that level took me like one entire hour of pain and despair to beat... when i first completed it, it took me like a week to s rank it, and i had to struggle a lot otherwise i couldn't have gotten the platinum trophy, but yeah that's just how much i love the game😂😂
@@FlashingFireGames I beat it in 46 minutes on my very first run, but after a few runs, I beat it in 12 minutes with an S Rank (I'm NOT even joking). I can S Rank the stage everytime I play it with no problem now.
@@Uberhawg to be honest even with a controller I bet it would have still been the weakest one in the series like the story was just not good and the cutscenes were lazy at best but that’s just my opinion
@@gsm4919 Yeah the story was the weakest part for sure, despite that, I still think it an overall better game than gravity zero. I just might be biased against gravity zero though lol
@@gsm4919 Yeah, but the gameplay was really fun. I mastered the motion controls from the tutorial and it had the best super sonic also the stages were the best in the series
@Classic Sonic the Hedgehog Wow, this whole time I thought I was the ONLY one who thought SA2 was the hardest Sonic game (or one of the hardest ones), I guess not. I'm glad I'm not the only one.
@@DarkShadowX9 SA2. I’m not calling it a bad game or anything. A lot of my complaints are really just skill issues lol but I do think the game is unfair at times.
I actually really enjoyed the level design of Eggmanland, especially as a final level. Really disappointing that sonic games haven't had that level of difficulty in a while.
I love Eggmanland. It is my favorite level in the game. And everyone hates it for its difficulty. I mean. It's literally the last level and it's called "Eggmanland" if course it will be difficult!
@@deltamachine343 I think the issue is moreso the length than anything else. The stage is the longest in the game, while also being being the most punishing. It'd be one thing if the stage was broken up into two by the Day and Night cycle, but it's one giant marathon. I don't hate it, but I never came back to it after I got a B. It's just too tedious getting a decent run if one mistake or mishap means I gotta start all over.
Eggmanland actually has some cool things to it in terms of alternate paths. Near the end it has that one shortcut where you can cut out an entire chunk of the level straight to the final Werehog section, but ONLY if you can nail wall jumps between spikes on the first try, as well as noticing the path too. A perfect reward for mastery of the mechanics.
1. Sonic Heroes is criminally overlooked to this day IDC what anyone says. 2. I gave Lost World more than a fair shot, having the 3DS version. But that game is still a Lost Cause to me. 3. Dude. Sonic Riders LITERALLY has a tutorial to watch on menu select. I played that game from the moment I got it on my 12th birthday, played the hell out of it in anticipation for Sonic 06 that year. The truly tough part is unlocking Super Sonic. It’s not a bad or overly difficult game at all.
11:55 - 12:04 Matt: Whenever I do a Tier list I don't really count the storybook series and Shadow the Hedgehog because I don't consider them as mainline Sonic games Sonic in Sonic Generations: Yeah, No stranger than rescuing genies in magic books or saving aliens from an interstellar amusement park. I'm more concerned about finding our friends. Sonic in Sonic and the Black Knight: Heh heh! This brings back memories, except last time I was with Shadow.
games like Battle reference SA2, and Battle technically takes place after Shadow because Shadow remembers Maria and Gerald when he didn't in Heroes and Shadow.
From experience, 06 just takes long to complete & not difficult while UnleasHD is difficult specifically with Eggman Land. However I could say Free Riders because controls go against you even if you found a pattern and also, punching with Power Skill Gear Part and wiping off anything reducing visibility is very frustrating to do properly. Edit:Then there is trying to kill the President in his armored plane in Shadow 2005 which is agonizing even when your Allignment Guages are filled and you use Unlimited Ammo.
I like to use the term "psuedo difficulty" for games like 06. Basically meaning the game isn't difficult, it's just designed poorly which leads to it feeling harder. Things like instant death attacks from enemies in rpg games or 06's controls and physics are two great examples of "psuedo difficulty".
On Unleashed, the first time I did Eggmanland, it took me an hour and a half to complete… this remains the only time I was more than happy to get an E rank.
This exactly! I remember for the longest time I couldn't even get past the first boss. It was harder than most final bosses from other Sonic games in my opinion. And of course the levels are very difficult to navigate, especially with the screen crunch in the Game Gear version. Out of all of them, Scrambled Egg zone especially, is what I'd consider the hardest Sonic level I know of. The level is so confusing to navigate, there's so many pits of spikes everywhere, Scrap Brain is easy compared to Scrambled Egg zone.
Bro secret rings is literarly amazing. Like unleashed, you get way better the more you play and when you master the levels they are actually the best levels in the series. I’m deadass, if you have all the speed and upgrades unlocked then it’s actually amazing how nice it feels. I hated it when I first played it, but it actually gets like 10x better the more you play. It’s legitamately my favorite sonic game
@FuckOuttaHere The thing with Secret Rings is that its not really bad the levels are mostly designed well around the motion controls. The problem is that they usually ask for more precise and or faster controls often before you unlock them and as most people won't replay the stages won't they notice how much better the stages play after you complete them the first time around hours ago.
I loved secret rings overall. My biggest issue was that it took so long to regain speed & jumping stopped all of your momentum & had to build it all up again. It was really satisfying to see sonic run at top speed in that game though & in my opinion it has the best sonic soundtrack out of all of the modern sonic games
Another example of Lost World not explaining what to do: Hidden World Zone 1. You know, the zone with the giant Rubik’s cube and the timer that’s constantly counting down? Which typically means that you DON’T want to run out of time? And then it turned out that you’re supposed to let the timer run down in order to win? Screw that level.
