Quote Originally Posted by Vivi22 View Post
Gotta go with Sonic 2 I think. After that the level design slowly deteriorated and they also started gradually adding more game mechanics which worked against what Sonic is fundamentally about; going fast. Now there were some things even in Sonic 2 that obviously slowed you down, but I think they managed to hit a decent number and it helped keep the pacing solid. After that things were kind of downhill.
You just summed things up better than I ever could have!

Which is not to say I don't love Sonic 3 or think it's brilliant, but Sonic 2 really hit just the right spot.