Sonic Chaos is a great 8-bit Sonic title
Sonic Chaos added some new gimmicks to the 8-bit Sonic games. This included the ability to play as two characters and some new power ups such as rocket shoes or portable springs. Chaos Emeralds are now located in the special stages.
You can play as either Sonic or Tails. Sonic starts out with three lives and no continues and Tails starts out with five lives and three continues. Tails can also fly over obstacles by jumping whilst holding up. However Tails can't get the Chaos Emeralds only Sonic can, and only Sonic can use rocket shoes. Anyway usual formula there are three acts per zone (all of which are uniquely themed - there's the typical green hill type place, a city at night and a metallic version of Green Hill), you run around collecting rings, leaping and destroying enemies. The levels are very very short this time - even for the last zone. Act three will have a short run for you to get rings and then it's boss time.
Bosses in this game are a pain! They're not hard themselves but the way the game is makes them cheap! Just do the Gigalopolis Zone boss - you'll see what I mean.
Back to levels as mentioned earlier only Sonic can get the Chaos Emeralds. To do this you must search high and low in the stages for 100 rings. Once you collect 100 you will be taken to the special stage, of which there are five in total. One thing I like is that each special stage is different. In one you speed through the air on rocket shoes trying to ring the emerald whilst picking up rings for extra lives. One has you trying to climb up platforms using the spring power up another has you speeding through a pipe and you have to turn in the right places to get the emerald. These stages can be slightly irritating because you are on a time limit and one false move could cost you the emerald.
The graphics are more advanced in this game. The whole game looks a lot less cartoony than previous 8-bit Sonic games. The sprites and background are more detailed and this looks quite nice.
The music is average. There are some funky tracks in here, nothing to memorable.
This was also released on the Game Gear. There are some aesthetic changes such as the title screen and Mecha Green Hill's background is orange in the GG version as opposed to the green in the MS version. There are no obvious changes to game play except for that the screen is smaller so there is less on screen - this can up the difficulty a bit. The colours are a bit more vivid and bright in the GG version and there were some subtle changes to some of the music. At the end of the day they're both the same game.
Overall I really liked this game. It is very short, but it is a fun ride. I would actually describe it as "cute" for some bizarre reason. The new gimmicks to 8-bit Sonic make this game stand out. The Game Gear version is featured on Mega Collection Plus and is the third game you unlock in Sonic Adventure DX. Definitely try the game if you can. It is easily the second best 8-bit Sonic game.
- Milesprower2k9 Original Reveiws