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

An article about reflection on Sonic the Hedgehog, from Videogameologists.com

I’ve got another treat for you Sonic fans out there—I’m not the only who reminisce (and still is reminiscing) about my experience/thoughts/memories on playing Sonic the Hedgehog video games!  The other day I came across this article by Videogameologists.com writer Erik G. about the 21 years that Sonic has been around (the article was written in 2012, but I still find it relevant).  Maybe it was because I am also doing my own reminiscing of Sonic games on Cyborg Haven, but I was so spazzed to read this article and it made me smile.

The article is titled, "Looking Back at 21 Years of Sonic And What Made Him Great".  I have to highlight one of Erik’s sentences in this post.  It made me nod my head for some seconds because it is sooo true!

 

“Sonic games aren’t about speed, but flow. Yes Sonic runs fast, but you aren’t running fast when you run into an enemy or get poked by a spike trap. Instead, you get through the stages the fastest by knowing where thing are ahead of time and knowing what to do.”

 

Yes!  Trial and error, baby!  An excellent learning tool when playing video games! In order to get the best rating I can (so I can get an S rating and/or a medal), I need to play the stage once through and then subsequent times afterward while the layout is still very fresh in my mind.  If I’m lucky if I haven’t played the game for a while, I’d know the lay out of the stage better because I had Sonic run through it enough times to know when to jump or turn or activate a Boost.

 

Anyway, in his article Erik goes through his thoughts on Sonic’s 21 (then) years in the video game universe, mainly the console games (SEGA Genesis, SEGA Dreamcast, the Nintendo Wii, and Playstation 3).  It’s a nice read and made me feel good about being a Sonic fan.   If you read it and like his article, I suggest you share it with other fans of Sonic as well, those who love him and especially those who need to re-appreciate the Sonic video game franchise for what it was, what it is now and what it will become.  Maybe there will be less Sonic-haters out there…?

 

http://www.videogameologists.com/2012/06/23/looking-back-at-21-years-of-sonic-and-what-made-him-great/

 

BONUS BIT:  I really like that I am not alone with Sonic Adventure 2 being my favorite game for the SEGA Dreamcast.  For me, it’s all because of Shadow—it was just so interesting that there was another hedgehog for Sonic to get to know besides that Amy Rose, let alone another male hedgehog.  He was new and mysterious and perpetually frowning.  Nyawww, so cute (there goes my fan-girl self, going all gaga). 

 

I want to write a separate Bonus Chapter for my thoughts/memories on Shadow the Hedgehog, because I love him so much.  :3  He deserves a post or two from me.  (Did you see my list near the bottom right of Cyborg Haven?  I cried after I beat Sonic Adventure 2.  Because Shadow.)

 

An old Shadow the Hedgehog sketch

I realize that Shadow is missing his left arm.  Needless to say this drawing is incomplete, but I still want to share it.  I used a reference, obviously...




Drawing by Amethyst Anne, November 24 and December 18, 2001
Shadow the Hedgehog belongs to SEGA.



     2001 was the year that I got the SEGA Dreamcast for the reason that I wanted to play Sonic Adventure 2.  The Sonic the Hedgehog Archie comic book series did a brief thing on SA2 in issue #98.  It is one of my very favorite issues of the comic book.   I ended up getting the Dreamcast with a Sonic Adventure Bundle (SA, Sonic Shuffle, and a demo of SA2).   By December 2001 I was about half done with finishing the game, and even though Shadow was a villian, he was growing on me, probably because he was a hedgehog like Sonic.  So I wanted to draw him.

I drew this picture during winter break from high school.  I'd feel bad drawing him when I'd have homework to do, so winter break was a nice time to do it.  :3  It took a few days; I left it and got back to it again.

Yay Shadow!!!   ^,^