The HARDEST Part of EVERY Sonic Game

[@crane2724]

I wrote the joke about Forces btw

[@Plexi.T]

True lol

[@GottaGoFast91]

Yeah, Null Space is my favorite stage.

[@SyhperXcypersupersoniccyperamy]

Why null space

[@natepion8449]

Every sonic game, sonic rush,rush adventure,the advance trilogy, sonic 3d blast cry in the corner

[@GottaGoFast91]

@@SyhperXcypersupersoniccyperamy because it has level design

[@lackluster4777]

"Not everyone bought the Frontiers DLC" But... Sonic Frontiers doesn't have paid DLCs. It's not even technically dlc, it's a free update

[@Kimberlysauce]

How is it not dlc, it is quite literally downloadable content, being free doesn’t change that

[@RandomAnimeGamer]

​@@KimberlysauceHe said bought. It's free.

[@RaxusXeronos]

@@Kimberlysauce You didn't have to go into a store menu and get it, it's automatically put into the game when you update it. Therefor making it more an 'update' than a 'DLC'

[@Lime-AID]

You need internet to download the game anyways so why not download the update

[@Noah0_]

i mean technically u could call it a DLC AND an update, dlc is literally downloadable content, an update IS a downloadable content, plus it wasnt there at launch and sega themselves called it DLC so.. But yea it wasnt paid

[@samarius_art_and_games]

"Not everyone has bought the DLC for Frontiers". The DLC was free.

[@GideonHannsz-ht3qm]

And the hardest part has to be the master king koco trial

[@muratdeniz963]

But i dont have the game so

[@samarius_art_and_games]

@@muratdeniz963 that doesn't change the fact that the DLC was free and should be included.

[@Wilmerlopez6559]

Did you just call emerald hill, emerald coast

[@BlueMageDaisen]

And Marble Zone was called Marble Garden, and that Sonic 2 was the debut of Special Stages?

[@crane2724]

@@BlueMageDaisen "This special stage model" meaning the collect rings in a half pipe version of special stages

[@jacobmartinez7988]

Does it really matter? You know what he meant....

[@EWOODJ]

Yeah, it does.

[@andyz6306]

Bashing on Shadow The Hedgehog with "I don't ever intend to play it" because you have this perception that it sucks from other people's recounts is incredibly silly. Don't play it if you don't want but you could avoid the tired "game is bad and unfun" commentary.

[@abduljunaid4220]

It is bad and unfun as someone who’s played it

[@andyz6306]

@@abduljunaid4220 Congrats. It's great and fun to me as someone who played it.

[@RobotnikRedefined]

Just like Sonic Forces

[@Josuh]

@@abduljunaid4220Look at the recent "How to REALLY play Shadow the Hedgehog" video that came a while ago, it makes the game seem really fun to play

[@KOTSOSMC2002]

Sonic fanbase in a nutshell. I swear they're all like this, just negative yapping about things they've never played.

[@PrussianoKbb]

11:31 Are you Fucking kidding THIS WHOLE TIME, THIS WHOLE TIME, there was a power up that made that level easier?, Bro I died SO many times in that final Knuckles section, you have no idea, I almost gave up completing the game because of it, and you're telling me right now, it could've been easier, if just payed a little more attention and got the power up, man my life is lie

[@Plexi.T]

Lol, I told you it was a f*ck8ng nightmare. 😂

[@leolego95]

i dont think this part of the satage was hard, i beat without power up, i just got the way to do it

[@deprooespreston3984]

You know young me looked at and cried for being robbed. I MADE IT, BUT IT COST ME MY SANITY

[@Blit-X-TVLive]

Skill issue.

[@thegamerator10]

Oof, that’s rough. My main problem was getting through the corridors before time resumed. It was always a butt clencher when I made it through by the skin of my teeth.

[@dragnjames2190]

The most difficult part of Shadow is the Expert Mode Circus Park. In Expert Mode, you play through every stage in the game sequentially. A lot like Egg Shuttle in Sonic Colors. The difference is that Expert Mode radically changes the level design that requires you to have mastered control of the game and knowledge of some more in-depth speedrunning tech. What makes Expert Circus Park so difficult is the route you are forced to take in the middle of the level. You must jump across an extreme large gap, hopping along barrels and flaming hoops. If you mess up, you die and have to redo it all over again. These hoops are positioned in such a way so you HAVE to short hop over them AND land on the other moving barrel at the same time. The worst part about this is that this is the one single area in the game where Chaos Control WON'T carry you to safety across the chasm. It will drop you into the pit if your meter runs out halfway through. The chasm is also large enough that you damn near NEED a full Chaos Control meter to cross it. Without utilizing the Chaos Control menu warp glitch for infinite meter, this section of Expert Mode Circus Park becomes unreasonably difficult and tight for even experienced runners.

[@levthelion71810]

So if we're going to include Expert Mode, you're not going to talk about Expert Mode Cosmic Fall? The jumps in that version of the stage are brutal and you need to be really patient, and the checkpoints aren't very nice either. I breezed through expert mode except the Cosmic Fall when I played

[@dragnjames2190]

@@levthelion71810 My memory is very hazy on Expert Mode Cosmic Fall, so take it with a grain of salt. From what I remember, the only real stand out changes were the platforms rotating/moving at triple speed, the light speed dash shortcut trail being removed entirely and Shadow needing to actually climb to the topmost platform instead of falling down to various platforms before taking the 3 rockets up to the "computer room."

[@Plexi.T]

Damn, that does seem extremely difficult. I am going to have to check that out if I ever play Shadow on a 100% save file for the game just to eat things out.

[@wolftales5203]

Expert Cosmic Fall is by farrr harder

[@artey6671]

Now I want to play Shadow again. I like torturing myself, so I've pondered over doing all endings eventually.

[@E-102GammaMKII]

00:32 - Marble Garden is from _Sonic 3._ The Zone from _Sonic 1_ is just the Marble Zone.

[@GTkoopa]

If I had a nickel for every time a youtuber made that specific mistake I'd be rich.

[@maximyllion]

he also called Emerald Hill "Emerald Coast", which is from sonic adventure

[@uttdcentral9700]

For sonic cd you can just get all 7 time stones and it automatically gets all good futures

[@Plexi.T]

Yeah, but I was more referring to the traditional method of destroying all the generators in each zone.

[@Zelkalon]

yeah but the special stages are hard as BALLS

[@SwiftSwelter]

@@Plexi.T what do you mean traditional method? both were in the original

[@HAXRLITSXY]

@@Zelkalon i disagree, at least relatively to finding all the generators.

[@Zelkalon]

@HAXRLITSXY nah tbh the generators are easy, BUT THE SPECIAL STAGES ARE BASICALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME

[@jasmith85]

Where is EVERY Sonic game, no Master System, no Sonic Advanced, no Sonic Spinball.

[@echiko4932]

No sonic rush uwaaa

[@Fafr]

To be fair, there are tens more Sonic games, it's pretty obvious the video's creator meant mainline games specifically

[@Blit-X-TVLive]

​@@FafrThe keyword is EVERY...

[@DarkSymphony777]

@@Fafr that makes no sense since the storybook games are very much spinoffs

[@joesretrostuff]

Came here for the master system games, but no mention of them

[@RandomTomatoMusic]

I'd say the hardest part of Sonic Mania (Plus) would be the Encore Special Stages. The normal ones I have no trouble with, I've memorized them all by now and can reliably get all of the Emeralds before Studiopolis. Encore Mode, on the other hand... those stages are cruel and unforgiving even on a good day, and when you compound that with Encore's altered level design and strange Big Ring locations that completely throw off someone accustomed to Mania Mode, getting all the Emeralds in one playthrough would be a _very_ tall order.

