The thing I have with Heroes is it has the great foundation and design for a game. Like all the stuff is there. Interesting level design with interesting level themes and gimmicks. Game has you move fast with lots of interesting ways of movement through levels with lots of verticality. I like the complexity of having all these characters with different types of special moves that complement each other to where you essentially "chain" their moves together. In terms of personality or having a fun story, the game has that too. The real problem is like, just in terms of the game's flow, it feels very stiff and jerky. There is no natural sense of flow to the game. Almost every move has some sort of delay or stiffness to it or feels like it takes some aspect of control away from the player. The team mechanic, as interesting as it is design-wise, is another thing that basically handicaps the game from having any sense of flow, because you're essentially switching between two or three different extremes in speed. There's no momentum. You have speed characters that move like they're on crack and the other characters just feel like slow tanks with anchors attached to their feet. it doesn't create a natural or satisfying gameplay feel when you feel like you're being "yanked" between speeds You can argue with the latter point that maybe it's an unavoidable consequence of the game's gimmick. If you have a team mechanic where you have "speed characters", then obviously the other characters are going to have to be slower in comparison, otherwise the system just has no point. But it just makes the game feel so rigid. Idk, when I play any game, I like to feel rewarded by my ability to maintain a sense of flow. if I move through a level as stylishly and seamlessly as possible, then I know I'm playing well and it feels satisfying. So to have a game where the idea is it literally jerks you back and disrupts you from the cool shit you're doing just to complete a shoehorned and more tedious task that the other characters get to do and slowing the pace of gameplay down in the process... it doesn't "feel good" to play, I guess is the problem And the non-speed characters, even though I understand the idea conceptually, they're just not integrated very well. For the most pat, the only characters that fit into the level design naturally are the speed characters, and in order to make the other characters useful, they just have random chunks of levels where it's like "Oh, its time to hover between generic floating blocks in the most slow platforming ever" or "Its time to mindlessly mash buttons against dumb waves of enemies because I have a door gating my progress". The fact that controls feel stiff or slippery or awkward mitigate how crappy those gameplay elements are. The speed characters are like the only characters for which the levels feel like actual fucking levels, but the flight characters are so limited in use that the sections designed for them barely constitutes as actual level design, and the power characters are just there to fight rooms of enemies, which isn't bad on paper, but like, in practice, its so counter-opposed to the appeal of the rest of the game. The satisfaction in a game like this comes from forward momentum and making quick progression through setpieces and so if the game just locks you into rooms constantly, its like an inherent contradiction where you can't really have fun doing either because the pieces of the game are working against itself. It's the reason why most games don't mix combat with movement-focused gameplay like that. If you have combat which disrupts you from being on the run but your gameplay appeal comes from speedy progression through the level... you have a problem. The fact that the combat is kinda mind-numbing and controls a bit poorly makes it worse I don't hate the game at all, I actually do enjoy the team system and character abilities and level design, even with those complaints. But when I play the game, i have to play it in the mindset of, "This is a kinda stiff or jerky game where you can't take it as seriously". With SA2, even though that game has a bit of roughness if you're not careful, it's pretty easy to get used to with some muscle memory. You don't have the play the game like you're balancing your tippy toes or having to endure slow bits or wait for animations to end. The problem with Sonic Heroes is, you can get past its roughness if you just want to enjoy it casually, but if you want to look to the game as something more, something to master where you perfect all the level design and get super zoned into timings and shit, the awkwardness is literally immersion-breaking. You have to play "around" the game rather than just playing it. In a lot of ways, its the same kind of problems with vanilla 06 (it's not nearly as broken obviously but its like 06 in the sense of it not being super refined or smooth, and so you can't get too invested iin the game's flow because some parts of it just feel like ass)
@zrexx9428 I think it's just one of those "you need replay for flow" kinda games where you had to get the read of the area before having a free flow of it...even without the jank I can see some players having issues with the switching mechanic (although gate switches supposedly helps the flow) but if you replay a level I think you'd eventually get a hang of it as a deliberate replayability aspect IMO.
@@SanicConnoisseur_91 You want to physically harm someone because of a video game item, even if it's a joke and the one who did the joke themselves did not felt right saying the item name incorrectly
@@SanicConnoisseur_91 If it is so obvious, why did you still said it knowing it is not something good to say? Just because I said this 9 months later does not make what you said any less shitty you arrogant little brat
Ok great video as always but man the coin payoff was amazing. When you finally admitted the joke and then immediately went back to coins I was laughing like a maniac.
This guy is giving cybershell's comedy a run for its money. We might have our new best sonic content creator right here. (I sure hope he talks exclusively about sonic for the rest of his time in youtube as sonic fans are not allowed to like any other franchise)
I have a love and hate relationship with this game. when the game flows well it's super fun. but when the jank hits and you die at the end of a 9 minutes stage ruining your A rank. it makes me want to throw the controller out the window.
I agree, literally every death I've had in that game was something that was either out of my control (punching off the edge) or was unintentional (blue Tornado instead of light speed dash) the two only positive things I like this game for are the fact that I love every single song in this ost, at one point all the stage musics were in my main playlist when I was younger and the banter between the characters
Can't wait for the Heroes remake! Watched all of your videos, most of them multiple times lol. Might go through SWAG again for the... seventh time? Don't even know anymore. Thank you Pariah, been loving your videos for over 2 years now! :)
Another useful thing to note about the tornado is that Sonic will automatically move to any nearby enemy to encircle them. You can use this to your advantage to instantly get up a platform that Sonic couldn't otherwise if there's an enemy above you, for example, even with the double jump thing the tornado also has, so you can effectively triple jump with it if you know when to use it.
Finally some Sonic Heroes appreciation. This is definitely my favorite Sonic game. It's so frustrating to see people not really understanding how the game works and missing out all the fun it has to offer.
It's an example of complex yet arguably easy to master (the opposite of simple yet hard to master)...the moment you have replayed a level a decent amount of times the more likely you have memorized what you need to do at that moment with the many moves making that more interesting.
