Seriously Sega OWNS a JRPG titan in the form of Altus, Sega have a long rich history of making RPGs (e.g: Phantasy Star) and the Sonic franchise is rich with lore. You'll think making a successful spin-off series of Sonic RPGs would be a no brainer right?, too bad Sega (JP) is too busy milking the Yakuza franchise moreover Ken "Eggman" Penders threw a hissy fit with Sonic chronicles, blocked a good chunk of the franchise's lore and crushed Shade's character into oblivion.
@@lynxfresh5214 Hey, don't attach Eggman's name to Ken Penders. At least Eggman is likeable. Also, I like Yakuza. Fun fact. In Japan, it's called Ryu Ga Gotoku, aka, "Like a Dragon".
@@ethanedwards3357 There's nothing wrong with Yakuza but it pretty obvious (alongside PS02) it's Sega's (JP) cash cow at the expense of other ideas/Sega IPs being left in the dust... Also your right, at least Eggman is actually likeable however I just find the idea that some man-child and his wife can hold hostage content from a multi-billion dollar company based on a technicality to be ludicrous (e.g OVA Knuckles with a cowboy hat actually belongs to Ken, despite it not being his idea or design).
@@lynxfresh5214 Hey, as long as the game's good and they don't piss off the community they can keep milking that cash cow as much as they want. Also, I'm pretty sure Penders hid his contract so it couldn't be used as evidence against him.
I hope he gives Sonic 3D Blast another chance. I feel that game gets way too much hate and Johnny was a bit too harsh towards it in his SGB review if you ask me. I think if he were to review it again, he'd be more forgiving to it.
@@crossfire34 eh, i kinda don't, i'm not gonna make a big deal about it, but i kinda wanna go in without expectations as to how the content creator will react y'know?
For all this game’s faults, it has one of my favorite characterizations of Sonic (tied with Unleashed). He’s got that classic Shonen hero vibe and I love it.
I can agree. Even though I don't give an crap about the game itself, I can appreciate the game giving characters more characteristics at there best than they ever been & it's sad that this is the last time we've seen these characters act this way.
If sonic is shonen it better be 90s shonen cos 2010/teens to present shonen is the most infantile shit ever. Sonic in forces reminded me of naruto in shippuden and that hurt my head.
It's interesting to see just how much your style of reviewing games have changed after years of watching your old Sonic and the Black Knight review. It's awesome how much you improved. Loved the video as always!
I'm beginning to like that he references his old videos, for obvious reasons. (I find it funny that he Was one of the "Edgy" UA-camrs back then, too). Back then, "I HATED this game"; now, "decent game but you can miss this one".
The Dark Master The Dark Master it isnt. Johnny is just pandering to the people out in the audience so that they arent offended when he shits on a godawful game that somehow enjoy
Man, you know what Sonic needs, King Arthur. No, but seriously, I really like Sonic and the Black Knight. I think it’s one of the most unique games in the series just because of how out there it is.
It actually has my favorite characterization of Sonic in the entire franchise. Not only does his character mesh well with this Storybook title but this right here seems to be the peak of Sonic's laid back attitude and when he gets serious, he gets serious. Unleashed is another example of where Sonic's character peaked for me but Black Knight is just fun.
I love the gameplay too, doing the right swing at just the right time to not lose your momentum forward and kill your enemy in one strike (like a badass swordsman). Also that it at least in my experience didnt have time to get repetitive before I beat the story, since the story mode is short and sweet.
Itachi Susanoo my biggest issue with the game though that made me hate playing it, was the fact it’s on the wii, I think more people would have enjoyed it if it didn’t require you to swing the controller at the precise time, especially when your character is moving so fast, motion controls are no where near as responsive as just simply pushing a button
@@itachisusanoo3689 Dont sugar coat it, the storys meh and the games really damn short even for a 3d era sonic game. Timing sword slashes really only comes into play with the QTEs in the boss fights. Theres not much room for precision with how clunky and sluggish the sword slashes feel, and the buzzsaw homing attack pretty does everything for you once you get it going in front of enemies, no real benefit to more precision in the normal stage gameplay.
There are actually 5 knights of the round table in this game. Unfortunately, the other two are multiplayer exclusive. I guess during the main story they were off time traveling or riding skateboards or something?
@@iananderson4754 nah, you right. Silver was Sir Galahad and Jet was Sir Lamorak. And honestly? All the choices for the knights were great. Lancelot quite literally was to King Arthur as Shadow is to Sonic, Gawain was a knight renowned for his combat ability, Percival was almost a flipped mirror of Blaze’s arc in Rush (growing up a naive boy but learning the ways of knighthood and becoming an independent man), Galahad was basically the purest of pure kind bois (and is accompanied by Sir Percival on a quest for the Holy Grail), and Sir Lamorak was known for incredible feats but ultimately met his demise because of his hubris and committing…shall we say frowned upon acts.
Funny that this was the last time that 4Kids voices the characters, Cause Mike Pollock 'Not counting Sonic X' is the only 4Kids voice actor left to voice Dr Eggman since 2005.
RandomNPC just sucks that people keep referring him as eggman when he’s not involved with sonic, the dude clearly isn’t a fan of people going “oh hey eggman, cooking up another scheme to destroy sonic” and his reply is always “your talking to the actor not the character” really feel bad for the guy shit like that must be so fucking annoying
@@D00DM00D technically, if Sonic was King Arthur, and the Black Knight was a false construct in the image of King Arthur corrupted by the Scabbard... he may have initially looked like Sonic. So technically, he takes the same route as Metal
Fun fact, for "With Me", they were able to get Megadeth guitar legend Marty Friedman to play lead guitar on the track! Easily some of, if not the best guitar work in the entire series!
Makes sense when you realise that Marty lives and works in Japan, loves J-rock/pop and is (was?) a regular on Japanese TV on the subject on Rock/Metal.
I have to applaud how much better your review style and critical eye have gotten over we the years. The old review boiled down to "Why does Sonic have a sword? 5/10." While here you give a full breakdown of the pros and cons the game has to offer and say who might enjoy this game or not.
Pretty much, yeah. Some games might seem that they are getting more positive attention these days, but like Johnny said, it's most likely that the people that didn't liked the game just moved on, so the people that like the game are pretty much the vocal majority.
@@thedarkmasterthedarkmaster I don't know about dishonest, it's not like they're pretending it always was a masterpiece. They liked it, that matters. That does color the view of whoever listens, but there is no deception for themselves or others.
@@raphaelhemery152 well more honest people would say something like this game is bad but I enjoy it if they like it not this game is good and that's why I enjoy it if they like it.
I was a pretty simple kid back in the late 2000's give anybody a sword and they're instantly like 10 times cooler in my book, but boy when I played this game....
Sonic has spines for cutting anyway, and it's not like he killed people in gore-esque ways. And in my eyes sonic's just down to try new things, he explicitly said something along the lines of "if this is how you roll around here, let's do it" when it came to using swords (iirc).
For me SaTB (alongside Unleashed) was the last 3D game where Sonic actually sounded like a free spirited yet kind adolescent, now he sounds like a 20 something jerk whose self-aware of the fact he can mock his friends with 0 consequences (and his friends are "useless" without him). I miss Jason tbh but it's NOT Roger's fault he keeps getting cringe/meta humour scripts plus Sega's corporate interference that treats Sonic as a mascot FIRST and a character SECOND (hence why Sonic isn't allowed to be sad or have any meaningful character development in recent games).
@@smashmaster521 I wasn't defending Smith (it's more of the directors fault than his). I'm just saying that Sonic never grew as character since day one.
