The Admiral
the star of the masquerade
Man, I did not realize "Gangsta's Paradise" was a 90s song. I'm sure the first time I heard it was in the 2000s, but I also wasn't listening to gangsta rap in '95, so I might be younger than the demographic this movie is aiming at...? Still, I would associate Sonic more with hard rock music, like "Live and Learn" or whatever. But I don't remember any early Sonic commercials, either. And even if they were really determined to go with a rap song, there had to be a better choice than "Gangsta's Paradise", like... well, the only old rap songs I can think of offhand are "Rapper's Delight" and "Bust a Move", both of which predate Sonic and fit almost as poorly as "Gangsta's Paradise".
I'm not, like, super knowledgeable about a lot of old rap, either. I mean, I've heard Loc-ed After Dark and Raising Hell and those are both classic 80s albums no matter what genre they are. I didn't really know "Gangsta's Paradise" was a 90s thing either, though, so there you go. I suppose the song might not be a good choice for it, but it's the right style, I guess, if it's aiming to be a super old-style Sonic movie. I do agree that after the leap to 3D, it's much easier to associate Sonic with that kind of fast... let's be real, when I think modern Sonic, I totally think buttrock. I kind of blame "Fist Bump" for this -- you know, the theme to Sonic Forces, a game that existed, but only just. Maybe something that feels like "Gangsta's Paradise" but lighter? Like, my thoughts are sitting in a type of real estate that I don't think even exists. Maybe this was a doomed endeavor from the start. Making a good film in this instance sure seems like it was
Also, I'm not up on which Sonic-verse is which. Seems like they keep trying to re-invent it and failing over and over and over. The fans hate it, but it still sells, I guess. The only post-Genesis Sonic game I can remember playing is The Secret Rings or w/e, which was okay in the context of learning how to blow through the courses as fast as possible (albeit hampered by the frivolous Wii motion controls).
Oh, they definitely do, and sweet god do people hate-buy that **** in d r o v e s. Basically, the Sonic Adventure games were edgier, had more plot, and had humans who weren't just Dr. Robotnik in them. Eventually culminating in Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic '06, both of which are some of the most ludicrous games of all time.
On the subject of video games, they just don't do openings like they used to, do they? I've never even played it, but I'm sort of obsessed with Chrono Cross's opening, and Final Fantasy VIII's is also a classic for me. I like some of the anime-type openings in the Tales and Atelier series, but they don't segue into the game with quite the oomph that some of the classic ones do. I dunno, maybe it was more the dichotomy between the FMVs and the normal graphics that made them so epic.
The graphics-quality bump between regular and FMV graphics doesn't really exist anymore. There was a unique response to noticing the quality of the visuals change in a game like Final Fantasy IX that is just Not a Thing anymore. I don't even think the people who do PS1-style fake-retro stuff do that.