Even though I don't particularly like how slow Sonic can be in the Wii U version, the slower speed is the direct result of the level design, though. The level design and how everything is shaped ultimately determines how fast Sonic can go, and most of the time, it isn't very fast. Of course the blocky level design with more walls is going to make players move slower and take their time. It's been that way since Marble Zone in the very first game. Of course that's why Sonic has tiered speed and why he moves so slowly on default. The game's level design and level pacing completely supports that.
Sometimes the 3DS version takes that same Wii U level design but with the faster movement, it's nauseating and feels even more claustrophobic. Once you leave Windy Hill, the open spaces become less prevalent, and you're stuck in confined areas with mechanics that, when combined with the crazy momentum you have, just don't work. Push balls around to raise the water in Tropical Coast! Guide snowballs around in Frozen Factory for 20 minutes. With the speed/momentum Sonic has. In closed areas. Doing something that should be slowly paced. Why are these 3DS levels long, anyway? Sonic levels shouldn't be that long. They overstay their welcome if they're about 13 minutes long, and that's exactly the problem that Sonic 06 had, and the problem people had with the Werehog stages.
What in the world were they thinking? That momentum and that level design just doesn't jive together at all. It becomes a complete mess of level execution and leaves me to wonder if anyone at all went back and playtested it to say, "hey, maybe this doesn't work well because it just doesn't flow that well." But no, it's good. Ship it as-is because that's what people want and people buy our products anyway and don't particularly think that much about how a video game works or its design or anything. That would be thinking way too much about a video game instead of just having fun with what is given to you, right? Dimps had a lot of ideas that they forced into stages, but that doesn't necessarily mean that a lot of their ideas were good in execution.
Sonic games just aren't Mario games. And I guess that's why I just don't care for Lost World much. It felt like a mishmash of many different concepts from other platformers like Donkey Kong and Mario, but that just isn't what I come to Sonic for. That was never what I came to Sonic for.
So, no. I just can't agree with the notion that the 3DS version was the better product. I know it's been well-justified that I don't like Lost World very much, but the Wii U version, at the very least, felt more consistent than the 3DS version by a long mile.