The hardest Sonic game is Free Riders, as it's motion controls suck, they barely understand what you are doing, and require you to jump and do random shit again and again
Sonic fans who like to play Sonic games with a lot of difficulty are those who like games like: Cuphead, Bloodborne, Dark Soul, Megaman & Bass or Elden Ring
"Driving a man insane". I said Sonic 4 on the community post and this description pretty much confirms my opinion on this matter. There were some hard and frustrating things here and there across the games I have played, but none approached that level of kek of EP1 and I basically took a break of uncertain lengh from continuing with the game for my personal health and well-being(lol. Still like the game, paradoxically. It was a fun experience to get Semi-decent at the game.). Never played Unleashed due to a personal lack of ways to do so and if footage and reports on some of the content are accurate, then that game may punch me in the face just as hard or harder. There are also these times when something is a lot more tedious or just dumb than a legit kind of hard. Secret Rings is actually usually pretty good at difficulty-scaling during the story(When one gets the unfinished controls to work. Thank the heavens for controller-mappings on Dolphin for making it less strange to work with). A good chunk of the sidequests are decent, the storymissions are managable for the most part and even if there are some stupid hits one is going to take on some bosses(The ifrit-golem can suck my small toe), they are still fair to beat. However, the optional dinosaur-egg mission is buttcheeks, the final boss is booty and almost all the post-game missions are way too precise and demanding to be reasonable to the playerbase. I don't think those things should really increase the difficulty-score of the game beyond "kinda challenging", because they are mostly optional and sometimes not even "hard", rather than just stupid.(There is nothing actually difficult about the dinosaur-eggs. It just takes a long time in a casual attempt because of the bad gamedesign) 4:55 If we factor this in, then Lost World and later riders still aren't really that special in the discussion, unless one weighs the moment of "unbeatable unless you know"-Zavok so incredibly hard. Why? Because this type of nonsense is not uncommon in the series. Shadow does jack all to explain its game flow and certain gameplay-sections, one just has to understand. Unwiished Final Boss is really easy...unless one doesn't know. SA2 is a mess when first playing, even with mods that get rid of certain artificial barriers. Big's story in SA1 sucks on first playthrough because all of the fish just bite, but froggy for some reason requires an up-input for the minigame to start, so this is once again unbeatable unless one knows. Some portions in Sonic Advance overwhelm or downright just kill the player unfairly unless they know how to approach the leveldesign, etc. The series is the king of "this is actually not bad, you just don't know yet".(Not to be confused with games that are actively trollish, but can still be incredibly rough if you know the secret sauce)
That's where you and I differ, my good man. you see, I first got this game a year after it came out. I was 7 at the time. And whereas it was extremely difficult with the motion controls, I also found a lot of enjoyment and fun to be had. I ended up beating the game within about a week's time. And I was rewarded with this BEAUTIFUL CGI cutscene I was working toward. and it just made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Don't get me wrong, I had as much trouble with the final boss as I did with the tutorial on how to back up (which is unnecessarily hard). But was able to overcome it with enough determination and learning his pattern.
Dude really talked about both Riders and Secret Rings yet Free Riders wasn't seen nor mentioned once. Game is straight up impossible I haven't seen a single person beat that game.
I feel very weird since so many people think the controls in Secret Rings are hard, but I feel like it's the opposite. As someone who has beaten the game several times I can say it feels pretty satisfying to speed through stages with accuracy and precision even with motion controls after you get comfortable with them. [Although the final boss still destroys my wrist not gonna lie]. I hit level 99 and Sonic feels like a different beast completely
While I can understand people that have issue early on as especially Dinasaur jungle and Levitated ruins ask for more than the player will usually have when reaching them so do I absolutely agree that ones you get a few of the essential's upgrades and a bit practice with the motion controls does it control just fine.
Aside of my years of struggle with Sonic at Wave Ocean, 12 year old me was able to complete Sonic 06 surprisingly easy. Unfortunately after I got Unleashed that same year, the struggle was real, and since then I have still yet to beat Unleashed and that was 12 years ago!
Surprisingly I finished Eggman land in 30:15 on my first try then on my second try I finished in 22:55 and I was shocked from what I've heard I thought it would be very different
I recently played through Secret Rings again on a nostalgia trip (played it before i had any quality control or reference for my games), and it physically taxed me by the end of it. The final boss where you essentially had to shake the wiimote vigorously the ENTIRE time was absolute hell. I dunno if it was just that boss fight or from the waggling of the whole game before that, but my arms were sore the following day. It makes me imagine people who speedrun Secret Rings as Gigachads with beefed up arms from all the waggling. The music was mostly fire though. And who could forget "DINO...JUNGLE...IT'S DINO...IT'S JUNGLE!"
Yeah, Matt, I agree. Secret Rings is the most difficult Sonic game I’ve ever played by far. The controls just seem to always want to fight with me every time I play it. But I still love the Storybook games for what they are, and still hope we get them remade as fully-fledged RPGs. Maybe like Persona-style, that’d be cool.
To clarify to anyone watching: Secret Rings is not "entirely controlled with motion controls". Its just steering left and right that is, as well as homing attacks with a shake. Jumping, shorthopping, sliding, stomping, braking, speed break, time break, are all done with buttons. It is no more motion contr intensive than Mario Kart Wii, which is also a high speed action game using motion controls.
I mean, at least for Mario Kart Wii, the motion controls were optional and worked for a racing game. They didn't work as well for a platforming game that requires reactionary inputs to get through the stages and get collectibles.
@@ajgameguy3674 Labelling Secret Rings as just a "platforming game" isn't really accurate though. Just like a racing game you're always moving forward and the focus is instead on precise left and right turning and knowing when to hit the brakes.
@@lpfan4491 Only technically. Its not an analog motion at all or really anything straining. You just change how you're holding the controller for a bit. Its like saying that pulling a lever is motion controlled.
