History FranchiseOriginalSin / SonicTheHedgehog

* A major complaint about ''VideoGame/SonicSuperstars'' is how [[NintendoHard insanely difficult]] the final bosses of each campaign are. However, a lot of the things people complain about the final boss of Trip's campaign can be traced back to the final boss of Sonic 2. There are two phases to the fight, both with overly precise hitboxes that make stacking hits difficult. (Metal Sonic can only be hit it the front part of its head as his spines will damage Sonic, and the Egg Robo has two spiked hands that give you only the ''briefest'' of windows to damage it less you instead hit the spikes.) On top of all that, you had to do it ''without rings'', making Sonic a OneHitPointWonder. And if you died, you had to start it ''all'' from the beginning instead. The main real difference however is that nether boss actively restricted your movement, so it ultimately came down to your own skill you had developed since the start to avoid taking damage. The final bosses of ''Superstars'' meanwhile have attacks that can actively mess with the level layout, and in the case of Trip's final boss, an attack that completely immobilizes you that unless your good at SmashingSurvival, you're basically getting an instant game over if you get trapped by it. Additionally the final boss of ''Sonic 2'' doesn't spend a lot of time in the background or staying out of your line of attack, so if you know what you're doing, you can take them down fairly quickly, while in ''Superstars'' they often have long hit and wine up animations that makes the fight [[MarathonBoss quite a long one]], which makes getting a game over to them all the more punishing.

* The game started a trend in the series where it began shedding its surreal, cartoon-like tone in favor of a serious, sometimes whimsical [[ShonenDemographic shōnen]] style of plot and writing. While this game's story is rather serious, it wasn't too dark compared to the previous games (most of its darker elements are relegated to FridgeHorror and InferredHolocaust) and its tone and CharacterDevelopment made it far more ambitious than the ''Sonic'' games before it and was well-received. As the series went on, not only did [[OnceOriginalNowCommon the novelty of having serious Sonic stories wear off as they became increasingly more common in the mid-2000s]], but later games tended to lack the CharacterDevelopment and lore building to the original series that made this story work, and the dark aspects were ramped up to the extent that the series was seen as becoming an over the top parody of itself, reaching its apex with Shadow's spinoff game and the highly controversial 2006 game.

* The game started a trend in the series where it began shedding its surreal, cartoon-like tone in favor of a serious, sometimes whimsical [[ShonenDemographic shōnen]] style of plot and writing. While this game's story is rather serious, it wasn't too dark compared to the previous games (most of its darker elements are relegated to FridgeHorror and InferredHolocaust) and its tone and CharacterDevelopment made it far more ambitious than the ''Sonic'' games before it and allowed it to be well-received. As the series went on, not only did [[OnceOriginalNowOverdone the novelty of having serious Sonic stories wear off as they became increasingly more common in the mid-2000s]], but later games tended to lack the CharacterDevelopment and lore building to the original series that made this story work, and the dark aspects were ramped up to the extent that the series was seen as becoming an over the top parody of itself, reaching its apex with Shadow's spinoff game and the highly controversial 2006 game.

* The game started a trend in the series where it began shedding its surreal, cartoon-like tone in favor of a serious, sometimes whimsical [[ShonenDemographic shōnen]] style of plot and writing. While this game's story is rather serious, it wasn't too dark compared to the previous games (most of its darker elements are relegated to FridgeHorror and InferredHolocaust) and its tone and CharacterDevelopment made it far more ambitious than the ''Sonic'' games before it and allowed it to be well-received. As the series went on, not only did [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny the novelty of having serious Sonic stories wear off as they became more common]], but later games tended to lack the CharacterDevelopment and lore building to the original series that made this story work, and the dark aspects were ramped up to the extent that the series was seen as becoming an over the top parody of itself, reaching its apex with Shadow's spinoff game and the highly controversial 2006 game.

* The almighty speed booster is introduced in Chemical Plant Zone. Not a problem here, but it caught Dimps' eye, leading to a common criticism of the ''VideoGame/{{Sonic Rush|Series}}'' series and especially ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4'' being the sheer overabundance of them throughout the game.

