As you could probably tell by looking at the name of this game and the system it’s on, this is the first Sonic game in the whole series! Congratulations for being able to play this gem that has been released more times than it should have been! So unless you’re actually playing the game on the system it was designed for, the SEGA Genesis, you’re kind of missing out on the actual shine of this game. This game was basically SEGA’s life saver, bringing it back to life after their previous mascot, Alex Kidd, didn’t work out all too well (He completely failed). Since his first release in 1991, he has always been SEGA’s lead mascot, through good times and apparent bad times (OMGZ PHYSICS!!11!!!!!1!!!1!!!). Throughout the years, SEGA has built away from the style of his first game, while still keeping his iconic skills and attitude. This game has also helped create one of the most recognizable video game characters of all time. Now, while many think SEGA created Sonic as a rival for Mario from Nintendo Entertainment System, this is more or less the truth. They actually designed Sonic as a rival for Mickey Mouse from Disney. However, due to the competition of the NES and Nintendo as a whole, SEGA made a smart move and decided to make it seem more like Sonic was Mario’s rival, by making slogans such as “SEGA does what Nintendon’t” and even comparing him to Mario in one of the first commercials released, stating “Why can’t you be more nice like that Mario boy?”.Obviously, much like other games, this wasn’t the first and only version made of this game, beta wise. There WAS a prototype version that has shown up in some screenshots, and even in short snippets of previews. Unfortunately, this prototype of the earlier version of Sonic the Hedgehog has never been found. Now, so I can stop shoving these pointless facts right down your throat, I’m going to actually start my review now! The way I’ll cover this is by going over the graphics of this game (Compared to other games during it’s time), the difficulty, music, overall enjoyment, and the features of each level. Now, let’s start this thing!

Graphics – As the first discussion piece of this review, I’m going over the Graphics (totally not repetitive...). This game was released during the era where people didn’t have all their fancy little Blu-Ray players, HD TV sets, and iPod machines. During this time, it was actually pretty common that very few had a colored TV, or even a regular TV for that matter. But even with those restrictions, Sonic still managed to get some lead. The original Sonic game featured 16-Bit graphics, an amazing set of colors (compared to other games like Super Mario Bros., Kirby’s Adventure, etc.), a great music set, and a revolutionary speed rate that has almost never been seen before in a game. SEGA managed to use the best of their resources to their advantage, as you can clearly see in this game. The levels in each of these levels feature a wide and bright set of colors, from shades of green covering the hills, all the way to polluting factories covering a wide background. SEGA even managed to make the water look as realistic as possible for a 16-Bit system. Now, aside from the pretty colors and the wavy water, they also got to make the character designs to be pretty good, even changing them a bit through other game releases (Sonic 1 and Sonic CD having the same sprites, Sonic 2 had a new sprite that was very similar to Sonic 1’s, and Sonic 3 & Knuckles’ sprite was completely different from the past versions.), same with the Badniks within the game. Overall, the graphics in this game were above the normal standards for its time, making it one of the most beautiful looking games out there, which is why I am going to give it a rating of 9.

Music – Now, onto the music grading for this game. Now, I don’t have much to say for this part of the game, but I can say that this music is very good compared many of the other tunes in other video games at the time. The music in this game was composed very brilliantly, using the idea that this music should be fit for a movie, rather than a game, making them very fitting and climatic for the levels they’re thrown into. For example, look at Starlight Zone, where they gave a nice, cheery, starry like tune for this level, making it the perfect match. Same with Marble Zone, this gives the idea of running through lava filled ruins an extra boost, by giving that older, mysterious feeling within the level. Overall, the music in this game was very creative, and very ideally and carefully composed, thus the reason that I’m rating the music in this game a 10.

Difficulty – I’ll try to make this part of the review as quick as I can, since I don’t have too much to say about this. Simply put, this game is at the perfect level of difficulty. It wasn’t too easy, like Kirby, and it wasn’t too difficult, like Mega Man. Sure, there were spikes everywhere, a plethora of Badniks all over the place, and Bottomless pits as far as the eye can see, but they put them in the right locations, making them not too easy to get by, and not insanely difficult to jump over a set of spikes guarded by a falling platform with a black hole and a giant-uber-destructive-Badnik in the way. They placed them accordingly so any normal gamer can actually get by through the level. Getting the rings for the special stages did get difficult at a point, such as Marble Zone Act 2, Labyrinth Zone, and Scrap Brain Zone. And obviously, not drowning in Labyrinth was a challenge all in its own. Overall, the difficulty in this game gets a rating of 8, due to how they set it at the right level for normal gamers.

