Green Hill Vs Emerald Hill: Which Zone is More Memorable?

My first experience with a Sonic game ever was playing Sonic 2 on a Genesis game display at a local Costco warehouse store in 1995. Emerald Hill Zone was the first stage that I played.

For many, it's Green Hill. For me, it's Emerald Hill Zone.

 

Why did this topic get bumped?

I went to see Total Recall today, I guess I just like Colin Farrell. Anyway, I tried to judge the film on its own merits but it kept on reminding me of how it was a remake. Certain parts of the film had word-for-word dialogue re-used from the 1990 film, there was a three-titted lady, a 'two weeks' lady (though it was a nice bait-and-switch reference) and even a bit of a reference to Mars (although Eyebrows Farrell didn't even go there). And so, I couldn't help running a side-by-side comparison in my head as I watched it. Hell, the plot structure is almost identical.

Emerald Hill Zone has checkered textures, striped grass, wasp and piranha badniks, item boxes on top of loops; even an Act 1 intro that has a small block of land with an item box on it that can be ran right past; Emerald Hill Zone is a remake. Like Total Recall, it screams 'remake' so hard that of course the original is more memorable, because the newer one is a distinct copy. There is no discussion here, not really. And certainly not enough to justify a couple-of-months bump.

 

For me, it's gotta be Green Hill Zone. Although I think that Emerald Hill Zone has overall better level design and is from the overall better game, Green Hill Zone was the first ever Sonic level I played when I first got Sonic Mega Collection Plus for my birthday a long time ago and played Sonic 1 for the first time. It also doesn't help that E.H.Z is sort of a rehash of G.H.Z and I played that after.

 

My choice is extremely easy. The Green hill zone is iconic and is so beloved that it needs no introduction. Many hours of my life have been spent running through checkered loops,
smashing television monitors, and keeping my speed up as I ran on a spiked log as that iconic invincibility theme played, being ready to fight against Robotnik's
famous checkered ball fight. My record on act one is 28 seconds, which used to be the record, so I may be a little biased.

Emerald hill zone, on the other hand just feels like a blatant rip off of the first game's own Green hill zone. Don't get me wrong, I love Sonic the hedgehog 2 and almost all
of its levels including Emerald hill, I love the Corkscrews, the badniks, and the music of the stage, but the level still clones Green Hill to the point its obvious. The
loop DE loops, checkered grass, and even some of the badniks.(Heck, in the original
betas of sonic 2, there is a unused badnik that is very similar to Motobug!)

However, there probably is a good reason for this. The designers most likely wanted returning players from the first game to recognize the first level. This makes sense.
But, I always like to say if we didn't have this first (Green Hill) then we wouldn't have this
(sonic 2)

 

Sonic 2 wasn't packaged with the system until the Genesis 2 redesign in 1994. Sonic 1 was the pack in with the model 1 Genesis in 1993. If you're younger you probably got the Genesis later on.

 

I want to say Emerald Hill. But the fact that Green Hill has appeared in every fucking Sonic game ever since Sonic Adventure 2 makes it win by default.

It's an ugly, poorly designed level anyways. I don't see why anyone likes it.

 

I can't particularly say that I've ever had fun playing an act in Green Hill. The music isn't as memorable as some make it out to be, the levels are tedious and uninteresting, and when you compare it to other zones (Marble and Labyrinth), what does it hold that makes it stand out? S-tube? Doesn't exactly cut it. Loops? Star Light has them. This zone really would've benefited from just two acts.

While Emerald Hill might suffer from the same problems, the visuals please me more, and it seems more colourful in my eyes. There isn't too many random pits of death and you can actually pick up some speed should your balance pay off and you end up on the top section. The music is better, as well.

All in all, I think GHZ is overrated. It probably wouldn't have gained as much interest if it wasn't the first stage in a Sonic game.

 

I don't know how to vote here. The music from GHZ always pops up in my head, so that's more memorable for me. But I prefer to play EHZ over GHZ. >.<

 

I actually played Sonic 2 first so for me, Emerald Hill was normal and I can recall thinking how different Green Hill was compared to that. The music stood out for me more too and of course, there's the fact that it's 3 acts instead of 2. Even at a young age I'm pretty sure I could tell that the level design had a lot more to it, also.

 

Green Hill has obviously been brought back around a million times (And it's aesthetics Such as in Emerald Hill from Sonic 2 and South Island from Sonic the Fighters ) for a reason. People really like the level. It's a nice opening level with a fair amount of speed (even with the original game's limiter) and it get's you used to the games mechanics (I.e Springs, rolling through walls etc) and has a fair boss which isn't hard nor extremely piss easy (C'mon, on you're first time playing you got hit at least once. Everyone I've seen on YouTube has :P ). The music was brilliant and was appropriate enough for a first level theme.

 

That's a heck of another bump, friend.

 

This post seems to be very popular around the board XD And if people keep complaining about bumps why not close threads that haven't been actuve in such an amount of time?

 

Because some bumps are necessary, some are not. In some cases it is just better to bump an old thread for an important update (I.e. hacks, and other project threads) than it is to start an entirely new topic for it.

 

Without knocking Emerald Hill Zone, I would have to say that Green Hill is the best. It had more delineating paths, and thus, more opportunity for exploration.

I think as far as music goes, Emerald Hill has more fitting music- when you play Emerald Hill, the music doesn't steal your attention. The music is supposed to be a part of the game and complement the level, and Green Hill just stands out a little too much. When I play through Green Hill, sometimes I think that Door into Summer would fit a little better.

Nonetheless, I was more impressed with the flow of gameplay in Green Hill. There were more opportunities to ramp off of hills and jump up into higher parts of the level or even jump over sections of the level. Gaining speed was however a challenge, which made it feel more rewarding to actually pull some amazing jumps. Green Hill could make you feel like a lightning fast badass in so many ways playing the game with all your friends. Don't even get me started on the fun of rolling through the zip tunnels. I'll say this much for Emerald Hill: it had plenty of fun secret passages and hidden tunnels loaded with rings, shields, and extra lives.

I think most people would agree with me when I go on to say that Green Hill also had better level art. The checkered soil, hi-contrast color, and cliffs in the background make for a more beautiful environment. Emerald Hill appears very sparse by comparison. Emerald Hill's background isn't rife with rippling water effects like Green Hill, there are fewer clouds, and there was only one very distant island in the background instead of a massive landscape of hills and cliffs. I always used to think as I was playing through Emerald Hill that the background needed some dolphins jumping in and out of the water to fill the vacancy.