(Mario) - *Jumps and gets a mushroom* Wha-hoo.  (Mario) *Looks behind himself & see’s whirlwind* Wooaaaah Mama Mia! *Sonic runs in front of the screen* Sonic’s the name and this is my GAME! It’s the chili dog loving blue blur that made Sega reach high popularity and made Nintendo’s mascot Mario have a new and extremely fast rival.  The reasons that Sonic the hedgehog topped Super Mario Bros in some people’s opinion was because of its high speed action in which Sega referred to it as blast-processing  for marketing reasons, and also because of its vibrant colors and background scenery's. However does it still live up to its passion that it had during the early 1990’s or will it fall into the depths of obscurity after 2 decades of its release, we shall find out right now so as sonic would say “Don’t be a slow-mow” let’s start the review!


Graphics: 8 out of 10

The graphics in this game are kind of what you would expect from a genesis game having bright and vibrant colors. However since this was only really one of the first games on the Sega Genesis that made a huge impact you can’t really look down on the graphics that much and it was the start of a new series which usually won't look as impressive as it sequels that later came along.  The details given into the
graphics on each level can most definitely show that the design team at Sega really put their heart and soul when they were developing this game.  From the flower filled and palm tree covered lands of Green Hill Zone, to the underwater depths and cryptic looking scenery of Labyrinth Zone, to even the metallic and polluted city of Scrap Brain Zone. I’m sure that the graphics shall keep you entertained as you play through the game so an 8 out of 10 rating is what I’m giving Sonic the Hedgehog in terms of graphics.


Sound: 10 out of 10

Do I even need to ask how good this games music is? Right when you start the game and Green Hill Zones music starts you get that theme stuck inside your head while you play and as you play through the level you actually start to enjoy the music and you might even say it helps you play through the level better. The sound effects in this game also benefit the player as well especially when you are underwater and you start slowing losing oxygen the music will stop and a fast beeping sound effect will start and you will see the numbers 5-0 showing how long you have until you lose a life due to suffocation, however; if you get and air bubble the music will start up again. This game definitely exceeds in the music and sound effects department in my opinion so a 10 out of 10 is what I’m rating the sound of this game.


Addictiveness: 8 out of 10

I can assure you right now before I finish this section of the review that you will play this game several times even if you have beaten it before. As there are many things you can try out after you’ve become quite skilled at the game, for instance you can try to finish Green Hill Zone Act 1 in 30 seconds or under to earn a massive amount of points. Or you can use the debug mode option by pressing A, A, Up, Down, Left, and Right on the title screen and then press the start button to begin the game while holding down the A, S, and D button on your keyboard. Now you should be able to go into the configuration/debug mode by pressing S in which you can create more enemies, lava pits, rings, platforms and so much more by pressing D to place them on the map. If you think this is the end to what you can do you are incorrect, as there are still 2 different endings to this game which you can receive based on how you go through the game. As you play the game if you intend to just speed through all the levels until the end of the game without collecting the 6 chaos emeralds then you will receive the bad ending in which you see Robotnik tossing all the chaos emeralds from his right hand to his left hand. The good ending can be received by having 50 rings after Act 1 and 2 of each world and jumping into the giant ring at the end of the level/act, once inside you will enter the special stage which is a 360 degree rotating maze in which the chaos emerald lays deep inside covered by barriers which must be hit multiple times before they will break. While you are inside this special stage/maze you can earn a continue by collecting 50 rings scattered through-out the maze as well as 1-ups that you can periodically find but they are hard to achieve since they are
usually place over or near a goal zone which will take you out of the special stage empty-handed (meaning you’ve lost the chance to get the chaos emerald, however; you still get to keep your continues you collected though). You’re probably asking “what is the good ending to this game though?” well...that is.....something you have to find out by beating this game on your own and why not give it a try since this game does have a lot to offer as you have just read so a 8 out of 10 is what the addictiveness earns for this game.


Story: 10 out of 10

As you stand there looking over the green hills and the blue sky while you speed off at the speed of sound as your animal friends watch your impressive moves and attacks and as the applaud while saying your name which is Sonic....Sonic The Hedgehog. Yeah everyday was peaceful and had lots of exploration without any problems to worry about ...that is until a certain doctor came into the picture and captured all the animals from the lands of Mobius and turning almost all of them into robots for his own personal greed of trying to take over the world of Mobius, this doctors name is Robotnik...Dr. Ivo Robotnik who is a scientific genius with an intelligence I.Q. of 300 even though he seems to always make simple mistakes. So when Sonic returns he finds that all of his friends have disappeared and have had robots put in their place, the only way for him to return Mobius back to its original state is to defeat Robotnik in a final showdown and ruin his plans for good. It was an invigorating story which in my opinion far surpassed the story of Super Mario Bros created by Nintendo, an excellent job on the story for this game SEGA so a perfect score of 10 out of 10 is deserved here.


