SONIC ADVENTURE
DREAMCAST, 1998
Originally planned as a Saturn game, Sonic Adventure’s development switched to the Dreamcast as the fading fortunes of Sega’s black box became apparent. Sonic’s first 3D platform game is the first to prominently feature his friends – all six characters have different play styles ranging from item hunting to fishing, and their stories must be played to reach the game’s true ending, meaning it offers plenty of replay value. The game also added the popular Chao-raising minigame, in which players could raise a virtual pet on the Dreamcast and via the system’s Visual Memory handheld console/memory card hybrid. While Sonic Adventure was well received at the time, selling over a million copies and later earning a GameCube port, playing it today reveals a wayward camera and some rather linear stage designs. Despite these issues, it still manages to deliver plenty of thrilling moments and managed to keep and build on the early mechanics that the series was known for.