Central City Zones: City Levels in Sonic Games

[Sonictrainer]

Sonic’s world has a number of forests, plains, jungles, natural, and supernatural environments where animals can be found. However, there are also a large number of towns, cities, highways, and urban areas. They also seem like be quite popular throughout Sonic’s gaming history.

NOTES:

1. Starting with this topic, I would also like to discuss Hub Levels along with the Action Stages.

2. I haven’t played the Rivals games and Free Riders so I intentionally left out Blue Coast Zone, Chaotic Inferno Zone, Metropolis Speedway, and Final Factory.

3. The only levels on this opening list that I feel are debatable as City Levels are Chemical Plant Zone and Savannah Citadel.

4. When making this list, a lot of the Casino/Amusement Levels came up as examples for City levels. However, I already did a topic on that level theme here and would like to give the non-Casino/Amusement Park City Levels a mention. Sorry, Sonic Colors fans…

5. If you have a favorite Town/City/Highway/Urban Level or Hub World I forgot about, a level I didn’t mention because I never played it, or have a level you feel can be described as Town/City/Highway/Urban level, feel free to talk about it in the topic.

 

Sonic the Hedgehog: Spring Yard Zone and Star Light Zone
In the first game, Sonic runs through 2 city levels on South Island.

The first is the Spring Yard Zone, which appears to be a casino that’s under construction. Sonic has to be careful not to get crushed by the moving platforms and get hit by the big and small Spiked Balls. There’s also a number of old and new Badniks Sonic has to cope with, including Spike/Yandorin, who can only be defeated by rolling, and Roller, who loves to copy Sonic and roll down slopes. (I almost mistook him for Metal Sonic when I first saw him)

The second is the Star Light Zone, which is another construction project involving a highway being built within a city and has a perfect view of the stars during the night. To halt Sonic’s progress, it seems Dr. Eggman filled this highway with the mini flamethrowers from the Marble Zone, spike balls on the ends of seesaws, giant spiked ball pendulum platforms, green Orbinauts called Unidus, that use spiked balls as a shield rather than a projectile, and Bombs with legs that can stick to walls and ceilings and explode when Sonic gets too close. Fortunately, the bombs with legs don’t have animals inside of them…I think…

Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Chemical Plant Zone

The Chemical Plant Zone is a giant factory in a city on Westside Island that created a new chemical called “Mega Muck”. Sonic and Tails can run outside and roll inside some of the tubes here while avoiding projectile throwing Spinies, self-destructing Grabbers, areas flooded with “Mega Muck”, and an unknown blue chemical that bounces back and forth between certain tubes.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3: Hydro City Zone

The Hydro City Zone is the ancient, submerged aqueducts of Angel Island. Sonic and Tails will have to carefully navigate the area, on land and underwater, using the fans, conveyor belts, and spinning cone platforms. The 6 Badniks that here that work here are Pointdexter, Turbo Spiker, Blastoid, Mega Chopper, Bugernaut, and Jawz. Let’s not forget the wall of doom at the start of Act 2.

Sonic CD: Stardust Speedway Zone

While the Star Light Zone is a quiet city, the Stardust Speedway Zone is a party city where musical instruments are a part of almost everything. Here Sonic runs on a golden highway that has red and white striped boosters, a very early form of the Jump Selector, and Panels that Sonic can spin jump to move between routes.

In the Past, the city started out as stone and marble and the highway is incomplete and filled with plants and vegetation.

If Sonic doesn’t go back to the past to destroy the Badnik machine, this area will become another large series of Eggman’s factories and the stardust will be destroyed by air pollution. Eggman even had a giant statue of himself built here.

If Sonic does succeed in destroying the Badnik machine, the city will feature a number of amusement parks and become more festive.

Sonic Chaos: Gigapolis Zone

The Gigapolis Zone is a cyan city with tunnels, conveyor platforms, bridges, and…spike pits? The Boss of this Zone is a giant, spikeless Caterkiller that throws its segments at Sonic and Tails.

Also the name of this Zone was changed in all ports of Sonic Chaos except in Japan from Gigalopolis Zone to Gigapolis Zone.

