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Narm / Sonic the Hedgehog

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https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/orbeingwithme.png
Not pictured: The few dozen flies Sally just swallowed.note 
While the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has grown up, it doesn't always show when it comes to the writing.

    open/close all folders 

    The 8-bit/16-bit games 
  • Sonic the Hedgehog CD features the Metallic Madness Bad Future theme in the Japanese version. The robotic voice of Dr. Eggman taunting you would be a tad more menacing, but then he throws in the line "Get some help!" It sounds like he's encouraging the player to seek out a therapist, or to go look up GameFAQs to figure out how to get the Good Future instead.
  • Doomsday Zone is a dramatic and epic conclusion to Sonic 3 & Knuckles, but the sound of your character going super sounds like a rather childish, out of place, and anticlimatic slide whistle.

    Sonic Adventure 
  • Let's start with this line from the opening scene:
    "Oh, no! Our weapons are useless! Retreat! All personnel, fall back!"
    • What really pushes this into Narm territory is the fact that, upon receiving this order, the kneeling police officers calmly get to their feet and proceed to moonwalk away from Chaos.
    • Not only that, but take the scene a few minutes before when Sonic spots the squad cars racing to the scene. Even if we know it's probably because of technical limitations, it's really easy, with their erratic movements, to imagine the cops being completely drunk while they're driving, which destroys easily any possible credibility they could have.
    • And, of course, there's Eggman and his Evil Laugh, which sounds fine enough by itself but looks awful due to Eggman's weirdly bobbing head and non-moving mouth.
  • "Watch out, you're gonna crash! AAH!" Made more ridiculous by the way his tongue sticks out at the end of that line. Doubly so since he does that expression a few times. Stick out spines and poke tongue out. It's almost adorable.
  • Sonic half-yelling "Eeeeeeeeegmaaaaaaan" with all the passion and rage of a waitress reciting the beer menu. (To be fair, he had just gotten a face-full of sleeping gas and was about to lose consciousness. But then you'd expect him to be slurring his words, not trailing off.) Tails' version of it is even funnier. He sounds like a zombie.
    • The moment Sonic gets hit with the sleeping gas in his story, he blurts out an "Ah, geez!" But the way the line is delivered makes it sound more like Sonic just caught a whiff of a particularly nasty fart.
  • Once Chaos gets the first Emerald, Sonic tells Tails "We can't let that monster get any bigger. It could get ugly!" It sounds more like he's worried about how hideous Chaos will look, rather than the danger he poses.
  • "All's well that ends well, right?" Made even funnier if you've seen the Hellfire Commentaries playthrough of it:
    Fastest Thing Alive: THE CITY'S BEEN FUCKING DESTROYED!!!!
  • Let's not forget the infamous Tails line, "That's Eggman! I wonder what happened to Sonic?" The casual delivery of the line — coupled with an accent that sounds more Indian than anything else — makes Tails sound less concerned about his friend potentially being in danger, and more like he was expecting Sonic to show up at a party.
  • There is a cutscene where Knuckles spots Dr. Eggman in the hotel lobby holding what suspiciously looks like a Master Emerald piece, for some reason moving at a slower pace than he walks. Cue Knuckles frantically shouting "Hold on! Come back here!" at the doctor as the latter leisurely slides towards the door at a snail's pace, and yet still failing to catch up.
  • Afterwards, once Chaos 2 is defeated, Eggman reveals to Knuckles that Sonic is (allegedly) also hunting down the pieces of the Master Emeralds, followed by Knuckles slowly, dejectedly walking towards Eggman for some odd reason, head facing down towards the ground. It doesn't help that his walking animation continues to run even after he's stopped to think about it.
    Arin Hanson: Is this some kind of brilliant Avant-Garde student film?!
  • After completing the Sky Deck and leaving the pool in Knuckles' storyline, there is a cutscene in which Knuckles witnesses Chaos' transformation into Chaos 6 some distance away. It would be an okay scene, but for some reason the game plays his "drowning" death vocal; making it seem like he drowned in the air at the sight. It really doesn't help that said voice clip sounds like he's been possessed by Goofy.
    • It's because the line was made with the original Japanese voice clips in mind, where Knuckles has more of a sharp intake of breath that would sound more like he's surprised in this scene. The English version overdramatized it with actual drowning gurgles that fit for gameplay.. but failed to account for the one time it's used in a cutscene. Dubbing errors make for hilarious mistakes.
  • The scene following the Chaos 4 boss has Eggman bidding the heroes, "Adieu... Until we meet again, my friends." The sound quality of the clip makes the "adieu" sound like he sneezed.

    Sonic Adventure 2 
  • Even though Sonic Adventure 2 was made in America, the script was written in Japanese and translated into English overly literally, rendering lines that were only sometimes comprehensible, rarely synced to the mouth movements, and even overlapped each other. "He must be using the Chaos Emerald to wa...[rp]" "[My]...name is Shadow.". Let's not forget how some of the lines were left completely untranslated.
