Its hard to believe that its been three decades since Sonic 3D Blast was released on the Sega Saturn. Sonic 3D Blast was Sega’s first attempt at creating an entry in the franchise that contrasted the 2D fast paced side-scrolling gameplay that fans loved during the Genesis era. While Sonic 3D Blast was a game that sounded good on paper many feel that the execution of the game itself was poor. Sonic 3D Blast was not truly a three-dimensional game but rather a pseudo-3D isometric title which felt awkward in terms of gameplay. In this game Sonic did not move as fast as he did in the previous games and the stages felt hollow compared to the games from the Genesis era. Also, there many people who complained about the camera’s and the concept of collecting Flicky’s in Sonic 3D Blast because it felt boring and repetitive. While the music in Sonic 3D Blast was good there are many who believe that it might of been the only redeeming quality the game had.

Sonic 3D Blast had seven zones with roughly over twenty stages which was pretty cool. However, Sonic 3D Blast felt unbalanced which contributed to its overall difficulty. In Sonic 3D Blast if you got hit by an enemy players lost the Flicky’s they collected which forced them to start over. Also, Sonic 3D Blast had limited power-ups compared to games like Sonic the Hedgehog 3 from ’94. While Sonic 3 set the bar pretty high for future installments within its own series it felt like Sonic 3D Blast did the opposite in some ways. It felt like Sega placed less emphasis on features that made older Sonic games addictive aside from the soundtrack. Also, having other characters like Tails and Knuckles as NPC’s in Sonic 3D Blast made no sense and probably more harm than good to the game itself. The lack of variety in Sonic 3D Blast was disappointing to say the least and it felt like a step down from Sega produced in previous installments. Despite, Sonic 3D Blast being considered a commercial success it still sold far less than each game within the Sonic trilogy from ’91-94.

While Sonic 3D Blast was a flawed game it was released towards the end of the Sega Genesis’s life cycle. It should also be noted that the Sega Saturn ended up being a commercial failure in America following its release due to how expensive it was. Sonic 3D Blast came out during a time period where gamers around the world preferred actual three-dimensional video games on consoles like PS1 and the N64. There were also many video games in arcade centers which were ten times more fun than Sonic 3D Blast. By the mid-90’s AAA video games were evolving and the bar had been raised significantly which may have indirectly harmed the overall sales of Sonic 3D Blast. While Sonic 3D Blast is one of Sega’s less prominent entries within the Sonic series it still managed to turn heads during a time period where the blue hedgehog’s popularity was starting to decline. If Sonic 3D Blast had been an actual fully three-dimensional game like people wanted back in the mid 90’s maybe it could have achieve more success. However, without Sonic 3D Blast there may have never been a Sonic Adventure game for Dreamcast in 1998.