Platform: Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox Series X, PS5
Publisher: SEGA
Developer: Sonic Team
Medium: Digital/Disc/Cartridge
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: E10+
As much as I loved the Switch, if we’re being honest, the last few years for it have been pretty rough from a third-party perspective. While the Nintendo-published games have been excellent right up to the end of the system’s lifespan, playing an AAA third-party game – even older ones getting late-in-life ports over to the Switch – generally involved lots of allowances.
Like, yes, it was fun to revisit the Arkham trilogy on the Switch, and yes, MLB The Show 25 ran on it…but it was like watching the games on a grainy filter with lots of details removed.
I say all this as a prelude to writing about Sonic X Shadow Generations on the Switch 2 because it’s the first time in years I’ve felt like I’m playing a prominent third-party game on a Nintendo system and not felt like I need to say, “I like it, but it’s rough.”
In fact, it’s anything but that. I played Sonic X Shadow Generations for the first time about a month ago, on PS5, and I can honestly say that I didn’t see any difference between what I experienced on the PS5 version of the game and what I found on the Switch 2 version of the game. I’m sure those people who really dive in deep to graphical fidelity and whatnot could tell you exactly how much better the PS5 version is, visually speaking, but as far as I’m concerned, all that matters is that Sonic X Shadow Generations looks pretty nice on the Switch 2.
More importantly, it runs well, which is of vital importance to a game like this. Sonic Generations is arguably the best mixture of 2D and 3D platforming in Sonic’s lengthy history, which means that not only does the game need to perform well when you’re zipping right to left in 2D worlds, it also needs the same level of responsiveness when you add on that extra dimension and your view is right over Sonic’s shoulder. Thankfully, the Switch 2 is more than up to the challenge, and you never have to worry about things slowing down just as you hit a critical juncture that requires perfect timing.
Mind you, it’s not perfect. As Brendan noted months ago when the game was originally released, in 3D levels the game sometimes ignored locked-on enemies and had you blow right past them; that, unfortunately, is still the case here. Similarly, the camera sometimes – albeit rarely – doesn’t quite match up to your speed, so you’ll launch yourself off a jump only to find that there’s no ground for you to land on.
Still, those annoyances aside, Sonic X Shadow Generations is a pretty exceptional game. It also achieves the impressive feat of finding a way to take the original game of Sonic Generations and make a meaningful addition to it in the form of Shadow Generations. I’ll admit that I’ve never played a Shadow game before and, thus, have nothing to compare it to, but the way it mirrors Sonic while adding a darker edge to proceedings is pretty fun.
And the best part about it is, you don’t need to add any caveats or qualifications to that when describing Sonic X Shadow Generations on the Switch 2. It runs well and it looks great, and it gives hope that, at least for the next little while, Switch 2 ports won’t require you to make a few allowances for subpar performance.
SEGA provided us with a Sonic X Shadow Generations Nintendo Switch 2 code for review purposes.
Sonic X Shadow Generations - Nintendo Switch 2
15 used & new available from $42.00
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