    • This exchange:
      Shadow: Faker? I think YOU'RE the fake hedgehog around here! You're comparing yourself to me?! HA! You're not even good enough to be [my fake]!
      Sonic: [I'll make] you eat those words!
    • Worse, sometimes the overlapping was between lines spoken by the same character. "Hey. It's not his spee[d]. [H]e must be using the Chaos Emerald to war[p]."
    • Then there's an instance where Eggman is supposed to cut off another character, but because of Japanese and English's different sentence structures, he reacts about a second too early.
      Reporter: Mysteriously, the only thing that was stolen was th-
      Eggman: The Chaos Emerald?!
      Reporter: -aos Emerald.
    • Sonic's finishing blow to the Egg Golem in the Dark story:
      Sonic: TERIAAAA!
    • Tails' reaction to Sonic's (apparent) death was something of a Dull Surprise.
      Tails: What have you done, to Sonic? I'll never forgive you for this.
    • Before the scene above, there's the scene where Sonic tries to give the fake Chaos Emerald to Eggman. When Eggman traps him, Sonic gives out a "Whoa", while his mouth is stretched out to comically large proportions. Even worse, the "Whoa" is the same thing he says during playtime when the player has him an inch away from falling off a cliff.
    • During both Sonic and Shadow Duel Boss fights, if you're using Sonic and hit Shadow enough times, Shadow will drop these gems:
      Shadow: (first battle) I'm the coolest!
      Shadow: (second battle) Ow. That hurt.
    • Before their first battle in Green Forest on the Hero side, you see Shadow jump down onto the platform Sonic's on. While it looks cool, Shadow's model does not have a mouth and has hilariously drooped down eyebrows, all while he's saying, "There's no time to play games. You won't even get the chance!", as if Shadow is a wet blanket that doesn't want Sonic to have any fun.
    • The final fight with the FinalHazard. The Biolizard's merged with the Space Colony ARK to expedite its descent onto Earth, so Super Sonic and Super Shadow head out to stop it. The battle itself is epic, complete with Crush 40's "Live and Learn" blaring out, but the final boss itself becomes a lot more silly, since it looks more like the Biolizard has the ARK's Eclipse Cannon shoved up its arse.
  • In the Hero Story, Sonic says this line, "I've got to find Amy and Tails right away!" with his teeth clenched. He actually moves his mouth in the Dark Story, but that doesn't excuse how he can do that in the Hero story.
  • In the Last Story, we have this hilarious moment. The colony starts falling, Sonic and Knuckles feel the sudden vibration and realize something bad is happening. Rouge appears and explains the situation in a completely deadpan voice... and then she opens her mouth and eyes widely, after Gerald's last message suddenly pops up on a screen nearby.
  • The last story. Sonic and Shadow are preparing to go into their super forms to fight the Biohazard and save the earth. Knuckles watches them, transfixed in awe... with the most vacant expression ever on his face. The hedgehogs then suddenly lose the upgrades they were wearing the moment they go super.
  • Before Amy busts Sonic out of his cell, he says the reason he's imprisoned is because of "that fake hedgehog." What makes it funny is that Sonic can't be bothered to interrupt his little exercise session.
  • For such a stoic character, Shadow has quite the hammy displays at times, enhanced by his permanent frown and his English VA's delivery:
    Shadow: (talking to no one) It all starts with this... (brandishes Chaos Emerald over his head) A jewel containing the uuuuuultimate poooooweeeeeeer! [1]
    Shadow: (speaking slowly to Eggman) I've been waiting for you, Doctor. Now, I will show the glooorious achievement of what the world's leading scientist, Professor Gerald, has created. (...) A weapon capable of destroying an entire planet. (points index finger skywards) Codenamed: The Eclipse Cannon! (clenches hand into a fist, Beat, extends arms to the sides) Once you have that, then you have the ultimate power of destruction to use as you please. And then... (closeup on face) the wooorld... could be yooours! [2]
    Shadow: (speaking slowly to Rouge) So that was your plan from the very beginning, huh? Or, was it a direct order from the President? Now I know who you are. You're that government spy, Rouge the bat, aren't you? [3]
  • That last line deserves particular mention, as its delivery implies Shadow was aware of a bat named Rouge who was a government spy, but he never suspected the person he knew named "Rouge the Bat" was that spy until now.
  • "Is that what...Chaos Control is?!" — Said by Shadow, the first person to use Chaos Control in the series. (In Japanese, he simply asks "(Was that) Chaos Control?", likely out of shock that the Biolizard also shares the ability.)
  • Some of Eggman's lines are pretty strangely delivered.
