Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Mega Drive) – For those who don’t know!

It’s where all the Sonic the Hedgehog fame began. It’s the original 16-bit game developed Sega in 1991. Sonic the Hedgehog is a single player, platform game that was released for Sega Mega Drive/Gen System.

In Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic was introduced to players all over the world. Sonic is a fast paced, blue hedgehog that can run at supersonic speeds. While he is running he can somersault, cause damage to certain structures and even defeat enemies. As Sonic runs he goes through loops and even uses springs to jump higher.

Sonic the Hedgehog did not have a massive plot line like some of the more modern games do. Instead it just involved Sonic running and destroying the enemy known as Dr. Robotnik. When Dr. Robotnik was destroyed there would be an egg capsule that when jumped on released helpless animals like bunnies and other loveable creatures. Dr. Robotnik is an evil mad scientist that is out to capture all the animals in the world and turn them into robots. Pretty mean guy, right? It is up to Sonic to save the animals and destroy Dr. Robotinik before it is too late. An interesting fact is that in the US game the enemy is called Dr. Robotnik but in the Japanese version he is known as Dr. Eggman. This is still a source of confusion for some people even all these years later.

The world of Sonic the Hedgehog was made of up six different worlds or zones. Each of these zones have unique characteristics. The zones featured in the original Sonic the Hedgehog game include: Green Hill, Marble, Spring Yard, Labyrinth, Star Light, Scrap Brain and the Final Zone. Each world was made up into three acts. The first two acts require that Sonic must make it to the end of the level without being crushed or losing all his rings and also within the time frame. The final act was a final boss level and required that the player defeat the boss to move on. The boss is only defeated after Sonic “hits” him 8 times. Take that Nintendo’s classic 3 hits, Sega is blast processing to the max!

The actual game play involved with the Sonic the Hedgehog game was simple. A player made it to the end of the level by making Sonic run at supersonic speeds through the level. Gotta go fast, after all. While the player ran Sonic through the levels, they were required to collect gold rings. These rings served as a protecting shield for Sonic. If Sonic ran into obstacles, hit an enemy or other problems he would lose the rings and not a life. If there were no rings left a life was lost and the player had to restart the level. Rings were obtained by running into various scattered rings all over the level or by destroying TV monitor like structures that contained rings and were hidden throughout the level.

If a player completed the act with more then 50 rings a special gold ring would appear from the sky. Sonic would jump through it and a player would be able to play a special “bonus” game. The game consists of Sonic turning into a ball and must be weaved through a maze like psychedelic level. At the end of the level there is an Emerald that must be touched. Throughout this mini game type thing there are GOAL signs that will end the bonus game. Complete the bonus game and a player is awarded a continuation. Which is pretty neat!

Placed throughout each act were checkpoints that a player would run Sonic through and these would “save” the game. Should a life be lost, Sonic would respawn at these checkpoints and start from there, Which is pretty handy in a world without savestates.

At the time, Sonic the Hedgehog took video game players by storm. It was one of the fastest playing video games out there.  It has since become a legendary, classic video game. There have been many Sonic spin offs and even a TV show based off of the Sonic franchise, but this original 16-bit game is where it all started for sonic on the Mega drive.