Best and worst zones in the 2D games

Sonic 1
Best: SLZ (you can achieve great speeds in this level, and speed is fun)
Worst: MZ (nothing wrong with this level per se, but some sections are just too slow)

Sonic 2
Best: ARZ (no particular reason, I just like it more than the other zones)
Worst: OOZ (one of the most boring zones in history)

Sonic 3
Best: MGZ (big, fast, with a lot of paths. The perfect Sonic level, imo)
Worst: none (Sonic 3, even alone, is probably the best Sonic game on the Genesis)

Sonic & Knuckles
Best: MHZ (again, pure speed with some secret paths)
Worst: Sandopolis Zone (what the hell were they thinking when they made a zone like that?)

edit: Tweaker'd

 

What do you mean? Sonic grabs onto the Flying Battery at the end of Mushroom Hill.

 

I can't really say what zones I love, but I HATE Marble Zone, Labyrinth Zone (because both levels are so boring), and Wing Fortress Zone (mainly because of the boss and the music).

 

Actually he starts standing still in Hidden Place Zone too (this arrangement is the same in the Final, this was the first vid I happened to find):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuqvPuj3wrE

 

Sonic 1
Best: Star Light zone (huh, I like the music?)
Worst: Labyrinth zone (water, do I need to explain further?)

Sonic 2
Best: Sky Chase zone (only time I get to play on the Tornado in the Mega Drive =P)
Worst: Hill Top zone (just too unoriginal...)

Sonic 3
Best: Angel Island zone? (when it isn't burned yet )
Worst: Carnival Night zone 2 drum (sorry, can't think of anything outside that...)

Sonic & Knuckles
Best: Sky Sanctuary zone (it should be longer, dammit :v
Worst: Hidden Palace zone (too short ._.)

 

Sonic 1:
Best - Scrap Brain
Worst - Marble

Sonic CD:
Best - Quartz Quadrant
Worst - Collision Chaos

Sonic 2:
Best - Oil Ocean
Worst - Sky Chase/Wing Fortress

Sonic 3 & Knuckles:
Best - Hydrocity
Worst - Sandopolis

Sonic Advance:
Best - Cosmic Angel
Worst - Angel Island

Sonic Advance 2:
Best - Techno Base
Worst - Leaf Forest

Sonic Advance 3:
Best - Sunset Hill
Worst - Route 99

Sonic Rush:
Best - Dead Line
Worst - Altitude Limit

Sonic Rush Adventure:
Best - Pirates' Island
Worst - Haunted Ship

 

Sonic 1 MD
Best: Labyrith Zone (Squary level. Slow, plain and fun.)
Worst: Marble Zone (Squary level. Slow, plain and boring.)

Sonic 1 SMS
Best: Jungle Zone (Green, slopy level with christmas-like music. Lots of platforming there. A good level!)
Worst: Bridge Zone (A... plain level with bottomless pits... and... girly music...)

Sonic 2 MD
Best: Chemical Plant Zone (Slopy, fast paced, large level with dance music. Instant win!)
Worst: Metropolis Zone (Squary, fast paced and large level. Way too long. Instant loss...)

Sonic 2 SMS
Best: Aqua Lake Zone (The best water level from all the time in a Sonic game!)
Worst: None. The game is way too perfect for me!

Sonic Rush
Best: Water Palace Zone (The second best water level from all the time in a Sonic game! A level inspired in Greece ways before Sonic Unleashed.)
Worst: Mirage Road Zone (A Sandopolis Zone ripoff which quite didn't make it very well... It is squary and fast paced... >_>)

 

Sonic 1
Best: Green Hill Zone (Great level design, charming and happy.), Star Light Zone (The music is great, the levels are fast but still with a lot of platforming and the setting is nice.), Spring Yard Zone (The music, the level design and the atmosphere.)
Worst: None.

Sonic CD:
Best Round: Quartz Quadrant (The Japanese BGM just kicks ass and the level design is especially great too.), Tidal Tempest (The most relaxing stage in any Sonic game and the only water levels done just right. Also the music is fantastic in both versions.), Stardust Speedway (WHOA I'm GOING FAAAAST)
Worst Round: Wacky Workbench. Without it the game would be perfect. It's just a pain to time attack and the bouncing floor messes me up that often.


Sonic 1 (8-bit)
Best: Bridge Zone (Nice music, really charming design.), Scrap Brain Zone (if just for the music)
Worst: Labyrinth Zone (Too hard and unfair at some points.)

Sonic 2
Best: Aqua Lake Zone (Looks nice. :v, Gimmick Mt. Zone (Looks great and is fun to play.)
Worst: Scrambled Egg Zone (TUUUUUUUBES into the spikes~)

Sonic Chaos
Best: Gigalopolis Zone (The GG music is great and the whole Zone is really cool and fun.), Aqua Planet Zone (Looks simply amazing.), Mecha Green Hill Zone (Very interesting concept.)
Worst: None.

