Let's be honest for a second here, SEGA wouldn't have been the company it is today without Sonic. Our favorite blue hedgehog was the single reason why the company managed to acquire such popularity in the west, to the point where SEGA was, at one point, comparable with Nintendo. Which is why I think it's fitting to start this site with a review of the game that begun everything.
Up to 1991, the definition of what a platformer should be hadn't been challenged since Super Mario Bros saved the whole industry in 1983. Sure, there was some experimentation with the concept with the more exploration-based Metroid or combat-based Megaman, but a title that fully challenged the bases settled by Nintendo hadn't been made to that point. However, in 1991, SEGA wanted to compete seriously in the console market which led them to perfect a character into existance, the character to end all characters, a character designed around the early 90s' marketing trends... and so, Sonic became a thing. Sonic wasn't your typical mascot, he was reckless, full of attitude, but more importantly: he was fast. Speed was Sonic's main draw since his inception, and of course, with such speed there came the need to make a game designed with it in mind, and with Super Mario levels being designed around tight platforming, the team directed by Hirokazu Yashuhara had to find a way to build a game around what, paradoxically, was a limitation.
Having a character go so fast meant three things: every stage should be considerably longer than usual to have them last more than a couple of seconds, precise platforming can't be the focus of the game and that speed should be a reward for skilled play. This obviously led to issues since a Genesis cartdrige didn't have that much memory, so matching Super Mario Bros 3's 90 levels was simply impossible to achieve. The solution to this was genius: since we can't include as many levels, let's focus on making you want to play them over and over again and since speed was already a reward for skilled play, the game was already designed with replayability in mind.
There's a small problem though. While this formula was proven to work with the later entries, in Sonic one the team was clearly unsure if people would enjoy a change so drastic to what they've got used to in the last decade, so while the game certainly reaches some amazing highs with Green Hill Zone and, to a lesser degree, Starlight Zone, it also has some pretty deep lows with the likes of Marble Zone, Labyrinth Zone and Scrap Brain Zone. These zones were, in my opinion, designed for something much closer to Mario: they're lineal, they involve lots of platforming, there's a lot of waiting for elevators and pushing blocks, this is the polar opposite of what made Green Hill Zone so amazing.
This unfortunately makes the first Sonic the Hedgehow a little hard to revisit. Booting it up and going through Green Hill Zone is definitely still a blast, and it's true that part of why it feels so outdated now is because of the massive quality of life improvements that we saw on its sequels. The spindash became such an iconic move of Sonic that playing without it makes certain sections, even on Green Hill Zone, very tedious to navigate because you can't always build momentum when you need it, and the lack of any other ability does make the game feel a little barebones in terms of gameplay. I can cut it some slack for basically coming up with the formula that would eventually lead to one of the best platformers ever made, but I can't ignore such evident flaws because of its innovation.
Honestly, if you somehow haven't played any of the classic Sonic games my personal reccomendation would be to skip the first Sonic the Hedgehog and start with the much-improved Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and only check 1 out for historical purposes. Its importance can't be denied, and it'll always hold a special place in my heart for being what started everything, but as a game it's far from the masterclass that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles are.
It's an extremely important game, but I would reccomend
playing any other of the Genesis titles yet.
There's a small problem though. While this formula was proven to work with the later entries, in Sonic one the team was clearly unsure if people would enjoy a change so drastic to what they've got used to in the last decade, so while the game certainly reaches some amazing highs with Green Hill Zone and, to a lesser degree, Starlight Zone, it also has some pretty deep lows with the likes of Marble Zone, Labyrinth Zone and Scrap Brain Zone. These zones were, in my opinion, designed for something much closer to Mario: they're lineal, they involve lots of platforming, there's a lot of waiting for elevators and pushing blocks, this is the polar opposite of what made Green Hill Zone so amazing.
This unfortunately makes the first Sonic the Hedgehow a little hard to revisit. Booting it up and going through Green Hill Zone is definitely still a blast, and it's true that part of why it feels so outdated now is because of the massive quality of life improvements that we saw on its sequels. The spindash became such an iconic move of Sonic that playing without it makes certain sections, even on Green Hill Zone, very tedious to navigate because you can't always build momentum when you need it, and the lack of any other ability does make the game feel a little barebones in terms of gameplay. I can cut it some slack for basically coming up with the formula that would eventually lead to one of the best platformers ever made, but I can't ignore such evident flaws because of its innovation.
Honestly, if you somehow haven't played any of the classic Sonic games my personal reccomendation would be to skip the first Sonic the Hedgehog and start with the much-improved Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and only check 1 out for historical purposes. Its importance can't be denied, and it'll always hold a special place in my heart for being what started everything, but as a game it's far from the masterclass that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles are.
2.5 out of 5
Sonic the Hedgehog for the SEGA Genesis hasn't aged well.It's an extremely important game, but I would reccomend
playing any other of the Genesis titles yet.
Comments
Post a Comment