Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links (Part 2)

Yu-Gi-Oh! Month 2025

Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution: Part 1 – Part 2

Master Duel: Part 1

Duel Links: Part 1 – Part 2

Missed Part 1? Read it here. This part? We’re diving into the fun part, for folks like me who love this game because of the connection with the anime.

From Duel Monsters to VRAINS SEVENS Go Rush

After a while, you'll be glad the game has an Auto-Duel
feature, since there's just so many duels to do against NPCs.
Sometimes the AI will make stupid decisions, but it usually
does alright against all kinds of opponents.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links started with very little content, building over time. The overarching plot of Duel Links is that Seto Kaiba, in his constant struggle to prove himself worthy of defeating the Pharaoh Atem (who left for Egyptian afterlife at the end of the original anime series, Duel Monsters), invented the Duel Links virtual world where duelists can meet and battle no matter where they actually are. At the very least, that’s what it feels like for average duelists. Characters from the various anime series, AKA the “Legendary Duelists”, exist in a variety of odd ways in this “world”. The land of Duel Monsters is explicitly said to be a simulation, so the Legendary Duelists met there aren’t real, even in-universe. That world specifically replicates the past, and as a result its characters exist all at the same time even if they didn't back in the actual series. Some characters express bewilderment that they somehow still exist, like Yami Marik (who was erased from existence; it’s a long story).

Oh, also, Duel Monsters is the only world that takes closer inspiration to the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga rather than its associated anime, but there’s still a clear inspiration from both regardless.

He looks just as unhinged as ever.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links (Part 1)

Yu-Gi-Oh! Month 2025

Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution: Part 1 – Part 2

Master Duel: Part 1

Duel Links: Part 1 – Part 2

Joey, Red-Eyes (yep, I'm playing that card again!), and Jinzo.
I think I'mma win that one.

I’ve been hoping to review this game forever; this themed month was an excuse to do it. Today’s game is easily the most approachable of them all, with a format that makes it playable on the go on mobile, but it’s also as far removed from “classic” Yu-Gi-Oh! as can be without transforming the game too much. It’s possibly the best game for beginners, because everything regarding mechanics is simplified. Today, we’re talking about Duel Links, which was released worldwide to mobile platforms in January 2017, with the PC version on Steam coming out on November 16th of the same year.

The popularity of the new format was such that it eventually became adapted to the physical card game with dedicated in-person events, cards printed with the format’s peculiarities in mind, and even Skill cards to look for.

And his time around, we’ve got the clearest connection to the franchise’s many anime series – some would call that nostalgia bait, I call that an incentive to discover them all. Yep, all the way to VRAINS. …And beyond!

Well, let’s go!

From Classic to Speed Duel

Speed Duel was created with the goal in mind to be played in a shorter time than it normally takes for regular duels. For that purpose, several details and mechanics of the game were modified; so the format feels like its own thing, despite being roughly the same. A quick rundown:

Pick your cards wisely!

Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel

Yu-Gi-Oh! Month 2025

Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution: Part 1 – Part 2

Master Duel: Part 1

Duel Links: Part 1 – Part 2

Moving on to the second of three Yu-Gi-Oh! games this month. This one has the weakest relation to the anime, but is without a doubt the closest to being up-to-date with the cards and the mechanics, and therefore the best official simulator to play if you want to learn the game on a nearly professional level.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel, developed/published by KONAMI and released to Steam and several other platforms on January 18th, 2022, has celebrated its 3rd anniversary. This free game has evolved a lot in three years, adding new modes from time to time to keep things fresh. Whereas Legacy of the Duelist was much more focused on single-player, Master Duel is tailor-made for PvP. Once again, the devil is in the details, so let’s jump in.

The new coat of paint

Since multiplayer is the focus here, the main mode is simply titled Duel, and pits you against a human opponent. The game is free, so it utilizes a free-to-play system that’s thankfully lenient: The special currency here is Gems, which you can buy with real money. Those Gems can be used to buy card packs, structure decks and cosmetics. However, if you’re willing to put in the work, you can gather plenty of Gems on your own by playing duels, completing daily and lifetime missions, logging in every day, and you can even get some during special events.

There is indeed a solo mode, and I’ll discuss it, but the main draw is the multiplayer aspect. It’s only by playing against other people that you’ll get the better rewards; also, most missions only progress when you play in Ranked Mode or in Events. Nope, not in Casual.

