Sonic Chaos is my favorite 8-bit title in general. I also love Sonic 1 too, sure I know Chaos is slow and the levels are a bit short but I love the music and sprites. Plus it was the 8-bit title I played the most when I unlocked it in Sonic Adventure DX. (Yeah I know that's the Game Gear version, but you know it's literally identical to the SMS version aside from extra tracks, and better colors...) The only good thing I can say about Sonic Blast is the soundtrack is amazing, especially Blue Marine Zone's track. Sonic 1 is the most organized 8-bit game, in terms of hacking IMO. Plus the added zones, and gimmicks makes it a great title to play through. Sonic 2 is alright, I just felt that Green Hills should have been the first zone as intended, why they moved Underground and Green Hills around still baffles me. Spinball is meh, the music is fine but the gameplay is way too slow. IMO you're better off playing the 16-bit counterpart, the special stages are neat though at least. Other than that the rest of the game is identical to the 16-bit counterpart, aside from Toxic Caves being renamed to Toxic Pools.
In this order: Sonic Chaos then Sonic Triple Trouble, then Sonic 1 and THEN to a certain extent....Sonic Spinball. I've only ever played Spinball 8-bit on emulators and really want to experience it on an actual Game Gear. On that note, Sonic 1 and 2 are the only games I have for the SMS, so my opinion on the others is more based off my experiences with the GG versions. Everything I know about the SMS Sonic titles I learned through the Game Gear first, so when I finally got a Master System literally ten years after my first Game Gear, I gained a whole new respect for Sonic 1 and 2 8bit, even if I still thought the latter was some bullshit. This next bit is just a fun/cute little memory I felt like sharing more than anything (feel free to skip): I got my first Game Gear by accident when I was six in 1994, and after going for what seemed like several weeks with NO games for it, when the day came to finally pick a game for this damn thing, I knew exactly what I wanted — Sonic 3. LOL Yeah I know. But hey, I was six. Aside from what featured in those Toys R Us mail-in catalogues, I really didn't know what all was out there. At that age, the Game Gear was such a mystery to me; I'd seen them around a time or two but had only just recently realized it was a Sega system with Sonic titles, but I knew virtually nothing about those Sonic titles except that I really really loved Sonic 1 based on the one time I played it on a GG kiosk at Best Buy. Something about seeing a scaled down GHZ and hearing that familiar earworm in 8-bit form was just so awesome! Back to Sonic 3, which was an even bigger mystery to me than the Game Gear. At the time I heard it was related to S&K (which I'd played and adored) but that was it. All I knew was I wanted it BADLY even though in hindsight I had maybe seen all of 15 seconds of actual footage of it EVER (all I could do was pretend with that stupid Tiger Electronic nonsense) but it was so hard to come by for various reasons. So why not kill two birds with one stone? Sonic 3 for the Game Gear! It's perfect! I desperately need a game for ,y Game Gear (I'd began to sticking cassettes in it to see if that would do anything. I was six, don't judge me.) and there HAS to be a Sonic 3, right? Sonic 3 is the big thing at the moment! That's what I want, Sonic 3 for Game Gear. I'd majorly built up this version of Sonic 3 in my imagination up to then so needless to say my world all but shattered after getting to Funcoland, asking for it and hearing that there was no Sonic 3 for Game Gear "...yet", and after disappointedly rejecting suggestions for other titles such as "Triple Trouble" or "Spinball" via my dad and the clerk, I shrugged and said "is there....Sonic 2?". "Sonic 2 is cool on the Genesis, and even that Tiger handheld was kind of cool for what it was. This should be good" was my line of thinking. Heh. I was given a lot of good choices that night, and made several questionable blunders (such as passing up the opportunity to get the REAL Sonic 3 or the "big vesion" as we'd say when differentiating between console and handheld versions of titles), but this one probably takes the cake. Let's just say after 20 something years of playing Sonic 2 GG/SMS off and on, I fully understand why the Funcoland clerk said something to the effect of "Are you sure about that one?" that night. Granted I thought it wasn't too bad initially. I spent many hours on it actually. But I became pretty miffed by it once it became clear that it had very little in common with the "the big Sonic 2" — basically after I learned the level select code. Meh, bought lesson lol.
