I've had alot of strange childhood memories about this one, even though I've never played it nor owned a Genesis. From the playthroughs I saw back then, something always felt so mystical about this game, I dunno it was just my strange child mind resonating with it alot. It's not as mystical now to me as it was back then but finally getting to play it was a neat experience. It's a pretty harmless platformer, all things considered. It's pretty fun all around but it's also rather short too.

The library stage is still my favorite even after all these years, I really like the theming and the whole tea and milk sub-areas. (It's also probably where I got most of those mystical feelings as a kid)

Simply put, the best classic Sonic game of the era. And probably my favorite title on the Genesis so far. Also in terms of classic Sonic titles in general, it's probably only outclassed by Mania. The games are better judged when put together into the complete package, so that's how I'm going to judge them.

This series kept improving with each installment mostly, and this game is the proof of everything learnt during each game. Boy did they manage to go out with a bang with the finale of the main classic Sonic saga. Almost every zone here slaps, while the more questionable zones like Marble Garden and Flying Battery are just okay. (I didn't find many issues with Carnival Night and Sandopolis surprisingly enough) And the ending of this game isn't crazy strict like the final zone of Sonic 2, even including the bonus final boss for getting all of the Chaos Emeralds or Super Emeralds.

And speaking of the Emeralds, thankfully the special stages here are actually good here unlike Sonic 1 and 2! The main issue with them I find is that there is a bit of input lag, though I'm not sure if that's an issue with the re-release but oh well. Plus the new save feature is really great! It makes the game a whole lot more fair while pairing really well with the special stage system. Say if you don't get all of the emeralds in your first run, you can play the game again with your emerald progress so you can get everything left on another run instead of having to do it all in one run. This also pairs well with how the special stages are reached, with the entries being scattered throughout each level incentivizing taking different paths you didn't go through before. Though if you like doing everything in one run you're allowed to play without a save if that's your thing.

This is still to this day one of the best Sonic games, even though it's held back a bit by a couple of zones, it's still the best classic Sonic game of the time, and an amazing sendoff to the original classic Sonic saga.

I think me liking this more than Sonic 2 might be an unpopular opinion, but oh well. I genuinely really like this game! Probably my 3rd favorite of the classic sonic games, only behind 3&K and Mania. The level designs might be a bit wonky at first, but they fit this game's desired playstyle well and aren't as annoying as Sonic 1's levels... well, yeah, except for Wacky Workbench. God that zone sucks. Genuinely the only time I felt the dislike towards this game's level design was justified.

Also speaking of this game's desired playstyle, the main objective of this game is to go into the past of each stage and destroy their respective machines (and Metal Sonic holograms but they aren't as necessary). I found this to be rather fun with how the level designs were built with the exploration in mind. Er, well, I found them enjoyable for the most part (fuck you Wacky Workbench). If you're not interested in searching around in each stage, that's fine! There's another method of getting the good ending in the form of the traditional sonic fare of special stages, and THANKFULLY they got the special stages right this time unlike Sonic 1's and 2's which are complete headache inducers. You still have rather limited chances to clear them akin to Sonic 1 but at least the last zone lets you reach the special stage this time around unlike Sonic 1.

And MAN, this game's presentation is pure bliss. It's style and aesthetic is probably my favorite of any classic sonic game and one of my favorites in any game I've played. And said style is further enhanced by the music. The JP soundtrack is just fantastic. I'm not too keen on the US soundtrack but if you prefer it then cool for you. Also I wasn't expecting to enjoy Tidal Tempest zone as much as I did but CD's presentation and playstyle managed to make me enjoy the water level the most here somehow.

I don't know if it's weird how I liked this as much as I did. I've fully completed this game on both my phone and on PC and had fun doing so both times. My first time was on my phone which was surprisingly better than I thought it would be. I wasn't too keen on the controls for the Sonic 1 and 2 mobile ports but CD's felt better then them on phones. Maybe it's with the controller being a d-pad instead of an analog stick. Ah well, I guess I'll just be happy with my unpopular opinion here.