* The revelation that [[spoiler:Espio is a member of a ninja clan and his betrayal of the Chaotix to the Iron Dominion (said ninja clans' masters)]] was only the latest in a series of {{Retcon}}s[=/=]{{Face Heel Turn}}s involving certain characters during Ian Flynn's run, most famously Fiona Fox revealing out of nowhere that the only reason she fell in love with Sonic was because of [[EvilTwin Scourge]], and then betraying the Freedom Fighters to be his girlfriend. While not without controversy, it slid by, as Fiona was a mostly forgotten CanonForeigner before ''exploding'' in popularity as a villain. With [[spoiler:Espio]], however, he was not only a popular character as a hero, but also a character straight from the games, and it became far harder to ignore. Thankfully, [[spoiler:he got better]].

* The revelation that [[spoiler:Espio is a member of a ninja clan and his betrayal of the Chaotix to the Iron Dominion (said ninja clans' masters)]] was only the latest in a series of {{Retcon}}s[=/=]{{Face Heel Turn}}s involving certain characters during Ian Flynn's run, most famously Fiona Fox revealing out of nowhere that the only reason she fell in love with Sonic was because of [[EvilTwin Scourge]], and then betraying the Freedom Fighters to be his girlfriend. While not without controversy, it slid by, as Fiona was a mostly forgotten CanonForeigner before ''exploding'' in popularity as a villain. With [[spoiler:Espio]], however, he was not only a popular character as a hero, but also a character straight from the games, and it became far harder to ignore.

* ''Sonic 2'' would start the trend of every major title introducing at least one new character, in this case Tails. This initially wasn't a problem since Tails lacked the common writing problems and GameplayRoulette that plagued future characters, but with each game that passes by with a new residential BaseBreakingCharacter or [[TheScrappy Scrappy]], the novelty wore off and now any implication of adding a new character in the latest ''Sonic'' title [[BrokenBase can make fans lose it]].\\
Another reason why this wasn't a problem during the early years was that the cast was fairly small[[note]]Before this game, the only characters were Sonic and Robotnik[[/note]], so not only did the new characters bring something new to the table, either be story or gameplay wise, but they didn't overshadow already existing characters. Meanwhile, in later years, the series' cast had grown considerably, so new characters were often considered redundant and often came at the expense of an already existing character being DemotedToExtra or PutOnABus.

* Sega's very loose policy on the canonicity of side materials (most notably the cartoons and comics) created a BrokenBase as early as ''1992'' -- one year after Sonic was introduced -- as Sonic fans started siding with one particular interpretation while viciously attacking the other ones, not unlike today's Broken Base with ''Sonic'' (only more so with gameplay than story, though the latter isn't rare either). During the '90s, however, Sonic fans [[UsefulNotes/ConsoleWars had a common enemy in Nintendo and Mario]], so the cracks didn't become visible to most until 2001 with ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2''. At that point, Sega exerted greater enforcement over canonicity, rendering all other storylines non-canon, followed shortly by its financial collapse and subsequent alliance with Nintendo. With the barriers torn down and no uniting force, the bickering became the ''Sonic'' fandom's most infamous trait.

* ''Sonic 2'' would start the trend of every major title introducing at least one new character, in this case Tails. This initially wasn't a problem since Tails lacked the common writing problems and GameplayRoulette that plagued future characters, but with each game that passes by with a new residential BaseBreakingCharacter or [[TheScrappy Scrappy]], the novelty wore off and now any implication of adding a new character in the latest ''Sonic'' title [[BrokenBase can cause fans to lose it]].\\

