>>571 none of them i typed out a whole response about why i thought rush had the best ones, but then i saw >classic sonic sonic 2's special stages were the most fun to me, but i'm not particularly fond of any of them to be completely honest

>>573 >i typed out a whole response about why i thought rush had the best ones I'm interested to hear your reasoning actually

>>574 i just think the touchscreen on the ds made them way more fun it also helps that rush was particularly generous when it came to actually getting into special stages, you could retry the same one over and over if your boost gauge was high enough

>>573 All of them were pretty frustrating, but Sonic 2's special stages were especially frustrating for me. It's cause of Tail's delayed movement. I really like the special stages from mania and CD. Those ones are fun

I like the S3&K special stages but they hurt my eyes. My vision starts to get confused and then I slip up right before getting the emerald

the sonic 1 special stages kinda suck but i love the way they look (especially the backgrounds) and the music for it is awesome

>>579 The backgrounds were too distracting for me

does sonic mania count as "classic"? if so, my favorites the mania plus special stages those specifically since the base games special stages are too ez for my tastes   

>does sonic mania count as "classic"? I don't see why not I love those special stages too

Classic ended with Sonic R to me.

>>852 That's because it was the last Sonic game before Sonic's redesign in 1998.

>>571 I liked S3&K's the most. Sonic 2's special stages are fairly fun, but doing the last one with Sonic and Tails is a complete nightmare if you don't have a friend who is just as good as you to help. Sonic 1's are a neat idea, they're just not great. CD's look the coolest, but I remember the later stages being a pain. Chaotix has the absolute coolest special stages to the point where I'm actually convinced they spent more time on them vs the actual game, but I'm terrible at them and have never gotten all the Chaos Rings. so I refuse to say they're the best. You also move a bit too slowly, or maybe the camera FOV is just set up that you don't get a good sense of speed.

Sonic 1 because I can actually beat them. (But really, I found the half pipe and spheres stuff to be not as interesting). The CD stages were fun but they felt kind of extraneous as you didn't have to do well in them to fully beat the game.

>>571 S3&K's special stages are the most memorable for me, but they made me dizzy as a kid.

Of the true classic games, I'm not sure. Each of them obviously have their own hangups, but I think I'd probably give it to Sonic 1. It's got that 'first game in the series' weirdness concentrated pretty heavily in the Special Stages that have only been done since as homages instead ofna true evolution of the concept. If we count Mania as a sort of neo-Classic, then Mania takes it pretty easily. Well crafted, fun, many different ways to play it. It's a great idea that lends itself well to Sonic. If we're count fangames that emulate Classic, then my true personal favorite is Triple Trouble 16-Bit. Racing Fang to the Emerald, having to hit boosts, dodge his attacks, hit him back, all of it incredibly frantic and keeping you on your toes. The Fang races are so great that when I got the last Emerald I was disappointed that I couldn't keep doing them.