I was arguing the same thing the other day in one of the countless Sonic threads that pop up lately, but I mostly agree with this guy. Incorrect game design or whatever he wants to call it, matter of fact is that Sonic the Hedgehog, ever since its conception, has been an odd beast. Mixing platforming with absurd speeds is a crazy idea, and the speed more often than not will penalize you, unless you've taken your sweet time to learn the ins and outs of those games. Not many do that, so they end up feeling frustrated whenever they're brought to a halt.
This, coupled with the ring system, which basically serves as one huge bandaid for the fact that the games will make the player get hit more often than not without being able to react on time, can make Sonic games pretty joyless experiences if the player themselves aren't trying to improve themselves. There's very little "challenge", because you can reach the end and yet be absolutely terrible at it, and not many games work quite like that, especially in this genre.
And yet, that doesn't make it bad. It's a one of a kind platformer, and for those who are into the repetion/memorization arcade-ish nature it has, Sonic is a really game/series. Figuring out why enemies are placed the way they are is lots of fun, and few things in videogames feel as rewarding as when you can run through a Sonic level, be it Classic or Modern, in blazing fashion.
