Worst Sonic the Hedgehog Games

Sonic the Hedghog is one of the greatest video game characters ever. But does that mean all his games are good? Hell no. The blue blur himself has been in some downright terrible games. Here are what I consider to be his worst.
The Top Ten
Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

This game was meant to introduce Silver, and he played a vital role in the story. Unfortunately, there were a lot of glitches and inflexible gameplay for a Sonic game, but it was rather fitting for the world they were in. The music was good, the story made sense once the characters were introduced, and Elise played the damsel in distress. Sonic saves the damsel in distress, and in this situation, he's the one who needs her. She's just a role to fulfill the story, and the end, it never even happened. The game had potential, and throughout every bad moment I played, the music helped get me through. It was perfect for the game, and the final boss track? Flawless. It has classic Sonic written all over it. Although this isn't the greatest game SEGA has made, it had potential to be great.

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric

Of course the only reason Sonic 06 is above this is because of how much more known it is than Boom. Sonic 06 may have been glitchy and had plenty of control issues, but it is a masterpiece compared to this pile of crap. 06 is fast, has multiple new characters (Silver), lasting legacy (Generations Crisis City), in spirit has a good soundtrack and is a commercial success (Platinum Hits on Xbox 360). Rise of Lyric on the other hand is hella slow, cheaply combatted, it's not even a Sonic Team made game, so it isn't even a real Sonic game, had a forgettable yet horrible soundtrack, was very short, and only sold 620,000 copies! It's the lowest selling in the series. Anybody who says 06 is still the worst is just sick in the head.

Sonic Labyrinth

Wow! This isn't at number 1? This game was so slow, horrible controls, terrible level design, dull graphics compared to the good Sonic titles on the Game Gear, and this game was just horrible! This game should cost you a penny at the most, and was definitely the worst ever Sonic game. And why is Sonic and the Secret Rings not on here? That game traumatized me.

This game is possibly the hugest disappointment in video game history, hands down. I doubt even 06 was worse. I may even go as far as to say that it is not a Sonic game at all because to me, what makes a Sonic game a Sonic game is the adventurous feel and the needs-a-doctor sick music.

Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis

Let's review Sonic the Hedgehog (for the Sega Genesis) zones.

Green Hill Zone gets 9/10 stars.

Marble Zone gets 9/10 stars.

Spring Yard Zone gets 9/10 stars. It was a classic plains course that started the whole Sonic franchise.

Labyrinth Zone gets 9/10 stars. It was awesome and Sonic 1 has perfect graphics and music.

Starlight Zone gets 9/10 stars.

Scrap Brain Zone gets 9/10 stars.

Final Zone gets 9/10 stars.

Let's review the Sonic Genesis stages

Green Hill Zone: 5/10 stars.

Marble Zone: 5/10 stars.

Spring Yard Zone: 6/10 stars.

Labyrinth Zone: 5/10 stars.

Starlight Zone: 6/10 stars.

Scrap Brain Zone: 6/10 stars.

Final Zone: 5/10 stars.

Sonic the Hedgehog (for the SEGA Genesis) is one of the best Sonic games ever! It started the whole Sonic franchise but did not introduce Sonic the Hedgehog (Rad Mobile did) but did introduce Dr. Eggman (he is so perfect as Classic Eggman). Sonic Genesis has perfect graphics and great music, like its SEGA Genesis counterpart, but its gameplay was horrible!

This is an average Sonic the Hedgehog game, but the worst Classic Sonic game yet! Also, Classic Sonic is way better than Modern Sonic.

Sonic Free Riders

Um, why is this game only 7. While controls in 06 and RoL were bad, this game is truly the most technically flawed game because the controls don't work... ANYWHERE! They don't work in story mode, they don't work in the tutorials, and worst of all, they don't even work in the menu screen. While the music in boom is mediocre, the music in this game is SO ANNOYING! And the voice acting. I don't hate the voice acting for 06( come at me), I really disliked the script for RoL (to be fair, RoL voice acting presentation was great, but the presentation gets ruined by the script), but this game has the absolute worst presentation in the Sonic franchise (yeah, even worse than Shadow the Hedgehog's voice acting). While Shadow's voice acting was dull (the game, not the character before this game), the presentation of the voice acting in this game was so annoying! The script was also very annoying, so I definitely hate the voice acting in this game more than any other game, especially the voice acting with the Babylon Rogues, especially Jet's voice actor. What was Sega thinking when they replaced Jason Girith with the new annoying Jet? Also, whose idea was it to use Kinect controls for this game? Why did Sega go through in keeping Kinect motion controls? The motion controls don't register half of the time I try to turn, and the controls almost never work when I have to punch to do those stupid punching missions. Why is this game the way it is?!?!

