Man, just ran through this again, and as always Marble Zone is a slog, but the rest of this thing is really special. Now I get to have the Starlight Zone music stuck in my head for the rest of the day, which is absolutely worth it.

Is it the best Sonic game? No, that would be Sonic 2. Still, this one is a great launching pad for the series. I could spend more time talking about how interesting the level design is with varying paths to take, or how the slide-y momentum physics make this an interesting counter (or complement) to Super Mario Brothers. Instead, I'll just say--play this game--and go about my day humming Starlight Zone.