fluffymoon
1995
It’s kind of just a bunch of mazes in isometric 3D? The instruction manual has some story justification for why Sonic moves so slow (Eggy tricked him into wearing some shoes that slow him down and he needs to collect all the Chaos Emeralds to break free of them? Yeah, idk.) Guessing the slowness is actually just because of the isometric perspective, because Sonic 3D blast is also slow as heck for a Sonic game.
So, yeah. This isn’t great. The levels and gameplay are repetitive as fuck, and not particularly rewarding. Other than Sonic Eraser, which barely even counts as a Sonic game, this is pretty easily the worst game I’ve played so far in this project.
I guess the only real positive thing I can say is that it apparently served as an inspiration for the drastically superior aforementioned Sonic 3D Blast? Not that that’s one of the best Sonic games of all time or anything, but it’s at least pretty decent, which this is... not.
So, yeah. This isn’t great. The levels and gameplay are repetitive as fuck, and not particularly rewarding. Other than Sonic Eraser, which barely even counts as a Sonic game, this is pretty easily the worst game I’ve played so far in this project.
I guess the only real positive thing I can say is that it apparently served as an inspiration for the drastically superior aforementioned Sonic 3D Blast? Not that that’s one of the best Sonic games of all time or anything, but it’s at least pretty decent, which this is... not.
1996
You guys it has been SO LONG since I’ve been able to play the Sega Saturn version of Sonic 3D Blast!! I’ve played the Genesis version a BUNCH of times because it’s readily available in all kinds of compilations of classic Sonic games, but the clearly superior Saturn version hasn’t gotten any rerelease love for whatever reason! And I had heard that porting Saturn games was super difficult and usually unsatisfying (laggy input, sound issues, etc), but my fiancx decided to give it a try and found an emulator that worked so well!! So I was finally able to replay this game! I cannot tell you how excited I was! The last time I played it was literally on a Sega Saturn! So that should give you an idea of how long it’s been.
So, aside from the obvious drastically better graphics and soundtrack (though those really can’t be overstated!), the biggest difference in the Saturn version is the special stages. These are fully rendered 3D versions of the Sonic 2 special stages, the half-pipe ones. They throw in things like winding twists and spirals, jumps onto raised platforms, boosters... tl;dr they RULE! Especially once you get to the last few with their TRANSPARENT FLOORS??? One of which is in the sky, the other of which is IN SPACE??? Seriously, these things blew my mind as a kid!!
Speaking of the special stages, I’m not sure why Knuckles and I are just kinda hanging out to take Sonic to the Special Stages? Wouldn’t we be helping more than that? I know it’s just a gameplay mechanic thing, and I am glad the game gave us something to do, but idk, it just doesn’t sit right with me!
Anyway, as much as I love this game this is another one that doesn’t really give me strong kinfeels and where there isn’t much story to dig into, so let’s just talk about all the zones in paragraph form rather than in longer separate sections..
Green Grove Zone is your typical Green Hill-esque starting zone, it’s a pretty great introduction to the game’s mechanics and a nice, familiar setting to have to start out with. It gives you a very forgiving introduction to the pattern of the gameplay. Those mechanics being you bash five Badniks per area and deposit the rescued Flickies into the Goal Ring to proceed to the next segment of the zone (usually there are around three of those segments). Not too bad! The boss for this zone is a pretty appropriately simple boss to start out with, basically just trying to drop a big spike ball on Sonic. It’s a good introduction to what a boss can look like in 3D!
As is often the case with classic Sonic games (which this is adjacent to if not outright a member of), the second zone is where the game starts to mix things up a little! Rusty Ruins Zone has all kinds of ancient-looking traps befitting the setting, and there are a lot of segments that Sonic has to navigate while in a pirouette-like spin that help him smash through some obstacles but makes it really tricky to move and especially to get past traps! It’s a pretty neat challenge to face early on in the game. The boss for this one is a Sandopolis-esque boss where Robotnik takes over an ancient statue and uses it to attack Sonic. I noticed that the Genesis version was actually drastically easier to defeat for whatever reason, possibly something to do with the controls or more complicated visuals? Regardless, still a pretty decent concept for a boss.
Spring Stadium Zone is next, and I gotta admit, these are the kind of zones that I just usually don’t find especially inspiring. The whole casino/carnival/etc theme is just not my favorite. I’m not saying they’re bad or anything, I just find them pretty consistently hitting that level of, “Yeah, they’re fine.” I don’t often find myself being overly impressed with them. And that was the case here, too. The boss is at least alright in this one. Usually it’s something overly complicated but here he’s just trying to crush you with rapidly-moving robot hands. Nice and simple. Not a lot to write home about, though.
Things improve in a hurry with Diamond Dust Zone, and wow, Sonic games pretty much always knock ice levels out of the park, and this is no exception. It’s one of the best zones in the game gameplay-wise, integrating all kinds of obstacles and Badniks that make all kinds of sense for the setting, and the soundtrack (especially the Saturn version) just RULES. A very moody zone that was one of the foremost in my mind when I reminisced about this game. And the boss for this is pretty terrific, too, it’s basically just the Egg-O-Matic dropping exploding snowmen and surrounded by a moving ring of freezing gas pods. Look, they just really nailed this one!
Speaking of settings this series always nails, next is a volcano setting, and HECK YEAH this zone rules. Having these two zones back to back is kind of just unfair to the rest of the game. The soundtrack in the Saturn version is incredible, and the theming is again just pitch perfect. The only downside is the boss here is just not all that inspiring? I really think they could’ve done better with it. But otherwise, they really knocked it out of the park with this zone.
Gene Gadget Zone gets us into Robotnik’s base a bit, and it does a pretty admirable job. I do feel like there’s one Flicky that’s hard to find in a way that’s kind of frustrating more than challenging (that distinction is one I’ll revisit later), but on the whole I like what this zone throws at you. Electric zappy floors, turrets, transport tubes, fans... there are some obstacles that I don’t love (the inclines with the moving platforms), but on the whole this isn’t bad. Not the best thing the game throws at you by any stretch of the imagination, but not half bad. And the boss is a conveyor belt boss, which I think I’ve mentioned is a concept I’m a pretty big fan of! It just makes a lot of sense, and it’s a little surprising it doesn’t pop up more often.
The last proper zone is Panic Puppet Zone, and it’s quite a bit different than what came before! In Act 1. rather than rescuing Flickies from Badniks, you rescue Flickies from prison tubes that haven’t been roboticized yet! And there’s only five total, but they take a while to find because the single segment of the act is much longer and more complicated, fully justifying itself as an entire act by itself. Act 2 doesn’t have any Flickies at all! Just a ton of things trying to kill you. And you just have to fight your way through the act to get to the boss! There aren’t that many rings, and it’s genuinely tough! A refreshing change of pace for the game, and a genuinely impressive one at that. All of it leading to Sonic penetrating the very inner sanctum of Robotnik’s base in a giant Robotnik statue. (I gotta give him one thing: dude is consistent.)
The boss for this one is pretty great! (Which is good, because he’s the final boss if you haven’t collected all the Chaos Emeralds). There are three different phases of this boss fight, all taking place in a very cramped area with Robotnik in the center inside an impenetrable tube. The first phase sees him deploy arms that try to crush you, the second part uses flamethrowers, and the third shoots bouncing balls of energy that you have to avoid. It’s not the trickiest boss once you get used to its pattern, but it’s still pretty impressive and makes a satisfying final boss if you haven’t collected all the Emeralds.
If you have collected all the Emeralds, you proceed to the rather straightforwardly named last “zone” (it’s just a boss fight, like Final Zone in Sonic 1): The Final Fight. While this is hardly the most impressive final boss of the series, it’s a pretty fitting one for Sonic 3D Blast specifically. What we have here is a five-stage fight against a giant egg-shaped robot/ship/thingy with Robotnik’s face on it because of course it has Robotnik’s face on it. He can’t not. Anyway, it has five different attachments that you have to rotate through twice to defeat him: hands that shoot lasers at you, a flamethrower, hands that crush you, missile launchers, and a gun that shoots bouncing ball projectiles. None of them are super hard or anything, but it still feels like an appropriately epic showdown and it’s a pretty good culmination of everything you’ve faced up until this point.
So, yeah! That’s Sonic 3D Blast! It was a blast (... I’m not sorry) to finally play the Saturn version again after all these years, and I also played the Genesis version for comparison’s sake, so yeah. Can confidently say there’s not really anything to recommend in the Genesis version over the Saturn version. Just play the Saturn version if you can!
