Cool Sonic-Like Games You Should Check Out
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- čas přidán 19. 06. 2024
- If there's any games I missed, let me know in the comments. I'd be happy to highlight more in the future. Thanks to Gray Mars for the suggestion to make this video. Maybe I should do a similar one for Sonic fan games?
btw, the Green Hill looking level in Cloudbuilt is a community made level. The rest of the game doesn't have many nods to Sonic. But there are some similarities in how the game is designed. Sort of. I'll talk about it one day.
Here's the links to SAGE and the SFGHQ. Look around. There's lots of good stuff there.
sagexpo.org/games.html
sonicfangameshq.com/forums/sh...
You can support me here if you want. ko-fi.com/pariah695
Intro 0:00
Freedom Planet 1:20
Freedom Planet 2 4:09
Spark the Electric Jester 4:57
Spark 2 7:04
Spark 3 8:21
Defunct 9:56
Polyroll 12:01
Panic Porcupine 12:46
Action Henk 13:26
Super Fancy Pants Adventure 14:11
Super Dream Dasher 15:36
Skybolt Zack 16:37
Lunistice 18:59
Kyle & Lucy: Wonderworld 20:08
Sondro Gomez: A Sunova Story 20:39
Brock Crocodile 21:13
Soda-Powered Penguin 21:56
Project Rascal 23:26
Outro 24:28
Secret Bonus Game 25:50 - Hry
Fun fact, I beta tested every Spark game and I DO appear in the credits of each one. I been trying to help Lake (the dev) get more exposure by handling review codes and stuff since I do think more Sonic fans should try this out. So yeah, thank you for talking about these.
Where's the fun fact tho
Question now is: will Spark *surpass* Sonic Frontiers with it's brand of unique speedster gameplay? Some would argue it will precisely because of it's better implementation of speed based platforming.
lmfao sonic really got outpaced
@@javiervasquez625 Spark is leagues ahead of Frontierd in terms of combat, Frontiers is the first steps into becoming something like Spark
@baraksha1 That said, do we have news about Spark 3 coming to Xbox?
Spark 3 is a must-play, especially with the new DLC that adds back all the stages from Spark 2. Great fun.
Note that Spark 3 DLC is not a complete replacement of Spark 2. It ports levels and that's it. No bosses, no minibosses, no story, no unique hats.
Should I play 1 and 2 first?
@@jessea9744 Yes. They are fantastic games and the story of Spark 3 is mostly exploration of lore established by Spark 1&2. Up until halfway point the story is mostly flashbacks about characters you won't care about unless you played at least Spark 2.
@@Gnidel Thanks :)
The fact the guy just one day updated Spark 3 to have all the main stages from 2 is still kind of insane and awesome.
YES! Spread the Freedom Planet love! The game series and it's developers (Galaxy Trails) deserves it.
FP2 has had no coverage since that game was released, I wouldn't even known about that game coming out if I wasn't subscribed to GalaxyTrail's channel
The 1 thing bad with it, besides the fact no one after 2017 played it, and Freedom Planet 2's art style, is the fact that different movesets for each of the 3 characters, also mean levels are generally for 2 of them.
Correction: Another thing wrong with Freedom Planet 2, is it's playerbase, no one played because it took 7 YEARS, yeah, not 2 years, 3 years, 7. Thinking about buying it on Switch and Xbox One when it releases.
It's frustrating that unlike most indies inspired by retro games, Sonic-inspired games often get dismissed or mocked because it's "cool" to hate on Sonic.
IMO, Freedom Planet deserves as much praise as Shovel Knight for not just imitating 16-bit platformers, but improving upon them. It doesn't settle for recycling gimmicks and mechanics, it reconsiders what makes sense for the game and modernizes them without losing any of the appeal. It's a true spiritual successor.
Another upcoming game inspired by both Sonic and Megaman that I'm excited for is Starbuster. Every gif I see just makes me drool.
Same with spark 3 most ppl just say " oh its that cool 3d sonic like game " when its such a fantastic indie game too
I bought Frontiers and Spark 3 the same day. Both are eerily similar to eachother, but I think Spark's gameplay is way better. Especially compared to the cyberspace levels, good God.
