Skip to main content
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+ The Games, Movies, TV & Comics You Love
UK EditionUK US EditionUS CA EditionCanada AU EditionAustralia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Games
    • Game Insights
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
    • Genres
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
    • Franchises
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Big Screen Spotlight
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • Insights
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
    • Computing
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
    • Accessories & Tech
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
  • Newsletters
    • Quizzes
    • About Us
    • How to pitch to us
    • How we score
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Total Film
Total Film
  • home
  • Games
    • View Games
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • View Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • View Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • View TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • View Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Big Screen Spotlight
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • View Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • View Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • View Hardware
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • View Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • View Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
  • Newsletters
    • Quizzes
    • About Us
    • How to pitch to us
    • How we score
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Total Film
Total Film
Gaming Magazines
Gaming Magazines
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe from just £3
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12
Subscribe now
Don't miss these
Trending
  • Best Games of 2025
  • Fallout Season 2
  • Gift Guides
  • New Games for 2025
  • The Forge codes
  1. Games
  2. Platformer
  3. Sonic the Hedgehog
  4. Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric

Sonic complains about the absurdity of modern life

Features
By Andy Hartup published 30 April 2014

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Get off my lawn!

Get off my lawn!

Its a long time since 1991. The Internet is an all-dominating thing, everyone owns a mobile phone, and a skinny-mocha-double-decaf-latte-with-chips is widely available on every street corner of every city ever. Probably. Thing is, while he was King of Games in 1991, Sonic the Hedgehog has struggled to adapt to modern life. Hes the gaming equivalent of the old man who lives three doors down, shaking his cane at the local kids, and telling them not to roll their scooterboards near his bins.

As we all know, curmudgeonly old people love to complain about things. Usually in the form of letters. So, Ive imagined the stuff Sonic might complain about, as a brain-addled old mascot, slowly going insane as he tries to make sense high-definition, sat-nav, and twerking. Heres a snapshot of his last few weeks

Page 1 of 9
Page 1 of 9
The jewellery shenanigans

The jewellery shenanigans

Dear sir
I am writing to complain about my recent purchase from your Green Hill store. While I am happy with the 100 gold rings I bought (and Im pleased to tell you that I managed to get all of them home without incident this week. Last week I bumped into someone on the way home and lost a large percentage of them), I am yet to receive the extra life, which was promised to me as part of your current in-store promotion.

Further more, I noticed that--when I arrived home--there was no trans-dimensional portal to jump through. I span the sign outside my house as usual, but was unable to transport myself to another realm. I find this most disturbing. When I purchased a number of your rings back in 1991, I was granted free access to the Chaos realm. Is this a service you no longer provide? If so, I may have to consider buying my jewellery from a different retailer. I await your response.
Yours concerned
S. The Hedgehog

Page 2 of 9
Page 2 of 9
The TV incident

The TV incident

Dear Sir
Im writing to complain about my recent purchase from your Spring Yard store. I bought one of your televisions, and installed it in my living room. I went to a significant amount of trouble to find one with a fuzzy picture, and an old, square screen. Last week, I saw a commercial for a pair of red shoes. Naturally, I took this as my cue to headbutt my television set to pieces.

Not only did this cause severe cranial bleeding (thankfully, my neighbour was kind enough to drive me to the hospital in his Hyundai after I waited 5 hours for a flying fox to turn up), but--to add insult to injury--I am yet to receive my free pair of shoes. Are they lost in the mail? Or have you discontinued this service, which I relied upon so heavily in the 90s? I anxiously await your response.
Yours,
S. The Hedgehog

Page 3 of 9
Page 3 of 9
The shoe fiasco

The shoe fiasco

Dear Sir
Im writing to complain about my recent purchase from your Marble Zone store. After a recent fiasco involving the television company you partner with, I was forced to purchase a pair of your red sneakers from a shop. They are from your Michael Jackson signature range. It took a significant amount of effort to track these shoes down, as they were barely in fashion during the 90s, when I acquired my first pair.

