Every Sonic Game Ranked By Its Worst Level

While Sonic the Hedgehog has obtained a pretty unfair rap over the years for its quality, I'm typically swinging really positive on the series. But I wouldn't be a real fan of something if I couldn't see some absolutely awful levels when they're right in front of me.

I'll be covering the mainline console games. There's plenty of good and bad in the handheld games and the spin-offs, but I think focusing on the platformers that released on home consoles makes way more sense than trying to compare Sonic Unleashed to Sonic Triple Trouble and Pinball Party.

We'll be going from the game with the least painful worst level, to a game that has one particular level that stands out above the rest for being absolutely heinous, and a devious machination made to torture all of mankind.

For games with zones, I'll be counting all acts of the zone as the level. Games without zones will usually be pretty clear, but for any games that require a unique counting method, I'll be sure to clarify that.

1 Shadow Generations

Rail Canyon

For these top few games, their number ranking is pretty arbitrary, as they all don't really have a level I would even call bad, much less a standout one that's worth singling out with some of the absolute garbage later on the list.

Shadow Generations, the most recent Sonic game, is a pretty great example of that. All the zones in this game are great, and I only really chose Rail Canyon for this list because the rail grinding mechanics in modern Sonic aren't exciting.

In the original Sonic Heroes, while this level was painfully frustrating due to a lack of proper rail switching, that did at least make it exciting, as you were constantly at risk of losing progress due to barely not landing on a rail.

Shadow Generations makes up for it with all the on-land sections being really fun, and a few cool set pieces on the rails, but I don't think it's a scalding hot take to say every other level in this game is better than that.

2 Sonic Colors

Aquarium Park

I really had to contend with myself for this one, as I think all zones in Sonic Colors are all pretty much equal in quality. For that reason, I made the rather arbitrary decision to say Aquarium Park is probably my least favorite.

I adore the music here with my entire soul, the vibes are absolutely immaculate, and the level is almost always fun whenever it's in 3D, and plenty of the 2D sections are memorable and just as enjoyable as the rest of the game.

That said, the water mechanics in Colors don't feel super thought-through, letting you jump endlessly in water, and often equate to slower, floatier sections that only become really fun if you have a Drill Wisp on hand.

They aren't bad, but I enjoy the gimmicks of all the other areas far more. Plus, the little bits of precision platforming in Aquarium Park tend to piss me off a little more than the rest of the game's 2D-obsessed level design.

3 Sonic Mania

Oil Ocean

As with the previous entry, all of Mania's levels have really fun gimmicks, immaculate vibes, and an OST that is somehow still the cover image for SEGA Sound Team, despite the fact that SEGA themselves hardly worked on it.

The only real contender in my mind is Oil Ocean. It has the general flow and exciting new gimmicks that every Sonic Mania level has, but the parts of the level where you have to deal with the oil aren't the best.

Namely, wading through the fluid slowly and skipping tons of level design has left me feeling like I've never beaten this zone in the intended way, and doing it straightforwardly isn't fascinating.

That said, I love sliding down the oil slides, setting the entire place on fire, and Sonic Mania takes a terrible gimmick that I'll be bringing up later on this list and makes it actually fun, so those things all keep it up as a good stage.

4 Sonic 3 & Knuckles

Sandopolis Zone

For the least surprising reveal of this entire list, I think Sonic 3 and Knuckles is a great game! That said, Sandopolis Zone is a pretty standout bad level that I've been repressing from my mind since I played this game at 6 years old.

The first act is really good, actually, and it's really fun scaling down desert walls and running through the sandy hills. Once we hit the second act, though, things slow to a crawl, and this is where Mania's Oil Ocean got one of its gimmicks.

You need to constantly pull on levers to refresh the lights inside the pyramid, or else you'll slowly have ghosts manifest around you, eventually getting large enough to swarm you and kill you, which isn't very fun in combination with slow block-pushing puzzles.

The level tends to be really fun for short bursts, then it's back to pushing blocks, pulling levers, and trying to make it across a large gap in a small amount of time. It's really only up this high because it's just a single act of pain.

5 Sonic Unleashed

Arid Sands

If I were to count the day and night stages in Sonic Unleashed separately, then I probably would have focused my efforts on the atrocity that is Empire City Night. However, I consider the entire area as one zone, so Arid Sands feels just slightly worse overall.

While I do really love the day stage, it's probably the least memorable of all the day stages in this game, and especially frustrating during the falling pillars segment. The flow for the entire rest of the stage is absolutely immaculate, though.

Where things really come to a massive dip in quality is on the night stage, where some of the most annoying combat rooms in the entire game come out to play. It's cruel, and there are almost zero redeeming qualities.

