@@sackydzNG Sonic CD is like the transition point between Sonic 2 and Sonic 3, All zones have their distinct personalities and Sonic has more cocky sprites.
I'm one of the few people that REALLY loved the dark and edgy era of Sonic. And seeing sonic turn into a TV-Y7 styled game was so sad. Same for Ratchet. I don't know why they are making edgy mascots more childish now.
I don't think there are as few dark era fans as you might think. There seems to be a growing community of fans who want to see Sonic return to the gameplay and tone set by Adventure, rather than the kid friendly tone and boost games. At the very least I too loved the supposed "dark era" tens, if not hundreds of times more than what it is we have now.
I just miss the times when they didn't treat the players like babies. Kids can handle darker material and don't need to be coddled. For example, Robotnik wants to KILL Sonic and back when SA2 was out, he was attempting to do just that (at one point almost succeeding). Half the time now in modern era, he's just a punching bag. They can have darker material, kids can handle it, but SEGA is just a mess right now.
@@richardfitzwell4618 I totally agree, I just want a nice balance between getting dark and being lighthearted. Unleashed and SA2 are two examples of it working. Sonic being too "edgy' and "dark" and too cringy and lighthearted doesn't work.
Although Shadow is a mess and the character models are wonky looking af, I do love the environmental art style. It's like you took Heroes and injected it with EDGE and GOTH. It's a refreshing and unique look for the series where the environments are just as imaginative and creative as before, but with an endearing dark overtone. Even the springs and item capsules have a rusted gritty look to them while looking just as cartoony as before! I especially like the use of bloom, where unlike many other games that misuse it, it's used to make colors POP and stand out from the otherwise gritty scenery, creating a pleasing contrast. Just wish the art style wasn't wasted on that game.
It's not shth has a bad look. Lke really any style is great it's just I wish they were the best they could be. I keep saying the way sonic stories were written they were more like 80s-90s animes. I'm not saying it has to be that way but like I said if you just look at that game and compare it to some of older anime shows like Evangelion, even sa2 I mean it really doesn't take much to see where these ideas come from. And honestly it's not even just doing that at this point it's about making it look good.... I think one thing people don't understand about sonic is they never exactly said Sonic can't have mature tones. For example, I do not think he literally loses rings if he were to get shot. Even though they're tangible things, they're also more symbolic. It's not like if you were to cut open his stomach a bunch of rings would fall out (as funny as that sounds).
Dude, your content is very well written and presented, specially taking into account how recent your channel is. Keep on and I'm sure you'll grow here on CZcams.
@@ItsNickForShort I have to agree this video was awesome! It was randomly recommended to me this morning so I have faith that you are already growing in the CZcams scene without even knowing it.
Style has always been important to me. When a character looks cool, it makes you feel cool playing as them, makes it more fun, you want to be these characters. That's one of the reasons I became so obsessed with the world of Sonic back when I was younger. But this is just me. I know a lot of other people don't care about how a character looks. But to me, looks matter when it comes to designing characters. Great video, Nick!
Hey Nick. This video was Amazing. Like A+ stuff we are talking. You have definitely given me a deeper appreciation for the art style of Sonic and something I will look out for more going foward
No one ever brings up Sonic Shuffle's opening cinematic models/graphics which are straight up Adventure era's 2D artwork brought into 3D, complete with cel-shading.
not exactly but close enough. You kinda have to use 4d tricks to make a 2d sonic work in 3d. The poses on the box art are great but to fully animate them without 4d tricks they would look just ok. With 4d tricks you could make them look even better. For example, sometimes when sonic is facing forward or looking backwards you can see his spines stick out from the side of his head. You can't do this without 4d tricks. Which I guess you don't need to but still it's never been done in a 3d game before.
@@chocobochick5390 it's actually been done in a game before, iirc Epic Mickey has a system to always put Mickey Mouse's ears at the right angle to look good regardless of the camera angle
@@thefurry7165 reading this over I guess when I typed, "it's never been done in a 3d game before" I meant with Sonic officially which I should've specified.... yeah I can't think of an official 3d sonic game that's ever done that.
heroes has my favourite art style in the entire series, going back to the classic-like art style while mixing it with some stuff from adventure in the zones make them way more memorable to me. and the models and designs too, even though they’re shiny i still really love them, it feels really accurate to yuji uekawa’s art and the proportions are perfect to me.
Something that I wanted to add is that the Classic Sonic games embraced 3D as part of their style. The trees in Sonic 1 have a geometric design reminiscent of a low poly 3D model, Sonic 2 has the 3D corkscrews in Emerald Hill, the 3D cylinder in Metropolis, and the 3D half-pipe special stages, and Sonic 3 has the 3D prerendered model of Sonic on the title screen, and the 3D Blue Sphere Special Stages. Something to mention is that actual 3D models were made for the corkscrew and cylinder in Sonic 2, which they rotoscoped over to make the sprites for them in Sonic 2. There was a real hype for 3D in video games at the time, and the style of the Classic Sonic games played directly into that hype.
Both the Advance and Battle designs will forever have a special place in my heart as I always associated them with flash animations and sonic fan games.
