Summary
Sonic the Hedgehogis a franchise loved by both children and adults. The Blue Blur is widely known for his cool attitude and sense of humor, which create much appeal among fans and serve to offer a mostly lighthearted gameplay experience. However, many of the games are more tailored to, or able to be most appreciated by, older players. Notably, Sega first designedSonicwith this in mind and wanted him to be marketed towards teenagers and adults.
Therefore, manySonicgames contain deeper underlying themes and meanings. Sonic went through a so-called “Dark Age,” wherein the games had richer, more complex tones than those that preceded them. Though fans disagree over when this began and ended, many titles sport highly serious plots,aggressive soundtracks, and tragic characters, making themdarker Sonic gamesthan others in the series.
Sonic Unleashed’s plot is not as dark as many other titles, but it features a rich storyline and sees Sonic develop an alter ego. In the intense opening cutscene, Eggman manages to deceive Super Sonic, capturing him and draining the power from him. With Sonic in extreme pain, Eggman uses this power to split the planet. The monstrous Dark Gaia emerges, whose evil influence corrupts Sonic, changing him into a darker version of himself, the Werehog.
With a vivid plot and amazing graphics, Sonic navigates the globe to restore the Chaos Emeralds and the world. Turning into the Werehog every night, his levels are more hack and slash, requiring heavy brawling against Dark Gaia’s minions. The story culminates in a thrilling final boss fight. There are also some emotional and powerful moments in the game, including the heartfelt ending theme, making this a complex and intense Sonic outing.
Though not as grim as other games' lore,Sonic Adventurecontains themes of tragedy and manipulation. Dr. Eggman takes advantage of Chaos, once a peaceful guardian who saw the gentle and innocent Chao slaughtered in the ancient past. Enraged, Chaos obliterated the entire clan who murdered them. When Eggman’s plan fails, the doctor decides to blow up Station Square anyway, even if he’s caught in the blast. As Tails races to stop him, Amy desperately evades capture by Zero, and Gamma “frees” his fellow robots from their evil programming.
The game features six different playstyles. Amy’s levels are quite tense as she must attempt to get to safety with the robot constantly ambushing her. Gamma’s story offers more emotion, with his eventual sacrifice reuniting a baby bird with its family. Once Chaos absorbs all the Chaos Emeralds, he drowns the entire city in his rage. Sonic must quell his intense anger by defeating him. Throughout the story, the characters learn of Chaos' tragedy and the young echidna, Tikal, who gave her life to stop him from decimating the world years ago.
Like many otherdarker Sonic titles, this game relies on themes of deception and manipulation. The evil genie, Erazor Djinn, tricks Sonic into getting struck by an arrow, so he’ll collect all seven World Rings to heal himself. However, Erazor needs the rings to fulfill his malicious plans. The flame slowly burns away Sonic’s life throughout the game, forcing him into a race against time. He is aided by the Genie of the Ring, Shahra, who embodies themes of inner turmoil and divided loyalties. She’s secretly in league with Erazor, pretending to help Sonic cure himself, but she becomes troubled by this notion.
Sonic even turns intothe mysterious Darkspine Sonic, infused with the negative emotions of the World Rings. Upon Erazor’s defeat, Shahra is grief-stricken and overcome by guilt. Many fans consider Sonic’s “Dark Age” lasted from 2005’sShadow the Hedgehogto 2009. Fans are divided over its exact duration, given the nature of theSonic Adventuregames. However, either way,Secret Ringsbelongs firmly in this era.
To many,Sonic Lost Worldmay look the furthest thing from a game with darker elements. The color palette is cheerful and vivid, and the plot seems straightforward enough. When the six deadly Zeti revolt against Eggman and threaten to destroy the world, Sonic must team up with his nemesis to stop them.
However, underneath all that is a lot of aggressive dialogue. The Deadly Six and Eggman often refer blatantly to themes of genocide and violence. Eggman repeatedly threatens them, and even contemplates “strangling a Zeti.” Due to Sonic’s recklessness, he nearly loses his friends for good: Tails is kidnapped and almost becomes a cyborg, and Amy and Knuckles fall victim to Eggman’s mech, which sucks the life from the world. There are definitely some deeper themes beneath the colorful exterior at play here.
Due to technical limitations, this game isn’t comparable to the deeper storylines of the 3D games, butSonic CDis the darkest of the classic games.Sonic CDdeals with time travel, and players can end up in a “Bad Future” if they fail to save the past. This is a dystopian version of each zone, a robotic wasteland that Eggman conquered. The zones have a psychedelic color palette, with very bold color contrast.
As well as some weird hidden easter eggs, the first CD-ROMSonicgame gave playerstwo complex soundtracks, which at times can feel very uncanny. Both the original Japanese and North American OST have an emphasis on distorted vocals. From the Boss music to Game Over jingles, there are some quite unnerving sound effects and vocals used many times in this title.
Sonic’s recent outing marks a return to a more grim storyline, like those of early 3D titles. The setting, on the Starfall Islands, is extremely bleak and desolate, a remnant of the tragedy that befell the Ancients. Countless Cyber enemies inhabit them, and the melancholic music adds even more to the eeriness. Sonic’s journey is very lonely, with his friends existing as holographic figures trapped in Cyberspace. All Sonic has to guide him is the “spooky sky voice,” which leads him in and out of Cyberspace and into intense battles against the Titans. However, Sonic slowly weakens from the effects of Cyberspace, and the voice reveals itself as one ofthe most malevolent villains in the entire franchise, “The End.”
