Perhaps because of that unusual blend, not many look back on the game fondly, to the point where some consider it to be the premonition of Sonic’s initial failure to adapt to the third dimension (whether or not that’s actually the case will be left up to the reader to decide). One of these games, for better or worse, was the Blue Blur’s swansong on the Mega Drive: Sonic 3D Blast.Ĭonceptualized by Sonic Team, but otherwise developed by Travellers’ Tales (the studio now known for the many, many Lego franchise games), Sonic 3D Blast was a strange spin-off that mixed elements of isometric games, Sonic’s gameplay mechanics, and the bird-collecting formula from the early-80s arcade game Flicky. While there were quite a few spin-offs and handheld titles released during that time, only a couple of them were of any real note.
After the release of Sonic & Knuckles in late 1994, Sonic the Hedgehog more or less vanished from the mainstream gaming scene up until the original release of Sonic Adventure in 1998: a period lasting a little over four years.