@@laurenchinsphealsupremacis9978 Apparently Sega hired the Writers of "happy tree friends" to work on Sonic games since "Sonic Colors." And they said ,"We don't know Sonic's character, & couldn't give an arse to." So WTF did johnny say that ,"Colors had better writing then Unleashed!? "
8:19 Given that this game was made in Japan. That whole little stunt could be a case of cultural confusion. Y’know how a lot of people just sum up Samurai as “basically knights but in Japan” well the reverse is true in Japan. TL;DR Knuckles was literally about to commit seppuku
Even funnier is that it's perfectly acceptable for samurai, but ABSOLUTELY DISGRACEFUL for knights. His honor was going to completely tank if he went through with it.
Polkadi Yup one point of similarity between the two is that both had direct ties to the predominant religion of their homelands. Samurai obviously being tied to Shinto/Buddhism and Knights to Christianity. But the split coming in the differences of the religions. While Buddhism doesn’t promote suicide nor shrug it’s shoulders and just let it happen. it’s idea of Reincarnation unless you attain enlightenment means there’s much less afterlife punishment for such a deed. (If someone better versed in Buddhism sees this and I’m wrong on that feel free to correct me) leading to it basically being seen as kind of a reset button for life. While in Christianity Suicide is the express train to hell. TL;DR Suicide in Buddhism= Reset life with a shittier start. (Vast oversimplification BTW) Suicide in Christianity= Express train to hell So yeah something a Knight would never even consider.
He was more positive towards this game in his second review than the first review, but I’m glad he didn’t praise the Sonic Storybook duology to death like the Modern Purists/worst-of-the-worst of the Sonic fanbase. In fact, he gave it a mostly negative review, but I’m glad he was acknowledging that it did some things right.
That's why Johnny is the best when it comes to his reviews. Even if I don't agree with his opinion with other games he doesn't liked & gave negative reviews of it ( Like Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for example ). But he at least being honest & can understand why people like it.
@@jjc4924 Except he didn't give Metroid Prime 2 a negative review, it was mostly positive. And he was right about most of his criticism, it is a downgrade compared to the first Prime game.
11:59 - "W-We're going to fall!" *slam dunks into lava* "I know, isn't it great!?" Also, that thumbnail is clearly the face of a man that has gone a week without sipping the coffee in that mug. I dread to think what it might taste like now.
Lynx Fresh less taboo to who tho? all these years i’ve watched johnny, i never realized this divisiveness in the community about liking the old 3d games.
@@tylersadx Post 06 a bunch of "gamer journalist", company reviewers and critics all ripped on the franchise to be a certain "way" and anything "different" was automatically labelled bad/taboo. This lead to Sega purging anything that received bad reviews (ignoring actual fan feedback, user scores and sales) leading to the "meta" era of Sonic's useless cheerleader friends, self aware humour and everyone being one dimensional cliches. Tl;dr: Those who liked/enjoyed the "dark" age game's or the aftermath were considered part of the "problem" with the franchise but now those entitled naysayers (that Sega listen to) have move on, the ACTUAL fans are getting their voices heard.
I remember playing this after your original review and actually liked it. I think I get pleasure from some mediocre, but I definitely think the looks and music really assisted in making this a memorable experience. Glad to see you went back to it!
You know, it occurs to me that if they wanted to make a medieval Sonic game, instead of Arthurian legends and sword play, they should have done Robin Hood with a bow. Thematically I think it’s a better fit for Sonic, the Wii’s pointer controls are way more reliable than waggle, and I think it would just be interesting to have a high speed on rails shooter with light platforming elements.
@@laurenchinsphealsupremacis9978 yeah, because sonic team , sega and their fans have no idea how to appreciate a game till 10 years later, when it's too late
@@tylersadx People have already talked about adventure remakes. I'd love to see those but I'd also love to see a heroes remake. The controls were so slippery. A remake could fix that.
Black Knight to me is definitely one of the "overhated' games of the series. Not the best, but dang it the soundtrack, transformation, and even boss battles and gameplay does have moments where I can't help but love!
Honestly, am i the only one who never got tired out by the swordswinging? Johnny is far from the first guy i've seen complaining about getting tired out by swinging the Wii remote yet it's a problem i can say i've never had, and i've done more full playthroughs of this game then Johnny has done of '06.
I guess it's the fact that you'll be doing it alot is an problem. And u have to swing it so hard; in which it can hurt your wist. It's not like say Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 where u gently swing the Wii remote when doing an spin or going on an launch star. U don't have to swing it so hard to get it working. U just swing it gently. That's how it should've been in this game. Some Wii games do this better. But than u have others that don't or and I think Black Knight kinda doesn't do that very well.
@@jaretco6423 You really don't even need to swing that hard for the game to respond. Maybe i'm above the average gamer in terms of fitness but i;ve done my fair share of tests and the game generally worked fine for me even when i'd swing the remote more gently. Tho to be fair i might be a little more used to motion controls then most.
@@robmacher3253 Oh. OK. I didn't notice it. I haven't played that game in an long time. But I still remember that you'll be swinging alot when going through the game. It is motion control heavy based. So that's probably why I couldn't go back.
Seeing Sonic running through a field really makes me wish for an open world Sonic game. Imagine a world like Breath of the Wild except with more ramps and loops, and secrets only obtainable by building up speed and jumping off ramps the right way. That would be amazing. (Basically what all the fans are doing with their 3D Sonic fan games like Sonic Utopia)
Maybe more organic ramps. Imagine a Sonic game with actual exploration combined with speed? Mmwha, beautiful. Then imagine more parkour and organic, non-story stopping platforming? Heaven
You know being early here, this actually came on the right timing for me. So yea, i dont often say this but i actually appreciate the content on this channel
8:14 "Hey hey! Death comes for us all at the end! It's about what you make of your life that counts. Not stop trying to kill yourself, Knuckles, because holy shit, that almost actually happened!"
Even with many of the issues that's present in this game, I honestly can't hate it because its my first sonic game (fan made games not withstanding) The music is amazing though
I got this when I was around 6 or 7, fucking loved the game couldn’t finish the final boss tho. Was actually fun I liked the premise and I’d love to give it another go, it’s definitely nostalgia blinding me.
At least you admit you are nostalgia biased. Can't recall how many people defend games that get rightfully derided and they most likely haven't played the game since its release but don't want to admit that they are blinded by nostalgia.
okagron Yeah and then there’s ignorant assholes who ridicule people for their opinion on a game, some people on UA-cam comments are so toxic I saw a guy saying he didn’t like red dead’s gameplay and a guy wrote a whole paragraph about who “retarded” this guy was for having an opinion idk. Rant over lmao
If you like the game you like it. Nothing else to it like nostalgia or someting people just make that up when they get salty someone is positive about a game and they're not.
Got this game for my 11 birthday. Always loved it. I'm 22 now, I still love the game, I know it's not the best of the best, but I'm willing to overlook the glaring omissions.
I actually had a lot of fun with Sonic and the Black Knight. My biggest issue with it was how short it was. The controls were much smoother than Secret Rings. The music is great as usual.
@@AlexanderMartinez-kd7cz the sonic free riders controlls are worse...even the menus don't work properly. At least we can appreciate working menus in secret rings.
