Zones we hate

[Unidus]

One of the blandest zones I've ever experienced is Hill Top Zone; it feels like Emerald hill with a bit of a palette swap.

[Diz]

I would have to go with Casino levels, although I eventually grew to love the one in Sonic 3. They may be intended for you to have fun, relax, chill out, but for me, it was the opposite. I never really managed to finish them, I found it so frustrating finding out where to go, and every time I felt I found the right way, I was bounced right back into a huge game of pinball, slot machines or bouncing madness, spending ages to escape.

I also will have to go with Sandopolis Zone in Sonic & Knuckles. The first act was alright. Fun, challenging and new, however it did have that eerie feel that something scary was going to happen soon. Then the second act started. The music became intense, the bass penetrated my soul. I wanted to get out of there, and in my hurry, I went crashing right into the ghost-sealing capsule, breaking them free. No matter what you do, they will always be there, and you have to keep the area lit up, or else they'll kill you. I always hated ghosts more than anything, which did not help my terrifying moments in that pyramid. I swear, I was stuck in there for at least an hour. It took me a very long time to figure out the eternal sandslide. I kind of had an Amnesia: The Dark Descent moment back then, you could say, and I almost had a nightmare because of that place. XD

[TheOcelot]

I also will have to go with Sandopolis Zone in Sonic & Knuckles. The first act was alright. Fun, challenging and new, however it did have that eerie feel that something scary was going to happen soon. Then the second act started. The music became intense, the bass penetrated my soul. I wanted to get out of there, and in my hurry, I went crashing right into the ghost-sealing capsule, breaking them free. No matter what you do, they will always be there, and you have to keep the area lit up, or else they'll kill you. I always hated ghosts more than anything, which did not help my terrifying moments in that pyramid. I swear, I was stuck in there for at least an hour. It took me a very long time to figure out the eternal sandslide. I kind of had an Amnesia: The Dark Descent moment back then, you could say, and I almost had a nightmare because of that place. XD

 

 

Everything you just said about Sandopolis is why I love that level. I mean dramatic/creepy music, ghosts that grow big and are deadly as it gets darker (I'm sure a hacked-off Knuckles made a note to thank Sonic for releasing them). Rising sand, clever puzzles to overcome. A tricky boss in act 2.

 

This was a perfect 2d level IMO.

 

For some reason by least favourite level in S&K is Flying Battery. It's a good level don't get me wrong, but something about that level just really bugs me.

[SilentDoom]

Only Casino levels I really disliked were the ones in Heroes. Those were a complete drag. Carnival Night and Casino Paradise are very good levels in my opinion though, the former only shying away from being quite possibly my favourite level in the game if it weren't for the terribad music (no not the barrel of doom, the music is what I hate about this level).

[Law]

Marble Zone and Labyrinth Zone; where's the fucking speed?

[Semi-colon e]

Now that I've played 06 fully (and actually thought it wasn't as much of a trainwreck as I was expecting, it was more blandly bad in most places that weren't Mach Speed levels or Snowboarding), I have a few more.

The mach speed levels and snowboarding, obviously. The snowboarding is unco-operative, but I seem to be good at it somehow. The mach speed levels are always thrown at the very end of a stage and just fuck up an otherwise perfect run, they look sloppy, the level design is ass, lack of jumping control, and the lack of recovery time after hits (which is worse in the snowboarding actually) always makes me dread these specific sections of levels.

Flame Core sucks ass. Silver's is tedious but otherwise blandly bad, but Sonic's and Shadow's are not only near enough identical, but repetitive as all hell. Some of the same sections of the level appear two or three times. And the wall running is broken, they just put so much shit in your way you're guaranteed to fall into lava, where your rings disappear FOREVER. At least they had good grace to put in mercy routes. Oh and the dark stuff is too dark, even when you light Barney's testicles.

Kingdom Valley as Shadow is horrendous. The hang glider section is so short it's pointless, meaning more loading screens. The Rouge section is like the one part where I encountered the wall glitch, but I got around it. Treasure hunting with no radar isn't much fun though. But the worst part is the fucking water section where the towers fall on top of you, instantly killing you, only they come from fucking offscreen. And the level is really long as well, it's only the second level, but the entireity of 06 has no difficulty curve whatsoever, just bouncing all over the place like a bad game should.

Silver's Dusty Desert. The ball puzzle doesn't bear mentioning, thank god I found out about that glitch to bypass it. However, the rest of the level is slow, tedious, unfun, and you get to play as Amy in a section which is slow, not fun, and tedious, and it's easy to just walk off into the bottomless pit in that big square room with the platforms around the outside. People say that Sandopolis is bad, but it's nowhere near as bland or as shitty as the indoor sections of Dusty Desert (as Sonic it's actually one of the better levels imo).

