Continuing to forge its own path. Interestingly you even see this manifest with characters not serving the same role that they do in their home-console counterparts. Tails strangely goes from Sonic's sidekick to Sonic's very first damsel-in-distress. It's with this game that there is this established line that these handheld Sonic games are not conversions of their older brothers, but their own artistic statements. Is the number even needed anymore?

Always thought I would like this game more than most people, but I guess I ended up liking it less than most. Perhaps if you play it repeatedly it's better, but in this one playthough... oof. The bosses for this game are notorious for not giving you any rings, and the very first one just absolutely sucks right off the bat. Weirdly, the first boss is perhaps the hardest of the game. I had a lot of blunders on the other ones, but I think I was just too in my head, they're really rather easy for the most part. But yeah, the bosses are mainly what hold this game back for me, or at least the level leading up to them, because this has the Sonic 1 Genesis approach of having a level before the boss. It's not bad for most of them, but holy hell the Green Hills Zone act 3 level is ass.

The regular levels are also a mixed bag. I rather liked Green Hills and Aqua Lake Zone, but Gimmick Mt. and Scrambled Egg Zone were kinda bad (Scrambled Egg especially is doo doo). The other levels are negligible. Kudos for trying different themes than the typical ones, and placing the Green Hill clone in the middle of the game.

I'd personally just rather play Sonic 1 on Game Gear, though, I don't see this as an improvement at all, but rather frustrating most of the time.

Completed for the 3rd time. Even more fun the more familiar I grow with the game. Can get to Sky chase without losing any lives now. The only drawback is that I still cant stand Death Egg Zone. The no rings, the no checkpoints, the awkward hit boxes. I still have no idea if my jumps are goanna kill me or not and the arm thrusts half the time i cant see on the screen when they're coming. I don't dislike challenge but it is not one that is satisfying in the slightest and turns the rest of the game into collecting as many continues as I can to stand a chance just for the final zone.
Best Zone: Hill Top Zone
Worst Zone: Metropolis Zone (mostly for those damn grasshoppers)