The Story of Competitive Sonic the Fighters (Documentary)

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Published 2023-12-20
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In 1996, Sega's legendary AM2 studio released what may be the most disliked game in their catalog: Sonic the Fighters. Often derided by both Sonic and fighting game fans, this game has built its own community on the outskirts of the FGC. This is that community's story.

This video started as a freelance article pitch years ago, but I finally was able to get it together this year thanks to the support I was able to find with my Melee videos. I hope those who have come to my channel for Melee will be open to learning about another game where funny cartoon characters punch each other.

Thanks to ‪@shadetail‬ , @Cronnicossy, ‪@SonicArena‬ , ‪@mysticnoodle‬ , ‪@MKMaster250‬ and KOS for footage featured in this video as well as for your input putting this together, also of course thanks to Matt Beach, Raxx8, Gizaru, and so many more people omg. Also thanks to ‪@GuileWinQuote‬ for offering FGC wisdom to this stinky Smash player, KOS for a bunch of stuff, Justin and Raine for help with arcade machine footage, and Resprit, Kadence and Nona for revision notes.

song list: pastebin.com/TTThm7TR

Community discord: discord.gg/GzTpG7juza

Additional Reading:

STF Netplay Tutorial:    • Sonic the Fighters RPCS3 Netplay Tuto...  

STF is Competitive and Here's Why:    • Sonic the Fighters is Competitive, he...  

STF is Cool Actually:    • Sonic the Fighters is Cool, Actually  

DCLX23 vs. ULLL_TOO_STRONG:    • PS3 Sonic The Fighters Ranked Match: ...  

Coney makes a tier list:    • Coney Makes a Tier List in 30 Minutes...  

STF on Xbox Marketplace: marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Sonic-the-Fight…

Chapters:
0:00:00 Intro
0:01:57 Fighters, Vipers, and Hedgehogs
0:07:49 Gems Collection
0:10:25 StF 101
0:15:21 Giza's Scene
0:17:31 The Next Generation
0:24:30 Sonic the Tier List
0:28:27 Tournament Zone (XB360)
0:36:05 The PS3 Scene
0:44:07 The Trukuu Saga
0:50:53 Rebirth
0:53:27 Beach Blast
1:11:12 Who is Mystic Noodle?
1:22:19 Canyon Splash Bash
1:27:05 Sunset Showdown
1:45:30 Trukuu Tuu: Electric Bugaluu
1:48:40 Courage/Knowledge of Self
2:19:39 Thanks!!!!!!

All Comments (21)
  • @wusstunes
    Thank you for your support on this video! Reminder that if you want to support me, your likes and comments go a long way, but also I take donations on ko-fi, where you can also get access to some bonus content and early video releases and all that jazz. Thanks! ko-fi.com/wusstunes ALSO if you want to know why I changed the thumbnail it was to spite you, specifically!
  • @danieloloan8525
    Before the video: "Why are some people so obsessed with Bark the Polar Bear?" After the video: "I get it now..."
  • @SonicArena
    Where do I even begin? This is the video that the Sonic the Fighters community deserves, and I just want to thank you for all the extra time and effort you put into shining a light on the game and everyone who contributed to the scene! When I first began hosting tournaments, I never thought we’d make it as far as we have. Over the years, we’ve formed a close bond as a community and I truly believe that Sonic the Fighters has a bright future as a competitive game! Fantastic video. - Polymath
  • @myboy_
    Love the aesthetic of this game, the bright colors, reduced shading, simple models. Everyone just looks so charming, especially tails and amy
  • @Dee_JayDJ
    "He remembered what his PS3 ancestors taught him, input a safe land and mash punch" Great video
  • @GuileWinQuote
    The wait was worth it! Thanks for having me and thanks for putting so much work into this. Much of what I learned about the community through this would probably be lost to time without resources like this. Great stuff!!
  • KOS's "that matchup sucked" comment after winning the entire tournament was hilarious
  • @Aflay1
    Many fighting games have a video showcasing a story about some legendary low tier hero who flips everything everyone thought they knew about the game. The game, Sonic the Fighters, itself, is it's own low-tier hero. A spectacle of a game with so many secrets and some of the most kindhearted badasses a community can ask for. Especially a Sonic community.
  • @FirePuff12
    I played Sonic the Fighters as part of Sonic Gems Collection, the game I got with my Gamecube! I had no idea there was a scene, you can only imagine the excitement I felt when I saw that you’re uploading one of your masterclass videos on it.
  • @emmbeesea
    I mean hey, just like Melee, Sonic the Fighters managed to find a competitive scene against the odds. This video tying in to Melee not just once was a cherry on top. There is so much more Melee/Sonic the Fighters left to play and both still remain far from solved games. This was a behemoth of a project, and I'm glad I watched it!
  • @Takato
    The whole "critics hated the game" debacle is why I hate when journalists that don't know jack about fighting games review fighting games. It's like asking someone that doesn't know and it's not interested in driving/racing to review a racing simulation game, of course they're not going to like the game because they're not understanding 10% of the mechanics behind it, plus STF has one-button combos which enables button mashers to just carpal tunnel their way through arcade mode and then think it's the game's fault. Same reason why MK receives a ton of outstanding reviews, because there's lots of eye-candy for non-fighting game players there, thus they forget to review the game in a more technical way. Anyways, really great video, it itched me to try and convince people to play this game again over here lol
  • Me and some friends love messing around with random fighting games like this, and about 5 or 6 years ago we dedicated a night to Sonic the Fighters. We didn't know anything about the competitive community, so it basically just felt like a 6 hour session of us going into uncharted waters of undiscovered tech and weird mechanics, and it's one of my best memories of playing competitive fighters. Just a nonstop night of "WAIT that's how that works??" and "YOU CAN DO THAT? That's so sick!" I really love that this video exists. After that night with friends, I found myself as a believer in this games potential, but never really dug into it beyond that. Which is my bad. But it's amazing to see it gets the highlight it deserves with more info and history than I would've ever expected.
  • @Cronnicossy
    Glad to help! Thanks for having me, fantastic video.
  • Hi wuss! As a fellow "culturally Sonic" kid I really appreciate your style and I follow every video as they come out. This documentary is fantastic and you should pride yourself on all the hard work you clearly put in researching, interviewing, writing, and editing. It's astonishing how every minute of this movie-length work feels purposeful and pondered over. I really really hope this video catches the algorithm or takes off on word of mouth or whatever needs to happen for you to be properly rewarded for crafting it. All the best.
  • Wish they'd put this on Steam with mod support... I'd love for it to be more accessible with potential for new characters and stuff.
  • @t_piig
    At 52:00 I was the commentator for the PS3 games! It's really cool seeing this resurface lol I was teddy bears 111
  • Sonic The Fighters is both one of the first Sonic games and one of the first fighting games I ever played. It is a game I have a lot of nostalgia for and I always enjoyed it. Seeing a project like this is extremely cool, I have always had a slight interest in the competitive side of the game and I never thought it would get coverage to this degree. This is awesome to see.
  • @djspflytnt
    the DK connection reveal to link your videos was so HYPE
  • @yankees2864
    This is going to be the Sonic Fighters version of the Smash Documentary for Melee, can see a lot of people getting interested in the scene after this
  • @SilentVinyl
    It is amazing to see that even older games can get a competitive scene when passionate players come together