This is legitimately, without any irony, a terrible game that gets so much wrong it's not even funny. It's held back so much by its ambition that it ends up as borderline shovelware.

SA1 hate is so forced.

>>715581943
If anything it gets off easy, SA2 gets the brunt of the hate.

>>715581840 (OP)
That’s nice. Think I’m going to replay it again for like the 20th time. What character order should I go in once I’ve unlocked everyone with Sonic? Think I’m going to get Big out of the way first this time.
>>715581943
Hating it is peak reddit/I only listen to gaming YouTubers. SA and SA2 are essential /v/ core games.

Consult the chart.

>>715582054
physics,the comfy overworld and the knuckles stages not being broken on purpose to make the game longer put SA1 over 2

>>715581840 (OP)
It being good or bad doesn't fucking matter. The game is a ton of fun to play and has the most SOUL out of pretty much any game of that era.

I like the orca level

If you mean that the core sonic formula has always been mediocre then yes I will agree. Otherwise I will have to disagree. Although the alternate play styles are largely shit, tails' and gamma's build off of the foremost tenet of sonic game design, fast paced platforming and knuckles' builds off the elements of exploration CD and 3&K initially attempted.
And sonic's gameplay is, perhaps unfortunately but nonetheless true, the closest to 2D of any 3D sonic game in terms of design.
If you enjoyed the bulk of the 2D sonic game design philosophies then I don't see how you could view this game as terrible or doing significantly wrong.

It's flawed and overly ambitious and quite janky, but there's also a lot of good stuff. It might be a nostalgia thing, but it's still fun (especially the Sonic stages). The music is fantastic and so are the environments. I really can't hate it

>>715582275
People only shitpost about it because of wonky physics and clipping issues in the later ports. It’s a beautiful opening level that perfectly captures that tropical late 90s/early 2000s SOVL.

>>715582265
It's not fun to play for like half of its runtime. You literally just go from point A to B and repeat the same exact missions with minimal variation. No mechanical depth, not even the additional stage missions do anything besides artificially extend playtime.

The overworld is also the most clear cut example of padding, it serves no purpose that the cutscenes between levels don't already do.

>>715582405
Why the fuck were video games all about that beach around the turn of the millennium?
I mean, I get going to the beach is kinda cool. I like swimming and skipping rocks and shit. But, I don't get what it has to do with video games.

>>715582405
It's also more of a linear hallway than people seem to realize. Unless you consider being able to skip geometry with OP spin dash jumps good level design.

>>715582534
Don’t know. But it should come back. I love the beach levels with clear blue water and skies. We were still so optimistic about the world back then.

>>715582471
>You literally just go from point A to B and repeat the same exact missions with minimal variation
But, you don't. Only thing this is really true for is Tails.
The other characters have pretty different ways to play. Especially Knuckles and Gamma.

>>715582471
>The overworld is also the most clear cut example of padding, it serves no purpose that the cutscenes between levels don't already do.
It does serve the purpose of providing some context for the stages and to give you a bit of breathing room. Just some places for you to run around in, which you can call padding, but it definitely serves a purpose and it's not without value.

>>715582642
All 6 characters require traversal in the overworld which does nothing at all except waste time.
If you want all emblems, you're gonna do the same exact missions 3x with no meaningful difference between runs.
And look, I think Gamma is cool, but he has even less content than Amy despite technically having more stages.

>>715582546
Being linear or being a setpiece level isn’t inherently a bad thing. I remember seeing it on demo consoles in stores and it was a really captivating level that made you want to try the full game.

>>715582534
new tech allowed for nice looking water
pretty sure that's why Chaos is a liquid monster

>>715581840 (OP)
Here you go, this is more your taste op.

>>715582792
This is probably the best explanation I've heard. New, hype water rendering showing off the power of the hardware.
Plus, people just look fucking cool hanging at the beach. It's what cool people do.

>>715582546
Emerald coast is actually one of the more non-linear stages in the game even without spindash jumping. When you get passed the orca you get the upper/lower path with the wall run and then after that you have 3 different ways to climb up to the loop right before the end.
Kinda sad that's "non-linear" by SA1 standards but without counting spindash jumping most levels are largely 1 path.

>>715582780
The problem is that almost all of SA1's level design revolves around setpieces instead of actual platforming. The game is terrified of not having some sort of gimmick. The stages unironically didn't need to be so detailed with so many moving parts.

>>715581840 (OP)
It's a game from 1998 designed as a tech demo and as a "everything" kind of game. Only the Sonic gameplay is good but it's still kinda comfy in a weird way.

>>715582813
>mfw just now realizing we're not gonna get the proper hd ports of Sonic Adventure/Adventure 2 Battle because they're gonna add the gamecube versions to NSO
im not ready for this

>>715583252
I thought Gamma and Knuckles were fun too.