Hydrocity was mega. I think 3 was the most consistent. 3&k was a spectacle though. I have a soft spot for CD. I wish the saturn did a genuine 2d sonic and expanded on what was before.
taxman spending his whole life for the opportunity to make sonic mania just to get almost all of the zones beat by sonic 3's flying battery which half of it is waiting
Is that really a classic Sonic game tho? It’s in the classic style and uses those physics and all but I don’t really count it tbh😅. 1, CD, 2, 3/&Knuckles is what I count.
@CSS-Tails_Forever Hey man, just watching casually and I saw your 1 year old comment lol. Remember me? Also, I love Stardust Speedway as well, from CD of course :D - DLG animator from CSS on roblox
I wanna try my hand at this. Might be a long comment: D tier: 36. Sky Chase Zone • This zone is a boring drag and slows Sonic 2 to a screeching halt. No matter what you do, how many times you get hit, how many badniks popped, now many rings collected, you will NEVER speed this up. Good music tho. 35. Scrap Brain Zone • I hate Scrap Brain. It is easily one of the worst zones ever. I don’t mind the palette or even the music. I just hate the design. I mean, from the very beginning of the first act there’s a trap floor with a bottomless pit…who did this and why? Then we get Labyrinth act 4 for no reason. And I don’t even mind Labyrinth that much! 34. Metropolis Zone • This zone is the ONLY bad Sonic 2 zone. Well, only bad full zone. I know I put Sky Chase below. The enemy placement is the worst it’s ever been in any game ever. The badniks are the most annoying of any badnik ever. Thankfully any player should be able to have Super Sonic before this point to even the playing field imo. Especially with modern versions of the game. You should have Super Sonic before Oil Ocean at least and that’s when you aren’t going out of your way to get the emeralds at every checkpoint. Also the boss is boring. Music is fine tho. C tier: 33. Wacky Workbench Zone • This zone is annoying. I love the music and especially the goofy past version of it(haven’t heard the US track in a while but lets be honest the JP track is better in every single way and is more so the canon/main version of the sound of CD. US track isn’t bad tho). Anyways, the music is all this zone has. Annoying hazards, dumb gimmick, boss isn’t hard but it’s boring. Hate this place. And don’t get started on the generators! Sure, I know where they are. But new players will probably never find them ever. And doing the special stage probably will be hard too considering it’s hard to keep your rings here. 32. Sandopolis Zone • love the music. Love the aesthetic. But man it goes on for so long. This is tedium to the max. And we all know how much we love slow stop and wait sections in Sonic! The bosses are also ehh. The rock golem thing was interesting tho. I can appreciate an attempt at a unique fight. 31. Labyrinth Zone • The music is good. This zone isn’t that bad. The only thing is that it’s really slow and I guess there’s some poor enemy placement in the beginning. I find it decently challenging and like, you can get by these zones pretty fast. But most of it is underwater which is very slow. The spin dash and drop dash are useful for this purpose but use it sparingly because there’s a lot of hazards that will hurt you. And the end is not too bad if you don’t try to blow by it 30. Metallic Madness Zone • This is a fine zone if it wasn’t so maze like. There are times where the zone will mess with you by trapping you out of your progress if you got a little too curious and backtracked. We all know that part. And it’s hard looking for the generators. This is the only zone where I get time outs. The music is great tho. I love the music and it makes the time running out kind of exciting. Can’t explain it. 29. Wing Fortress Zone • This Zone is just dull, but it’s not hard and it’s not too bad. Just very very dull which to some might be an even worse crime for a Sonic game. You can skip over some of the level’s lame platforming and that’s without doing the whole invincible frames thing. If you are Super Sonic/Knuckles or Tails, you can actually skip more of this zone. The boss is fine. Super easy you’re Tails who can beat it before the platforms even come out. B tier: 28. Marble Zone • The music and visuals are good as usual. There’s some genuinely fun platforming and rewarding exploration. The only issue is some parts are slow with the moving blocks and there’s one part in act 3 I thing that is super punishing. Boss is fine if a bit easy. Decent zone. 27. Marble Garden Zone • This zone has underrated music. I love it. It’s fast paced which is good. There’s just some sections where you can get whacked by unseen obstacles and the drill top thing is kinda clunky but it’s whatever. The boss is fine unless you’re Tails alone. Pretty good. 26. Tidal Tempest Zone • This is a pretty good zone and unlike Labyrinth, you can actually run here lol. This is one of the only zones where I prefer the US versions of the track(the other isn’t a zone but it’s Sonic Boom). I like that funky r&b soul sounding melody or whatever. I’m no music buff. I just really like it. It’s not bad to explore, it’s not bad to speed through. It’s a decent little zone that’s like Labyrinth but done better. Even the boss have a chase sequence but they spice it up and the finale with bubbles and dodging the little beams. It’s neat. 25. Spring Yard Zone • Again, music is amazing and the palette is amazing. The first of these carnival/casino type zones and I think its aright. The the blocks are kind of boring to sit through but it’s not awful. A pretty decent zone. And the boss is one of the more unique. I actually like it. 24. Hill Top Zone • This zone is alright as with all these b tier zones. I don’t have much to say about it other than I enjoy it. Probably the epitome of b tier tho. 23. Carnival Night Zone • There’s going to be a theme with this tier of zones lol. Here’s Casino Night. A pretty fun zone to play through. I like it and that barrel is blown way out of proportion. Not that hard to figure out. I never got stuck on it. Just experiment. I loved the music to this zone but it’s since been replaced by a version of its proto music and I think it’s fine. Obviously it won’t be as good as the MJ tracks, but it’s fine. Casino Night definitely got the best track of any of the three that were replaced. 22. Collision Chaos Zone • Like all these types of zones, it can be annoying with all the bumpers and springs sending you all over the place. And this has those dumb glass orbs. But it’s not bad. The zone is pretty, great music, and fun to traverse when you can control yourself. The generators aren’t placed horribly so exploring isn’t an issue. The boss is annoying but not hard. 21. Casino Night Zone • Like the last three of these kinds of zones, this zone has the same strengths and weaknesses except this one has the most fun boss fight. That’s all haha.
