There has been some commotion over Sonic Black Knight, and Matt Casamassina's review of the game. (the IGN review) All the hoopla stirred my mind apparently because this week I dreamt that there was a Sonic game on CDi, one that very few people knew much about (if anyone even knew it existed)... at least not until Matt Cassamassina wrote an article about it.

In the dream I had already played the game (possibly after reading the article) and it was very reminiscent of the Zelda CDi games. Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, were all fully voiced in it, voiced cutscenes, it was side scrolling, there was virtually no speed, and the villain was some human sorcerer. It was a pretty jank game, probably as bad as the Zelda CDi games. But what was the most startling about Sonic CDi was that -Sonic turned into a werehog in it-. (perhaps by the work of the villain) This revealing the fact that the idea, and yes, even the character design of the werehog in Sonic Unleashed -was ripped directly out of the Sonic CDi game-.

In the IGN article by Matt, he points out that cIassic Sonic went out the window at that point. He points out that the Sonic CDi game was, as a matter of fact, intended to be the basis for all of the future of the Sonic series. He writes that the first of this we've seen in Sonic Adventure - previously thought to be the first Sonic to introduce fully voiced characters, more humans, adventure fields, etc. A game where gameplay and originality took a back seat to franchising the characters and appealing to little kids.

Matt went on to say that the Sonic series's firm ties to Sonic CDi to this day is what's to blame for the state of the series. Matt also says that the only game to break this mold came right on the heels of Sonic CDi: Sonic 3D Blast. According to him, Travellers Tales had the right idea, he writes, due to its lack of voice and the cIassic styIe of the environments the game was ''a step in the right direction.''

Wow.