Соник Адвенчур: 3D Ойынының Тарихы мен Мұрасы

1998 video game

Sonic Adventure (ソニックアドベンチャー, Sonikku Adobenchā) is a 1998 platform game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Dreamcast. It was the first main Sonic the Hedgehog game to feature 3D gameplay. It follows Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, Big the Cat, and E 102 Gamma in their quests to collect the Chaos Emeralds and stop Doctor Robotnik from unleashing Chaos, an ancient evil. Controlling one of the six characters—each with their own abilities—players complete levels to progress the story. Sonic Adventure retains many elements from prior Sonic games, such as power ups and the ring based health system. Players can play minigames such as racing and interact with Chao, a virtual pet. Sonic Team began developing Sonic Adventure in 1997, after the cancellation of the Sega Saturn game Sonic X treme. Led by director Takashi Iizuka and producer Yuji Naka, the team strove to reinvent Sonic for the 3D era of video games. Adventure features a stronger emphasis on storytelling and role playing elements in contrast to previous Sonic games, while Yuji Uekawa redesigned the series's characters for their transition to 3D. Sonic Team attempted to demonstrate the technical prowess of the Dreamcast with realistic graphics and drew inspiration from locations in Peru and Guatemala. The soundtrack was primarily composed by Jun Senoue, who preferred rock music over the electropop of previous Sonic games. Following its reveal at the Tokyo International Forum in August 1998, Sonic Adventure was highly anticipated and was released in Japan in December 1998, North America in September 1999, and Europe in October 1999. It received critical acclaim and became the Dreamcast's bestseller, with 2.5 million copies sold by August 2006. Reviewers considered Adventure a major technical advancement and praised the visuals and gameplay. Though critics noted glitches and camera problems, and reactions to the audio were mixed, they considered Sonic Adventure an exceptional game; some speculated that it could help re establish Sega as the dominant console manufacturer after the unsuccessful Saturn. Journalists have retrospectively ranked Sonic Adventure among the best Sonic games, and it is recognized as an important release in both the series and the platform genre. Many characters and concepts introduced in Adventure recur in later Sonic games. A sequel, Sonic Adventure 2, was released in 2001. Adventure was ported to the GameCube and Windows in 2003 with altered graphics and more challenges, while a high definition version was released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2010 and for Windows in 2011. Reviews for these releases were less positive; critics felt the game had not aged well and ran at an inconsistent frame rate.

Sonic Adventure is a 3D platform game with action and role playing elements. The cancellation is an important factor in the Saturn's commercial failure, leaving it with no original Sonic platform game. Meanwhile, Naka and Sonic Team developed original Saturn games, such as Nights into Dreams (1996). Naka wanted a 3D Sonic game, but felt that only Sonic Team should undertake the endeavor; his refusal to let STI use the Nights game engine was instrumental in X treme cancellation. according to Retro Gamer, Sonic became part of the "background" by mid 1997, so "it was astonishing to see that, just six years after his debut, Sonic was already retro." Nights into Dreams designer Takashi Iizuka felt that Sonic fans had been let down because Sonic Team was not focusing on the series. Additionally, Kazuyuki Hoshino, who would serve as art director on Sonic Adventure, said he thought during the Saturn era Sonic had become outdated. Sonic Team started to work on it in April 1997 on the Saturn with a 20 strong team. but the Saturn's limited capabilities made development difficult. Sonic Team undertook development in conjunction with the Dreamcast, aiming to release the game in December 1998, even if it meant making improvements after release. gave Iizuka influence over the console's development;

Sonic Team felt challenged by the new hardware to recreate Sonic and his world in a new way. Hoshino noted that the characters' longer limbs made it easier to recreate their 2D poses in 3D. Big was designed to be giant and relaxed so the player would not expect something more intense. While some Sonic games, such as 1993's Sonic CD, contained limited voice work, Sonic Adventure was the first Sonic game to feature extensive voice acting. The decision was made early in development as the game was more story focused than previous Sonic games. Sonic Team's staff had differing opinions about how Sonic should sound. Iizuka recalled that the only element they agreed on was to avoid using an anime voice actor, favoring a film actor with an "over the top" voice. Sonic Team cast Jun'ichi Kanemaru as Sonic. In an interview celebrating his 30th anniversary as a voice actor, Kanemaru said one reason he was cast was because of his ability to speak English. After Sonic Team USA was formed, they hired American actors to translate the Japanese script. The English language voice cast consists of Ryan Drummond as Sonic, Corey Bringas as Tails, Michael McGaharn as Knuckles, Jennifer Douillard as Amy, Jon St. John as Big and E 102 Gamma, and Deem Bristow as Robotnik. Iizuka used Sonic Adventure to introduce Robotnik's Japanese name, "Dr. Eggman", to western audiences; he accomplished this by having Sonic insult Robotnik when they meet for the first time in game. Similarly, he avoided referring to Tails as "Miles", which he was commonly called in Japan. One of the biggest challenges the Adventure designers faced was transitioning Sonic 2D style to 3D. Sonic Team split levels into parts to save memory. The team also wanted to add elements unexpected in a platform game; for example, the level in which Tails sandboards was inspired by a group of sandboarders in Ica, Peru. The design took considerable time to finalize and had to be made as simple as possible because the virtual pet's look changes form as it evolves. Adventure was Senoue's first project as sound director and its scope meant he had many more responsibilities, including schedule management, compared to his previous games. Despite this, Senoue said he did not feel much pressure, as he was a Sonic fan and had contributed to previous games' soundtracks. In contrast to previous Sonic games, which featured electropop soundtracks, the Adventure sound team preferred "hot, funky, and rock 'n' roll" music. Senoue composed several songs with English lyrics to highlight the various characters' personalities, and collaborated with Tokoi and Kumatani to polish them. In May 2011, the soundtrack was rereleased to commemorate the Sonic franchise's 20th anniversary. A two volume digital soundtrack was also released on iTunes and Spotify in September 2014 and January 2017, respectively. Brave Wave Productions released a vinyl LP version of the soundtrack including interviews with Senoue and Iizuka in 2018.

