Top 20 Sonic the Hedgehog Zones

This list was initially created to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. The idea was to go through each Sonic game and pick out my favourite zones. Well, last year I played through 52 zones spanning the classic Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, and Sega CD games. Out of those 52 zones, I managed to narrow this list down to 20. It was grueling to replay each game, but now I can proudly present you the Top 20 Sonic the Hedgehog Zones.

[Jallen]

An interesting list. You seem to be a fan of only the older games in the series though. Which is fine but a bit of a shame when you've missed out everything post 1996.

Also I never really liked Sonic CD, Stardust Speedway was great, but everything else was just forgettable to me.

[robparko]

I do like the older games better, but this list was meant to explore the classic 2D games only; it's briefly mentioned in the opening paragraph.

I've played many of the newer games and could make an entire list based on them.

[claud3]

First zone with the hidden area at the end in I think sonic 2 or 1

Its been a long time since I have play it

Also the bonus zones I liked

[robparko]

I also like the bonus zones, they were creative for the time and quite fun!

[claud3]

The bonus zones were so much fun. That I would try and get into them as much as possible after playing through a zone

[Relientk77]

Nostalgia

so many good and fun levels

I love Sandopolis Zone, so happy thats #1

[Horny]

Sandopolis was awesome, that and level two (sonic and knuckles) forgot the name are my favorites.

Such a great game, definitely my favorite in the sonic series.

[FuzzyBluePanda]

I love Sonic, it's what started my love for games!

[Griffin4871]

Wait, Metropolis Zone is number 2, but Flying Battery isn't anywhere?! What blasphemy!

[ScubaSteve1]

why is oil ocean zone in top 6 that was one of the worst levels ever

[RockmanII7]

Disagree with a good chunk of this but we all have different opinions. I'll just say Oil Ocean Zone and Metropolis Zone are not the two best levels in Sonic 2 and leave it at that.

[NJShadow]

Great games? Yes. But that list is very VERY odd. I mean, Sandopolis at #1!? That has to be one of my least favorite levels, even though it does incorporate a lot of great platforming elements.

[abzdine]

A very few amount of people know about a special level called Doomsday Zone and it's my all time favorite.

it's an extra level of Sonic 3 & Knuckes in the very end that can be unlocked only if you can transform to Super Sonic (or Hyper Sonic).

Other than this DoomsDay i like Lava Reef(S&K)and Marble Zone(Sonic1)

Thanks for the article it threw me at least 18years back

[robparko]

Thank you for the comments everyone!

I realize it's an odd list, but these are my favourite zones. There are tons of Zones that could easily be swapped in, or out, but this was what I came up with immediately after playing through each game back to back.

Cheers!