Sonic Adventure: Station Square Adventure Field & Speed Highway

Station Square is a happening city with different businesses and establishments. Tourists can stay at the nearby hotel, which has a dining hall, an outdoor pool by the beach, and an indoor Chao Garden. For fun and games, you can visit Casinopolis or Twinkle Park. There’s a burger restaurant with a special emblem, a jewelry store where you can make a trade, and a newspaper stand that’s up to date on the latest information. If you’re more interested in nature, you can also take the subway train to the Mystic Ruins…although things haven’t going well with the employees and if things continue... There are also rumors about secrets in the back alleys and underground sewer system…

Speed Highway is a unique transition stage for Sonic, where he goes up and down and all around the roads at night, runs down the side of a skyscraper building, and ends up in a smaller district during the day.

Sonic Adventure 2: City Escape, Radical Highway, Mission Street, Route 101, and Route 280

Sonic Adventure 2 was the first game to feature the most number of city stages.

Ah, City Escape… This San Francisco inspired city has steep hills, a trolley system, and some new construction areas with levitating pillars. This seems like the perfect place to live…until the day Sonic skydived, snowboarded, grinded, and ran through trying to escape G.U.N. robots. I wonder who paid for all of the property damage that was caused.

Radical Highway is based on the San Francisco Bridge. Here Shadow outruns G.U.N. after stealing a Chaos Emerald from the bank.

Mission Street, which IRL is the actual name of a street in San Francisco, follows Tails as he grabs an upgrade for the Cyclone while dodging G.U.N. robots and their assault planes.

Route 101 features Tails chasing after the President and Route 280 features Rouge chasing after Tails. They’re both 3 Lap Kart Levels. I remember the “Don’t hit other Cars” Mission being a nightmare.

Sonic Heroes: Grand Metropolis/Power Plant

Grand Metropolis is a city where some of the roads are antigravity and a company called "Hexacon". Unfortunately, Eggman’s robots have taken over the power plant and are draining energy from the city. Teams will have to destroy robots in certain areas to progress. In Act 2, aka Power Plant, Teams will also have to avoid floating fireballs and the magma pit towards the end.

Sonic Battle: Emerald Town, Central City, and Night Babylon

Emerald Town is the first Hub Area in the game. Tails currently lives here in a house, which is shaped like his head, and does experiments in his lab next door. Close by is Emerald Beach where Sonic finds and meets Emerl for the first time.

Central City is east of Emerald Town, where Amy currently lives and where the headquarters of G.U.N is.

Night Babylon is a dark area where Rouge owns a Casino, called Club Rouge, which also acts as the base for Team Dark. There’s also an entrance to the Gimme Shelter here…

Sonic Advance 3: Route 99 Zone

Route 99 is the first of the 7 Zones Eggman created by splitting the world using Chaos Control...but using a different machine from the one he’ll later use in Unleashed. There’s not much to say about this Hub Area besides the fact that it uses the colors red and yellow, with a few blue and green, while the checkerboard pattern is gray with light indigo zigzags.

Route 99 is another highway where some of the roads are still under construction, on the outskirts of a city. There are a number of gimmicks from the Genesis and Dreamcast Era games like the seesaws with spiked balls from the Star Light Zone, different kinds of pulleys, switches, and grind rails. There’s also new versions of Classic Badniks like Motobugs, that are smaller, come in red and blue variations, and can fly, and Balkiry, that are now purple, faster, and can drop bombs and dive down to hit Sonic and Tails when they get too close. This is also the first Zone where Gemerl debuts and fights Sonic and Tails solo before teaming up with Eggman in the Egg Hammer Mk. III.

Shadow the Hedgehog: Westopolis, Lethal Highway, and Central City

Westopolis is one of the first cities to be invaded by the Black Arms. As the first level of the game, Shadow has to decide to help Sonic defeat the Black Arms, help Black Doom defeat G.U.N Soldiers, or grab 2 Chaos Emeralds and leave.

