the Crocodile , Espio the Chameleon , and Charmy Bee —Vanilla, Cream's mother. Eggman launches further scehems following the ARK incident, even when briefly captured by the government, whilst Sonic and his friends provide shelter for a robot named Emerl, who later goes on the rampage after coming into possession of a Chaos Emerald and forcing Cream to stop it (the story arc being
26931-408: The platform-action game, Valis , which contained anime -style cut scenes . In 1987, Capcom 's Mega Man introduced non-linear level progression where the player is able to choose the order in which they complete levels. This was a stark contrast to both linear games like Super Mario Bros. and open-world games like Metroid . GamesRadar credits the "level select" feature of Mega Man as
27122-416: The play area. Nintendo 's flagship Super Mario Bros. (1985) was a defining game for the nascent genre, with horizontally scrolling levels and the player controlling a named character—Mario, which became a mascot of the company. The term platform game gained traction in the late 1980s, as did the alternate form platformer . During their peak of popularity, platformers were estimated to comprise between
27313-549: The player around and aid in battle. In 1990, Hudson Soft released Bonk's Adventure , with a protagonist positioned as NEC 's mascot. The following year, Takeru's Cocoron , a late platformer for the Famicom allowed players to build a character from a toy box filled with spare parts. In 1990, the Super Famicom was released in Japan, along with the eagerly anticipated Super Mario World . The following year, Nintendo released
27504-405: The player more control over the character and the camera. To render a 3D environment from any angle the user chose, the graphics hardware had to be sufficiently powerful, and the art and rendering model of the game had to be viewable from every angle. The improvement in graphics technology allowed publishers to make such games but introduced several new issues. For example, if the player could control
27695-549: The player to drop them all, while being hit without rings causes them to lose a life . Tails and Eggman have health bars, which are slowly refilled by collecting rings. Dying with no lives results in a game over screen. The characters can obtain permanent upgrades that grant them new abilities; for example, one upgrade allows Sonic and Shadow to dash along a sequential trail of rings to reach distant platforms, one gives Tails and Eggman hover jets that slows their descent to cross large gaps, while another lets Knuckles and Rouge dig into
27886-1043: The player. In the 1990s, RPGs , first-person shooters , and more complex action-adventure games captured significant market share. Even so, the platformer thrived. Tomb Raider became one of the bestselling series on the PlayStation , along with Insomniac Games ' Spyro and Naughty Dog 's Crash Bandicoot , one of the few 3D games to stick with linear levels. Moreover, many of the Nintendo 64 's bestsellers were first- and second-party platformers like Super Mario 64 , Banjo-Kazooie , and Donkey Kong 64 . On Windows and Mac , Pangea Software 's Bugdom series and BioWare 's MDK2 proved successful. Several developers who found success with 3D platformers began experimenting with titles that, despite their cartoon art style, were aimed at adults. Examples include Rare 's Conker's Bad Fur Day , Crystal Dynamics 's Gex: Deep Cover Gecko and Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver , and Shiny Entertainment 's Messiah . In 1998, Sega produced
28077-430: The powerful Chaos Emeralds , and becoming celebrities. The final story arc sees Sonic and his friends return with Chris to their world, where they enter outer space with a newfound plant-like creature named Cosmo and fight an army of aliens called the Metarex. Sonic X received mixed reviews. Generally, reviewers criticized its American localization and the human characters, but praised its story and animation. The series
28268-414: The presence of Amy and Big, but took particular issue to the show's portrayal of Sonic, which he summarized as: " 'I'm gonna run around downtown until something exciting happens and use a stinking Ring to defeat my enemies ' ". GamesRadar bemoaned both the "piss-poor Adventure characters" and the original human ones. In contrast, writer Gaz Plant of NintendoLife opined that "one of the key successes" of
28459-447: The project was a port of Sonic Adventure 2 , subtitled Battle . This marked Sonic 's first appearance on a Nintendo console, which GameSpot called "an unbelievable milestone of epic proportions". Sonic Team left the single-player gameplay mostly unchanged, but added multiplayer options such as new maps and characters. Battle replaces the VMU's implementation with connectivity with