Oof, I can feel the heat in this place.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution (Part 2)

Yu-Gi-Oh! Month 2025

Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution: Part 1 – Part 2

Master Duel: Part 1

Duel Links: Part 1 – Part 2

Challenges

Because it’s a card game, a lot of it lies on drawing the right cards and knowing which strategy can win you a duel. Hoping the CPU doesn’t get too many good draws, either. Since so much of this game is reliant on luck, difficulty is all over the place. You may beat one campaign duel on your first try, then need four or five attempts to win the next. There isn’t so much a curve as there is a difficulty rollercoaster. What also doesn’t help is that some duels played here with the regular rules of the game were played with different rules in the anime; as an example, several 5Ds duels were Turbo Duels, features that don’t exist here. Same for VRAINS; that anime utilized Speed Duel rules, where players have 4000 LP instead of 8000, so the decks frequently aren’t optimized for a more classic Yu-Gi-Oh! setup.

Some challenges are easier than others.

The challenges are a different story; there is no associated Story Deck for any of them, so you can either pick a pre-constructed Deck for which you own all the cards, or you can create a custom deck. These decks are supposed to be tough; it’s in the name. These duels are unlocked as a reward for your progress in the anime campaigns, since you must have beaten all of a character's campaign decks to unlock their challenge deck, as well as their portrait to slap onto your custom decks.

So many folks, and I still don't have them all.

Mako Tsunami in the campaign: Weakest shit ever.
Mako Tsunami's Challenge Deck: Will FUCK YOU UP.

Exactly, those are supposed to be tough; but there too, difficulty can vary wildly. If you’ve got a good user deck, you can speed through several of these without much thought. Oh, there’s still going to be the occasional tricky one in there; no deck has answers against every deck gimmick out there.

How many challenge decks are there to beat? 159. That’s on top of all the campaign duels, of which there are 183, both regular and reverse duels, making 366. So… yep, this game offers a total of 525 duels to win. I hope you have some free time if you want to 100% this thing.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution (Part 1)

Yu-Gi-Oh! Month 2025

Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution: Part 1 – Part 2

Master Duel: Part 1

Duel Links: Part 1 – Part 2

Plenty of differences are already visible, just from
comparing the original Legacy of the Duelist
to its remake, Link Evolution.

I already did a theme month like this one, all the way back in October 2018. It’s been a hot minute since I last talked about Yu-Gi-Oh!. These games are lengthy – they all feature hundreds of duels for you to play. Time-wise, these add up fast. I spent the better part of February playing today’s game; though, what helps that I already covered this game’s predecessor back in 2018. I figured a new themed month was in order, seeing as I’ve had these three games for a while and had been waiting for the right time to cover them. Well, on February 27th, Konami released the Early Days Collection, which contains 14 games from the start of the franchise. I’m thinking of purchasing it, but I’m not sure yet. However, before I get there, I have this month’s games to cover.

There are running themes across all three entries I’m covering this month. The first is that all three games serve as good introductions to the card game, if you’re learning to play; however, all three of them approach the game from a different angle, so they offer varying experiences as a result. It’s all in the finer details. The second theme is that all three games are tied to the greater history of the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise (and its many anime series) to some extent, but once again, each of them does it differently.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution was developed by Other Ocean Emeryville, published by Konami, and was released on the Switch in 2019 and to Steam on March 24th, 2020. The previous Legacy of the Duelist (which I’ll shorten to LotD) entry came out semi-early in the existence of the fifth Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, titled Arc-V, so it featured the then-newest summoning mechanic and monster type, the Pendulums; however it was, in my opinion, a relatively bad introduction to them. It had a lower base price, instead locking bonus duels and cards behind DLCs. Link Evolution is more expensive at 39.99$ USD, but you get the full package right away. As a bonus, it was released a while into the latest mechanic, Link monsters (…which I've finally learned!), and is thus a great demonstration of what Links can do.

Gaming Memories: Duck Hunt

(Doing one of these as I'm still getting this month's reviews finished!)

Wham, bam! If I could shoot that damn dog I would too!

One of the release titles for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Duck Hunt is also the most famous NES game using the NES Zapper. When the trigger of that device shaped like a firearm was pulled in front of a CRT screen, the game would show a split-second screen where it detected roughly the location shot, compared it to the locations of possible targets on the screen, and applied results afterwards.