All of those games follow the Sonic's original design philosophy. While some were lacking like say personally some of Amazing Area in chaotix and Panic Puppet in 3d blast they all followed the guidelines from the original games. Now when that transitioned to about SA1 that was kinda lost and replaced for more realism. The environments in the adventure games looked nice yes but they were lacking and you could tell. They tried to bring that back with Lost World which colors does a better job at. Lost World honestly doesn't even really look that bad but again the original interpretation is kinda lost and the models looks bland you know? Also again it looks more like it fits for Mario not exactly Sonic. And before all of that we had them try realistic cartoon cgi with Unleashed and after colors Gens. Now I think they look really nice right? I mean you can look at say a pixar movie like Ratatouille and think that Unleashed looks like it. At the same time though the original design philosophy is lost at this point and replaced for a new (but not bad) interpretation. So they look like a marza film. Not saying sonic can't look like one but there are certain stylistic choices that probably should have been kept. Nonetheless unleashed came out looking great and so did generations. Not a bad look at all. But again you can see why some people think it needed a little something more. Ok. So let's say Green Hill. Ok instead of thinking of it like in the game try thinking of it like a beach in an 80s anime. This is what the creators were kinda thinking of when making it. But you can make it however you want.
This is Sonic great art style and The Sonic Games are getting Better from The Beginning to Getting Better for 30 Years and Sonic The Hedgehog 2 and Sonic Adventure 2 are my favorite Games!🦔🤩🎮♥️😁⭐
Loved the video! I honestly like that Sonic has taken many different art styles and how he can be expressed in multiple tones. Wonder what sort of art style Sonic Rangers will promote.
I mean, my favourite art style is in Sonic 06, I just like the more realistic look for the characters a lot, it fits perfectly with what I want a next generation Sonic game to look like and screw what everyone says about the game, it has more of a Sonic game about it than any of the ones released after generations and it should be revisited to be honest.
It's cool to see another one of your videos! I believe that Sonic has taken in multiple art styles and this honestly allows him to be expressed in multiple tones. I'm glad you didn't cover Sonic Lost World because it just looks ridiculous, I have to say though, I really do like CD but I guess I'm just used to it. I respect your opinion though and this was nice to watch!
this is a good video, it's strange how for some games you'll talk about the in-game visuals like with the classic series or sonic heroes, but others you'll fail to acknowledge it like the advance trilogy or especially the storybook games (which have incredible visuals in terms of cutscenes, and really help sell the style of those games). not to mention that boom kinda gets misrepresented here by ignoring the environmental design or supporting character designs that are unlike anything in the rest of the series (not saying boom is good, just saying that it isn't like the rest of the series). wish you had brought up generations too, as it attempts to make several eras of the franchise into one cohesive style. but otherwise, this was a pretty solid video.
i really like 06 models when you put mod in forces and play one of the in game cutscenes it looks really cool but i also love sonic boom cutscenes cuz in part where lyric countre sonic homing attack and capture them you can see sonic is processing what happening i just hope sonic boom style cutscenes come back cuz i love them
Dude I relate to your outtro on a personal level 😂 I agree!! Style is really important imo, and I hope we'll be able to have a cool new aesthetic soon! And yes Sonic Riders' style is GOAT-
Technically the art in Sonic 3 isn't really trying to look like real life they were aiming for an interpretation on realistic environments. So think Studio Ghibli movies
Also I think sonic can work well with stylized realism. Like say if Sonic had a look of Dead or Alive 5 I feel it can work but it needs more that memphis design in there.
What really inspired sonic was more 80s and 90s anime. Yes there are western things like his get it done attitude but what was really in the devs minds was more tezuka films. That's not to say you can't have different interpretations of the character. You can make him however you want but that classic anime style is one of the things that helped influence his design. And if you watch movies like Origins: Spirits of the Past and Laputa: Castle in the Sky you can understnad where a lot of his ideas came from.
Now here's some specific aesthetics they were aiming for when they made him: solarpunk, greenpunk, sparklecore, memphis design, graffiti art, pop art, clockpunk, dieselpunk, some cyberpunk, retro futurism, it seems like those are some ideas they had in mind.
Sonic Riders would kick my ass back when I was a kid. But I think that game is the most distinct in that it's a hyper stylized future, helping with the tone and feel of the gameplay. It's lovely.
I would love to see ou delve into the style in Sonic fancontent ! Like comics ( EVAN STANLEY !! Sonic Skyline ! ), games ( my new love : Sonic Storm and its incredible vaporwave jet set radio PS1 aesthetic, and so many others ! ), character designs ( I've seen some incredible-looking redesigns while mindlessly scrolling through tumblr, though I can't really name any artist rn ).... There's so much creativity and passion behind Sonic content creators and it's quite a sight to behold !
I love this video! I never knew how important art representation to game representation defined the identity of a game and it's characters. This was truly interesting.
Tails isn't a mutant, he's a Twintailed Kitsune if you see Japanese Mythology. As Kitsune grow in power their number of tails increases from 1 to 9 at which point they become Kyubi. Sonic 3K you fail to recognize the more Shonen Anime aspects of Sonic which were present from the beginning starting to take center stage. I agree with much of what you are saying for the Handheld & Spinoffs as well as The Adventure Games & 06. Heroes designs weren't all that cartoony, just shiny & plastic looking owing to PS2 being the worst hardware of the 6th Gen Consoles & not being able to run stuff at the quality of the Adventure Games with their ability at the time. Shadow's game was complicated although it's style was solid for the most part. 06 looked like a masterpiece artistically at times. Unleashed though I strongly disagree I always thought it looked awkward & ugly. The humans of Unleashed look awful & completely out of place, they look too ridiculous to exist in the Sonic Series. Unleashed looked terrible aesthetically with Dark Gaia Phoenix for example looking like a silly chicken & of course we have the cringe looking werehog transform scene which became a meme. Cartoony goes against the identity of the Sonic Series because Sonic was always supposed to have that cool Shonen Anime feel to it. Essentially if we're going with Sonic being a cartoon, think closer to Justice League or Gargoyles series that oozed Shonen despite being Western in origin. The Silly Cartoon World aesthetics would take over the series starting with Unleashed & it would just keep getting worse until Forces fixes things by taking a turn back to the more edgy realistic while keeping a lot of the cartoony aspects.
