Let me stop you right there. There are two thoughts in your head – are there even 35 Sonic the Hedgehog games, and how is it possible you have actually played that many? First, there are in fact 114 games in this franchise. Second, you could not begin to understand the number of hours I’ve spent teamed up with the blue blur since I was just a few years old. We know each other. We understand each other. Our souls are inextricably linked. So to celebrate 35 years of mostly terrible games, I thought I’d rank 35 of them so you can get the scoop on this hedgehog’s highs and lows!
Normally these kinds of lists would begin with #35 and end with #1, but I am not doing that. The simple reason is that, because this is Sonic the Hedgehog, you almost certainly don’t care about which games are the best: you want to read about which ones are the worst. Read on and discover for yourself the definitive rankings for SEGA’s mascot! Got a problem with these rankings? Go lose a ring!
1. Shadow Generations (2024)
Shadow Generations has the wonderful distinction of rewarding a lifetime of fandom with a genuinely excellent game. It has the set pieces we crave, mixes the momentum and boost gameplay styles well, finally figures out how to make the 3D courses a perfect blend of control and on rails, and is a cohesive vision start to finish. The short levels and challenges encourage replaying these awesome missions to master them, and the story and characters are a true love letter to everyone’s favorite edge-hog. For those not in the know, 3D Sonic has two gameplay styles, momentum and boost. Appropriately named, momentum games allow characters to build momentum with continuous uninterrupted movement to keep getting faster and faster, while boost gameplay has characters collecting items to build up a boost meter that doubles or triples their speed for a short time. Shadow Generations actually melds both of these gameplay styles into a singular vision that works better than any 3D game before it. The perfect length, the perfect level of edginess, the perfect soundtrack to the end of eternity. I am all of me.
2. Sonic Advance 2 (2002)
Forgot about these, huh? Sonic Advance 2 is the best of the Game Boy Advance trilogy, which are consistently some of the best 2D platforming Sonic has to offer. Sonic Advance 2 has a perfect blend of slightly slowed speed, better control, and more level interaction that surpasses the original trilogy in both design and execution. Plus, you can use Amy, Knuckles, and Tails, and Cream the Rabbit too! And each character gets unique powers! The level of control the Advance games offer is what puts them over the original trilogy for me, and there are fewer situations where you fly off the screen because you failed to slow down. There are also fewer platforming sections than the original trilogy, something that has no place in Sonic!
3. Sonic Advance (2001)
I would put this spot as a toss-up between the first two Advance games and Sonic Mania, which each have different strengths. Sonic Advance lets players control four characters with different powers, each with different abilities to traverse the levels in different ways. Seems rote now, but it was a novel concept for the series at the time. Slowing the game down just a bit was the kick the platforming gameplay needed to work. Otherwise, it’s very similar to Sonic Advance 2 as described above.
4. Sonic Mania (2017)
Most 2D Sonic fans likely have Sonic Mania as their number one game, for good reason. With tight level design and very replayable acts, there are half dozen different ways to tackle each of the short levels to get the best time. It doesn’t overstay its welcome, and blends together remastered and remade levels from the original trilogy with a few new ones that thematically feel like they were always there. There has always been this inherent break between the idea of “going fast” and platforming, because if you actually go as fast as you want Sonic to go, it is pretty impossible to actually do any platforming. In the 2D games, this often leads to running as fast as possible for 10 seconds at a time and then coming to a full stop. Mania somehow manages to avoid this with smart level design that always keeps you going. The original soundtrack and rearrangements from Tee Lopes rank among the best in the series – and that’s saying something. I find it a bit too punishing at times, but Mania overall is a shining star in the franchise.
