Zones we hate

[Old dead account]

Well fuck so much hate for Sandopolis. I actually really like that level, Marble Garden on the other hand is my Sandopolis.

[Komodin]

Well fuck so much hate for Sandopolis. I actually really like that level, Marble Garden on the other hand is my Sandopolis.

Well, I don't really hate Sandopolis, so much as find it a bit annoying for taking way too long to traverse, especially in Act 2 with Sonic.

[Nepenthe]

Well fuck so much hate for Sandopolis. I actually really like that level, Marble Garden on the other hand is my Sandopolis.

Marble Garden, as in Sonic 3's Marble Garden? You take that back, you meanie; I like Marble Garden. D': The art aesthetic, the ridiculous slopes, the runny-floaty things, and escaping the collapse which culminates in an aerial battle. It's one of my favorite ruins levels....

(In talking about it, I'm just now realizing a significant portion, if not all of it was actually destroyed by Eggman. ;~; Sadness.)

[Solkia]

Marble Garden is long? I never really noticed. the only levels I noticed were long were Carnival Night Zone and Sandopolis.

[Komodin]

Marble Garden is long? I never really noticed. the only levels I noticed were long were Carnival Night Zone and Sandopolis.

I distinctly remember actually timing out a couple times in Act 2.

[Kuzu]

To be honest, Sandopolis is a cake walk for me now, it's only hard the first few times afterwards it's no harder than the other levels.

[Semi-colon e]

I don't mind Sandopolis, it's just the length issue tbh. Same with Planet Wisp in Generations (at least, that and too much 2D for the Modern level, Classic just has Spike spam issues).

However, I really hate Sunset Hill from Advance 3.

It's yet another GHZ rehash, the remixes in the levels sound like ass (compared to the rest of the soundtrack which is really good), the level design makes no sense, there are random bottomless pits everywhere, and Act 3 is a horrendous clusterfuck where if you fall down at the water slides, you're going all the way back to the beginning. The only good thing about it is being able to skip most of Act 3 using Knuckles with Amy or someone as a partner to climb really quickly and go under the level, as it were.

It's not the hardest or longest level ever, but it just annoys me so much for some reason I cannot fully put into words.

Marble Zone isn't much fun either, and stuff like The Doom and Central City (no way out, you've gotta find everything for one of the missions as there's no goal ring, fuck this level) are so obvious it almost doesn't bear mentioning really.

I'm sure I'll have more once I play 06 (yes, I'm going out of my way to play it out of bile fascination).

EDIT: Also props to Splash Hill, but only in Episode Metal. It's nigh impossible to get to the good routes and every single spring and speed booster or platforming section smashes you into an enemy so all flow is killed and it wastes time rather than being actually hard. It's so fucking cheap.

Edited July 14, 2012 by Semi-colon e

[Milo]

Six pages and not a single specific mention of E.G.G. Station Zone. What the fuck.

No seriously, that pinch mode boss rush hellhole of a zone can go fuck itself (especially the rehashed Sonic 2 Death Egg mech). The half-assed "classic" physics and the repetitive music don't help matters. And God help you if you're if you're playing the stage to get the Untouchable achievement/trophy (which is self-explanatory-beat the zone without getting hit), it's the equivalent of playing Sonic 2's Death Egg on enough sterioids to make you ragequit in frustration (speaking of which, that zone isn't exactly a favorite of mine either).

Edited July 14, 2012 by Zinos

[Jack / Joker]

S1: Spring Yard. It's so bland but at least you get to run fast...

S2: Hilltop. Does anyone like this one?

S3K: Sandopolis. Few Sonic stages that last over 5 minutes an Act I enjoy, this ain't one...

SA1: Amy's Twinkle Park. I hate the lack of exploration and the music.

SA2: Tails and Rouge's EVERYTHING.

S'06: The ones where you're a Hedgehog, a Fox, an Echidna, a Bat or a Robot.

SU: Empire City Night/Adabat Day. Too unfair in my opinion with the deaths and S-Rank attempts...

SG: Classic Seaside Hill onwards to me is just not fun, and it almost seems intentional to make (Modern) Sonic seem better.

[SilJeff]

Sonic 1: Labyrinth Zone. Luckily for it, though, it has my favorite BGM out of the entire game. This is the Zone I hate most out of the classics. I HATE playing through it.

Sonic 2: Either Mystic Cave, Death Egg (if that counts), or Wing Fortress. I don't "hate" any of these, but these are the three I dislike the most (still enjoy them though, or at least I enjoy Death Egg when I have debug mode on and can have rings XD)

Sonic 3 and Knuckles: Marble Garden. Having said that, I enjoy it, but it is easily my least favorite. Only because of the act 2 boss as Sonic, Sonic/Tails, and especially as Tails...

