Top 12 WORST Sonic the Hedgehog Games of All-Time

[EDIT: 1/16/13]: It's time for an Update because after doing some research (don't ask), I realised that I didn't give some of the Sonic Games the... ACTUAL reception it really deserves... so here's the modified list. Enjoy

Top 12 WORST Sonic Games of All-Time

12.) Sonic 3D Blast. Released in 1996 for the SEGA Genesis, January 1997 for the SEGA Saturn, and September 25, 1997 for PC.
It was one of the first few Sonic games to take a leap into a 3D environment, or at least tried to make a leap. The camera was almost an overhead view which made it difficult sometimes to tell if you're going to get hit or not. So really it was just a 3D Sonic the Hedgehog in a 2D world, a bad combination… no, Classic Sonic in Sonic Generations doesn't count because that was a good game and this one is not. In past Sonic games, it would have the blue blur run from left to right bringing up the SEGA logo and some sort of chorus say SEGA; but in this game the logo appears on its own and has some guy on caffeine saying SEGA, and then the letters fly off in a 3D pattern much similar to the Game Boy Advance letters flying onto the start-up screen. The story is basically Dr. Robotnik captures Sonic's friends which are fat colorful birds known as Flickies. You collect them back by defeating one of how many badniks in each zone. Each time you take damage, not only do you lose rings but you also lose the flickies you collected and you have to run past them in order to pick them up again, and since they run around like constipated Weiner dogs and in a 2D environment it gets tough to pull it off. Not to mention, there are some items in the game which you don't need, but will want to make the game easier, and most of them you can't get on your own. You have to use the flickies you collected and bounce on springs in order to get the item which seems tedious. One thing that seems ludicrous is that to advance to the next zone you have to return the Flickies to a warp ring that takes you to the next area; in the opening cutscene the Flickies are seen following Sonic into the Warp Ring, but in the game they jump into it and disappear… what happened to them? Do they die when they jump into the ring? We're supposed to be saving them, not encouraging them to self-sacrifice. Not to mention, Tails and Knuckles are in the game, but as warp zones to the Bonus Stages. That's right, Sonic's best friend and rival are in the game as Warp Zones. But at least this game's bonus stages are some of the best ever made for Sonic. The hardest part of the game are the Boss Battles, you want to know why? Well as it stands, 3D Characters + 2D environment… yeah. Now the SEGA Saturn version only exists as a makeup for the cancellation of Sonic X-Treme, which was supposed to be the Saturn's "Mario 64". Nevertheless, this attempt in the 3D World didn't work out so well and it is perfect for the number 12 spot.

11.) Sonic Riders. Released in February 21, 2006 for the GameCube, Playstation 2, and Xbox, and November 17, 2006 for PC.
Preceded by previous Sonic racing games, it was meant to celebrate Sonic's 15th Anniversary by putting Sonic in an environment that matched the world in what it was into at the time, Skate boarding. To make it more futuristic they made them into simple hover boards like in Back to the Future. Instead these were called Extreme Gear. What's insulting to the Sonic series compared to the first two Sonic racing games is that he's the "Fastest Thing Alive" (one of the antagonists even mentions it) and yet he has to use a frickin hover board? What were they thinking? The antagonists consist of a Fat Albatross named Storm, a sparrow named Wave, and a green hawk named Jet who believe it or not is recycled and reincarnated from the scrapped green duck "Bean the Dynamite". Even the final boss in the game has no purpose in the game and is basically just 'race to this object in 3 laps' and that's it, so little effort – A BIG LIPPED ALLIGATOR MOMENT (c wut I did thar?) When will SEGA ever learn that Sonic himself is faster than any Car or Hover board? Did they think that releasing two sequels to this game would make the franchise respected? If that's true then they've got another thing coming. Sonic Riders is better than the other certain racing game for Sonic, but that's not saying much because it still mocks Sonic's speed. If you had the chance to pass this game up despite it being Sonic's 15th Anniversary game, consider yourself lucky.

