It is very true that this game (and similar PC titles from the same period) cannot come even remotely close to the quality of the games that were available on other systems.
But I do feel the need to point out that the Sonics and Marios all have large billion dollar corporations behind them, while this game was essentially developed by a kid living with his parents, and a bunch of friends helping out to finish it.
And although I don’t think this is a valid excuse for delivering a sub-par game, it is important to realise that the game development landscape looked very different then than it does now. There was no Game Maker or Unity to help you get started, no frameworks or libraries to rapidly put something together, no internet filled with resources.
As such, it’s a huge accomplishment that these games were made at all, even if they can’t really compete with the fantastic products released by large and experienced studios.