Depth:  8 out of 10

During the course of this game you will have to travel through 6 zones each with 3 acts/parts (excluding Final Zone) and at the end of act 3 in every zone you must face off against one of Robotnik’s mechanical inventions, so if you were to add everything up you would have 18 full length levels (19 if you count the Final Zone) which does make the game quite lengthy especially due to this games hard level of difficulty. Also you have the 6 special stages which I’ve stated how to enter the special stages earlier in the review, however; these are not that important if you just wanted to beat the game but it still does feel good when you collect that 6th (Yes there were only 6 emeralds in the first game) and final emerald and are prepared to see the good ending once you defeat the game. So this game is quite long already without the special stages and playing through the game again with the special stages makes it even longer which does add replay-ability which is something that a lot of games now these days lack. If you want to have a game to occupy you for a big chunk of your spare time then you should definitely try playing this game, it could have had more things to offer though which is the reason why I’m giving this game a 8 out of 10 for depth.


Difficulty: 8 out of 10

When you first start up the game and play through the Green Hill Zone area you might be thinking “Man this game seems like it’s going to be a lot easier compared to Super Mario Bros on the NES” Well if you are thinking that then let me tell you this the Green Hill Zone and Marble Zone areas are just the bottom of the barrel on the difficulty that this game offers, trust me.  Once you enter Casino Night Zone the game progressively starts to get more difficult and more annoying at certain parts especially when you keep hitting the bumpers located all over the stage which will bounce you all over the screen and can be quite irritating. However; if you think the nightmare stops there you are sadly mistaken as afterwards you enter what is quite possibly the most annoying area in any of the Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog games, this area is Labyrinth Zone which is filled to the brim with water. Well that’s the big deal with water since Super Mario Bros had tons of water levels and areas? True but the one thing that Super Mario Bros had that made the game not as difficult was not having to worry about the fear of drowning in water, but in Sonic the Hedgehog if you stay under water for a few seconds you will start hearing the music change into a warning type sound while numbers will appear telling you how many seconds you have before you drown. There are 2 ways in which you can save yourself from drowning #1 obviously being getting above the water to breathe, and #2 is getting the air bubbles which you can find in certain spots of the level. Along with having to make sure that you have enough rings to survive it can cause some gamers to rage quit and I know because I am one of those people who has had that happen various times before, mostly this game is fair in difficulty but sometimes it can be cheap in areas such as Labyrinth Zone so an 8 out of 10 what the difficulty level is in this game.


At the end of the day, Sonic the Hedgehog is still what its worth even though it does have some faults but hey what game doesn’t have any
faults. It did accomplish what SEGA had wanted which was to have a main mascot that would rival Nintendo’s main mascot Mario. In my personal opinion I actually prefer Sonic the Hedgehog on Genesis compared to Super Mario Bros on the NES, both are great game but this is just the game that I prefer the most. So if you have the time to put into this game I’m sure you will enjoy it.......wait....time? *Looks at timer and see’s 9:50* WHAT! I didn’t know I spent this much time on the review I gotta juice before my time runs..... *TIME OVER*
                                                               
                                                                                          
                                                                                             *Continue this review?*
                                                                                               
                                                                                                             Yes
                                                                                              ----------> No

Amazing review, sonicthehedgehog57! There was an incredible amount of detail with perfect spacing and grammar. I guess that you wouldn't be an assigned game review if you weren't this good, but you're still pretty good compared to most others. Nice job on the review!

TheFadedWarrior : Thanks TheFadedWarrior, this review probably took me the longest to make than all my previous reviews because for me writing a review on this game wasn't as easy as I had anticipated. I know my next review for this month is going to be an SNES game which I know 100% will be alot easier than this game review was. I try my best on my reviews and even though I may not be the best on the site, it still is worth the effort that I put into them.

sonicthehedgehog57 : Wow, that is a lot of detail put into your review, man. It was spot on man, I love the Sonic series and this is the one that started it all.  Nice review, keep it up. 

NinjaX : I'm glad you enjoyed the review