10.) Sonic Unleashed. Released in November 18, 2008 for the Playstation 2 and Wii / November 20, 2008 for the Xbox 360 / December 9, 2008 for the Playstation 3 / BlackBerry and several Nokia devices in August 25, 2009.
I really don't know what I was smoking when I had this game on my list of Top 12 BEST Sonic Games of All-Time, I guess the gameplay on the Playstation 2 somewhat had an appeal to me and my focus was shifted from the original Sonic gameplay I grew up with. Well anyway, the game has Chip the whatever he is; a character whether you love or hate, but in the end of the game he ceases to exist and apparently leaves something behind for Sonic which seems pointeless because it's never seen again. Okay onto the gameplay... there are gameplay settings - Daytime and Nighttime. At the Day, you're typical Sonic running around and bashin obstacles in your path; but at night you're the frickin Werehog where you just pummel the crap out of enemies with your... Werehog powers such as your extension arm (I don't know what that's all about, but whatever). Again, only Sonic is a playable while the other Sonic characters in the game are pretty much there for no apparent reason. All you're trying to do is gather information on how to restore power to the Chaos Emeralds which were drained at the beginnin by Dr. Eggman and is the main reason you're the Werehog in the first place AND help Chip get his memories back (wait WHAT?). The music is okay but pretty forgetful & the only thing I really do like about the game now that I've had a chance to play it again... is the daytime stages because you feel how the running really fast portions of the game have greatly improved over... that 2006 Sonic Game... (we'll get to that later). Oh well, this game is somewhat okay, but because there are more RPG elements to the game as well as beat em up portions that don't fit well in a Sonic game... it mostly sucks.

9.) Sonic the Fighters. Released in July 1996.
Originally released as an Arcade Game, it was unfortunately later ported onto the Nintendo GameCube and Sony Playstation 2 in the Sonic Gems Collection. The SEGA Saturn should be lucky it didn't have a port of this filth. Compared to other arcade fighting games, it was a polygon puke bomb. The control is awful, the graphics are as bad as Cybermorph on the Atari Jaguar (sorry, I had to go there), and the ending just ruined the game. It did have a decent choice of characters other than the Sonic crew, such as Espio and Fang. It did also have Bean the Dynamite before he was for some reason dropped from the franchise, but regardless the entire game was basically just a button masher with no strategy or effort put into it. The 3D environment is better than 3D Blast, but it doesn't help if the gameplay itself is just horrible. Not the worst Sonic game out there, but bad enough to be put in the number 9 spot. Nothing more humiliating than getting your polygonal ass handed to you by Bean (aka the Green Howard the Duck, nuff said).

8.) Sonic and the Black Knight. Released in March 3, 2009 for the Nintendo Wii.
It was released as a sequel to the Wii Game "Sonic and the Secret Rings" and just like that game, it was a side story. It seemed okay to release a game that steps away from the main Sonic story, but the problem was that it was released after the next Main Sonic Story Game "Sonic Unleashed" and that game came out after the Secret Rings. The gameplay for the Secret Rings was bad, but the Black Knight… oh God! It was pretty cool to have Sonic with a sword, but good luck being able to figure out how to put it to use. You're better off using Sonic's spin dash which you have the option to switch to, but why would people do that when they've got the frickin sword? It's there to tease you that's why. The other Sonic characters in the game are just medieval knock offs who don't even take off their armor or helmets, except for the medieval version of Amy which I don't even want to discuss. The game is supposed to revolve around the story of King Arthur, his knights at the round table, and his sword Excalibur. Take everything you knew about the story in school and the Disney movie "the Sword in the Stone" and then put in Sonic and the Black Knight into your Wii to throw it all out the window. Even worse, the bitch who brought you into the medieval world is the real Main villain. That's not to say other games did that such as Bioshock, but the difference is: in that game after the real main villain is revealed, there's still some gameplay left; in the Black Knight, there's just ONE level to play and then the final battle. You'd think that because it's a sequel, SEGA would learn from their mistakes in the Secret Rings and improve this game, but apparently side story games don't work that way especially on the Wii console.

7.) Sonic Drift. Released in March 18, 1994 for the SEGA Game Gear.
Do I even need to say anything? Sonic is in a frickin car! A CAR!! Sonic the hedgehog can run faster than the speed of sound, but that's not enough? He has to drive a car in this game? If that's not enough there are only 4 characters to choose from and 6 stages, that's it. It's bad enough that there is only little variety, but the controls are even worse than Sonic Riders, and the controls in that game were sort of bad but not terrible at least it's beatable. You don't even have to play it, you can just take one look at the cover and the instruction manual and you know it's bad. And you know what the worst part is? It has a sequel… Oh well, at least the sequel is better but even that is still bad.