I think it's hilarious that Sonic Team decided to put a staircase in this level that leads to the hell dimension where you need to fight a ton of enemies for 10 straight minutes, then made it look like the correct path forwards when it leads nowhere, but that is unfortunately not good game design.

6 Sonic and the Black Knight

The Cauldron

The storybook games are weird in terms of mainline status, as they're both technically console-exclusive platformers, but they have the sorta spinoff vibe. Sonic Generations refers to them, though, so whatever; I'll count them here.

That said, while Black Knight is very easily the better of the pair, it's not got the most impressive level design in the world. Every level is primarily just a sequence of running forward and killing enemies, more or less.

While I think every level accomplishes this purpose fine, The Cauldron is probably the worst of them. It has an annoying lack of respawn points, a bunch of hazards that can be irritating to navigate, and a very cumbersome lava raft.

It's not very remarkable otherwise, and the vibes are pretty great, so that little lack of levity and greater focus on being annoying rather than being challenging made me decide on it, mostly because I'm not counting the second King Arthur fight, which is abysmal.

7 Sonic Adventure

Hot Shelter

For Sonic Adventure, due to its rather unconventional structure, levels are ranked based on every character's campaign, not just Sonic's. With that said, Sonic doesn't even appear in Hot Shelter, because it kinda sucks.

Tails and Knuckles don't get to visit either, leaving just the outliers, Big the Cat, Amy Rose, and Gamma. Gamma's run through it is actually really enjoyable, as are all of his levels, but the other two have a pretty bad roll.

Big's level here is boring, as is usual for the big purple cat, and feels really restrictive due to the incredibly small pond you're forced to fish in. Amy has the most interesting level here, but it's not particularly good at all.

The gears are really annoying to platform across, the level design is either far too encumbering or really trivially defeated by Amy's hammer bounce, and the chase sequences just don't really do it for me. Amy's campaign also lowkey sucks, but that's a discussion for another day.

8 Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2

Sky Fortress Zone

While it's an incredible, underrated improvement on the first episode of Sonic 4, that doesn't mean that Episode 2 is entirely off the hook. The level design still falters in all the same ways, just far less often.

However, if Sky Fortress Zone were in the first game, I wouldn't even question it. This place has you constantly platforming above a big bottomless pit, and that's only after an entire autoscroller act that is mind-numbingly boring.

This autoscroller lasts five entire minutes, only really offers some challenge in the way of a few enemies bombarding you, and I can probably beat Super Mario Bros. while doing this entire act.

Once you board the fortress, there are a ton of straight lines and homing attack chains you'd come to expect, but any time there's a real obstacle in your way, you will learn to hate the slippery, laggy controls that feel really annoying here.

9 Sonic Frontiers

Chaos Island/3-5

Sonic Frontiers is incredibly weird for this list, as the game calls the open world areas "Open Zones." Shadow Generations counts an entire island as a single zone, but the more traditional Cyberspace levels make slightly more sense to count as one level.

So, screw it, we're talking about both. In terms of Open Zones, Chaos Island is easily the worst one. Chock-full of 2D segments that feel incredibly jarring to be thrown into from random dash panels, and world design that is really annoying to navigate.

Chaos Island also contains my choice of worst Cyberspace level, 3-5. This stage introduces the drifting mechanic from previous Sonic games, except it feels like you're trying to hit a drift in a car on a road made of ice, and the car is also a dying fish.

This level is a bunch of circles, with a few rings, and some straight lines. There is nothing of value there. I do enjoy Chaos Island despite its issues, but I'd be lying if I said the combination of these two should make Sonic Frontiers rank any higher.

10 Sonic Generations

Planet Wisp

For some reason, despite being an incredible game overall, Sonic Generations fumbles the bag really hard with the final level. Planet Wisp doesn't even hit the vibe of a final level at all, and it's really not fun, despite being way better in Sonic Colors.

The modern level opens pretty enjoyably, running through a big grassy field, jumping across platforms, and not feeling restricted at all. Then, the level turns 2D and becomes absolutely maniacal, forcing you to wait for slow-moving platforms and use the worst Wisp, Rocket.

The classic side of things doesn't fare much better. It's got a better flow, since the spike wisp doesn't slow everything to a halt as much, but having to use it to spin on some very janky gears and try to maneuver around isn't my idea of a great classic Sonic level.

They're both not infuriating, but not enjoyable. I hate the modern side of it more, especially in comparison to every other level in this game. There is a reason that I frequently boot up Generations, replay every level in the game, then turn it off as soon as I hit Planet Wisp.