What game did more damage to the Sonic franchise? Shadow or Sonic 2006?

[Uzumaki Goku]

Both games coming out within a year of each other wasn't really a good time for the Sonic franchise. But what was that did more damage? Was it Shadow the Hedgehog (which is why they started giving Sonic games bad review scores) or was it Sonic 2006?

Personally, I'd say Sonic 2006 did the most damage, largely because I remember it was being hyped as the big apology for Shadow the Hedgehog but instead we got.... well, we all know how it goes.

 

[purseowner]

Sonic Chronicles.

 

[GoldandBlue]

Not even a contest, 06 is the one often spoken about when people bring up bad Sonic games.

 

[Kart94]

Sonic 06.

Shadow the hedgehog is a misguided spin off.

Sonic 06 is the real deal or was supposed to be the real deal. It is one of the mainline games

 

[mdubs]

Sonic 06 for having Sonic get kissed by a human

 

[Lagamorph]

Shadow the Hedgehog was completely forgettable.

Sonic 06 is eternal.

 

[Triforce141]

Sonic '06

Even if there were no glitches, all of the bad design choices would've still remained like the top speed of most characters being slower than ever, town missions, overly large hub areas, mach speed sections, Silver's ball puzzle, Shadow's hovercraft in Kingdom Valley still being able to tumble over and kill him due to realistic physics, the terrible camera, overly dickish level hazards like the falling meteors in Flame Core and instant death portals in End of the World, Silver being able to grab you in the rival battles against him, the lack of an ability to grind rail switch easilly, load times being excusiatingly long, lack of an autosave, snowboarding forcing you to charge up a jump in order to manuver around, the lack of a radar when hunting for keys with Rouge etc.

 

[13ruce]

06 for sure it's brought up anywhere when talking about bad Sonic games.

 

[thenewjeva]

One was supposed to be a major reboot of the franchise that was to celebrate the series' 15th anniversary and show the world how Sonic can work in HD while the other was a simple spin-off that nobody expected to be good to begin with. So, in short, Sonic 06.

But both were bad enough to ruin the reputation of Sonic games for years to come.

 

[Mcdohl]

 

[ckaneo]

06.

It also led to them making less ambitious games overall

 

[JD_Lars]

Some people actually like Shadow. I don't know why, but they do exist.

Even hardcore Sonic truthers can't spin 06 into a positive point in their series' timeline.

 

[Spukc]

Sonic adventure started it soo

 

[Servbot24]

It has less to do with bad games doing damage, and more to do with going multiple decades with no exceptionally good games. Yeah, yeah I know someone is going to speak up for Colors or something, but that's not enough for a series to stay relevant, or even make it any more than a joke.

 

[rtcn63]

 

[Diablohead]

Sonic adventure started it soo

To think that sonic adventure 1 has the best 3D sonic physics for slopes and ramps out of all the official 3D games.

 

[CloakBass]

Shadow the Hedgehog (which is why they started giving Sonic games bad review scores)

Bad games get bad scores. There was plenty of criticism prior to Shadow. It's not like the series started declining overnight.

 

[RecRoulette]

Some people actually like Shadow. I don't know why, but they do exist.

Even hardcore Sonic truthers can't spin 06 into a positive point in their series' timeline.

People want a remaster of this game, they can spin anything.

 

[GamerJM]

Sonic 06 because I actually liked Shadow.

 

[Zafir]

06 easily.

Shadow the Hedgehog was a spin off game. It didn't matter as much if it sucked. Most people probably didn't have expectations in the first place, after all.

With 06 though, it was the new mainline sonic in HD. People were excited for it, and when it turned out to be a poorly designed piece of buggy software, well, people were really disappointed.

 

[Frost Walrus]

Sonic 06 is such a spectacular failure that it's made people sort of overlook the failings of Heroes and Shadow. You can't beat that.

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

Shadow is at least a playable, finished game even if the concept is dumb. Also, at least in my mind, it's one of those games that's so dumb that it loops back around and becomes amazing. Plus it's a quick-and-dirty spinoff in the Heroes engine, so it doesn't have the baggage of being Sega's singular vision for the future of the series.

Sonic 06 is just complete shit that's misguided on every single possible level. Even a delay to make its gameplay less glitchy wouldn't change the awful art direction and storyline.

But really, both of them were just continuing the trend that the 3D Sonic games were declining in quality and Sega were losing the plot regarding the tone and charm of the series. Sonic Heroes was when the doubt really started to set in. I definitely remember it being controversial in the Sonic fanbase even at the time.

 

[msdstc]

This isn't a thing... sonic 06 is one of the biggest disasters in gaming history.

 

[Drain You]

I still want to play Shadow one day.

I remember thinking Sonic 06 was going to be fucking amazing. I was so disappointed.

 

[foppy79]

There have been worse Sonic games than 06, but none as big.

 

[ScientificPizza]

06 is at least memorable and I don't think it's ultimately hurt the brand in the long run

Shadow is forgettable outside of memes and that one level in Generations

 

[Goldboy]

Shadow is terrible but Sonic 06 is far more infamous.

 

[Monty Mole]

Whichever was the first game where Sonic started talking.. Sonic Adventure?

Sonic shouldn't talk.

 

[Greatest Ever]

Not even a contest, 06 is the one often spoken about when people bring up bad Sonic games.

