I struggle with Mario Kart's absolute competency and never good 3D Sonic

I saw Sonic 2 in 4D at a theatre and it was amazing. It was on par with any top-tiers themepark's dark ride. Except 2hrs 15min versus 5 minutes tops. Will Guardians at Epcot raise the bar? Recently i completed Super Mario Kart 8 on the Wii-U and I was delighted the whole time. It made me question my whole existence devoting time to all these other games when could have been mastering MK since 2014 and become superhyped for their recent 48 track DLC annoucement. Yum! So i was thinking that maybe their could be a resurgence in Sonic games because of the success of the movies. But resurgence means that they would have to reclaim their former status. Well their former status was never good. I'm about to buy Sonic Forces on the eshop to maybe complete my first Sonic game ever. But i just know those games have never been good since they debuted on the genesis. Question? How can Mario Kart conveying of speed track so well in a 3D space where Sonic has in sales and community love failed completely in the same endeavor?

I might suggest that there have been good Sonic games, i'm not sure how else to approach this :P.

Good Sonic games + popular cartoon = fanbase = sales, Sonic Boom was popular too and now there's popular movies, so while the video game part of the equation could certainly use a boost it's not the only thing keeping the character profitable.

Yeah, otherwise the question is "How can a series of games that's always been bad have never matched the likes of Mario?"

I saw Sonic 2 in 4D at a theatre and it was amazing. It was on par with any top-tiers themepark's dark ride. Except 2hrs 15min versus 5 minutes tops. Will Guardians at Epcot raise the bar? Recently i completed Super Mario Kart 8 on the Wii-U and I was delighted the whole time. It made me question my whole existence devoting time to all these other games when could have been mastering MK since 2014 and become superhyped for their recent 48 track DLC annoucement. Yum! So i was thinking that maybe their could be a resurgence in Sonic games because of the success of the movies. But resurgence means that they would have to reclaim their former status. Well their former status was never good. I'm about to buy Sonic Forces on the eshop to maybe complete my first Sonic game ever. But i just know those games have never been good since they debuted on the genesis. Question? How can Mario Kart conveying of speed track so well in a3D space where Sonic has in sales and community love failed completely in the same endeavor?

@maaarii: If your looking for good sonic they exist. This site will say no but even jeff and I've said this plenty...has put a sonic game on his GOTY. If that means nothing...and it sorta doesn't since he resets his interest time and time again calling games he gave a 5/5 horizon dawn just ok and another time calling games he called ok...fascinating etc. I think he made it clear the idea of good is fluid and people put too much stake in wasted time for example watching a bad movie in your opinion and seeing good reviews for it. Etc.

But to put your best foot forward, you can try the praised sonic games first and work down to the bad.

@topcyclist: I just think Mario Kart conveys speed and arcade action 10 times better than anything I have ever played in the 3D Sonic, specifically- im not loading up your list bud, games. 3D sonic games are all clunky and you move forward you get hit with spikes and then it just grinds to a halt. Maybe if 3D Sonic had levels that were like Mario Kart with 3 laps or repetition on the course so you are not encountering things for the first time, the true failing of sonic is you dont know what's around the bend. Yes Sonic Racing exists and those games are fine but I think an entire campaign could be done using the Mario Kart-ish formula for a regular old campaign, not racing. And they could have a great game. In summary Mario Kart is very competent in portraying speed. Yes, that is a multiplayer game. However, even a single player mode would be interesting with a big boss that followed you around. Every time i collect a coin in Mario Kart that could easily be a ring. It doesn't have to be a car it could be Keds. In summation of the summary i don't think Sonic does 3D very well at all where other games, in this case Mario Kart as an example from which many could be pulled, does a great job. I think the title alone is explanatory enough.

@maaarii: Oh, so the question is why is Mario Kart better at conveying speed than Sonic?
Not sure i agree, with the Mega Drive games it was always fun to go so fast you start to outrun the camera, all the cinematic stuff in Adventure was fast, the only modern one i've played was Generations and that could get pretty nuts, on the kart racing side Expert mode in All Stars Racing Transformed is faster than 150cc in MK8, playing that with friends was intense.

@cikame: Yeah, OP's question seems more like a confirmation of an already agreed on feeling. I thought they were looking for opposing views. Tons of games from sonic do speedwell. The whole idea that you run into traps unless you memorize the levels has been debunked but keeps getting spread and causes each release to get more dumbed down to cater to a group that doesn't even play the games.

The newer games have tons of warnings before you go off a cliff. The games slowed the momentum down. They add tons of bounce pads after speed sections to get you and remind you ok here's where we take things slower for platforms. The same people also (I've seen this over the years) review sonic games in this weird pigeonhole of ...if he's ever slowing down you're doing it wrong...sonic is fun when you're going fast...I go fast and fly off a hill. (people who know what they're doing (watch some fans) usually don't do that often even on the first tries. Second most sonic games after a speedy section sends you off a loop and in the air to land on the grown, momentum stopped to get your bearings. Or you hit into a wall to switch pace. The few times spikes are involved are later hard levels that I'm convinced most don't even get up to before quitting. Later levels in all or most sonic games are more slow platforming akin to Mario.

To ask why they don't play like a kart racer...well sonic generations in 3d sections can and does in sense of speed and just cruising fast but honestly, it's cause just going straight down a track with platforming is boring. You'd also have to create too much information and data at the speeds sonic runs. There's a reason most games aren't pure straight 3d for sonic. They would end too fast. Sonic forces tried that and the game is like 3 hours long. But yeah sonic doesn't control as good as Mario kart but it gets the job done in some of the more worked-on games. I'd try sonic colors and sonic generations. You can get them for pennies and skip sonic forces unless you hate yourself or wanna hate on sonic...even fans don't like that game.

@topcyclist: I don't think Sonic should stop. You never really stop in Mario Kart and the platforming exists with the ramps. My point, is that with Mario Kart in 1 play through of a race you learn the entire course, potentially see other routes, and can go an entire lap without hitting anything. If i play a level 3 or 4 times I'm setting all kinds of new records, maybe only experiencing slowdown due to cheap items in multiplayer (thank goodness there's no multiplayer in sonic... so problem solved). The platforming has always been clunk. I'm looking at your specific Sonic Colors reference and Sonic Generations and the platforming has to go. He is moving too fast to get all the coins unless you memorize the map like a Rock Band note highway. Got to go. Point, the speed in Mario Kart is great even at 50CCs. I can't wait to maybe get up to 200CC or even reverse course. Sonic is at 400CCs for some reason when it needs to be more at 75CC.

@maaarii: ok, i think i understand. Your looking more for a sonic lost world where you control the speed. Sonic in that game has a very slow default run that's very controlable. You likely wont understand it without playing it since most youtubers are gonna do the second running option, you hold down a button and he does an no increased sprint as in he sprints but unlike other games he doesnt zoom off getting faster and faster. He jumps from gear 2 to 4 and thats it unlike others where its 1-2-3-4-5 etc. It kinda sucked. felt like your running in mud. But id try the demo its free on switch and other platforms. I think you just cant make it like mario kart cause people would complain about repeating level geometry but thats a cool idea i never considered, maybe have a race section in each level as a side mission. No obstacles like puzzles but just kart racing like running.