10 TERRIBLE Video Games (That Secretly Saved Franchises)
6. Sonic Boom: Rise Of Lyric
To be a Sonic the Hedgehog fan is to be a glutton for punishment, because as iconic as the title character might be, the series' quality has been wildly all over the place, especially in the 3D titles which have defined the last 20-ish years of the IP's existence.
Sonic finally bottomed out critically, then, with the 2014 release of Wii U exclusive Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and its DS companion piece Shattered Crystal, the former being especially vilified for its poor combat, boring puzzles, awful camera, and uninspired level design.
It even made 2006's Sonic the Hedgehog seem comparatively competent, resulting in straits so dire that Sega relented and let a group of fans and modders make the next official game in the series, Sonic Mania.
Sonic Mania ended up scoring the series' strongest reviews in almost 20 years and posted mighty commercial numbers to boot.
While a sequel has yet to materialise, it nevertheless reminded fans of what's possible when people with passion truly care about the end product.