I know what you're thinking. "Didn't you review Sonic the Hedgehog back in November? Why are you reviewing a port of this game?" I have two reasons. One; I needed to review another game for Sonic Rage Month (Or rather Months now). Two; THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE WORST EXCUSE FOR A PORT I'VE EVER LAID EYES ON! *ahem* Sorry about that, this "month" is centered around rage right? Anyway, welcome back to Sonic Rage Month, which has now become an event lasting far longer than a month. Let's take a look at how this game came to be. Back in 2006, there was a game that most people call "Sonic '06" released in "celebration" of Sonic's 15th Anniversary. But, as we all know, the game was very poorly received. However, there was another game released on the same day, this one. This game was released as a port of Sonic 1 on the Genesis, hence the title, but ended up being a poorly programmed mess of a game that I am now about to pick apart piece by painful piece.
Graphics
While the sprites are exactly the same as the original, the screen is not. The screen is zoomed in so far that you barely have enough time to react to an obstacle or enemy that just happens to show up. Why couldn't they have just made the screen smaller to compensate? The zoomed in screen makes it really difficult to see anything. What were carefully timed jumps in the original have become leaps of faith in this port. It's mind-boggling just how much they screwed up even in just this one section. Warning: My complaints are FAR from over.
Sound
You know how most of the time I could just pass over this section in a heartbeat by saying "It's a Sonic the Hedgehog game"? Unfortunately, this is one scenario where I cannot do that. The music in this game is absolutely horrendous. Every zone got it's own little garbage remix. Well, Star Light Zone was o.k., but even that can't save this game's soundtrack. The sound effects have also been severely butchered and turned into ear-grating noise. Even the jumping noise is annoying. Now granted the Game Boy Advance doesn't necessarily have the greatest sound quality ever, but I've heard some pretty good mixes of Sonic 1 music in the Sonic Advance series. Basically, the sound quality is absolutely atrocious and isn't worthy of being called a Sonic soundtrack.
Addictiveness
The only time you'll be coming back to this game is maybe for a Let's Play or review. I don't have much to say here because this game is not addicting in the slightest. I really wish I had more to say here, but I don't so...moving on!
Story
The story is the exact same story as Sonic 1, I mean, it IS a "port". But for the few that don't know, there's a mad scientist named Dr. Eggman (or Robotnik, I really don't care) who decides to take over the world by kidnapping little woodland creatures and trapping them inside robots. Sonic finds out about this and sets of to find Eggman in order to stop his plans for world conquest. It's just enough for you to know what you're doing and why you're doing it. It's pretty basic, yet effective.
Depth
I'll admit that this game has a bit more to offer than the original. You now have two game modes instead of one, Original and Anniversary. The Original Mode is just like what it sounds, it's the original Sonic 1, just not as awesome. Anniversary Mode is basically Original Mode with a spin dash. There's also a sound test available without the use of cheats, but why would you want to listen to this game's soundtrack? It's not much, but if it was done right, it would've been awesome.
Difficulty/Gameplay and Control
Where do I begin? I guess the physics are first on this chopping block. The physics are terrible! Sonic's jump feels so awkward and even moving can be a pain. But I think the main reason for difficulty lies within this game's frame rate. There are maybe, MAYBE, a couple of times where the frame rate is similar to the original, but for the most part, it's up and down and all around. (Anyone get it?) There are times where the frame rate will be super slow, then immediately decide to go faster than the original. The Special Stages though, are something completely different. Sonic decides that he now wants to go through these pretty quickly AND speeds up the process of breaking the crystals surrounding the Chaos Emerald. The control has been butchered too, though mostly due to the terrible frame rate. I don't think I have to explain how to play a classic Sonic game at this point, so I'm going to stop here for now.