6.) Wacky Worlds Creativity Studio. Released in March 24, 1994 for the SEGA Genesis.
The first thing that comes to your mind is "Wait, this is a Sonic Game?" Well of course, it has Sonic and Tails on the cover plus its fellow SEGA comrade "Ecco the Dolphin". First off, it's an education game… why? I really don't know, but all I can say is the title screen looks promising enough and the advertisement says you can 'Create Animated Worlds', 'Compose Cool Music', and it even includes a mouse controller. I really don't what that's all about, but despite everything it claims to have, it really had little to offer. Doing all of that in a 16-Bit console just spells Awfulness. The animated worlds are just a pixilated mess, the music sounds like it came off a 32x, and Sonic himself barely does anything. I don't even have to go any further, it's an education game… it makes me want to watch a "Sonic Says" clip from the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. A bad game in the disguise of a cool looking cover, what a tease.

5.) Sonic Shuffle. Released in November 13, 2000 for the SEGA Dreamcast.
Long story short, the game is basically a clone of Mario Party, and a bad one for that matter.  We already know that Crash Bash was the Playstation's clone of Mario Party, but hey SEGA had to have one as well. Of the three party based games, Mario Party is number one and Sonic Shuffle is number three. Anyway the worst part of this is the game was co-developed by Hudson Software who also developed Mario Party. I guess they had more fun with that than this Sonic knockoff. The game is pretty much the same as Mario Party except the villain is not Dr. Robotnik as opposed to Bowser in Mario Party… oh and the game uses cards instead of dice. What made the game bad was confusing/ frustrating mini-games, long loading times (but not as long as the loading times in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night), horrible music, useless and helpless instruction manuals and tutorials, and the CPU was more self-aware than in Mortal Kombat II, meaning hundreds of fun for the game but a million frustrations for the player. Now to be fair, there are some fun mini-games that Sonic Shuffle has that Mario Party doesn't, but a vast majority of it is better off on Crash Bash. Luckily this was the only Sonic-based Party game (to my knowledge), and it even makes Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games look legitimate.

4.) Sonic R Released in October 31, 1997 for Sega Saturn / November 11, 1998 for PC
Man this game is just awful. It's a racing game that's worse than Sonic Drift, I'm not joking. It's worse than Sonic Drift for two reasons: 1) Sonic Drift was on a handheld so it did have somewhat of an excuse to have the limitations it has; 2) The Sega Saturn was a commercial failure mostly because it didn't have a basic Sonic 3D Game and Sonic is Sega's Mascot so it had to have a reputation. The controls are so flunky and irresponsive that you're practivally running all over the place, the graphics are a huge disappointment for a 32-Bit game, AND the game is too damn short. You can literally beat it in one sitting without much effort (if you can get the controls to work). Now to be fair, the music and the sound are really cool. The game also introduces the Tails Doll which we all know and love/hate today (though it's the Creepypasta that made it what we fear or make fun of today). It's funny because I guess the only reason people make Tails Doll a little scary is because of he's controlled in the game, not to mention the game sucking so much. Oh well, bottom line is the game was a flop... but it does have kick ass music.