5. Sonic Adventure 2 (2001)
You’ve probably figured out by the placement of this game exactly how old I am, and yes, I was in fact nine years old when I was introduced to Shadow the Hedgehog, still my favorite character in all of video games. While this game has a lot of strange ideas that don’t exactly make sense, like third-person shooter and treasure hunt levels, the strength of the Sonic and Shadow levels, the insanity of the momentum-based gameplay, and its iconic soundtrack still set it among the best of the 3D games. To be honest, the disconnect in uniformity between the different gameplay styles is part of the charm. It also introduced Rouge the Bat, changing the trajectory of human civilization forever (you can decide if it was for the better or worse). It’s really a case of “this is so crazy, it actually works.” Don’t fact-check me on this, but it might be the only Sonic game with Dr. Eggman as a main playable character. Infinitely replayable with 5 distinct missions for each of the 31 levels and the legendary Chao Garden, 3D Sonic took a nosedive for a very long time after this incredible game.
6. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992)
Much like the original Mario Bros. for arcades was essentially a proof of concept before Super Mario Bros., so too was the original Sonic the Hedgehog. Frankly, it’s not a very good game. Go play it now! You’ll see. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 introduces our buddy Tails, which already makes it a lot more fun, and lets two players do co-op runs. There’s also the addition of the very necessary spin dash ability that it’s hard to believe wasn’t there from the start. Plus, larger levels with more routes! And the introduction of iconic levels and their soundtracks that still persist in the series to this day, like Chemical Plant Zone and Aquatic Ruins. It’s a good time. If you’re itching for truly classic Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is my recommendation. As I said earlier though, you’ll be surprised how often the blue blur just has to come to a complete stop to do slow platforming in this original trilogy.
7. Sonic 3 & Knuckles (1994)
Sonic 3 & Knuckles lands below Sonic 2 for a reason you probably disagree with – the soundtrack just is not quite as good. Despite being composed by Michael Jackson working alongside the SEGA Sound Team, the music is passable to forgettable. I also don’t love the art style, which is a downgrade from Sonic 2 despite the higher graphical quality. Regardless, it’s a well-designed set of games, offering the introduction of everyone’s favorite swole echidna. Gameplay is a little bit better again, but it’s definitely here that 2D Sonic meets its peak until Mania 23 years later. If you don’t remember, Sonic 3 & Knuckles is actually a collection of two games on two cartridges, as SEGA couldn’t get all the data to fit on one Genesis cartridge. You could physically plug one cartridge into the other and voila! Memes abound. And Knuckles.
8. Sonic Racing Crossworlds (2025)
There have been several kart racing games where Sonic, instead of running at 700 MPH, decides to sit in a go-kart and race around at about 150 MPH instead. The in-lore reason for this is kind of funny, which is that Sonic loves winning competitions, and no one is fast enough to actually fairly race him on foot. Getting into the go-kart to equalize everyone appeals to his ego! Anyway, Crossworlds finally delivers an extremely good kart racing game with lots of flair, characters, very unique tracks, and a gimmick that services the core kart racing without overshadowing it. Teleporting between random worlds from across Sonic’s history in the middle of races is actually a blast, and Crossworlds got a little bit of a boost from delivering a massively fun arcade racer against a fairly disappointing iteration of its rival series. I highly recommend this game if Mario Kart World didn’t quite meet your expectations!
9. The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (2023)
Sonic the Hedgehog is a meme. That’s okay! It’s actually great. While the main games do acknowledge some of the insanity of the fandom, they tend to keep a straight face and earnestly try to be fairly serious even when Big the Cat is fishing for his pet frog for 39 uninterrupted minutes. I think that’s a huge part of what makes the series work, and stops it from falling into self-parody. In The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, released on April Fool’s Day as a little treat, SEGA’s social media team put together their first-ever video game! That’s right, the people behind the legendary Sonic Twitter account did this one. In this detective visual novel, Sonic and all his friends arrive on a luxury train to do a murder mystery party in costume for Amy’s birthday. Things go wrong quickly, and it seems Eggman is trying to sabotage the party by actually killing Sonic! This hilarious game is short and sweet at three hours and acknowledges or incorporates every meme, inside joke, ship, and wild theory from the fandom. Everything is canon!
