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Sonic Spinball vs. Knuckles' Chaotix vs. Sonic 3D Blast vs. Sonic R
- Thread starter Phediuk
- Start date
Sonic R controls poorly, but it is the best game. Sonic Spinball isn't a game, it's an exercise in tedium.
Knuckles Chaotix is probably the best game of the bunch, but R has the most staying power because it's the biggest 3d Sonic game of that console generation.
Controls terribly, is unbalanced as all hell, and can be completed in about an hour... but that soundtrack.
Controls terribly, is unbalanced as all hell, and can be completed in about an hour... but that soundtrack.
I played all of these to death as a kid.
For playtime alone (back then), it would go:
Sonic R > Knuckles Chaotix > Sonic Spinball > Sonic 3D (Saturn version, I didn't have the 16-bit one)
As an adult revisiting these games though..
Knuckles Chaotix > Sonic R > Sonic Spinball maybe just barely above Sonic 3D
Chaotix was more interesting just to explore and see all the stuff you normally miss since the level design is just so weird. It has the best art and music of the four, imo.
Sonic R was magical at the time, but these days the controls are just awkward.
Sonic Spinball has badass music but awful controls.
...I never really liked Sonic 3D. The Saturn soundtrack was kinda ok. The special stages were neat.
For playtime alone (back then), it would go:
Sonic R > Knuckles Chaotix > Sonic Spinball > Sonic 3D (Saturn version, I didn't have the 16-bit one)
As an adult revisiting these games though..
Knuckles Chaotix > Sonic R > Sonic Spinball maybe just barely above Sonic 3D
Chaotix was more interesting just to explore and see all the stuff you normally miss since the level design is just so weird. It has the best art and music of the four, imo.
Sonic R was magical at the time, but these days the controls are just awkward.
Sonic Spinball has badass music but awful controls.
...I never really liked Sonic 3D. The Saturn soundtrack was kinda ok. The special stages were neat.
I'm still waiting for the Sonic-obsessive fan-game maker who takes Sonic R and turns it into a platformer.
I haven't played Chaotix but I assume it's the best of the games mentioned here. I played Sonic Spinball a lot, probably more than was healthy. It's a pretty flawed game and difficult for a Sonic game, in a bad way mostly. But still, I kind of liked it. I never enjoyed Sonic 3D Blast but Sonic R was pretty cool.
Sonic Spinball was engaging when I was a kid, I loved Pinball in general and Sonic was there and there was emeralds to collect. I didn't notice the low framerate at the time. The high difficulty was great because it felt like there was so much more game to get to and I had to work for it. It was a good weekend rental for me.
I didn't enjoy any of these other games on any level though.
I didn't enjoy any of these other games on any level though.
It pretty much shifted the Sonic music playbook from "hyperactive funk" to "unironic exercise in a genre which peaked in relevancy a decade earlier".
Super Sonic Racing is so unapologetic it's astonishing.
Sonic Adventure soundtracks only continued this tradition, which largely continues to today.
On topic: I will admit 3D Blast holds a special place in my heart. I swear the game is actually enjoyable if you take a breath and try to get on its level as an exploration/speed run type title.
Sonic R is amazing, it just sucks you can 100% it in under 30 minutes, but boy is that time fun.
3D Blast Genesis is bad, Saturn/PC is decent and has some really good tracks.
Spinball is kinda fun but not great, I like revisiting it every so often.
Chaotix Is trash.
3D Blast Genesis is bad, Saturn/PC is decent and has some really good tracks.
Spinball is kinda fun but not great, I like revisiting it every so often.
Chaotix Is trash.
All bad for me but it's between Sonic R and Chaotix, they both have something great I still associate with Sonic in music and art.
Chaotix has, I think, the last time we see the art of Takumi Miyaki, the creator of Espio.
Maybe it goes too far for some but I really love the hyper color contrast/abundance of geometric shapes. It's like Sonic CD on... on something. I dunno what but I like it.
