Sonic The Hedgehog is Sega's mascot and a character that the developer has loved and nurtured for many years now. Sonic was once even seen as a genuine rival to Mario, although that rivalry has since become a lot more friendly and is now more or less confined strictly to the pair's Olympic Games-themed sports title series.

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Sega's take on the 2D platforming genre was interesting, as speed, as well as precision platforming, played a significant role in the blue hedgehog's games. However, the decision was eventually made to take Sonic and his friends into the third dimension and the resulting games have been a little hit-and-miss, to say the least.

Where Metacritic ratings aren't available, ratings from GameRankings will be used instead. In instances where a game has been ported to multiple platforms, the highest rating will be chosen.

Updated November 8, 2022, by Tom Bowen: Since bursting onto the scene more than three decades ago, Sonic's story has been punctuated by a series of dizzying highs and agonizing lows. The majority of the latter have come since the blue blur made the leap to 3D, with many of his post-2000 titles failing to live up to his 2D glory days and leaving fans both disappointed and angry as a result. That's not to say that there haven't been some bright spots here and there though, nor that fans of the blue blur have completely given up hope that they'll one day see a true and worthy successor to Sonic Adventure 2. Many had hoped that Sonic Frontiers could perhaps be that title, but despite the game's somewhat impressive review scores, it falls just a little short of the two Dreamcast-era Sonic games. Even so, given how poorly some of the pre-release footage from the 2022 Summer of Gaming Livestream was received by the wider gaming community, some fans may well be pleasantly surprised by the game's overall quality and its Metacritic rating.

14 Sonic The Hedgehog

Sonic The Hedgehog (2006) is widely regarded as being the worst Sonic game ever made: 2D or 3D. It was released back in January 2007 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and was poorly received due to a number of highly questionable design choices and a considerable amount of ridiculous game-breaking bugs.

The game places Sonic and his friends in a real-world setting as they attempt to save a human princess who has been kidnapped by the evil doctor Egg-man. The gameplay is hilariously buggy throughout and at times can be nearly unplayable. So much so, in fact, that to some, a score of 43 will perhaps be seen as exceptionally generous.

13 Shadow The Hedgehog

Shadow isn't a bad character by any means, but whether or not he really deserved his own spin-off title is definitely a matter for debate. Even the most ardent of Shadow fans will likely agree that the decision to give the character guns in Shadow the Hedgehog was bizarre though, and one that never really felt right.

Not only that, but the game is well known for having terrible controls and an uncooperative camera, which can often make the whole experience very jarring for players. Released in 2005 for the Nintendo Gamecube, PlayStation 2, and original Xbox, it is an incredibly unique game, but not in a good way.

12 Sonic And The Black Knight

When the Nintendo Wii came out, Sonic Team wanted to capitalize on the popularity of the console by developing an exclusive Sonic game for the system. The resulting title was Sonic and the Black Knight, which was released for the Wii back in early 2009. To say that it didn't make much of an impression would perhaps be a bit of an understatement.

With this exclusive, the developers decided to take Sonic back to the middle ages and a world of Arthurian legends. Naturally, they decided to give the hedgehog a sword and make him a knight in an attempt to make him fit in with the era. Unfortunately, the strange sword-based mechanics didn't appeal to a lot of existing Sonic fans, leading to poor sales and even worse reviews.

11 Sonic Forces

Sonic Forces is the latest 3D Sonic title and was released back in November 2019 for PC, Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. However, in Sonic Forces, players do not play exclusively as Sonic; instead, they create their own playable characters and fight alongside the blue blur and the rest of his crew for large stretches of the game.

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The character creation is actually pretty decent and allows players to choose from a wide array of different creatures, each with its own unique abilities. The game itself adds nothing new to the Sonic formula, however, failing to advance any of the core mechanics introduced in earlier 3D Sonic games by any great degree.

10 Sonic: Lost World

Sonic: Lost World is one of the very few 3D Sonic games that wasn't developed exclusively by Sonic Team, with Dimps Corporation taking up the reins for the 3DS port. Originally, the game was released exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS in October 2013, but a few years later, ports for the PC and the Wii U were developed and released.

What's perhaps a little surprising is that the 3DS release is generally considered to be the definitive version despite its counterparts being on more powerful consoles. The controls are frustratingly bad regardless of the system though, which can often lead to an unpleasant experience for players. It's not bad, but it's not great either.

9 Sonic Unleashed

Once again, Sonic Team wanted to try something new and different with Sonic Unleashed, which was released back in December 2008 for the PS2, PS3, and Xbox 360. They decided to mix the things that everybody loved about Sonic games like speed and precision together with a bizarre werewolf subplot, which ended up really hurting both the title's narrative and its gameplay.

The daytime stages in which players control regular Sonic are amazingly fast and a lot of fun to complete, but things take a rather drastic turn once the sun goes down. Werehog stages slow the pace down to a crawl and end up feeling like little more than tedious, button-bashing segments. In this case, the contrast really is night and day.

