I had a good time revisiting this one. Most of the time I felt it was better than I remembered, though there were numerous points that were annoying enough where I was sure I had to keep my rating the same. If you're interested in Sonic this is definitely worth playing at least once, I'd recommend playing it through Sonic 1 Forever if you can.

This game's greatest strength and weakness is the level design. Green Hill and Star Light are a joy to play and even hold up to the later Genesis titles in the series, though Labyrinth is nightmarishly bad and Scrap Brain Act 3 basically acting as Labyrinth Act 4 is really a kick to the teeth at the end of the game. Marble and Spring Yard are hit or miss even within the same acts, and Scrap Brain is an appreciated challenge that unfortunately doesn't play well with Sonic's controls.

The game would be a 3.5 nonetheless if it weren't for the sluggish physics in this game. Sonic takes a ridiculous amount of momentum to start moving at a reasonable speed, and most of the game is designed around start-and-stop rhythms that highlight the worst parts of the game feel. And the special stages are certainly a contender for the worst in the series.

This is absolutely one of the best ways to play Sonic 1 alongside the original Genesis version on a CRT. The additional options and characters are great for revisiting the game in a different flavor, and it combines that with the Retro Engine improvements like widescreen and higher quality music. The built in mod support is nice, and the goodies like boss rush and the golf mode are great as well. I would have liked for physics tweaks in this as well to bring the game feel in line with Sonic 2, though I know that's kinda a big ask from a project like this.

This is the video game equivalent of a greatest hits album, comprising mostly of retreads of concepts that had already been explored in earlier Souls games. While it's one of the most consistently good games in the series, it lacks a unique identity and doesn't feel as varied as Demon's Souls or Dark Souls 1. It's still a great time for sure, a good starting point for people trying to get into these games as well. Though, I consider this game the least inspired in the whole lineup.

You could also call Dark Souls 3 "Dodge Roll: The Video Game" because the combat of this game has honed the variety of strategies down to a Bloodborne-like zone of constantly needing to dodge fast attacks. Positioning and spacial awareness have become less important than ever, and the variety of combat encounters is now more to do with how many enemies there are as compared to where they've been placed. Enemy attacks also track rotation a lot, leading to a lot of enemies spinning in place as they wind up their attacks. I understand why things went this direction but it's definitely a step down from the considered combat Dark Souls used to be known for.

The level design is solid as always, though it feels very "standard video game-y" compared to the more believable spaces of Demon's, the masterful inter-connectivity of DS1, and the slightly more clever winding nature of Bloodborne. Most levels have direct comparisons to previous games and they don't come out favorably. Lothric Castle is Boletaria Palace but without feeling as much like a place that has a reason to be built in the layout it is. Irythill Dungeon feels ripped straight from the lower Tower of Latria, scaled down a ton and made much less atmospheric. Somehow the Demon Ruins are back and are worse than they were before, though thankfully nothing here is as bad as Lost Izalith. Irithyll of the Boreal Valley feels a lot like Anor Londo, though it ends up literally going to a gutted Anor Londo that lacks pretty much all the interesting level design that was originally along the right side of the castle.

As a sequel to Dark Souls 1, it often goes out of its way to call back to that game in pretty obnoxious ways. The aforementioned Anor Londo and Demon Ruins revisits, Andre being your blacksmith, a new onion knight who acts basically the same as the last... At least the Dark Souls 2 callbacks feel a bit more tasteful, like the ladder building guy being found dead next to a bunch of ladders. All that said, I do still like this game. I just have a lot of complicated feelings about it considering it was my first Souls game, and coming back to it after playing everything before makes it stand out as unoriginal and stuck in the past.

Certainly a downgrade from the base game, and not as interesting as Ariamis in DS1 or Frozen Eleum Loyce in DS2. Much of this DLC is very wide open spaces with loads of wolf enemies aggro-ing at once, though it at least beats the Frigid Outskirts. There are two bosses, the Champion's Gravetender is a typical NPC fight with extra health and yet another wolf enemy. Sister Friede is a highlight, though if you don't use the free summon they give you for phase two, the three phase nature can be tedious.

I don't see this game as much of an improvement over Sonic 1. Character control is much better, with acceleration much better tuned for platforming. Special stages are a bit better too, though they're still not all that great. There are more good levels in the game total, but the only one as good as Green Hill or Star Light is Chemical Plant. Sky Chase is the most boring stage in 2D Sonic history, and Metropolis is arguably worse than Labyrinth Zone and drags on just as bad with its extra act. And that final boss is absolutely atrocious. I really don't get the hype with this one.

This was an absolute joy to play, a "wonder" you could say. The levels were so creative and fun, with excellent visuals and music to go along with them. The physics were fantastic as well, taking everything that worked about the NSMB games and tuning the deceleration to give it a fairly snappy feel sort of between 3 and World. It's nice you can play as so many characters and I like that they don't have different physics so you have a uniform experience regardless of your preference (aside from the easy characters, that is).

The game is somewhat short but I think it's a perfect length given the variety of levels. It's a bit easier than a classic SMB which is to be expected, but the special world is definitely more challenging than the one in World which is very welcome. Bosses are mostly variations on one which is a bit of a disappointment, but the final boss is very imaginative and a great surprise. I'd say this game is on par with the best of the classics in its series, and better than most 3D Mario games.

As an aside, I actually liked the talking flowers and thought they were funny and charming most of the time.

In my opinion, this is the underrated gem of the classic Sonic era. This game, more than its peers, focuses on large explore-able levels, with time travel bringing you between different variations of the same places. Each level starts with a "bad future" in which Eggman has taken over and the environment is destroyed, and to prevent this you have to travel to the past and destroy the badnik generator. To get the good ending, you must either do this in every possible level (all boss stages take place in the future with no time travel) or get all seven time stones from the special stages.

The physics in this game aren't exactly as snappy as Sonic 2 but they hold up just as well and handle platforming and exploration much better than Sonic 1's. Visuals are very appealing, and this game has an absolutely GODLY soundtrack. I much prefer the Japanese version of it, though the American soundtrack isn't bad, just a downgrade. The vibes are immaculate and help a lot to keep you engaged as you spend a lot of time looking around the levels for time travel posts or the badnik generator.

As for gripes, some of the levels are a bit too large or convoluted, particularly Wacky Workbench and Metallic Madness. This game suffers from the standard "running into something you couldn't see" problem most 2D Sonic games have as well, and given how crucial rings are to unlocking special stage attempts it can be very annoying. Despite this, I think this game holds up very well and I revisit this a lot compared to the other classic Sonic titles, Sonic 3 notwithstanding.

I never had Sonic Gems Collection as a kid so being able to play this for the first time was really cool back when it released. This was the official debut of the Retro Engine which went on to power Sonic Mania, as well as the Sonic 1 and 2 mobile ports. 16:9 and soundtrack swapping are great features, and playing as Tails is a cool bonus. Unfortunately they replaced the Japanese intro and credits music with instrumentals which is quite the travesty as I love both of those songs a LOT, definitely brings the experience down and I recommend modding them back in if you play on PC.