Harvest Moon 64 Review

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I’m going to be brutally honest here folks, Harvest Moon is not one of the top games out there. In fact I would argue that this is still Nintendo’s weakest series bar none. There just isn’t anything about this title to really get me excited. As with the last one, I couldn’t even get out of the first level. The harvesting mechanic just isn’t a lot of fun and I would argue that it’s way below something like Harvestella which was ideal. That was a game where I really enjoyed each area of the game. So yeah don’t expect a lot of positives here.

The basic plot is pretty similar though. You inherit a pretty large farm in a small village so you head on over. The mayor and the townsfolk seem nice. They’re all hoping that you fit in really well here and will do everything they can to help you succeed. It’s definitely appreciated and there will even be parties, adventure, romance, and danger. That said, it is all dependent on you growing those crops really well so get to work right!? That is easier said than done and this is where the game effectively starts to end.

Right from the jump you are supposed to start watering the crops and getting things ready but the game doesn’t do much to actually prepare you for this. It just feels like you’re in a loop of asking people for help and breaking the ground to get the soil out. Nothing ever really happens and while small cutscenes happen after enough days, there isn’t a whole lot of plot progression. Mainly the problem is that I just didn’t get far enough but even with that in mind I think the game could have been more exciting.

Give me a map of the town and have more tutorials. I would say that the game is missing a few quality of life features like this that could have really made a massive difference. Without a doubt I would say that things would have improved with things like this. Even if you a full time farmer and know what you’re doing, I would bet you will still have trouble understanding what the game is asking you to do. It’s just all too vague the whole time.

The graphics aren’t bad though. You can always understand what is going on at least which is always a plus. The soundtrack is more on the unremarkable side though. I couldn’t really tell you any of the tunes at this point, they just don’t stand out. Now in terms of length the game definitely does well. This is a long game as it is and there is a ton of replay value if you enjoy it because each day is different. So the playthrough would be very long especially with no real end point.

At the end of the day though it all comes down to how fun the game is. Unfortunately the game just isn’t very fun. There’s no real reason to stick around here. It just ends up being rather unmemorable and the gameplay itself isn’t enough to hold you. I did plow the fields long enough to rank up my equipment twice but it’s not like it’s a big difference either way. It still takes an awful long amount of time to complete the field and the main character has a fatigue meter so if you work on this too much then he isn’t able to do anything else. He just starts panting and basically throws in the towel.

So now you’ve also got a stamina meter and a day/night system to worry about. Trust me when I say these are all even more net negatives. Why would you include all of these features at once? It puts you in a bit of a rush and artificially extends the game since you don’t have time to do everything at once. It means you really have to pace yourself and take your time which isn’t all that great. I wanted to just go in and have fun but the style is way too limiting.

Overall, Harvest Moon 64 doesn’t really do anything to separate itself from the original one. Yes it looks a bit newer but that’s about it. It still suffers from all of the existing issues of the first game and that really limited its overall potential. At the end of the day these are what I would consider to be design flaws right from the start so you aren’t really able to just work around them. The game would need to be redone from the ground up and as it is I would say it feels almost unplayable. Check out Harvestella instead if you really want to play a game like this.

Overall 2/10

Cardfight will+Dress Season 3 Review

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It’s time for another big Cardfight adventure and as always you can bet on a lot of awesome things happening here. I can never hide my surprise at how this series really did a full 180 and ended up being such a spectacular part of the franchise. It just goes to show that you can never count any title out. This one already has a lot of set up from the previous season so we’re able to just jump right into the battles with the Uniformers. My guy Tohya doesn’t get to do much this time but at least he does have one big fight.

The show starts with Yu-Yu and pals still wondering what exactly they should do about this. Yu-Yu doesn’t agree with the Uniformers method of having everyone fight with the same style but strictly speaking they are not doing anything illegal. Yeah they are pressuring players into using their style but they aren’t even blackmailing or beating anyone up. The only slight case you could make is that they’re using some kind of brainwashing that takes place after a win but it’s a bit of a stretch and I don’t know how you would go about proving it. The show never really goes this avenue either even though to me it did feel like brainwashing. In the end the only thing to really do is defeat these guys in a cardfight and prove that Uniformers aren’t the only way to victory.

