With Mania being the best Sonic game in two decades, and with most of Sonic's back catalogue now on Steam, we thought we'd rank them for reasons we can't entirely remember. We decided to just include the ones you can buy digitally on PC, mostly for our own sanity. Apologies in advance.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Samuel Roberts: Why did I think this list was a good idea?
Phil Savage: I already disagree with this. Sonic 3 & Knuckles has Sky Sanctuary, which has the best music. It also has a bonus stage minigame that Tails can't screw up by being useless at dodging bombs. It is clearly the best Sonic game.
Samuel: The level design is so consistent in Sonic 2, though, and I would argue the music is the best in the series (sorry, MJ). The first four levels in particular are the most easily replayable and enjoyable in 2D platforming history (give or take a Mario): Emerald Hill Zone, Chemical Plant Zone, Aquatic Ruins Zone and Casino Night Zone, where you can spend ten minutes playing the slots to get those extra lives. That's just a perfect run. And the rest of the game's alright too. The last boss is shittingly hard, though, and makes me a sad, 29 year-old child.
Andy Kelly: Sonic 2 is peak Sonic. It’s hit after hit, with no weak levels. Casino Night Zone, Metropolis Zone, Oil Ocean Zone… all classics. And the music? Perfect. Every game since (except maybe Mania) has cowered in its shadow. The platforming is about as refined as it’s ever been, and there are multiple paths through the levels that reward you for replaying them and uncovering their hidden secrets.
Joe Donnelly: Hang on a spin dashing minute, Phil, Chemical Plant Zone has the best music.
Phil: Chemical Plant Zone doesn't even have the best music of Sonic 2. Bang on some Metropolis Zone and get down to that funk.
Sonic the Hedgehog
Andy: I replayed this recently and I was surprised by how difficult it is. The Labyrinth Zone in particular is a nightmare of lava, spikes, and metal crushers. But it’s still a really well-designed platformer, even if the levels aren’t quite as wildly rollercoaster-like as the sequel. It hasn’t aged as well as Sonic 2, but it’s still just a really good Sonic game. I don’t really have much else to say. It’s good. It’s, y’know, Sonic. It’s got jumping and running. Man, writing about games back then must’ve been really difficult.
Samuel: I don't know what Andy's talking about, because this is the only one I was able to finish as a kid without cheats. Sonic and Sonic 2 are the only two classics in my opinion. I could replay these levels over and over again. My one problem with Sonic 1 was the use of the colour purple in Marble Zone. They really overdid it. I mean, purple: we get it. Also, going from three levels per world to two in the second game was a smart decision. You spend a bit too long in the same places here.
Phil: OK, what the fuck. We're ranking this one above Sonic 3 & Knuckles? It doesn't even have a spin dash! If you want to curl into a ball you've got to run and then crouch, like a rube. Pathetic. I've never been so angry about PC Gamer's content.
Andy: You gotta respect your elders. Sonic 1 is the OG. Blind nostalgia always wins in the end. The lack of a spin dash only adds to its charm. Probably.
Sonic Mania
Tom Senior: This is the only Sonic game I have played. I went really fast down a hill and did a loop. Then I hit a giant hoop and chased a floating thing around a 3D racing track. Then I sort of completed the level by accident. I don’t understand. How do we have so many opinions about this?
Phil: What happened, Tom, is you played a Sonic game. That's what a Sonic game is. That's what you do. You just sort of run right and press jump every so often and sort of hope the game just completes itself.
Andy: I won’t stand by and watch Sonic be reduced to merely ‘running right’. It’s about keeping the pace, maintaining the rhythm. Every time you stop you’ve FAILED. Sonic is about momentum and sheer SPEED. The faster you go, the better it is. It’s about quick-fire reactions and choosing the fastest route through the level.
Phil: You sound like that wank in every Nike advert who won't shut up about how spiritual running is.
Andy: You just don’t get it, Phil. You don’t get Sonic. And that’s fine. But as a pure expression of what a Sonic game is, Mania nails it. It has the speed and mind-twisting level design of Sonic 2, but keeps things interesting with imaginative boss design and one-shot gimmicks that never outstay their welcome. The bouncy Portal jelly in the new Chemical Plant Zone is an example of this, pinging Sonic around the level like a mad pinball. Fans will disagree, but I reckon this is the only really great one since Sonic 2.
Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Samuel: My parents couldn't afford a second hand copy of this when I was a kid (I ended up with Bubsy instead, the fate of all '90s working class children), so I ended up playing it as an adult, and the levels are way too long. And the bonus stage is rubbish. Fight me, Phil.