[@Plexi.T]

Oh wow, I actually didn't know encore mode changed THAT much of Mania's level design. I thought the stages were basically just recolors of the original ones.

[@RandomTomatoMusic]

@@Plexi.T Yes and no. Aside from the Special Stages, much of the stage geometry and "landmarks" are still recognizable according to one's memory, but many key points and routes are changed and have different object layouts.

[@Blit-X-TVLive]

They're not that bad.

[@genarftheunfuni5227]

I'd argue that the hardest part about Sonic Heroes is the special stages They're not that easy to play through (and are needed for the final story) and the method of accessing them is pretty much no-hitting a level

[@TheTrueJevil]

One other hard thing about Eggmanland. Hot dogs. Now,this will only matter to achievement hunters but basically in every hub world, there's a hot dog vendor who will sell you a hot dog unique to that hub world if you clesr either the day or night stsge under a certain condition. These hot dogs are required to get the achievement for eating all the food items in the game. The challenges can be a bit tricky but aren't too bad up until Eggmanland. Once you beat the game, you can visit a Eggmanland hub world where you can take on the challenge of beating Eggmanland in a certain amount of time. The kicker is if I recall correctly, you don't get any checkpoints. You die, you restart the whole thing.

[@staryolo6947]

Here's mine: Sonic 1 - 3rd Special Stage. Sonic 2 - Beating the game as Tails cuz he have no Super Form for the Chaos Emerald!? Sonic CD - Zones Time Attack. Sonic 3&K - Beating the first half of game as Tails cuz he have no Super Form for the Chaos Emerald!? Sonic Rush - Beating the bosses on normal difficulty. Sonic 4 Ep. I - The Special Stages & the final boss. Sonic Colours - Getting all Red Rings & S Ranks. Sonic Generations (console) - EVERY STAGE THAT COMES AFTER GREEN HILL! Sonic Generations (N3DS) - Getting an S Rank on Radical Highway Act 2. Sonic 4 Ep. II - The Special Stages. Sonic Mania - Getting all the Chaos Emerald on Encore Mode. Sonic Forces - Clearing Stage 30 within 270 seconds. Sonic Frontiers - Final Horizon difficulty spike. Sonic Superstars - Egg Fortress Zone with it's Act 1, Act 2 & Final Boss, TRIP'S STORY FINAL BOSS & Last Story Boss.

[@D3sdinova]

Sonic the hedgehog - sky base Sonic the hedgehog 2 - the flyers

[@LuigiFanPlays]

The hardest part of Sonic Frontiers is not HEADBANGING to the music

[@XEPER888888888888888]

Sonic Adventure, i definitely agree with but Sonic Adventure DX...Mission 53. Ever since that, ive had a fear of the number 53.

[@SkulkOfRoses]

agreed, 100%ing SADX on Steam, that was definitely the biggest hurdle

[@basu2428]

Here's mine: -Sonic 1 - Labyrinth Zone -Sonic 2 - Special Zones -Sonic CD - Getting the good ending w/o the time stones -Sonic 3&K - Sandopolis Zone -Sonic Adventure - Big the Cat -Sonic Adventure 2 - Mad Space without using the hint monitors -Sonic Heroes - Its ice physics controls on top of Team Chaotix campaign -Sonic & The Secret Rings - Playing the game lol -Sonic 06 - Silver Dusty Desert without glitching through the door -Sonic Unleashed - Eggmanland Hotdog Vendor -Sonic & The Black Knight - Merlina -Sonic Colors - Getting all Red Rings and S Ranks -Sonic Generations - Beating the final boss without getting hit for an achievement/trophy - Sonic Lost World - A tie between the snow level and the special stages on the 3DS version -Sonic Forces - Buying the game in the first place -Sonic Mania - Final Boss with the 4 main EggRobo - Sonic Frontiers - Going for 100% clear on all the islands

[@Plexi.T]

Dang, I actually got pretty close to all of your picks, it seems. Good choices.

[@lukas2.036]

Big the cat missions from Adventure aren't even hard, they're just plain boring

[@ALDOX_GIAN010]

Sonic mania hardest is trying to not get an hit in the level before last fight, i always wondered if in that section u can actually kill the 4 robos

[@thabetalmaghrabi]

Sonic forces baying the game in the first place 😂💔👌

[@Nister.N]

The hardest part of Sonic Unleashed is DEFINITELY the hot dog missions

[@gummiewormproduction]

I totally agree about Sonic 2. I played this game when it came out, and have been playing it up to Sonic Origins, and I have never been able to beat all the special stages. The main game is much easier than those stages. And damn Tails for not reacting as fast as you and losing rings.

[@Plexi.T]

Damn, they're STILL that bad in Sonic Origins, I thought they fixed them in that game. I guess they wanted to stay true to the original.

[@gummiewormproduction]

@@Plexi.T hahaha, Well I know you can see further down the pipe in Origins, but I still can't beat them all

[@aliastheabnormal]

You think Sonic 2's halfpipe is bad? You've never plated Sonic 3D blasts Saturn version half pipes. It has all of Sonic 2's problems plus pits of doom, speed up sections, and the transparency effects that mess with your visibility. Not to mention that you can only get one per level and both Tails and Knuckles take all your rings in exchange.

[@juschlora]

sonic 2 special stages are not that difficult, ive only beaten this game a few times on both the original and origins, and have never went without collecting all 7 during chemical plant zone at worst ancient ruins. its about memorization and timing. even with tails it is not that difficult, time all your movements and jumps ignoring sonic and envision yourself as tails with input delay, get timings down and its a breeze, im sure youll get it eventually

[@WilliamTheLonelyRobot2]

For me it was that stupid segment in chemical plant act 2

[@spongebobfan78]

22:22 The current Sonic ambassador in Japan took several hours to finish Terminal Velocity Act 1 and got a 0 score because she didn't know that dying without checkpoint still has the timer continue (meaning you will lose the score bonuses given to you) unlike if you pause and hit restart. Reminded of the fact that quite a lot of Sonic fans on Twitter turned on her when someone posted about that moment to the point they even preferred Arin.

[@dave9515]

Oh wow. I mean that wasn't a good choice by sega and the ambassador probably tried at least. Also Based QtPi PFP.

[@Plexi.T]

Yeah, Sonic fans and people in general can be pretty toxic when it comes to that. I'm all for joking about people's skills when playing video games, but NEVER to the point of actual bullying.

[@KirbyBandicoot]

...people don't prefer arin?

[@arcticfox1985]

skill issue

[@CodyPenner-ob3cq]

Facts this is literally a videogame marketed mainly for kids

[@CrazyQuanNights]

@@CodyPenner-ob3cqwhat😭🙏

[@s_5_u6969]

well yes but actually no​@@CodyPenner-ob3cq

[@S-Groove]

​​@@CodyPenner-ob3cqBrotheren, fasten your esophagus. Why, im willing to bet you couldn't succeed in a singular stage showcased in this viewing.

[@amazingboi9388]

fr

[@jackhumphries1087]

22:24 or me in 2017, who actually managed to be engaged by forces’s gameplay because I sucked so much

[@TrueRyuken]

I love the tone shifts when you talked about Rise of Lyric and sonic forces 💀 Like you got to have recognized that those games are worse than 06, cause those tone shifts are just so fucking funny bro

[@ALDOX_GIAN010]

28:58 the hardest part of frontiers is definitly the level 1-2

[@BenjaminRatthe]

The level itself isn't hard imo but getting 3 stars is definitely very difficult. The fact that taking the high path is slower than taking the low path at some point contributes to that

[@Hyper_Sonic_Productions]

The hardest part of any Sonic game I’ve played is eggman land which took me an hour to beat and I lost 80 lives before I finally beat the stage

[@Plexi.T]

Yep, that'll do it. I wonder if the game devs actually played through the level before after they made it to gauge how difficult it is. I would pay to see that lol.

