Sequel Showdown #5 - Sonic the Hedgehog

[AstralSoul | 502]

What's your favorite Sonic platformer? For the sake of the poll I'm keeping Sonic & Knuckles as a separate entry even though it links up with 2 and 3. And yes I know there are some i didn't list like a few Game Gear games and a Neo Geo Pocket one but just pick "other" and comment below since there are just so many Sonic games.

[TDIRunner | 2,740]

There are a lot of good Sonic games out there, but nothing comes close to topping Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the Genesis.  They took the formula from the original that worked very well and perfected it.  

Since you don't list Sonic the Hedgehog 2 & Knuckles as a separate game, I will count them together and say that it adds even more fun to the best game in the franchise.  

Edited January 20, 2021 by TDIRunner

[AstralSoul | 502]

Hard to believe but Mania is my favorite. I really didn't think there'd ever be a new Sonic game able to recapture the brilliance of Sonic 1-3 and S&K. I never felt completely comfortable with 3D Sonics. I thought Adventure 1&2 were good, and Heroes and the 3D segments of Generations but Sonic is meant to be 2D in my opinion. Mania proves that when done right Sonic is still a fierce contender among the platforming greats.

[AstralSoul | 502]

Also if any mods are reading this I posted this on Everything Else by accident, meant to put it in the Gauntlet, if possible please move it there, if not, no worries.

[DefaultGen | 5,405]

Sonic 2 wins based on the nostalgia for me, it's probably my main childhood game as a poor Sega kid with no Nintendos.

It's hard to tell whether Sonic Mania is better just because of the nostalgia blinders. Sonic 3 & Knuckles would probably win if they were a single game and not milked into 2.

[captmorgandrinker | 1,649]

9 minutes ago, AstralSoul said:

Also if any mods are reading this I posted this on Everything Else by accident, meant to put it in the Gauntlet, if possible please move it there, if not, no worries.

Done

[sp1nz | 612]

Went with Mania but if Sonic 3 & Knuckles was its own thing I would have a hard time choosing between the two.

Knuckles & Knuckles mode for the win.

[Br81zad | 629]

I've been having a lot of fun with Mania, but I must say that I really liked Generations. I think that might be my favorite.

[JamesRobot | 5,800]

Sonic 2 all the way.  Dig Spinball as well.

[Hammerfestus | 3,846]

Poll is invalid.  Sonic Spinball isn’t an option.

Edited January 20, 2021 by Hammerfestus

[AstralSoul | 502]

2 hours ago, Hammerfestus said:

Poll is invalid.  Sonic Spinball isn’t an option.

It's a spin-off but if you really wanted to you could choose Other for it.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,533]

No idea.  I've beat 1, 2, and R, and made decent progress in 3, Knuckles, Spinball, and CD.  Never played any others.

They all seem basically the same to me, in that they're okay.  Like 6/10 sorta deals.  With severely flawed designs and mechanics.  I probably won't vote.

And don't tell me to play Mania.  I have 1000 other more deserving games to get to.

[Hammerfestus | 3,846]

Ugh fine.  This is some pinball prejudice.

Spinball is my favorite sonic game.  Of the video game pinballs I’ve played it’s probably my favorite...well after pinball I guess.  The Genesis Sonics were good other than that it’s mostly been crap city.  #1 is my #2.

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

Mania, no contest. Mania absolutely perfected the classic Sonic formula and improved upon every aspect of it, it's such a fantastic game.

[MagusSmurf | 577]

Sonic 3 & Knuckles is the best I've played and probably my favorite Genesis game. I have no real experience with this franchise past the mid-2000s though, outside of watching that famous Sonic 2006 LP I guess. Always seem to get distracted during Sonic Heroes so I've never gone further in the 3D games and I was  underwhelmed by Advance 2 and Rush so I never bothered playing most of the later 2D ones.

Sonic 1 is a solid, good game but nothing too special at this point. Labyrinth Zone gets a lot of hate but I think it's basically fine when you're not 8 years old. Bringing it back in harder form for Scrap Brain Zone Act 3 was probably not wise, though.

Sonic 2 was an improvement on Sonic 1 but Metropolis Zone has issues, the Special Stages are awful (Super Sonic doesn't even exist for me in this game without using the code), the final boss has no business being a zero-ring affair when its hit detection is that bad (not that it's hard once you grasp the pattern but the fight's pretty slow and dull when you play conservatively because you can't trust the hit detection not to screw you otherwise, especially when he's taking off), and it just doesn't hit the highs of or length and variety of 3 & Knuckles.

