Quote of the Month

"To Davy Jones with 'ya!"
--Captain Whisker, Sonic Rush Adventure

Sonic: What to watch on Halloween

Night of the Werehog

This short was made along side Sonic Unleashed. Featuring a haunted house, ghosts, and Sonic the Werehog. And Chip.
>Two of these ghosts were actually side-missions in the game.

Sonic Scream Test (Sonic X)

Featuring ghosts originally seen in Sonic Adventure 2, this episode has a spooky plot. While filming a movie, Chris' mom and others start to disappear...
>Seen it before? How about the Japanese version?
>2nd choice--Trick Sand. Mostly known as for Shadow's reappearance, it also has a creepy mansion, but not all is as it seems.

Ghost Busted (Sonic the Hedgehog--SATAM)

Ghost stories start to get the best of Sonic, Tails and Antoine. The headless gopher...
>This episode is actually the second half, as for once, SATAM had two shorter episodes rather than one longer one.

A Hedgehog's Home is Her Castle (Sonic Underground)

The gang heads to a castle they supposedly inherited. Which is freakier, the caretaker and his all-eyes owl, or the place itself?
>Of course, being Sonic Underground, there's a song in it. This time it's "Lets Do It To It" which actually matches the tone of the episode fairly nice.

Being more comedy-based, AoStH and SB don't really have a "Halloween" episode (though, actually, Mamma Robotnik's appearance might count). Meanwhile the games have their fair share of pumpkins and ghosts, from Haunted Ship to Hang Castle, so there's plenty to find there. These shorts are fun to watch, but for a real scare, just look up "Fun is Infinite." 

Sonic's Halloween Playlist

Sonic seems to really enjoy Halloween. I've been meaning to post about music in the games, and this seems like a good starting point: here are some of the creepiest and haunted tracks the Sonic franchise has to offer...

UPDATE: Here's an updated Halloween Playlist (100 tracks!)

Cryptic Castle

To match the level design, it has a spooky ring to it.

A Ghost's Pumpkin Soup...For Pumpkin Hill

This Jack-O-Lantern filled level is Knuckles, so don't be surprised at the style.

Metallic Madness Bad Future--JPN

The fast/panic sounding tone is interrupted by laughing, cruel voices. YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING SO DON'T EVEN TRY.

Hang Castle (normal, up-side-down/inverted)

Explore ghostly fears with the mysterious and funky Hang Castle.
Note: there are two versions, as it changes when the player hits a switch and is taken to the roof/floor. 

Haunted Ship (Act 1, Act 2)

The ghost/robots/pirates were enough to scare Marine!
Note: Act 2 is a slightly more fast-paced version of Act 1.

Red Hot Skull...for Red Mountain

A level with skeletons and lava? Have to add in sound effects of someone yelling...

Sonic CD Boss--USA (normal, Final Fever/Boss)

You remember our dear friend FUN IS INFINITE, right? Careful, though. What sounds like creepy laughing to one person sounds like Santa to another.
Note: The "final" version is pretty much the same as the normal version.

Almost Dead

Shadow's Dark theme is here because, well, it's dark (for a Sonic game/spin-off). And this playlist needed something with lyrics...

Mystic Mansion

Some fine haunted house music. Keep an eye out for Jack-O-Lantern ghosts! They are merciless!

Mephiles (normal, Phase One, Phase Two) 

It's only natural that one of the creepiest and most ruthless Sonic-villains has an equally chilling theme. TAKE THIS UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!!!!!!!!
Note: There are two fights, so there's Phase one and Phase two. His normal theme, known as "Mephiles' Whisper," is played during the cutscenes.


Although not all were intended for Halloween, these really add to the holiday spirit, huh? Keep it coming, Sega. 

Quote of the Month

"You're all worthless now that I've copied all your data!"
--Metal Sonic, Sonic Heroes

Sonic 06: Who has Best Gameplay?

With 9 playable characters (13 counting transformations and Sonic carrying Elise), who stands out? Who makes the levels worth playing? 

Super Shadow

Chaos Spears are fast to charge and use. And cool. 

Shadow
Shadow could be a little faster but he's still a bit above the average pace. All the moves are great (chaos spear is especially) except the homing attack (which does not work properly with Chaos Blast). Vehicles are a little annoying--like them best when they aren't required. Although the instructions/descriptions of his moves are rather misleading, they are very useful when used correctly. Shadow's ability to easily tear through his enemies and still keep up with Sonic's speed sets him high on this list.    