A tier: 20. Death Egg Zone • This is how you do a final zone! It’s fast paced, challenging, and fun! There are some tedious moments like those light things but they aren’t too bad. The Music is top tier. It’s a very good zone. Also the bosses aren’t that bad. 19. Lava Reef Zone • This is very fun zone. I don’t have much to say about it but that isn’t a bad thing. I will say I love that transition from the the steaming red to the cool blue. It’s a joy. 18. Aquatic Ruin Zone • This zone is very fun to play through. The first act goes by pretty fast but the second one is where it’s gets interesting. I like the water route and the top route! Haven’t been through the middle route admittedly. But the bottom and top paths are very fun and fast paced. Just watch out for the arrows at one point if you’re under water. I also like the boss. It isn’t amazing but it’s unique and not tedious. And the music, palette, all that is good. We know this by now😂 17. Hidden Palace Zone • This is a greatly designed zone. Now, I admittedly don’t know the other routes. I only play through one path😅. I know there’s the water part with those jellyfish badniks but I never see them. The boss is more of a waiting game but you can breeze through it with Super Sonic which any player over the age of 8 should have by this point especially with the ability to restart special stages and with the in general abundance of checkpoints in every zone. Also is there a story reason for this zone? Because I have a head canon where this zone is just a fake Hidden Palace made to distract people from the real Hidden Palace 😂 16. Ice Cap Zone • This zone is really cool(haha). This is one I don’t have much to say again. It’s just very fun. The music I will miss a lot. Hard Times is this zone’s music. The new one is ok I guess. It’s the second best of the new ones imo. The only think I don’t like really is that it just doesn’t go with the opening. Can’t explain it but the opening of the original track goes with that snowboarding cinematic. The new one just doesn’t fit it. Maybe it’s just me. The rest of it is alright. 15. Quartz Quadrant Zone • This is one of my favorite zones to speed through. It’s so fun. The generators aren’t even that hidden. You can just bump into them by complete accident lol. The boss leaves a lot to be desired. It’s very unique and interesting but man is there a lack of gameplay with it. I wish you could at least make it go faster if one was able to pull off a peel out or spin dash. The boss isn’t that great, but the rest of the zone is. 14. Palmtree Panic Zone • This is a good starting. It’s very fun as with all neo-Green Hills as they call it I guess. Again, not much to say other than it’s very fun. It’s the perfect zone to speed through, explore in, get used to the time travel, peel out, the weird nerfed spin dash. 13. Oil Ocean Zone • I’ll probably get some flack for this, but I love Oil Ocean. This is one of those zones where I only take one route tho lol. I’m not familiar with all of what this zone has to offer but I do experience is a fun, fast paced, decently challenging platforming level. There are shortcuts, alt pathways, everything! The badniks never gave me trouble outside the very beginning of act 2. I never get hit outside of that opening. The zone gets hate but I’ve never understood it. The boss is alright. Nothing too crazy or difficult but it goes a little slow with the beam thing. Also the music and palette are great. Great designed zone. 12. Launch Base Zone • This zone is very fun and challenges. It’s nice just zipping through it. And I love that big arm and the Rocket one are both fought in origins. The one knock I have for this zone is the music. This was the biggest blow for me. I love that “go go go” mess the original track had. This new one is awful. I hate it. Old music got me pumped. Now? Just doesn’t feel the same. Launch Base took the biggest hit imo. Some people actually like the new track and that’s fine. Just not for me. It’s the only one of the three that actually makes the zone worse for me😅. It would be S tier if it had its old track back. 11. Emerald Hill Zone • This zone is pretty cool and as iconic as Green Hill imo. It’s just lower because it goes by so so fast😂. Like there is 0 challenge in this zone. It’s just super fun to speed through and if you want, can explore too. It’s just very very easy. I like that in other versions of Green Hill, elements of Emerald Hill are implemented. Fun opening zone that’s too easy but doesn’t hurt it too much. 10. Mushroom Hill Zone • This is a fun zone. We all love the changing seasons gimmick of course. It’s one of the prettiest zones of the classic games. The only thing that hurts this one are those pulleys. Really wish they could just zip you up lol. S tier: 09. Starlight Zone • This zone is awesome. It’s the first true return to speed in Sonic 1. The green and black palette works well. The theme is amazing. It’s fun blasting away at high speed. The boss is easy but interesting and fun in being able to choose if you wanna bounce into the ol doctor or use his bombs against him. There are some areas that would trap you with bombs or orbinauts(is that their name?). This is really the calm before the storm tho. Because one of the worst zones is right after this one. 08. Flying Battery Zone • Another thrilling zone with the music to match. This is like Sega trying to make up for the super dull Wing Fortress and they are forgiven! 07. Stardust Speedway Zone • Let’s get out of the way the music is amazing. I don’t talk about it much but I feel it’s implied that all versions of the CD track is great. Past, present, and both futures and all with breath palettes. There are some valid arguments against this zone(unlike with Oil Ocean). I can see how it can be confusing to navigate. The flip signs that change what platforms you can walk on or go through have 0 indication of which one you’re on. The boosters send you flying everywhere and you can accidentally travel to a point in time you don’t want(almost always the future). And it can be hard looking for the generators. But man that feeling of going fast it’s just so good. And it’s fun doing time trials for this level(all zones are fun to speed through in CD except Wacky Workbench). Timing your jumps, hitting the boosters, going the right path through those tunnels(?) it’s all so exciting. And the Metal Sonic race is so cool. The moment you get there and he’s doing his own finger wag to the end of the race and you show him he’s nothing more than a pale imitation of the real deal. And yea there’s some serious rubber banding going on but it’s easy to ignore. You can choose to go up and platform a little or stay below and avoid Metal’s attacks. Just run into spikes and jump over him. It’s so fun if you completely smoke Metal and wait a few seconds for him to catch up and it’s equally as fun if you and Metal are neck and neck and you just barely beat him. 06. Sky Sanctuary Zone • This is super fun. Like all great zones, there’s a nice sense of speed and platforming. Mecha is a cool fight especially for Knuckles who looked pathetic against Sonic. The zone is amazing and I think everyone can agree it’s S tier. Also Knuckles shooing Sonic. Who knows the reference? lol 05. Angle Island Zone • This is a gorgeous zone with amazing music and the most different starting zone from Green Hill. Speed, exploration, platforming, all that good stuff and this zone delivers. And can say Knuckles has the coolest introduction? He beat the emeralds out of Super Sonic! I don’t care how ridiculous that is, it’s awesome! 