Right in the first episode we have Yu-Yu dueling to try and prove that point. His skill level definitely seems to vary at times though. Sometime he is one of the most powerful duelists in the world who won’t lose to anyone and then other times he just seems to be generally powerful but not a top tier. This continues in this season but for the most part I’ll say that he looks good. Whenever he loses you’ll wince a bit but with cardfights there are a lot of variables in place. Sometimes it’s just a matter of getting the wrong cards or the opponent’s deck is a hard counter.

I appreciate Yu-Yu putting on his game face and making the case against the Uniformers but I think just about any other character would have been able to make a more compelling argument. Ultimately we’re many seasons in but Yu-Yu just isn’t one of my favorite characters. I don’t think he ended up growing into a really confident player the way that Aichi and Chrono did.

Jinki actually loses some points in this season. I still think he had one of the best intros in the series where he shows up to announce a massive tournament and has an air of mystery about him. He was one of the all time big threats after all and the head of the villain organization. Well, as the story goes on he becomes more of a puppet and one who isn’t able to fight back against the true threat. He comes across as a little wishywashy in not understanding the big picture the whole time. Since nobody really ends up taking his side, it just makes him look that much worse.

Then we have Haruka get a fairly decent role. In fact I’m pretty sure she duels more than Tohya in this series which is crazy. You’d figure that her character arc was complete but after she is dominated by a Uniformer she ends up joining them. Once again this is why it feels like mind control to me because her character just does a 180 there. By the end she gives some reasons for why she would help out but I just didn’t really buy it. It did make for some tense duels though and I liked this whole season as a tribute to Link Joker. The season wasn’t kind to Haruka though.

I’d also say that Mirei isn’t quite as impressive as she once was. She went from being a final boss to just one of the crew now and she doesn’t win as often. I would have liked her to have had some rage in avenging Haruka and taking everyone out. She deserves some good revenge after all of that right? It’s good to take the high road sometime but not all of the time. Still, she did get a good win at one point so that was good.

Zakusa gets a decent amount of hype here but he’s one of those characters I can’t take seriously. Like with the others you could argue that he’s just being mind controlled for most of the series but even so he just went down too easily. The guy seemed to have some plans but in the end he didn’t do anything outside of the duels. I just don’t think this character will ever click for me.

As a result of his getting a bigger role, Tomari gets to appear more too which is a decent trade off though. She’s always fun although Tomari is also a character that I feel isn’t in the upper echelon of fighters so I’m a bit skeptical of her hanging with the crew here. I guess the best argument you could make is that she really knows the deck of her opponent so it gives her a better chance of winning.

One of the villains that I could take seriously was Halona. From the start she was a fun character and someone who does believe in the cause. Her backstory ties into this so she has a much better resolve than most of the cast. I was rooting for her in both of her fights with Urara and Megumi. I just think she is the much better fighter and she’s really earned the win with the amount of work that she has put in. None of the other characters can even come close to matching her beat for beat. It’s just not happening. I hope we get to see more of her in future seasons.

As for Urara, I wouldn’t say she looks great in this season. She may be back with the heroes but it doesn’t feel like her skills have grown all that much. She’s also very timid which like Yu-Yu, doesn’t work out so well. I’d like her to get a bit bolder and really defend her deck choices more. Now that is something that would make her really stand out in all of the best ways. I can see her improving eventually but it’ll take some time.

Things are also tough for Megumi as she seems to lose a lot of duels but at the same time she’s always trying. Her confidence may be unfounded to a degree, but she’s not giving up and to me that’s just as important. I prefer her to Urara for that reason. Hopefully at some point Megumi gets more of a true power up since I’d like to see her get some more wins. I’d argue that she has trained so much that she deserves the spotlight more.

Instead it always goes back to Danji being the best and showing everyone up. Hey, he is a prodigy for good reason of course but it’s time to let someone else take the center stage. His duel with Megumi is fun but the guy is not someone you would want as an ally. He helps when he feels like it, which isn’t very often and that’s about it. You want an ally who is loyal and dependable, someone who will step up to defend the world right? Well that’s definitely not this guy, not even close! He’s got to be one of the most unreliable/irresponsible heroes that I’ve ever seen. He’s fun but the show doesn’t put as much spotlight on how much he’s letting everyone down as it should.