Silver's Aquatic Base is here because you have to do that ball walking thing TWICE.

The vehicle section of White Acropolis is jarringly annoying compared to the rest of Shadow's level.

And lastly, Wave Ocean as Sonic and Tails. The Tails only level and section in Sonic's level is just "fly fly fly shit missed the dash ring abyss try again". But the main issue is that until now you've just been dicking around doing missions and cutscenes, now the first level just throws shitty controls and glitchiness, one of the worst amigo characters, and then, when you're done with that, a mach speed section where the difficulty goes insane as it's the first one. And the worst part is, BOTH Sonic's and Tails's completely redundant run throughs of this stage advance absolutely fucking nothing in the story.

Edited July 20, 2012 by Semi-colon e

[Phos]

Have you even played Colours? Because I'm sick of Sonic fans who haven't played Colours (e.g if they don't own a Wii, which is fair enough) dismissing it as 'boring'. I feel bad because I assumed it was too, and was baffled when some people were saying it was better than the Adventure games. However, I eventually got the game, and for all its (mostly minor) flaws, it's really fun.

Yeah. I got up to Starlight Carnival and got bored.

[Blue Blood]

Have you even played Colours? Because I'm sick of Sonic fans who haven't played Colours (e.g if they don't own a Wii, which is fair enough) dismissing it as 'boring'. I feel bad because I assumed it was too, and was baffled when some people were saying it was better than the Adventure games. However, I eventually got the game, and for all its (mostly minor) flaws, it's really fun.

Colours is the worst good Sonic game. It's incredibly dull, and this coming from someone who has invested a lot of time in it.

Yeah. I got up to Starlight Carnival and got bored.

Starlight Carnival: It's like I'm really watching a cutscene!

Hm. Has anyone mentioned Sand Ocean yet (Eggman's desert stage in SA2)? God that level is a bloody nightmare. It's all jumping across small , which is really annoying when the jumping has little hang time and the platforms are so narrow. It's not a hard stage, but it's normally where I find myself compelled to stop playing SA2.

Edited July 20, 2012 by Blue Blood

[TalosHedgie]

Pretty much all underwater or close-to-water levels.

Now the real one, the one that makes me wanna throw my controller against the wall in a fit of rage (then go into a bigger fit of rage when I find out I broke it), is the Chemical Plant Zone of Sonic 2. Annoying tubey things which blue stuff comes out of, stupd enemies with yellow-ball-shooting heads, not to mention playing Act 2 makes me jittery as I try not to take the paths that take me into the water. Then I'm fine until I finally reach the boss, get tipped into the water, and sit there, and I'm just like "Fuck." Then when I realize that was my last life and I have no continues, that "Fuck." turns into "SON OF A FREAKING !@%*%!;%*!;(moar censored words)"

[SilentDoom]

Pretty much all underwater or close-to-water levels.

Now the real one, the one that makes me wanna throw my controller against the wall in a fit of rage (then go into a bigger fit of rage when I find out I broke it), is the Chemical Plant Zone of Sonic 2. Annoying tubey things which blue stuff comes out of, stupd enemies with yellow-ball-shooting heads, not to mention playing Act 2 makes me jittery as I try not to take the paths that take me into the water. Then I'm fine until I finally reach the boss, get tipped into the water, and sit there, and I'm just like "Fuck." Then when I realize that was my last life and I have no continues, that "Fuck." turns into "SON OF A FREAKING !@%*%!;%*!;(moar censored words)"

Fun fact: In Act 2 of Chemical Plant it's possible to not even go anywhere near the water sections if you take a certain route. It's the route I take all the time through the level.

Also no offense, but you must really suck at the game if you're having that much trouble with one of the easiest zones in the game.

[Stritix]

,k,Nuc,kl.esw an rouge swtagesw from swo#nic aventure 2.l

[LATER BUDDY]

You drunk L or just forgot grammar or something?

[Stritix]

You drunk L or just forgot grammar or something?

I spilt water on my laptop, and just found the on-screen keyboard.

[LATER BUDDY]

Oh ok, well at least you have an alternative now, just clearing it up.

Anyways, back to hating Zones and stuff

[Gabz Girl]

Unpopular opinion here but...

I really, REALLY don't like Final Rush. It makes Final Chase look like the best hedgehog stage in SA2, and I don't understand why it gets so much praise. Sure the level looks cool, but what's so fun about grinding through 95% of the stage? Not to mention the bland music and how sometimes, when I want to jump to another rail, Sonic flies off and falls to his death.