28650-424: The recent Sonic games use these untalented actors/actresses in their dubs, because they make the original English voices sound like award-winning performers." Other comments on the show's aesthetics were mostly positive. Staff of GamesRadar admitted, "At least the song fits. Can't imagine Sonic listening to Underground ' s wailing Meat Loaf light rock , but he'd definitely jam to Sonic X ." Jones praised
28841-478: The role after he learned did not need to be an artist to create a story or storyboards . Because Adventure 2 would be the first Sonic game released during the 21st century, Maekawa wanted a substantial portion of the story to take place in space. The rest of Sonic Team was apprehensive, but Maekawa convinced them. Maekawa drew influence from the manga and anime he had enjoyed since childhood, including Please Save My Earth (1986–1994). As Maekawa disliked Sonic as
29032-560: The roles were recast with the exception of Mike Pollock as Eggman. Sonic X aired in Japan on TV Tokyo 's 8:30 a.m. time slot from April 6, 2003 to March 28, 2004. It consisted of three seasons, each of them 26 half-hour episodes long. The first two seasons were also syndicated by delay to a handful of stations outside of the reach of the TX Network : four JAITS member stations ( Television Wakayama , Biwako Broadcasting , Nara Television and Gifu Broadcasting ) and one station each of
29223-511: The same game engine , with improved texture quality and collision detection . Sonic Team designed Adventure 2 as faster and more action -oriented compared to the slower, more story-focused Adventure . Whereas Sonic Team had tried to include as much content as possible in Adventure , for Adventure 2 they concentrated on the elements they deemed necessary. Iizuka noted that players who prioritized action found much of Adventure 's content pointless, so Sonic Team USA sought to streamline
29414-461: The second season is mostly based on the plots of Sonic Adventure , Sonic Adventure 2 , and Sonic Battle . While traditionally animated, it includes non-outlined CGI elements for things such as Sonic's homing attack. Two trailers for the series were produced. The first was developed before Cheese had been given a name in Sonic Advance 2 (2002); it referred to Cheese simply as "Chao". It
29605-669: The series in Pan-European, MENA, and Latin American territories. For the 60th anniversary of TMS Entertainment, the company streamed a select number of episodes on its YouTube channel, available with the original Japanese audio with English subtitles, from August 5–9 and 12–16, 2024. TMS Entertainment handled rights to the series in Asian territories. The series was released on DVD , in Japan, only seasons one and two were released, and their 52 episodes spanned 13 discs. From 2003 to 2009 in
29796-420: The series to continue to grow more interesting. Plant stated that "where Sonic X truly succeeded was in its retelling of iconic stories." Independent of the characters involved, GamesRadar appreciated the idea of following "Sonic's core concept." The original storylines were also praised. Amidst his criticism of most of the show, Jones praised the first episode in general, especially its humor. Plant acclaimed
29987-470: The series was its incorporation of numerous characters from the games, including lesser-used ones like Big and the Chaotix. Fans were divided on the merit of the Thorndykes. The show was praised for its faithfulness to the games. Famitsu offered a uniformly positive review before the first episode broadcast in 2003, commending the skillful transition of the games' speed and style to animation, and expected
30178-406: The sole for rail grinding, to have Sonic wear a pair of Soap shoes rather than his traditional boots. Soap product placement appears throughout the game as well. Like Adventure , Sonic Team USA included Chao to add replay value . Iizuka described the Chao as a "relatively neutral entity" in Adventure , so in Adventure 2 , Sonic Team USA added the ability to raise "Hero" and "Dark" Chao to reflect
30369-442: The soundtrack to stand out rather than merely serve as background music. He was not entirely satisfied with the first Adventure soundtrack, feeling some tracks did not fit, and sought to compose music that suited the atmosphere of each area. He said the music team made a pact "to write songs that promoted the game's speed and situations while keeping the best tempo of the stage". They decided to compose each character's level themes in
30560-514: The spin-offs Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) and Shadow Generations (2024). Adventure 2 remains popular among Sonic fans and was rereleased for the PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360 , and Windows in 2012. Its first level, City Escape, is considered one of the greatest opening stages in a video game. Adventure 2 has been ranked among the best Sonic games, although it has been characterized as divisive, particularly for its emphasis on multiple characters. Its story has been adapted in media including in