10. Sonic Frontiers (2022)
Sonic Frontiers is the definition of a mixed bag, but it’s also hard to deny that it’s pretty fun to play. Directionless doesn’t even begin to describe it – Frontiers is a mashup of ten other, better games at once, some kind of a Frankenstein creation made of the scraps of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, NieR: Automata, Xenoblade Chronicles, and more. It’s also deathly serious the entire time; one minute, you’re playing a cowboy mini-game to wrangle little leaf creatures that are definitely not Koroks. The next, two of them are embracing and die tragically in each other’s arms at Knuckles’ feet. The open world is fun to traverse, the bosses are epic, the metalcore soundtrack by Kellin Quinn of Sleeping with Sirens is incredible, and the boost gameplay finally feels good. The shrine challenges are great, too! If you can square away the disconnect of Sonic talking about mass genocide of aliens on the Starfall Islands while Big the Cat teaches him how to fish, you’ll love Frontiers. If The Game Awards had an award for “Worst Game Direction”, Sonic Frontiers would take home the trophy proudly. Much like Sonic Adventure 2, the mishmash of ideas is more endearing than annoying. In the chaos, we find order!
11. Sonic Adventure (1998)
Sonic’s foray into the world of 3D was not seamless, smooth, organic, or graceful. When Super Mario 64 slammed onto the scene in 1996, SEGA narrowed their eyes and ominously rubbed their hands together. Mario has one more dimension now? So too shall Sonic. In Sonic Adventure, you have access to six separate stories controlling Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Big the Cat, and a rogue egg droid that achieves consciousness called E102-Gamma. Each character’s story kind of takes place in the same timeline, but not really. Don’t think about it too much. Each character has mission stages with objectives that are sometimes the same and sometimes not, and hub worlds to explore with secrets that often don’t reveal anything. Imagine if you find a treasure chest behind the first waterfall in the game, and then there are 27 more waterfalls in the game with nothing behind them. The legendarily bad lip-syncing during cutscenes is outmatched only by how absolutely uncontrollable the characters are with the brand new momentum gameplay and enough bugs and glitches to make Bethesda flinch. This probably seems pretty negative, but I love this game to death and continue to on replays as an adult. It’s like a “so bad it’s good” movie. Sonic Adventure also brought us Crush 40, the band that would make nearly every vocal song for every game for the next 20 years, as well as composer Jun Senoue, who cemented the iconic “butt rock” sound still associated with Sonic. Just open your heart – it’ll be alright.
12. Sonic Heroes (2003)
With the critical and commercial success of Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, the GameCube port SEGA created after they exited the console business with the failed Dreamcast, SonicTeam had finally become its own studio under the SEGA umbrella. Now, however, they faced a whole new challenge – developing for the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox all at once as a third-party game, rather than for their own hardware. In order to bring in new fans, Sonic Heroes reset the timeline and created new personalities for the characters, which continue to be used to this day. Sonic Heroes is one of the most unique games in the franchise, bringing a suite of 16 new 3D levels designed in the same fashion as the Sonic and Shadow stages in Sonic Adventure 2, but splitting the cast from across the franchise’s history into four teams. Each team had one Speed, one Flying, and one Power character, each with different powers. Team Sonic included Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles; Team Dark was Shadow, Rouge, and another rogue egg bot that achieved consciousness called Omega; Team Rose was Amy, Cream, and Big the Cat; and Team Chaotix was Vector the Crocodile, Espio, and Charmy Bee. These games continued the momentum-based gameplay, bringing in uncontrollable characters moving faster than the human eye could see, resulting in constant and frustrating deaths. Plus, the PlayStation 2 port was famously so broken it literally could not be completed. But remember how cool it was when they did a Team Blast? Do ya? A lot of this game did not work, but it did cement the charm, art style, and character personalities that would carry the franchise through its darkest days.
