When you think of Sonic the Hedgehog, you think of the famous blue mascot for Sega. Sega originally created Sonic the Hedgehog to compete against the already famous Mario. Nintendo had released Super Mario Brothers and NEC's Turbo Graphix had Bonk's Adventure but they could not even stand close to Sonic. Sonic provided gamers with blazing speed and a story that was original. Unlike other games such as Mario where you had to save the princess (like every other mario that came after), you had to destroy robots in order to save animals that the evil Dr. Robotnik had captured and turned into robots bent on destroying you.
When I first saw Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991 it was love at first site. Unfortunately I was young and could not afford to buy my own Genesis, but my cousin had it at his house and I played as often as possible when I came over. Sonic just had this way of pulling you into the game because of its many arcade style elements that were mixed with adventure and exploration. Sonic also provides gamers with challenging game play, unlike Super Mario and the others. In fact, this game is still hard for me to beat 9 years later! Not only is this game challenging, but it is also quite lengthy and very fun to play.
Through the game you try and collect the 6 chaos emeralds which are collected by collecting 50 rings in 2 of the 3 first levels, and then jumping in a big ring at the end of the level. After jumping in a big ring you are taken to a spinning bonus stage where you try and reach the center of the maze to reach 1 of the 6 chaos emeralds. If you collect these 6 emeralds it is supposed to make the ending of the game better (I personally have never collected all 6 because of the challenge to get them is so hard!).
Sonic has an array of moves he can perform in order to destroy robots. Sonic could duck, walk, run, and even swim underwater. Sonic could also spin when he gained enough momentum after running. Sonic could also spin jump bouncing off enemies with ease. I believe Sonic 1 was one of the first games to add the ability to look up and down. He even had an idle stance that showed how pissed off when you stood still too long!
Levels are divided into 6 acts which each have three levels in each act. Even though Genesis was not a dedicated game machine like the Super Nintendo, Sega still did an excellent job on it. Graphics were at that time top of the line. Fast moving sprites, very detailed levels and backgrounds were beautiful. Everything was not only beautiful, but smooth. Down to the 3D looking rings and waterfalls, the graphics were stunning. Sega did a good job of adding 3D looking levels with shading on blocks and curved lines.
What about sound and music you may ask? In my opinion I would have to say the sound is excellent as well as the music. Music matched each zone perfectly to enhance the general feel of the levels. Sounds were right on the money from collect rings to smashing tvs for power ups. Little tunes help move the intro to zones and end of bonus stages along. My favorite music would have to be Marble Zone because of it best reminds me of the good times playing Sonic when I was young.
I highly recommend that you try this game if you have never played it. I strongly believe that it has paved the way to some of the games and ideas that are out there right now. I still have my copy of Sonic 1 and my Genesis. In fact, I have the game running on demo mode as I write this article. I hope that this review gives you some taste of how things started, or reminded you of the good times when you used to play Sonic.
| Graphics: Gameplay: Sound: Value: Overall: |
9 10 9 9 9 |
Sonic the Hedgehog Review by a|by13 |
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