Sonic the Hedgehog 2

I jumped around to keep Tails from landing lol

Don't get used to this kind of quality Sonic fans, its all downhill from here. This isn't just the best Sonic game, this is the game that made me realize why so many people enjoyed these games, it actually uses its mechanics in good ways unlike the original and unlike almost none of the sequels.

It's fine if you get used to it I guess. I was never into Sonic and I find these games almost unplayably confusing. I can accept it's likely a me problem.

This is an ok game. You can become Super Sonic now if you get all 7 emeralds. While better than the 1st game, this game poses the same problems Sonic 1 had. No save files, Bonus levels were hard to do for the later ones. You had limited tries to retry them and you still had to get 50 coins to access them. Last Level in this game Tails doesn't help you, You can't be Super Sonic and you have 0 rings to fight 2 bosses in a row. Time doesn't reset here when you beat the 1st boss. No save point.

Better than the original.

It's not bad exactly, but there's a lot of parts where you have to stop and wait, be it for a platform to move or a drawbridge or whatever to open. And there are so many parts where an enemy comes out of nowhere (the second last level is probably the worst for this) and there's no way you could've reacted to it. The levels are also very repetitive and go in a confusing back-and-forth direction so often the only way you know you're going the right way is if you pass a checkpoint.

The best of the three. I tend to only play the beginning half then quit.

Ok.

Not as good as Sonic and Knuckles

Everyone fought with their siblings over Tails, as if it mattered. Improves over whatever slight deficiencies there were in the first Sonic take, increasing the speed and fine-tuning the controls. It still works, and is possibly the apex of this type of side scroller.