One of the more famous aspects of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise is that Sonic and his pals spend their time trying to collect the powerful Chaos Emeralds. While the way these Emeralds are collected depends on the game they're found in, most of them can be located in Special Stages. Just like how there are different ways to locate the Chaos Emeralds, there are tons of Special Stage variants throughout the hedgehog's history. The best way to see the variety of these stages is through Sonic Origins.
Sonic Origins features the original Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic CD, and Sonic 3 & Knuckles. As the game packages Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles together as one title, each features a unique Special Stage. Out of all of these bonus levels, onlySonic 3 & Knuckles' Blue Spheres stage was given a chance to shine, but Sonic 2's Special Stage is just as deserving.
Sonic 3 & Knuckles' Blue Spheres
While players needed to collect 50 rings and jump into a huge ring at the end of each level to go to a Special Stage in Sonic 1 and Sonic 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles made it into a scavenger hunt. Players could find roughly three-to-four gigantic rings in each stage to play Blue Spheres, offering them a chance to get a Chaos Emerald. Once the Chaos Emeralds were collected and players moved onto the second portion of the game, they'd be replaced with Super Emeralds that have harder Blue Spheres stages.
Out of all the different special stages fans can encounter in the Sega Genesis Sonic titles, it's hard to argue that Blue Spheres aren't the most fondly remembered and popular. Blue Spheres came back before Sonic Origins' New Blue Spheres mode by being a bonus stage where players could collect special silver coins in order to eventually unlock the right to play Blue Spheres freely.
Sonic 2's Special Stages
In comparison to Blue Spheres, Sonic 2's half-pipe stages are generally an unspoken second favorite. These stages were known to be great for newcomers while holding a more challenging difficulty curve. The trick to the stages could be found through trial and error, as all it took was remembering where the rings and the bombs were. These levels also had dedicated two-player versus modes that pit Sonic and Tails against each other, which could double as fun practice for the real event.
Despite Blue Spheres' popularity, these stages have been arguably used more. They were brought back in Sonic 4: Episode 2 to pay homage to the game with higher ring clear totals, and they serve as the basis of the special stages in Sonic Heroes and Sonic Generations. The fact that they've been used so frequently serves as a statement for how versatile these stages are.
While there could be an argument that these half-pipe stages easily get repetitive, Sonic 4: Episode 2 introduced new gimmicks that could be brought back for a proper mode, such as electrified bombs that slow players down when touched. A mode for these Special Stages could also feature new versions that serve as great practice.
However, with both Blue Spheres and the half-pipe stages having their own mode, it would leave fans to wonder why modes don't exist for Sonic CD's UFO Special Stages or Sonic 1's kaleidoscope-like extra levels. There's plenty of potential for those to return as well, as Sonic 3 brought back Sonic 1's Special Stages for a slot machine bonus stage, but Sonic 2's are far more iconic for the series as a whole. The fact that these stages have repeatedly been brought back and used as inspiration for later bonus levels is enough to beg the question of why Sonic 2's stages have yet to be used to their full potential.
Sonic Origins is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.