The Arid Sands Night room they lock you into is completely optional btw, it's pretty much a death trap which is really funny to me. I assumed you knew this but this video seemed to show otherwise
to the people who complain about that room, youre all just outing yourselves as below average players who cant grasp a game's mechanics, even after being given hours to work with it all. which isnt a bad thing on its own, but they literally give you an armor buff, power buff, and a full life heal all in that room, as well as you being equipped with unleash mode and the block mechanic, and youre complaining that its too difficult of a section. all it takes is good cooldown management and reaction time, the night stages in Unleashed are genuinely super well designed because of that fact, youre all just spamming the same combos over and over and thinking that thats how youre meant to play the game, and then getting mad when it doesnt work. maybe because what youre doing isnt the intended method of playing? 🤷 just a thought lmfao cant stand when people blame a game for their own downfalls and negligence. such journalism behavior fr. you cant tell me you properly managed your moves and used the powerups and your block at the right times and STILL lost that section. its not possible. its meant as a skill check, and you all failed, and are bitching about it almost 15 years later 😂😂😂 this is like if people complained about the V2 fight in Ultrakill. absolute nonsense
@@spimbles Straight facts right here man it takes learning and skill to beat hard sections of a already hard game and people complain about it like it's not the games fault that you don't know how to properly play the game instead of spamming the same 2 moves over and over
the most difficult one is sonic forces because you experience such a massive overwhelming feeling of disgust while playing it to where you want to throw your controller out the window
7:50 actually it is a tutorial of how to play the game but you have to wait on a title screen for a little bit I believe and it will tell you how to play but even with that I do not tell you every small detail of how to get good at the game.
when i think of difficult games i don’t think of “oh this is not telling me what to do”, or even “this game is so hard” in sonic it’s usually just these difficult parts of the game, for me, it was difficult to learn how to vine swing from alligator chase unleashed, it wasn’t eggman land but it was that at 1:45 until i figured out there’s a secret passage way to finish level early for 06 i like the game it’s just janky, for sonic, it’s sonic 2 death egg and zavok forces battle because i was confused but that’s just me not knowing how to do it
Unleashed was the game that almost ruined the entire franchise, I’m glad it won’t get a port. I still find 06 better than unleashed in almost every way.
I personally found Skyscraper Scamper - Night the hardest in Unleashed because of how easy it was to fall to your death. But yeah, I had forgotten about Arid Sands - Night. That was insanely difficult in some moments.
@@SonicTheCutehog yeah there were some cheap moments though for first time players like in savannah citadel where the player can trip and get hit instantly by a robot.
Black Knight was a pain in the ass for me, the motion controls would never register properly and I finally got a breath of fresh air from Unleashed when i played it
Fun Fact: I never played Sonic 06 in my life! But I played unleashed instead! and yes! Sonic unleashed is the most difficult game and it took me forever to beat this game!
@@supermariof0521 huh ok also is it weird that we went from ugh the the dark age games suck to sorry I take that back dark age games at least has effort. although my first game was sonic unleashed PS2 and never finished it because I no longer have a PS2.
Only part of Unleashed I find to be hard and annoying is Eggmanland (Only took me 34 mins) and Dark Gaia (Phase 1) Phase 2 isn’t even that hard to be honest but it can be annoying if you die.
Honestly, my experience with eggmanland was actually the opposite. It wasn't a cakewalk, but I found jungle joyride day harder than the sonic segments, and empire city night harder than the werehog segments. and my first time beating it was about 40 minutes
Bro hear me out: Sonic advanced 2 If you don't believe me, listen to king k's review of the game or just try to properly speedrun a stage in that game. It out Unleashed by a wide margin if you as me.
The thing about Secret Rings is that it depends on how much your brain vibes with motion controls. For example, the controls are completely fine for me and I quite like the game (though I do have problems with the structure of it among other things).
Imagine Sonic advance 2 except with twice the amount of screen crunch with gimmicky hand glider sections that I swear to God don't work. And having to fight every boss in the game without any rings and you have Sonic 2 on Game Gear. It's the only Sonic game I would consider to be old-school difficult.
I sucked at Sonic Riders too and it's one of my favourites. As a matter of fact I just installed it after half a decade break Btw I played it on keyboard and it's even worse. I had no idea you can make a tornado behind you to stall your enemy until I randomly saw it in a video
From personal experience having beat it at some point, Sonic Battle is an underrated difficult Sonic game. The game loves to challenge the player and force you to put thought into how you fight. Customizing Emerl’s moveset and optimizing it is a skill that takes trail and error to master, since there are many possibilities for experimentation. More times than not I’d lose a battle only to go back to the menu and craft a build that’s better for that particular fight. Battle is a game that takes skill, but it also requires you to think and strategize. I got stuck plenty of times before I found a moveset that appealed to me. It can be unforgiving and demand maximum effort to claim that win.
Sonic Riders is a game that is better played as a kid, when you don't know what good or bad game design is. As a kid I just played the game and learned while failing in every single corner... and had fun because "it's Sonic!!" As a grown up, you understand things better, you know what a good game looks like, and that makes Sonic Riders "hard to understand"... strange isn't it? Sonic Riders is second nature to me now, kinda like riding a bike, once you get it, it stays with you... and that's awesome :) As for the hardest Sonic Game...s... The Advance Trilogy. Can't beat it to this day :/ ... Wait I beat Advance 3 true ending Advance 1 was normal ending only... And Advance 2 was only with Cream :') Bestest Sonic game to master and 100% is SA2 to me, freaking love that game to pieces :')
Personally, I would like to see a review of Shadow the Hedgehog. I think that, while kinda bad, that the game is decently difficult while also being very indepth with how the story progresses. It's honestly kinda fun to see that no two playthroughs lead to the exact same ending.
@@lpfan4491 dude come on, that's one of the easiest missions in the game, I get 350 rings without even going for them intentionally, I have to take damage a few times to make sure I don't accidentally complete the mission
1st - Sonic Unleashed wasn't challenging to me 2nd - Sonic Lost World wasn't hard when I first beat it, but it is now 3rd - Once I looked up how to play Sonic Riders and properly take shortcuts, it's a cakewalk 4th - Sonic 06, despite its obvious flaws, was always super easy. Just long... 5th - The storybook games are the second hardest to play to me 6th - You didn't even mention Sonic Free Riders lol!
started play secret rings yesterday, didn’t even finished the lost prologue. i’ll try to finish it and update the comment than, but now i can absolutely agree
Play Black Knight on Dolphin with a normal controller. It feels MUCH better to play and speedrun since your sword swings actually feel more responsive.
It's hard to say that the early sonic games were easy by any real stretch. Remember the Eggman robot at the end of Sonic 2? Or literally any 2D sonic water level? Having said that, you are absolutely right about the Secret Rings. While I enjoyed it as a kid, playing it now is just painful.
