Lol I knew you'd start something like this, Edgey
I LOVE Sonic. Though I admit I haven't been motivated to play Colors all that much. It just isn't as fun as some of the others, in my opinion. Sonic Adventure 2 Battle remains my favorite Sonic game ever and my favorite GameCube game after Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. The 2D ones don't really do it for me- they're fun, but IMO they lack the depth and pure baddassery that the 3D ones nail so perfectly. Here's how I rank the games:
1. Sonic Adventure 2 Battle- Some people hate on Shadow. He's my favorite character in the franchise. Go figure. The ending of this made me cry. Though I HATE how you only actually play as Shadow in four real levels and four boss battles. Let's just forget the torturous treasure-hunting levels never happened. And I actually did enjoy the robot levels, even if they did seem out of place in the Sonic world.
2. Sonic and the Secret Rings- I LOVE this game. They nail every single part of the structure of this game, from bosses to collect-em-alls to avoid-em-alls. Some levels are far too short and simple, though, and in some levels the aiming for homing attacks doesn't work very well. The minigames don't really add much to the game, either (though the one with the steel balls on chains standing on top of giant towers was fun). The final boss was just bizarre, but in a good way. A great game.
2. Sonic Heroes- Again, I love this game when a lot of others don't. I don't hate Team Chaotix, though their voice acting needs
some tons of work. The multiplayer is fun in this game, too, as are the cutscenes. I just wish they did a little bit more in terms of story- the team structure set it up to be pretty good plot-wise, but then they just end up with some pre-level cutscenes and some battle cutscenes. Though the final boss was AMAZING.
3. Shadow the Hedgehog- Forget the people who hate it. Shadow the Hedgehog was FUN. Not as tight as the other games in the series, but still a blast. However, the poorly done branching/ending structures did put a damper on things. I hated how all of the endings were basically identical in structure, just with slightly different actual lines. But the epic final story made up for all that, even if it does directly contradict some of the standard endings.
4. Sonic Chaos- Fun. Not really much else to say here, really.
5. Sonic Advance- While the platforming segments of this are fun, the Chaos Emeralds are HELL to get. Mainly because the GBA CANNOT DO PIXEL-PERFECT 3D. DON'T TRY IT IF YOU CAN'T DO IT. Seriously, the graphics are SO BAD in the Chaos Emerald levels that half of them are pure guesswork even when you can SEE THE DAMN RINGS. I just gave up on hunting those down, honestly.
6. Sonic Colors- Fun, but just not as fun as the others. I don't know why. Also, the levels in this game are generally disappointingly short (I literally completed a level in about twenty seconds on the first try). I like longer, more challenging treks like in SA2B. Still, the Wisps are a fun gameplay device.
7. Sonic Unleashed- Honestly, I just quit after about three Werehog levels. It's just not worth it.
Those are all the ones I've played enough to render at least early judgement on them. I love Sonic, but Mario is still very close. I want to see a
real Mario-Sonic crossover, not some cheap, dime-a-dozen minigame collection.