Overall, this is one game that only pure curiosity should ever make you pick up and play. It's a very bad port of a very good game, so it is definitely one of the absolute worst games in the Sonic franchise. Is it the worst? No. That title is reserved for next game I review that will wrap up Sonic Rage "Month". Until then, peace out! I know what you're thinking. "Didn't you review Sonic the Hedgehog back in November? Why are you reviewing a port of this game?" I have two reasons. One; I needed to review another game for Sonic Rage Month (Or rather Months now). Two; THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE WORST EXCUSE FOR A PORT I'VE EVER LAID EYES ON! *ahem* Sorry about that, this "month" is centered around rage right? Anyway, welcome back to Sonic Rage Month, which has now become an event lasting far longer than a month. Let's take a look at how this game came to be. Back in 2006, there was a game that most people call "Sonic '06" released in "celebration" of Sonic's 15th Anniversary. But, as we all know, the game was very poorly received. However, there was another game released on the same day, this one. This game was released as a port of Sonic 1 on the Genesis, hence the title, but ended up being a poorly programmed mess of a game that I am now about to pick apart piece by painful piece.
Graphics
While the sprites are exactly the same as the original, the screen is not. The screen is zoomed in so far that you barely have enough time to react to an obstacle or enemy that just happens to show up. Why couldn't they have just made the screen smaller to compensate? The zoomed in screen makes it really difficult to see anything. What were carefully timed jumps in the original have become leaps of faith in this port. It's mind-boggling just how much they screwed up even in just this one section. Warning: My complaints are FAR from over.
Sound
You know how most of the time I could just pass over this section in a heartbeat by saying "It's a Sonic the Hedgehog game"? Unfortunately, this is one scenario where I cannot do that. The music in this game is absolutely horrendous. Every zone got it's own little garbage remix. Well, Star Light Zone was o.k., but even that can't save this game's soundtrack. The sound effects have also been severely butchered and turned into ear-grating noise. Even the jumping noise is annoying. Now granted the Game Boy Advance doesn't necessarily have the greatest sound quality ever, but I've heard some pretty good mixes of Sonic 1 music in the Sonic Advance series. Basically, the sound quality is absolutely atrocious and isn't worthy of being called a Sonic soundtrack.
Addictiveness
The only time you'll be coming back to this game is maybe for a Let's Play or review. I don't have much to say here because this game is not addicting in the slightest. I really wish I had more to say here, but I don't so...moving on!
Story
The story is the exact same story as Sonic 1, I mean, it IS a "port". But for the few that don't know, there's a mad scientist named Dr. Eggman (or Robotnik, I really don't care) who decides to take over the world by kidnapping little woodland creatures and trapping them inside robots. Sonic finds out about this and sets of to find Eggman in order to stop his plans for world conquest. It's just enough for you to know what you're doing and why you're doing it. It's pretty basic, yet effective.
Depth
I'll admit that this game has a bit more to offer than the original. You now have two game modes instead of one, Original and Anniversary. The Original Mode is just like what it sounds, it's the original Sonic 1, just not as awesome. Anniversary Mode is basically Original Mode with a spin dash. There's also a sound test available without the use of cheats, but why would you want to listen to this game's soundtrack? It's not much, but if it was done right, it would've been awesome.
Difficulty/Gameplay and Control
Where do I begin? I guess the physics are first on this chopping block. The physics are terrible! Sonic's jump feels so awkward and even moving can be a pain. But I think the main reason for difficulty lies within this game's frame rate. There are maybe, MAYBE, a couple of times where the frame rate is similar to the original, but for the most part, it's up and down and all around. (Anyone get it?) There are times where the frame rate will be super slow, then immediately decide to go faster than the original. The Special Stages though, are something completely different. Sonic decides that he now wants to go through these pretty quickly AND speeds up the process of breaking the crystals surrounding the Chaos Emerald. The control has been butchered too, though mostly due to the terrible frame rate. I don't think I have to explain how to play a classic Sonic game at this point, so I'm going to stop here for now.
Overall, this is one game that only pure curiosity should ever make you pick up and play. It's a very bad port of a very good game, so it is definitely one of the absolute worst games in the Sonic franchise. Is it the worst? No. That title is reserved for next game I review that will wrap up Sonic Rage "Month". Until then, peace out! |
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. Helped team trusted pull 300 points in the summer 2016 tdv competition.
