Most 3D Sonic games are mediocre and it seems like a lot of the people who enjoy them didn't grow up playing Sonic in the 90s.
Sonic is a 30 year old franchise. I'd be willing to bet that the majority of Sonic fans today didn't grow up playing Sonic in the 90s. Also you framing that as a bad thing is kinda odd.
Yeah, consensus seems to be "the Sonic games we thought were terrible were actually alright all along, also Sonic was never good".
This is funny to me because a lot of the Sonic games that came out in the 90s weren’t good. The 8-bit platformers had some fun locale ideas but the system just couldn’t replicate what made the Mega Drive games work so well, and a lot of other stuff Sonic had his name on during that time was filler schlock, like Labyrinth. Meanwhile, post-Adventure 2, I’d classify the majority of Sonic titles as diamonds in the rough. The Advance trilogy and Rush duology are solid games at their cores, hampered by minor elements that aren’t intrinsic to their concepts, as opposed to the likes of Shadow which is just awful and I’d argue more of a trough for the series than 06. Colours, while more divisive these days, is a game I can appreciate as being safe but ultimately competently executing pretty much everything it does. Lost World is…pretty bad conceptually in several areas but, like Heroes, has its moments while the worst crime Forces commits is being boring and automated. So yeah, while Sonic certainly has more misses than hits, it’s by no means a new phenomenon and, while Shadow, 06 and Boom deserve every piece of criticism they get, I think it’s important to remember where Labyrinth, Sonic 2 8-bit and Knuckles’ Chaotix came from.
Context plays a key role in the 8-bit stuff. As AVGN once said when reviewing Labyrinth, "These are portable games, what do you expect?" In the early-to-mid 90s, the novelty of taking a game on a trip meant sacrificing its playability. Sure, a lot of the Game Gear games play like crap today, but they were never meant to replicate what made the console games good and they weren't really meant to light the world on fire in the first place. Only in a post-Pokémon world did portable games start to stand on their own and be considered just as important as their console counterparts.
I mean, beyond the fact that I can only judge what’s presented to me, the 8-bit Sonic games don’t even compete with their contemporaries, in my opinion. Kirby’s Dream Land, either of the Mario Land games, Donkey Kong ‘94, etc. I don’t feel any charitable obligation towards the 8-bit games when releases around the same time are technically superior (on a less powerful system!) and more fun to play. Also, if I’m to make allowances for the fact that the 8-bit games tried to push a playstyle that couldn’t be done on the hardware for reasons outside the developers’ control, then I’m going to make allowances for every rushed game from the 00s. That doesn’t seem right to me. The 8-bit games specifically are bad in some measure due to factors outside of their control, but they’re still bad.
Sonic 2 8-bit is a perfectly fine game.... on Master System. I'll only accept complaints if you're explicitly on about the Game Gear version.
I've been slacking for decades now when it comes to either acquiring a Power Base Converter for a Model 2 or a Master System, so whenever I refer to any 8-bit title it is exclusively Game Gear. That said, I rank Sonic 2 pretty damn low, often considering placing the comfortably playable Sonic Blast above it. I doubt the Master System's resolution will get to me appreciate the game to any greater extent.
The best of this is there's not cause-effect here, because people can enjoy mediocre games or hate excellent ones, and there's a lot of people that enjoy the classic games despite not having grown in the 90s. I've been one of those "Sonic will never be good again!" drama queens, but, despite I still think the (main) classic ones have more objective quality for their time than the adventure games, these days I'm more willing to play an adventure-like game than a classic one because those offer a different experience and I want that kind of experience right now.
My experience with Sonic 2 8-bit comes from the Wii Virtual console...I still think it's a right bitch of a game.
People grow older and their opinions change, this isn't unique to Sonic. Anyone remember how Wind Waker was "the end of Zelda" until it because a loved classic? People who either loved these games as children who had no way of speaking up until now suddenly have a way of speaking their mind and opinions or people just reevaluating their opinions with a more matured mindset. Every game is someone's first and holds some merit to people. Sonic games are so drastically different from each other that its only natural some people would like or hate things more than others would depending on your tastes. We aren't a hivemind.
Speaking for S2 8bit specifically, it's not just the resolution, they changed other things too. On the first boss, already suffering from the screen being reduced so it's harder to see the ball coming, they decided to vary the bounce height - it's consistent on Master System. As such it is far, FAR harder on Game Gear for no real reason.
The infamous Mystic Cave shit pit is honestly one of the funniest death traps in all of gaming history. Sure it's probably objectively bad game design but it's just hilarious. Every time I run into it like a dumbass (Especially with Super Sonic) I don't really get angry or frustrated, I just smile. Although it being replaced with Hidden Palace in the Whitehead remake is probably a good thing despite not being as hilarious.
I never knew the pit existed. I've never fallen into it. I didn't know it was infamous until I got internet access and had it brought to my attention. And I still had to look up a level map to find it. Even when I seek it out I always manage to dodge it by accident. I absolutely did get trapped by the barrel, though. Would it be a hot take to say that 3&K's Flying Battery Zone, and first act of Ice Cap, are some of my least-favorite levels in the series? I find them unbelievably boring despite their awesome themes.
The Classic Sonic tracks in Forces are all actually pretty great songs, but they're just held back by horrid instrument choice. This song in particular really shines when it isn't being sung by a dying duck.
