Sonic Generations

So Sonic’s 20th anniversary hit (despite what Game Informer says) is about 3 1/2 years old now. Its’ biggest flaw: the fact that it could have used more levels. I’ve played sixty hours of the game, and completed 89 of the 90 challenge missions. (One day, I’m going to beat Charmy’s Planet Wisp Mission, I will!)
. I bought Sonic Generations near the beginning of this year. I spent about $32 dollars for it and the Casino Night DLC. (which isn’t really all that much.) Personally, I’m hoping in addition to the 25th anniversary game, SEGA has some more DLCs planned to release for Generations featuring a few certain levels.
.I love Sonic Generations, not as much as Colors, but I love Generations. I love the stages you get, I love how you can unlock music to play in the background. I love classic Tails. (Seriously, classic Tails is my favorite character ever. Maybe that’s just because he was all I could ever play as when I was four years old… at my neighbor’s house, and we couldn’t get past the water of doom in Chemical Plant Zone. And then I took a long, long break from video games.)
. Personally, though there are some stages that drag (Planet Wisp and its decision to use Spike for Classic and Rocket for Modern instead of Laser and Hover, I’m looking straight at you.) They all play great, Crisis City included. That being said, I could easily have come up with some more levels. (Time constraints probably stop this from being feasible.)
. I would have taken out Sky Sanctuary, and replaced with an ‘Ice Hill’ level, making it an amalgamation of the scrapped winter Zone from Sonic 2 (which I call Ice Hill to keep with the seasonal theme naming from Dust Hill Zone, Emerald Hill Zone, and Hill Top Zone), and Ice Cap from Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic Adventure. Also Sonic 4: Episode Two has a White Park Zone.
. Next I would have added the Sonic 4 Saga levels: Lost Labyrinth (it’s not a redundant theme level) had been officially released in Sonic 4: Episode 1, I would have done a slight reference to Launch Base Zone, by starting the level in chunks of ice.
. I would have taken Sylvania Castle. (It’s another level theme that doesn’t come up anywhere else.)In a twist, this would have been promotion of Sonic 4: Episode Two, because the remake would actually come out before the original. And I’m sure Episode Three has concept designs for levels laying around, even if SEGA doesn’t play on making it right away… or ever. But in case, they don’t. I would have had a Metal Sonic kidnap Classic Amy in a finished version of Wood Zone, and basically have the events of Episode three show why Amy changed her outfit to Modern Amy.
. The next one would have been a Sand level given the name ‘Dust Hill’ Zone both a nod to level in Sonic 2 that got bounced around Classic Sonic games, as well as allow for a tie in to Adventure. Between Dust Hill Zone, a little bit of Oil Desert, Desert Dazzle (The scrapped Desert Level from Taxman’s Sonic CD), Oil Desert Zone, both of Sandapolis’s incarnations, I would have had plenty to work with. And then it moves to Speed Highway and so forth.
. Another note, in the spirit of Metropolis Zone, I would have given 2 Acts to classic and Modern … each. Metropolis Zone is a 3-Act Zone, when all of the other zones are only 1 or 2 Acts. Sparingly using a longer level before the end of a game allows for a slightly slower pace. Part of Generations problem is that you almost move too fast. Before you know, you’ve beaten all six Acts of the Genesis Games, and the 3 Challenge missions, and the first boss. That’s only 10 game play levels before you reach Speed Highway. And considering each level at this point takes about 3-4 minutes, that’s about 35 minutes of gameplay. A little TOO short. I would have also taken the opportunity to put in Mighty, Ray, Bean the Dynamo, Bark the Polar Bear as the characters you rescue from these levels.
. After Planet Wisp, I would have put in Asteroid Coaster, because it feels more like a final level than Planet Wisp does. Here’s where you can insert a little bit of story. In my Sonic CD/Sonic 2 post, I suggested that Quartz Quadrant, Metallic Madness, and Wacky Workbench imply Metal Sonic’s origins. Well, this is where you can put those levels. (And before you say, well, he wouldn’t get a Chaos Emerald from the boss fight, yes he could, you already get one of the Emeralds in a cutscene.) It’s followed by a Mecha Sonic Boss fight.

Then suddenly, there’s the reveal that the Time Eater (Yeah, there’s a plot. Yeah, for Sonic game, there’s too little of it.) is both versions of Eggman, or officially Dr. Robotnik. (Eggman is finally confirmed as just a nickname.)
. This is where I would have base levels, you know the homages to Scrap Brain Zone, Metropolis Zone, Launch Base Zone, Mad Gear Zone, Final Egg, and Aquatic Base. Then you put the Time Eater boss with your friends and all that. And then, you do pay tribute to the Death Egg Saga. This is where you put Sky Sanctuary. For fun, you can even have Seven Special Stages to get all of the Super Emeralds! And then you progress through a Sky Chase level, and up to the flying base levels: starting with Egg Fleet, and then you go to your Winged Fortress, your Flying Battery, your Sky Fortress, and your Sky Deck. And then while Classic Sonic is fighting Silver Sonic, Modern Sonic is going through Death Egg Zone (With homages to the Ark levels from SA2) of 3 & Knuckles, and going to Doomsday Zone. After that, then you beat the game.

See that makes for a much longer game.
(Side Note: I just realized that every level of Sonic 4: Episode Two technically sees its remake released before the original. Huh.)
And that’s what I would have added. (Also, one more question: is this where Classic Sonic first meets Classic Tails because that would be one of the all time great implied subplots.)