Man it was fun getting A ranks with team dark and Sonic. Team Chaotix was the most annoying and EGG Emperor was easily the hardest final boss as a kid. Not to mention the bs special stages to get all 7 chaos emeralds
Playing on emulation with infinite lives makes heroes infinitely better. Level design is really good but sometimes too challenging for to have limited lives also lives are just padding anyways imo.
I remember in so many reviews of Lost World when it came out, most of them talked about how frustrating it was to complete, so it’s definitely not just you. I got game overs on most stages in the back half, and I got particularly frustrated on the second Zavok fight like everyone else, but I still find Lost World fun enough, even on my first playthrough.
I think LW is really good, but there certainly is some major jank. Besides the Zavok-issue, there is also a stage where the goal of the leveldesign is to just make you time out...because that's very fun.(As in, the stage is an infinite loop unless one finds the way to the end)
Sonic Advance 2 and 3 have still got to be the most frustrated I've ever been playing a Sonic game. Collecting the chaos emeralds in those games to get the true ending was actually rage inducing.
I want to so badly. However approaching that is very difficult. With games like the storybook games or Sonic Lost World, there is a high quantity of Sonic levels. Then there's the question of whether or not I should cover Classic Sonic stages or playable characters. I'm going to find a way to make it work, I'm just trying to find a way that doesn't feel cheap or lazy.
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
“Eggmanland took me 50 minutes to beat. It was tragic.”
ONLY 50?!?!?!
I beat it in 27 minutes on my first ever attempt lol
that level took me like one entire hour of pain and despair to beat... when i first completed it, it took me like a week to s rank it, and i had to struggle a lot otherwise i couldn't have gotten the platinum trophy, but yeah that's just how much i love the game😂😂
@@FlashingFireGames I beat it in 46 minutes on my very first run, but after a few runs, I beat it in 12 minutes with an S Rank (I'm NOT even joking). I can S Rank the stage everytime I play it with no problem now.
It took me 2 hoursto beat my first try
@@DarkShadowX9 Wish I was that good 😂
Sonic Free Riders should be an honorable mention. Mastering the jank motion controls takes time.
Free riders was just trash honestly. It would've been way better if it wasn't motion controlled.
@@ultraninja_20 Definitely, easily could've been the best out of the riders series if it were playable on controllers.
@@Uberhawg to be honest even with a controller I bet it would have still been the weakest one in the series like the story was just not good and the cutscenes were lazy at best but that’s just my opinion
@@gsm4919 Yeah the story was the weakest part for sure, despite that, I still think it an overall better game than gravity zero. I just might be biased against gravity zero though lol
@@gsm4919 Yeah, but the gameplay was really fun. I mastered the motion controls from the tutorial and it had the best super sonic also the stages were the best in the series
Sonic 2 8-Bit almost made me go insane
Shit im not the only one
Oh you mean The Lost Levels of Sonic??
@@VampireA1056 yep, that one
On the game gear, this is the objectively correct answer.
@@UltraSTH Couldn't even get past the first stage. And I got past a few stages with The Lost Levels.
The hardest Sonic games I've played are probably SA2 and Unleashed. I hope Frontiers brings in a good learning curve because we definitely need it.
@Classic Sonic the Hedgehog
Wow, this whole time I thought I was the ONLY one who thought SA2 was the hardest Sonic game (or one of the hardest ones), I guess not.
I'm glad I'm not the only one.
@@DarkShadowX9 Enemies pop up out of nowhere and it is outrageously difficult to get an A rank in that game.
@@melancholiclonging8641In SA2 or Unleashed?
@@DarkShadowX9 sa2
@@DarkShadowX9 SA2. I’m not calling it a bad game or anything. A lot of my complaints are really just skill issues lol but I do think the game is unfair at times.
I actually really enjoyed the level design of Eggmanland, especially as a final level. Really disappointing that sonic games haven't had that level of difficulty in a while.
@Jacob Blount
So did I... but not on my first run.
I love Eggmanland. It is my favorite level in the game. And everyone hates it for its difficulty. I mean. It's literally the last level and it's called "Eggmanland" if course it will be difficult!
@@deltamachine343 I think the issue is moreso the length than anything else. The stage is the longest in the game, while also being being the most punishing. It'd be one thing if the stage was broken up into two by the Day and Night cycle, but it's one giant marathon.
I don't hate it, but I never came back to it after I got a B. It's just too tedious getting a decent run if one mistake or mishap means I gotta start all over.
Eggmanland actually has some cool things to it in terms of alternate paths. Near the end it has that one shortcut where you can cut out an entire chunk of the level straight to the final Werehog section, but ONLY if you can nail wall jumps between spikes on the first try, as well as noticing the path too. A perfect reward for mastery of the mechanics.
Facts
1. Sonic Heroes is criminally overlooked to this day IDC what anyone says.
2. I gave Lost World more than a fair shot, having the 3DS version. But that game is still a Lost Cause to me.
3. Dude. Sonic Riders LITERALLY has a tutorial to watch on menu select. I played that game from the moment I got it on my 12th birthday, played the hell out of it in anticipation for Sonic 06 that year. The truly tough part is unlocking Super Sonic. It’s not a bad or overly difficult game at all.
I agree Sonic Heroes is a gem
Lost World 3ds is a diffrent game.
11:55 - 12:04 Matt: Whenever I do a Tier list I don't really count the storybook series and Shadow the Hedgehog because I don't consider them as mainline Sonic games
Sonic in Sonic Generations: Yeah, No stranger than rescuing genies in magic books or saving aliens from an interstellar amusement park. I'm more concerned about finding our friends.
Sonic in Sonic and the Black Knight: Heh heh! This brings back memories, except last time I was with Shadow.
games like Battle reference SA2, and Battle technically takes place after Shadow because Shadow remembers Maria and Gerald when he didn't in Heroes and Shadow.
Oh.... I actually didn't catch that in Sonic Battle! Thank you so much!! You're Awesome 😎👍
Perhaps Sonic Fans have treated Pontac And Graff too harshly...
