I'm like, 99% sure this is true as I also remember reading this around the time the Unleashed Project was starting up. In terms of what feels the fastest? Definitely Unleashed, yeah. The sense of speed in that game is absolutely unparalleled and is definitely helped by things like the overpowered-as-fuck air boost. In terms of speedrunning too, there are some tricks that work in Unleashed that aren't in Generations, like the QSS (quick step slide), BJG (big jump glitch), M-speed and D-speed, and these make speedruns of the game incredible to watch and quite technically challenging to pull off. EDIT: As somebody is going to point this out, yes, Generations does allow some of that tech to be used but it's a much, much smaller window of input than Unleashed allows and is rarely consistent enough to be worth it.
Unleashed, hands down, FEELS like the fastest game. Especially stages like Adabat that have a ton of shrubbery zooming past you.
But what would the fastest 2d game be? Imo it's advance 2, but I'm not gonna give the whole spiel unless someone comes up with a good counter lol.
I would say Advance 2 ultimately, even if I think the boost games are plenty fast too Maybe I could record some quick comparison video if I'm bored enough, that'll be a nice excuse to play the advance games again
I feel like Unleashed being the fastest isn't even a question, it's a statement. Even if not technically faster than Generations, the amount this game asks you to put in is unparalleled in the Sonic franchise, and I think that's one of it's greatest strengths. And that's not even breaking into the metagame. It's not quite F-Zero GX, but to put it up there with being one of the fastest games in general wouldn't be untrue either. Shit makes you feel superhuman with your reflexes. I love it.
Sonic Unleashed, obviously. Spoiler Being facetious, here. I don't even have strong opinions about Unleashed's 2D sections, I just think the joke is funny.
Lol I get the joke and genuinely laughed, but for all the flack the series gets for having too many 2D sections in its 3D games now... I don't think it applies to Unleashed. That game was probably only 10% 2D at most when you consider everything it had to do offer. Even the daytime stages on their own were way less than 50% 2D. It's the later games that increased the amount and length of 2D sections, with Generations and Forces having full a 2D gameplay style on top of partially 2D styles. But I digress... This series is a joke. The fastest 2D game would be either Advance 2 or Rush. The other games in the Advance and Rush series don't compare when it comes to speed. Those two send you full-pelt all the time.
I'd say Advance 2, and that's not a compliment - we all know how the average level map in that name, simplified, is just this: \ And the reason for that is it sacrifices a LOT to keep you constantly going at speed. 1 and 3 are both better games.
Fun fact: Forces has five main stages that are full 3D, and IIRC it's the only boost game to have any. 2D sections aren't the problem. Bad level design is.
Aqua Road, Mortar Canyon, Arsenal Pyramid, Null Space, and Eggman's Facility right? I'd personally also count Final Judgement (reactor room barely counts as a 2d section) and the first Infinite battle due to having a lot more 3d movement than just quick stepping. But maybe that's just me. :p Edit: Remembered that Null Space does have a 2d section, but it's a 3d battle ring like Final Judgment. I don't count it. Also, got the names of Shadow's stages mixed up. My bad.
Forces has a number of main levels that are almost entirely 2D as well. Guardian Rock is all in 2D apart from the auto-running quick-step chase at the end, and all of Network Terminal apart from the grinding section at the start and final three seconds. Plenty of other levels see you spending more time in 2D than 3D. Aqua Road and Eggman's Facility are basically the same level with minor object layout changes and take place virtually entirely on those God-awful water slides. Also this: 2D sections and bad level design are the problem. The level design is bad regardless of the dimensions, and more than half of your time in this 3D game is actually 2D even if you don't include Classic Sonic. 3D Sonic games are barely 3D anymore. And all of this is being pretty generous anyway; we're not including Classic Sonic or any of the bonus/secret levels... Why? EDIT: This is the "which game is fastest" thread? Blimey. We always end up circling back to the same talking points. Well to be just slightly on topic, I'll say that Forces objectively isn't one of the fastest and doesn't make any good efforts to sell you on its speed. It caps speed in 2D sections so low that Sonic doesn't even use his regular running animation in 2D unless he's boosting. And as established, he spends a lot of time in 2D. The game doesn't feel fast when you know Sonic isn't going full-pelt. This is contrary to sections of Unleashed and Generations where his speed is capped, but done so in a way that it's not plainly obvious.
