Yesterday, I realized I had a little leftover cash in my Nintendo Network savings and thought I’d get a neat theme for my 3DS. Each one is only about $2 each. As there were 4 Sonic themes (Well, 5 counting the free Sonic Boom one but I didn’t bother with that) that I could choose from. They had a Sonic theme, a Amy Theme, a Shadow theme, and a Chao theme. I knocked out the Amy and Shadow choices immediately as I don’t super-like any of those two characters to have them as a theme. Amy’s comes with the hilariously cheesy My Sweet Passion theme that we hear in the Adventure games for her. And Shadow comes with Radical Highway from SA2. So it really came down to choosing between the Sonic theme or the Chao theme. The Sonic theme looked really cool, and I probably would have gotten it if it had a different song. You see all though everyone of the themes had a background music from the Sonic Adventure series. Sonic’s music is the Generations Remix of Seaside Hill. Which while nice, not really the song I’d like to open my 3DS to everytime. I probably would have chosen the Sonic theme if it was Escape from the City or even It Doesn’t Matter from SA2. Kinda strange that they didn’t do that since all three of the themes had background music from the Adventure games. But with the Sonic theme un-chosen, that meant I went with the Chao theme which also comes with the calming, relaxing music of the Chao Garden from SA2.

Which is what I’m talking about at least a iittle today. I’m not sure if I’ve ever outright said it, but Sonic Adventure 2: Battle is my favorite Sonic game of all-time. Not only that, but it was pretty much my first Sonic game to begin with (Though I got it with Sonic Mega Collection on the same day one Christmas Morning. SA2:B and Sonic Mega Collection both kind of introduced me to the series and got me hooked). The game left an impression with me that’s left me endeared to the Sonic series ever since. I loved going on the high speeds on levels like City Escape, going upside down on Crazy Gadget, and beating Final Hazard with Super Sonic and Shadow. I loved shooting things as Tails and Dr. Eggman. And even while the Treasure Hunting levels tended to be the most frustrating of the game, I found fun just flying around as Knuckles and Rouge as well. The levels just have a thrill to them that especially in the Sonic stages are fun to replay again and again once in a while. Playing to the awesome soundtrack as well. And even though I will definitely admit it’s not a perfect game, and what some of SA2 introduced would later end up screwing up the entire franchise’s reputation (Though mostly because they executed it way, way, way more poorly then the Sonic Adventure games did) later on when games like Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic 06 tried to continue the Adventure Game’s legacy in quite a few ways. And I know that Adventure 2 doesn’t appeal to everybody in the Sonic fanbase and maybe in some ways a bit overrated. Perhaps there are objectively better 3D Sonic games, like there’s a good amount of people that pretty much believe Sonic Generations is the best 3D Sonic. Which I can certainly understand why, but I felt Sonic Generations was just a bit too short to my liking. Certainly the best Sonic game since SA2 for me, but nonetheless SA2 just consdiering the story mode felt like it wasn’t too short, and it wasn’t too long. I think it had the perfect sort of length that a Sonic game would ever need. As there are examples of Sonic games that are too short (as I said Generations is one, but there’s probably a few others) and some that are too long (Sonic 06, even discounting the amount of times you’ll likely have to restart levels because something bullshit killed you on your last life or the load times is just way too long for a Sonic game). It just feels there’s more of a variety of things to do in SA2 then there is in Generations when comparing the two and that matters to me even if the gameplay is overall more solid.

Though there’s one thing that Sonic Adventure 2: Battle has that no Sonic game before or after it that is another reason why I love it over any other Sonic game. And that’s the Chao Gardens. The way they did the Chao Gardens in particular in the game is the peak of what they’ve done with it thus far. You know they did it well, because people like me actually ended up having a fondness for these chao as if they were real life pets of ours. They may have been just virtual, but whomever were the people who helped design the Chao system made sure you liked caring for them and seeing them happy. They start out with such a simplistic but very cute design, and even the sound design plays a part in making them endearing like their cute “ooo ooo” that plays when they can’t even walk when they’re newborns. But going back to their simplistic designs, they also had a neat way of changing them like taking care of them with Heroes made them more Angel-like or taking care of them with the Dark side characters made them the Demon-like Dark Chao (But even Dark Chao could be very cute ^^) and also biasing a chao on a certain stat led to many other complex designs you could do with a chao. (It’s possible to make a Neutral chao, but in SA2:B it’s a bit difficult because you have to treat it pretty much equally with one hero character and one dark character. As otherwise it will become a Hero or a Dark chao instead. Pet it with on side you have to it once more with the other. Same with feeding and such. Starting with just the basic types in it’s first evolution, in a 2nd evolution you could have the chao get trait’s of a 2nd trait if you wanted to or get further into the same trait. (Run/Run Neutral and Dark Chao end up being Sonic and Shadow Chaos interesting enough! I actually have one of each in my Chao Garden file for SA2:B ^^). All I’m saying is, there’s just so much replay value in the Chao Gardens in not just making the different type of chao and making them Race or Battle. But some people like me like to legitimately care for these things and watch them live and everything.

Even when there was that one time I decided to try to raise a chao just to abuse it just to see some of the things that happen. I quickly just couldn’t bring myself to do it for all that long. So instead I dropped it off in the Chao Transporter and selected the Say Goodbye option (Which is essentially just deleting your chao). Cause I felt bad even when my I was intending to abuse it. But I’m actually really glad of that because that means I learnt something about myself. In that I can’t even bring myself to torture a virtual pet without starting to feel bad. It makes me feel like I have a good conscious that I would even care for things that aren’t actually alive in the same way I or even real-life pets are. They give you the option to abuse and torture these little creatures all you wanted, and I’m sure there are some that did take advantage of that knowing they’re not real and felt little-to-no remorse for it. But knowing that I didn’t, and I felt bad even for creatures that aren’t really alive alive. It just makes me feel good inside.

I know not everyone is into the Chao Gardens and may get easily bored with how long it takes for Chao to grow and such. But those who do find something special within SA2 because of the Chao Gardens because it provides a replay value that no other Sonic game before or since has provided.

Which gets me to how it’s weird Sega has not even tried to bring back the Chao Gardens in any sort of way since SA2:B. Because in this generation of gaming. I think a new Chao Garden could work wonders these days. Just imagine the system that worked so well on a Gamecube now upgraded with even more diversity and things to do with your chao for the Wii U or heck even just the 3DS! The latter could have a more complex version of the Pokemon Amie that was in Pokemon X and Y or if they did bring a Chao Garden to the Wii U either via a new Sonic game or even just a downloadable game that’s just about the Chao you could have the cute Chao in HD and use the Gamepad in a similar way to Pokemon Amie. And with DLC you could get more stuff for your Chao to play with, wear, or even outright change the design of your chao. Maybe even special Chao colors that are only available through Spotpass that is sent from Nintendo and/or Sega. The Chao Gardens are a hidden x-factor for many regarding SA2 and it could be again in future Sonic titles if Sega ever took the time and effort to capitalize on the idea. It just would really be cool if anyone were to ever realize the potential they could do with Chao these days when they already did a pretty amazing job back when the Gamecube was new.

Honestly, until a Sonic game that can have thrilling gameplay. As well as reasons to come back occasionally to the game like the Chao Gardens do for SA2:B then I’m not sure there will ever be a Sonic game that completely overthrows the game for me. I personally believe the best games provide a reason for you to come back to the game when is all said and done. And what both Sonic Adventure 2: Battle had in both the main gameplay itself and the Chao Garden provides. No other Sonic game before or after has as much reason to replay the game for me in SA2:B and that raises the game’s higher then any other in the series for a big reason as a result. :)