What are the actual GOOD 3D Sonic games?

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Current Events » What are the actual GOOD 3D Sonic games?
Ive heard Generations is very good, Ive heard mixed things about Frontiers. Theres also so many like Forces or Colors etc that I have no idea about so what are the ones that are actually good?
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Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colours, Sonic Generations, Sonic Frontiers and Shadow x Sonic Generations.
i lowkey enjoyed Sonic Heroes...
Sonic Adventure
Sonic Adventure 2
Sonic Heroes
Sonic Unleashed
Sonic Generations
Sonic Frontiers
Shadow Generations

Most of them have been fairly decent, actually. Sometimes you need to ignore the gamers who hate everything new and actually try things out for yourself.
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YMMV but

Adventure 1 is 1/2 a decent game
Adventure 2, but only the Hedgehog parts aka 1/3 a good game
Heroes is slippery nonsense
Unleashed HD, but mainly the Day Stages
Colors is ok, very blocky platforming, not bad but not great
Lost World is whatever

Generations is great
Forces is bad
Frontiers is good, but unpolished in a lot of areas
Shadow Gens... Apparently is the current best 3D Sonic
Trelve posted...
Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colours, Sonic Generations, Sonic Frontiers and Shadow x Sonic Generations.
You know what, I actually did enjoy Unleashed when it came out all those years ago
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Is Superstars and Forces bad?

I heard they are like 5 hours of gameplay for each game?
f(O_o)f
Adventure 1 and 2. All the rest are mixed. Boost is terrible but most people like Generations. I like Shadow but that one is flawed
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Sonic Adventure/DX
Sonic Adventure 2/Battle
Sonic Heroes
Sonic and the Black Knight
Sonic Unleashed
Sonic Colors/HD
Sonic Generations/Sonic x Shadow Generations
Sonic Frontiers

All of those are the goods ones.
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Sonic Adventure 1 and 2
Sonic Unleashed (daytime stages, though nighttime isn't bad if you don't mind it being a completely different genre)
Sonic Colors
Sonic Generations
Sonic Frontiers

Sonic 06 has a so-bad-it's-good quality to it if you can forgive the loading times.

Also to those of you saying Sonic Heroes, tell me. When was the last time you played that game? Because no, that is genuinely a contender for worst game in the series. The only good thing about it is the soundtrack.
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Sonic Heroes is better than the boost games at least, but it aint very good. Id give it a 7/10 and the boost games lower lol
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There arent any. Anyone saying Adventure 1 or 2 hasnt tried playing them recently. The only good parts of Adventure are the Sonic levels. Everything else is garbage.
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PraetorXyn posted...
There arent any. Anyone saying Adventure 1 or 2 hasnt tried playing them recently. The only good parts of Adventure are the Sonic levels. Everything else is garbage.
I can definitively say Adventure 2 is a good game. I recently replayed it like a couple months ago.

Kalk posted...
Is Superstars and Forces bad?

I heard they are like 5 hours of gameplay for each game?
Superstars is a decent 2D Sonic game with horribly drawn-out bosses. Forces is a Boost game that plays itself 90% of the time and has extremely short levels.
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MaxEffingBemis posted...
You know what, I actually did enjoy Unleashed when it came out all those years ago
Same.

I had the 360 version of the game, with the then next-gen consoles 360/PS3 versions being better than the generations the wii and PS2 got. Like I know the werehog sections tend to get dunked on and rightfully so, but the game's really good music during the night sections almost always kept me in a zen-like state when I played. (Might have been slightly drugged up but you know what it was fine). The day time sections always slapped though, and I give the game props for having by far the hardest stage in the entire sonic franchise with how long that sob was. (Eggman land).

*Also if you happened to have bought the xbox 360 version, have a series x around, and still got that old disc/digital version the game actually runs at 60fps via the framerate boost function.*

The recent sonic x shadow generations release is the first time I played generations in general and to me this definitely feels like the best 3D sonic game I ever played. Unleashed aside (which I thought was ok overall and much better than the previous 2 heroes and 2006 attempts), I also went through adventure 1 (really liked it for it's time), adventure 2 (I didn't care for this one as much compared to part 1. The knucks/rouge emerald hunting was alright but those mech tails/eggman sections suuuucked), heroes (eh. Played it via the original xbox and remember falling through the floor way too goddamn much), sonic 2006 lol, and played some of forces n' frontier (never finished either but what I did play of frontiers I thought it was cool). I never played colors yet despite buying the colors ultimate re-release on-sale on the playstation at some point.
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Kalk posted...
Is Superstars and Forces bad?

