Random: Mecha Sonic (Sonic the Hedgehog toyline, Jakks Pacific)

Mecha Sonic concept art, sourced from a wiki

I suppose not all childhood obsessions are remembered equally. Sonic the Hedgehog was something I had a fixation on as a child turning to teenager, hitting about the time Transformers was out and the console wars was in. As the typical content of this blog would imply, it wasn't something that stuck, and I think that's true for a lot of people. Sonic was a full-on zeitgeist moment, and one seemingly nailed to the 90's video game scene. Sega eventually crashed out of the console market, Sonic struggled to adapt to 3D, and thus the franchise became something of a joke for multiple console generations. He was a mascot without a console, one with a famously fractured, often strange, fanbase, and seemingly no good games. Still, as deeply weird as it is to my eyes, the wheel of nostalgia seems to be turning in the blue Hedgehog's favour. And Sega seems to have pulled this off by making the games less and less central to their efforts, in favour of films, cartoons, and merch. That makes a lot of sense for something with so many cartoon animal tropes, and with Sonic's origins as a marketing mascot, but honestly I don't think I'm in that target market. And that's fine, its something for actual kids, and maybe their parents. I think my connection is more of the time, and the playing of the 16 bit games, than anything recognisable as character or narrative. I did read a lot of comics back in day, but that didn't stick. But clearly, there is some connection for me, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this.

Mecha Sonic sketches, sourced from a wiki

So, what's a Mecha Sonic then? Besides an obvious overlap with my other fixations? Well, its the penultimate boss enemy of the Mega Drive/Genesis game Sonic the Hedgehog 2. As the name implies, its a robot duplicate, one of a surprising number there of. One factoid I turned up during research was that the teams working on three different Sonic games, Sonic 2 16 bit, Sonic 2 8 bit, and Sonic CD, basically didn’t communicate and this some how resulted in three different evil robot versions of the hedgehog. Sources differ on specifics, but Segas America and Sega Japan were often at odds, and the Sonic games have had some well-documented drama, so its not hard to believe. Today’s is patterned after Mecha Godzilla, but is overshadowed by Metal Sonic, the more colourful one from the CD version. Anyways, Sonic 2 was arguably the absolute peak of the franchise in terms of sheer clout. It was more of an iterative sequel than anything, think Doom 2, offering more levels and gameplay improvements. The game also had the barest hints of a story, something which later games in the series would do better, but what it did do was effective in context. So, rather than actually talk about the merits of this toy, I'm gonna first spend a paragraph putting the experience of Mecha Sonic into words.

 

 

Its the last few levels of Sonic 2, and you are feeling it. Metropolis Zone was an endurance test, but at least that was followed by a breather level, wing-walking on a biplane. The penultimate level raises the stakes, your biplane immediately gets shot down with your little fox buddy Tails on it. You're on a flying fortress, and there's less and less margin for error. You encounter another boss, beat it, and the antagonist Dr Robotnik flees in a spaceship. Tails returns to help you catch up, and you enter a new level, the delightfully named "Death Egg Zone". There are no rings. There are no power-ups. There is no margin for error. There is only this fucker. A metal parody of your player avatar in silver. Twice the size, with not so much hedgehog quills and spikes on it as an audibly revving chainsaw. Its a rocket-powered bulldozer of a challenge. And after that, its the final boss, and he's worse.

I remember using cheat codes a lot.

 

So, about the toy? Well there wasn’t much on the box, so I had to do some digging. This is made by Jakks Pacific, whom seem to have the Sonic licence on lock, along with the Mario one too. While handling this toy, its articulation reminded me of the phrase “Springfield 5”, and yes, Jakks do the Simpsons too. Jakks stuff tends to get the look right, but articulation is a secondary concern. M.S here is therefore a bit basic in its posability, but that’s more acceptable on a 6cm toy with a neutral pose. The paintwork is bright and attractive, with the toy in general being big for its price point. It also amuses me that this design has a monoeye, I hadn’t quite realised that before, but in my defence, the classic Sonic design has weird conjoined eyes. A slight downside however is that the feet are slightly angled so you have to finagle it a bit for balance. There’s holes in the feet for a stand, but that seems to have been budgeted out. That said, its also an item I never really expected to exist...

