Giga gigloo! Special guest Jolene joins us as we do a deep dive on Sonic Adventures: Dans Les Griffes de Robotnik, a one-off French comic from the early 90s! It's a very different take on Sonic and Tails' escapades on Angel Island, full of charming art, nonsensical phrases, incredibly dated stereotypes, and so much more. By the name of a sailed egg, you won't want to miss this! (0:00:00) Intro(0:02:18) Jolene's history with Sonic(0:04:09) Main topic: Sonic Adventures: Dans les Griffes de...

They say big things come in small packages, and nowhere is that more true than today's subject, as the gang takes a look back at Sonic Pocket Adventure! Developed by SNK, this pseudo-remix of Sonic 2 has been left to the wayside, with Sega not even acknowledging it exists, but does it really deserve to be forgotten? Join us as we rediscover this hidden NeoGeo gem and the surprising influence it had on the early years of modern Sonic games. The future is now! (0:00:00) Intro(0:04:29) What's a...

Have no fear! Amy Rose is here! Prismaeya returns to the podcast for a discussion about the female face of our favorite franchise. Amy's a character that's changed a lot over the years, running the gamut from starry-eyed fangirl to confident girlboss, and people are VERY vocal about their own preferences. Follow me and listen as we look back at this pink hedgehog's storied career, and try to hammer home whether there's a true balance to be found for a character that is so many people's sweet...

Welcome to a world unique and beyond what you know from the Sega games! A world where black is white, up is down, and everyone's favorite blue hedgehog is...EVIL?! That's right, the gang is getting creative again today as they craft their own take on a mirror Sonic universe that we're calling "Scattered Rings"! What catastrophe could have left the world in such a state? What threat do our former heroes pose now that they've turned to the dark side? And just who is going to be left to stop...

It's our second anniversary, and we're ready for another year of talking about everyone's favorite hedgehog! So why don't we kick off year three by talking about...well, Sonic himself? That's right, all of...er, MOST of the gang are diving deep today into what really drives Sonic as a character. What are his the core aspects of his personality? How about his greatest flaws? Why do so many people believe Black Knight is "peak" as the kids call it? And at the heart of it all, they try to answer...

Hoo boy, folks. Our journey through Sonic Prime has finally come to an end, as heroes and villains from across the Shatterverse come together for one final showdown against an emotionally compromised child and his robot army. Is it the grand finale we were all hoping for? Or would this ending have been better left banished to the darkest corners of the void? Tune in to find out! (0:00:00) Intro(0:05:10) Year of Shadow, baby!(0:11:19) Main Topic: Sonic Prime "Season" 3(0:14:00) Grim...

Get ready... GO! It's time for a new episode of The Wood Village is Always Greener, as we hop in our cars, hovercrafts, and planes, traveling back to the late '90s so we can reminisce on a beloved classic kart racer, Diddy Kong Racing. We take a DEEP dive looking back at everything this game has to offer, from its colorful cast, to its many scenic circuits, to all the attempted follow-ups that never quite left the starting line.  (0:00:00) Intro/Main topic: Diddy Kong Racing(0:07:25)...

After much teasing, the gang is finally beginning their journey through the UK Sonic novels written by Martin Adams, who is totally a real person that exists, we swear. First up is Sonic in Robotnik's Laboratory, as Sonic and Tails race to rescue their friends from Robotnik's FAROUT machine, a device that is anything but. It's a tale filled romance, betrayal, fast food, rats, toasters, obscure localizations, bad-taste jokes about public figures, incomprehensible cockney rhyming, and a bunch...

People don't always say what they mean, and things are not always what they seem. For example, we could say "the Sonic Underground episode 'Friend or Foe', Knuckles' first appearance in a western Sonic cartoon, is terrible and nobody should watch it." But what we actually mean is "we and special guest Green Bones Dommy watched this terrible episode, and had a blast laughing at its ridiculous animation, its often nonsensical plotting, and the Sonic franchise's all-time wolf-face power couple."...

We've locked on and locked in for the second half of our Sonic 3 & Knuckles retrospective! And this week, it's all about the "& Knuckles" part, as Sonic continues to clash with Robotic and his new red-dreaded rival across mushrooms, deserts, lava, and even space, in the conclusion to this epic Mega Drive duology. (0:00:00) Intro/Main topic: Sonic & Knuckles(0:03:07) Mushroom Hill Zone(0:17:08) Flying Battery Zone(0:26:12) Sandopolis Zone(0:37:15) Lava Reef Zone/Hidden Palace...

Happy anniversary to us! To celebrate 50 episodes of The Hill Is Always Greener, we're taking a look back at a game currently celebrating its own milestone anniversary, Sonic the Hedgehog 3! The capstone to the original trilogy provides for endless discussion, including how a whole separate game was made because of McDonald's, the *multiple* renditions of many music tracks, and the ongoing debate as to just what color Knuckles actually is. In fact, this episode ended up being so huge that,...

I've heard of killing a franchise, but this is ridiculous! Sonic has been found dead, and everyone is under suspicion! To figure out just whodunit, it's going to take our crack team of podcast detectives, joined by special guest and visual novel creator Gospel, to find all the clues, interrogate all the suspects, and discover the truth behind what makes this free game from the Sega social media team such a delightful labor of love. And make sure you keep an eye out in the coming weeks for a...