30751-498: The story in full due to Sonic Team's desire for secrecy; they were only able to work from the demo and a few screenshots. Penders said they considered adapting the story in a separate Super Special issue, but Archie had ceased publishing one-shots at the time. Adventure 2 was initially set to be released in February 2001, but was delayed to June 19 in North America and June 23 in other countries. The worldwide release coincided with Sonic 's tenth anniversary, and Sega marked
30942-410: The story nonsensical, Destructoid said it "almost feels like work to get through", and Vice jokingly compared it to a Bob Books take on Armageddon . Nintendo Life felt the plot would have been interesting were it not for the plot holes caused by events playing out differently across campaigns. However, VentureBeat praised the good-vs.-evil presentation as clever and adding unexpected nuance to
31133-790: The story. Levels have a variety of themes (such as cities, jungles, desert pyramids and outer space), with some followed by boss fights. The two campaigns' stories occur in parallel; completing both campaigns unlocks a final story with all six characters, culminating in a final boss fight. Sonic and Shadow play fast-paced levels, emphasizing platforming. Their homing attack can lock on to robots created by Eggman and GUN, and they can grind on rails. Tails's and Eggman's levels are slower and oriented towards multidirectional shooting ; they are confined to mechs in which they can jump short heights, hover and shoot enemies. Knuckles's and Rouge's levels are open and feature action-adventure gameplay with treasure hunting; in each level, they must find three shards of
31324-515: The team vacationed) and the San Francisco Bay Area . Iizuka said they did not intend to "create a simulation of San Francisco" but rather to reflect the influence of their surroundings. The staff frequently received parking tickets from authorities; as a joke, they included the authorities' cars in a level where Sonic could destroy them. The month Adventure 2 was to be released to manufacturing , one artist suggested adding Green Hill Zone,
31515-498: The third-party transition. The Escapist wrote that subsequent Sonic games, such as Sonic the Hedgehog , Sonic Unleashed (2008), and Sonic Forces (2017), attempted to replicate the Adventure 2 format of varied gameplay styles, but failed because they did not develop each style fully. VentureBeat said Adventure 2 's alternate gameplay styles were natural additions to Sonic whereas those in subsequent games, such as Unleashed 's Werehog segments and Sonic and
31706-441: The time. Despite this, Yoshi's Story sold over a million copies in the US, and Mischief Makers rode high on the charts in the months following its release. The term 3D platformer usually refers to games with gameplay in three dimensions and polygonal 3D graphics. Games that have 3D gameplay but 2D graphics are usually included under the umbrella of isometric platformers , while those that have 3D graphics but gameplay on
31897-531: The top down perspective, Frogger (1981) as climbing games. In a December 1982 Creative Computing review of the Apple II game Beer Run , the reviewer used a different term: "I'm going to call this a ladder game, as in the 'ladder genre,' which includes Apple Panic and Donkey Kong ." That label was also used by Video Games Player magazine in 1983 when it named the Coleco port of Donkey Kong "Ladder Game of
32088-437: The video game industry internationally. The following year, Donkey Kong received a sequel, Donkey Kong Jr. and later Mario Bros. , a platformer with two-player cooperative play . It laid the groundwork for other two-player cooperative games such as Fairyland Story and Bubble Bobble . Beginning in 1982, transitional games emerged with non-scrolling levels spanning multiple screens. David Crane's Pitfall! for
32279-432: The villains' motivations, and Rock Paper Shotgun said the story was one of Sonic 's best despite some melodramatic moments. They highlighted the scene in which Eggman destroys the Moon as considerably more impactful than his schemes in later games. VentureBeat wrote that Adventure 2 did not hold up to modern standards, finding its camera and reliance on trial-and-error design outdated, and Destructoid said it
32470-455: The visual flash of 3D with traditional 2D side scrolling gameplay. These games are often referred to as 2.5D. The first such game was Saturn launch title , Clockwork Knight (1994). The game featured levels and boss characters rendered in 3D, but retained 2D gameplay and used pre-rendered 2D sprites for regular characters, similar to Donkey Kong Country . Its sequel improved upon its design, featuring some 3D effects such as hopping between
