[BlackHole]

Green Hill Zone will be the inevitable winner, due to the fact many would probably start at the first game and thus be their first zone, barring the bundling of Sonic 2 with the Mega Drive, and the Zone has been repeated constantly, so it's better etched into recent memories.

This post has been edited by BlackHole: 05 July 2012 - 02:07 PM

[TheInvisibleSun]

I voted Emerald Hill because like many others already, it was the first Sonic Level I played (Genesis Bundle) and experienced. Its theme, in my opinion, properly set the tone for Sonic 2. Though I love basically all of Sonic 2's entire OST, Emerald Hill's bassline is beautiful, (with Casino Night 2P as a personal close second) and I grew up valuing it(as my dad is a bassist after all). Though Green Hill's Level Design is better in some ways, Emerald Hill's artwork is significantly better, and more detailed in my opinion.

[Josh]

Green Hill is way more iconic, but Emerald Hill is more memorable for me, for the same reasons the OP listed. I started watching AoStH sometime in Kindergarten, and got the Genesis 2 packed with Sonic 2 for my sixth birthday in 1994.

SIDE NOTE: I actually very recently remembered that I watched the cartoon before I ever got the game. I had a flashback to the first time I beat EHZ's boss and hit the capsule. The animals started coming out, and my Dad asks me what those are. I replied, "I dunno, but I'm not stickin' around to find out!" and stood on top of the capsule to avoid them. I was quoting an episode of Adventures, there. Plus I was so jumpy after having FINALLY beat that tough-as-nails boss that I didn't want anything to kill me, haha.

I really do enjoy Green Hill. I think the imagery and music are a notch better, and it's a perfect introduction to the Genesis series. But as a level, I enjoy Emerald Hill a lot more. Sonic 2's level design gave you a lot more freedom to either explore OR go quickly, and I've always tried to speed run, haha.

[Hukos]

Green Hill Zone by far.

I dunno why, but it just feels so much more natural of a level than Emerald Hill Zone. EHZ... just feels a bit stale and not that memorable. It has the same theme and vibe as GHZ, but honestly I don't care for it much as an intro level. It's just not that particularly engaging, and in a platformer that's not a good sign. Hell, I think Emerald Coast is a much better intro level than EHZ but that's a subject for another day.

Really, in general I just think Sonic 1 trumps 2 in so many ways. The level design was so much more clever and subtle, S2 to this day feels a bit... dumbed down? It's not a bad game by any stretch, but I still maintain that it's the most overrated game in the series and I consider it the weakest out of the classic games (Including CD into that).

Also when I was a kid I always wanted to know what the hell was on that Island in the background of GHZ. I never did find out.

[ItzWizzz]

It's most definitely Green Hill zone!!! Nothing compares to the feeling and the reminiscent background and theme music of this wonderous level!!!! That's why there have been so many re-incarnations of the level in other sonic games(SA2,Sonic Battle,Sonic Chronicles,Sonic Generations etc.) And Green Hill was the reason almost all first levels in the sonic games look almost similar (Tropical,lush green, forest setting).

[Retroman]

Green Hill Zone. Basically, the music is extremely nostalgic, taking you back to the days when life was cheaper.

The lake/sea water at the back being dyed a blue color and the hills, while the crabmeets serenade on the ground and the buzzbombers fly gracefully over the blissful flowers that turn on the grassy landscapes. Filled with moving platforms, loops and the dangers of spikes, Green Hill Zone is a marvle in it's beauty.

I am crazy.

This post has been edited by Retroman: 05 July 2012 - 08:17 PM

[Aesculapius Piranha]

The graphical style and music in Sonic 1 was by far superior, and because the gameplay isn't much different, I naturally prefer Sonic 1's stuff.

EDIT: Though I do agree with OP on one point. Marble Zone was my introduction to the Sonic series at a friends house, and for a while I thought it was the first level, so it probably left a greater impression on me at first.

Overall though, this is part of why I liked Sonic CD so much (and why I complained about the Tails sprites in the CD remake.) Visually it mimicked Sonic 1 far more than it did the other Sonic games, and it was easily my favourite looking Sonic game until CD showed up.

