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Episode 708: Sonic's Rough Transition into 3D (Patreon)

Published:
2025-08-04 11:00:09
Edited:
2025-08-07 13:12:58
Imported:
2026-08
Tags:

Downloads

Content

Stuart: Not content with speaking about Sonic 3 & Knuckles for 10,000 hours, myself (Stuart Gipp, hullo), Seumidh MacDonald and Dave “Part of the Internet Furniture” Bulmer have coalesced once more into a disgusting blob of chat, in order to cover Sonic’s rough transition from 2D to 3D. And yes, he did have a rough transition from 2D to 3D, so shut up.

I’m sorry to be so antagonistic – I do not direct this at you, my dear Nauties, but it has been (and remains) a frustrating experience trying to discuss the history of Sonic in a community primarily made up of people who have not been down with the sickness as long as I have. I make no claim to be an expert, only that I can (along with my dear friends Seumidh and Dave) offer the perspective of someone who was there when all the Saturn stuff was going down – along with the perception of Sonic in the public eye.

Hopefully this will be an entertaining and elucidating chat about the appalling blue sod to whom I have been chained by a devastatingly toxic fusion of sincere enjoyment and profound madness. It is a backlog episode so there may be some dated references (for example, the conversation about the rising popularity of cholera) but some fancy editin’ from Yoshidius has put paid to much of that.

So I freely admit that this is a episode with some moderate bitterness involved and if that does not float your top secret Aquatic Ruin raft, I genuinely apologise – cheer will descend upon your feed soon. If you are up for a little wade into the Oil Ocean of contemporary criticism (and swearing), perhaps you find much to appreciate about this episode.

Also, have a butcher’s at the episode art by Leeann Hamilton. It’s good, isn’t it? You don’t need to answer that; I already know that it is.

See you in New York! Gibber.

Edits by Greg Leahy

11:15 - Sonic 3D Blast (Genesis): Opening

20:10 - Sonic 3D Blast (Saturn): Rusty Ruin Zone, Act 2

29:39 - Sonic 3D Blast: Panic Puppet Zone (Jun Senoue Demo ver.) 

37:57 - Sonic Jam: Gallery | NiGHTS into Dreams: Fragmented Nights

47:30 - Sonic X-treme: Cryogenesis (Conceptual Soundtrack by Chris Senn)

54:58 - Sonic R: Can You Feel the Sunshine (Instrumental ver.)

1:05:20 - Sonic R: Back in Time | Sonic Adventure: Open Your Heart

1:15:58 - Sonic Adventure: And...Fish Hits!

1:25:18 - Sonic Adventure: Windy Hill

Closing - Sonic R: Living in the City

Files

Comments

Craig

Gippster and the Bulmeister yakin’ it up on the olllll yak box

Normallyretro

Good topic idea because it wasn't guaranteed that Sonic could successfully make the transition at one point.

Patrick McClafferty

2 things: as an American i didnt know of Barrymore til fairly recently due to British Twitch streamers I follow using him and his terrible music as punchlines. I got the context of the accusations later. The other thing is I'm glad I'm not the only one who sometimes plays with the controller behind my head. Do it to stretch out during longer sessions.

Andy V

Great podcast episode so far and yes it struggled going to 3d but fun indeed for me at the time to explore, but before continuing with the podcast episode at minute 9:32 I must say as a 42 year old man happily looking through his pog binder- now - oh, look bevis and butthead!, I have to mention Madlittlepixel on YouTube surprised me when he showcased a release of pogs last year so indeed you can get your hands at some. Are we going to see a pog convention sometime, Lord I can only dream but for now just wanted to make Stew aware, love these sonic episodes keep them coming

Wood Duck [Legacy Edition]

I saw the notification for this episode onky about ten minutes after I had discussed Retronauts (with specific reference to Stu Sonic episodes) with an old friend that I only irregularly catch up with. So, thank me and my mate for dictating the flow of the universe I guess?

Phos

I need to make a minor correction off the jump, the phrase is held up as bad journalism not because it’s wrong but because it’s basically used as a free word count/time filler as the introduction to anything regarding Sonic for 20 years. It’s basically a canary for “this journalist only knows Sonic games by reputation”.

Donovan

Your technically not covering a 2000s game but you really need to get some younger guests on when you do. You guys come across as nothing but old saying "No the game that came out when I was twelve is the best game ever, but the game that came out when you were twelve well you only like it because you were a child and would eat any slop."