    (in the cutscene leading up to Cannon's Core) Then, let's get to WOOOOORK!
    (said when Sonic enters the last room in Crazy Gadget) Well done, Sonic! But you'll never leave this room alive! Ha-HA!
    • That last line is delivered so strangely, it doesn't even sound like Eggman.
  • At the beginning of Rouge's driving stage:
    (spoken normally) I'm picking up a signal from the Emerald. (amazingly high-pitched and whiny) Fox boy, wait for meeee!
  • Knuckles' line right before his battle in the Dark Story, combining Dull Surprise with a Homer Simpson impression.
    Knuckles: Hand over those Master Emeralds. Give them to me.
  • And then there's the immortal line, "We all did it together!" Making this even worse is that it comes right after Eggman makes a surprisingly emotional and genuinely well-acted speech about his grandfather. Nice job ruining the moment, Tails!

    Sonic Heroes 
  • Eggman's letter during Team Sonic's intro suffers from some hilarious redundancy that becomes even more stupid-sounding considering the forced Title Drop. It completely kills its threatening mood.
    Eggman: Dear Sonic Heroes, Guess what Sonic Heroes?
    • The moniker "Sonic Heroes" returns during the final campaign and still sounds massively awkward there, especially since Sonic himself ends up using it with no hint of irony.
  • "You're going to pay for this!" does not sound very threatening when being said with no change in affliction by a big dopey cat to a giant robot-dragon thing in the midst of a dramatic final battle.
  • Tails' English voice in general for this game. Considering he sounded older and more mature — but still like his given age of eight — in the previous two games where he had a spoken voice, it's an unexpected and incredibly silly shift in direction for him to then suddenly sound like a baby-talking three-year-old holding their nose. note  It's especially noticeable with some of his more infamous lines in this game, including:
    Tails: Look at all those Eggman robots! note 
    Tails: (in response to a Self-Destruct Button the team literally just pressed) I wonder why it self-destructed? note 
    Tails: (going through a loop) WHAAAAAOOOOOOOH, MY HEAD'S SPINNING!
  • Sonic's Bond One-Liner to the True Final Boss. One can imagine it's something that sounded better in his head.
    Sonic: To bad it's all over... [Beat] FOR YOU!
  • During Versus Mode, Big the Cat taunts his opponents by spinning into a provocative reclining pose and drawling out "Mmm, maybe we should try harder this time!"

    Shadow the Hedgehog 
  • Shadow the Hedgehog might quite possibly be the Narmiest entry in the series. On a conceptual level, it's already hard to take a tiny anthropomorphic hedgehog that shoots people (and aliens!) seriously. The execution thus is not any better.
  • One particular moment that comes seconds after turning on the game is in the very intro, where Shadow does a Dramatic Gun Cock with an SMG... by pumping it like a shotgun. As in he cocks the SMG's ''fixed handguard'' on the frontal barrel of the gun rather than the cocking handle.
  • The game has a copious amount of swearing to give the game an E10+ rating, but it also tries to avoid the T rating by never using any serious swears. This leads to the word "damn" being used in ridiculous quantity by several characters (including Sonic himself at one point), which sounds like a twelve-year-old trying to be cool and edgy. And then there's this legendary line:
    Shadow: Where's that DAMN fourth Chaos Emerald?
    • On that note, the game's strange tendency to capitalize the number of each Chaos Emerald, which makes it seem like an Edutainment Game trying to teach numbers to children. In the case of the above line, this causes the subtitles to put emphasis on the wrong word ("Where's that damn FOURTH Chaos Emerald?").
  • The game's menus use a gunshot sound effect whenever you select something, which really gives off a feeling of "trying-too-hard to be Darker and Edgier". This even applies to the save file creation dialog that plays when you start the game for the first time, so this will be your very first impression of the game.
  • Many of the library sequences have incredibly melodramatic titles.
  • Black Doom himself is this, mainly because he's such a stereotypical, cartoonish villain that he comes off as too cheesy even for a game like this.
  • You might be surprised at hearing some GUN soldier shouting you've killed "Bob", but that line is actually reused randomly throughout the entire game.
  • The scene where Shadow recalls Maria's death and his sacrifice from Adventure 2, only to get interrupted by Sonic chuckling and going "Aw, yeah!" right after.
    • Sonic's attitude in this game in general. He doesn't seem to be taking the Black Arms invasion as seriously as he should have and can come off as oddly hyperactive and enthusiastic about the whole thing at some points.
  • The ten endings have Shadow come to different conclusions about who he is, but two of them stand out for how hilariously petty Shadow comes off compared to the other endings.
    • The Pure Hero - Dark Ending has Shadow defeat Sonic, then declare himself the most powerful hedgehog in the world as if that Stock Shōnen Rival motive was all he ever cared about (the other endings where he beats Sonic have him either declare allegiance to Black Doom or announce his intention to "destroy this DAMN planet"). He then proceeds to laugh not insanely or evilly, but more like he's just won the lottery.