I'm glad I was directed here . I think something important to point out about the sword play is that in the boss fights against the knights and during regular levels, there is inputs via the motion controls for specific moves like Stinger. This is REALLY frustrating if you are wanting to get higher ranks on those boss fights as you need to perform these actions during normal gameplay in order to properly counter some moves. What ends up happening is you instead keep ramming yourself into a wall until you somehow manage to get clear the fight "flawlessly." It's just kind of bad during the first round, but really awful for the second, harder fight with Shadow . Replaying the levels also grants followers and getting higher grades gives stars. Both of these factor into what remains of the level up system (for Sonic) from Secret Rings, and the crafted weapons are the only thing that matters for the other playable characters during the second half of the game . You can playthrough the entire game without ever knowing those two things though. I was just someone who liked the game enough to complete it, and I would probably do it again today. Game is far from perfect and most certainly has flaws, but I think you covered pretty much everything besides what I had mentioned. Homing attack is dead, long live waggle homing attack
How is this Sonic even good? He's more out of character then he was in the "Meta Era". As Sonic said in Adventure 2, he's "just a guy that loves Adventure" Not some guy that talks about the meaning of life. Sonic's character in this game lacks the Witt and charm he had in the Adventure days and is now just anime good boy, mary sue. Sonic's main character trait is that he's cool, so if you take that away you basically get a blank slate. The reason I call Sonic a mary sue in this game is because he has no flaws and never fails because of his character traits. Sonic is arrogant and cocky which would land him into trouble most times (for example, the opening of Unleashed) but now he's lost that you don't really have much flaws in him, or a weakness. People say that him helping a kid out is "such a good moment for Sonic" even though in every game he's in has him help people. And at the end where he was talking about "we're all gonna die in the end so shut up and stop whining" isn't good when you change a character to fit that narrative. Sonic was a chill hedgehog that just wanted to have fun in the world, not some god that gives pep talks about life. You can't even call it character development since we never see Sonic turn this way overtime, he's just now a mary sue, anime good boy without any explanation.
Either way it's been a LONG time since he last sounded like a carefree adventure loving 15 yrs old with a snarky demeanour balanced out by a kind heart. He's either written as an edgy jerk that's horrible to his friends, a mary-sue that's not allowed any major Ls (or allowed to feel sad) or a cringe self-aware 90s man-child that never grew up.
This game is pretty underrated. It had a good story and the graphics were pretty good. The music also was absolutely amazing. It's just the controls and stuff smaller issues that being this one down.
I felt a little miffed when Johnny said you can change their "fighting style". Sonic is the one that changes the others are set to one of the three and each one is different, Cavalier focuses on speed, Knight focuses on balanced & Paladin focuses on attack. The three knights mimic those styles with Shadow/Lancelot being based on Knight, Gawain/Knuckles being based on Paladin & Percival/Blaze is based on Cavalier. The weapons you can craft increase their attacks & moves with the final one giving them their attacks from their boss fights. But I'll forgive John for not 100% liking the game my younger self would slightly agree with him on some of the problems but at the end of the day what one thinks of something could be completely different to someone else.
@@DarkFrozenDepths that’s probably the biggest problem it had honestly. There’s so much post game content, progression systems, and gameplay mechanics that are way too unexplained and I never figured it out until I found a very descriptive review years later
Love the video. The only thing after another youtuber pointed it out sonic with a sword really isnt that terrible of thing and makes sense since its implied that sonic's quills is whats doing the damage in his attacks having a sword in it increases the range of his attacks like how you showed with the buzzsaw technique I feel it makes more sense for sonic to have a sword then shadow to have a gun even tough i love how quick it takes care of the giant enemies super quickly in that game
I do too honestly. The highlight in this game specifically was sonic speech at the end of the game. It just warms my heart and shows sonic character so well.
Most fans tend to mention places like ancient Greece, Wild West, and a few others. I think Sonic would work well in Journey to the West, the main heroic journey where the Monkey King character comes from. Going for that story would warrant incorporating a party of cast members, and would be more popular in the East, enough to warrant taking a risk for it, even if the West is less receptive.
Knight of the Wind has a Knight's Vow, and a King's Promise in the song. "And i live to rule by the sword slashing through the every inch of power the power in you" "As I sit as I stand by the table I command my kingdom"
Still one of my favorite youtubers, it’s really hard to find people that try and make their videos good, since clickbaits a thing, hope he keeps up the great work :)
I got this game for my birthday when it was new. I was so hyped. To this day, it is my least favorite Sonic game for just how disappointed I was, and how mediocre it was.
@@SuiteLifeofDioBrando Secret Rings definitely! 06...honestly I disagree. I get more enjoyment out of 06 with its level designs and an actual functional control scheme (well when the glitches don't get in the way, which is pretty common) that doesn't hurt people who don't like motion controls. I'm one of those people who dislike motion controls, and so Black Knight doesn't stick well with me, and while it is better than Secret Rings, that's not a high bar, seeing as I think Secret Rings is the worst Sonic game to exist, right up there with Free Riders. Aesthetically it's real cool and its ost is incredible, but at that point I'd want to watch a good movie and that's what the traits of Black Knight has: a good viewing. Not a good playing experience.
When I first played sonic and the black knight, after hearing knight of the wind start 3 times in the first minute I had flashbacks to seven rings in hand. Thankfully it slowed down after that
The beginning of this video really brings up an interesting thought for me: I think the big reason that Sonic Team has been playing it so safe with Sonic is that they're just so afraid of alienating people. You bring up at the beginning that this game was released at a weird period of Sonic's life where Sega was just tossing darts at a board to see what stuck, and from 2010 to 2011, we got Sonic 4, Colors, and Generations, which all scored pretty high and all played it pretty straightforward. Not to say those games are all necessarily bad (Generations is in my top 3), but they all kinda convinced Sega that playing it safe with Sonic and sticking with what they knew was the only way this series could stay consistent. Even when they _did_ try changing it up with Lost World, they ended up splitting the fandom yet again. I can understand _why_ they thought this was the right direction to take Sonic in, but they've gone about it all the wrong way. Again, not to say that Mania or Forces are _awful_ games (Mania is probably my favorite Sonic game period, and I feel like most people probably agree there), but they both suffer from a lack of new ideas (Forces more so than Mania). I get that they wanna keep Sonic consistent, but you can't do that if you're not willing to let the series get out of the past. It's okay to do new things, but those new things have to make sense and be well thought out. Anyway, I totally went off there, and I'm not really sure if I did a good job explaining my point.... Have a good day, folks. 🙂
I'm kinda on the extreme end of the "playing it safe" argument; they can take a risk with multiple playable characters and expansive level design around those character OR... They can continue to play it safe however if they not going to make Tails, Knuckles, Blaze etc playable leave them out of the game completely (I'm tired of seeing all these cool characters with awesome abilities and unique personalities getting continuously side-lined), e.g: Knuckles was in Lost world for just 1 min and two lines dialogue (what was even the point of even putting him in that game?). Sega can either go all in or not at all, Forces is a prime example of why trying to appeal to "everyone" never works.
Exactly, they are afraid. It sucks to see a company that was so high on taking risks become what it is today. Even during the classic era there were a few risk takers (Tails Adventure, Skyway Patrol, Knuckles Chaotix, etc.) they were cranking out several games every year. Now we are lucky to get one. I would just like them to move on from the boost, we have had it for way too long. I would take adventure gameplay or heroes gameplay or even something new.
@@islandboy9381 Well, at this point, I feel like they just have to bite the bullet and realize that no matter what they try to do, they're never going to be able to please every Sonic fan.
When I got a decent PC, I did another run through of this game on Dolphin, mapping the waggle to a button. God it is SO much better. The game is still pretty mediocre, that doesn't change, but it's so much more comfortable.
11:29 I actually have a theory as for what those mini games are in terms of the world. They might just be Sonic trying to convince the villagers to take the money but they insist they don’t need it because they are humble folk and you succeeding is them accepting the money but you fucking up is Sonic raising his voice at them to take the money, them getting scared, and you being forced to move along.
It's weird that the story only shows Shadow Knuckles & Blaze, when the extra slots in multiplayer are more Sonic characters acting as more Knights of the Round. Hell, one of them is Jet the Hawk!
Something I think everyone can agree, is that the soundtrack of this game is unique and awesome, I listened to this game soundtrack on spotify after many years without playing it and I was amazed with the soundtrack
Sonic and the Black Knight is basically your run of the mill Dark Age Sonic game. Incredible graphics. BOPPING soundtrack. Neat characterization and story premise. And it all gets dragged down by trash gameplay and/or unneeded extra elements that don't enhance the series. Chock it up on the list of neat concepts that could work with better direction but will never be revisisted.