I'm surprised he didn't touch on Sonic mania at all considering the promotional art , op and sonic and friends over all character designs were charged somewhat.
i get why you didn't mention the saturn games or CD but imo those are the best ones artistically, sonic R perfectly captures the magic of the classic games and puts it in a fully 3d setting that feels natural and really pretty and it feels really fitting for a classic game, i won't go over sonic the fighters but that game was similar in the sense it had the same artistic style (aside from character models being shaded differently than R and Jam) in the world designs and captures the essence of classic in 3d. as for CD, CD is an evolved version of sonic 1's core art style. it expands upon what they did in sonic 1 but makes it more over detailed an more sci-fi or surreal, for example collision chaos is some kind of natural pinball table area that is filled to the brim with nature and neon signs, (also its got my fave good future art). it also uses enviromental story telling through the art and by extension the art style, if you get the bad ending or fail to save the past you will know you fucked up. not to mention it has that really nice anime styled intro that while on the original hardware doesn't look amazing still looks great and is even better on the HD remake. it also has surrealist styled special stages that evoke unique feelings some give me liminal space vibes, aside from art style i gotta say it was a pretty big technical flex for the time. now for jam its not very different from the classics, it feels like a direct move from the 2d games art put into 3d, its very straight forward, good looking, and i would play a whole game with this style if i could. tails and sonics models are exactly how i would have imagined them in 3d at the time. it is actually classic in 3d. not to mention the plants also are super fitting and feel great to look at next to the rest of the scenery, now while this isn't an art thing i must commend it for making proper use of both the saturns VDP chips for special effects, if they only used the main one i don't think it would have looked or ran as well as it did.
Interesting video. I will say this is just my feel on the matter, but it really feels like Sonic's design progression has leaned much more in a back to classics matter as of recently. Like take the animated stuff made for Origins for example, that is gorgeous, and its more minimal, yet well put together style fits the 2020's like a glove! As for the modern stuff, its a bit harder to come by, though weirdly, Sonic Prime might be a good stepping stone for design and style going forward. It doesn't change much but already you can see so many differences like the greater shading and dynamic posing and expressions in animation that's seen so far.
The only thing I can add is that games before modern era were so good and consistent that even if you don't like designs on their own they work in context. I don't really like Sonic's and Tails designs from Riders on their own, but in context of the game this design is perfect for Sonic
as cyberchell once said "the sonic sprites for sonic 3 always looked pissed off to me, while in the first 2 games sonic looks determined in sonic 3 he looks like hes saying 'YOU SON OF A BITCH'"
Great video essay!! Riders' and Battle's art styles are so cool, a shame they only used them for one game... Was hoping you'd also talk about Sonic CD's artstyle, seeing how that game takes the popart-like colors and patterns and cranks them up to eleven
One of the designs that hit the mark for me were the ones from the ''middle age'' era (mainly Sonic Riders, A1-A2, Rush series, Heroes, 06, Advance and X), where Sonic's colors had gotten darker and deeper. His classic shiny blue has gotten a little darker and his quills longer, the eyes have received a strong green and the red shoes got a little longer, all of those small additions to the hedgehog's appearence made him feel more mature, it isn't a matter of Classic or Modern, he has simply aged a little bit.
Its funny how console Sonic changed its style in every spinoff or almost every game, but we still had Adventure Sonic on handhelds 'til 2007's Sonic Rush Adventure
For once since 2010, the newest 2022 sonic game although we saw nothing but a symbol seems to be going back to a seemingly grittier, more realistic environment and I'm all for it
I think there more things in sonic boom you could mention like how it’s animation and how smooth it was and how the world tried to mixed fantasy and technology (good video btw)
I honestly really dislike the art direction for Lost World and Forces. For the 3DS version of LW and Runners its understandable. Obviously those are smaller games running on weaker hardware so limiting polygons is optimal, but for the Wii-U and PC versions its almost inexcusable. Especially since if they wanted to create a "wackier" art-style for Sonic they could easily have taken a page from Nights into Dreams to create a surreal, yet grounded environment as opposed to Tele-tubby bootleg Sonic 2 layouts w/Minecraft trees for some reason. And as for Forces that game lacks so much of the style games Unleashed previous had with even less shapes and an even blander art direction. Green Hill has never looked or felt so... """"Green Hill"""-esque. The lack of any emotion from the characters doesnt help either.
