This is probably the best game on the MegaDrive.
User Rating: 10 | Sonic the Hedgehog GEN
Sonic The Hedgehog was released on the Sega MegaDrive (Genesis) in June 1991. It was the debut of Sega's Superstar mascot Sonic The Hedgehog. The game was a hit and it catapulted Sega to the top of the 16-bit console was finally unseating Nintendo as the king of the console wars. Gameplay: The gameplay in Sonic The Hedgehog was fast and simplistic, all 3 action buttons made Sonic jump and the levels were designed like interactive rollercoaster which in later levels were broken up with some classic Mario style platform jumping. The game had Seven levels, which featured 3 acts each with Dr. Robotnik (Eggman) showing up athe the end of act 3. The game introduces the Sonic trademark 'Rings' which basically acted as your life bar, as long as you had one ring you were safe from attacks from Robotniks badniks. Rings were scattered about the level and you could also gain them from item boxes. Collect 50 rings and you could enter the Special Stage at the end of the act through a Giant gold ring. The Special Stage was rotating maze and in its center was the Chaos Emerald, which allowed you to access the true ending. Graphics: The graphics in Sonic The Hedgehog are absolutly amazing. Sonic himself is brilliantly animated, he had several frame of animation for each of his moves and he even had and animation for when you left him standing still (the now famous tapping his foot pose). The background were also brilliant. The game also brought in a few of the graphically trademarks of the series such as the checkered hill sides or dirty metallic floors of Robotniks hide out. Story: The game featured the classic stop Dr. Robotnik from taking over the Planet Mobius with this army of badniks. Sound: The music in Sonic The Hedgehog is absolutly superb and set out the Musical tone for the rest of the MegaDrive series. In fact some of the Original music has featured in the some of the later Dreamcast & GBA games, for instance the Green Hill Music has featured in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Advance 3. Also, all the classic sound effects are here. Longevity: It is a short game, but when you first play it it is quite difficult, so it should last at least 20 hours before you complete it, plus it is a game you will come back to again and again. Overall: Sonic The Hedgehog is probably the best game on the MegaDrive. It remains a classic today. If you own a MegaDrive or a Genesis, you must own this game.