      Shadow: Now, I am the most powerful hedgehog in the world! The power of these Emeralds makes me invincible! I am the ultimate hedgehog! THIS IS WHO I AM! (triumphant laugh)
    • The Semi-Dark - Hero Ending has him declare to Eggman "No one can tell me what to do" like a petulant teenager angry at his dad (the other Eggman endings have him either embrace his apparent identity as an android or demand that he leave and not defile the sacred ARK of which he's declared himself protector).
      • In addition, despite his arsenal of Chaos Control powers, he just uses a simple karate chop to kill Eggman in this and the Neutral endings. Extra Narm for the Neutral - Hero Ending, where E-123 Omega is all prepared to fulfill his life dream and shoot down his archenemy, until Shadow cuts in with his stock footage karate chop.
  • Shadow's Pre-Asskicking One-Liner towards Eggman, "You're going straight to Hell!" Which is the only time a swear word that isn't "damn" is used in the entire game, apart from the GUN Commander vowing that "The Black Aliens will feel their own bloody Hell", which is funny all on its own, especially to British players.
  • The fact that the entire reason the GUN Commander seeks vengeance on Shadow for the death of Maria... is because he witnessed Shadow's creation in the space colony as a child and was horrified. Let us elaborate: young GUN Commander — who prior to that point was cheerfully playing around in the same space colony that housed the creation of a giant mutant lizard and the berserk bionic clones of a god that destroyed an ancient civilization just before — was apparently so traumatized by a fucking cartoon hedgehog that he seeks to avenge Maria's murder at the alleged hands of said hedgehog by joining the very organization that was actually responsible for her death.
    • Not helping this scene was the introduction before it, in which the GUN Commander gives a speech about Maria being like his sister over a flashback of the two of them on the ARK. Would have been more dramatic, except the GUN Commander as a kid tauntingly spanks himself as if to say that Maria can't catch him, all while on a big, dramatic space station. And the gesture looks very, very silly.
  • In the Last Story, as Black Doom sics his Black Leeches on the paralyzed heroes:
    Black Doom: Ah, my dear offspring... eat and devour these savory dishes!
  • Upon discovering Eggman's fleet of Shadow Androids, Shadow goes on to utter the following line with downright Shatnerian diction:
    Shadow: Shadow.... ANDROID?! Am I... an... android, TOO?!
    • The Shadow Androids themselves are just low-poly versions of Shadow's character model, like the game itself didn't care dedicating processing power to render them properly.
    • One level later, Shadow asks Eggman if he is indeed an android. Eggman confirms this, but Shadow's reaction is a very confused "What?", like he didn't actually expect Eggman to say yes.
    • This "revelation" is even more hilarious if you complete the Hero mission on Air Fleet or the Dark mission on Space Gadget. Despite never seeing a Shadow Android in those stages (at least, in Iron Jungle's Neutral mission, he does encounter them, so there was some kind of logic behind that), for no logical or discernible reason, he still jumps to the conclusion that he's an Android.
  • During the Glyphic Canyon level, when you've got Knuckles with you, there is a segment where you have to walk into a tornado to progress. What does Knuckles have to say while you're doing this? "HEEEEEEELP! WE'RE BEING SUCKED IN!" This is made much more hilarious for two reasons: the first is that Knuckles is voiced by the glorious Dan Green, and the second is that, if you wait around on the bridge for a bit, Knuckles will tell you to walk into the tornado, making it appear as if he genuinely didn't think doing so is a bad idea.
  • Apparently, the President has a framed photo of Sonic and Shadow on his desk. Not his wife, not his kids—Sonic and Shadow. It's awkwardly funny on its own, but it becomes extra hilarious when you realize they'd have had to get the amnesiac Shadow to pose for the photo...
    Danny: (cracking up) The only thing that was missing was him, like, gently running an index finger across Sonic's face!
  • After Cosmic Fall, if you go for the Hero ending of the Hero pathway, Shadow will lament that he should never have been created. This Tear Jerker moment is then promptly ruined by Vector blurting out "Hey, don't go there... yet!" in his exceedingly goofy voice, with the "yet" making it sound like he's telling Shadow that just giving up on his life could be a possible option later on.
  • Shadow taking the Chaos Emerald powering the spaceship he's flying to the ARK on, causing it to melt down which prompts him to make this face.◊ The dialogue immediately preceding this shot is incredible too.
    Shadow: A Chaos Emerald? You've gotta be kidding me, guys. This is like taking candy from a baby, which is fine by me!
    • The intended nuance was probably supposed to be "I have no problem with how easy this job was," but out of context, it sounds more Shadow hilariously announcing that he's perfectly okay with bullying children for no real reason (on the pure Hero path, no less).
