Without a doubt, Sonic the Hedgehog remains my favorite video game series of all time.
From the moment I first laid my eyes on Sonic the Hedgehog 2, I was in love.
With each new generation of hardware, there were more games that I absolutely adored,
including the spin-offs, like Sonic R. I even enjoy the 3D stuff like Sonic Adventure and
Sonic Lost World.
There has just always been something about the series I can’t enough of.
However, things haven’t always been perfect, and even an old jaded fan like myself has
levels I just can’t stand.
So on today’s episode of 5 Games, I present 5 bad, Sonic levels.
Sonic Lost World is a game lost on many gamers, pun intended.
Sonic fans felt the game departed too far from the source material.
Others felt the game was Mario Galaxy rip-off.
And finally, a few people genuinely enjoyed it.
There is a lot to like here, included solid controls, brights graphics, an awesome soundtrack,
and some solid level design.
However, everything screeches to a halt in Lava Mountain Zone 2.
Now, since Sonic Adventure 2, Sega has stuck pretty firm with rail grinding as a main mechanic
of Sonic the Hedgehog.
It actually works really well in Sonic Lost World, and I find for the most part, the concept
is executed flawlessly.
However, this level is without a doubt, the most frustrating moment of the entire game.
First, Sonic Lost World is very unforgiving with enemy placement, requiring the perfect
jump arc to clear certain badniks.
But the worst section is near the end, with rails that speed Sonic up, or slow him down.
You have to be on the right rail, at the right time, or you’ll smack into a wall.
And of course, the rails are littered with enemies, leaving almost no wiggle room.
The level is almost pure trial and error.
It all adds up to one of the frustrating moments in Sonic Lost World, and therefore earns the
first spot on today’s list.
Next we move onto Sonic Labyrinth for the Game Gear.
This entire game is actually pretty lousy.
Basically, it’s an isometric platformer.
You have to locate three keys in order to unlock the exit.
And you have to do all of this under a time limit.
If there are two things I can’t stand in platformers, it’s collecting crap and pointless
time limits.
Still, for the most part, Sonic Labyrinth is a cake walk.
Despite labyrinth being in the title, it is actually pretty tough to get lost.
The levels just aren’t big enough.
That is, until you reach the final level, Castle Zone 4-3.
What makes this level so aggravating are all these doors.
When you go through a door, you end up in a new part of the level.
However, going back through same the door, takes you somewhere else.
And, there are 20 doors spanning three sections.
God bless StarFighters76 over on GameFaqs, because without his map, I would have never
cleared this level.
Not only is it confusing, you have to do it all, in just 3:00 minutes.
How they expected anyone to figure this out in 3 minutes is a complete mystery to me.
I have a love hate relationship with Sonic Heroes.
Mainly, I hate the game, and the community loves to tell me how much I suck at it.
Anyway, the game allows you take take one of four, three character teams on an adventure
through the game.
If I’m honest, I like the concept, and controlling Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, all at the same
time, is really cool.
However, the grinding in this game just sucks.
I didn’t care for it in Sonic Adventure 2, but it wasn’t awful.
And it’s actually surprisingly solid in Shadow the Hedgehog.
But here in Sonic Heroes, switching rails is a giant pain.
Which makes Rail Canyon, an absolute nightmare.
It isn’t so much the level, but the controls themselves.
I swear the game just completely ignores my inputs, sending me in the opposite direction
I pressed, to my doom.
Or not landing on the rail right next to me, causing death.
Or, I don’t even know what is happening half the time.
Here, the boosters just shot me off the level.
And good luck landing on a rail.
Just be prepared to fall to your death, a lot.
In short, falling to your death a dozen times due to lousy controls just isn’t fun.
Moving on, we arrive at Sonic Adventure 2.
If there was ever a game that polarizes the Sonic fanbase, this is it.
Some swear it is the best 3D Sonic game, EVER.
Others despise it to it’s very core.
Me?
I suck at this game too.
The final level is an absolute nightmare, with or without the damn air necklace.
Personal deficiencies aside, what drags this game down for me are the dreadful treasure
hunting levels with Rouge and Knuckles’.
The radar is borked, and only shows one gem at a time.
The level design can be confusing.
And the hint system is nerfed, offering vague guidance that is only helpful if you have
already spent hours memorizing every nook and cranny.
It makes for levels that can take well over 20 minutes to complete, which is a total buzzkill
in a Sonic game.
But then there is Security Hall.
Eggman advises there are just 15 minutes to complete the level, and Rogue follows up stating
5 minutes should be plenty.
But it isn’t plenty.
It’s not even close to plenty.
Finding the three emeralds in this giant level is a miserable experience.
You’re only hope is to either get lucky, or abuse the weird checkpoint system.
If you can find 1 or 2 emeralds right away, when you die, you’ll start back with those
emeralds and the appropriate time remaining.
Still, the hunting in Sonic Adventure 2 is tedious enough, and adding a 5 minute time
limit onto a slow gameplay concept makes no sense, at all.
The original Sonic the Hedgehog is not without its faults, and as a kid, Labyrinth Zone Act
3 gave me plenty of trouble.
Making it up the final section can be a real pain.
There are plenty of timed spikes waiting to kill Sonic, and to add insult to injury, you’re
under water, meaning time is limited.
These days, I can breeze through it without issue.
But I suspect this can be a real chore for newcomers.
This brings us to Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis, which was released on the Game Boy Advance
to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Sonic the Hedgehog.
To celebrate the achievement, Sega released one of the worst ports of this iconic game,
known to man.
While it looks accurate enough, the frame rate is just abysmal, and it’s clear the
developers did a rush job getting this ported over with little to no optimization.
The slowdown just ruins the pace of the game, and the botched controls don’t help either.
The momentum is janky and for the most part, playing Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis is an exercise
in frustration.
So you can imagine, this tricky section of Labyrinth Zone Act 3 goes from being challenging,
to downright impossible.
Seriously, maneuvering through this with the screen crunch, poor frame rate, and clumsy
controls is just a nightmare of epic proportions.
While the 4 other levels mentioned in this video are all bad in their owns ways, this
is easily the worst.
It takes a level that isn’t strong to begin with, and turns the suck dial, all the way
to 11.
So there you have it, 5 bad Sonic levels.
Now, this is not a definitive list, nor is it intended to be a worst of, and I’m sure
there are plenty of other levels worthy of my wrath, so be sure to leave a comment and
let me know which levels you despise.