What's your favorite versions of Sonic 1, 2, 3, K, and CD? And yes, ROM hacks can count as your favorite versions.

[ZXT-92]

What's your favorite versions of Sonic 1, 2, 3, K, and CD? And yes, ROM hacks can count as your favorite versions.

Mine:
Sonic 1 Mobile Decomp
Sonic 2 Mobile Decomp
Sonic 3 Angel Island Revisited
Sonic CD Mobile Decomp

Edited March 17 by ZXT-92

[Sean]

It's very easy for me to simply say the mobile versions of 1, 2, and CD (via the PC decompilations) and Sonic 3 Complete/AIR. And... well they are, but as far as versions other people aren't likely to mention here's two that I loved growing up:

Putting aside the lower quality sound effects, the replaced MIDI music, and the uh... contentious PC-only tracks, this really was the best and easiest way to play all versions of Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles back in the day. They're solid ports with some additional bugfixes and a handful of small QoL improvements like changing the Sonic 3 level select code to be that of S3K's (though unfortunately sacrificing debug mode in the process) and allowing Tails and Knuckles to be properly playable in Doomsday, along with the nice bonus of being able to play Blue Spheres without needing a copy of Sonic 1. Another neat bonus is how it came with Sonic Screensaver outside of Japan, giving us the 1/2/CDJP soundtracks (in uh extremely low quality wav format but hey at the time it was cool!!) and tons of cool artwork from Sega's internal magazine Sega Harmony and other obscure promotional material at the time.

Sonic CD's a pretty straightforward yet excellent port too overall. It retains the entire US soundtrack (though with some noticeable errors, particularly in MMZP's music) and provided us with the complete FMVs. There's really not much to complain about here, all of the Sega CD version of Sonic CD is intact here. But what really makes this version stand out even compared to any other release is THIS shit:

I fucking LOVED messing around with this menu back as a kid. It's never been easier to select any level in any time period you want, including the 7+1 special stages. The FUNC menu lets you enable debug mode, disable time travel, freeze the special stage timer, and a couple other things. Unfortunately half these options are completely nonfunctional making me think they were removed before the final version. I'd love if someone were to restore functionality to all of them someday, especially the demo recording option.

[LegoFedora]

The Origins versions. I know they aren't perfect and have their problems, but I'm not nitpicky enough to care that much since none of them are gamebreaking/ruining. Before origins released, I was contempt with the very basic genesis collection(s) ports of the 4:3 roms. I don't personally believe widescreen is as impactful on sonic games as people like to claim it is, so them not being widescreen is not even something worth noting for me.

The decompilations are probably "objectively" the best, but I do not feel like setting all that up just to play genesis era games. Origins is the easiest path of least resistance, so that's how I'll stay from here on out. 

Basically, any port is the best port in my eyes

[babsiwuff]

4 hours ago, LegoFedora said:

The Origins versions. I know they aren't perfect and have their problems, but I'm not nitpicky enough to care that much since none of them are gamebreaking/ruining. Before origins released, I was contempt with the very basic genesis collection(s) ports of the 4:3 roms. I don't personally believe widescreen is as impactful on sonic games as people like to claim it is, so them not being widescreen is not even something worth noting for me.

The decompilations are probably "objectively" the best, but I do not feel like setting all that up just to play genesis era games. Origins is the easiest path of least resistance, so that's how I'll stay from here on out. 

Basically, any port is the best port in my eyes

Origins for me too.   I love playing as Tails, and the pressure is off with infinite lives.  So I can relax more, focus on patterns, and have more fun!   Also, I find Anniversary Mode both easy and fun.  I have NEVER been good at platformer games.  Ever.  But I've been able to clear both Sonic 1 and CD with no problem, and I'm cruising through Sonic 2, having been able to beat the Chemical Plant Zone for the first time!  The ease and entertainment factor of these games is a HUGE bonus for me, and keeps me coming back and replaying just to see Tails run around and turn robots into little animals. 

[Sonicka]

Now it's out - definitely The Stealth/Tax versions via Origins release.

The implementation of these games into the package are haphazard for sure (especially compared to S1/2/CD's mobile release) and it's damning that some of S3's original soundtrack is missing...  but the fact that I can play these versions of the titles in optional widescreen on my TV (or Switch in handheld) all nice and crisp instead of via emulation is nothing short of wonderful. 

It's weird that these titles vibe what I remember from my childhood (but the reality is actually they've been bought up to the standard that my rose tinted brain remembers).

Not to mention I really didn't gel that much with Sonic CD until the Stealth/Tax release. So kudos to them for making what was once a really unfun experience suddenly very enjoyable (and attainable) to me. 

 

[ZinogreVolt]

Sonic 1/CD - Origins

Sonic 2 - Mobile/Decomp, it probably will be Origins as soon as there are some bugfixes

Sonic 3K - AIR. Even if the kinks in the Origins version are ironed out, I doubt it'll come close to matching the amount of stuff you can do with AIR. Not to mention, AIR doesn't replace any music like Origins does.

[ZXT-92]

Although I do enjoy the mobile/decomp versions, AIR, and Origins just like you guys, I'll always favor the original versions, due to resonance and portability.

[ElectricAngel]

On 7/17/2022 at 11:13 AM, Sean said:

Sonic CD's a pretty straightforward yet excellent port too overall. It retains the entire US soundtrack (though with some noticeable errors, particularly in MMZP's music) and provided us with the complete FMVs. There's really not much to complain about here, all of the Sega CD version of Sonic CD is intact here. But what really makes this version stand out even compared to any other release is THIS shit:

I fucking LOVED messing around with this menu back as a kid. It's never been easier to select any level in any time period you want, including the 7+1 special stages. The FUNC menu lets you enable debug mode, disable time travel, freeze the special stage timer, and a couple other things. Unfortunately half these options are completely nonfunctional making me think they were removed before the final version. I'd love if someone were to restore functionality to all of them someday, especially the demo recording option.

Woah that FUNC menu looks awesome. Didn't know about it before now! I can't think of any other PC game at the time with those options, really frickin cool.

As for my fav versions, I have to go with Origins, despite the flaws. I just never had such fun before, not having to worry about lives, and retrying special stages. Made it a really great experience. I know people dislike the music changes in 3&K but to me, I never liked 3&K so it's not something I would really replay much. Always Sonic 2 and CD for me.

[expansivelovestories]

Hmm!!   Knuckles' Emerald Hunt to me is a special recontextualization of the Sonic 2 (and a few others!!) zones that i appreciate as much as Sonic 2 itself. 

Sonic 3 Complete i did find helped me appreciate S3K more than i already did, due to being able to see the Sonic 2 spriteset and also experience the zones with the peelout!!

D.A. Garden's remappings of Sonic 3K and Sonic 2 are really special, even a few years later, i am still only getting used to how good they really are. 

The Sonic 1 and 2 Anniversary Edition ROM hacks are a worthy alternative for me personally to Origins, especially in their humble simplicity, and,

And, there is a very recent version of Sonic 1 in progress, that is called I think Sonic 1 Definitive Edition and it is really brilliant!!

 

[DaBigJ]

I'm mainly gonna answer for the non-remastered version of Sonic 1 here, but my favorite version is definitely this one.

The sheer amount of QOL improvements here is simply astonishing. This is a project very clearly made out of love for Sonic the Hedgehog, and i'm so very impressed by the overall quality of it, from the graphics to the remixed music, it's, in my humble opinion, the definitive way to play the original non-remastered version of Sonic 1.