Sonic games in order: How to play in story and release order
Sonic and the gang need your help.
Are you new to the Sonic the Hedgehog games after watching the films? You’ll probably want to know where to start with the Sonic games.
The speedy blue hedgehog has been around since 1991, starting with the Mega Drive classic original game.
Since then, countless spin-offs, comic books, TV shows, and now three Hollywood films have been made – not to mention the long list of mainline games.
We get that knowing where to start is a bit tricky.
Fortunately, we’ve done the research so you don’t have to.
Read on to find out how to play the Sonic games in order. We’ve covered how to play them in release date and story order so you can decide what’s best.
Where should you start with the Sonic games?
We recommend that you start with Sonic Origins Plus. It’s a collection of the original four Sonic games plus 12 Game Gear classics that can be played on current consoles.
You can buy Sonic Origins Plus on Amazon.
Once you’re done with that, we recommend you move on to Sonic Mania Plus for more of that classic 2D gameplay and then new titles such as Sonic x Shadow Generations.
Going in that order when you start will give you a good feel of the Sonic franchise as a whole with both classic and modern gameplay styles in abundance.
If you’d rather play in a different order, though, you can find how to play Sonic in release date and story order below.
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Sonic games in release date order
Here is how to play the Sonic games in release date order:
- Sonic the Hedgehog | 1991 | Mega Drive
- Sonic the Hedgehog | 1991 | Master System, Game Gear
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2 | 1992 | Mega Drive
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2 | 1992 | Master System, Game Gear
- Sonic CD | 1993 | Mega-CD
- Sonic Chaos | 1993 | Master System, Game Gear
- Sonic the Hedgehog 3 | 1994 | Mega Drive
- Sonic and Knuckles | 1994 | Mega Drive
- Sonic Triple Trouble | 1994 | Game Gear
- Knuckles’ Chaotix | 1995 | 32X
- Tails Adventure | 1995 | Game Gear
- Sonic 3D | 1996 | Mega Drive, Sega Saturn
- Sonic Blast | 1996 | Game Gear
- Sonic Adventure | 1998 | Dreamcast
- Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure | 1999 | Neo Geo Pocket Colour
- Sonic Adventure 2 | 2001 | Dreamcast, GameCube
- Sonic Advance | 2001 | Game Boy Advance
- Sonic Advance 2 | 2002 | Game Boy Advance
- Sonic Heroes | 2003 | GameCube, PS2, Xbox
- Sonic Advance 3 | 2004 | Game Boy Advance
- Shadow the Hedgehog | 2005 | GameCube, PS2, Xbox
- Sonic Rush | 2005 | Nintendo DS
- Sonic 06 | 2006 | Xbox 360, PS3
- Sonic and the Secret Rings | 2007 | Wii
- Sonic Rush Adventure | 2007 | Nintendo DS
- Sonic Unleashed | 2008 | PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
- Sonic and the Black Knight | 2009 | Wii
- Sonic Colours | 2010 | Wii, Nintendo DS
- Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 | 2010 | iOS, Wii, PS3, Xbox 360
- Sonic Generations | 2011 | Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo 3DS, PC
- Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 | 2012 | Android, iOS, PS3, Xbox 360
- Sonic Lost World | 2013 | Wii U, Nintendo 3DS
- Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric | 2014 | Wii U
- Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal | 2014 | Nintendo 3DS
- Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice | 2016 | Nintendo 3DS
- Sonic Forces | 2017 | Nintendo Switch, PS4, PC, Xbox One
- Sonic Mania | 2017 | Nintendo Switch, PS4, PC, Xbox One
- Sonic Frontiers | 2022 | Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
- Sonic Superstars | 2023 | Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
- Sonic Dream Team | 2023 | Apple Arcade
- Sonic x Shadow Generations | 2024 | Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Most of the games above can be found on modern platforms, too, we’ve just listed them all by their original release dates and consoles.
There are also loads more Sonic spin-off games. We thought we’d stick with the platformers for this guide. We’ve bolded the mainline console games above, too.
Mainline Sonic games in story order
You can play the mainline Sonic games in any order you want, really, but there is a canon and some will make more sense played after other games due to the introduction of various characters.
We’ve tried our best to get the Sonic games in chronological story order, and we’ve only listed what we consider the mainline games – we’ve left out all handheld games, for example.
With all of that in mind, here is how to play the mainline Sonic games in story order:
- Sonic the Hedgehog | Buy from Amazon as part of Sonic Origins Plus
- Sonic CD | Buy from Amazon as part of Sonic Origins Plus
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2 | Buy from Amazon as part of Sonic Origins Plus
- Sonic 3 and Knuckles | Buy from Amazon as part of Sonic Origins Plus
- Sonic Mania | Buy from Amazon
- Sonic Superstars | Buy from Amazon
- Sonic 4: Episode 1 | Buy on Steam
- Sonic 4: Episode 2 | Buy on Steam
- Sonic Adventure | Buy from CDKeys
- Sonic Adventure 2 | Buy from CDKeys
- Sonic Heroes | Buy on Amazon
- Shadow the Hedgehog | Buy on Amazon
- Sonic 06 | Buy from Amazon
- Sonic Unleashed | Buy on Amazon
- Sonic Colours | Buy from Amazon
- Sonic Generations | Buy from Amazon
- Sonic Lost World | Buy from CDKeys
- Sonic Forces | Buy on Amazon
- Sonic Frontiers | Buy from Amazon
- Shadow Generations | Buy from Amazon
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Authors
Toby Saunders is a freelance writer specialising in Video Game journalism. He has a wealth of experience in the field and is published on many different websites including PCGamesN, Nintendo Life and Pocket Tactics. He has a degree in Film Studies (he gets to write about Film and TV occasionally, too).