I’d be OK if they just use the models from 06 just so that the cut scenes look OK again and not like the characters are flapping their hands about for no reason all the time
Sonic’s humans were always going for realism. 06’s style is the correct way to go as it’s cooler and their vision. It’s just the Adventure look taken to its most logical extreme and it’s the best looking 3D Sonic game in terms of aesthetics for that reason. It didn’t lose anything, it enhanced everything. They should have continued with this style no matter what any one complained about because it’s correct, true to the series roots, and also has MANY fans. It was never a reboot by the way. That’s a fan myth. It has continuity with the Adventure games, Shadow the Hedgehog, and even Sonic 1 with Sonic Man’s shirt.
@@ItsNickForShort It's been proven it wasn't a reboot. There is no Sega/Sonic Team interview that states it as such. The only source to that myth is Sonic Retro (A fansite without a source after that) and speculation on Giant Bomb. Them calling it "SONIC THE HEDGEHOG" and saying they are going back to their roots/treating it with the same importance as the first game does not mean that the continuity is starting over. That's objectively impossible considering the game contains overt continuity with Shadow the Hedgehog and mentions the GUN President in White Acropolis.
Did you know gaming is objectively incorrect on this. There is no source to his information just a bunch of speculation like always when it comes to this topic. The game was always a Sonic game, it was never meant to be something else. Silver was taken from a scrapped physics based game being made at the time, but the game itself and all of its ideas originate from Sonic Team as a Sonic game. Like, unless you can provide a Sega/Sonic Team created article where they themselves describe it as a "Continuity Reboot" or having begun as not a Sonic game (Which I cannot find no matter how hard I look) than objectively speaking it is untrue and is just a bunch of wild mass speculation from Sonic fans over the name of the game and misrepresentation of how they have described the game.
@@ItsNickForShort The game continues Shadow's story from his previous game, which itself was a continuation of SA2. Shadow has became an agent in the G.U.N after saving the world, and they kept that plot with 06. no need to disparage.
Hey where is Sonic Mania:c But this was a great video indeed!I never saw such a great way to explain the art evolution of sonic i think no one could've explained it better than you!I felt the same wqy as you but i never had those words to express my opinion on Sonic artstyle. You deserve a sub from me my guy!😁👍
HOLY FUCKING SHIT YES, YES, AND YES!! It's something that people dont talk that much, to be honest i think the Sonic Adventure 1/2 should be the main style of all games. Sonic always have been a cartoonish character but he always had the "cool" aspect, and the Adventure style tells that PERFECLY. And i love this COOL RADICAL EDGY thing B)
Sonic adventure 2 has so much style it’s so dope
I agree but I miss the SA1 exaggeration
Haven't u seen Sonic generations?
Its a Masterpiece
If only it was a good game.
@@Drissa_L0A sonic generations is my favorite game!
@Paul Bell okay pal.
I love how you appreciate everything the franchise has to offer.
Except for Shadow the Hedgehog but okay
What I loved about early 2000s Sonic was how stylized Sonics character’s were. They will never go that route again. Especially Sa2
Sa2's artwork is timeless and perfectly captures Sonics character
I remember hating his shoes in SA2 Battle on the Gamecube. Lol.
Early 2000s was a great melting pot of musical genres for the soundtracks
When mentioning the classics, I'm surprised you didn't mention Sonic CD.
Sonic cd has the aesthetic of an acid trip. Chaotic colors everywhere, and it's great!
For some reason everyone forgets CD when talking about classics... I wonder why
@@cool3nikola245 Hey, at least it’s better than Sonic 1.
@@sackydzNG
Sonic CD is like the transition point between Sonic 2 and Sonic 3,
All zones have their distinct personalities and Sonic has more cocky sprites.
@@cool3nikola245 because most people think it's trash
I'm one of the few people that REALLY loved the dark and edgy era of Sonic. And seeing sonic turn into a TV-Y7 styled game was so sad. Same for Ratchet. I don't know why they are making edgy mascots more childish now.
I don't think there are as few dark era fans as you might think. There seems to be a growing community of fans who want to see Sonic return to the gameplay and tone set by Adventure, rather than the kid friendly tone and boost games. At the very least I too loved the supposed "dark era" tens, if not hundreds of times more than what it is we have now.
I just miss the times when they didn't treat the players like babies. Kids can handle darker material and don't need to be coddled. For example, Robotnik wants to KILL Sonic and back when SA2 was out, he was attempting to do just that (at one point almost succeeding). Half the time now in modern era, he's just a punching bag. They can have darker material, kids can handle it, but SEGA is just a mess right now.
@@richardfitzwell4618 I totally agree, I just want a nice balance between getting dark and being lighthearted. Unleashed and SA2 are two examples of it working. Sonic being too "edgy' and "dark" and too cringy and lighthearted doesn't work.
Although Shadow is a mess and the character models are wonky looking af, I do love the environmental art style. It's like you took Heroes and injected it with EDGE and GOTH. It's a refreshing and unique look for the series where the environments are just as imaginative and creative as before, but with an endearing dark overtone. Even the springs and item capsules have a rusted gritty look to them while looking just as cartoony as before! I especially like the use of bloom, where unlike many other games that misuse it, it's used to make colors POP and stand out from the otherwise gritty scenery, creating a pleasing contrast. Just wish the art style wasn't wasted on that game.
It's not shth has a bad look. Lke really any style is great it's just I wish they were the best they could be. I keep saying the way sonic stories were written they were more like 80s-90s animes. I'm not saying it has to be that way but like I said if you just look at that game and compare it to some of older anime shows like Evangelion, even sa2 I mean it really doesn't take much to see where these ideas come from. And honestly it's not even just doing that at this point it's about making it look good....
