Ranking Every 2D Sonic Game

as someone that grew up with mario as well as sonic games i thought it'd be fun to go through all the 2d sonic games and figure out which is the best and the worst this list is based off of how much fun replayable the games are so with that said let's get her ranked 23. sonic the hedgehog master system i have to admit i'm stunned a sonic game is even running on inferior hardware and the frame rate is shockingly consistent that is quite the achievement but man there is just no reason to ever come back to this the levels are mostly based on sonic 1 on the genesis but the level design is completely different only the first couple levels have you moving fast everything else screams run of the mills platformer like seriously this could pass off as a mario knockoff like samari there's even an auto scroller yes an auto scroller in a sonic game and the music is just okay i wasn't expecting much to begin with but it just doesn't hit the same 22. sonic blast i figured out what they blasted and that's the pixels what the heck happened here everything looks so awkward with this abnormally high pixel count and the trade-off is less animation it's so bad that it almost feels like watching a slideshow sometimes the animations are barely fluid if at all with all that said sonic blast is perfectly playable but being on the game gear the screen crunch is horrible and then you've got annoying music forgettable levels and knuckles well there's nothing wrong with knuckles in fact that's sonic's blast only redeeming quality 21. sonic chaos the only chaos i'm seeing is sonic's face something about it just doesn't look right it's not that important though seeing as the gameplay is surprisingly good and you're able to pick from sonic or tails the zones are all unique and the bosses are pretty creative for the time my favorite part has to be these rocket shoes where you just completely break the level for 10 seconds now would i recommend anyone go back and play this of course not it's aged horribly as you can see 20. sonic the hedgehog triple trouble infamously known for knuckles pushing a button and causing global warming thanks a lot you knuckle brain triple trouble is very much like sonic chaos but with a little bit more level variety there just isn't much of this game that stands out compared to the other 8-bit games besides this special stage where sonic constantly looks away from where he's flying that's not safe dude stop doing that 19. sonic the hedgehog 2 master system i'm beyond surprised with how much was improved with this sequel there's brand new concepts introduced like hang gliding you wouldn't expect that much ambition and the boss fights are much more creative too same with the levels as they aren't based around the original sonic 2. i guess there was a reason this was included in sonic jumps collection while the first master system game wasn't 18. sonic the hedgehog 4 episode 1 a game title has never been a bigger lie than this one sonic 1 through 3 are classic sonic games that are still cherished to this day while sonic 4 doesn't even attempt to live up to its predecessor's expectations where do i even start with this mess there's four levels with 2x each so it takes less than an hour to beat the game the physics are horrible due to the lack of momentum sonic can't even roll down the hills and the stages are just watered down versions of themes used in the past and adding to injury is making the choice to remake the sonic 1 special stages which were never that fun to begin with sonic 4 feels like a poorly rushed fan game frankly this is barely and i mean barely better than the master system slash game gear games that's bad 17. sonic the hedgehog 4 episode 2. while technically different games they really should have both been included as one the only reason this is better is because the physics aren't quite as wonky as in episode 1. the stages music and graphics all look about the same some of the worlds look nice at times but it does not live up to the name it's given itself once again there is zero reason to ever play these games when you've caught the first reported on so many different consoles 16. sonic the hedgehog pocket adventure holy crap the vibrance of these colors is amazing i never thought i'd be playing a video game on a neo geo pocket color of all things and boy was i actually missing out all the classic music is remixed and same with all the worlds so it's actually a lot like sonic mania i can't believe how much i enjoyed this game the animation is extremely well done and the controls aren't too bad they are a little bit slippery but they work for the most part of all the obscure sonic games this is the only one i'd recommend trying out 15. sonic boom shattered crystal well it's better than the wii u game while this may look like a typical platformer it's actually not at all in fact it's like a metroidvania but with more speed you'll use the inner beam or dashing to get yourself around and of course you'll switch characters to get through and find all the blueprints and crystals i personally don't mind these kinds of exploratory games but if you're looking for something faster paced then this isn't going to be for you my biggest issue though is that you're forced to find almost every blueprint to finish the game when it really should have been optional 14. sonic and boom fire and ice ah yes a third sonic boom game if it wasn't for the tv show there is no way in hell this would exist it plays very much like shattered