32661-428: The way. These games are either presented from the side view, using two-dimensional movement, or in 3D with the camera placed either behind the main character or in isometric perspective . Typical platforming gameplay tends to be very dynamic and challenges a player's reflexes, timing, and dexterity with controls. The most common movement options in the genre are walking, running, jumping, attacking, and climbing. Jumping
32852-413: Was Floating Runner , developed by a Japanese company called Xing and released for PlayStation in early 1996, before the release of Super Mario 64 . Floating Runner uses D-pad controls and a behind-the-character camera perspective. In 1996, Nintendo released Super Mario 64 , which is a game that set the standard for 3D platformers. It let the player explore 3D environments with greater freedom than
33043-471: Was TMS' best-selling anime in the non-Japanese market, despite that the third season did not air in Japan until 2020, and it inspired TMS to focus on properties that would sell well outside Japan. In April 2009, a six-year-old Norwegian boy named Christer pressed his parents to send a letter to King Harald V of Norway to approve his name being changed to "Sonic X". They allowed Christer to write it himself but did not send it until he badgered them further, and
33234-402: Was a primary way to attack. This was the first true 3D platform-action game with free-roaming environments, but it was never ported to another platform or released outside Japan, so it remains relatively unknown in the West. The following year, Exact released their follow-up to Geograph Seal . An early title for Sony's new PlayStation console, Jumping Flash! , released in April 1995, kept
33425-409: Was appropriate for grade-school children but that some violent scenes were inadvisable for younger viewers. A second Famitsu review from later in 2003 called the anime an outstanding success and encouraged readers to tune in. The show was quite popular in the United States, France, Indonesia and Malaysia, consistently reaching the number-one position in its timeslot in those countries. By 2007, it
33616-762: Was composed by Grossfeld and Russell Velazquez. Sonic X was extensively merchandised in various forms of media and other products. Two Game Boy Advance Videos of episodes from the first season of Sonic X were released in May 2004. In October 2004, ShoPro licensed four manufacturers to create Sonic X merchandise, they variously produced items such as toys, bedding, beach towels, backpacks, stationery, and pajamas. Six Sonic X novels were published between 2005 and 2007: Aqua Planet, Dr. Eggman Goes to War , Battle at Ice Palace, and Desperately Seeking Sonic by Charlotte Fullerton , Meteor Shower Messenger by Paul Ruditis , and Spaceship Blue Typhoon by Diana G. Gallagher . Archie Comics , which published Sonic
33807-439: Was designed to have "more of an American flavor" than Adventure , since it was developed in the US. The art director, Kazuyuki Hoshino , noted Sonic was a character designed to appeal to Western sensibilities, and working in the US allowed Sonic Team USA to capture an American atmosphere more successfully. The levels, drawn from Maekawa's story and setting, were inspired by American locations such as Yosemite National Park (where
33998-521: Was found in any previous game in the genre. With this in mind, Nintendo put an analog control stick on its Nintendo 64 controller, a feature that had not been seen since the Vectrex but which has since become standard. The analog stick provided the fine precision needed with a free perspective. In most 2D platformers, the player finished a level by following a path to a certain point, but in Super Mario 64 ,
34189-525: Was given the AVOD rights to 38 TMS Entertainment titles including Sonic X for US and Canada. Outside North America and Asia, Jetix Europe (previously Fox Kids Europe) held the rights to the series, which the company acquired in August 2003. Buena Vista International Television handled distribution services while Jetix Europe handled all other television rights. The company's Jetix Consumer Products (JCP) subsidiary held consumer product and home media rights to
34380-412: Was impressed by the texture detail and draw distance , and Chau, Liu and Ahmed praised its 60-frame-per-second rendering speed. Senoue's soundtrack also received positive reviews. According to Ahmed, the music was an improvement over Adventure 's "campy glam-rock and J-pop soundtrack", with less emphasis on lyrics, while Liu appreciated its more "understated" approach. Four-Eyed Dragon called
34571-475: Was made up largely of footage that would later appear in the series' intro, but also of unused scenes featuring unique anthropomorphic people. Sega showed off the second, which was narrated in Japanese, at its booth at the World Hobby Fair video gaming event on February 19, 2003. It consisted mostly of scenes from the first few episodes, followed by introductions to the main characters. However, it also showed
