(It is with some amount of shame that I admit that I have still not finished the feature-length article planned for this week. While I put the finishing touches on it for next week, enjoy this fun little aside featuring everyone’s favorite blue hedgehog!)
While I may have stated several times on this blog by now that I’m not particular fond of several Sonic the Hedgehog games (I was especially biting in my criticism during my Freedom Planet article), I really do love playing the games. Are they good? Honestly, not really. Are they a lot of fun? Heck yeah! And so, in honor of my childhood nostalgia for Sonic, and the news of the Sonic Generations remake coming later this year, let’s check out my Top 10 Favorite Zones (i.e. levels) in the franchise!
Watch out for your rings, and let’s jump in!
10) Toxic Caves (Sonic Spinball)
Admittedly, this only barely counts, but what is the #10 spot on a Contrarian Corner Top 10 if not a place to feature sometimes-silly entries? Sonic Spinball isn’t a particularly great game, but I still frequently re-visit its first level, because it’s got all the charm and exciting the rest of the game tried to produce without the aggravating tedium that follows. Plus, it’s got an absolutely jamming theme song that oozes Sega Genesis energy! If you get the chance to give at least this stage a try sometime, go for it!
9) Secret Base (Sonic Advance)
Sonic Advance has its fair share of issues (as do all Sonic games), but this first GBA entry is one of the classic games of my childhood. I spent many a family vacation trying to beat this seemingly impossible game (which should give you an idea of what my gaming skills, and blatant lack thereof, was like as a young’un). An early stage, Secret Base has this really unique spy-movie gimmick going on with the level theming and soundtrack. I especially love the bit where you glide in on a zipline at the beginning of act 1, spotlights illuminating your path. It’s neat!
8) Casinopolis (Sonic Adventure)
So, this is actually the second pinball-esque level to show up on this list, so maybe that reveals my deep love of pinball to the world! Regardless, this is a really interesting multi-layered level that gives a wholly different experience depending on who you’re playing as. Sonic has to complete pinball games to earn rings to reach the jackpot (a Chaos Emerald). Tails has to race Sonic through the casino’s seedy underbelly, and Knuckles gets to explore the rafters and over-the-top decorations in the hotel lobby looking for pieces of the Master Emerald. It’s a lot of variety, and pinball is just plain fun!
7) Flying Battery (Sonic & Knuckles)
I never even beat Sonic & Knuckles has a kid, and yet I always made sure to play at least far enough into the game to reach Flying Battery. I’m not sure if it was the super cool aesthetic of a steampunk airship, the intricate loops and spirals therein, or just the really energizing soundtrack. Whatever the reason, I’ve always loved this zone, and I was super ecstatic when it was brought back for Sonic Mania. Flying Battery feels like an endgame zone given to you early, which makes it feel like you’re being let in on some cool secret! A very fun zone.
6) Sky Deck (Sonic Adventure)
There’s a bit of a pattern for me when it comes to videogames, wherein I often tend to remember difficult parts of games the most fondly after I’ve finally conquered them. Especially when they become such a fun breeze on an older and wiser re-visit. Sky Deck is one such stage. It’s the second-to-last, and boy does it hold nothing back for a young first-time player. There’s so many ways to fall to your death that it’ll make your head spin. And yet that rockin’ music keeps you going, and it’s all the more satisfying to race through with reckless abandon on a subsequent run, bringing down Eggman’s massive EggCarrier warship.
5) Chemical Plant (Sonic 2)
Probably the second most known zone in the entirety of Sonic‘s long and storied history, and for good reason. It’s got one of the absolute best songs in the series, probably the fastest and most exhilarating hills, loops, and turns (the camera can barely keep up at some points), a neat pipe traversal mechanic, lots of fun goopy obstacles, and the existential dread of the purple water below just waiting for its chance to assault your anxiety with that darn drowning music! It’s also shockingly tough given it’s only the second stage, so you really knew Sonic 2 wasn’t going to hold your hand!
4) Angel Island (Sonic 3)
Many, many, many Sonic games use some variation of the green and peaceful opening zone aesthetic, and Angel Island manages it the best for my money. The unique tropical percussion soundtrack definitely goes a long way, but the set-up of the stage is plenty unique too. Swinging on vines, coconut-throwing monkeys, zooming inside tree hollows, mixing water exploration with scaling logs up waterfalls, a plethora of secrets, and an unforgettable act transition where Eggman’s robot sets the entire jungle ablaze. Capping off with a cliffside duel with the mad doctor is the icing on the cake!
3) City Escape (Sonic Adventure 2)
You’re probably already singing the song that goes along with this level in your head as you read this, so I’m not really sure what more I need to add! Sonic Adventure 2‘s opening stage is infamous, and for all the right reasons. It’s fast-paced, it’s enjoyable and easy without also being boring, and it’s got the most goofy and earnest early 2000s rock tune playing in the background the entire time! Coupled with racing down city streets, grinding on rails, and outrunning a cartoonishly aggressive military van, and this level let you know exactly what you’d be getting into with this crazy game.
2) Metropolis (Sonic 2)
The reason this sometimes praised and sometimes reviled zone is so high up on my list is because of the same difficulty-remembrance thing I was talking about earlier. It’s probably not the best zone in Sonic 2. It’s probably the most annoying zone (and certainly the most difficult) in the game too. And yet I just can’t get it out of my head everytime I finish a playthrough of Sonic 2. It’s extremely tough, very long, and super demanding of all your skills thus far (it’s the final traditional level in the game, after all). It’s also got an exceptional music track throughout, which I’ve attempted to learn on the piano before.
Honestly, it’s got it all, and while others can’t look past its flaws and warts (which is a fair take), it’s those tough spots that cement it in my mind all the more.
1) Speed Highway (Sonic Adventure)
I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that I’ve got more of a personal attachment to Metropolis Zone in the above entry than Speed Highway. That isn’t to say that Speed Highway is bad, because it certainly isn’t. I just have more to say about Metropolis than Speed Highway, and there’s probably an argument you could make about Metropolis being a better designed level. It’s far more challenging, to be sure, and thus arguably makes more of an impression.
But Sonic’s catchphrase isn’t “Gotta Go Fast” for no reason. Sometimes I just want to turn my brain off, go fast, and enjoy the ride! For my money, Speed Highway (a very apt name) is the most pure-fun Sonic zone in the entire series. It’s got hills, it’s got loops, and it’s got turns. You can hang off a helicopter and sprint down the side of a skyscraper. You can spin around buildings and outrun the cops (don’t worry, they’re Eggman robots). And you get to do it all to the most ultimate of cheesy hype tracks (Sonic Adventure‘s rock-heavy soundtrack is soooo good).
It’s fun, plain and simple, which is something that I only wish I could say so much more frequently about Sonic games, honestly.
But hey, that’s just my opinion!
The Contrarian Corner 