Let me explain that "one-liner" first. Some quick video game history:
As a video game company, Sega had always been something of an also-ran when compared to mighty Nintendo during the 1980s. Nintendo's venerable 8-bit NES absolutely ruled the gaming world at that time, with the company using its incredibly powerful marketing department to tackle and eliminate all potential challengers. When Sega introduced its competing Master System in 1986 (after a trial run of sorts with a variety of arcade games), it was hard to look past Nintendo's immense library of game cartridges and see that Sega had actually crafted a more capable system.
But Nintendo had relied on the NES architecture for too long. This meant that the time was right by 1989 for a competitor to rise, like a cobra, from the mists. Sega took the chance and introduced its groundbreaking 16-bit Genesis system. Critics were impressed - the semi-3D graphics were a huge improvement over the NES' largely one-dimensional images, and the Genesis platform seemed to have been designed with the serious game-player in mind.
Sega's problem, however, was in Genesis games. Mainly, there were not enough of them - and of those, only a few were really very good (Sega relying mainly on lots of blood and gore to pull in older customers). Genesis was popular among gamers who simply wanted a change of pace, but the system needed what is now called the "killer app" - a game that was good enough to sell the systems on its own.
Which brings us, in a roundabout way, to Sonic the Hedgehog.
Introduced for 1991, Sonic was in most ways a typical action platform game - cruise through a variety of interesting places, collect power-ups and score points, and attempt to beat the evil bad guy and save the world at the end of the game. Most people at the time said, "So it's like Mario Bros., then?" Those people hadn't played Sonic yet. Sonic the Hedgehog was a feast for the eyes with beautiful graphics, well-designed levels and a main character (the titular blue Hedgehog) who had more attitude than any chubby Italian plumber could ever achieve.
But of course, Sonic was so named because it (and he) was fast. Faster than any video game most people had ever played on a home system, so fast that one could easily become overwhelmed by the rapidly shifting scenery. And herein lay the challenge: control Sonic's speed while completing the mission (the levels were timed, of course) and you would be rewarded with one of the finest gaming experiences ever digitized.
And graphics and gameplay are only part of the story. Great music, by MIDI master Yuzo Koshiro, both highlights the speed of the game and defines the unique character of each Zone. Replay value is enhanced by the challenge of finding eight Chaos Emeralds, hidden within special stages that get progressively harder to navigate through. Find all eight and there's a very special surprise...which I won't reveal. You figure it out!
The only drawbacks are that once you figure out the secrets of harnessing Sonic's speed, the game is not that tough to complete (aside from the aforementioned Chaos Emerald challenge, which is a bear). And modern gamers who've been spoiled by the ability to constantly save their progress will probably be disappointed at the prospect of (gasp!) starting over anew every time, though there is a continue feature allowing two more tries from the same Zone.
Overall, an excellent game and - as mentioned earlier - the true "killer app" for the Genesis. (Sega eventually figured this out and began to sell the game as the "pack-in" title with the Genesis hardware package.) Eleven years on, I still find it immensely entertaining to pop that cartridge into my dusty old Genesis system and wheel Sonic to glory once again.
Highly recommended.
hondaboy :-D
As a video game company, Sega had always been something of an also-ran when compared to mighty Nintendo during the 1980s. Nintendo's venerable 8-bit NES absolutely ruled the gaming world at that time, with the company using its incredibly powerful marketing department to tackle and eliminate all potential challengers. When Sega introduced its competing Master System in 1986 (after a trial run of sorts with a variety of arcade games), it was hard to look past Nintendo's immense library of game cartridges and see that Sega had actually crafted a more capable system.
But Nintendo had relied on the NES architecture for too long. This meant that the time was right by 1989 for a competitor to rise, like a cobra, from the mists. Sega took the chance and introduced its groundbreaking 16-bit Genesis system. Critics were impressed - the semi-3D graphics were a huge improvement over the NES' largely one-dimensional images, and the Genesis platform seemed to have been designed with the serious game-player in mind.
Sega's problem, however, was in Genesis games. Mainly, there were not enough of them - and of those, only a few were really very good (Sega relying mainly on lots of blood and gore to pull in older customers). Genesis was popular among gamers who simply wanted a change of pace, but the system needed what is now called the "killer app" - a game that was good enough to sell the systems on its own.
Which brings us, in a roundabout way, to Sonic the Hedgehog.
Introduced for 1991, Sonic was in most ways a typical action platform game - cruise through a variety of interesting places, collect power-ups and score points, and attempt to beat the evil bad guy and save the world at the end of the game. Most people at the time said, "So it's like Mario Bros., then?" Those people hadn't played Sonic yet. Sonic the Hedgehog was a feast for the eyes with beautiful graphics, well-designed levels and a main character (the titular blue Hedgehog) who had more attitude than any chubby Italian plumber could ever achieve.
But of course, Sonic was so named because it (and he) was fast. Faster than any video game most people had ever played on a home system, so fast that one could easily become overwhelmed by the rapidly shifting scenery. And herein lay the challenge: control Sonic's speed while completing the mission (the levels were timed, of course) and you would be rewarded with one of the finest gaming experiences ever digitized.
And graphics and gameplay are only part of the story. Great music, by MIDI master Yuzo Koshiro, both highlights the speed of the game and defines the unique character of each Zone. Replay value is enhanced by the challenge of finding eight Chaos Emeralds, hidden within special stages that get progressively harder to navigate through. Find all eight and there's a very special surprise...which I won't reveal. You figure it out!
The only drawbacks are that once you figure out the secrets of harnessing Sonic's speed, the game is not that tough to complete (aside from the aforementioned Chaos Emerald challenge, which is a bear). And modern gamers who've been spoiled by the ability to constantly save their progress will probably be disappointed at the prospect of (gasp!) starting over anew every time, though there is a continue feature allowing two more tries from the same Zone.
Overall, an excellent game and - as mentioned earlier - the true "killer app" for the Genesis. (Sega eventually figured this out and began to sell the game as the "pack-in" title with the Genesis hardware package.) Eleven years on, I still find it immensely entertaining to pop that cartridge into my dusty old Genesis system and wheel Sonic to glory once again.
Highly recommended.
hondaboy :-D
