Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

Sonic the Hedgehog (also known as Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, or more commonly Sonic '06) is the nineteenth game played by Jon and Arin on. The game is infamous for being one of the worst Sonic games ever and also considered one of the worst games overall. It is probably the playthrough that the Game Grumps are most famous for, as well as their longest running series.

Playthrough
Both Game Grumps spend time playing the game, alternating who is playing whenever they feel like it. Jon promised to complete the game early on in the playthrough, much to his regret. Arin and many fans have had doubts, but they have managed to get far into the game, very close to the end.

Jon departed from Game Grumps with Sonic '06 unfinished. The Grumps had completed the Sonic and Shadow Campaigns, and nearly finished the Silver Campaign, having only the final boss left, and afterwards only have the Last Campaign to do. Depending on how fast they would play the Last Campaign there would be approximately 6-9 episodes left in the series if they completed it. In an AMA with Game Grumps in October of 2013, Arin stated that he and Dan, or Jon, will not be completing the series. At MAGFest 12, Arin and Danny again confirmed they won't be finishing it.

Recurring discussions
The Sonic Campaign is unique in that the Game Grumps spend most of the play-through talking about the game. Jon and Arin often encounter and exploit glitches in the game that leave them dumbfounded, spending large chunks of time laughing, crying, shouting, and occasionally singing.

As the Shadow and Silver Campaigns are generally less glitchy than Sonic's, conversations in later episodes strayed from the game more often.

Escape From The City and many variations of the song are sang very often by the Game Grumps throughout the the first half of the Sonic Campaign playthrough. However, "Live and Learn" has also been used a couple of times as well but not as frequently as "Escape From The City". The background music to Aquatic Ruin from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Genesis) was also use in one episode as a speed up.

The Game Grumps received the Official Prima Strategy Guide for Sonic '06 from fan Marissa Lenti, which they named after her. However, the strategy guide is of little help to them.

Future
Since Jon left the channel many fans have asked to get Jon back to finish the series. Arin and Jon's successor Danny have said that they would not finish the series either with Jon or Danny.

Several fans have suggested getting Arin and Barry to finish the series as Barry is the only one outside the original grumps that have journeyed with them through editing of the episodes. The grumps haven't commented on this suggestion making it the only likable option not dis-confirmed by the grumps. It is not likely that this will happen though, as they have stated that the series "belong to the past".

Game Information
Sonic the Hedgehog is a 2006 PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platform video game that was made to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. It was developed by Sonic Team, and published by Sega. The game shares its name with two earlier video games, a manga, a television series, a comic book series and their eponymous main character. To disambiguate, the game has been referred to as Sonic 2006. It was released in late 2006 for Xbox 360, and early 2007 for PlayStation 3. Both have received almost exclusively negative reviews, with critics panning the long loading times, poor camera system, constant gameplay glitches, complicated plotting and lack of control.

Sonic the Hedgehog is a platform game in which the player characters are the titular Sonic, Silver or Shadow the Hedgehog. Sonic's levels generally focus on speed, with some sections having him run at full speed while dodging obstacles. Other segments see him escorting Princess Elise, who uses a barrier to protect him from certain hazards. Shadow's sections are similarly speedy albeit more combat focused, though some segments see him riding vehicles, such as a buggy. In contrast, Silver's levels move at a slower pace, and revolve around his use of telekinesis to defeat enemies and solve puzzles. In certain areas, control is switched to an amigo character (Tails and Knuckles for Sonic, Rouge and Omega for Shadow, and Amy and Blaze for Silver), each with their own abilities. Although every character plays the same levels, each character's unique abilities allows the player to access different areas of each stage and deny the player from accessing certain items. Sonic, Shadow, and Silver start the game with five lives. A life is lost when the characters are struck by an enemy attack without rings or suffer any other type of damage. If the player runs out of lives, the game is over. The goal of the game is to complete three stories and unlock the Last Story. In each story, the player navigates through Town Stages where they can converse with townspeople to progress the story. The main gameplay takes place in Action Stages which become accessible as the game progresses. Some Action Stages require certain abilities to access; for example, one stage requires the Light Speed Dash move to be unlocked. While in Town, players can take Mission Stages to earn rings, which can be spent on upgrades to their characters.

