Whenever someone talks about Sonic in 3D form, it’s always that same form of boring, repetitive dialogue about how this is when the entire franchise went downhill. From turning Sonic eyes green to changing up the character design to being forced to play as Sonic’s “annoying” friends, that is always the kind of stuff you here from so-called critics. Similar to those that claim that Spongebob has sucked since the first movie, the general conscious nowadays seems to be that Sonic reached his peak at the end of the classic era and that he just can never, ever be as good in the modern era.
Never mind the fact that games like Sonic Adventure 1, Adventure 2, Heroes, Colors, and Generations got relatively positive reviews at the time of their releases or even other games like Secret Rings, Unleashed (Wii), and Frontiers got at worst a fairly lukewarm response. History always tends to be rewritten by certain critics and reviewers everywhere that Sonic has not and will never work in 3D! (Or in IGN’s case, Sonic has never been good!) I find that to be the most hyperbolic and nonsensical statement ever! Yes, there have been a handful of 3D Sonic games that are legit bad but there are plenty of others that are either good, decent, or at worst “meh”.
The biggest problem with Sonic over the years is the way that SEGA and Sonic Team is constantly trying to reinvent the franchise instead of sticking to a working formula and building upon it. Even when they have that working formula, they will eventually scrap it so they could start over from scratches and make another game that feels more like an “experiment” than an actual game. As a result, the series has becoming multiple different things over the years and because of that, people now want multiple different things. The more you try to change courses with the series, the harder it will be to please people and the more inconsistent in quality the games will be. And that is something has been painfully obvious with Sonic in the third dimension.
Now with the blue hedgehog turning 33 years old, here are my rankings every main 3D Sonic game to date from worst to best!
Fyi, despite being technically a 3D game, I am NOT gonna include 3D Blast because that game is just not worth bringing up!
Also, I’m including the storybook series because why not?!
And also, Unleashed on the Wii because it’s different enough than the HD version and plenty of folks out there have that as their definite version of the game.
16.) Sonic and the Secret Rings (2007)
While this might not be the game that caused the most damage to Sonic’s reputation, I can’t think of a more infuriating 3D experience than with Sonic and the Secret Rings! It’s storybook premise is an admittedly interesting idea on paper but the execution of it is probably some of the worst I’ve seen in any video game!
The levels are poorly designed, the level progression and padding is beyond stupid, and the controls are easily the worst of any 3D Sonic game and perhaps any video game ever! Sonic has never controlled so awkwardly and has never had more outrageous design choices than the ones that are present here. Throw in an annoying theme song that plays nonstop, an idiotic bad guy with such an absurdly stupid plan, and a laughable and emotionally unearned ending and you got perhaps the worst Sonic game in the main series!
Sonic and the Secret Rings is not just the worst 3D Sonic game ever made, it’s one of the worst video games I’ve ever played period! This is the only game on this list that I never beat because I don’t have the patience or insanity to do so. And keep in mind, I’m someone that played through and beat all the other games on this list, even the bad ones! That should tell you something!
15.) Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric (2014)
The most poorly received 3D Sonic title to date is not quite the worst thing to ever happen to the blue blur but it’s pretty damn close. It has a nice tone and cinematic feel to it with plenty of solid banter and voice work throughout. Unfortunately, when it comes to the actual gameplay itself, it’s about as unpolished and lackluster than you could possibly imagine for a video game!
The Ratchet & Clank treatment that Big Red Button Studios desires to give Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric does not work in the slightest, making the whole experience feel not so much like a Sonic game but a game that just happens to have Sonic characters in it. The level design is dull, the main villain Lyric is generic bad guy #723, and plenty of folks have picked apart the number of bugs and glitches to death that it’s hardly worth bringing up. And also Shadow is here for literally no reason whatsoever!
The main results of Rise of Lyric is a show tie-in in game that was clearly rushed out of the gate to make it on time for the Sonic Boom tv series. It’s a game that’s so bad that it practically killed Big Red Button before they even had a chance to get their foot through the door. While the main Sonic Boom show was able to win the hearts of many fans, this Wii U exclusive cash-in is best left ignored.
14.) Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)
Everyone and their mother have picked this game apart and for good reason. The story is dumb and nonsensical, the controls are nearly completely broken, many of the side characters/missions are pointless, the loading times are obnoxious and way too long, and the glitches are just everywhere, EVERYWHERE! And of course, the beasility romance makes the love story in Twilight seem believable. However, as time goes by, there is something to admire about 06 as it has the kind of scale and ambition that most games in the series hasn’t had in a long time.
