Even if someone don't like Sonic, they have to admit it was a great technical achivement at the time. the movement speed was a good selling point for a game like this. If Mario was focused on "percise movement" this focused on "fast movement".
I haven't played the first Sonic game... and maybe the only Sonic I finished was Sonic R (which wasn't really amazing but Iiked in my childhood) and maybe Sonic Heroes (not sure how much I played of that one).
By the way I write game reviews too, maybe once a week... check my latest review: DanganRonpa V3 (Demo) if you're interested. I also sell humble bundle leftovers for SBD.