Sonic Marathon List
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played with Dreamcast patches

It's been way too long since my last review for my marathon, but now that I actually have a working laptop I can continue these. I played this back in around like 2018/19? And I remember I liked it, so I was looking forward to coming back around to this one again. Needless to say as my rating show, I really did enjoy my time through again.

Since there's an actual plot now, I'll put start putting my thoughts on them. The story here is pretty, well, it's not bad, but it's a bit messy. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles' stories feel interconnected with each other and play off each other well. Amy and E102's while I do like them, feel more disconnected in a side story sense that occasionally intervenes with the main plot, and Big (while I don't dislike him as I'll explain why) doesn't feel like he belongs to the story at all and has little impact outside of the fact that Froggy has an emerald. I like Tikal and Chaos, but I honestly find it really funny how not one of the six gives two shits about Tikal's flashbacks, like no one has a reaction really outside of "Woah! That was crazy! Anyways-".

Also, the Super Sonic chapter, while fun, I kinda wish the others had some stuff to do too as a way to bring everyone around together instead of them just only giving him the emeralds (Don't know why Big was there though, he didn't do shit in the end lol).

Which voice acting wise, I like the cast picking for most of the voices, but jesus christ you can tell they were not given good direction. I heard they didn't even get to see the context of the scenes they were recording which would explain a lot. The only i really didn't care for was Knuckles (Michael McGaharn), like outside of the memes, his voice for him (aside from unfitting) felt kinda monotone at times lol.

Now for the gameplay, since I got six different types I'm going to go over my feelings on each character individually in the order of how much I liked them.

Sonic - Honestly the best play style, I loved rushing through levels and clearing them as fast as possible. Especially when I found the spin dash jump trick, I was just speeding through levels at that point. I honestly don't have any complains with his gamestyle aside from the fact that the light speed dash is pretty hit or miss, I only really use it when necessary. I did most of his A rank missions aside from the final three stages.

Knuckles - For some reason, I used to hate his gameplay style when I first played? I have no clue why I hated it cause on this retread I actually found myself loving it. I would honestly try to challenge myself to see how fast I would find each piece before the timer ends and I loved the little trick you could pull to make the A rank stages a breeze. Did all his A rank challenges on that note. Not really any complaints here either aside from his power ups yet again like Sonic, not really using except for when I needed to like his dig.

Tails - I love speedrunning with him and finding all the ways I can just ignore the level and watch Sonic's AI just blatantly cheat. I just wish he had more stages. His powerups unlike the previous two I constantly made use of and would use, yet again, to find ways to break the level. Did all his A ranks

Big - Hot take, I didn't find Big's gameplay to be that bad. I understand the criticisms and do agree that from a plot and game standpoint, Big's is very off fitting for Sonic, however I did find myself enjoying it. I'd even spend time trying to catch as many giant fish as I could prior to getting Froggy, and if I wanted to quickly finish a level, go just grab Froggy. If anything, I'd keep Big in as like a minigame you can do instead of a main game required thing. I didn't do his A and B ranks though because I didn't feel like spending time trying to hope to god I caught a 2 ton fish

E-102 Gamma - Ehhhh, I found him boring to be honest. Thankfully it's a short story, but it was just kinda whatever. I'd just breeze through a level wwith little to no challenge and then easily defeat the bosses. I didn't really care for how slow Gamma is and as a whole his style of gameplay just didn't really interest me to be perfectly honest. I hope SA2 improves on it. Did all his A rank missions.

Amy - Hands down the worst I can't lie, I don't know how I had the audacity to put her as my third favorite and Knuckles in last place back in 2018. Now story and character wise, I like Amy, gameplay wise though, absolutely not. Her slow speed is honestly a slog, and her method of attack is just annoying. Why can't I move and hit enemies with the Piko Piko Hammer, why do I have to stop in place to do it, or even unlock maybe a moving spinning hammer attack? Even the two upgrades you get for it don't really matter much in the long run. I'm glad for the jump hammer attack and spin, but again her stages are just a bore. When I saw her A rank mission have a time limit of 6:30, like even the developers knew. Did all her A ranks though.