Sonic and Blaze the Cat are mostly fun to play as (*insert Chimanruler15 forgetting who Blaze the Cat is*), the music is amazing (a consistent quality in most Sonic games), and even the glitches can be quite fun to play around with. Just a shame that Sonic Team shot themselves in the foot repeatedly making stupid choice after stupid choice with SEGA breathing down their neck to make sure it gets released on time by Christmas 2006.
Maybe it’s because many years has passed where the wounds have had time to heal and there’s been plenty of fan mods that have helped “fixed” the game but kinda like with Shadow the Hedgehog, I do find this to be a guilty pleasure in quite a bit of areas. Would I ever call the game good? Hell no! But would I call it the worst game ever made or even my least favorite Sonic game? Hell no as well!
13.) Shadow the Hedgehog (2005)
The one time in the series where Sonic Team tried to make the Sonic franchise a bit “edgier”. What we are given with Shadow The Hedgehog is a huge departure from the main series, despite still being canon to the main storyline of the franchise.
With aliens, machine guns, and a whole lot of “damns” thrown in the mix, this feels like a fan game with a script writing by a 10-year old edge lord who played way too much Call of Duty and learned a few bad words. Yes, this is as completely stupid as it sounds. The most surprising thing is that the gun gameplay itself is actually quite solid and is actually the big highlight of the game. Too bad, the level themselves are too long, the narrative is convoluted as hell, and being forced to beat the game in TEN different way in order to unlock the final story is padding at it’s absolute worst.
I will admit to finding this game to be a guilty pleasure in some areas since the plot and cutscenes are hilarious in a “so bad, it’s good” kind of way (“I’m going to destroy this damn planet!” kills me every time!) . That being said, there is no damn way in hell I can call this a damn good game. (See what I did there?!)
12.) Sonic and the Black Knight (2009)
The best thing you can say about The Black Knight is that it’s immensely better than Secret Rings. The controls itself are functional and the gameplay itself is actually playable. Plus, it looks and sounds great and the cutscenes themselves are pretty entertaining. And I don’t think Sonic has sounded any better than he does with this game with Jason Griffith killing it here! However, it still can’t quite unlock the potential of Sonic in these storybook settings.
The levels themselves are quite dull with not much challenge or momentum to it and the majority of the experiences mostly just amounts to shaking the Wii remote over and over and over again. Not to mention, the game itself can be beaten in just three or so hours with not much post-game content for you to want to play more of it after you beat the main story.
For a game as bizarre of a premise as this, you would think it would leave more of an impression on you than simply “meh”. You can certainly do worse but you can also do a whole lot better.
11.) Sonic Lost World (Wii U) (2013)
When I brought up in the beginning how Sonic Team has this constant nag of always trying to re-invent the wheels instead of letting a good idea simmer, Sonic Lost World is a great example of what I was referring to. The follow-up to Sonic Generations sees Sonic Team taking a page from Super Mario Galaxy with floating gimmicks and putting more focus on platforming than speed.
However, the game itself never quite understands why that gameplay worked exclusively for Mario and not so much for Sonic. It’s the definition of throwing stuff as the wall to see what sticks. A good chunk of levels work well enough and are fun to play but there’s never a consistency to the main core gameplay because it’s never established what exactly the core of the game is. The game constantly changes the rules as you go on to the point where you wonder who this game was even made for. And don’t even get me started on the story which it’s bs tryhard “drama” between Sonic and Tails along with the main bad guys that are simply Skylander rejects.
There’s being ambitious and then there’s just being aimless. Despite having it’s moments, Lost World definitely leans much closer to the latter than the former.
10.) Sonic Forces (2017)
After the mixed results of Lost World, Sonic Team goes back to the boost formula with a new “custom-your-own-character” gimmick, only to end up breaking what wasn’t broken. Imagine a more water-down version of Sonic Generations with a create-your-own character gimmick and this is basically what you get.
The levels themselves are way too short and easy, Classic Sonic is useless and butchered beyond repair, and don’t get me started on Infinite and his “I AM NOT WEAK” nonsense. However, Modern Sonic gameplay is still fun and making your own character is actually quite cool as well.
You can make the argument that Lost World is a more polished and better made game but Forces does feel more in-line with Sonic and has at least clear idea of what target audience it has in mind. It’s a perfectly middle-of-the-road game that deserves it’s middle-of-the-road ranking of the 3D Sonic games.