If Shadow does decide to help Sonic in Westopolis, he will end up in Lethal Highway. There are no neutral missions here so Shadow has to decide to help Sonic destroy one of the Black Arm’s spaceships or escape the city to help Black Doom.

If Shadow decides to be Dark/Evil 3 times in a row, he will end up in Central City, which is filled with bombs. There are no neutral missions here so Shadow has to decide to whether he wants to continue being evil by detonating the 5 big bombs or do a heel face turn and help Knuckles destroy 20 smaller bombs.

Sonic Rush: Water Palace Zone

Starting the trend of white cities surrounded by water, the Water Palace Zone has Sonic and Blaze Boost and slide their way through the palace while using water cannons and water slides. 

Sonic Rush Adventure: Pirates’ Island Zone

This is the last island of the game, and unlike the other islands, it has to be unlocked first by finding the keys to the gate. As the name says this level is a pirate themed city where Sonic and Blaze have to fling themselves using catapults, avoid being crushed by giant anchors, grind on water from hoses, and ride dolphins through rings underwater. At the end, Sonic and Blaze have to take on both Captain Whiskers and Johnny at the same time alone while dodging giant saw blades.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2006: Castle Town, New City, and Crisis City

Castle Town is the first hub area of Soleanna. This is one of the worst hub areas in a Sonic game. There are no distinctive landmarks, the colors on the buildings are dull, and the city is too large to navigate. Although the game loves to throw maps of the Hub areas in your face during the loading screens, there are no legends to tell you what the symbols mean or where Sonic currently is on the map. The only unique qualities of this area are being above water, the 3 bell towers...that the mayor tells you about during Sonic’s campaign, and best NPC in the game and one of the best things to come out of this game, Sonic Man...

New City has the same problems except there are a few more unique areas like the warehouse district, the small pier with the boats, the train station, and the secret room that leads to White Acropolis.

If you thought the Bad Futures of Little Planet were bad, you better be glad Crisis City has been erased from the main timeline. This level features the destroyed and burning remains of a city being overrun by Iblis’ Minions. 

Sonic Riders: Metal City and Night Chase

Metal City is the first course of the game, taking place through the busy streets of a futuristic city. Speed and Flight Racers will have to avoid traffic while Power characters can plow through it for more air. At the end of the course is a tower that racers can gondola around to regain air before reaching the Finish Line.

Night Chase is the night version of Metal City and is also kind of a reenactment of the first cutscene of the game. All the cars are now police cars and the first high path of the course is now narrow and divided into specific areas for Speed, Flight, and Power characters. There are also a few walls that all Racers can grind off of.

Sonic Riders Zero Gravity: Megalo Station, Aquatic Capital, Nightside Rush, Tempest Waterway, 80s Boulevard, and 90s Boulevard

After seeing the power of the Meteorite first hand, Sonic escapes through the city from the most generic robots ever… Character design aside, this track is very wide with plenty of Rings, with a few gravity routes towards the end of the course. In the middle of course, racers can gravity dive off of the trains.

Aquatic Capital is like a futuristic version of Water Palace, with different paths for racers to take and tunnels where racers slide down water currents. Towards the end of the course, racers can gravity dive off of the water.

Nightside Rush features Storm racing through a stormy night, reversed version of Megalo Station. Racers can still gravity dive off of the trains in the middle of the course.

Tempest Waterway features Storm racing through a stormy night, reversed version of Water Capital. Not only do Racers have to push against the fast moving currents of the water, but they will also have to avoid parts of the bridges in the city that break apart and fall.

‘80s and ‘90s Boulevard is a city that celebrates SEGA and everything from those 2 time periods.

‘80s Boulevard shows off the city during the day and features Out Run, Phantasy Star, and Alex Kidd. There’s a giant crane game with Sonic dolls in it. Towards the end of the Course, Racers have to ride on top of a moving subway train.

‘90s Boulevard shows off the city during the night and features Virtual Fighter, NiGHTS, Crazy Taxi, Shenmue, and several of Sonic’s Genesis games. Towards the end, Racers can gravity dive off of the Sonic and Jet Sonic Riders Billboards.

