My first game was Sonic 2, and I loved playing through Sonic 3&K after that. Picking up a used copy of Sonic 1 later felt super clunky for me, but I still appreciated it for its classic levels despite me jumping into the franchise later where Sonic's movements were much improved over the original game.

As a kid, Sonic CD was this mysterious game which I never really understood how it fit in to the Sonic franchise. While many friends had the Genesis, no one I knew had a Sega CD (in fact, I literally didn't even know it and the 32X were peripherals that existed at the time). Several years later when I saw Sonic CD in a Toys R Us for PC, I actually passed on it when my dad offered to buy because I lacked confidence in playing a Sonic game with a keyboard and mistakenly assumed it was lame spinoff from the Sonic series.

Years later I finally got to play Sonic CD for the first time with the Gamecube's Sonic Gems collection (and it encouraged me to pick up a used Sega CDX). Sonic CD feels more like an organic sequel to Sonic 1 and continues much of the original's vibe, and I would recommend to anyone playing the franchise for the first time should play Sonic CD directly after Sonic 1 as the movements in both games feel more in tune with each other before playing Sonic 2 and 3&K.

Perhaps I am biased since Sonic 2 was my first game, but I much preferred the direction that one took as opposed to the one Sonic CD did. This article celebrates slowing down and exploring, but I think Sonic 3&K (looking for all those giant rings) did a way better job of that. I was one who'd slow down and investigate alternate routes in those games back in the day (I didn't have a tonne of games as a kid, so I really got to know those games inside and out), but Sonic CD's level design just felt chaotic and cramped which made various routes less enticing to explore because they were less distinguished from one another.

It's interesting to hear Sonic CD and Sonic 2 were developed concurrently yet independent of each other, and it highlights how weirdly SEGA was operated as a business prior to its console collapse.

@judaspete: I agree; I'm baffled at how it made that much money.

You don't say?

The franchise appears to be ready and able to continue reaching great heights!

@cj_topspinCareful: being a comedian might get you slapped.

But will Uncle Vanya's have it?

This whole thing appears to serve bias rather than relevant narrative.

Zones have always had a distinct start/finish design in Sonic the Hedgehog games, so I'm curious as to how this game will work. If it ends up ditching its zone/level structure to be anything like Zelda BotW where large temples were ditched in favour of an open-world, I really do not see this game turning out well. If it's an open-world like Sonic Adventure that leads to levels, then it might be more of a true Sonic flavour.

I haven't seen the new one, so I won't comment on that, but I really liked how the first one offered a bit of a lens (even if it's sensationalized) into MJ's personal life. As a kid, I was in awe seeing a closer look into the superstar as a human being off the court with a family.

You know the studio made him do it.