However, despite the inconvenience I was happy to have purchased them. Upon returning home I put the shoes on my feet and found that I was unable to run any faster than normal. In fact, the pointy ends slowed me down, and the stiff leather has given me a blister on my left heel. This is most unsatisfactory. When I last purchased these shoes in 1991, they doubled my running speed: now they just make me look like an aging rockstar, which is not a look I wish to cultivate. I shall be returning these shoes forthwith, and I expect a full refund or a new television.
Yours angrily,
S. The Hedgehog

Page 4 of 9
Page 4 of 9
The rabbit debacle

The rabbit debacle

Dear Sir
Im writing to complain about my recent treatment by the staff in your Scrap Brain store. Upon visiting your shop, I was pleased to see that you had an excellent array of robots (although the fact that youre marketing these death-machines to children shows a distinct lack of moral fibre). I purchased one that resembled a rabbit, and immediately smashed it to pieces hoping to liberate the bunny that was trapped inside.

Much to my annoyance (and the horror of my fellow shoppers) I discovered that the rabbit had already escaped from inside the robot. Incensed, I began to smash all the other robots in your store, and was able to destroy six more before security escorted me out. There wasnt a SINGLE animal contained inside any of your robots. No wonder the children in your store were crying as I broke them open. I shall be writing to your regulators forthwith as standards are clearly slipping.
Yours,
S. The Hedgehog

Page 5 of 9
Page 5 of 9
The hot tub catastrophe

The hot tub catastrophe

Dear Sir
Im writing to complain about my recent purchase from your Starlight Zone store. I have had a difficult past few weeks, and have been struggling to adapt to the modern way of life. Feeling the need to relax, I bought one of your hot tubs from something called the Internet, and had it installed in my house.

I assumed that--because it has plenty of air-bubbles rising from the floor--I would be able to breathe perfectly fine while underwater. This was not the case. My friend Knuckles--who I was sharing the hot tub with--had to give me CPR after only 30 seconds, as I was unable to catch the air-bubbles in my mouth. None of this would have been a concern if I had received the extra life that I am still owed following my purchase of rings from the local jewellers. I find this situation very distressing and I demand a refund on my hot tub immediately.
Yours,
S. The Hedgehog

Page 6 of 9
Page 6 of 9
The dreadful wait

The dreadful wait

Dear Sir,
Im writing to complain about your service. As a pizza takeaway establishment, Im aware that you pride yourself on the speed of your delivery. Your marketing material states that if I wait longer than 10 minutes for your food, then I do not pay for it. This is convenient for myself, as I have an unfortunate affliction that causes me to die if I wait in the same place for 10 minutes.

Last night, your pizza delivery was three minutes late--making 13 minutes in total for delivery. This would have been disastrous for me had my extra life from the jewellers not arrived in the post that very morning. I have now squandered my extra life after only possessing it for a painfully short time. I demand a refund for my pizza, and that you change your marketing materials immediately, as you are clearly unable to fulfil the promises you make to your customers.
Yours defiantly,
S. The Hedgehog

Page 7 of 9
Page 7 of 9
The inevitable crime

The inevitable crime

Dear Go Compare
I wish to offer my most sincere apologies for lacerating your company spokesperson last week. I have nothing to say in my defence, other than that I thought he was someone else. I appreciate your leniency in this matter, and the fact that neither yourselves or the gentleman in question have decided to take this case to court.

I further agree to pay for all damages caused when I headbutted his car. To raise the money, I have decided to sell off my substantial ring collection, and one pair of red shoes, which I have barely worn.
Yours apologetically,
S. The Hedgehog

Page 8 of 9
Page 8 of 9
No complaints

No complaints

Those damn kids, eh? With their PlayBoxes, and their Interwebs, and their twerking. In my day all this was fields. Bah, the youth of today don't realise how lucky they are. Want to leave a comment? Write me a letter. No-one writes letters anymore. It's all email, and instant messaging, and twerking. I need a nap.

Want more features? Bah, in my day we didn't even have shoes! Have a look at 10 Secrets Make Street Fighter 2 So Damn Special. And while you're at it here's one about How Video Game Characters Have Changed Over 20 Years. Not that you deserve them, with your mobile phones, and your iPads, and your twerking.