I guess a complaint could be made that for the most part the game is super easy, but I only really find that annoying if it’s repetitive and I don’t think this is! I think there’s enough variety to keep things interesting even if it’s not the most challenging thing in the world. My only real complaint is that some of the obstacles are more frustrating than they are challenging, but that’s honestly pretty understandable given how early this was in 3D gaming? There were a lot of growing pains that had to happen. And there’s really no shame in that, when it gets right down to it.
This game--especially the Saturn version--really hasn’t lost its charm. I’m not about to put it in the upper tier of Sonic games, but it was well worth my time to revisit it. And it’s always gonna hold a soft spot in my heart for the possibilities this era of gaming opened up for me, even if I started out with the “wrong” system. I loved my Saturn even if I didn’t have very many games for it. It’s nice to reclaim this part of my childhood now.
So, yeah! Let’s rank some stuff! I’ll rank both versions of the soundtrack, but for the zones I’ll just rank the 32-bit versions because they’re far and away the best and the 16-bit zones aren’t really different enough to warrant separate entries. I will rank both soundtracks, though, because they’re super different.
Zones
1. Diamond Dust Zone (A-Rank)
2. Volcano Valley Zone (A-Rank)
3. Panic Puppet Zone (A-Rank)
4. Green Grove Zone (B-Rank)
5. Rusty Ruins Zone (B-Rank)
6. Gene Gadget Zone (B-Rank)
7. Spring Stadium Zone (C-Rank)
Bosses
1. Panic Puppet Zone (B-Rank)
2. The Final Fight (B-Rank)
3. Diamond Dust Zone (B-Rank)
4. Green Grove Zone (B-Rank)
5. Gene Gadget Zone (B-Rank)
6. Rusty Ruins Zone (C-Rank)
7. Spring Stadium Zone (C-Rank)
8. Volcano Valley Zone (C-Rank)
Soundtrack
Volcano Valley Zone Act 1, 32-bit (S-Rank)
Volcano Valley Zone Act 2, 32-bit (S-Rank)
Diamond Dust Zone, Act 2, 32-bit (S-Rank)
Diamond Dust Zone, Act 1, 32-bit (S-Rank)
Panic Puppet Zone Act 1, 16-bit (S-Rank)
Volcano Valley Zone Act 1, 16-bit (A-Rank)
Volcano Valley Zone Act 2, 16-bit (A-Rank)
Boss 2, 16-bit (A-Rank)
Boss, 32-bit (A-Rank)
Panic Puppet Zone Act 1, 32-bit (A-Rank)
Panic Puppet Zone Act 1, 32-bit (A-Rank)
Green Grove Zone Act 1, 32-bit (A-Rank)
Rusty Ruins Zone Act 2, 32-bit (A-Rank)
Rusty Ruins Zone Act 1, 32-bit (A-Rank)
Green Grove Zone Act 2, 32-bit (A-Rank)
Panic Puppet Zone Act 2, 16-bit (A-Rank)
Gene Gadget Zone Act 2, 32-bit (A-Rank)
Gene Gadget Zone Act 1, 16-bit (A-Rank)
Gene Gadget Zone Act 2, 16-bit (A-Rank)
Diamond Dust Zone Act 1, 16-bit (B-Rank)
Diamond Dust Zone Act 2, 16-bit (B-Rank)
Gene Gadget Zone Act 1, 32-bit (B-Rank)
Rusty Ruins Zone Act 2, 16-bit (B-Rank)
Rusty Ruins Zone Act 1, 16-bit (B-Rank)
The Final Fight, 32-bit (B-Rank)
Special Stage, 32-bit (B-Rank)
Boss 1, 16-bit (B-Rank)
Green Grove Zone Act 2, 16-bit (B-Rank)
Green Grove Zone Act 1, 16-bit (B-Rank)
You’re My Hero, 32-bit Sonic 3D Blast (B-Rank)
Spring Stadium Zone Act 2, 32-bit (B-Rank)
Spring Stadium Zone Act 1, 32-bit (C-Rank)
The Final Fight, 16-bit (C-Rank)
Special Stage, 16-bit (C-Rank)
Staff Roll, 16-bit (C-Rank)
Ending, 16-bit (C-Rank)
Spring Stadium Zone Act 2, 16-bit (C-Rank)
Spring Stadium Zone Act 1, 16-bit (C-Rank)
So, aside from the obvious drastically better graphics and soundtrack (though those really can’t be overstated!), the biggest difference in the Saturn version is the special stages. These are fully rendered 3D versions of the Sonic 2 special stages, the half-pipe ones. They throw in things like winding twists and spirals, jumps onto raised platforms, boosters... tl;dr they RULE! Especially once you get to the last few with their TRANSPARENT FLOORS??? One of which is in the sky, the other of which is IN SPACE??? Seriously, these things blew my mind as a kid!!
Speaking of the special stages, I’m not sure why Knuckles and I are just kinda hanging out to take Sonic to the Special Stages? Wouldn’t we be helping more than that? I know it’s just a gameplay mechanic thing, and I am glad the game gave us something to do, but idk, it just doesn’t sit right with me!
Anyway, as much as I love this game this is another one that doesn’t really give me strong kinfeels and where there isn’t much story to dig into, so let’s just talk about all the zones in paragraph form rather than in longer separate sections..
Green Grove Zone is your typical Green Hill-esque starting zone, it’s a pretty great introduction to the game’s mechanics and a nice, familiar setting to have to start out with. It gives you a very forgiving introduction to the pattern of the gameplay. Those mechanics being you bash five Badniks per area and deposit the rescued Flickies into the Goal Ring to proceed to the next segment of the zone (usually there are around three of those segments). Not too bad! The boss for this zone is a pretty appropriately simple boss to start out with, basically just trying to drop a big spike ball on Sonic. It’s a good introduction to what a boss can look like in 3D!
As is often the case with classic Sonic games (which this is adjacent to if not outright a member of), the second zone is where the game starts to mix things up a little! Rusty Ruins Zone has all kinds of ancient-looking traps befitting the setting, and there are a lot of segments that Sonic has to navigate while in a pirouette-like spin that help him smash through some obstacles but makes it really tricky to move and especially to get past traps! It’s a pretty neat challenge to face early on in the game. The boss for this one is a Sandopolis-esque boss where Robotnik takes over an ancient statue and uses it to attack Sonic. I noticed that the Genesis version was actually drastically easier to defeat for whatever reason, possibly something to do with the controls or more complicated visuals? Regardless, still a pretty decent concept for a boss.
Spring Stadium Zone is next, and I gotta admit, these are the kind of zones that I just usually don’t find especially inspiring. The whole casino/carnival/etc theme is just not my favorite. I’m not saying they’re bad or anything, I just find them pretty consistently hitting that level of, “Yeah, they’re fine.” I don’t often find myself being overly impressed with them. And that was the case here, too. The boss is at least alright in this one. Usually it’s something overly complicated but here he’s just trying to crush you with rapidly-moving robot hands. Nice and simple. Not a lot to write home about, though.
Things improve in a hurry with Diamond Dust Zone, and wow, Sonic games pretty much always knock ice levels out of the park, and this is no exception. It’s one of the best zones in the game gameplay-wise, integrating all kinds of obstacles and Badniks that make all kinds of sense for the setting, and the soundtrack (especially the Saturn version) just RULES. A very moody zone that was one of the foremost in my mind when I reminisced about this game. And the boss for this is pretty terrific, too, it’s basically just the Egg-O-Matic dropping exploding snowmen and surrounded by a moving ring of freezing gas pods. Look, they just really nailed this one!
Speaking of settings this series always nails, next is a volcano setting, and HECK YEAH this zone rules. Having these two zones back to back is kind of just unfair to the rest of the game. The soundtrack in the Saturn version is incredible, and the theming is again just pitch perfect. The only downside is the boss here is just not all that inspiring? I really think they could’ve done better with it. But otherwise, they really knocked it out of the park with this zone.
Gene Gadget Zone gets us into Robotnik’s base a bit, and it does a pretty admirable job. I do feel like there’s one Flicky that’s hard to find in a way that’s kind of frustrating more than challenging (that distinction is one I’ll revisit later), but on the whole I like what this zone throws at you. Electric zappy floors, turrets, transport tubes, fans... there are some obstacles that I don’t love (the inclines with the moving platforms), but on the whole this isn’t bad. Not the best thing the game throws at you by any stretch of the imagination, but not half bad. And the boss is a conveyor belt boss, which I think I’ve mentioned is a concept I’m a pretty big fan of! It just makes a lot of sense, and it’s a little surprising it doesn’t pop up more often.
