Published on Thursday January 31, 2002 .
One year ago, the death of the Dreamcast was announced. I was very fond of that little white box, and that was a very sad day. At the time, I said that there were still a number of upcoming Dreamcast games that I was looking forward to playing. I was looking forward to Crazy Taxi 2, and Sonic Adventure 2, and Shenmue 2, and Phantasy Star Online.
But I never bought Crazy Taxi 2, because they removed the two player mode. (Though admittedly, my roommate picked up Crazy Taxi 2 on clearance from Toys R Us last week, but more on that some other time.)
I never bought Sonic Adventure 2, because it was announced as Gamecube bound.
I never bought Shenmue 2, because sadly it became an Xbox exclusive in North America, and I didn't get a chance.
And I never bought Phantasy Star Online, because I kind of lost interest in it.
In fact, I didn't buy a single Dreamcast game once its death was announced. I actually feel kind of guilty about abandoning the poor little fellow. It's not that I ever stopped liking it, it's just that the circumstances changed. Though I didn't buy any new Dreamcast games, my little white box got at least as much play as my even-deader N64.
So it goes.
Published on Sunday January 27, 2002 .
In fact, if you're a fan of classic platform-game action, the GBA price drop comes at a perfect time with the impending releases of Sonic Advance on February 4th and Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World on February 14th. There's some sort of sick irony about a sonic game and a mario game both coming out for the Game Boy Advance within about a week of each other, but instead of worrying about it, I think I'll just pick up both games and enjoy replaying Mario World and exploring Sonic Advance.
And the icing on the cake is that Sonic Adventure 2 Battle is also coming out for the Gamecube on the 14th. Once I heard that Sonic Adventure 2 would be coming out for the Gamecube, I put off on buying the Dreamcast version. Even better is that Sonic Adventure 2 on the Gamecube can interface with Sonic Advance on the Game Boy Advance to exchange data to (presumably) open up extra gaming options in each game.
Ah, platforming goodness! How can you possibly go wrong?
Published on Monday December 18, 2000 .
I just read this preview of Sonic Adventure 2, and the news it brings is good in my eyes. You see, aside from slightly nutty camera angles, my primary complaint with Sonic Adventure was how all of the great action sequences were broken up with tedious and confusing adventure sequences. while I normally like story over flashy action, in the case of Sonic, it's all about the flashy action. The only reason I bought Sonic Adventure was because of the action stage demo that came with my Dreamcast. When I played the game and got muddled up in the adventure scenes, I lost interest quicker than I would have if it had been all action and zero story. If Sonic Adventure 2 focuses more on the action which defines Sonic, then I'll actually consider buying it. If Sonic Adventure 2 were just a new Sonic Adventure, with all the adventure stages that entails, then I would certainly pass it by for a truly story intensive game.