    • Even better, right after he takes it, he has one of his very few happy expressions in the entire game, as if he's proud of himself for robbing his friends of a Chaos Emerald so he can get stronger. And since his eyes are permanently fixed in a glare, it becomes The Unsmile as a result. Then he freaks out and realizes he's causing the ship to crash.
    • Also, when Shadow breaks the capsule holding the Chaos Emerald, a stock pot-breaking sound plays.
  • G.U.N. consistently refers to the Black Arms as "terrorists" when they're just standard alien invaders. An incredibly hamfisted attempt to make the game more relevant to a post 9/11 world.
  • Any ending where Shadow kills Eggman. It always ends with the doctor giving a confused "what?!" to Shadow's ending monologue, then Shadow does a karate chop, the screen fades to black, and Eggman delivers a weak Big "NO!" before the credits roll. There are three of this specific scenario, meaning the shock value of Shadow killing the doctor wears off rather quickly.
  • At one point, Eggman employs a gas trap against Shadow that he describes as "concentrated evil in gas form", as if "evil" was an actual chemical element. His description that "it stains the soul" doesn't make it any better.

    Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) 
  • Sonic's death scene. The overdramatic slow-mo fall, Princess Elise's Big "NO!", the Ominous Pipe Organ that plays like an old-timey film, the total randomness of the murder, Mephiles laughing like a middle school bully at it afterward, or the simple fact that being impaled by a laser lance of death apparently doesn't leave a single mark on him.
    • Even worse, Mephiles only pulls it off by throwing out a Chaos Emerald to glow and blind them. Not explosions, no diversions, no grand elaborate scheme or big showdown — just a flashing light that lets Sonic, of all people, get killed in a single attack from behind while his guard is down. It makes you wonder what the hell Eggman's been doing all these years.
  • The infamous Sonic/Elise True Love's Kiss. It is supposed to be an emotional, climactic moment and the execution itself is decent, but that alone cannot salvage the seriousness of a scene where a realistic-proportioned Final Fantasy-esque human character kisses a cartoon blue hedgehog back to life (the death itself already being another huge Narm moment).
  • Realistic Eggman in general. It's very clear that his original design was never meant to be emulated with normal proportions, as he looks less like an evil scientist and more like a clown in a fat suit trying to pass off as one. While the Unintentional Uncanny Valley applies to all humans in this game, Eggman is the one example where the results are arguably more hilarious than disturbing, especially because he's meant to be Darker and Edgier here compared to his usual Laughably Evil self.
  • In Sonic's boss battle with Silver. "It's no use!" While meant to cause fear, surprise, or even wonder, it quickly becomes Narmy, and even more quickly becomes frustrating; especially after the 20th or 30th time.
  • Shadow dramatically pointing at Sonic after saying, "Yes, but that alone is insufficient." And the camera zooming in on Sonic immediately after, as if the game suddenly turned into Ace Attorney.
  • Sonic's "Test of Love." If an oracle using "dramatic" lines to tell you to choose between two girls in a mission that's so random it's basically a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment isn't enough for you, keep in mind that this supposedly dramatic choice used the same upbeat little tune all the other missions use. It also has absolutely no effect on the plot afterwards, making it 100% pointless.
  • During the final boss of Sonic's story, Eggman will occasionally yell "Fall!", sounding less like an evil genius trying to kill you and more like a a guy desperately trying to encourage a wobbling bowling pin he'd just grazed to fall over so he can get a strike. And then there is his infamous defeat animation; Eggman ejecting from his hovering vehicle, still attached to his seat, then slooowly plummeting from the air before bouncing off a falling piece of debris, all animated in a very lazy manner befitting a Stylistic Suck animation.
  • For some reason, every time a character makes a motion with their hand, there's a sound effect like a glove being shaken. It's kind of funny that the programmers thought that was important to put that effect in there, and funnier still when there's a dramatic/sad/important moment, and it gets botched by the stupid sound effect.
  • What about the part where Mephiles twirls? As seen here, he sort of pirouettes off screen. It's supposed to be teleportation, but it looks more like he's auditioning for the role of Rothbart.
  • In Tails' Wave Ocean stage, a certain infamous line from Sonic Heroes reappears when he's going through a loop; namely "MY HEAD'S SPINNIIIIIIIIIING!" It's made even funnier here by the fact his voice actress (Amy Palant) accidentally slips into her higher regular voice after the initial yell, making Tails sound like he's suddenly gone through a puberty-like voice crack.
  • Around the time where Shadow and Rouge meet Mephiles, Rouge is hit and begins to fall as she yells "Aaaah!"... except the delivery of the line is so deadpan it feels like anything but a yell. Her death-by-falling sound in gameplay is equally emotional.