I might've gone too far in a few places it's not an amazing video, but I never recorded gameplay before so eh, it'll do. I never played the gg/ms games before so my gameplay wasn't amazing, but ultimately the results aren't too surprising: it's a tie between Sonic Advance 2 and Rush/Rush Adventure. The boost games are probably faster overall but given that both of them have that patented Dimps bullshitery near the final stages and Advance 2 doesn't, I'd say Advance 2 is the fastest one overall. It certainly feels that way in any case. I won't do a video like this for the 3D games; Unleashed is pretty obviously the fastest one (well Generation is but we've gone over this so yeah)
Advance 2 is extremely fast but faster than Rush? I'm not too sure, honestly. There are more breaks in the momentum in Advance 2 and it doesn't have a button that immediately puts you at top speed. It might depend on how you play, because with skill you can run through the Rush levels with the boost pretty much held down all the way. Advance 2 possibly has the higher top speed but yeah, I think I'd say Rush is faster on average.
That's a fair point. I honestly haven't played the Rush series as much as I played the Advance games, so maybe I'm a little biais in that regard. In Advance 2 (and to the game's detriment as mentioned by Overlord), you pretty much hold right all the time and all the levels follow this design mentality, even the later ones so I'd be inclined to said Advance 2 is the fastest overall. But honestly both Rush and Advance 2 are more or less on the same level of speed. Also I just realized I didn't play the 3ds Boom games. I genuinely forgot about Sonic Boom lol
As someone who's played all 3 advance and rush games, I personally feel advance 2 is "faster". If you know what you're doing, the game isn't just "hold right to win", as there's a ton of stuff to interact with and keep your runs stylish. On the other hand, you can also avoid crashing into obstacles and losing your speed by paying attention to level design cues. Memorization isn't required. For instance, if you go through a dash ring, there's a pretty good chance "right+R" will clobber a badnik just off screen, or give you enough air time to reach the upper route. Also, the physics help compliment the speed. As I mentioned for unleashed, having worse control at top speed objectively makes you feel "faster" by comparison. Rush's physics are so snappy and tight that you always feel fast. But in advance 2, sonic has a lot more weight and inertia behind him, so when you break into the boost, you really feel like you've shattered the sound barrier like the game wants you to believe. Ooh, and advance 2's after images are way sexier than rush's boost graphics imo. Just sayin.
Oh I'm well aware of how fast Advance 2 can be - it's one of the games I cut my teeth on when starting to try and speedrun games! I had some pretty impressive runs on both it and Rush and I can totally see where you're coming from, Advance 2's level design can be really smooth. That sense of acceleration you get when you start going really fast is amazing and it certainly does make it harder to decide between the two. I guess overall I just feel that having the boost button always there for if you do fuck up a run makes the game a bit faster overall but I suppose it's up to how much weight you place on each of those mechanics. Agreed on the afterimages. I miss those.
I agree with all of this. Rush might have speed on command, but Advance 2 is more exhilarating with its speed. And Rush's physics felt considerably less impactful. I don't want to play the cliché and often-misused "you have to earn your speed" and "speed is a reward" card, but... it kind of is true for Advance 2. Maybe it would be more apt to say that you get given speed regularly in Advance 2 through the \-shaped level design and abundant boosters, but you have to play well to maintain it and use it effectively. The directional R-tricks were great for reaction-based chances to keep your pace, and the way rings tied into your speed is a mechanic that I wish other Sonic games would adopt. The more rings you had, the faster you would accelerate towards breaking the sound barrier. Yes, Advance 2 has cheap moments and does more than is really necessary or wanted to keep you moving forwards. But playing well is very different to playing easy, and playing well is brilliantly fast. Being able to boost on command and therefore having to do less to keep up the pace yourself, does to an extent make Rush feel a bit less fast. On the flip-side, Rush has all the spam-B tricks virtually anytime you're on a rail or in the air. That rapid button mashing added some sort of tension which all combines into the thrill and sense of speed, even if didn't make you move any faster. I ought to play both games again though, cause I'm working off memories from at least five years ago here. So yeah, the fastest-feeling 3D game is Unleashed. The fastest-feeling 2D game is Advance 2 or Rush (but definitely not Rush Adventure). I'd argue Advance 2, but Rush is a close contender I don't think it's necessarily wrong. Unless you look at boss fights, cause Rush was was filled exclusively with "chill and dodge light attacks for at least 10 seconds and then attack once". The running bosses of Advance 2 were great fun for something a little different.
Isn't that how speed works in Sonic Unleashed, as well? You had a speed cap that you upgraded via the RPG system, but as you collected more rings, you'd actually become faster too. I could very well be misremembering, it's been ages since I played Unleashed.
I genuinely do not know. You could upgrade Sonic's top speed permanently with EXP, but I never actually noticed the difference between Sonic's speed in a new game compared to fully upgraded. I do seem to recall hearing something about Sonic's speed increasing with his rings, although that could easily have been misconstrued with how the boost gauge in Unleashed is specifically called "ring energy". Plus with the boost anyway, you'll be hard-pressed to recognise any changes in acceleration as you'll simply be pressing boost most of the time. In Advance 2, you'll notice a massive difference in how quickly you reach top-speed depending on the number of rings you've got. It's an extra incentive to avoid taking damage.
