My Anniversary of Beating the Game: Sonic Adventure 2

I meant to post this on March 22, but life got in the way.  So here it is,...the beginning of a thorough reminisce of my favorite Sonic game of all time, Sonic Adventure 2.

May 22, 2002.  So this was…12 years ago!  Man, I feel so old.  I was in 11^th grade.  It was on a Friday night, and for dinner I had buffalo chicken wings and the “Mr. X” episode of The Simpsons was on.  What time did I start?  My spring break was starting the next Monday and I was looking forward to basking in the joy that is beating the game, but I ended up being depressed not only because I beat this game.  I was depressed because Shadow’s story ended in Sonic Adventure 2.

Or so we thought!


I still think about it every once in a while.  It was probably one of the most triumphant—and bittersweet—finishing of a Sonic game I’ve ever experienced. 


The reason why I am posting this little bit of my memory about the night I finished the game, is because I am going to refer to my diary and document my writings about what I thought or liked about Sonic Adventure 2.  Of course, Shadow the Hedgehog is the #1 reason why I needed the SEGA Dreamcast in the first place—the reason why we got one at all, thanks to Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog #98..  When the TV ad for SA2 aired, we didn’t have a Dreamcast.  It was then we realized we needed to upgrade from SEGA Genesis.
 
“Throw It All Away” is still my favorite theme song for Shadow.  It was different from the usual rock music that would be associated with Sonic. The first part is not sung, it is said, and it made me nervous…but like a good nervous?  I don’t know what to call the genre/style of Shadow’s theme here… a cross between electronic and eclectic?  Techno mix?  I dunno.  But it certainly was a different mood you don’t get with theme songs of other characters. 


I am also watching the cut-scenes again from the game to have a direct refresh of memory, since I haven’t touched this game for um…about 10 years. I can watch them knowing now that Shadow is okay (at least maybe 75% of Sonic fans think so) but I will also be reminded of how shocked or surprised I was when I witnessed what was in my opinion the biggest moment for me in SA2: Sonic and Shadow joining forces and turning Super together!

[Sigh]…so the last two weeks of March always feel different because Sonic Adventure 2 was the video game that changed me the most as a Sonic fan-girl.  It is significant to me in the fact that this was around the time I finished the game.  And I don't think I shared a lot of my feelings or experience about this game because I wasn't presently playing it.  Plus there were other games I was playing.   But I have to share them soon, because SA2 is an important part of my gaming history, my gaming experience.


Should I make this part of the Sonic Fan-Girl Chronicles?  I probably can.  I meant to do it as part of the series anyway, but it's just been delayed for a long while.  It's finally coming.  Too bad I couldn't post it toward the end of March.   It will have to be in April, then.  I have to still document and collect some more memories/journal entries about my time playing Sonic Adventure 2.


Come back again soon!  I'll have some treats to share.  ^__^

The Gaming Historian: The History of Sonic the Hedgehog

The other day I was trying out how my link worked for a 1992 TV ad of the handheld LCD Sonic game, (I posted about it here), and after watching the video, YouTube recommended several more videos, and I decided to check one out.  The Gaming Historian did a four-part series on Sonic the Hedgehog—from his SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive days to his SEGA Dreamcast days and a bit beyond.  In my opinion, this is an entertaining and well-organized presentation on Sonic’s history, mentioning the names in SEGA and Sonic Team who brought Sonic into the video game world and into many gamers’ hearts (like mine!).  I liked how he talks about how Tails was created and the introduction to Knuckles the Echidna.  There were even a couple of Sonic video games I’ve never heard of until watching the second half of the series.

 

Here is Part 1, about 10 minutes long.   If interested, you can watch the other three parts of the series too (they are between seven to nine minutes each).  Also, check out more of the videos from The Gaming Historian YouTube channel. He may have some nice history lessons on your favorite childhood video games!

 

My Sonic Fan-Girl Chronicles, Bonus Chapter: Espio the Chameleon—The reason I like chameleons

So….purple is my favorite color.  Yep.  And I guess in 1995 it helped me notice this chameleon character from Knuckles Chaotix, a purple chameleon named Espio.  Eventually I learned that his name is part of the word “espionage”, spying.  Makes sense; chameleons blend in with their immediate surroundings, so that name totally goes with him, and nowadays, he’s been portrayed as a ninja character, sporting ninja stars and ninja leave-blades and others of the sort.  But I think it makes him cooler than before.

See…way back in 1995 I thought he was a girl.  I was reading a video game magazine and found a description for the Knuckles Chaotix video game for the SEGA 32X system.  When it mentioned controlling the characters, it used the pronouns “ him/her.”  It must have confused me, because if all the other characters were male then it must mean that the purple character is a female.  (Really it doesn’t matter, there’s nothing wrong with males wearing purple at all).  The peach-colored area of this chameleon’s chest was heart-shaped like a female character in the Sonic universe might have (think Sally Acorn of Sonic SAT AM fame).  So for a while, yeah, I thought Espio was a girl.  A very kinda naked, very cranky-looking girl.

I used to give him a nickname, because I’d get nervous (shy, blush) whenever I said his name, so for a while I called him “Metrio.”  It rhymed with “Espio” didn’t it? Around then I’ve heard of the word “metro” before but I didn’t understand what it meant.  I was…lessee, 1996…I was around 10 or 11 years old.

I made up a song about the Chaotix Team too, or was it just Espio?  (Actually a lot of Sonic-related characters or stuff had inspired original music from Sis and me…all of which we now both agree is stupid, but hey, we were kids and had fun with it.)

Years later when he makes an appearance in Sonic Heroes, his voice sounds pretty masculine.  Maybe it helps.   What is his actual age, anyways?   I was sort of disappointed that his voice sounded as deep as it did, but over time I got used to it.  Even now I like his voice in Sonic Rivals 2 and then Sonic Generations when Sonic has to shine searchlights on him and do a homing attack to progress through the challenge. 

It’s funny…ever since I was fascinated with Espio, it became apparent over time that the chameleon turned out to be my favorite lizard, really my favorite reptile.  In fact, if someone asked me if I had a favorite dinosaur, I’d say mine is a triceratops—because it reminds me of the chameleon.  Hey…maybe the chameleon might be a distant descendant of the triceratops, but I dunno.  That is a job for research at a later time, I suppose.  They certainly didn’t have skin that blended with their surroundings.  I thought it was  so interesting that chameleons can do that.  Heh.   Sort of makes me want to read up on chameleons now.  How they do dat?  How do they change the color of their skin to match the color on the thing they stand on?  Didn’t a couple of TV ads this year feature chameleons?  (A paint commercial and one other company.)

So…that’s my history on how I became a fan of Espio the Chameleon.  Pretty cool, huh? …  Or weird.  Whichever is closer.