I think one thing people don't understand about sonic is they never exactly said Sonic can't have mature tones. For example, I do not think he literally loses rings if he were to get shot. Even though they're tangible things, they're also more symbolic. It's not like if you were to cut open his stomach a bunch of rings would fall out (as funny as that sounds).
Dude, your content is very well written and presented, specially taking into account how recent your channel is. Keep on and I'm sure you'll grow here on CZcams.
Thanks for the support, it really does mean the world. It’s very competitive and I’m hoping it’ll pay off!
@@ItsNickForShort I have to agree this video was awesome! It was randomly recommended to me this morning so I have faith that you are already growing in the CZcams scene without even knowing it.
Finally somebody who thinks that Sonic 3 shows "prototype designs" for Sonic Adventure! This is also shown in the Mega Drive cover art for Sonic 3
It’s cool having arts.
Style has always been important to me. When a character looks cool, it makes you feel cool playing as them, makes it more fun, you want to be these characters. That's one of the reasons I became so obsessed with the world of Sonic back when I was younger.
But this is just me. I know a lot of other people don't care about how a character looks. But to me, looks matter when it comes to designing characters.
Great video, Nick!
im forever in love with battle and riders styles
good vid
me too :)
Same. I especially love the Riders style
Hey Nick. This video was Amazing. Like A+ stuff we are talking.
You have definitely given me a deeper appreciation for the art style of Sonic and something I will look out for more going foward
No one ever brings up Sonic Shuffle's opening cinematic models/graphics which are straight up Adventure era's 2D artwork brought into 3D, complete with cel-shading.
not exactly but close enough. You kinda have to use 4d tricks to make a 2d sonic work in 3d. The poses on the box art are great but to fully animate them without 4d tricks they would look just ok. With 4d tricks you could make them look even better. For example, sometimes when sonic is facing forward or looking backwards you can see his spines stick out from the side of his head. You can't do this without 4d tricks. Which I guess you don't need to but still it's never been done in a 3d game before.
@@chocobochick5390 it's actually been done in a game before, iirc Epic Mickey has a system to always put Mickey Mouse's ears at the right angle to look good regardless of the camera angle
@@thefurry7165 reading this over I guess when I typed, "it's never been done in a 3d game before" I meant with Sonic officially which I should've specified.... yeah I can't think of an official 3d sonic game that's ever done that.
I appreciate how Sonic Riders had this sorta Jet Set Radio aesthetic going on and I loved it. I thought it was a dope Homage
Eh Riders is a little bit of JSRF but a lot more Burning Rangers, PSO.
LETS GOOOOOO
Did CD and Rush dirty.
CD looks like a seizure and Rush is very pop art
lol cd is eye candy that and knux chaotix
Sonic Lost World is sat in the corner crying because it has been forgotten
Lost world is literally cylinders it is not deserving 😭
@@ItsNickForShort minecraft tree
Amazing video!!! The different artstyles in this series is one of the most consistently captivating things for me!
Sonic's crush on realistic-looking girl makes me really uncomfortable.
¹¹
Based
same
Something that the later games lack and I loathe it
heroes has my favourite art style in the entire series, going back to the classic-like art style while mixing it with some stuff from adventure in the zones make them way more memorable to me. and the models and designs too, even though they’re shiny i still really love them, it feels really accurate to yuji uekawa’s art and the proportions are perfect to me.
Sonic Battle artwork was beautiful
Sonic 3 & Knuckles went so beyond when they created the death egg stage art. Such an amazing job.
Sonic in DMC games: Crazy! Smokin'! SSSensational! Sword Master! Gunslinger! It's Showtime!
"Oh, so you prioritise style over substance?"
Style is the substance.
That’s not how that works
@@ItsNickForShort But it is part of the fun.
substance is the gameplay
style is the graphics
get your facts checked, bigot!
I absolutely love the Sonic Riders style!
Something that I wanted to add is that the Classic Sonic games embraced 3D as part of their style. The trees in Sonic 1 have a geometric design reminiscent of a low poly 3D model, Sonic 2 has the 3D corkscrews in Emerald Hill, the 3D cylinder in Metropolis, and the 3D half-pipe special stages, and Sonic 3 has the 3D prerendered model of Sonic on the title screen, and the 3D Blue Sphere Special Stages. Something to mention is that actual 3D models were made for the corkscrew and cylinder in Sonic 2, which they rotoscoped over to make the sprites for them in Sonic 2. There was a real hype for 3D in video games at the time, and the style of the Classic Sonic games played directly into that hype.
Both the Advance and Battle designs will forever have a special place in my heart as I always associated them with flash animations and sonic fan games.
Same
You forget knuckles chaotix 3d,blast,r,sonic jam,the fighter
All those games are more or less classic sonic styled
All of those games follow the Sonic's original design philosophy. While some were lacking like say personally some of Amazing Area in chaotix and Panic Puppet in 3d blast they all followed the guidelines from the original games. Now when that transitioned to about SA1 that was kinda lost and replaced for more realism. The environments in the adventure games looked nice yes but they were lacking and you could tell.