Blaze
Blaze is awesome. Cool (or should I say hot) moves and a fast pace. 3D Sonic Rush! The only reason she's not above Shadow is--because of the game's volatile nature--sometimes she doesn't do her moves right. Still, I prefer glitching past Silver in Crisis City and finishing the level with her; she's much faster.

Super Sonic

A ball of power, Sonic inflicts the most damage on Solaris. He just takes along time to do so. 

Sonic

Sonic is the most basic character. The homing attack is quick, and so are his feet, but it seems like he easily runs into the line of fire. I wish the "mach speed" levels were separate so that it would not ruin the player's potential score. They can be fun, but irritating, too. It also bugs me that the gems (level-ups) aren't unlockable until the last level. They are interesting and spice up the game: the only reason Sonic is not lower on the list.   

Super Silver

His attack is similar to in his normal form, but more powerful I guess? Not quite as cool as his co-stars, but worth playing. 

Rouge 

Gliding makes Rouge a fast character, though she kind of was already. The bomb-attack defeated enemies fairly quick, but the "first-person aim" was super annoying. I try not to use it. Only other complaint is that sometimes she sticks to the walls (won't jump off) but usually moving farther along the wall solves this. She can glitch into Shadow's sections on multiple levels, but she can't get very far (she can't climb walls outside of her section/can't use vehicles).

Sonic w/Elise
Basic moves and pretty fast. Bonus shield-that's-not-a-shield thing. The levels are nice and short, too. 

Silver 

The exciting, new character is...slow. Although using techniques such as Teleport Dash and cutting past parts of the zone can speed him up, he's still not so fast. His attacks, though interesting, can leave him vulnerable. His levels can take along time, especially for newcomers. Like the concepts, and had they spent more time on the game, maybe he'd be higher.  

Knuckles

He's not playable very much, but he's a real knock-out. He seems a bit sluggish speed-wise, but all fired-up, Knux really packs a punch. Ugh, gotta' stop the puns. STONE FISTS. 

Omega

He's slow, and his weapons seem to short-out after a while. But he can dash forever (as long as the player continues to hit "X"), giving Wave Ocean and Dusty Desert much-needed short-cuts. This may not have been intentional, but it's the REASON to play as Omega.  

Amy

I like playing as Amy, but I'm not sure why. Maybe it's her speed. But her attacks and jump suck. I like the double jump idea but it tricks the player into thinking she'll go farther when she really only goes higher. The hammer? It's fine but easy to get hit when attacking. To avoid this, pressing "square" is supposed to turn invisible, but this is time consuming (and makes little sense). I'd like to place her higher on this list, but if I'm going to be honest, I really can't. 

Tails
Sonic's best bud isn't at his best: he's incredibly slow in this game. Attacks aren't that great (similar to rouge but slower), and flying ain't nothing special. My least favorite "amigo mission" (Blaze, Rouge, and Tails each had a solo mission--his takes twice as long and HE WAS IN WAVE OCEAN BEFORE SO WHY BRING HIM BACK?!). Not impressed. 

Sonic Adventure: Who has Best Gameplay?

With 6 unique characters and styles (and one Super form), which adventure-seeker is keeps players coming back (or staying away).  

Super Sonic
With incredible speed and lightning fast attacks, Sonic's transformation owns the top spot of this list.

Sonic
Sonic easily picks up speed. His light dash move is a bit more time consuming then later games, but overall the spin/homing attacks were easy to control and any problems were with the level design rather than the character himself.

Amy
Amy's gameplay is cute and I love how high she can jump with her hammer. Her increase in pace and hammer attacks are great. The horrible add-on: Zero, a robot who chases her 24/7. Still, I think she's really fun to play as.

Gamma
Gamma's was unique and interesting. I like the idea of a time limit instead of the time counter, and his aim seemed okay. A little slow, though, and he sucks around water. Don't take him to the Mystic Ruins Chao Garden!

Tails
Tails races Sonic for most levels, and all are pretty easy. Not a fan of the plane sub-level (same for Sonic)--mostly because of it's length. Tails was pretty fast and his flight was cool, but he was fairly basic overall.

Knuckles
Finding the shards was interesting, but kind of boring compared to others. In some cases, the levels can seem too long, and I thought fighting bosses with Knux was a little challenging (with gliding). Not bad, though.

Big
Sega, if I wanted to play Sega Bass Fishing, I'd play that. Big can be very frustrating--it's a unique concept, but I usually don't have the patience for it. It would better if fishing was an optional sub-level or something, but instead that's the whole level. Add in the fact that Big is slow (in more ways than one), and he is easily the worst character to play as in perhaps the entire series. He's better in heroes, though. HOOHEE. 

Quote of the Month

"Bring hope to humanity"
--Maria Robotnik, Sonic Battle