Sonic Unleashed HD: Apotos/Windmill Isle, Spagonia/Rooftop Run, Mazuri/Savannah Citadel, Shamar/Arid Sands, and Empire City/Skyscraper Scamper
Sonic, Tails, and Chip visit multiple cities and their capitals while on the search for Gaia Temples, Eggman Robots, and Dark Gaia Minions.

Apotos is a Country based on Greece, where a majority of the buildings are white and windmills can be seen. It’s a based a series of islands so you’ll get a good view of the sea as well as some seagulls and pelicans. If you’re visiting, “Surfside Seagull Sundries” is a popular shop for snacks and some souvenirs. If you need more information, you might want to talk to Gregorios. For Sonic, this is the first country he crash lands into and meets Chip, gets some sweet ice cream, and save Tails.

Windmill Isle Day Act 1 has Sonic practice Boosting, Spin Jumping, Home Attacking, and Quickstepping. Windmill Isle Day Act 2 has Sonic racing through the islands while also practicing grinding, sliding, and using new Gimmicks like the QTE Ramps and Jump Selectors. Windmill Isle Night Act 1 has Sonic practice his new Werehog abilities before fighting a Titan for the first time and reuniting with Tails.

Spagonia is a Country based on multiple areas of Western Europe, including England, France, Italy, and Spain. Spagonia is also one of the best cities for good food and higher learning. After rescuing Tails and taking down Egg Cauldron, Sonic and Chip come here to talk to Professor Pickle. However, it seems Eggman got there first. Once Professor Pickle is back in his lab, he will reveal information on Dark Gaia and the Gaia Temples. From here on out, Spagonia become the HQ for Sonic, Chip, Tails, Amy, and Professor Pickle, where they’ll meet to plan their next moves. This is also where Sonic drops off any Art Books, Videotapes, Records, and Souvenirs and recharge Chip’s Camera, which Sonic and Chip use to exorcise people possessed by Dark Gaia’s Minions.

 

Like Savannah Citadel, Rooftop Run starts out with Night Act 1, where Sonic smashes his way through shops and wine cellars to climb up the clock tower and get the Night Gaia Key. In Rooftop Run Day Act 1, Sonic has a run in with the Aero Chasers for the first time while going after the Day Gaia Key. After getting both Keys and talking to Professor Pickle, Sonic will be able to fight the Gaia Temple Guardian, Egg Devil Ray, a giant robot fish with electric shields being controlled by Little Fighters.

Mazuri is a Country based on Africa. Sonic and Chip visit one of the villages where residents have noticed an odd building that recently appeared near one of the Clay Castles… 

Savannah Citadel Night Act 1 has Sonic activated switches and levers to reach the building where Professor Pickle and the Gaia Manuscripts. Savannah Citadel Day Act 1 has Sonic chasing after Eggman while learning how to Drift. Once Sonic catches up to Eggman, Eggman will use the Egg Beetle against Sonic.

Shamar is a Country based on Middle Eastern Countries, which could include Petra, Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Isreal, and Egypt. After restoring 4 of the Chaos Emeralds in the Gaia Temples in Mazuri, Chun-nan, Spagonia, and Holoska, Professor Pickle has everyone transfer to Shamar. This Desert City has unique rituals where the residents thank the sun and the moon by becoming nocturnal for a period of time.

Arid Sands Day Act 1 has Sonic leave the city and search the ruins for the Day Gaia Key. Unfortunately, the restoration project is not complete so he has to watch out for falling pillars and a few rockslides. Arid Sands Night Act 1 has Sonic avoid being burned by the Fire Masters as he searches for the Night Gaia Key. Once the Boss Key is complete Sonic has to fight against Dark Guardian, a Nightmare wearing armor, holding a hammer, and is probably inspired by Thor, who requires more brains than brawl to defeat.

Empire City is a Country based on US cities, like New York City and Chicago. Although there’s no Gaia Temple here, like Apotos, there seem to be Eggman Robots during the day and Night Gaia Minions at night causing problems for people.