Tbh I rather have their writing over Ken Penders anytime IMO
@@jaydiamondsonic7871 What's wrong Ken penders writing ?
Lol I was just rewatching your Unleashed encore livestream. Seems like perfect timing. It would be fun if you do a DLC livestream.
You should have way more subscribers considering you are the best Sonic RUclipsr in my opinion. Love your content !
Thanks, I really appreciate that!
From experience, 06 just takes long to complete & not difficult while UnleasHD is difficult specifically with Eggman Land. However I could say Free Riders because controls go against you even if you found a pattern and also, punching with Power Skill Gear Part and wiping off anything reducing visibility is very frustrating to do properly.
Edit:Then there is trying to kill the President in his armored plane in Shadow 2005 which is agonizing even when your Allignment Guages are filled and you use Unlimited Ammo.
If you complete the last story you unlock the Shadow Rifle weapon. That kills the president fast and easy.
Their is one thing that makes unleashed probably the hardest working game, the dlc stages
I like to use the term "psuedo difficulty" for games like 06. Basically meaning the game isn't difficult, it's just designed poorly which leads to it feeling harder. Things like instant death attacks from enemies in rpg games or 06's controls and physics are two great examples of "psuedo difficulty".
On Unleashed, the first time I did Eggmanland, it took me an hour and a half to complete… this remains the only time I was more than happy to get an E rank.
I think I got a D with my first playthrough, lasting 75 minutes.... but I was happy with that for about 3 whole months.
I got a B and 48 minutes on my first playthrough
I must be a part of the minority that completed it within 30 min first playthrough
@@Matt_4457 congrats, you’re good at the game 😂
@@chappielivdahl It was tough still
Sonic 2 8-Bit is easily the hardest Sonic game, especially the Game Gear version with the screen crunch.
This exactly! I remember for the longest time I couldn't even get past the first boss. It was harder than most final bosses from other Sonic games in my opinion. And of course the levels are very difficult to navigate, especially with the screen crunch in the Game Gear version. Out of all of them, Scrambled Egg zone especially, is what I'd consider the hardest Sonic level I know of. The level is so confusing to navigate, there's so many pits of spikes everywhere, Scrap Brain is easy compared to Scrambled Egg zone.
Bro when I played through sonic lost world 3DS I didn’t know that The charged homing attack existed till THE FINAL BOSS! 😂
Bro secret rings is literarly amazing. Like unleashed, you get way better the more you play and when you master the levels they are actually the best levels in the series. I’m deadass, if you have all the speed and upgrades unlocked then it’s actually amazing how nice it feels. I hated it when I first played it, but it actually gets like 10x better the more you play. It’s legitamately my favorite sonic game
@FuckOuttaHere tbh, it’s just his opinion.
@FuckOuttaHere The thing with Secret Rings is that its not really bad the levels are mostly designed well around the motion controls.
The problem is that they usually ask for more precise and or faster controls often before you unlock them and as most people won't replay the stages won't they notice how much better the stages play after you complete them the first time around hours ago.
I loved secret rings overall. My biggest issue was that it took so long to regain speed & jumping stopped all of your momentum & had to build it all up again. It was really satisfying to see sonic run at top speed in that game though & in my opinion it has the best sonic soundtrack out of all of the modern sonic games
Sonic and the black knight is better tbh
@FuckOuttaHere bro forget opinions exist
Another example of Lost World not explaining what to do: Hidden World Zone 1. You know, the zone with the giant Rubik’s cube and the timer that’s constantly counting down? Which typically means that you DON’T want to run out of time? And then it turned out that you’re supposed to let the timer run down in order to win? Screw that level.
Sonic Heroes gave me a lot of trouble as a kid. Only later did I realize it was because I had the buggy PS2 version.
The hardest Sonic game is Free Riders, as it's motion controls suck, they barely understand what you are doing, and require you to jump and do random shit again and again
Sonic fans who like to play Sonic games with a lot of difficulty are those who like games like: Cuphead, Bloodborne, Dark Soul, Megaman & Bass or Elden Ring
"Driving a man insane". I said Sonic 4 on the community post and this description pretty much confirms my opinion on this matter. There were some hard and frustrating things here and there across the games I have played, but none approached that level of kek of EP1 and I basically took a break of uncertain lengh from continuing with the game for my personal health and well-being(lol. Still like the game, paradoxically. It was a fun experience to get Semi-decent at the game.). Never played Unleashed due to a personal lack of ways to do so and if footage and reports on some of the content are accurate, then that game may punch me in the face just as hard or harder.
There are also these times when something is a lot more tedious or just dumb than a legit kind of hard. Secret Rings is actually usually pretty good at difficulty-scaling during the story(When one gets the unfinished controls to work. Thank the heavens for controller-mappings on Dolphin for making it less strange to work with). A good chunk of the sidequests are decent, the storymissions are managable for the most part and even if there are some stupid hits one is going to take on some bosses(The ifrit-golem can suck my small toe), they are still fair to beat. However, the optional dinosaur-egg mission is buttcheeks, the final boss is booty and almost all the post-game missions are way too precise and demanding to be reasonable to the playerbase. I don't think those things should really increase the difficulty-score of the game beyond "kinda challenging", because they are mostly optional and sometimes not even "hard", rather than just stupid.(There is nothing actually difficult about the dinosaur-eggs. It just takes a long time in a casual attempt because of the bad gamedesign)
4:55 If we factor this in, then Lost World and later riders still aren't really that special in the discussion, unless one weighs the moment of "unbeatable unless you know"-Zavok so incredibly hard. Why? Because this type of nonsense is not uncommon in the series. Shadow does jack all to explain its game flow and certain gameplay-sections, one just has to understand. Unwiished Final Boss is really easy...unless one doesn't know. SA2 is a mess when first playing, even with mods that get rid of certain artificial barriers. Big's story in SA1 sucks on first playthrough because all of the fish just bite, but froggy for some reason requires an up-input for the minigame to start, so this is once again unbeatable unless one knows. Some portions in Sonic Advance overwhelm or downright just kill the player unfairly unless they know how to approach the leveldesign, etc. The series is the king of "this is actually not bad, you just don't know yet".(Not to be confused with games that are actively trollish, but can still be incredibly rough if you know the secret sauce)
Sonic Spinball. Never got past toxic caves (which is the first level).