The amount of depth you poured into the combat alone sells more than the shite that I’ve experienced with Pac-Man World 3’s hallow combat, so you’ve convinced on a basic fun factor and how much combat can work and be appreciated, though I wonder how it compares to Unleashed and the Werehog
buggy or not, with the sheer power of the memory editor, nothing will ever move me from that version, CUSTOM TEAMS, and a moon jump to save me from said bugs, i rest my case.
After so many years of hearing the Sonic community flame this game, I feel vindicated here. I agree with you 100% and have tried to articulate the appeal to others for years with no luck. I have replayed this moreso than any other 3D sonic and maybe even more than Sonic 2 or CD. The level design is just incredible, so well thought out with the various routes and skips. Been hoping for a remaster or sequel, would love to see some of these ideas incorporated into the sequel to Frontiers, the puzzling aspect could fit really well into that formula.
best review i have seen for this game, what makes the game so fun is how many options you have to get rid of enemies and traverse the levels every other sonic game up until this point only gave you 1 or 2 abilities to use
For someone like me who for some stupid reason decided to get into the Sonic franchise with this game I can tell how punishing the game felt on my first playthrough, I was so tired by the time I fought the final boss (of the Sonic Team, I wasn't even going to play the rest of the teams) I almost gave up on playing the rest of the games. But for some reason I decided to try the challenges with the Sonic team, and when I tried to do the time attack with them I failed miserably, but at the time I had improved a lot in the game, so I kept trying until I managed to do it right, since then I kept playing to become better and better and now Heroes is my favorite 3D Sonic game and convinced me to play the rest of the series. It's truly a 50/50 chance on if you are going to love it or hate it in my opinion, as you say, it depends on how much bullshit you can tolerate but once you pass that and understand the game better it's an absolutr blast to play through!
9:12 - This finally getting addressed in this manner, saying this is the exact reason you've been doing this and even you addressing that you did it JUST for the payoff now, SO FAR from the first video... My God that is some dedication. I love it. - And then even going as far as to say "joke's over" and immediately keeping it going. You're a mad lad. I first found your videos on a different Sonic video, and heard "coins" and thought "Oh, okay, maybe he isn't as clued in and doesn't actually know what he's saying, can't even get the Rings right." - Then I went back to the first video of the series to watch in order, and found you did this from the start, and saying "Sonic has coins, Mario has rings," I was clued in immediately. A great starting gag, and leading to this moment here, very worth the many months of not acknowledging the actual name. And also, just your general thoughts on the all the games as a whole (Yes, I've binge-watched EVERY Sonic video you made over the last week) - you pointing out so many of their flaws, whilst still praising why they're so good - I'm so happy to finally see someone give the games their deserved praise, whilst not putting only Sonic 1, 2, and 3&K on a pedestal. Giving them highs and lows where they all deserve it. Hell, I might even give Sonic Blast a try after your video... But it's refreshing, especially for games like Heroes! It's so overly-criticised, so I can't wait to finish watching this, the next part, and the Story video.
@@WeeAddy You know what that does in Mario? I don’t bc I don’t remember as it’s been ages since I last played a Mario game. And no I feel like shit still. If anything I want to take my SanicConnoissuer!
My favorite thing about the controls of Sonic Heroes is that even though each character has a lot of moves, you still control them with two buttons, and every move is either B, A+B, or A+A
You're playing a dangerous game with the coin joke. I legit got the urge to shut off the Sonic Adventure video the first time I heard you say coins lol. It reminded me of the non-Dreamcast kids who used to say "Sonic 2 Adventure Battle" back in elementary school.
God this is still my favorite sonic game. even though i hate the pinball physics, some of the jankiness can get in the way of playing well, and chaotix missions drive me up a wall, i still love just about everything about this game so much. only thing it’s missing for me is some new 2d uekawa art for the characters. and better bosses lol
C O I N Also meme aside I find the Thunder Shoot to be really good at collecting the bonus rings from the triple bounce pads. Feels more consistent than hoping all three members line up in power formation
You're very forgving to the slippery and sloppy controls lol, but I really enjoyed the review. You definitely made a lot of good points about the design.
The problem of Sonic Heroes is that it's best version is on the GameCube and the hedgehog was never compatible with an octagonal gated left stick controller which is why very regularly the controls are also incredibly slippery. (Its the same issue in SADX) Would recommend an XBOX controller if you're playing this on Dolphin.
i think u made a great case 4 heroes, i rly preferred it in a lot of ways despite the more raw physics engines of like SA1. i luv the huge levels n that ur gameplay isn’t divided up. i think ur right abt the complexity 2, it never rly seemed that way 2 me bc i’ve played it so much but i can see how a new player could b confused lol. some of the mechanics u mentioned i didn’t even know abt, like knuckles w the stick tilt
I will say in SA2's defense that crouching on rails isn't a binary "go fast" or "don't go fast". Crouching on rails does make you go faster, but it also causes the player to veer to the side, and if they veer too hard you start to go slower, forcing the player to use the control stick to control your character's balance. Thus you have a risk reward system where not crouching is slower but easier, whereas crouching is faster when done well, but requires more thought and input from the player. Of course, every version of SA2 after the Dreamcast version made the crouch controls WAY too sensitive to the point of ruining the whole thing. But if we're talking about the original game, there is a clear and well implemented system in place. Also, wow that coin bit had me laughing, great video.
You know, based on your praise of Sonic Heroes I can say that this game had the potential to eclipse both Adventure games but unfortunately, it was really bogged down by its complexity, 4 playthroughs that are more or less the same which make it repetitive, and the biggest problem of all, the jankyness. Lots of jankyness. The problems such as janky-ness are largely a byproduct of a very chaotic development cycle and lots of crunches. Had Sonic Heroes had a smoother development cycle and had more time to iron out the problems it had at the time, it would have been a very good 3D Sonic game. And probably wouldn't be looked like a game that is below both Sonic Adventure games in terms of overall enjoyment and quality.
I remember the rail grinding in SA2 actually carrying momentum, so when crouching whilst gonig down rails you gain speed, but if you did the same to a rail going up it would slow you down
@@Pariah6950 that's factually incorrect. There are vertical rails on final rush that you need forward momentum to get up. You can't just crouch and scale them with no momentum.
@@Rusty_Spy I didn't mean that. I meant that crouching is always faster than not. In that example, you lose less speed going up those rails if you crouch than if you don't.
