Sonic Rush trilogy and the ...other Sonic DS games (AntDude)

[HustleBun]

I recently revisited the Sonic Rush trilogy on Nintendo DS after a thread here was saying "every Dimps Sonic game is bad". I found myself defending Sonic Rush but immediately wondered if it was just nostalgia talking.

As it turns out, part of it was indeed nostalgia.

AntDude just put out a video covering Sonic's DS outings, mostly focusing on the three Rush-style games and his findings were quite similar to my own:


Takeaways:

• Sonic Rush feels great to play
• Sonic Rush 1's sound mixing ruins the awesome soundtrack
• Sonic Rush's later levels are horribly designed, plagued with endless pits
• Sonic Rush's penultimate boss is awful
• Sonic Rush Adventure has better designed levels
• Sonic Rush Adventure is ruined by needless grinding for ship minigames
• Blaze the Cat is underused
• Sonic Colors DS is underrated

I really appreciate what the Sonic Rush games did, how different they are and how fun they are to play- but those level designs in Sonic Rush 1 get so crappy. I had nostalgia glasses on but replaying it made me remember just frequently I used to experience cheap deaths. Seeing Ant echo the same thing was pretty vindicating.

Also- has at Bioware ever shed let on how Dark Brotherhood turned out so terribly? Or at least how the soundtrack is so hilariously bad?

My guess was Sega forced them to crunch and meet an unreasonable deadline despite being told that the game was unfinished. The exact same thing happened with Heroes, '06 and Sonic Boom so I wouldn't be shocked if it happened with this game as well.

 

[Deleted member 864]

I actually played that Sonic RPG and I remember it taking me a while to learn that BioWare made it.

It was an...interesting experience to say the least.

 

[Deleted member 10737]

liked rush and rush adventure a lot but never got around to colors.

 

[modoversus]

I loved Rush, but for some reason I could not get into Adventure or Colors. Should try again with those.

 

[Dest]

has anyone ever commented on how that Bioware-made Sonic RPG turned out so terribly? Or at least how the soundtrack is so hilariously bad?

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Yeah, so if I recall correctly, basically they wanted to reuse/redo music from some of the older Sonic games, but SEGA, for whatever reason, doesn't actually own the rights to those soundtracks. So they decided to use even more music that SEGA didn't actually own the rights to. Before release, they got in trouble for it, and so in a mad dash to get tracks out the door with the game, they just brought over MIDIs from Sonic/SEGA games they did have the rights to, but fucked up midi fonts and timing.

I THINK. Battle themes were original though and done by the dude who did the music for Sonic R!

Sonic Rush has a fantastic soundtrack btw

 

[Nocturnowl]

I will never get used to how bad the sound and music are for Chronicles, and I played through the whole thing!

To talk about better games, I never actually owned Rush and Rush Adventure directly, but I played the local multiplayer race mode a lot with a friend who had both and that kinda gets me the core experience without any of the vehicle faffing or tedious bosses so that was a good result.
Definitely felt Rush Adventure's stages were better than Rush.

 

[Leo]

As someone who isn't a Sonic fan, Rush 1 is probably the Sonic game I've enjoyed the most. It's legitimately great. Great soundtrack too.

Rush Adventure I got bored because it made me replay the same levels again and again so I never finished it.

 

[sir_crocodile]

Never played Sonic Color DS, but I hated the Rush games, especially the first. Some of the dirt worst level design.

 

[Unknownlight]

I THINK. Battle themes were original though and done by the dude who did the music for Sonic R!

Click to shrink...

The problem is that even the good music is compressed to the point of absurdity. This sounds it's being played out of one of those toy action figures with an embedded speaker.

 

[mandiller]

This is very neat. I quite enjoyed Rush (didn't know there was another one) and never played Colors of the Bioware RPG. I did play some Sonic fighting game (Sonic Battle?), which was weird but entertaining.

Is there a similar video or takeaway for the Sonic Advance games? I had a lot of fun with 1 and 2.

 

[HustleBun]

As someone who isn't a Sonic fan, Rush 1 is probably the Sonic game I've enjoyed the most. It's legitimately great. Great soundtrack too.

Rush Adventure I got bored because it made me replay the same levels again and again so I never finished it.

Click to shrink...

I genuinely think the forced grinding in Adventure ruined what would have been a top-tier Sonic game. The level design is soooo much better than the cheap-death fests in Rush 1 (and I mostly like Rush).

It's just really lazy padding to artificially extend playtime.

This is very neat. I quite enjoyed Rush (didn't know there was another one) and never played Colors of the Bioware RPG. I did play some Sonic fighting game (Sonic Battle?), which was weird but entertaining.

Is there a similar video or takeaway for the Sonic Advance games? I had a lot of fun with 1 and 2.

Click to shrink...

Yeah Antdue is a good content creator.

I don't think he did an Advance video but SomeCallMeJohnny did and Ant shows up in it:


Ant also did a great video recently covering Sonic fan games:

 

[Regiruler]

Rush is perfectly fine, just play it last.