A great improvement from the first game in ALMOST every way (remember that "almost" for later). Gone is the issue of half of the game being lacking, pretty much every zone here holds up better than the first game's zones. Even the weaker zones like Metropolis and Wing Fortress are better to play through than the likes of Marble or Labyrinth from the first game. The game also flows together better too thanks to the spin dash and better level design in general. It is a bit too strict on the final bosses however, with how they don't give you any rings.

HOWEVER. Remember that "almost" I said earlier in regards to this game being an improvement over the original? Back in my Sonic 1 review I went into a bit of a rant over the special stages and how dumb they were. But good GOD, I have no clue how they made the special stages worse here but they did it. They might have looked cool for the time but my oh dear lord they way they play is TERRIBLE. They might as well come down to sheer memorization with how the Genesis runs these. It's just not feasible to react to some of the rings and obstacles in time, and they can get really strict with the ring requirements too! At least you get more chances for these here and a worthwhile reward in the form of Super Sonic (and the good ending on top of that), but please, use save states or a rewind feature for these to preserve your sanity.

If you don't care about completion or missing out on Super Sonic however, this is a really great time! Much more worth playing this over the original.

Sonic's first game is kind of odd to look back on after all these years and how the series evolved upon this. It's what alot of people think of now about game suffering from First Game Syndrome, with it's odd level design and pacing taking up roughly half the game though it's advertised as a game "all about speed." People often like to dog on Sonic with how he's supposed to be "all about speed" even though you frequently come across platforming and obstacles. However, I personally like to think of Sonic as a series more about being speed-oriented and having a great sense of agility to his overall platforming rather than something that's just always about going fast at all times and nothing more than just going fast. This mindset does apply well here as Sonic 1, while clearly less developed upon like his other titles, is still an overall snappy platformer and a good start for the series. This, however, doesn't quite excuse the notoriously odd aspects of this game that later entries would improve upon, like certain stage designs, the lack of a spin dash, a weaker half of the game, and those really dumb special stages. I swear, it feels like you're at the mercy of the game most of the time in them. And that's really bad for something that you only have 10 opportunities to finish off in the whole game, as you can easily get your opportunities screwed over in the main stages or in the special stages themselves. All you even really get out of getting all the Chaos Emeralds is just a slightly different ending, no Super Sonic or anything, so that's lame. (getting the good ending is basically completing the game here so uuuuuuaaaaaaaaahhhh)

So all in all, Sonic 1 is alright. It's a decent platformer but rather lackluster compared to later Sonic games. But I admire it's influence for getting the blue blur his name known in the gaming industry.

Neat little meta action game. The combat feels pretty fun even though I really didn't need any of the unlockable skills the game had. I will say though that I have some problems with the narrator. He really just sounds awkward for the most part. Comparing this to something like The Stanley Parable and it's night and day with the quality as the narration in TSP is iconic for it's direction and here it just feels off.
The music's pretty good though.

Also the dash is really goofy, you can just spam it whenever you're not in combat and just fly all over the place lmao

Really annoying. I can't speak on whatever experience you could have in the preset world since I used a random world, but this game really enjoys throwing random bullshit at you with not many feasible ways to get away from, especially on the later floors. The enemies basically range from annoying to "you are basically dead if you encounter this" and those deadly enemies can just completely block your way as well! The only way to escape some of the Turbo Fuck™ enemies are to make use of the items you collect, which you have no clue of what they do until you use them, but and they can hurt you too, even outright killing you in some cases. And thankfully the collection I played this on had a fast-forward feature since game is pretty slow too. Your movement speed paired with how elevators and ship parts can be very far from the start of each floor can make the game a real slog to play.

Also I remember getting a quicksand covered floor with multiple ice cream trucks swarming me all at once and I can't say I was happy with that experience.

Please help, my irony poisoned playfulness towards bad games like these has gone much too far. I have elaborately gaslit my own mind into thinking this game is the funniest shit of all time. It's downright intrusive at this point. Whenever my mind is at a blank on something it just instantly and automatically defaults to Sonic Forces as an answer. This game has become my own personal Among Us. Oh dear god, it's all Sonic Forces. Everything is Sonic Forces.

(it's still pretty fucked up how you have have to experience grind for completion here though)