** Related to the above; the ''abundance'' of characters as well. Almost ''every'' game introduced a new major recurring character, starting with Tails (Sonic 2), Amy and Metal Sonic (Sonic CD), and Knuckles (Sonic 3). Initially, these characters were rather popular and considered fresh additions (and because of the GrandfatherClause, you'll find very few who hate these four in particular) that added to Sonic's world. But these characters became increasingly numerous, and started to overshadow Sonic himself, and were often tied to questionable gameplay styles. Public opinion started to turn against them, and fans demanded for the cast to be cut down, which led to the aforementioned era of having Sonic as the only playable character.[[note]]Barring sports spinoffs such as the ''Olympic Games'' series that crossed over with ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'', which allowed for the other Sonic characters to be playable.[[/note]] The only games to actually avoid the trap of too many playable characters and/or the GameplayRoulette problem are ''VideoGame/SonicMania'' and, strangely enough, ''VideoGame/SonicAndTheBlackKnight'', of all games - the latter's surprisingly classic-style implementation is largely overshadowed by its main issues, but ''Mania's'' example is often cited as what Sonic Team should've been doing all along in this regard.

* The ''Knuckles'' comic was another problem, with Penders deciding not to expand on clues left behind in the video games at the time--indeed, he claimed to have never played the games before joining the comic. Instead, he used the comic more to [[WorldBuilding world-build]] a society of echidnas, mostly because Sega wouldn't let him get away with anything like that with Sonic himself, but they completely ignored what he was doing with Knuckles, giving him carte blanche to do basically whatever he wanted. It worked out for a while, mainly because it helped flesh out the comics' world, and the stories themselves were good enough. After ''Knuckles'' merged back into ''Sonic'', though, [[SpotlightStealingSquad Knuckles' story was given an increasingly heavy focus while Sonic's fell by the wayside, even though the comic was named after the latter.]] All of this culminated in the "Great Harmony" subplot, where Knuckles is proclaimed [[TheChosenOne The Avatar]], one of two heroes prophesied to bring about the eponymous event, while Sonic is just "another champion". This CreatorsPet mentality towards echidnas would eventually cause Penders to trigger the lawsuit that helped kill the comic entirely, though in this case it was Penders himself getting an oversized ego and burning every bridge in the process.

** Additionally, the cases of Eggman getting upstaged in ''Adventure'' and its sequel still gave the doctor enough relative nuance and context to prevent decay, or at least keep it from going too far. While Perfect Chaos does betray him at the end of ''Adventure'' by destroying Station Square, Eggman's original plan is exactly ''for'' that to happen, but only on ''his'' terms. In ''Adventure 2'', despite being subtly manipulated by [[spoiler:Shadow and Gerald]] over the game, he still shows off some agency in manipulating other events himself (e.g. the Prison Island heist, tricking Tails into telling him which Chaos Emerald was the real one) and puts his own effort into defeating the ultimate threat. ''Heroes'', however, has him spend most of the game [[spoiler:locked in a room by Metal Sonic while [[ActuallyADoombot robotic decoys]] are deployed in his place as enemies]], with several of the following games having him be treated as effectively an afterthought to the greater narrative even when he was still being built up as a major villain.
* The presence of [[GameplayRoulette alternate gameplay styles]], ironically, is ''worse'' in some ''Adventure'' routes than in its followers, with Big the Cat's infamous fishing action stages being especially disliked. But ''Adventure'' also segregates these alternate gameplay styles into their own story paths; while you need to play every story for the TrueFinalBoss, there's never a worry when you're playing Sonic's story that you'll be playing as anyone except Sonic (the sole exception being the flight minigames where the player is technically controlling Tails, but the Sky Chase special stages are fast-paced and fun enough that few can complain). Later games have different gameplay styles on a level-by-level basis, or even interrupting a character's level to have you start playing another. There's also the fact that ''Adventure'''s takes on Tails and Knuckles are generally well-liked and not too dissimilar from Sonic, while their appearances in later games tend to be much more divergent, inconsistent, and clumsily executed.

* Related to the issues of juggling CharacterFocus among the franchise's roster, while this game didn't quite ''start'' the trend of introducing characters with nothing to do outside of the plot of their original game (which really began with ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Knuckles]]''), this game started showing the limitations of that approach with Gamma [[spoiler:dying]] and Tikal and Chaos just {{Disappear|s Into Light}}ing. At the time, it wasn't a really big deal, since, again, there was nothing left for these characters to do after their stories ended, but over time, the franchise has accumulated Big (and Froggy), VideoGame/{{S|onicAdventure2}}hadow, [[VideoGame/SonicBattle Emerl, Chaos Gamma]], [[VideoGame/SonicRush Blaze]], [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 Silver, Princess Elise III]], [[VideoGame/SonicStorybookSeries Shahra, Merlina]], [[VideoGame/SonicUnleashed Chip]], and others who are all nowadays just floating around in the margins. While the especially popular Knuckles and Shadow have stuck around in the main cast, this has mostly been accomplished by [[TheArtifact ignoring their backstories]].