  • The fact that the trigger for the release of Iblis is Princess Elise crying. Not intense emotional trauma, not the loss of someone she holds dear... note  just something, anything, making her cry is enough to bring out Iblis and wipe out all of existence. It has led to various snarky remarks that Mephiles could have achieved his goal with far more mundane methods, like simply cutting up some onions right in front of her.

    Sonic Unleashed 

    Sonic Forces 
  • In the first stage of the game, Sonic gives us the infamous line: "Green Hill's looking a lot more like Sand Hill right now." Yes Sonic, very clever.
  • The entire scene depicting Sonic's defeat. What's supposed to be a Downer Beginning has Sonic comically pinballed between enemies while making cartoonish "ow!" grunts, Tails' "Woah, this guy is faster than Sonic!" coming across as both Narrating the Obvious and blatant Character Shilling, as well as the sheer implausibility of none of Sonic's allies coming to back him up, except Tails who just stands there ineffectually trying to scan Infinite.
  • Sonic was apparently tortured for 6 months after being captured, yet is still as cheerful and snarky as ever, with no visible physical or mental repercussions.
  • Before the rescue, it's dramatically announced that Eggman plans to shoot Sonic into space. In the original script, this was supposed to be an execution, and knowing this makes this moment look like painfully obvious Bowdlerisation. Why 6 months of torture was okay but that wasn't is a mystery.
  • When Eggman expresses disbelief at Sonic managing to escape Null Space, Sonic’s response is so ridiculously on-the-nose that it sounds like something a certain other anthropomorphic character would say.
    Maybe by myself, but I had a little help from my friend. Something you wouldn’t understand, since you don’t have any friends!
  • The Avatar stage that deals with Infinite creating and dropping a sun on the Resistance contains rather literal lyrics singing about how the sun is falling from the sky and that the final battle has begun. There's a reason why people consider situational lyrics to be extremely cheesy, but this is overdoing it even for Sonic standards!
  • Silver continues his run at hilarious lines with this gem: "I'm an optimist, but I'm also a realist." Which besides sounding dumb, is kind of against the point of a character who exists to alter reality via time travel.
    • After saying this, he presumes that Sonic is dead even though he was taken alive, and Tails has gone insane even though he’s clearly fine... like any optimist would.
  • Episode Shadow gives us Infinite's entire reason for becoming the villain he is today: Shadow beating him up and calling him weak, sending him into a disproportionate Villanous Breakdown. With that context, along with how Infinite touts himself as the "ultimate mercenary" before getting his ass handed to him, he seems less like the newest, baddest Knight of Cerebus on the block and more like a kid throwing the mother of all tantrums because someone else out-edged him.
  • When Sonic gets trapped in Null Space, he talks about heading back in such a casual way that it sounds like he's more confused than alarmed by the situation. And then he and the Avatar escape the dimension immediately afterwards, by basically running really fast, making the whole sequence pretty pointless.
  • Knuckles delivers a cheesy War Is Hell line that would be laughed off in a story about The Vietnam War, let alone a Sonic game.
    Knuckles: (in response to "Oh man, that's not good") None of this is good, Vector. That's why it's called "war."
  • During a large battle sequence in the war, everyone gets to visibly beat the crap out of opponents, even if it's just a single hit per character. Then Amy comes in with her Piko-Piko Hammer and slams an enemy with it... just off-camera. Apparently, it's fine to punch people in the face or with a stinger, but visibly hitting them with a weapon is a big no-no.
    • The same applies to the Red Shirt Resistance members, who never once visibly hit a single thing with their Family-Friendly Firearms, and yet it's perfectly fine for Infinite to kill them with explosions in front of them, Power Rangers-style. Worse yet, Omega appears to pull off a Big Damn Heroes and shoots at Infinite for three seconds. Not only do they basically do nothing on-screen for the rest of the game, not even getting a chance to shoot any other enemies, but Eggman's sun plan happens immediately afterwards, completely making their appearance moot. And yet Rouge still pulls a Lampshade Hanging about it as if it was some big moment in the ending.
  • The very ending of the game has a couple of big moments. Classic Sonic fading away is presented as like he is dying or something, and Tails telling him "You'll always be our shining hope." Sonic gives a little speech about fixing the damage Eggman has done could qualify, but just like in Adventure 2, Tails' response completely ruins the moment, and in this particular case, it is completely out-of-character. His response? Saying "True dat" like he's trying to be some sort of hip street kid or something!
  • At the end of Infinite's last boss battle, his defeat just shows him stiffly and anticlimactically falling onto the ground like a dropped ragdoll, or a marionette that's just had its strings cut.