The last proper zone is Panic Puppet Zone, and it’s quite a bit different than what came before! In Act 1. rather than rescuing Flickies from Badniks, you rescue Flickies from prison tubes that haven’t been roboticized yet! And there’s only five total, but they take a while to find because the single segment of the act is much longer and more complicated, fully justifying itself as an entire act by itself. Act 2 doesn’t have any Flickies at all! Just a ton of things trying to kill you. And you just have to fight your way through the act to get to the boss! There aren’t that many rings, and it’s genuinely tough! A refreshing change of pace for the game, and a genuinely impressive one at that. All of it leading to Sonic penetrating the very inner sanctum of Robotnik’s base in a giant Robotnik statue. (I gotta give him one thing: dude is consistent.)
The boss for this one is pretty great! (Which is good, because he’s the final boss if you haven’t collected all the Chaos Emeralds). There are three different phases of this boss fight, all taking place in a very cramped area with Robotnik in the center inside an impenetrable tube. The first phase sees him deploy arms that try to crush you, the second part uses flamethrowers, and the third shoots bouncing balls of energy that you have to avoid. It’s not the trickiest boss once you get used to its pattern, but it’s still pretty impressive and makes a satisfying final boss if you haven’t collected all the Emeralds.
If you have collected all the Emeralds, you proceed to the rather straightforwardly named last “zone” (it’s just a boss fight, like Final Zone in Sonic 1): The Final Fight. While this is hardly the most impressive final boss of the series, it’s a pretty fitting one for Sonic 3D Blast specifically. What we have here is a five-stage fight against a giant egg-shaped robot/ship/thingy with Robotnik’s face on it because of course it has Robotnik’s face on it. He can’t not. Anyway, it has five different attachments that you have to rotate through twice to defeat him: hands that shoot lasers at you, a flamethrower, hands that crush you, missile launchers, and a gun that shoots bouncing ball projectiles. None of them are super hard or anything, but it still feels like an appropriately epic showdown and it’s a pretty good culmination of everything you’ve faced up until this point.
So, yeah! That’s Sonic 3D Blast! It was a blast (... I’m not sorry) to finally play the Saturn version again after all these years, and I also played the Genesis version for comparison’s sake, so yeah. Can confidently say there’s not really anything to recommend in the Genesis version over the Saturn version. Just play the Saturn version if you can!
I guess a complaint could be made that for the most part the game is super easy, but I only really find that annoying if it’s repetitive and I don’t think this is! I think there’s enough variety to keep things interesting even if it’s not the most challenging thing in the world. My only real complaint is that some of the obstacles are more frustrating than they are challenging, but that’s honestly pretty understandable given how early this was in 3D gaming? There were a lot of growing pains that had to happen. And there’s really no shame in that, when it gets right down to it.
This game--especially the Saturn version--really hasn’t lost its charm. I’m not about to put it in the upper tier of Sonic games, but it was well worth my time to revisit it. And it’s always gonna hold a soft spot in my heart for the possibilities this era of gaming opened up for me, even if I started out with the “wrong” system. I loved my Saturn even if I didn’t have very many games for it. It’s nice to reclaim this part of my childhood now.
So, yeah! Let’s rank some stuff! I’ll rank both versions of the soundtrack, but for the zones I’ll just rank the 32-bit versions because they’re far and away the best and the 16-bit zones aren’t really different enough to warrant separate entries. I will rank both soundtracks, though, because they’re super different.
Zones
1. Diamond Dust Zone (A-Rank)
2. Volcano Valley Zone (A-Rank)
3. Panic Puppet Zone (A-Rank)
4. Green Grove Zone (B-Rank)
5. Rusty Ruins Zone (B-Rank)
6. Gene Gadget Zone (B-Rank)
7. Spring Stadium Zone (C-Rank)
Bosses
1. Panic Puppet Zone (B-Rank)
2. The Final Fight (B-Rank)
3. Diamond Dust Zone (B-Rank)
4. Green Grove Zone (B-Rank)
5. Gene Gadget Zone (B-Rank)
6. Rusty Ruins Zone (C-Rank)
7. Spring Stadium Zone (C-Rank)
8. Volcano Valley Zone (C-Rank)
Soundtrack
Volcano Valley Zone Act 1, 32-bit (S-Rank)
Volcano Valley Zone Act 2, 32-bit (S-Rank)
Diamond Dust Zone, Act 2, 32-bit (S-Rank)
Diamond Dust Zone, Act 1, 32-bit (S-Rank)
Panic Puppet Zone Act 1, 16-bit (S-Rank)
Volcano Valley Zone Act 1, 16-bit (A-Rank)
Volcano Valley Zone Act 2, 16-bit (A-Rank)
Boss 2, 16-bit (A-Rank)
Boss, 32-bit (A-Rank)
Panic Puppet Zone Act 1, 32-bit (A-Rank)
Panic Puppet Zone Act 1, 32-bit (A-Rank)
Green Grove Zone Act 1, 32-bit (A-Rank)
Rusty Ruins Zone Act 2, 32-bit (A-Rank)
Rusty Ruins Zone Act 1, 32-bit (A-Rank)
Green Grove Zone Act 2, 32-bit (A-Rank)
Panic Puppet Zone Act 2, 16-bit (A-Rank)
Gene Gadget Zone Act 2, 32-bit (A-Rank)
Gene Gadget Zone Act 1, 16-bit (A-Rank)
Gene Gadget Zone Act 2, 16-bit (A-Rank)
Diamond Dust Zone Act 1, 16-bit (B-Rank)
Diamond Dust Zone Act 2, 16-bit (B-Rank)
Gene Gadget Zone Act 1, 32-bit (B-Rank)
Rusty Ruins Zone Act 2, 16-bit (B-Rank)
Rusty Ruins Zone Act 1, 16-bit (B-Rank)
The Final Fight, 32-bit (B-Rank)
Special Stage, 32-bit (B-Rank)
Boss 1, 16-bit (B-Rank)
Green Grove Zone Act 2, 16-bit (B-Rank)
Green Grove Zone Act 1, 16-bit (B-Rank)
You’re My Hero, 32-bit Sonic 3D Blast (B-Rank)
Spring Stadium Zone Act 2, 32-bit (B-Rank)
Spring Stadium Zone Act 1, 32-bit (C-Rank)
The Final Fight, 16-bit (C-Rank)
Special Stage, 16-bit (C-Rank)
Staff Roll, 16-bit (C-Rank)
Ending, 16-bit (C-Rank)
Spring Stadium Zone Act 2, 16-bit (C-Rank)
Spring Stadium Zone Act 1, 16-bit (C-Rank)
1996
Despite its name, Sonic Blast has nothing to do with Sonic 3D Blast. It’s just another Sonic Game Gear game. You can play as Sonic or Knuckles, but there’s very little difference in your experience depending on who you play as. Other than that, all you really need to know about it is it’s bad. Like. Really bad. Like, maybe the worst Game Gear Sonic game? The only remotely challenging thing in the entire game is the final boss, and it’s just unnecessarily frustrating and not even cool looking. The last zone’s boss is actually way more “final boss”y, even though that one’s not especially impressive either.
Yeah. I don’t know. I’m just not gonna waste much more time talking about this one, honestly. It’s just bad.
Zones
1. Green Hill Zone (C-Rank)
2. Silver Castle Zone (C-Rank)
3. Blue Marine Zone (D-Rank)
4. Red Volcano Zone (D-Rank)
5. Yellow Desert Zone (D-Rank)
Bosses
1. Green Hill Zone (C-Rank)
2. Blue Marine Zone (C-Rank)
3. Silver Castle Zone (C-Rank)
4. Final Boss (D-Rank)
5. Red Volcano Zone (D-Rank)
6. Yellow Desert Zone (D-Rank)
Soundtrack
1. Final Boss (C-Rank)
2. Silver Castle Zone (C-Rank)
3. Green Hill Zone (C-Rank)
4. Boss Theme (C-Rank)
5. Bonus Stage (C-Rank)
6. Red Volcano Zone (D-Rank)
7. Ending (D-Rank)
8. Blue Marine Zone (D-Rank)
9. Yellow Desert Zone (D-Rank)
Yeah. I don’t know. I’m just not gonna waste much more time talking about this one, honestly. It’s just bad.