* One of the most common complaints about the infamous ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' is that it was [[ObviousBeta too glitchy even for its time]]. This can be seen with this game, which had to acknowledge and pass off the enormous number of glitches for its first half as "[[HandWave diabolical traps]]". Both games also ended up like this due to Sega [[ChristmasRushed rushing development in order release it by a certain date]]. The difference is that ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'' had the lock-on gimmick to fix many of its more intense glitches and offered many good qualities even with its previous ObviousBeta state. ''Sonic 2006'' never got a fixed version or patch and many believe that the game would still be bad even if the glitches were fixed due to various [[ScrappyMechanic questionable design and gameplay choices]].

!! General
* SEGA's very loose policy on the canonicity of side materials (most notably the cartoons and comics) created a BrokenBase as early as ''1992'' -- one year after Sonic was introduced -- as Sonic fans started siding with one particular interpretation while viciously attacking the other ones, not unlike today's Broken Base with ''Sonic'' (only more so with gameplay than story, though the latter isn't rare either). During the '90s, however, Sonic fans [[UsefulNotes/ConsoleWars had a common enemy in Nintendo and Mario]], so the cracks didn't become visible to most until 2001 with ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2''. At that point, SEGA exerted greater enforcement over canonicity, rendering all other storylines non-canon, followed shortly by its financial collapse and subsequent alliance with Nintendo. With the barriers torn down and no uniting force, the bickering became the ''Sonic'' fandom's most infamous trait.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW-nMRZGpgA This episode]] of ''WebVideo/ErrantSignal'' argues that the early marketing of the Sonic games, which focused on how fast Sonic can go, eventually led to problems in the 3D games as SEGA started to buy into their own marketing hype. Maintaining control of Sonic's momentum is the main facet of the gameplay in the older 2D games, not simply speed for its own sake, something that was forgotten in the post-''Adventure'' Sonic games. This led to problems when the series made its VideoGame3DLeap, leading to games where poor controls designed more for high speed than precision lead to exercises in controller-throwing frustration. Only starting with ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' and especially with ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' did SEGA finally figure out how to do Sonic in 3D, mainly by rediscovering the focus on controlling Sonic's speed rather than simply going as fast as possible (and there are some who say that they still haven't completely figured ''that'' out, either).

** Related to the above; the ''abundance'' of characters as well. Almost ''every'' game introduced a new major recurring character, starting with Tails (Sonic 2), Amy and Metal Sonic (Sonic CD), and Knuckles (Sonic 3). Initially, these characters were rather popular and considered fresh additions (and because of the GrandfatherClause, you'll find very few who hate these four in particular) that added to Sonic's world. But these characters became increasingly numerous, and started to overshadow Sonic himself, and were often tied to questionable gameplay styles. Public opinion started to turn against them, and fans demanded for the cast to be cut down, which led to the aforementioned era of having Sonic as the only playable character.[[note]]Barring sports spinoffs such as the ''Olympic Games'' series that crossed over with ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'', which allowed for the other Sonic characters to be playable.[[/note]] The only games to actually avoid the trap of too many playable characters and/or the GameplayRoulette problem are ''VideoGame/SonicMania'' and, strangely enough, ''[[VideoGame/SonicStorybookSeries Sonic and the Black Knight]]'', of all games - the latter's surprisingly classic-style implementation is largely overshadowed by its main issues, but ''Mania's'' example is often cited as what Sonic Team should've been doing all along in this regard.

