I was actually surprised to see Joe gush so much over Mario after giving the Sonic games such a hard time. I mean, I shouldn't have been, considering all the 3D Mario titles are much, much, much better.
Still, I have to confess that I'm a fan of both Sonic Adventure titles. I had the first one on the Dreamcast, but only ever had the demo of the second that came with Phantasy Star Online up until I bought the recent HD remaster of it on PSN. I had actually rented it for the Gamecube once, but for some reason, as soon as the Tails mech stages were forced on me I was completely turned off. I don't remember what year it was that the remaster came out, but I got 100% of the trophies and recall being surprised at what a blast I had with it. Granted, I also somewhat enjoyed Sonic 4: Episodes 1 and 2, so what do I know?
I'll also say that I found Generations to be a FANTASTIC return to form. I highly recommend you at least give it a whirl, Joe.
I also was surprised to see so many mainstream games in this episode. Rayman 2 and Maximo were nice to see, but when I initially saw the episode title I thought I'd probably be seeing stuff like Gex, Croc, or the Banjo games. I guess that'll have to be for another episode.
While I don't personally think of them as platformers (the first is most decidely not), you guys REALLY need to talk about the Legacy of Kain series. It had some of the most engaging writing I had heard back in the late 90's. That's also despite the fact that I typically shunned most games developed in the west back in my late teens and early 20's. These managed to be an exception for me. I mainly just like the first few games (though the load times in the original on PS1 are horrid), but I hear the others are okay.
