Sonic Rush (DS)
Sonic's first good game in ages stepped away from his disappointing 3D outings and returned to his 2D roots on DS in 2005. Sonic himself was drawn in 3D allowing for smooth rotation in all directions and the true 3D bonus stages gave us the sort of pipe runs we imagined we were seeing in 1992. But the core game was nothing of the sort.
Playing a lot like Sonic 2, but brought up to date with some cool special moves and point-scoring special skills, Sonic Rush is another game that shows some ideas simply work better in two dimensions. We'd love to see a next-gen side-scrolling Sonic. He could occasionally run into the screen for variety - that would be cool - but Sonic's always been best when he's curled up in a ball and travelling right very fast. It wouldn't be a step backwards - given the current market conditions, a 2D Sonic game would be a breath of fresh air. With Sonic Team currently looking closely at the blue hog's future, such a sideways leap is not out of the question.