In SA2 I always felt like crouching made it harder to balance around corners so I would in touch to balance on turns but idk if that’s entirely accurate
I liked Heroes before, but now I'm kind of excited to play it again. I didn't even know about some of the details and mechanics you mentioned and my jaw dropped multiple times while watching. Thanks, man. You're my favourite Sonic reviewer now. Yes, you probably don't want to be viewed that way, but those videos are your best and most interesting ones, I think. As for the coin joke, I thought you would either drop the act or continue with it. Turns out you did both. I preferred it being a little joke that irritates people, so seeing that this is what it was supposed to set up made it less funny for me. Now I'm not sure if I want to watch your Black Knight video. I think that game's gameplay gets disregarded even more than Heroes', but apparently you don't like it.
You can quickly build up your team blast by using tail pressing b then switching characters at the same time it fit,s up the bar and like glitches out tails for a few seconds
"this is the first sonic game to interduce true genuine combat" the game Sonic Battle which came out 26 days before heroes: I'm I a joke to you? sonic the fighters: 😪
Got to Heroes on my Sonic replay list, never actually gave it a real shot. I was about to quit on it, came here cause I was sure you were gonna dunk on it cause it's so obviously bad and everyone says so. I didn't even know about the levelling up perks or that it was as multi-pathed as you're saying, that's gonna get me to try again.
I quite agree that they probably should've cut the Zones into multiple acts to make it feel like you are making solid progress and give decent margin of error, IMO. A-Ranking these levels Zones can be a pain as your points drop to 0 when you lose a life while the timer doesn't reset meaning you won't get any bonus time points and it would be much better to reset the whole Zone, which means you have wasted too much time. Cutting up the Zones meant each level would've had a separate evaluation meaning a more engaging loop in where you'd get more high ranks than not to then improve in Acts that you were low. In a way I'm happy Team Amy exists because they feel like breathers after long levels and frustrating restarts even if it is the same level again hehe. In a way I feel Dream Team may had given a potential evolution from the Heroes formula as it cut up Acts into missions while also allowing different "teams" to be switchable without playing an Act again.
Dang, the first 2 minutes were just him saying every reason I dropped off of this series except Forces. I kinda liked unleashed and will be getting Shadow Generations, but SA2 had so much replayability. Bring back Chao Garden.
I recently discovered your channel. And your sonic reviews made.me remember how full of life this first.trio of 3d games was. Too bad the ideas never came close to finalisation cuz of crunch and sega going defunct. Also on level design I think sonic heroes goes heavily on emulating 2d sonic stages. It rlly looks like if you put a 3d camera in generations' classic stages.
Sonic Heroes is a game I really liked, but it's not one I go back to often. Normally I'll just replay Team Dark's Story and call it a day. I don't even bother with the other stories anymore. Team Dark gives slightly more challenge than Team Sonic, and isn't as annoying as Team Chaotix.
The few times I throw this game on I actually tend to pick Chaotix just because I got stuck on their levels SO MUCH as a kid and all their voice clips just give me warm nostalgic fuzzies lmao. Charmy going “thank you!” and Espio’s “LETS GO!” are some of the first things I think of when this game is mentioned. I love those characters even though their levels are absolute dogshit
I already said in past video about the Special Stages thing, I definitely choose the PC version over the console versions due to the Special Stages being at least torelable, while there are problems like the speedcap on loops, these can be easily avoided by just using the Power character who is slower, even though that doesn't fix the issue, I find the Special Stages fix to be more relevant than like three sections where the speedcap can kill you if you're going too fast. The Light Speed dash I agree it's very troublesome, I've already seen someone defending saying that being correctly aligned with the trail of rings it's a part of the challenge, so if the player fail the Light Dash, it's their fault for pressing the button at a weird angle and not the game's, which I find hard to believe developers really intended that mechanic to work like this. The thing with the slopes you mentioned isn't really exclusive to Heroes, I've just tested on SA2 and the physics works pretty much the same way, if you're at a high-speed on an upwards slope, you'll jump much higher than normal, didn't really noticed anything different. In fact I think Heroes is very similar to SA2 regarding these physics because the game still has the same "gravity conservation", in which some situations you'll jump off from something and you'll maintain the same gravity direction of the slope you were before, this is noticeable on one of rails on Rail Canyon where the character fall off on a weird angle (and I already died sometimes because the game wasn't resetting the gravity orientation at that moment) Find odd that you didn't mention the other Teams and Special Stages thing (Am I the only one who really gives a shit on special stages, no one talks about it lol), but it seems you have more to talk on a later video so I'll be looking forward to. What I will say is that I ALWAYS recommend new players to start with Team Rose, no matter if they are already used to Sonic games or not, the stages are as long as they were in Adventure titles, the jankiness is much less frequent especially because Big doesn't do punches like Knuckles that makes it slips everywhere and has no Light Dash problems, and the overhaul level design is much more tolerable for a first time player, then the player will have a much better time and later will have more incentive try more difficult ones. I say this because as a kid I could never beat any other campaign other than Team Rose, I find out to be the most fun for me at that time, other teams were frustrating and couldn't beat the game (partially because I could only play on Keyboard, but still). That's why I find so important to start from the easiest and not "Normal>Hard>Easy" the game throws at you, especially since inevitably a player will have to complete all of them to face the final boss. The difficulty in this game is not clearly explained so most players will always choose Team Sonic because it's the main trio in promotional material and it's the first one in the list, why they didn't put a giant text at the Team Selection screen written "EASY/NORMAL/HARD/MISSION"? Especially since they wanted the game to be the most accessible, but they complicated their own difficult selection system? At the end either experienced players or players who never played any platformer starts with Team Sonic because the game just doesn't explain clearly. Yes, there is the Omochao if you press the Y button, but I hardly see any new player noticing that, so it kind of goes with SA2 thing of "not wanting to make things clear."
