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.  ^__^

My Sonic Fan-Girl Chronicles, Chapter 9—2001, Sonic Adventure

A long time coming but here it is, the next main chapter to my chronicles as a fan of Sonic the Hedgehog (and Shadow the Hedgehog, as you shall soon see...)

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness Sonic Adventure.   I was blown away by the beginning intro movie.   And jeez the rock music! There’s singing in it!  Singing!!  The graphics were so amazing and fluid and Sonic was…Sonic was uh…different.  Very different.  I mean I knew for a couple of years, but…dayum, Sonic’ s longer quills, green eyes and…yeah, I’ll stop right there before it gets weird.  I was fifteen years old, and then sixteen years old when I got the SEGA Dreamcast.  So there.

This excerpt is from July 4, 2001.  Hah, an Independence Day!  I didn’t remember!

★4^th O’ July—Yeah, I played SA alright.  I began a little later than I [wanted to] cuz there was something extra needed to plug in the Dreamcast machine with (or into the TV).  I wanted to help Dad with it cuz I was definitely interested.  Oh, while Dad went to Best Buy to get the extra cable, I read the instruction manual for SA and I found out some cool stuff about the game—‘bout Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy Rose, Gamma E-102, and Big the Cat.  I realized that this video game was more than just collecting 7 Chaos Emeralds, freeing animals and busting up RBNK.  In fact I think it was TOO MUCH!  I know I should be able to handle all of that, but boy is this game something or what?  There is actual dialogue in the game… unlike the games for the SEGA Genesis.  Okay, I’ll write more tomorrow…★

According to what I wrote the next few days after I started playing the game, I seemed to have been in love with Sonic.  At my age of 16, was that weird?  And with Shadow too.  I got a chance to play Sonic Adventure pretty much almost every day.  It helped me wait for the advent of Sonic Adventure 2.  This was before I had my own computer, let alone experience the Internet (except for a few weeks in 7^th grade computer class elective).  So I couldn’t learn too much about Shadow at the time.  But, as for Sonic Adventure, I needless to say started with Sonic’s story in the game, and then little by little tried out the other characters like Tails and Knuckles.  Knuckles’ story was especially interesting because of the past with the other echidnas.   There were other echidna characters appearing in a Sonic game, it was bizarre.  Supposedly Knux was the last of ‘em.  The best of them.  Tougher than lava!....See what I did there?  His theme song was a rap?  A rap?  Just cuz he has dreadlocks.   My sister was a big fan of Knuckles; she was happy to play through his story.  She enjoyed making m him run around in the Mystic Ruins.

And then…and then the robot Gamma E-102.   I still need to write about him for my other blog Cybernetic Dreams.   His story wasn’t very long, but it was a nice story; he worked for Dr. Eggman and then eventually turned good and helped out Amy Rose.  But…but his story is sad.  Gamma E-102 is one of the robot characters that led me to my fascination with robots.  But that is another story, maybe to be shared on Cybernetic Dreams.

Gosh, there are so many things to say about both Sonic Adventures, but I don’t want each game post to be a whole book!  So I‘ll mention some things, a few of which might have its own post: The NiGHTS Pinball game OMG... And of course…the new Super Sonic!  Yikes!   :O

My Sonic Fan-Girl Chronicles, Bonus Chapter: Favorite Stages of Sonic the Hedgehog Games I’ve Played

 
• Sonic the Hedgehog (1991): Green Hill Zone
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2: TIE: Oil Ocean Zone and Metropolis Zone
• Sonic  the Hedgehog 3: TIE: Hydrocity and Ice Cap Zone
• Sonic & Knuckles: Lava Reef Zone for both Knuckles and Sonic
• Sonic 3D Blast: Diamond Dust Zone (the music makes me smile)
• Sonic Adventure: NiGHTS Pinball Game!!! (I know, it’s not a stage, but…it’s NiGHTS!)
• Sonic Adventure 2: TIE: Green Forest for Sonic; White Jungle for Shadow
• Sonic Unleashed: Dragon Road-Day (sometimes frustrating but the song makes me happy J)
• Sonic Rivals 2: TIE: Mystic Haunt Zone Acts 1 and 3 (and Act 2 is my favorite Battle stage in this game because I like the music; I often have Sonic, Shadow and Silver fight there.) And the Chaotic Inferno Zone because I like the level design and music there too.
• Sonic Generations:  Green Hill Zone Act 2 (gotta go fass!)