  • The sheer ridiculousness of the scene in which Classic Sonic is reintroduced. Tails finds E-123 Omega and is unable to fix him — despite previously being established to be capable of truly insane technological feats, so really, it should be second nature to someone like him by then — and then being attacked by a clone of Chaos 0. Considering Tails previously fought and beat the much stronger Chaos 4, no sweat for him, right? Wrong. Instead, it leads to probably the most emblematic proof of Tails' Badass Decay, needing Classic Sonic to dramatically save him from a foe he could easily beat alone anywhere else.
    Tails: Whoa, Chaos! (cowers on the floor with his head in his hands) SONIC, HELP ME!
    • In fact, this bit was infamous to the point where a game mod of Sonic 2 was made that ruthlessly parodied it, which causes Tails to stop and cower in place while yelling a digitized clip of "SONIC, HELP ME!" every time a Badnik appears on-screen, and he only starts moving again when it's destroyed.

    Sonic Frontiers 
  • Sonic in this game has a deeper voice to match his more sober personality and talks about topics like love, death and moving on with your life. Since Sonic is an (in)famous Totally Radical Funny Animal, some feel he is just too impossible to take seriously here, especially given how almost no other media in the franchise has portrayed him as this sentimental before. Even Roger Craig Smith said he was surprised how low the director wanted him to take Sonic's voice.
    • Amy's English voice actress plays the character using a much deeper tone for the character than she's ever done, heavily contrasting her almost Minnie Mouse-esque style in Free Riders, Generations, and Lost World, and her snarkier, well-rounded approach in Forces or Boom. What should be The Cutie ends up sounding a lot more like a depressed adult woman, as if either the voice director sort of stopped directing or Robinson forgot how she voiced Amy prior.
      • In a cutscene where Super Sonic defeats a Titan, the way Amy runs to him looks pretty goofy due to her Girly Run not mixing well with her huge cartoon hands.
    • Even Eggman's voice acting, especially in the Egg Memos, can come off as him being more out of breath than calmer and subdued.
  • The game tries very hard to sell you on the new character that is Sage, who is effectively the main focus of the plot while she opposes Sonic throughout. The problems arise when, after coming to gradually realize Sonic isn't the bad guy she thinks he is, a heartwarming brotherly conversation between Sonic and Tails pans to an eavesdropping Sage sympathizing with Sonic now — only to dramatically play her theme song once she starts crying, as previous flashback sequences of her talking with Eggman play in sepia while she ponders What Is This Thing You Call "Love"? The problem is that these scenes were barely any length and didn't get to do much with her, to the point that voiced Egg Memo logs do more for the character than the scenes arguably did, and thus it comes off as overly melodramatic for this new character to get such a Heel–Face Turn spotlight with very little to work from. KingK even stated in his review for Frontiers that he outright laughed at Sage's flashback scene with Eggman, despite his enjoyment for other parts of the game's writing.
  • Knuckles' perpetual fist bump is accidentally funny.
  • While the references to previous games are a nice way to acknowledge the Sonic canon, the high amount of them can come across as hilariously bad attempts of nostalgia pandering for some — maybe even coming off as the English devs desperately trying to prove to the player that they indeed know a lot about the franchise (it's less egregious in the Japanese version's script) — while others may instead consider it Narm Charm instead. It varies from player to player, and some in-game examples are more disputed than others.
    • Some of Sonic's location-sensitive comments are... stretches. For example, he compares the giant waterfall on Kronos Island to the waterfall in Mystic Ruins from Sonic Adventure of all places, which isn't even that big nor memorable of a waterfall. Or he wonders aloud if the balloons on Chaos Island floated in from Spagonia from Sonic Unleashed, as if that's the only place in the world with balloons.
      • Sonic also comments in the forest: "Smells lush and green... reminds me of Green Forest!", which to anyone unfamiliar with Sonic Adventure 2 sounds like a case of Department of Redundancy Department.
    • After defeating GIGANTO, Super Sonic informs Amy that he'll be back "before [she] can do a fortune card reading", despite how Amy's interests in such have been treated as a mostly incidental part of her character in the decades following her debut.
    • One moment has Tails suggest that one of the cannons on Chaos Island is equal to the Eclipse Cannon in terms of power. While this may not be untrue within the overall lore of the series, the way it's delivered makes it come off as a weak and random comparison.
  • A number of people seem to share the consensus that everything with Tails' personal plot, where he feels an Old Shame about the infamous "cowering from Chaos 0" scene above, and outright calls himself "wildly inconsistent" in reference to his own characterization after his past heroics, might as well be Sega and Ian Flynn taking a megaphone and shouting how blatantly aware they are of a decade's worth of concerns for the kid. While some feel this scene fixes Tails' character, others would prefer that the series would simply move past his flawed portrayals rather than need to justify them in-universe, especially since they occurred as a result of poor writing out-of-universe rather than being the fault of Tails himself.note 
  • The Final Boss is hyped up throughout the game, but when you finally battle them, their appearance is a big purple moon with no discerning features, despite being played up as an incomprehensible Eldritch Abomination otherwise. It can be hard to take seriously, akin to how some feel about the giant Phantom Ruby sun from Forces. Combined with it being an Anti-Climax Boss, and some view it as one of the least impressive final bosses in Sonic's history.