The special stages working does sound nice. But I don't really care about them in general lol. I'm also thinking about it from the perspective of a first time player. They could get killed over and over by loops and not know what's happening. That's no good. I actually do also kind of like how you have to line up the light speed dash, even if it does come as a product of bad detection. I cut that out of the video because it is still a dumb problem that shouldn't be there. Everything else will be talked about in part 2. And yeah, the way that they did the difficulty select is the dumbest thing ever. Who on Earth is going to start a Sonic game with anyone but Sonic? You start the game on normal mode, then eventually go down to easy after playing the game a bunch already, possibly after also trying hard mode. Stupid. That will definitely be getting a mention.
I strongly disagree with the notion that this game is criticized for amount of focus it requires. I think it's just a combination of the jank and tedious level design. I don't think decision making is really even a thing, even in the absence of the game's constant visual and verbal cues. I think this game suffers from something SA2 started: levels feel very copypaste-heavy and go on for way longer than the developers have enough time and ideas for. It's just that, this time, levels are so much longer on average.
Yes him saying multiple times that people hate the game because it “requires you to think and make decisions” is weirdly contrarian, at least to me. Like yeah, that’s why man. Make sure not to mention Chaotix or Team Rose. I remember blasting through this game on team Sonic a few months ago without dying and I hadn’t played it since I was like 6 years old. The enemies are a lot more rock-paper-scissorsy than he was portraying, in my opinion. Like by the time you reach any dangerous enemy encounters at least one of your characters is probably level 3 so you just wreck them.
I will be talking about a lot of the other issues in part 2. As I said, the decision making comes from my desire to optimize. If you just want to kill stuff, it is easy. But doing it as quickly as possible takes a bit more. These comments make me realize I failed to properly communicate my meaning. I meant to say that these things and people not understanding them means people miss the stuff that makes the game fun. Then all that's left is the jank, level design issues, and tedium. But because of the stuff I enjoy, I can tolerate these issues. Thanks for the comments. I will try to address these things in part 2.
I think there's a sort of raw satisfaction to killing enemies in this game, but I really wouldn't consider it deep. More often than not it's a simple order-of-operations thing (have Sonic remove the shield first, basically) up until the point where Thunder Shoot reaches a level where it solos encounters. I don't have a problem with the game's combat as much as it's just... these level designers don't know when to let up. These levels just go on and on and responding to the same cues (whether explicit or not) just gets old.
30:52 Not really, it’s more so how repetitive the game is that makes people dislike it. Even if they are like you and consider one of the teams a full game instead of getting the entire main story as the full game.
This guy knows the Sonic fanbase so well, he managed to trigger it by changing a single word in his videos.
Kudos.
Yeah
It’s a dumb joke
He didn’t trigger the fanbase. He just triggered the retards.
Oh wait.
The pettiness of the coins bit is fucking hilarious, please continue calling them coins
@@SanicConnoisseur_91 what
@@SanicConnoisseur_91 The hell...? What is wrong with you?
@@superplayerex2431 That was a vent. Ignore me.
But also, what’s it to you? I’ll say what I want.
@@SanicConnoisseur_91 Okay then, I'll say what I want as well.
You are a weirdo.
@@superplayerex2431what did he say?
Great that the coins bit finally paid off. I actually hope the joke stays for the whole series moving forward
Ehhh nah
no
Yes.
Sonic and the Secret Coins
Such a good bit that it just became official LMAO
Finally somebody that doesn't flat out call Sonic Heroes a terrible game and actually gives it some good criticism.
Sonic Heroes is bad but can be good. Similar to Riders but more so.
The thing I have with Heroes is it has the great foundation and design for a game. Like all the stuff is there. Interesting level design with interesting level themes and gimmicks. Game has you move fast with lots of interesting ways of movement through levels with lots of verticality. I like the complexity of having all these characters with different types of special moves that complement each other to where you essentially "chain" their moves together. In terms of personality or having a fun story, the game has that too.
The real problem is like, just in terms of the game's flow, it feels very stiff and jerky. There is no natural sense of flow to the game. Almost every move has some sort of delay or stiffness to it or feels like it takes some aspect of control away from the player. The team mechanic, as interesting as it is design-wise, is another thing that basically handicaps the game from having any sense of flow, because you're essentially switching between two or three different extremes in speed. There's no momentum. You have speed characters that move like they're on crack and the other characters just feel like slow tanks with anchors attached to their feet. it doesn't create a natural or satisfying gameplay feel when you feel like you're being "yanked" between speeds
You can argue with the latter point that maybe it's an unavoidable consequence of the game's gimmick. If you have a team mechanic where you have "speed characters", then obviously the other characters are going to have to be slower in comparison, otherwise the system just has no point. But it just makes the game feel so rigid. Idk, when I play any game, I like to feel rewarded by my ability to maintain a sense of flow. if I move through a level as stylishly and seamlessly as possible, then I know I'm playing well and it feels satisfying. So to have a game where the idea is it literally jerks you back and disrupts you from the cool shit you're doing just to complete a shoehorned and more tedious task that the other characters get to do and slowing the pace of gameplay down in the process... it doesn't "feel good" to play, I guess is the problem
And the non-speed characters, even though I understand the idea conceptually, they're just not integrated very well. For the most pat, the only characters that fit into the level design naturally are the speed characters, and in order to make the other characters useful, they just have random chunks of levels where it's like "Oh, its time to hover between generic floating blocks in the most slow platforming ever" or "Its time to mindlessly mash buttons against dumb waves of enemies because I have a door gating my progress". The fact that controls feel stiff or slippery or awkward mitigate how crappy those gameplay elements are. The speed characters are like the only characters for which the levels feel like actual fucking levels, but the flight characters are so limited in use that the sections designed for them barely constitutes as actual level design, and the power characters are just there to fight rooms of enemies, which isn't bad on paper, but like, in practice, its so counter-opposed to the appeal of the rest of the game. The satisfaction in a game like this comes from forward momentum and making quick progression through setpieces and so if the game just locks you into rooms constantly, its like an inherent contradiction where you can't really have fun doing either because the pieces of the game are working against itself. It's the reason why most games don't mix combat with movement-focused gameplay like that. If you have combat which disrupts you from being on the run but your gameplay appeal comes from speedy progression through the level... you have a problem. The fact that the combat is kinda mind-numbing and controls a bit poorly makes it worse
I don't hate the game at all, I actually do enjoy the team system and character abilities and level design, even with those complaints. But when I play the game, i have to play it in the mindset of, "This is a kinda stiff or jerky game where you can't take it as seriously". With SA2, even though that game has a bit of roughness if you're not careful, it's pretty easy to get used to with some muscle memory. You don't have the play the game like you're balancing your tippy toes or having to endure slow bits or wait for animations to end. The problem with Sonic Heroes is, you can get past its roughness if you just want to enjoy it casually, but if you want to look to the game as something more, something to master where you perfect all the level design and get super zoned into timings and shit, the awkwardness is literally immersion-breaking. You have to play "around" the game rather than just playing it. In a lot of ways, its the same kind of problems with vanilla 06 (it's not nearly as broken obviously but its like 06 in the sense of it not being super refined or smooth, and so you can't get too invested iin the game's flow because some parts of it just feel like ass)
@zrexx9428 I think it's just one of those "you need replay for flow" kinda games where you had to get the read of the area before having a free flow of it...even without the jank I can see some players having issues with the switching mechanic (although gate switches supposedly helps the flow) but if you replay a level I think you'd eventually get a hang of it as a deliberate replayability aspect IMO.