8 Sonic 3D Blast

Though nowhere near as revolutionary as Super Mario 64, Sonic's first foray into the third dimension was still a fairly successful one. Sonic 3D Blast used an isometric perspective and pre-rendered 3D models converted into sprites to create a solid 3D title that looks great on both the Genesis and the Sega Saturn. Sadly, it would be the only Sonic game released for the latter though due to the cancellation of Sonic X-Treme.

While it might not look like much when compared to modern standards, it's worth remembering that 3D video games weren't all that common back in the mid-nineties. The Genesis version, therefore, sold more than 700,000 copies alone, while the Saturn version was the second best-selling game on the system, with only NiGHTS selling more copies.

7 Sonic And The Secret Rings

Another Wii exclusive, Sonic and the Secret Rings released back in February 2007. Much like in Sonic and the Black Knight, the blue blur is transported to another world, this time providing players with a chance to experience the Arabian Nights for themselves. Aesthetically speaking, at least, the developers really did nail that theme, although the game still had its fair share of problems.

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Despite its pleasing visuals and charming world, Sonic and the Secret Rings once again failed to deliver on the overall Sonic experience. It also had an incredibly steep learning curve, which could make completing some levels seem like a real grind. This wasn't at all helped by the poorly implemented camera either, something that many of the 3D Sonic games have struggled to get right.

6 Sonic Heroes

Sonic Heroes was the first Sonic title to grace the sixth generation of consoles, with Gamecube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC releases all coming in early 2004. If nothing else, the title is impressive when it comes to the sheer number of playable protagonists, with 12 classic Sonic characters available in four different teams of three.

The graphics and the sound were top-notch for the era, although some felt that the developers may have sacrificed gameplay in their pursuit of these high levels of graphical and audio fidelity. When all's said and done though, Sonic Heroes was still a solid platformer, but with a little more tweaking, it could have been an outstanding one.

5 Sonic Frontiers

Sonic Frontiers may not be the best 3D Sonic game ever made, nor does it come close to being a game of the year contender, but that's not to say that it isn't still a highly enjoyable game. In many ways, it feels like the kind of game that the two Sonic Adventure titles on the Dreamcast were ultimately racing toward, with the blue hedgehog's lightning-fast movement speed being incredibly well integrated into a wide array of exciting open-world environments.

Unfortunately, as one might expect from a multiplatform title that's also available on Switch and last-gen consoles, the graphics aren't all that impressive and some of the edges are a little rougher than they really should be. The jankiness of the homing attack can at times slow things right down too, completely ruining any momentum that players had been able to build up. Even so, these somewhat minor issues are nowhere near enough to ruin what should otherwise be an incredibly fun title for both casual players and fans of the blue blur alike.

4 Sonic Generations

For Sonic's 20th anniversary, Sonic Team wanted to celebrate both the past and present of the blue blur by blending new and old together. The resulting title, Sonic Generations, takes 20 years of Sonic history and recreates it in glorious HD, allowing players to tackle their favorite stages from past Sonic games in either two or three dimensions.

The game was warmly received by fans and critics alike, with many praising the fluidity with which players are able to transition from 2D to 3D. In many ways, it was a stroke of genius from the developers, as it allowed them to create a game that would appeal to fans of classic Sonic games as well as those who prefer some of his more modern outings.

3 Sonic Colors

Sonic Colors was released in November 2010 and is considered by some to be one of the best 3D Sonic titles to date. It was released on both the Wii and the Nintendo DS, with the handheld version just edging out its Wii counterpart on Metacritic by virtue of a single point. In truth though, both versions of the game are a lot of fun.

Sonic Colors introduces Sonic to an alien race called the Wisps who wield unique colorful energy. Sonic quickly learns that he too can use this magical power and, in doing so, provides players with a brand new gameplay mechanic to explore and enjoy. After several years of mediocrity, the release of Sonic Colors made fans realize that Sonic Team can still make great games and that Sega still has a lot of love for the blue hedgehog.

2 Sonic Adventure

Although most consider Sonic 3D Blast to be the first 3D Sonic game, Sonic Adventure was arguably the first great one. It featured a wide selection of stages accessed by a number of unique hub worlds and multiple storylines for players to explore. With the exception of the Big the Cat stages, they were all pretty enjoyable and were designed around each character's unique abilities.

Like Mario's first 3D outing, Sonic Adventure hasn't aged particularly well, especially when it comes to camera controls. At the time, however, it was a highly enjoyable game with decent graphics, full voice acting in cutscenes, and a wide variety of gameplay mechanics. After the disappointing cancellation of Sonic X-treme, it was just what the franchise needed to get itself back on track.

1 Sonic Adventure 2

That the best 3D Sonic title was a game released for the Dreamcast all the way back in June 2001 is a pretty damning indictment of the current state of the franchise. At the time, Sonic Adventure 2 really was right up there with some of the very best 3D platformers on the market, but while Mario has continued to thrive in the third dimension, Sonic hasn't even come close to topping this two-decade-old classic.

Everything about the game screams fun, from its incredible downhill intro stage to its wonderful rocking soundtrack. Like its predecessor, there's even a Tamagotchi-style mini-game included too, although Chao World is only a small part of what makes this game so special. It has since been ported to PC, PS3, and Xbox 360, making it a lot easier for modern gamers to find out for themselves.

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