62| Sonic the Hedgehog

Released: June 23rd, 1991

Definitive Version: Sega Mega Drive; Also on: PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii Virtual Console, PS2, 3DS eShop, PSP, iOS, Android, GBA

It is popular opinion that Sonic the Hedgehog entries have lost their touch ever since the series made the pivot to 3D with the Sega Dreamcast. I am not of that opinion. In fact I am even more conservative than that. I believe that the series has yet to reach its heights it achieved with the very first entry released in 1991. Before explaining that it would be best to explain the context of the series. In the very early 1990s Nintendo was synonymous with video games. Just like when someone used to say "iPod" they meant MP3 player, people used to say "Nintendo" and meant video game console. There was a good reason for this. The Nintendo Entertainment System had virtually the entire North American video game console market. In fact it was such a phenomenon that more households had a NES than a personal computer.

However, the times were changing. The tweens who were introduced to the cute little plumber were growing up and Mario just didn't seem that cool anymore. This was also a period of cultural change. The 1980s died and the 1990s hit. For anyone who can remember back then, it was all about things being "extreme" and "edgy". People will often see older episodes of The Simpsons and see Bart riding his bright colored skateboard as he says catch phrases like "Cowabunga" and "Eat My Shorts". Sega saw this and decided to find a game that could fit well with this new "extreme" and "edgy" trend for their new console. They found it in a blue hedgehog. Sonic the Hedgehog was a platformer, just like Super Mario Bros., however it was different in that he could travel very fast through an at times rollercoaster like levels. He also had cool "saw blades" on his back and was bright and colorful. He was the perfect candidate for a modern mascot in the 1990s. This ended up working fantastically and single handedly rose the Sega's Genesis console to prominence to which they even outsold the Nintendo Entertainment System's successor in North America. Sonic quickly became one of the biggest series in all of gaming.

But what about the actual game? How does it hold up today? Well despite the game having a reputation of revolving around being the F-Zero of platformers, as it involves the player running around the screen at incredibly high speeds as they smash across enemies and platforms, in reality the game is much smarter than this. While there are moments in the game where Sonic goes go across the screen very fast, they are very brisk and tend to be only a couple of seconds at most. The game really revolves around the player exploring the world, hopping platform to platform, solving minor puzzles, all as they try to find the exit. People always try to point out what made Sonic was the speed of the game, but really it was the ingenious level design. While virtually every platformer up until that time involved the player going from left to right, Sonic mixed it up a bit. While as a whole the character started on one end of the screen and had to get to the other, which was in general to the right side, players would often find themselves at dead ends where they had a few different routes that they could take. They could jump on bolder that will send them down, jump up on a spring where they could go up, or find a secret passage such as behind a waterfall that could take them somewhere else. Not all of these alternate paths were present during every dead end, nor were they only present during a dead end. So contrary to popular belief, the game plays much slower than most remember, and at many times slower than even the typical Mario game. However, the game does occasionally put in moments of the player moving at breakneck speeds to satisfy their inner speed demon. Though at times this could result in them missing significant parts of the level and secrets, or obtaining them if they know certain tricks.

The controls of the game are great. They would be perfect, except the first entry is missing the hallmark spin dash move. Instead in order to spin, Sonic has to run down a platform and the player has to press down. It still gets the job done most of the time, though lacks a certain satisfaction one gets from "charging" up the dash in successor entries. The physics in the game are fantastic as running around has a lot of feel and weight to it. When Sonic begins to speed up, you can feel it, vice versa when he slows down. The same goes for when Sonic is in the air as players have to time and measure their jumps to go from platform to platform.

Presentation wise the game is top notch. The Megadrive may have lacked the color count the Super Nintendo had, but looking at Sonic the Hedgehog's palette one would never know this. The game is bright, colorful, and very detailed. On top of that the music is fantastic and amongst the most memorable of the 1990s. The levels a very big for the time and are varied. The game seems to cover every type of environment possible from the jungle, to the arctic, to ruins, to even casino. It makes the level have much more life and personality to them.

The reason why I hold firm that this is still the best entry in the series is due to the fact that I feel other games in the series focused more on speed than on design. Even Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was a bit of a mess as they sacrificed the intricate level design of the first game for the feel of speed. Sure the levels may be complex on paper, but they aren't particularly well designed as the player will often get lost as they speed past areas. And even when those areas are reached they aren't designed particularly well. Sonic 3 alleviated these problems a bit, but it still wasn't as good as the first one. Sonic CD was very ambitious and tried to push the thinking elements of the original game even further, but it ended up being plagued by confusing and just flatout dumb level design. Specifically with the nonsensical placements of the the time machines. Sonic then became 3D and the rest is history.

Twenty five years later Sega has yet to put out an entry that has surpassed the game that put them on the map. It is a bit sad I feel that while Mario and his previous games are regularly met with love, Sonic is largely ignored outside of those that grew up with him. I wouldn't mind once in a while seeing it be Sonic the Hedgehog that was on store kiosks of bootleg consoles than Super Mario Bros. It was truly the first title that deserved to dethrone the Super Mario series as being the face of the platformer genre. Luckily it got what it deserved, but it didn't hold it for as long as it should have.