They tried to bring that back with Lost World which colors does a better job at. Lost World honestly doesn't even really look that bad but again the original interpretation is kinda lost and the models looks bland you know? Also again it looks more like it fits for Mario not exactly Sonic. And before all of that we had them try realistic cartoon cgi with Unleashed and after colors Gens. Now I think they look really nice right? I mean you can look at say a pixar movie like Ratatouille and think that Unleashed looks like it. At the same time though the original design philosophy is lost at this point and replaced for a new (but not bad) interpretation. So they look like a marza film. Not saying sonic can't look like one but there are certain stylistic choices that probably should have been kept. Nonetheless unleashed came out looking great and so did generations.
Not a bad look at all. But again you can see why some people think it needed a little something more.
Ok. So let's say Green Hill. Ok instead of thinking of it like in the game try thinking of it like a beach in an 80s anime. This is what the creators were kinda thinking of when making it. But you can make it however you want.
That's something I will always appreciate of the Sonic franchise
That almost every game was so unique especially with its art and musical departments
Can’t believe you brushed off S&tBK
This is Sonic great art style and The Sonic Games are getting Better from The Beginning to Getting Better for 30 Years and Sonic The Hedgehog 2 and Sonic Adventure 2 are my favorite Games!🦔🤩🎮♥️😁⭐
Loved the video! I honestly like that Sonic has taken many different art styles and how he can be expressed in multiple tones. Wonder what sort of art style Sonic Rangers will promote.
Nick once again great video as always I enjoy watching them! I especially enjoyed the SA2 and Sonic 06 portion of the video!!!
Sonic 06 design is weirdly my favourite..!
I mean, my favourite art style is in Sonic 06, I just like the more realistic look for the characters a lot, it fits perfectly with what I want a next generation Sonic game to look like and screw what everyone says about the game, it has more of a Sonic game about it than any of the ones released after generations and it should be revisited to be honest.
Please do a video on the cartoons based on Sonic.
The most stylish sonic game is without a doubt riders
cd, unleashed
@@spider13593 stylish, not pretty
@@spider13593 CD has style. Unleashed blatantly copied Pixar.
@@El_Mince CD is stylish, AND PRETTY-
@@DanielFahimi how
Love ur vids m8 u r underrated as hell
Thank you 😁
Outstanding video! Really showed some solid points on how art style influences how people see the game from before they've even played it. Just subbed
A little surprised CD wasn't mentioned since it's one of the best in the classic era after Sonic 3 anyway and 2. Loved the video btw
Oh yeah, we need your channel to blow up ASAP. Good stuff.
Pls share the videos my guy, I always forget to go “Make sure to like and subscribe” so I think people are forgetting 😭
It's cool to see another one of your videos! I believe that Sonic has taken in multiple art styles and this honestly allows him to be expressed in multiple tones. I'm glad you didn't cover Sonic Lost World because it just looks ridiculous, I have to say though, I really do like CD but I guess I'm just used to it. I respect your opinion though and this was nice to watch!
Sonic looks great in almost every iteration and it's fantastic.
Thank you for your positivity. I really liked this video.
I just watched one of your vids yesterday and you uploaded today that’s cool
this is a good video, it's strange how for some games you'll talk about the in-game visuals like with the classic series or sonic heroes, but others you'll fail to acknowledge it like the advance trilogy or especially the storybook games (which have incredible visuals in terms of cutscenes, and really help sell the style of those games).
not to mention that boom kinda gets misrepresented here by ignoring the environmental design or supporting character designs that are unlike anything in the rest of the series (not saying boom is good, just saying that it isn't like the rest of the series). wish you had brought up generations too, as it attempts to make several eras of the franchise into one cohesive style. but otherwise, this was a pretty solid video.
i really like 06 models when you put mod in forces and play one of the in game cutscenes it looks really cool but i also love sonic boom cutscenes cuz in part where lyric countre sonic homing attack and capture them you can see sonic is processing what happening i just hope sonic boom style cutscenes come back cuz i love them
The way you made the thumbnail, makes it so that it looks like fire is boosting out of Sonics hover board, if that was intentional, great job 👍
Dude I relate to your outtro on a personal level 😂
I agree!! Style is really important imo, and I hope we'll be able to have a cool new aesthetic soon!
And yes Sonic Riders' style is GOAT-
06 Eggman tho... ;)
Kinda bad 🥴
Fantastic video!
Technically the art in Sonic 3 isn't really trying to look like real life they were aiming for an interpretation on realistic environments. So think Studio Ghibli movies
Also I think sonic can work well with stylized realism. Like say if Sonic had a look of Dead or Alive 5 I feel it can work but it needs more that memphis design in there.
What really inspired sonic was more 80s and 90s anime. Yes there are western things like his get it done attitude but what was really in the devs minds was more tezuka films. That's not to say you can't have different interpretations of the character. You can make him however you want but that classic anime style is one of the things that helped influence his design. And if you watch movies like Origins: Spirits of the Past and Laputa: Castle in the Sky you can understnad where a lot of his ideas came from.
Now here's some specific aesthetics they were aiming for when they made him: solarpunk, greenpunk, sparklecore, memphis design, graffiti art, pop art, clockpunk, dieselpunk, some cyberpunk, retro futurism, it seems like those are some ideas they had in mind.
Sonic Riders would kick my ass back when I was a kid. But I think that game is the most distinct in that it's a hyper stylized future, helping with the tone and feel of the gameplay. It's lovely.
13:22 "...that allowed them to fit naturally side by side with Sonic and shit.."
That’s not what I said. But I think it’s better your way ngl. 👀
I heard it that way too!