  • The first update adds a jukebox, letting you play music from across the series in the overworld. This music continues into cutscenes that don't have their own specific BGM, and if you have the music on shuffle, "Sonic Heroes" can kick in during heartfelt conversations about the demise of the Ancients' civilization.

    Other 
  • Sonic Shuffle:
    • Lumina and Void's constant angsting, which leads to this gem near the end of the game.
      Void: You don't need me? Then... Why was I... BOOOAAARRRUUUGGGHHHNNURRRRRRRRRGH?
    • The above is made even better when you see that the weird black light Void emanates as he begins to go One-Winged Angel is shown coming out of his crotch. You may now laugh.
  • Sonic and the Black Knight has some spectacular moments of this too. In that game, when the characters die by a bottomless pit/lava, most of them simply yell or grunt. Most of them are not Lancelot/Shadow, who screams this with the most hilarious delivery:
    Lancelot/Shadow: I HAVE FAILED!
    • When Knuckles/Gawain is about to kill himself for failing King Arthur, Sonic yanks the sword away from him and shouts "gimme a break" in the most tone-deaf way possible. During the Game Grumps playthrough of the game, Arin compares it to rolling your eyes and ragging on your friend when he's about to shoot himself in the mouth.
  • The 3DS version of Sonic Generations attempts to convey the plot of the console versions to the best of its ability. Emphasis on "attempts." There had to be a better way to convey destroying Eggman's robots or making a Heroic Sacrifice than having 3D models slide past what appear to be trading cards.
    • The face Classic Sonic makes when he's surprised. He just stands there with a gaping mouth, wide-eyed (keep in mind Sonic's two pupil, one eyeball design) stare.
  • Sonic Lost World:
    • The memetically dark line from Zor: "I long for Death's cold embrace."
    • Right after Tails gets knocked into a trap meant for Sonic, the hedgehog exclaims: "Those rotten, sneaky..." It feels less like him being angered by the fact that his best friend is now in the hands of the Deadly Six and more like he just got pickpocketed by kids.
  • After beating Sonic Boom's first wave of enemies early on, the following cutscene shows Sonic and the gang outnumbered by Metal Sonic and his army of robots, only for the latter group to get hit with a bad case of Bond Villain Stupidity and approach no faster than marching pace, giving the heroes ample time to escape into the ancient temple behind them. The real source of Narm, however, is the way Metal goes after Sonic before getting locked out by the temple gate at the last moment; what's clearly meant to be a no-nonsense, "You will not evade me" Ominous Walk ends up looking like an awkwardly frantic powerwalk instead, as if Metal desperately needs to take an oil leak. Not helped by how his animation very obviously freezes up before the screen turns back to Sonic putting his fists up, then the gate closing in Metal’s face.
    • Adding on to Narm involving Metal Sonic, the cutscene where Metal steals the green crystal has the characters go full-on Captain Obvious mode for no reason.
      Amy: He's got the crystal!
  • Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) took itself much, much more seriously than its sister show Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. Despite this however, it wasn’t above some inadvertently silly moments due to trying way too hard to be dramatic.
    • In the two-parter Blast to the Past, the catalyst which causes Sonic to bemoan the war against Robotnik is the loss of two freedom fighters. Specifically, a generic horse and bear. It doesn’t help that these two characters only appear in this episode and are never seen or heard from again. Yet Sonic takes their loss exceedingly hard.
    • In Sonic Conversion, Bunnie is de-roboticised, but abruptly changes back to her original form. When she does so, she inexplicably disappears in a cloud of green smoke, dramatic music plays, and Sally frantically calls her name. The next shot is of Bunnie sitting on the floor with a dissonantly deadpan expression. Upon realising that she’s back to being a cyborg, Christine Cavanaugh gives out a small whine which sounds more like she dropped her ice cream.
    • The Doomsday Project makes it abundantly clear that all of the Freedom Fighters across Mobius will band together to fight Robotnik. Half of the main cast stay at home and all the other Freedom Fighters are instantly captured, ultimately leaving everything up to Sonic and Sally. For the umpteenth time.
  • Emerl's death in Sonic X is a very emotional scene except for the fact in the Japanese version, at one point Cheese's crying sounds like a squeaky toy.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics)
    Sonic: We all went through some heavy stuff, Sal. Nobody blames you.
    Sally: Not even during my... outburst*... during your homecoming celebration?*
    Sonic: Oh, come on, Sally. (teasingly) All you did was break my heart. I got over it!
    Sally: (embarrassed) SONIC!

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