Sonic Triple Trouble
Best: Sunset Park, Meta Junglira
Worst: that horrible, horrible underwater zone I hate so much I can't even remember its name


Chaotix
Best Attraction: Botanic Base (The graphics are utterly gorgeous and the level design is really different in between the Levels.)
Worst Attraction: Techno Tower (IT'S LIKE I'm REALLY PLAYING THE SAME SHIT 5 TIMES)


Sonic 2 (16-bit)
Best: Casino Night Zone (Very charming and a nice idea, the music is one of the few great tracks in the game too.)
Worst: EHZ, MCZ, MZ, SCZ, SFZ, OOZ (Crappy music, very un-Sonic in design and feel (OOZ aside) and generally bad.)

Sonic 3
Best: Hydrocity Zone (The music and graphics are great, and the gameplay mix of speed and underwater exploration is interesting.
Worst: Everything else. (Aside from ICZ the msuic sucks, the designs lack charisma and soul and the Acts are awfully long.)

Sonic & Knuckles
Best: Mushroom Hill Zone (Fast, fun, looks cool.), Lava Reef Zone (The looks and music primarily.)
Worst: Sandopolis Zone (long, Act 2 is horribly annoying), Death Egg Zone (It invented that whole gravity swiching bullshit. And didn't do it well, either.)


I'll edit the Dimps titles in here later.

 

That's is Fuckin... umm... I mean... Tidal Plant Zone. I can easily relate to you since I hate that level so much, so much. It is the worst Sonic level from all the time. Specially when playing with Tails, when you have to use that mini-submarine.

 

Sonic 1:
Best - SLZ - Because the level can be quite fast and furious. A nice BGM to go along with it also.
Worst - SYZ - Because I remember a certain part in act 2 for which I couldn't get out when I was 7. Don't like the BGM for this one.

Sonic CD:
Best - QQZ - Soundtrack for this was fantastic (American), and to go along with it, a very nice looking Good Future.
Worst - MMZ - Some hazards were very hard to dodge, which made this very difficult not to get hit. The only thing good about this zone is it's past, good BGM.

Sonic 2:
Best - MCZ - Love the layout of this level, and the boss was a good one to face. The palette can relate to a certain gemstone, Mystic Topaz. Possibly thats where MCZ got its name
Worst - MTZ - Really hated this level, can be very fustrating at times. 2 acts is enough for this level, but 3 is too much.

Sonic 3:
Best - CNZ, Absolutely loved this one when I was a kid. I just seemed to love the casino style zones. Good BGM to match also.
Worst - None

Sonic & Knuckles:
Best - FBZ - Seems to me that FBZ is all about speed. The boss was a good fight also, and also one of my best sonic BGM's to go along with it.
Worst - DEZ, Hate this. Always have, always will. It would usually take me around 7 minutes to get to the boss in act 2. Even then, I couldn't finish him in 2 minutes. Some parts in DEZ I just couldn't get through, like the upside down conveyor belt whilst being shot at. Awful, awful zone.

Sonic 1 SMS
Best - LZ - I loved this level when I first played this. Nice music, and a very good layout. Best music from Sonic 1 SMS.
Worst - BZ - Quite an annoying zone. I thought the bridges were annoying enough, but the auto scroll was the worst. I used to struggle on the boss, had no idea where to stand. I used to lose around 5 lives trying to beat him.

Sonic 2 SMS
Best - ALZ - Absolutely love the music for this one. A really nice, calm relaxing level to play on.
Worst - None, they were just good levels!

Sonic Triple Trouble
Best - ADZ - A good feeling to this zone, and very good level layouts. BGM was awesome.
Worst - None, all good levels.

 

Sonic 1 (Genesis):
Best - Star Light Zone
Worst - Labyrinth Zone (so slow and plodding)

Sonic 1 (GG):
Best - Bridge Zone
Worst - Sky Base

Sonic 2:
Best - Chemical Plant Zone and Casino Night Zone (the boss for this sucks, though)
Worst - Metropolis Zone (Incredibly boring and repetitive, plus there's too many acts for this zone)

Sonic 2 (GG):
Best - Aqua Lake Zone
Worst - Sky High Zone (I always screwed up the gliders and landed in the pits )

Sonic Chaos:
Best - Aqua Planet Zone
Worst - Mecha Green Hill Zone

Sonic 3:
Best - Ice Cap Zone
Worst - Marble Garden Zone

Sonic & Knuckles:
Best - Lava Reef Zone
Worst - Sandopolis (time out lol)

Sonic Triple Trouble:
Best - Sunset Zone, Robotnik Winter Zone
Worst - that underwater one

 

Sonic 1:
Best - Star Light Zone - Fantastic feel about the zone all around, with a real feeling of speed, fantastic artwork, and one of DCT's best tunes of that year.
Worst - Labyrinth Zone - Nasty, brutish, and unfortunately not that short. Probably the worst executed water based zone.

Sonic CD:
Best - Stardust Speedway Zone - The past = Nicest art in any Sonic game. Also, what a boss battle.
Worst - Collision Chaos - Too early in the game, and too many damn bumpers.

