This was my first time truly finishing all the classic sonic games. I’d gotten to the final boss on sonic 2 once on the classic collection on DS but given up, and had started but not even gotten to the halfway point in all the other games. It was quite a ride, and I’m very glad I finally found the time to finish all of them!

First, the collection as a whole. I know it released in a sorry state and I do think SEGA and Sonic Team need to take a chill pill on rushing developers, because it makes Sonic continually a laughing stock/disappointment even with stellar games like Mania happening. But I played it now, after plenty of patches and the plus content already added, and I had a great time. It’s clear that if you’re playing these games for the first time, this collection does the job just fine. It does it even more than fine, because the addition of the drop dash and the ability to retry special stages were truly game changers. Knowing I can simply retry with the coins that I got from completing missions and finding them across the stages feels like a fair system where I don’t just get to retry for free, but the cost also isn’t ludicrous and makes failing a special stage much less stressful while removing none of the challenge. The drop dash is a move I loved in mania so seeing it brought into all these games now, it fits in perfectly and keeps the pace going, especially in Sonic 1. The animated cutscenes are a joy to see, but I wished there were more, even just a few unlockable ones. All the supplementary material and the missions aren’t exactly my cup of tea, but nice for those who are interested and adds a lot of value besides just the games.

Sonic 1 benefits a lot from the spin dash and drop dash to keep things going, and I’d probably never want to go back to a version where those aren’t available. Especially the drop dash works quite well since the speed boost isn’t too much that you shoot into hazards but just enough that it keeps the pace going in a satisfying way. It’s clear that this was the sonic concept going through growing pains, still not used to its full potential, and thus I didn’t enjoy the design that much besides obviously green hill zone. I didn’t go for all the chaos emeralds because you don’t get anything for it, and the special stages aren’t really my thing. 6/10

Sonic CD is probably my least favourite classic sonic game to play, unless my opinion changes in the future. There’s a clear focus on exploration, in a game that also seems to want you to move at the same blistering speeds that sonic is known for. The time travel mechanic is cool in concept but isn’t that fun to use even when I know a good spot to make it work. The stages aren’t that fun to explore in the sense that I feel like I bounce all over the place with no clear indication where I should go, and it’s not really clear when I’m supposed to travel through time or where I’d even find a sign to do said time travel with. In the end, I just played it like a standard sonic game and it was clear that the exploration-based level design and the sonic speed just didn’t match. Maybe if you could time travel on the fly, even at the press of a button, I’d have experimented around with it a lot more, but as it is, I just went for the time stones and got the best ending that way. The special stages aren’t particularly fun, but also not very hard, so I’m fine with them. That japanese soundtracks has some bops though, and I love the animated opening and ending so, so much that I nearly teared up at the end. The game itself would probably get a 5/10, but for those feels and those amazing tunes, I feel it deserves a 6/10.

Sonic 2 is my favourite classic sonic game, for sure! It’s clear to me why this is the only sonic game I played all the way through years ago. It’s so satisfying to play, and the level design seems hell bent on making you go fast and keeping the pace up at all times, even when it slows down for some platforming or level gimmicks. It all just works harmoniously together for non-stop fun and I really enjoyed almost every single second. (until metropolis zone which is probably one of my most hated zones due to the enemies) The special stages, the halfpipe, are also my favourites (without tails), they feel satisfying to master, with a decent difficulty curve. It looks much, much better being in actual 3D now compared to what it was originally, and I really like that you access them through checkpoints, gives checkpoints some more value besides just saving progress. Super Sonic also works excellently with the level design, where the super speed was just exhilarating! Final zone and final boss were a bit ‘eh’ but I didn’t end up minding them too much because of how much fun I had before that point. 8/10!