[@theblueblur3913]

Ayo that's crazy to losing 80 lives in a single run of egman land

[@Hyper_Sonic_Productions]

@@theblueblur3913 yea it kinda is crazy now that I think about it, and that was the 30th time I lost most of my lives😅😅😅

[@MarkerMurker]

I'm surprised you didn't mention anything about Trip's final boss in Sonic Superstars. Did you find that one easier? Same for the Super Sonic boss, no mention at all.

[@cameronverona7092]

Yeah to me the secret boss was definitely the hardest part of the game. Not necessarily because of the difficulty but because of the really tight timer and the unreliable ring spawns

[@bladewolfdarknight1605]

There is no timer. It's a fakeout.

[@sanicmaniac]

0:30 that's MARBLE ZONE. 4:18 it's called EMERALD HILL.

[@joshuatrevino4508]

I don’t think he plays sonic much lmao

[@gamersvr6379]

17:50 Dude, I beat the game today, I decided to play it again this week because I used to play it as a child and never got past the Silver boss fight. That ball puzzle was definitely the most time-consuming mission out of the whole game. I spent 40 minutes on that mission just because of that ball puzzle. Aside from that, the second hardest was probably the tornado in Crisis City, and the third one is the End of The World, I went through this last one this morning and I think I've never raged so hard at a game in my entire life. There are absolutely no checkpoints other than getting past each character section, and if you lose all your lives you have to start all over. I got it on the second try, on the first try I actually ended up losing all of my lives on the Shadow section, which also happens to be the last section of that phase. I think the End of The World takes the second place in front of the tornado though, the only reason why I was able to make it on the second try is because I watched a playthrough. Edit: And now by watching the video I feel even stupider considering on the ball puzzle I didn't know you could use Silver's melee attack to push the ball, so I kept using his Psychokinesis to hold some vases I could find in the surroundings to lightly jab the ball with it and get the ball to move 💀

[@Eddie.C.]

Just to share something if you did not know. Sonic 2 allows tails to be controlled by the second controller making the special levels a breeze to complete if you have a buddy helping you 😃

[@Plexi.T]

Not if that "buddy" is also bad at them, like the player is, lmao 🤣

[@maxios-7613]

Eggman land in Unleashed took me forever to finish!! I had to grind for lives and grind to max the werehog until I was able to beat it and it took me FOREVER

[@RRM693]

Hardest part in shadow is defeating all the artificial chaos in ARK. I felt like i searched for hours and could never find them all

[@mugsy9821]

100% agree that was the hardest part for me on that game too.

[@Lans32485]

Here's a few of mine: Sonic 1: Labrynth zone boss. Sonic 2: Remembering to slow down and pull the switch for that one bridge in Mystic caves. Sonic 3&K: The drum platforms in Carnival Night. Adventure 1: Getting 100% to unlock Metal Sonic. Adventure 2: Knuckles' and Rouge's space stages.

[@MrBigBoy8258]

Video starts here 1:31

[@Alvinia101]

Thank you. Hate the long intros that ultimately mean nothing.

[@SaviorOfEdge]

Thanks

[@poleve5409]

​@@Alvinia101literally brain dead attention span. You can wait not even 2 minute intro lmao

[@Alvinia101]

@@poleve5409 lol I love how the virgins like you always come to defend long, unnecessary intros. Pathetic

[@savannajones4653]

This video is therapeutic, it has eased my disappointment with myself in the parts of these games I had such difficulty with. For so long I thought it was just me and my weak skills.

[@jackattack6430]

Trust me man, some of the stupidest game design I’ve ever seen has mainly come out of the classics and then brain deaders assemble to defend it like crazy 😂 I love the franchise to death though, Frontiers was great aside from the cyberspace stages

[@fridaypurples2441]

Most of my least favorite things from the games made it onto the list, I'll only cover the games I've played. Sonic 1: The most annoying thing for me is the Spring Yard Zone Boss, sometimes as I'm jumping to land a hit, I end up getting hit by the spike under Robotnik's vehicle. As for Labyrinth Zone....I only hate Act 2 mainly because of that endless waterfall section, the boss wasn't that big of a deal. I think it's a skill issue. Sonic 2: Yes, the special stages. I too used the cheat to get the Chaos Emeralds. Metropolis Zone was a bit of a challenge, the enemy placement is awful. S3&K: Freaking Sandopolis, I agree. Even though I watched several playthroughs of it beforehand, I still had trouble getting through it. Shadow the Hedgehog: Didn't have trouble with any of the stages. Well one day when I wanted to play the game and got to The Doom, I was COMPLETELY LOST. I literally forgot the layout of the stage that I had to look up a playthrough of the level just to get the Neutral Ending. Sonic Heroes: Rail Canyon for Team Chaotix, half of the time I had no idea how to progress near the end, it involved a switch to change the direction of the rails, I couldn't find it at first. And Mystic Mansion for Team Dark, I could NEVER get the A rank in that stage no matter how many times I tried. Sonic Unleashed: Eggmanland for sure but the PS2 version. Took me forever just to get the S Rank on the first Day Stage. The Night Stages weren't that bad but there were some sections that were so dark that I had to rely on the map of the stage at the corner of the screen. I should've mentioned this first but also the Adabat Day Boss, I was stuck on that Boss for WEEKS; Quick Time Events and the very few moments you have to attack Eggman, I was so relieved when I finally beat it after so much trial and error. Another thing, those hidden items you were able to find in the Day and Night Stages to unlock stuff like the music, concept art, and the cutscenes; some of those items were hidden really good, adds a bit of challenge. Sonic Colors: Uhh not a whole lot. But there was this one act in Asteroid Coaster (forgot which one) that I had trouble with, I remembered it had to with the gravity in order to get to the Goal Ring that was nearby. And yes, I too struggled to get all the Red Star Rings, and since I loved to explore the levels, most weren't hard to find but there were times where I had to look up a guide for some of them. Oh and the Final Boss, no it's not difficult, I just couldn't get the S Rank. I've gotten every single S Rank except that one. I spammed the Quick Step up to the point where it stopped giving you the 1,000 points bonus and nothing. I could never get that S Rank and it annoyed me because I had the game at 99% complete.

[@Plexi.T]

Dang, I was glad I got a lot of the obvious ones down. It feels good to know that a majority of people struggled with the same things I did. Thanks for the comment.

[@fridaypurples2441]

@@Plexi.T Yup you're not alone lol

[@aliastheabnormal]

The stages are nothing compared to getting the true ending. You think the Diablo is bad?! Try fighting it in four different routes. And don't get me started about the Egg beater and the Egg slot machine.

[@fridaypurples2441]

@@aliastheabnormal I never had issues with the Egg Beater or the Egg slot machine, they were relatively easy bosses for me and I never managed to get the True Ending so I can't comment on 'The Diablo' lol

[@aliastheabnormal]

@@fridaypurples2441 No, the Beater and Slot are just annoying. Especially if you did all the endings. If anything i think the hardest thing is all the pits. Since you can't skip cutscenes and have to watch every single one again.

[@selder_7]

I’d say the hardest part of unleashed is the final boss, because a game over will send you so far back. In Eggmanland, there’s a bunch of lives given to you and always just before the really deadly parts

[@PhirePhlame]

As a fun bit of background on Sonic 1's level design ethos, the reason it zig-zags so much from zone to zone was deliberately done, due to the experimental nature of Sonic's gameplay. The devs' faith in it wasn't complete, since something quite like Sonic had never been done before, so the choice was made to make what I think was a half-and half split, where half of the zones would lean fully into the newfangled speed-platforming while the other half was kept to more traditional platforming challenges.

