Sonic the Hedgehog is one of gaming’s most enduring characters. He’s been through multiple eras and designs over the course of a 35-year career, starring in a huge number of games, and branching out from his bread-and-butter platformers with spin-offs in many other gaming genres.

And he’s not going anywhere, as the massive success of his recent film series attests. As Sega’s fortunes have fluctuated over the decades, Sonic is still with us, having secured a spot in the cultural pantheon alongside Mario, Pac-Man, and a very small handful of gaming icons.

It’s been three-and-a-half decades since we first guided him through Green Hill Zone on our Mega Drives and Genesiseses, and this milestone has us thinking back on the great times we’ve spent in his blue-sky worlds. The perfect time for a nostalgic jog through some of Team NL’s most treasured Sonic memories, then.

The hedgehog’s been going fast for a long time now, so let’s hit the brakes for just a moment and look back on where he’s been…

Sonic at 35 – Best Levels, Music & Memories

“I’d get squashed” (Alana Hagues, deputy editor)

The very first video game I ever played was Sonic the Hedgehog 3. It’s also one of the very first memories I have of life in general (after running around in the snow in just boots and a t-shirt and wrestling with my brother in the back of a moving van). The F1 was on and my dad had to watch it, so my mum moved the Mega Drive and me into the dining room, plonked a CRT on the floor, and that kept me occupied.

But Sonic & Knuckles perhaps had a bigger impact, or perhaps, should I say, Flying Battery Zone. I love this stage, but I hated it as a kid because I’d always get stuck here. I’d get squashed by the corkscrews or run into an enemy and lose my shield, or the magnets would relax and it’d be crushed by spikes. Needless to say, when I finally beat it, I was elated. I had to show everyone. Of course, no one else was as impressed with me, even if there were much harder things to come! But now I get a little bit smug whenever I revisit Flying Battery as a result. That’s worth it, right?

As for my favourite levels? Pinch me – how is Sonic Mania almost 10 years old? Anyway, I have a soft spot for winter and snow levels, and Ice Cap Zone from Sonic 3 is incredible, but I fell in love with Press Garden‘s unique blend of influences immediately back in 2017. A printing press in the middle of a snow-covered Japanese garden? Sure!

Act 1’s factory section is completely different to any other industrial level we’ve seen in a 2D Sonic game. Springy conveyor belts, newspapers flying off in the background, mushroom and tree-shaped platforms, and magenta-coloured leaves hinting at what’s to come. It’s a puzzly, platforming delight. Then Act 2 kicks in and you’re transported to a winter wonderland filled with shrines and sprinkles of cherry blossoms. It shouldn’t feel like a natural transition, but it does.

It’s one of the most creative Sonic levels, and complete with Tee Lopes’ lush music, it’s an all-timer for me.

“Jim Unleashed” (Jim Norman, features editor)

I was never the biggest Sonic fan growing up. I played the Advance games on my GBA and have some Sonic Adventure memories at my friend’s house, but when I think about the first Sonic game that I was really obsessed with, it has to be Sonic Unleashed.

Is it still a hot take to say that? I feel like people are slowly coming around on it! Either way, I was 10 when Unleashed came out, and any criticisms could get in the bin because it was 3D Sonic who sometimes turned into a werewolf. How cool is that!

The standout stage for me, unsurprisingly, was Rooftop Run. I still know it like the back of my hand. It has such a wonderful summer vibe in its winding European streets and upbeat music, and I distinctly remember losing my mind at the ascent up the central clock tower, followed by the steep rail drop from the top. It’s just so flipping fun.

Beyond that, Sonic Mania tickled me more than any other game in the interim. Every single stage from it belongs on this list, but you expect me to go any longer without mentioning the funkiest of funky Studiopolis soundtrack? There’s no wolf, but damn, it’s a blast.

“Chao for now” (Ollie Reynolds, reviews editor)

I have such fond memories of high school. Not the school part, you understand, but rather the bits in between: watching Dragonball Z on Cartoon Network when I got home, chatting to girls I liked on MSN, and playing the GameCube for an ungodly number of hours before discussing it with my friends the next day. One game that dominated the conversation for a while was Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.

Even back then, I could sense that it wasn’t an all-timer — my heart truly belonged to Metroid Prime and Super Mario Sunshine — but I adored it regardless. The opening City Escape stage alone remains one of the finest experiences I’ve ever had in a Sonic game, but it was really the Chao Garden that gobbled up my time the most.

I was never very good at raising Chaos – not compared to my friends, at least. I think I just lacked the patience, and I normally wound up breaking one of the eggs by chucking it around too much. It was so delightful, though, and that achingly cheerful music is still embedded in my brain to this very day.

I’m not lying when I say that the one reason I still own an Xbox Series X is because I own Sonic Adventure 2 on it. It’s frankly criminal that Sega hasn’t put it on Switch yet in some fashion. Maybe it’s destined to be added to NSO soon…

“woakkkkkup” (Gavin Lane, editor)

I’ve written before about Christmas morning 1992 with Sonic 2, so I won’t repeat go over old ground. The early games came during a formative blue-sky gaming period for me, though, and the audio-visual polish coupled with the flowing level design and brilliant music made such an impression. I doubt the later 3D entries could have lived up to them even if they’d all been Mario 64-grade triumphs.

These days, it’s the Sonic Racing games which, for me, capture the flow of the originals better than any of the 3D entries, but let’s not bang the tired ‘crusty gamer doesn’t like 3D Sonic’ drum. Different strokes!

As for great levels, I could have named pretty much any zone from the 2D MD games as a favourite, but I’ve gone with Marble Garden, as beyond the brilliant soundtrack and gorgeous spritework (I love the mauve and orange stonework) I’ve always enjoyed how it fuses elements of past zones — Marble Zone and Aquatic Ruin, I’d say — with brand new, bizarre stage elements like the yoyo thingys. It’s not a mash-up or a remixed riff on what’s come before, but you get a sense of the design lineage and language threading through the series.

Sure, I could have picked two dozen other stages, but Marble Garden might be peak – and there’s no water, meaning no panic-inducing countdown to drowning. Shoutouts to those springy fake-spikes and the blue spinning-top you ride – which doesn’t make much sense but also, somehow, makes perfect sense.

Also, shoutouts to Scrap Brain Zone and Masato Nakamura and incredible spritework and happy bouncing flowers and Naoto Ohshima. Happy birthday, Sonic.

Those are just a handful of our favourite Sonic zones, tracks, and memories since 1991. We’d love to hear yours, too, so feel free to share in the comments.