“Honestly, I didn’t like Sonic in the Mega Drive era. To be frank, it didn’t suit my tastes. So when I was put in [charge of writing], I decided, ‘I’m going to make a Sonic that I like!'”
-Shiro Maekawa, writer for Sonic Adventure 2, Heroes, 06, and Sonic & the Black Knight
Those *stellar* SatAM cues were by the incredibly talented@f0xshadow521! (I had hilariously never noticed that it was BLATANTLY the Jimmy Hart version of the Back to the Future theme.)
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Happy holidays, happy new year, and thanks for watching my stuff in 2022! This has honestly been the best year the channel's had in a while, I feel like I'm back in the groove, and I thank you all for sticking with me.
This is where I'd normally plug the Patreon (at http://www.patreon.com/GeekCritique), but the season's over! So uh… don't become a backer, 'cause there's nothing there that you can't see here right now! (Though I guess you could join the patron-exclusive Discord server. I have a fantastic community of like-minded weirdos to geek out with, and I'd love to see you there!)
Black Knight, to me, is a game about giving weight to Sonic's philosophy. Ever since SA1, we were always told that Sonic lived by his own moral compass, without regard to how others perceived his actions. I mean, hell, it's the name of his theme song! But there was never any doubt that he was in the right, not by the general public nor the player themselves. Black Knight aims to actually give some context to his philosophy through two layers.
The first is through a minor but important line near the start of the game. Just before he goes to pull Caliburn out of the stone, Merlina stops and warns him that if he goes through with it and slays King Arthur, Sonic will go down in history as the worst of all knights, a kingslayer. What does he do?
"Eh, can't be the hero every time."
No hesitation, no fear, just a bit of snark. This is the first layer, that Sonic truly does not care about what the public thinks of him, even if it's pure hate. He knows that King Arthur is bad news and he's not going to stop just because people might despise him for it. Of course the player knows he's in the right, so the moment might seem unimportant. In actuality it's helping to set up for the second layer in the endgame.
During the confrontation with Merlina just before the final boss, she reveals her plan to create a world everlasting. A world without change, and by extension, a world without death. Sonic, in shock, responds:
"What good is a world that goes on forever?!"
Sonic wants the world to keep on changing, to be able to live a free life, even if that means that death has to be a part of it. And that's something that the player could very well disagree with (and judging by your reaction, you did). And I love that! That's interesting, that gives weight to his philosophy.
The best part of the scene to me (and what sells the central theme) is what happens shortly after. When Sonic's getting the crap beaten out of him, the Knights of the Round Table tell him to get out of there, with Sonic giving a snarky response about how a knight never flees a battle. Gawain desperately pleads with him, claiming that this has nothing to do with chivalry anymore. Sonic's response?
"It was never about chivalry for me. I just gotta do what I've gotta do, that's all."
And you wanna know what plays immediately afterwards? You wanna know what song hadn't been featured in a new game for over 5 years?
It Doesn't Matter
They knew what they were making. They goddamn knew.
Videos like this are why you continue to be one of my favorite creator’s on the platform. Your ability to weave a weave a story, present a time capsule of the era, and comb over a game while being analytical, yet no less true to your emotions, is unmatched.
fun how several different youtubers decided to do video on this game. Huh
This game was really fun and I had a LOT of fun with it.
Honestly I'm probably what people would call a sonic Media fan and not a sonic game fan. I tried the originals on the PS2 collection disk and did not like them… They were honestly frustrating to me. I liked the characters though and I've mostly followed to watch where this character will go.
I do also remember this story back then. From what I remember in the details the way she goes about the never ending story is to basically freeze the world in place and prevent it from moving forward. Everything about that world never changes never moves on and never is free to choose its own destiny. King Arthur in the end of his story is a Villain in many ways surcoming to jealousy, lust, and paranoia before his death. Pushing away everyone around him trying to… In his own way pull off what Merlina was doing in the game. Keep the story from ending. And that's the key word ending not keeping the story going she was trying to keep the story from ending. That's why she and sonic came into conflict. He will fight for a world that keeps going and changes. She will fight to keep the world exactly the same consequences be damned.
Last the whole bit about the date Amy of this era tensed to make plans and expect sonic to just go along with it even when often he does his own thing Amy gets mad over it.
I loved black knight, i bought it enjoyef the arthurian tale, seeing favorite characters like blaze and shadow back, idk if its just me but the sword swinging was essy anf fun
This is the only sonic game my friend has ever played because as a kid he thought swords were cool.
We used to have abort of fun in the multiplayer battle mode
6:32 I live in this same world. It's nice. Because while learning about how some of your childhood favorites are critically panned (often rightfully so) you still have good memories to hold on to!
What exactly did Sammy do to break everything? I'm only aware of his squeaky-voiced rants and screeching about how our ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES!!!!
In terms of character, THIS is my favorite rendition of the blue blur, making Sonic and the Black Knight one of my favorite games in the series. Sonic being this Devil-May-Care Hero with a heart of gold, but a decent amount of maturity fills my heart with joy. He makes me feel like a kid again with how he's so dorky yet so cool at the same time sort of like Dante from Devil May Cry who is another one of my favorite fictional characters of all time. Not only that, but the ending of this game resonates with me a lot as a lesson to understanding that despite the fact that we'll all die in the end, it's important that we make the most of what time we have left. Overall, I love this game and it personally means a lot to me, even with it's flaws. Is it my favorite Sonic game? No, but that's okay. Sonic as a series has had its ups and downs, but I will never stop loving this franchise.
