What is your favorite Sonic game?

Well... I seperate 2D from 3D so I'm going to say what's my favourite 2D and 3D game, as both play vastly different from each other.

If it comes to 2D it is Sonic The Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles. I was relatively to this franchice when I have played S3&K for my first time. I have only beaten Sonic 1 & 2 so far and it surpassed my expectations. I loved the graphics, the soundtrack and how those zones were directly connected to each other. It really gave me a good feeling when I rushed through the game my first time and it felt great to go through all zones without any interruptions and I kinda miss that from this series now. It also felt more legit when I went to the next zone because it was not like Zone finished next one! Also, multiple paths were a great factors for replayability. There were many ways, some were tricky some were easy and each playthrough was a whole different experience. And what adds more fun is that you can play the game with different characters esp. Knuckles who has a whole different way to go. Also, this game had a really good duration compared to other ones. This was something I was expecting for the future Sonic games.

Now, 3D games... It's gotta be Sonic Colors. It was my first 3D Sonic game (and the 4th one in general) and it felt somewhat like S3&K in 3D. The soundtrack was great, the graphics were colorfull and vibrant, you had tons of paths to go and explore, a lot of well used gimmicks (wisps) which also gave you replayability for older stages as you can use wisps you previoulsy couldn't (somewhat like metroidvania) and it felt SOLID and POLISHED unlike other 3D games of that series. If there is a better 3D Sonic game it could be Sonic Generations as it is almost like Colors, on some parts better on some parts worse but what made Sonic Colors better was the durration of the game and the variety of the stages themselfes. When I heared Sonic Generations the first time I was expecting a lot of zones to cover, old ones, new ones and even zones that are completely new. But instead it just gave me 18 Levels and 8 Boss fights. It felt short and those missions felt kinda dull as they only let you replay certain parts of those stages with a few new restrictions. That game was short and after 24 Hours of playtime this game was completed to 100%. Sonic Colors had 58 Stages to explore and rush through and 7 boss fights (while 3 of them were tougher versions of the previous ones) and it never got boring as each stage in each zone was different from each other and took me way longer to complete it than Sonic Generations (but I don't have the exact time in mind).

Nekoishi said:

my favorite sonic game is freedom planet

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Good one, that was funny.

ashes2thestars said:

I just downloaded it yesterday. Here's my thoughts.

Sonic moves WAY too fast and he keeps hitting walls. Sonic moves like a tank, which causes a lot of slippery and sticky movement, if that makes sense. I find it to be both satisfying and unsatisfying at the same time.

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I'd suggest you to use WASD + Mouse to navigate or if you want to play with an gamepad try enabling analog mode. But if you really want to play this game with a gamepad the Steam Controller is the best choice for that game as evidenced in my recently published video. And other than that it is an awesome piece of tech.
And no I am TOTALLY NOT trying to advertise the Steam Controller nor my YouTube Channel. This is just my opinion on that...

SRB2 movement is a bit quirky. A lot of people have completely different configurations and swear by them. After a while, you will get the hang of it. I used to use analog gamepad, but now I use mouse and keyboard with always mouselook on. Just try a whole bunch for a couple of levels each to see which one you like the most.

Anyway, I am getting to off the original topic. I don't know if I have a favorite. I liked the original sonic game because that was basically my first ever video game. I don't really play the classics too much now, since I played them a lot as a kid. I liked generations a bit. Aside from that, idk, I sometimes check out hacks or whatever, but not that often.

Rumia1 said:

The analog mode for the game is suprisingly nice when, from what I've heard, it works properly with your joystick (I seem to be within that minority). it controls much like the adventure games and heroes, but more often than not it requires rotating the camera manually to not get confused. I can see where you're comming from with Sonic moving too fast and bumping into walls, though.

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Analog is trash. You need an external joypad-to-key/mouse configuration, camera panning set to a high speed, and ideally a camera distance toggle just for it to be enjoyable.

Will ride upon the dragons back; because the mountains don’t give back what they take

MosaicMario said:

Good one, that was funny.

