In the same way Sonic fits well in pinball, Tails seems to naturally work well with a shooter motif. The goal of each level is to survive to the end and defeat a boss (except the training area). Rather than focus on scoring and blasting enemies, the game has you eliminate obstacles blocking your path and utilize contraptions like rail cars, weights, balloons and looping poles to launch Tails in different directions. It’s more like a strange merging of a shooter and a Sonic platformer. After playing for a while, you realize that it’s not actually a shooter. The screen automatically scrolls horizontally, Tails can fly freely and his one solitary ring can be “shot” at enemies. The game itself, at first glance, looks like a scrolling shooter. It’s easy to get caught up with throwing the ring everywhere, when in reality you seldom need to attack things to progress. Most of the time, you just use the D-pad, which I think a lot of critics don’t understand. Collectibles and other interactive objects only require Tails to touch them with his ring, no throwing required. The controls are very simple, just the D-pad to move around and either of the action buttons to throw a ring, which is Tails’ only attack. As a Game Gear game, this isn’t too uncommon, but it is odd after having played so many Sonic games with that ever-familiar options screen in place. The game literally consists of the opening cut scene, the title screen and the game itself. No sound test, no difficulty settings or anything. What’s weirder is there’s no options screen. Simply put, Tails must defeat Witchcart and her underlings, who I guess are terrorizing South Island or wherever this game takes place. Tails’ SkyPatrol technically features a story, but it’s almost not worth mentioning. This game is odd in ways you might not have realized before.
The one I’ve played the most is Tails’ SkyPatrol. Only at the height of Sonic’s popularity could a Knuckles game and two Tails games see store shelves. Not just stuff like Sonic Eraser or Sonic Schoolhouse, but the games that don’t actually star Sonic, instead one of his friends.
The weirdness I speak of involves the odd Sonic spinoffs. No, I don’t mean strange like the ’90s was the only time period Sonic was massively popular or had great games. The mid-1990s was a strange time for Sonic games. Genre: Shmup Developer: SIMS Publisher: Sega of Japan Players: 1 Released: 1995
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