That's where you and I differ, my good man. you see, I first got this game a year after it came out. I was 7 at the time. And whereas it was extremely difficult with the motion controls, I also found a lot of enjoyment and fun to be had. I ended up beating the game within about a week's time. And I was rewarded with this BEAUTIFUL CGI cutscene I was working toward. and it just made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Don't get me wrong, I had as much trouble with the final boss as I did with the tutorial on how to back up (which is unnecessarily hard). But was able to overcome it with enough determination and learning his pattern.
We need another Eggman land type level again. Found it really challenging in a good way 🙌
Sonic Schoolhouse is clearly the hardest Sonic game. It is literally impossible to beat.
My dude never tried Sonic Lost World for the 3DS. THAT made me wanna commit heinous crimes.
You should've included Shadow the Hedgehog, mainly because of how much of a pain in the soul it is to 100% complete it.
1:38 "You're loosing your speed, you're loosing your flow."
Dude really talked about both Riders and Secret Rings yet Free Riders wasn't seen nor mentioned once. Game is straight up impossible I haven't seen a single person beat that game.
There's videos up and I have.
I feel very weird since so many people think the controls in Secret Rings are hard, but I feel like it's the opposite. As someone who has beaten the game several times I can say it feels pretty satisfying to speed through stages with accuracy and precision even with motion controls after you get comfortable with them. [Although the final boss still destroys my wrist not gonna lie]. I hit level 99 and Sonic feels like a different beast completely
Agreed but erazor djinn is legitimately one of the hardest bosses in the series by far top 3 with perfect dark Gaia and the biolizard
@@elibonham4388: I can actually do Biolizard fairly consistency, I di occasionally have trouble with Final Hazard though.
While I can understand people that have issue early on as especially Dinasaur jungle and Levitated ruins ask for more than the player will usually have when reaching them so do I absolutely agree that ones you get a few of the essential's upgrades and a bit practice with the motion controls does it control just fine.
I agree 100%
Aside of my years of struggle with Sonic at Wave Ocean, 12 year old me was able to complete Sonic 06 surprisingly easy. Unfortunately after I got Unleashed that same year, the struggle was real, and since then I have still yet to beat Unleashed and that was 12 years ago!
The most difficult Sonic game is Sonic Spinball. No debate.
Okay but can we all agree that Lancelot Returns from Sonic and the Black Knight is the hardest boss in any Sonic game? That fight is just absurd
Surprisingly I finished Eggman land in 30:15 on my first try then on my second try I finished in 22:55 and I was shocked from what I've heard I thought it would be very different
I recently played through Secret Rings again on a nostalgia trip (played it before i had any quality control or reference for my games), and it physically taxed me by the end of it. The final boss where you essentially had to shake the wiimote vigorously the ENTIRE time was absolute hell. I dunno if it was just that boss fight or from the waggling of the whole game before that, but my arms were sore the following day. It makes me imagine people who speedrun Secret Rings as Gigachads with beefed up arms from all the waggling.
The music was mostly fire though. And who could forget "DINO...JUNGLE...IT'S DINO...IT'S JUNGLE!"
I mean fighting Eraser Djinn OST was dope.
Yeah, Matt, I agree. Secret Rings is the most difficult Sonic game I’ve ever played by far. The controls just seem to always want to fight with me every time I play it. But I still love the Storybook games for what they are, and still hope we get them remade as fully-fledged RPGs. Maybe like Persona-style, that’d be cool.
To clarify to anyone watching: Secret Rings is not "entirely controlled with motion controls". Its just steering left and right that is, as well as homing attacks with a shake. Jumping, shorthopping, sliding, stomping, braking, speed break, time break, are all done with buttons. It is no more motion contr intensive than Mario Kart Wii, which is also a high speed action game using motion controls.
I mean, at least for Mario Kart Wii, the motion controls were optional and worked for a racing game. They didn't work as well for a platforming game that requires reactionary inputs to get through the stages and get collectibles.
@@ajgameguy3674 Labelling Secret Rings as just a "platforming game" isn't really accurate though. Just like a racing game you're always moving forward and the focus is instead on precise left and right turning and knowing when to hit the brakes.
@@youmeltube Going backwards is also controlled through the motioncontrols.
@@lpfan4491 Only technically. Its not an analog motion at all or really anything straining. You just change how you're holding the controller for a bit. Its like saying that pulling a lever is motion controlled.
@@youmeltube Motioncontrols are motioncontrols, how taxing they are is a diffrent matter.
The Arid Sands Night room they lock you into is completely optional btw, it's pretty much a death trap which is really funny to me. I assumed you knew this but this video seemed to show otherwise
you can easily actually defeat them. i always do that so i can get exp
to the people who complain about that room, youre all just outing yourselves as below average players who cant grasp a game's mechanics, even after being given hours to work with it all. which isnt a bad thing on its own, but they literally give you an armor buff, power buff, and a full life heal all in that room, as well as you being equipped with unleash mode and the block mechanic, and youre complaining that its too difficult of a section.
all it takes is good cooldown management and reaction time, the night stages in Unleashed are genuinely super well designed because of that fact, youre all just spamming the same combos over and over and thinking that thats how youre meant to play the game, and then getting mad when it doesnt work. maybe because what youre doing isnt the intended method of playing? 🤷 just a thought lmfao cant stand when people blame a game for their own downfalls and negligence. such journalism behavior fr.
you cant tell me you properly managed your moves and used the powerups and your block at the right times and STILL lost that section. its not possible. its meant as a skill check, and you all failed, and are bitching about it almost 15 years later 😂😂😂 this is like if people complained about the V2 fight in Ultrakill. absolute nonsense
@@spimbles Exacly man. There's also a sunmedal in there which proves that the room isn't a deathtrap
@@spimbles Straight facts right here man it takes learning and skill to beat hard sections of a already hard game and people complain about it like it's not the games fault that you don't know how to properly play the game instead of spamming the same 2 moves over and over
@@spimbles All of that just to tell people that they have a skill issue 💀
I'm a little surprised that the 8-bit games didn't even get a cameo or honorable mention
the most difficult one is sonic forces because you experience such a massive overwhelming feeling of disgust while playing it to where you want to throw your controller out the window
Easily Sonic Spinball. That last level is especially brutal.