[@PhirePhlame]

Note: Eggman Land is _not_ called "Crimson Carnival". I don't know why the fandom has latched onto that name as "fact" when the game itself just calls it "Eggman Land", an exception to the game's "area name, stage name" naming scheme because EL has no hub area.

[@fernandezadrian156]

Is that confirmed? I always assumed the first game was moreso focused on both slow and fast movement and was focused on controlling the player's momentum and ease of transition between the two (slow down to not fall down, go faster to make big jumps, etc..) Basically trying to emulate Super Mario Bros' momentum to the extreme.

[@justyouraveragegamer6142]

​@@PhirePhlame eggman land does have a hub world tho. After you finish the game you can press A on it just like all the others. Hit "go to Capitol" and you can roam around the hub world. Do hotdog missions. And even chat with an egg robo

[@Void_Echoes]

sorry if them not being included was already explained in the video, but what about the Advance / Rush games?

[@Tesstarossa51]

"Eggmanland is the hardest part of Sonic Unleashed" someone hasn't played the DLC levels

[@Samorutt1324]

Which dlc level in unleashed would you say it is the hardest?

[@chowderdx]

Pre patch Master King koko Trial. Parrying Wyvern genuinely took years off my life.

[@TheAlphazoneYT]

People like to whine about Eggmanland but nah, we actually need more levels like Eggmanland. It was the ultimate challenge to really test/show off your skill because it’s what the whole game up until that point was preparing you for. Say what you want about the Werehog but Unleashed fundamentally excelled at risk reward gameplay in both the day & night stages. I miss when Sonic games tested player skill like that. (Frontiers is a step in the right direction) Also, Shadow the hedgehog is not as bad as people in 2005 made it out to be. Once you get a feel for it, the controls are smoother & the boss battles are better than Sonic Heroes. The OST is incredible. And upon replaying, I actually enjoy Shadow a lot more than many recent Sonic games. Don’t get me wrong, the indoor Ark levels are some of the worst things the sonic franchise has to offer but it’s only 2 stages. Besides that, Shadow has really cool levels. Digital Circuit in particular is one of the most fast paced energetic levels in the entire franchise. Def give the game a chance.

[@kauanjos3199]

Don't forget Eggmanland was being hyped up since the Classics, and he finally builds it in unleashed. They had the obligation to make it a hard level

[@dominicballinger6536]

I haven't gotten to the end of Unleashed, but I've played it and no level, day or night, really seemed like risk vs reward. The Werehog stuff is just kinda mindless combo spam at times, and the day levels are more reaction time and level layout memorization tests that reward fast thinking. That kinda fits, but it's not like, say, in Mario games where you can get better powerups from mini challenge portions during the level's downtime before the level's actual platforming challenges.

[@GarbageGabe]

Nah forget the Eggman boss in Superstars. Fighting Fang The Sniper at the end of Trip's story was literal hell with the amount of insta kills

[@Goldcoin69]

Wdym by bought the Frontiers DLC? The Final Horizon was a free update

[@ShadowsNumber1Simp]

He accidentally said “Bought” Like he accidentally said Emerald Coast instead of Hill

[@Plexi.T]

😓

[@ShadowsNumber1Simp]

@@Plexi.T don’t worry we loved ur video

[@RandoSnaps]

The way we beat most games back in the 90s was hours of dedication til you just knew the map honestly. Mind you idk when I’m getting a new game cause I’m a kid with no job, so you’d just play tf outta games you had

[@juschlora]

COMPLETE disagree on sonic 2. those special stages set the standard for the boost formula and other sonic gameplay mechanics by memorizing level design and completing it in the best way possible. ive only beaten sonic 2 like 5 times and i complete each special stage with ease, maybe its a skill issue but it is not that difficult lmao, its my favorite special stage

[@Fr0sty1337]

Personally i would say the hardest part in sonic frontiers is the whole 3rd island just because traversing the map is such a pain, but in the end its worth it because after you finish up the 3rd island you fight the best titan

[@vixtheexistent6390]

Have you tried the 3rd update? There’s some comically bs stuff in that towards the end on normal, hard, and it’s borderline impossible to beat on extreme.

[@tommapar]

You really should play Shadow the Hedgegod, it's not that long, you can plan your routes to get all 10 endings before going to the last story. It has some of the best "fast" missions I've played. Some I like them more than SA2 even, like that one Lava Stage that has lava levels that rise on the Dark side of the mission, with all paths available to you in the Hero mission. That level makes me get why there's a cult to Sonic's lava levels. You also have Mad Matrix which has you collecting A TON for the dark mission but it makes up for it by challenging you in interesting ways with tons of "gotcha" moments on the speed circuit you go on to destroy the 50 mines. It has you going to 4 speed subdungeons for the Hero's one. The neutral one is the "gotta go fast" option, it's very enjoyable once you've learned the layout. The last boss is comparable to SA1 and SA2's final boss. What I like the most besides from some of its OST is the story, it's hilarious, campy as all hell, faking taking themselves way too seriously. It's got some of the hands down best lines I've ever heard Shadow say. Like in the pure dark ending where he kills basically the Devil himself to become the ultimate lifeform to conque all the universe. It's great

[@Plexi.T]

I did play the multiplayer with my older brother when I was a kid, but I guess I could give the actual game a try on my own time. The internet has sadly conditioned to me to avoid certain games like the plague though.

[@TheSilvershadow200]

​​@@Plexi.TForming your opinions on what people say about games is pretty unreliable. People hate Sonic Chronicles but as a JRPG fan, I really like it. Once you look past it not being a platformer which most Sonic fans don't see it past that and so just don't care, you see there are some nice qualities. The stylus controls for the turn based combat are very creative, the combo attacks and how you need different chars in the overworld give the characters more of a bond, personality and importance than in so many other games in this franchise, so many playable characters with gameplay that capture them wonderfully, the perfect amount of maturity that feels like the middle ground of SA2 and Shadow I want to see in more Sonic games and there are so many Chao!

[@Maikcarps]

Uhh I don’t think that is called marble garden (30s in)

[@Tea-Slurper]

Too many Shadow haters ;-;

[@chesterharris3112]

Ikr

[@artey6671]

I'm not one of them.

[@AdityaSunil34]

I'm gonna try the game

[@gameman5804]

Sonic 1: Scrap Brain Zone Sonic 2: Special Stages Sonic CD: Hunting for the Generators in the past Sonic 3 & Knuckles: Lava Reef Sonic Adventure: Big Sonic Adventure 2: A-Ranking Everything Sonic Heroes: Team Chaotix Shadow: The Doom/Lost Impact Sonic Rush: The Bosses Sonic 06: End of the World Sonic and the Secret Rings: The Controls Sonic Rush Adventure: Johnny Sonic Unleashed: HD Eggmanland (Especially the Hot Dog Missions), and HD Dark Gaia Sonic and the Black Knight: Some of the shittiest bosses I have EVER played in a Sonic Game Sonic Colors: ...I guess I'll throw in Ultimate and say the Metal Sonic Races Sonic Generations: The Time Eater Sonic Lost World: Lava Mountain Act 2 Sonic Boom - Rise of Lyric: Having any legitimate fun without breaking it Sonic Mania: Titanic Monarch Sonic Forces: Casino Forest's Silver Moon Rings, The extra stages with there respective time challenges, and Episode Shadow's "Virtual Reality" Sonic Frontiers: God Awful Cyberspace controls (I'd rather play Sonic Forces over those), and Final Horizon for the most part.