 

[Lant_War]

Rush is the perfect example of how a good presentation goes a long way when it comes to games. Gameplay and design-wise it's probably not that far off from Sonic 4 Ep. 2, maybe even worse, but Naganuma's music and the flashy visuals make it much more fun to play still.

 

[super moustique]

I thought I was crazy reading the title but nope, there's no Sonic Rush 3! :P

I guess Colors DS is considered the 3rd one here because it's the same dev?

 

[Davey Cakes]

Loved Rush, liked (but can barely remember) Adventure. Didn't bother with colors.

But yes, Adventure seemed a bit bloated at the time. Rush was perfect.

 

[MisterGrey3000]

Never played Sonic Color DS, but I hated the Rush games, especially the first. Some of the dirt worst level design.

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Yeah...I mean, I have my fun with the Rush series, but the gameplay is mindless as fuck; I mean, yeah honestly, I'd say it's flat out bad next to the classics games, Advance 1, and even Advance 2 (which is basically the proto-Sonic Rush).
They feel like the inevitable result of devs pandering to people who don't like Genesis-era Sonic, you know the kind of folks who say "Sonic is about going fast, right? Why am I constantly being stopped!"

 

[Cantaim]

All I remember about the Bioware Sonic DS game is that it was the event that lead to Ken Penders getting the rights to all his oc's from the sonic comic.

 

[Birdie]

God I remember the hype for the Sonic RPG and I bought into it and purchased the game Day 1.

Jesus Christ what a slog.

Surprisingly I never played any of the DS Sonic other than that and Rush.

 

[Davey Cakes]

Yeah...I mean, I have my fun with the Rush series, but the gameplay is mindless as fuck; I mean, yeah honestly, I'd say it's flat out bad next to the classics games, Advance 1, and even Advance 2 (which is basically the proto-Sonic Rush).
They feel like the inevitable result of devs pandering to people who don't like Genesis-era Sonic, you know the kind of folks who say "Sonic is about going fast, right? Why am I constantly being stopped!"

Click to shrink...

That's the thing about Rush. As much as I enjoyed the Sonic Advance games (particularly 2 and 3), they were filled with bullshit pitfalls while pushing you to go as fast as possible. With Rush's boost mechanic, you were less likely to be stopped in your tracks. At a point it's a bit mindless, but at least it embraces the "speed > momentum" philosophy.

All that said, Sonic Mania revealed why the best formula is the original Genesis one. Its design was neither mindless nor paradoxical.

 

[SpecDot]

That's the thing about Rush. As much as I enjoyed the Sonic Advance games (particularly 2 and 3), they were filled with bullshit pitfalls while pushing you to go as fast as possible. With Rush's boost mechanic, you were less likely to be stopped in your tracks. At a point it's a bit mindless, but at least it embraces the "speed > momentum" philosophy.

All that said, Sonic Mania revealed why the best formula is the original Genesis one. Its design was neither mindless nor paradoxical.

Click to shrink...

Sonic Mania is something of an anomaly. It is a fantastic game that the OG Sonic team is not capable of recreating in my opinion.

 

[Stopdoor]

I thought I was crazy reading the title but nope, there's no Sonic Rush 3! :P

I guess Colors DS is considered the 3rd one here because it's the same dev?

Click to shrink...

If you haven't played it, the gameplay engine is the same, which is why people group it with the Rush games. It plays the same, with some tweaks for the worse imo, but close enough.

 

[Ultratech]

I played through Colors years ago and it was a pretty great game.

Granted, there are one or two levels that do have some cheap insta-death crap if you don't react fast enough.

Other than that, I had a lot of fun with it.

Never played the other Rush games, though I've heard they're...not the best.

 

[9-Volt]

I actually loved the sea runner levels in Rush Adventure. Even more than the main game. They're pretty fun and got really challenging towards the end.

Also, appreciated the shout out to All Stars Racing DS. It really is the one of super rare 60fps 3D games on DS and played spectacularly.

 

[super moustique]

If you haven't played it, the gameplay engine is the same, which is why people group it with the Rush games. It plays the same, with some tweaks for the worse imo, but close enough.

Click to shrink...

It's on my small DS wishlist so I'll see how good it is soon enough!

 

[Giga Man]

I just want Blaze the Cat to have the spotlight again, and to not be dragged down with Silver who she should have no prior connection to. She really is the best modern character Sonic games have introduced.

 

[AStrangerIsHere]

I'm glad to see that I wasn't the only person who didn't like the (false, apparently) last boss of Rush. In fact, it even made me drop the game.

 

[Buff Beefbroth]

Only played Rush, and thought the levels were extremely bland, which he covers in this video. I can't really name anything about them that makes them unique other than their color palettes. For most classic Sonic games, I can imagine multiple routes through them, and how the pacing slows to allow for platforming and other deliberate movements before opening back up to speed again, and what the different obstacles and enemies and platforms and background vistas all look like. Sonic Rush is like... a series of literal rails, interrupted occasionally by a single loop, suspended in empty air over bottomless pits forever. There's like zero instances where you can come to a stop and spy other routes or secret areas from where you're standing. It's all just noise and movement with no context and I hate it.