Skyscraper Scamper Night Act 1 has Sonic carefully tightrope his way across rooftops and the sides of said skyscrapers while taking care of the Dark Gaia infestation. In Skyscraper Scamper Day Act 1, Sonic races through the cities’ highway and up the sides of buildings while taking on many of Eggman’s robots, including the Aero Chasers and Interceptor back to back.

Sonic Generations: White World, Chemical Plant, Speed Highway, City Escape, Radical Highway, Water Palace, Crisis City, and Rooftop Run

Sonic Generations had a very interesting Hub World, which if you notice is an actual timeline, decorated with gates that represents elements from each level. Of course, everything is white, but once you cleared the Acts and Missions, Color returns to the Gates and Level parts. You even heard bits of music of a level when Sonic is near its gate. It was a really cool and creative idea.

Sonic Generations nerfed Chemical Plant's original difficulty for Classic Sonic. The Mega Muck has been modified to have Air Bubbles and there are no bottomless pits in Act 1. Still the level is pretty fun. Classic Sonic can still run on top of or inside of the tubes in Act 1 while Act 2 has Modern Sonic escape the plant as it breaks apart.

Sonic Generations also nerfed Speed Highway for Modern Sonic. The skyscraper sequence is shorter and there is no "At Dawn" section. However, the level has redesigned for Modern Sonic to speedrun it while adding grind rails, Dash Rings, and actual traffic on the highway to avoid. Classic Sonic's routes have him break into a hotel, a mall, and a parking lot.

I still remember the City Escape Trailer for Sonic Generations. The hype was real. Classic Sonic has to outrun the GUN Truck in his Act while also using a Skateboard that's similar to the Snowboard from Sonic Triple Trouble in the Robotnik Winter Zone. Meanwhile Modern Sonic's Act is remixed to be wider and gave the GUN Truck giant sawblades and jet boosters.

You know, when I think of Sonic Adventure 2 levels that could be in Generations, besides City Escape, Radical Highway wasn't on my list. I can see why it was chosen but I would picked something else. Level wishlists aside, it's unfortunately the worst level in the 3DS version due to level design.

Water Palace returns in the 3DS Version of Sonic Generations. Classic Sonic has to fight a giant Sea Pawn and use a Bubble Machine in Act 1 while Modern Sonic rushes through a new area of the Palace.

Sonic Generations decided to create a better Sonic 2006 level. Besides the awesome music remixes, I feel like they did a good job. Act 1 has Classic Sonic carefully get to the end before being trolled by the tornado that moves the Goal Post. Act 2 has Modern Sonic run towards the tornado carrying multiple cars that he has to dodge.

Finally, we have Rooftop Run. There seems to be a festival going on because flags of all the countries are being waved and confetti. Unfortunately, Eggmanland was not invaded so Eggman created 2 Blimps to rain on everyone's parade. Like the original both Acts feature Sonic going past the giant clock tower. However, Act 1 feels more original with its ideas while Act 2 is a mix of the original regular and DLC Acts of the game put together.

 

Discussion Questions

If you had to choose, what would be your #1 City/Highway/Urban Level/Hub Area in a Sonic Game?

What would be your least favorite City/Highway/Urban Level/Hub Area in a Sonic Game?

What are some old or new ideas you'd like to see in future City Levels/Hub Areas in Sonic games?

What's another level theme you'd like to see fused together with the City themes, that hasn’t been done yet, in Sonic games?

Would you personally, like to see a City/Highway/Urban Level/Hub Areas in the 25th Anniversary Game?

[Speeps]

I love the idea of being able to move around in a large city hub area. Station Square was really small, was full of loading screens (Granted, the Dreamcast couldn't support having the entire area at once) and of course there's odd choices there such as the road outside the Casino that is impossible to have cars on it. Empire City was probably the smallest hub of them all despite being the most recent of all the games and even though 06 came really close to getting a large city hub right in terms of the size, it feels completely barren and of course it's full of those glitches that plague the game.

