So, on my journey to play through every (worthwhile) Sonic game, I’m currently up to Triple Trouble and I think I’m now assured in the following take: The 8-bit platformers blow chunks and are overrated thanks to what I can only assume to be nostalgia goggles and lingering console wars loyalties. Sonic 1 gets something of a pass but becomes dickishly cheap by Scrap Brain, Sonic 2 is dickishly cheap all the way through and Sonic Chaos is the very definition of giving nothing. Triple Trouble is admittedly doing its level best to be fun with its new gimmicks and attempts to mitigate the technical shortcomings of the hardware, but these are still pale imitations of the Mega Drive games that stubbornly insisted for four years on continuing to be just that. The speed isn’t there, there’s nothing interesting to be analysed in the level design, screen crunch makes the games at odds with themselves, Triple Trouble’s special stages are a sin, and so on. I genuinely can’t think of a single redeeming thing about these games in the core game design sense. It’s going to be a bit until I get to it, but right now I’m expecting to enjoy Tails’ Adventure and even Sonic Labyrinth a lot more than these titles, as I imagine they’ll both play much better to the Game Gear’s strengths.
That’s actually pretty well thought out, while I still disagree with your overall opinion of Sonic 1 and even 2 to an extent I can totally understand why they aren’t living up to the hype. Don’t get your hopes up about labyrinth though that game also blows chunks. You’re probably better off playing 8 bit mean bean machine.
You're doing yourself a disservice if you're playing the Game Gear version when there's a Master System version available.
I played through the Master System versions and they didn't get any better for me. The bigger screen space didn't solve the underlying issues. They're pretty mediocre games for me and the Master System/GG have far better looking and playing platformers than any of the Sonic games outside of Tails Adventure.
The best thing I can say of main MS/GG games is that they inspired a really good fan-remake of Triple Trouble (and that unfinished one of Chaos). I'd like to see a Genesis Sonic 1 rom hack have a solid reinvention of Bridge and Jungle Zone someday, but honestly I haven't been impressed with most attempts I've seen over the years. They're just not very interesting games. Except for Tails Adventure. That one can stay.
Sorry to break it to you pal, but I did prioritise Master System versions where I could - it really only makes these games a little more tolerable.
"Nostalgia goggles" allegations are always utterly ridiculous. You'd think "haha! You only like this game because it left a mark so big on your life it colors your perception of it so that it makes you happy to think about it or experience it again" should be a ridiculous thing to say about a game derogatorily, because what else are games even for? If anything, it's the highest praise a game can possibly get. That said, the 8-bit games are actually very interesting, and are fairly undervalued by the community and most of all by SEGA itself. They're dead on arrival: they couldn't possibly be made with the same purpose as the 16-bit games of showing off the Mega Drive and spearheading the whole company's portfolio, but had to somehow trick enough people into believing the same kind of magic and speed were there. So they were very meticulous about things few other games in the series, if any, paid any mind -- while also applying some of the craziest gimmicks in the classic era. There's a lot I could say, but I guess I'll leave it at that.
I think "This is a good game" is higher. Nostalgia is nice, but being able to separate the effect a game had on your mushy prepubescent brain from its objective quality is important.
There is no such thing. Games are cultural products and any perceived quality is intersubjective and contextual.
the problem with "nostalgia" to me and framing things as "nostalgic" is, imo, it often comes from a place of "I like this because it reminds me of how when I was a child and didn't know much and was introduced to something exciting and cool that expanded my world in an important way". This is a fine sentiment, but the problem with it is that people resign themselves into thinking that this "magical moment" can only happen during childhood and that they can't try to seek it in new things, they can only go back and "remind themselves" of how that felt as a child. I hate calling things "nostalgic" for that reason. In the context of retro games especially, I hate it because it's the first adjective anyone ever goes to, and I play retro games not because I want to remember a game from my childhood, but because I am constantly on the hunt for new, exciting experiences. An enormous chunk of my favorite retro games are games I've never grown up with. Games I've played in the last decade, last 5 years, last year. So that's why I don't go for "nostalgic" either as a compliment or not - feels derisive and dismissive either way. I think 8-bit Sonic 1 has quite a lot of merit, I think Ancient did a really fine job at rethinking/adapting Sonic to an 8-bit machine, especially since all they had was just the one game to reference what Sonic "is", and how it differs from other platformers, what is its identity, what's important about its play. It does get mean and unfun near the end but until then it's a great time. The Aspect games though, are varying degrees of "not quite there". They get better and better as they go on, with Triple Trouble being their best, and Sonic 2 being really incredibly mean, especially for the Good Ending. Memorization hell: the video game. One funny occurrence is that I distinctly remember rolling down a V-shaped slope in Green Hills and getting stuck in the "bottom of the V", unable to uncurl or move Sonic, thinking "great."