Why you don't like cyberspace levels?
@@DatBoiRatchet They're alright. But I really don't like Sonic's turning sensitivity. Platforming is a nightmare because he takes forever to turn in the direction I want. And I thought the boost games had awkward platforming. Apparently I didn't know what "awkward" was.
How much Frontiers could benefit from having SA2 level momentum oh my god...
@@mrbanks456gon freak have you found gin yet
I agree, the cyberspace levels aren’t too bad but compared to unleashed and generations the controls feel atrocious at times and the level design is either rehashed or pretty bad
idk why I never considered the term "Sonic-like" to describe this genre, but yeah, this is kinda a genre itself
I’ve heard the term “hoglike” bounced around.
@@dprototype6431 thanks I hate it 🤣 lol
I’ve taken to calling these types of games “Speed Platformers” personally.
@@Comkill117 "Momentum Platformers" sounds nice too
I was thinking of calling it Sonic Fanverse genre
I've played both Spark 2 and 3, I jumped ahead in the video to see your thoughts on 3. Spark 3 is absolutely incredible, it's honestly better than any official 3D Sonic I've played, but I need to clarify something. The steering changes faster in Spark 2, than Spark 3. It controls better in 3, but the thing is the paths in later stages in 2 means you can just go flying off paths you used to be able to easily stay on via running full speed. Only pushing the stick about 70% lets you turn fast enough to stay on the paths. I think what's happening is instead of having a separate "rolling" state, Lake has you enter Spark's equivalent to rolling once you hit a certain speed, and hold the stick at 100%.
It's really not a big deal, but you do need to know about it for the throwback levels in 3. As Fark's turning in 2 is _much_ faster and more twitchy than Spark's in 3. Also the fall damage makes certain levels more interesting, since Fark's lack of it was accounted for.
If you liked Spark 2 and 3, I heavily recommend Sonic Robo Blast 2. I can't remember if you did a video on that one yet or not, but it's worth taking a look at, and adjusting to the learning curve with the physics.
Spark 3 was great but I had trouble getting good times in the game
Spark the Electric Jester 3 is a masterclass in 3-D platforming and level design, with a perfect mix of momentum based speed.
One thing all these Sonic-style fan games really nail is that feeling of FREEDOM that most Sonic games kinda struggle with. In most Sonic games Sonic feels clunky in one way or another, like his acceleration or air movement, turning speed, etc. but all of these fan games feel/look so _smooth!_
Panic Porcupine is obviously mini Sonic from Sonic CD Metallic Madness applied in a full game. Very cool, never heard of it.
First thing I thought was that japanese mini-Sonic tech demo-ish fangame for the X68K and PS1.
Hella underrated channel covering *very* underrated games. One thing I love about this odd little "sub-subgenre" is that we have a sort of spiritual successor to each era of Sonic. Freedom Planet pays heavy homage to the classic games (even Knux Chaotix), and Spark 2 and 3 play like the Adventure duology. There is not yet a dedicated Boost Era successor, but...let's just say I myself as a developer, am working on rectifying that.
Personally I think Spark 3 deserves SO much more attention and praise. And the production values on Freedom Planet are utterly out of this world, pun not intended.
Toree is a good one as well who's also and unlockable character in lunistice. Indie gaming is the saving grace of the industry imo.
You HAVE to play Spark 3, it plays sooo good that I didn't want to stop, it has really big levels with multiple paths and actual good combat with things like combos or unlockable moves.
Also I didn't expect Fancy Pants in this video, cool to see someone talking about its momentum mechanics, they're never mentioned.
No
Spark and Freedom Planet are great series, and Fancy Pants is a classic so for sure check those out. Gotta try a lot of the other ones on here still, some look really cool.
It’s really cool to see more Speed Platformers coming out. I’ve always liked this style of platforming compared to a lot of other takes personally so in the past it’s been pretty disappointing that it was pretty much just Sonic, at least until like the mid-2010s. Glad that’s changing.
Thank you so much for this video. I’ve been wanting to find more Sonic-like games, but everywhere I’d look, I’d only hear about Freedom Planet & Spark. Which I’ve played.