9.) Sonic Heroes (2004)
This was the first Sonic game I ever played so it certainly leaves a special place in my heart. That being said, it’s certainly far from perfect.
There are good chunks of the game that are fast and fun, the level design themselves have plenty of neat gimmicks and designs, the soundtrack is stellar, and the overall message and concept of teamwork is a great and interesting one for the Sonic series. Unfortunately, there are major issues when it comes to controls, physics, and repetition. The game can feel too fast at times, the physics are quite sloppily, and being forced to play basically the same game four times over feels like needless padding.
The good and bad of Sonic Heroes balance each other throughout the game and it mostly depends on what end you find yourself landing on more when playing it that will determine your overall feelings of the game as a whole.
8.) Sonic Unleashed (Wii) (2008)
The SD version of Unleashed is quite different from it’s HD counterpart but it’s arguably the inferior version of this polarizing game. It’s doesn’t so much share the pros and cons of the HD version but has pros and cons of it’s own.
There’s no metal collecting, the night stages are much shorter, no forced hub world sections, you can actually explore the Gaia temples, and even the final boss has a Punch-Out Wii section that I can’t help but love. However, there’s more night stages than necessary, less day stages than necessary, and getting extra lives is more tedious than necessary. Who seriously thought it was good idea to take away the “100 rings gives you an extra life” gimmick? It was a dumb idea when they did it in Lost World and is a dumb idea here.
The first 2/3rds of the game are relatively enjoyable with a proper balance of everything but the last third gets way too bloated and padded to a ridiculous level which will likely leave you quite exhausted by the time the credit roll. It’s worth trying out but definitely get it at a discount.
7.) Sonic Adventure 2 (2001)
A fan-favorite of the series and the one that got an entire generation of Sonic fans into the series is more known for it’s reputation as oppose to it’s actual quality.
The Sonic/Shadow stages are as awesome as ever, the music still slaps, the story is cheesy but also entertaining, and the expansion of the Chao Garden along with the multiplayer mode helps increase the replay value of the game greatly. Just a shame it’s still bogged down by mediocre-to-okay shooting stages with Tails and Eggman along with absolutely terrible treasure hunting stages with non-existent radars with Knuckles and Rouge. I also don’t get that same sense of adventure that the first one gave us with it’s lack of hub world and more cluster phobic level design.
Sonic Adventure 2 is a game I respect more than I actually love and is a game I feel that the sums are better than it’s parts. But the sums are constantly scattered throughout and pretty damn good when they occur.
6.) Sonic Dream Team
This newest 3D installment made exclusively for IOS and Apple Devices makes for the first fully 3D Sonic game with multiple characters added to the main campaign since Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). Following the mixed results of mobile Sonic games with the likes of Sonic Dash and Sonic Forces: Speed Battle, Sonic Dream Team is able to provide the most comfortable feeling mobile Sonic game to date, with no extra expenses needed to enjoy the experience.
Being able to take control as Sonic and his friends, Dream Team is able to use it’s Inception mixed with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater quite well, with a nice variety of levels, missions, and collectibles. The graphics are bright and colorful, each character are comfortable to control along with having their own unique ability, and how in the world is it that the cutscenes have more animation than Sonic Team’s recent console games? The story itself is quite meh and it will likely take you a level or two to get used to the controls but when you get past that, there’s quite a bit of fun to be had here.
While a part of me does wish this was made for consoles and hope we do at least get a console port in the future, Sonic Dream Team is a solid mobile game made exclusively for iPhone gamers that are willing to give up a few bucks a month for Apple Arcade services. If anything, this is at least a sign that SEGA and Sonic Team haven’t fully abandon Sonic’s friends and aren’t afraid to include them in their newest games that don’t involve the Olympics or kart racing.
5.) Sonic Frontiers (2022)
The newest main entry in the Sonic series might be guilty of many of the same flaws that have plagued prior 3D Sonic games but unlike with most recent entries in the series, there is actually some charm hidden within like a beautiful little diamond in the rough.
The overall core formula and open zones work well here and does help set a promising template for future Sonic games. It’s also nice to see more care put into the story and characterization than it has been for quite some time. And I don’t think Super Sonic has been more badass here than ever. If the needless grinding and repetitiveness didn’t get the way and it had more original and polished cyberspace levels, this could have lived up to it’s absolute ambition instead of feeling like it barley missed it in many spots. The pinball section and the “true” final boss can suck it as well!
