How Is Sonic Still So Popular?

— Nintendo Enthusiast:

Love it or hate it, the Sonic the Hedgehog series is one of the most popular and iconic franchises in the whole video game industry, and arguably the whole entertainment world. It’s Sonic that put SEGA on the map, and gave Nintendo its first true competitor after gaining market dominance back in the late 80s. Sonic rose to staggering heights of popularity after his debut in 1991, and he rocked through the 90s like nobody’s business. When the 2000s hit, things went bad. The Sonic series has been in a weird limbo since the start of the new millennia; flip-flopping between hits and (mostly) misses. Despite its varying level of quality, the franchise has continued to be one of SEGA’s primary sources of profit, and the fan-base is still incredibly passionate. But, why? How has the Sonic series managed to stay afloat for so long despite its many mishaps?

[SegaGamer]

Because even though it's popular to call Sonic games bad these days, pretty much all of them are still either ok games or very good. Most Sonic games are not as bad as people try and make them out to be.

[ShinRon]

No, theyre worse games than they are made out to be due to the appeal of Sonics design making up for it.

Theres maybe 1 or 2 great sonic games, 3-4 decent ones and the remaining 50 or so are trash

[Monster_Tard]

Some are better than what some people make them out to be, but there are plenty of bad ones. Sega themselves have acknowledged that the quality has gone down and have said that they will focus on making the games with better quality.

[Paytaa]

Because Sonic defined the golden era of gaming along with Mario.

[LOL_WUT]

On that note, we might as well ask how is Mario still so popular? ;)

[DarkZane]

Because unless it's a spinoff, Mario doesn't try to reinvent the wheel every time, you either have 2D or 3D mario.

[Segata]

Once the kids who grew up in the 90s are dead Sonic will die. I think Colors,Gen and LW were enjoyable. Still not been a Sonic game truly like Sonic since Aonic Advance on GBA. Not the sequels . Sonic Mania will hopefully return to form.

[NotoriousWhiz]

I liked all of the Sonic Advance games and also Sonic Rush on the DS was pretty good. Outside of the adventure series (which was okay, but not great), the rest were mediocre.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Because anyone who's stuck with the series knows he's had plenty of good titles, and hope to see him have many more.
They want to believe in that potential.
It also helps that the devs gave him a likeable personality in most cases.XD

[stalepie]

Ahh come on, Sega was big in the arcades before Sonic.

[Darkfist_Flames]

it popular because of the weird fanbase who love to make these weird sonic arts,hell every single sonic game since adventure 1 you see the fanbase complain on each game then they get excited for the next sonic news then repeat, why do you think all these fan made sonic games keep coming from?

[Der_Kommandant]

Nostalgia

[Gaz_KnightofNylrac]

I believe part of it is due to how much the franchise expanded like many long-running series tend to. This has pros and cons.

Pros: you have a character that's been around for a quarter of a century, an admirable feat, because the series adapted enough to gather new fans and new styles.

Cons: you have a fractured fanbase in almost all respects.

You have the Classic Sonic fans who grew up and/or enjoy the original sidescrollers, the Adventure fans who were there for Sonic's rough 2D-3D transition, the Boost fans who enjoy the "gotta go fast!" mechanics of some of the more recent titles, the fans who enjoy the various cartoons; the list goes on.

The character and to a point the series is almost as pure 90s as you can get; it was designed to challenge Nintendo's Mario and the results are what worked to a point back then. Sonic has attitude! The design of the characters are iconic at this point, and every few years you get a decent game out of the series.

But you can't please everybody; it's just not possible. Different teams make different Sonic games, and even Sonic Team themselves can try new ideas that sometimes work, sometimes don't. They constantly learn, forget, relearn, and reforget what makes a Sonic game "work" well as both a Sonic game and as a well-designed game. It's a rollercoaster. And don't forget a series like Sonic gathers new, often younger, fans every year, who don't necessarily know anything about the character, the series, and its history prior to the first aspect of the franchise they're introduced to.

[SheikAshii]

The konye effect most likely