Yep. No contest.

 

[rubius01]

Sonic started goung down hill when he got pregnant......and was crucified for our sins

 

[Spukc]

To think that sonic adventure 1 has the best 3D sonic physics for slopes and ramps out of all the official 3D games.

Played it way to long ago all i can remember it was shit.

My only sonic 3d game i kinda liked is heroes?
What i remember of it ..

Is that the physics felt ok?

 

[Shotgun Kiss]

At least Sega swept Shadow the Hedgehog (the game) under the rug. For some reason they insist on acknowledging Sonic 06 in stuff like Sonic Generations and Super Smash Bros.

 

[Ryouji Gunblade]

Shadow the Hedgehog.

There was no Sonic game released in 2006. Only a highly questionable tech demo.

 

[jacob armitage]

'06 without a doubt.

Shadow was pretty atrocious, but as soon as '06 dropped people pretty much instantly forgot about its sins.

'06 is legendary, its arguable the worst major game of its generation. You can't say that about Shadow.

 

[Uzumaki Goku]

'06 without a doubt.

Shadow was pretty atrocious, but as soon as '06 dropped people pretty much instantly forgot about its sins.

'06 is legendary, its arguable the worst major game of its generation. You can't say that about Shadow.

Eh... Shadow was pretty bad.

 

[That Damn Kid]

this is the worst thing in Sonic history

 

[Nanashrew]

IIRC Sonic series was having a slow incline of success in Japan after Sega had gone 3rd party. Then Sonic 06 happened and that kind of cratered and had to start over.

Shadow the Hedgehog was just a spin-off and doesn't really effect the mainline titles.

 

[TheGreatDirector]

Sonic 06.

It was no use after that.

 

[Phu]

'06 was worse. It was literally called Sonic the Hedgehog. It's easier to look past Shadow as a dumb spinoff type of thing.

 

[Kart94]

Can i give you a third option?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICHz0wnPqPg

 

[ckaneo]

To think that sonic adventure 1 has the best 3D sonic physics for slopes and ramps out of all the official 3D games.

Sonic Adventure 2 plays much bether than 1

 

[Berordn]

Shadow isn't a good game, but at least it's playable and remarkably glitch free, loads quickly and no worse mechanically than Sonic Heroes. It also made no major attempts at characterization that could be easily misconstrued, simply built on the few dangling plot threads that SA2 and Heroes left.

This isn't high praise, but it's just not comparable to '06.

 

[game-boi]

Sonic adventure started it soo

Sonic Adventure was the beginning of the end. Unless you played it as a kid, there's not a whole lot to be excited about when revisiting this. Nostalgia glasses required.

 

[SatoAilDarko]

'06 was worse. It was literally called Sonic the Hedgehog. It's easier to look past Shadow as a dumb spinoff type of thing.

Yeah. The fact that 06 was just called Sonic the Hedgehog showing how much it was supposed to be a monumental game puts it in a special place.

 

[ZSaberLink]

06 obviously. Shadow was a bad attempt at a spin-off that was clearly wrong from the get-go. 06 was their attempt to a return to form where they failed miserably despite high production values, etc.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

Sonic '06 was probably worse overall, but it was Shadow that convinced me to bail on the series immediately.

I grew up on Sega stuff and was pretty much always there for a new Sonic game on day 1, but a tepid reception for Sonic Heroes followed immediately by this:

was a pretty clear sign that Sega had lost the plot for their mascot franchise. Sonic '06 only validated that hunch.

I wonder if people even remember that Sonic '06 was built up to be a "back to basics" game when it was initially revealed. There was already a widespread perception that the series had gone off the rails and had built up way too much baggage in the four 3D games that had preceded it, and Sega even acknowledged that to some degree in the run-up to this game. The initial previews for '06 focused heavily on Sonic himself (not his supporting cast of "shitty friends"), green hills, and blue skies and had no signs of the clusterfuck that was to come.

Then that all changed, obviously. I'm pretty sure that '06 was the game that birthed the "Sonic Cycle."

So yeah, Sonic '06 probably did more "damage," but looking back on it I'm not sure why anyone who was paying attention could have been surprised by the end result.

 

[JordanN]

Shadow is worse.

How do you defend this?

06, as ridiculous as it is, still feels like a Sonic game.

 

[jacob armitage]

Eh... Shadow was pretty bad.

Indeed it was, but the question you proposed is what did more damage to the franchise. I don't think any major IP has had an entry as damaging as Sonic did with Sonic '06. '06's failure extends far outside of the realm of the Sonic player base - It is legendarily bad outside of its medium even.

 

[javadoze]

Definitely Sonic 06. Shadow was more or less a continuation of sorts to Sonic Heroes in terms of gameplay. Sonic 06 on the other hand prided itself on being Sonic's leap into "Next Gen" so the way that game floundered was far more harmful to the franchise overall.

 

[mike6467]

Sonic 06 for having Sonic get kissed by a human

This. I know nothing of Shadow honestly, and figured it was just some offshoot. This was actually Sonic. Kissing a human. The one and only Sonic. That did a whole lot more damage then anything else. Hell, they could've released a game with Big The Cat voiced by Gilbert Godfrey doing extreme sports and I wouldn't have cared, that's not Sonic. They fucked up there.