Sonic Frontiers is about as imperfect as you can expect a Sonic game to be but for the first time in a long while, it did leave me with an actual feeling of optimism for Sonic moving forward. This is a game that has grown on me since it came out and I’ve come to find more things to love and appreciate about it as time goes by. Fingers crossed that SEGA and Sonic Team can capitalize on the strengths of this game while leaving out the weaknesses and maybe we can have a legit great core Sonic game next time out.
4.) Sonic Unleashed (HD) (2008)
One of the most divisive installments in the franchise is among my favorites. The HD version of Sonic Unleashed has the thrills and action that I want from Sonic the Hedgehog.
The daytime stages delivers the exact sense of speed and fast platforming I could ever ask for, the story is simplistic but still has that nice mix of light and dark nature, the hub worlds are nice, the graphics still look great even 14 years later, the soundtrack is outstanding, and even I’m not shame to admit I even kinda (mostly) like that silly Werehog . The medal grinding are quite annoying, especially on a first playthrough, and there are some extras that were quite pointless (*cough* hot dog missions *cough*). This is also certainly a game where you really have to know the “ins-and-outs” of it to truly enjoy the whole experience.
I totally understand the reasons to love and hate this game but I land myself more on the positive side than the negative one. This game has been gaining a cult following over the years and I’m glad to admit that I was a part of it from the very beginning.
3.) Sonic Colors (Wii) (2010)
Sonic Team followed up Unleashed by making a game that added more to the well-received aspects of the game (the daytime stages) by building upon it along with removing the not so well-received aspects (the nighttime stages).
Sonic Colors understands the core appeal of Sonic by featuring top-notch speed, solid platforming, and incredibly fun and unique level designs. Sure, there may be a bit too much 2D levels for some and the story/humor is admittedly hit (any scene with Eggman and his robots) or miss (Baldy McNosehair) but this is easily among the best 3D Sonic games to date. It’s also nice to see a Sonic game that despite borrowing elements from Mario, is still able to provide a fresh and entertaining experience that certainly feels like Sonic the Hedgehog.
While some might find the recently ported HD remastered to be quite iffy, the original Sonic Colors is still pure gold.
2.) Sonic Adventure (1999)
I would be lying if I said that the original Sonic Adventure has aged well. The graphics, animation, dialogue, and voice work are all way below par and were barely passable at the time of the game’s release. Regardless, there is still more than enough about the first official 3D Sonic game that works well.
Sonic has probably the smoothest controls in any of the 3D games with the level design perhaps being the best it’s ever been in modern form, Tails races with Sonic are a blast to play, Knuckles’s treasure hunting stages are actually fun here because they move at a faster clip thanks to having an emerald radar, Gamma, despite having stages that were clearly not meant for him, are enjoyable and even Amy’s story has her moments, especially with that hammer mini-game. Big the Cat’s fishing missions still sucks but if you know what you’re doing, you can beat them real quick and move on to the next story with ease. It’s also nice to have a whole hub world to go exploring and to see many of the main Sonic characters have their own arcs and development. Even the dated elements like the cheesy as hell animation is at least good for a laugh, both intentionally and unintentionally.
Has the game has aged? Absolutely! Does that make it bad? Absolutely not! There is still plenty to enjoy about Sonic Adventure many years later and those enjoyments are some of the best not just in 3D sonic but in the entire franchise.
1.) Sonic Generations (HD) (2011)
The best 3D Sonic game to date is the one that certainly features the most Sonic out of all the games thus far. Sonic Generations acts a wonderful celebration of the first two decades of Sonic the Hedgehog.
Perfecting both the classic 2D style gameplay along with the modern 3D style gameplay by recreating the best levels from previous Sonic games and making them feel new and unique on their own. There’s plenty of awesome extras and unlockables along with some incredible remixes of the best tracks in the Sonic franchise. Generations gets right what it needs to get right so well that it’s shortcomings don’t matter. It doesn’t matter that the story itself is quite weak, has perhaps too many city levels, could have used more “deja vu” cutscenes between Sonic and Tails, and the final boss itself is awful and extremely lackluster. It would have been also nice to see DLC that aren’t fan-made or modes for the PC version only.
Even when listing any possible shortcomings, nothing can take away the absolutely triumph experience that was Sonic Generations.
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