04. Green Hill Zone • you all knew this would be up here. It’s the OG! And this zone has everything. It’s a perfect starting level. Maybe the perfect starting level. Also this is small but I love sound of the water when you’re near it lol. And as with all starting zones the boss is pathetic but the wrecking ball is at least charming lol. 03. Mystic Cave Zone • The music. Ok there’s more than just the music. It’s a fast paced zone with some fun platforming. It’s cool. And the palette is so good. The aesthetic is so good. I love this zone. My only complaint is the light bug badnik that can force you to stop. If you have a shield or don’t care about rings, I say just blast through them lol. The boss I admit, I do not like. I hate the dodge falling degree thing. Super Sonic to the rescue! But I kind of never fight the boss anyways because I prefer to go through Hidden Palace and fight that boss. Still, high tier zone! 02. Chemical Plant Zone • We all know…again. Music, speed, not much platforming but still. Exhilarating zone! Some people don’t like the water segment but it’s not that bad and there’s at least two ways to skip it. You can use speed to bypass it or go up an alt path where you can get more rings and an invincibility. You can cheese the boss unless you’re Knuckles. It’s a fun zone. 01. Hrydrocity Zone • I don’t care how one says it. I say Hydrocity and Hydro City interchangeably at any given time. I’m not married to one way and they both make perfect sense. However you wanna say it, doesn’t matter. What everyone can agree on is what does matter. The speed, platforming, music, level design, palette, boss fights. This zone is perfect! I have not one complaint about it. This is not just a good water level to me. It’s the best zone of the classic Sonic games!!
Ice Cap Zone is my favorite, but I love all the zones in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. I'd agree the best zone in Sonic 2 is Chemical Plant. I would take Starlight as the best zone in Sonic 1.
Ice Cap and Lava Reef. I don't know how they peaked so hard with 3&K, but the series hasn't gotten to 50 percent of that game's quality in the last 30 years
@GlenroycampbellCampbell yeeeaaahh no. I'm just gonna disregard that because i didn't necesarily say it's bad, just that I don't like it, which is just an oppinion, so just subjective, so the "be quiet" sounds quite unnecessary
Sonic cd levels aren't empty, that's an exaggeration. What I think you wanted to say is that there a lot of opportunities to time travel and have good time with sonic cd :) but no joke, this game is fire. Just try to always get the good future by destroying generators. Don't focus on time stones at all. Always try finding new spots to time travel. It's the reason why those zones are sometimes too open and why those zones have a lot springs in this game. They always give you a space to time travel, but you must think a bit so you will not run into something and eventually lose your past ticket. Once you destroy the generator, try to time travel to the good future in this zone for more fun and challenge. Once you time travel to the good future, you will probably be super close to the end of the zone. Instead of playing an act for 2 minutes, you will play it like this for around 6 minutes and have a much better time with the game. In Sonic CD, exploration is time travel. Time travel is success and success is fun. I hope you will try playing Sonic CD this way. Do it at least 2 times to get a hang of it. It makes the level design 10 times better and it starts to make sence.
Facts bro. Not trynna hate, but he’s probably played Sonic CD as if it were Sonic 2. People who played Sonic 2 first never seem to understand CD’s message about exploring, instead, just hold the right arrow key to get to the end. Which is what I can tell he was doing due to his explanation for Stardust Speedways placement. He really needs to consider playing Sonic CD again the proper way.
@@Grim0XVr You are right. Also, I did play sonic 2 before CD as well... I played most of the mainline 2D sonic games before CD for that matter. But, I watched that "Sonic CD is misunderstood" matthasnocuts video before playing CD, so I understood it anyway. Every sonic fan should watch that video before playing CD, it's a must watch.
17:24 not if your slightly in front of eggman, in fact if your slightly in front of him which is the very right side of the screen you can hit him twice each time, heck even 3× when this phase starts
my ranking scrap brain marble labyrybth sky chase metropolis wacky workbeanch sandopolis tidal tempest spring yard aquatoc ruin mettalic madness collision chaos marble garden wing fortress death egg palmtree panic carnival night green hill hill top launch base mystic cave quartz quadrant mirage saloon mushroom hill sky sanctuary star light angel island emerald hill flying battery press garden casino night titanic monarch ice cap lava reef stardust speedway hydro city studiopolis chemical plant oil ocean
There are many things I agree with, especially with Ice Cap and Angel Island. Although I must say I really like Sandopolis Zones and would place them higher. And Marble Zone's music is such a beat that I keep forgetting the terrible experience every time I replay S1.😅
Solid list! I agree with most of your picks! Number 1 is definitely a favourite of mine. I feel Chemical plant to be a bit over-rated (still good, don't get me wrong) so that feels a bit higher than it should be.
Finally someone acknowledged collision chaos and how dookie it is ive beaten sonic 2 which some people say its harder than cd but i spent hours and still cant beat the stupid boss
My top 5 is probably Flying Battery (Mania Version), Hydrocity, Chemical Plant, Studiopolis, and Stardust Speedway (Mania Version). Not in that order though.