I’m likely going to end up buying every game in this video, thank you
it's awesome to see a video like this mentioning lesser-discussed games like defunct and cloudbuilt, plus some i didn't even know of myself! if i remember any other sonic-like games i've played or seen i'll share them as well :)
Im the opposite, I know of every game here EXCEPT Defunt and CouldBuilt. But I got both wish listed now.
Been looking for the name of spark 3 forever (randomly saw a speedrun vid and thought I needed to get it). This whole list of sonic like games is amazing and the vid itself well done.
found spark 3 recently, picked it up and I can't stop coming back to it
Had no idea the GT devs were making an original game that rocks
I myself am working on a Sonic fangame where it's basically Sonic crossed with Touhou, but instead of bombs, you have the Sonic characters' signature moves (Sonic's Double Spin attack, Tails's Tail swipe tgat turns bullets into rings, and Knuckles has a 3-punch combo that reflects projectiles and finishes with a Hadouken)
This was actually inspired by a video convincing people to play Sonic 3 for score
FINALLY
SOMEONE IS TALKING ABOUT CLOUD BUILT IN 2022
The secret of my CZcams channel is that all the Sonic talk is a ploy to gain an audience that I can point to Cloudbuilt and show how awesome that game is lol.
@@Pariah6950 Huge respect on that, like I do art as my main thing BUT... I'll slip in some Under Night In-Birth posts to get my audience interested lol
@@RKzero10 Cloudbuilt and Under Night? You got some fine taste there.
@@Pariah6950 Thanks! It's my favorite fighting game and without it I probably wouldn't be able to do art for a living lol. Same with the other French Bread games too.
BTW I adore the Fighting Game video you made and I do look forward to any videos on fighting game topics too.
Great video, thanks for not using these games as a club to bash Sonic Team with. Way too many people muddy up online discourse doing that stuff and I appreciate your positivity
i quite literally just bought sparks and freedom planet the moment you uploaded this lmao. love all your vids 👍
There's this one game I've been following since 2017 called open surge, it originally started out as a sonic fan game but had the characters swapped out for original ones. The idea seems sort of like it's the "Super Tux" of sonic games in a FOSS culture. It seems to have been updated in a lot of ways since the original 2.0 update and I'm really happy to see the developer is still active.
Cloudbuilt looked really cool from what you showed so I picked it up during the steam winter sale, and I gotta say thanks for the reccomendation. Absolutely incredible game.
Awesome. If you get into the rank mode, keep an eye out for me on the leaderboards. Last I checked I had a few top 20 times.
Definitly saw some games for my wishlist here. Thanks amigo 😉
I once saw a random recommended video of cloud build like 3 months ago and I was looking for it the whole day I thought it was a fever dream thank you so much for including it in this list it looks amazing
wow, perfect timing. i was looking at both _freedom planet_ and _spark_ with the steam sale going on, bought _spark 2_ and _3_ same day as _frontiers._ may have to grab _freedom planet_ before the sale's over but the real reason i'm commenting is frigging _cloud built._ this looks wild, thank you for bringing this to my attention
One of the things I appreciate about the 3D spark games is that unlike 3D Sonic, the camera doesn't pull back and just make loops a spectacle. The camera stays behind him the entire time and it's kinda cool to experience a loop that way. That's something I wanted from 3D Sonic games that they've never done.
One you kinda missed is Toree 1 and 2 . It's very cheap and doesn't last long but it's definitely cool and very much inspired by the 3d sonic games.
Thank you for making this. I'm not a CZcamsr, but if I was, I would be screaming about the sonic-like from the rooftops. The only time people even bring up these games is to dunk on Sonic Team and if Sonic Team no longer can deliver on what makes Sonic so fun and distinctive to play, than surely SOMEONE has to.
All throughout this video my mind kept wondering if you'd be into obscure enough games to bring up Cloudbuilt, was a little disappointed when I got to the outro and was about to leave a recommendation in the comments when I just hear the name get dropped at the end, I'm so glad to hear it's managed to stick in atleast someone else's mind like it did for me, such a criminally underrated game.
Pennys Big Breakaway is a great example imo, The Sonic Mania folks worked on it and it shows!
Solar Ash looks like a really fun time too, I plan on checking it out when it releases on Steam soon.