Phil: This is an outrage. Sonic 3 & Knuckles is a genuine masterpiece; a two-part odyssey so epic that it would make Homer break down in tears. Angel Island Zone, Mushroom Hill Zone, Sandopolis Zone, Sky Sanctuary – these are the true good zones, my friends. The classics. The hardcore bangers. Actually, not Sandopolis Zone. That had this weird thing where you had keep turning on lights or a ghost would eat you. I hated that zone. Shit, I'm starting to doubt myself now.
Sonic CD
Samuel: The music in this one is great, but when I played it for the first time about five years ago I found it slightly too hard. I enjoyed it and it's far better than most of the Sonics that followed, though. A lot of people insist this is among the best ones, so we can stick it in this position out of polite deference to what people probably believe, which is the foundation of any great list feature.
Phil: I really wanted this, but my parents wouldn't buy me a Sega CD. It's this penchant for wanting dumb, useless things that probably explains why they own a house and I just own an Xbox One that I haven't turned on in nine months.
Sonic Spinball
Samuel: I wouldn't put this above Mean Bean Machine in the pantheon of Sonic spin-offs, but the blue hedgehog plays a decent game of pinball. Like all of the Mega Drive/Genesis games, minus Sonic 3D, it looks real pretty, too.
Phil: There's a bit in the 2006 game Sonic The Hedgehog (which was never released on PC) in which Sonic literally kisses a human woman, and yet Sonic Spinball is somehow still the eeriest and most unsettling Sonic game.
Andy: That deaf, dumb, and blue kid sure plays a mean Spinball.
Samuel: Laboured reference, or most laboured reference?
Andy: Sorry.
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
Tom: Actually I have played this one as well and it’s pretty good, given the lack of Mario Kart on PC. It introduced me to Sonic’s extended cast, like Amy Rose. Why does she have a human name when everyone else is called things like ‘Ulala’ and Pudding?
Phil: DeviantArt probably knows the answer to this, but unlocking that knowledge comes at a price.
Samuel: It's great fun, plus you can buy Ryo from Shenmue in a moving Outrun arcade machine as DLC. That's strong fan service, and the driving in this is superb, as a result of Outrun 2006 developers Sumo Digital making it. Just one question, though. Why does Sonic need a car to go fast?
Andy: It’s no Mario Kart, but this is a decent arcade racer with some of the most colourful, dazzling visuals you’ll ever find on PC. I played it for a couple of hours and never played it again, but that’s okay. I bought it in a sale for a few quid and got my money’s worth. Although quite why ‘Football Manager’ has a place on the roster is beyond me. It’s just a bloke in a suit driving a football-shaped car. Who signed that off.
Samuel: I think that's hilarious, actually.
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
Andy: It’s Tetris, but with beans. Sort of. You have to connect 4 beans to make ‘em disappear, and they can be above or below each other. Why am I trying to explain how Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine works in the year 2017. I never thought I’d find myself in this position. It’s a good puzzle game, and certainly better than some of the shite Sonic spin-offs released over the years. IT’S TETRIS WITH BEANS. LEAVE ME ALONE.
Samuel: What are you on about, Andy? It's more like Columns, only good! I've probably played the challenge mode in this one more than any other game on this list. The Sonic connection is largely irrelevant, but fill me up with beans, baby.
Andy: Okay, then it’s COLUMNS WITH BEANS.
Phil: What's with the beans? Is there a lore reason for the beans?
Andy: From Wikipedia: “The game is set on the planet Mobius, which is inhabited by bean-like creatures. Dr. Robotnik conceives of a plan to bring terror to the world by kidnapping the citizens of Beanville and turning them into robot slaves, and eventually creating an army that will help him rid the planet of fun and joy.” Yes.
Phil: Wait, stop this list a second. Beanville? A sentient race of beans? How deep does this lore whole go? (And is this a vore thing? Because if so, I'm out.)
Andy: Apparently the next season of True Detective will be set in Beanville.
Phil: I quite liked Columns, but it was really pretentious for Shit Tetris.
Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing
Phil: Fuck, I've just realised. Tails' full name is Miles "Tails" Prower. Miles Prower. As in miles-per-hour. This changes everything.
Samuel: Oh my god, I never noticed that before. I always thought 'Prower' was an unusual surname for a fox.
Andy: Did you also know that Dr. Robotnik’s yellow collars and ‘tache are supposed to make him look like a walrus? Eggman. Walrus. I am the walrus. I am the eggman. The Beatles. Yeah? Man, Sonic lore is deep. So many layers.
Samuel: Holy crap. Mind ever so slightly blown, again! Why is he called Robotnik sometimes, then? Are they two different men, or did he rebrand for the purposes of career progression?