In Duck Hunt, there are three games modes, though the first two are repeats. You and your dog go out in the field and shoot at ducks. They fly around the screen, and if you manage to shoot one, your dog holds it up triumphantly. If you fail, the little shit laughs at you instead. In Game A, only one duck appears in each round of a level; in Game B, it's two. Game C swaps it all out for clay pigeons instead. In every level, you have to successfully hit a certain number of targets in order to gain access to the next. Like many games at the time, there was a limit; after Level 99, the game rolled back to Level 0 and broke shortly afterwards.

Even putting aside its fame as "the Zapper game", Duck Hunt is perhaps also well-known for having editions where it was packaged on the same cartridge as another game; on my personal copy, Duck Hunt came second, and the other game on it was Super Mario Bros. 1 (which I therefore had twice).

This is "Gaming Memories" for a reason; it's less a review proper of the game, and more a chance for me to reminisce on my experience with it, however far back in time that was. The reason I remember Duck Hunt so well is that, unlike pretty much every single other NES game I owned, it was super easy to teach to my parents. Almost like a precursor to Wii Sports Bowling, there wasn't much to explain, and then we could all have fun together. Just aim at the bird and shoot! Works for me. My parents were never big on gaming (well, aside from casual stuff and the aforementioned Wii Sports), so having even one video game to play with them was great.

On the plus side, Duck Hunt reentered public consciousness when the dog, aided by a duck, made it into Smash, of all things. Hey, every dog has his day. It was good practice for Banjo & Kazooie.

VGFlicks: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Part 5)

Sonic the Hedgehog 1: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5
Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5

I’m glad to be almost done with these two reviews. I’m due to talk about something else. Alright, let’s end this!

Three Versus A Giant

Just in case you need to envision the sheer scale
of what they're going up against.

Tails is very strong, but apparently, Knuckles is extra
heavy due to all the muscle.

Team Sonic has an attack plan. Sonic will be the target of Eggman’s attacks, leaving Tails and Knuckles free to make their way in and disrupt his control – of the robot, and of the Master Emerald. All it takes is some light taunting and Sonic has the Death Egg Robot on his trail, which is just enough to let his two allies (it’s too early to call the echidna a friend proper, no?) sneak onto the mecha. Meanwhile, Tom and Maddie coordinate the efforts to clear the streets of Green Hills of any people, but choose to “borrow” a jeep to look for their son.

Man, people love to “borrow” in these movies.

What? Already tired?

Sonic stops in the wood to mock Robotnik, who admits to already be looking beyond world domination. The universe? The multiverse, even! Why stop at just one universe, right? I can’t help but see that specific line as a joke at the tendency for franchises to do multiverse stuff these past few years. We'll see about that the day they decide to add Blaze to this Cinematic Universe. To be fair, we've already had Sonic Prime, which played with the concept. I haven’t seen it, though.

VGFlicks: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Part 4)

Sonic the Hedgehog 1: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5
Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5

Temple of the Hidden Emerald

They had to one-up Indiana Jones, huh?

Ivo Robotnik and Knuckles arrive on an island not that far from Hawaii, and plant the compass on a lock in the sand. A beam of green light shoots upwards, the seas part, and a massive temple appears from the waves. The beam is visible from Oahu, with Tom and Maddie calling out Commander Walters for focusing on Sonic instead of the mad scientist.

Yep. Like I said. Megamind's Black Mamba.

In Green Hills, Wade, patrolling the town on a cheap electric scooter, stops by the Mean Bean for coffee, only to find the place closed. A quick peek under the blinds and the place’s new life as a lair is exposed, with Agent Stone caught red-handed playing a dress-up game on a picture of Robotnik. Cowboy costume, a French maid outfit, or the Black Mamba from Megamind… You see that scene and try to convince me there’s no homoerotic text between these two! That scene originally went for much longer; originally, Wade would call Tom to figure out what to do, Tom would tell him to NOT go in there alone, and radio interference would make Wade hear the opposite. This explains why Tom and Maddie rode with G.U.N. back to Green Hills, whereas the final cut of the film doesn’t indicate why they went home specifically when there was a threat on the horizon. Wade bursts into the shop, threatening Stone with his weapon. Hey, he did something right as sheriff!

Officer Whipple on the case!

Into the unknoooooown-!

