Shing

"It's not exactly what we wanted out of it, so it terrible!" That's what I assume is the mentality behind it

Nope. It's that hating on 3d Sonic games is pretty trendy, espeically few years ago it got a lot of critics with didn't age as well. 3D sonic games had their problems of course, but people really loved to talking shit one it.

It's also the fanbase is very divided, so it exist the classic fanbase and modern fanbase(I can go much, much deeper, but it's not worth it). Sonic Mania was really successful as a classic sonic game, and admitly many classic fans doesn't like a lot of 3D sonic games. So yeah, quite of drama.

I've heard a bit about the "discussion", and my conclusion would be that the classic "fans" are pretty much like genwunners, but with Sonic. as food good 3d sonic games: colors, generations, unleashed (the were-hog levels were fun, even if it wasn;t regular sonic gameplay)