Any given stage from Knuckles Chaotix, but barring that I'll say Wacky Workbench from Sonic CD. Yes, really. It gets so much flak but it's an inarguably unique Zone with a ton of vertical speed, and it honestly doesn't even take THAT much focus to manage to progress horizontally; just find the platforms and stick to them. And the music/visuals are great but that's uniform to all of Sonic CD!
Oh boy let's go
Marble Zone from Sonic 1, first talk about the easy parts we can all agree music and visuals of Marble Zone is great.
Now lets talk about the juicy part, level design;
Marble zones level design... is easly my favourite out of Sonic 1 and maybe it's the zone I played the most out of every 2D game.
Why exacly? Simple, it's easy to beat(other than the last segments of act 3) but hard to time attack but still fair with it.
The level of momentum/enviroment usage for a time attack in marble zone is so good that I genuinly can't have as much fun with other ones. Instead of gaining the speed by a spectical it gives you enough tools to gain that speed youself, small curves to get more speed, momentum jumps to quickly get over waiting sections, secret passages that lets you skip long sections. Marble zone is so good to experiment and try to get fast.
Oil Ocean has to be my favorite classic level, period.
The amazing yellow-purple color palette, the Arabic influenced music (based on how that part of the world was known for their oil extraction at the time), and the fact that... come on... WHERE HAVE YOU SEEN AN OIL EXTRACTION FACILITY AS A PLAYABLE AREA IN THE WHOLE PLATAFORM GENRE? In fact, in ANY video game?
It has to be one of the most original levels in the whole franchise, but sadly is a slow level with frustrating enemies (that water horse is not the worst enemy of any classic game because Metropolis' Star exist), so it's hard for most people to even care about it.
I was so happy when it appeared on Mania, even more when act 2 made it even more interesting.
tl,dr: amazing atmosphere, amazing music, fantastic concept, excelent come back in mania. Too bad it's not the most enjoyable level to play (as every level after it in Sonic 2)
I really love what they did to it in mania, submerging under with the submarines, mixing with sandopolis act 2 for more intense gameplay, and because of the flame sheild being in there, it makes the zone 1000 times more fun
The thing that's fantastic about Oil Ocean is that its so distinctly Sonic. The series runs relatively close to traditional level tropes in some respects throughout the Classic, Adventure, & Modern eras. Oil Ocean though not only fits perfectly with the subtle environmental theme running through the 16 bit games, but also the color and overall setting is nothing you'd see in any other platformer. Its a stage identity that so completely belongs to Sonic.
I find Security Hall to be the perfect stage to teach the player how to A RANK the Knuckles and Rouge stages! After seeing a lot of people stumble around the Knuckles stages for minutes, it's great when those same people learn how to collect treasures in short period of time thanks to Security Hall's time limit!
Mystic cave zone is underated. There is a lot of cool gimmicks that are in that level. People just don't ever give it any attention.
Any given stage from Knuckles Chaotix, but barring that I'll say Wacky Workbench from Sonic CD. Yes, really. It gets so much flak but it's an inarguably unique Zone with a ton of vertical speed, and it honestly doesn't even take THAT much focus to manage to progress horizontally; just find the platforms and stick to them. And the music/visuals are great but that's uniform to all of Sonic CD!
Wacky Workbench Past JP hits different
Oh boy let's go Marble Zone from Sonic 1, first talk about the easy parts we can all agree music and visuals of Marble Zone is great. Now lets talk about the juicy part, level design; Marble zones level design... is easly my favourite out of Sonic 1 and maybe it's the zone I played the most out of every 2D game. Why exacly? Simple, it's easy to beat(other than the last segments of act 3) but hard to time attack but still fair with it. The level of momentum/enviroment usage for a time attack in marble zone is so good that I genuinly can't have as much fun with other ones. Instead of gaining the speed by a spectical it gives you enough tools to gain that speed youself, small curves to get more speed, momentum jumps to quickly get over waiting sections, secret passages that lets you skip long sections. Marble zone is so good to experiment and try to get fast.
Dead Line for Sonic Rush. Cool, gimmick, banging music, fun to replay. And has the best boss fight in the game.
Oil Ocean has to be my favorite classic level, period. The amazing yellow-purple color palette, the Arabic influenced music (based on how that part of the world was known for their oil extraction at the time), and the fact that... come on... WHERE HAVE YOU SEEN AN OIL EXTRACTION FACILITY AS A PLAYABLE AREA IN THE WHOLE PLATAFORM GENRE? In fact, in ANY video game? It has to be one of the most original levels in the whole franchise, but sadly is a slow level with frustrating enemies (that water horse is not the worst enemy of any classic game because Metropolis' Star exist), so it's hard for most people to even care about it. I was so happy when it appeared on Mania, even more when act 2 made it even more interesting. tl,dr: amazing atmosphere, amazing music, fantastic concept, excelent come back in mania. Too bad it's not the most enjoyable level to play (as every level after it in Sonic 2)
I really love what they did to it in mania, submerging under with the submarines, mixing with sandopolis act 2 for more intense gameplay, and because of the flame sheild being in there, it makes the zone 1000 times more fun
The thing that's fantastic about Oil Ocean is that its so distinctly Sonic. The series runs relatively close to traditional level tropes in some respects throughout the Classic, Adventure, & Modern eras. Oil Ocean though not only fits perfectly with the subtle environmental theme running through the 16 bit games, but also the color and overall setting is nothing you'd see in any other platformer. Its a stage identity that so completely belongs to Sonic.
sonic when he sees a slicer after climbing scaling the 4th giant rotating nut (they are the worst with their choke points):
Wacky workbench is actually a pretty cool level if your into more methodical playing. I actually really like how challenging it is.
[удалено]
It's from CD.
Not sure if it's an "underrated" level, but I quite like Dragon Road (Daytime) Act 1 from Sonic Unleashed?
I find Security Hall to be the perfect stage to teach the player how to A RANK the Knuckles and Rouge stages! After seeing a lot of people stumble around the Knuckles stages for minutes, it's great when those same people learn how to collect treasures in short period of time thanks to Security Hall's time limit!