Best and worst game from each era

[Silver*]

Since it's the new year how bout a best/worst game from each era thingy and I posted this first on the SEGA forums but I thought here it might have some discussion value as well;

I'll give a list of games from all 3:

Classic era:

# Sonic the Hedgehog - 1991

# Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - 1992

# Sonic CD - 1993

# Sonic Chaos - 1993

# Sonic Spinball - 1993

# Sonic the Hedgehog 3 - 1994

# Sonic Drift

# Sonic & Knuckles - 1994

# Sonic Drift 2 - 1995

# Tails Sky Patrol - 1995

# Knuckles' Chaotix

# Tails Adventure - 1995

# Sonic Labyrinth - 1995

# Sonic the Fighters - 1996

# Sonic Blast - 1996

# Sonic 3D Blast - 1996

# Sonic Jam (Computer Game) - 1997

# Sonic R - 1998

Dreamcast/Adventure era:

# Sonic Adventure - 1998

# Sonic Shuffle - 2001

# Sonic Adventure 2 - 2001

# Sonic Advance - 2002

# Sonic Adventure 2: Battle - 2002

# Sonic Advance 2 - 2003

# Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut -2003

# Sonic Heroes - 2004

# Sonic Battle - 2004

# Sonic Advance 3 - 2004

# Shadow the Hedgehog - 2005

# Sonic Rush - 2005

Modern era:

# Sonic Riders - 2005

# Sonic the Hedgehog - 2006

# Sonic Rivals - 2006

# Sonic and the Secret Rings - 2007

# Sonic Rush Adventure - 2007

# Sonic Rivals 2 - 2007

# Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood - 2008

# Sonic Unleashed - 2008

# Sonic & the Black Knight - 2009

# Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - 2010

# Sonic Colors - 2010

# Sonic Free Riders - 2010

# Sonic Generations - 2011

(Sonic Riders Zero Gravity)

Sorry to all spin off fans but I took those off since well they are not all that talked about, but you are more than welcome to list them on your list. If I missed a game, then you can also list it. Here's my list of best and worst Sonic games from each era;

Classic -

Best: Sonic Chaos

Worst: Sonic CD

Adventure -

Best: Shadow the Hedgehog

Worst: Sonic Adventure 1/DX

Modern -

Best: Sonic the Hedgehog 2006

Worst: I havent came across a bad modern game yet;

annnd discuss

[Soniman]

Best Classic: Sonic 2, because it's perfection.

Worst Classic: Sonic Blast, beacuse its an abomination.

Best Dreamcast: Sonic Adventure 1. because it the closest game to ever emulate classic style gameplay in 3D.

Worst Dreamcast Shadow the Hedgehog, because its a fucking terribe, pandering, alien-like game

Best Modern: Sonic Generations, combines the best of Unleashed and Colors into one great package that is fun from start to finish, the addition of classic Sonic helps greatly as well.

Worst Modern: Sonic 06, do I seriously need to explain why?

Edited January 1, 2012 by Grooseinator032

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Classic: Never played any, doesn't care to.

- Ok, I lied, I tried Sonic 1, but it didn't appeal to me. Mainly because I couldn't see where I was going and it was boring.

Dreamcast:

-Sonic Adventure is my favored of the two I have, mostly due to the SENSE of freedom and because it was reasonably fast.

-Sonic Adventure 2 would be the worse of the 2 by default, because while it was faster, it didn't allow much freedom and I didn't like the forced alt gameplay (yes it was in SA1, but , at least they are separate stories so I could tackle them separately).

Modern:

-Sonic Generations is the best in terms of gameplay, decent amount of space and speedy. However, Unleashed was my favorite in terms of atmosphere and story.

-These are less my worst games and more "Not that noticeable or fun": Sonic Unwiished and Rush Adventure.

Edited January 1, 2012 by Enigma2Me

[Dark Qiviut]

Because of the more stronger rules in the SSMB, I'm explaining WHY.

Classic:

Best: Knuckles' Chaotix: It's the most nostalgic and also the bbest to me, from the physics to the level design. The level design feels exactly like they fit Knuckles and the Chaotix, making him the mazy, quarky level design. Its art style is also one of the most unique. Compared to the fantastical art styles from the main Classics, this one really takes advantage of the unique genre. While the characters share similar abilities, they don't play alike, making their gameplays fresh and inviting, something S3&K did NOT do.

Worst: Sonic 2 on the Game Gear. The physics may be excellent, but the deceptive difficulty made this game feel like an absolute chore to play. The Underground Zone boss and horrid gimmick controls made this game an instant turn-off.

Adventure/Dreamcast/Sixth-Generation:

Best: Sonic Adventure. Of all the games in this generation, it plays closest to the Classics, yet doesn't attempt to be a 3D "Classic." During their time, the graphics were great, and the game started my true golden age for Sonic. The game has some fresh and great playstyles that made this game interesting to play and complete (the one I like the least being Tails). But what's also great about it is the story. It's very well-written and brought excellent character development. The graphics blend fantasy and realism as one cohesive unit. It was also the game that got me back into Sonic, which is why I consider it the best in the series.

Worst: Sonic Shuffle. Absolutely hated EVERYTHING about this game, from the primitive graphics to the gameplay to the cheating AI. Worst 3D Sonic game I've ever played.

