Going back to play Sonic 1 and 2 - and you know what? They aren't very good. Music is still great, but...
When you're going fast, you have almost no time to react to anything. When you aren't going fast, you're trying to run up a stupid hill and can't. Sonic 2 is less of a problem there since you've got the spin dash, but still. Both games feel really clunky and not nearly as fun as I remember them being.
Only reason I even enjoyed Sonic 3 & Knuckles was because you can play as Knuckles, since you can climb over annoying shit and bash through walls. That's pretty ironic, given the SONIC FREIDNO GRR being tossed around.