Shadow the Hedgehog

Oh my god... horrid voice acting, bad controls, Shadow the Hedgehog: The Movie (WHO NEEDS THAT?! ), nightmare-giving characters, horrible levels, and an average soundtrack. this game deserves second place at least. This is worse than Sonic Labyrinth and Sonic Genesis and even Sonic Drift. But I think Sonic '06 is even worse. What's worse than this? Sonic Free Riders? Sonic Shuffle? I believe so. This game welcomed the current 3D graphics we have in today's Sonic games such as Sonic & the Black Knight (SEGA's Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door/Sticker Star, all these games suck and Paper Mario on the N64 and Super Paper Mario are WAY better) and Sonic Colors, which is quite decent. I do like the adult themes of this video game.

Shadow the Hedgehog gets 1/5 stars.

Sonic Labyrinth gets 3/5 stars.

Sonic Genesis gets 3/5 stars.

Sonic Drift gets 3/5 stars. Same goes with its sequel.

Sonic '06 gets 0/5 stars. Even Hotel Mario is better and gets 3/5 stars.

Sonic Free Riders gets 0.5/5 stars.

Sonic Shuffle gets 0/5 stars.

Sonic & the Black Knight gets 1/5 stars. It's fairly overrated with an overall average reception.

Both Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door and Paper Mario: Sticker Star get 1.5/5 stars.

Paper Mario (the original) gets 4/5 stars.

Super Paper Mario gets 5/5 stars, it has decent visuals.

Sonic Colors gets 2/5 stars.

I would rather play the Japanese versions of Modern Sonic games such as Shadow the Hedgehog than the American versions.

But I might agree that Shadow the Hedgehog is the top 5 worst Sonic game. Sonic Shuffle did not have anything decent.

Sonic Drift

Super Mario Kart vs. Sonic Drift

Super Mario Kart gets 99/100 stars.
Super Mario Kart is a flawless and extremely nostalgic video game. Its graphics/visuals are the best graphics/visuals in any 2D Mario game and its music is very nice. How could people prefer modern Mario Kart games over this masterpiece? This game and Mario Kart 64 and even Mario Kart: Super Circuit are way better because of the lack of really annoying voices and more classic tracks and even much better Rainbow Roads. There's nothing I don't like about this fun game. Princess Peach is the worst video game character of all time, but here, even she was not THAT bad. I even like her victory music, even if it is my least favorite victory music track in this game with Bowser having my most favorite. I love all the victory music tracks. And the VS. mode! It's classic too! And I love the Japanese version! Donkey Kong Jr. is best to play as here, and the race tracks are amazing! I love everything about this video game! And its credits theme! Too bad Princess Daisy of Sarasa Land needed a hiatus. She would be a great replacement for Princess Peach anyways. I would say Rosalina, but she did not exist back then. And even the controls are easy! I love every track of Super Mario Kart by far, especially Rainbow Road.

Sonic Drift gets 66/100 stars.
The graphics/visuals are very nice and so is the soundtrack and characters, but nothing bugs me more than Sonic the Hedgehog and other characters in a car (though he is using it confidently) and especially the control. Nonetheless, this game is not all that bad. In fact, critics have mainly mixed opinions on this video game. I have a mixed to positive opinion on this video game. The racetracks are awesome, too! But you have a hard time turning, which is bad. Keep playing on, then this video game will be great. Remember, Classic Sonic is much better than Modern Sonic. This game is very cute. I would recommend Sonic Drift 2 a little more, though. If... more

Sonic R

Aw, come on guys! This game's still better than Sonic CD! The soundtrack of this game was magnificent. As for the controls, some of you clearly never played Metal Knuckles. He's the best character by far! He controls perfectly, he's fast and he can even (Sonic Colours' Voice) HOVER! And the Tails Doll curse is pretty dumb in my opinion. This cute little Plushie wouldn't hurt a fly!

This game is perfect, it puts Mario Kart to shame, great track design, imaginative and balanced character roster. Not to mention mine blowing graphics that rival today's accompanied by awesome music that fit the tracks perfectly, this game hits all the right notes and will be remembered as the single greatest Sonic game of all time

Sonic Blast

Good portable. Terrible game. The music is the worst in the series. The graphics while they tried it's still bad. The levels are one of the worst zones in sonic history. Bosses are two easy. Sonic Blast gets 3/10

I played this game as a kid! I had it on Game Gear. It wasn't too hard, but the Blue Marine Zone level is so frustrating. I could NEVER beat that level and I constantly died.

Despite the art-style looking a little weird, This game plays really well! It's one of the underrated games in the franchise and it deserves more praise!

