Let's talk Sonic.

[Gerudo]

I had my issues with RUSH, but overall a great game. S3&K was a blast, obviously since you can play with all 3 of the star characters of the series.

The Advance series was well executed, imo. Classic 2D Sonic gaming on a portable device ftw. Of the 3, Sonic Advance 2 was my favorite. Unless you were completely terrible (or sucked at the boss battles), it was impossible to die in that game. Plus the music in 2 was very memorable (again, imo).

I can't say I've honestly liked ANY of the 3D incarnations of the Sonic series (RUSH doesn't count).

One last note, I can't bring myself to enjoy CD. I have the Gems collection, but everytime I force myself to play it, it just... sucks. Yes I know it's the same as the Genesis games, but the Past/Present/Future shit just annoys me. Maybe it's the level design... *shrugs*

[The_Amaster]

but the Past/Present/Future shit just annoys me

Well, sure, that's the fun of it. And I agree, although I've only played/own SA2, it was a really good game. Sonic really just belongs in 2-D.

[Glenn the Great]

The only reason I ever liked Sonic (and I liked it a lot), was because of the 2D format on the Genesis. I played the first Sonic Advance, but it seemed to be lacking the spirit of the Genesis games. I wasn't too impressed with the levels either. Also kind of retarded to throw in two super easy classic boss fights at the end who only take 4 hits. I don't think I liked the art style too much. Didn't have the same sort of crispness as the older ones.

[Dechipher]

Everyone agrees, the first three sonic and their knuckles counterparts rule. I liked Sonic 3D blast, because it was fun, and yeah it was kinda lame, but I had a good time with it. SA2 Battle is the only 3D sonic I had, and I traded it for Sonic Mega Collections. SA2B was fun with my little brother, doing the shooting matches, but that's about it. It sucked so bad that the most awesome character (knuckles) had the lamest stage gimmick.

EDIT and Sonic, Knuckles AND Tails better be in SSBB...

[DarkDragon]

Sonic 3 and Knuckles is the epitome of the franchise in my opinion.
Sonic CD was also quite good, but doesn't share S3&K's near-perfect level flow; you are always hunting around for "Past" signs and spewing profanities when hitting "Futures."
Sonic 1 and 2 were solid.
Everything else has left me feeling majorly disappointed. Sega has apparently decided that it needs to ruin all of its 3D games by throwing extreme bullshit into an otherwise solid experience: Treasure hunting, Big the Cat, Chao?!? WTF?

[Pineconn]

Yep, Sonic 3&K is pretty much the best.

I've played 1, 2, and Spinball for the Genesis, and Sonic 3D Blast for... whatever it's for (emulator), and it was all right. Oh, and I've played Adventure 1, and it isn't bad either... but not very polished... at all. Too buggy for my taste. But the cut scenes looks very nice, too bad the whole game couldn't look like that.

So have we agreed that Sonic does best as a 2D series? I've heard that Secret Rings feels like a 2D Sonic game, so it's probably pretty good.

[Darth Marsden]

I'm gonna agree with everyone else on this - the 2D games rule, the 3D ones don't, the psuedo-2D Secret Rings kicks ass.

Also: Don't forget Rom hacks.

[DarkFlameWolf]

I have Secret of the Rings on Wii. Its a major step forward in the right direction, but play control is a bit stiff and the difficulty is highly ramped from the original 2d games. It seems like, ever since the transition to 3d, They Sonic team feels they need to make each game brutally hard.

[Darth Marsden]

Yes, but at least most of the difficulty in Secret Rings is intentional as opposed to the game just being broken.

[The_Amaster]

I played the first Sonic Advance, but it seemed to be lacking the spirit of the Genesis games

I would recomend at least trying SA2 than. I know what you mean, and while Advance 2 isn't perfect, it's better than 1. The levels are a lot larger, for one thing, with many routes through each one.

I also owe S3&K for being my introduction to platformers. Believe it or not, back when I was like, ten, I picked up the official PC version at Office Max for like, ten bucks.