Naming a least favourite out of the all of them is a really tough decision, but I'll go with uh... Night Babylon from Sonic Battle? Anyone that's played Knuckles' story in that game should know how horrible that area can get when you're constantly being assaulted by guard robos. There's also that part in Rouge's story where you have to avoid her for a full minute which isn't nice to go though. So yeah, my gripes with this are mostly from the gameplay in the area but I don't really dislike any of them for their looks.

Finally, I don't really have a lot of suggestions for city levels in Sonic games. The only thing I can think about again is having a large, explorable hub area in one because we haven't really gotten fully explorable hub worlds since Unleashed came out in 2008. Sure, you could argue about Gens but I feel that's really just a glorified level menu if you look at it closely enough.

[Muscles Maximum]

City levels are actually one of my favorite level tropes in this series. I really love the majority of them. I don't think I can just settle for one favorite, though I just adore Station Square. It's pretty small, and there's not a ton to do, but there's so much charm and it feels like such a lively place. The woman who has a crush on the guy that works at the burger shop, and seeing how as the game progresses she gets closer and closer to him. The boy who's mom goes to the casino, and denies it, that guy in the train station who loses motivation to get to work, the couple who are in 'love' but they just got together. There's so much happening and it's just so nice to see such hustle and bustle in a city in a Sonic game. I'd really love to see more hub worlds like this in the future. Plus it's just so fun to mess around in. Oh and also:

I'm not sure if I can choose a single favorite city level, but I really like Speed Highway, particularly the At Dawn section. It's cool seeing Sonic playable in such a big open space. Avoiding cars, police robots, and getting on to the rooftops and looking for all the hidden lives, I really love it. I'd totally welcome more huge open areas like these. Honorable mentions to Route 99, and Pirates Island. Though I'd consider the latter more of a water stage (It's actually my favorite water stage the series has seen.)

I think the Sonic Riders games had really neat looking areas. Metal City and Night Chase were so cool, I also particularly enjoy Aquatic Capital. 80's and 90's boulevard put a smile to my face when I first saw them. Sonic Riders in general has such a cool kind of urban feel and I would love the series to explore those aesthetics and settings some more. Personally, I feel they suit Sonic beautifully. I'm of the opinion that Sonic would fit right in to the Jet Set Radio universe. Sonic Riders, particularly the first one, is probably the closest thing to that we've seen. I've only played Free Riders at a friends house a long time ago so I can't remember the atmosphere too well.

There aren't many city areas I dislike, though I'm not a big fan of Central City. I love how open it is, but it's not fun to move around in because of that green water stuff. I don't remember what it's supposed to be, if it's even ever explained. So there's that.

And yeah, I'd be really happy to see a new city themed level in not just the 25th anniversary game, but also in general. Like I said cities are some of my favorite areas in the Sonic series and I personally really enjoy seeing the characters in those settings. I really like how Sonic Battle interpreted everyone living in fairly close quarters in cities. There was a good while where I felt like Shadow the Hedgehog and 06 ruined cities for a lot of people, what with the more realistic and I guess gritty tone of those games, so I was really pleased to see when Unleashed came in and gave us some really nice cities and towns to visit and play around in. Here's hoping to some more cool urban landscapes in the future  ?

[Salamander]

Call it being picky, but I don't consider a lot of these to qualify as city stages.  To me, city stages are the ones that look like modern cities, with tarmac roads, high-rise tower blocks and grey, functional buildings; we don't really hit them until Station Square.  Chemical Plant, Spring Yard - they're more like individual buildings within a city; Hydrocity, Water Palace, even Pirates' Island I'd be hard-pressed to describe as literal cities rather than ancient wonders; Starlight and Stardust Speedway are just too abstract and colourful.

[Semi-colon e]

7 hours ago, FFWF said:

Call it being picky, but I don't consider a lot of these to qualify as city stages.  To me, city stages are the ones that look like modern cities, with tarmac roads, high-rise tower blocks and grey, functional buildings; we don't really hit them until Station Square.  Chemical Plant, Spring Yard - they're more like individual buildings within a city; Hydrocity, Water Palace, even Pirates' Island I'd be hard-pressed to describe as literal cities rather than ancient wonders; Starlight and Stardust Speedway are just too abstract and colourful.

