Sonic Forces takes notes from the well-received Sonic Generations by letting players traverse both 3D and 2D environments as both classic and modern Sonic. The story even involves 🌃dimension traveling that 🥀puts both the Sonics in the same storyline.
With both designs of the fast hedgehog being prominently featured in the game, it is natural to compare the two and easier than ever to explo💫re the differences between the two. While they are, of course, fundamentally similar, to say the only difference between the two is their graphics would be a massive oversimplification. Here are 10 notable differences between the classic Sonic and the modern Sonic.
10 His Body
Let's get the obvious out of the way first. Classic Sonic is shorter than modern Sonic, and by a decent amount. Modern Sonic is lankier as a whole, which makes him look mo🌠stly proport🌱ional if you don't dwell on his hands or head.
Classic Sonic, howeܫver, is basically a ball with limbs and a head, so he is smaller and overall more cartoonish in design—though they're both pretty goofy-looking when you get do꧂wn to it.
9 Modern Sonic Talks ♏
While both versions of Sonic get their mission information from Tails, only one of them responds. Modern Sonic often talks back to Tails or other characters or just casually makes comments as he traverses the map, arguably talking to himself or maybe directly to♉ the player.
Classic Sonic doesn't talk or even have a voice actor in the game. It makes sense, considering that the chara🅠cter never had a v𒀰oice in the classic games either.
8 Eye Color
When over half the game involves a zoomed out camera tracking a hedgehog moving at record speeds, it can be difficult to analyze the eye color of 🐻the little guy. Luckily, when a level is beaten, a nice close-up of Sonic is shown, and players far beꦍtter than me have beaten the levels.
Classic Sonic has always had solid black eyes with a white pupil—a very common character design choice in 2D games. 3D Sonic, however, was introduced with new, bold, innovative Green eyes. Naturally, the eye colors are reflected in Forces, with both Sonics having their classic color.
7 ♏ All In The Legs 🥃
Both Sonics, unsurprisingly, gotta go fast. When they run uninterrupted for a few seconds, they build enough speed to break into a slightly blurred sprint and can get up to some very high speeds that make hitting those upcoming spikes you didn't see almost a guarante🌼e.
When classic Sonic hits his sprinting speed, his legs are motoring, running in what appears to basically be full circles, cycling at insane speeds like tires on a car. His upper body stays mostly in place. When modern Sonic does ♛the same, his whole body becomes covered by a blue wind-like effect, making it loo🌄k like all of him is moving in sync.
6 𒀰 Their Speed Balls
Sonic's signature move is rolling himsel꧑f into a ball when he needs to jump, roll fast, attack, do his taxes, or really anything else of note. Whenꦛ classic Sonic balls up, he is a nearly perfectly smooth blue blur.
When modern Sonic does 𒁏the same move, however, his ball is slightly more jagged, likely due to his quills sticking out. It makes his ball form look a little more threatening, as it looks like a buzzsaw flying at you instead of a dodgeball.
5 Modern Sonic Is The Bigger Televis✅ion Star
Call this one pedantic, but when breaking down the differences between the two Soꦐnics, why not bring up their illustrious television careers. Both have been stars of the small screen, with classic Sonic showing up across three different series for a total of 133 episode appearances.
Modern Sonic, however, has had the longest-running series with Sonic Boom, giving him the edge at 182 episodes. Now we just 🃏need to crack down which one gets the IMDB credit for the new feature film.
4 ♊ Death Animations
As hard as it is to believe, just like you and me, Sonic can die. Yet, unlike us, he can just try again. Call it another superpower or call is a curse since he could feasibly die a thousand🧜 deaths. Anyways, when he dies he usually has a quick animation to go with it.
While the two Sonics share a few dea▨th ani🥀mations, like the classic one for drowning, they also have some unique to their design. Classic Sonic flails his limbs out a bit more for a more dramatic death than modern Sonic, who often just falls onto his butt like he was shoved down and not just shot by a giant robot's laser cannon.
3 📖 ♔ Naruto Run
At some point in Sonic's long life, he must have studied the art of the shinobi. When classic Sonic runs at insane speeds, he tucks his arms firmly at his🐠 sides, to help with wind resistance or something.
However, when modern Sonic runs at high♑-speeds, he throws his long arms backward, pulling them behind him like he has a wheelbarrow he can't let go off. The arms back have been Sonic's run style for a decade now, but it is hard to see it and not think about the ninjas of the Hidden Leaf Village.
2 Move Soun♏ds 😼
While this one is likely just due to how the Sonic game designs have changed over the years, the fact that the team behind Sonic Forces were able to nail it down is impressive, as Classic Sonic's moves almost entirely have different s🍬ounds than modern Sonic's.
While the sound effects for jumping, getting hit, and rolling are all very similar, classic Sonic's all have a higher-pitched, bouncier sound. The sound🎃s are true to the older games, making them a fitting difference between the two.
1 They Are Not In The꧋💙 Same Timeline
This one is a new idea presented by Sonic Forces, and it is going to make some fans' heads spin faster than Sonic does. While both classic and modern Sonic are tec🍎hnically the same character, they are not him at two separate ages, or even him just drawn differently across games.
In Sonic Forces, the two are from two different dimensions. This means that, in the ever-changing Sonic canon, the adventures of the 2D games and the adventures of the 3D games are not from the same timeline. The two Sonics have existed parallel to one another instead of being adventures happening in some kind of sequential order. Moment of silence for every fan and/or expert that has dev🦩oted countless hours trying to break down the Sonic timeline.