Zones
1. Green Hill Zone (C-Rank)
2. Silver Castle Zone (C-Rank)
3. Blue Marine Zone (D-Rank)
4. Red Volcano Zone (D-Rank)
5. Yellow Desert Zone (D-Rank)
Bosses
1. Green Hill Zone (C-Rank)
2. Blue Marine Zone (C-Rank)
3. Silver Castle Zone (C-Rank)
4. Final Boss (D-Rank)
5. Red Volcano Zone (D-Rank)
6. Yellow Desert Zone (D-Rank)
Soundtrack
1. Final Boss (C-Rank)
2. Silver Castle Zone (C-Rank)
3. Green Hill Zone (C-Rank)
4. Boss Theme (C-Rank)
5. Bonus Stage (C-Rank)
6. Red Volcano Zone (D-Rank)
7. Ending (D-Rank)
8. Blue Marine Zone (D-Rank)
9. Yellow Desert Zone (D-Rank)
1998
… this game makes some CHOICES, guys.
Okay, but seriously. As notorious as this one is, I think it’s literally one tweak away from being a pretty decent game! Just turn the controller sensitivity down a LITTLE. Just a LITTLE. That’s literally all I’m asking here. That’s it! That’s literally it.
… okay, yeah, also it would help a lot if Knuckles didn’t consistently come out ahead of Sonic in a footrace. That would also help.
Anyway, yeah. This is sadly pretty not great in its present form, but it’s so close to being decent!! It’s genuinely kinda frustrating, especially since this ended up being destined to be the only Saturn exclusive of the series.
This isn’t even me being bad at it and taking it out on the game, by the way. I got used to this game’s nonsense and got to the point where I could finish pretty much every race at least in the top 3, and won reasonably often. So, yeah. That isn’t where my frustration is coming from.
Ugh, I don’t know. I just don’t even have a lot else to say about this.
Soundtrack
Super Sonic Racing (A-Rank)
Can You Feel the Sunshine? (A-Rank)
Number One (A-Rank)
Diamond in the Sky (A-Rank)
Work It Out (B-Rank)
Back in Time (C-Rank)
Living in the City (C-Rank)
Okay, but seriously. As notorious as this one is, I think it’s literally one tweak away from being a pretty decent game! Just turn the controller sensitivity down a LITTLE. Just a LITTLE. That’s literally all I’m asking here. That’s it! That’s literally it.
… okay, yeah, also it would help a lot if Knuckles didn’t consistently come out ahead of Sonic in a footrace. That would also help.
Anyway, yeah. This is sadly pretty not great in its present form, but it’s so close to being decent!! It’s genuinely kinda frustrating, especially since this ended up being destined to be the only Saturn exclusive of the series.
This isn’t even me being bad at it and taking it out on the game, by the way. I got used to this game’s nonsense and got to the point where I could finish pretty much every race at least in the top 3, and won reasonably often. So, yeah. That isn’t where my frustration is coming from.
Ugh, I don’t know. I just don’t even have a lot else to say about this.
Soundtrack
Super Sonic Racing (A-Rank)
Can You Feel the Sunshine? (A-Rank)
Number One (A-Rank)
Diamond in the Sky (A-Rank)
Work It Out (B-Rank)
Back in Time (C-Rank)
Living in the City (C-Rank)
Right, so, this is literally just Sonic 2 with a few tweaks to the level design, different bosses (including a Sonic & Knuckles-esque final boss) Knuckles as a baddie again for some reason, and 8 bit remixes of the Sonic 3 & Knuckles soundtrack.
It's not bad at all! I just don't have much to say about it.
It's not bad at all! I just don't have much to say about it.
2001
This used to be my favorite game.
Yeah, I knew Sonic 3 & Knuckles was better, but this was new and in 3D! And it had Shadow in it!! I had such an embarrassing crush on him. (I now have a much less embarrassing crush on him.)
One trope I have always loved is a hero having to fight an "evil" version of themself. So Shads was my favorite villain (even though he isn't a villain for long), the Green Ranger was my favorite Power Rangers villain, I ate up Batman vs new Batman, Dark Link was my favorite baddie in Zelda, Venom was my favorite Spider-Man villain, I liked the idea of Wario as a baddie in Mario (though in retrospect WOW Bowser is better), etc etc ad nauseum. So this game is kinda entirely built around that idea, with Sonic vs Shadow, Knuckles vs Rouge, and me vs … sigh Eggman. So yeah, as a kid I was all about that.
Now… yeah, this still totally rules! Don't get me wrong. But I can already tell that Sonic Adventure 1 is my preference.
First of all, Sonic Adventure 1 just feels like Home, and you can't really beat that. It just really Gets It, at least for me. On top of that, I really like its structure! Having separate, coherent stories for all the major characters really makes it feel like a true ensemble piece where everyone gets to shine. While weaving their stories in and out of each other’s like Sonic Adventure 2 does does certainly make the story less confusing, it also makes each individual feel less important.
Worst of all, I really don’t like my parts in the game! They decided that me and Eggman are counterparts, so all my gameplay has me stuck in a mech. And the result is that I just don’t look forward to my own gameplay at all. I get that this is a hella specific and selfish complaint, but yeah. It bears mentioning.
Again, this game is still amazing and I love it. Just saying, there’s a reason I prefer the first one even though this one is hella more polished and introduces a very important cutie.
Hero Story
Yeah, so, aside from the mech thing which I already complained about, this kinda rules. You mostly play as Sonic which makes sense (and is fine because like I said I prefer his levels to mine, and when you get right down to it I prefer Knux’s too, Emerald hunting ain’t half bad). Not only is City Escape iconic, it is blatantly modeled after San Francisco which I love now that I live in the Bay Area. And I guess that makes sense as the Capital City of whatever country this takes place in, because it’s the gay capital and we’re all hella gay.
Although this doesn’t feel quite as close to Home as Sonic Adventure 1 did (mostly because of the writing), it still feels about right? And there are some pretty choice character moments in here. When Eggman traps Sonic and is about to launch him into space and he gets a moment to say something to both me and Amy, he tells me he’s counting on me (essentially leaving me in charge) and tells her “take care of yourself” (“uhhh idk” basically), which… yeah. That one’s about right.
Ugh, Amy… y’know what? We’ll come back to her.
That moment was extremely hard, because it isn’t hard to feel what I would feel in that situation, thinking I had just seen Sonic die. (Oh hey, Sonic Forces writers!! Notice how what I did next, despite being less experienced than I am by that game, is KICK EGGMAN’S ASS? Not, y’know, curl up into a sad ball and abandon all my friends? WEIRD. Almost like I’ve been learning from my hero and am more inclined to fight than to give up. WEIRD!!!)
Anyway. This game is full of emotional terrorism. Like, when I get defeated I say “Sonic…!” in a scared or sad voice. Yeah. Uh. Yeah. THANKS FOR THAT NIGHTMARE FUEL, GUYS. (Accurate, though.)
So, yeah, we were gonna get back to Amy. Much earlier in the game, me and Amy break into GUN’s prison to save Sonic (well, mostly I break in and then Amy kinda shows up), and then she ends up getting to Sonic’s cell first because I’m busy smashing all the defenses. And she tries to trap Sonic into marrying her in exchange for freeing him??? Which at least turns out to be a halfhearted attempt that she abandons immediately when he’s like, “Uh, NO?” but STILL, not cool Ames. (Also, like… she literally told Sonic that she came here with me, so obviously if she did decide to be a dick about it he’d just… wait for me?)
Anyway, yeah. I get to kick Eggman’s ass a bunch, Knux gets to have a rivalry with Rouge that comes to blows but he ends up saving her (from the peril of… falling??? when she has WINGS??? and can FLY??? shrug), and Sonic fights Shads a few times. I’m kinda annoyed about being stuck with Eggy as a direct antagonist even though it makes perfect sense, but all the Sonic/Shads stuff rules and yeah the fact that this game came out right around the tail end of when I was going through puberty sure was a thing.
Anyway! Again, the Hero Story rules, it’s like a slightly less perfect version of Adventure 1 but it’s okay because Shads is there and he’s hot. And now I can ogle all three of my boys. (And watch them fight over me. Okay fine, watch them fight for completely unrelated reasons. But still.)
And the last cutscene for this RULES and even though it’s kinda abrupt I almost wish it were the game’s actual ending. Because it focuses on me and Sonic, because DUH. I thought he was dead, and I saved the day, but it turned out he saved the day too! And he tells me I did an awesome job and AAAAAAA. Yeah. Extremely good.
Dark Story
Compared to the Hero Story, this kinda blows.
