Nostalgia Zone Voting

Alright. I was bored walking home from school one day and got a great idea (at least to me it is.) Why not make a zone that showcases the best 3 zones of Sonic The Hedgehog 1, 2, and 3. So I started thinking of lots of ways I could go about doing this and came up with the idea of having a kind of poll for you guys to decided what Zones will be in the three act Nostalgia Zone. So basically what I need is for everyone to give one of their favorite Zones from Sonic 1, 2, and 3 (yes this includes Knuckles.) and even to help out more reasons why you chose that Zone or things you specifically liked about it. Then in about a week or 2 depending on how alive the topic still is I will tally the voted up and add my own vote in for each and decide what Zones I will take and redo the art to make it similar, but fresh and new. I only have one rule however. Do not choose any of the starting zones Green Hill, Emerald Hill, or Angel Island...

In case you still don't quite understand what to say here is an example (I will be listing the three Zones you cannot vote for:

Sonic The Hedgehog 1: Green Hill Zone because its very special to many Sonic fans being the first sonic Zone ever. It also has the cool breakable walls I like.

Sonic The Hedgehog 2: Emerald Hill Zone because its just like Green Hill, but better. It has a great sense of speed and is overall what a Sonic Zone should be.

Sonic The Hedgehog 3: Angel Island Zone because of how diverse and interesting of an intro stage it is. From Knuckles stealing the Emeralds to the island being set on fire by Robotnik's robot. This stage is great.

Alright I hope this isn't too confusing because I really want other community input so the Zone doesn't just end up being my favorite zones instead of a wider range Sonic Fans. I may also start a topic like this on other Sonic related sites to get a wider range of votes, but I'm not sure right now.

 

Well, Green Hill *is* the best zone from Sonic 1, with Scrap Brain and Starlight being tied at second place, in my opinion, for different reasons. Starlight Zone brings a great sense of speed, something Sonic should definitely be about; sadly, the badniks are dull and everything else in that Zone (including the art) isn't noteworthy at all. Scrap Brain Zone, on the other hand, carries a good deal of challenges, with interesting level layouts and whatnot; in a nutshell, it's quite possibly the most "complete" Zone in Sonic 1, with fast sections, precise platforming sections, and so on. If I really have to pick one over the other, I'd say SBZ wins over SLZ. But still, GHZ wins over everything else.


Also, Aquatic Ruin Zone and Marble Garden Zone.

 

Alright, I'll bite.

Sonic 1: Spring Yard Zone. Why? I love its half pipes and slopes, and the potential they have to create interesting level design. Not to mention its BGM is one of my favorite.

Sonic 2: Casino Night Zone, purely because of the Slot Machines. The 2-Player music also has one of the best bass lines in the entire series.

Sonic 3&Knuckles: Flying Battery Zone. It's one of those levels that are exhilarating the entire time for me.

 

Sonic 1: Spring Yard, because it has a very nice flow when you get it down and also the best music

Sonic 2: Chemical plant, even though it's one of the shorter zones with a terrible boss, it has great implementations of water in it, cool shortcuts and overall a very cool atmosphere

Sonic 3: Hydrocity, best music, best level design only rivalled by Launch Base and the bosses are very well designed from a casual players perspective IMO.

S&K: Mushroom hill. It's just a perfect stage in every single way. I love the gimmicks, the complex level design and those dancing mushrooms .

 

Sonic 1: I'd go with Starlight Zone Act 3.

Sonic 2: Tough decision, but I vote Metropolis Zone Act 2.

Sonic 3: Hydrocity Zone Act 2.

 

It's kind of a toss up for Sonic 1 since I love all of its zones (yes, even Labyrinth), but if I had to choose I'd go with Spring Yard because I love its layout. Lots of slopes and many good ways to speed through if you know the level. It's also essentially the basis for Collision Chaos, my favorite level from Sonic CD and one of my all time favorite levels in terms of aestetics.


For Sonic 2, I'd go with Metropolis because of it's challenge and length (yeah, not really big on Sonic 2 to be honest, awesome music though).