Page 9 of 9
Page 9 of 9
CATEGORIES
Wii-u Nintendo Platforms
Andy Hartup
Andy Hartup
Social Links Navigation
Share by:
  • Facebook
  • X
  • Whatsapp
  • Pinterest
  • Flipboard
Share this article
Join the conversation
Follow us
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Latest in Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic Rumble
The latest Sonic game is getting ripped apart on Steam: "In what world can you get a whole, fully featured, actually fun racing game for less than the price of 2 skins here"
 
 
Sonic in werehog form in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds races through Chao Park
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds has sold 1 million copies in under a month while the "overwhelmingly positive" Steam rating holds strong
 
 
Sonic Frontiers
Somewhere at Sonic Team is a whole "roadmap of Sonic titles," says head honcho Takashi Iizuka, and the devs "think about which game to release in which year"
 
 
Sonic x Shadow Generations
Sonic the Hedgehog's Takashi Iizuka said Sonic Adventure remakes aren't happening, but Sega just filed a trademark that's fueling hopes for a Shadow the Hedgehog revival
 
 
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds screenshot of Sonic wagging his finger and looking behind as he soars through the air track in a blue car with numbered rings surrounding him
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds has Sega's "secret sauce" thanks to the devs combining "the essence" of multiple other "legendary" racing games like OutRun and Initial D
 
 
Minecraft Steve in a screenshot from Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds' Summer Game Fest trailer.
Just in case you thought Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds wasn't chaotic enough, its next online event has a mode rotation dedicated to throwing items at fellow racers to earn Minecraft prizes
 
 
Latest in Features
Timothée Chalamet as Marty Mauser in Marty Supreme, holding a red ping pong paddle, with a GamesRadar+ Big Screen Spotlight logo in the top right corner
Timothée Chalamet achieves greatness with Marty Supreme – a frantic New York odyssey wrapped up in a ping pong movie
 
 
David Jonsson, Cooper Hoffman, Ben Wang, and Tut Nyuot in The Long Walk
The Long Walk is one of the best Stephen King adaptations of all time – and the saddest movie of 2025
 
 
Jujutsu Kaisen season 3
New anime in 2026: the biggest upcoming and ongoing shows, including release dates
 
 
Steam Winter Sale 2025 banner showing official artwork of people in a futuristic setting tending to robots, with the sales dates showing - December 18 - January 5 at 10am PT
I spent 4 hours scouring the Steam Winter Sale with our expert brand director, these are the 10 best games I'd absolutely get
 
 
Phantom Blade Zero Game Awards trailer
Phantom Blade Zero devs want their kung-fu game to shake up the action genre, and I'm already spellbound
 
 
Miles Caton as Sammie in Sinners
Many have tried to dethrone it, but Sinners' time-travelling juke joint scene is still 2025's best set-piece
 
 
  1. Key art for Skate Story showing the glass skater boarding through a dark underworld filled with spikes towards a door of light
    1
    Skate Story review: "A beautiful and unique skateboarding game with great, stylized visuals set in a grungy underworld"
  2. 2
    Octopath Traveler 0 review: "The strongest entry in this retro-styled JRPG series yet, I love the greater focus on tactical battles"
  3. 3
    Sleep Awake review: "An all-timer horror premise is let down by tired stealth that I feel like I'm sleepwalking through"
  4. 4
    Metroid Prime 4: Beyond review: "The series' atmosphere has never been better, while being dragged down by a boring overworld and clunky psychic powers"
  5. 5
    Routine review: "This imperfect but wonderfully atmospheric moon-based horror leaves a strong impression"
  1. Oona Chaplin as Varang in Avatar: Fire and Ash
    1
    Avatar: Fire and Ash review: "Still a technical marvel, with some of the year's best action filmmaking"
  2. 2
    Five Nights at Freddy's 2 review: "We have waited two years for a Five Nights at Freddy's 1.5"
  3. 3
    Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery review: "Brings Knives Out back to its roots for a sequel that's almost on a par with the original"
  4. 4
    Wicked: For Good review: "Builds to an incredibly cathartic conclusion, but isn't quite as captivating as Part 1"
  5. 5
    The Running Man review: "Some fun action and Glen Powell's star power aren't enough to energize this disappointing Stephen King adaptation"
  1. Power Armor in Fallout season 2
    1
    Fallout season 2 review: "A hell of a lot of fun despite being overcrowded and convoluted"
  2. 2
    Stranger Things season 5 volume 1 review: “Can the Duffer brothers stick the landing? It’s sure looking like they will”
  3. 3
    Pluribus season 1 review: "Easily one of the year's best dramas"
  4. 4
    The Witcher season 4 review: "The Henry Cavill-less fourth season is the best yet"
  5. 5
    IT: Welcome to Derry review: "A supremely confident step back into the history of Stephen King's cursed town and killer clown"

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Add as a preferred source on Google
  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...