Sonic Colors celebrated its 15-year anniversary on November 16, 2025. Below, we look back at how the game shifted the nature of Sonic games with new gimmicks. Sonic Colors marked a significant turning point in Sonic the Hedgehog's gaming career. Four years prior, the franchise had hit a horrifying low with Sonic the Hedgehog 2006. Two years after that, Sonic began a slow and shaky climb from rock bottom with 2008's Sonic Unleashed. And in 2010, Sonic Colors finally brought the blue hedgehog back into gamers' good graces, becoming the best-received 3D title since the Adventure games of the late '90s and early 2000s. Things were finally starting to look bright again for the franchise--but with the good came the bad as well. Up to that point, 3D Sonic games had learned more heavily into their narratives, with the Sonic Adventure duology and Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 standing out as significant examples. For Colors, the plot was scaled back considerably, harkening back to the simpler stories of Sonic's classic games. In fact, like most of the classics, Colors foregoes an opening cinematic completely. Once the player moves beyond the title screen, they're immediately dropped into the first level. Only then does the story begin to take shape: Sonic and Tails have made a trip to space to investigate Eggman's Interstellar Amusement Park, a creation of the mad doctor designed as penance for his evil misdeeds in the past.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is celebrating its 15-year anniversary today, October 7, 2025. Below, we look back at Sega's uneven attempt to revive the classic 2D franchise, and how it ultimately fizzled. There's no denying the glaring flaws of Sonic the Hedgehog 4--the wonky physics, the blatant remixing (or one might even say "rehashing") of classic levels and bosses from the first two Sonic games, and the soundtrack's questionable and often derided soundfont being chief among them. But despite its problems, even 15 years later, I still find myself occasionally coming back to replay both episodes. Not only that, but dare I say, I enjoy myself. The game certainly had its shining spots. I appreciate how, instead of every zone having the same hazards and obstacles scattered throughout, each act of each zone had its own distinct gimmick to help one stand out. For example, Casino Street Act 1 featured your standard pinball flippers, bumpers, and slot machine gimmicks. Act 2 shifted the focus to a new mechanic entirely: flipping around and racing across playing cards that act as platforms. The third act brings in colorful cannons that you can manually aim to shoot Sonic across the level. The game was darn pretty to look at, capturing the colorful aesthetic of the classic games with a modern sheen. And even though longtime Sonic composer Jun Senoue went a little too hard with the Genesis/Mega Drive synths for the music, it was still catchy as heck.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Paper Mario was released in Japan 25 years ago today, August 11, 2025. Below, we look back at how the dynamic battle system and an unusual approach to Mario lore influenced the series for years to come. I would wager that when GameSpot posted its first preview of the original Paper Mario--then known as "Super Mario Adventure" in the US and "Super Mario RPG 2" in Japan--two and a half decades ago, no one expected it would become a beloved sub-series that people would still hold in high regard a quarter-century later. Yet, here we are, exactly 25 years ago to the day that Paper Mario first hit store shelves in Japan. While the majority of Paper Mario fans dote on Thousand-Year Door as the best game in the long-running series, I've always held a special fondness for the original that started it all.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Amazon.com: Dual World Heroes: 9798218701277: Cecchini, Paul: Books