Overall Enjoyment – Before I discuss this part, I’ll just go ahead and hand out the rating of 10. Now to tell, this game is the first in the series. The colors were bright and amazing. The graphics (for its time) was revolutionary, throwing 16-bit Graphics into an 8-Bit time. The Music was brilliant, constructing it as if it were for a movie instead of a game. And the game was an alright challenge, keeping speed as not only your friend, but your enemy.. SEGA wanted their next best game and mascot, and that’s exactly what they got. Sonic the Hedgehog.

Now, I shall give a short little description and review for each level in the game (No, I will not break up the sections for every act within the game).

Green Hill Zone – The start of the legend. This level is the first within the whole game. This place is basically Sonic’s home, in a sense. Here, you get the view of the green hills, mountainous background, deep blue sky, and the brilliantly colored and designed water. The dangers in this level consist of the Motobug, hornet like robots named Buzz Bombers, spikes, Chameleon like bots named Newtrons, and the piranha like bot named Chopper. This zone also introduces all of the power ups within the game, including Ring Boxes, Invincibility, and Extra Lives as examples. This level also gives you one of the most symbolic and recognizable songs in the whole Sonic franchise, being used in other games, as well as even actual songs, specifically Dreams of an Absolution (Even though this little Easter egg was actually quite unintended). Overall, this level gets my rating of 10.

Marble Zone – To give this level a simple description, it’s basically the Indiana Jones level of Sonic. Here, you’re running through an ancient relic type of place with lava all over the place and a ton of secret passages, most of which leading to an Extra Life. The background includes lots of trees, purple mountains, cloudy skies, and pieces of ruins, all placed there to give off that extra idea of being in an ancient relic in a high up hidden location. Almost like Hidden Palace zone (Which I honestly wouldn’t be surprised about if it turns out that this was their inspiration of Hidden Palace). Dangers in this level include Caterkillers and the bat robot named BatBrain. Other obstacles include falling platforms, rising platforms, falling spiked platforms, falling weights, and lava. Lots and lots of lava. Lava chasing after you, lava falling from the ceiling, lava being dropped on you by Robotnik, and just plain lava sitting on the ground. Overall, I’d give this level about an 8, mainly due to how insanely annoying it is trying to get through this level with enough rings for the special stages.

Spring Yard Zone – For some reason, this level is the one that I choose to blame for having a Casino level in every Sonic game available. As the sun sets on Marble Zone, you soon seem to enter the city, where you have now entered here. The scenery consists of more mountains, a cloud filled setting sun sky, and the city! This level is kind of annoying, mainly due to the parts where you have to put up with those bordered rising and falling platforms, talking up a part of your time in each Act, and because of the Boss battle, which consists of Robotnik removing parts of your platform with a spike that shows up on the bottom of his aircraft when he lowers. So you’d basically have to hope that when you jump up to hit him, he doesn’t instantly lower down with his spike causing you to get hurt. It’s also annoying because, if you don’t plan it out right or finish him quick enough, you could see yourself having to battle him again in this level by not being able to make a far enough of a jump. The enemies in this level consist mainly of Rollers (which are those things that start chasing after you and look a lot like Sonic), crabmeat and Buzz Bombers. There are also Spike balls and spike chains that show up on occasions, but aren’t too common. Overall, this level gets an 8 from me, due to how it kind of takes forever to get out of this zone.

Labyrinth Zone – So, in this zone, you apparently went from the city, all the way to an underwater relic like place, known as a Labyrinth. Doesn’t really make much sense, in my opinion, unless this is supposed to be a sewer system or something. The background here contains walls with weird faces, water, water, and what do you know more water! This level is probably the most pain inducing level there is. Not because of all the drowning, spikes, and enemies, but because of the shear boredom of having to watch Sonic run at half his usual speed because he’s underwater. Anyways, the enemies in this level include another piranha like enemy named Jaws, this one bot named Burrobot, and this other bot named Orbinaut, which is basically a sphere that throws a bunch of spike orbs at you, with 4 at the most. Other dangers include the Fire Statue, spears, and DROWNING EIGHT MILLION TIMES IN A ROW BECAUSE THE STUPID AIR BUBBLE WOULD ALWAYS SHOW UP WHEN YOU ARE ALREADY DEAD. Cough. Anyways, I’ll give this a 7, since you go as slow as possible in this Zone and because of how difficult it is to get by without drowning.

