One way the sword does adhere to conventional Sonic principles is that half the time you never really feel in control of the weapon. Boss fights descend into inelegant flailing, and the QTE prompts lack any generosity – your movements don’t seem to be matched on-screen, which more often than not ends up in the loss of life. Sometimes the response is so bad it makes you think the remote itself is the problem – a quick blast on MadWorld and Twilight Princess confirms that it’s the game.

The rest of the gameplay, when you’re not struggling with the weaponry, fares marginally better. Black Knight’s world map isn’t especially huge – after all, it’s possible to see the ‘first’ end credits well within two hours. Divided into several locales, each of which feature smaller levels and challenges, this design betrays a fondness for padding, as well as stifling any emerging interest; many of the levels feature identical layouts, with a straight sprint to the goal first time around replaced by a challenge to defeat 50 enemies the next. It’s all a little dispiriting when played for any stretch of time.

Only once, on the first Molten Mine level, does the game reach the euphoric highs that we’d hoped for. Here the balance of grinding on rails, dazzling speed and player timing is almost perfect – we only wish such a combination was followed more frequently. The other conventional stages are sporadically enjoyable, but only if you’re willing to overlook the dodgy collision detection, the poor analogue control and the overall insubstantial and lightweight impression.

As a package Black Knight is competent: the frame rate is consistent while the visuals, taking their cue from Secret Rings, suggest that Sonic Team’s capability with squeezing results from the modest hardware is more successful than their understanding of how Sonic should feel as a game. There is also a fairly throwaway multiplayer mode and a system of post-level rewards that will satisfy collectors (there are 247 in total, while duplicates can be traded between friends: you’d be mad to try and find them all). The power-metal soundtrack is also laughably great. But all these bells and whistles can’t hide the fact that Sonic and the Black Knight is another example of the franchise falling far short of expectations. Every successive game only seems to highlight how wide the gap is between the past and present, something the endless retro compilations painfully underline. If things keep heading this way then it’s hard to see Sonic surviving another 10 years.

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