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who said I was joking

There will be bloodshed; it's the only thing I've ever known

ashes2thestars said:

Sonic moves WAY too fast and he keeps hitting walls. Sonic moves like a tank, which causes a lot of slippery and sticky movement, if that makes sense. I find it to be both satisfying and unsatisfying at the same time.

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...Yeah, Sonic is SRB2's hard mode. Try Tails if you're still not used to controlling the game.

Protip: The game is essentially impossible if you don't use strafe. Start using it.

Can't find a Sonic game that is better than "Sonic Adventure", It suffered heavily from glitches and bugs but overal was great and enjoyable, Although i hate to play as Big and E120, I Love seeking emblems to Unlock secrets and explore Hub Worlds .

i'm probably one of the few people who thought E102y was neat

Nah, you're not the only one. There's a reason why his gameplay came back in SA2, after all.

The way E-102 could fire at multiple targets like he did was cool, yeah, but I suspect it's the reverse timer thing Romio didn't like most. Unless I'm wrong?

I personally didn't mind the timer. If anything, it just made it play more like an arcade game

if there was anything to complain about, it's that there wasn't that much strategy involved beyond locking your laser onto as many targets as possible. additionally, the ring system didn't make much sense on gamma's gameplay mechanics (which of course SA2 rectified)

I think Sonic Robo Blast 2 LOL

My top 3. Genesis: sonic 3. Early 3d games: SADX. Modern: sonic generations.

Perhaps maybe I don't have a favorite Sonic game. I did play the majority of them, and I have to say that Sonic is beginning to wear on me. I am now in understanding that Sonic games are too easy, linear, and don't really rely all that much on interesting mechanics. It's just "get from point A to point B as fast as you can and don't take your time", which is something that I'm absolutely against. I hate having a timer counting how long I spend in a stage. When there is one, I feel like exploring is very bad for the game, and that I should either focus on finishing the stage, or exiting the stage. It turns out that I mainly enjoyed the Chao Garden from Sonic Adventure 2, as well as mission mode from Sonic Adventure, Mean Bean Machine from Sonic Mega Collection, Sonic R, and Sonic the Fighters. I also did enjoy Sonic Heroes for a while. There was one thing I've mainly noticed about the Sonic games I enjoyed. That is, there was something behind it. That's probably why I never truly enjoyed the Sega Genesis titles. Because of the way I play video games, do you know how much I HATE replaying Green Hill Zone, Emerald Hill Zone, Angel Island Zone, Chemical Plant Zone, Marble Zone, Hydrocity Zone, and so on? I hate replaying only the first two or three zones. They're uninteresting, repetitive, and I hate how I've memorized almost all of the Sonic maps. Video games need to have a lack of linearity, and too many Sonic games have just that.

My favourite game is Rise of Lyric. (lolno)

On a serious note, I think, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic Generations, Sonic Chronicles, Sonic Adventure DX and Sonic Adventure 2 Battle are my most favourite games to play.

@ashes2thestars:

I mean, yeah anything beyond Genesis is generally pretty damn linear but when you try telling me this or even this is linear I can't help but wonder if you somehow played a different game from me. You're giving me the impression you've only ever taken one route, and you can't really complain about linearity when you've only held right through one route your whole life. The only cases of heavy linearity in the classic Sonic are Marble Zone, Labyrinth Zone, the mid-level scripted sequences in S3&K (like Flying Battery dropping bombs on you; note I didn't say start/end-of-level sequences since those have a purpose), and the levels meant to only house a boss. All of those (besides the boss levels) are bad anyways, and notice the levels mentioned are only from the first game and the sequences are extremely short. And besides that, they make up a tiny fraction of the classic games.

To solidify my point, I'm going to show some very highly overlooked paths in GHZ1.


I'm going to bet you've only taken the middle path, or maybe you've fell down into the path circled in red once or twice. Most people do. But there's an entire path up there (outlined in yellow) if you want to get it! Moreso, you're rewarded in different ways for each of the paths; the main/fastest path obviously has the most speed, but you have tons of goodies such as rings and monitors to get if you decide to go outside your comfort zone. (and is also the reason I think Sonic 2's not as good as people say it is; it accommodates for speed better than the first, but you're punished for taking anything but the fast route with water or hazards)

And if you're about to bring up the argument that Sonic is just all about speed and that you shouldn't slow down for each path, that's yet another thing that would make me question if we've actually played the same games.