Instead of Sonic’s counterpart being the focus character, Eggman is. So that means you have to play a lot of stages as Eggman. And I mean a LOT. If this had been more of a mirror image of the Hero Story and you had been playing as Shadow most of the time, I think I woulda had a lot more fun with it. But then again, I get that they were kinda trying to save Shadow’s mystique and have the stuff with him feel more special.
But seriously. You’re having me play most of these stages as Eggman, AND fight myself twice, AND one of those fights is the one where I think he killed Sonic and I’m out for blood but I have to defeat myself in that context? I’m gonna complain about that a bit, yeah!!
I’m not saying this is the Worst Thing Ever, or anything like that. I just remember being way more into it as a kid, and now I’m like yeahhhhhhhh the Hero Story is WAY better, dang.
Last Story
Chaos is a better final boss than Finalhazard and I’m gonna tell you why.
Like, okay. Finahazard is actually a much better boss FIGHT, but Chaos is a much more nuanced character and you spend the whole game learning what his deal is and he ends up becoming an increasingly sympathetic figure even as he becomes more imposing to the point of being pretty terrifying. And he starts out (when he has no Emeralds) as a vaguely Mobian-sized character. He’s cool!
Having all the characters (except Shadow) have to team up for a level and then have the other character (Shadow) have a boss fight right after is kind of the perfect concept for this kind of game. And it’s hard as HECK which feels right for a final challenge. So, yeah. Big ups there.
And I do really love the scope of the final boss fight, and the fact that Shadow and Sonic are both in their Super forms just feels right. I know pretty much all these 3D games escalate to a fight where Super forms are used, but I still think it’s rad as heck and this one blew my mind when I was a kid. And I love that it has the badass “Live and Learn” by Crush 40 blaring the whole time.
Alright, with all that out of the way, it’s time for me to bitch about a few things.
Imagine being Knuckles and seeing Sonic go Super with Shadow instead of him even though he’s standing right there. Hmm. Guy who’s become a hard-won ally and who has a steadfast sense of duty? New guy who tried to kill me a bunch? Hard choice, that! I mean, yeah. It fits the entire structure of the game for it to be Sonic and Shadow, and I like seeing them fight together. It’s just kinda funny when you zoom out and think about it for a second.
(Heck, why not zoom back to the control room and share your super form with ME. I’m by far your most trusted comrade here. And it’s not like I’ve got anything better to do.)
So, yeah, okay, that’s a half-serious complaint because it doesn’t quite track if you think about it from the characters’ POV, but I kinda understand why it HAD to go this way in this particular game, regardless of whether it makes sense from our POV.
What REALLY gets me is the ending credits.
I kinda like the whole, have everyone talk during the credits thing. I think that’s pretty great, honestly. And most of the pairings of people talking together make sense. EXCEPT FOR ME AND EGGMAN??? Like, first of all, okay WOW you’re gonna give Sonic and AMY screentime together, but not ME and Sonic??? REALLY?????? And the one person you DO have me have a conversation with is Eggman??? The guy who’s kidnapped and/or tried to kill me on countless occasions, tried to kill Sonic on countless occasions, and just tried to kill Sonic right in front of me???? And I’m on FRIENDLY TERMS with him???? Because he helped ONCE???? C’mon, guys!!!! This ain’t it!!!!!
I know this is a very small part of a much larger game, most of which I happen to love, actually. But WOW does it ever irritate me!!
But, yeah. Like I said, in spite of all the reasons I like this one a little less than Sonic Adventure 1, I really do love it. So, yeah. As is customary, let’s close by ranking some stuff.
I’m only gonna rank Sonic and Shadow’s stages, because it’s kinda hard to compare the others and those will be the ones that will fit the most neatly into my big ratings of all the rest of the games which of course you know I’m gonna do when I finish this lmao. I’ll do everyone’s bosses, though, because why not.
Oh, and I don’t hafta rank Amy’s theme this time because they just reused her SA1 theme even though the rest of us all got new versions! Because even the soundtracks knows “fuck Amy,” I guess XD. (Look, again, I love Amy on a good day but these games are VERY MUCH NOT HER FINEST HOUR. Did I mention she TRIED TO TRAP MY HEDGEHOG INTO MARRYING HER? Who DOES that?)
One thing you’ll notice in these rankings is that there are a lot of stages that are way more highly rated than in SA1! This game was way more polished and had way more memorable stages on the whole. Like, I’m still tempted to say that it’s a better game even though I like SA1 better for deeply personal reasons, but also idk. It’s such a different experience, and I really do think having each character’s story be a separate, coherent story worked so well that it’s just hard to compare them. Like, SA2 feels like one long game, and SA1 kinda felt like you got to play a bunch of separate games. It’s just a totally different experience so they’re hard to compare.
Oh, since I’m not ranking Knuckles’ stages, let me also just say: PUMPKIN HILL RULES I LOVE IT SO MUCH IT IS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS IN ANY OF THESE GAMES IT IS SO COMPLETELY MY AESTHETIC AAAAAA I LOVE IT.
Zones
City Escape (S-Rank)
Radical Highway (S-Rank)
White Jungle (S-Rank)
Green Forest (S-Rank)
Final Rush (S-Rank)
Cannon's Core (S-Rank)
Final Chase (S-Rank)
Pyramid Cave (A-Rank)
Metal Harbor (A-Rank)
Sky Rail (B-Rank)
Crazy Gadget (B-Rank)
Bosses
Finalhazard (S-Rank)
Sonic vs. Shadow 2 (S-Rank)
Tails vs. Eggman 2 (S-Rank)
Sonic vs. Shadow 1 (A-Rank)
Egg Golem (Sonic) (A-Rank)
King Boom Boo (A-Rank)
Biolizard (B-Rank)
Knuckles vs. Rouge (B-Rank)
Hot Shot (B-Rank)
Bigfoot (B-Rank)
Flying Dog (B-Rank)
Tails vs. Eggman 1 (B-Rank)
Egg Golem (Eggman) (B-Rank)
Soundtrack
Live and Learn (S-Rank)
Won't Stop, Just Go! (Green Forest) (S-Rank)
A Ghost's Pumpkin Soup (Pumpkin Hill) (S-Rank)
Escape from the City (City Escape) (S-Rank)
E.G.G.M.A.N. (Eggman’s Theme) (S-Rank)
Highway in the Sky (Final Rush) (A-Rank)
The Supernatural (Final Chase) (A-Rank)
This Way Out (Prison Lane) (A-Rank)
Masters of the Desert (A-Rank)
It Doesn’t Matter (Sonic’s Theme) (A-Rank)
Space Trip Steps (Meteor Herd) (A-Rank)
Mr. Unsmiley (Sky Rail) (A-Rank)
Suitable Opponent (A-Rank)
Vengeance Is Mine (Radical Highway) (A-Rank)
Believe in Myself (Tails’ Theme) (A-Rank)
On the Edge (Eternal Engine) (A-Rank)
Trespasser (Lost Colony) (B-Rank)
Crush 'Em All (Weapons Bed) (B-Rank)
I'm a Spy (Security Hall) (B-Rank)
Soarin' Over the Space (Cosmic Wall) (B-Rank)
That's the Way I Like It (Metal Harbor) (B-Rank)
GUN Mobile (B-Rank)
Cooperation (Cannon's Core) (B-Rank)
Scramble for the Core (Cannon's Core) (B-Rank)
Deep Inside Of... (Cannon's Core) (B-Rank)
Throw It All Away (Shadow's Theme) (B-Rank)
Deeper (Death Chamber) (B-Rank)
Rumbling HWY (Mission Street) (B-Rank)
Kick the Rock! (Wild Canyon) (B-Rank)
Fly in the Freedom (Rouge's Theme) (B-Rank)
Unknown from M.E. (Knuckles’ Theme) (B-Rank)
Rhythm and Balance (White Jungle) (C-Rank)
Shut Up, Faker! (C-Rank)
Chasing Drive (Kart) (C-Rank)
Way to the Base (Sand Ocean) (C-Rank)
Down in the Base (Hidden Base) (C-Rank)
34°N, 12°E (Mad Space) (C-Rank)
Dive Into the Mellow (Aquatic Mine) (C-Rank)
For True Story (C-Rank)
Supporting Me (C-Rank)
Unstable World (Crazy Gadget) (C-Rank)
Keys the Ruin (Pyramid Cave) (C-Rank)
Lovely Gate 3 (Egg Quarters) (C-Rank)
Remember Me? M.F.M. (Iron Gate) (C-Rank)
The Mad Convoy Race (City Escape) (C-Rank)
Can't Stop, So What? (Metal Harbor) (C-Rank)
Bright Sound (Dry Lagoon) (C-Rank)
Yeah, I knew Sonic 3 & Knuckles was better, but this was new and in 3D! And it had Shadow in it!! I had such an embarrassing crush on him. (I now have a much less embarrassing crush on him.)
