User:Aidanzapunk/Favorite Games/Sonic

Game	Description
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (2012)	I love Mario Kart 7, it's a fun game. I like the way the courses integrate flying and underwater segments. But Racing Transformed does it a lot better, and with a much better roster and courses. I originally had the Wii U version, but years later I'd get the Steam version as well, and I fell in love with the game all over again. Pulling from different corners of Sega's history with both its characters and race tracks (even including a few unexpected guests), offering tons of unlockables and collectibles that make it worth coming back to the game, and overall just being one of the most solid racing games I've ever played, it's not just racing: it's Racing Transformed.
Sonic Advenutre (1998)	The running joke is that Sonic had a rough transition into 3D, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. Sure, there are bound to be some issues in a game from the era of the transition into polygonal graphics, but a lot of the issues that people say about Sonic Adventure have to do with the ports that released after the fact. The actual Dreamcast version of this game is phenomenal, and still holds up to this day, with a great story, a banging soundtrack, and, frankly, a pretty solid adventure. Also, it's better than Sonic Adventure 2, fight me.
Sonic CD (1993)	People love to bring out the flaws of Sonic CD, and they'd be right to do so—the level design is baffling, a lot of the US soundtrack has some interesting vibes to it (particularly the boss theme), and as a result, it doesn't really have the same vibe as the other Genesis titles. But there's a very unique gameplay mechanic, especially for a platformer, that lets you travel in between the past, present, and future, with the decisions made in the past and the present determining if you have a good or a bad future. It also gave us two incredible characters in Amy Rose and Metal Sonic, so I consider that a win as well, but I think the biggest way this game has won me over is its animated cutscenes complete with the absolute banger that is Sonic Boom.
Sonic Colors (2010)	This was one of my first Sonic games, and even as time has gone on, I can still greatly appreciate it. Sure, the writing sucks, and the boost formula has its issues, but I still love the gameplay with the Wisps, the aesthetics of the levels, and the soundtrack, which remains one of my favorites in the series even to this day. Others can argue that there are other Sonic games that are better than Colors, but for me, Colors will always have a special place in my heart.
Sonic Frontiers (2022)	In the lead up to the release of Frontiers, I, like almost every other Sonic fan, was skeptical. The fanbase divided on what they wanted to see in a game, it definitely seemed like the game was headed in the right direction with Sega deciding they wanted to make the game that they wanted—however, it also looked like Sega was repeating some mistakes that they made with Forces, especially in terms of marketing. And then the game came out. This game is beautiful. The gameplay is some of the best it's ever been, the soundtrack goes absolutely insane (which is to be expected), the story is phenomenal, and this very easily has become a contender for one of the best Sonic games of all time, especially when you take into consideration the Final Horizon campaign added as free DLC, which, while it definitely had some arbitrary restrictions and unnecessarily high perfectionism demands disguised as "challenges", was still overall a very good addition to the game.
Sonic Rush Adventure (2007)	A friend gave me his copy of Sonic Rush, and I had a very fun time with it, but I wanted to see what the other games were like. While I did try Colors on the DS and didn't particularly think highly of it, I did think that Rush Adventure was a huge improvement over Rush. It gave you plenty of ways to explore an entirely new dimension that you only knew existed in the first game, the levels were phenomenal and allowed for plentiful airtime and parkour, and the soundtrack is also a huge improvement. Blaze and Marine are also really great characters, and I wish we could see them again outside of the IDW comics.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992)	There might be a hint of rose-tinted glasses with this opinion, partly because of the mobile app that I put a lot of time towards, but I also just had a very enjoyable time with this game. I liked the level design more, the bosses felt more interesting, and the music is consistently high throughout the entirety of the game (and when I say this, I'm strictly comparing it to the replacement tracks in rereleases of Sonic 3 & Knuckles). I just think it's a really fun game, even if it doesn't have the same level of iconicness as the first or third games.