Chaotix has, I think, the last time we see the art of Takumi Miyaki, the creator of Espio.
Maybe it goes too far for some but I really love the hyper color contrast/abundance of geometric shapes. It's like Sonic CD on... on something. I dunno what but I like it.
If you want to vote a game for the music then you gotta vota Chaotix, it still has one of the best music in the series.
Unfortunatelly the level design is a giant mess, so I still voted R.
Spinball is not even a Sonic game, that shit looks (and plays) too weird.
Unfortunatelly the level design is a giant mess, so I still voted R.
Spinball is not even a Sonic game, that shit looks (and plays) too weird.
I never played Sonic R, so I did not consider it.
Chaotix is not really fun to play, not even in couch-co-op. Sonic 3D Blast has horrible controls that just don't work for me with the speed in an isometric view.
Sonic Spinball may be a bit clunky, but it's the most fun I've had with these 3 games. A game I would actually start up again to play, which I would not consider for the other 2 (maybe Chaotix, just to show someone how bad it actually is).
Chaotix is not really fun to play, not even in couch-co-op. Sonic 3D Blast has horrible controls that just don't work for me with the speed in an isometric view.
Sonic Spinball may be a bit clunky, but it's the most fun I've had with these 3 games. A game I would actually start up again to play, which I would not consider for the other 2 (maybe Chaotix, just to show someone how bad it actually is).
Sonic R obviously lol.
Sonic 3D is boring, and this is coming from someone who loves Eurojank 'collect x amount of things to open the exit' platformers, Spinball is alright I guess as long as you like pinball things, and Knuckles Chaotix is absolute garbage that is only looked upon fondly by people who never played it.
Sonic 3D is boring, and this is coming from someone who loves Eurojank 'collect x amount of things to open the exit' platformers, Spinball is alright I guess as long as you like pinball things, and Knuckles Chaotix is absolute garbage that is only looked upon fondly by people who never played it.
All bad for me but it's between Sonic R and Chaotix, they both have something great I still associate with Sonic in music and art.
Chaotix has, I think, the last time we see the art of Takumi Miyaki, the creator of Espio.
Maybe it goes too far for some but I really love the hyper color contrast/abundance of geometric shapes. It's like Sonic CD on... on something. I dunno what but I like it.
Seeing this collage of screenshots just cements for me what a fucking mess this game is to look at. Super noisy without much distinction between foreground and background. Most of the background art looks extremely phoned in too and I especially dislike the blurred look some of them have with color banding galore. Just makes it look like a quick photoshop job and then run through color reduction. Ristar has a similar type of aesthetic but manages to look a whole lot better, and they even did it without the color boost the 32X offers.
Sonic R looked fun, which already makes it better than Chaotix or Spinball. 3D blast was kinda meh.
It's close between Spinball and Sonic R. I ultimately went with R because I still listen to that soundtrack once or twice a month.
Can't believe all the hate on Chaotix when it has one of the best soundtrack from the Sonic 16-bit era =(
The soundtrack is indeed amazing. Way better than R
but that level design is just too bad. It really feels unfinished.
The soundtrack is indeed amazing. Way better than R
but that level design is just too bad. It really feels unfinished.
Yeah I agree tho that the level design really ruins the game. I never enjoyed playing it tbh, but I listen to the OST all the time ^^
Knuckles Chaotix: Door into Summer ACTUAL HARDWARE (audio)
Knuckles' Chaotix Door into Summer / Isolated Island with secret Amy Rose in sound test. Recorded off of a Model 1 Sega Genesis (superior sound processor) & ...
youtu.be
It's probably last in the poll because it's the most obscure and least played.
Spinball is great and when you learn it it's pretty satisfying to finish it in an hour or so when you are in the mood. Final bossfight is so intense.