I heard they are like 5 hours of gameplay for each game?
Forces isnt bad but it is very short and uninteresting. Its more about creating your fursona whos best friends with Sonic than anything else.
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Sonic Adventure
Sonic Adventure 2
a handful of daytime stages in Sonic Unleashed
Sonic Colors
Sonic Generations
Sonic Frontiers

I used to like Sonic Heroes a lot but after the last time I played it and had sort of a very not fun time with it, I dont look at it so fondly lol
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I played Adventure 2 again maybe last year and it still rules. And the hate for the non-hedgie levels is way overblown. They're not the highlight, but they still have their own fun gameplay.

Though if you're going for all A ranks and emblems, some of the optional missions are pretty rough. Particularly once you get to the space levels.
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Hambo posted...
I played Adventure 2 again maybe last year and it still rules. And the hate for the non-hedgie levels is way overblown. They're not the highlight, but they still have their own fun gameplay.

Though if you're going for all A ranks and emblems, some of the optional missions are pretty rough. Particularly once you get to the space levels.
Agreed, I love the hedgehog levels but the other playstyles are fun as well. Getting an A rank on Cosmic Wall Hard Mode is extremely fun and satisfying
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I replayed Adventure, Adventure 2, Heroes, Colors, and Frontiers fairly recently. Generally going for 100%s.

Adventure is flawed but fun and still holds up. It's funny, I hesitate to call it good, but it's probably the 3D Sonic I like the most.

Adventure 2 isn't quite as good as I remember (it used to be one my favorites), there's some minor frustrating things about the physics and gameplay. I will still call it a good game overall though. (Also I do not understand the complaints about the non-Sonic levels... Every character has good and bad levels there imo.)

Heroes is sadly awful simply because it feels like you're trying to control a high-speed train on tiny platforms with no rails and slippery physics. It's too easy to go careening off of edges, and also the rail grinding sections are infuriating. It does do some interesting stuff, and I'd like it better if the controls weren't the way they were, but, no. I did not remember it being quite like that btw.
If you aren't attempting 100%, then the control issues would be less problematic. But if you are, you need to be able to beat this game's (very, VERY long) stages without dying, and that's where the frustration sets in.

Colors, I don't really even think of it as being a 3D game because quite a bit of it is in 2D. But it's a good game regardless. Good stage design.

(And just to fill the set: Generations is good too, but also not always 3D.)

Frontiers is another "flawed but fun" one. It's somehow both terrible, and quite good in spite of itself, both at the same time. It's worth playing.
They added a ton of interesting content to Frontiers after release by the way, so it's worth a second look if you never went back. ...Although some of the new stuff is a little overtuned and can be frustrating for the usual wrong reasons.

Edit: Oh, and I replayed Shadow the Hedgehog too. It's not a good game at all lol. But, as long as you don't go in really expecting much of anything from the story or design, you can still kind of have fun with it. Its physics and controls are sound enough iirc.
What a fuddy duddy.
SilentSeph posted...
Agreed, I love the hedgehog levels but the other playstyles are fun as well. Getting an A rank on Cosmic Wall Hard Mode is extremely fun and satisfying
Blowing up the capsules in the rail sections of Cosmic Wall is a blast. I don't remember what exactly changes in Hard Mode there, but I wanna say I barely survived that last rail section the last time I played, so it must have been tougher.

Crazy Gadget Hard Mode is probably the worst mission in the game to A rank though. That light dash that you hafta start midair over a pit while upside down fucked me over so many times in my last playthrough. And several other gravity screw sections are also really mean.
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Hambo posted...
That light dash that you hafta start midair over a pit while upside down fucked me over so many times in my last playthrough. And several other gravity screw sections are also really mean.
Yeah, definitely an issue of having one button do like 6 different things. That's about the only thing I'll truly fault Adventure 2 for personally.
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A1 is really fun and even the less good gameplay styles are short so they're not too annoying

A2 has higher highs than 1 but its lows kinda drag (Mad Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace, though i'll be the one guy to actually defend Crazy Gadget)

Only played like 2 levels of Heroes

Never played Shadow

Never played 06

Only played like 2 UnWiished levels

Only played Daytime Unleashed (due to a Gens mod), it was awesome but idk how things would feel
with the Werehog levels in-between

Colors is really fun but it's slower and a good deal 2D. Still really well designed tho

Generations is awesome aside from an awful final boss

Never played Lost World HD

Lost World 3DS has one really good first level and then the rest of the game drags like hell, which is lame because it actually plays well and is really polished otherwise.

