Sonic Heroes Could've Been Amazing

The level aesthetics of Sonic Heroes still really pop out to me with how closely they follow the Genesis games and it's kind of interesting how the level art direction in this game continues to be unique to it. That blend of surrealist environments with realistic textures/models is something I miss seeing more of in the newer games.

Fun fact: Team Sonic's Team Blast actually DOES have an additional effect after using it! For a short period of time Tails can perform Team Blast again by shooting Sonic, where Sonic will start blasting through any enemy on screen. Sonic can even activate this instead of Blue Tornado for a few seconds after using Team Blast!

I swear the sentence "going back to Sonic's roots" is the most obnoxious, overused, beat to death sentence in this franchise. Every time Sonic Team has used it, something died inside of me. And it's even worse when pretentious game critics use it. It's like those buzzwords that everyone uses, but no one actually knows what they mean.

Metal Sonic used the power of chaos after he absorbed the life data from Froggy’s tail.

Good video. Shame Spontman isnt real and was a fake gamer figment of our imagination this entire time.

Seeing the original design decision for Heroes, it was supposed to be a "Everyone is Here!" for the Sonic series, with nearly every Sonic character being in the game. This even included deceased characters like Gamma and Chaos. However, Shadow and Omega weren't planned to be in the game originally as the former was supposed to say dead after Adventure 2.

This game was what really introduced me to other characters like Cream, Big, Vex & so many more. Regardless of the mechanics I still have fun with the game. The environments just have so much personality

I wish sega could re-release the game on modern hardware, but with all the legal issues, that ain’t happening 😅

This game also had many cut teams like Bark, Bean, & Fang had a team and Mighty, Ray, & Metal sonic also had a team

tbh my only issues with this game are a few bugs like the rail grinding thing where you sometimes end up falling away from the level

I revist this game from time to time, and it holds up.

With Team Dark's badnik gauntlet, It's good to use Rouge's thundershoot over Shadow's homing attack. It's slower but way less risky. In general I almost never use homing attack in combat, only using it when it's required part of platforming, it's just way too inconsistent. Also, TIL Team Dark's Chaos Control can be canceled. Suddenly their team blast went from the absolute worst to really good (Chaotix team blast is still the most based). Oh, also I remember having similar trouble with Special Stages to the point that I never actually beat this game as a kid and had to watch a video of the last story on Youtube. At some point I found out that Power characters move at about the same speed as Speed characters while boosting, but having significantly less jank controls. Which made the special stages go from frustratingly difficult to piss easy.

Personally I really enjoyed the more laid-back story, I thought it was a nice change of pace from the Adventure games which went all out with the story and lore. I found Shadow's arc really engaging, I'm happy they brought him back because although his SA2 arc may have been wrapped up, there was still a lot more they could do with his charcter, which is evident throughout Heroes, the Shadow game, and 06. "Goodbye forever, Shadow the Hedgehog" will always remain my favorite line in the Sonic franchise because it's the culmination of Shadow's whole arc from Heroes to Shadow the game. He goes from wrestling with weather or not he is the real thing, to being tormented by Black Doom about his past, to realizing that he is the ultimate lifeform and that's what matters at the end of the day, even if he is a fake (which he isn't, but thats besides the point). No matter what his past might be, or what his future might hold, he's still in the present and must focus on doing what's right, here and now. This all sets the stage perfectly for Shadow's character in 06, but I guess I should stop here before this comment becomes a whole essay 😅. Back to what I was saying eailer, I'm happy they brought back Shadow and I don't think it devalued the ending of SA2 at all, his sacrifice wasn't "pointless" just because he lived. His arc in that game was complete and the day was saved, none of that changed because he survived the fall. However, I do agree with you on the reactions everyone had to Shadow's survival being really underwhelming. Overall, I enjoyed the review. I'm excited for the Pizza Tower video, and of course more Sonic content and whatever else you may have planned, keep up the good work!

It's one of my favorite Sonic games, too bad it's not Sonic Heroes on Steam I'd buy it at any price just to remember the good times, good job keep it up

17:34 it totally does. Neo metal sonic copied chaos' data from froggy, who's very much been in contact with chaos. Explained in the cutscene after egg emperor with team rose

12:30 That also happens in the adventure games when you aren't high enough to perform a homing attack. Gotta get within range by holding the jump button.

This game is my childhood, I played it so many times when I was younger... On one hand, I'd love to revisit Sonic Heroes one day, but I fear that this would notice all of the little things that are wrong with this game. Idk, I don't want to ruin the good memories I had with this game. Oh and ofc great video! ;)

I should point out there actually is a unique gimmick to Team Sonic's team blast. After performing it, as long as the gauge is still draining, if you make Sonic jump and hit the "Attack" button (not "Homing Attack", just "Attack") when an enemy is nearby, Sonic will skyrocket into the air and do that "Blast Away!" thing again, destroying the enemy in one hit, no matter how much HP it has, as long as it's not a boss. It's still a bit buggy though, as Sonic can be left hanging in the air for a weird amount of time attempting to home in on the enemy.

"Sonic Heroes" is an okay game, but it was the first sign of the Sonic series entering a period of not knowing what it wants to do with itself. There's definitely some good stuff, but his golden/silver eras were now a thing of the past.

honestly I was just gonna sit through and watch the whole thing in a chill vibe... then I saw the shadow dab with the music that just threw me off so much, I couldn't help but pause the video to type this and give a like instantly xD thank you so much, that was actually fun and unexpected!