[@Hyp3rSonic]

@@gameman5804 👍

[@Beerusmama]

The Ark levels are just tedious, but Diablon is by far the worst. Not because of the sonic ai like Plexi said, it's because of the janky ass hitbox, and the fact that Diablon can just move out of the stage so sometimes you can't even hit him. The worst part is that honestly a battle against sonic the hedgehog would've gone hard honestly. As an avid Shadow the Hedgehog *enjoyer* Diablon's definitely just the most bullshit part of the game. Also screw you, don't include games you didn't play, just skip over em. No one will care.

[@Sly88Frye]

18:59 I was already a grown up by the time Sonic and the secret rings came out and I kid you not I actually really highly enjoyed the game at the time. I'm not sure how much I'd enjoy it now if I play it again today but I actually found it to be a lot of fun. Honestly I did. I was able to easily handle the motion controls. I'm not sure why so many people have such difficulty with emotion controls I don't think it's difficult. Don't forget you can charge a jump and when you do that you're not running anymore you're just kind of sitting still or you can actually slide forward while you do that So you can actually slow yourself down. Not to mention you motion correctly Sonic will break instead of just continuing to run and you can have him walk backwards. Time break is helpful in some parts as well. Although probably the most fun thing with Sonic and The secret rings that nobody ever talks about is the minigames. I enjoyed playing those with my friends a lot and the motion controls I thought worked pretty well on most of them. Some of them not as much. Although once Mario party 8 came out later that year Yeah I basically never played the mini games on Sonic and the secret rings again.

[@izan4miii589]

The sonic frontiers dlc is free lmao. Frontiers id say dlc3 hardest part 100% cause the pinball is easy af no? Just takes time if bad. Maybe im biased cause I played a shit ton of spinball as a kid. Eggman land did end me but

[@Plexi.T]

Yeah, I definitely should have went with that. But my older brother was raging the entire time while playing it, so I just couldn't resist the opportunity 🤣

[@Alino-]

I have heard complaints about the pinball, but I have no idea why. Admittedly, I REALLY like pinball, so that whole minigame is just fun to me. To the point that I wish we could play it from the menu whenever we want.

[@eleronpfoutz7823]

Flying Battery? Atrocious? Cap. Maximum Cap. That's the zone that should have been in Sonic 3 instead of Ice Cap Zone.

[@Michael_Afton40]

"Sonic 06 has bad level design" Whaaaat? Are you serious?

[@seematahir5970]

Literally one of the best parts of the game😭

[@Michael_Afton40]

@@seematahir5970 exactly

[@stinger2626]

Sonic 06 was shit Silver was too broken

[@Michael_Afton40]

@@stinger2626 L take

[@stinger2626]

@Michael_Afton40 It was still trash and everybody puts it in f

[@buketov228]

In Sonic CD you can also get the good ending by collecting all time stones, which for some might also appear challenging, but imo is much easier than searching for generators.

[@blaizefire4903]

Ayyy bro used dragons lair for black knight one of the best songs

[@Plexi.T]

I read my comments :)

[@blaizefire4903]

@@Plexi.T I can tell brother great video btw

[@DarkFrozenDepths]

Also, if we're including any collectible stuff as a possibility for this list, then any game where you had stuff like red rings, emblems, medals, and so on... THAT was the hardest part by far. but it also feels like a cop out too tbh.

[@M_Alexander]

As someone who was a kid playing NES, SNES, and Genesis in the 90s, I wanted to offer some insight. But first of all, this is not a criticism; I use save states when I replay those games, too. Back in the day though, you got through the hard parts by replaying everything up to that point and trying again until you got it. It was brutal and might take you weeks of attempts to get through one hard stage that's late in the game. A lot of kids might only have three or five games for a console and only get one or two new games a year, or rent games for a few days or a week at a time, so playing one game every day for a few weeks was a feature. As a kid I did manage to collect all the emeralds in Sonic 1 and 2 (I hate Blue Spheres to this day; I didn't get all emeralds and Super Emeralds in 3 and 3&K until I played Origins) but I couldn't do it again without save states unless I invested a lot of time again. Anyway, the fact is that replaying five stages to beat the sixth inevitably means that you're homing your skills before each new attempt at the part you're stuck on

[@neonnoir9692]

Carnival Zone in Sonic 3. Every kid in my neighborhood got stuck on that one spot trying to jump the barrel down. It took weeks for someone to figure it out.

[@jables5895]

Shadow the Hedgehog wasn't that bad

[@Chucklestheechidna128]

"Where's that DaMn fourth chaos emerald?"

[@FirstName_LqstName]

Drinking orange juice after you brush your teeth ain't bad either. I still dont want to, cause it leaves a shit taste in my mouth when im done.

[@rpgfanatic9719]

@@Chucklestheechidna128 So does that mean other people and characters are edgier when they swear harder? Im really not following this meme. Damn isn't even swearing anyways.

[@rpgfanatic9719]

@@FirstName_LqstName if it leaves a bad taste then it means it does something bad and is bad. What are you babbling about?

[@FirstName_LqstName]

@rpgfanatic9719 when you're older, you'll learn to get original material. You'll also learn the amazing power of "context clues" and "piecing things together" all on your own

[@rpgcross]

My own picks of certain games: -Adventure: Sonic's Final Egg itself -Adventure 2: Mission Street mission 4 -Black Knight: Lancelot Returns -Unleashed: Eggmanland's Hot dog challenge

[@yuchun_]

For Shadow, it's definitely the doom, though can I even call it challenging when the problem is yet another "enemy won't spawn" bug? Seriously, Shadow is such a shit game that most missions require you to use the checkpoint teleportation to spawn all the enemies you need to pass the dark or hero missions. Genuinely, fuck that game. I can tell you with full certainty since I wasted a few months back in my teenage years to experience the travesty myself. People who say it's a good game genuinely have not finished it, or even played it. It's not fun in the slightest.

[@joaovictorbatistaassumpcao]

The most dificult part of Sonic Mania is the boss from Stardust Speedway act 2 pos-patched on Plus So, when was launched, Metal Sonic have a 3 part battle: the run, the room, and the tower... when you reach the tower, Metal Sonic was increably easy, just run and hit him. But when Sega release the Encore DLC, they patched somethings, like some transitions zones and so... and change the Metal Sonic on Stardust speedway in the tower, when Eggman throws the Phantom Ruby on him and change him to Metal Overlord... He is the same final boss from Sonic 3 & Knuckles... but if you jump wrong, you fall into a pit in the left

[@FindingDale2008]

Why did you skip over Sonic the Hedgehog 4?

[@dragmire86]

The hardest part of Sonic 4 is trying to believe that it’s a good game

[@FindingDale2008]

@@dragmire86 they aren't actually that bad. I get that they have issues, but I personally really enjoyed them. Especially episode 2. I think they are atleast a lot better than sonic 1 (yes, I have played it)

[@dragmire86]

@@FindingDale2008 That is true about Episode 2, so let me rephrase that: the hardest part of Sonic 4 is trying to believe it actually counts as the 4th 2d Sonic game

[@ChuckE.CheesesIllinois]

​@@FindingDale2008 bro is either young or hasn't seen cybershell

[@FindingDale2008]

@@dragmire86 well that is true, it is more of a tribute to the originals than a sequel, well episode 1 atleast. Aside from being extremely short, episode 2 tries to do more of its own thing, granted it does take many elements from the originals, but I think it's overall pretty solid

[@haospacman1084]

For colors, I’d choose getting all the s ranks. For alot of them you basically need to know where the red rings are anyways and grab them in one run. The boss of asteroid coaster is an annoying s rank too

[@TheLetterS_Rebooted]

Sonic before the sequel music in the intro lets gooo

[@Plexi.T]

Ayyy, you know I have to represent. That fan game's ost is better than some triple A soundtracks I swear.