Forces barely counts as a videogame, and the little parts that do are mostly really bad

Frontiers is jank as all hell but also somehow really fun, and has the best bosses in the series. Final Horizon drives the jank up to 11 but the added challenge from it is somehow actually really engaging for the most part

Shadow Gens is the most polished Sonic game and has some of the best levels in the series. As a package Sonic X Shadow Gens may actually be the best Sonic game, 2D or 3D
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I like a good few of them. Adventure 1 and 2, 3D Blast, Frontiers, shadow/sonic generations. I even get a kick out of 06 and Shadow, at least they're entertaining.

Can't say I like anything other than those though.
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PraetorXyn posted...
There arent any. Anyone saying Adventure 1 or 2 hasnt tried playing them recently. The only good parts of Adventure are the Sonic levels. Everything else is garbage.
Your opinion. I played SA2B recently and love all 3 play styles.
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In SA2 I enjoyed the emerald hunting missions the best. Aside from Mad Space because that level is a trainwreck. Meteor Herd is a great level tho.

I actually think the mech stages are the worst. I just find them boring
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Charged151 posted...
Your opinion. I played SA2B recently and love all 3 play styles.

same. I 100%ed SADX and SA2B both.
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I ended up buying Frontiers
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100% SA2 is such a chore. Chao Garden just takes too much time.
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MaxEffingBemis posted...
I ended up buying Frontiers
I hope you enjoy it. Out of curiosity, what was the last Sonic game you played? Sonic Frontiers is very heavy with references to past games.
rideshort posted...
100% SA2 is such a chore. Chao Garden just takes too much time.
Not if you love the Chaos. Also, there are mods/tools you can use to speed up their growth if you can't be bothered to do much with them.
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mehmeh1 posted...
A2 has higher highs than 1 but its lows kinda drag (Mad Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace, though i'll be the one guy to actually defend Crazy Gadget)
Crazy Gadget is fun actually. Hard Mode though? That's some dog shit. I won't try to defend Mad Space. The top and bottom sections are fine, but the planets? Uuugggghhhhhhh.

Lost World 3DS has one really good first level and then the rest of the game drags like hell, which is lame because it actually plays well and is really polished otherwise.
That's basically how I felt about it, too. The movement is fun, but the first level is about the only one that lets you enjoy it. The rest of the levels lean too heavily into wisp gimmicks and combat. I do also like one of the last levels though. The one with a similar aesthetic to the first but it's mostly just sky and you hafta use a lot of rockets and wall running. It has rad music and it's all about quick traversal.
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Hambo posted...
Crazy Gadget is fun actually. Hard Mode though? That's some dog shit. I won't try to defend Mad Space. The top and bottom sections are fine, but the planets? Uuugggghhhhhhh.

That's basically how I felt about it, too. The movement is fun, but the first level is about the only one that lets you enjoy it. The rest of the levels lean too heavily into wisp gimmicks and combat. I do also like one of the last levels though. The one with a similar aesthetic to the first but it's mostly just sky and you hafta use a lot of rockets and wall running. It has rad music and it's all about quick traversal.
LW3DS would be great if the levels were a third of their length and relied less on the wisps
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Trelve posted...
Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colours, Sonic Generations, Sonic Frontiers and Shadow x Sonic Generations.
These pretty much.

PraetorXyn posted...
There arent any. Anyone saying Adventure 1 or 2 hasnt tried playing them recently. The only good parts of Adventure are the Sonic levels. Everything else is garbage.
Disagree. Adventure 2 is still my favorite 3D Sonic game. Tons of fun.
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Id be hard to recommend SA1. Game is jank even though it oozes charm.

Heroes is also tedious, and Team Chaotix has the chao hunt.

Unleashed is birding for half the game and also full of jank.

never played Colors.

Generation (especially the remake) are definitely the best. Especially the remake, with Shadow by far being not only the best 3D Sonic, but actually being a game that works perfectly.

Lost World has a good first stage and mid everything else

Forces is bad, boring, and

Frontiers is fun. Not amazing, but it is mostly good (although the dlc is 06 levels of bad.)
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Trelve posted...
Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colours, Sonic Generations, Sonic Frontiers and Shadow x Sonic Generations.