Sonic 3D Blast

This game may be a 3D fail with bad controls, a weird gameplay and slow gameplay, but it did not annoy me at all. It has great graphics, a very nice atmosphere, very catchy 16-bit music and what else? This game has levels with many of its ups and downs. It's nostalgic, man!

The Saturn version was badass and fun to play. It had all the elements of a classic Sonic game. The Genesis version, however, had NONE OF THAT! It should've been released for the Sega X32 so it makes more sense.

We checked Sonic 3D Blast. This game was not that bad, but it could definitely use improvements such as crossovers & better gameplay 7 even in-game 3-D. The graphics are still beautiful.

The Newcomers

? Sonic Forces

People got excited for this game. Mania deserved it's hype, it was a good game, but this game totally sucked. It could have had some dark elements and clever level designs. It could've had Silver included in the gameplay, it could've made the classic levels fun. But, no. Instead we got a typical, cliche modern Sonic game.
Don't even get me STARTED on Infinite. He was awful. Honestly, other than Dark Gaia, Mephilles, and Chaos, all the Sonic villains suck.
Having and OC is cool, but they were very mary-sue-ish, and opened up a whole new fanbase that shipped them with Infinite.
This game isn't the worst Sega has to offer, but it is far from some of the groundbreaking Sonic games we've gotten in the past.

? Team Sonic Racing

I played and it's boring. The tracking are a mess, the soundstrack is a mess. There is nothing memorable about them. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is much better than this game.

"Sonic could run not drive lololol"
Probably the stupidest reason to believe this game is bad.

This Game isn't even out yet. Why are you hating on it now?

The Contenders
Sonic and the Secret Rings

Secret Rings is kind of like the "bad child" of the Sonic franchise. Like, for example, Sonic 06 was rushed thanks to this game, when it was also announced at E3 2006 and the development team of 06 was left with a few people to work on it, while a majority worked on Secret Rings. The controls are so godawful that you may consider breaking open the WiiMote batteries and drinking the battery acid. The story is laughable, but it does do good with the Middle Eastern vibe and Sonic's friends are portrayed as storybook characters. Also, why does Erazor Djinn look like Groose from Zelda: Skyward Sword on steroids? This game is pretty much like a South Park parody of itself in terms of story.

Sonic Drift 2

The whole Sonic franchise sucks, yet this game is not as bad as games with Sonic characters w/ their terrible Sonic Adventure/Sonic Colors/Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games series designs.

The only good thing about this game is that Fang's in it. Besides that, this game sucks.

You will fall off the tracks, just from turning around.

Sonic Spinball

The Genesis version is far better compared to the utter pile of crap that is the GameGear Version. This version is not only extremely clunky and horrific to look at. It's also incredibly boring thanks to the dark uninteresting environments.

This is a ripoff Pinball. That's right everyone, SEGA can't have original ideas at all! They have to rip off other great games. How 'bout the get some brains and make a good game, yeah?

The Genesis version is the best, Master system works just fine, but the Game gear version isn't that good.

Sonic's Schoolhouse

Educational games + Sonic= EPIC FAIL!
Ok, Seriously this game is just a nightmare. Horrible voice acting and disturbing animals is not a good sign of an awesome game.

I think Elmo and Teletubies just got a new playmate! And by playmate I mean Suckmates because this game sucks! Also it should be higher on the list that shadow the hedgehog!

At least this is better than Mario's Early Years games and the top 1 true worst Sonic game ever: Sonic X for the Leapfrog!

Tails Skypatrol

How about Mario & Tails Skypatrol?

This includes Sonic & Yoshi Skypatrol.

This even includes Luigi & Blaze Skypatrol & Princess Daisy & Shadow Skypatrol.

P.S. Princess Peach is very short tempered.

I highly forbid you to play this game. Don't even think about ignoring me. You Will be sorry. It is not a good game

Well, 'tis worth handling a non-bump-into-things run. Also, this game is cool.

Sonic Unleashed

This game was trying to combine the speed and adrenaline of a sonic game with a slow beat-em up esque game for an already awful fanbase. This was however the last sonic game in awhile that hasn't been that bad but its fanbase will never be pleased.

I actually found this game really good, despite of the night levels. Sonic in day controls better than Sonic Generations and leveling up the speed and dash boost is a good thing Sega added. Maybe turning to the werehog wasn't expected, but it had really good controls