At least Final Chase has better music, is shorter and has a cool gimmick with the gravity barrels, not just grind grind grind.

Edited July 22, 2012 by Gabz Girl

[Solkia]

Sonic Rush

"Which level in so-" ALL OF THEM.

[TalosHedgie]

Fun fact: In Act 2 of Chemical Plant it's possible to not even go anywhere near the water sections if you take a certain route. It's the route I take all the time through the level.

Also no offense, but you must really suck at the game if you're having that much trouble with one of the easiest zones in the game.

Suck? Good lord, no. I've beaten Sonic 2 all the way through without cheats. The main point I was trying to emphasise was that Chemical Plant Zone killed me the first time I played. Played it a few more times and I was fine. The main thing that got me was where Act 2 had me hopping upward on these moving blocks quickly before I drowned. I would just keep yelling at the blocks like "Come on, hurry up dammit!" and would barely make it. But I made it. I was just super slippy at the boss stage and would fall into the water. Other than that, I found it pretty easy. Water parts make me freak out.

[XanMan]

I dislike Marble Zone from Sonic 1. It's background reminds me of Altered Beast, which is ugly, and it's too long and full of shit to be a second level. I would always stop playing when I kept dying on that zone as a kid...My patience for video games is very low I guess. I gotta grow out of that...

[Sapphire]

Labyrinth Zone. I hate and am terrible at most water levels, and I'm really not a fan of many levels in Sonic 1, so this level is really really ass.

Sonic Adventure Big levels. I hate fishing, and fishing in a Sonic game is just stupid.

Security Hall and Mad Space. Security Hall was really frustrating trying to beat with that stupid 5-minute time limit, and I ALWAYS get lost during Mad Space.

Spagonia Night. I spent 45 minutes in this level. And that was what the clock said when I finished the level, so that doesn't include all my deaths. Yes, Unleashed Night levels were ALL pretty terrible, but this one brings back the most pain and suffering for me.

To be honest, I never beat Sonic 06. I couldn't suffer through it. But the boss fight with Silver? IT'S NO USE.

Most of Sonic 4. But mostly this.

Edited July 22, 2012 by Sapphire

[Jmh]

Definitely mad space.

[FireBird75]

2D Games: Marble Zone, Labyrinth Zone (All labyrinth levels suck in Sonic), Wacky Workbench (I WAS FROZEN TODAY!), Metropolis Zone, Wing Fortress (How are people missing this little stinker?), Sandopolis, Every level in Sonic 2 GG. Ice Mountain Zone, Sky Canyon, Altitude Limit, Machine Labyrinth.

 

2.5/3D Games: Every level in Sonic Labyrinth, Spring Stadium, Sky Deck, Mad Space, Lost Jungle, Central City (Shadow), Lost Impact, The Doom, Cosmic Fall, Every level in Sonic 06, 

Edited March 19, 2013 by FireBird75

[Spin Attaxx]

Sandopolis Zone.

 

It drags.

 

It really drags.

 

It really.

 

FUCKING.

 

DRAGS.

Edited March 18, 2013 by Spin Attaxx

[Cortez]

I can't stand Marble Zone because of the absolutely tedious generic Platforming and how square the stage is. If there were more outside sections I could probably forgive it but there isn't so I can't. If Labyrinth didn't have such good music I'd probably hate it for the same reasons.

I used to hate Aquatic Ruin Zone as a kid but I love it now, I think it's because it seemed like a chore compared to Chemical Plant and I wanted to get to Casino Night quickly back then.

All the obvious ones have already been said, Aquatic Base from '06 is quite high up there on my hated levels list though. Really clunky and square level design, plenty of 'destroy all enemies to advance' rooms and those balls can go fuck themselves!

[Chaos Incarnate]

Scrap Brain act 3: Just a retread of labyrinth zone, with more obstacles and an easier chance of drowning

Wing Fortress zone: I'm always worrying about falling into a stupid bottomless pit'

Sandopolis: Goes on way too long for it's own good.

Lost World: I had a miserable time walking on those wall platforms

Crazy Gadget: Same as above, and I always rage quit at the end due to having to move this one platform that won't work for me.

Sky canyon: Only had fun in this level as cream, since she kept flying over pits, and used her spammable chao to obliterate incoming enemies.

Eggmanland( unleashed HD): Do I even need to explain why this level sucks balls? Goes on longer than it needs to, bottomless pits galore, too many tightrope walking werehog sections, etc.

Starlight Carnival act 3: Man, what a life drainer. I kept fucking up and missing platforms in this spring oriented level.

[Generations]

Pretty much all the water zones.