 

I think Starlight and Stardust Speedway totally count, they're just highways in 2D with a city way way in the background. The setting is still bang on, especially in Starlight zone and it's strangely realistic looking buildings towards the bottom of the stage. Other than that, I agree with you. Chemical Plant is a funny one, it looks a lot like a city in it's upper sections in Sonic 2 and it definitely plays like one, but in Generations they differentiated it by making it much more factory orientated, unless it was always meant to be like that and it was just limited graphics at the time. I feel like there's two types of city levels in Sonic games really, there's your city city levels, stuff like City Escape, Windmill Isle, Westopolis, and all that, and then you've got your "highway" levels, which are more focused on the highway elements like Speed Highway and Radical Highway, with levels like Skyscraper Scamper and Crisis City being sort of in between.

 

City levels often tend to be my favourite levels in Sonic games. I think the going across buildings, running on highways with loops and corkscrews, jumping on rooftops, the often gorgeous night time views, great set pieces, and often good music as well. I just feel like these levels work really well when you're playing a Sonic game. They are some of the few levels that work better in 3D than 2D as well, I mean levels like Starlight, Stardust Speedway and Route 99 are great but you kind of lack the "buildings" part of the stages other than as background elements, and the 3D ones feel a lot more interactive with going indoors and on rooftops that is more difficult to design in a 2D plane.

 

As for favourites, both iterations of Speed Highway and Crisis City in Generations are probably my favourites, they have great level design and atmosphere, and I think both versions in Generations looked gorgeous too. My least favourite would be Central City, that level is awful and you don't even get to just cheap out and go to the goal ring. Not to mention there's already Westopolis (which is mediocre) and Lethal Highway (which I think is actually a fairly good level) in Shadow.

 

In terms of city themes, most of it's been done, I've said time and time again I'd love to see a whole level similar to Perfect Chaos (especially in Generations where it was more of a level). Imagine the doomy feel of Crisis City, mixed with underwater sections. I think it would be fantastic. Similarly, more icy city levels, kind of like Ice Paradise in Advance 2 but more city and not just "generic ice level with city in the background". Then again, after the city spam in both Generations games, having a break is good too. City levels tend to be some of the best and most memorable, hence their inclusion I guess.

[Sonictrainer]

On January 25, 2016 at 9:03 PM, Sonictrainer said:

Discussion Questions

If you had to choose, what would be your #1 City/Highway/Urban Level/Hub Area in a Sonic Game?

What would be your least favorite City/Highway/Urban Level/Hub Area in a Sonic Game?

What are some old or new ideas you'd like to see in future City Levels/Hub Areas in Sonic games?

What's another level theme you'd like to see fused together with the City themes, that hasn’t been done yet, in Sonic games?

Would you personally, like to see a City/Highway/Urban Level/Hub Areas in the 25th Anniversary Game?

1. Sonic Generations' Version of City Escape

• It was the best choice to represent Sonic Adventure 2 in the game
• Using it as a to create a CGI trailer, 2nd reveal for the game's level, and showing it off at E3 was brilliant
• Both Acts have a mix of old and new ideas, such the skateboard for Classic Sonic
• Music Remixes were good, especially Act 1 using a bit of Endless Mind

 

2. Any of the Hub Worlds in Sonic 2006. They just feel incomplete.

 

3. I like the idea of Sonic running on a highway with actual cars and traffic or running on train/metro tracks. I also like the idea of Sonic running through a giant mall.

 

4. Though a lot of themes have been done already there are several that are yet to be fused together with cities.

-I would like to see a Floating City, just hovering in the sky. I know we have city and highways that are high up, like Grand Metropolis, but I mean, literally nothing in the city is touching the ground.

-We don't have anything like Knothole Village in the games. It would interesting to see a city made of plants and vegetation.

-We also don't have any Ice or Cold Cities. Ice Paradise came close but that was more of in the background.

-Finally, there are no Horror Cities. Creepy City or a Necropolis would be interesting, though hopefully not too dark.

 

5. You know what? I want the next game to surprise me.