Then we have the rivalry with Raika and Sophia that keeps on going. Sophia is an extremely entertaining character with the way she’s constantly mocking Tohya and comparing him to a dog. She’s such an excellent antagonist but unfortunately she does not stick the landing. The show decides to completely change her character by the end which is part of her development but it’s not satisfying at all. It unfortunately means that she won’t be as fun when she returns.

This is also another matchup where the hero just doesn’t feel as strong as the villain so Raika’s match feels rather cheesy. I still like Raika as a solid rival who may not be Tohya level but can fight well. He just hasn’t had any real significant power ups which causes him to lag behind the other characters. He needs something and he needs it fast or he really will be doomed to stay in the back. He still has one of the best themes in the series though.

Then we have Tohya. Like I said he gets a very small role with only one real duel against Masanori. It’s hard to get as invested in this one since he’s been stronger than Masanori from the jump. Still, it’s a chance to see him in action so I can’t complain too much. His fiery fightstyle is still a lot of fun to watch and he really holds nothing back. I hope he will be brought back at some point in the future when a new threat is on the horizon.

Meanwhile I really hope Masanori stays gone this time. He manages to show up in every season somehow and yet there just isn’t any real point to his character. He just loses and loses and loses some more while trying to gaslight everyone into thinking that it’s part of his plan. It’s not a very convincing argument when you very rarely win. His only big win here is against a character who is so weak that it really can’t be used as hype.

Finally you have the AI who is trying to make the world a better place. It makes for a pretty interesting villain as it naturally takes everything literal and it goes from trying to make the world a better place into taking almost everyone down in order to achieve that reality. It’s not exactly the most complex villain but I always enjoy having a robotic type villain like this. In theory such a program would be amazing at Cardfight so it also makes sense why the heroes are having such a tough time.

As always the climax is really a blast here. It continues the energy from the rest of the season and never lets up. I think it was a smart move to have all of the heroes have a big rival from the villains group. It meant that each duel was really personal the whole time. We probably could have used a little time for power ups for the heroes to be honest but in the end it still works out well enough. Each duel is impressive both visually and narratively which is the most important part.

As always the animation is pretty solid here. I still wouldn’t call this one of the top tier productions or anything like that but it is consistent and looks sharp the whole time. You can’t really ask for much more than that. The soundtrack is also really good which is just as key. There are less of the big insert songs here compared to previous seasons but the soundtrack is still very balanced.

It’s pretty rare to get a season that’s basically just one long series of battles but this isn’t even the first time that Cardfight has pulled this off. It’s why it is definitely one of the best franchises out there. Few titles are doing it the way that Cardfight is. The stakes may not seem quite as high as in some of the other seasons since as I mentioned, the Uniformers aren’t doing anything illegal or trying to destroy the world. However, a battle of ideals is always a pretty fun reason to battle as well.

Overall, Cardfight is definitely in good hands. It looks like the next season is going to reset the main character group again so I look forward to seeing how the next group handles things. Most likely that means the season won’t be able to top this one as usually the first season with a new lead takes a while to develop all of the characters. It’s a long term investment where you sacrifice the first season to set up a lot of awesome sequels. That said, as long as the sacrifice isn’t too drastic then it is absolutely worth it all the way. This season in particular might be a little harder to get into compared to older ones since it’s a direct sequel and all but if you enjoy action then you should definitely check it out.

Overall 8/10

Noein: To Your Other Self Review

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It’s time for a sci-fi title dealing with the multiverse so you know that a lot is going on here. It balances out the mystery pretty well. It actually handles the cast well since initially you might be worried that the kids will end up being annoying but there is always some kind of big event happening in each episode. So the plot moves and the main heroine barely even feels like a kid next to the others. She always saw the big picture from the start and this ends up being a pretty interesting watch.

The series starts off by introducing us to Haruka who at first glance is just your average girl trying to live her best life. Her best friend Yu has been having a tough time at home lately with his very strict mother and so he’s decided to run away. Haruka tries to lift his spirits and says she will run away with him but you get the feeling she’s also hoping to talk him out of it. They had made a promise a long time ago that if they ever ran away it would be together though. Then a portal opens up and a mysterious being in a black cloak appears. His name is Karasu and he wants Haruka to come with him.

