I'm not one to beg for remakes (in fact, i'm usually against them), but if i could choose to have one game remade, it would very likely be sonic rush, as i like this game quite a bit. good levels, good controls, good music, good bosses, good special stages, etc, all culminating in what should be the best 2d sonic game... but it's not quite there, and i partially blame the ds. for a game like this, the ds's screen makes it feel very cramped, like you can barely see whats ahead, and the utilization of both screens is interesting but flawed. the game accommodates for the bulky original ds's screen gap by just having this distracting invisible gap. i remember it not being that bad on ds, but its super noticeable and distracting when emulated. that coupled with being a very "portrait view" sidescroller on such a cramped screen make this a tad more unpleasant to play than need be. that being said the level design is at least good despite the cramped screen. not quite the auto scroller of advanced 2, but it can still feel very "boost to win" from time to time. the special stages kinda suck when emulated, but i can't fault the game for that. i've played on an actual ds before, it legit does feel good to play on the actual system, and theyre some of the best special stages in the series. the real crux of the game is its bosses. they start out pretty good, simple bosses, even impressive for the system with cool lookin designs, but quickly wear out their welcome with a much larger hp pool than necessary and the occasional frame perfect precision you'll need to even hit some of them, which just felt out of place and unnecessary. and the bosses just love doing their attacks where their vulnerability isn't exposed by the end of it. it just pads the bosses out for much longer than necessary, and well long enough to get on your nerves. bosses should not be longer than actual levels in the game.
it wasn't until after i beat sonics campaign with all emeralds that i noticed there was an easy mode in the options menu. far as i can tell, all it does is remove a small chunk each bosses health and makes their patterns less erratic and might also increase their vulnerability period, which is about all i wanted from the bosses. it seems less like an easy mode and more like the actually balanced mode. dont think it does anything for the levels themselves though, oddly. maybe it makes special stages easier or something idk. as of writing this, i've only beaten the game as sonic on normal, with all emeralds. i wasnt sure if i had it in me to do it all over again as blaze, but seeing this easy mode, i might just take the hit to my pride and do it
Edit: after playing the game on easy for blaze, the bosses do improve significantly and are less of an annoyance, but also, blazes levels seem identical to sonics, but minus the special stages, which is disappointing, i really wish she at least got remixed levels, not completely new or anything, but different enough in layout to feel new and blaze doesn't even have special stages at all. i feel like she should have gotten her own kind of special stages, separate from sonics. since sonics is based on sonic 2, maybe she could have hers be based on sonic 1's special stages? like i wouldnt want double the half-pipe special stages, but something would be nice. the other problem with having the same stages is it really highlights the flaws some stages have. anytime they have a stage exclusive gimmick, the sand temple level being the worst as you just wait on a slab that takes you through the level as sometimes a rock will fall or a generic enemy that dies in one hit, and it just goes on and on and on, and then they do it again for act 2 and its just boring. they do something similar with an air glider section in 2 acts of another zone, and you can just hang out at one side of the screen and not get hit. theres also a rocket that one zone likes to use over bottomless pits and while its only used for a couple seconds at a time and its not everywhere, its overly sensitive and seems to just have inverted controls everytime you go on one, and over a bottomless pit it can be insufferable. i cant really name other gimmicks off the top of my head, but those are the ones that really stood out. also the final boss with super sonic and burning blaze in space just sucks. its too specific with how sonic has to push projectiles into eggman, then too easy with how blaze can just hadouken the boss and get over with in a second, and when you spend like 5 minutes trying to hit eggman as sonic, it just feels weird how easy blaze is in comparison, especially with how you alternate every 2 hits and swap screens. it just feels half-assed.
But overall its still a great game, just held back by some flaws.


knowing sonic fans, there's probably some nut out there working on some kind of remake of this game that makes it single screen and hd. and to you, i say godspeed, make my dream come true, give this game what it deserves