I honestly really loved the writing in this game. The game itself is pretty meh, but I don't know, I legit consider this a great story and the best in the Sonic series. Just me?
Johnny going KreyGasm at the first few notes of Knight of the Wind is *_easily_* the best thing I could ever have asked for this month. That shizz is the kind of gold I yearn for whenever I open UA-cam everyday.
Hearing Johnny mimic Sonic’s voice and say “Death comes for us all” is something I needed.
Shit, that's deep
Hehe, the best thing Johnny could give us. 😂
Good for him to say, since whenever he is supposed to die, he doesn't. Sonic Boom and Forces being my primary examples.
In his Griffith Sonic voice.
It's kinda ironic considering Shadow is immortal, I wonder if Sonic remembers that fact?
Sonic: Hey it’s nice to meet y-
Merlina: THIS WORLD IS IMPERFECT
“I wish I could just wash away the impurities and make it as beautiful as me.”
“Seriously, is no one else hearing this?”
Is that a king dragon reference?
I know that reference ;)
MY MACHINATIONS LAY UNDETECTED FOR YEARS!
for i aM A MASTER OF DECEPTION
5:07
Wii Menu: WOAHOAAAAH!!!
Op FMV: WOAHOAAAAH!!!
Title Screen: WOAHOAAAAH!!!
Johnny: WOAHOAAAAH!!!
His fanbase (Us): WOAHOAAAAH!!!
HEY ALL!! (HEY ALL!!)
Exactly, haha. 😄
My mind somehow went to Wayne's World, for that.
WIAHOAAAAH!!!
Johhny: A Reviewer without a Game
MAKE BELIEVE REBORN
you know, in retrospect
THIS setting would've been better used for a Sonic RPG
Seriously Sega OWNS a JRPG titan in the form of Altus, Sega have a long rich history of making RPGs (e.g: Phantasy Star) and the Sonic franchise is rich with lore.
You'll think making a successful spin-off series of Sonic RPGs would be a no brainer right?, too bad Sega (JP) is too busy milking the Yakuza franchise moreover Ken "Eggman" Penders threw a hissy fit with Sonic chronicles, blocked a good chunk of the franchise's lore and crushed Shade's character into oblivion.
@@lynxfresh5214 Hey, don't attach Eggman's name to Ken Penders. At least Eggman is likeable. Also, I like Yakuza. Fun fact. In Japan, it's called Ryu Ga Gotoku, aka, "Like a Dragon".
@@ethanedwards3357 There's nothing wrong with Yakuza but it pretty obvious (alongside PS02) it's Sega's (JP) cash cow at the expense of other ideas/Sega IPs being left in the dust...
Also your right, at least Eggman is actually likeable however I just find the idea that some man-child and his wife can hold hostage content from a multi-billion dollar company based on a technicality to be ludicrous (e.g OVA Knuckles with a cowboy hat actually belongs to Ken, despite it not being his idea or design).
Lynx Fresh you guys forgot that sega failed at making a sonic rpg
@@lynxfresh5214 Hey, as long as the game's good and they don't piss off the community they can keep milking that cash cow as much as they want. Also, I'm pretty sure Penders hid his contract so it couldn't be used as evidence against him.
Glad to see how much John's grown since his original SGB review. He's calmer and precise, more willing to give the game a chance.
Like he said, a more mature eye.
Yes
I hope he gives Sonic 3D Blast another chance. I feel that game gets way too much hate and Johnny was a bit too harsh towards it in his SGB review if you ask me. I think if he were to review it again, he'd be more forgiving to it.
He also gained weight
Expect sonic and the secret rings and sonic that 06
Still the only 3D Sonic game I've never played, actually been wanting you to take a second look at this one for aaages now!
Cool beans, hinting on the future are you Nitro Rad. 🙄
I also never played this game, and while I see flaws, I see potential as well
Nitrogen Radical? Epic
It's better than Secret Rings to some extent. But it's still an pretty mediocre game.
If you do look at this game look at secret rings you might as well take a look at the whole package
2:12 “A more mature eye.” You never out mature spin chairs.
@@lilylopnco Watch out! You're gonna crash! AH!
@@laurenchinsphealsupremacis9978 AH!
Lauren Chin AH!
@@laurenchinsphealsupremacis9978 ah.
Nothing is more mature
When you realize that Sonic and the Black Knight is an isekai.
Sonic x was an isekai.
wack
Well my mind just broke
Life is a isekai
Honestly, I kinda want to see this in an improved anime form. Maybe it would be more entertaining with some touches to the writing.
Ok so with these new thumbnails we are getting a small "preview" of Johnny's opinions of the game. Compare Sonic colors and this videos thumbnail.
Yeah projared, maximilliondood gillythekid do the expression thing too, so its nice to see johnny doing it as well
I really like that detail.
@@crossfire34
eh, i kinda don't, i'm not gonna make a big deal about it, but i kinda wanna go in without expectations as to how the content creator will react y'know?
Yeah- not a surprise though given the BSC lp of the game.
@@alimowla3204 His opinion on the game was known for years, so it was to expected to be negative.
For all this game’s faults, it has one of my favorite characterizations of Sonic (tied with Unleashed). He’s got that classic Shonen hero vibe and I love it.
He's got the talk no jutsu
Sonic definitely fits the shonen vibe
He seems way to calm.
I can agree. Even though I don't give an crap about the game itself, I can appreciate the game giving characters more characteristics at there best than they ever been & it's sad that this is the last time we've seen these characters act this way.
If sonic is shonen it better be 90s shonen cos 2010/teens to present shonen is the most infantile shit ever. Sonic in forces reminded me of naruto in shippuden and that hurt my head.
"more mature state of mind"
*Proceeds to spin in chair*
SPEEN
In all fairness, the "goofy adult" mindset is still more mature than the "edgy teen" mindset
ua-cam.com/video/PGNiXGX2nLU/v-deo.html
(Let me make this clear. My favorite song by dead or alive)
It's almost like that's the joke
It's interesting to see just how much your style of reviewing games have changed after years of watching your old Sonic and the Black Knight review. It's awesome how much you improved. Loved the video as always!
I'm beginning to like that he references his old videos, for obvious reasons. (I find it funny that he Was one of the "Edgy" UA-camrs back then, too). Back then, "I HATED this game"; now, "decent game but you can miss this one".
Agreed. Ive always been a fan of Johnny especially with sonic games. Always so thorough and eloquently speaks his mind and opinions.
@@ChipsCST like being edgy is bad
The Dark Master The Dark Master it isnt. Johnny is just pandering to the people out in the audience so that they arent offended when he shits on a godawful game that somehow enjoy
@@SycoticForeverNeverAF yes that is the case
Man, you know what Sonic needs, King Arthur. No, but seriously, I really like Sonic and the Black Knight. I think it’s one of the most unique games in the series just because of how out there it is.
It actually has my favorite characterization of Sonic in the entire franchise. Not only does his character mesh well with this Storybook title but this right here seems to be the peak of Sonic's laid back attitude and when he gets serious, he gets serious. Unleashed is another example of where Sonic's character peaked for me but Black Knight is just fun.
I love the gameplay too, doing the right swing at just the right time to not lose your momentum forward and kill your enemy in one strike (like a badass swordsman). Also that it at least in my experience didnt have time to get repetitive before I beat the story, since the story mode is short and sweet.
Yeah, I like the game as well, in fact, I've played it since 2016, and haven't regret the decision.
Itachi Susanoo my biggest issue with the game though that made me hate playing it, was the fact it’s on the wii, I think more people would have enjoyed it if it didn’t require you to swing the controller at the precise time, especially when your character is moving so fast, motion controls are no where near as responsive as just simply pushing a button
@@itachisusanoo3689 Dont sugar coat it, the storys meh and the games really damn short even for a 3d era sonic game. Timing sword slashes really only comes into play with the QTEs in the boss fights. Theres not much room for precision with how clunky and sluggish the sword slashes feel, and the buzzsaw homing attack pretty does everything for you once you get it going in front of enemies, no real benefit to more precision in the normal stage gameplay.