 

The next bonus chapter may be about my least favorite stages from Sonic games I've played.

Does anyone have a favorite Sonic stage they want to share and why?

My Sonic Fan-Girl Chronicles, Chapter 8—2001, The Dreamcast and Sonic Adventure: It’s Archie Comics’ fault!

In late June 2001 at the end of our tenth-grade school year, my sister and I received #98 of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book from Archie Comic.   Issue #98 featured a tie-in with the story for Sonic Adventure 2.  We were very curious about this other male hedgehog that was added to the cast of characters.  Who is this Shadow?  Of course not all hedgehogs are blue (ha ha) but I wondered why Shadow was colored black and red.  Actually, in the comic book he was more like dark navy blue and red.  Oh no, an evil hedgehog who looked like Sonic!  Usually if there was any kind of Sonic doppelganger, it would be a mechanical version like Robo Sonic or Metal Sonic.  But this was a flesh and blood character, not a robot.

Issues #79-84 featured the tie-in with the first Sonic Adventure.  Of course, we read the comics before we got a SEGA Dreamcast, so we were already exposed to the new form of Super Sonic before playing the SA Last Story.   I wrote about my SEGA Dreamcast experience often in my diary—just those three Sonic games, because those were the only games we played for that console.  Now, I don’t have too good of a memory for what happened about getting the new Dreamcast and Sonic Adventure, Sonic Shuffle and later, Sonic Adventure 2.   Fortunately, those memories are kept secure in my diary.  I was able to find it, and I’m going to share an excerpt from it here…since I’m so brave ;)

★ July 3, 2001  OHMYGOD, I cannot sit still, in fact I couldn’t even eat my breakfast this morning.  Wanna know why?  I’ll tell you know I can’t contain myself…WE GOT DREAMCAST!!

Okay—it all began when Sunday [July 1^st], I saw this BestBuy sales papers thing and, I looked in it and saw a sale for SA2.  Then I looked above that, and I noticed something even bigger…a Sonic Pack, complete w/ the Dreamcast machine including SA and Sonic Shuffle, as well as a playable demo of SA2!!  Ahhghh!  The perfect opportunity!  I told [Sis] that perhaps if we put our own money into all that and ask our parents if we can buy it, maybe there’s a chance that…well…we can own the new Dreamcast system after all.  So [Sis] [and I] secretly talked to each other about any pros and cons of those games—a lot of pros, too.  It was decided that Monday would be the day to tell our parents about it, so yesturday (sic) right after dinner, I brought it up, and [Sis] and I told them about the stuff.  And guess what?  They approved!

[Sis] and I were absolutely overjoyed and excited.  We beamed “Oh my god, this is GREAT!  This is soooo cool!”  It was hard for me to sleep calm, keeping in mind it was really warm in my room last night, plus I was really excited ‘bout gettin’ Dreamcast and 2 ¼ Sonic games.  Think what kind of music/songs are gonna be heard, and everything.  I love Sonic.  Just knowing the fact that sometime this week we will own [the] SEGA Dreamcast [console] made me the happiest girl in the neighborhood.

Well, this morning didn’t start out so hot.  I was so nervous that when I started having cereal, I got gas that was bad enough for me to run to the bathroom.  It turned to an upset stomach and I was forced to vomit my breakfast—what little of it I ate.  I felt much better after that, and after a shower and clothes, I went with Mom and [Sis] to BestBuy to get the Sonic Pack.  ★

The next main chapter, Chapter 9, will be about Sonic Adventure.