** Classic Sonic's original introduction in ''Generations'' is a move that was universally praised. Because of that game's massive success, SEGA began to market Classic Sonic heavily in the following years, giving him multiple appearances in other games, his own comic book, his own anniversary title in ''VideoGame/SonicMania'', and his own web animation miniseries. While the fanbase loved his inclusion in ''Generations'' and products featuring him tend to sell well, many fans increasingly criticized SEGA's seeming decision to treat him as his own separate character, instead of a younger version of Sonic. The decision to make him a HeroicMime also makes it difficult for him to distinguish himself from his modern counterpart. When the first trailer for ''VideoGame/SonicForces'' was released, the reaction to Classic Sonic's appearance was much more ambivalent than it was for ''Generations'', with many fans questioning why he needed to be there (which gave the game the derisive nickname of ''Sonic Generations 2'', not helped by the fact that Sonic Team promised that it wouldn't be a sequel to ''Sonic Generations'' gameplay wise). Whereas Classic Sonic was considered a great idea when he only appeared in ''Generations'', these days he tends to be held up as a symbol of SEGA relying too much on nostalgia-pandering and making the franchise seem stuck in the past, instead of being willing to truly push the gameplay forward.

!! ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1''

!! ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2''

!! ''Videogame/SonicCD''

!! ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles''

!! ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure''

!! ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2''

!! ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes''

* ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' was the first game to have non-boss enemies that were ''not'' [[OneHitPointWonder One-Hit-Point Wonders]], but instead had varying amounts of HP to deplete, as well as having "combat arena" segments where it was mandatory to defeat enemies to advance further in a stage. However, the idea of having enemies that could take a beating wasn't problematic here because it had mechanics to take the edge off — a level-up system to make the characters stronger (and thus capable of dealing more damage) and the three-man team system giving each team a "Power" character whose main job was to be the heavy hitter and plow through the big enemies and combat arenas. The next game, ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'', kept the beefy enemies and ditched the team system, but compensated in its own way through its weaponry system, and the later stages with the beefiest enemies also tended to have the strongest weapons that could easily shred their health meters. While the weapons did have limited ammunition, there was practically always more than enough to kill everything in the stage with as long as you held your fire while there were no enemies in sight. ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' is where the beefy enemies and combat arenas became problematic, as all three core characters (and the six Amigo characters) had ''much'' worse DPS than in ''Heroes'' and ''Shadow''. Sonic was restricted to laggy Homing Attacks, Bounce Bracelet bounding, and grounded spin-kicks, making his DPS flat-out ''mediocre'', and he had absolutely no way to improve it. Shadow and Silver fared better in the DPS department, being able to attack at a faster pace than Sonic to deplete big enemies' health bars a little more quickly; Shadow's fighting style was literally a better version of Sonic's, with a mid-air combo system allowing him to lock on to an enemy and pummel them several times in quick succession, while Silver relied on using his psychokinesis to pick up nearby objects and fling them at enemies, which he could do at a fairly rapid pace as long as he had enough objects to throw and enough energy to pick them up. Shadow and Silver also had ways to improve their DPS even further — Chaos Boost and vehicle-mounted weapons for Shadow, and stronger objects such as explosive crates and spike balls for Silver — but lacked consistent access to their improved DPS. The end result was what was once a minor flow-killer now made level progression a nigh-unbearable slog. Thankfully, SEGA listened to the fans' dissatisfaction and have largely dropped both beefy enemies and combat arenas; both made a single major encore appearance in the nighttime stages of ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'', where it actually made ''sense'' for them to be present due to the slower-paced BeatEmUp gameplay style, and the daytime stages of ''Unleashed'' and all stages of subsequent games[[note]]aside from the ''Sonic Boom'' games, which had multi-character combat like ''Heroes'' and a more BeatEmUp-esque style like ''Unleashed''[[/note]] have gone back to having all non-boss enemies be destroyed with just one attack. (Beefy enemies and combat arenas are also present in ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'', but once again, it makes sense to have them due to the WideOpenSandbox gameplay style, and Sonic has been given access to a wide variety of powerful and/or rapid-fire attack options to deal with the tankier enemies.)

!! ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed''

!! ''VideoGame/SonicColors''

!! ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations''
* The infamous tendency for SEGA to reuse Classic Sonic and [[NostalgiaLevel older zones]] for the sake of [[PanderingToTheBase pandering to nostalgic fans over moving the series forward]] can be traced back to here. However, at the time ''Generations'' was released, [[TheBusCameBack Classic Sonic had not appeared in a mainline Sonic game in a very long time]], and the remixed zones were seen as a fun way to celebrate Sonic's [[LongRunners long history]]. It wasn't until Classic Sonic began returning without the novelty of seeing him again after a long time and many more games that consisted mostly of (often the same) reused zones came out (mostly notably, 2017's VideoGame/SonicMania and VideoGame/SonicForces both featured Green Hill Zone and Chemical Plant, with two-thirds of ''Mania'' consisting of reused zones while 3 of the 7 regions of ''Forces'' are old locations, and even Classic Sonic's levels for the new regions homage classic levels) that it became a problem.


! Comics
!! ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics''

* The ''Knuckles'' comic was another problem, with Penders deciding not to expand on clues left behind in the video games at the time--indeed, he claimed to have never played the games before joining the comic. Instead, he used the comic more to [[WorldBuilding world-build]] a society of echidnas, mostly because Sega wouldn't let him get away with anything like that with Sonic himself, but they completely ignored what he was doing with Knuckles, giving him carte blanche to do basically whatever he wanted. It worked out for a while, mainly because it helped flesh out the comics' world, and the stories themselves were good enough. After ''Knuckles'' merged back into ''Sonic'', though, [[SpotlightStealingSquad Knuckles' story was given an increasingly heavy focus while Sonic's fell by the wayside, even though the comic was named after the latter.]] All of this culminated in the "Great Harmony" subplot, where Knuckles is proclaimed [[TheChosenOne The Avatar]], one of two heroes prophesied to bring about the eponymous event, while Sonic is just "another champion". This CreatorsPet mentality towards echidnas would eventually cause Penders to trigger the lawsuit that helped kill the comic entirely, though in this case it was Penders himself getting a case of SmallNameBigEgo and burning every bridge in the process.

*** On a similar note while both ''Adventure 2'' and ''Shadow'' were advertised with the prospect of giving the player the choice to be good or evil, only to contain a GoldenEnding which nullified this choice, ''Adventure 2'' was given a pass for the strength of its writing which allowed the two prior stories to occur simultaneously and still lead to the Last Story. In comparison, the paths in ''Shadow'' diverge so widely that essentially '''no''' path can lead to the final outcome, making everything beforehand feel like padding, not helped by the fact the gameplay and marketing leaned far heavier into the idea of the player having a choice than ''Adventure 2'' ever did.

*** On a similar note while both ''SA2'' and ''Shadow'' advertised the player having a choice only to contain a GoldenEnding which nullified this choice, ''SA2'' was given a pass not only for the strength of its writing and the fact two prior stories were constructed in a way so they both occurred simultaneously and still lead to the Last Story. In comparison, Shadow's paths diverge so widely that essentially '''no''' path can lead to the final outcome, making everything beforehand feel like padding.

!! ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006''
* One of the most polarizing elements is the character of Princess Elise, who many people remark as looking [[RealisticSpeciesCartoonySpecies incredibly out-of-place next to Sonic and pals]], but realistic human characters had been around since ''Adventure'' without too much complaining. Elise is just the first one to be a major character who regularly interacts with the cartoon animals, which throws the contrast in far sharper relief (and the romantic subtext just makes it even more questionable). And while ''Adventure'' does have realistic humans, the technology demanded they be stylized to a certain degree, and ''Anime/SonicX'' does much the same outside of the games with an anime art style that makes the animal characters and human characters fit together better (though it helps that it's a fish-out-of-water story to begin with, with Sonic and friends being contextually out of place as a plot point). Seventh-gen hardware allowed for a lot more photorealism (which was the game's goal to begin with), which, again, put a spotlight on how poorly they fit in with the cartoon animals. Not helping matters is that, outside the pre-rendered cutscenes, the human characters (with the possible exception of Eggman) fall squarely into the UnintentionalUncannyValley. ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' addresses this sin, however, by giving the humans more cartoonish proportions to better fit in with the funny animals.
* Sonic's questionable choices in human romance trace all the way back to [[OlderThanTheyThink before the first game was even released]], when Sega of Japan tried to pitch his character design with a human girlfriend named Madonna, who didn't make it into the game at all. However, even that may count as an example since concept art shows it as being inspired by [[Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit Roger and Jessica Rabbit's]] relationship, which openly embraces the absurdity of a FunnyAnimal-human relationship for comedy, compared to how Sonic and Elise's relationship is treated rather seriously and thus felt jarring as a result.