3.) Sonic '06. Released in November 14, 2006 for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.
Now I know what you're thinking right now before you even start reading "Bubba, Sonic '06 is the worst Sonic game ever. NOTHING is worse than this, how dare you put this in the number three spot it should be number one". Well hear me out because there are two Sonic games worse than this, and I'll explain why. Besides Sonic Riders, this game was also meant to be Sonic's 15th Anniversary Game, the basic problem was SEGA was reaching the deadline and had to rush the project in order to meet the release date. Big mistake there! This was the first Sonic game to be introduced to the new generation of gaming and for the time it seemed decent. Now everyone has played it and knows how bad it is, and the number something problem people have criticized about is the introduction of Silver the Hedgehog. The good things about the game were you could play as Shadow, Silver, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Blaze the Cat. Amy was overpowered while the flying controls on Tails were a frickin Nightmare !! As you start to play the game, you're stuck. You have to know to buy the upgrade for the Light Shoes from the store. Remember the rings? In previous games, you needed a certain amount to enter the special stages to get Chaos Emeralds just to get the Great endings. But in this game, you NEED rings more than ever just to advance the game. The worst problems: Sonic gets killed by the TRUE main villain, Eggman looks like the WORSE Eggman I've ever seen, There are stages where you just run and you can't stop (more than half the time it can get you killed), The secondary protagonist "Princess Elise" KISSES Sonic… in the lips… to bring him back to life, and worse of all – the ending. You erase the existence of the main villain and the memories of the adventures Sonic and Elise had. Meaning the game NEVER HAPPENED… WHAT THE FUCK WERE THEY THINKING!?!? You go through ALL that trouble, and yet it never happened… so what was the point of introducing Silver the Hedgehog if the events of his story never came to pass? Idk, but the bottom line, this game sucked but is NOT the worst Sonic Game ever… because the Xbox 360 game received praise when it first came out which later turned into negative reception AND the Playstation 3 port was WORSE. The Playstation 3 version came out just after the Xbox 360 version and it was worse. Xbox fans give yourselves a point for a game better than the PS3 version of the same game.  
Now I know what you're thinking again "What could possibly be worse than this game?" Well you might be surprised on what I've come up with, so here we go.

2.) Sonic Labyrinth. Released in November 1995 for the SEGA Game Gear.
I don't know what SEGA was smoking when they put this game on Sega Mega Collection Plus port for the Playstation 2 and the Xbox when this game received more negative reviews than the Playstation 3 version of Sonic '06. Basically Dr. Robotnik stole Sonic's shoes and gave him shoes that slowed him down and took away his ability to jump. In this game you run as slow as a slug and you jump like your feet are hammered to the ground. The only thing you can do to go fast is Spin Dash. Doesn't sound too bad, but the problem is the stage is so small that you'll more than likely fall off the stage and die before you can figure out the controls and adjust to the stage environment. On top of that, there's a time limit . You just get a key and take it to the gate leading to the next level… all without dying, within the time limit, slow speed, broken Spin Dash controls, and anchor jumps. This game is so bad that everyone wished to forget about its existence, and it worked… until I made people remember it again. Sorry everyone . Even with the negative reception of every other game above this list, this is still claimed as the WORST Sonic the Hedgehog game of all time… or at least it was until one certain game came along to steal the title.

Well here you go, the moment you've all been waiting for… The #1 WORST Sonic Game of ALL-TIME is…

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. Released in September 30, 2008 for the Nintendo DS.
Also known as the WORST RPG ever made. The characters are pixilated monstrosities, the backgrounds of each stage are bland and unappealing, and the gameplay… Oh God . Sonic and everyone else run slower than Mario's basic speed and even Eggman is a playable character, but he runs… True he ran as fast as Sonic in previous Sonic games, but he was a boss in those games… in this game he's an ally. The battle style is just awkward, the special moves are almost impossible to pull off and even you get them to work they don't do that much damage. The basic attacks miss their target half the time and Eggman attacks using wrenches, WTH!? And you want to know what purpose the Chao serve? Power-ups! Yes, you collect Chao and use them as power-ups… wonderful idea right? Heh heh heh WRONG!! The game introduces Shade, who is the last surviving Echidna besides Knuckles. Sounds like a love interest to me, but no she starts out as an enemy and later becomes an ally. Yes she's a girl and you know what that means to the furries right? OMG it's a new female Sonic character! I must… draw… PORN of it!! It's also another "Where the heck do I go?" type of game. Oh and don't get me STARTED on the Music *shudder* Give Sonic '06 some credit at least it had some good and memorable music, the music in this game... it's a pixelated catastrophe, it's like hearing finger nails scratching on a chalk board, it's like... um... well... it's still bad. The worst part of the game is it ends in a cliffhanger, meaning the game is demanding a sequel… oh god PLEASE don't let the sequel come to pass. This game rightfully deserves the title of the WORST Sonic the Hedgehog game of all time. I dread the day a Sonic game even worse than this one sees the light of day.

And there you have it, the Top 12 Worst Sonic the Hedgehog games of all time. I hope you enjoyed this list, if you didn't than oh well. Yeah I may not have given a full explanation of everything, but what do you expect from the over 3,000 words I had to type down anyway? I may end up making a video in the future with EVERY detail, only time will tell.

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