Modern:

Best: Sonic Colors Wii: Except the story and the protagonists' characterizations, the gameplay was great. Despite being a 2.5D game (I'll NEVER call it a 3D game, ever!), it takes advantage of the formula from the Day Stages and incorporates platforming level design and the uniquely executed Wisp gimmick that works so well. The graphics are great for a Wii game, and the fantastical atmosphere reminds me of Heroes. It's a fresh look that I adore.

Worst: While it'd be unfair because I never played it, I won't doubt if Next-Gen will be here. Broken gameplay, glitches galore, and poor execution throughout. It's an absolute rush-job; a shame because it showed so much promise. Thankfully, that was their only truly terrible main Sonic game, and the quality has risen drmaatically since then.

[MeteorSmash]

Classic era: I'm not personally fond of these...I started getting into Sonic thanks to modern games...but the best I guess is Sonic 3 & Knuckles, worst Sonic 1.

Dreamcast era: Best one is SA2: Battle since it feels so complete and original, and there's lots of replay value. And the 'worst' would be Shadow the hedgehog, though I actually did like it but it feels rushed.

Modern era: Tied between SG and Sonic Unleashed, worst one? Sonic FUCKING Colors of course, it lacks the charm and speed of the previous two replacing it by the wisp gimmick and inconsistent gameplay switching from running to forced stops so you can use those annoying powers, it doesn't deserve to be part of the trilogy imo, as it's a completely different deal, and I don't need to mention the story sucks.

Edited January 1, 2012 by SilverTheHedgehog

[Solkia]

Classic:

Best: S3K (imagine that) It almost felt more like an adventure game to me than a platformer, I don't know why.

Worst: 3D Blast. Het that game with a passion.

Dreamcast:

Best: SA2B (NOT SA2) love the soundtrack, the level design and control of it.

Worst: Heroes. The "Teamwork" gimmick got really old, really fast. And that script. what the fuck were they smoking when they wrote that script?

Modern:

Best: Unleashed HD. Overall, I enjoyed the game. Once you get past the stupid medal requirements, it's pretty damn fun imo.

Worst: Secret Rings. What a pile of half-assed motion control shit.

[Ekaje]

Best Classic: 3&K

Worst Classic: 3D Blast I guess. Haven't really played it much but it was pretty boring when I did.

Best Dreamcast: Sonic Adventure

Worst Dreamcast: Heroes. It has slippery controls and physics, frustrating level design, and the annoying addition of overly large healthbars that turns every boss battle into a test of how long you can bear button mashing.

Best Modern: Sonic Colors, for being the first game in a while to be enjoyable for the entire game, without any gameplay types that weren't fun or levels that were frustrating to play through.

Worst Modern: Unwiished. No part of this game was fun. Night was a tedious brawler, and Day was a dull, glitchy time trial mode through possibly the most boring and bland levels I've played in a Sonic game.

And for the heck of it:

Best handheld: Rush Adventure. Takes the fun base of the first Rush, and improves on it in every aspect but music. Some people were understandably annoyed by sailing and material grinding, but those didn't bother me.

Worst handheld: Advance 3. Good concept ruined by terrible level design. This game starts with dick moves in the first zone and never improves. Also continued the trend set by its predecessors by having both terrible special stages, and a terrible way of accessing them. The minigames for extra lives, music, and some of the bosses were pretty cool though, too bad about the rest of the game.

Edited January 2, 2012 by Ekaje

[Old dead account]

Best classic is S3&K. I loved the sheer massive size of the levels and the design around them, The "show, don't tell" storyline, the characters and the length. I don't care if it had to be split into 2 cartriges.

Taxman's Sonic CD gets an honorable mention

Worst is Sonic Blast. Shitty design, and graphics that simply make the game hard to look at. I'm more forgiving of spinoffs but Black eyed sonic doesn't save this game at all.

Sonic 2 GG gets a dishonorable mention

Best dreamcast is Sonic Advance 1. It played very close to the classics and added Amy without messing anything up

Adventure 1 gets an honorable mention

Worst is Shadow. Terrible controlls and design. DAMN it all STRAIGHT TO HELL!

Heroes gets a dishonorable mention

Best modern is Generations. It may have had a crappy story but gameplay comes above all else and that's where it shines

Colors gets an honorable mention

Worst is Sonic Chronicles. I've never played shittier RPG game in my life and it also has the worst soundtrack of all time

All the Riders games get dishonorable mentions.

[Diogenes]

Best Classic: S3&K. I don't care if they were released as two separate games. I don't care that they're listed separately in the OP. S3&K was meant to be one game, and it is playable as one game, so I am calling it one game. Anyway. S3&K is not the best classic Sonic game for being revolutionary in itself, but because it took everything from its predecessors and made it better. Levels were bigger and more complex than ever before. Characters went from two nearly identical to three each with their own abilities. Story stopped being just something in the manual and maybe the last few levels and became something more complex that played out throughout the game, both through cutscenes and in-level elements. And the gameplay itself was (is, even) the most polished form of the very smart and fun classic Sonic gameplay.