I agree with Sky Chase being the worst level. It's slow and boring and not much to it. With Sonic 1, I don't think Labyrinth is all that bad on account of Acts 1 & 3 having massive shortcuts (if you know where to look) and Act 2 is a small level and the original had a no-clip glitch half-way through. I prefer Labyrinth over Spring Yard any day because the latter is long, boring and it drags.
I like Labyrinth and Marble but I agree. Marble has more Sonic-y design. There’s not really any speed unless you count the slopes that occur before entering the cave portion. But there are secrets, multiple paths, hidden shortcuts, and some sections you can platform at your own pace. Both zones are good tho. Not Sonic-y in design which does put them on the lower end for me, but I like them. There’s only about 3-4 zones that I truly hate across all of the classic games
@@tandris1085 I also hate Scrap Brain and Metropolis. Scrap Brain is extremely punishing right from the jump with two trap doors that leads to bottomless pits. It’s the most difficult zone to not get hit in tho it is possible. And the final act is just Labyrinth act 4 and I’m a guy who doesn’t even hate Labyrinth. Metropolis has some speedy sections, multiple routes, all that good stuff, but it’s the zone in Sonic 2 where I see the poor enemy placement argument being true. Those things are always put at a ledge. The mobile port does something interesting where the slicers loses their slicers at some edges so you aren’t hit by them which is nice I guess but it isn’t every one and the crabs can still get you. The starfish guys aren’t too bad but Tails can trigger them early if he’s with you and they are a real pain towards the end of Act 3 where if you are knocked down, you have to do all that all over. The only consolation is that Super Sonic evens the playing field and everyone that isn’t 8 should have all emeralds before Oil Ocean. And that’s if one isn’t going out of their way to stop at every checkpoint. If one is doing that, then every Emerald should be obtained before Aquatic Ruin. And in the mobile and Origins versions it’s more clean, can see further ahead and can restart them. I still hate Metropolis but Super Sonic(which is more a Sonic 2 thing than a Metropolis thing) makes it a bit better than Scrap Brain. Labyrinth is very anti-Sonic level design but I still enjoy it. It’s not one of my favorites, but it’s a good and challenging zone. The badniks aren’t bad, it has good music, nice aesthetic, secrets. It’s rewarding getting through every act without losing a single ring. The “boss fight” is ok. Just don’t try to mindlessly blitz it. Patience is key which I feel is different from the waiting game. Marble(which I feel is better than Labyrinth) is a waiting game. Oil Ocean is one of my favorites. It’s got literally everything that makes a good Sonic level a good Sonic level. Great music, fun aesthetic, unique gimmicks, speed, challenging platforming, spectacle, secrets, multiple paths(oh so many), shortcuts, and a pretty good boss fight. Ok the boss kinda loses its luster on repeat playthroughs, but just turn into Super Sonic when you get there to breeze by him 😂. The badniks I don’t hate much. Maybe on the Genesis I can see them being pretty bad, the seahorse specifically. Later ports makes them pretty easy to avoid. There is the opening of act 2 but a well timed jump takes them out easy. I once saw a playthrough of a player saying the zone was maze-like as they were trying to jump up the slide 😅. I mean, there’s one part where going up the slide leads to a short cut but that was different. Those lid things that was mentioned in the video, one almost never has to wait for if they’re quick enough. The things pretty much pop up as soon as you get there. Idk I just think Oil Ocean gets a bad wrap in spite of meeting every criteria for what makes a good Sonic zone good.
@@thatoneguy1232 oil ocean isn't terrible, but those green launchers next to spikes, also the badniks are very trash Yeah, i realised labryinth is not the worst zone, but its still bad for 3 reasons: 1. Most of the levels are underwater 2. the spikeball placement is absolute trash 3. that waterfall on act 3 can trigger u easily
"sonic media"
"Labrint"
"Scrap Brain Zone, This level fucking hates you" LOLLLLL🤣😂🤣😂😂🤣🤣😂😂🤣😂🤣
YEAH HES SO FUNNY I BET HE HAS 10 BABIES 🤣🤣🤣🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂😂😂🤣🤣😂😂😂🤣😂😂🤣😂😂
I honestly love tidal tempest, it’s just so calming, Chilled and easy
Same!
Finally found someone who likes it too
Hydrocity was mega. I think 3 was the most consistent. 3&k was a spectacle though. I have a soft spot for CD. I wish the saturn did a genuine 2d sonic and expanded on what was before.
taxman spending his whole life for the opportunity to make sonic mania just to get almost all of the zones beat by sonic 3's flying battery which half of it is waiting
Is that really a classic Sonic game tho? It’s in the classic style and uses those physics and all but I don’t really count it tbh😅. 1, CD, 2, 3/&Knuckles is what I count.
@@thatoneguy1232 although I agree. Mania is the most true to the "classic" style so we should count it when coming to level design
Tbh i imagine people keep on forgetting old flying battery sucked and they just remember the mania version
I love Stardust Speedway the most!
Mania or CD?
@@GuyWithTotallyCalmTemper88most likely cd
@@stacksopaper But Mania’s is so much better
@@GuyWithTotallyCalmTemper88 ok
@CSS-Tails_Forever Hey man, just watching casually and I saw your 1 year old comment lol. Remember me?
Also, I love Stardust Speedway as well, from CD of course :D
- DLG animator from CSS on roblox
I kinda consider Mania a new generation, “neo-Classic,” including the Classic stages in Generations and Forces, as well as Superstars
I enjoyed sky chase zone after a crushly hard and ugly dark stage. To only move on to an peaceful bright stage. The bgm is so relaxing.
while i love tidal tempest, i can actually agree with the notion that stardust speedway isnt the best level in cd
I wanna try my hand at this. Might be a long comment:
D tier:
36. Sky Chase Zone
• This zone is a boring drag and slows Sonic 2 to a screeching halt. No matter what you do, how many times you get hit, how many badniks popped, now many rings collected, you will NEVER speed this up. Good music tho.