We've once again reached that strange point where we have to talk about a new game released post-podcast, and this time, Sega is playing the classics once again with Sonic Superstars. Multiple playable characters, giant levels, Emerald powers... It's a whole lot, but the real question is: is it good? Well, that's what we're hopefully going to find out in today's exciting episode. (0:00:00) Intro/Main topic: Sonic Superstars(0:03:10) Development history(0:26:09) The game itself(0:41:43) Level...

We're heading back to South Island and Westside Island to take in the local sounds! Special guest CyberneticPinkeye joins us to look back at the soundtracks for the first two Sonic the Hedgehog games, along with the original demos for each track by composer Masato Nakamura. Listen in as we try to get more insight on two collections of music that really made our dreams come true. (0:00:00) Intro(0:04:28) Main topic: Sonic 1 and 2 soundtracks(0:07:32) Shared jingles and incidentals(0:27:30)...

'Tis the season for nostalgia, fa-la-la-la-la, la-la la la! As a special holiday treat, we're getting a little more personal and going back 15 years to look at "How Metal Sonic Stole Christmas", a fan radio play written by GameBuddy that most of us participated in. This was the first project that we and much of the Sonic F cast worked on together, so in the spirit of the season, we'd like to share something that meant quite a bit to us with all of you. Happy holidays, everyone, and thank you...

This is the unabridged How Metal Sonic Stole Christmas radio play, written and produced by GameBuddy in 2008. It is fully unaltered from its original presentation, save for the removal of one piece of copyrighted music. If you want to hear our commentary, please listen to episode 46 of The Hill Is Always Greener. Thank you so much, and happy holidays. (00:00) How Metal Sonic Stole Christmas(18:18) Credits(20:43) Blooper reel

We've equipped all our best skill cards and are ready for a new episode all about one of Sonic's more unique spinoffs, Sonic Battle! This GBA fighting game starring an adorable robot OC had a surprisingly extensive single-player campaign that gave a lot of characters some much-needed time in the spotlight...though for one character, that's not really a good thing. Does the story still hold up? Is there more depth to the combat than at first glance? And why haven't we seen a new Sonic fighting...

It's still thinking, and 25 years later, we still wanna talk about it! To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Japanese Dreamcast launch, we're joined by former game journalist Ryan MacDonald to talk about our memories of Sega's final home console, including Ryan's time covering it on the press side for GameSpot. Join us as we revisit the highs of its launch, the lows of its discontinuation, and all the weird, wonderful games that made Sega's last hurrah so special for so many...

How do you follow up a game that changed gaming and created an entertainment icon? ...I dunno, but they did it. The gang is joined by VTuber Boomba to reminisce on the 1992 classic, Sonic the Hedgehog 2! Sonic Team's sophomore outing changed things up significantly from the original, not least of which through its introduction of a little two-tailed pal for our fast-footed hero! Does this speedy sequel stand up to the test of time? And just how much of the game got left in the dust in its mad...

Don't. Turn. Around. On this most frightening of nights, The Hill Is Always Greener looks back at the bizarre phenomenon that is the Tails Doll. From its seemingly innocent origins to its horrifying legacy birthed by the Sonic fandom, we peer deep into the soul of this little ball of fluff until we too can...feel...the...sunshine... (0:00:00) Intro/Main topic: The Tails Doll(0:04:02) The origin(0:07:03) The fan stuff(0:18:49) Comic appearances(0:25:30) Other cameos(0:28:46) Final...

We're ready for primetime once again as we take a look at the second batch of episodes for Sonic Prime! With all the shatterverses now introduced, worlds start to collide as the Chaos Council spreads their influence and Sonic attempts to recover all of the missing shards, but new enemies and old friends both stand in his way. Has our opinion on the show changed with this new batch? How do we think the whole series will conclude? And seriously, what is it going to take to get rid of that...

Oh boy. This is going to be a rough one. Were going back in time to the, uh..."birth(?)" of the Classic Sonic renaissance with Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode I. Released in 2010, this downloadable title sought to recreate the feel of the original Sonic games, with...questionable results. Does it feel any better to go back to today? What about the weird soundtrack? And does this game really have any sort of lasting legacy all its own? (0:00:00) Intro/Main topic: Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode...

We've all been there. We've all got that one thing that we're super deep into, but one of our friends doesn't really get it. Maybe it passed them by, maybe it's just not their thing, who knows? Whatever the reason, perhaps being on the outside looking in has left them with plenty of questions that they've never quite been able to get the answers to. Well, this is something that we at The Hill Is Always Greener are aiming to change with our new series of "newbie education" episodes, where we...

Hello! ¡Hola! Willkommen! Bienvenue! Konnichiwa! Alooooha! How ya doin'? Yo! And in any language, welcome to The Hill Is Always Greener! In celebration of the recent release of the Lego Sonic the Hedgehog theme, the gang takes a look back at Sonic's guest appearance in the toys-to-life crossover Lego Dimensions, a subject that CyberLink knows all too well. Join us as we break down the Sonic level pack and its many references and callbacks brick-by-brick, and how it set the stage for more Lego...