The hidden switches and drawbridges help play into the Goonies-style exploration as well. Not that Mystic Cave is a breeze, but there is a playful spookiness to it what with being a cave and all, plus the fright night soundtrack of bass-strumming ghosts. Mystic Cave is a mid-game treat in Sonic 2 before the menace of Oil Ocean and Metropolis zones. The low-key turntable funk of the soundtrack is also Sonic music at its most adventurous, even daring to break into total silence for a split second as the track loops into itself. Taking elements of security checkpoints, harbor industry, and astronaut training, Launch Base Zone is wholly original. Like so many platformer games, Sonic is no stranger to stereotypical sand, snow, and lava levels, but Launch Base Zone offers something unique. Still, like any solid opener Green Hill offers a little bit of everything, delivered at a jaunty, carefree pace. The coolest aspect of Hydrocity Zone is getting enough speed going to literally run across the surface of the water.Īs the OG Sonic stage, it’s hard not to view Green Hill without at least some degree of nostalgia, but the franchise launchpad did give us Sonic’s first checkerboard patterned loop-de-loop and set the standard for “blue sky” environments that the vaporwave kids seem so fond of. You rarely need to hunt for air bubbles with so many springs and ramps about. Water levels are oft maligned, and for good reason, but Hydrocity is a standout with its Roman bathhouse tilework and emphasis on breaching out of the water instead of slogging through it. It’s also rotten with traps, but Robotnik himself makes up for the frustrations by providing some of the most grandiose and clever boss fights in the series. The level features gravity switches, electromagnets, and spiraling light tubes.

Robotnik’s equivalent of the Death Star and the climactic final stage of Sonic & Knuckles. So what better time to look back at these classic games and pick out which levels have the best combination of speed, music, boss fights, and gimmicks, and, in turn, which are the most worth revisiting for Sonic Mania and beyond. The Sonic Mania team has gone as far as remixing levels from old games while retaining their classic look, albeit with souped up animations. With the release of Sonic Mania, Sega is emulating and enhancing the 16-bit look of the original set of Sonic the Hedgehog games from their Genesis/Mega Drive console.

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