With no portal rings to get to the temple, Sonic has to face his fear of water and run across the ocean to reach the source of the beam. Hey, cut me some slack, the kiddie pool I sent them hasn’t arrived yet! He gears up, then speeds off. It’s a tough moment for him, one that ends with him seemingly not reaching his destination. The waves become too strong and he's overwhelmed – but he lands on the correct island.

Movie Review: The Monkey

...Jesus tap-dancing fucking tabarnak de câlisse de Christ.

If I come out of the theater swearing like that, it was either extremely bad, extremely good, or extremely memorable. The first and last rarely overlap; the last two, it's much more common.

The Monkey, directed by Osgood Perkins (who also made Longlegs, released last year) and released on February 21st, is a film adaptation of a short story by Stephen King first published in 1980 and then added to the Sketon Crew collection released in 1985. I talk a lot about games, movies and music on here, but I rarely mention how much of a reader I am - I got tons of books to get through, and Skeleton Crew is one of them. From what I've read about it, the stories in that one are particularly messed up, perhaps moreso than in other King short story collections I've read. Your... your life changes when you hear about Survivor Type. If you value your sanity, don't Google it.

Just in case you don't know what to expect from The Monkey, the tagline says enough: "Everybody dies, and that's fucked up". King himself loved it and described it as "batshit insane", so...

The story

Twin brothers Bill and Hal (both played during childhood by Christian Convery) grew up without their dad, a world traveler who up and left one day, leaving behind a treasure trove of souvenirs from his trips. The brothers have a strained relationship with each other, with Bill behaving very much like a bully to his younger brother. Digging through the souvenirs, the brothers find a blue round box containing an antique drum-banging monkey toy. "Turn the key and see what happens", says the box. Well, they do, and since nothing happens, they dismiss the thing as broken.

VGFlicks: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Part 3)

Sonic the Hedgehog 1: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5
Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5

Snow and Knuckles

Yep, it's that part of the movie that's coming.
It's likely you already know what I mean.

Cut back to Rachel’s wedding. Tom gets humiliated at volleyball by Randall and his groomsmen, all shaped like they spend their lives at the gym. Randall calls them his squad. When the groom goes away, Maddie and Jojo show up; the latter, acting as ringbearer, shows the spouses’ rings to Tom. He pulls a little magic prank by making one of the rings disappear, then summoning it back. After the girl has left, he looks back at the “squad” and ponders on how his son doesn’t really have a team of friends like this.

Adorable as ever, always by his friend's side.

Sonic and Tails, meanwhile, fly across Siberian mountains and reach the secret temple of the owls. Can I quickly say that, among the major celebrities voicing characters in these films (Ben Schwartz, Idris Elba, Christopher Lloyd and Keanu Reeves), I’m glad they kept Colleen O’Shaughnessy for Tails? It feels like a consecration. Like a tacit admittance that nobody could voice Tails better than her. In an age where entirely too many animated movies (or animated characters in live-action films) use A-list celebs as voices to get butts in theaters, there are still times where career voice actors get their moment. Even better, I think Tails shines a lot more here (and in cartoons like Sonic Boom) than he gets to in most games, where he’s a side-character. Movie!Tails is very close to all other versions of himself, not deviating much when compared to Sonic and Robotnik; even the whole "bullied about his two tails" part is taken from the booklet of his first game appearance.

Wonder whether this thing is scanning for a hedgehog
specifically, or for anything that's NOT an echidna.

At the entrance, Tails reads a legend engraved on the walls, about the Echidnas using seven Chaos Emeralds to forge the Master Emerald, an item that can make its wielder manifest desires into reality. The Owls rose up, believing that no group should possess such power; they stole and hid it. Owls and Echidnas have fought ever since, with the Echidnas attempting to retrieve their artefact. Within the temple is a giant owl statue, which Sonic activates through a puzzle whose answer is on the map they were carrying. After detecting their presence, the statue gives Sonic a compass that indicates the location of the Emerald.

Sheesh, he just started and he's already a snowboarding
expert!

Their joy is short-lived, as they are targeted by an army of egg drones. Robotnik and Knuckles come down to steal the compass. Banter ensues, Robotnik fires a missile, Sonic tosses it back at the statue. He flees with Tails, destroying a drone on the way and using a piece of it as a snowboard. He goes down the slopes, while Tails flies off. Knuckles smashes another drone to get a board for himself, then gives chase. Sonic barely breaks a sweat against Eggman’s armada, no matter how many there are; but the echidna, that’s a whole other story.