It’s revealed that The End has been manipulating Sonic throughout his entire journey, making him suffer Cyber corruption while doing what was needed to release it from imprisonment. After battling it as Super Sonic, with Sage’s help, The End goes one step further, trying to self-destruct to annihilate everything anyway. In an emotional moment, Sage gives her life to stop The End’s destruction. As such, this game’s overall tone is very serious, exploring deeper themes and even shedding new light on characters like Eggman.
Despite Sonic’s easygoing, witty attitude, this is set against some ofthe series’ darkest moments. The story begins with Dr. Eggman seeking to awaken his grandfather Gerald’s greatest creation, the cryptic “Project Shadow.” Shadow, the “Ultimate Lifeform,” enlists Eggman’s help in awakening the Eclipse Cannon to destroy the planet. Eggman himself is particularly ruthless, threatening the whole world and even nearly shooting Amy. This forces Sonic into a frantic chase to reach her in time. But it goes deeper than this.
It turns out that fifty years ago, GUN had supported Gerald’s research into the Ultimate Lifeform, but fearing the result would be too powerful, they eliminated the project and those involved. The victims included the young girl Maria, which traumatized Gerald and Shadow. Sonic and Co. discover a recording of Gerald aboardthe eerie Space Colony ARK, before his death at the hands of GUN. In one of the series' most chilling moments, Gerald reveals the truth behind his plan, to cause the ARK to collide with Earth, destroying the planet, as revenge for what the military did to him. Gerald had manipulated Shadow’s memories to be the instrument to carry out his plan of revenge. With many emotional and chilling moments, not to mention the soundtrack,Sonic Adventure 2offers players a very complex and rich video game story.
3Sonic And The Black Knight
Features A Unique And Complex Villain
Sonic and the Black Knightis a game set in the realm of legend, with a more realistic art style and a darker color palette, reflecting much deeper lore beneath the surface. The soundtrack is thrilling and intense, a result of Crush 40’s trademark style, which is known for bringing hard-rock music into the franchise. Sonic must destroy the formidable King Arthur, but the story takes a sharp turn after the first credits roll. The true villain, painfully for Sonic, was his closest ally, Merlina.
However, Merlina isn’t a typical villain but is a greater and more complex character dealing with inner turmoil. She desires to control the realm of Camelot not out of greed, but out of fear and sorrow. She does everything in her power to freeze the myth at a single point in time, preventing the destruction of the world in the future, an event she greatly dreads. However, thanks to Sonic, she eventually lets go of her struggle and, uniquely for a villain, is redeemed.
Sonic ’06stands out as very serious and grim, dealing with past tragedies, time itself, and characters caught in hopeless situations. The orphan princess, Elise, is forced to never cry or else Iblis, the fire monster sealed inside her, will awaken and decimate the world. In the present day, Eggman seeks to use her to ambitiously control time itself. Sonic is caught in a race against the clock to save her before she dies alongside Eggman when his battleship explodes. Silver the Hedgehog, hailing from a ruined future, is intent on murdering Sonic, falsely tricked into believing Sonic caused his world’s destruction. Silver grapples with his conscience and whether the “lesser of two evils” approach is the right one. The evil Mephiles eventually succeeds in killing Sonic, blatantly in front of Elise, causing her to despair as was his plan all along.
Uniquely for the franchise,Sonic ‘06has very minimal humor. Apart from Rouge taunting Knuckles, there is no banter, not even between Sonic and Eggman.The soundtrack, being more cinematic, is brilliantthough serious and overall intense in many places. From stressed violin riffs to loud rumbling rock guitars, the boss fights have a particularly tense feel compared to the ‘‘butt-rock’’ music of theAdventuregames. The realistic art style also serves to create an overall grim anddarker Sonic gameexperience.
With a very gloomy aesthetic and melancholic tone, Shadow’s game stands out as the series’ darkest, but for many other reasons, too. The game deals with Shadow’s inner moral struggles, and players can undertake Hero or Dark missions to decide whether Shadow is truly a villain or a “brave-hearted hero.” Dark Missions see Shadow having to eliminate GUN’s soldiers to please the alien overlord Black Doom. However, unknown to Shadow, Doom is slowly manipulating him to do his bidding, and warns the “day of reckoning will soon be here.”The tone, unexpectedly, is grim asShadow still grapples with amnesiaand doesn’t know who to trust.
This title is infamous for its use of language, and heavy reliance on guns. Indeed, Shadow is depicted with a gun on the game’s cover art. Players also get a deeper look at whatSonic Adventure 2first built upon; Gerald’s research, GUN’s conspiracy, and the tragedy of Maria’s death. Shadow gets lost in these horrendous flashbacks often, thus reliving these traumatic events. Mostly the music is aggressive, but can also be highly emotional, especially in these flashback levels. Seeing as Shadow is set to appear in the movieSonic the Hedgehog 3, it’s interesting to consider how many of thesedark Sonic momentscould take the forefront of the story.