Sonic 2:
Best - Aquatic Ruin Zone - Real epic feeling. Multiple paths, so with a little skill, you don't even have to touch the water. The art's interesting too, with grass that doesn't fit the regular Sonic style.
Worst - Oil Ocean Zone - Still rather neat, but when compared to the other zones, doesn't have the same punch.

Sonic 3:
Best - Ice Cap Zone - No competition, really. Not a fan of Sonic 3's zones. Nevertheless, this one is well designed, with great music, and some really nice features.
Worst - Launch Base Zone - In Sonic 3 alone, I always get time overs. And in addition, the music is abrasive.

Sonic & Knuckles
Best - Lava Reef Zone - Looks great, and the transformation of the zone is amazing.
Worst - Sandopolis Zone - Repetitive and mazelike. Not particularly thrilling as a zone.

 

Guys.

If you're going to reply to this topic, explain your choices. I don't want another list topic popping up—we have enough of them already.

Anyway, here's mine... I'm sticking solely with the Genesis-based games here.

Sonic 1:

BEST: Green Hill Zone. The perfect combination of surrealism, speed, platforming, and variety. The music is probably the most memorable of every Sonic level I can think of—when people think of Sonic, they think of Green Hill Zone. That's just how it works. Definitely as iconic as it gets.

WORST: Labyrinth Zone. While this level isn't horrible in and of itself, it's extremely boring and slow. The constant pressure to get air bubbles to stay alive, the trudging along at a retardedly slow pace, and the rather slow, uninspired music lead me to rate this lowest of all the zones in the game. I frequently forget it exists, in fact.

Sonic 2:

BEST: Chemical Plant Zone. I absolutely love this level—very fast paced, outstanding music, the ability to run out of fucking screen (god, talk about a feeling!), some decent platforming elements, a pretty unique boss, and even a water element mixed in! This level has lots of variety, a great environment, and is tons of fun. Definitely the most iconic Zone of Sonic 2.

WORST: Oil Ocean Zone. I actually like this level, but if I had to pick one that turned me off the most, then Oil Ocean would fit that quota. It's mainly all platforming, but it's kind of boring—a lot of the different level gimmicks repeat multiple times, and I can make out repeated sections of layout rather frequently. Good Zone, but not as good as the rest. Relatively speaking, anyway.

Sonic CD:

BEST: Stardust Speedway. This is hands down one of my favorite levels of the entire series, because it's really different from your traditional "speedway" type level. The level isn't slow, persay, but it's contextual—there's lots of platforming, speed sections, and even physics puzzles where you have to take advantage of spring and launcher trajectory to get to certain parts of the level. You also have the tunnel puzzles, which can take a while to get through but are really unique for that kind of level. End it with the race against Metal Sonic in Act 3, and you've got a fantastic, truly epic level on your hands. And the music is fucking awesome.

WORST: Wacky Workbench. I love the music and I love the level art, but the layout is seriously, seriously taxing. Constantly being pushed up into the air, getting smashed into enemies, getting forced into tiny platforming sections with little sense of direction... ugh. I don't like it at all. By far my least favorite level.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles:

BEST: Ice Cap Zone. The sheer variety in this level, its music, and its overall environment are absolutely fantastic. You start out by riding a snowboard like the true badass you are, go into some speed sections, some platforming sections, and even some vertically looping sections! Not only that, but as you move on, there's some real chance to catch up speed, and then stop and do some launcher platforming 3 seconds later. And then you can speed up again! It has a magnificent amount of flow, and is very easy to go through and enjoy. Definitely my favorite, though every level in this game was fantastic.

WORST: Sandopolis Zone. I think this was expected by a lot of people, but this level is just plain annoying. It's slow, it's tedious, the enemies are fucking stupid, the platforming elements are slow by default (they're all sand-based, of course), and those ghosts in Act 2 are the worst gimmick ever conceived. I just plain didn't like it; then again, I never like sand levels, so I suppose that was par for the course. =P

That's all I've got for now. I have many more opinions about the later games, but I figure I covered the four core games.

 

Sonic the Hedgehog 1
Best: GHZ (first zones are always cool to play)
Worst: Labirinth (goddamn water)

Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Best: Chemical Plant (best slope ever in a Sonic game)
Worst: Wing Fortress (hardcore ass stage)

Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Best: Angel Island (first zones are always cool to play, and this one had awesome graphics)
Worst: None (how the hell did everyone have the floating box problem? I never ever had it, it was just so plain obvious)

Sonic & Knuckles
Best: Death Egg (badass) and Mushroom Hill (first zones are always cool to play)
Worst: Sandopolis Act 2 (Do I really have to explain why?)

Sonic Rush
Best: Dead Line (badass level)
Worst: Mirage Road (AARRRRRRRRGH SO HARD TO GET A S RANK FUCKING FALLING ROCKS AND ENEMIES) and Altitude Limit (death pits hiiii)

Sonic the Hedgehog SMS
Best: GHZ (first levels are always cool to play) and Bridge (that zone kinda has a strange old-school feeling to me)
Worst: Labirinth (water aaaaaaaaa)

 

What floating box are you talking about?

 

Carnival Night Zone Act 2

 

Edited my post due to Tweaker.