can't wait for the sonic and the secret coins review!
If I ever find pariah irl somehow I will slap him
@@SanicConnoisseur_91 You want to physically harm someone because of a video game item, even if it's a joke and the one who did the joke themselves did not felt right saying the item name incorrectly
@@LesliePaula-f8u Thanks captain obvious
That comment was made 9 months ago, your input has rendered useless
@@SanicConnoisseur_91 If it is so obvious, why did you still said it knowing it is not something good to say? Just because I said this 9 months later does not make what you said any less shitty you arrogant little brat
Ok great video as always but man the coin payoff was amazing. When you finally admitted the joke and then immediately went back to coins I was laughing like a maniac.
This guy is giving cybershell's comedy a run for its money. We might have our new best sonic content creator right here. (I sure hope he talks exclusively about sonic for the rest of his time in youtube as sonic fans are not allowed to like any other franchise)
I made a Sonic Movie 2 GUITAR COVER 😎🦔🎸🔥
@@mau2172 cybershell is better
@@rickywsbiggestfan3916 And still better lmao
I have a love and hate relationship with this game. when the game flows well it's super fun. but when the jank hits and you die at the end of a 9 minutes stage ruining your A rank. it makes me want to throw the controller out the window.
That's basically Heroes in a nutshell, yeah. lol
Kinda like Sonic 06 for me
I agree, literally every death I've had in that game was something that was either out of my control (punching off the edge) or was unintentional (blue Tornado instead of light speed dash)
the two only positive things I like this game for are the fact that I love every single song in this ost, at one point all the stage musics were in my main playlist when I was younger and the banter between the characters
Sonic game developers when Pariah plays their game and keeps starting his sentences with "on paper"💀
Can't wait for the Heroes remake! Watched all of your videos, most of them multiple times lol.
Might go through SWAG again for the... seventh time? Don't even know anymore.
Thank you Pariah, been loving your videos for over 2 years now! :)
Another useful thing to note about the tornado is that Sonic will automatically move to any nearby enemy to encircle them. You can use this to your advantage to instantly get up a platform that Sonic couldn't otherwise if there's an enemy above you, for example, even with the double jump thing the tornado also has, so you can effectively triple jump with it if you know when to use it.
Sonic heroes will always have a special place in my heart for being the first sonic game I played
This is the RPG Sonic game we weren’t expecting
This and Unleashed
Finally some Sonic Heroes appreciation. This is definitely my favorite Sonic game. It's so frustrating to see people not really understanding how the game works and missing out all the fun it has to offer.
Tbh i think shadow is way better than heroes in terms of gameplay
It's an example of complex yet arguably easy to master (the opposite of simple yet hard to master)...the moment you have replayed a level a decent amount of times the more likely you have memorized what you need to do at that moment with the many moves making that more interesting.
@sonicwithglasses131 In Shadow the combat is no where near as complex and Shadow is even harder to control at high speeds.
The coin joke had me laughing for an entire minute straight it was very much worth it
The amount of depth you poured into the combat alone sells more than the shite that I’ve experienced with Pac-Man World 3’s hallow combat, so you’ve convinced on a basic fun factor and how much combat can work and be appreciated, though I wonder how it compares to Unleashed and the Werehog
Unleashed doesn't have combat as fun as heroes but it's still a hundred times better than Pac-Man World 3
56:28 Finally, he realized they're Rupees.
buggy or not, with the sheer power of the memory editor, nothing will ever move me from that version, CUSTOM TEAMS, and a moon jump to save me from said bugs, i rest my case.
After so many years of hearing the Sonic community flame this game, I feel vindicated here. I agree with you 100% and have tried to articulate the appeal to others for years with no luck. I have replayed this moreso than any other 3D sonic and maybe even more than Sonic 2 or CD. The level design is just incredible, so well thought out with the various routes and skips. Been hoping for a remaster or sequel, would love to see some of these ideas incorporated into the sequel to Frontiers, the puzzling aspect could fit really well into that formula.
10:12 I can’t believe after all these years, I had the Mandela effect. Glad this man officially corrected my memory.
god damn the coin bit payoff was so amazing LMAOOO
best review i have seen for this game, what makes the game so fun is how many options you have to get rid of enemies and traverse the levels every other sonic game up until this point only gave you 1 or 2 abilities to use
This video made me appreciate the complexity of this game more
So glad this channel is picking up traction!! Keep it up!
For someone like me who for some stupid reason decided to get into the Sonic franchise with this game I can tell how punishing the game felt on my first playthrough, I was so tired by the time I fought the final boss (of the Sonic Team, I wasn't even going to play the rest of the teams) I almost gave up on playing the rest of the games.
But for some reason I decided to try the challenges with the Sonic team, and when I tried to do the time attack with them I failed miserably, but at the time I had improved a lot in the game, so I kept trying until I managed to do it right, since then I kept playing to become better and better and now Heroes is my favorite 3D Sonic game and convinced me to play the rest of the series.
It's truly a 50/50 chance on if you are going to love it or hate it in my opinion, as you say, it depends on how much bullshit you can tolerate but once you pass that and understand the game better it's an absolutr blast to play through!