[@alenwithmusic]

9:40 I almost commited unalive while doing the A rank missions for Big.

[@Pinselum2010]

4:18 My favourite zone from Sonic 2: Emerald Coast. Good old times...

[@Grim0XVr]

💀💀💀💀😫😫😫😫

[@Thermalnuclear]

Only be able to play Sonic 06 for the next 3 months or only be able to play Sonic Boom for the next few months which are you picking

[@Plexi.T]

Sonic Boom, because I actually played that as a kid, and it would be HILARIOUS to play with my other friends 😂

[@enzo-ib2gy]

For Sonic Forces, i think it's egg fortress (the last classic sonic level) with that one autoscroller and also the final section where if you don't have enough speed, you will die no matter what.

[@skywalka02]

In Sonic 2, which was the first Sonic game I played, that special stage is MUCH easier when Sonic is alone. Its only hard when tails is with you. He mimics Sonic’s movements but has that quarter second delay which gets him f’d up by those bombs.

[@ericb3157]

for Sonic 06, i was sort of expecting a mention of the final level. you have to take control of seven different characters, trying to find the seven chaos emeralds, while dodging a whole bunch of tiny Black Hole obstacles that can pull you in and INSTA-KILL you... and if you run out of lives, you have to start ALL over from the beginning of the FIRST character's segment! there's one part of Sonic Mania i REALLY despise, it's a small area halfway through part 1 of Chemical Plant. it's a vertical shaft, with moving platforms, which fills with water just after you enter. miss ONE jump, and you WILL drown. miss TWO jumps, and you WILL fall off the bottom of the level. mis-TIME one jump, and you WILL be crushed. three different things that can insta-kill you, in ONE room. it's MUCH easier if you are playing as Tails or Knuckles, however, you can fly or climb instead of jumping. i've seen some videos of Sonic Superstars, and they all said the final boss of "Trip's Story" is worse. but it DOES have an amusing "death animation"...

[@idont1311]

For shadow the hedgehog, it's getting the ending you want while a live chat is "controlling" you with the unmatched power of money

[@Leafree5]

Sounds stupid enough to have it's own ending goal. Haha like, trying to find an orange gamecube?

[@jagerzaku9160]

You see you don’t know pain until you talk about the game gear games. Getting all the Chaos Emeralds in Sonic 2 for the Game Gear and THEN beating the elusive Crystal Egg Zone is a nightmare of a task. New fans will not know this pain.

[@CeraisianAlchemist]

As someone who has made it a personal mission to finish all 326 storylines of Shadow the Hedgehog, the hardest part is replaying Westopolis every time you want to start a new storyline. As for Sonic Frontiers, climbing the towers are the hardest, especially on hard mode.

[@callumsparrow4379]

Sonic 1 GEN: Special Stages (any version) Sonic 1 MS: Sky Base Zone Act 2 (an entire proper level with no rings, loads of hazards plus slowdown in critical areas) Sonic 2 MS: Getting the 2nd Emerald in Sky High Zone Act 2 (bouncing on clouds and walking platforms indistinguishable from the background clouds) Sonic 2 GEN: Special Stages 5 - 7 (BS spike bomb traps and trollish ring placements without prior knowledge) Sonic CD: Good Ending via Robot Generators only (no second chances if you accidentally miss one) Sonic Chaos: Special Stage 4 (Impossible gaps to go over unless you take very specific Lu placed Rocket Shoes item boxes) Sonic Spinball GEN: The Showdown (Need I say more?) Sonic Spinball MS: Playing it without wanting to turn it off immediately (Challenge: Impossible) Sonic 3 & Knuckles: Playing Marble Garden Zone Act 2’s boss as Tails only (small boss hit-box + surprise attacks + slow Tails flying speed = frustration) Sonic Triple Trouble: Special Stage 5 (BS disappearing bumper platforms over bottomless pits and blind leaps of faith) Sonic 3D Blast: Not playing it with an analogue stick Sonic R: Unlocking emeralds & tokens in one run on the same track (Self-imposed challenge I know, but otherwise this game’s a cakewalk) Sonic Adventure DX: the two Snowboarding missions Sonic Adventure 2 Battle: Mad Space Sonic Heroes: Team Chaotix’s Hard Mode missions Sonic Advance trilogy: Getting the Chaos Emeralds Shadow 2005: The Doom Sonic 2006: Completing all side-missions (the length and amount of loading times truly rear their ugly heads here) Sonic Rush: Not being tempted to spin-dash up the Egg King’s arm when the game instructs you to hold down (figured out the solution a year after I got the game as a kid) Sonic Rush Adventure: Getting all the Sol Emeralds Sonic Unleashed & the Storybook sub-series: Obtaining true 100% completion Sonic Colours WII: Playing the Game Land’s Sonic Simulator 2-player mode Sonic Colours DS: Finding access to the 7th Special Stage Sonic Generations HD: Getting the online-only achievements after they inevitably shut down Sonic Generations 3DS: Completing all the side missions (only allowed 2 per day based on the 3DS Play Coin function; 5 per each mission and 10 per mission bonus) Sonic Lost World HD: Playing it without a Wii U or PC. Sonic Lost World 3DS: Tropical Coast Acts 1 & 3, Frozen Factory Act 3 and Sky Road Act 3, playing all the Special Stages without looking like a lost mental patient, and completing all of Hard Mode) Sonic Forces: Destroying the one singular enemy in Casino Forest and clearing the Silver Ring challenge in that stage Sonic Mania Plus: Encore Mode’s Special Stage 7 Sonic Frontiers: Having any interest of picking the game up at all Sonic Superstars: Trip Story’s final boss against Mecha Fang and the Last Story’s Black Dragon fight

[@deathray252]

SA2’s difficulty spike for me was eggman’s cannon core, only because of a cursed glitch on some of the Dreamcast copies! On my version, every time without fail at the start of eggman’s section, he falls through the floor and dies. I didn’t know what a glitch was. I was baffled! Eventually I found that if you started gliding right away and held a certain direction, you wouldn’t die, and you could catch back up with the stage below. I EARNED my SA2 ending damn it!

[@andrewhall6479]

For Sonic Rush Adventure, I would say getting the last two Chaos Emeralds. Johnny is a VERY tough opponent in the last two races, and it’s borderline impossible to win without upgrading your Jet Ski

[@sirspookybones1118]

Out of every time I've played the game, the last emerald has always been a thing I've attempted, but I never got close to beating.

[@iamjustathing-]

bro where the fuck is sonic blast 3D?

[@Sly88Frye]

3:42 Look I agree the special stages are hard but I mean that's the thing they're completely optional they're just special stages which is why I just wouldn't include it. What you're required to beat in order to just beat the game bare minimum the hardest part would be metropolis zone. Speaking of the special stages here's a weird fact and I don't know why this is the case for me. So I could never get the 7 chaos emeralds except one time and it was literally just one time. So I did grow up playing Sonic on the Genesis in the '90s although I was actually much more of an SNES guy, however I got Sonic Mega collection while I was a teenager sometime in like 2003 or 2004 maybe 2005 and forget when I got it but anyways I had played knuckles in Sonic 2 for the first time and that first time playing it I got the 7 chaos emeralds and got super knuckles in the game. However I have never gotten the 7 chaos emeralds in Sonic 2 ever again. Granted it's not the game I play the most as my favorite is Sonic 3 & knuckles which my first exposure to that was actually not the Sega lock on technology but a PC game I got at Jack In The box when Jack in the box in the '90s had some Sega games available with kids meals.