35. Scrap Brain Zone
• I hate Scrap Brain. It is easily one of the worst zones ever. I don’t mind the palette or even the music. I just hate the design. I mean, from the very beginning of the first act there’s a trap floor with a bottomless pit…who did this and why? Then we get Labyrinth act 4 for no reason. And I don’t even mind Labyrinth that much!
34. Metropolis Zone
• This zone is the ONLY bad Sonic 2 zone. Well, only bad full zone. I know I put Sky Chase below. The enemy placement is the worst it’s ever been in any game ever. The badniks are the most annoying of any badnik ever. Thankfully any player should be able to have Super Sonic before this point to even the playing field imo. Especially with modern versions of the game. You should have Super Sonic before Oil Ocean at least and that’s when you aren’t going out of your way to get the emeralds at every checkpoint. Also the boss is boring. Music is fine tho.
C tier:
33. Wacky Workbench Zone
• This zone is annoying. I love the music and especially the goofy past version of it(haven’t heard the US track in a while but lets be honest the JP track is better in every single way and is more so the canon/main version of the sound of CD. US track isn’t bad tho). Anyways, the music is all this zone has. Annoying hazards, dumb gimmick, boss isn’t hard but it’s boring. Hate this place. And don’t get started on the generators! Sure, I know where they are. But new players will probably never find them ever. And doing the special stage probably will be hard too considering it’s hard to keep your rings here.
32. Sandopolis Zone
• love the music. Love the aesthetic. But man it goes on for so long. This is tedium to the max. And we all know how much we love slow stop and wait sections in Sonic! The bosses are also ehh. The rock golem thing was interesting tho. I can appreciate an attempt at a unique fight.
31. Labyrinth Zone
• The music is good. This zone isn’t that bad. The only thing is that it’s really slow and I guess there’s some poor enemy placement in the beginning. I find it decently challenging and like, you can get by these zones pretty fast. But most of it is underwater which is very slow. The spin dash and drop dash are useful for this purpose but use it sparingly because there’s a lot of hazards that will hurt you. And the end is not too bad if you don’t try to blow by it
30. Metallic Madness Zone
• This is a fine zone if it wasn’t so maze like. There are times where the zone will mess with you by trapping you out of your progress if you got a little too curious and backtracked. We all know that part. And it’s hard looking for the generators. This is the only zone where I get time outs. The music is great tho. I love the music and it makes the time running out kind of exciting. Can’t explain it.
29. Wing Fortress Zone
• This Zone is just dull, but it’s not hard and it’s not too bad. Just very very dull which to some might be an even worse crime for a Sonic game. You can skip over some of the level’s lame platforming and that’s without doing the whole invincible frames thing. If you are Super Sonic/Knuckles or Tails, you can actually skip more of this zone. The boss is fine. Super easy you’re Tails who can beat it before the platforms even come out.
B tier:
28. Marble Zone
• The music and visuals are good as usual. There’s some genuinely fun platforming and rewarding exploration. The only issue is some parts are slow with the moving blocks and there’s one part in act 3 I thing that is super punishing. Boss is fine if a bit easy. Decent zone.
27. Marble Garden Zone
• This zone has underrated music. I love it. It’s fast paced which is good. There’s just some sections where you can get whacked by unseen obstacles and the drill top thing is kinda clunky but it’s whatever. The boss is fine unless you’re Tails alone. Pretty good.
26. Tidal Tempest Zone
• This is a pretty good zone and unlike Labyrinth, you can actually run here lol. This is one of the only zones where I prefer the US versions of the track(the other isn’t a zone but it’s Sonic Boom). I like that funky r&b soul sounding melody or whatever. I’m no music buff. I just really like it. It’s not bad to explore, it’s not bad to speed through. It’s a decent little zone that’s like Labyrinth but done better. Even the boss have a chase sequence but they spice it up and the finale with bubbles and dodging the little beams. It’s neat.
25. Spring Yard Zone
• Again, music is amazing and the palette is amazing. The first of these carnival/casino type zones and I think its aright. The the blocks are kind of boring to sit through but it’s not awful. A pretty decent zone. And the boss is one of the more unique. I actually like it.
24. Hill Top Zone
• This zone is alright as with all these b tier zones. I don’t have much to say about it other than I enjoy it. Probably the epitome of b tier tho.
23. Carnival Night Zone
• There’s going to be a theme with this tier of zones lol. Here’s Casino Night. A pretty fun zone to play through. I like it and that barrel is blown way out of proportion. Not that hard to figure out. I never got stuck on it. Just experiment. I loved the music to this zone but it’s since been replaced by a version of its proto music and I think it’s fine. Obviously it won’t be as good as the MJ tracks, but it’s fine. Casino Night definitely got the best track of any of the three that were replaced.
22. Collision Chaos Zone
• Like all these types of zones, it can be annoying with all the bumpers and springs sending you all over the place. And this has those dumb glass orbs. But it’s not bad. The zone is pretty, great music, and fun to traverse when you can control yourself. The generators aren’t placed horribly so exploring isn’t an issue. The boss is annoying but not hard.
21. Casino Night Zone
• Like the last three of these kinds of zones, this zone has the same strengths and weaknesses except this one has the most fun boss fight. That’s all haha.
A tier:
20. Death Egg Zone
• This is how you do a final zone! It’s fast paced, challenging, and fun! There are some tedious moments like those light things but they aren’t too bad. The Music is top tier. It’s a very good zone. Also the bosses aren’t that bad.
19. Lava Reef Zone
• This is very fun zone. I don’t have much to say about it but that isn’t a bad thing. I will say I love that transition from the the steaming red to the cool blue. It’s a joy.
