History VideoGame / SonicAdventure

** Big the Cat's story [[SomethingCompletelyDifferent forgoes platforming almost entirely]] for a {{Fishing|Minigame}} simulator.

* GameplayRoulette:
** The gameplay style changes very frequently in Sonic's story. Outside of the series-standard platforming, there are a couple of pinball minigames in Casinopolis, snowboarding in Icecap, racing in Twinkle Park, and two different RailShooter segments.
** The non-Sonic stories mix up the gameplay styles. Tails's levels have him race against Sonic (and, later, Eggman) to get to the goal first, Knuckles has to search segments of each level to find Master Emerald pieces, Amy runs from the robot [=ZERO=] with some stealth mechanics, Gamma does [[TimedMission timed]] run-and-gun sequences, and Big the Cat's story forgoes platforming almost entirely for a fishing simulator. For the most part, this is due to ''Sonic Adventure'' doubling as a sort of [[TechDemoGame tech demo]] of what the Dreamcast was capable of doing.

* TechDemoGame: ''Sonic Adventure'' was made partially to demonstrate all the graphical and hardware tricks the Platform/{{Dreamcast}} was capable of. For instance, it's the entire reason why one of the game's antagonists is a being [[MakingASplash made out of water]] -- as an excuse to show off the Dreamcast's state-of-the-art transparency and dynamic morphing effects. The extensive voice acting demonstrates how its games could store vast amounts of CD-quality audio. There were multiple online features like message boards, leaderboards, and DownloadableContent to show off the system's Internet functionality, and even the VMU is given focus with "Chao Adventure".

[[quoteright:640:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sadx_gc_title.png]]
[[caption-width-right:640:''Title screen for the DX Version.'']]

Close my eyes and feel it burn (Now I see what I gotta do!)\\

[[caption-width-right:640:''Title screen for the DX Version.]]

* {{Mayincatec}}: {{Defied|Trope}}; Sega paid a few developers around $250,000 ''each'' to go down to Mexico and do research on Mayan culture for the game. Consequently, the Mystic Ruins -- and by extension, Sand Hill and Lost World -- are very distinctly based on the Maya rather than using a generic Mesoamerican aesthetic, which carries over onto Tikal (who herself is named after an ancient Mayan city in Guatemala) and the rest of the Echidna Tribe.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Tagline}} The Original Hero is Back!]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Tagline}} The Original Hero]] [[HesBack is Back!]]]]

* ItCanThink: Chaos spends most of the game as Eggman's personal minion, giving the appearance of a mindless monster... [[spoiler:but in Super Sonic's story, Chaos throws Eggman under the bus after suffering too many losses against Sonic and company. He discreetly takes all of the Chaos Emeralds for himself, allowing him to transform into Perfect Chaos and wreak havoc upon Station Square.]]

** Sonic does not have a way to defeat Chaos 6, but luckily Eggman keeps dropping ice-spewing egg robots onto the battlefield that Sonic can use to freeze Chaos and hit him.

* '''Sonic the Hedgehog:''' A virtuous blue hedgehog capable of running at high speed. Sonic's gameplay style is the most reminiscent of the side-scrolling games: just get to the goal, which is sometimes an animal capsule like in the [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Genesis/Mega Drive]] games, and sometimes a Chaos Emerald.

The game saw an UpdatedReRelease for UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube and PC in 2003, dubbed ''Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut''. It added special missions and some unlockable games from the UsefulNotes/GameGear library. It later became available for purchase on UsefulNotes/XboxLiveArcade and UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation Network}}, with the ''DX: Director's Cut'' extras [[DownloadableContent sold separately]]. A similar version popped up on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} roughly six months later and with the ''DX'' version's extra content included. The post-2003 ports are missing the Game Gear spinoffs, unfortunately.

* SceneryPorn: It may look a bit dated now, but it was considered highly impressive back then when put side-by-side with games on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation and UsefulNotes/Nintendo64. Unfortunately, ''DX'' ruined a number of the textures and scenery and every further port decreased the quality more.

* SoftReboot: The game served as a "refresh" for the Sonic series after its declining popularity during the [[UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn Saturn]] era (in no small part due to the Saturn receiving no mainline Sonic game, only getting [[VideoGame/SonicR spin-offs]] and [[VideoGame/SonicJam ports]]). All of the characters were re-designed to be taller and skinnier (and in Amy's case, older as [[AgeLift she's aged up from eight to twelve years old]]) as opposed to the shorter and rounder designs of the [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Genesis]] era, the Japanese continuity was adopted worldwide, with the localization [[CanonDiscontinuity excising old western concepts such as Mobius]] and mainstreaming the name "Dr. Eggman" in the west, the mostly pop-based soundtrack of the Genesis games was replaced by a soundtrack that encompasses multiple genres (though future games would mostly be rock-based), and the games' storylines would become [[DarkerAndEdgier darker and more complex.]]

