Sonic Heroes: A Battle Won
Video game players around the world would not hesitate to offer a quick response when asked about Sonic the Hedgehog. The blue blur character from Sega of America made it抯 debut in June of 1991 with a game title called 慡onic Games? The Sega mascot was a quick hit, and seemed to do what it was designed to do, and that was to rival with Nintendo抯 Mario character in the video game arena. Shortly after the release of the first game title the team at Sega moved to expand. Sonic the Hedgehog hit it抯 peak in 1994 with the release of several game titles for Sony抯 Playstation 2, and the emerging Xbox from Microsoft, which was gaining in popularity. Sonic fans everywhere enjoyed playing Sonic Adventure DX and a new pinball game called Sonic Pinball Party. Then came the first Sonic game title from Sega since 2001, in the shape of 慡onic Heroes?
The preliminary screenshots of Sonic Heroes raised many expectations of what promised to be the best Sonic the Hedgehog game ever. Enticing images of blue skies, checkered hills, and the implementation of alternate routes that players could include in their strategy to complete the game, where all highly expected attributes. Additionally, some more avid players hoped for this release to be the entrance of Sonic into the world of 3D gaming. However, game fans everywhere where deeply disappointed after receiving what has later been labeled one of the worse instances of Sonic the Hedgehog ever made. Many of the issues with previous games where not addressed, such as camera problems in perspective and unresponsive controls, which resulted in a high amount of failed attempts during game play. Considering the game sends the player back to the start line after a failed attempt, it should not come as a surprise that the game produced it抯 share of angry gamers. The overall structure of the game delivered and extremely difficult challenge to young sonic fans. Surprisingly enough, Sonic Heroes ended up selling very well, taking sixth place in the United Kingdom. A year after it first came out, the game title still maintained a top ten position in worldwide rankings.
It seems that Sonic fans have overlooked this shady episode of the blue blur as another step in the adventure. It was around this time frame in the year 2000, that Sega took a shot at the game console market with the introduction of the Sega Genesis console. Short lived and retired, Sonic fans seem to have forgotten all about it, along with the unresolved issues of Sonic heroes. The spiky blue blur continues to grow in popularity despite the obstacles, reaching over 20 million fans all over the world.
