YMMV / Sonic the Hedgehog Chaos

• Awesome Music: As usual.
• Breather Boss: The Tree Crawler from Mecha Green Hill Zone is ridiculously easy to defeat in the Master System version. Unlike its fight in the Game Gear version, jumping on its head does not knock the character back to the left, so it is possible to jump on its head as soon as possible and, as the character starts bouncing on its head, put the controller down and wait until it's defeated.
• Game-Breaker: Tails, full stop. He doesn't have to collect the Chaos Emeralds, can fly and trivializes the entire game as such. He's the easy mode of this game, for a game who's already easy to begin with.
• It's Easy, So It Sucks!: Many complain about the game's rather short and simplistic level design, especially compared to the usually larger difficulty spike of the 8-bit titles.
• It's Short, So It Sucks!: Even the late game levels can be completed in around 30-45 seconds, and the 3rd act of every zone is more like 10-15 seconds of level plus the boss fight. As such, it's probably the shortest of the classic games.
• Older Than They Think: This was the first game where the player was given control over Tails' ability to fly, not Sonic 3, which was released a year later.
• Sequel Difficulty Drop: Unlike the two previous 8-bit entries, you no longer have to go into boss fights with zero rings. Playing as Tails also makes the game significantly easier.
• So Okay, It's Average: The game as a whole is considered to be this by fans. It's by no means a bad game, but it is quite easy and short compared to Sonic's other 8-bit outings and isn't that memorable of a game. It didn't help that it would be followed up upon by Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble, which does everything that Chaos does, but better.
• Suspiciously Similar Song:
  • An inversion: The Sleeping Egg Zone theme sounds very like Freaky Chakra's "Platform", which was made five years after Sonic Chaos was first released.
  • Zigzagged in the case of Mecha Green Hill Zone. While it is indeed based on "Sonic - You Can Do Anything" from Sonic CD, its baseline sounds very much like Zero's Theme from Mega Man X, released that same year.
  • The Master System version of Gigapolis Zone is uncomfortably similar to the beginning of the Korg M1 synthesizer's demo track. To note, the Game Gear version uses a completely different track for the zone.
• Sweetness Aversion: The credits theme sounds like a children's lullaby song which some consider to be a little too saccharine for a Sonic game.
• That One Attack: The Laser Walker's second form does nothing but try to ram Sonic, which for some reason is instant death regardless of whether or not you have rings. The only consolation is that the Walker goes down in one hit as well, which doesn't help much seeing how quickly it moves and how you have to hit the cockpit or you'll die.

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