Emerald Coast vs Wave Ocean: Others

Neither level was exclusive to Sonic. 

Big the Cat and E-102 Gamma both go to Emerald Coast. Amy, Knuckles, at one time Tails could all glitch into the first portion of Sonic's Emerald Coast. 

Wave Ocean was visited by Tails, Blaze, Omega, Shadow, and Rouge in the End of the World.  

Big's is slow and tedious, like all Big levels. There is a nice secret room to fish at, if only I was patient enough to appreciate such a thing. Still, since Big always has to be around water (to fish) this one is visually nicer and makes the most sense. 

Gamma is not here long. It's only his second stage and he finds Froggy a heck of a lot faster than Big ever did. 

It's cool to glitch in with other characters. Thankfully Knuckles could still climb things. Amy's seemed a bit glitch-ier, and I don't think Tails is possible on the re-releases. It's cool but really it's just Sonic's level again.

Tails is in Wave Ocean. Again. To make things more boring, it's mostly the same location. The goal ring is even where Tails had to get the switch in Sonic's level. Tails feels just as pointless in Wave Ocean as his reason for being there. 

It's nicer to play as Blaze because her moves are more complex yet she has a speed closer to Sonic's. Her level is nice and short. Kind of a shame, because I wouldn't mind being stuck with a longer level, since this seems to be the closest thing to 3-D Sonic Rush possible. 

Shadow glides in, kinda' boring but at least it's not the same loop-de-loop everyone else st--Omega. Omega goes through the "Sonic" section, making him the 3rd. Luckily Shadow's part is a bit more interesting, if not scattered. As an interesting bonus, it's also possible to use Omega to "fly" to the goal and finish early. Still not totally necessary, though, since the level's fairly short compared to the 06 standard.   

I really like the stormy, lighting effect Wave Ocean has in the "end" level. Rouge's is a breeze since she can climb and glide, making her section a nice break after Silver's longer path. 

Winner: Wave Ocean

Sonic 06 overused Wave Ocean, mainly the "sonic section."  They all mostly start the same. At least robots have been rotated out I guess. 

However Adventure underused Emerald Coast. I didn't know how badly I needed to see Knux vs Whale until using that glitch...ha, anyway. Adventure didn't do to much aside from Sonic's level. Big's looked nice but he's too slow to be a fun explorer like Knuckles. Gamma's was pathetically short--it was a bit of a shock, I think. 

I do think that Blaze and Shadow have better gameplay than most 06 characters, and they help balance out the double-Tails experience.