Sonic Adventure: Casinopolis. Pinball, seriously? Don't get me wrong, I love looking at the zone, especially the NiGHTS into Dreams table, but I don't care for having to do the pinball portion. At least with tails you don't go to the actual casino, just the random sewer.

Sonic Adventure 2: Mission Street and Meteor Herd. Those are the only zones in the whole game I don't like playing through.

Sonic Heroes: Rail Canyon/Bullet Station. Still fun, though, just my weakest.

Shadow the Hedgehog: Everything, except for Digital Circuit. I like the concept of Digital Circuit.

Sonic '06: The whole game is terrible.

Sonic Unleashed: Eggmanland. That zone needs to be buried alive for all I care. That s*** is ridiculous.

Sonic Colors: I guess Aquarium Park. Still fun, though.

Sonic Generations: Classic Seaside Hill. The only terrible thing outside of Time Eater and the Shadow fight IMO about this game. Everything else is awesome!

[Phos]

Marble Zone Act 2: It's basically the same as Act 1, why do I have to do it again? I like it otherwise, Sonic's controls let you do cool stuff like making several jumps in a row barely touching the D-pad, I've always found this fun. Sonic was just fun to move around in those days.

Carnival Night Zone: Even knowing the way to get past the barrel I usually time out going through this level, why's it have to be so long?

Marble Garden Zone: There are Iizuka prints up one side of this level and down the other.

Wing Fortress Zone: Was this level finished? Ahh well, fortunately this concept was reused to make the best Sonic level ever, Flying Battery Zone.

For the sake of brevity, just mentally add any level from Sonic Adventure 2 and onward to this list.

Edited July 16, 2012 by Phos

[KHCast]

Marble Zone Act 2: It's basically the same as Act 1, why do I have to do it again? I like it otherwise, Sonic's controls let you do cool stuff like making several jumps in a row barely touching the D-pad, I've always found this fun. Sonic was just fun to move around in those days.

Carnival Night Zone: Even knowing the way to get past the barrel I usually time out going through this level, why's it have to be so long?

Marble Garden Zone: There are Iizuka prints up one side of this level and down the other.

Wing Fortress Zone: Was this level finished? Ahh well, fortunately this concept was reused to make the best Sonic level ever, Flying Battery Zone.

For the sake of brevity, just mentally add any level from Sonic Adventure 2 and onward to this list.

[Phos]

Unleashed's levels are basically just spectacles. Colors's levels are just boring. And I never played Night Palace because I quit SatSR out of frustration.

[Scar]

Night Palace was ruined by being in SatSR. I refuse to like the on-rails gameplay in that game, no matter how much "better" it supposedly gets after you add more customisations and speed etc. Its total garbage. Night Palace was a fantastic looking stage and a fantastic concept, ruined by gameplay.

I like Marble Garden though, one of the largest stages in S3K. So many places to go in that stage.

Other levels I hate include, Sonic 06. All of them. Playing them isn't really fun.....at all.....

Then there is Arid Sands Day. I cannot stand that stage. Can't really put my finger on why, but I just don't like it. I dunno, I guess, unlike most earlier and later stages, it has too much "React to things falling on you from off-screen" bullshit.

I also hate Hilltop Zone. Its an Emerald Hill recolour, from the same goddamn game. The stage itself bores the shit out of me. Absolutely nothing going on in it.

Then I hate Sandopolis, for being too goddamn long. Its not even that hard, but its length and repetitive level design just grates after a while.

Metropolis for obvious reasons.

Ice Cap from SA1 is boring as hell until the snowboarding section.

I guess that's enough for now.

Edited July 16, 2012 by Scar

[Chaos Overlord]

I would have to say Final Zone XX from sonic advance 2. Not only was most of the level just a boss rush. The final boss at the end was too easy. And this is not counting the fact that cream could just send her chao after the bosses

[Coral]

Echoing the sentiments about Hilltop Zone from Sonic 2. That's is the level I dread getting to in every playthrough because I've always found it to be boring. The boss is kind of lame too imo. Hop on top of his lavamobile right at the start and stay there until he's dead. Hmm.

I really like Metropolis though. There's just so much to do in there and the music is fantastic! There's that one cheap area with you know who waiting for you of course, but over the years I've found out that you can actually spring right over him instead of resorting to using invincibility frames. Heheh.

In Sonic 3 I never liked Marble Garden because of the top gimmick. It's simple enough to do and is pretty slow when you're trying to fly around with it. I only ever have fun with it when using debug mode and trying to go Knuckles' route with Sonic.

It's been awhile since I've played the others to really list any other annoyances truthfully. Guess I'll get around to that eventually.