Sonic and the Black Knight

What do you mean by "Where did this come from"? Sonic & the Black Knight is one of the most overrated video games of all time. I could put it on my list of "Top 15 Worst Sonic the Hedgehog Games". I am glad that Sonic the Hedgehog had a different style once again. Gameplay is the most important aspect of the game, and it is rather fun, yet nothing special. The graphics are very dull. The soundtrack is a hell yeah, even though Rerez is rather right that rock music does not belong in a 2nd-millennium AD British realm. What infuriates me the most about Sonic & the Black Knight which made me originally spam for "Mario & the Black Knight" is Modern Amy Rose getting getting furious at Sonic the Hedgehog for forgetting their date, which is probably the main reason why people will be furious at you for not liking Sonic & the Black Knight. Don't listen to your self-proclaimed girlfriend, Sonic. You have Olympian skills, so you do not deserve less praise than Modern Amy Rose, who is even more overrated than Sonic & the Black Knight. Most Sonic the Hedgehog characters like the members of Team Sonic, Team Dark, the Chaotix, Mighty the Armadillo, Blaze the Cat, Silver the Hedgehog and Classic Sonic characters are way better than Modern Amy Rose since they have used their special physical abilities instead of do nothing to save the day. I give Sonic & the Black Knight a 4/10 (a 5 for the presentation, a 3 for the story and a 5 for the gameplay). - The Ultimate Daredevil

Sonic Shuffle

After the amazing (or mediocre) Sonic Adventure, this thing came. Why I'm calling it a thing is because I don't think it's a game. The controls are clunky, the graphics never improved, the new characters, a girl who sorta rip offs NIGHTS and an dark edgy villain who isn't that amazing at all, Omochao..., and the mini games. Here's my version called Crash Shuffle
Crash Bandicoot:Sonic
Coco Bandicoot:Tails
N.Cortex:Knuckles
Pura:Amy
Tiny:Big
Dingodile:Gamma
Fake Crash:Super Sonic
Ripper Roo:Omochao

Sonic Shuffle is forever awful & needs to be replaced by Mario Shuffle feat other crossover characters whereas Mario plays the role of Sonic, Yoshi plays the role of Tails, Princess Daisy plays the role of Knuckles & Luigi plays the role of Amy Rose.

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood

Had potential to be a good RPG, it failed, probably the worst soundtrack in sonic history (Shadow the hedgehogs was mostly forgettable, but it had a few decent songs, mostly main themes), though that might be because of rumors that they got the music from a website or something, controls are awkward, and other problems.

Here's hoping that if there's ever a sequal (which is left open due to a cliffhanger at the end), here's hoping that it will be one massive improvement over this.

Amy Rose has always been supposed to be Sonic's sister. I know that Sonic was Amy's best friend before she met Cream the Rabbit, yet this could fairly change & Axel Chains will be Amy Rose's newer best friend.

Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine

This is a fun game. It was intended to be a ripoff, SEGA wanted to beat Nintendo at all thing's.

This game is fun! How could no one like it? It's hard but fun.

Why is this on here? This game is really fun! It's also funny too!

Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal

Oh, this game... IT SUCKS!

Top 1 reason: the nearly impossible level design.

Top 2 reason: The addition of Archie Comics episodes (it it Archie Comics' fault that there are no Pac-Man Archie comics! )

Top 3 reason: The voice acting.

Top 4 reason: Frequently, you are forced to wait for anything decent.

Top 5 reason: The game is mainly slow.

I think this game is often considered to be worst 3ds and sonic game of all time!

I can't play this game at all! I will neve rlike Modern Sonic games at this rate, but this game is cool.

Sonic Riders

Sonic Riders is one of the few modern Sonic games where you really do go fast, yet for the wrong reason. Hoverboard racing? Come on! Can't we have a Sonic game where he runs fast and beats bad guys up at the same time?

The game itself is fun and the story is mediocre, yet it isn't what Sonic fans want from a Sonic game. Better luck next time, SEGA...

I'd prefer Mario Riders with extensive voice acting & Princess Daisy's pear figure for Sonic Riders while Daisy is naked alongside Peach who has the same pear figure, only a little bit more elongated.

Sonic Lost World

I think I have the same feelings for this game like I have for Sonic Rush Adventure. It's a decent Sonic game, however its reputation is ruined thanks to the bipolar story that can't pick a tone. At one point, Sonic and Tails are arguing with each other in one cutscene, and the next feels like a cartoon. Might I mention the references to strangling, skinning people alive and even genocide? Why does it want to be dark all of a sudden? There's that, and that the Deadly Six are annoying villains. Zazz is decent, Zomom is a fat guy, Master Zik is a stereotypical Master Shifu/Mr. Miyagi wannabe, Zeena is a valley girl, Zor is emo and Zavok is also decent. In my opinion, the gameplay is decent, but the story is ruined thanks to the random tone changes and the annoying villains.

Sega Superstars Tennis

Why don't they really show "let's play" videos of the original Sega Superstars anymore?

P.S. More like "Sega Superstars Penis".

It is good and bad but mostly bad. And to think that Mario was so good at tennis why couldn't sega be good at tennis

Fun and good-looking game, but the controls take some getting used to.

Sonic Pinball Party
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