This post has been edited by Aesculapius Piranha: 05 July 2012 - 09:17 PM

[The Fralin Boy]

Now I'm not about to say which zone I feel is better in terms of level design and gameplay, but in terms of memorability, I feel Emerald Hill is less memorable because it is essentially a clone of Green Hill. Emerald Hill really didn't bring anything new to the table other than the corkscrew. Other than that, its a bright level with green grass and loop-de-loops, Another thing is the amount of time spent in the level. On a normal play through of both games, one would spend more time in Green Hill than Emerald Hill due to the three act structure in the original Sonic game. Due to that, a person would gain a better feel for Green Hill because they'd spend more time in it.

Also, Green Hill has been remade so many times, music remixed so often, its just natural for a person to have been more familiarized with a zone that constantly reappears in Sonic games than a stage that has, to my knowledge, only appeared once in the entire Sonic series

[KeathalKrisom]

Green Hill Zone for me, I always wanted Emerald Hill Zone to be over and done with because one of the best zones come after it. Another note is that I hated the boss at the end of the zone because he was boring compared to the boss in Green Hill Zone.

Also this guy really pissed me off because he's a cheap dirty monkey:

[Flygon]

Angel Island.

I wasn't introduced to Sonic 1 or 2 before the end of the 90s.

[Sawhog]

I picked Emerald hill because it does a better job at being a first level. I don't know if it is just how Sonic 1's gameplay is (Lack of Spindash, Spike bug, etc) but it seems to have a lot more difficult little parts in it that I have always hated, like that part when you get out of the S-tubes and there is a rock with a spring on it pushing you backwards and some of the hidden places where you need to jump over a row of spikes in just the right way (Too high, you jump on the area above it, too low and you hit the spikes)

Emerald Hill is more streamlined, but still has its share of secrets and hidden stuff, it also is better for being a good example of the multiple routes in a level. That and it is one of the three 2-player levels.

That, and I played Sonic 2 first, so it has stuck more.

[KingofHarts]

Green Hill Zone > Emerald Hill Zone

Word Association:

When I think of GHZ - Sonic. Vague blurry memories of 2 year old me picking up a controller and trying to play this game after it came out (and failing). Also getting the system 4 years later for Christmas with Sonic's 1 and 2, cuz my mom is the best mom ever.

EHZ - Lazy GHZ ripoff placed quickly to get the first zone out of the way. Aside from the wonderful corkscrews, I don't really like EHZ, sorry... The music of EHZ though, that's another story. I do like that a lot!

[dsrb]

GHZ. Nostalgia + way better visual style + way more interesting gimmicks and level design + dat atmosphere + music + everything else… Oh, a better boss, too! Which isn't saying much when you consider EHZ's one, mind you.

Aesculapius Piranha, on 05 July 2012 - 09:09 PM, said:

Overall though, this is part of why I liked Sonic CD so much (and why I complained about the Tails sprites in the CD remake.) Visually it mimicked Sonic 1 far more than it did the other Sonic games

Well, it couldn't mimic games from the future, could it? :P

Quote

and it was easily my favourite looking Sonic game until CD showed up.

CD was your favourite-looking game until CD? Um. Or do you mean, confusing re-targeting of the word it aside, that S1 was your favourite until CD? In which case, I'd probably agree.

This post has been edited by dsrb: 06 July 2012 - 11:47 AM

[Overlord]

For me it'll always be Emerald Hill simply as Sonic 2 was the first game I ever had that was mine and mine alone. GHZ will continue to pop up as the defining zone of the franchise though, simply as it's so well known and the S1 speed aside is a perfect representation of what a Sonic level is all about. I don't think Sega will stop referencing it any time soon =P

[jasonchrist]

Overlord, on 06 July 2012 - 11:45 AM, said:

I don't think Sega will stop referencing it any time soon =P

I do wish they fucking would though!

Having said that, oversaturation of GHZ hasn't made me love the original any less. To answer the question, I think I love GHZ and EHZ equally. Before I had a Mega Drive, during the phase of wanting one (very badly I might add!) I was very familiar watching older kids playing through Sonic 1 in HMV/Boots/Virgin Megastore, so Green Hill Zone was etched in my mind before I owned my first Sonic game (Sonic 2) of which I have equally fond memories, but that has no bearing on which one I prefer or find more memorable... or on the original fucking question for that matter, so...

Now we've got the personal shit out of the way, Green Hill is by far the more memorable zone.