1. Sonic - Everything After Sonic CD
The same thing has happened to Crash Bandicoot after The Wrath of Cortex. However when it happened to Sega's blue teenage hedgehog, the wound is still open. I don't agree that he is overrated but he is way past his prime and beyond any kind of rehab. Sonic can have nothing done to him worse than Sega already has presented us with in the past decade. They have danced his blue corpus into the ground. Sonic was once one of the most popular characters in all of pop culture, much less the gaming industry. But sometime around the advent of 3-D gaming, Sega realized it had no idea what to do with their star mascot. Since then, dozens of Sonic games in almost every genre have hit the shelves, and most headed straight for the trash can afterward. Sonic was once a platforming god. That doesn't mean he has any relevance to today's gamer. People used to like Alex Kidd, but you don't see him still being shoved down our throats. It's time to give up and let Sonic die in peace. When the first Sonic came out, no one thought that Mario would ever be topped in the platformer genre. Sonic was a breath of fresh air. It was all about building up a huge amount of reckless momentum and flying through the levels as fast as you possible could. The first game was a huge hit and put the SEGA on the map as a legit competitor to Nintendo. There were several super badass Sonic games that got released in a row. The Sonic games plus the blood code in Mortal Kombat made owning a Genesis a badge of honour instead of a mark of shame. Sonic had worked really well as a side scrolling platformer. For this instalment, they decided to give it a more top down view. There's definitely nothing 3D about it like the title implies. The top down view pretty much destroyed everything that was fun about playing Sonic. Instead of speeding through levels like a rocket, you kind of just wander around looking for stuff to pick up. I'd have more fun wandering around my neighbourhood picking up dog poop than playing Sonic 3D Blast. At least, when I was done picking up poo I'd actually feel like I had accomplished something. This game was the first in a long line of terrible cash grab Sonic games. I will always enjoy the Megadrive great Sonic games from Sonic The Hedgehog to Sonic & Knuckles. However, even Sonic Generations could not restore anyone's faith in this franchise, so it is truly done. Do you actively play Sonic IV? I thought not. Did I miss any? What other characters were ruined by its sequels? Let me know in the comments below.