Tentomon4

Dave shows are always the best.

pimento

The title 'Sonic 3D Blast' lives in the same brain crevice as 'Simpsons Christmas Boogie' for me, just because of the similar cadence, and because they're meant to be pronouced as if you're badly pretending to be excited about them.

Rlan's GIF & Art Extravaganza (Hedgeblog, PlayStation Park, Game Art Archive)

Re: Jun Senoue's Sonic 3D Blast music - The thing that the Jon Burton cassette shows us is that Jun is a good composer - but he's not the guy programming that stuff into the Mega Drive. Whoever that is has some element of choice on what it sounds like, and in some cases giving it some zhuzh. When he's seemingly done it all himself (Sonic 4, Sonic Superstars) it doesn't sound right.

Jason J

I think the games industry in general had a rough transition to 3D. Yeah Mario 64 is groundbreaking, but I find it really hard to come back to. Single stick controls, fixed cameras, and low res polys haven't aged particularly well. It was an awkward transition phase and no franchise hit a home run on the first try. That doesn't mean these games don't have value, and the really weird and janky ones are interesting historical artifacts.

Andrew O.

I really enjoyed Sonic 3D Blast. I think it's silly how more experimental Sonic games are crapped upon. Maybe that's why the 3D ones aren't as good. I can imagine Kirby developers might grow and refine ideas based on their more experimental titles, but the public just won't have it with Sonic so they keep churning out rubbish. Additionally, while I know Stu isn't a fan, I think Sonic Rivals on PSP made for great 3D Sonic gameplay even if the actual "racing" concept wasn't ideal.

Mysterious Benefactor

This was a fascinating discussion. I do think some commenters are missing the point that Sonic Heroes et al were just not as well received as Sonic 1-3+Knuckles, even if they did have a lot of fans, so the underlying argument here is sound.

DragoonBoots

Between Sonic Xtreme and the Saturn/32X competition, it really felt like Sega management in general spent most of the '90s stepping on every rake possible.

Phos

So as an example of how much of a mess the development of Sonic Xtreme was, the president of Sega didn't even get a chance to see the Ofer Alon and Chris Senn developed thing, as I understand it their stuff was still PC only and the president saw the farmed out port of their work to the saturn. Made by point of view, it was basically a screen saver than ran at 20 FPS, and that led to the president wanting everything being done on the boss engine. There are so much bizarre stories to come out of this game's development, it's rumored that Z Brush started out as a modified version of Ofer Alon's Sonic xtreme level editor, that if things went different Sega might have ended up owning nvidia.

GameBoyJames

Another endlessly entertaining episode from the Stu Crew. I love how much praise was heaped upon Sonic R! I found the PC port of that game in a bargain bin at an office supply store in 2001 and played it for hours on end using keyboard controls (god forgive me.) I loved the music so much, that this thought kept rattling around in my undeveloped pubescent brain: "What if I put this CD-ROM in my CD player?" Let me tell you, when I eventually did, it felt like magic when "Can You Feel the Sunshine?" came blaring out of my boombox's tinny speakers. It would be years before I understood things like red book audio, but regardless, that disc was immediately granted a place of honor in my CD booklet travel case and saw many spins in my Sony Walkman over the years.

Stephen Maurer

Great episode! Sonic Adventure is the worst game I recommend playing to completion. It’s a buggy mess and it has a camera that serves as the primary antagonist, but it’s got so much personality that I can’t bring myself to care about its problems.

Stefan P

Another fun episode! I have fond memories of playing Sonic R on PC and having to use my brother’s more powerful computer (a Pentium II compared to my P I) and had a lot of fun with it. I love the changeable weather options!

PosiVibez4evr

Omg such an awesome topic! Loved this episode! I still remember looking with such imagination at those early Sonic Xtreme screenshots wondering how this weird fish eye view was going to work.

John Simon

“You know how, like, your mother is a flawed human being …”

Michael Castleberry

I always thought there was some irony in the fact that all of Sonic's strengths in 2D made him much harder to convery to 3D

Peter Monks

I bought a Saturn after the Mega Drive on the sole basis that it would eventually get a proper Sonic game - how could Sega not make one? So I was massively disappointed when there wasn't a proper successor and had to make do with Sonic 3D Blast, Sonic Jam and Sonic R. While I enjoyed each of them in their own way, they just didn't fill the hole. Which is why I gave up on getting a Dreamcast, despite all the love it now gets, and switched to a N64. I don't regret that decision all, as it opened me up to the Rare classics instead.