We hit a pair of Game Gear titles this week, which means we are nearing the end of the “classic” Sonic the Hedgehog era. In honor of this occasion, we must address the secret stars of the 16 (and 8)-bit Sonic the Hedgehog titles…
Badniks aka Doctor Eggman’s robots
First Appearance: Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)
Who are they? Dr. Robotnik is a mad scientist that will attack Sonic the Hedgehog head-on with a swinging wrecking ball. But there is only one Eggman (most of the time)! In order to keep his subjugated lands/theme parks conquered, the bad doctor has constructed a literal army of robots. And they are powered by adorable animals! So they are, like, double evil!
What are their powers? Your typical Badnik can shoot some bullets, pop out some spikes, or leisurely walk around. They are not super threatening. Don’t get me wrong! I would hate to have to face some metallic monster with drill hands in a fight. But for the fastest thing alive? Even when they are inexplicably giant, these are speedbumps at best.
Why are they still relevant today? It started to become a thing in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, but Sonic Adventure really codified the problem: too many badniks nowadays are just humanoid robots with guns. If we want badniks to become a presence with the youth of today, we need to get back to metal ladybugs with wheels and lanky roosters. This week’s stream features a badnik named “Wood Buttarundorf”. We need that more than any given Gamma! RETVRN TO WOOD BVTTARVNDORF!
Let’s Play 2-D Sonic the Hedgehog Games
Night 6
April 21, 2026
Random Notes:
- Bad news: Sonic is your dad now. But to help you through this transition, we have BEAT, fanboymaster, Chromes, Caithness, Morning Song, Ample Vigour, Jeanie, and Caliscrub. And we are starting tonight with a game featuring your dad, Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble.
- “Knuckles is back. I hope he doesn’t light me on fire again.. … Goddammit!”
- According to fanboymaster, Resident Evil 3 is an expansion pack that was sold as a full game. Shouldn’t we have talked about that two weeks ago during Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles?
“Dizzy games are fantastic?” “Kayin just got a headache and doesn’t know why.”- Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble is conquered in record time[citation needed]. Ample Vigour takes this moment relay information about a comic where the protagonist wears a sentient fursuit to fight crime. As you do.
- So we move onto Sonic Blast, the ugliest and final Game Gear game of all time.
- “I feel like Ken Penders went to hell before he died.” “He’s still alive!”
- “God, just get it out the door. We have three weeks and some bus tokens to work on this.”
- Additional context provided by this author that gets to review the streams weeks later and thus can use a search engine: Captain K’nuckles was from The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack. I knew I wasn’t insane (for this reason).
- This is a reminder to myself to stop buying videogame-based cookbooks. Even when they feature Sonic the Hedgehog’s chili dogs!
- Meggie joins the chat to note that Sonic Blast looks like taxidermy.
- Teleporter Mazes! And MC Hammer discussion! What is even happening!?
- “Goggle Bob is unfortunately Jester Maxxing.”
- Sonic Blast is soundly conquered. After testing out Knuckles (he sucks, too), we decide to give Game Gear Sonic Spinball the most precursory of looks. We already played Sonic The Hedgehog Spinball a little while back, and you can see a full playthrough as part of the below stream. Consider it a bonus stream for this article!
- And having played like thirty seconds of that, we’re done. Go buy a Sega Genesis with your sister, kiddies!
December 6, 2023
Next lap on Sonic’s Marathon: Next week, we will confirm which game from this stream warranted an amazing fangame remake. And if you are enjoying Sonic Times, then stop in on Friday for an FGC article with further Game Gear fun and Tails’ Skypatrol. Either way, there is more hedgehog coming at ya!
The worst final boss for a final game