Sonic 2. I owned both Sonic Mega Collection Plus and Sonic Gems Collection for my PS2 back in the day, and out of all the 8-Bit installments on those collections... Sonic 2 was the one I disliked the most, because someone at SEGA actually though that it was fine for the first boss to be the most difficult in the whole thing. However, that was the Game Gear version, with the small screen resolution, and years later I managed to finally play the Master System version... and beat the 1st boss with ease, as it should be with a 1st boss. I have to admit that made me even more upset at the Game Gear version, because I realized that it wasn't difficult just because of the resolution, they also changed the bombs' behavior, on the Master System they bounce low, while on the Game Gear they bounce high... it should've been the opposite though, I don't know, it had to be the work of a truly sadistic programmer, no other explanation that I can think of. Now that I'm done with my rant, I kept going after beating the 1st boss and overall loved the experience, some moments were tough, but not in an unfair way which couldn't be beat after learning what to do, and luckily they were very forgiving with lives once you know where the monitors are, which is just a matter of basic exploration and sense of curiosity, also those monitors don't go away after getting them for the first time like they did in Sonic 1, if you get one of them and lose a life you can simply find the monitor again and it'd be like you didn't lose a life at all. I found the bad ending to be quite dark, but it was good motivation to get the emeralds, the best in the Master System line up in that regard to me, since none of them have Super Sonic as a reward. I also love the concept of finding the Chaos Emeralds within the world, where exploration is key, though some placements are quite unreasonable and cryptic without a guide. I do enjoy Sonic 1 aswell, and on the Game Gear that's my favorite one since Sonic 2 becomes much worse there, I also feel Sonic Chaos improved on a lot of things, but level design felt too short and uninteresting at times... to me Sonic 2 just got almost everything right, it made the Chaos Emeralds feel more important, it was the introduction of Tails, which I adore, it had a unique atmosphere for some reason, somewhat darker thanks to the setting and the bad ending, but not too dark through out the playthrough, it also has original and interesting levels, besides Green Hills at least, with Scrambled Egg being one of the most difficult end game levels in any Sonic, which is appropriate, and with Crystal Egg probably being the most beautiful and unique final level in terms of atmosphere. I wish the Master System version was released more often instead of the Game Gear's, it might change Sonic 2's reputation for most.
I love the first Sonic 1 on the SMS more than the Genesis one as a game. More levels and better soundtrack. While the physics were kinda funky the level design complimented them which unlike Sonic 1 on the Genesis was better suited for the block platforming that Sonic 1 on the SMS had. Sonic 2 on the SMS was a mess and was way too hard and unfun. Sonic Chaos had a design closer to the Genesis games but idk I still give Sonic 1 on the SMS more points for feeling more unique if that makes sense.
Sorry if this doesn’t directly answer OP’s question but when I was a kid and unlocked Game Gear Sonic 1 on SADX, I genuinely thought it was the first Sonic game (this was before I was on the internet). I mean, it says right there on both the SADX mini game menu and title screen, “Sonic the Hedgehog”, not “Sonic 1 Lite” or “Sonic Land” or whatever. Some time later a friend brought over Sonic Mega Collection and showed me the real Sonic 1 and my mind was blown. And then when the first Eggman boss fight came up and he busted out the wrecking ball chain I was like “HOLY SHIT” because I was expecting the much lamer “flying back and forth Eggman” boss fight from the GG version. With that said, Game Gear Sonic 1 will always have a special place in my heart along with SADX, as SADX was my first Sonic game (and by extension Game Gear Sonic 1 and all other unlockable GG games that came with SADX).
Chaos, 1, Triple Trouble, 2, Blast, in that order. You can also throw Tails Adventure in there somewhere, but I'm not really sure where yet. Spinball was interesting, but ultimately inferior to the 16-bit version. None of the other titles are worth mentioning. I should also mention that I've always been a big fan of the 8-bit games, going way out of my way to collect them all in 1998, including an actual hard copy of GameGear Blast brand new at one point because it wasn't available to emulate for several years. They're nowhere as good as the 16 bit titles, but I still loved them, and with modern SEGA would preserve them somehow. At least the fan remakes have been solid. https://sonic-sms-remake.blogspot.com/
Sonic 1 for me by some distance, I find the art style more pleasing to look at than the later games which always seemed a bit blocky to me, the music is great and there's a whole bunch of neat little touches which add a bit of depth (the first time I discovered that you got a bonus life at the start of the final act if you collected all the others for example), I think it really played to the console's strengths. Sonic 2 had some really obnoxious level design, relying a bit too much on memorisation to avoid the many many spike pits. I also remember back in the day having to read the damn manual to discover that you get the last emerald by beating the boss, not finding it in the level like all the others, grr. Sonic Chaos kinda goes the other way, it's spectacularly easy, though I did find the levels quite charming and gimmicks like rocket shoes and pogo stick fun to use (and Tails at last!). I only had a master system back in the day, broke my heart when Triple Trouble only came out for the Game Gear :D, I eventually got my hands on a mega drive and got over it.
It's a shame the master system versions never seem to get a rerelease, it's seemingly always the game gear versions. I would love to see a proper rerelease based on something similar to my emulator setup which is Sonic 1 (bundled with Maxim's level editor) Sonic 2 (including Hackwrench's Tails in Sonic 2 hack as a New Game+, bundled with Aspect Edit level editor, yes I like level editors!) Sonic Chaos Sonic Triple Trouble GG to SMS hack (the latest version here Sonic Triple Trouble GG2SMS - Hacks - SMS Power!) Tails Adventure Adventure SMS Deluxe hack (see here View topic - Tails Adventure - SMS Deluxe (Update - v1.5c) - Forums - SMS Power!) Can't quite bring myself to want to include Tectoy's Sonic Blast or 8 bit Sonic Spinball with it's bizarre floaty physics, maybe they could be unlockables! You'd have to tidy the hacks up a bit to be able to release them properly, but I feel like the 8 bit stuff would have a lot more fans if people played them without the game gear's tiny screen size.
I really liked Sonic Chaos. It has cool unique music and fun levels. It's also fairly short and isn't too difficult which I like, cos it meant I could actually beat it as a kid. I wasn't enough of a pro gamer to beat Sonic 1 or Sonic 2 on the master system, hahah. ah man PENIS! penis oh shit yeahh