There’s a lot of mystery in the beginning and unraveling the mysteries is part of the fun so I’ll keep this fairly vague. To just add a little more context though, the show deals with the idea of a multiverse. This planet and Haruka’s life is just one reality out of many. The characters also have to wonder if anything is truly real. Is something real because you can observe and feel it? It’s possible that life itself is an illusion and so they aren’t sure if anything really matter. For now most of the characters have to assume that this is real though and so Haruka is an important figure in the middle of all of this. Different characters need her in order to stabilize their timelines and make it the real one. Haruka doesn’t want to go anywhere but she also doesn’t want to hurt anyone and so it’s a tough balancing act.

The show goes into some of those philosophical discussions that don’t really have an end point because they become circular very quickly. For example the conversation about if anything is real. It’s interesting in the abstract but you can’t prove a negative so after a point what can you really say about it? For example lets say none of us are real and we’re all the figment of someone’s imagination. Well in that case…it shouldn’t affect how you live because everything will be over when you imagine that you’ve died anyway right? Even if there are infinite other versions of you, you can’t do anything about that so you just have to live your life as you always have. Just something that’s always good to keep in mind.

The show goes with the theory of tons of possible futures depending on the present which is definitely the way I prefer it. Even if your future is mapped out, nobody can possibly know how it will play out. If they did, then the future would automatically change with that new knowledge. Lets say someone predicted that too, well it’s a never ending chase sort of like the chicken and the egg. Just like I go with the chicken in that scenario there, I’d say that there is a future that will happen out of the infinite amount but it doesn’t become real until it hits the present which is why destiny is a fairly pointless concept.

The characters try to confuse Haruka with all of these concepts but of course you have to remember that they all have a stake in this so they aren’t the best possible sources. One of the most interesting concepts though was in how Haruka is sort of like a way point. For example, lets say there are 3 different future events, one where a bullet hits her friend, one where it misses her friend, and one where the bullet is never fired. The version that Haruka sees will become the “real” one as it then becomes a solidified point in time. She seems to have the power to choose which path will become the real one and the others will fade away like they never happened.

It’s a pretty cool power but also a high stakes one since it’s hard to know what she will see in advance. She can try to actively forget something and imagine something else but that seems tough. There’s one instance in the show where she is told not to look at someone who is dead because as long as she hasn’t seen it herself, it’s possible that the event can be overwritten with one where he is alive. It’s a very interesting way to weaponize the ability. I do enjoy theory crafting like this which is one of the show’s strengths. See this is how you handle hypotheticals, Godzilla Singular Point could learn some valuable lessons from this.

Back to the characters though, Haruka is a great lead. She doesn’t panic the way that most of the other characters do and in that way she keeps everyone on track. She tends to internalize all of her problems which obviously isn’t healthy but it shows how selfless she is. I think the heroes would be completely lose without her even if Haruka didn’t have any abilities. Haruka just gives them all a lot of inner peace. Also I really enjoyed her unique design. Her eyes are sort of like a cat’s eyes or some kind of half moon. It’s hard to describe but made for a very memorable design.

She’s the only one with this attribute which makes her stand out even more. It’s why for a while there I was expecting some kind of a twist where she’s a demon or supernatural entity or something. That’s not exactly the direction the show goes in though but it had me guessing. Then you have the main guy in Yu who starts off rather bratty the whole time. He whines a whole lot and has trouble saying what he means so he often ends up being rather rude to Haruka.

It’s lucky that she’s so mature and patient with him all of the time because I probably would have just ditched him after a while. Yu wants to be the one to protect Haruka because he likes her but tends to get shown up at every turn by Karasu. It’s just hard for this to not be the inevitable outcome as it is because Karasu is older, more powerful, and has actual powers. How do you possibly compete with that? By the end of the series Yu finally starts to realize that protecting Haruka is the important part and that it doesn’t have to be him. It’s a character arc that feels like an eternity to materialize but better than never.