I would love to see ou delve into the style in Sonic fancontent ! Like comics ( EVAN STANLEY !! Sonic Skyline ! ), games ( my new love : Sonic Storm and its incredible vaporwave jet set radio PS1 aesthetic, and so many others ! ), character designs ( I've seen some incredible-looking redesigns while mindlessly scrolling through tumblr, though I can't really name any artist rn ).... There's so much creativity and passion behind Sonic content creators and it's quite a sight to behold !
I love this video!
I never knew how important art representation to game representation defined the identity of a game and it's characters. This was truly interesting.
The sonic adventure starting screen started it all IT STARTED ALL THE MEMES
Dang no Sonic CD?
still a good video though
Very cool video, definitely subscribing!
DUDE HOW THE HELL COULD YOU FORGET SONIC CD?!?!
Tails isn't a mutant, he's a Twintailed Kitsune if you see Japanese Mythology. As Kitsune grow in power their number of tails increases from 1 to 9 at which point they become Kyubi. Sonic 3K you fail to recognize the more Shonen Anime aspects of Sonic which were present from the beginning starting to take center stage. I agree with much of what you are saying for the Handheld & Spinoffs as well as The Adventure Games & 06. Heroes designs weren't all that cartoony, just shiny & plastic looking owing to PS2 being the worst hardware of the 6th Gen Consoles & not being able to run stuff at the quality of the Adventure Games with their ability at the time. Shadow's game was complicated although it's style was solid for the most part. 06 looked like a masterpiece artistically at times.
Unleashed though I strongly disagree I always thought it looked awkward & ugly. The humans of Unleashed look awful & completely out of place, they look too ridiculous to exist in the Sonic Series. Unleashed looked terrible aesthetically with Dark Gaia Phoenix for example looking like a silly chicken & of course we have the cringe looking werehog transform scene which became a meme. Cartoony goes against the identity of the Sonic Series because Sonic was always supposed to have that cool Shonen Anime feel to it. Essentially if we're going with Sonic being a cartoon, think closer to Justice League or Gargoyles series that oozed Shonen despite being Western in origin. The Silly Cartoon World aesthetics would take over the series starting with Unleashed & it would just keep getting worse until Forces fixes things by taking a turn back to the more edgy realistic while keeping a lot of the cartoony aspects.
Sonic must always evolve. That’s his defining feature. He doesn’t like redundancy.
I'm surprised he didn't touch on Sonic mania at all considering the promotional art , op and sonic and friends over all character designs were charged somewhat.
5:40 brings back shadow the hedgehog memories
i get why you didn't mention the saturn games or CD but imo those are the best ones artistically, sonic R perfectly captures the magic of the classic games and puts it in a fully 3d setting that feels natural and really pretty and it feels really fitting for a classic game, i won't go over sonic the fighters but that game was similar in the sense it had the same artistic style (aside from character models being shaded differently than R and Jam) in the world designs and captures the essence of classic in 3d. as for CD, CD is an evolved version of sonic 1's core art style. it expands upon what they did in sonic 1 but makes it more over detailed an more sci-fi or surreal, for example collision chaos is some kind of natural pinball table area that is filled to the brim with nature and neon signs, (also its got my fave good future art). it also uses enviromental story telling through the art and by extension the art style, if you get the bad ending or fail to save the past you will know you fucked up. not to mention it has that really nice anime styled intro that while on the original hardware doesn't look amazing still looks great and is even better on the HD remake. it also has surrealist styled special stages that evoke unique feelings some give me liminal space vibes, aside from art style i gotta say it was a pretty big technical flex for the time.
now for jam its not very different from the classics, it feels like a direct move from the 2d games art put into 3d, its very straight forward, good looking, and i would play a whole game with this style if i could. tails and sonics models are exactly how i would have imagined them in 3d at the time. it is actually classic in 3d. not to mention the plants also are super fitting and feel great to look at next to the rest of the scenery, now while this isn't an art thing i must commend it for making proper use of both the saturns VDP chips for special effects, if they only used the main one i don't think it would have looked or ran as well as it did.
Interesting video. I will say this is just my feel on the matter, but it really feels like Sonic's design progression has leaned much more in a back to classics matter as of recently. Like take the animated stuff made for Origins for example, that is gorgeous, and its more minimal, yet well put together style fits the 2020's like a glove! As for the modern stuff, its a bit harder to come by, though weirdly, Sonic Prime might be a good stepping stone for design and style going forward. It doesn't change much but already you can see so many differences like the greater shading and dynamic posing and expressions in animation that's seen so far.
The only thing I can add is that games before modern era were so good and consistent that even if you don't like designs on their own they work in context. I don't really like Sonic's and Tails designs from Riders on their own, but in context of the game this design is perfect for Sonic
I love Shadow the hedgehog, but I absolutely get your point in the video, reusing Heroes' models is dumb af
as cyberchell once said "the sonic sprites for sonic 3 always looked pissed off to me, while in the first 2 games sonic looks determined in sonic 3 he looks like hes saying 'YOU SON OF A BITCH'"
Great video essay!! Riders' and Battle's art styles are so cool, a shame they only used them for one game...
