Sonic the Hedgehog 4

[saturn-gamer]

Sonic CD is widely considered to be the best Sonic ever made. S+K is brilliant as well, especially the full experience with Sonic 3 locked on. I find Sonic 1 to be a tad overrated, its actually a very annoying game with lots of deathtraps. I found out when I replayed it on Xbox Live.

Sonic 4 isn't ****, I just think it kind of controls like **** and that its a missed opportunity on itself. I like some of the levels, the design isn't half bad (except for homing parts), and currently going for the final emerald. There is potential in there. If Sonic 4 Ep 2 listens to the critics and brings some fresh zones after this obvious test pilot then the Blue Bomber might be back in business.

[Dogg Thang]

Sonic CD is widely considered to be the best Sonic ever made.

I really don't think that's true. I would expect Sonic 2 is the one with that spot (I wouldn't agree, personally). Sonic CD just had a lot of people taking because so few people had a Mega CD. It became the interesting one, not the best.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Sonic CD is widely considered to be the best Sonic ever made.

Like Dogg Thang, I would also disagree with that statement and give Sonic 2 the title of best game in the series, and that's coming from somebody who likes Sonic CD a lot.

[Phar]

I think I actually like Sonic 2 the least, no idea why. My order would be Sonic CD, S3&K, S1, S2.

I think I just preferred the larger emphasis on exploration that CD & S3&K had.

I went and bought the PS3 version of this today to see if it could sway my opinion of it after originally buying the iphone game, £15.98 in total spent and I still really don't like it, got up to the Casino Zone and just had to f*ck it off as it was starting to irk me. Hey at least I tried, I really envy anyone who can play this and think it's above average, I really do.

[saturn-gamer]

For me its CD -> S3&K -> S2 -> S1

Sonic 2 is incredibly straightforward and seems to exploit Sonic's speedy image a bit too much. But its solid overall, and a classic.

CD is so good to me because its not mostly based on speed but there is a lot of good platform gameplay in there too. I loved the time travel aspect of it, sometimes difficult to activate. The meat is trying to get all Good futures. I liked the bonus stages the best (with Blue Sphere as second) and Metal Sonic is my favourite badguy in the series. Was stoked when I ran into him in S&K too. Robotnik bosses of CD were incredibly dull though.

And why couldn't the Sonic 4 music be like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYxlqTpZ-24

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo_4R17gYSY

still bloody love it. I hope Episode 2 does a better job at the music as well.

[Sam The Man]

I think Sonic CD is overrated and found the levels messy the Sonic jumping sound annoying and the time travel pointless as well as the bonus levels not as good as Sonic 2's half pipe or the challenging blue sphere collecting of Sonic 3.

For me the best is Sonic 3 + S&K followed by Sonic 2

[Dogg Thang]

Sorry, just for clarity, I wasn't commenting on whether Sonic CD was the best or not. I was commenting on what was 'widely accepted' as being the best. Googling 'best sonic ever' and checking various forum posts, yep, Sonic 2 seems a clear winner, with Sonic Adventure getting a huge amount of votes too.

Personally, I think 3 was the peak but few seem to share that opinion. Sonic CD disappointed me when I finally got to play it.

[sj33]

I've always been of the opinion that Sonic 3 & Knuckles was the best, it was a natural progression from Sonic 2 that has the perfect balance of fast-paced gameplay, whilst also giving the sense of scale and non-linearity that was clearly inspired by Super Mario World. Sonic 2 was simpler and more straightforward, which is also why some people prefer it. For me, it took Sonic, and showed that it could be every bit as deep and non-linear as Super Mario World.

I like Sonic CD, a lot, but I don't think it's the best. What I like about it was the experimental nature of the whole thing, it felt like the developers were really using their imagination with the title and were allowed to 'go nuts' to an extent. Some things worked, some didn't, but it's pleasant to play a game that feels so organic, it was no 'by the numbers' affair.