I do respect the effort he puts in though and he ends up being an entertaining character. Probably not a friend you would want to have in real life, but as a character he’s not bad. He did try to defend Haruka from otherworldly fighters with a small switch blade so he gets points for courage. That’s something the other kids lack and why they are very weak characters.

You have Miho who is really interested in the supernatural but feels very annoying the whole time. In a lot of ways she is the most immature and despite being in a situation with actual crazy stuff going on, she doesn’t seem to take it all very seriously. I think she is trying her best but she’s just too young to get what’s going on. I was always ready for her scenes to end. Then you have Isami whose role never got as big as I would have expected. He’s better than Miho but I still didn’t care for him. He just doesn’t really contribute and his main memorable trait is that he has a crush on the teacher. Not exactly the thing you want to be remembered for.

The same goes for Ai who is another one of the friends hanging out but doesn’t do much. She likes Isami but can’t bring herself to tell him. There just isn’t much time for the romance among the side characters in this show so nothing much happens with that. Another character without much to do is Haruka’s mother Asuka. She gets drunk a lot but that’s really it. She isn’t able to help in any of the battles and is often completely oblivious of what’s going on. That may not be entirely her fault but it just doesn’t do her any favors as a character.

She ends up dragging down Yu’s mother Miyuki with her as well. I enjoyed Miyuki as an antagonist who was really pressuring Yu the whole time but as a hero she’s just not as interesting. The character arc went rather fast as well. Then you have Takuya who was Haruka’s father but he doesn’t do much either. You’d expect a lot out of him since he’s involved with the government group looking into the multiverse but mainly he just tries to plead his case without doing much about anything. The guy just feels very weak the whole time. I think he also could have explained things better to Asuka to get her to actually help out a bit.

Ryoko and Kyoji are the two main researchers trying to find out about the multiverse. I should say that’s Ryoko’s job. Kyoji is mainly just tagging along and helping her out but he doesn’t tend to understand any of this. In fact I would say he’s just here to give the story a way to throw some exposition at us. He always asks Ryoko to explain things so she talks more about the multiverse, the current theories on it, etc. They’re both good characters though. I liked that Ryoko actually understood what was going on and Kyoji’s just a nice guy. He seems like a really loyal ally to have who will risk his life even when he’s outmatched.

Seeing him take out a gun and try to seriously threaten the future beings who have laser blasts and super speed was also pretty funny. You can’t say that the guy didn’t at least try his best to help out at least. Now we get to the future beings. First up is Tobi who isn’t really much of a fighter but she helps out a lot on the tech side. She was easily the most reasonable member of the group who would always try to talk things out. It’s a shame that she couldn’t fight more though.

Does being a strategic genius always have to mean that you can’t fight? She ended up being one of the most likable characters in the group though so I suppose it all worked out well enough. Then you have Atori who was easily the most insane member of the group but practically got lobotomized which affects his personality for the rest of the show. He was extremely annoying as a hero so I kept waiting for him to turn evil again. The guy’s power is the real deal and he gave us one of the best early fights in the series. Atori absolutely enhances the show so he performed well in the role and he even does do some things in the climax.

Makoto barely has a reason to be in the story to be honest. Half of the time you even forget about the whole government angle here but I suppose in some ways this whole situation wouldn’t be happening without this. So fine the guy is necessary but he’s basically your average corporate villain. The guy doesn’t care about the future and can’t really fight but he has a gun and isn’t afraid to use it. I was shocked at how many shots he got off before the heroes ever did anything about it. There can be something amusing about this kind of cheesy villain but he really gets overshadowed.

Kosagi tends to be a very annoying character. She’s way too emotional and can never act logically. Unlike the other heroes and villains in the series, she never had any kind of grand master plan. I would say she doesn’t really end on a high note either and the final nail in the coffin is that she isn’t even very powerful. So mix all of that together and she’s not all that solid. The same is true for Kuina. Another really emotional guy who doesn’t take anything well and as a result makes all of the wrong decisions. I can respect a good villain who is fighting for someone who is even just evil to be evil but when you’re a villain for petty reasons then there is absolutely no hope for you.

