19. Sonic 3D Blast (1996, Genesis / Saturn)
Sonic 3D Blast is the last Sonic game on the Genesis and the first isometric “3D” Sonic. It breaks with the series’ traditional “go fast, reach the end” formula in favor of a fetch-quest-like system that has Sonic collecting five Flickies before he can move on. Sonic does not go fast in this game. He’s slow, sliding over all the odd, sloped geometry of the levels. Tying progression to a collection goal makes levels tedious and the isometric view discourages a lot of the exploration present in earlier games.