Worst Classic: Given the list in the OP, I'd say Labyrinth, but considering its quite stuffed with spinoffs while the latter eras aren't, I hesitate to select it. Sticking to "proper" Sonic games, my vote would most likely go to one of the other Game Gear games, largely because they just didn't handle the physics well enough.

Best "Adventure": Just as a note, I really find this to be a poor name for the era, given that '06 is considered part of the modern era despite being clearly the last Adventure game. Anyway, my vote's for SA. Of all the 3D games, it comes closest to replicating the Genesis gameplay; while it's buggy and rough, proper rolling mechanics do exist. The game also took the storytelling in a stronger yet still appropriate direction, telling a deeper and more complex story while still feeling like a Sonic game (wwwwith the exception of several characters' gameplay...).

Worst "Adventure": ShtH. In concept alone it's abhorrent. Even after making the mistake of going for a "darker and edgier" game, they treated it neither with respect nor tongue-in-cheek; it is one of the most childish interpretations of maturity I have had the misfortune to see, and it plays it completely straight. Tone aside, it's a horrible, poorly designed, slippery piece of trash.

Best Modern: Sonic Rush Adventure. A refinement of Rush's gameplay. Blaze follows the S3&K style of playing like Sonic but with a few unique abilities, the story is generally light but entertaining, there's less bullshit instadeath, the gimmick keeps to itself and is fairly short and mildly entertaining, and the bosses are some of the best in the series. And in spite of being boost-heavy, at least it doesn't piss on the classic gameplay the way 4 and Generations did.

Worst Modern: '06. Is there even anything left to say? Nothing can possibly compete against this horrid abomination.

[Johnny Boy]

Classic Best: Sonic 3&K. Excellent music. Excellent gameplay. Excellent Level Design. Excellent replay value. What more can I say?

Classic Worst: Sonic 3D Blast. Controls were slippery as hell. Oh and to make things worse there's an ice level later on in the game.

Dreamcast Best: Heroes. Ok YMMV on this one but I really enjoyed heroes a lot. I think that this game tried to pay homage to the classics than any other of the 3D games at the time by going back to the zany colorful looking worlds that the classics were known for, instead of the realistic looking worlds of the adventure games. Plus I found the team mechanic fun and it had an awesome soundtrack as well.

Adventure 1 and advance get an honorable mention.

Dreamcast Worst: Shadow the Hedgehog. You sir broke the streak of greatness. Everything was going well for sonic until this piece of shit came and fucked everything to high hell. Horrible controls, horrible storyline, oh and not to mention the ever so stupid decision to give shadow guns and vehicles. Burn in hell shadow (not the character, the game).

Modern Best: Generations. This game took everything we loved about sonic from old times and new times, combine them, and what do you get? Possibly one of the best sonic games to date. And to be honest, I think it rivals sonic 3&K! And it was one hell of a way to celebrate sonics birthday unlike, That OTHER anniversary game.

Modern Worst: Sonic 06. No explanation needed.

[Shade Vortex]

Best Classic:

Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Why? So many alternate paths, that even today, people are still discovering routes they never realized were there years before. A good blend of speed and platforming. Useful and unique gimmicks for each character that somewhat balances out and differentiates pretty similar characters. An actual in-game story unlike the other Classics (excluding CD), although told through cut scenes which speak through actions rather than words (Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 you'd only ever know the story from the Japanese or American manuals). Also quite a few handy bug fixes and improvements over the engine in general from previous games.

Worst Classic:

Sonic Labyrinth. Why? From the very conception of it, it was a terrible idea. "Let's take away the speed Sonic has entirely, and change the type of game it is!" It's not even a platfomer, so it's failed at both the things Sonic is known for. Aside that, the game plays really clunkily (imo), the stages are really small and don't have much going for them, and the music is not very good.

Best Adventure:

Sonic Adventure 1. Why? Because it had pretty open levels with multiple paths, it had a blend of speed and platforming, had a varied (mostly good) soundtrack, had some interesting bosses, and Sonic's, Tails' and Gamma's stages were a blast. I did hate the Knuckles, Amy, and especially the Big levels, but out of all the Adventure titles, it's the most consistently fun.

Worst Adventure:

For me, this is a tie between Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog. They're like polar opposite with reasons as to why I think they're the worst. One had a good concept executed horribly wrong, the other had a tremendously awful concept to start with, and got it even worse than it should have been. For Heroes, the Team gimmick was implemented in a very obnoxious way. Not only do they have your teammates constantly saying stupid things and being annoying, but they require you to switch to them to progress through the game. It would have been better to supply routes for all three members of the team throughout all the stages in the game, similar to Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Knuckles and Tails are annoyingly noticeably slower than Sonic, and Sonic himself controls likes he's on ice, accelerating too fast and in general, being hard to maneuver/control. Shadow the Hedgehog had pretty much the same problems the Sonic gameplay had, only now they've added horrid third person aiming, swords with ammo, and chaos powers where you're forced to stop and kill a bunch of enemies to move on with them (in the Black Comet/Last Way, anyways). Heroes also had a problem of "stop and go" gameplay, where you're being forced to stop, switch to Knuckles and Tails to take out a bunch of enemies quicker to move on. ShtH also had the problem of shitty vehicles (which I still question who thought that having Shadow drive in vehicles was a good idea).