They say that after the events of Secret Rings and Black Knight Sonic went straight home and burned his entire book collection
The only thing I think when I see this game:
"UNAVOIDABLE CHIN MOVE"
UNAVOIDABLE *CHIN MOVE*
*laughs in back dash*
UNAVOIDABLE
I'm really looking forward to the storybook coming so we can get the game we all want:
*Sonic and the Animal Farm*
“Remember tails, all chao are equal, but some are more equal than others!”
The story book series is canceled
I'm personally waiting on Sonic and the Lord Of The Flies.
Sonic and the mice and men
Sonic and the grapes of wrath.
"If you've been following this channel since the late 2000s" is a line that physically ages me way more than anything in this channel ever has
Ouch
OGs remember when Jon had hair.
Remember when Elliott is around? Whatever happened to him?
@@Blueflag04 hes engaged.
I've been following him since 2013
There are actually 5 knights of the round table in this game. Unfortunately, the other two are multiplayer exclusive. I guess during the main story they were off time traveling or riding skateboards or something?
I'm assuming jet and silver. But it could be wave or storm
@@iananderson4754 nah, you right. Silver was Sir Galahad and Jet was Sir Lamorak. And honestly? All the choices for the knights were great. Lancelot quite literally was to King Arthur as Shadow is to Sonic, Gawain was a knight renowned for his combat ability, Percival was almost a flipped mirror of Blaze’s arc in Rush (growing up a naive boy but learning the ways of knighthood and becoming an independent man), Galahad was basically the purest of pure kind bois (and is accompanied by Sir Percival on a quest for the Holy Grail), and Sir Lamorak was known for incredible feats but ultimately met his demise because of his hubris and committing…shall we say frowned upon acts.
@@nerdletter3773 Lamorak made NFTs?
Fun fact, Galahad in Arthur mythos is the biological child of Lancelot.
Funny that this was the last time that 4Kids voices the characters, Cause Mike Pollock 'Not counting Sonic X' is the only 4Kids voice actor left to voice Dr Eggman since 2005.
If we can only get Alfred to voice Robotnik officially. 😄🤞
The SnapCube dub guy, he's hilarious. No one: You fool i have 70 alternative accounts!
Mike is just such a good Eggman that he transcends VA groups.
RandomNPC just sucks that people keep referring him as eggman when he’s not involved with sonic, the dude clearly isn’t a fan of people going “oh hey eggman, cooking up another scheme to destroy sonic” and his reply is always “your talking to the actor not the character” really feel bad for the guy shit like that must be so fucking annoying
Apparently Mike still needs to audition for the role though
I just realize, The characters that takes the place of the three nights sonic fights against were all Sonic’s rivals at some point. Neat.
Including Galahad and Lamorak
I think that’s part of the joke. Even Sonic himself says in his first battle with Shadow/Lancelot: “Some things just never change do they?”.
Metal Sonic was missing
@@D00DM00D technically, if Sonic was King Arthur, and the Black Knight was a false construct in the image of King Arthur corrupted by the Scabbard... he may have initially looked like Sonic. So technically, he takes the same route as Metal
@@firepuppies4086 The lame King Arthur vs. the cool Neo Metal.
Fun fact, for "With Me", they were able to get Megadeth guitar legend Marty Friedman to play lead guitar on the track! Easily some of, if not the best guitar work in the entire series!
It's probably got the best guitar riff in the series. Sorry Jun
Marty is a top teir guitarist. If they can get Paul Gilbert for the next Sonic game my life will be complete
Makes sense when you realise that Marty lives and works in Japan, loves J-rock/pop and is (was?) a regular on Japanese TV on the subject on Rock/Metal.
Suddenly, the fact that the guitar goes so hard so good in that song makes a lot more sense.
@@TetrisShark70 with you saying about Friedman and Gilbert, you might already know about this but look Rock Fujiyama, it's great.
I have to applaud how much better your review style and critical eye have gotten over we the years. The old review boiled down to "Why does Sonic have a sword? 5/10." While here you give a full breakdown of the pros and cons the game has to offer and say who might enjoy this game or not.
"just a reminder, you're playing a wii game."-Somecallmejohny, skyward sword and metroid prime 3 reviews
"WAGGLE THE WIIMOTE
AGAIN
AGAIN
AGAIN"
Till your arms melt.
Playing this on Dolphin with a button mapped to the swing makes this game a lot more enjoyable.
I’ve gotta try that sometime, sounds cool as hell.
I mean there is truth in the statement about the increase in positivity being related to only the fans of it still playing it
Pretty much, yeah. Some games might seem that they are getting more positive attention these days, but like Johnny said, it's most likely that the people that didn't liked the game just moved on, so the people that like the game are pretty much the vocal majority.
@@okagron yeah it's a rather dishonest revisionism
Yeah, and it's safe to assume this applies to more than just games, but also TV shows, movies, music, etc
@@thedarkmasterthedarkmaster I don't know about dishonest, it's not like they're pretending it always was a masterpiece. They liked it, that matters. That does color the view of whoever listens, but there is no deception for themselves or others.
@@raphaelhemery152 well more honest people would say something like this game is bad but I enjoy it if they like it not this game is good and that's why I enjoy it if they like it.
Imagine if platinum games made the combat for this game😫 and no rails... shit would’ve been fire
Platinum Games are absolute gods at making combat fun. I wish more games had combat as great as Platinums.
Bruh, Platinum would've KILLED this game!
They would've been perfect for Black Knight.
Imagine if they were brought on board for a remake of some sort.
@@robmacher3253 They made Bayoneta and my favorite Transformers game, that I don’t have, Transformers devastation
I was a pretty simple kid back in the late 2000's give anybody a sword and they're instantly like 10 times cooler in my book, but boy when I played this game....
Sonic has spines for cutting anyway, and it's not like he killed people in gore-esque ways. And in my eyes sonic's just down to try new things, he explicitly said something along the lines of "if this is how you roll around here, let's do it" when it came to using swords (iirc).
The sword controls are SOOO clunky as your swings register real slow
@@DirectorOfChaos9292 I remember that, it was pretty cool though
@@ahmadkazan7994 That's kinda sad tbh
You realised Sonic was actually 100 times cooler and not simply 10 right?
Fun fact: Caliburn is the original name for the mythical sword Excalibur.
For me SaTB (alongside Unleashed) was the last 3D game where Sonic actually sounded like a free spirited yet kind adolescent, now he sounds like a 20 something jerk whose self-aware of the fact he can mock his friends with 0 consequences (and his friends are "useless" without him).
I miss Jason tbh but it's NOT Roger's fault he keeps getting cringe/meta humour scripts plus Sega's corporate interference that treats Sonic as a mascot FIRST and a character SECOND (hence why Sonic isn't allowed to be sad or have any meaningful character development in recent games).
Despite the fact he never had character development in previous games.
@@smashmaster521 I wasn't defending Smith (it's more of the directors fault than his). I'm just saying that Sonic never grew as character since day one.
Yeah. Ever since colors, sonic's personality hasn't been as likable. I blame the writing.
@@laurenchinsphealsupremacis9978 Apparently Sega hired the Writers of "happy tree friends" to work on Sonic games since "Sonic Colors." And they said ,"We don't know Sonic's character, & couldn't give an arse to." So WTF did johnny say that ,"Colors had better writing then Unleashed!? "
"well i don't show off, don't criticize" (from It doesn't matter in Sonic Adventure) Is a phrase that hasn't aged well.