Sonic 3 and knuckles is quite good, but after Sonic 2, I felt like some design elements didn’t mix as well anymore as they did in Sonic 2, while some new ones were added that brought their own charm. For example, the special stages aren’t really my thing, but passable, and finding the big rings is fun enough. Super Sonic and Hyper Sonic are as cool as ever, but the stages feel designed around normal sonic more than anything. I often ran out of rings because during the cutscenes, sonic still loses rings, which for example meant that when I fought Big Arm, I lost my super form purely by how slow that cutscene transition to the fight is. In that sense, it wasn’t that satisfying to rack up rings and then transform, because it often felt like the speed was too high for the more complex platforming where I often would go so fast I’d get crushed out of nowhere. Now, that problem aside, this game’s way of handling story-telling and level gimmicks are so interesting and still quite unique even today in my eyes. Jumping down walls hanging from a rope, outrunning rising sand, even the very first level where it gets set on fire. This game does a lot more interesting things with its levels than Sonic 2 did, but that takes away from the snappiness and the exhilarating speed to make for a different kind of quality. I enjoyed this one, but it just didn’t give me the same sense of fun as Sonic 2. The fact it’s two games in one in a sense also shows in how lengthy it is, and that does impact replayability a bit for me. I’d give it a fair, satisfying 7/10.

So, in conclusion: 2>3&K>CD>1
2 is my favourite, 3&K is good with qualities of its own but less ‘simply fun’ than 2, CD is the worst one to play but adds a lot of charm with its cutscenes and music, and 1 is just fine for what it is but past games improved on it in every way and it shows.

… the game gear games? Oh, yeah, not really what I got the game for, I imagine they’re all varying levels of middling and less good than their console counterparts.

It might have been amazing back in the day, and it does do a remarkable job at bringing metroid from 2D into 3D... but compared to those 2D games, especially after Dread, it's so by the numbers that it's a bit of a snorefest. The 2D games do about everything better, so all I can hope is that the sequels improved upon the formula to add its own improvements to it. The high point is without a doubt the meta ridley fight, if the entire game was like that, I'd agree wholeheartedly with everyone else that this is a masterpiece. But as it is, that's a very cool high point in a game that isn't bad, but it's also not particularly good at anything, especially when you have the 2D metroid games hitting it out of the park in terms of snappy gameplay and atmosphere.

- Played on NSO -
So the general opinion I heard on this game was that it was well-liked and people were really happy to see the first mario land make it over to NSO when we previously only had the second one. I kinda liked the chunky aesthetic of it so I gave it a go and it… is definitely a game. The controls are extremely stiff to the point where making a very simple jump can still lead to you falling down a pit, while also being kind of slippery where I slipped down a platform at light speed. Yeah, mario DROPS in this game as soon as there’s no solid ground, so slide an inch of that platform and he’ll be off to his death in a flash. The shooter segments were actually a nice change of pace in that regard, enjoyed them quite a bit more than the usual levels… and then it just abruptly ends. I expected a little more, especially because levels aren’t shy to re-use the exact same segments by copy pasting them within that same level.
Short, stiff, not really that fun to play, but at least I see why they call it quirky. The random bamboo forest levels had a nice aesthetic, but the rest didn’t leave much of an impression.

This is probably not a 10/10 game, but it was a 10/10 experience for me. It introduced me to Etrian Odyssey, a series I now love and own every game for. The music ABSOLUTELY blew me away, I was flabbergasted by how good it is, both in terms of creating a calming atmosphere as you walk around and very smoothly shifting that over to high-octane battle music. The art style is so, so nice too, both for characters and for backgrounds. The story mode was a brand new addition, but it really helped me ease into the genre, while also just keeping me engaged with loveable characters and a story that has a surprisingly effective hook, even if the story itself isn’t anything groundbreaking. Props to the voice actors too, they did a great job, and though there aren’t many of them, the anime cutscenes are just sublime.

Drawing your map, fighting monsters, selling their parts for better gear so you can explore further, constantly cutting it close with how you use your money on what equipment… it’s a constant balancing act. I even dropped the game twice because I couldn’t manage to beat a boss and didn’t feel like grinding, but I’m very glad I came back to it and managed to beat it after all. I didn’t do all the optional and post-game content, since I had my fill, but as the very first Etrian Odyssey game I ever played, this one has a special place in my heart.

I gosh darn hate the motion controls in this, simply because I suck at using them, and since the wii-wheel was the new hot thing… yeah, my first experience with this game was a bit rocky.

Coming back to it years later, with the genius intellect to realise I could just… not play with the motion controls, I had an absolute blast. The track selection is amazing, kart selection is nice and snappy compared to 8 Deluxe, but more than all of that, I just relish in the absolute chaos that this game brings. I’ve played a lot of different mario kart games and I feel like the balancing in this one has to be on drugs, because it feels like a total warzone on the track, and I love it. Keeps things fresh and makes for a great time with buddies.