Best Modern:

Sonic Generations: Why? Because for once, it's a Sonic game where I like all the levels and bosses, without exception. They're mostly hand-picked from my favorite games, and most of them are favorite stages of mine. And for the most part, they even have better level design than the originals, in my mind. The soundtrack is also one of the most consistently enjoyable Sonic games have had, as there are few tracks I don't like. Modern Sonic controls better than ever, and his levels are designed much better, so it's more fun all around. Classic Sonic isn't perfect, and I'd say not as fun as Modern, but he was well done and his levels were well designed as well. Spindash was way too powerful and can easily break the game/levels, but it's also easy to break Modern's levels in other ways. Rolling sucks still, so that's a downer. Still, it's the most consistently fun and good Sonic game in years. Don't much like the missions either (only liking specific types, like those relating to using skills or powerups), though.

Worst Modern:

Sonic 06. Why? Why wouldn't it be, is the most sane question I could retort to that question. Broken physics, broken and dull boss fights, glitches galore, loading time extravaganza, Sonic's story was ill-thought out from conception ("Oh, let's have Sonic rescue a human princess who caries the apocalypse in her body, have it be released by the power of her tears, then let's have her fall in love with sonic and have her get kidnapped and saved by him a billion times to advance their relationship, and then let's have it so that sonic dies so she cries and releases the apocalypse!"), the other characters' stories overshadowed Sonic's seemingly having more importance and thought put into them. The homing attack is horrible, the mach speed sections control like shit (and who ever thought of having Sonic running automatically with slippery controls at high speed and have him trip over rocks and fly for miles was a good idea should never have been in game design in the first place). The town missions and their music were monotonous, obnoxious, repetitive, and at times, annoyingly forced upon the player and very frustrating. For the most part, everyone other than Sonic, Shadow and Silver played like shit, except Blaze, who seemed to actually control better than the Hedgehogs. In the end, everything but the music and the level concepts are horrible in this game. Shadow's and Silver's stories were interesting too, imo, but when it comes at the price of so many faults, it's not excusable. It also had the problem of having Shadow drive in vehicles, a bad concept done worse than it was done in ShtH to boot!

tl;dr version of whole post: I LIEK SAWNAK BUT HAET WHEN SAWNAK IS NAWT SAWNAK

Edited January 1, 2012 by Shade Vortex

[Chooch]

I don't really feel obligated to mention games that are more or less spin-offs (I'm either apathetic towards a lot of them) so I'm limiting things primarily to the main series.

Sonic 3 and Knuckles wins for best Classic Era Sonic game because I personally find that in outclasses every other Sonic game released during that era in every way imaginable. The the music and level design are both superb and the replayability is practically endless. The multiple playable characters are woven into the game in such a way that they provide a unique feel between the three yet never lose what truly makes Sonic great.

Worst Classic Era Sonic game goes to Sonic CD. The level design, the time travel mechanic, the Special Stages.. Everything just kinda pisses me off. It doesn't help that back when I initially played it I had to deal with the god awful US soundtrack so I couldn't even

The best "Adventure" Era Sonic game is easily the original Sonic Adventure. It wasn't without its problems, one of the most prominent being genre roulette, but despite that it still stands up as a very fun game to play even today. At least with Sonic. Your mileage may vary on the other characters but I personally had quite a bit of fun with most of them. More fun than I did with them in Adventure 2.

Personally? The worst "Adventure" Era game is Sonic Heroes still to this day. I simply can not tolerate playing it for extended periods of time. I've talked about this game plenty already so I'll just reiterate what I've said since the very beginning. On paper the game is absolutely amazing. I adore the concept even now. The issue comes from the fact that the execution of said concept simply could not be any worse. I loathe playing this game.

Best Modern Era game? Sonic Generations. It's the most fun I've had with a Sonic game since the original Sonic Adventure. The original Adventure as I said earlier is still a load of fun, but it has aged somewhat poorly. I think at this point I'd call Generations the greatest 3D Sonic game ever made. It brings back a lot of what made the classic Sonic games so great.

I'm not saying that just on the grounds that they reintroduced classic Sonic either. Not at all. Modern Sonic himself showcases a lot of what I love about the old Genesis / Mega Drive games with fun calculating platforming mixed in with segments of incredible speed and multiple pathways and shortcuts that are very rewarding to work to get to.

Hahaha.. Worst Modern Era game? Sonic the Hedgehog 4. This entire game is just a huge slap in the face to anyone who cared to have a proper reintroduction of classic Sonic gameplay. It looks even worse now in Generations' wake.

Edited January 1, 2012 by Chooch

[-Mark-]

Classic -

Best: Sonic Chaos

Worst: Sonic CD

Adventure -

Best: Shadow the Hedgehog

Worst: Sonic Adventure 1/DX

Modern -

Best: Sonic the Hedgehog 2006

Worst: I havent came across a bad modern game yet;

You trolling? D: D:

I mean, I know everyone has their own opinions and all but daaaaamn, if you're being serious that's a pretty... 'unique' one so to speak. You've posted what I imagine the majority of people would say the exact opposite of. Not that I'm attacking you for having an opinion by any means, but you've certainly got some unusual choices there, to say the least.