8:19 Given that this game was made in Japan. That whole little stunt could be a case of cultural confusion. Y’know how a lot of people just sum up Samurai as “basically knights but in Japan” well the reverse is true in Japan.
TL;DR Knuckles was literally about to commit seppuku
Even funnier is that it's perfectly acceptable for samurai, but ABSOLUTELY DISGRACEFUL for knights. His honor was going to completely tank if he went through with it.
Polkadi
Yup one point of similarity between the two is that both had direct ties to the predominant religion of their homelands. Samurai obviously being tied to Shinto/Buddhism and Knights to Christianity. But the split coming in the differences of the religions.
While Buddhism doesn’t promote suicide nor shrug it’s shoulders and just let it happen. it’s idea of Reincarnation unless you attain enlightenment means there’s much less afterlife punishment for such a deed. (If someone better versed in Buddhism sees this and I’m wrong on that feel free to correct me) leading to it basically being seen as kind of a reset button for life. While in Christianity Suicide is the express train to hell.
TL;DR
Suicide in Buddhism= Reset life with a shittier start. (Vast oversimplification BTW)
Suicide in Christianity= Express train to hell
So yeah something a Knight would never even consider.
At least we know what seppuku is.
@@k-leb4671 Holy shit dude, I see you on most Blur videos. Nice to see someone also watches this channel
@@polkadi i guess he didn't do his homework. 🤣
This is heartwarming, seeing John be more positive toward this game after so many years.
It is quite wholesome.
He was more positive towards this game in his second review than the first review, but I’m glad he didn’t praise the Sonic Storybook duology to death like the Modern Purists/worst-of-the-worst of the Sonic fanbase. In fact, he gave it a mostly negative review, but I’m glad he was acknowledging that it did some things right.
That's why Johnny is the best when it comes to his reviews. Even if I don't agree with his opinion with other games he doesn't liked & gave negative reviews of it ( Like Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for example ). But he at least being honest & can understand why people like it.
@@jjc4924 Except he didn't give Metroid Prime 2 a negative review, it was mostly positive. And he was right about most of his criticism, it is a downgrade compared to the first Prime game.
@@okagron and yet, it’s the only I’ve beaten twice. Not really sure why.
5:46 HEH. Nice callback and jab at Richard Jacques’ meltdown over Tee Lopes’ remix of Sonic R’s “Can You Feel the Sunshine”, Johnny. lol
11:59 - "W-We're going to fall!"
*slam dunks into lava*
"I know, isn't it great!?"
Also, that thumbnail is clearly the face of a man that has gone a week without sipping the coffee in that mug. I dread to think what it might taste like now.
5:17 for Johnny going full “Hooah!”
Project: Needlemouse
You deserve a cookie if you know what I'm talking about.
😔
Caliburn: W- we're going to fall!
Sonic (Burning in lava): I know! Isn't it great?
Good that you're giving it another chance.
The fact it's become less taboo over the years to like and even enjoy the "dark" age/aftermath games is pretty telling ngl.
He still doesn't like it lol
Lynx Fresh less taboo to who tho? all these years i’ve watched johnny, i never realized this divisiveness in the community about liking the old 3d games.
@@tylersadx Post 06 a bunch of "gamer journalist", company reviewers and critics all ripped on the franchise to be a certain "way" and anything "different" was automatically labelled bad/taboo.
This lead to Sega purging anything that received bad reviews (ignoring actual fan feedback, user scores and sales) leading to the "meta" era of Sonic's useless cheerleader friends, self aware humour and everyone being one dimensional cliches.
Tl;dr: Those who liked/enjoyed the "dark" age game's or the aftermath were considered part of the "problem" with the franchise but now those entitled naysayers (that Sega listen to) have move on, the ACTUAL fans are getting their voices heard.
Andre Stewart i just want decent sonic games man. is that so hard to ask? i’ll even take remakes of the old games. like anything at this point
The CG cutscenes look amazing.
I remember playing this after your original review and actually liked it. I think I get pleasure from some mediocre, but I definitely think the looks and music really assisted in making this a memorable experience. Glad to see you went back to it!
Same. Though in my case, I just gravitate towards anything related to Arthurian legend.
It is what got me into the Fate franchise.
I feel the same thing with Sonic forces
You know, it occurs to me that if they wanted to make a medieval Sonic game, instead of Arthurian legends and sword play, they should have done Robin Hood with a bow. Thematically I think it’s a better fit for Sonic, the Wii’s pointer controls are way more reliable than waggle, and I think it would just be interesting to have a high speed on rails shooter with light platforming elements.
2:12 "with a more mature state of mind"
Yep that is me being an adult
Lol
I like your name
8:24 You can actually deal increased damage by pacing your swings, with a distinct sound cue coupling it.
If they decide to ever make a Switch version of this, they better fix up those controls!
I doubt they will considering the reception.
@@laurenchinsphealsupremacis9978 yeah, because sonic team , sega and their fans have no idea how to appreciate a game till 10 years later, when it's too late
Jesstendo at this point, why not go with sonic remakes? i’d be down to buy em all.
@@Jess2ndo I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not.
@@tylersadx People have already talked about adventure remakes. I'd love to see those but I'd also love to see a heroes remake. The controls were so slippery. A remake could fix that.
You're right about the soundtrack being a saving grace, Johnny; even all these years later, I still love the Misty Lake theme.
Black Knight to me is definitely one of the "overhated' games of the series. Not the best, but dang it the soundtrack, transformation, and even boss battles and gameplay does have moments where I can't help but love!
Honestly, am i the only one who never got tired out by the swordswinging? Johnny is far from the first guy i've seen complaining about getting tired out by swinging the Wii remote yet it's a problem i can say i've never had, and i've done more full playthroughs of this game then Johnny has done of '06.
Nearly a year late, but yeah I never had a problem either.
It’s the millennials growing into their 30s showing 😛
@@nerdletter3773 Maybe, i can'r speak from experience yet but i'm aware that age can do that to people.
I guess it's the fact that you'll be doing it alot is an problem. And u have to swing it so hard; in which it can hurt your wist. It's not like say Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 where u gently swing the Wii remote when doing an spin or going on an launch star. U don't have to swing it so hard to get it working. U just swing it gently. That's how it should've been in this game. Some Wii games do this better. But than u have others that don't or and I think Black Knight kinda doesn't do that very well.
@@jaretco6423 You really don't even need to swing that hard for the game to respond. Maybe i'm above the average gamer in terms of fitness but i;ve done my fair share of tests and the game generally worked fine for me even when i'd swing the remote more gently. Tho to be fair i might be a little more used to motion controls then most.
@@robmacher3253 Oh. OK. I didn't notice it. I haven't played that game in an long time. But I still remember that you'll be swinging alot when going through the game. It is motion control heavy based. So that's probably why I couldn't go back.
10:14 or in Sonic Underground’s case, if your gun doubles as a guitar.
Reminds me of this obscure game called Johnny bazookatone, lol
Seeing Sonic running through a field really makes me wish for an open world Sonic game. Imagine a world like Breath of the Wild except with more ramps and loops, and secrets only obtainable by building up speed and jumping off ramps the right way. That would be amazing. (Basically what all the fans are doing with their 3D Sonic fan games like Sonic Utopia)
Like a more fleshed out version of Sonic Paradise
Your description is what sonic boom rise of lyric was before sega forced the team to move it to the Wii.
Maybe more organic ramps. Imagine a Sonic game with actual exploration combined with speed? Mmwha, beautiful. Then imagine more parkour and organic, non-story stopping platforming? Heaven
Utopia feels boring after a while
@@boomer5670 Well yeah it's basically just a showcase, not a full game.
If it was a real game the world would have objectives and things to find.
