FILLED WITH FUN (filled with fun)

Imagine, it’s June 23, 1991. You have been anticipating this day for months, the day the game with that funny little character you saw swinging back and forth from the rear-view mirror in the arcade game Rad Mobile comes to life in their very own game. Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis. Sonic seems like a way past cool dude, he really dusts my doilies! You go to the store, buy the game, and pop it into your system settling down in front of your CRT, controller in hand, and are transferred to a world unlike any other.

Vibrant colors, cute critters inside of frightening robot creatures, inspired level designs, traps and treasures a like, and that dastardly Dr. Robotnik. This game entrances and mesmerizes you in your seat. You didn’t know it at the time, but this was a life changing moment, a milestone if you will, in your life. Or maybe you did, as feelings of awe and amazement courses through your system. You find yourself unable to stop playing; to put the controller down until you’ve explored every nook and cranny, and found every secret. Yes, you finally found the meaning to life.

Okay, maybe it’s not that deep, but if you're here reading this, we can all agree that the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has had a very large impact on all of us and even if the first wasn’t YOUR first Sonic game, it is definitely an iconic and amazing start!

For the box art, we see that there is a reason it might be up there with the most recognizable Sonic game covers. Sonic is seen standing in his iconic pose, giving attitude and wagging his finger. He clashes slightly with the colors in the background, but I think that helps him stand out more. I think it’s really charming that the designers used his western rendition here. Behind him is a scene depicting different components of Green Hill Zone, including the spike bridge from Act 3. Astro notes that the angle of the cover is a nice touch and really ties the piece together. It really catches Sonic’s ‘cool factor’.

There isn’t much to note about the cartridge itself, (or disk if you’re playing on the Mega Collection) as it uses the same art as the box, just cut to fit. When you pop that sucker in, you are greeted with the well known “SEGA!!!” chime we all know and love. Then, in quick succession, we see the opening. A ring with wings and a ribbon that reads, “SONIC THE HEDGEHOG”. Woah! Suddenly Sonic pops up once again, wagging his finger with a mischievous look. 

We need to talk about the controls. Sonic controls relatively well. Being that these are momentum based controls, the level can go smoothly depending on how it is built around it. Stages that are straightforward use these mechanics the best, while in platform stages, Sonic is harder to direct around. Rolling down a hill in ball mode feels especially good.

Next are the items you can get throughout the stages. We all know about rings. When you collect one or more of these, you get an extra hit of damage, because without them, if you got hit once, it would be over! If you collect 100, you get an extra life! Nice! There are also T.V. boxes you can hit with different items in them. There are invincibility, shield, speed up, and life ones. With these, you can be invincible for a short duration, have an extra hit of damage, move faster for a bit, and gain an extra life! Pretty neat huh?

Now that we’ve looked at everything else, let’s get into the real meat and potatoes of it!

We start in good ol’ Green Hill Zone. What’s there to be said that has not already been said about this zone? It might be just as iconic as level 1-1 from Super Mario Bros. for the NES, but this isn’t about you Mario! Get back in your warp pipe! (warp pipe sounds).

In all three acts of GHZ, we see grassy hills in front of a clear blue lake surrounded by waterfalls and mountains. Very scenic. The first stage has an upper and lower path, each having their own risks. On the upper path, you go faster, but have a high chance of falling, and on the lower path, there are more traps. Littered throughout all stages are various enemies including motobugs that move slowly in one direction, buzz bombers that fly around and shoot, choppers that jump from under bridges, and neutrons (Jimmy Neutron anyone?) that go from invisible to visible, then drop to the ground before shooting off like a rocket. What? When you reach the end of act 3, you are met with the game's first boss, The Egg Wrecker. What is there to say about this boss? It’s Eggman’s eggmobile with a giant wrecking ball that swings back and forth. Is that really all? Huh, I thought there might be more to it. All you need to do is avoid the wrecking ball and jump up, hitting the eggmobile. Nice.

Next up is Marble Zone. Despite what others say about it, I really like this zone. Its visuals are great, showing us forested Roman/Greek ruins that extend into an underground maze of stone blocks, spike chandeliers and lava. The zone can be a little challenging as this is more of a platforming stage. You need to take it slow because of there being enemies and traps around each corner, including those spike chandeliers I mentioned. For the most part though, all three stages of this zone are a straight shot to the end. The enemies for this zone include the returning buzzbomber, the catakiller, who moves slowly back and forth and can be quite bothersome in tight hallways, and bat brains that swoop down to hit the player. Once again, at the end of act 3, we meet this game's second boss, The Egg Scorcher. Eggman arrives once again on his eggmobile; this time equipped with a spigot on the bottom. He floats back and forth, dropping fire onto the platforms. You just need to hop around while hitting Eggman to beat him. It’s honestly a little bit of a pathetic boss. Now let’s crash into some bumpers! (then I crashed into you holy Gadunka)

We are now in-dumroll please! Spring Yard Zone! This zone is a definite switch up from the last two. We can see a lush lower background, but as we look higher, we see a city scape with an amazing purple hue. The part we traverse is like an abandoned industrial pinball machine, filled with bumpers and springs, and signs that say…Cope? Sure I guess. This is an interesting zone because, while it gives you the opportunity to go fast through the stage, it is best taken slow because of all the obstacles; it’s like a hybrid between a speed and platforming based stage. Returning enemies for this zone are buzzbombers and crabmeats; new enemies are rollers who roll at high speeds before stopping, then rolling again, and spikes (Astro thinks these badniks are really cute!) who are crab-like enemies who, say it with me folks, move slowly back and forth. You can’t stomp these enemies though because they have spikes on their back. Who would have guessed. At the end of this zone’s act 3, we are met with The Egg Stinger. What’s with this dude's obsession with naming things after eggs!? This is another really simple boss. Eggman is in the eggmobile once again. This time it is fitted with a spike on the bottom. He will move back and forth (are you sick of me saying “back and forth” yet?) and impale the ground where Sonic is standing. Just avoid this and jump on him until he is defeated. Now, let’s get to drowning!....waIT WAIT-

