Retro Review – Sonic the Hedgehog

<p>It was 1990 and Nintendo was still on top of the gaming industry&comma; largely in part due to the third entry in the Super Mario Bros&period; series&period; Sega needed a big hit and they needed it fast&period; They realized they needed not only a successful franchise but also a beloved mascot&period; After some careful planning they had Sonic the Hedgehog and intended to make not only a great game but something that was technically impressive to showcase their system&&num;8217&semi;s power&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Twenty five years later and we know how wildly successful Sonic has been and&comma; despite some recent pot holes in the franchise&comma; it has been a road paved with success&period; Sonic has had many outings but it all began in the now famous and fondly remembered Green Hill Zone&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;110284" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-110284" style&equals;"width&colon; 690px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-110284 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;07&sol;03121518&sol;Sonic-the-Hedgehog-1024x768&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lt&semi;em&gt&semi;Sonic the Hedgehog&lt&semi;&sol;em&gt&semi;&comma; Sega" width&equals;"690" height&equals;"518" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-110284" class&equals;"wp-caption-text"><em>Sonic the Hedgehog<&sol;em>&comma; Sega<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Green Hill Zone is such a perfect thesis statement to this game as a whole&period; It communicates the goals of the game&comma; teases just how many hazards across the game will behave&comma; shows you how to attack enemies quickly&comma; and encourages the speed and momentum that it demanded to be known for&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s also always fun to revisit&comma; even if just for the first three levels&period; When I would get a &&num;8216&semi;Game Over&&num;8217&semi; as a kid&comma; I was almost filled with joy to start the game all over again&period; Sure&comma; the whole game is great but the statement that Green Hill Zone makes is just so perfect&period; The atmosphere is also supported with absolutely beautiful and heartwarming music&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Sonic controls like a dream&comma; which I&&num;8217&semi;m sure was no easy feat to achieve&period; Even while blazing through levels at lightning fast speeds&comma; you can maintain control of Sonic&period; It may get tricky due to the speeds you&&num;8217&semi;re traveling at but hey&comma; that&&num;8217&semi;s your fault&period; The controller will never be to blame for a death&period; The hit detection is spot on and the world around you is ready to be explored&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Sonic travels through all sorts of worlds and the journey is beautiful with the graphics that the Genesis made possible&period; Textures explode off the screen and backgrounds pop &&num;8211&semi; and they&&num;8217&semi;re all <em>filled<&sol;em> with an extensive color palette&period; Your journey will be filled with joy in the beginning and remain fun&comma; even when the difficulty ramps up&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;110286" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-110286" style&equals;"width&colon; 690px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-110286 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;07&sol;03121459&sol;Sonic-2-1024x768&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lt&semi;em&gt&semi;Sonic the Hedgehog&lt&semi;&sol;em&gt&semi;&comma; Sega" width&equals;"690" height&equals;"518" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-110286" class&equals;"wp-caption-text"><em>Sonic the Hedgehog<&sol;em>&comma; Sega<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The worlds of <em>Sonic<&sol;em> start off cute but they continue to change just as the difficulty does&period; I want to reiterate what I said earlier&colon; This game is always fair &&num;8211&semi; but I never said it wouldn&&num;8217&semi;t get hard&period; The difficulty ramps up more and more with each level but you&&num;8217&semi;ll always feel prepared even when you feel frustrated&period; The early levels give you much of the knowledge you need to <em>know<&sol;em> what to do &&num;8211&semi; achieving it is just a different story&period; There are many challenges that will be thrown your way as you progress and you&&num;8217&semi;re going to see &&num;8216&semi;Game Over&&num;8217&semi; more than you&&num;8217&semi;d like&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Sonic<&sol;em> is a bit of a short game&period; I thought it was short as a kid but I think newcomers will especially feel this way&period; The price point and entertainment value will help smooth out any ill feelings over the length though and it is <em>always<&sol;em> a blast to replay&period; <em>Sonic<&sol;em> is just fun all around and the tunes and good times will carry you through each playthrough&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s also fun to see how much quicker you can complete levels when you discover shortcuts and truly hone your Sonic skills&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Sonic the Hedgehog<&sol;em> is one the most deliberately executed games ever created&period; It knows exactly what it is&period; Everything about it was just one hundred percent&period; From the game design to the character design&comma; to the controls&comma; to the soundtrack&period; <em>Sonic<&sol;em> exudes confidence&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s really one of my favorite things about this entry in the series&period; It may not be my favorite Sonic game but I will always marvel at how&comma; every step of the way&comma; you can see the passion of Team Sonic&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;110287" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-110287" style&equals;"width&colon; 690px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-110287 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;07&sol;03121441&sol;Sonic-3-1024x768&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lt&semi;em&gt&semi;Sonic the Hedgehog&lt&semi;&sol;em&gt&semi;&comma; Sega" width&equals;"690" height&equals;"518" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-110287" class&equals;"wp-caption-text"><em>Sonic the Hedgehog<&sol;em>&comma; Sega<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Twenty five years have come and gone and the original <em>Sonic<&sol;em> is still a classic&period; There may be a few hiccups in the game&&num;8217&semi;s design but&comma; in spite of the sometimes high difficulty&comma; the original <em>Sonic<&sol;em> will always be an iconic moment in gaming history&period; It helped define a generation&comma; a decade&comma; and it captured the hearts of millions of gamers&period; If you haven&&num;8217&semi;t played the original <em>Sonic<&sol;em> you owe it to not only yourself but also The Blue Blur himself to give this game a go&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;