Oh cool he's doing the individual expression thing for his 2D avatar. I wonder how many expressions have been drawn
It's actually so amazing seeing how comfortable you are reviewing this again and how AMAZING your edits have become! Keep it up man we love ya
You know being early here, this actually came on the right timing for me. So yea, i dont often say this but i actually appreciate the content on this channel
I'd love to see something like this given another shot. Improved combat mechanics, no rails, and no motion controls would make a pretty solid game.
I love how the thumbnails represent how John's gonna feel on the game now. Cute touch.
8:14 "Hey hey! Death comes for us all at the end! It's about what you make of your life that counts. Not stop trying to kill yourself, Knuckles, because holy shit, that almost actually happened!"
Even with many of the issues that's present in this game, I honestly can't hate it because its my first sonic game (fan made games not withstanding)
The music is amazing though
My first game was secret rings.
*COUGH COUGH*
f*ck it, that game sucked. Black Knight was great imo
@@hurt4322 The Black Knight is still better than Secret Rings.
@@bobafett4265 definitely
@@bobafett4265 That's not a high bar
06 was my first sonic game and first game in general
Personally, I can't wait for the next game in the story book series: Sonic on the Western Front.
And then Sonic and George Washingtails! XD
...Oh no
And next off, Sonic and the Antebellum South!
@@kieranstark7213 How about Sonic and his struggle?
Too far?
@@psychie8625 LOL, good one!
Okay I laughed when he lip synced that "WHOOOOOAAAAAA!!!!!!"
The music in this game was amazing some of the best music Crush 40 ever produced for the Sonic franchise.
I got this when I was around 6 or 7, fucking loved the game couldn’t finish the final boss tho. Was actually fun I liked the premise and I’d love to give it another go, it’s definitely nostalgia blinding me.
I could never beat the final boss either I just looked it up on youtube
At least you admit you are nostalgia biased. Can't recall how many people defend games that get rightfully derided and they most likely haven't played the game since its release but don't want to admit that they are blinded by nostalgia.
okagron Yeah and then there’s ignorant assholes who ridicule people for their opinion on a game, some people on UA-cam comments are so toxic I saw a guy saying he didn’t like red dead’s gameplay and a guy wrote a whole paragraph about who “retarded” this guy was for having an opinion idk. Rant over lmao
You guys got to the final boss? My dumb ass was stuck on King Arthur.
If you like the game you like it. Nothing else to it like nostalgia or someting people just make that up when they get salty someone is positive about a game and they're not.
Got this game for my 11 birthday. Always loved it. I'm 22 now, I still love the game, I know it's not the best of the best, but I'm willing to overlook the glaring omissions.
I actually had a lot of fun with Sonic and the Black Knight. My biggest issue with it was how short it was. The controls were much smoother than Secret Rings. The music is great as usual.
That was kind of a common problem with Sonic for a while.
I don't have an problem with games being short just as long as the quality of the game is design very well & alot of fun.
"controls smoother than secret rings"
you'd have to try pretty hard to make them worse
@@AlexanderMartinez-kd7cz the sonic free riders controlls are worse...even the menus don't work properly. At least we can appreciate working menus in secret rings.
@@sonicmaiden2871 I guess the only way to be worse than bad wiimote is bad kinect.
I AM SO GLAD SOMEONE FEELS ME ON THOSE TIMIED REACTIONS DURING BOSS FIGHTS I USED THINK SOMETHING WAS WRONG WITH MY CONTROLLER
uploaded 27 seconds ago. hmm.
Uploaded 4 minutes ago hmm
Not sure why but the shot at 2:51 is one of the funniest Johnny moments I can remember. Dude’s a legend
0:50 Now there's a meme waiting to happen
3:04 the initials in this case stand for Sonic & Medieval.
The Johnny reaction gif material is strong in this video
8:19 Holy Ifrit!!!! I completely forgot about that scene! That is hardcore for this franchise. Sonic Forces, eat your heart out.
You know johnny i have been in a sonic phase so this video really helped that
I'm glad I was directed here
.
I think something important to point out about the sword play is that in the boss fights against the knights and during regular levels, there is inputs via the motion controls for specific moves like Stinger. This is REALLY frustrating if you are wanting to get higher ranks on those boss fights as you need to perform these actions during normal gameplay in order to properly counter some moves. What ends up happening is you instead keep ramming yourself into a wall until you somehow manage to get clear the fight "flawlessly." It's just kind of bad during the first round, but really awful for the second, harder fight with Shadow
.
Replaying the levels also grants followers and getting higher grades gives stars. Both of these factor into what remains of the level up system (for Sonic) from Secret Rings, and the crafted weapons are the only thing that matters for the other playable characters during the second half of the game
.
You can playthrough the entire game without ever knowing those two things though. I was just someone who liked the game enough to complete it, and I would probably do it again today. Game is far from perfect and most certainly has flaws, but I think you covered pretty much everything besides what I had mentioned. Homing attack is dead, long live waggle homing attack
It's a spin off game yet it has the best characterization of Sonic from all of the mainline games
A bland personality several generic hero characters also have, lacking a lot of the snark Sonic usually has
Success?
How is this Sonic even good? He's more out of character then he was in the "Meta Era". As Sonic said in Adventure 2, he's "just a guy that loves Adventure" Not some guy that talks about the meaning of life.
Sonic's character in this game lacks the Witt and charm he had in the Adventure days and is now just anime good boy, mary sue. Sonic's main character trait is that he's cool, so if you take that away you basically get a blank slate.
The reason I call Sonic a mary sue in this game is because he has no flaws and never fails because of his character traits. Sonic is arrogant and cocky which would land him into trouble most times (for example, the opening of Unleashed) but now he's lost that you don't really have much flaws in him, or a weakness.
People say that him helping a kid out is "such a good moment for Sonic" even though in every game he's in has him help people.
And at the end where he was talking about "we're all gonna die in the end so shut up and stop whining" isn't good when you change a character to fit that narrative. Sonic was a chill hedgehog that just wanted to have fun in the world, not some god that gives pep talks about life.
You can't even call it character development since we never see Sonic turn this way overtime, he's just now a mary sue, anime good boy without any explanation.
@@HypeVoiceActing thank god someone actually understands Sonic's character
Hype VoiceActing
Pretty sure he had snark my dude. Especially when interacting with his sword and Knuckles especially.
Either way it's been a LONG time since he last sounded like a carefree adventure loving 15 yrs old with a snarky demeanour balanced out by a kind heart.
He's either written as an edgy jerk that's horrible to his friends, a mary-sue that's not allowed any major Ls (or allowed to feel sad) or a cringe self-aware 90s man-child that never grew up.
Damn man I haven’t this dude in a long time. Glad to see he’s still around
14:34 "Even if we are still on rails" *shows footage of Sonic literally bring on rails*
Man. That outro is such a bop I can't find myself wanting to click away until it's done.
This game is pretty underrated.
It had a good story and the graphics were pretty good.
The music also was absolutely amazing.
It's just the controls and stuff smaller issues that being this one down.
I don't even blame you being here.
KuroNoTenno yeah kinda hard to play a game with the game not wanting you to play with it’s shitty controls
Yeah, smaller issues like level design and moment to moment gameplay.
Probably should've had more controller options. But I was okay with the controls.
Sonic171000 also needed better level design
That Blaze face should really be used as a reaction image more.
I felt a little miffed when Johnny said you can change their "fighting style". Sonic is the one that changes the others are set to one of the three and each one is different, Cavalier focuses on speed, Knight focuses on balanced & Paladin focuses on attack. The three knights mimic those styles with Shadow/Lancelot being based on Knight, Gawain/Knuckles being based on Paladin & Percival/Blaze is based on Cavalier. The weapons you can craft increase their attacks & moves with the final one giving them their attacks from their boss fights. But I'll forgive John for not 100% liking the game my younger self would slightly agree with him on some of the problems but at the end of the day what one thinks of something could be completely different to someone else.
I honestly didn't even know this was a thing....
The game didn't explain this well.