As for Spark 3, it's by far my favorite but I'm more willing to try Freedom Planet now
Nice recommendations! I've already played the majority of these games and i agree they feel quite Sonic like! I would also like to add to the list the Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends games as well. They feel pretty fast, you can run on walls and there's even momentum there as well. Also you even encounter some robot enemies sometimes as well. I would also recomend the Klonoa series if you like Sonic's asthetics. The 2nd game even has some snowboarding sequences as well. It doesn't have similar level design and physics to Sonic but it's still a good platformer.
Great definitely want to play more Sonic-like games!
Thanks for sharing these!
Hell yeah man pointed out fancy pants
I played the old flash games and the latest game and running down feels so exhilarating
This was a really fun video. Kinda hoping you're able to make a series out of this, assuming there's more "sonic likes" out there. There's gotta be at least a few for one more video. Kinda like Iron Pinapple's "games like Dark Soul's" series.
Toree 3D and it’s sequel are very Sonic inspired little indie games as well.
Especially the second one which has a lot of Sonic Adventure 2 references.
Overall they are fun little games with a horror twist.
Very nice video. Contains a lot of promising games.
That's insane, I was playing Spark 1 for the first time yesterday.
Crumble is an amazing momentum based sonic-like game, it's everything I wished for the werehog gameplay
Glad to see Lunistice in here. 100%’d that a little bit ago, and man, what a fantastic game it was.
Man, have you heard of David Get Keen? It controls a little bit like Sonic Adventure 2, except your movement options are completely broken and allow you to effectively fly across the stages. The stages themselves have a ton of variety to them, with varying objectives and challenges, like getting all coffee beans in an open environment (kinda like the treasure hunting stages in SA2), or doing cool tricks in a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater kind of arena. There are linear stages as well if that's your preference.
I really recommend you check this game out. The difficulty is very easy and accessible, but once you decide to S rank any of the stages, you suddenly have one of the most brutal games to be ever created. And I don't think it's in an unfair way!
spark spark spark spark
holy fucking finally
SONIC GT REVIEW!! PLEEEEEEAAASE!!
That is my FAVOURITE Sonic fan game, and everything you talk about in the Sonic series about the mechanics and physics and level design is all there!
I want SO BADLY for you to cover it. There's not a lot of good reviews on it that go in extreme depth.
BTW, I already had my eye on Spark 3, but now from this video, I'm sold. I'm definitely getting this game. It looks too fun, and everything I've wanted in a 3d sonic game...besides GT. And I'm even glad you mentioned Project Rascal, cause I was already gonna get that too
It's coming. Not to worry.
@@Pariah6950 I played Spark 3 for the first time a few months ago and....yeah
That game is FUCKING fantastic. Best experience I've had with a Sonic/Sonic-like game ever. This is everything I've wanted in a game and more.
You need to pay it, and cover it
I'm not one to comment on videos. But I just want to say that I love the story of the Freedom Planet games. It's one of those stories that doesn't seem like much, but when you start digging into the world and its characters, you discover that there's much more to it than meets the eye. I would love for you to make a video talking about the history of these games, similar to the ones you do with the Sonic stories.
For real. The story of the Freedom Planet games are very engaging compared to the classic sonic games it takes inspiration from. I started playing fp1 for the gameplay but the thing that really solidified my love for it was the story combined with the difficulty progression.
Project rescale looks amazing can’t wait for it
YES!
Spark 3 is beautiful. Go play it.
Lunistice is sooo good. It requires some precision platforming though so be aware.
Fantastic video Pariah. Thanks for uploading
Edit: I came back 2 days later to add this: there is Sonic look-alikes on the same first Sonic console, Genesis! It's called Socket. Check it out!
Thanks for the suggestion.
Is it worth playing Spark 2 as well? or is it fine just jumping into 3? Both are on sale right now so I'm tempted to get one of them but I'm not sure which
@@cauldros2572 Get both
@@cauldros2572 I got both but that's me. Maybe try 3, if you like it, get the other too.
Again, it's a Sonic clone/copy-iah so it's an acquired taste
@@Pariah6950 pariah I just remembered this game Socket on Genesis/MD I thought I remind you guys about it. I think its the very first Sonic clone!