VGFlicks: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Part 2)

Sonic the Hedgehog 1: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5
Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5

The Echidna and the Fox

They both mean business, but one is acting a lot less
silly than the other.

Sonic and Robotnik stare each other down. It doesn’t get serious until the mad doc threatens Tom, Maddie and even Ozzy. In full defender mode, Sonic jumps to punch Robotnik in the face – he could do anything else, but he knows how much the roboticist hates it. However, before the hedgehog can reach his target, the human moves out of the way and in comes a red echidna, who promptly punches Sonic across the room and through the wall and flat-screen TV. Robotnik presents his new ally, Knuckles. Sonic tries to fight again but gets punched through another wall and into the backyard for his troubles. The doctor has claimed Sonic’s movie night popcorn bowl and munches from it evilly while the aliens duke it out. The hedgehog is no match.

He doesn't even look like he needs any effort to hold
Sonic in place. Damn.

You know that saying, “unstoppable force meets immovable object”? You get one guess as to which is which. A charged spindash from Sonic barely phases Knuckles, who holds the balled hedgehog in place without effort and punches him to the ground like he was nothing. When he warrior has the hedgehog held against a tree, he talks about how he can restore the honor of his ancestors by reclaiming the ultimate power. The prying ears of an Eggman are instantly titillated by that descriptor. Knuckles continues, saying that Longclaw – Sonic’s tutor before he fled to Earth – and her tribe were enemies of the Echidnas. However, before he can smash a hedgehog’s face in, a police car comes through the fence and crashes into the red barbarian.

Eyes on the road, kid!

Will say, sending a cop car down a ravine is an...
extreme measure, but hey, the situation required it.

Out pops Tails, who urges Sonic to climb aboard. They drive off, with Tails pushing the pedals with electric devices since he’s too short to reach them. Knuckles gives chase and is surprisingly fast for someone without super speed. During the chase, Tails explains that the echidna believes that Sonic holds the key to the Master Emerald – an artifact that Sonic says is just a bedtime story! This exposition is cut short when the warrior lands on the cop car and takes it apart. To get rid of him, Tails sends the car plummeting down a cliff, but he grabs Sonic and flies away with his helicopter tails. The echidna, incapable of catching them, latches on to the cliff.

Movie Review: Paddington in Peru

Guess it's a good moment for me to discuss this film, since I mentioned Paddington in my Sonic 1 review, not even two weeks ago. Full disclaimer, I heard great things about this film franchise, but I hadn't seen any of them until very recently (as in, December last year or this year). Even then, I only really caught the latter half of the first; that said, I did see the second film in full; you know, the one that temporarily dislodged Citizen Kane as the best-reviewed film of all time? Yep, that one.

This Paddington movie wasn't directed by Paul King like the previous two; Dougal Wilson took over the role. Considering the reputation those two films have, Wilson had big shoes to fill.

The story

Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw) has been living in United Kingdom with the Browns for several years now, to the point of being properly adopted by them. (Sounds a bit like the other movie I'm reviewing lately. Fun coincidence, that.) He has even achieved an extra step by getting an official passport! The bear himself hasn't changed much; eternally sweet and without an ounce of malice in him, Paddington keeps landing into shenanigans solely due to his own clumsiness.

The Browns around him, however, have changed quite a bit. Not so much Mr. Henry Brown (Hugh Bonneville), who still works in risk assessment and insurance. However, his daughter Judy (Madeleine Harris) is preparing her transition to a university, with Mrs. Mary Brown (Emily Mortimer, replacing Sally Hawkins) distraught that one of her kids is leaving the nest. For her son Jonathan Brown (Samuel Joslin), it's the complete opposite issue; he's learned well from educative toys and became somewhat of an inventor, but only uses his creations to "chill" in his room and leave it as little as possible. Meanwhile, Mrs. Bird (Julie Walters) tends to the house.

VGFlicks: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Part 1)

Sonic the Hedgehog 1: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5
Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5

Consensus on the first Sonic movie was that it was surprisingly good, considering its troubled production. It fell into the same traps as other family films starring CGI characters, but it was otherwise a promising first step into a franchise. We knew it would become a franchise, judging by the surprise appearance of Miles “Tails” Prower in the stinger. And indeed, there have been plans as early as between the first two films to expand into a potential Cinematic Universe. Which I thought that was an early call to make. Guess it makes sense to think that big though, since the Sonic universe is pretty large. Thus, so far, every Sonic movie’s stinger has showcased a character from the games joining in the next film.