* TechDemoGame: ''Sonic Adventure'' was made partially to demonstrate all the graphical and hardware tricks the UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast was capable of. For instance, it's the entire reason why one of the game's antagonists is a being [[MakingASplash made out of water]] -- as an excuse to show off the Dreamcast's state-of-the-art transparency and dynamic morphing effects. The extensive voice acting demonstrates how its games could store vast amounts of CD-quality audio. There were multiple online features like message boards, leaderboards, and DownloadableContent to show off the system's Internet functionality, and even the VMU is given focus with "Chao Adventure".

* DeviousDolphins: Emerald Coast features a giant orca that tries to eat Sonic, destroying a bridge and in the process.

* ApocalypseHow: The destruction of the echidna civilization 3,000 years ago is a Class 1. Then [[spoiler:Chaos' destruction of Station Square]] is a Class 0, since the citizens likely evacuated and survived.

The highest-selling title for the [[UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast Dreamcast]], ''Sonic Adventure'' is the first main game in the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' franchise to feature [[VideoGame3DLeap full 3D gameplay]]. It was released in Japan on December 23rd, 1998, and was localized for North America, Europe and Australia between September-December of 1999.

The highest-selling title for the UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast, ''Sonic Adventure'' is the first main game in the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' franchise to feature [[VideoGame3DLeap full 3D gameplay]]. It was released in Japan on December 23rd, 1998, and was localized for North America, Europe and Australia between September-December of 1999.

** One exclusive to the Steam port that made Big's fishing stages even more arduous: nowhere in the game is it explained that you have to press Down on the keyboard/D-pad to start reeling something in once it bites. [[AllThereInTheManual The manuals for the Dreamcast and physical PC release]] explain this, but the Steam version obviously doesn't ''have'' a manual, resulting in a lot of Steam-only players getting helplessly stuck on Big's stages.

** You can opt to obtain Sonic's optional upgrade in [[SecretFinalCampaign Super Sonic's story]], which will autosave. If you choose to quit then when you load the game again, you'll get [[NowWhereWasIGoingAgain text indicating what has last happened in the game]], just like in any other character's story. When you obtained the Crystal Ring determines what the text says. (For those who haven't played the game, that's not supposed to happen in Super Sonic's story and it is intended to be played in a single session with no saving -- starting the story begins you at the first cutscene with every run.) When the "previously" text is finished scrolling, the game will freeze. Interestingly, the background art is the CG of [[spoiler:Perfect Chaos]] as he looked ''before'' his final in-game design. Beware that doing this is a death sentence for your save; you will never finish the game if this happens and will need to start over from the very beginning. As a result it has some elements of UnwinnableByInsanity. Later ports have addressed this behavior.

** You can opt to obtain Sonic's optional upgrade in [[SecretFinalCampaign Super Sonic's story]], which will autosave. If you choose to quit then when you load the game again, you'll get text indicating what has last happened in the game, just like in any other character's story. When you obtained the Crystal Ring determines what the text says. (For those who haven't played the game, that's not supposed to happen in Super Sonic's story and it is intended to be played in a single session with no saving -- starting the story begins you at the first cutscene with every run.) When the [[NowWhereWasIGoingAgain "previously" text]] is finished scrolling, the game will freeze. Interestingly, the background art is the CG of [[spoiler:Perfect Chaos]] as he looked ''before'' his final in-game design. Beware that doing this is a death sentence for your save; you will never finish the game if this happens and will need to start over from the very beginning. As a result it has some elements of UnwinnableByInsanity. Later ports have addressed this behavior.

** You can opt to obtain Sonic's optional upgrade in Super Sonic's story and then save and quit. When you load the game, you'll get text indicating what has last happened in the game, just like in any other character's story. When you obtained the Crystal Ring determines what the text says. (For those who haven't played the game, that's not supposed to happen in Super Sonic's story.) When the "previously" text is finished scrolling, the game will freeze. Interestingly, the background art is the CG of [[spoiler:Perfect Chaos]] as he looked ''before'' his final in-game design.

** [[SecretFinalCampaign Super Sonic's story]] has no saves and is ''meant'' to be completed in one go. However, one of Sonic's upgrades is skippable, so if you put off collecting it until Super Sonic's story, some ports will force an autosave at that point, and attempting to load that save later will bring up an otherwise-unused [[NowWhereWasIGoingAgain recap screen]] that unavoidably crashes. The only way to fix this is to erase your entire save file and redo all six stories.

** It accomplishes exactly nothing but you can grab the Crystal Ring as soon as you leave Emerald Coast for the first time by hitting the button then getting over to the door fast enough (which isn't very difficult, just precise), skipping the need to Light Dash to it. However you won't be able to use it until you get the Light Speed Shoes after Windy Valley.