Sonic is more about speed facilitating platforming and exploration. Sure, you CAN play them for just speed, but they're very deep if you care about the other parts of the game. Take this part from CPZ2 for example; you could just hold right and there you go, you're at the next part. But if you take the time to notice the platforms, you might want to get up there. A typical jump doesn't really work though, so how do you get up there? You build up speed, either by running or spindashing, and then jump off of the bump in the ramp! Then there you go, you're at a whole new area that some people might not know about. It's not speed for speed's sake, it's speed working together with the platforming and exploration to make a simple yet sophisticated game.

And with that rant, I've pretty much also explained why Sonic 3 and Knuckles is my favorite game of the series. Everything I like about the first two, but, well, better. I wouldn't really call myself a fan of Sonic (despite that essay being enough evidence to say otherwise), but the classic Sonic games are just plain good games.

Well, it's more along the lines of not really liking to take alternate pathways in 2D video games. Plus, when I say alternate routes, I'm not talking like two or three. I'm talking more like 200 alternate routes. lol

Besides, in Sonic games, I personally believe that alternate routes should punish the player for screwing up. For what the game's true purpose is, I don't like thinking, "Hmm... perhaps maybe I SHOULD just go this way, even if it's longer." :P

ashes2thestars said:

Well, it's more along the lines of not really liking to take alternate pathways in 2D video games.

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If you don't like exploring then don't complain about it being linear

Plus, when I say alternate routes, I'm not talking like two or three. I'm talking more like 200 alternate routes. lol

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I showed one small section of a level in both cases; GHZ1 is a tame example (and even then, the yellow outlined path technically splits into two more), and CPZ2 is an extremely tiny snippet. Look at the two full map links I posted at the beginning of the earlier post please

Besides, in Sonic games, I personally believe that alternate routes should punish the player for screwing up. For what the game's true purpose is, I don't like thinking, "Hmm... perhaps maybe I SHOULD just go this way, even if it's longer." :P

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So, you hate exploring, and you want the game to punish people for exploring, yet complain it's linear

Also the game's "true" purpose I just explained is a lot more complicated than just run to the goal. Its an option, and if you like playing like that then I wont stop you, but speed is still a tool for exploration, platforming, and just playing the game. Classic Sonic is so good because it supports more than one playstyle; if you like exploring or if you like rushing to the goal or if you like platformers, then classic Sonic has you covered

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ashes2thestars said:

It's just "get from point A to point B as fast as you can and don't take your time", which is something that I'm absolutely against.

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You certainly don't act like you're "absolutely against" it if you refuse to do anything else


Either way I'm not saying you can't hate the game, I'm saying your reasons completely contradict each other

Sonic Colors was the best, no glitches, 10/10 level design, good difficulty (yes it's hard but as a gamer i find joy in difficulty), beautiful graphics for the wii, one of the best.

played all sonic games, and i have to say colors was the best, it had the best balance between platforming and speed, sonic controlled perfectly, the boost felt like a platforming game boost and not like a racing game boost.

Sonic generations was great too, but that was an easy job, next.

Unleashed was something new, and i loved it for what it was. i totally hated the night stages though, the wiimote pain ahh...

Sonic Adventure was the first sonic game i owned and is buggy and overated as hell, although sonic gameplay was the truest (if you take all glitches away), mediocre at best although i liked it as a kid, next.

Sonic Adventure 2 was great, a-lot of glitches though, but it's a step foward from sonic adventure mainly because of the stages where you had to play with gravity and time.

Out of all 2D games i'd have to say Sonic 3 was the best

so in that order (no nostalgia bullshit )
1. Sonic Colors (perfect sonic game)
2. Sonic 3 (perfect 2D sonic game)
3. Sonic Generations (it was destined to be great though)
4. Sonic Adventure 2
5. Sonic Unleashed

Sonic 3 and knuckles. Good story and first appearance of Hyper transformations

Just played Shadow the Hedgehog again. Hate it.

I don't have a favorite. Sonic sucks, I believe. I don't enjoy any Sonic games anymore, for some reason. Maybe it's the fan base?