Highlights
- Certain Sonic games possess great stories that take fans along for a fun and speedy adventure with Sonic and his friends.
- For example, Sonic Forces brings Sonic's entire cast together to fight against Eggman and his new nemesis Infinite, resulting in a meandering plot filled with entertaining and self-righteous moments.
- Another game with a great narrative is Sonic Colors, which showcases a lighthearted story with a Saturday-morning cartoon vibe.
Sonic the Hedgehog has become something of an institution. Venturing beyond his native world of video games, the Blue Blur has appeared in multiple blockbuster films, television shows and more. These usually stick to a more traditional method of storytelling, as opposed to the open-ended kind you might expect from a game; but that certainly doesn't mean there's no quality to be found in the narratives of some of Sonic's console adventures.
Whether it's taking on the Eldritch beast of the week, saving humanity or parallel dimensions, or simply battling his time-honoured foe Dr. Eggman, Sonic's dipped his sneakered toes in it all. Here's a look at some of his finest Tails - erm, tales.
Updated September 2, 2023 by Bobby Mills: Much has changed in the house of Sonic since this list was first published. Having gone from the small screen to the big screen and beyond, he's arguably a bigger name now than he was in the 90s, and so many fresh faces will be checking out his games for the first time – including the open-world Sonic Frontiers. We're giving this little narrative review a fresh lick of paint, so newcomers will know just what to expect from whichever Sonic title they delve into first.
10 Sonic Lost World
Sonic and Tails venture to the Lost Hex, home of a race of demonlike (and unashamedly stereotypical) creatures known as the Zeti. Dr. Eggman puts six of them, referred to as 'the Deadly Six', under his control as an asset for his usual attempt at world domination.
Unfortunately, Eggman loses control of the Zeti after Sonic punts away the shell keeping them docile. This creates an uneasy alliance between Sonic, Tails, and Eggman; not necessarily a franchise first, but still a bit prickly. As the Zeti start utilising Eggman’s tools to destroy Earth, Tails and Sonic's friendship is tested in some hysterically maudlin dialogue for such a candy-coloured adventure.
9 Sonic Forces
Forces is a unique endeavour in that it gets Sonic’s entire cast working together in a pretty unusual setting: fighting for survival in roles they're not particularly ready for. Of course, thrown into the mix is your own OC, which you can dress in all the bells, whistles and hipster shades your dark little heart desires.
Eggman's joined forces with a new nemesis called Infinite, borne of the Phantom Ruby from Sonic Mania, and successfully conquered the world. And that's only the surface; never mind the part where Sonic's imprisoned (and tortured!) for months and shows no adverse effects from it. Or that Tails has yet another arc about learning to be brave. Or that Knuckles demonstrates himself to be a war criminal. While the plot is quite meandering, it manages to pack enough entertaining and self-righteous moments in to make it worthwhile.
8 Sonic Colors
One of the more lighthearted Sonic stories, here Eggman stations an 'Interstellar Amusement Park' in space, supposedly to atone for the misdeeds he’s committed over the years. Of course, this plan fails to take into account that literally every prior time he'd built an amusement park, it was for some sort of nefarious purpose. And so it doesn’t take long for Sonic and Tails to discover the park's true secret.
Within it is a facility built for harnessing energy from surrounding planets, and more specifically from their indigenous Wisps. Wisps, of course, being the cuddly little Happy Meal bait who are trying to enlist Sonic's help. Ultimately, the hedgehog takes down Eggman's hidden generators and the theme park vanishes into a black hole. The Saturday-morning cartoon vibe really buoys Colors' story.
7 Sonic Battle
This GBA beat-em-up features a story mode, broken into episodes. Each one centers around a different character, but they all serve to expand upon fan-favourite 'Gizoid' Emerl, who obtains abilities as the game progresses. It turns out Eggman's great-grandfather discovered Emerl and his potential, and conducted much research on how he could be used for (say it with us) world domination. Armed with this knowledge, Eggman tries to force Emerl to obey; unfortunately for him, the Gizoid doesn't listen.
Abandoned on the beach, and subsequently discovered by Sonic, Emerl continues to 'Link' with the hedgehog's technicolour entourage, while growing a stronger conscience. It's overall a sweet tale of redemption, and one that provides ample opportunity to bash people's faces in.
6 Sonic Frontiers
Sonic and crew arrive on the Starfall Islands, after a Chaos Emerald signal summons them. This once-thriving paradise is now decrepit and barren, with evidence of Eggman tech all over the place. Through adventuring across each biome, the gang uncover what went down, all the while contending with new villain Sage; an AI creation of Eggman's determined to trap them in cyberspace.