The bosses now, most I don't really have much to say? They're kinda the weakest part to be honest. All the character battles are pitifully easy and the reg battles are just kinda attack and wait. The only annoying part is if you die, having to wait through some of the more slower bosses like Chaos 4 or Egg Viper.

Which on that, loved the music in the Super Sonic battle, but wish it was a bit more to be honest.

The hub worlds as well, I had no issues with, but the jungle maze was a pain in the ass esp with the slow characters jesus christ I hated going up that long ass ladder with them. I just wish there was more to do in these hub zones.

Chao Garden, I played a bit with it, but not much else. I mostly just threw them at the wall or in the water to pitifully swim.

The camera also could get a bit annoying at times. I didn't have too many issues and am taking into account that this is a game from 1998, but yeesh I died quite a few times cause of it.

All in all, had a pretty good time with SA1, I'm glad I'm finally getting to start the modern era games, and I can't wait to see how they follow things up with SA2. For a stage rank

1. Speed Highway - This stage is just full fun, I love blasting through it, skipping over half the level, the music, everything. Honestly, all three characters I played through here with I had a great ass time and it's my favorite level overall. Also, god I fucking love the skyscraper run in Sonic's section holy fuck that's such a good part.

2. Windy Valley - This yet again, another stage I love rushing through. The music is really good, and going through it as Sonic and trying to beat the timer or going through as Tails and completely breaking the stage is fun. E102-Gamma's side of it, to be honest eh, but at least it's short, though it's lacking what made it so fun for me with Sonic and Tails. Honestly just a great ass stage in general.

3. Red Mountain - Another stage I loved. Playing with Sonic it was fun as hell to break on his A rank mission and with Knuckles I loved exploring for the pieces here and even accidentally finding ones I didn't intend to earlier than expected. Again with E102, didn't care too much for him, so not much to say here, but yeah fun as hell stage as well.

4. Emerald Coast - This is the lowest I've put a starting stage ranking wise so far lol. I don't dislike this stage, it's actually pretty iconic to me to be honest. Playing with Sonic that is, I love speeding through as usual and seeing how fast I can beat like I've mentioned several times before. Big's was whatever, mainly just another fishing. As always, E102 was whatever, not much to say aside from being a broken record.

5. Ice Cap - Fun stage, but to be honest I'm not a fan of the slow middle portion when playing as Sonic. To be honest, the best part here for me is the snowboarding section, the OST here is one of my favorite tracks in SA1. Big's level is just a fishing as usual.

6. Final Egg - Fine final zone. Was fun playing it as Sonic, meh on E102 like usual, Amy's wasn't a big fan, but at least it was the end for her playthrough. Egg Viper is a whatever boss though, mainly just cause long it takes to go through the motions before you can attack again.

7. Lost World - Now here, I liked more as Knuckles, I found it a really fun stage to explore and hunt the treasure. With Sonic though, I have portions that I like, but the majority of the middle I found a slog, not really much else for me to say.

8. Casinopolis - It's pretty fun as Tails and Knuckles with their gameplay styles. With Sonic, it's okay. My main issue is that I wish there were more ways to get rings outside of pinball and the lair underneath cause it gets boring when doing it again for the A and B ranks.

9. Twinkle Park - This was boring honestly. As Amy, her slow speed and then the mirror section where it disorients you is a pain in the ass. With Sonic, it's just whatever as a stage, but a pain in the ass on his A rank. Big's was the best cause I did like the fishing stuff, and if I wanted to rush past it, I could just go catch Froggy and call it a day.

10. Sky Deck - I did not like this stage. It's bearable as Tails cause his flight, but Sonic and Knuckles absolutely not. The camera is your worst enemy on the former and the constant tilting and wide ass space is annoying on the latter. Definitely one of my least favorites.

11. Hot Shelter - My least favorite overall. Big's at least is bearable cause again, just go to Froggy. But E102 and Amy's dragggggggg. I just genuinely did not have a good time here, esp. with Amy with how long her version goes for, the hell do you mean the timer mission is 6 minutes and 30 seconds. It just feels like a poor man's Final Egg.