Several downloadable extensions have been released that add features to single-player gameplay. These include "Very Hard" mode, a more difficult version of the game; "Boss Attack" modes, which allow a playable character to engage in continuous battles with all of the game's bosses; and "Team Attack Amigo" mode, which sends players through a multitude of levels in a set order, changing to a different amigo character every two levels, culminating in a boss fight. The game also features two multiplayer modes: "Tag", where two players must work together to clear levels and collect Chaos Emeralds; and "Battle", where two players race against each other.

Trivia

 * Sonic '06 is the first game played by the Game Grumps for a Sony console, in this case being the PlayStation 3.
 * The episode "Sunny Day" started the Grep phenomenon.
 * This is the longest series on the Game Grumps channel (with 108 episodes), and is the only game in the series to have more than a hundred episodes. It surpassed a previous record number of episodes on December 11, 2012, beating Banjo Kazooie's 23 episode count. Game Grumps has yet to beat the 108 episode record. Other potential games that could've beaten the record were/are:


 * Super Mario Sunshine: the series ended with 51 episodes on October 4, 2013, just shy under the half-way point of Sonic '06's episode count.
 * The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD: at one point WWHD was expected to reach the record by the end. However, it ended at 73 episodes (35 short of Sonic '06's record number) on June 9, 2014, making it the second longest gameplay.
 * Pokémon FireRed: currently the third longest gameplay (with 70 episodes), FireRed could potentially reach this number only if the Grumps return to this series.
 * Super Mario 3D World: already reaching Sonic '06's half-way mark of episodes, Mario 3D World has a small potential of reaching this number of episodes only if the grumps continue their gameplay for that long.
 * This series became Barry's favorite series to edit, due to its ridiculousness.
 * Sonic '06 is the first game to ever have six of its episodes uploaded without any other episodes in between, in contrast with the previous high, two.
 * Sonic '06 held the record for the game having at least one episode released each day for the most consecutive days, with thirteen days (from January 16 to January 28), until it was beaten by The Legend of Zelda on July 23, 2013.
 * During MAGFest 11, Arin destroyed a fan's physical copy of Sonic '06 at request.
 * This series probably has the most Game Grumps Animated videos created by fans.
 * It was, at one point, speculated by some fans that Jon would visit Arin (and probably Danny) one day and beat Sonic '06 in a Guest Grumps episode.
 * Many fans have requested that the Grumps should complete Sonic '06, even after Jon's departure. Arin, along with Danny, have responded twice to their fans. The first attempt was during an AMA Question Response video and the second was during MAGFest12. Both responses stated that the Sonic '06 series is done for. Arin didn't want Danny to be a part of this series, and Danny saw and liked the videos so much but agreed to put it to rest because he was not a part of it. They both agreed that "it's perfect the way it is."
 * The total run-time for the series clocks in at around 20 Hours, 23 minutes, and 26 seconds, although they have skipped footage and sped up the gameplay several times. meaning their overall gameplay is much more than that.
 * On the 100th episode of "The Completionist" (hosted by Jirard Dragonrider Khalil, a member of Normal Boots along with Jontron and others), Jirard did a review of Sonic '06. Jontron made a cameo in his review as Jirard's friends attempt to find someone with "deep ties to Sonic '06" who could potentially free Jirard from a demonic possession. Jon mentions how the game is "cursed" because of how the game was not fully developed and was picked by Jirard. This was possibly assumed from Jon's experience of playing the game on Game Grumps during his time. However, in the review, Jon did not mention anything about Game Grumps.
 * However, Arin and Game Grumps were given a special thanks at the credits of this video, along with Jontron.
 * There is however a nod to the Game Grumps in the video. When Jirad suggest to his friend Greg that they play the game Greg replies to him, "That game is a plague!" Then whispers to Jirard, "Just look at what happened to the grumps when they played it."
 * Fans have seen this episode as a way to complete what was left off from Game Grumps of Sonic '06.