For me? Personally I'd discount the 8-Bit games and more blatant spinoffs, since it doesn't really seem fair to compare them directly to the core series (since it'd make the 'worst' options a little too easy). So I'll go with;

Classic:

For me, I'd say I like Sonic 3 the best. Yes, Sonic 3 & Knuckles is arguably 'better', but overall (and in terms of single games) I prefer the Sonic 3 half of it. Maybe because I played S&K first, then didn't play Sonic 3 for another couple of years, I'm perhaps one of the few that can still view Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles as games in their own right, in addition to the complete S3&K.

Worst? I'd go with Sonic 1, although I say that meaning that it's the worst of a very good bunch. Sonic 1 doesn't do anything wrong per se, but rather that its successors go on to surpass it, leaving it looking a little dull and empty in comparison.

Adventure:

For the best, I'd say Adventure 2, hands down. It had arguably the best plot the series has ever had, and whilst the other gameplay styles certainly had their flaws, there's just something about the general atmosphere and style of SA2 that really puts it above and beyond any game before or since, in my opinion. It's basically the last Sonic game to actually have a good plot (aside from perhaps Sonic Battle), and the 10th anniversary hype just made the game seem more special at the time.

Worst? I'd say Heroes. Adventure 2 was always going to be a touch act to follow, but Heroes didn't do a particularly good job of it anyway- overly lengthy stages that bordered on tedium, enemies that needed multiple hits (slowing everything down) and the annoying level-up mechanic. Also, making each team basically Easy, Medium and Hard difficulties respectively was a little cheap in terms of lengthening the game. Yes, Shadow was...interesting to say the least, but I do feel it actually managed to pull off better gameplay, despite the weapons and vehicles. Yes, the plot was a joke (although at least it tried to be substantial), but I actually enjoyed it more than Heroes, I think.

Modern:

Unleashed Wii, for reasons I've said a million times over in other topics. Shoddy, cut-back and piss-poor presentation. 06 felt like an unfinished mess, sure; but UnWiished just felt like a really lazy finished product.

Best? Generations, for sure. It took the good parts of Unleashed, improved the general handling, level design and pretty much everything. Last boss and plot in general sucked though, shame.

[Milo]

Best classic: Sonic 3&K

Best Dreamcast: SA2

Best Modern: Tie between Colors and Generations

Worst classic: Sonic Labyrinth

Worst Dreamcast: Shadow the Hedgehog

Worst modern: Sonic 06 (haven't played but just going with the regular consensus )

[Koopalmier]

just saying: Rush is a Modern Era game. DS is the same generation as Wii. Riders is either Adventure or Modern.

Best Classic game: Sonic 3 & Knuckles. It takes everything from the previous games, perfects it and adds new delicious stuff. And it's long enough to deserve save states ! Has quite the content too.

Worst Classic game: Sonic Labyrinth. Awful game with an awful idea - a Sonic game where the point is that Sonic's slow ? Seriously ?

Best Adventure game: Sonic Adventure. Perfect 3D version of the classic gameplay, a long, great story, a lot of epic scenes, many different sides of the story, and a great balance of humor, serious and sadness in the plot. Also dat OST

Worst Adventure game: Sonic Heroes. AWFUL controls (even more on the PS2 version), boring story (unexpected after the intensity of Adventure and 2), all characters have the same levels, the level design is not fantastic and the levels drag on for too long with too few save points.Shadow's sudden comeback ruined the SA2 ending too.

Best Modern game: Sonic Generations. It's just perfect. The only issues I see are the extremely linear and simplistic story, the lack of stuff like Red Rings in the 3DS version and the control input lag in the PS3 version.

Worst Modern game: Sonic Chronicles. It's extremely ugly, it's extremely boring, it's extremely linear, it's extremely short (for a RPG with not much content), and it's awful at everything it tries (look good, have witty Sonic references and fanservice, or just be a good game at all). At least Sonic 2006 was fun if you ignored the glitches, and Shadow's story wasn't bad (also it had good music and didn't lack content).

[Your Vest Friend]

Classic;

Best: Sonic 2 (Knuckles Chaotix runner up); Even to this day, I find that you can't go wrong with a bit of Sonic 2 at hand. The level design is creative and fluid, the soundtrack is awesome and playing as Tails is brilliant. I have lots of memories playing the multiplayer too, so that department doesn't fall flat either.

Worst: Sonic Spinball (Sonic 3 runner up); There is no game I dislike more. While the soundtrack is at least decent, the controls are absolutely horrid, and the graphics look pretty bad as well stylistically. The thing is that I find Sonic Pinball Party a much better experience, so it isn't just the genre of the game.

Dreamcast;

Best: Sonic Heroes (Shadow the Hedgehog runner up*); I never found it as glitchy and slippery as other people, and to this day I can still pick it up and charge through all four stories in one single sitting. It helps that my overanalytical mind tends to spot new nuances every time I play it, and the Chaotix story is a lot more 'mature' than the other three so it's a blast to see the interactions there again.