Was hoping you'd also talk about Sonic CD's artstyle, seeing how that game takes the popart-like colors and patterns and cranks them up to eleven
One of the designs that hit the mark for me were the ones from the ''middle age'' era (mainly Sonic Riders, A1-A2, Rush series, Heroes, 06, Advance and X), where Sonic's colors had gotten darker and deeper. His classic shiny blue has gotten a little darker and his quills longer, the eyes have received a strong green and the red shoes got a little longer, all of those small additions to the hedgehog's appearence made him feel more mature, it isn't a matter of Classic or Modern, he has simply aged a little bit.
Its funny how console Sonic changed its style in every spinoff or almost every game, but we still had Adventure Sonic on handhelds 'til 2007's Sonic Rush Adventure
you forgot to mention the stylistic choice of having minecraft trees in both lost world and forces
We all know the sa2 art was the best
3:59 “Silly, Funny, Mickey Mouse”
Epic Mickey: hold my beer
Hold my brush
Sonic Rush, especially its music, is a very stylish game
For once since 2010, the newest 2022 sonic game although we saw nothing but a symbol seems to be going back to a seemingly grittier, more realistic environment and I'm all for it
Ngl I like eastern adaptations of sonic
Especially movies
Sorry I prefer ova over sonic movie
Another good video mate
what a great video! love the essay style, havnt watched the sonic riders one yet. but i bet its gonna be awesome
I think there more things in sonic boom you could mention like how it’s animation and how smooth it was and how the world tried to mixed fantasy and technology (good video btw)
I honestly really dislike the art direction for Lost World and Forces.
For the 3DS version of LW and Runners its understandable. Obviously those are smaller games running on weaker hardware so limiting polygons is optimal, but for the Wii-U and PC versions its almost inexcusable. Especially since if they wanted to create a "wackier" art-style for Sonic they could easily have taken a page from Nights into Dreams to create a surreal, yet grounded environment as opposed to Tele-tubby bootleg Sonic 2 layouts w/Minecraft trees for some reason.
And as for Forces that game lacks so much of the style games Unleashed previous had with even less shapes and an even blander art direction. Green Hill has never looked or felt so... """"Green Hill"""-esque. The lack of any emotion from the characters doesnt help either.
Take a shot everytime this guy says “serious”
F in the chat for my boi Tails at 3:12
5:26 que facha rey
3:53
Kingdom Hearts: Am I a joke to you?
I’d be OK if they just use the models from 06 just so that the cut scenes look OK again and not like the characters are flapping their hands about for no reason all the time
Okay but shadow with a gun is super hilarious
Sonic’s humans were always going for realism. 06’s style is the correct way to go as it’s cooler and their vision. It’s just the Adventure look taken to its most logical extreme and it’s the best looking 3D Sonic game in terms of aesthetics for that reason. It didn’t lose anything, it enhanced everything. They should have continued with this style no matter what any one complained about because it’s correct, true to the series roots, and also has MANY fans.
It was never a reboot by the way. That’s a fan myth. It has continuity with the Adventure games, Shadow the Hedgehog, and even Sonic 1 with Sonic Man’s shirt.
Lmao “it was a fan myth” bro go Watch Did You Know Gaming.
@@ItsNickForShort It's been proven it wasn't a reboot. There is no Sega/Sonic Team interview that states it as such. The only source to that myth is Sonic Retro (A fansite without a source after that) and speculation on Giant Bomb. Them calling it "SONIC THE HEDGEHOG" and saying they are going back to their roots/treating it with the same importance as the first game does not mean that the continuity is starting over. That's objectively impossible considering the game contains overt continuity with Shadow the Hedgehog and mentions the GUN President in White Acropolis.
Did you know gaming is objectively incorrect on this. There is no source to his information just a bunch of speculation like always when it comes to this topic. The game was always a Sonic game, it was never meant to be something else. Silver was taken from a scrapped physics based game being made at the time, but the game itself and all of its ideas originate from Sonic Team as a Sonic game.
Like, unless you can provide a Sega/Sonic Team created article where they themselves describe it as a "Continuity Reboot" or having begun as not a Sonic game (Which I cannot find no matter how hard I look) than objectively speaking it is untrue and is just a bunch of wild mass speculation from Sonic fans over the name of the game and misrepresentation of how they have described the game.
@@ItsNickForShort The game continues Shadow's story from his previous game, which itself was a continuation of SA2. Shadow has became an agent in the G.U.N after saving the world, and they kept that plot with 06. no need to disparage.
Subbed. Amazing video
Hey where is Sonic Mania:c
But this was a great video indeed!I never saw such a great way to explain the art evolution of sonic i think no one could've explained it better than you!I felt the same wqy as you but i never had those words to express my opinion on Sonic artstyle.
You deserve a sub from me my guy!😁👍
I wonder if sonic boom was a hit. That would be his art style right now. So maybe no colors remake? It would clash with his new identity
cool!
You missed Sonic Forces, where Sonic's quills got shorter and his fur got more light blue color.
It's ugly
Great video i agree with a lot of what you have to say.
I need that Star Light Zone remix
Same
i found it, it's Sonic Mania Star light zone 2 (not in game).
Now just Imagine a sonic game made by Arc System Works.
HOLY FUCKING SHIT YES, YES, AND YES!! It's something that people dont talk that much, to be honest i think the Sonic Adventure 1/2 should be the main style of all games. Sonic always have been a cartoonish character but he always had the "cool" aspect, and the Adventure style tells that PERFECLY. And i love this COOL RADICAL EDGY thing B)
If there's no thing everyone can agree on is that Sonic has _Style._