9:12 - This finally getting addressed in this manner, saying this is the exact reason you've been doing this and even you addressing that you did it JUST for the payoff now, SO FAR from the first video... My God that is some dedication. I love it. - And then even going as far as to say "joke's over" and immediately keeping it going. You're a mad lad.
I first found your videos on a different Sonic video, and heard "coins" and thought "Oh, okay, maybe he isn't as clued in and doesn't actually know what he's saying, can't even get the Rings right." - Then I went back to the first video of the series to watch in order, and found you did this from the start, and saying "Sonic has coins, Mario has rings," I was clued in immediately. A great starting gag, and leading to this moment here, very worth the many months of not acknowledging the actual name.
And also, just your general thoughts on the all the games as a whole (Yes, I've binge-watched EVERY Sonic video you made over the last week) - you pointing out so many of their flaws, whilst still praising why they're so good - I'm so happy to finally see someone give the games their deserved praise, whilst not putting only Sonic 1, 2, and 3&K on a pedestal. Giving them highs and lows where they all deserve it. Hell, I might even give Sonic Blast a try after your video... But it's refreshing, especially for games like Heroes! It's so overly-criticised, so I can't wait to finish watching this, the next part, and the Story video.
Jokes dead
Died on sonic 1 part 2 and is the unfunniest shit I’ve heard
@@SanicConnoisseur_91 Collect 100 coins and gain an extra SanicConnoissuer, you'll feel better.
@@WeeAddy You know what that does in Mario?
I don’t bc I don’t remember as it’s been ages since I last played a Mario game.
And no I feel like shit still.
If anything I want to take my SanicConnoissuer!
Always glad to see some love for Sonic Heroes, janky as it may be
17:32 I've been abusing this technique ever since I saw this video and its so much fun to use and take advantage of the level design. It's so cool
Glad to see heroes gets some love once in awhile. Sure it’s not the most smoothest or polished game out there but it’s dumb fun imo.
thank god, i was genuinely worried you were going to stop calling them coins for a second
If he wouldn’t say it so often or bring it up at all I would be ok with it but the joke sucks
The coin joke is one of my favorite running gags in any RUclips series.
Not him still calling them coins after he said he finished the joke 😂
This channel is pretty good quality with so little attention.. I call injustice
I call ratio
@@Inactivechannel-r6 pfff
I loved the intro when I was a child
My favorite thing about the controls of Sonic Heroes is that even though each character has a lot of moves, you still control them with two buttons, and every move is either B, A+B, or A+A
Cozy & Coinpilled
You're playing a dangerous game with the coin joke. I legit got the urge to shut off the Sonic Adventure video the first time I heard you say coins lol. It reminded me of the non-Dreamcast kids who used to say "Sonic 2 Adventure Battle" back in elementary school.
Jokes dead
This game was my jam back in the day! I wish I could play it again.
God this is still my favorite sonic game. even though i hate the pinball physics, some of the jankiness can get in the way of playing well, and chaotix missions drive me up a wall, i still love just about everything about this game so much. only thing it’s missing for me is some new 2d uekawa art for the characters. and better bosses lol
C O I N
Also meme aside I find the Thunder Shoot to be really good at collecting the bonus rings from the triple bounce pads. Feels more consistent than hoping all three members line up in power formation
Man, i was waiting patently for your new video. That's just how much i like your channel and im always supporting
Also congrats for almost 2k
This video perfectly explains why I have enjoyed Sonic Heroes for the best part of 20 years. It’s a great game. It’s honestly my favourite Sonic game.
You're very forgving to the slippery and sloppy controls lol, but I really enjoyed the review. You definitely made a lot of good points about the design.
I can't believe you called them rings, you monster
I swear the moment you explained the combat mechanic in Sonic Heroes and how it works, I am reminded of Doom Eternal.
You described why I didnt like this game as a kid very well. The mecanics are complex and its jank as hell. Now that I'm older I love it.
The problem of Sonic Heroes is that it's best version is on the GameCube and the hedgehog was never compatible with an octagonal gated left stick controller which is why very regularly the controls are also incredibly slippery. (Its the same issue in SADX) Would recommend an XBOX controller if you're playing this on Dolphin.
i think u made a great case 4 heroes, i rly preferred it in a lot of ways despite the more raw physics engines of like SA1. i luv the huge levels n that ur gameplay isn’t divided up. i think ur right abt the complexity 2, it never rly seemed that way 2 me bc i’ve played it so much but i can see how a new player could b confused lol. some of the mechanics u mentioned i didn’t even know abt, like knuckles w the stick tilt
I will say in SA2's defense that crouching on rails isn't a binary "go fast" or "don't go fast". Crouching on rails does make you go faster, but it also causes the player to veer to the side, and if they veer too hard you start to go slower, forcing the player to use the control stick to control your character's balance. Thus you have a risk reward system where not crouching is slower but easier, whereas crouching is faster when done well, but requires more thought and input from the player. Of course, every version of SA2 after the Dreamcast version made the crouch controls WAY too sensitive to the point of ruining the whole thing. But if we're talking about the original game, there is a clear and well implemented system in place.
Also, wow that coin bit had me laughing, great video.
Sonic And The Secret Coins
In summary: This game is Sonic Adventure 3 & Chaotix
Thank you for the video, you articulated some of my sentiments on the game
I can see a lot of love for heroes! Can't wait for 06' and shadow the hedgehog!
I fucking lost it when he continued to call them coins
I genuinely knew the coins comment was a bit.. but deep inside it still infuriated me 😆 well played
I love grabbing Coins in Sonic, and Rings in Super Mario
The Gamecube version is the GOAT version.
Xbox is pesk
@@Jaylobeans PS2 version is the worst version. PC and XBox have visual and audio issues.
omg i was just waiting for another upload from u :3 very excited to watch this and anything u continue to upload in the future :D
I went back to watch the coins bit again 🤣
Hearing someone actually praise Sonic Heroes' mechanics is kind of giving me whiplash...
Coins? Rings? Hey, I had to eat one of those cute, little squirrels for dinner last night, I’ll call ‘em whatever tf I want!