Worst: Sonic Adventure 2/:Battle (Sonic Rush runner up); This one was hard, mainly due to the fact I'm very apathetic to the era overall, despite my second-favourite game hailing from it. If you'd asked me a few months ago it would have been Sonic Rush due to not liking the second main character, the gameplay being boring, the level design being meh, and stuff like that. However, Sonic Rush at the very least has stayed the same level all this time. Sonic Adventure 2, as I've said in a different topic recently, just hasn't aged well at all. Not only are the controls much slippier and glitchier than Heroes, the voice acting overall is absolutely terrible (not for the voice actors, but for the delivery of the lines), that combined with the expressions given for the cutscenes make them laughable and break any sort of mood they want to put across, and the level design is uninspired, again. Both games have an awesome soundtrack though, and they're at least playable unlike my other worst choices.

Modern;

Best: Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games Wii (Sonic Rivals 2 runner up); I'm in a very small minority here with this choice, but I've always loved the Mario and Sonic series. Winter Olympics game them more fandom content to lap up and relish, and the latest installment is even better in that sense. This era has been solid though, so there isn't anything that I dislike out and out. That is, except...

Worst: Sonic and the Secret Rings (Sonic Chronicles runner up); I'm sure there's a decent game here. I'm sure if I could get to the end that I'd turn around and say "Oh yeah, that game was pretty good. Not as good as my favourites, but meh". The only problem I have with the game really is the controls, but it is such a crippling problem that I can't even begin to play the game. I was one of the rare dislikers of the game back in the day, and it's only now that I'm seeing that there's actually a pretty bad backlash against it nowadays, one that I fully think it deserves.

*Not because I love the game (although I do like it somewhat), but because the rest just don't do anything for me.

[Oizo]

Best Classic Game :

Sonic CD. That game is just awesome. And no word to describe the OST.

"Mention spéciale" for Chaotix and Sonic 2.

Worst Classic Game : I'd say Sonic R or 3D Blast.

Best Dreamcast Game :

Sonic Adventure 2. The graphics are great, the OST rocks and the story is fine. For me SA2 is legendary, the best 3D Sonic game.

Worst Dreamcast Game :

I don't know, i didn't played Shadow the Hedgehog yet. Heroes on PC is fine.

Best Modern Game : Maybe Generations or Unleashed, but I wish I could play Colors on Wii. So i don't know.

Worst Modern Game :

Sonic 2006. The storyline is OK, but the controls are horrible, Crisis City is just impossible, the graphics are ugly and I don't really like Silver.

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

This is based on what games I played, not heard or watched.

Classics:

Best Classic: Sonic CD - Loved the Time Travel feature as well as the JPN OST. It's my favorite Sonic OST to this date. Also it marks the first appearance of my favorite character (guess who? <3)

Worst Classic: Sonic 1 - When I played this game, I realized HOW important Spin Dash was. Without that move, the game is actually more frustrating. However I preferred Sonic 1's Special Stages WAY more than Sonic 2's and Sonic 3's.

Other Classics I played: Sonic 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic 3D, Sonic R, Sonic Spinball.

Dreamcast:

Best Dreamcast: Sonic Adventure - Still occasionally play this game on my laptop now and then. This is by far, my FAVORITE Sonic game. I wish there are more Sonic games like this (and no, SA2 IS NOT the same IMO, it's one of the worst sequels. It would have been better if it was called something else rather than SA2).

Worst Dreamcast: Shadow the Hedgehog - Can I say more about this? Really?

Other Dreamcast games I played: Sonic Heroes, Sonic Riders, ALL of Sonic Advance games, Sonic Rush, Sonic Battle, Sonic Adventure 2 (if it weren't for Shadow (game), I swear this game will be my worst).

Modern:

Best Modern: Sonic Unleashed (PS3/360) - The Werehog ruined the game for me, but this game still shines over the rest. Generations was VERY close actually to get this award from me, but the game was too easy, had a very basic story, and no CGI cutscenes for me to enjoy and watch over when I get bored.

Worst Modern: Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii) - Sonic '06 is crap, yes but hey at least I MANAGED to finish it unlike THIS abomination. Secret Rings has the worst controls I've ever experienced in my life. Can't look what's behind me, is on rails, Sonic auto runs forward...this game is a mess. Hate, HATED this game. Couldn't even finish it because the controls were very bad. Disappointed this game didn't score less than '06.

Other games I played: Sonic the Hedgehog (06), Sonic Rush Adventure, Sonic Generations, Sonic Chronicles, Sonic Unleashed (PS2/Wii), Sonic and the Black Knight, Sonic Colors, Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

EDIT: Whoops, forgot to add Sonic 4 and Colors. >.<

Edited January 1, 2012 by Spiced Christmas

[-Mark-]

Worst: Sonic Spinball (Sonic 3 runner up); There is no game I dislike more. While the soundtrack is at least decent, the controls are absolutely horrid, and the graphics look pretty bad as well stylistically. The thing is that I find Sonic Pinball Party a much better experience, so it isn't just the genre of the game.

I personally wouldn't even count Spinball as one of the 'Classics'. Granted, it's from that era, but as I said in my earlier post, I feel it defeats the purpose of the topic a little to include all the spinoffs and minor releases- I mean, if you do, everyone's worst 'Classic' games would largely be Spinball/ Labyrinth, and Sonic Shuffle would get more than a few mentions for the Adventure era.

