My Surreal Out of Body Experience with Sonic Generations

3D, the past, present and the future

Okay, so I understand the title of this article is pretty wordy, but it will all come to make sense by the end. In 2012, I was between school and university - it was the first time in my life when I had nothing in particular to do. Tried getting a job and couldn’t get one, I had no school work to do, I was already prepared for university - it was a strange empty space of seemingly unlimited free time.

I filled it of course the way most teenagers do, going out to pubs with mates and then spending a lot of time playing games. At that time I felt pretty nifty - I had a 3D TV, and it felt so futuristic. I had a 3DS too, and it felt like the world was truly embracing this new dimension.

That being said, I didn’t really have much media that could take advantage of my new 3D TV. It had a special mode that converted 2D media into 3D on the fly - and it worked alright, but it made the colours strangely saturated. It was fun to experiment with different shows and movies to see how they would look in 3D, but it wasn’t really a true experience.

At that time I was still living with my Mum, so the TV in my room was sat at the end of my bed - I must have looked pretty cool watching Trigun in fake 3D whilst wearing 3D glasses laying on my back. It’s memories like this which is why I’m thankful we don’t have photorealistic memory.

One day, I was talking to a friend about my 3D TV, and he told me that the PS3 had some games that would play in 3D. I had no idea this was a capability. That box could do everything I thought. Researching online, I found a few games that supported it, and went down to my local game shop - which was still a blockbuster at the time - and picked up Sonic Generations, a game I had wanted to play anyway.

I started playing through the game in 3D, and it was magical. A little low resolution perhaps - remember to display a game in 3D the PS3 had to essentially render parts of it twice - but it was still awesome. It wasn’t until I got to one level though, that I had, the experience.

Sky Sanctuary Zone. Do not ask me why this particular level caused this, but for some reason, the combination of that music - which felt so nostalgic and uplifting at the same time - and the 3D immersion, caused me to go a bit strange. It was like I was in the level, surrounded by the game, but also flying through my past at the same time. As it was the modern version of the stage, I also felt like I was looking at the future.

I think my brain broke because it was trying to combine both the past and the future into one. I’m a person that loves retro gaming, but also really like new tech - so I’m always looking in both directions. However they are usually isolated from one another, a retro game console for my retro games, a new console or computer for my new stuff.

This perfect combination of past, present and future seemed to just lift me up and out of my body. I had what some folk might call a spiritual experience - at the alter of Sonic the Hedgehog. It’s funny and bizarre, and something like that hasn’t happened since.

I never experienced anything like that with any other 3D title, and of course 3D has now essentially disappeared, becoming yesterdays tech. I don’t think I’d experience the same thing again if I played that game and the same level - but at that moment, I was on a whole other level.