18. Aquatic Ruin Zone
• This zone is very fun to play through. The first act goes by pretty fast but the second one is where it’s gets interesting. I like the water route and the top route! Haven’t been through the middle route admittedly. But the bottom and top paths are very fun and fast paced. Just watch out for the arrows at one point if you’re under water. I also like the boss. It isn’t amazing but it’s unique and not tedious. And the music, palette, all that is good. We know this by now😂
17. Hidden Palace Zone
• This is a greatly designed zone. Now, I admittedly don’t know the other routes. I only play through one path😅. I know there’s the water part with those jellyfish badniks but I never see them. The boss is more of a waiting game but you can breeze through it with Super Sonic which any player over the age of 8 should have by this point especially with the ability to restart special stages and with the in general abundance of checkpoints in every zone. Also is there a story reason for this zone? Because I have a head canon where this zone is just a fake Hidden Palace made to distract people from the real Hidden Palace 😂
16. Ice Cap Zone
• This zone is really cool(haha). This is one I don’t have much to say again. It’s just very fun. The music I will miss a lot. Hard Times is this zone’s music. The new one is ok I guess. It’s the second best of the new ones imo. The only think I don’t like really is that it just doesn’t go with the opening. Can’t explain it but the opening of the original track goes with that snowboarding cinematic. The new one just doesn’t fit it. Maybe it’s just me. The rest of it is alright.
15. Quartz Quadrant Zone
• This is one of my favorite zones to speed through. It’s so fun. The generators aren’t even that hidden. You can just bump into them by complete accident lol. The boss leaves a lot to be desired. It’s very unique and interesting but man is there a lack of gameplay with it. I wish you could at least make it go faster if one was able to pull off a peel out or spin dash. The boss isn’t that great, but the rest of the zone is.
14. Palmtree Panic Zone
• This is a good starting. It’s very fun as with all neo-Green Hills as they call it I guess. Again, not much to say other than it’s very fun. It’s the perfect zone to speed through, explore in, get used to the time travel, peel out, the weird nerfed spin dash.
13. Oil Ocean Zone
• I’ll probably get some flack for this, but I love Oil Ocean. This is one of those zones where I only take one route tho lol. I’m not familiar with all of what this zone has to offer but I do experience is a fun, fast paced, decently challenging platforming level. There are shortcuts, alt pathways, everything! The badniks never gave me trouble outside the very beginning of act 2. I never get hit outside of that opening. The zone gets hate but I’ve never understood it. The boss is alright. Nothing too crazy or difficult but it goes a little slow with the beam thing. Also the music and palette are great. Great designed zone.
12. Launch Base Zone
• This zone is very fun and challenges. It’s nice just zipping through it. And I love that big arm and the Rocket one are both fought in origins. The one knock I have for this zone is the music. This was the biggest blow for me. I love that “go go go” mess the original track had. This new one is awful. I hate it. Old music got me pumped. Now? Just doesn’t feel the same. Launch Base took the biggest hit imo. Some people actually like the new track and that’s fine. Just not for me. It’s the only one of the three that actually makes the zone worse for me😅. It would be S tier if it had its old track back.
11. Emerald Hill Zone
• This zone is pretty cool and as iconic as Green Hill imo. It’s just lower because it goes by so so fast😂. Like there is 0 challenge in this zone. It’s just super fun to speed through and if you want, can explore too. It’s just very very easy. I like that in other versions of Green Hill, elements of Emerald Hill are implemented. Fun opening zone that’s too easy but doesn’t hurt it too much.
10. Mushroom Hill Zone
• This is a fun zone. We all love the changing seasons gimmick of course. It’s one of the prettiest zones of the classic games. The only thing that hurts this one are those pulleys. Really wish they could just zip you up lol.
S tier:
09. Starlight Zone
• This zone is awesome. It’s the first true return to speed in Sonic 1. The green and black palette works well. The theme is amazing. It’s fun blasting away at high speed. The boss is easy but interesting and fun in being able to choose if you wanna bounce into the ol doctor or use his bombs against him. There are some areas that would trap you with bombs or orbinauts(is that their name?). This is really the calm before the storm tho. Because one of the worst zones is right after this one.
08. Flying Battery Zone
• Another thrilling zone with the music to match. This is like Sega trying to make up for the super dull Wing Fortress and they are forgiven!
07. Stardust Speedway Zone
• Let’s get out of the way the music is amazing. I don’t talk about it much but I feel it’s implied that all versions of the CD track is great. Past, present, and both futures and all with breath palettes. There are some valid arguments against this zone(unlike with Oil Ocean). I can see how it can be confusing to navigate. The flip signs that change what platforms you can walk on or go through have 0 indication of which one you’re on. The boosters send you flying everywhere and you can accidentally travel to a point in time you don’t want(almost always the future). And it can be hard looking for the generators. But man that feeling of going fast it’s just so good. And it’s fun doing time trials for this level(all zones are fun to speed through in CD except Wacky Workbench). Timing your jumps, hitting the boosters, going the right path through those tunnels(?) it’s all so exciting. And the Metal Sonic race is so cool. The moment you get there and he’s doing his own finger wag to the end of the race and you show him he’s nothing more than a pale imitation of the real deal. And yea there’s some serious rubber banding going on but it’s easy to ignore. You can choose to go up and platform a little or stay below and avoid Metal’s attacks. Just run into spikes and jump over him. It’s so fun if you completely smoke Metal and wait a few seconds for him to catch up and it’s equally as fun if you and Metal are neck and neck and you just barely beat him.
06. Sky Sanctuary Zone
• This is super fun. Like all great zones, there’s a nice sense of speed and platforming. Mecha is a cool fight especially for Knuckles who looked pathetic against Sonic. The zone is amazing and I think everyone can agree it’s S tier. Also Knuckles shooing Sonic. Who knows the reference? lol
05. Angle Island Zone
• This is a gorgeous zone with amazing music and the most different starting zone from Green Hill. Speed, exploration, platforming, all that good stuff and this zone delivers. And can say Knuckles has the coolest introduction? He beat the emeralds out of Super Sonic! I don’t care how ridiculous that is, it’s awesome!