To clarify, I was omitting those kind of games when saying my favourites/ least favourites; When I refer to 'the classics', I'm strictly speaking Sonic 2, 3, 3&K. Maybe CD, although oddly I see that as more of a sort of side-attraction (if not quite spinoff) due to its relatively obscure nature at time of original release.

[RisingForever]

Best Classic Game: S3&K because it has the best and most stages in a classic game and possibly the best special stages in any sonic game.

Worst Classic Game: 3D Blast because the isometric view is worse than any 3D camera angle.

Best 6th Generation Game: SA2 because I find the treasure hunting okay and the shooting is still better than the fishing even if its worse than Gamma in SA1.

Worst 6th Generation Game: Shadow the Hedgehog because for everything Heroes did wrong, Shadow did it worse along with guns and unnecessary swearing.

Best Modern Game: Generations because it has a good mix of 2D and 3D and Classic Sonic is 10x better than the Werehog and medal collecting.

Worst Modern Game(s): Sonic 06 because it a mess of glitches,bad game design, and a terrible story while Secret Rings couldn't have had a worse control scheme if the developers tried.

I have played all of these games for better or worse.

[Balding Spider]

Classic:

Best- Sonic CD; when someone asks me what my favorite classic game is CD will always be my definitive answer to the best of the classic's, I loved it from start to finish. Hell I even play around with the special stages for fun in my spare time.

Worst- Sonic R; bad racing maps, bad music, and clunky controlls make this game a special kind of horrid to me. I can only wonder how many toads the Travellers Tales staff licked before it seemed like creating this would've been a great idea.

Dreamcast:

Best- Sonic Advance 1; It's one of the funnest handheld games I've ever played, and at that time I think it's the only one I've enjoyed from start to finish.

Worst- Shadow; I'll make it brief. I didn't like anyting or any character within this game. It's one of those games that felt like a pain to playthrough and the asinine story only adds more fire to my raging inferno of hatred.

Modern:

Best- Sonic Colors; While it's nice to see some throwbacks to the franchise I don't want and entire game based around that. Which is mainly why I felt Colors beat out Generations here. IMHO it handeled the old meets new idea much better than Generations. It returned to us Eggman being the primary villain again, returning the Badniks, and returned the simple plot of Eggman trying to obtain global conquest by imprisoning the local wild life and taking over zones (or in Colors case planets). This game also recieves additional brownie points for having Tails get the better of Sonic for once.

Worst- 06; I shouldn't even have to explain it at this point.

Edited January 1, 2012 by Balding Spider

[buba]

Classic:

Best - Sonic 3 & Knuckles

Lots of alternative paths, multiple characters, awesome zones with diversified level tropes and cool unlockables (Super/and Hyper forms for every character).

Worst - Sonic Blast

Looks horrible, plays horrible and is a total mess.

Dreamcast:

Best - Sonic Advance trilogy

Lots of playable characters with diverse gameplay style, classic like feel (Advance being the best in this case), very fast gameplay (Advance 2), good platforming and cool gimmicks.

Worst - Shadow the Hedgehog

Hate the story, hate the characters, hate the way you have to progress in the story, hate the guns, hate the vehicles and mostly hate the way you unlock the real final boss forcing you to replay the game X times just to go Super and beat some horrendous monster.

Modern:

Best - Generations

Good gameplay for both Modern and Classic Sonic (even though classic could have been better), lots of replay value and a great way to celebrate 20 years of Sonic by bringing back Sonic friends and old designs, stages from past games, remixed music and much more.

Worst - Sonic the Hedgehog

If you are here you probablly know about it so...

[Legendary Emerald]

Best Classic: Sonic 1 (With the Red Soles). When it comes down to it, the Sonic franchise would not exist if it weren't for this game. Expertly crafted in every area, the game features one of the best soundtracks on the genesis, complimented by perfect platforming controls and level design. Sonic 3&K may have added many more features, and Sonic 2 may have been faster, but Sonic 1 isn't missing out by lacking any of the series' later editions. Taken by itself, it is a nearly perfect game, and one of the best platformers of all time.

Worst Classic: Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. This choice will take some explaining, as most people would think there are far worse games in the classic era than this. And, well, they may be right. But none of them offend me the way Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine does. Some backstory would help. I owned Kirby's Avalanche for the SNES growing up, which was a re-worked port of Puyo Pop 2 in Japan. So too was Mean Bean a re-worked port of the same game, only for the Genesis. So while the gameplay stayed more or less exactly the same, Robotnik's game was severely flawed in every other area. To begin with, the sound design. Through the Genesis' sound chip, the music sounded ungodly awful, and fairly creepy to a young me. The character's voice were worse, indistinguishable gargles that would be more appropriate coming from the throats of hellspawn than misshappen robots. And the visual design, dear god, the visual design... whoever was so enamored with the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog that they decided to base this games' art style on show should be dragged out into the street and shot. Everything about this game turns me away from it, and I've never been able to stomach it for over five minutes.

