/vr/ - Retro Games

>But it makes me think the original games (Sonic 1-3) are poorly designed.

Your perspective is warped. Sonic Mania was made after 25+ years of Sonic the Hedgehog. The developers were just picking and choosing what worked off the past couple of decades to make one stellar game.

However, the original developers need credit for producing a franchise that has survived the test of time when they had zero frame of reference. There was no Sonic-like video game before Sonic the Hedgehog.

Those original developers completely steal the spotlight of Sonic Mania as well because every in that game that works was taken from the original developers. This is apparent with Sonic Mania's version of Hydrocity that fails to even match the quality of level design from Sonic 3. Another example is the final zone with the warp points. When the Mania devs implement new ideas, they don't stand as strongly as the greatest hits.