Unpopular Sonic Opinions

Thinking about things, I do have an opinion which is probably unpopular: I don't care about Flying Battery's "original intended placement", I think it's just about fine where it ended up to be. I don't get all the "please put FBZ between CNZ and ICZ" whinings whenever someone is working on anything related to S3&K, be it a hack, A.I.R., or Origins.

The S&K half of the game is already weaker as it is, and while I know that the split was never meant to happen in the first place, I do think that LBZ and MHZ work fine as a turning point. Let the players enjoy two nice zones before they go to Sandopolis.

 

Super Sonic final bosses need to be shitcanned, as do space based final zones. Enough already! E. Fucking. Nuff.

 

I don't know what the actual consensus is, so this might not even be unpopular. But Sonic Prime is the best Rouge has ever sounded, and outside the comics or maybe even including them it's the best she's ever been portrayed.

She's not forgettable or even annoying, but actually kind of funny sometimes. And she feels closer to an actual character, at least with more emotional range.

I think it's interesting, because for the most part Sonic Prime's portrayals of the characters don't actually reflect what came before very much. And it's debatably inconsistent with itself due to the whole multiverse thing.

So it's probably telling that my favorite portrayal of this character in animated form is one that doesn't really act like the character at all, but it's true.

 

Speaking of Flying Battery, this is more a personal theory than it is an opinion, but FBZ's music always reminded me of the airplane/airship portion of The Revenge of Shinobi's stage 3. I've often wondered if it was an intentional nod to that. That Shinobi level even has a big moving laser on the ceiling during the bos battle also.

 

My hottest of hot takes is that Flying Battery is one of the worst classic zones. Lots of tedious segments that are basically the moving blocks of Spring Yard, only more numerous and scattered throughout a zone that ends with the dullest boss sequence.

 

Sonic Prime doesn't get enough credit for its voice direction. The voice cast IMO allows for every character to sound like their older selves again. Especially Team Dark felt very nostalgic to me. I don't know whether this is based on a deeper understanding of their personalities or just sheer coincidence, but the resemblance is definitely there.

 

Since we're talking about stages... I actually don't think think Marble Garden Zone is that bad. I get it can be very annoying with its gimmicks, but I love how this stage is full of alternative paths, iirc, there's even some exclusive for Tails in Act 2. I also love the enemies design in this game. And the act 2 boss is very unique, imo.

I also think Aquatic Ruin deservers a lot more of credits.

 

Sonic 1 is a great game. I don't just mean "great for its time", it genuinely is a great game. Compared to most other 16-bit platformers, particularly on the Genesis, Sonic 1 is one of the most replayable and well-designed games of the era, and it's aged pretty well too. I would rather play Sonic 1 than a number of PS1-era games, some of which are considered classics.

 

Marble Garden's only crime, imo, is the amount of crushers, and a few other obstacles that feel like they come out of nowhere. In terms of exploration and varying routes, it's really impressive. And I absolutely love the steep hills. They're great fun to roll down.

MGZ is probably my least favourite stage in S3K, but it's still a respectable 7/10.

 

Counterpoint, but also generally agreeing: S&K is stronger because it has a far better pace and sense of progression, and the only thing that keeps the S3 thematically cohesive is the idea that Angel Island has fallen to the sea and, thus, (almost) every stage has water. Putting FBZ between CNZ and ICZ would destroy that and make that part of the game even weaker.

 

Literally my only problem with S&K counterpart is Sandopolis Act 2. The rest / this part of the game is much more consistent for me. I still think "Sonic 3" part is good, tho'.

 

The issue with MGZ and SOZ 2 for me isn't their gimmicks or difficulty really. It's just how goddamn big and confusing they are.

Like I've played Sonic 3&K enough times to have decent mental maps of most levels, but those two stages are the only ones where I have to actively stop and ask myself "Where the fuck am I?". That's their biggest sin in my eyes, if they didn't do that I'd be perfectly fine with them.

 

I agree with this. I’ve played the classics countless times and I could probably provide a decent sketch of most levels except for Marble Garden, Sandopolis, and Flying Battery.

It’s weird though. I’ve always thought of Marble Garden as one of the worst levels, but I still have fun when I’m actually playing it. The only thing that’s semi-annoying is how the top functions and the walls that require it to break.

 

Building on the post above, there is one thing I never remember when it comes to FBZ2: the best path to take at the split. I know how to navigate both of them, I just never remember which one is the best.

I still love Marble Garden in its entirety, though, and I still think of Sandopolis as a chore, but my position about this latter point is milder than how it used to be.