(See Sonic for Hire 😭)
mhm
Ok that joke was funny
This guy keeps doing it and it’s old and annoying
You know, based on your praise of Sonic Heroes I can say that this game had the potential to eclipse both Adventure games but unfortunately, it was really bogged down by its complexity, 4 playthroughs that are more or less the same which make it repetitive, and the biggest problem of all, the jankyness. Lots of jankyness.
The problems such as janky-ness are largely a byproduct of a very chaotic development cycle and lots of crunches. Had Sonic Heroes had a smoother development cycle and had more time to iron out the problems it had at the time, it would have been a very good 3D Sonic game. And probably wouldn't be looked like a game that is below both Sonic Adventure games in terms of overall enjoyment and quality.
I remember the rail grinding in SA2 actually carrying momentum, so when crouching whilst gonig down rails you gain speed, but if you did the same to a rail going up it would slow you down
I thought that was the case too. But I tested it and no. You just always go faster when crouching. It should have totally worked like that.
@@Pariah6950 that's factually incorrect. There are vertical rails on final rush that you need forward momentum to get up. You can't just crouch and scale them with no momentum.
@@Rusty_Spy I didn't mean that. I meant that crouching is always faster than not. In that example, you lose less speed going up those rails if you crouch than if you don't.
In SA2 I always felt like crouching made it harder to balance around corners so I would in touch to balance on turns but idk if that’s entirely accurate
I liked Heroes before, but now I'm kind of excited to play it again. I didn't even know about some of the details and mechanics you mentioned and my jaw dropped multiple times while watching. Thanks, man. You're my favourite Sonic reviewer now. Yes, you probably don't want to be viewed that way, but those videos are your best and most interesting ones, I think. As for the coin joke, I thought you would either drop the act or continue with it. Turns out you did both. I preferred it being a little joke that irritates people, so seeing that this is what it was supposed to set up made it less funny for me.
Now I'm not sure if I want to watch your Black Knight video. I think that game's gameplay gets disregarded even more than Heroes', but apparently you don't like it.
You can quickly build up your team blast by using tail pressing b then switching characters at the same time it fit,s up the bar and like glitches out tails for a few seconds
0:30 Makes sense, the PC release is an older build
Coins? I thought they were Golden Donuts
Sonic and the Secret Coins.
45:59 MOD CRUSH HIS SKULL THANK YOU
7:16 ..........
G E T H E L P
"this is the first sonic game to interduce true genuine combat"
the game Sonic Battle which came out 26 days before heroes: I'm I a joke to you?
sonic the fighters: 😪
Battle and Fighters are spinoffs
@@themissingbits6375 Still sonic game
Sonic heroes is my favorite game of all time. Well sonic wise. (It's ok kingdom hearts I still love you)
Despite beating the game several times as a kid, and once as an adult, I had no idea about the power core mechanic.
deep down this coin bit is not actually a joke
They're clearly bagels 🥯
What are you looking at? I clearly see chili dogs.
I watched the shadow video first and was confused why he was censored every time he said *coin*
Seeing the coin bit here explains so much lmfao
Oh shoot, you're using my Xbox One buttons mod for the PC clip! Thanks!
You are truly a machine, how are you able to write this fast an efficiently!?
I don't write scripts for my videos. It's just me talking off the top of my head.
@@Pariah6950 that's impressive! it's sounds like you had a script
You can do a lot with editing lol.
@@Pariah6950 Dang that's pretty impressive not gonna lie, I would never be able to articulate my thoughts like that.
@@Pariah6950 Do you at least write notes so that you don't go off topic?
Got to Heroes on my Sonic replay list, never actually gave it a real shot. I was about to quit on it, came here cause I was sure you were gonna dunk on it cause it's so obviously bad and everyone says so.
I didn't even know about the levelling up perks or that it was as multi-pathed as you're saying, that's gonna get me to try again.
In the movies there called rings
I quite agree that they probably should've cut the Zones into multiple acts to make it feel like you are making solid progress and give decent margin of error, IMO.
A-Ranking these levels Zones can be a pain as your points drop to 0 when you lose a life while the timer doesn't reset meaning you won't get any bonus time points and it would be much better to reset the whole Zone, which means you have wasted too much time.
Cutting up the Zones meant each level would've had a separate evaluation meaning a more engaging loop in where you'd get more high ranks than not to then improve in Acts that you were low.
In a way I'm happy Team Amy exists because they feel like breathers after long levels and frustrating restarts even if it is the same level again hehe.
In a way I feel Dream Team may had given a potential evolution from the Heroes formula as it cut up Acts into missions while also allowing different "teams" to be switchable without playing an Act again.
Sorry Pariah, but they aren't coins, they are plain bagels, sonic likes his carbs, and why he can continue his speed
ITS BETTER THAN COINS
THANK YOU
Ahaahaaha funny ring-coin joke
you can actually kill turtles as sonic if you homing attack his head before it goes in its shell
i LOVE this game
Dang, the first 2 minutes were just him saying every reason I dropped off of this series except Forces. I kinda liked unleashed and will be getting Shadow Generations, but SA2 had so much replayability. Bring back Chao Garden.
I recently discovered your channel. And your sonic reviews made.me remember how full of life this first.trio of 3d games was. Too bad the ideas never came close to finalisation cuz of crunch and sega going defunct. Also on level design I think sonic heroes goes heavily on emulating 2d sonic stages. It rlly looks like if you put a 3d camera in generations' classic stages.
10:11 HAHAHAHHAHAHA
Nice!
10:40 they're hoops.
Well... We're entering the Third Party era
10:12 If they are coins, then why does the text say Rings?
Thats an error in translating from japanese, obviously
I've turned my fanbase into monsters.
@@Pariah6950 lol😂😂
Kill me
9:12
I....i didnt even notice....wth is wrong with me? 🤣
Sonic Heroes is a game I really liked, but it's not one I go back to often. Normally I'll just replay Team Dark's Story and call it a day. I don't even bother with the other stories anymore. Team Dark gives slightly more challenge than Team Sonic, and isn't as annoying as Team Chaotix.
The few times I throw this game on I actually tend to pick Chaotix just because I got stuck on their levels SO MUCH as a kid and all their voice clips just give me warm nostalgic fuzzies lmao.