GURGLE We now arrive in the zone from this game with the most negative opinions and memories, Labyrinth Zone! Here we find a sandy-colored abandoned ruin (we think it could have been an ancient Mobian civilization!), surrounded by draping vines, colorful crystals, and puzzle switches around every corner. Oh, and who could forget, the water, everyone’s ‘favorite’ feature from this zone. For this zone, we have all new enemies, being, burrow-bot who leaps out of the ground, jaws, a piranha bot that swims around, and orbinaut unidus that throw four spike balls, one at a time till their core is uncovered. This zone's boss…isn’t even really a boss? I mean, it’s found at the end of act 3, but you don’t even fight Eggman, just chase him as he floats upward through a narrow hall littered with obstacles and the threat of rising water. Now, if you are thinking I’m of the opinion that this zone is super frustrating and the hardest one in the game, you are partially right. I don’t think the drowning is the frustrating part. Actually, if you just stop at every breathing bubble, you should have no problem getting through it. The real frustrating part is the obstacles and the enemy placement. This zone is very much a platforming one. If you try to go fast, you will quickly lose your rings. Just take it slow and you should be alright.

Starlight Zone is the most divisive zone between Astro and I. I think it’s quite the refresher after such a slow zone, while Astro thinks it is very bland and is over too quickly. This zone is another city scape from the perspective of a partially finished construction site (my interpretation) surrounded by a starry night sky. Finally, we are in a speed based zone again! You quickly zip around with the help of springs and ramps; just be careful not to run into any enemies on the way! Once again, there are no returning enemies in this zone. For the new ones, there are bombs (creative name I know) that walk and explode, and orbinaut uniuni that just float surrounded by their spike balls instead of throwing them. The Eggspiker is this zone's boss, and my favorite boss in the game. It’s a creative fight where Eggman drops spiked balls on seesaws and you have to launch either yourself or the spike ball up onto the Eggspiker to attack him. Simple, but effective.  

Now for our final zone, the insanity that is Scrap Brain Zone. In act one, we start outside Eggman’s fortress in an industrial metropolis full of metal and smokestacks. Machinery surrounds us at every angle under a polluted yellow sky. In act two we enter his fortress with a mechanic background, at the end, Eggman is standing beyond a forcefield and hops on a button crumbling the floor below us causing us to fall into act three, a grey replica of Labyrinth Zone. SBZ is by far the most challenging zone in this game and is a healthy mix of speed based and platform based. Enemies and obstacles are around every corner, buzzsaws, fire pillars, teslacoils, nowhere is safe here. Most of the enemies are returning, such as catakiller, bomb, burrow-bot, jaws, and orbinaut unidus, and there is only one new enemy, ballhog who stays stationary while shooting balls. The final boss of this game is called the Egg Crusher. The boss is basically the entire room, well, part of it. Eggman descends or ascends in four different large pillars in an attempt to crush Sonic. It’s easy enough to avoid. You also need to watch out for the electric balls that a bulb tosses out after every hit. Once defeated he grovels at our feet. Wait, HE’S RUNNING AWAY, GET HIM! Jump as Eggman starts flying away to get one last hit on him. Finally! We are finished with the first game in the series! But there is still more to talk about. 

You may have noticed I haven’t mentioned an important part of the game, the Special Stage. After you complete an act with fifty rings, a large one appears at the end that you jump into. The area you end up in is unlike anything we’ve seen in the game. Sonic is placed into a spinning pinball like maze where your goal is to find where this one’s chaos emerald is. The background is filled with bright colors and animals that flash back and forth between the different ones. Something that may surprise you about this game is that you only have to collect 6 emeralds to get the true ending.

In the true ending Sonic is seen back in Green Hill Zone running around with all the animal buddies we saved. Sonic pulls out the chaos emeralds as they begin to float and glow causing large flowers to grow. Sonic then jumps into an amazing pose signaling the end of the game. However, if you don’t collect all of the chaos emeralds, Eggman will be seen at the end of the stage juggling them while laughing. Hey!!

The music for this game is extremely iconic, says Astro, but we both know there is better music to come in the following games. Mikey’s personal favorite themes are Labyrinth Zone and Scrap Brain Zone, Astro’s are Spring Yard Zone and the Special Zones. Overall some definite bangers here!

Here are my overall thoughts on the game. I think it was good for its time, but as technology progressed and games changed how they were played, I think it didn’t age too well. The thing I dislike most about the game is easily the lack of save system, ESPECIALLY, if you play on the original hardware. Thankfully rereleases like the Mega Collection fixed this problem. Another problem is level inconsistency, being, most of the zones are platform based in what you think would be a more speed heavy game. Also, random cheap shots from enemies that make you lose all your progress trying to save up for the special zone.

Parting thoughts. I think people of all ages love and will love this game, even if it can be challenging at some points, I think it is a rewarding one. This game was the beginning for so many fans and for that, I can’t help but hold it in a special place in my heart and will always thank it for what it accomplished for its era. Overall, I give it 6/10 chilidogs, and Astro gives it 7/10. 

Next time, join Astro and I to talk about a weaker game in the series.