In terms of Sonic-inspired games, I recommend Jazz Jackrabbit 2.
I Would actually love to see you cover the series.
man i havent heard of Defunct in *years*, a weird blast to the past that i wasnt ready for lol
Also, Zineth and Crumble are another really good sonic-like games to add to this list.
3:54
I never knew you could use the beam like that. That’s pretty cool.
Thank you for this video!
Haha, i just got defunct on the last minute as it was on sale after you mentioned it, so thanks!
Happy to see Dekay's game appear in a video ☺
good stuff, wouldn't mind seeing more
Really cool video!
One thing I'd argue is that Fancy Pants Adventure is more like Rayman, especially the Origins/Legends duology.
I did play Super Fancy Pants Adventure (or something like it) back when I was playing a bunch of Flash Games. I never thought to ever consider it to be a Sonic-Like game until I saw this video. Also, thanks for mentioning all the Sonic-Like games like Freedom Planet and Spark the Electric Jester. Games like these deserve more attention.
All things start with the idea, then you need the direction, talent, resources, and time. Sonic games usually struggle with the lack of direction, time, and probably talent. And I said probably talent cause I am not sure whether Sonic's shortcoming has to do with the lack of talent or it was the result of lack of time and mismanagement from SEGA.
Now I can't help but feel that Sonic is kinda lacking a sense of direction which can be a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing is that every Sonic entry can be unique. The bad thing is that they probably don't really have a clear idea of what Sonic games should be. Also, it can divide the fan base which is not a good thing.
Now in Sonic Frontiers, it came to my attention that Sonic kinda has the health pool (sort of) and actual combat mechanic. Either this is a coincidence or perhaps Sonic Team is actually taking notes from Freedom Planet and Spark the Electric Jester. Just my thought. Now I will admit that Sonic Frontiers isn't the first Sonic Game with combat mechanics and health. The first one was Sonic Unleashed.
Lastly, I will mention a certain game called Ratched and Clank Rift Apart. And while this isn't a Sonic-Like game (not by a long shot) it does have certain elements such as grind rails and high-speed travel thanks to rockets boots. Also, you can slingshot yourself to fly through the levels. Nothing much but I felt I should mention it anyway.
Yesssss freedom planet and spark are both amazing games!
I needed this list.
Never heard of spark and freedom planet but they look super cool and good
Don't tell them I have my own Sonic-esque platformer planned-
Spark was such an amazing games. Sadly I don’t have a pc. I used a secondary school computer to play this once I found out about it in 2017. Miss this gem.
Someone probably already brought it up, but Super Sammy Roll is pure time trial and momentum, with some still fairly involved platforming. You have a bounce like SA2 and, uniquely, a horizontal grapple mechanic that you can use to enter wall jumps or (more interestingly) jump out of to extend airtime and momentum.
Another game I would add is Toree 3D. For 1 dollar you get a short but also very charming and polished speed based platform that has some clear inspirations from Sonic; it even has a sequel in Toree 2, and a free bonus game in Toree Genesis made to celebrate Sonic's 31st birthday, that has 3 levels whose themes and music are both heavily inspired by the Hedgehog games, and you can also transform into Super Toree!
One EXTRENELY underrated 2d sonic-like game is AdventNeon, i really cant understand why this game is this little well known
2 Games that picked my interest is "Freedom Planet" and "Spark the Electric Jester" I should buy and play them some other time!!
I only know about Spark because of the "Ultimate Final Boss" theme, which was used in MaGMML2. Absolute banger. :D
dunno if anyone has said it yet but fech the ferret is a blast to play. it leans into the momentum physics 3D platformer playstyle but also has it spiced up with rythm based minigames called Aras
I've played freedpm planet, and am thinking on playing freedom planet 2. And thanks to this video, I'll consider defunct and panic porcupine, cuz they look pretty nice 😃
Yeah, I like speedrun games
I feel like with Spark 2 the soundtrack was better than 3, other than that 3 is better in every way. The only downside to the second game's stages being in the third is that there aren't any boss battles in the additional content, which, save for the subpar combat, were pretty solid bosses, so it would be nice to get them in 3's more fleshed out combat system.