That looks about right. Although people would say only half of Unleashed was good, and Colours is seeing some serious revisionism in some communities to say it's bad.
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BakonBitz posted...
I can definitively say Adventure 2 is a good game. I recently replayed it like a couple months ago.

Superstars is a decent 2D Sonic game with horribly drawn-out bosses. Forces is a Boost game that plays itself 90% of the time and has extremely short levels.

I never understood this. All the bosses take about the same amount of time as any of the others. They are one of the best aspects of that game
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LSGW_Zephyra posted...
I never understood this. All the bosses take about the same amount of time as any of the others. They are one of the best aspects of that game
To be honest about the bosses, even I don't think they're *that* bad, most of them. As long as you use the Chaos powers to be able to get extra hits in, which for some reason a lot of people didn't want to do.
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Trelve posted...
I hope you enjoy it. Out of curiosity, what was the last Sonic game you played? Sonic Frontiers is very heavy with references to past games.

Trelve posted...
I hope you enjoy it. Out of curiosity, what was the last Sonic game you played? Sonic Frontiers is very heavy with references to past games.
Ah geez good question. It might have been Sonic Mania back in like 2017 maybe?
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MaxEffingBemis posted...
Ah geez good question. It might have been Sonic Mania back in like 2017 maybe?
Tbh, there's only one game that you might need knowledge of regarding Frontiers' story. It makes off-hand references to other Sonic games like Unleashed, but if you have knowledge about Adventure 1, there's one element that would be a huge revelation to you, considering the game doesn't point it out directly.
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Charged151 posted...
Not if you love the Chaos. Also, there are mods/tools you can use to speed up their growth if you can't be bothered to do much with them.

As a kid, sure. As an adult, I don't have time for it.
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MaxEffingBemis posted...
I ended up buying Frontiers
Make sure to lower jump deceleration to 0, makes the game so much more fun than it was at launch. Especially when you unlock the spindash near the end of the game, you can launch off of basically anything and get some insane height and distance.
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BakonBitz posted...
To be honest about the bosses, even I don't think they're *that* bad, most of them. As long as you use the Chaos powers to be able to get extra hits in, which for some reason a lot of people didn't want to do.

The thing is even without them I didn't have an issue. Like, having been through tons of Sonic bosses none of these stood out as long to me in the same way as the bosses in Sonic 1 (Egg Crusher, Egg Mobile), or Sonic and Knuckles (Egg Golem [For Knuckles]) and the pinball spider from Mania were
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Not counting spinoffs and other stuff with Sonic:

Universally agreed to be good:
Adventure 1 and 2 (NOT the DX versions)
Generations (no need to play the original now that Sonic X Shadow is out)
Frontiers

Debatably good:
Heroes
Unleashed
Colors

Not good:
Forces
06
Boom
Shadow
Black Knight mystical rings whatever this stuff was

I think thats all the major ones
Shadow is good imo, it's just flawed being built off the Heroes engine and having Lost Impact. Most people say it's bad though.
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Jagus posted...
Shadow is good imo, it's just flawed being built off the Heroes engine and having Lost Impact. Most people say it's bad though.
There are some mods that makes the game a lot better. Not having to play through the first stage 10 times and lowering the requirements for kill x amount of enemies.
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BloodyBenten posted...
Not counting spinoffs and other stuff with Sonic:

Universally agreed to be good:
Adventure 1 and 2 (NOT the DX versions)
Generations (no need to play the original now that Sonic X Shadow is out)
Frontiers

Debatably good:
Heroes
Unleashed
Colors

Not good:
Forces
06
Boom
Shadow
Black Knight mystical rings whatever this stuff was

I think thats all the major ones

That does seem to be the modern take. When Colors came out it was pretty beloved and when Frontiers came out it was pretty mixed. I would probably upgrade Forces up to debatable but otherwise seems to what the zeitgeist thinks.

Also Lost World is probably also in the Debatable section. Although consensus is that it's pretty meh
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Yeah it's wild to me to see the change in opinion on Sonic Colors. I remember how much praise it got when it first came out
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NoxObscuras posted...
Yeah it's wild to me to see the change in opinion on Sonic Colors. I remember how much praise it got when it first came out
Really? I dont, outside of some hardcore ANFs who wouldve said the same for any big Wii game. IIRC it got a pretty tepid response from reviewers at the time too.

Its the prototypical ok, but why play it today 3D Sonic game for me.
Current Events » What are the actual GOOD 3D Sonic games?
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