Sonic The Hedgehog (Genesis) - Review

Introduction

Two years after the Sega Genesis’s release, Sega releases: Sonic The Hedgehog, and at that time, little do they know that Sonic would become one of the most famous characters in the world of games. And finally Nintendo’s Mario got a real “rival”.

Story & Characters

As most platform games, at that time, the story is very simple and acceptable for this type of game. The evil D.r Robotnyk is capturing animals and transforming them into robots, and that’s when the blue hedgehog, Sonic, comes to the rescue. The game could has more characters, because the only ones are Sonic and Dr. Robotnyk  (Now called Eggman), besides the robot enemies.

Gameplay

Sonic The Hedgehog had one major difference between other platform games: Speed! Sonic runs really fast, do some looping, and that was really “hardcore” for the time, although you have to break down the speed to evade obstacles and enemies. To defeat his enemies Sonic can do a “spin jump” and can roll, after a run. On the stages you can find some items like the rings, that prevents Sonic from dying as long you have at least 1 ring, a protective bubble and the “shining stars” that makes you invincible for a little period of time. The controls are very responsive and intuitive, and the “bosses” are challeging but they have a pattern that is easy to memorize.

Visuals

The graphics are well done and very colorful, but what really impress me is how well Sonic runs through the stages, without the screen slow down.. The animations for Sonic and his enemies are also good.

Sound

Some of the music are very fun to listen while playing, the Green Zone theme is just epic! The sound effects is what you expect for this type of game, with those “happy” sounds.

Replay

The game is very addictive, the stages are fun to go through, also some stages have different routes, you can try to get all Chaos Emeralds, on the bonus stages. The stages themes are interesting, but the firsts ones are a lot more fun.

Good & Bad

The Good: Sonic is fast, addictive gameplay, different routes, colorful visuals and fun musics.

The Bad: Getting the Emeralds can be a little annoying and all bosses are Robotnyk.

Conclusion

Sega made a really good work on this game, because it isn’t just another platfoming game, it add a new element, the speed, that was never seen before like this on any Video Game. After this big hit, Snoic became the Sega’s mascot and will became one great game franchise.