Hello G33K life readers! Yes, I'm talking to you 3 (or 4)... Hey! 2 people following this blog at the moment! Thanks for that guys! (gals?)
Today first review here is a well known classic, for two reasons mostly: establish the format for the future reviews and actually tell you guys what I think of the first Sonic game since I'm mostly knew on dA for drawing Sega arwtork :P
(blatant self advertising: http://theeyzmaster.deviantart.com/ Click here! Check it out!)
Today's review:
Game: Sonic The Hedgehog
By SEGA
Played on Megadrive (Genesis in the north American, but I won't write that ever again, so enjoy!)Type Sidescroller platformer
From 1991
Sonic the Hedgehog! Yep!
First up, let me tell you I'm a Sega nerd at heart, grew up on them, so naturally Sonic 1 is a classic for me.
But let's talk about the history behind the game quickly. (since anyone reading this probably has access to stuff like Sega fansites, wikipedia, etc..)
The 16 bit console was an important step for SEGA. After the success of the Master System in "everywhere besides north America" (let's talk seriously, the market was dominated by Mario there), SEGA decided to create a mascot to represent them, their ideology, market audiance and unique arcade representation in gaming. They had previously 3 other "vaguely" official mascots before (we'll talk about that some other time), such has Pengo in their golden age, Alex Kidd in the 8 bit market and Opa opa in the Arcade market. But Sega needed something new, faster and "prettier" (graphic-wise). So they did what every single reasoneable company wouldn't do. They organised an intern contest!
Naturally there were tons of other characters developed we won't disucss here (example: Greendog! May become a future review...)
The two best ideas were a "Roosevelt in pajamas". A cartoonish character battling evil monsters. This one was kept and eventually became the EVIL Eggman!
The other one was a speedy rabbit character using his ears as attacks. The rabbit became an armadillo who could run (and the grabbing stuff for an attack was used later on Ristar). Finally the armadillo became itself an hedgehog because Yuji Naka found it naturally more "authentic" or something (though the armadillo was resurrected as the character Mighty the Armadillo for a later game).
Now, why did I tell you all this? To put you in the shoes of the 1991 me or you or simply gamers of the 90s.
Sonic was a very expected game at that time! The game was a basic 2D platformer like there's a tons of these from that era. It is basically the opposite experience of a Mario Bros. Arcade feel, not as many levels, divided in acts with a boss using a unique pattern each time. The game features loop-da-loops, rings to collect as life/energy, many many dumb robot enemies. Only uses one button (jump) which combined by the speed and direction makes you either spin, roll, rock through walls or just destroy robots! Very arcad-y!
I can hear you now:
"But Eyz, what does this all have to do with the review-thing-y?"
Well, this is my review! Don't interrupt me!!
Hum.. *cough*
I'll answer:
"Well, duh! Everything!"
You see, for a game of that time, it was FRESH! unique! Original! Something a modern COPY PAST attempt *cough*Sonic4*cough* would be able to! At that time there weren't that much speedy platformers, or cool mascot for that matter! Nooooo sir! That was actually in the coming years!
The game was kinda difficult, unique to control (the physics ingame were well rendered! Every jump had its weight!). It was pretty darn' short but you could collect 6 "Chaos Emerald" to attempt to master the bonus stages! Nothing was unlockable back then, it was the perfect ARCADE platformer experience! And that's how different from Mario!
Both great platformers, but different!
Now's the "review" part of the review:
Some levels were maybe too much platform-y. In my eyes, it was kinda unbalanced for the arcade-game-like experience. If you like Mario, chances are, those parts may be your favorite. But I always thought it didn't really represent that well SEGA's uniqueness (think Streets of Rage, Fantasy Zone, Outrun..now think about Labyrinth Zone... you see?)
Afterall a mascot has to represent the brand!
I'm not talking about blind running like modern Sonic games are all about, just, less vicious and slow platforming! But the level design was mostly good and well built around Sonic's gameplay.
There wasn't any cutscenes, nor dialogues, something you would thought to see from the studio who did the PHANTASY STAR series! But you could easily understand the plot. Evil scientist Eggman (come on! even if you loved the cartoon series Robotnik, Eggman is his name! There's a Death Egg, a final Egg, EggRobos and lots of Egg shaped or written words everywhere! that's his gimmick!!) is trying to conquer the world. He uses small animals to power up his bots. Sonic the hedgehog confronts him! It sure ain't Shakespeare, but that's what I want and expect from a 2D platformer!
So, in all it's components, Sonic 1 was a fun, fresh, easily understandable platformer! Colorful, wonderfully using the Megadrive sound & music abilities. A great experience.
Overall, it was a great way to introduce the Sega Megadrive to the world. It sure wasn't anything new, but it was pretty darn' entertaining!
My own Megadrive was bought boxed with a copy of Sonic 1! (it was that or Golden Axe... Sorry GA, but I couldn't choose you over the fastest blue stuff alive!)
Also note that the pal released was actually the zone-free US copy. It wasn't optimised for a 50Hertz Megadrive system... So either play it from a recent compilation or get it on "another" Megadrive/Genesis system *hint hint*
So in one world, a great game.
Sonic Team's first attempt, is a pretty decent and cool platformer, some parts may be "unequal", but hey it's a classic now!
I give it:
2.5 / 3 Segata Sanshiros!
(ps: Sorry for the long ass review :P I couldn't stop writing! Next up a review of a comic and a movie, more Star Wars stuff and random thoughts)