Phil: In the comics, he was originally a mild-mannered, thin scientist called Kintobor, but then there was an accident with the chaos emeralds and he transformed into an evil fat man, and also reversed his name for some reason? And his reversed name just happened to have the word 'robot' in it? It's possibly the most laboured case of nominative determinism in comics history.
Samuel: I resent the suggestion that you need an accident of some kind to become overweight and surly. I managed perfectly well without one, thanks.
Sonic Generations
Phil: You have to give it to Sega: this was genius. You've got some fairly good 2D throwback levels, and you structure them in such a way that to get to them, you have to endure all the 3D levels. It's like, no, you're not having your pudding. Not until you eat your weirdly paced, bullshit camera, getting stuck on bits of geometry you can't even see greens.
Samuel: There's a fairly big drop in quality between this game and the ones discussed on this list so far. The 3D levels were a case of, 'if we throw you along this pipe real fast, how long can you do it before you fall off?'. And the answer is, 'sometimes it's fine'. I liked that you could run through Sonic's timeline in that menu screen, though, Phil. And the 2D levels were some top nostalgia.
Phil: That was neat, but I did find that having two distinct timelines of Sonics raised some uncomfortable questions about determinism that I wasn't wholly prepared to deal with while playing an inoffensive platformer about a sassy hedgehog.
Sonic 4: Episode 1
Samuel: I liked this at the time, but I've been informed that the jumping is all wrong and the lock-on attack is sacrilegious. That's probably true, but after years of terrible 3D Sonic, this ticked enough boxes to please me. It's those sorts of gradually eroding standards on the part of Sonic's fanbase that's kept the series alive for so long. Sonic 4 had nice music, too.
Phil: I think every Sonic fan went through a collective hallucination brought about by decades of bad 3D games and convinced themselves this was good. I thought it was mostly OK, up until the final boss, which was a remixed version of Sonic 2's boss, but somehow even worse. Now I retroactively hate it all.
Sonic 4: Episode 2
Tom: How is there a second instalment of Sonic 4? How many hours of human endeavour have gone into making this much Sonic? Who is buying these? It’s just you lot, isn’t it.
Samuel: By the time this one came out, everyone decided they didn't like Sonic 4. And I didn't get around to playing this one, so maybe I wasn't as enamoured with Sonic 4 as I initially thought I was.
Sonic Adventure DX
Andy: Ten thousand years ago when I had a Dreamcast, I played the hell out of this. But now I can’t remember a thing about it except for a bit where you’re being chased by a killer whale. The memories of Sonic 2, however, are still branded on my brain with a Sonic-shaped hot poker. So that probably says it all. Sorry, Sonic Adventure.
Sonic: It was good for the time, but would anyone play a 3D Sonic game in 2017? On purpose? The PC avoided some of Sonic's 3D disasters and, to be honest, I thought this was a deeply underrated entry in the series. In fact, I’d go as far as saying that we’re all being a bit too harsh on Sonic here, he was just a blue hedgehog with dreams who had to go fast.
Tom: Sonic, WTF are you doing in here? Get out of this article before this gets awkward.
Phil: Wait! Before you go, what was with you kissing that human woman in Sonic 2006?
Andy: Sonic, why do you wear trainers but no pants?
Phil: In the cartoons, you're depicted as loving chilli dogs, but you live in a world of anthropomorphic animals. Isn't this indicative of some fairly heinous war crimes?
Sonic Adventure 2
Samuel: The same as above, only with '2' on the end.
Sonic: Lost World
Samuel: I reviewed the Wii U version of this for gamesTM, and boy it was the worst decision I made running that magazine. You run up a load of phallic levels in what amounts to a terrible Sonic cover version of Mario Galaxy. It's another 3D Sonic game where you fall off of things a lot because he's hard to control. Looks nice, though.
Phil: I reviewed the PC version of this for PC Gamer, and sometimes my poor life choices keep me awake at night.
Sonic 3D Blast
Samuel: Actual toilet, and the first sign that Sonic in 3D was just plain not going to work. The move from pixel art to isometric 3D wasn't kind, and it didn't feel like it was made by the original Sonic Team, which might be because Traveller's Tales co-developed it. At least the Lego games were great, lads. If Sonic Unleashed was released on PC, though, I'd probably put that lower than this. And that Shadow the Hedgehog game. And Sonic 2006. Why didn't they release Knuckles' Chaotix on PC, either? I always wanted that as a kid.
Phil: I once completed this in a single sitting and thought it was good, because I was a child and children are bad and wrong and should never be trusted.
Tom: Fuck me, 2752 words about Sonic. I’m going home.
Knuckles: & Knuckles.