Brock Crocodile is a game I saw on Twitter back when it was first conceptualized. It looked cool but I never heard any updates on it so I completely forgot about it. I do however love Freedom Planet and Spark.
Ok, spark 3 is a must play for me now. Not sure how I've missed these up until now.
A game Sonic fans usually like, and one I'd recommend, is Ristar. It's rarely talked about, but both the Genesis and GG titles are great. The Genesis one is an all-time classic imo
You might want to check out Rad Venture too. Same as Rascal it's still a bit rough around the edges but clearly the devs look like they know what they're doing. It's basically Sonic + Rayman 2 (in the speed department it's more towards Rayman though) and looks really neat :)
Edit : Just to be "complete" it's a bit like Lunistice in that it's a 3D platformer with some inspirations from Sonic, not really a momentum-based platformer ;)
Soda Powered Penguin rush from end to start shouts Pizza Tower, think it deserves a mention max since it inspires primarily Wario Land 4
There's also this obscure Sonic-like game made by the Sonic co-creator/director of BWW (I'm not saying his name...), and it's called Rodea The Sky Soldier, which is kinda more like NiGHTS
I'm aware. I did a whole video on the game.
Oh 👀
14:49 You also have a roll attack, the slide and roll have ever so slightly different physics too.
a lot of these games sound fun
Please look into a game called Exo One; you don’t play as a character exactly, you control gravity’s effect on a spherical alien craft. It’s all about the speed and momentum physics as you pull the gravity trigger as the ball is rolling down one of the endless slopes and hills of vast alien landscapes and letting go of gravity’s grip at the bottom so your momentum can fling you up the next slope and into the air. You can break the sound barrier several times over and get insane altitude. I got next evolution of 3D Sonic vibes from it right away and think a simple palette and asset swap could get you very close to an amazing Sonic game.
I love Freedom Planet (both games released so far), but honestly the first Spark game has been a really boring and frustrating experience to me.
From what I remember, bowlbo (oneyng's game) is supposed to be kinda sonicky
I think I remember fancy pants adventure on ps3
Honestly watching you review old Sonic knockoffs like mohawk and headphone jack would be great, or Sonic romhacks
Also Toree and pizza tower might deserve to be on this list too
I feel like it’s more similar to Rayman but at a higher speed
SAGE have pretty much restored my faith in indie games for the past 2 years.
Frebbventure might be worth checking out. It has Sonic-esque speed and momentum, not loop physics, but still neat movement tech. Also combat inspired by Kirby.
I love that project
thank you for mentioning fancy pants
I enjoy playing Freedom Planet & The original Sparks game but tbh there both forgotten Series of gaming I didn't know the sequel of Freedom Planet 2 existence till someone made a review of the game proofs how forgotten A series like Freedom Planet is
19:00 Lunistice also looks like a crash bandicoot game... seems pretty cool
This guy will make anything except the Sonic Unleashed video
Theres this 3d game im wanting to make called skander: and the destroyed world. It takes place in a apocalyptic world where the aliens opened up a literal hell hole releasing demon-like beings and also each difficulty is a planet or you pull the top left you can play easy medium or hard on each planet and skander is amazed that he can play hard mode on all planets.
I forgot to say that its a speed based game as well like shadow the hedgehog
Bro Defunct looks incredible.
Spark the electric jester and freedom planet are my favorite ones
Just remembered Spark 3 and bought it instantly.
Rollin' Rascal is almost perfect but game needs full release
I’m kinda biased but, Freedom Planet is one of my favorite games to play, or at least indie ones.
Lunistice reminds me of the Gex games crossed with Sonic
Freedom Planet on Sega Saturn would make my decade.
Its a shame that freedom planet 2 didn't get nominated for best indie game it was really good. I don't know about spark 3 because I haven't played any of those but spark 3 looks really fun.
When will freedom planet 2 be available for consoles? I don't see it available for playstation
@@DatBoiRatchet I believe somewhere summer next year
I tried really hard to get into Freedom Planet, but I just couldn't. I respect it for not being a blatant clone of Sonic, but the focus on combat is unfortunate because the combat is not great.