04. Green Hill Zone
• you all knew this would be up here. It’s the OG! And this zone has everything. It’s a perfect starting level. Maybe the perfect starting level. Also this is small but I love sound of the water when you’re near it lol. And as with all starting zones the boss is pathetic but the wrecking ball is at least charming lol.
03. Mystic Cave Zone
• The music. Ok there’s more than just the music. It’s a fast paced zone with some fun platforming. It’s cool. And the palette is so good. The aesthetic is so good. I love this zone. My only complaint is the light bug badnik that can force you to stop. If you have a shield or don’t care about rings, I say just blast through them lol. The boss I admit, I do not like. I hate the dodge falling degree thing. Super Sonic to the rescue! But I kind of never fight the boss anyways because I prefer to go through Hidden Palace and fight that boss. Still, high tier zone!
02. Chemical Plant Zone
• We all know…again. Music, speed, not much platforming but still. Exhilarating zone! Some people don’t like the water segment but it’s not that bad and there’s at least two ways to skip it. You can use speed to bypass it or go up an alt path where you can get more rings and an invincibility. You can cheese the boss unless you’re Knuckles. It’s a fun zone.
01. Hrydrocity Zone
• I don’t care how one says it. I say Hydrocity and Hydro City interchangeably at any given time. I’m not married to one way and they both make perfect sense. However you wanna say it, doesn’t matter. What everyone can agree on is what does matter. The speed, platforming, music, level design, palette, boss fights. This zone is perfect! I have not one complaint about it. This is not just a good water level to me. It’s the best zone of the classic Sonic games!!
Ice Cap Zone is my favorite, but I love all the zones in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. I'd agree the best zone in Sonic 2 is Chemical Plant. I would take Starlight as the best zone in Sonic 1.
Ice Cap and Lava Reef. I don't know how they peaked so hard with 3&K, but the series hasn't gotten to 50 percent of that game's quality in the last 30 years
@@jarlwhiterun7478 mania
I like litherally every single classic sonic zone exept wacky workbench
Be quiet wacky workbench is goated
@GlenroycampbellCampbell yeeeaaahh no. I'm just gonna disregard that because i didn't necesarily say it's bad, just that I don't like it, which is just an oppinion, so just subjective, so the "be quiet" sounds quite unnecessary
Sonic cd levels aren't empty, that's an exaggeration. What I think you wanted to say is that there a lot of opportunities to time travel and have good time with sonic cd :)
but no joke, this game is fire. Just try to always get the good future by destroying generators. Don't focus on time stones at all. Always try finding new spots to time travel. It's the reason why those zones are sometimes too open and why those zones have a lot springs in this game. They always give you a space to time travel, but you must think a bit so you will not run into something and eventually lose your past ticket. Once you destroy the generator, try to time travel to the good future in this zone for more fun and challenge. Once you time travel to the good future, you will probably be super close to the end of the zone. Instead of playing an act for 2 minutes, you will play it like this for around 6 minutes and have a much better time with the game.
In Sonic CD, exploration is time travel. Time travel is success and success is fun.
I hope you will try playing Sonic CD this way. Do it at least 2 times to get a hang of it. It makes the level design 10 times better and it starts to make sence.
Facts bro. Not trynna hate, but he’s probably played Sonic CD as if it were Sonic 2. People who played Sonic 2 first never seem to understand CD’s message about exploring, instead, just hold the right arrow key to get to the end. Which is what I can tell he was doing due to his explanation for Stardust Speedways placement. He really needs to consider playing Sonic CD again the proper way.
@@Grim0XVr You are right. Also, I did play sonic 2 before CD as well... I played most of the mainline 2D sonic games before CD for that matter. But, I watched that "Sonic CD is misunderstood" matthasnocuts video before playing CD, so I understood it anyway. Every sonic fan should watch that video before playing CD, it's a must watch.
It's a cluttered disaster of stage design. Same with most of the Mania stages
@@jarlwhiterun7478 you just don’t know how to play🤷♂️
Anyone who’s played Sonic cd and has that opinion just didn’t play right.
@@jarlwhiterun7478and you even go on the say mania stages are cluttered like dude, you really suck at sonic😂
17:24 not if your slightly in front of eggman, in fact if your slightly in front of him which is the very right side of the screen you can hit him twice each time, heck even 3× when this phase starts
You're*
I don't know how many low iq people exist, but it seems like a lot!
nice video, I'm surprised it has only 2k views
my ranking
scrap brain
marble
labyrybth
sky chase
metropolis
wacky workbeanch
sandopolis
tidal tempest
spring yard
aquatoc ruin
mettalic madness
collision chaos
marble garden
wing fortress
death egg
palmtree panic
carnival night
green hill
hill top
launch base
mystic cave
quartz quadrant
mirage saloon
mushroom hill
sky sanctuary
star light
angel island
emerald hill
flying battery
press garden
casino night
titanic monarch
ice cap
lava reef
stardust speedway
hydro city
studiopolis
chemical plant
oil ocean
Aquatoc ruin is one the best 🤬🤬🤬
My favorite is mystic cave zone B)
sky chase is good, and marble is waaaaaay better than labyrinth
@@tandris1085 in my opinion no
There are many things I agree with, especially with Ice Cap and Angel Island. Although I must say I really like Sandopolis Zones and would place them higher. And Marble Zone's music is such a beat that I keep forgetting the terrible experience every time I replay S1.😅
Solid list! I agree with most of your picks! Number 1 is definitely a favourite of mine. I feel Chemical plant to be a bit over-rated (still good, don't get me wrong) so that feels a bit higher than it should be.