Charmy going “thank you!” and Espio’s “LETS GO!” are some of the first things I think of when this game is mentioned. I love those characters even though their levels are absolute dogshit
@@MixxedBerries Right?! Like when you have a mission to collect/find so many things....and you missed just 1! Lol
10:10 i think we all can let that slide
I already said in past video about the Special Stages thing, I definitely choose the PC version over the console versions due to the Special Stages being at least torelable, while there are problems like the speedcap on loops, these can be easily avoided by just using the Power character who is slower, even though that doesn't fix the issue, I find the Special Stages fix to be more relevant than like three sections where the speedcap can kill you if you're going too fast.
The Light Speed dash I agree it's very troublesome, I've already seen someone defending saying that being correctly aligned with the trail of rings it's a part of the challenge, so if the player fail the Light Dash, it's their fault for pressing the button at a weird angle and not the game's, which I find hard to believe developers really intended that mechanic to work like this.
The thing with the slopes you mentioned isn't really exclusive to Heroes, I've just tested on SA2 and the physics works pretty much the same way, if you're at a high-speed on an upwards slope, you'll jump much higher than normal, didn't really noticed anything different. In fact I think Heroes is very similar to SA2 regarding these physics because the game still has the same "gravity conservation", in which some situations you'll jump off from something and you'll maintain the same gravity direction of the slope you were before, this is noticeable on one of rails on Rail Canyon where the character fall off on a weird angle (and I already died sometimes because the game wasn't resetting the gravity orientation at that moment)
Find odd that you didn't mention the other Teams and Special Stages thing (Am I the only one who really gives a shit on special stages, no one talks about it lol), but it seems you have more to talk on a later video so I'll be looking forward to.
What I will say is that I ALWAYS recommend new players to start with Team Rose, no matter if they are already used to Sonic games or not, the stages are as long as they were in Adventure titles, the jankiness is much less frequent especially because Big doesn't do punches like Knuckles that makes it slips everywhere and has no Light Dash problems, and the overhaul level design is much more tolerable for a first time player, then the player will have a much better time and later will have more incentive try more difficult ones. I say this because as a kid I could never beat any other campaign other than Team Rose, I find out to be the most fun for me at that time, other teams were frustrating and couldn't beat the game (partially because I could only play on Keyboard, but still). That's why I find so important to start from the easiest and not "Normal>Hard>Easy" the game throws at you, especially since inevitably a player will have to complete all of them to face the final boss.
The difficulty in this game is not clearly explained so most players will always choose Team Sonic because it's the main trio in promotional material and it's the first one in the list, why they didn't put a giant text at the Team Selection screen written "EASY/NORMAL/HARD/MISSION"? Especially since they wanted the game to be the most accessible, but they complicated their own difficult selection system?
At the end either experienced players or players who never played any platformer starts with Team Sonic because the game just doesn't explain clearly. Yes, there is the Omochao if you press the Y button, but I hardly see any new player noticing that, so it kind of goes with SA2 thing of "not wanting to make things clear."
The special stages working does sound nice. But I don't really care about them in general lol. I'm also thinking about it from the perspective of a first time player. They could get killed over and over by loops and not know what's happening. That's no good.
I actually do also kind of like how you have to line up the light speed dash, even if it does come as a product of bad detection. I cut that out of the video because it is still a dumb problem that shouldn't be there.
Everything else will be talked about in part 2. And yeah, the way that they did the difficulty select is the dumbest thing ever. Who on Earth is going to start a Sonic game with anyone but Sonic? You start the game on normal mode, then eventually go down to easy after playing the game a bunch already, possibly after also trying hard mode. Stupid. That will definitely be getting a mention.
I strongly disagree with the notion that this game is criticized for amount of focus it requires. I think it's just a combination of the jank and tedious level design. I don't think decision making is really even a thing, even in the absence of the game's constant visual and verbal cues.
I think this game suffers from something SA2 started: levels feel very copypaste-heavy and go on for way longer than the developers have enough time and ideas for. It's just that, this time, levels are so much longer on average.
the main thing i remember from playing heroes is always the jank lol. physics are absolutely terrible the pinball stages are hell
Yes him saying multiple times that people hate the game because it “requires you to think and make decisions” is weirdly contrarian, at least to me. Like yeah, that’s why man. Make sure not to mention Chaotix or Team Rose.
I remember blasting through this game on team Sonic a few months ago without dying and I hadn’t played it since I was like 6 years old. The enemies are a lot more rock-paper-scissorsy than he was portraying, in my opinion. Like by the time you reach any dangerous enemy encounters at least one of your characters is probably level 3 so you just wreck them.
I will be talking about a lot of the other issues in part 2. As I said, the decision making comes from my desire to optimize. If you just want to kill stuff, it is easy. But doing it as quickly as possible takes a bit more. These comments make me realize I failed to properly communicate my meaning.
I meant to say that these things and people not understanding them means people miss the stuff that makes the game fun. Then all that's left is the jank, level design issues, and tedium. But because of the stuff I enjoy, I can tolerate these issues.
Thanks for the comments. I will try to address these things in part 2.
I think there's a sort of raw satisfaction to killing enemies in this game, but I really wouldn't consider it deep. More often than not it's a simple order-of-operations thing (have Sonic remove the shield first, basically) up until the point where Thunder Shoot reaches a level where it solos encounters.
I don't have a problem with the game's combat as much as it's just... these level designers don't know when to let up. These levels just go on and on and responding to the same cues (whether explicit or not) just gets old.
@@kyasarintsu4047 Two level designers worked on heroes, one of them is the infamous Takashi Izuka.
I'm very interested in what your opinion of the Dimps games (especially Advance 2) and Mania are. I hope you get to those
I will. I have a lot to say about them. Advance 2 is an interesting one.
32:44 why tf did they zoom forward like that
Sonic Heroes jank.
Team Chaos treasure hunts tho ? Not all speed like the older games
You should call them rings on next april fools!
30:52
Not really, it’s more so how repetitive the game is that makes people dislike it.
Even if they are like you and consider one of the teams a full game instead of getting the entire main story as the full game.