34762-437: Was only redeemed by how engaging the Chao Garden was. A Vice writer, while playing Adventure 2 for the first time in a decade, said that "[I've] been forced to reconcile my nostalgia with the harsh reality that it is not a terrific game". VentureBeat wrote that it was more worth remembering for its historical significance as the last Sonic game for a Sega console than it was worth replaying. Others conceded that Adventure 2
34953-596: Was popular in the United States and France, though less so in its native Japan. The show's merchandise included an edutainment video game for the Leapster , a trading card game , a comic book series featuring an original storyline, and various toys and other items. Following a battle between Sonic the Hedgehog and Doctor Eggman , a freak accident involving the seven Chaos Emeralds causes them to create "Chaos Control"—a powerful space-time force that transports both of them, along with Miles "Tails" Prower , Amy Rose , Cream
35144-409: Was primarily influenced by other anime rather than work from the West, and was created for a Japanese audience. Yuji Naka , then the head of Sonic Team , filled in as executive producer, and Satoshi Hirayama designed all of the original characters, basing the designs on Yuji Uekawa 's original concept. Most of the series consists of original content featuring new as well as established characters, but
35335-407: Was released during a tumultuous period in Sega's history . Amidst competition from Sony Computer Entertainment 's PlayStation 2 , a lack of support from important third-party developers , and conflict within Sega, Dreamcast sales failed to meet Sega's expectations. Peter Moore , the president and chief operating officer of Sega of America, said the Dreamcast would need to sell five million units in
35526-672: Was released in June 2001, coinciding with the franchise's tenth anniversary. It was the final Sonic game for a Sega console, released in the months after Sega discontinued the Dreamcast and transitioned to third-party development . Later in 2001, it was ported to the GameCube as Sonic Adventure 2 Battle , the first Sonic game for a Nintendo console. Adventure 2 received positive reviews, with praise for its gameplay variety, visuals, and music but criticism for its camera , voice acting, and plot. Although reviews of Battle were more mixed, it sold 1.7 million copies worldwide, becoming one of
35717-472: Was released to tie in with the release of the game Shadow the Hedgehog , and covered the first arc that focused on Shadow (episodes 33–38). Discotek Media released the 8-disc DVD set, "Sonic X Collection 1" in North America, which includes the English-dubbed seasons 1 and 2 (episodes 1–52) on November 22, 2016. They later released the 4-disc DVD set, "Sonic X Collection 2" in North America, which includes
35908-586: Was renamed Sega Studios USA. Their next project was Shadow the Hedgehog (2005), a spin-off starring Shadow that continues plot threads established in Adventure 2 . The division developed Nights: Journey of Dreams (2007) before it was merged back into the Japanese Sonic Team in 2008. Iizuka became the head of Sonic Team following the merger. Marvelous Entertainment released a collection of Sonic Adventure 2 songs, Cuts Unleashed Sonic Adventure 2 Vocal Collection , on August 18, 2001, before releasing
36099-418: Was the first game to allow players to jump over obstacles and gaps. It is widely considered to be the first platformer. It introduced Mario under the name Jumpman. Donkey Kong was ported to many consoles and computers at the time, notably as the system-selling pack-in game for ColecoVision , and also a handheld version from Coleco in 1982. The game helped cement Nintendo's position as an important name in
36290-534: Was used in Steve Bloom's 1982 book Video Invaders and 1983 magazines Electronic Games (US)—which ran a cover feature called "The Player's Guide to Climbing Games"—and TV Gamer (UK). Bloom defined "climbing games" as titles where the player "must climb from the bottom of the screen to the top while avoiding and/or destroying the obstacles and foes you invariably meet along the way." Under this definition, he listed Space Panic (1980), Donkey Kong , and despite
36481-512: Was well received. Ahmed wrote, "Throughout the game the plot becomes more and more scattered and lackluster," not focusing long enough on one element to execute it meaningfully. Although Liu agreed that despite the game's ambitious scope and themes it failed to advance the series' core plot beyond the Sega Genesis Sonic games, Edge appreciated the story's presentation from both perspectives: hero and villain. Despite high review scores for
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