[Jack / Joker]

E.G.G. Station Zone from Sonic 4: Episode I. I hate boss rushes, and the bosses all suck. Then you have to face a RoboRobotnik knockoff and it's unclear what to do. Did I mention DUH DUNNANANANANA NANANA DEEDELEE DEEDELEE plays over and over? :L

[PerfectChaos]

Colors's levels are just boring.

Have you even played Colours? Because I'm sick of Sonic fans who haven't played Colours (e.g if they don't own a Wii, which is fair enough) dismissing it as 'boring'. I feel bad because I assumed it was too, and was baffled when some people were saying it was better than the Adventure games. However, I eventually got the game, and for all its (mostly minor) flaws, it's really fun.

[Soniman]

Have you even played Colours? Because I'm sick of Sonic fans who haven't played Colours (e.g if they don't own a Wii, which is fair enough) dismissing it as 'boring'. I feel bad because I assumed it was too, and was baffled when some people were saying it was better than the Adventure games. However, I eventually got the game, and for all its (mostly minor) flaws, it's really fun.

Heh believe it or not this is a regular thing that happens with a good number of people who play Colors. They are usually left underwhelmed and didn't find the game to be all that (I personally still think its a fun game but not everyone has the same views as me so yeah).

[PerfectChaos]

Heh believe it or not this is a regular thing that happens with a good number of people who play Colors. They are usually left underwhelmed and didn't find the game to be all that (I personally still think its a fun game but not everyone has the same views as me so yeah).

I suppose it's because the huge amount of praise it gets (for being the first truly great Sonic game in years) leads to impossibly high expectations?

[Tani Coyote]

Obligatory Carnival Night.

Also rolling for Death Egg. Though my boyfriend did make a funny remark about its Generations counterpart - "Back in my day, the Death Egg didn't have rings."

Though my biggest has GOT to be the Silver variation of the desert stage in 06. Getting that ball to the end of the tunnel... roarrrr. Took me nearly an hour. Hey Silver, do me a favor: just levitate the whole thing down the hall. What do you mean you can't do that?! Jerk. :c

Time Eater, while not a "Zone," per se, annoys me nonethless. I despise it, especially since for me it could be a bit confusing to know when he was damaged or what to do. The friends shouting useless things in the background did NOT help.

[SilentDoom]

Sandopolis (Act 2 in particular). People complain about levels like Modern Planet Wisp being long and almost forget that there are so many much longer levels. Sandopolis in particular. Even if you're good at that zone, it takes almost 6 minutes with no deaths or glitch exploits. Modern Planet Wisp can take around 3 if your good. But honestly, this level is pure garbage. There are too many gimmicks for its own good, none of them are interesting and most of them are painfully slow paced. The music isn't even particularly good.

Other one is Lava Reef. For the first lava level in Sonic history it doesn't leave a particularly good impression (not counting levels that have lava in them like Marble Zone and Hill Top Zone). For starters, it's easily the ugliest level in the game. Well, Act 2 looks okay and there are moments towards the end that look really nice but Act 1 looks disgusting. Everything is comprised of the same obnoxious big ass rock sprite. And the inside cave backgrounds look really flat and the level's overall aesthetic is really bland. Furthermore, unless you have the fire shield retaining any sense of speed in this zone is extremely difficult due to how blocky most of the platforming is (seriously, why are those stairs all over the place) and how many obstacles there are. I'm all for levels being challenging but I get little satisfaction when I'm getting hit every 2 seconds. Oh and I find the music of this zone to be incredibly overrated.

[PerfectChaos]

Other one is Lava Reef. For the first lava level in Sonic history it doesn't leave a particularly good impression (not counting levels that have lava in them like Marble Zone and Hill Top Zone). For starters, it's easily the ugliest level in the game. Well, Act 2 looks okay and there are moments towards the end that look really nice but Act 1 looks disgusting. Everything is comprised of the same obnoxious big ass rock sprite. And the inside cave backgrounds look really flat and the level's overall aesthetic is really bland. Furthermore, unless you have the fire shield retaining any sense of speed in this zone is extremely difficult due to how blocky most of the platforming is (seriously, why are those stairs all over the place) and how many obstacles there are. I'm all for levels being challenging but I get little satisfaction when I'm getting hit every 2 seconds. Oh and I find the music of this zone to be incredibly overrated.

That's one of my (if not my number one) favourite zone in S3+K! Such a relaxed, awesome level directly after the drab, boring Sandopolis.

[Sephy]

I absolutely hate all casino-themed levels...I don't know why buy I can't stand them

[Nepenthe]

Casino levels can definitely be a buzzkill, because bumpers are nigh-on impossible to navigate with any significant control, and Sega insists on loading these kinds of stages with pits full of them like it's Chuck E. Cheese.