I reviewed the first film; we're on to Sonic 2. The film was released in North American theaters on Apil 8th, 2022. There’s a LOT to say yet again, so let’s jump in.

Portobello Purgatory

…AKA the Mushroom Planet. Doctor Robotnik has been trapped in this world for eight months. The “home by Christmas” deadline? Looks like that failed. At least, he has used his super-genius intellect to adapt to this environment, even finding subsistence from the surrounding mushrooms. His attempts at making a drinkable coffee with the stuff, however? Not great. Love his Rube Goldberg machine, though. He may claim he doesn’t want company, but the vaguely face-shaped rock he named Stone says otherwise. Hey, in isolation, everybody needs a Wilson.

In short, Robotnik is trying to recreate the EMP blast that
led him to Sonic, hoping it will bring others to him. Smart.

The doctor has scavenged his flying ship for parts and has set up camp. The blue quill he has kept still has plenty of energy. He has been hard at work, building a beacon atop a giant mushroom. Because I’m thorough, I looked up the film’s deleted scenes, and found out that in the original script, Robotnik tripped out on the shroom juice and hallucinated the Stone head talking to him. (You can see Agent Stone’s actor Lee Madjoub, in the bloopers, with his head all done up like the rock, so that scene got far into production before getting scrapped.) Even better, this bizarre moment leads to the scientist getting the idea to build a beacon. Sure, it sounds like something he could have thought of without drugs, but it would have been even funnier if drugs were the reason. Maybe they figured this would push the boundaries too much for a family film.

VGFlicks: Sonic the Hedgehog (Part 5)

Sonic the Hedgehog 1: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5
Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5

I’m almost done! I’m almost done!

Battle Around The World

Back where we started. Time to see how it ends.

The only way this could get more stereotypical is if the
mime went "Sac-"
"Sacrebleu!"
....Ah, come on.

Sonic has sent Tom and Maddie home through a portal ring, but the battle with Eggman, I mean Doctor Robotnik, is far from over. The doc's flying ship has the power to go just as quickly as the blue blur. Finally, a challenge. When we left off, Sonic was running through the streets, dodging blasts from the doc’s machine. Passing under a bus advertising trips to France, Sonic gets an idea and, still speeding through the town, summons a portal that takes him… yep, you guessed it, to France. However, the ship is also fast enough to follow into the ring and resume the chase. Complete with mandatory Eiffel tower cameo and Robotnik yelling an “Excusez-moi, monsieur!” at a mime he almost crashes into. Geez, could you be more stereotypical?

Runnin' Up That Pyramid

The fight is later taken to the Great Wall of China – that one was on Sonic’s bucket list, he wanted to run on it! Sure, he’s being hunted down, but it just makes his tourist visit more interesting, right? Still unable to flee, Sonic summons another portal, this time into Egypt, running towards the Pyramid of Giza. Fun fact: Those are damn close to civilization, so if the movie wanted to be accurate, instead of large areas of sand near them, Sonic would basically be running through streets again. He could stop by the KFC right by the Pyramids if he wanted, but that stuff would be worse for his colon than the chilidogs were. No, not speaking from experience. Meanwhile, Robotnik has gone full trigger-happy and blasting whatever’s in his way, including the Sphinx! And then he has the gall to call Sonic out for running up the side of the pyramid? Even a sand-tornado buffed up by the hedgehog’s fast running isn’t enough to deter the wacko!

Can hardly get more ominous than that.

Sonic summons a final portal at the top and gets blasted into it by his enemy. He crash-lands, wounded into Green Hills’ main street… late into the evening. When Tom and Maddie were falling through Sonic’s portal, they landed on a pile of hay in a farm, and the day was still bright. Yet, it’s almost night now? Have Sonic and Robotnik been fighting around the world for literal hours, and we were just shown a few minutes? Is that what happened? I mean, I’d believe it if it was stated anywhere.

VGFlicks: Sonic the Hedgehog (Part 4)

Sonic the Hedgehog 1: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5
Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5

Holding Out for A Friend

"....Hi honey! Uh... you ever wanted a pet hedgehog?"