Ultimately, it turns out the ancient people (alien relatives of Chaos from Sonic Adventure) were wiped out by The End, a Majora's Mask-esque destructive moon that fell upon them all. They preserved their knowledge in cyberspace, and now it's all flowing into Sage, who develops a conscience, natch. She and Sonic band together to take down the resurrected End and save the remaining legacy of the ancients. Special props go to Mike Pollock's heartwrenching vocal performance as Eggman.
5 Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (& Knuckles)
From the entire classic series, Sonic 3's storytelling stands out most. This game marks our first introduction to Knuckles the Echidna, positioned here as a naive antihero who believes Robotnik when he claims Sonic and Tails are after the Master Emerald. Venturing across Angel Island and beyond, the duo must convince Knuckles otherwise and stop Robotnik's scheme. Hint: it might involve the Death Egg. Again.
Many games during this era relied on players having read the enclosed manual in order to understand the story. With no dialogue, and no cutscenes in the traditional sense, the brief character interactions have to pull all the weight in showing how Knuckles develops as a character. Thankfully, they do so, in spectacular fashion. The trio eventually form a new friendship after Robotnik double-crosses the echidna; a bond that has now lasted almost 30 years.
4 Sonic & The Black Knight
The Sonic Storybook series puts Sonic in fairytale worlds, with his friends assuming the roles of familiar-looking characters. No, that's not Tails, it's Ali Baba (duh.) In this game, they're in the Arthurian legend. Sonic faces off against a Black Knight that has taken over Camelot. Said Black Knight holds Excalibur’s Scabbard, granting him immortality, and Sonic can't have that. Cue final boss fight, cue win.
But wait! SEGA have a masterful bait-and-switch to pull. After the credits, the action immediately resumes – and your tutorial guide for the game, Merlina, reveals herself as the true antagonist. Talk about your twists. In a climactic showdown, Sonic absorbs the power of Excalibur to put paid to her plans, for good. Of the two Storybook outings, The Black Knight makes great use of the characters, ending on a bittersweet note that sees Sonic weighing up his own mortality. Really.
3 Sonic Adventure 2
The sequel to Sonic Adventure featured two linear story paths, and was the first mainline game where you also got to play as the bad guys. And really, who doesn't love a good villain at the end of the day? Your choice, from the very title screen, is clear: either save the world, or conquer it.
Eggman teams up with ever-beloved edgelord Shadow the Hedgehog. Together, they plot to take over the Earth with a mysterious superweapon found in the abandoned space colony, ARK. Meanwhile, Sonic struggles to clear his name as Shadow wreaks havoc through definitely-not-San Francisco. By the game's end, Shadow's motives are made clear: he wants to avenge his old friend Maria, killed in cold blood by the forces that stormed the ARK. Oh, and Eggman learns the (potentially apocalyptic) secret of his great grandfather's legacy. Live and learn, baby.
2 Sonic Adventure
After the SEGA Genesis' lifespan ended, fans had a long wait for the next big Sonic title. When the game finally arrived, it was the Blue Blur’s first proper 3D effort, and it mostly made the transition well. The story-focused Sonic Adventure is a curious hybrid between an action platformer and RPG. Hub worlds with citizens to talk to separate the levels, with assorted NPCs also having their own stories that unfold as the game progresses.
As for the main plot? Dr. Eggman has unearthed the ancient god Chaos, as per usual, and is looking to transform Station Square into his own personal city, Robotnikland. Each character (yes, including Big) is given their own path, with the six protagonists each presenting their own part of the tale, allowing the pieces to fall into place. Eventually, everyone meets up at the climax of the story for a grand finale, wherein Super Sonic takes down the fully-charged Perfect Chaos.
1 Sonic Unleashed
Sonic Unleashed remains a criminally underrated adventure for the Blue Blur, representing the pinnacle of the series' visual style, gameplay iteration (they're still using that boost formula!) and yes, storytelling. Eggman's latest experiment wrestles the power of the Chaos Emeralds from Super Sonic and uses it to blast the Earth apart. The crust splits into pieces and awakens a being, Dark Gaia, from within. Plus, some of its energy infects Sonic and mutates him into a Werehog; not a great start to his day.
Understandably disoriented, Sonic discovers a new friend, Chip, who has lost his memories. In a gorgeous globe-trotting adventure that spans some 20 hours, this unlikely team piece things back together and find out Chip's identity. Spoilers: he's Light Gaia, destined to put Dark Gaia to rest, which he does in an utterly awesome final battle. Sonic Unleashed: Ultimate when, please, SEGA?