crystal where you've got multiple characters the levels are more open world in nature but the biggest improvement by far is you don't have to collect everything it's entirely optional now the fire and ice abilities are a nice bonus as well although they don't really add that much to the gameplay it's a fine enough game maybe played if you're really curious 13. sonic the hedgehog genesis believe it or not this is the first game that i ever played when i was about three or four years old i had a sega genesis and i kind of remember playing this even over 20 years later i loved green hill zone as everyone else does it's got really chirpy music fun gameplay and an inviting art style and that's what everyone remembers after playing sonic 1 is this zone and how great it is but the rest of this game is either mediocre or just bad marble zone looks and sounds nice but it's extremely slow spring yard is more of the same thing it looks nice but is boring to play and labyrinth zone is infamous for being one of the worst water areas in a video game it's slow as molasses and is filled with unfair spike spikes enemy placement even with that though this is a really special game and i'm obviously glad that it exists but if you're gonna play it just play the versions that have spin dash and a save feature 12. sonic advance 3 by far the most ambitious sonic advance title the biggest change being the partner gimmick where you'll pick two of five characters and team up together this changes the gameplay pretty drastically you'll be granted tons of new attacks or moves based on which team you put together there's even a hub world with extra bonus levels and the like while i like how much advance 3 tries to freshen things up the level design is just atrocious the first level is something new route 99 but the amount of death traps that you can't see coming is despicable all the effort in this game must have gone into the partner mechanic while the gameplay is seriously lacking most of these levels are gonna kill you in ways that you'll never see coming it's honestly just too bad but even so this game is worth at least trying since there's no other sonic game quite like it 11. sonic generations 3ds besides green hill zone every other stage here is completely different from the console version for starters i have to bring up that special stages are based on sonic heroes which kind of freaked me out for a second and then i played it and uh the controls aren't broken this time thank god just like the console version you'll switch between using classic and modern sonic but for classic sonic the levels are literally pulled from the original games and only remix the 3d themes like sonic adventure the level design in general just isn't very sharp there's lots of bottomless pits as well as confusing layouts 10. sonic rush adventure as a teenager i love the sonic rush games but for some reason i never finished sonic rush adventure the levels are a ton of fun and the boost mechanic is great but i forgot about the large amount of filler there's a lot of sailing of all things which is required to get to different levels and it gets boring fairly quickly and don't even get me started on the behemoth of text to sift through most of it doesn't even need to be there it's really too bad there's so much padding to add game time because otherwise this is a really enjoyable game 9. sonic advance 2. i just love the style the entire advanced trilogy has sonic advance 2 has some of the best looking levels out of the 3 and we're introduced to cream now cream is hilarious because she has a chow named cheese which is ironic considering you can use cheese to cheese all the boss fights unfortunately a large chunk of this game isn't very enjoyable the amount of death pits spikes and horrible enemy placement is just ridiculous i like the higher emphasis on speed but since the screen isn't very wide you can't always see what's coming something simple that would have remedied this problem is letting us land back on grind rails that aren't completely straight why can't we do that and seriously just stop with the death pits it gets way over the top by the end 8. sonic advance another one of my childhood games sonic advance still holds up surprisingly well and i'd consider it to be slightly better than advanced 2. the idea is the same play as multiple different characters besides cream and every character has their own attributes and attacks i found that more of the levels in the first game were more enjoyable specifically in the first four zones neo green hill secret base casino paradise and ice mountain are all fantastic i even like parts of angel island but the death pits and spikes get a bit extreme by the end sonic advance goes from a fun time to trial and error for no particular reason i get it the difficulty is supposed to get harder but it's just not done correctly or fairly here 7. sonic rush this is the game to introduce the boost mechanic which is still being used to this very day push a button and if you have energy charged up you'll fly forward blasting through everything this paired with a dual screen sharing the levels makes for an insanely great time emblaze is by far one of the best sonic characters introduced she goes just as fast as sonic and is on the hunt for soul emerald instead funny enough the music kind of reminds me of sonic r and that's because it doesn't really fit well with the game but it is absolutely bopping [Music] the only thing i can knock sonic rush for is say it with me