Contents:
The Intro
Title: Sonic the Hedgehog
Release year: 1991
Developed by: Sonic Team
Genre: 2D platformer
Platform replayed on: PC
I’m pretty excited to start writing this one, as the choice of game this time came from a special request. My eight year old son is going through a Sonic the Hedgehog phase right now. We’ve recently been playing Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed and Team Sonic Racing together, and the animated series Sonic Boom has been on heavy rotation recently.
So it shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise when my son came to me and asked if I would cover a Sonic the Hedgehog game here on Present Perfect Gaming. He knows I played some Sonic games when I was just a bit older than he is now. After covering a platformer in my last post, I wasn’t exactly keen to jump back into another one. But, my son is my number one fan and a big supporter of me starting this website, so who am I to disappoint? I agreed, and here we are.
I decided to go back to the beginning of the Sonic story with the first game: Sonic the Hedgehog.
What I hadn’t counted on, was my son starting to write his own blog post on Sonic the Hedgehog! He had started playing it too, and surprised me one day when he told me he was writing, recording gameplay videos, and taking screenshots. Well, it was definitely a proud dad moment!
So, this post will be co-written by my son, who goes by CometPro. Boom!
The Game
Take it away, CometPro:
Sonic the Hedgehog is a popular game from 1991 which was made by SEGA, which used to make consoles, but still makes good games. This is one of the first ones: Sonic the Hedgehog.
The SEGA Genesis (see below) is one of the first SEGA consoles but not the first one. The first one was called SG-1000, but that one did not have Sonic on it.
Thanks CometPro, looks like you did your research!
I wasn’t familiar with Sega’s first console, with my first experience with a Sega console being on the Master System. I remember spending more time with the Genesis (Mega Drive) once that came out. I never owned one, but it was common to hire them out from the local video store. What I do recall is that wherever a Genesis was, a Sonic the Hedgehog cartridge was never far away.
The story of Sonic the Hedgehog is well known, with the character’s creation being the result of Sega wanting its own flagship series to compete with Nintendo’s Mario series. To cut a long story very short, Sonic was a success, and we’ve now had a thirty year rivalry between two of video gaming’s most famous franchises.
The game itself is a 2D platformer, with Sonic’s main asset being his speed. Sonic can build momentum as he runs, as well as through springs, slides, and vertical loops. There are six zones to run through, each split into three acts. At the end of each third act, Sonic battles his nemesis: Dr Robotnik. Sonic also collects rings throughout each level, and these act as his health; if he ever gets hit by an enemy or hazard, he loses a life.
Unknown to me at the time I first played this, there is actually a story here. Dr Robotnik is attempting to harness the power of Chaos Emeralds (there is one in each zone) for their power, and Sonic is trying to stop him. In order to slow Sonic down, Robotnik has trapped animals inside of a variety of robots. Destroying these robots and defeating Robotnik at the end of each zone frees the animals.
Sonic also has to find the Chaos Emeralds in each zone. These can be found in special zones only when Sonic has collected fifty rings in either of acts one or two.
Inside a special zone, Sonic must try to navigate to the centre of a spinning maze to grab the Chaos Emerald. Touching certain edges of the maze ends the zone.
So there we go: Sonic versus Robotnik. Just like Mario versus Bowser, every hero has their villain!
The Replay
Starting Green Hill Zone, the first stage, brought back a lot of memories. Sonic can build up real speed in this zone, assisted by the springs and vertical loops.
CometPro took to it easily too. Here’s a video of his run through Green Hill Zone:
This opening zone really flows, as it shows off Sonic’s speed. Now, enter the second stage, Marble Zone, and this all changes.
Sonic’s speed is interrupted, as you now need to navigate a wider variety of hazards such as changeable platforms and falling spikes (see image below). It quickly goes from a frenetic pinball experience to a slow-moving puzzler of a platformer. I was hesitant to gain too much momentum as it would leave me little time to react to a hazard or one of Robotnik’s robots.
This is the game though: the challenge. In my previous blog I complained about the randomness in platformers not being fun. Here, it’s a classic trial and error approach. You need to memorise the levels and time your moves to get through certain sequences. I found it challenging, and from the Marble Zone onwards, the difficulty really spikes up from the Green Hill Zone. There’s probably a very good reason why I have little recollection of zones other than the first two: back in the day, we simply never got that far! As kids, my friends and I would often hire out the console and a few games for the weekend, which wasn’t exactly conducive to getting good.
There are some interesting mechanics I enjoyed in the later levels, despite the frustration they provided. The pinball bumpers (image above) from Spring Yard Zone are fun, though very hard to navigate through; and the underwater sections from the Labyrinth and Scrap Brain Zones sees you having to adjust your timings while not running out of breath.
The Robotnik battle at the end of the Labyrinth Zone is different too. It’s not about defeating Robotnik, but trying to desperately escape the water by jumping up through a narrow passage, avoiding spike hazards as you go.
The boss battles I found challenging, and like the levels, required multiple attempts to identify the strategy and then perfect it. Once you’ve got it though, I found the boss battles easier to navigate than the levels in general. This one below provides its own unique challenge even after you’ve sent Robotnik scrambling for the exit.
The Verdict
Ultimately, this play-through confirms to me that I’m not a big platform gamer. The investment of time to progress past points of frustration was not usually worth the payoff. I think platformers provide a unique thrill in gaming, when you absolutely ace a section or a level and you feel fantastic. Sonic the Hedgehog provides those moments for sure, and I still found myself on the edge of my seat more often than not.
When I come to the end of a game, I ask myself, am I satisfied with the experience, and would I come back and play this again? I had a special reason for playing this, as my son asked me to and he wanted to play along with me. If I wasn’t writing a blog about this, I probably would have given up out of frustration. I also don’t think Sonic the Hedgehog is going to be a game I revisit from time to time in the future.
But that says a lot about me, and not a lot about the game. One point struck me though: my son enjoyed playing it. When I replayed this, I didn’t experience that wonder that I remember having as a kid, that fascination with what was coming alive on your screen. But it did captivate my son. This was interesting for me to observe. He’s a much more experienced gamer than I was at his age, and he’s seen modern games in all their glory. Yet this thirty year old platformer had him just as excited as any of the more modern gaming experiences he’s had. I mean, it wasn’t my choice to play and write about this game—it was his!
Overall, this experience means a lot to me. You see, Sonic is now a cross-generational experience. My son has really taken to Sonic over the past couple of years. We have played Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (2012), and Team Sonic Racing (2019) together. We have watched the animated series Sonic Boom together. We went and saw the 2020 Sonic the Hedgehog film together last year at the cinema. And now we’ve co-written a blog together about the game where it all started. I could never have imagined as a kid glued to the TV screen playing Sonic the Hedgehog in the early ‘90s, that I would be playing the same game with my son almost thirty years later.
Now that’s pretty cool!
I’ll let CometPro sign this off with his final comments:
Sonic the Hedgehog is a good game since it’s actually from 1991!! That’s 30 years ago!! Although these platform games are very frustrating, they can be quite fun.
Hope to see you again soon!!
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Well done, CometPro—both playing and writing! Won’t be long until you’re teaching your old man a thing or two about playing video games! Looking forward to your next contribution!
Haha, thank you! He was very happy to read your comment!
Great read mate! I had my boy go through a similar stage and it looks like we’re about to do it again as I am to get Colors before Xmas.
Thanks so much! Really appreciate you taking the time and checking this out. Happy to hear about you and your boy too, that’s awesome. Have fun with Colors!