[@scottcampbell3735]

Here's mine based on the games I've played. Sonic 1 - Special Stages. Game is challenging overall but special stages gave me the most trouble. Sonic 2 - Special Stages. Endgame gets very hard but still does not compare to getting the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic CD - Getting the Good Future in Wacky Workbench and Metallic Madness. Game is very easy aside from the Metal Sonic race and that pit in Metallic Madness Act 3. But the robot generators in the two levels above are a bit cryptic. Sonic 3 & K - The last 2 special stages to get the Super Emeralds. Nothing in this game is really that hard overall. Sonic Adventure - Mission Mode. Do not play these. 4 large metal fish for Big to get, unfair flag collecting and having to get three perfect snowboard tricks in a row. Getting the 130 Emblems was much less of a hassle. Sonic Adventure 2 - Cannon's core without Air Necklace. Not got all emblems (yet) so I'll go with Cannon's core for now. Sonic Advance Series - Chaos Emeralds for all three games. 1 had terrible special stages due to depth perception issues, Advance 2 has you collecting all 7 special rings in one go on a game that does not encourage exploration and Advance 3 has Chao collecting and hard special stages. Sonic Heroes - Team Chaotix Bonus Missions. Getting the A ranks on these were a nightmare. Bingo Highway being the worst. Having to get all the chips with those pinball controls was frustrating. And you need to be fast for the A rank. Sonic Rush - Special Stage 7. Rush is challenging overall but nothing else came close. Shadow the Hedgehog - Mad Matrix Bomb detonation. Total luck based due to poor draw distance and level design. Sonic 06 - Dusty Desert Ball Puzzle - You are at the mercy of the broken physics system on this. Sonic Rush Adventure - Sky Babylon. This game is not difficult. Getting the True Final Boss is tedious but not hard. Only difficult part of the game is the Sky Babylon level. Sonic Unleashed - Eggmanland Hot Dog Missions - Thought it was hard before. Trying doing extra missions while not being allowed to die a single time. Sonic Colours - Red Rings. Game is not hard at all. These only qualify due to some being well hidden. Sonic Colours DS - Asteroid Coaster Special Missions. Good luck S Ranking these. Sonic Generations - Red Rings again for the same reason as Colours. Sonic Generations 3DS - Ranking System. And this is being generous as this game honestly left no impression on me. Sonic 4 Episode 1 and 2 - Special Stages for both. Sonic Lost World - Red Rings. These are so much worse than the ones in Colours and Generations. Sonic Mania - Getting the perfects in Blue Spheres. Sonic Forces - Silver Moon Rings. Good luck with these in the water slide levels. One mistake and you are restarting. Sonic Frontiers - Final Horizons Endgame. Tower climb or boss rush. Both are very difficult.

[@zeospark9715]

As one who played through Shadow the Hedgehog throughly, I can safely say that Central City Hero Mission was stupidly tedious. The time is EXTREMELY tight and the aliens you have to take out are very durable pretty much requiring you to take them out with their own blasters. And yeah that last alien doesn't always spawn at times. This mission annoyed me so much as a kid, I decided to just say "Screw it going for the Dark mission" and I was opting for a pure Hero route at the time.

[@Doudoussin]

For Shadow the Hedgehog, Lost Impact hero mission (the one where you have to kill all 35 chaos enemy thingies) is DEFINITELY the hardest, or at least the most tedious one. I swear it's impossible to complete that one in less like 20 minutes

[@DavidMartin-101]

Not to mention one is hidden in like what a dark corner behind you when you enter a new part of the stage it's in the most random corner

[@dautolover]

Your Sonic 2 special stage take is well taken. Honestly, once you have the rhythm on the final boss locked in, you can probably get it done in one or two tries. Metropolis is hard, but you will make it out alive. I remember getting past it when I was a kid. But I never passed all the special stages until I was an adult.

[@DeltaRaven97]

Imagine 10 year old me playing through SA2 and not knowing the Air Necklace actually existed. I just had to get good at the level to win. Absolutely crazy, looking back on it years later.

[@Hyp3rSonic]

For Sonic 2, its gotta be the final boss(Death Egg Robot) but there are still the special stages, and wing fortress zone. And somewhat Casino Night and Oil Ocean

[@DanishThePenguin]

I haven't played too many Sonic games to completion (including the original Mega Drive games), but I would have definitely given a few different picks myself: Sonic Adventure: Big's Stages - Pretty much every reason already mentioned, so I don't really need to say anything. Sonic Adventure 2: Crazy Gadget Hard Mode - Every stage has 5 missions, and the final one is always Hard Mode. Crazy Gadget is probably the most frustrating of them all, all because of the final section. The constant struggling to navigate those multi-coloured platforms with changing gravity and trying to find the new spot for the switch that deactivates the death wall in front of the goal ring was hellish. Even after 100%ing SA2 at least 3 times, I still struggle with that mission. Sonic Heroes: Final Fortress/Special Stages (same reason) - This might seem odd, but these two share the spot for the exact same reason, at least for first-time players. In Final Fortress, there is a final rail-grinding section where you're avoiding lasers until you reach one final laser that must be outsped rather than dodged. So you just do what you normally do and mash B to speed up, right? Nope, you won't get enough speed with that and you'll just take the hit. Despite what you've been doing the entire game, you're supposed to HOLD B, not mash it, but only when you're not grinding upwards. There is no indication that this is a thing, and in fact, the button prompt looks like it's telling you to mash. This same issue extends to the special stages, where the prompt looks like it's telling you to mash B to boost, but in reality, you're supposed to hold it. The fact that the game never communicates this makes these way harder than it should be for new players. Sonic Advance 2/3: Accessing the Special Stages - Yes, this is an issue in both games, but for slightly different reasons. In Sonic Advance 2, there are special rings that you must collect to access a special stage. There are 7 in total and you must collect all 7 in a single stage and then reach the end without dying to gain access. The issue is that the level design is a bit all over the place and exploration, especially in later stages like Sky Canyon where there are so many bottomless pits that exploring is frustrating as hell. You would need a map of the stage to know where to go, especially with the GBA's small screen size. What makes it worse is that any Chaos Emerald you do get is specific to that character. If you get an emerald as Sonic, you have to get again for Cream, then again for Tails etc. As for Sonic Advance 3, it is slightly better in that both dying and completing a stage doesn't force you to recollect anything. In that game, you must find 10 Chao scattered across each zone's 3 acts, and once you find one, you don't need to find it again. However, the same problems with Advance 2's level design carry over here, and there's no way you'll find every Chao in every zone without some sort of map. Thankfully, the emeralds here are shared across all characters, so no grabbing everything multiple times here, but it's still frustrating. Shadow the Hedgehog: Lost Impact Hero Mission A Rank - Lost Impact is notoriously long and convoluted in it's level design, which saddens me since it's one of only two levels not only in the game, but in the entire series that features Maria in actual gameplay. In this mission, you must scoure the level and defeat all 35 Artificial Chaos enemies, some of which are in very easy-to-miss spots. It's not too bad once you know where they are, but it still takes a while. Trying to get an A rank, however, sometimes feels near-impossible with how much the game demands from you, especially when you learn that if you do a Hero mission, any Dark points earned actually DETRACTS from your final Hero score. In the end, I only succeeded by using the Heal Cannon on every human enemy to boost my score on top of defeating all of the required enemies, but pulling that off consistantly is way too tedious to be reasonable. Sonic 06: Wave Ocean (Sonic) - Yes, the first level is the hardest, again purely because of a single section right at the end. The final section of Wave Ocean is the infamous "Mach Speed" part of the game. The hit detection and stiff controls are bad enough, but what clinches it here is the final loop before the goal ring. At the end, there is a scripted double loop leading to a spring that bounces you to the goal ring. However, since the game is a buggy mess, the script is broken as well, and you will often hit this loop and watch helplessly as Sonic just slips off the edge and dies while you have literally zero control. I got so many game overs because of that loop alone. Sonic Unleashed (Wii): Eggmanland (Day) - This is a no-brainer. The difficulty spike here is massive, and I spent weeks trying to beat this stage before finally succeeding. I actually think it's the reason I haven't gone back and replayed it. Sonic Frontiers: Master Trial - What else could it be? I don't think anything in any Sonic game has frustrated me as much as this. This trial requires you to go through the first 3 Titan battles in one large gauntlet on a single set of 400 rings and set power levels. This doesn't sound too bad until you learn that there is no way to replenish them at any point. Ok, a bit tough, but if you know the bosses, you should be able to get through, yeah? Well the game is now deciding to implement a "Perfect parry" system, requiring you to parry just as the attack hits you. You have never needed to do this before, and now you're thrown into a boss gauntlet with enough restrictions to make 2 or more mistakes enough to kill the run. It was so bad that SEGA ended up putting out a patch to increase the perfect parry timing window. These bosses were not designed with the Perfect Parry in mind, especially Wyvern with it's really awkward hit detection. Honestly, at least for me, this trial committed a cardinal sin by making those awesome titan battles not fun. In the end, I had to lower the difficulty just to make it feel reasonable.