!! ''VideoGame/SonicForces''
* The story of ''Forces'' is about [[TheBadGuyWins Eggman winning]], and conquering the world with his powerful lieutenant Infinite, who by all accounts is loyal to the doctor. Not only that, Infinite as a FinalBoss fight is [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter supposedly wasted]] in favor of having Eggman as the final boss. This already happened way back in ''Videogame/SonicCD'', where Metal Sonic conquers Little Planet for Eggman, and is the second last boss battle. ''CD'' however came during a time Sonic games barely had a formula, while ''Forces'' suffered from the [[Videogame/SonicColors previous]] [[Videogame/SonicGenerations three]] [[Videogame/SonicLostWorld main]] games having Eggman as the surprise final boss, in fact, [[ItsTheSameSoItSucks the same boss]].

* * The egregious amount of pop in ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'' has become one of the most widespread criticisms from fans and critics. However, the Hedgehog Engine has always had trouble with draw distance and pop in as far back as ''Unleashed''. The difference is that in previous games that used the Hedgehog Engine, the camera was locked in place most of the time, which, combined with the linear level design, hid the pop in and made it out of view most of the time. In ''Frontiers'', however, the levels are non-linear and the camera is mostly unlocked and movable (outside of some platforming segments, some of the boss fights and the Cyber Space levels), which, as a result, exposes the pop in that would've been hidden in past games.

!! ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers''
* The egregious amount of pop in has become one of the most widespread criticisms from fans and critics. However, the Hedgehog Engine has always had trouble with draw distance and pop in as far back as ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed''. The difference is that in previous games that used the Hedgehog Engine, the camera was locked in place most of the time, which, combined with the linear level design, hid the pop in and made it out of view most of the time. In ''Frontiers'', however, the levels are non-linear and the camera is mostly unlocked and movable (outside of some platforming segments, some of the boss fights and the Cyber Space levels), which, as a result, exposes the pop in that would've been hidden in past games.

** Even the [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1 original game]] foreshadows Sega's many questionable design choices to come. The game was sold on its speed, yet at least half of its stages require slower, more methodical platforming, which not only goes against players' instincts, but the momentum physics actually work against the player in such levels. What makes it less discussed for this is mostly that Green Hill Zone, the first stage, works very well as an opening salvo, due to it largely lacking annoying obstacles or stop-and-start level design, meaning that players still got a great first impression. While not as blatant as the UnexpectedGameplayChange Sega included with non-Sonic characters or the initial previews of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4'', or spinoffs such as ''VideoGame/SonicLabyrinth'', which was deliberately designed as a [[OxymoronicBeing slow Sonic game]], the seeds were already planted for Sega deviating from the speed Sonic is most known for.

* The story of ''Forces'' is about [[TheBadGuyWins Eggman winning]], and conquering the world with his powerful lieutenant Infinite, who by all accounts is loyal to the doctor. Not only that, Infinite as a FinalBoss fight is [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter supposedly wasted]] in favor of having Eggman as the final boss. This already happened wayy back in ''Videogame/SonicCD'', where Metal Sonic conquers Little Planet for Eggman, and is the second last boss battle. ''CD'' however came during a time Sonic games barely had a formula, while ''Forces'' suffered from the previous [[Videogame/SonicColors two]] [[Videogame/SonicLostWorld main]] games having Eggman as the surprise final boss, in fact, [[ItsTheSameSoItSucks the same boss]].