Wacky workbench needs a remake ngl
Finally someone acknowledged collision chaos and how dookie it is ive beaten sonic 2 which some people say its harder than cd but i spent hours and still cant beat the stupid boss
Interesting picks, always enjoyed ole Marble Zone and it's music.🎵🔥✅️☘️
8:17 just don't do any imputs there when you get launched until you land& as far as i remember you should be fine
remember me when you're famous :)
i can feel it coming!
wacky workbench is called wacky workbench because sonic is bouncing around and getting injured
Quartz quadrant is 1 of my favorites
It’s especially fun to do time trials in Quartz Quadrant
My fav of all time
My top 5 is probably Flying Battery (Mania Version), Hydrocity, Chemical Plant, Studiopolis, and Stardust Speedway (Mania Version). Not in that order though.
Justice for Hill Top Zone
It’s a fine zone. I like it. Other zones in Sonic 2 just blows it out the water or I guess in this case the lava.
9:39 Cope?
I think it’s telling you to cope with the trauma from marble zone
Top 10 childhood characters to tell you to deal with trauma
Whacky Work Bench really embodies Goofy Ahh 💀
Only in ohio😂😂
You make the best for the last
I agree with Sky Chase being the worst level. It's slow and boring and not much to it.
With Sonic 1, I don't think Labyrinth is all that bad on account of Acts 1 & 3 having massive shortcuts (if you know where to look) and Act 2 is a small level and the original had a no-clip glitch half-way through. I prefer Labyrinth over Spring Yard any day because the latter is long, boring and it drags.
Metropolis Zone 😡 But the music was catchy. 😆
great vid
i agree
Flying battery and stardust speedway
sky chase is good, and marble is waaaaaay better than labyrinth
I like Labyrinth and Marble but I agree. Marble has more Sonic-y design. There’s not really any speed unless you count the slopes that occur before entering the cave portion. But there are secrets, multiple paths, hidden shortcuts, and some sections you can platform at your own pace. Both zones are good tho. Not Sonic-y in design which does put them on the lower end for me, but I like them. There’s only about 3-4 zones that I truly hate across all of the classic games
@@thatoneguy1232 I personally hate labyrinth and scrab brain in sonic 1, and oil ocean and metropolis in sonic 2
@@tandris1085 I also hate Scrap Brain and Metropolis. Scrap Brain is extremely punishing right from the jump with two trap doors that leads to bottomless pits. It’s the most difficult zone to not get hit in tho it is possible. And the final act is just Labyrinth act 4 and I’m a guy who doesn’t even hate Labyrinth. Metropolis has some speedy sections, multiple routes, all that good stuff, but it’s the zone in Sonic 2 where I see the poor enemy placement argument being true. Those things are always put at a ledge. The mobile port does something interesting where the slicers loses their slicers at some edges so you aren’t hit by them which is nice I guess but it isn’t every one and the crabs can still get you. The starfish guys aren’t too bad but Tails can trigger them early if he’s with you and they are a real pain towards the end of Act 3 where if you are knocked down, you have to do all that all over. The only consolation is that Super Sonic evens the playing field and everyone that isn’t 8 should have all emeralds before Oil Ocean. And that’s if one isn’t going out of their way to stop at every checkpoint. If one is doing that, then every Emerald should be obtained before Aquatic Ruin. And in the mobile and Origins versions it’s more clean, can see further ahead and can restart them. I still hate Metropolis but Super Sonic(which is more a Sonic 2 thing than a Metropolis thing) makes it a bit better than Scrap Brain.
Labyrinth is very anti-Sonic level design but I still enjoy it. It’s not one of my favorites, but it’s a good and challenging zone. The badniks aren’t bad, it has good music, nice aesthetic, secrets. It’s rewarding getting through every act without losing a single ring. The “boss fight” is ok. Just don’t try to mindlessly blitz it. Patience is key which I feel is different from the waiting game. Marble(which I feel is better than Labyrinth) is a waiting game. Oil Ocean is one of my favorites. It’s got literally everything that makes a good Sonic level a good Sonic level. Great music, fun aesthetic, unique gimmicks, speed, challenging platforming, spectacle, secrets, multiple paths(oh so many), shortcuts, and a pretty good boss fight. Ok the boss kinda loses its luster on repeat playthroughs, but just turn into Super Sonic when you get there to breeze by him 😂. The badniks I don’t hate much. Maybe on the Genesis I can see them being pretty bad, the seahorse specifically. Later ports makes them pretty easy to avoid. There is the opening of act 2 but a well timed jump takes them out easy. I once saw a playthrough of a player saying the zone was maze-like as they were trying to jump up the slide 😅. I mean, there’s one part where going up the slide leads to a short cut but that was different. Those lid things that was mentioned in the video, one almost never has to wait for if they’re quick enough. The things pretty much pop up as soon as you get there. Idk I just think Oil Ocean gets a bad wrap in spite of meeting every criteria for what makes a good Sonic zone good.
@@thatoneguy1232 oil ocean isn't terrible, but those green launchers next to spikes, also the badniks are very trash
Yeah, i realised labryinth is not the worst zone, but its still bad for 3 reasons:
1. Most of the levels are underwater
2. the spikeball placement is absolute trash
3. that waterfall on act 3 can trigger u easily
Sky sanctuary is my most favorite zone
Metropolis Zone had great music and good visuals - yet really sucky gameplay.
Ice cap zone soundtrack in Sonic 3 & Knuckles is the best change my mind
Lava Reef Zone Act 1.
Hydrocity better
@@yuki.35xxxv maybe
Hydrocity and Palmtree Panic US version Sonic CD
Can you do ranking every classic sini
how wrong can you actually be tf, sonic cd doesn't deserve the hate
My brother you did not play sonic cd
Sonic CD came out before sonic 2 by the way. Just saying
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_2
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_CD
Nah Sonic CD level design is phenomenal TBH, this list is kind of....mmm...not good.
QQ is good but yeah
Haha lol you run out if time in carnival night zone, git good scrub
Bro i still like the zone lmao
@@Brandt2698 true, I LOVE the soundtrack
hi
Hello (balloon boy reference)
hello there
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See ya