One trope I have always loved is a hero having to fight an "evil" version of themself. So Shads was my favorite villain (even though he isn't a villain for long), the Green Ranger was my favorite Power Rangers villain, I ate up Batman vs new Batman, Dark Link was my favorite baddie in Zelda, Venom was my favorite Spider-Man villain, I liked the idea of Wario as a baddie in Mario (though in retrospect WOW Bowser is better), etc etc ad nauseum. So this game is kinda entirely built around that idea, with Sonic vs Shadow, Knuckles vs Rouge, and me vs … sigh Eggman. So yeah, as a kid I was all about that.
Now… yeah, this still totally rules! Don't get me wrong. But I can already tell that Sonic Adventure 1 is my preference.
First of all, Sonic Adventure 1 just feels like Home, and you can't really beat that. It just really Gets It, at least for me. On top of that, I really like its structure! Having separate, coherent stories for all the major characters really makes it feel like a true ensemble piece where everyone gets to shine. While weaving their stories in and out of each other’s like Sonic Adventure 2 does does certainly make the story less confusing, it also makes each individual feel less important.
Worst of all, I really don’t like my parts in the game! They decided that me and Eggman are counterparts, so all my gameplay has me stuck in a mech. And the result is that I just don’t look forward to my own gameplay at all. I get that this is a hella specific and selfish complaint, but yeah. It bears mentioning.
Again, this game is still amazing and I love it. Just saying, there’s a reason I prefer the first one even though this one is hella more polished and introduces a very important cutie.
Hero Story
Yeah, so, aside from the mech thing which I already complained about, this kinda rules. You mostly play as Sonic which makes sense (and is fine because like I said I prefer his levels to mine, and when you get right down to it I prefer Knux’s too, Emerald hunting ain’t half bad). Not only is City Escape iconic, it is blatantly modeled after San Francisco which I love now that I live in the Bay Area. And I guess that makes sense as the Capital City of whatever country this takes place in, because it’s the gay capital and we’re all hella gay.
Although this doesn’t feel quite as close to Home as Sonic Adventure 1 did (mostly because of the writing), it still feels about right? And there are some pretty choice character moments in here. When Eggman traps Sonic and is about to launch him into space and he gets a moment to say something to both me and Amy, he tells me he’s counting on me (essentially leaving me in charge) and tells her “take care of yourself” (“uhhh idk” basically), which… yeah. That one’s about right.
Ugh, Amy… y’know what? We’ll come back to her.
That moment was extremely hard, because it isn’t hard to feel what I would feel in that situation, thinking I had just seen Sonic die. (Oh hey, Sonic Forces writers!! Notice how what I did next, despite being less experienced than I am by that game, is KICK EGGMAN’S ASS? Not, y’know, curl up into a sad ball and abandon all my friends? WEIRD. Almost like I’ve been learning from my hero and am more inclined to fight than to give up. WEIRD!!!)
Anyway. This game is full of emotional terrorism. Like, when I get defeated I say “Sonic…!” in a scared or sad voice. Yeah. Uh. Yeah. THANKS FOR THAT NIGHTMARE FUEL, GUYS. (Accurate, though.)
So, yeah, we were gonna get back to Amy. Much earlier in the game, me and Amy break into GUN’s prison to save Sonic (well, mostly I break in and then Amy kinda shows up), and then she ends up getting to Sonic’s cell first because I’m busy smashing all the defenses. And she tries to trap Sonic into marrying her in exchange for freeing him??? Which at least turns out to be a halfhearted attempt that she abandons immediately when he’s like, “Uh, NO?” but STILL, not cool Ames. (Also, like… she literally told Sonic that she came here with me, so obviously if she did decide to be a dick about it he’d just… wait for me?)
Anyway, yeah. I get to kick Eggman’s ass a bunch, Knux gets to have a rivalry with Rouge that comes to blows but he ends up saving her (from the peril of… falling??? when she has WINGS??? and can FLY??? shrug), and Sonic fights Shads a few times. I’m kinda annoyed about being stuck with Eggy as a direct antagonist even though it makes perfect sense, but all the Sonic/Shads stuff rules and yeah the fact that this game came out right around the tail end of when I was going through puberty sure was a thing.
Anyway! Again, the Hero Story rules, it’s like a slightly less perfect version of Adventure 1 but it’s okay because Shads is there and he’s hot. And now I can ogle all three of my boys. (And watch them fight over me. Okay fine, watch them fight for completely unrelated reasons. But still.)
And the last cutscene for this RULES and even though it’s kinda abrupt I almost wish it were the game’s actual ending. Because it focuses on me and Sonic, because DUH. I thought he was dead, and I saved the day, but it turned out he saved the day too! And he tells me I did an awesome job and AAAAAAA. Yeah. Extremely good.
Dark Story
Compared to the Hero Story, this kinda blows.
Instead of Sonic’s counterpart being the focus character, Eggman is. So that means you have to play a lot of stages as Eggman. And I mean a LOT. If this had been more of a mirror image of the Hero Story and you had been playing as Shadow most of the time, I think I woulda had a lot more fun with it. But then again, I get that they were kinda trying to save Shadow’s mystique and have the stuff with him feel more special.
But seriously. You’re having me play most of these stages as Eggman, AND fight myself twice, AND one of those fights is the one where I think he killed Sonic and I’m out for blood but I have to defeat myself in that context? I’m gonna complain about that a bit, yeah!!
I’m not saying this is the Worst Thing Ever, or anything like that. I just remember being way more into it as a kid, and now I’m like yeahhhhhhhh the Hero Story is WAY better, dang.
Last Story
Chaos is a better final boss than Finalhazard and I’m gonna tell you why.
Like, okay. Finahazard is actually a much better boss FIGHT, but Chaos is a much more nuanced character and you spend the whole game learning what his deal is and he ends up becoming an increasingly sympathetic figure even as he becomes more imposing to the point of being pretty terrifying. And he starts out (when he has no Emeralds) as a vaguely Mobian-sized character. He’s cool!
Having all the characters (except Shadow) have to team up for a level and then have the other character (Shadow) have a boss fight right after is kind of the perfect concept for this kind of game. And it’s hard as HECK which feels right for a final challenge. So, yeah. Big ups there.
And I do really love the scope of the final boss fight, and the fact that Shadow and Sonic are both in their Super forms just feels right. I know pretty much all these 3D games escalate to a fight where Super forms are used, but I still think it’s rad as heck and this one blew my mind when I was a kid. And I love that it has the badass “Live and Learn” by Crush 40 blaring the whole time.
Alright, with all that out of the way, it’s time for me to bitch about a few things.
Imagine being Knuckles and seeing Sonic go Super with Shadow instead of him even though he’s standing right there. Hmm. Guy who’s become a hard-won ally and who has a steadfast sense of duty? New guy who tried to kill me a bunch? Hard choice, that! I mean, yeah. It fits the entire structure of the game for it to be Sonic and Shadow, and I like seeing them fight together. It’s just kinda funny when you zoom out and think about it for a second.
(Heck, why not zoom back to the control room and share your super form with ME. I’m by far your most trusted comrade here. And it’s not like I’ve got anything better to do.)
So, yeah, okay, that’s a half-serious complaint because it doesn’t quite track if you think about it from the characters’ POV, but I kinda understand why it HAD to go this way in this particular game, regardless of whether it makes sense from our POV.
What REALLY gets me is the ending credits.
I kinda like the whole, have everyone talk during the credits thing. I think that’s pretty great, honestly. And most of the pairings of people talking together make sense. EXCEPT FOR ME AND EGGMAN??? Like, first of all, okay WOW you’re gonna give Sonic and AMY screentime together, but not ME and Sonic??? REALLY?????? And the one person you DO have me have a conversation with is Eggman??? The guy who’s kidnapped and/or tried to kill me on countless occasions, tried to kill Sonic on countless occasions, and just tried to kill Sonic right in front of me???? And I’m on FRIENDLY TERMS with him???? Because he helped ONCE???? C’mon, guys!!!! This ain’t it!!!!!
I know this is a very small part of a much larger game, most of which I happen to love, actually. But WOW does it ever irritate me!!
But, yeah. Like I said, in spite of all the reasons I like this one a little less than Sonic Adventure 1, I really do love it. So, yeah. As is customary, let’s close by ranking some stuff.
