Ranking Every Classic Sonic The Hedgehog Level From Worst To Best
26. Mystic Cave Zone
The first problem with Mystic Cave Zone is the music, a riff on Fučík's Entrance of the Gladiators which gives it a completely inappropriate circus feel. There's absolutely no clowning around to be had here.
The second problem is that it's a bastard. Crates are normally benevolent bearers of gifts in games, but in Sonic 2's dank depths they menacingly rotate with intent to kill. There're also inescapable spike pits, lots of surprise chasms, and big leafy things which surge out of the ground with similar motives to the nasty boxes. Plus it's a cave, so stalacites are mandatory. Always with the stalacites.