Sonic Adventure was kept a secret during production, It was unveiled by Naka and the rest of Sonic Team on August 22, 1998, Naka described the debut as intense, having "[given his] all" to make it fit for release. The Japanese version shipped with many glitches; according to Iizuka, this was because the game was produced on a tight schedule, so Sonic Team did not have time to fix them. The promotion began on July 15, 1999, and took place at 1,055 Hollywood Video stores across the country. The localized version was released in North America on September 9, 1999, as a launch title, and in Europe on October 14, 1999. It includes Japanese and English language audio tracks, as well as Japanese, English, Spanish, French and German subtitles. Online features—including Chao daycare and downloadable content (DLC) such as minigames and new level assets—were also added. The American release of Studio Pierrot's Sonic the Hedgehog (1996) original video animation coincided with the Western release of Sonic Adventure, while DIC Entertainment's Sonic Underground (1999) was commissioned to help promote the game. The localized version was later released in Japan as Sonic Adventure International. Before release, Sega projected to sell a million copies of Sonic Adventure. In Europe, it sold 86,000 copies during its first five days on sale. In the UK, it was the top selling Dreamcast launch game. After the North American release, there were complaints of a number of Sonic Adventure discs failing to load. Sega of America determined that this was a software problem due to errors at one manufacturing facility and tracked the faulty software. Most copies were unaffected, and customers with defective copies could trade for working ones at retailers.

In September 2010, Sega rereleased Sonic Adventure as a downloadable game for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, followed by a Windows release in March 2011 via Steam. This version is based on Sonic Adventure DX and supports high definition visuals at a 4:3 aspect ratio. The game was also included in the Dreamcast Collection compilation in 2011 and is backwards compatible with the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. Reviews of the 2010 rerelease were generally unfavorable, with criticism directed at the perceived lack of effort put into the port. 1UP. com lambasted the port for what they called its slapdash quality, criticizing its display, controls, and dated design, and saying that it "feels like it wasn't even tuned for the Xbox 360 controller and its analog sticks." In 2024, the game was released on Steam in Japan, having never been made available in the region previously through the platform. The release was teased in December 2023.

With most contemporary 3D platform games focusing on exploration and collecting items, Sonic Adventure stood out with its linear gameplay. Joystiq wrote that both Adventure and the original Sonic the Hedgehog had innovated—in 3D and 2D games, respectively—through effective linear level design and by feeling "good to play". In 2009, GamePro listed Sonic Adventure as the seventh best platform game of all time, saying that it had not aged well in certain aspects but that its core gameplay remained among the best of the Sonic series. Several journalists ranked the game among the series's best, but Kotaku argued the addition of voice acting and greater focus on plot changed Sonic into "a flat, lifeless husk of a character, who spits out slogans and generally has only one personality mode, the radical attitude dude, the sad recycled image of vague '90s cultural concept". Many of Sonic Adventures designs and concepts were reused in later Sonic games. The direction, basic gameplay, and Uekawa's modernized character designs became series staples. The first level in the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog reboot heavily references Sonic Adventures Emerald Coast stage. To celebrate the Sonic series's 20th anniversary in 2011, Sega released Sonic Generations, which reused aspects from past games in the franchise. The Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows versions contain reimagined versions of the Speed Highway level and the Perfect Chaos boss fight, and the Nintendo 3DS version contains a remake of Emerald Coast. Several characters that first appeared in Sonic Adventure appeared in later games. As well as appearing in Sonic Generations, Chaos is an antagonist in the 2017 entry Sonic Forces; it and Gamma are playable characters in the 2004 fighting game Sonic Battle; and a recreation of its boss fight appears in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. The Chao creatures also feature predominantly in later games. One of the characters introduced in Adventure, Big the Cat, became infamous for his negative reception. Game Informer considered his gameplay painful and boring, while Destructoid decried his portrayal as a "mentally handicapped imbecile" and his voice actor's incoherent performance. and was named one of the worst game characters in a poll conducted by 1UP. com. On October 4, 1999, Sega announced that a sequel to Sonic Adventure was in development. Sonic Adventure 2 made its debut at E3 2000 and was released in June 2001. The sequel was designed to be more action oriented than the slower paced, story centric Adventure and to give all the characters equal playtime. Like its predecessor, Sonic Adventure 2 received positive reviews. A concept for Sonic Adventure 3 was reworked into the 2008 game Sonic Unleashed. In 2017, Iizuka stated there were no plans for a third Sonic Adventure game, saying it would not advance the series's design. He did not rule out the idea, saying "If we can get the gameplay to evolve and get to a place where Adventure 3 makes sense, then you might see an Adventure 3 come out". In December 2018, Iizuka expressed interest in remaking Sonic Adventure. The plot of Sonic Adventure was adapted in the second season of the 2003 Sonic the Hedgehog anime series Sonic X. American licensing corporation 4Kids Entertainment hired a new voice cast for the English language dub but the Japanese cast from the games reprised their roles in the original version of the show. Archie Comics also adapted the game in its Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series. The comic offered an explanation for the altered character designs and established that Station Square was hidden beneath Sonic's planet, Mobius.