Why Sonic Changed Dynamic Storytelling

Let's go back a bit here. It's the mid-90s, the console wars between Nintendo and SEGA are raging. Soon, SEGA would try hard as hell to take out Nintendo for good with its Saturn system, and was actually outright winning the fight with the Super Nintendo, even by a paltry close margin. This leads to Sonic vs. Mario and numerous battles detailed a thousand times, so we'll simply note the basics.

Sonic The Hedgehog's release in 1991 was finally something that kickstarted a real console war between the two companies, and all on a dynamic that took a lot from 1985's Super Mario Brothers. You jump through levels, fight creatures that can only be killed with a little bashing on their heads, and fight an insular boss that still somehow manages to be intact after every fight en route to ultimate victory. I suppose the only difference is that Mario wanted to get laid (and save the kingdom) and Sonic wanted to save the kingdom (and I don't know what else). Still, there are obvious similarities to the point that SEGA's own attempt to make a Mario clone in 1992, Kid Chameleon, was readily ignored because it wasn't even as good and casual as Sonic, much less Mario.

This dynamic was added on to with 1992's Sonic The Hedgehog 2, introducing Tails as the Luigi of the team, even though he was made to look radically different than the top hero in Sonic and has the all-important power of flight (and being able to fly airplanes). Still, the plot is made the same. The player is to take out the evil Dr. Robotnik and go through various wacky levels yet again. The final boss is more audacious, of course, which naturally means the team paid attention to the “bigger and better” mantra of Hollywood sequels. The game was a better playing game as far as pacing goes, but the plot never changed, which seems silly for platformers to do, but might be why I felt it should be my favorite of the series. But I really never bought what I thought. I wondered what in all was missing. After all, Sonic 2 was the embodiment of my childhood and a game that I legitimately love to this day. Even the multiplayer modes (well, two-player modes) are extremely competitive and fun a good two decades after its release.

Sonic The Hedgehog 3 and Sonic and Knuckles also trouble me, but in differing ways. They are truly groundbreaking endeavors in one respect alone, the art of video games and platform storytelling. One new character is introduced in the two games, the red echidna Knuckles. Unlike Tails, Knuckles is the villain to Sonic. Or at least he comes off like the villain. Instead of sole enemies, Sonic 3 and S&K end up finding a way to twist the story. Knuckles is a bad guy who turns good (a heel face turn), Dr. Robotnik may or may not be a deceived pawn of Dr. Eggman. The time continuum of both Sonic and Knuckles' quest are supposedly different (well, if we're explaining the plot via the Japanese manual). And, oh yeah, no one speaks. No characters talk at all during the entire game.

All of these things are fascinating to me because they appear in a non-RPG atmosphere. They appear in the atmosphere of (for its time) the most mainstream game that there is. This is not a Kid Chameleon situation where the game is trying so hard to be something that it throws everything against the wall and ultimately it is played by a mere few. No, this is the most popular game not named Mario on the other side of one of the most famous gaming conflicts in history. More importantly, this is a situation where it doesn't affect how casual audiences view the series.

The preoccupative reason Sonic became less and less of a mainstream icon as the years went by is squarely based in storytelling (although, the logistics of losing a war to Sony and Nintendo are not exactly helpful). The series began abandoning the idea of “keep it simple, stupid.” Chaos along with more and more silly characters destroyed the purpose. While yes, Mario did the same thing, Mario still kept the focus on Mario whereas games like Sonic Heroes almost completely ignore Sonic as a sole character. (We could also go into the mediocrity of any Sonic spinoff projects, but that's beating up on one icon too much.)

Nonetheless, in every field, there is the real pioneering point and then the mainstream establishment of a storytelling arc. Gone With The Wind is not a pioneer in the form of the epic, Pet Sounds wasn't the first album to have an amazing album feel, and The Honeymooners certainly wasn't the first sitcom. However, they all are mainstream touchstones. That is why we have to note when mainstream products go through a dynamic story that changes the arc. Now, don't make anything out of the comparisons above, the story of Sonic is nothing compared to the following works. But on its own, it created entertainment in the same fashion while adopting a change that eased gamers into the Mass Effects and Heavy Rains of the world, film-like endeavors that play out like movies and are actually outright beloved and embraced by the mainstream. And maybe, in its own way, Sonic The Hedgehog led to this.