[@artey6671]

As a kid I eventually found out you have to hold the button in the special stages in Heroes. I mean, there's a meter that depletes, so it's not too hard to figure out, I think. As for the Eggman laser, I only discovered that this year, I think. I just used Tails to fly up and dodge it. I remember this pipe in Eggmanland on Wii where you have to defy gravity to get across. Other than that, I don't recall it being difficult. And kudos to you for getting an A rank on Lost Impact. I guess I'll have to try that eventually, too.

[@FinalHopeTrio]

I'll give you a note for the "Getting the Good Future" thing for Sonic CD: Opt for the special stages. Completing all special stages rewards all good futures in all zones, even if you don't find the robot generators. Time Stones are your friends. Just get 50 rings and keep them at the goal. A warp ring will appear at the end of the level and you can try to nab a Time Stone. Get all of them and you covered the alternate route for the good future.

[@martind2520]

In the Sonic 2 special stages, Tails could only lose the rings that _he_ had himself collected. Not your own rings, so if you were playing without Tails you wouldn't have had those rings that you had lost anyway. But yeah, as a kid I got all 7 Chaos Emeralds in that game by just literally playing it so much that I had perfectly memorised every special stage. They were not fair.

[@shadouraito7935]

As someone who played the entirety of Shadow the Hedgehog all 10 times, the ARK mission where you had to kill all the 50 Artificial Chaos was miserable. I had to look up how to beat that fucking mission. The rest of the game was a breeze, and I actually enjoyed it a lot. Also, I'm surprised you didn't choose getting an S rank in 1-2 as the hardest part of Frontiers. I never actually struggled with the pinball puzzle.

[@Suicunesanity86]

My sonic 06 pick has to be the final level end of the world. Silvers section is so broken to the point where if you don’t speed run the final lap of his portion it’s just impossible to complete because those insta kill portal orbs crowd the ending, not to mention that his section takes place in dusty desert, which has insta kill quicksand. That part of the game was the first time I’ve ever cried playing a video game out of sheer anger and frustration I probably sound dumb for this next take, but for Sonic frontiers, I think that laser puzzle on Kronos island is the hardest part. I don’t think I’m that dumb but holy shit, I don’t understand how kids would be able to figure that out when all the movements in the guide I had to watch to complete it were hyper specific

[@PGW85Productions]

I think a lot of people struggle with End Of The World in ‘06. Which is strange for me, because whilst End Of The World is definitely not an easy level, I personally found almost all of Sonic’s Mach speed sections to be harder than End Of The World.

[@Suicunesanity86]

@@PGW85Productions I think the only high speed section I had trouble on is kingdom valley, because it has the problem crisis city has with you not being able to adjust your jumps but even worse. I found myself spamming the light dash to beat those so it wasn’t the worst

[@Slimeonian]

The Master King Koco trial is definitely the hardest part of Frontiers… maybe even any Sonic game tbh. Before it was patched anyway. The entire game you’ve had a parry that lasts an indefinite amount of time. But now you have to fight all 3 titans, back to back, while you’re on a timer, AND your parry now requires perfect timing. On Easy mode, you have a parry that lasts 60 frames, and then it just goes WAY down. On Normal mode you have 12 frames to parry, on Hard mode you have 8 frames, and on Extreme mode you have 4 frames. The Titans boss fights have extremely janky attack hitboxes too so that really doesn’t help with the perfect parry timing. It’s not even a contest imo. It was so bad the devs released a patch to make the parry timings more generous. Oh and all the Frontiers dlc is free btw. You don’t have to pay anything.

[@JediDrewsterT]

It took me longer to beat Eggman Land than Master King on release in Hardmode

[@Hedgie3]

I didn't have a hard time getting through that pinball stage in Sonic Frontiers, and the Master Koco Titan time trial was okay for me because each time I failed to complete that challenge, an option came up on screen to choose if the player would or wouldn't want it to become easier if you try again, so when I had made it easy enough by choosing that option each time was how I finally got through that part of that game. I think the hardest part (if you haven't downloaded the free Final Horrizons update yet) is getting an S rank on the Sky Sanctuary inspired cyberspace stage on Kronos island that has the music in it that was playing in this video when you brought up Sonic Frontiers. You get an S rank if you reach the goal before the time limit and I continuiously keep frustratingly failing at reaching the goal before it gets past that time limit and get any rank that is lower than the S one each time I try!

[@freponad9053]

In Sonic Adventure 1 as Big, if you flick the control stick when you get a fish it sets the hook. This was actually in the game's manual.

[@Arichson]

6:36, In my opinion for most of the stages this appears in, it’s a good thing. In order to get the good ending, (or the “neutral” one) you have to understand the level design, and gain mastery over the speed-based platforming that sonic exclusively provides. it’s a nice little challenge and I think regardless of execution, on paper it is a really clever method to incentivize the player to get better at the game.

[@JDC2890]

Sonic Superstars: There isn't one final boss, there's THREE. They're all brutal. Sonic Frontiers: Snake Trial was very hard, but Master King Koco Trial... holy moly that was a stupid difficulty spike with no proper buildup to train you in the new mechanic.

[@iseethesea]

I actually love Planet Wisp in Sonic Generations. Once I figured out the layout of both acts a bit better it became a really fun location to return to. For Generations, I'd say the hardest part would be trying to get that S Rank on that damn side mission as classic Sonic where Espio swings you from side to side. One of my least favourite parts of getting full S ranks, so I ended up having to leave it to last.

[@Evan.280]

Getting the true ending of shadow the hedgehog was the biggest damn grind I’ve ever had to deal with as a kid

[@Tatokat]

I've played Sonic Heroes a lot as a kid. As in, I replayed that game over and over and over again. And seriously, once you memorized where everything is, Team Chaotix is not that bad. It's still the least enjoyable part of the game, of course. But not difficult. Instead I'd like to put forward: Team Dark, 2nd jungle level, alligator chase. Even if you play flawlessly, you might still fail. Just because the game suddenly decides to multiply the gravity by ten. Making you drop like a stone while jumping from vine to vine. Every time I played through that game, I could do nothing more than pray that the physics engine wouldn't glitch out. And once it was done, it was such a relieve. Because the rest of the game was gonna be smooth sailing from there on out.