4. Sonic Adventure

The original Sonic Adventure (1999) was a blueprint for the franchise for years. The transition to 3D had everything: multiple playable characters whose gameplay differentiated substantially from Sonic’s, a storyline with emotional stakes and some capital L Lore, pseudo-open-world elements that had Sonic and friends traveling through hub worlds to get to levels, and a banging soundtrack led by butt rock band Crush 40.

Sonic Adventure has stumbles, such as Big the Cat’s cumbersome fishing levels, and setting the standard for Sonic’s wonky camera. But it is a quintessential moment in the franchise’s history that even Sega seems to have newfound nostalgia for, as evidenced by darker games like Sonic Forces and the lore-driven story of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 movie. Its interwoven character stories were a deviation from its platformer contemporaries, and as the series has narrowed its focus to just the blue guy, it’s been missing that magic.