If you’re looking for consumer advice? Well, its a fun little nostalgia hit, an inexpensive desk toy. Its not got a huge amount going on, and you could probably leave it in the package, if that’s your thing. Its got a nice window box. Still, six quid. I’ve spent a lot more to to get less.

 

Remembering: R-Type

Some styles of game I'm fascinated by, even though I'm terrible at them. Your average 2D spaceship shooter, circa the 90's, is the sort of thing I mean. I love watching letsplays of these. While games such as this do have their modern descendants in the bullet hell genre, its a form of game that has basically been extinct since the PS1/3D era, having previously been as common as muck. The reason why I'm terrible at them is due to poor reflexes and a difficulty processing all the info on screen, versus the precision required. Spaceship shooters, regardless of viewpoint, leave little margin for error due to their arcade origins. The reason why I'm fascinated by such things is because of that same difficulty, and because these games were kinda cinematic. The best ones were always distinctive to look at. And amongst the most distinctive was a game I played on the old Sega Master System: a port of 1987's R-Type.

When you got right down to it R-Type had no plot to speak of and some very disjointed visual design. This is not unusual for the genre, but worth mentioning. I mean, narratively it's just "Blast off and strike the evil Bydo Empire!“, and it's a bit of a trope blender. Why do some Bydo look like vehicles, and others angry meat? Why are some levels high tech, and others look like the inside of someone's digestive system? Am I fascinated with this specific game only because of this discordant stream of techno-organic imagery? Does it matter? Is this all superficial? Maybe not, but it did have subtly complex gameplay. The active ingredient is the "Force", a little multi-purpose attack drone that's your first power up. This can attach to the front or back of your ship, acting as a shield, and boosting your firepower. Attached, it can block most bullets, but detached it can help destroy lesser enemies by firing at a different angle or with a spread effect. Meanwhile, you have probably the most destructive weapon in the game immediately, a charge cannon which is devastating to bosses if you time it right. These tools make R-Type a decidedly methodical and unforgiving experience, and one few have dared to copy. As the game gives you more or less everything you need in the first five minutes to master the game, you are expected to master the game. Play its way, and play flawlessly. I never could. Thanks to its level design and approach to difficulty, it's possibly as much a single solution puzzle as a shooter. 

 

R-Type got a fair number of sequels, but these skipped Sega platforms, so I didn't touch base with any until the supposedly last game: R-Type Final. During that gap, the franchise became known as a uniquely hard-core and somewhat creepy example of its genre, a big name that was always remembered despite lengthy gaps between instalments. Final, released in 2003, was very much a nostalgia product, although you could say that about the franchise overall. By this point, it was played in a 2.5D view, with graphics rendered in full 3D, but gameplay being resolutely 2D. To my eyes, this only makes things more challenging, in an unearthly vertigo sorta way. The original R-Type could be oddly disturbing for its time, but Final seems to delight in using camera movements to heighten a sense of unease. I could not complete this one either, a bit of a shame that, given the fricking dozens of ships you could unlock. But then again, perhaps the R-Type franchise was too set in its ways? Being aggressively difficult just because you can, is not necessarily a cool thing in game design these days. Well, unless we're talking Dark Souls, but it's not like you can reasonably complete that in under 30 minutes of play time. 

Did R-type end with Final? Dear me, no. At the time of writing, there's a kickstarter project making Final 2. I'm sure it will please its backers, although it remains unclear if this will be a success on the level of Sonic Mania or Streets of Rage 4. It looks rather a lot like Final, or that remastered release Dimensions, only with better graphics and less creative risk. Irem did however mix things up things up in the 16 year interim with R-Type Tactics, aka R-Type Command. This is a game I want to play, as its a turn-based strategy game, which is one hell of an unexpected detour. It even got a sequel. Sadly, untranslated. Sadly, both on PlayStation Portable. <sigh>

So, should you play R-Type? Or an instalment thereof? Well, probably. I've been somewhat dismissive above, but I can't deny it's strong appeal. Which it obviously has, because I wouldn't be writing about something I suck at if it didn't.