Sonic 1
Alright, so Sonic 1 is of course first up. As of right now, the best way to play this game is Sonic 1 Forever[teamforeveronline.wixsite.com] - this is built off of the decomp of the mobile remake of the game released in 2013. It has extra options, nicer menus, additional game modes, bug fixes, playable Amy, and mod support.
In short, it's a highly configurable version of the game with pretty much all the features you could ask for (although it's still being updated).
It should be easy to set up too - see the 'Easy Setup' section of their website for instructions.
How you configure your settings is up to you too, but here's what I recommend.
Display is pretty simple, I think almost everybody will want these settings.
Gameplay is more up to your preference. If you want an additional special stage and super forms, set 'Emeralds' to seven. You might also want infinite lives and no time limit. Unless you want a really authentic experience though, I wouldn't recommend having the 'Ground Speed Cap', 'Air Speed Cap', and 'Rolljump Lock' on - these are all features of Sonic 1 that were removed from later games because they severely limit movement. 'Spike Bug', which is too long to fit in the screenshot (and I don't wanna stitch images together) is also very annoying and so I'd keep that off too.
These are mostly self-explanatory if you've played the classic games. In particular though, I will say that the flight cancel is a super fun move that makes Tails a lot more enjoyable to play as. My favourite moveset for Amy is her Forever one, but if you want a more Advance-esque moveset, they have that too (again doesn't fit in the screenshot).
Keep most of these as they are. Definitely turn on 'Mania Rotation' though - this makes the character's sprites rotate smoothly on curved terrain, e.g. when going through a loop. The 'Max Dash' animations (which don't fit in this screenshot) are very subjective, but my favourites are Sonic's CD Peelout animation, Tails's Sonic 2 animation, Knuckles's Chaotix animation, Amy's Forever animation, and Super Sonic's Chaotix animation.
Other settings, such as the audio options, are self-explanatory, so I'm sure you don't need my help with choosing what you want (you'll probably just leave it as default anyway).
Sonic 2
Similarly to Sonic 1, the best way to play Sonic 2 at the moment is via Sonic 2 Absolute[teamforeveronline.wixsite.com] . It's made by the same team, and, as you might expect, has a lot of the same features and functionality. It's installed in the same way too.
Settings! The same things I said for Sonic 1 Forever... so yeah. Not gonna bother. Just look at the screenshots!
Now this is where S1F and S2A diverge, because there are a few mods I specifically want to recommend for Sonic 2 Absolute.
Sonic 2 Absolute for some reason removes Hidden Palace Zone, but thankfully through the power of modding it can be restored with this[gamebanana.com] .
In case you wanted the original music for Hidden Palace Zone, this[gamebanana.com] mod exists.
And lastly, if you wanted a longer Death Egg Zone (allowing you to hear its music for more than two seconds) this[gamebanana.com] mod has you covered. It also gives you rings, making the final boss more manageable.
Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Almost everyone already knows about this by now, but Sonic 3 AIR[sonic3air.org] is by far the best version of the game. And yes, it has the original music. You can even swap out the tracks for their prototype renditions before MJ and his team got involved, using the Mega Drive's sound chip as intended. As this is the oldest of the projects, it has the most options and features of all of them, although the game is slightly less polished than S1F and S2A because it never received a mobile remake. Still the most polished version of the game though.
Sonic 3 AIR is similarly simple to set up to S1F and S2A, although it will need a compatible ROM of the original game... but I'm sure you can find one of those if you look ;)
--- Work in progress, more to come (need to finish S3K and do CD) ---
Sonic CD
Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3301355987
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