Star Light Zone – This is by far my top favorite level throughout the whole game. You’re running through a construction area set up in the sky apparently, which I’m guessing was the construction of Robotropolis (You’d have to have seen the Sonic OVA to understand where I am going with that)? The scenery here consists of buildings, some completely built and others in the middle of construction, and a star filled night sky. The thing I love the most about this level is the beautiful music that plays in it. This is by far one of the best songs played throughout the whole Sonic series. However, it was only ever released again on Sonic Generations, as an unlockable song. Other than that, I love the fact that they made it easier to be able to go and just roll down a hill at a good rate and get through the level really fast and awesome in only a way Sonic can. The enemies in this level are Orbinaut, this time a green and yellow version of him, this one enemy named Bomb, which is just that. A walking bomb. Yay for creativity and terrorism! Other dangers include a ton of bottomless pits, fire shooters, and spike ball catapults. Overall, I truly did love this level so, so much, which is why I’m giving it a rating of 10.

Scrap Brain Zone – Here we are, almost at our final destination. In this zone, you start off outside of Robotnik’s badnik factory, where the sky is filled with smog and pollution, and there are factories releasing even more pollution as far as the eye can see. To put that to a simple comparison, think of the story of the Lorax, but only cooler and spikier. Once you’re inside the base (Which probably took you 2 continues to do), you have to race through the whole inside of the main Badnik factory so you can get to that egghead and save your friends, dodging so many different hazards that it makes it as impossible as possible, and once you end up finishing this level and find Robotnik, he sends you down into a hole. Poor you. Now, after you’ve returned to Act 3 through your level select maneuvers, you probably noticed that you’re in an underground labyrinth like act where the background is a light grey-ish purple and the water is deep purple. After that, you end up getting to the Final Act and defeat Robotnik for the first time and save all your animal friends and the environment and whatever. Despite this level being excruciatingly difficult and annoying, I must say that this level is one of the best in the whole game. It takes everything you knew prior to this Zone and turn it all into a fairy tale basically. Here, your speed can be good in some places, and lead you to your death in others. Basically, all you need is perfect reflexes and nice timing. Don’t rush through it all and try to get the best time possible. If you get past it in three minutes and no lives lost, then so what, you got through, you can live. But if you went all GOTTA GO FAST on this level and lost 20 lives in the making, then you are obviously not doing it right. Although, if you did end up rushing through this level without losing a single life, then you’re probably a god at this game. That said, time to count the infinite amount of hazards in this level! Caterkiller, electric volts, buzz saws, bottomless pits, batbrain, drowning, spikes, getting squished, fire, ball hog, jaws, fire statue, bomb, and probably a ton more that I didn’t count due to memory. Overall, this level is the most climatic, changing, difficult, and dangerous levels in the whole game, but still maintained being enjoyable. I definitely give this level a flying grade of 10.

Congratulations! This means that you’ve completed the whole game now (Hopefully)! If you completed it without any continues and got all the emeralds, then you will notice that you truly did win the game and have no need of going back to do any side quests now. You got the whole Robotnik jumping on THE END sign ending. Very good. If you didn’t get this, though, then go back there and start over again. But I’m sure you went the right way.

Anyways, this truly is the end now for Sonic 1. Hope you liked my review, and that it was enjoyable to read and actually informative. Thank you, and hope you check out my other review and the next ones to come!

Sonic the Hedgehog for the Genesis. That game was a classic. The game that started it all. Its what you call a game that you can play over and over a hundred times and not get tired of it one bit. I love it, and I'm a Nintendo guy. Love the game, love SEGA, love it all.

I was wondering when this review was coming. Now let's see if thing1 gets upset seeing you beat him for Red for the day

thing1 :

I really enjoyed reading your review. Great job. Keep up the good work.

I love Sonic. It's one of my favorite games of all time.

thing1 : At least hold it till tomorrow? :3
I actually worked on this for two days

MegaRevolution1 :
Nuh uh. I need it so I can get two Jerseys. Otherwise, I totally would. Sorry Mega, as much as I would love to... When I post this three hunred thousand plus word thread, I will have 2, maybe three jerseys on lock for the night.