I’m only gonna rank Sonic and Shadow’s stages, because it’s kinda hard to compare the others and those will be the ones that will fit the most neatly into my big ratings of all the rest of the games which of course you know I’m gonna do when I finish this lmao. I’ll do everyone’s bosses, though, because why not.
Oh, and I don’t hafta rank Amy’s theme this time because they just reused her SA1 theme even though the rest of us all got new versions! Because even the soundtracks knows “fuck Amy,” I guess XD. (Look, again, I love Amy on a good day but these games are VERY MUCH NOT HER FINEST HOUR. Did I mention she TRIED TO TRAP MY HEDGEHOG INTO MARRYING HER? Who DOES that?)
One thing you’ll notice in these rankings is that there are a lot of stages that are way more highly rated than in SA1! This game was way more polished and had way more memorable stages on the whole. Like, I’m still tempted to say that it’s a better game even though I like SA1 better for deeply personal reasons, but also idk. It’s such a different experience, and I really do think having each character’s story be a separate, coherent story worked so well that it’s just hard to compare them. Like, SA2 feels like one long game, and SA1 kinda felt like you got to play a bunch of separate games. It’s just a totally different experience so they’re hard to compare.
Oh, since I’m not ranking Knuckles’ stages, let me also just say: PUMPKIN HILL RULES I LOVE IT SO MUCH IT IS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS IN ANY OF THESE GAMES IT IS SO COMPLETELY MY AESTHETIC AAAAAA I LOVE IT.
Zones
City Escape (S-Rank)
Radical Highway (S-Rank)
White Jungle (S-Rank)
Green Forest (S-Rank)
Final Rush (S-Rank)
Cannon's Core (S-Rank)
Final Chase (S-Rank)
Pyramid Cave (A-Rank)
Metal Harbor (A-Rank)
Sky Rail (B-Rank)
Crazy Gadget (B-Rank)
Bosses
Finalhazard (S-Rank)
Sonic vs. Shadow 2 (S-Rank)
Tails vs. Eggman 2 (S-Rank)
Sonic vs. Shadow 1 (A-Rank)
Egg Golem (Sonic) (A-Rank)
King Boom Boo (A-Rank)
Biolizard (B-Rank)
Knuckles vs. Rouge (B-Rank)
Hot Shot (B-Rank)
Bigfoot (B-Rank)
Flying Dog (B-Rank)
Tails vs. Eggman 1 (B-Rank)
Egg Golem (Eggman) (B-Rank)
Soundtrack
Live and Learn (S-Rank)
Won't Stop, Just Go! (Green Forest) (S-Rank)
A Ghost's Pumpkin Soup (Pumpkin Hill) (S-Rank)
Escape from the City (City Escape) (S-Rank)
E.G.G.M.A.N. (Eggman’s Theme) (S-Rank)
Highway in the Sky (Final Rush) (A-Rank)
The Supernatural (Final Chase) (A-Rank)
This Way Out (Prison Lane) (A-Rank)
Masters of the Desert (A-Rank)
It Doesn’t Matter (Sonic’s Theme) (A-Rank)
Space Trip Steps (Meteor Herd) (A-Rank)
Mr. Unsmiley (Sky Rail) (A-Rank)
Suitable Opponent (A-Rank)
Vengeance Is Mine (Radical Highway) (A-Rank)
Believe in Myself (Tails’ Theme) (A-Rank)
On the Edge (Eternal Engine) (A-Rank)
Trespasser (Lost Colony) (B-Rank)
Crush 'Em All (Weapons Bed) (B-Rank)
I'm a Spy (Security Hall) (B-Rank)
Soarin' Over the Space (Cosmic Wall) (B-Rank)
That's the Way I Like It (Metal Harbor) (B-Rank)
GUN Mobile (B-Rank)
Cooperation (Cannon's Core) (B-Rank)
Scramble for the Core (Cannon's Core) (B-Rank)
Deep Inside Of... (Cannon's Core) (B-Rank)
Throw It All Away (Shadow's Theme) (B-Rank)
Deeper (Death Chamber) (B-Rank)
Rumbling HWY (Mission Street) (B-Rank)
Kick the Rock! (Wild Canyon) (B-Rank)
Fly in the Freedom (Rouge's Theme) (B-Rank)
Unknown from M.E. (Knuckles’ Theme) (B-Rank)
Rhythm and Balance (White Jungle) (C-Rank)
Shut Up, Faker! (C-Rank)
Chasing Drive (Kart) (C-Rank)
Way to the Base (Sand Ocean) (C-Rank)
Down in the Base (Hidden Base) (C-Rank)
34°N, 12°E (Mad Space) (C-Rank)
Dive Into the Mellow (Aquatic Mine) (C-Rank)
For True Story (C-Rank)
Supporting Me (C-Rank)
Unstable World (Crazy Gadget) (C-Rank)
Keys the Ruin (Pyramid Cave) (C-Rank)
Lovely Gate 3 (Egg Quarters) (C-Rank)
Remember Me? M.F.M. (Iron Gate) (C-Rank)
The Mad Convoy Race (City Escape) (C-Rank)
Can't Stop, So What? (Metal Harbor) (C-Rank)
Bright Sound (Dry Lagoon) (C-Rank)
2001
I remember this series totally ruling, but I want to say it gets drastically better in Advance 2? Because this one is actually pretty pedestrian. Like, it’s not BAD. It’s a classic-style Sonic platformer and you get to play as four different characters. The level design is pretty comparable to the Genesis era, though not the Genesis era at its best necessarily. But yeah. Mostly this just ain’t half bad.
I do like that you have to play through as all four of us (me, Sonic, Knux, and Ames), and that we all play way differently. Playing with Amy is ANNOYING, playing with me is joyous and freeing and kinda breaks the game, etc.
The zones are all pretty simple, and not really much of a strength. (This is something I remember improving in Advance 2, so hopefully my memory is correct there.) Like, there’s nothing wrong with them, but they just don’t add much. They’re just fine.
I know it sounds like I’m really down on this game, but I’m not! I think it’s a worthy successor to the classic 2D games, but that means I’m comparing it to them. And that’s a really high standard to be judged by. That’s all. This game honestly rules, even if I don’t have as much to say about it as I do about the Genesis games I grew up with.
Speaking of judging, let’s rank some stuff! Not ranking The Moon Zone under zones because it’s just a boss fight.
Zones
1. X-Zone (B-Rank)
2. Cosmic Angel Zone (B-Rank)
3. Egg Rocket Zone (B-Rank)
4. Angel Island Zone (B-Rank)
5. Ice Mountain Zone (B-Rank)
6. Neo Green Hill Zone (B-Rank)
7. Secret Base Zone (C-Rank)
8. Casino Paradise Zone (C-Rank)
Bosses
1. Egg Mobile-H (A-Rank)
2. Egg Mobile-D (A-Rank)
3. Mecha Knuckles (A-Rank)
4. The Moon Zone (B-Rank)
5. EGG X (B-Rank)
6. Egg Hammer Tank (B-Rank)
7. Egg Snake (B-Rank)
8. Egg Spider (B-Rank)
9. Egg Ball (B-Rank)
Egg Press (B-Rank)
Soundtrack
1. X-Zone Boss 2 (S-Rank)
2. X-Zone Boss 1 (S-Rank)
3. X-Zone Boss 3 (A-Rank)
4. Boss 6 (A-Rank)
5. Mecha Knuckles Part 2 (A-Rank)
6. X-Zone (A-Rank)
7. Mecha Knuckles Part 1 (A-Rank)
8. Cosmic Angel Zone (B-Rank)
9. The Moon Zone (B-Rank)
10. Egg Rocket Zone (B-Rank)
11. Boss 1-4 (B-Rank)
12. Angel Island Zone Act 1 (B-Rank)
13. Ice Mountain Zone Act 2 (B-Rank)
14. Secret Base Zone Act 2 (B-Rank)
15. Ice Mountain Zone Act 1 (B-Rank)
16. Neo Green Hill Zone Act 2 (C-Rank)
17. Credits (C-Rank)
18. Special Stage (C-Rank)
19. Angel Island Zone Act 2 (C-Rank)
20. Secret Base Zone Act 1 (C-Rank)
21. Neo Green Hill Zone Act 1 (C-Rank)
22. Casino Paradise Zone Act 1 (C-Rank)
23. Casino Paradise Zone Act 2 (C-Rank)
I do like that you have to play through as all four of us (me, Sonic, Knux, and Ames), and that we all play way differently. Playing with Amy is ANNOYING, playing with me is joyous and freeing and kinda breaks the game, etc.