Edit:
Sonic 2 can be completed 100% in around an hour with all emeralds collected in the first two acts. That's without the more benevolent requirements they put in later, starting with the Knuckles plug-in patch. Never heard anyone complain about it being too short. Why would it be the case for another Sonic game? (Disclaimer: never played more than a few minutes of Chaotix, so maybe I'm just missing something)
Edit:
Sonic 2 can be completed 100% in around an hour with all emeralds collected in the first two acts. That's without the more benevolent requirements they put in later, starting with the Knuckles plug-in patch. Never heard anyone complain about it being too short. Why would it be the case for another Sonic game? (Disclaimer: never played more than a few minutes of Chaotix, so maybe I'm just missing something)
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It's this.
There's no more sega blue skies feel than booting up Sonic R and getting hit with
That era of the company's games would not be the same without Richard Jacques, man.
You know its bad when someone can go "It plays bad but it's still the best" and "it has awful level design but it's still the best" and no one would know which one you're talking about without clarification.
Having never played Chaotix, I'm very tempted to pick that as the answer, but the other posts in here have dissuaded me from that.
Sonic R is fun for exactly 20 minutes, so I'm going with that, as that's more fun than the others.
Sonic 3D Blast is still to this day the only video game that ever gives me a headache. I can't play it for more than a few minutes.
Sonic R is fun for exactly 20 minutes, so I'm going with that, as that's more fun than the others.
Sonic 3D Blast is still to this day the only video game that ever gives me a headache. I can't play it for more than a few minutes.
Frankly I always felt this helped its reputation moreso than if it were made widely available.
Outside of emulation (it was very briefly available legally on GameTap back when that was a thing), there's no way to play Chaotix outside of straight-up owning a 32x and the original game. I feel like because of this it's always had a certain mystique among the Sonic fan base, like it's this lost gem of the franchise, especially since on paper it has a lot in common with the original games.
Sonic CD went through a similar thing where it had this reputation as the best Sonic game you never played, and the few who did play it would hype it up as the series' best, but when it was re-released in 2011 (and to a lesser extent, included in Sonic Gems Collection in 2005) opinions cooled on it significantly. And Sonic CD is still generally agreed upon to be a good game, whereas IMO people are going to sour heavily on Chaotix if it ever sees the light of day again.
If I had to rank the games given here I'd go 3D Blast > R > Chaotix > Spinball. Spinball is dead last for controlling like complete ass, whereas at least Chaotix feels like a Sonic game even if the level design is significantly worse.
I'm gonna say Spinball > 3D Blast > R > Chaotix.
Spinball was kind of weird in how they basically already had pinball physics figured out with the original 2D games and opted to just make a unique engine from scratch that isn't nearly as satisfying, but it's still damn fun to play thanks to its inventive level design. I've sunk in a whole bunch of time into it, find it really replayable, and I kinda like its Nine Inch Nails-esque synth-pop/industrial rock soundtrack. It was a bit of a gateway into harder genres of music for me.
3D Blast doesn't really feel like a Sonic game but it's still a pretty fun game that I enjoyed well enough for its time and novelty, the Saturn/PC version is a total vibe. R could have been higher, I like its environmental settings and its soundtrack, but a pitiful number of levels and terrible character balancing mostly make it a curio. You've seen it all after 20 minutes. Chaotix is meh.
Spinball was kind of weird in how they basically already had pinball physics figured out with the original 2D games and opted to just make a unique engine from scratch that isn't nearly as satisfying, but it's still damn fun to play thanks to its inventive level design. I've sunk in a whole bunch of time into it, find it really replayable, and I kinda like its Nine Inch Nails-esque synth-pop/industrial rock soundtrack. It was a bit of a gateway into harder genres of music for me.
3D Blast doesn't really feel like a Sonic game but it's still a pretty fun game that I enjoyed well enough for its time and novelty, the Saturn/PC version is a total vibe. R could have been higher, I like its environmental settings and its soundtrack, but a pitiful number of levels and terrible character balancing mostly make it a curio. You've seen it all after 20 minutes. Chaotix is meh.