bottomless pits but at least there's no dumb sailing 6. sonic cd it is still such a mystical and interesting game each zone including the past and present versions has different music and they just scream early 90s the gameplay is mostly the same but the level design is much more complex the amount of alternate routes and paths you can explore is just absurd most of the rounds not zones are fun but a couple really dampen the experience wacky workbench is just awful there's way too much bouncing nonsense and it is a slog to get through and metallic madness is way too long and again not very fun to play some of the bosses are also just a complete joke that require little to no strategy whatsoever while sonic cd has a few shortcomings it's by far one of the most unique 2d sonic titles due to its time traveling mechanics 5. sonic and knuckles i still get a kick out of that intro the death egg just crashing down while sonic and knuckles are just chilling out the main difference between this and sonic 3 is the zones aren't quite as fun or memorable while i love mushroom hill flying battery and sky sanctuary everything else is either tedious or just annoying sandopolis and hidden palace zone are long confusing and complete shorts to play through as an example while there were lots of improvements compared to sonic 1 and even sonic 2 in the graphical department the gameplay doesn't hold up quite as well 4. sonic colors ds might as well have just called this sonic rush 3. holy sh did they knock this one out of the park while it is based on the wii version with the same music and themes the levels are entirely 2d and frankly this game might even be better than the wii version the levels are not only longer and more in-depth but the wisps actually work more efficiently you've got the white wisp to fill your boost meter the orange one launches you into the air the red one gives you multiple high speed jumps and so on they don't feel tacked on at all the wisps actually make gameplay more enjoyable i know what you're thinking not every wisp was brought back into this game in fact they actually removed all the dumb ones like blue where you turn blocks into rings and pink where you slowly climb up walls as a spike ball yeah you know you can keep those in the wii one i don't want them here three sonic the hedgehog 3 the very first video game i ever fully completed sonic 3 took an even bigger leap than sonic 2 with overhauled graphics multiple playable characters and save files yes that was a big deal when the previous two games didn't have them although they're stage select but that's beyond the point sonic 3 only has 6 zones which is significantly less than sonic 2 but they're all a blast to play except for marble garden zone which is way more confusing than it should be angel island catches on fire halfway through changing up the scenery pretty drastically hydro city lets you run across water ice cap has you sliding down hills on ice every stage is extremely memorable and the elemental shields make them all the better since each gives you abilities like charging forward or getting an extra jump it's just that there's a lack of stages that's the only real downside 2. sonic the hedgehog 2 genesis it seems like every month i go back and forth between sonic 2 or sonic 3. but after replaying these games yet again it really came down to which one i had more fun with and sonic 2 has a slight edge over sonic 3. especially when you compare it as its own game and not paired with sonic and knuckles of all the zones there is really only a couple of stinkers metropolis goes on for way too long death egg is stupid since you can't get hit and sky chase is a little boring but every other zone is just pure fun to run through emerald hill does a fantastic follow-up to green hill zone chemical plant has the grooviest tunes and tons of exhilarating ramps to speed through aquatic ruin is a water stage but it's not dragged down by bad level design hilltop is extremely underrated and the same goes for mystic cave and oil ocean sonic 2 is nothing short of bliss 1. sonic mania plus this game perfectly encapsulates everything that's right about sonic the levels are crazy fast the pixel work is beautiful the music is hair rippingly good there's secrets everywhere the intro cutscene is hand drawn there's a knuckles in knuckles mode knuckles has his own unique stages you can play as rey and mighty this game is way way past cool studiopolis zone is one of my favorite sonic zones of all time and they brought back blue spear even created big rings that are actually fun the only way this game could possibly be topped is if there's a sequel with completely brand new stages because this game comes so so close to perfection do you like sonic i bet you do because you watched all the way to the end of the video so thanks for doing that make sure to let me know in the comments what you like to put on your chili dogs and with that said thank you for watching have a way cool day and goodbye [Music] no no no no no no no no no no no

Channel: Nathaniel Bandy

Views: 839,629

Keywords: Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog, Ranking Sonic Games, Ranking 2D Sonic Games, Ranking 2D Sonic, Sonic Mania, Sonic Mania Plus, Sonic Mania 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic CD, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Sonic the Hedgehog 4, Sonic 4, Sonic 3, Sonic 2, sega, sanic, nathaniel bandy

Id: bLdkPSG-XEs

Length: 15min 13sec (913 seconds)

Published: Sat May 08 2021