The zones are all pretty simple, and not really much of a strength. (This is something I remember improving in Advance 2, so hopefully my memory is correct there.) Like, there’s nothing wrong with them, but they just don’t add much. They’re just fine.
I know it sounds like I’m really down on this game, but I’m not! I think it’s a worthy successor to the classic 2D games, but that means I’m comparing it to them. And that’s a really high standard to be judged by. That’s all. This game honestly rules, even if I don’t have as much to say about it as I do about the Genesis games I grew up with.
Speaking of judging, let’s rank some stuff! Not ranking The Moon Zone under zones because it’s just a boss fight.
Zones
1. X-Zone (B-Rank)
2. Cosmic Angel Zone (B-Rank)
3. Egg Rocket Zone (B-Rank)
4. Angel Island Zone (B-Rank)
5. Ice Mountain Zone (B-Rank)
6. Neo Green Hill Zone (B-Rank)
7. Secret Base Zone (C-Rank)
8. Casino Paradise Zone (C-Rank)
Bosses
1. Egg Mobile-H (A-Rank)
2. Egg Mobile-D (A-Rank)
3. Mecha Knuckles (A-Rank)
4. The Moon Zone (B-Rank)
5. EGG X (B-Rank)
6. Egg Hammer Tank (B-Rank)
7. Egg Snake (B-Rank)
8. Egg Spider (B-Rank)
9. Egg Ball (B-Rank)
Egg Press (B-Rank)
Soundtrack
1. X-Zone Boss 2 (S-Rank)
2. X-Zone Boss 1 (S-Rank)
3. X-Zone Boss 3 (A-Rank)
4. Boss 6 (A-Rank)
5. Mecha Knuckles Part 2 (A-Rank)
6. X-Zone (A-Rank)
7. Mecha Knuckles Part 1 (A-Rank)
8. Cosmic Angel Zone (B-Rank)
9. The Moon Zone (B-Rank)
10. Egg Rocket Zone (B-Rank)
11. Boss 1-4 (B-Rank)
12. Angel Island Zone Act 1 (B-Rank)
13. Ice Mountain Zone Act 2 (B-Rank)
14. Secret Base Zone Act 2 (B-Rank)
15. Ice Mountain Zone Act 1 (B-Rank)
16. Neo Green Hill Zone Act 2 (C-Rank)
17. Credits (C-Rank)
18. Special Stage (C-Rank)
19. Angel Island Zone Act 2 (C-Rank)
20. Secret Base Zone Act 1 (C-Rank)
21. Neo Green Hill Zone Act 1 (C-Rank)
22. Casino Paradise Zone Act 1 (C-Rank)
23. Casino Paradise Zone Act 2 (C-Rank)
2002
Yeah wow this is a big step up.
This may as well be another entry into the main series Genesis games for everything it adds. It has some kickass new zone concepts, some great execution of series staple zone concepts, and introduces two new characters in the kidnapped Vanilla and her daughter Cream.
I also love the running bosses! Running bosses make so much sense considering all of our abilities etc. And I love that there's a boss rush towards the end! And OH MY GOSH the soundtrack. Seriously, guys! This game is SO good and SO fun!!
Basically the only thing I don't love is the way you get to the Special Stages in these. Tracking down all those special rings is just anti-fun. At least the special stages themselves are way better than Advance 1's.
Basically the only thing keeping this from being on the same tier as Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 (& Knuckles) is that the final boss could be more overwhelmingly good. But honestly? It feels nitpicky even saying that. This game is SO good! And one of the biggest reasons it's pretty dang annoying that people usually skip the handheld games when they're ranking Sonic games.
Speaking of ranking, let's rank some stuff! The Special Stage soundtrack isn't ranked because it’s the same as in Sonic Advance 1.
Zones
Techno Base Zone (A-Rank)
XX Zone (A-Rank)
Hot Crater Zone (A-Rank)
Leaf Forest Zone (A-Rank)
True Area 53 Zone (B-Rank)
Egg Utopia Zone (B-Rank)
Music Plant Zone (B-Rank)
Sky Canyon Zone (B-Rank)
Ice Paradise Zone (B-Rank)
Bosses
Egg Totem (A-Rank)
Egg-Go-Round (A-Rank)
Egg Frog (A-Rank)
True Area 53 (A-Rank)
Super Eggrobo Z (A-Rank)
Egg Hammer Tank II (A-Rank)
Aero Egg (A-Rank)
Egg Bomber Tank (A-Rank)
Egg Saucer (B-Rank)
Soundtrack
Hot Crater Zone Act 1 (S-Rank)
Sky Canyon Zone Act 2 (S-Rank)
Egg Utopia Zone Act 1 (S-Rank)
XX Zone (S-Rank)
Egg Frog (Egg Utopia Boss) (S-Rank)
True Area 53 Zone (S-Rank)
Boss (S-Rank)
Egg Utopia Zone Act 2 (A-Rank)
Sky Canyon Zone Act 1 (A-Rank)
Super Eggrobo Z (XX Boss) (A-Rank)
Leaf Forest Zone Act 2 (A-Rank)
Leaf Forest Zone Act 1 (A-Rank)
Music Plant Zone Act 1 (A-Rank)
Techno Base Zone Act 1 (A-Rank)
Hot Crater Zone Act 2 (B-Rank)
Staff Roll (B-Rank)
Music Plant Zone Act 2 (B-Rank)
Ice Paradise Zone Act 1 (B-Rank)
Versus Mode 1 (B-Rank)
Versus Mode 2 (B-Rank)
Techno Base Act 2 (C-Rank)
Versus Mode 3 (C-Ran)
Ice Paradise Zone Act 2 (C-Rank)
This may as well be another entry into the main series Genesis games for everything it adds. It has some kickass new zone concepts, some great execution of series staple zone concepts, and introduces two new characters in the kidnapped Vanilla and her daughter Cream.
I also love the running bosses! Running bosses make so much sense considering all of our abilities etc. And I love that there's a boss rush towards the end! And OH MY GOSH the soundtrack. Seriously, guys! This game is SO good and SO fun!!
Basically the only thing I don't love is the way you get to the Special Stages in these. Tracking down all those special rings is just anti-fun. At least the special stages themselves are way better than Advance 1's.
Basically the only thing keeping this from being on the same tier as Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 (& Knuckles) is that the final boss could be more overwhelmingly good. But honestly? It feels nitpicky even saying that. This game is SO good! And one of the biggest reasons it's pretty dang annoying that people usually skip the handheld games when they're ranking Sonic games.
Speaking of ranking, let's rank some stuff! The Special Stage soundtrack isn't ranked because it’s the same as in Sonic Advance 1.
Zones
Techno Base Zone (A-Rank)
XX Zone (A-Rank)
Hot Crater Zone (A-Rank)
Leaf Forest Zone (A-Rank)
True Area 53 Zone (B-Rank)
Egg Utopia Zone (B-Rank)
Music Plant Zone (B-Rank)
Sky Canyon Zone (B-Rank)
Ice Paradise Zone (B-Rank)
Bosses
Egg Totem (A-Rank)
Egg-Go-Round (A-Rank)
Egg Frog (A-Rank)
True Area 53 (A-Rank)
Super Eggrobo Z (A-Rank)
Egg Hammer Tank II (A-Rank)
Aero Egg (A-Rank)
Egg Bomber Tank (A-Rank)
Egg Saucer (B-Rank)
Soundtrack
Hot Crater Zone Act 1 (S-Rank)
Sky Canyon Zone Act 2 (S-Rank)
Egg Utopia Zone Act 1 (S-Rank)
XX Zone (S-Rank)
Egg Frog (Egg Utopia Boss) (S-Rank)
True Area 53 Zone (S-Rank)
Boss (S-Rank)
Egg Utopia Zone Act 2 (A-Rank)
Sky Canyon Zone Act 1 (A-Rank)
Super Eggrobo Z (XX Boss) (A-Rank)
Leaf Forest Zone Act 2 (A-Rank)
Leaf Forest Zone Act 1 (A-Rank)
Music Plant Zone Act 1 (A-Rank)
Techno Base Zone Act 1 (A-Rank)
Hot Crater Zone Act 2 (B-Rank)
Staff Roll (B-Rank)
Music Plant Zone Act 2 (B-Rank)
Ice Paradise Zone Act 1 (B-Rank)
Versus Mode 1 (B-Rank)
Versus Mode 2 (B-Rank)
Techno Base Act 2 (C-Rank)
Versus Mode 3 (C-Ran)
Ice Paradise Zone Act 2 (C-Rank)