I didn't really get Sonic CD. The way Sonic (well, Genesis-esque Sonic games) works with multiple routes interweaving throughout the level and backtracking often being limited, it makes little sense to have vital collectibles only available at one specific point in a level but that's exactly what this game does with the Badnik generators necessary to destroy to create a Good Future. Sonic Advance 1 had basically the same problem with its special stages but there the developers helpfully just made them basically impossible to beat (before you'd have long since grown bored with the game anyways) and therefore rendered the annoyance of locating them irrelevant. At least Sonic Advance was relatively good outside of that, whereas I don't remember being too fond of the rest of CD either. Stages and bosses weren't that good and never felt I had a solid grasp on how fast/far you had to go after passing the sign to trigger time travel. Only beat CD once though, maybe it'd grow on me.

The Master System games, Advance 2, and Rush are varying levels of "meh" to "almost good" but none match even Sonic 1.

I don't think I could call either Adventure or Adventure 2 straightforwardly and clearly good in a way I could easily defend to others but they're sure nostalgic.

Edited January 20, 2021 by MagusSmurf

[Br81zad | 629]

I also wanna give a shout out to Sonic CD. I think that may be the only Sega CD game that I've ever beaten. lol

[Gloves | 11,779]

I do not like Sonic the Hedgehog, Gloves I am.

[JamesRobot | 5,800]

26 minutes ago, Gloves said:

I do not like Sonic the Hedgehog, Gloves I am.

Would you play it in a box?  Would you play it with a fox?

[PII | 1,886]

Haven't played very many, unfortunately.  The original is the one I've played the most however, on the Game gear, which was pretty damn amazing in its day...

[Tanooki | 4,934]

It's too easy for me to cop out and say Sonic 2 as it really kind of was the highpoint.  But you know after getting the game with the handheld decades ago now, I find that I most enjoy Sonic Pocket Adventure for the Neo Geo Pocket Color.  It's similar to #2 but I find the stage design and the rest more fun to enjoy.

 

After reading some of the other comments, I realized I forgot about spinball.  I really enjoyed that one too.

Edited January 21, 2021 by Tanooki

[Webhead123 | 675]

Objectively, I think Sonic Mania is the best game to ever feature the blue blur. However, I have such strong, personal nostalgia for Sonic 2 that I had to choose it as my favorite. I'll never forget discovering the Golden Super Sonic secret and all the other hidden codes.

Edited January 21, 2021 by Webhead123

[Sumez | 2,954]

Since Sonic 3 & Knuckles isn't an option as a single game (and IMO it's the only real way to play those two games), I'm going to give Sonic Generations some love.

It's kind of crazy come to think of it. The Sonic series has been going for so long, and my knee jerk reaction is that over the course of I don't know how many games, it's not even been close to regaining what was so cool about the original 3 games. They keep making those 3D Sonic games, but they are all so bad. Of course Sonic 2006 is famous for being awful, but anyone who claims the Adventure games are any better has to be lying to themselves. They have all the exact same shortcomings.  

But then I remembered Sonic Generations exists. It's so weird, like for just one single game they suddenly managed to make 3D Sonic work super well, by taking the fundamentals from Sonic Unleashed and Colours, and streamlining them into much better paced stages with a nice set of challenges that mesh well with the central goal of getting an optimal time, messing up as little as possible on the way. Going for S rank in every stage was incredibly satisfying, even if it's not too challenging. Hell, I actually liked the 3D stages in that game better than the pure 2D ones.

And then, I started thinking about it, and had to realise that I probably actually had even more fun delving into Generations than I ever did with Sonic 3 & Knuckles, even though I'd usually consider that my clear favourite in the series.

So yeah, my vote goes to Sonic Generations and a Sega that somehow managed to finally get it right without realising it, and then never looked back.

[twiztor | 851]

voted Sonic & Knuckles. 

i lament that we never got a physical Sonic 4 release (and Nintendo systems never got any sort of Sonic 4, Part 2 release)

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,013]

It's Hard to believe but my favorite sonic game is Sonic 4 for mobile . I haven't played mania yet, so maybe that will change. 

[AstralSoul | 502]

48 minutes ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

It's Hard to believe but my favorite sonic game is Sonic 4 for mobile . I haven't played mania yet, so maybe that will change. 

I completely left off Sonic 4. For some reason it's extremely forgettable to me. Not at all bad but I forget it exists.