7:50 actually it is a tutorial of how to play the game but you have to wait on a title screen for a little bit I believe and it will tell you how to play but even with that I do not tell you every small detail of how to get good at the game.
when i think of difficult games i don’t think of “oh this is not telling me what to do”, or even
“this game is so hard”
in sonic it’s usually just these difficult parts of the game,
for me,
it was difficult to learn
how to vine swing from alligator chase
unleashed, it wasn’t eggman land but it was that at 1:45 until i figured out there’s a secret passage way to finish level early
for 06 i like the game it’s just janky,
for sonic, it’s sonic 2
death egg
and zavok forces battle because i was confused but that’s just me not knowing how to do it
Hear me out:
Sonic Lost World 3DS - Frozen Factory Zone 4
Now imagine riders with MOTION CONTROLS.... (I tried it.... ...and I quit the game after 3 minutes)
I found 06 to be relatively easy once I knew how to work around the bugs.
It's surprisingly so.
Sonic Battle. Until I learned to cheese the AI, I got whooped.
Unleashed was the game that almost ruined the entire franchise, I’m glad it won’t get a port. I still find 06 better than unleashed in almost every way.
You're right '06 is hard because it's broken, but once you know where all the holes are the game's a really fun time
Sonic 2 on the mega drive, legit though, I'm 100% sure no modern gamer can beat the final boss of sonic 2 with no save states and no modern remaster.
5:32 hehehehe.. hours only? I was stuck for DAYS
I personally found Skyscraper Scamper - Night the hardest in Unleashed because of how easy it was to fall to your death. But yeah, I had forgotten about Arid Sands - Night. That was insanely difficult in some moments.
I don’t fully remember But I’m pretty sure that’s a level that made me give up on unleashed
>says too many bugs happen in 06
>literally shows none of them and the one he believed he shown was him missing the jump
50 minutes your first time in Eggmanland. You are a god.
I would like to enter Sonic's Pinball Party into the discussion.
Sonic Advance 2 and Sonic Rush we’re pretty difficult for me personally.
Sonic 2 on Game gear. You're welcome.
I Love how Unleashed takes SKILL and your full attention! It's Consistent! I Love that about the Game! Awesome Video Matt!
Yeah Unleashed was really challenging but it was fair. I miss the difficulty that is absent in recent Sonic games.
@@ultraninja_20 i miss it too man... :/
@@ultraninja_20 (sighs) Me too, man.
@@ultraninja_20 It wasn't fair. You couldn't see what was coming and the game killed you for it.
@@SonicTheCutehog yeah there were some cheap moments though for first time players like in savannah citadel where the player can trip and get hit instantly by a robot.
I’m just too good at Sonic 06, but it being my favorite game might have something to do with that
The hardest Sonic game is, by far, Sonic Advance 2. The jump in difficulty when you reach Sky Canyon is INSANE
Black Knight was a pain in the ass for me, the motion controls would never register properly and I finally got a breath of fresh air from Unleashed when i played it
Clearly the hardest sonic game is Sonic Eraser as you're not only trying to beat the game, you're trying to beat tinnitus
The hardest game is Sonic 06 IF you're going for all S Rank
If the Labyrinth Zone boss from Sonic 1 was a game, it would be the most annoying and hardest game in history 💀
Fun Fact: I never played Sonic 06 in my life! But I played unleashed instead! and yes! Sonic unleashed is the most difficult game and it took me forever to beat this game!
I would love to see the secret rings mod with just normal controllers no motion controls
If you play it on PC with dolphin emulator the game is actually good with a normal controller
Unleashed is one of the hardest, and one of the most rewarding.
You FEEL Super Sonic when you nail the levels!
I can still never get past the 1st boss in Sonic 2 Game Gear. Easily takes the cake as the most difficult Sonic game for me 😆
11:13 Finally a 3D Sonic take with common sense..............I'm going to hell aren't I?
As a guy who likes black knight: uh ok your opinion but I agree with secret rings being crap.
@@ahmedhasan4966 I mostly meant my comment as a joke, but in all seriosuness, fair enough.
@@supermariof0521 oh ok.
@@ahmedhasan4966 I tend to make jokes like that cause of the recent uprise in Dark Age Era Sonic fanboys.
@@supermariof0521 huh ok also is it weird that we went from ugh the the dark age games suck to sorry I take that back dark age games at least has effort. although my first game was sonic unleashed PS2 and never finished it because I no longer have a PS2.
Eggmanland for a first timer is brutal, but after you get used to the game's controls and mechanics you can easily earn an S rank in under 40 minutes
Sonic Spinball would like to know your location.
Only part of Unleashed I find to be hard and annoying is Eggmanland (Only took me 34 mins) and Dark Gaia (Phase 1) Phase 2 isn’t even that hard to be honest but it can be annoying if you die.
Dude, I love the Sonic Frontiers wallpaper on your computers!
Great video, btw.
Rings was rough bro. The most frustrated I’ve been with a sonic game in awhile.
Honestly, my experience with eggmanland was actually the opposite. It wasn't a cakewalk, but I found jungle joyride day harder than the sonic segments, and empire city night harder than the werehog segments. and my first time beating it was about 40 minutes
also one thing: Sonic Riders has a tutorial... locked away in a mirror.
3:41 I laughed so hard on this but my inner voice says: " Don't be Surprised if that Happens" and I'm not feeling well now.😅
Hear me out...
Sonic Lost World... 3DS.
Bro hear me out:
Sonic advanced 2
If you don't believe me, listen to king k's review of the game or just try to properly speedrun a stage in that game. It out Unleashed by a wide margin if you as me.
Is lost World 3ds really as hard as people say it is ?
