One thing I’ve always loved about Sega is how willing they’ve always been to experiment with their most popular franchise. They don’t take their games too seriously (unlike Nintendo) and don’t mind going over the top with them. This is where Sonic the Fighters comes into play. After toying with a Sonic the Hedgehog model in Fighting Vipers legendary developer Yu Suzuki got it into his mind to make a fighter based on Sega’s biggest franchise. The idea was eventually cleared by Sonic Team itself and AM2 set to work using their Fighting Vipers engine as a base. Despite Sonic’s principal popularity being in the West it didn’t see a home release for years. Today we’re going to take a look at the original arcade version. Does Sonic the Fighters live up to Sega’s legendary fighting game lineage? Keep reading to find out!
The short answer to that question is a resounding ‘no.’ Virtua Fighter (and to a lesser extent Fighting Vipers) make use of very intricate fighting system with counters, range, etc. Sonic and friends are cartoon styled humanoid animals with short limbs. There was no way to replicate the gameplay engines in their more well known titles without making this one decidedly un-Sonic. That’s why I’m willing to cut Sonic the Fighters some slack in this regard. After all I didn’t expect mechanics that would take years to master for Smash Bros, and so why should I here? There’s also pretty much no storyline to speak of so don’t go in expecting much narrative. This is a fighting game that’s barebones in presentation, but that’s not the only thing it’s simplistic in. More on that later.
For now we’re going to focus on what Sonic the Fighters does right. If what you want is a Sonic game where you beat up other characters in the universe then this serves quite nicely. Let’s start with the roster. You have Sonic, Knuckles and Tails. Honestly leaving any of the trio out would have been a major fail so we’re off to a good start at least. There’s also Amy Rose the lone female combatant. The others are, well, mostly forgettable. I’m actually not sure where most of them come from. You have Espio the Chameleon (the worst partner character from Knuckles Chaotix), and Fang the Sniper (I think he’s original, but at least the Western theme sets him apart). Bean the Dynamite and Bark the Polar Bear are real head scratchers. Just don’t think too much about it. Regardless everyone fits the Sonic world well enough.
Punching and kicking are pretty much trademark in fighting games. Unfortunately these represent the bulk of the special moves you can perform. Arenas are fully 3D with barriers keeping you in the play areas. You can’t move freely, but you can however knock a foe into a different direction with specific attacks thus shifting the camera. At it’s heart the gameplay is 2D with some 3D elements sprinkled in. There’s no sidestep button here but you can perform the maneuver by pressing all three action keys at once. You’re limited to just punch, kick, and guard as far as other inputs go. That’s pretty traditional as far as Sega’s titles go so I can’t knock it. Guarding is just about the only original functionality in this title. Each player has a guard meter and this diminishes as you block attacks. It makes sense and I like it.
The main problem I have with Sonic the Fighters is that the gameplay is barebones. Each character has a lot of attacks but these are all very similar to one another. For the most part these are slightly different punches and kicks. You have no projectile attacks, but this is to be expected because Sega has never been a fan of them. It’s possible to knock opponents into the air but overly difficult to actually juggle them. Each character has aerial recovery moves so this would be useless anyways. Truth be told the best way to play is by spamming the punch button. You really don’t need much more strategy than this. Even in multiplayer your other attacks aren’t nearly as effective and you can’t catch your foe off guard because everything is so limited.
When I say gameplay is limited I really mean it. Each character has their own special moves but they’re all extremely similar to one another. No matter who you play as spamming the punch key is clearly the way to go. I don’t know about you, but I don’t enjoy games that not only reward button mashing but actually punish anything else. The only special move I found myself regularly using for any character is the spin dash, and that was just to close the distance so I could punch endlessly. There was so much potential here and Sega squandered it all. Honestly they should have taken a more Smash Bros esque approach because it not only makes sense but would have been infinitely more interesting. Sonic the Fighters balances a fine line between over the top hedgehog action and serious fighter. It definitely needed more focus and development time.
Despite it’s issues I actually really like the graphics. I’ve always been a huge fan of Sega’s Model 2 arcade titles. It’s blocky as all heck and the polygonal edges are easy to see. Again, it’s something I’ve always been a fan of. Compared to other fighters of this generation Sonic the Fighters looks better than most others. The backgrounds in particular are some of the most interesting looking ones in any 3D Sonic title. They’re carefully crafted environments that really harken to the golden ages of the franchise’s history. One effect I found a little confusing is how rings fly out of characters sometimes when they’re hit. Rings aren’t a gameplay element in this game, and so it makes little sense. It feels forced, and isn’t even a clever reference to the franchise’s mechanics. The soundtrack is clearly Sonic, but none of the songs are particularly memorable.