[prinnysquad]

For me, Sonic 1 is the best Sonic.

The visuals somehow felt more colourful than the others - and I mean in depth and boldness. Sonic 2 often felt more pastel-y. Sonic 3 and S&K had a 'sketchy' look about the visuals, looking quite vague rather than crisp.
The music was wall-to-wall quality. Starlight, Green Hill, Marble, Labyrinth, Special stage - all classic FM.
The variety of levels was distinctive and provided a good balance ... although this was a strength of all Sonic games. But, the first game had the most distinctive level design for me.
The pace was perfect. Back in the day, the games were so expensive that I used to explore every square inch of a game. I know it wasn't the point, but with Sonic games I avoided racing through at mega speed, and enjoyed a slower pace of exploration. Sonic 1's levels were just absorbing to play. As were those of Sonic 2. By Sonic 3, there was too much emphasis on speed for me, and having to pick a path through a level rather than explore it.

[mr_sockochris]

Sonic 3&K is my favourite. Played the trial of this and didn't like it at all. It's a bit of a throwaway remark but I just found it soulless - like a fan made project or something. I don't like how Sonic feels either what with his slow initial movement being about as fast as a snail. Jumping feels a bit odd, not helped by the fact he doesn't spin in the air sometimes now for whatever reason. A letdown

[Darwock]

How do you get the demo of this off the PSN? I couldn't find it on the UK store, so I went to the US one and looked in the 'Demos' category. Found it, but it has a $14.99 price tag attached - so surely it's not a demo! What's it doing in there then?

[moonwhistle]

Sorry, just for clarity, I wasn't commenting on whether Sonic CD was the best or not. I was commenting on what was 'widely accepted' as being the best. Googling 'best sonic ever' and checking various forum posts, yep, Sonic 2 seems a clear winner, with Sonic Adventure getting a huge amount of votes too.

Personally, I think 3 was the peak but few seem to share that opinion. Sonic CD disappointed me when I finally got to play it.

I don't think Sonic CD could possiblly be widely considered the best game in the series due to lack of people who have played it. Everyone and their mother would have played Sonic 2 which I think was the best selling Megadrive game ever. Almost nobody owned Mega CD consoles, they were totally ignored by the masses due to being rubbish, even on release.

[DANGEROUS-3]

IMO Sonic 2 is widely considered to be the best.
It's a great game .. all the zones are so distinct, the gameplay is perfect etc..

My favs are Sonic CD - I like that it's more exploration based and the time traveling aspect is really cool, and Sonic 3 - that was my fav for years until I finally played CD and it became joint fav.

Sonic 3 has got some sublime zones. Carnival Night is my fav- Killer music, great graphics, top notch level design- bouncing off the popping balloons was a brilliant touch for example.

OMG- and the final Zone of Sonic 3 Launch Base WAS AMAZING, and even cooler was doing the construction mode cheat in Launch Base and then you could be Super Sonic as much as you wanted by creating as many power ups as you wanted. Possibly still the coolest ever cheat in a videogame.

Anyway, time to get back to Sonic 4 now...

[randombs]

I just bought it on 360.

My little bro walked in while it was paused at the start of the first level, and you know what he said?

"It looks rubbish! It's 2D! 3D's much better!"

I looked at him and said "Get out." similar to how T-1000 says it to the truck driver.

Sega's gonna be getting a few points out of me now. Gonna buy Sonic 2, 3 and S+K in a sec. Never played S+K so will be interesting, and also because my mate told me it links with the other roms so no problems there. Sorry to go OT for a bit(looks at above posts and relaxes somewhat) but I'm assuming if I buy S+K and run it with Sonic 3 it'll be the complete S3+K just like the original cart combo?

[Super Monkey Balls]

I think what this thread proves is that Sonic fans will never be happy. They've done everything we asked with this one and still people are piling on the hate. No wonder SEGA stick to mainstream drivel these days.