Sonic The Hedgehog Games With The Most Zones, Ranked

One aspect of the Sonic the Hedgehog games that tends to go underappreciated is their level variety. From bright and flashy casinos to spooky haunted mansions, this series has introduced a plethora of unique stages for players to jump into and enjoy, but there’s a select few entries in the franchise that really go above and beyond with the number of levels they provide. Considering Sonic games are designed for replayability, having as many stages as possible encourages players to lace up their running shoes once again to try and reach a high score on each one.

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Additionally, having a lot of stages also allows the game to feel like a true adventure, with Sonic and the gang racing through numerous environments to stop Eggman from cooking up yet another one of his mischievous plans. With all that being said, it’s time to see which Sonic games currently feature the most levels in their main story modes. Before jumping, this list will count the Zones of each game, rather than each individual act of a level, so if Green Hill Zone has three acts in a single game, it will only count as one.

8

Sonic And The Black Knight

Number Of Stages: 13

Platformer

Hack and Slash

Systems

Released

March 3, 2009

ESRB

E For Everyone: Fantasy Violence

Sonic and the Black Knight takes a slightly different approach to its core gameplay than many of its predecessors. While Sonic is still fast on his feet, many of the stages he will be running through are littered with NPCs and enemies, the latter of which will need to be cut down by using the Wii remote to guide Sonic’s Excalibur sword.

As a result of the slower pace, Black Knight’s stages ae all fairly short and not all that long, since they tend to be more populated and dense, rather than giving the Blue Blur lots of land to cover. Thankfully, though, the game makes up for this by featuring 13 stages in total, which ensures players don’t finish the main campaign too quickly before moving onto the Battle Mode.

7

Sonic Mania

Number Of Stages: 14

Released

August 15, 2017

ESRB

E For Everyone due to Mild Cartoon Violence

Developer(s)

PagodaWest Games, Headcannon

OpenCritic Rating

Mighty

Sonic Mania is a game that celebrates the history of Sonic the Hedgehog, and more specifically, the classic trilogy of games. As a result, the game contains plenty of stages from the series’ 18-bit past, but since having every level from all three games would be way too much, developer Christian Whitehead instead decided to pull out and polish the most recognizable stages for players to enjoy once again.

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Green Hill Zone, Angel Island, Metallic Madness, these are just a handful of the iconic tracks that make an appearance in Sonic Mania, with the game being seen as a true return to form for the series, and a must-play for any diehard fans out there.

6

Sonic & Knuckles

Number Of Stages: 14

Released

October 18, 1994

ESRB

e

Though the original Sonic 3 may have only had six zones in total for Sonic to explore, the Sonic & Knuckles cartridge adds an extra eight, taking the total number up to a whopping fourteen. One aspect of Sonic & Knuckles that really stands out is the amount of effort that has gone into making these areas distinct and memorable.

Sky Sanctuary, for example, is fondly remembered for its music and tricky platforming, meanwhile the Doomsday Zone tasks players with dodging missiles while in outer space. Of course, many of these levels can also be played through with Knuckles, who comes with his own unique quirks and gimmicks that help him feel much different to his newfound comrade.

5

Sonic Heroes

Number Of Stages: 14

Platformer

Racing

Fighting

Action-Adventure

Released

December 30, 2003

ESRB

e

Because Sonic Heroes features four different teams who all travel through the same stages in their respective campaigns, it’s understandable why the developers decided to add in such a wide range of diversity to keep things interesting. With either Team Sonic, Shadow, Amy or Chaotix, players will venture through a whole myriad of levels, with the Egg Fleet and Bullet Station being some of the most popular from the game. However, others like Ocean Palace and Rail Canyon are also still very beloved among fans.

Sonic Heroes’ core gameplay loop encourages players to switch between each member of their team every now and again in order to speed through a level as fast as possible. This means, while the high-speed gameplay is still firmly intact, there’s also a few platforming and puzzles thrown in here and there, providing a fresh and unique gameplay experience for the series.

4

Sonic X Shadow Generations

Number Of Stages: 17

Released

October 25, 2024

ESRB

E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Fantasy Violence

OpenCritic Rating

Strong

The original Sonic Generations already offered ten classic stages for Sonic to race through, but with the Sonic X Shadow Generations remaster, this number has been bulked up to seventeen, thanks to the introduction of Shadow. Just like how Sonic is able to return to levels from his own past, Shadow is able to do the same in his story, and since he also comes with a plethora of unique abilities, like the Doom Wings, it makes traversing these areas so much fun.

Going back to Sonic for a second, his stages are split between modern and classic Sonic, allowing players to either race through a stage in 2D or 3D, depending on what they are more comfortable with. While these are technically still the same stages, they still play very differently, and are all the perfect length, with no stage feeling like it outstays its welcome, except maybe Wisp Factory.

3

Shadow The Hedgehog

Number Of Stages: 23

Platformer

Action-Adventure

Third-Person Shooter

Released

December 15, 2005

ESRB

E 10+ // Fantasy Violence, Mild Language

Aside from the edgy aesthetic and tone, and the use of guns, the Shadow the Hedgehog standalone game is often remembered for its multi-branching story. The way it works is, depending on whether Shadow acts like a hero or villain on a stage, he will then move onto a brand-new stage in accordance with his reputation. Needless to say, for this system to work, it means the game needs plenty of levels to make players feel as though they are truly embarking on their own unique adventure, and the good news is, Shadow the Hedgehog features over twenty in total.

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As players cruise through each level, gunning down the Black Army mutants as they go and unleashing Chaos Control to obliterate their enemies, they will need to decide whether they want to team up with the likes of Sonic and Black Doom, or to ignore them, depending on what kind of story they want to tell.

2

Sonic Forces

Number Of Stages: 24

Platformer

Shooter

Fighting

Adventure

Released

November 7, 2017

ESRB

e

Sonic Forces kicks off with a bang. When the Blue Blur is defeated by a team of his former enemies, Tails, Knuckles, and the rest of the gang, including the player’s original character, take it upon themselves to try and restore order across a war-torn world, resulting in plenty of fun and fast-paced stages. Many of these stages are remodels of what came before, such as a mechanized Green Hill Zone, or Chemical Plant Zone set in a spacestation.

With the handy new grappling hook, players are able to drift around tight corners to ensure they never lose any pace when racing through these gorgeous parts of the world. Though Soncie Forces’ tonally inconsistent story is nothing to write home about, there’s still tons of content to enjoy here.

1

Sonic Adventure 2

Number Of Stages: 30

Released

June 19, 2001

ESRB

e

Developer(s)

Sonic Team USA

Because Sonic Adventure 2 essentially has two protagonists, with Shadow sharing the spotlight with Sonic, it would be a little bland if they had the exact same levels to play through. As a result, the Hero and Dark campaigns, which feature both of the hedgehogs respectively, contain their own unique stages that feed into the protagonist’s story and themes.

However, there are plenty of other characters who also get to join in on the fun too, such as Tails, who uses his personal mech to get around the stages, or Knuckles, who can glide across the air. There’s plenty of fun stages to enjoy with this one, which is a big reason why Adventure 2 is looked back on so fondly by many fans, because it’s just such a blast to replay.

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