@@markofthewolvessucks8930 No. I played through the game. More difficult than Wii U version, but not exactly hard.
The thing about Secret Rings is that it depends on how much your brain vibes with motion controls. For example, the controls are completely fine for me and I quite like the game (though I do have problems with the structure of it among other things).
Loving the new background look!
One massage to chun-nan: why.
Man sonic riders felt like tryin to master a dark souls game as a kid 😂😂
Ahh you sweet summer child
Someone hasn't played Sonic 2 on the Game Gear.
Imagine Sonic advance 2 except with twice the amount of screen crunch with gimmicky hand glider sections that I swear to God don't work. And having to fight every boss in the game without any rings and you have Sonic 2 on Game Gear. It's the only Sonic game I would consider to be old-school difficult.
Very funny take on these games, great video
I sucked at Sonic Riders too and it's one of my favourites. As a matter of fact I just installed it after half a decade break
Btw I played it on keyboard and it's even worse. I had no idea you can make a tornado behind you to stall your enemy until I randomly saw it in a video
From personal experience having beat it at some point, Sonic Battle is an underrated difficult Sonic game. The game loves to challenge the player and force you to put thought into how you fight. Customizing Emerl’s moveset and optimizing it is a skill that takes trail and error to master, since there are many possibilities for experimentation. More times than not I’d lose a battle only to go back to the menu and craft a build that’s better for that particular fight. Battle is a game that takes skill, but it also requires you to think and strategize. I got stuck plenty of times before I found a moveset that appealed to me. It can be unforgiving and demand maximum effort to claim that win.
still today eggmanland gives me nigthmares
Sonic Riders is a game that is better played as a kid, when you don't know what good or bad game design is.
As a kid I just played the game and learned while failing in every single corner... and had fun because "it's Sonic!!"
As a grown up, you understand things better, you know what a good game looks like, and that makes Sonic Riders "hard to understand"... strange isn't it?
Sonic Riders is second nature to me now, kinda like riding a bike, once you get it, it stays with you... and that's awesome :)
As for the hardest Sonic Game...s...
The Advance Trilogy. Can't beat it to this day :/
... Wait I beat Advance 3 true ending
Advance 1 was normal ending only...
And Advance 2 was only with Cream :')
Bestest Sonic game to master and 100% is SA2 to me, freaking love that game to pieces :')
Personally, I would like to see a review of Shadow the Hedgehog. I think that, while kinda bad, that the game is decently difficult while also being very indepth with how the story progresses. It's honestly kinda fun to see that no two playthroughs lead to the exact same ending.
Besides a few niche-cases like the 400 ring-mission, Shadow the Hedgehog is actually one of the easiest games in the series.
@@lpfan4491 dude come on, that's one of the easiest missions in the game, I get 350 rings without even going for them intentionally, I have to take damage a few times to make sure I don't accidentally complete the mission
@@gameringly8916 I definitly got a lot better at it, but it's certainly not one of the easiest missions.
1st - Sonic Unleashed wasn't challenging to me
2nd - Sonic Lost World wasn't hard when I first beat it, but it is now
3rd - Once I looked up how to play Sonic Riders and properly take shortcuts, it's a cakewalk
4th - Sonic 06, despite its obvious flaws, was always super easy. Just long...
5th - The storybook games are the second hardest to play to me
6th - You didn't even mention Sonic Free Riders lol!
started play secret rings yesterday, didn’t even finished the lost prologue. i’ll try to finish it and update the comment than, but now i can absolutely agree
Play Black Knight on Dolphin with a normal controller. It feels MUCH better to play and speedrun since your sword swings actually feel more responsive.
Final horizon dlc from sonic frontiers is very difficult as well
We all know the most difficult Sonic game is Sonic 2 for the Game Gear
It's hard to say that the early sonic games were easy by any real stretch. Remember the Eggman robot at the end of Sonic 2? Or literally any 2D sonic water level? Having said that, you are absolutely right about the Secret Rings. While I enjoyed it as a kid, playing it now is just painful.
I think Sonic Heroes deserved a mention. That game genuinely had me throwing my controller when I was younger.
I still enjoy it tho
Yea getting all A rank on Heroes and Shadow is extremely hard so are the level 3 Hotdog Missions in Unleashed
Man it was fun getting A ranks with team dark and Sonic. Team Chaotix was the most annoying and EGG Emperor was easily the hardest final boss as a kid. Not to mention the bs special stages to get all 7 chaos emeralds
@@exaltedreverse4463 yup I remember I had to look at a play through for a couple of the Chaotix missions even tho I tried not too
Playing on emulation with infinite lives makes heroes infinitely better. Level design is really good but sometimes too challenging for to have limited lives also lives are just padding anyways imo.
I remember in so many reviews of Lost World when it came out, most of them talked about how frustrating it was to complete, so it’s definitely not just you. I got game overs on most stages in the back half, and I got particularly frustrated on the second Zavok fight like everyone else, but I still find Lost World fun enough, even on my first playthrough.
I think LW is really good, but there certainly is some major jank. Besides the Zavok-issue, there is also a stage where the goal of the leveldesign is to just make you time out...because that's very fun.(As in, the stage is an infinite loop unless one finds the way to the end)
5:30 Bro the exact same thing happened to me I vividly remember that but remember nothing else from this game lol.
Sonic Advance 2 and 3 have still got to be the most frustrated I've ever been playing a Sonic game. Collecting the chaos emeralds in those games to get the true ending was actually rage inducing.
Sonic heroes can get really difficult at times, so I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned. Anyways, great vid!
I started playing cuphead after watching the Netflix series and it’s truly unforgiving but fun.
Video idea ranking all modern sonic stages
I want to so badly. However approaching that is very difficult. With games like the storybook games or Sonic Lost World, there is a high quantity of Sonic levels. Then there's the question of whether or not I should cover Classic Sonic stages or playable characters. I'm going to find a way to make it work, I'm just trying to find a way that doesn't feel cheap or lazy.
@@Matthasnocuts maybe just reduce it to only Boost styled stages
Or Sonic/Shadow stages in the Adventure games if that counts