Sequel Tragedies...

[Hatta]

I knew MrPopo would be in this one.

As for dsheinem, your ordering is all wrong. 2 ~= CD > 3 ~= S&K > 1 > Adv1 > Adv2 > 3D. The rest aren't even worth mentioning.

Myself, I've been pretty pleased with the sequels that came from my favorite games.

[Gnashvar]

Phantasy Star III - Genesis

It was not a terrible game but it was not what we expected at all.

[MrPopo]

Phantasy Star III - Genesis

It was not a terrible game but it was not what we expected at all.

It's kinda similar to Chrono Cross, when you think about it. Both were anticipated sequels that ended up being quite different from the sources, but were eventually tied in through an end-game plot point.

[c0r33]

I think I'll repost this post from a year or so ago:

The Sonic games have gotten progressively worse from Sonic 1 --> most recent Sonic games. Seriously, every entry has been a little poorer than the last - to the point where the series is now horrendous. That means:

1. Sonic the Hedgehog - 1991 - BEST
2. Sonic 2 - 1992 - WORSE
3. Sonic CD - 1993 - WORSENING MORE
4. Sonic 3 - 1994 - WORSENING STILL
5. Sonic & Knuckles - 1994 - WORSER
6. Sonic 3D - 1997 - MORE WORSER
7. Sonic Adventure - 1998 - WORSERER
8. Sonic Adventure 2 - 2001 - EVEN WORSERER
9. Sonic Heroes - 2003 - MORE WORSERER THAN EVEN THOSE
10. Shadow the Hedgehog - 2005 - STILL WORSERER YET
11. Sonic the Hedgehog - 2006 - WORSERERER
12. Sonic and the Secret Rings - 2007 - WORSTEST
13. Sonic Unleashed - 2008 - WORSTESEST
14.? Sonic and the Black Knight - 2009 - BY FAR THE WORST SONIC EVER?

I fully disagree with this list lol!
I dont like sonic 2 that much but sonic 3 and CD were awesome and sonic rush was decent. The problem with sonic is that hes not consistent enough but to say sonic 1 is better then every other sonic is foolish.

You're entitled to your opinion though and im sure you have your reasons to say these things (I hope you do!).

[Gnashvar]

I think I'll repost this post from a year or so ago:

The Sonic games have gotten progressively worse from Sonic 1 --> most recent Sonic games. Seriously, every entry has been a little poorer than the last - to the point where the series is now horrendous. That means:

1. Sonic the Hedgehog - 1991 - BEST
2. Sonic 2 - 1992 - WORSE
3. Sonic CD - 1993 - WORSENING MORE
4. Sonic 3 - 1994 - WORSENING STILL
5. Sonic & Knuckles - 1994 - WORSER
6. Sonic 3D - 1997 - MORE WORSER
7. Sonic Adventure - 1998 - WORSERER
8. Sonic Adventure 2 - 2001 - EVEN WORSERER
9. Sonic Heroes - 2003 - MORE WORSERER THAN EVEN THOSE
10. Shadow the Hedgehog - 2005 - STILL WORSERER YET
11. Sonic the Hedgehog - 2006 - WORSERERER
12. Sonic and the Secret Rings - 2007 - WORSTEST
13. Sonic Unleashed - 2008 - WORSTESEST
14.? Sonic and the Black Knight - 2009 - BY FAR THE WORST SONIC EVER?

I fully disagree with this list lol!
I dont like sonic 2 that much but sonic 3 and CD were awesome and sonic rush was decent. The problem with sonic is that hes not consistent enough but to say sonic 1 is better then every other sonic is foolish.

You're entitled to your opinion though and im sure you have your reasons to say these things (I hope you do!).

Me too. Sonic 2 was my favorite.

