It's... fine. Really not much to say about this one. Probably one of the easiest and shortest Sonic games but it's definitely not bad, just kinda average.

Very unique and has a very distinct 90's charm to it, bit it's a very weird and needlessly difficult game. You can do better but you can also do a lot worse.

Has a good front half, but absolutely falls apart in the back half. Final Zone and boss genuinely gave me a headache with their harsh strobe effects. Some good music, but is overall just okay.

It's a very dated and flawed game for sure, but one that has an absolute truckload of charm and strong level design at times. It's not always enjoyable, but when it's good, it's REALLY good.

Has a great sense of style and solid enough level design, but can be very frustrating at times. It's still a good game, but definitely weaker than Sonic the Hedgehog 2 or 3.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles features some of the best 2D platforming level design I've ever experienced, great level themes with a superb soundtrack, great bosses that are (mostly) challenging but not annoying, and tons of replay value with more branching pathways and hidden goodies than you can shake a stick at. In other words, it's okay.

A massive improvement over the first, with really good level design. Lots of extra paths and secrets to find wrapped up in some very memorable locales. Classic.

A good game and a nice start to the series. It's a bit all over the place in terms of level design but is still mostly solid with great mechanics and presentation that still hold up very well.