Sonic Unleashed, Holoska, by jvvi.

One of my favorites from the game. Reminds me of the Ice Cap Zone from Sonic Adventure. Also, reminds me of Happy Feet.

I remember the first time I played this stage, I was going along thinking it was pretty fun. The sled was cool but I always died because the controls weren’t the best.

Then that fucking whale comes out and almost eats you twice.

Sonic Heroes, first screen (stage selection), by jvvi.

This was always one of my favorite games (originally on PS2, but I eventually got it for GameCube when I lost my first copy).

I can’t draw characters. But Big was a ton of fun to play as.

I gave up on Charmy the Bee, because, really, who gives a damn about Charmy the Bee?

[Josh says: I’m going to admit that I have always had kind of a shitty attitude about Sonic.  Not as a franchise — the original games were pretty great as a twist on early platformers — but as a product of the hated Sega (I was a NES kid through-and-through in playground arguments) but more so just for the character design.  Sonic always looked like he deserved a punch in the face.  I don’t know.  Emotional baggage.  I should maybe talk to a therapist about this.]

Sonic Adventure, Station Square, by jvvi.

I played the Sega Dreamcast version. I think the GameCube’s “Sonic Adventure DX” is the same, but I thought I’d make the note.

I hadn’t played the game for years, but earlier this month I went back and played through it again after Sonic Generations peaked my nostalgia. Just as fun now as it was back then.

Sonic the Hedgehog, Green Hill Zone act I, by J-Man.

My favorite game series ever, I’ve played this game and level probably 100000 times by now. Rings/enemy/level design/etc is all approximate but should be close enough. Even today Green Hill 1 is THE iconic Sonic stage.

Sonic Adventure 2, City Escape, by cubeybooby.

I know this level by heart because in Sonic Adventure 2, the way to get a lot of rings (to buy things for your Chao, of course) was to play through City Escape, over and over and over. My brothers and I could get about 300 rings each time. I don’t even remember where most of the rings are, I just sort of fly through and enjoy the constant flow of rings.

Sonic Spinball, Toxic Caves, by cubeybooby.

This is the first level of Sonic Spinball, a Megadrive/Genesis game I’ve loved since I was five years old. There are little things that make every location in every level of Spinball unique and memorable, and keeping track of where you are in the level is important, especially since pinball-based navigation can get weird. It’s a really good early example of non-linear level design, I think.

Also, the Egg Scorpion wins my vote for creepiest video game boss ever.