[swiftzx]

I think I'll repost this post from a year or so ago:

The Sonic games have gotten progressively worse from Sonic 1 --> most recent Sonic games. Seriously, every entry has been a little poorer than the last - to the point where the series is now horrendous. That means:

1. Sonic the Hedgehog - 1991 - BEST
2. Sonic 2 - 1992 - WORSE
3. Sonic CD - 1993 - WORSENING MORE
4. Sonic 3 - 1994 - WORSENING STILL
5. Sonic & Knuckles - 1994 - WORSER
6. Sonic 3D - 1997 - MORE WORSER
7. Sonic Adventure - 1998 - WORSERER
8. Sonic Adventure 2 - 2001 - EVEN WORSERER
9. Sonic Heroes - 2003 - MORE WORSERER THAN EVEN THOSE
10. Shadow the Hedgehog - 2005 - STILL WORSERER YET
11. Sonic the Hedgehog - 2006 - WORSERERER
12. Sonic and the Secret Rings - 2007 - WORSTEST
13. Sonic Unleashed - 2008 - WORSTESEST
14.? Sonic and the Black Knight - 2009 - BY FAR THE WORST SONIC EVER?
15. Sonic 4- 2010 - AWESOMENESS

Yes, I can read the future ; dsheinem, you should do a list like this with the handhelds, they progressively get better with each one imo.

[dsheinem]

You're entitled to your opinion though and im sure you have your reasons to say these things (I hope you do!).

I said above I wouldn't rehash all my reasoning here as I defended my claim in that other thread. But...for those who want one stop shopping, here are some of the rationale I gave:

The rest of the post above:

The spin-offs (Spinball, Sonic Riders, etc.) have been of more irregular quality - meaning they haven't necessarily gotten worse as time progressed.

As for the portable games, they are all over the place - I think the GBA games are better than the Game Gear games, but the PSP games are kinda poor...

In any case, Sega just needs to put out something like this: http://www.racketboy.com/retro/sega/200 ... in-hd.html in which Sonic is alone (no friends), does not talk, and is completely, entirely in 2D. Make it a $10-20 download and then all could be forgiven.

Hmm - maybe Sega listened? It seems like they are moving at least somewhat in this direction with Sonic 4. We'll see...

Anyway...after that people thought I wasn't being serious. I was. They called my opinion irrelevant or wrong (just like Hatta above!)

It played out like this:

Why does everyone think I am joking? Yes I've played Sonic CD and most every other 2d/3d Sonic games.

Reasons why Sonic 1 is the best in the series:

1) It was a novel concept, featured a unique and interesting character, and was able to demonstrate the potential of the console (a harbinger of great Genesis games to come). It gets big points for originality.
2) It has the best level design of the series. This is not debatable.
3) It did not feature gamepaly gimmicks (spin-dash, grabbing, climbing, etc.).
4) It did not include Tails, Knuckles, or any other cutesy B.S. (a side argument can be made that the more characters a Sonic game adds the worse it gets). Sonic rescued cute creatures, but he was assuredly not the pussified mascot he'd later become.
5) It has trippy-ass M.C. Escher special stages that have not yet been topped in the whole of the series.

I could go on, but I digress...

LOL at "irrelevant opinion." I will counter that mine is clearly the only "correct opinion" on the entire matter.

And then when people got all defensive about their favorite Sonic game...

I do get a kick out of how defensive people get about video games and, even moreso, their own righteous personal opinions about them. Thus the comment about mine being "correct." I guess if you don't write " /sarcasm " after a post some people don't catch on...

That said, I did enjoy the other 2D sonic game - just not as much as the first one (for the reasons I stated).

Anyway, hopefully this explains where I am coming from on the Sonic series. I do indeed think the games have gotten progressively worse, although the first four are all pretty good. I'd be happy to debate this further, now that my cards are on this particular table.

[swiftzx]

Super Mario bros 2: wait a minute, this isn't Mario, it's Doki Doki Panic!

[FiftyDollarCurse]

Not that the series is known for being of particularly high quality, but Mortal Kombat 4 was hilariously god-awful.

Also, Earthworm Jim 2 had way too many gimmicky mini-game levels and too few actual platforming levels. I have grown to actually hate playing it over the years.

[RokstaEnSweden]

I was so amped for Chrono Cross but I felt ultimately let down by it in the end. I know it has some fans, but it was so far from the original source material that I couldn't even get into it. Maybe if it had been called something else it would have been a better game in my eyes, but by being a sequel to one of my most favorite games I had to always compare to the original. By comparison, it let me down.

God of War 2 didn't really do it for me, either. Just seemingly more of the same.