The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise is known for speedy platforming, from the multi-route side-scrollers to the rollercoaster rides of more recent games. However, it’s also a series that’s not afraid to add a little more to the formula, although the success of these attempts is up for debate.
There are a number of quirky mini-games across the Sonic franchise that break away from the standard gameplay loop, from the logical to the bizarre. Here are just a handful of some of the more notable examples.
10 Circus (Sonic Lost World)
In Sonic Lost World on the Wii U, there are special red rings hidden throughout the various levels. Collecting enough of these in a region of the overworld unlocks a special level known as the Circus.
Instead of Sonic running around a Big Top, however, these levels take on a very different form. They’re essentially Breakout, with the player using the Wii U Gamepad to move a trampoline, cannon, or seesaw to launch Sonic and friends at balloons and rings. It’s a strange inclusion and yet weirdly compelling at the same time.
9 Tornado Flight (Sonic Unleashed)
Between the boost-heavy day stages and the brawler night stages, along with the city hubs and their side quests, there’s already enough going on in Sonic Unleashed as it is. However, they still managed to drop in a few on-rails flight levels too.
In these levels, Sonic rides along with Tails in the Tornado plane as they venture between different countries, shooting down attacking robots along the way. However, while the opportunity was there for some Star Fox-style dogfighting, the reality is a series of quick-time events where you press sequences of buttons as they flash on screen. Slightly disappointing, but at least it looks cool.
8 Sailing (Sonic Rush Adventure)
While Sonic Rush was an excellent game, its sequel decided to add something a little unexpected to the mix. Rather than just a series of stages on a standard world map, Sonic spends much of Sonic Rush Adventure journeying between stages by boat in a sailing mini-game.
To be more specific, there are four sailing mini-games, one for each boat type that Sonic can captain. There’s a speedy jetski with racing gameplay, there’s a larger ship whose mini-game is a shooting gallery, a hovercraft with a powerful beam cannon and spin attack, and a submarine whose gameplay is similar to fellow DS title Elite Beat Agents. Initially a bizarre gameplay shift, they end up being a surprising amount of fun.
7 Mean Bean Machine (Sonic Mania)
There’s an expected structure to Sonic the Hedgehog’s 2D outings. Sonic rushes through two or three acts and faces off against a tough boss, usually one of Robotnik’s diabolical machines. This is why it was a huge surprise when Sonic Mania broke this pattern by replacing one boss fight with a match-3 puzzle game.
It’s a surprising genre shift, but it didn’t happen for no reason. Sonic Mania is full of throwback references, and this recreation of 1993’s Mean Bean Machine is no different. It was a Sonic-themed re-skin of Puyo Puyo, a puzzle game about matching colored beans faster and more effectively than your opponent. Seeing it brought back as a boss fight is not only a delightful reference but also an incredibly fun mini-game that breaks up a Mania playthrough in an unexpected way.
6 Kart Race (Sonic Adventure 2)
Sega has a great history with racing games, with classics such as Daytona USA and Sega Rally Championship among the vast library of arcade games that made the publisher so successful in the '90s. This arcade pedigree even managed to find its way into their mascot’s series, as Sonic Adventure 2 featured kart racing.
Initially, this appears as a level where the mech Tails pilots in his normal levels transforms into a car. Completion of this level then unlocks the Kart Race mode in the main menu, allowing players to place any of the game’s playable characters in a car and race them against each other. It's unexpected and may not be as polished as something like Mario Kart, but it’s still a lot of fun.
5 Fishing (Sonic Adventure)
Before racing, the Sonic Adventure games had already experimented with wildly different gameplay styles. The first game introduced a brand new Sonic the Hedgehog character whose gameplay was the stark opposite of Sonic’s typical style.
Instead of fast-paced platforming, Big the Cat’s gameplay slowed things right down and gave players a more relaxing series of fishing mini-games. Seemingly taking elements from then-recent arcade release Sega Bass Fishing, this storyline is a standout among Sonic mini-games for being such a huge focus on one character’s story.
4 Special Stages (Sonic 2)
A classic Sonic mini-game. On one hand, Special Stages were a sneaky attempt to show that the Mega Drive was capable of producing pseudo-3D effects; on the other, they were also a huge amount of fun.
An early example of an endless runner, Sonic the Hedgehog 2’s special stages saw Sonic and Tails moving persistently forwards while players had to dodge obstacles and grab enough rings to progress to the next stage. Simple and effective, these stages are beloved to this day.
3 Blue Spheres (Sonic 3)
While Sonic the Hedgehog 2’s special stages are great, the next game came along and presented an even more memorable alternative. Instead of tunnel running, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 featured the iconic Blue Sphere mini-game.
Essentially a puzzle game, the goal is to turn every blue sphere on the map red by running over it. However, players can’t hit any red spheres or they are thrown out of the stage. Figuring out the best route while dealing with the Blur Blur's ever-increasing speed made for a challenging set of Sonic stages that could easily have been spun off into its own game.
2 Pinball (various)
Sonic and pinball have gone hand in hand from the earliest days of the series. Inspired by the premise of Sonic curling into a spiky ball, the original game in the franchise saw pinball bumpers added to levels like Spring Yard Zone and its special stages as a natural progression to this.
Pinball has since shown up in a variety of forms across the series. Whether that’s Sonic Adventure’s Casinopolis level, elements of Casino Park in Sonic Heroes, or the Casino Night Zone DLC level from Sonic Generations, and not forgetting the full game Sonic Spinball, pinball seems determined to keep coming back to the series.
1 Chao Garden (Sonic Adventure series)
One of the most beloved mini-games of the entire series, the Chao Garden is a virtual pet game in the Sonic Adventure titles. Here, the cast can care for tiny, adorable creatures known as Chao and help them grow by feeding them items found around the main levels.
The Chao can then be entered into other mini-games like racing and fighting to test and build their skills. Is there a point to this? Aside from contributing to the overall completion of the game, no, but this hasn’t stopped it from being a beloved feature that’s often cited as one feature fans would love in a potential Sonic Adventure 3.