@@DarkFrozenDepths that’s probably the biggest problem it had honestly. There’s so much post game content, progression systems, and gameplay mechanics that are way too unexplained and I never figured it out until I found a very descriptive review years later
Love the video. The only thing after another youtuber pointed it out sonic with a sword really isnt that terrible of thing and makes sense since its implied that sonic's quills is whats doing the damage in his attacks having a sword in it increases the range of his attacks like how you showed with the buzzsaw technique
I feel it makes more sense for sonic to have a sword then shadow to have a gun even tough i love how quick it takes care of the giant enemies super quickly in that game
And then someone made a series on Newgrounds where Sonic not only wields a sword, but also partners up with Sparkster from Rocket Knight Adventures.
@Sarim Sonic The Swordsman, who also teams up with Earthworm Jim and Wolverine. Newgrounds in the early 2000s had crossovers ALL OVER the place.
I fucking LOST it at your Sonic voice, it was so good lmao
To be honest I really like the story of the these games
I do too honestly. The highlight in this game specifically was sonic speech at the end of the game. It just warms my heart and shows sonic character so well.
Because they're good stories.
Love coming back to these retrospectives every now and then, makes for phenomenal background noise and a good laugh.
I honestly would love to see more of the storybook series. Where else could we go? Who knows but I always have a soft spot for this series
Most fans tend to mention places like ancient Greece, Wild West, and a few others. I think Sonic would work well in Journey to the West, the main heroic journey where the Monkey King character comes from. Going for that story would warrant incorporating a party of cast members, and would be more popular in the East, enough to warrant taking a risk for it, even if the West is less receptive.
Knight of the Wind has a Knight's Vow, and a King's Promise in the song.
"And i live to rule by the sword slashing through the every inch of power the power in you"
"As I sit as I stand by the table I command my kingdom"
I remember when I got this game.... it was a reward for a ‘friend’ attacking me and me resisting the urge to knock him out
You should've punched him back then, lol
Still one of my favorite youtubers, it’s really hard to find people that try and make their videos good, since clickbaits a thing, hope he keeps up the great work :)
I got this game for my birthday when it was new. I was so hyped. To this day, it is my least favorite Sonic game for just how disappointed I was, and how mediocre it was.
Yeeeah i got it for birthday too it boy was it short...
It was much better than 06 and Secret Rings imo.
@@SuiteLifeofDioBrando Not that much of an accomplishment.
@@SuiteLifeofDioBrando Secret Rings definitely! 06...honestly I disagree. I get more enjoyment out of 06 with its level designs and an actual functional control scheme (well when the glitches don't get in the way, which is pretty common) that doesn't hurt people who don't like motion controls. I'm one of those people who dislike motion controls, and so Black Knight doesn't stick well with me, and while it is better than Secret Rings, that's not a high bar, seeing as I think Secret Rings is the worst Sonic game to exist, right up there with Free Riders. Aesthetically it's real cool and its ost is incredible, but at that point I'd want to watch a good movie and that's what the traits of Black Knight has: a good viewing. Not a good playing experience.
Better than Boom: Rise of Lyric, Free Riders & Lost World 3DS.
When I first played sonic and the black knight, after hearing knight of the wind start 3 times in the first minute I had flashbacks to seven rings in hand. Thankfully it slowed down after that
The beginning of this video really brings up an interesting thought for me:
I think the big reason that Sonic Team has been playing it so safe with Sonic is that they're just so afraid of alienating people. You bring up at the beginning that this game was released at a weird period of Sonic's life where Sega was just tossing darts at a board to see what stuck, and from 2010 to 2011, we got Sonic 4, Colors, and Generations, which all scored pretty high and all played it pretty straightforward. Not to say those games are all necessarily bad (Generations is in my top 3), but they all kinda convinced Sega that playing it safe with Sonic and sticking with what they knew was the only way this series could stay consistent. Even when they _did_ try changing it up with Lost World, they ended up splitting the fandom yet again. I can understand _why_ they thought this was the right direction to take Sonic in, but they've gone about it all the wrong way. Again, not to say that Mania or Forces are _awful_ games (Mania is probably my favorite Sonic game period, and I feel like most people probably agree there), but they both suffer from a lack of new ideas (Forces more so than Mania). I get that they wanna keep Sonic consistent, but you can't do that if you're not willing to let the series get out of the past. It's okay to do new things, but those new things have to make sense and be well thought out.
Anyway, I totally went off there, and I'm not really sure if I did a good job explaining my point....
Have a good day, folks. 🙂
I'm kinda on the extreme end of the "playing it safe" argument; they can take a risk with multiple playable characters and expansive level design around those character OR...
They can continue to play it safe however if they not going to make Tails, Knuckles, Blaze etc playable leave them out of the game completely (I'm tired of seeing all these cool characters with awesome abilities and unique personalities getting continuously side-lined), e.g: Knuckles was in Lost world for just 1 min and two lines dialogue (what was even the point of even putting him in that game?).
Sega can either go all in or not at all, Forces is a prime example of why trying to appeal to "everyone" never works.
Exactly, they are afraid. It sucks to see a company that was so high on taking risks become what it is today. Even during the classic era there were a few risk takers (Tails Adventure, Skyway Patrol, Knuckles Chaotix, etc.) they were cranking out several games every year. Now we are lucky to get one. I would just like them to move on from the boost, we have had it for way too long. I would take adventure gameplay or heroes gameplay or even something new.
Speaking of Blaze; can we get an game for Blaze the Cat? She definitely deserves it.
@@islandboy9381 Well, at this point, I feel like they just have to bite the bullet and realize that no matter what they try to do, they're never going to be able to please every Sonic fan.
"Super fast legend of zelda" seem like someone from sega listened to you john
When I got a decent PC, I did another run through of this game on Dolphin, mapping the waggle to a button. God it is SO much better. The game is still pretty mediocre, that doesn't change, but it's so much more comfortable.
Dude where did u find the pc emulator for sonic and the black knight I can’t find it anywhere
@@Adalz27 its dolphin dude
11:29 I actually have a theory as for what those mini games are in terms of the world. They might just be Sonic trying to convince the villagers to take the money but they insist they don’t need it because they are humble folk and you succeeding is them accepting the money but you fucking up is Sonic raising his voice at them to take the money, them getting scared, and you being forced to move along.
10:55 I know, right? It’s called Hyrule Warriors. In fact, didn’t you review that game before on the Wii U?
He means open world, Hyrule Warriors was just a Dynasty Warriors clone.
Hyrule Warriors Round 2 video when?👀
Damien Bustamante well, they announced Age of Calamity, so,...
It's weird that the story only shows Shadow Knuckles & Blaze, when the extra slots in multiplayer are more Sonic characters acting as more Knights of the Round.
Hell, one of them is Jet the Hawk!
And most of them have been rivals to sonic at one point in time!
When I see that Johnny uploaded a new video: 9:08
Something I think everyone can agree, is that the soundtrack of this game is unique and awesome, I listened to this game soundtrack on spotify after many years without playing it and I was amazed with the soundtrack
Sonic and the Black Knight is basically your run of the mill Dark Age Sonic game. Incredible graphics. BOPPING soundtrack. Neat characterization and story premise.
And it all gets dragged down by trash gameplay and/or unneeded extra elements that don't enhance the series. Chock it up on the list of neat concepts that could work with better direction but will never be revisisted.
Can we get a loop of jon and his bro dancing with the "You know you love it" eggman thing
I honestly really loved the writing in this game. The game itself is pretty meh, but I don't know, I legit consider this a great story and the best in the Sonic series. Just me?
Better than any other Sonic stories that's either dark & edgy or way too childesh like.
Johnny going KreyGasm at the first few notes of Knight of the Wind is *_easily_* the best thing I could ever have asked for this month.
That shizz is the kind of gold I yearn for whenever I open UA-cam everyday.