As for Sonic 3, I have to go with Flying Battery . Great layout, cool gimmicks, nice pacing, and a good amount of fair challenge, not to mention one of the best music compositions in the entire series.

 

Alright I'm getting some good votes in thanks =D. Anyway I'm going to put my own votes in so everyone knows what they are (I'm a  weird Sonic fan so my picks may be different)

Sonic The Hedgehog 1: Star Light Zone simply because its very fast and fun. Really that's it... A runner up for Sonic 1 is Marble Garden of all Zones. The one Zone that ruins all the great speed of Sonic.

Sonic The Hedgehog 2: Hill Top Zone. Yeah the Zone that's essentially a Green Hill Zone. The art is definitely the worst part about it, but the design of it is fantastic and unlike the other Hill Zone levels in sonic games it feels like you are actually on a hill. Not to mention the music compliments the layout quite well and just sounds awesome. A runner up for me would also be Mystic Cave Zone. Oh man do I love Mystic Cave. I actually used to hate it as a little kid, but now I love almost everything about it.

Sonic The Hedgehog 3: Ice Cap Zone. There is just no competition there for me. It is without a doubt my favorite Classic Sonic Zone period. The snowboard part at the beginning is awesome and unlike most ice levels instead of having dumb ice physics gimmicks it only has really cool falling ice and giant sliding ice blocks. Also don't even get me started on the music.  A good runner up for Sonic 3 is probably Hydro City Zone. Yep my two fave Zones for this game are usually the two obligatory terrible levels in video games. The slippery ice levels and the boring water levels xD. 

 

• Sonic The Hedgehog 1: Labyrinth Zone, because this zone have great's some gimmicks(in my opinnion), also I love the background!

• Sonic The Hedgehog 2: Metropolis Zone, music, art, challenges and level design, are wonderful to me. <3
  

• Sonic The Hedgehog 3: Hydrocity Zone, of course, art, music and some underwater challenges.
  

• Sonic & knuckles: Flying Battery Zone, I love "FBZ, is my favorite level of S&K the music is iwonderful, I love the moments of speed, good gmmicks and enemys.
  

 

On pure nostalgia alone, it would have to be: Star Light, Aquatic Ruin and Hydrocity.

 

Sonic 1: Spring Yard Zone

Sonic 2: Chemical Plant Zone

Sonic 3 and Knuckles: Ice Cap Zone

 

Sonic 1: Star light, least would be Labyrinth.


Sonic 2: Hill Top, least would be Oil Ocean, bores me to death, and the sea horse Badniks piss me off.


Sonic 3: it's tied between, Marble Garden and Ice Cap, I don't hate any of these.


Sonic and Knuckles: Flying Battery, same as before don't dislike any of the zones.

 

I didn't pick a Zone from Sonic & Knuckles because I thought he wanted only one from the whole Sonic 3 & Knuckles, but since everyone else is picking one, I'll follow suit with Sky Sanctuary.

 

Well, lots of people seem to be voting for Spring Yard Zone and Star Light Zone. I can see it now: Spring Light Zone.

All joking aside, my votes are as follows for best:

Sonic 1 = Green Hill Zone

Sonic 2 = Aquatic Ruin Zone

Sonic 3 = Ice Cap Zone

Sonic & Knuckles = Lava Reef Zone (seriously)

And for worst:

Sonic 1 = Labyrinth Zone

Sonic 2 = Wing Fortress Zone

Sonic 3 = Launch Base Zone

Sonic & Knuckles = Sandopolis Zone

If you count Sonic CD as well:
Best = Tidal Tempest

Worst = Metallic Madness

 

If we're going worst, too, I'll chip in as well: Spring Yard (wtf is wrong with you people?), Oil Ocean, Carnival Night, Sandopolis.


Hey, let's go 8-bit, too. Best: Jungle, Green Hills, Gigalopolis, Sunset Park. Worst: Sky Base, Gimmick Mountain, Sleeping Egg, Tidal Plant.


And yes, I deliberately removed "Zone" from all those names so I didn't type it 12 times. Deal with it.