Sonic and the Black Knight is an average and still fun game, but what ruined the game was the damn follower mechanic. At least the secret rings handled a good progression system without ever punishing the player in a way this game did.
What in the actual hell kind of drug was Sonic Team and SEGA on for ever THINKING this was acceptable in a Sonic game?
Shiro Maekawa's Sonic is the Sonic I grew up with. A character that defines himself as neither a villain nor a hero, just someone who follows his steadfast heart of gold, never giving up and always moving towards his next goal. Black Knight is my favorite portrayal of that character. Sonic himself is well aware that he may be looked at as a villain for foiling Merlina's plans of a never-ending world, but he didn't care that THAT'S how he'd be seen.
Another comment on this video from @xavierparis2789 puts it simply enough:
"…if there's one thing Sonic the Hedgehog can't get behind, it's making everything stop. Every world has to have an end because every race track has a goal, every level has a sign to blast through, and every adventure eventually finishes…" "… but if you stop everything, and freeze the world in that one point in time, well… you can't move forward to actually get anywhere. Life needs to go on, because if it's stuck, you can't even run. And if you can't even run forward, what are you living for?" (Please read the full comment from this user. It's worth the perspective.)
Sonic's position makes sense to me, and it's what drives me to live my life to the fullest even in real life.
As dumb as it may sound, that line is my personal philosophy on life itself.
"Every world has an end. I know that's kinda sad, but… That's why we gotta live life to the fullest in the time we have! At least, that's what I figure."
Gameplay aside, this is a masterfully written Sonic game, and I appreciate you checking it out, overdue as it is.
fandom can be a real problem. getting influenced by people who aren't able to see a game for what it is but instead hate on it for what it is not, completely ignoring what it is doing right and having fun with it. i liked black knight but always had the feeling it could have been better without this "on the rails" style of gameplay. i never finished it, because my mind was stuck with the idea a wanna play the last 3 levels with the other knights, only to fail at the last stage with blaze.. i could've just picked one of the other characters, but my mind wouldn't allow it.. how silly i was xD
i interpreted the ending that melina is just afraid of death and i can see that, but sonic is not because it is only natural we're all gonna go some day. how we spend that time is important.
This is my first time watching one of your videos and I loved it! Amazing critique of one of my, admittedly guilty pleasure games growing up!
I will say, from what I remember, making the new weapons for Lancelot, Gawain and Percival does change up their gameplay styles a bit. While I can't remember what happens with Gawain and Percival, Lancelot's upgraded weapons add a projectile in the form of chaos spears to every slash of his attacks! Not a huge difference, but something that does change up the gameplay loop a bit!
I'm sorry but all I hear from knuckles is yugi, and I think the game could benefit from more weird motion control segments where sonic is on a random log or something
i'm super glad you get it! this IS griffith's (and everyone elses) best performance, and it IS the best sonic storyline of all of the games. I always thought that it was such a crying goddamn shame that on the game where things were finally starting to click…things changed. the whole direction changed. the cast would be soon replaced, and gameplay would lock into the boost era hard while also never learning anything. i really feel like if more game like bk, with gameplay like sonic adventure and some actual development time, were made, we'd be in the better timeline.
but anyway, great introspective video. the part about how fandoms and echochambers can distort your opinions especially got me–made me think about dark souls 2 and how hyperbolic conversations around that game are.
I often wonder if I would have liked Sonic Forces a bit more if the Internet didn't tell me ahead of time that I hated it. My story with The Black Knight is like yours, almost–except that I still have never played it. I didn't buy it because the Internet said said how horrible it was. Now that I want to kind of try it (due to the sudden praise I hear), there's not one you can get for a reasonable amount. …Plus I'd need to hook up my Wii, which feels like a process in of itself. In any case, the Internet is a detriment when it comes to this hobby of ours as much as it is something of benefit.
Unlike Sonic and The Secret Rings i like Sonic and The Black Knight is a way more controllable Adventure the only problem is the system This game IS on, quite frankly If i First played the game on original hardware i would'nt like as much, because It plays a lot better on dolphin
Boo…why you gotta throw in cussing, dude? I liked this channel. Unsubscribed.
Say what you will about this game, but the soundtrack of this game was wonderful.
i swear to god the perspective you bring to the table is always so fresh and interesting
ngl the only 2 good attacks in this game are when you do a homing attack and spin with the sword so you end up hitting multiple enemies in a row and the special attack that has a good rhyme to it, even those are the only good ones they are so good that they carry the entire game for me because theyre so satisfying
I've loved and played this game for years and never knew you could upgrade Sonic
What a WILDLY out of character ending. Sonic, of all people, demanding someone give in to mortality and despair? Who wrote this?
After hearing your opinion on Secret Rings, I was keen on hearing what you had to say on Black Knight. Loved this review and loved your post-thoughts on the overall outlook of the franchise. I look forward to more videos from you! Happy New Year!