Karasu naturally has a rather huge role in the story. He shows up early and remains a central figure in the whole adventure. He is easily the best fighter and is super durable. The guy goes through a lot to protect Noein and often goes against the council. I appreciated his loyalty and the guy just has a very cool demeanor to him. He reminds me a lot of Archer from Fate. Karasu could certainly stand to talk to the characters more and actually explain what’s going on but without him they would have certainly been doomed. You definitely can’t underestimate just how crucial he was. I also tended to enjoy any scene of him bashing Yu and rubbing in his face the difference in their abilities.

Now we can talk about Noein, the best villain in the show. This guy always had such confidence when he would appear and I really liked his design as well. When he came out with the Ray-Man spin move to knock out the characters that was brilliant. On the whole he’s more of a strategist than a fighter though. Sure, Noein can fight but he tends to break his opponents down mentally instead. He was easily my favorite character in the show. Yes, he does get just a little bit whiny at the very end of the series so he doesn’t stick the landing but for every other episode he looked great. This guy always delivers with the mystery and does a lot to help support the show’s creepy atmosphere. It would really not be the same without him. You get the feeling he probably could have ended the series rather early if he didn’t take so long to make his move.

While all of the theory crafting and concepts are a blast to engage with, I would say the show probably has less replay value than other titles as a result. This is a bit of a slow burn where you often do have a major development in each episode but they tend to be twists of sorts. So if you rewatch the show I imagine it will feel rather slow paced without a whole lot of plot progression at times. It’s similar to a mystery where it often won’t hit the same way the second time although there are some exceptions to that.

When the fight scenes occur they do tend to be a lot of fun though. I like the very exaggerated animation techniques they use for the clashes. Characters really go off model and stretch to oblivion while firing off their energy blasts. The movement is fast and the animation is pretty good there in general. I think it sort of helps to masque that this doesn’t feel like a very high budget show. It works well with the creepy atmosphere of the title in general though.

Then you have the soundtrack which actually is pretty great. There are a lot of solid battle themes and general enemy tunes here. It gives the show a very grand feeling to it and you will be remembering the tunes very well by the end. It’s not the largest OST but when your tracks are really solid then that’s all that really matters. Quality over quantity as they say.

Overall, Noein is one of those shows I had never heard of before but it definitely ended up being pretty good. The crazy plot really worked out nicely and made it so I didn’t even have to worry about the annoying kids. Haruka and Yu were really good of course but I never really got on board with the other 3 kids who just felt out of their league the whole time. If anything I think the show could have probably kept on going a little while longer with some of the plots but the abrupt ending is likely intentional. It’s not exactly the end of everything but it’s the end of what we’ll see. So if you see this show around you should definitely check it out. It has that kind of retro aesthetic that you just don’t see anymore.

Overall 7/10

Sonic Prime Review

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It’s time to talk about the most recent Sonic show that just ended. Prime definitely had a pretty good run although the episode count isn’t as impressive as the overall length because of the way the show kept getting split up. Still, because of that you certainly can’t say that it was over in the blink of an eye. It had some good action and it’s always fun to see the Sonic characters running around even if the show never got too ambitious or tried to be anything more than pretty good.

The show starts off quickly with Sonic and friends trying to stop Eggman’s latest attack. He’s trying to do something with a crystal shard and so Sonic quickly attacks him but ends up blowing the shard up which sends him into a whole different reality. There are now different worlds that have alternate versions of Amy, Tails, Rouge, Big, and Knuckles. Sonic has to unite the gems to reform the crystal and bring his world back but to do hat he will have to defeat the Chaos Council, a group of different Eggmen that are bent on ruling the universe. Can Sonic stop them and will these alternate characters want to prevent the fusion since it could have dangerous repercussions on their own home worlds?

So right away I will say that this is pretty much a classic Saturday Morning cartoon title. You shouldn’t expect things to get too tense/dangerous even with the end of the world stakes at place. There will be a lot of one liners and comedic moments to keep things light but Sonic’s always been good with those. So the tone itself fits, but the execution isn’t always up to par with the high standard of the games’. Sonic is often not as witty as he thinks he is and so some of the jokes tend to fall flat. It’s why the show is definitely at its best when there is action happening.

