Sonic isn't even in the same league as Zelda IMHO.
He caught people's attention at the time thanks to having nice graphics/audio, a kid-friendly design, and the wow factor of "blast processing" which differentiated him from Mario, but even his best games are an 8/10 while most are straight up bad.
Most of his following is because people played his games as kids and now have rose tinted nostalgia goggles.