LogFAQs > #951270362

#10. Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Genesis, 1991)
The first video game I ever played! Ive talked about Sonic a bunch already obviously, and a lot I say would just be redundant. But clearly it had an impact because were here 30 years later and it has never not been my favorite series. I was into all the Sonic media. The TV Shows, the comics, the toys, the Tiger games, a mini pinball machine, I was Sonic for Halloween at least once, shirts and stuff, all the way to these days where I use screencaps in my Zoom backgrounds at work.

Everything just perfectly clicked in this game. The way Sonic controls, the platforming, jumping on enemies, beating bosses, running past the goalposts, jumping into that big special stage ring if you got 50, the oft overlooked ring mechanic of always being able to survive as long as you have one ring (short of getting crushed or falling down a pit) really this was a fantastic mechanic that never gets credit for working and still sticking through. As I said in my other review, Sonic is not a game about going fast. So many people deride these games for this, saying well they let me do it in Green Hill and then took it away in every other stage and thats why I dont like it oh well Im sorry a game introducing different ways to utilize Sonics movement isnt the exact same just run fast every single level. Sega eventually kowtowed to fans and made these games in 3D. Some are ok. Most of them are bad. But if its what you like, I guess more power to you, but I feel like youve deluded yourself out of what makes Sonic Sonic based on a fallacy you had 30 years ago. Sonic is not about speed.



Sonic is about momentum. Yes, sometimes going fast plays a part in this, but it doesnt have to. Its momentum and how it interacts with slopes, bouncing off of enemies, going through loops, the pacing between going slow and going fast, and taking care to avoid obstacles. If you just plow forward, yes you will get punished and probably deserve it. Speed still plays a part here because there are sections spaced properly through out the game where you CAN fly through fast, and that is fun too. Look at the level progression. Green Hill- fast, Marble- slow, Spring Yard- Mostly fast except for those crushy elevators, Labyrinth- Slow, Star Light- FAST (I love the super steep slopes and double loops in this level, it provides a stark contrast to Labyrinth before it), Scrap Brain- can play pretty fast if youre good with timing and obstacles. But again, in each of these, your momentum uniquely affects you in each level. Marble has the lava geysers. Green Hill has the snaky pipe things that you spin down. Spring Yard has the big U-shaped halfpipe things, that you can spinroll out of (by the way, the down spinroll is an underappreciated thing about Sonic because spindash in Sonic 2 outshined it by most people, but pressing down to spinroll is a very effective thing to do in how you take out enemies and how it completely changes how you move around). Labyrinth throws you for a loop with controlling yourself in water plus the GODDAMN DROWNING tension, which is heart-pumping adrenaline, not to mention the unique boss where you just have to outclimb the water level, avoiding fireballs and spears. Star Light has steep slopes and the see saws that launch differently depending on how you land on them. And Scrap Brain has the conveyor belts and spinny-do platforms.



Plus, more I didnt mention in each of these levels but my point is Sonic 1 was interesting and fun because of how varied and interesting it was in how it incorporated this MOMENTUM. Oh, not to mention the trippy as fuck special stages where youre just falling endlessly in gravity and controlling a maze around sonic while like birds, fish, and bubbles take over the background what the fuck is even happening



Anyway, I Love this game. Its fantastically underappreciated by most people who like 2 more, but for me, this one is better, just a bit. I personally think the level design is better, the music is much better (Star Light and the Boss music stands out for me a lot), and the visual design is much better- I like the way it looks more than Sonic 2, its more smooth and less sharp- its still colorful, but more subtle than Sonic 2s color. The bosses are classic (Decapitation!!!).



Its also a much more important game both to me and in the Sonic pantheon. Im glad this one came first because it really solidified the importance of momentum in 2D platformers and that persisted well throughout most of Sonics 2D life. I knew as I went through my first loop-de-loop, when I went through that first snake pipe in Green Hill and hit the slope and launched through the air, even to when I outraced the lava floe in the little obstacle course in Marble (the one blocked by spikes and raised platforms)- I knew these games felt amazing and were perfect for me.



COPE

Next up: A successor that I am in the minority of liking more than its much more popular original game.


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~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS