20 years later and Sonic the Hedgehog's first adventure is still one of his best
What was so great about Sonic that made him stand out from Mario? For one thing, the idea behind Sonic was that he was hip. His attitude somehow made him cooler than some old plumber which got our attention, but mainly it was his new gameplay that he offered, which was a faster pace and a much different platforming experience than Mario. The game was successful and Sonic was considered a video game legend from then on. Unfortunately, he's had as many bad games as he does good ones after the Genesis era, but his Genesis days will forever be remembered. How does the very first classic game hold up today, 20 years later?
The story revolves around Sonic, a "blue dude with tude" who can run at the speed of sound, as he lives life peacefully on South Island. Suddenly, the animals start disappearing and Sonic finds that an evil scientist, Dr. Robotnik (Eggman in Japan), has been capturing these animals and turning them into his robot slaves. He has also stolen the chaos emeralds so that he can take over the world and build "Robotnikland". Now, Sonic must destry his robots, free his animal friends, take back the chaos emeralds and stop Robotnik's plans from succeeding. A pretty simple story but you couldn't ask for more from a 80's/90's platformer.
The graphics and sound have been outdone by later titles on the Sega Genesis, but that's not to say they're bad. In fact, the game looks and sounds great for one of the first games for the system and it was the first game that truly showed what the Genesis was capable of. The visuals are bright and colorful and each stage looks great, especially the amount of detail in the background. Not to mention some memorable and fitting music to boot (who could forget that Green Hill zone theme?).
As much as it was advertised back then, Sonic was never all about speed, it was just good, imaginitive platforming and gameplay. However, there was speed to be found in between platforms and Sonic can really go fast when given the chance. Like any side scroller, you control Sonic by moving left or right on the d-pad and your goal is to get passed all obstacles and enemies and get to the end of each stage (represented by a sign). Sonic can jump into the badniks to destroy them like most platformers but he can also roll into them. This game lacks the spindash which wasn't introduced until Sonic 2, but you can do without it as you can still roll into enemies by running and pushing down. Throughout each stage, you can collect rings which count as your health and you won't die if you have at least 1. If you get hit, you'll lose all of your rings and if you get hit again, you die and lose a life. You can also find items to help you like a bubble shield which gives you an extra hit, a speed shoe which makes Sonic go faster than ever, and a star suit which makes you temporarily invincible. A perfect balance of speed and good ol platforming is what made this unique game so special, and it was one of the most challenging Sonic games on the Genesis.
There are a total of 6 stages to play through, each in a different setting with their own unique layout. In other words, there's always a new tactic to beat each level as there are different traps and platforms to overcome. Within each of the 6 stages is 3 acts each, the third act having a boss battle at the end (Robotnik is pretty much every boss fight, of course). Lastly, if you have at least 50 rings at the end of each act (except for act 3) you have a chance at a special stage. It is pretty annoying that you only have a short time to access these stages though. Anyway, Sonic is curled up into a ball and you must navigate his through a rotating maze and guide him to the chaos emeralds, 6 total. When all of them are collected, you get a slightly different ending. These special stages are a nice little distraction from the main game and the small reward gives you more satisfaction when beating the game. You can beat the game between an hour to and hour and a half, which was a good length for platformers back then, and every challenging second is enjoyable and each level offers something new for you to overcome.
Fast, challenging and fun, Sonic the Hedgehog will always be remembered as one of the greatest platformers of all time and one of the most memorable gaming icons. Although it can be beaten in an hour, this game has a type of platforming gameplay that can only be beaten by later installments. If you're a fan of the Sonic series or just like to play good old platformers, the original Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the first games on your mind. You can find it on just about any system, either in compilations or as a downloadable title.