Summary
Sonic the Hedgehoghas been on an upswing lately. His movies proved to be better than people were expecting, which might as well be an Academy Award nomination by video game movie standards. Likewise, his games have been refined too.Sonic Frontiershad its hiccups but offered a new dimension of gameplay to the series, andSonic X Shadow Generationsmanaged to improve an already great game with its new story about Sonic’s edgy rival, Shadow.
It’s enough for prospective new fans to get into the blue hedgehog’s other games, either by playing old-school classics likeSonic 3 & KnucklesandSonic Adventure 2or newer games likeFrontiersandGenerations. They could even splash a lot of cash in order to get obscure entries like the Sega 32X exclusiveKnuckles Chaotix. However, there are some things money just can’t buy, like these defunctSonicgames.
8Sonic’s Schoolhouse
Class Dismissed
Sonic’s Schoolhousewas an oldPC edutainment gamewhere the famous hedgehog would help young children learn how to read, spell, and do mathematics. Shinobu Toyoda, Sega Entertainment’s CEO at the time, even said it was like “Doomfor kids” because it used a first-person perspective. Also, move aside WASD controls. This game used WXAD!
It’s technically still possible to buy the game if someone still has the old disc and fancies putting it up at a yard sale, but basic searches online for the game have proven fruitless. That said, it can still be played, as the game is hosted on MyAbandonware.com. Whether it’ll function properly on modern hardware is another matter.
7Segasonic The Hedgehog
Fans Didn’t Join In On Its Isometric Rolling
Likewise, people could technically pick upSegasonic the Hedgehogthrough emulation, or by buying one of its original arcade machines. It was an isometric platformer where up to three players could take Sonic, Mighty the Armadillo, and/or Ray the Flying Squirrel (sans their abilities fromSonic Mania) across multiple levels to take down Robotnik.
It was never ported to consoles, as Sega had trouble finding ways to replicate its trackball controls at home. Their machines are also getting increasingly hard to find, with some people refurbishing their own cabinets to play emulated versions of the game. It’s a lot of effort to go to see Sonic hang out with hismore obscure friends.
6Sonic Eraser
A Puzzling Puzzle Game
Trying to take onTetrisat its own game,Sonic Eraserwas a falling block puzzle game where players had to match symbols to clear them from the screen. The more they clear, the more points they’d get, until the screen would inevitably fill with junk and end their game. It wasn’t as intuitive asTetris, and thanks to a MIDI misread, its soundtrack was a mess. The only way to play the game nowadays is through emulation, as it never received a physical release.
It was only available through two Japan-exclusive online services: 1991’s Sega Game Library (yes, the Genesis could connect to the internet), and 2004’s Sega B-Club, where fans ripped the ROM and spread it online. Western fans nearly got an (official) taste of the game when it was considered for inclusion in theSonic Gems Collection. Alas, they had to take to the internet’s high seas to experience this little oddity.
5Sonic Runners
Leaving The Past Behind
There is a chance people could findSonic’s SchoolhouseandSegasonicif they hunted hard and had cash to burn, but there’s no way they can legally buySonic Runnersanymore. It was a2D endless runnerwhere players aimed to get a high score by jumping over obstacles, using items, and collecting as many crystals as possible to keep their combo going.
It had a host of characters players could unlock by spending the Rings they obtained in the game (or by spending real money on Red Star Rings). The likes of Tails, Knuckles, Mephiles, Sticks, and more each had their own skills and stats to get them ahead. The game was delisted in 2016 to make way for its sequel,Sonic Runners Adventure, which is still available today, and offers a wider range of power-ups but has fewer playable characters. Mephiles and Sticks' fans will be disappointed.
4Sonic Jump Fever
The Fever Was Terminal
Before they madeSonic Dream Team, Hardlight madeSonic Jump Feverfor smartphones. It was a sequel toSonic Jump, a vertical platformer where players tilted their phones to direct Sonic as he jumped constantly across its levels.Feveradded to the fun(?) by adding a fever meter. Once full, it would let players shoot up along ring trails Lightspeed Dash-style.
It also had a multiplayer option, where players could compete with their friends to see who scored higher on the leaderboard. Still, people didn’t have much fun with it, as they had trouble finding Sonic against the level’s backgrounds, and its controls were clunkier than the originalSonic Jump. The game only lasted a few years before it was delisted in 2018.
3The Sonic Cafe Games
A Vast Menu Lost To Time
Like its sequel, the originalSonic Jumpis also gone. As areSonic Tennis,Sonic Golf,Sonic’s Napoleon,Nakayoshi Chao,Sonic Fishing,Sonic Darts,Sonic Hopping,Tails no Flying Get,Amy’s American Page 1,Shadow Shoot,Sonic’s Casino Poker, and a version ofSonic the Hedgehogfor 2000-era mobile phones that only featured one act of Green Hill Zone.
These were all games made available in theSonic Cafe, a Japan-exclusive mobile game service where players paid a monthly fee to play all those games and more. A few of its games would reach Western phones via Sega Mobile, likeSonic JumpandSonic Backgammon,but the Cafe closed for good in 2007, leaving its strange minigames floating in the ether.
2Sonic Unleashed (Mobile)
A Portable Take On The World Adventure
Some people got their first experience of Sonic’s 3D boost gameplay withSonic Unleashedon the Xbox 360 and PS3. Others wound up getting the smaller, SD version on the Wii and PS2, which cut out the highs and lows of the HD version. An even smaller minority may have managed to experience the boost and Werehog combat through the game’s mobile port.
The mobile version ofSonic Unleashedwas essentially a compressed, 2D version of the main game, playing similarly to theSonic Rushgames. Or at least as much as a Blackberry, J2ME, or early Android phone could manage, which wasn’t very much. It suffered from buggy gameplay and sound, and it was only released in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and the Middle East. Even then, they preferred Sonic’s boost gameplay to the Werehog.
1Sonic At The Olympic Winter Games
Going Off Piste Into Obscurity
It’s easy enough to find any of the oldMario & Sonic Olympicsgames, but there’s little to no chance anyone will come acrossSonic at the Olympic Winter Games. It was basically a mobile port of theMario & SonicWinter Olympics game, except it left the Italian plumber and his chums behind. Players could only pick Sonic and his friends & frenemies to play a few winter games.
It only came out on iOS devices, and it barely lasted a week before it was pulled from the Apple Store. Neither Sega nor Apple said why it was pulled, as it was officially licensed by the International Olympic Committee. Perhaps it had legal issues with Nintendo, but no one knows for sure. All it has going for it now is that it was the firstSonicgame released in the 2010s.