 

OK, I'll chime in but people may not like my choices and reasoning:

Sonic 1:

Marble Zone. One of the slower zones but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I love the indoor/outdoor areas (where the background changes and the chunks lose all natural curves and grass) and although speed is limited, the platforming that is provided is solid. I also have a particular fondness for the chandelier type objects with spikes as both a menacing object to traverse but also a platform.

Sonic 2:

Oil Ocean Zone. A zone that has a pseudo death pit at the bottom of the level is a unique idea and one that works rather well in context (however broken it can be). The zone specific objects such as balloon cannons, steam tops and pressure springs also add a unique twist to what would otherwise be a standard mechanical level. I also have a soft spot for the large spikes that move along those thin platforms and ricochet against each other in with a "clang" noise.

Sonic 3:

Hydrocity Zone. A zone that contains water but is also fast? There's a winner right here. In all seriousness, this zone took what people didn't like about water zones and fixed it, without removing any of the features you'd expect. Twisting tube tunnels and slides add to the speed and the zone itself doesn't suffer from it. I particularly like the rotating cylinders (platforming fun) and the badniks that, when destroyed, take the floor out underneath them in Act 1. A very clever way of progression, I thought.

Sonic & Knuckles:

Sandopolis Zone. Hands-down, one of my favourite zones from the 2D era. Everyone seems to hate it for the length of act 2 and the maze-like layout but I like it for those reasons. The zone has many gimmicks that make it stand out, such as the Act 2 ghosts, push-able switches and doors, rising sand and endless vertical looping (which makes maze sections that much more confusing). The zone also has, in my opinion, a very nice combination of speed and platforming that doesn't feel stale. The zone also boasts a large number of alternate paths (especially in Act 1) which adds to the re-play value.

 

alright guys I've checked all the voted and added in my own to get the deciding zones that I will take and try to redo all the art to make it new and fresh while still feeling old. If possible I will also try and include bits of peoples favorite gimmicks for each zone.

For Sonic The Hedgehog we have: Starlight Zone with 5 votes!

For Sonic The Hedgehog 2 we have: a tie with  Metropolis Zone and Hill Top Zone with 3 each! This means everyone vote which one to get the final spot. Just say either Hill top or Metropolis. 

For Sonic The Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles we have: Hydro City Zone with 6 votes!

alright then after I can get sonic 2 decided I will try and jump on Starlight as soon as possible and try and come up with new designs to make it interesting. Finally as a kind of bonus I made an early pic of a Zone I decided to redo the art simply because I wanted to. This will not be part of the whole Nostalgia thing, but I like it =):



The lights move a lot faster and more frequent than they should. This will definitely change. Also there is no background atm. Well that's it.

 

I don't really like neither Hill Top nor Metropolis, but since you wanted to exclude Emerald Hill, I'd go with Metropolis since Hill Top is just Emerald Hill in a wig.

 

Is it too late to vote?

Sonic 1: Marble Zone. I just really like its design.

Sonic 2: Mystic Cave. I like cave levels, and Mystic Cave has the best from any of the classic games. But for the tie-breaker as it currently stands: I prefer Hill Top.

Sonic 3: Launch Base. The idea of the Death Egg not being launched yet and you have to reach it before it takes off is amazing; usually in games you just have to reach the ship and take it down, not prevent its launch in the first place. Plus, I like the music.

Sonic & Knuckles: Mushroom Hill. When I was little, this was the level I was most excited for (and for some reason I thought it was in Sonic 3, right after Ice Cap, so imagine my surprise when I showed up in Launch Base).

 

Thanks for the votes Starfruity, but the main voting is now over. Sonic The Hedgehog 2 still needs some votes for either Hill Top or Metropolis and right now Metropolis is winning thanks to nineko so if you want Hill Top to win instead get some votes in. I'll stop it by tomorrow.

 

Sonic 1: Marble Zone

Sonic 2: Metropolis Zone

Sonic 3 and Knuckles: Flying Battery Zone

I'm dead serious about Marble zone. I only choose Metropolis zone because I don't care for Sonic 2 that much, and Metropolis was the most exciting for me *runs*