LogFAQs > #914009520

#11. Sonic the Hedgehog
https://i.redd.it/3u0tmp9iag321.jpg

Green Hill Zone may be the most perfect platforming level ever created. Its bright, vibrant, surreal, and encourages you to explore and figure out the mechanics. It also serves as the introduction to the Platonic ideal of Sonic--a supremely fast-paced, frenetic platformer that satisfies a generation of ADHD children who no longer have the patience for a boring, methodical game like Super Mario Bros. Playing through it is pure bliss.

Its just too bad the rest of Sonic 1 isnt even remotely as fun as Green Hill. I played this game as a kid, but I never owned it and therefore never really got through more than the first few zones. I was more accustomed to Sonic 2 and 3, so that made Sonic 1 particularly jarring to play 20 years later. The game is janky, cheap, and punishes speed--the very element that makes Green Hill so amazing. The lack of a spin-dash is really a massive deterrent to enjoying the experience, since any time you get hit (often by cheap offscreen enemies) you have to s.l.o.w.l.y. regain momentum to get things going again--until you smash into the next enemy.

Had Sonic 2 and 3 not improved the gameplay dramatically, I think wed be looking at the original Sonic as a rather generic attempt for Sega to establish a mascot platformer--a legacy as unimpressive as Alex Kidd or Bubsy. But because we must live in context, Sonic is often wrongly respected for breaking the mold and sparking the first serious challenge to Marios platforming hegemony. The truth of the matter is that Sonic is a frustrating mess of a game that really does only stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Alex Kidd and Bubsy, but we falsely treat it as seeding some kind of revolution that didnt really happen until its sequel.

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11. Sonic the Hedgehog

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"A more mature answer than I expected."~ Jakyl25
"Sephy's point is right."~ Inviso