Tom arrives in San Francisco and parks his roofless truck in front of his sister-in-law’s house. His wife Maddie had been staying at Rachel’s with their dog, Ozzy, while looking for an apartment. He hides Sonic in a blanket and knocks at the door. Rachel (Natasha Rothwell) tries to block his way, but Maddie is willing to let him in. Reminder that Tom Wachowski is currently wanted and considered a domestic terrorist. Robotnik having the full power of the U.S. Government backing him is scary. The sisters argue some more, but Rachel’s daughter Jojo (Melody Niemann) greets “uncle Tommy”, hugging him. Finally, one happy voice in here! Heck, even Ozzy is barking like crazy at the blanket in Tom’s arms!

The arguing continues while Ozzy tugs at the blanket, pulling it off and revealing the unconscious alien to all. Rachel faints. Ah, finally some silence in here.

Obviously, the live-action filming was done
before VFX, and thus, before the design
change, so the acting puppet was of Ugly
Sonic. This one doesn't look too bad, I guess.

Okay, we’ll resume the plot after a moment, I just want to address something again. One aspect of art is that we enjoy the end product but rarely realize just how hard it can be to get there. How much work goes into it. That’s especially true for visual effects, where the goal is to either not notice that something was changed, or to make the audience believe that what was added really was there. The latter is the goal that live-action films with CGI characters strive to achieve. In my opinion, one of the best ways to do this is to have the animated characters have believable physical interactions with the human characters. In my opinion, the more these unreal characters interact with the real world, the better it feels.

A lot of that trickery can be achieved using puppets or stand-in actors. As an example, at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy, when Drax pets Rocket, it’s James Gunn’s brother Sean sitting there in a greenscreen jumpsuit, positioned to account for Rocket’s size. The Sonic franchise? It’s puppets; the bonus features on the DVD for the Knuckles miniseries shows some behind-the-scenes with puppet Knuckles. It’s great. I love me some behind-the-scenes.

VGFlicks: Sonic the Hedgehog (Part 3)

Sonic the Hedgehog 1: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5
Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5

ROAD TRIIIIIIP!

Road Trip & Piston Pit

For the "There's a fish on my head" bit, Ben Schwartz took
inspiration from co-star Jim Carrey's Dumb and Dumber.

Tom still can’t believe everything that’s happening. That the alien is real, and that some madman pulled straight out of science-fiction threatened them with attack drones. Sonic presents himself and explains about the portal rings (more advanced cultures use them to travel between worlds – hey, what do you mean we’re not advanced??), and that he needs them to leave Earth. Tom stops the car on the side of the road and tells Sonic to find San Francisco himself by going west. Sonic speeds away… and returns wet, with a fish on his head. He crashed right into the Pacific Ocean.

...Did he really run from Montana to the Pacific,
a 14-hour drive... in 3 seconds??!?

Considering how far Montana is from the Pacific, it should have taken him more than a minute to come back.

Sonic: Instant joy.
Tom: Instant regret. I don't blame him.

Tom, you should have told him to go southwest! With an angry Sonic pleading for help, Tom relents and agrees to drive the hedgehog to San Francisco. Woo, road trip! Classic ‘90s trope, alongside the “you might be wondering how I got here” from the intro! If Google Maps is to be believed, it’s a 15-hour drive... assuming Green Hills is close to the bottom edge of Montana.

Late in the evening, Tom stops at a gas station to call Wade from a phone booth and tells Sonic to wait in the car. Oh, you don’t tell that to a kid with ADHD. Especially not when the station is right next door to the Piston Pit, a biker bar that looks like the coolest damn thing the poor lil’ hedgehog has ever seen.

He makes even speaking on the phone look threatening.

Tom talks with Wade, but learns that Robotnik, Stone, and several secret agents are in the Green Hills Station, listening in. The doctor grabs the phone and threatens Tom. I love the detail that, of all things he could be mad about, Robotnik hates to be punched in the face. Which Tom did, earlier. Like, I get that it’s a basic tenet of this Robotnik’s worldview of using the machines born from his brains to beat down any brawns, but specifically, getting punched is a trigger he carries since childhood. And for all his intelligence, he does NOT have the emotional sanity to respond any other way than “must hit back tenfold”. Tom hangs up in the middle of the doctor’s tirade.