In fact, it's not like I hate the S&K half, but when you think about it, there are at least a miniboss (SPZ1) and a boss (LRZ"3") that waste time for the sake of wasting time, and that's not something that should happen in a game oriented to speed. I don't mind to slow down every once in a while if it's to perform some precise platforming, and you can argue that there is a component of that in the Lava Reef boss fight, but that component is minimal, even more so if you have a fire shield, which is graciously provided right before the boss arena.

 

Sonic 3 & Knuckles is my least favourite out of the classics. Too many annoying Zones bog it down. Carnival Night has that infamous beginners trap with the barrel, Sandopolis Act 2, and the Death Egg with the annoying gravity gimmick. I'm also not really a fan of the Michael Jackson like soundtrack. It gets really obnoxious during Launch Bass. I feel like that sort of music style was done much better in Sonic Rush.

Meanwhile Sonic 2 just has Metropolis and Sonic 1 just has Labyrinth and Marble, which I don't think is too bad, just slow and follows more typical platforming designs.

 

I'll probably have to change my name and go off the grid after this one, but I find Sonic 2 to be the weakest of the classics. I feel like it not only drags on and on in many spots, but it's also just kind of....all over the place with the pacing and progression. In many ways I find Sonic 1 better.

That's not to say that I don't find Sonic 2 fun or have loads of nostalgia associated with it. I do and I do. Once upon a time, I was practically in love with it and played it religiously, and that was AFTER it grew on me, when my FIRST impression of it as a kid who'd been playing Sonic 1 for weeks was "....the heck is ALL THIS?!". Oddly enough, it was seeing Sky Chase, Wing Fortress and the Final Boss —probably some of the most rage-inducing levels in the game— that changed my tune about it and made me to beg my parents for it. I daydreamed about that Eggman robot for years to come. And then one fine day, first grade year, I came home from school and see the game sitting on my dresser as a surprise from mom. Yay!...Right? Huh. Little did I know what I was in for. LOL

I realize nobody was really too crazy about this part, but I think I had my first actual "rage quit" when I realized Metropolis had a mother FUCKING third act. I was already feeling like I was being trolled when I finally hit "the blue Emerald Hill", as I used to call it. Then came that DAMNED Oil Ocean. But MZ3? Insert Fred Flintstone grumblings here. "Rassa phrassa something something". I also never liked the special stages very much past the age of five. Fun the first few times, but once I got the game myself I pretty much skipped them. Super Sonic? I had cousins who knew the cheat codes LOL. I realize now, those special stages felt overwhelming compared to Sonic 1's and yet underwhelming compared Sonic 3 & Knuckles'. Strange, I know.

I do like the game, though. I swear. It's just...not my first pick. HOWEVER the music alone and the aesthetics makes it all worth while to boot up at least a few times a year for me.

 

This is not unpopular because I am pretty sure there is no actual consensus on this, but I'd take a Heroes remake over an Adventure remake.

I have a long list of changes I'd want in the case of both, but as far as enjoyability of the base game that we already have and as far as what I view has more potential in pretty much every way, I view Heroes as superior to SA1 and maybe even SA2.

It is quite dependent on the level design, though. And on this playthrough of Heroes I am doing after so long of not playing it, I pretty much only intend to do Team Dark's campaign and nothing else and for good reason, but yeah.

I would not want this style of play to become the basis for the direction the series takes or anything like that, though.

 

Sonic 2 is my least favourite also.

When Sonic 1 came out, it really immersed me in that environment and I spent quite some time playing through all of it. When Sonic 2 came out, I found it to be very glitchy and the special stages were annoying. I beat Sonic 2 in one day on the day I got it. It was a little too easy although it did have a much better final boss. It's hit and miss really. Sonic 2 has amazing music but it wasn't as memorable to me as Sonic 1. Both the music and the game as a whole.

 

I think Sonic 1's the weakest on the basis of having some jank level-wise that got ironed out in later games (Labyrinth Zone Act 3 is a big one), but yeah, I also think that Sonic 2 is overrated. I brought it up before but I think the environments are a little too samey and the aesthetic changes often enough between stages that the progression feels random - which also makes it feel way longer than it should.

Re: Sonic 3, I actually do prefer the S&K half to the S3 half. S&K has mechanics that I find less annoying (yes, even the Sandopolis ghosts) compared to Sonic 3's Marble Garden top and Carnival Night's...everything, and I also prefer the aesthetics of its levels more too. After Sandopolis all the levels are a total home-run with regards to vibe and art.

(Ice Cap Zone is a 10/10 tho)