Backlog Game Reviews 29: Sonic The Hedgehog (Sega Saturn)

 

     Hey there, and welcome to Backlog Game Reviews.

   Today lets talk about Sonic The Hedgehog. Sonic was created to appeal to the western market and as a result, was first released in North America on June 1991 for the Sega Genesis. It would go on to see a release in Europe and Japan on July of the same year. Sonic became a major hit across the world and he would soon become SEGA's permanent mascot.

                                                                 

Sonic Jam title screen

   Then in Japan on June 1997 Sonic The Hedgehog along with Sonic 2, Sonic 3, and Sonic and Knuckles were re-released on the Sega Saturn. This compilation called Sonic Jam later went on sale in North America and Europe two months after the Japanese release. For this review, I'll be playing the Sega Saturn re-release. Now then, let's take a look at Sonic's very first adventure.

The first stage, Green Hill Zone Act 1. Every Zone has 3 acts in it.

 The story takes place on the nature-filled South Island. Sonic lives here together with his many animal friends. But one-day Sonic notices that the island's animals are disappearing and in their place, strange robots are appearing. Sonic soon learns that these robots belong to the mad scientist Dr. Robotnik, who Sonic refers to as Eggman. Robotnik has been capturing the island's animals and using them as power sources for his robots.

One of Dr. Robotnik's robots.

 Robotnik plans to use his robots to search for the mystical Chaos Emeralds, which are said to have limitless power. If Robotnik were to get his hands on them his machines would be unstoppable. Sonic being the only one able to stand up to the evil doctor races off to not only save his friends, but to find the Chaos Emeralds before Robotnik does.

Freeing a group of animals from captivity.

Compared to other games at the time the story is pretty good, it's not too much different from what you would find in a Mario game but it puts its own twist on things. Instead of trying to rescue a princess, you're on a mission to save your friends, the stakes feel more personal. The story is also implemented into the gameplay, every time you destroy one of Robotnik's robots you free an animal and can see them running away, this gives you some added motivation to destroy as many of Robotnik's robots as possible. This small detail makes the story feel all the more immersive.

Running through the Green Hill Zone

Moving on to the gameplay, Sonic The Hedgehog is a platformer with a secondary focus on speed. If Sonic runs down a slope or goes uninterrupted on a level piece of ground he'll pick up speed and can get pretty fast. It's fun to go as fast as possible and clear the stages as quickly as you can, but unless you have the stage layout memorized it's almost impossible to keep your speed up. The camera is too closely zoomed in so you can't react to oncoming obstacles fast enough.

If you press down on the D-pad while running Sonic will curl into a ball and roll around on the ground. This can be used to attack enemies that can't be jumped on.

    The game could have benefited from having fewer traps and enemies or they could have pulled the camera back some. Going fast is one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game but as things stand reaching high speeds is a good way to get yourself killed.

Clear a stage with 50 rings or more to play a bonus stage. If you clear the stage you'll get a Chaos Emerald, get all 6 for a slightly different ending.

   Another problem is that in a good number of stages going fast isn’t even an option. Some stages like the Green Hill Zone are wide open with multiple routes that encourage exploration. These stages are the most fun, with practice it’s easy to pick up speed and keep your momentum up and the multiple routes increase the game's replay ability.

Green Hill Zone is full of alternate and hidden paths.

   But then you have stages like the Marble Zone, these stages don't have multiple paths and are packed with traps, enemies, and platforming sections that keep you from picking up any speed. These stages are built like linear obstacle courses that need to be taken slowly.

The Marble Zone focuses heavily on slow platforming.

   The platforming sections are all well designed so these stages are far from boring, but when playing as a character like Sonic you find yourself wanting to spend less time doing slow-paced platforming and more time running around.

Throughout the game you'll find these monitors, smash them to get a power up. This one contains the shield power up, it'll protect Sonic from taking damage, but only once.

All things considered Sonic The Hedgehog is a fun and solid platformer. It's short but hard, if you get a game over and don't have any continues left then it's back to the start of the game. You'll have to spend some time and practice the stages if you want to beat the game. My only complaint concerning the difficulty is that all of the bosses even the last boss are incredibly easy making them a little boring to fight, the game would have been better off with harder bosses or none at all.

Sonic's first encounter with Dr. Robotnik.

   But even with all of its drawbacks, this is a really enjoyable game. As long as you don't go into it thinking you're going to be blazing through all of the stages at supersonic speed, then you'll have a good time. I personally would have preferred more of a balance between speed and platforming, the game heavily favors slow platforming sections which makes Sonic's speed feel like a gimmick.

Sonic got a Chaos Emerald!

   Moving on to the graphics, this is a really good looking game. All of the backgrounds are very well detailed and very pleasing to the eye. All of the character sprites have a huge amount of detail put into them and are very expressive. Sonic will start tapping his foot and look at the screen with an annoyed look on his face if you stand still for too long. When fighting Robotnik he'll smile towards the screen whenever he lands a hit on Sonic. These animations while ultimately unnecessary bring the characters to life and give them personality.

Robotnik laughing it up after landing a hit on Sonic.

   The music had just as much love and care put into it. There isn't a single bad song in this game. Every song is extremely catchy and will easily get stuck in your head. You'll find yourself humming along with the music when playing the game and if you're like me you'll be singing the songs after you turn the game off.

That's all I have to say about Sonic The Hedgehog. It's far from a perfect game but it's still a lot of fun to play. If you like 2D platformers and want to give this game a try I definitely recommend doing so.

Thank you for reading. The next review will be over an SNES game. I hope to see you again here at Backlog Game Reviews. 

Click Here: Sonic The Hedgehog Gameplay Video