We have one of our longest Sonic vs Shadow fights in the series during the second part of the show and it’s handled really well. Fans of Sonic may not appreciate that he plays second fiddle to Shadow all of the time but I’m pretty cool with Shadow being the strongest. (Remember that Sonic 2006 showed that he has been holding back the whole time and could have easily beaten Sonic) They should be fairly close but Shadow having the slight edge isn’t bad. In fact you could argue that a slight edge in a fight like this would be enough to have one character dominate.

Shadow is consistently shown to be more experienced, smarter, stronger, and more combat ready in general. In any scene with the two of them running around Sonic will often end up falling flat on his face while Shadow lands with grace and poise. As a result the show does have to write him out quite often since he would be dominating the whole time. Even then he shines off screen like when we see how he actually managed to take down a whole army of enemies. That was great. Shadow is absolutely the highlight of the series and any scene with him is awesome.

I will say that I also enjoy Sonic a lot. Yeah he definitely acts a lot younger than usual which is why my head canon is that this takes place back in the old days despite how that would not fit with continuity. However, he’s still a hero through and through. It’s always fun to see him use his speed and dominate the enemies when the chips are down. He’s a good lead and he still clears over 90% of the cast in the show.

It’s a bit of a shame that we don’t get to see his friends much since the alternate universe fighters take the main stage here. Most of them are rather boring. There’s the pirate crew but they don’t have much of a role beyond their version of Knuckles. That Knuckles is okay but it’s hard to take him seriously as a threat since you figure Sonic can beat him at any point. At least he did have a full personality the whole time so I’ll give him that.

Then in the Jungle role the only one with a real full role was Amy. She had a pretty good action scene with Sonic as they avoided the trees/vines while battling. Beyond that though, there isn’t really much to her. Her bird also ends up failing at the last possible moment for no reason other than to buy time which was odd. The Amys in general go more of a role than the other characters though. Typically each world had one primary character: Pirates was Knuckles, Rebellion was Tails, Jungle was Amy, however then you had the robotic Amy from the pirates world also get a big role so that broke tradition.

Robotic Amy was fun, she didn’t get quite as much to do later but it was a fun concept. Having her finally break away from the programming and do her own thing was cool although even then I think they could have done a little more with it. Imagine her being a full third faction just trying to take over the world or something. I think that could have been a lot of fun.

After that is Nine who has a super big role. His role is second only to Sonic in the show as he is a consistent presence in each part. The guy is a genius like the real Tails but has to live with the fact that he isn’t the Tails that Sonic always hung out with. The whole thing’s pretty tragic for him and I think the show does a good job of playing him up as more of an anti hero than straight up villain. I mean some of his dialogue in the last part is classic bad guy but the motivations make sense.

Basically the way I saw it at first is that depending on how the merging goes through, Tails’ and his timeline may no longer exist. The way the show actually ends it doesn’t seem like that’s the case but it’s a very reasonable concern. So his goals and Sonic’s are directly opposed to each other and Yu-Gi-Oh Arc V had a very similar issue. It’s a very interesting one that I enjoy because there isn’t really a right answer. Once a new world has been created, you don’t really have any authority to suddenly destroy it to bring your own back right? However if you don’t, then you are sort of murdering billions of people by inaction. Sonic has to bring his world back at any cost and Nine has to protect his.

Again, this is Sonic Prime so it’s not going to go with the hard philosophical questions like that. The final part makes this more of a black and white struggle in regards to who the good guys are and the bad guys but it was a fun way to end off the second part. Nine also works really well as a villain and while I will always take speed over smarts, he absolutely does give Sonic a good fight.

I’ll talk about the power levels in a minute but lets wrap up the characters. Metal Sonic shows up here which was pretty cool although it’s a very different take on the character to be sure. He likes to throw out puns and joke around just like Sonic. It’s going for the more literal copy of Sonic right down to the personality rather than being cold and calculating like he usually is. I get what they were going for here but I don’t think it really works. It does make him memorable though so I’ll give him that. Later on we get more copies that are truly mindless and they don’t end up being all that interesting.

Then we have the Chaos Council. While I’m not as harsh on them as some others, they are very weak villains. I didn’t personally like any of them and they just made me miss Eggman. The baby is super annoying since he can’t even talk and the old man is the other extreme where he is super old and that’s the only joke that the series will keep on reusing for him. You have the kid who loves playing video games which is barely even a personality and then the only adult who I could only describe as a watered down Eggman. So not a very intimidating group and the problem is that the show really wants you to respect them. They actually give Sonic a hard time at different points which doesn’t make any sense. We really could have used more villains.

This brings me to the power levels issue. It’s common for anything including speedsters so it’s not unique to Sonic Prime but it’s still annoying as always. Sonic should be mopping the floor with just about every villain in the series. I don’t mind him having trouble with Shadow, Metal Sonic, or other speedsters. But the Chaos Council, Pirate Knuckles, and Nine? Those fights should be over in the blink of an eye. It never makes sense whenever Sonic is hit by any of these guys. If you want to do that, then have him get exhausted first like when Nine forced him to keep saving people. That would make sense but a fresh Sonic can’t be getting hit all of the time.

It’s part of why I looked forward to seeing Shadow every time because he looked the way I expected Sonic to look. He actually used his speed well and was usually winning his battles while Sonic jobbed the whole time. Yeah Sonic would eventually win with the help of his friends but that was about it. Also the friends should not stand any chance against the Grim Sonics running around. It just comes across as really cheesy the whole time.

As mentioned, the animation is pretty smooth though and so that works with the fights. At times you don’t really feel the weight behind the blows though. I always turn to the DCAU or Dragon Ball Z for this. You need animation effects for the blows or a good sound effect. Part of the problem with Prime is someone will get punched or slammed but the effect is so weak that it feels lifeless. As for the soundtrack, it’s more on the generic side. Don’t expect anything memorable.

I will say to prepare yourself for a very dragged out Part 3. While I still enjoyed it quite a lot with the fighting and climax, it is fair to say that they really start to overplay their hand. There are a ton of moments that feel straight up like recycled footage and I think that’s actually the cast. We reuse the same story beats over and over to fight the same opponents in the same setting. I knew something was suspicious when we entered the climax almost immediately in the final part and that’s because we would end up going on a loop.

Part of the problem is that this makes the power level issues more obvious. On one hand you have Sonic and Shadow teaming up to beat the Grim Sonic and then later on you have him getting punched around by Knuckles and Amy. Yeah the Alphas are stronger than the clones but even the Alphas were losing to the friends. Doesn’t make a lot of sense. I think maybe part of the problem is the CG and the show had to keep reusing backgrounds and character models. It would explain why throughout the series we kept going to the same places and fighting the same enemies. It’s yet another reason why hand drawn will always be superior.

By the end of the series you deeply miss Eggman and Sonic’s actual friends. I would really like to see a series focus more on them without any big gimmicks because if you think about it that never really happens. In Sonic X we were busy with the humans and then going off to space, in Sonic Boom they’re all trapped on an island so the rest of the characters aren’t there, etc. I think there are plenty of great stories you could tell with the main cast and no gimmicks.

So repetition is the show’s biggest weakness. It should have mixed things up a bit more and even if I give the writers the excuse that the animation limited them, you can absolutely write around that. So Sonic Prime is a very safe show and it’s a fun one but these are the kinds of basic issues that keep it from moving forward. If the show ever does return or we get a brand new one, I’d like to see them mix it up a bit. Also they shouldn’t be afraid to make Sonic more of a true leader. Yeah he’s a free spirit but he’s a fairly mature one in most forms of media. He has fun with the jokes but always at a good time and he takes care of the situation with ease which is part of why it works.

I should give the show some credit for Sonic’s new super form though. It wasn’t really necessary since he has a ton of existing ones as it is, but I still enjoyed seeing it. It was a good way to end off one of the parts and at least salvage the climax from the usual giant villain. In general I also really liked a lot of the designs for the original characters like the Grim Bots and pretty much all of the mechs. So the character designers did really know what they were doing.

Overall, Sonic Prime was pretty fun. I had a good time with the episodes. The animation is good enough as it looks like cutscenes right out of the video games. It may not be as top tier as it could have been with a more traditional style but it did the job. In a lot of ways that describes the show all around. It’s pretty good even if it’s not groundbreaking. I don’t think the show itself will have a ton of replay value but I could see myself Youtubing some of the fights every now and again. Particularly Sonic vs Shadow which is the highlight of the series.

Overall 7/10