Best Dreamcast Game: Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 (Tie). I don't think I will ever be able to decide between these two games. Both are responsible for getting me back into Sonic games, and into the Sonic fandom. Both shaped my taste in fiction and music and games irrevocably. And both have sever flaws that hold them back in this day and age from being as perfect as I thought they were in my youth. I could go on and on about the nearly pointless playable characters in Sonic Adventure 1, or Rouge's levels in Sonic Adventure 2, but so too could I go on about Sonic's gameplay in both games, the amazing soundtracks, and the attempts at world building that took place. There is so much for me to love, that it is hard for me to even muster up the disappointment necessary to rank one above the other. They are both two of my favorite games, and I will most likely continue to play them until the day I die.

Worst Dreamcast Game: Sonic Advance 2. How can I tell that I hated this game so much? I barely even remember it. No, wait, that isn't quite true. I remember holding right, and occasionally jumping and doing tricks. It was the only way to survive, considering you can never see obstacles ahead of you, and there's no boost button to render you invincible to enemy attacks. The boss battles were terrible exercises in frustration, most of the levels were rehashes from the previous advance game, it controlled like shit, and it introduced the absolute worst character in the franchise: Cream the Rabbit. There is too much hate in me for this game to talk any further about it. Next category.

Best Modern Game: Sonic Generations. This game, nostalgia goggles aside, is probably the single best 3D Sonic game ever made. Not to say that it's perfect, but well, it's pretty damn near close. The level design is amazing for both characters, and the soundtrack doesn't disappoint. While I have some issues with the way both Modern and Classic Sonic control, they don't break the game, and I don't notice the issues when playing it. The storyline and writing is mostly terrible though, but I've given up on paying attention to Sonic game plots anyways. But in almost every other way, this game met my expectations and more.

Worst Modern Game: Sonic Chronicle. I hate... no, I loathe this piece of shit. There is nothing redeemable about it. The graphics are dog shit, the music is dog shit landing on a keyboard, and the storyline was written similarly. And I didn't even mention the combat system... can you guess what it is? It begins with a "d" and ends in "ogshit". It is the single worst RPG I have ever had the displeasure of playing in my entire fucking life. But I don't really need to say any of this, when the following comic describes the game perfectly.

Edited January 1, 2012 by Legendary Pine Tree

[Vertekins]

Best Classic: Sonic CD. Great level design that perfectly coincides with the time travel gimmick and the focus on exploration, an environmental Aesop that doesn't go all "Farthing Wood" and "Captain Planet" on you and outright demonize technology, a masterpiece of a soundtrack with great merit (I'm talking about the JP/EU Soundtrack, not the US travesty) and extremely clever and imaginative level designs though the time periods. No other Sonic game gives you the triumphant kind of feeling that seeing Good Future's does. It also had so many accessible options as well. Like Time Attack. And those animated sequences are totally amazing

Worst Classic: G-Sonic/Sonic Blast. Everything about this game screams "clumsy" from the ugly graphics and atrocious, oversized sprites to the clunky physics and samey, unoriginal level design and the bosses have such bizarre designs in a not so good way. Music is decent though.

Best 6th Generation game: SA2B. I found all of the play styles highly enjoyable. The characters were spot-on except for Amy's Sonic-dependency after she claimed to make Sonic respect her in SA and the story was quite well pulled-off in it's seriousness and scope. The last Sonic game that had cool aspects to it to keep you going after the main story has been played to death such as an expansive Chao raising function.

Worst 6th Generation Game. Shadow the Hedgehog. Everything about this game is laughable. From the incredibly misguided way in which Shadow was shilled as a "Complex Badass Anti-Hero" by showing him with motorcycles and weapons he doesn't need and blatantly depicting him kicking Sonic's ass to the so-called pandering to 13 year old Shadow fanboys by giving him a gun and the different paths that ultimately don't have basis in canon at the end of the day. The gameplay was sucky too. It's the textbook example of how NOT to do serious in a Sonic game next to '06's sorry excuse of a script and plot.

Best Modern Game: Sonic Generations HD. Now this is how you do Modern gameplay in a Modern Sonic game. Take Unleashed's glorious speed-oriented day stage formula whilst combining it with wonderful level design chock full of alternate paths. Everything about the remade stages from previous titles oozes with care and are lovingly rendered re-creations. Story and characterization is too minimalistic but what was there is well done.

Worst Modern Game: Sonic '06. Combine a plot that is conceptually flawed and riddled with stupidity and idiot balls, a premise that should never have been considered ("What if Sonic were real?"), unreasonably spotlight-stealing character(s) (I'm looking at you Shadow and Elise), completely screwed physics, far from adequate bug-testing, whacked-out game design and you have a game so utterly rounded in it's badness that it's a work of genius in regards to the sheer degree of things it gets so utterly wrong.

Edited January 1, 2012 by Verte

[batson]

I'll only comment on the ones i feel i have anything to say about.

Best classic era game: S3&K.

Worst classic era game: Labyrinth.

Best Adventure era game: SA1. While i like the Sonic/Shadow stages in SA2 about as much as i like the Sonic stages in this one, SA1 still wins out over the two due to the fact that the only characters whose levels i found boring was Big's, which of course makes up a very small percentage of the game in it's entirety, unlike in SA2 where a whole third of the game is boring due to Knux''s and Rouge's stages.

Worst Adventure era game: Sonic Rider's. I can't even play it because the controls feels so awkward.

Best modern era game: Colors. The 3D sections are alright, but the 2D sections is where the real fun is.

Worst modern era game: 06.