How do you beat Nintendo in a console war? With a wise cracking blue Hedgehog! That’s how!

Sega unleashed Sonic the Hedgehog on the world in an effort to Concret themselves into the forefront of the home console market. Much like the rest of the world, I was obsessed with the lightning fast little guy. Cartoons and comics consumed my life and posters covered my walls, I was hooked in. I didn’t even own a megadrive 😒

At the time, in 1991 I was 9 years old. My household only had a Sega Master system with a few games, we were by no means a poor family and my parents were certainly not tight, it’s just that….

“Why do you need another Sega? This ones perfectly fine”

Luckily for me my best friend (also my next door neighbour) got a mega drive on the day of release, he had lots of games and I used to go over there all the time. 😉

Spending hours at his house we must have finished Sonic the Hedgehog hundreds of times, playing lives & levels. I truly miss hanging around with my friends like this, not a care in the world.

So How do I approach reviewing a game that pretty much defined my childhood? How can I possibly do this game justice? Will it live up to the level of nostalgia feels I get just from thinking about it? I hope so.



Sonic The Hedgehog wasn’t just a game, it was a statement. Sega were taking the no shits given approach to the gaming market. They had adverts directly slating their main rival Nintendo whilst pushing a care free Mascot who would bad talk anyone who stood in his way. I liked it. I liked it a lot.

Sonic the game reflected this perfectly with its blistering pace, it’s simplicity, you just run as fast as you can destroying anything that stands in your way.

No messing



Even now the game looks beautiful, Sega fully understood how to use a colour pallet to their advantage. Rich blue sky’s scroll against the brightly coloured stages, I like how the enemies stand out even when your running along at full speed. Each and every level varies enough in appearance, you can instantly pick out the correct level at a single glance. I really love how this game looks, it takes me right back to my childhood.

To add to that even the sound design is a pure delight, every song is memorable. Honestly I think this is my one of my all time favourite game soundtracks second only to this games very own sequel. Often I find myself whistling the odd tune whilst I work, so damn catchy.

It’s only when you actually sit down to play Sonic that you remember the bad side. You start on the beautifully designed Green Hill Zone, crafted in such a way sonic can blitz through each level in the matter of seconds. Flowing with the hills and loops making you feel pretty badass after a clean run.



However this tends to end here. As the levels progress and naturally become harder it kind of feels like everything is placed to get in Sonics way, he moves so fast that’s near impossible to be running full speed and react to something approaching. Awkward bumps and walls hinder your speed and Bullet shooting wasps tend to lurk around blind jumps turning it into a sort of trial and error game.

This takes me out of the zone completely, it becomes fraustrating and makes you run through the game at a slower pace, slowly advancing, which just makes it feel like you’re fighting with Sonic all the time, trying to slow him down and all he wants to do is run. This makes the platforming sections really tricky, I get fraustrated when I die and have to repeat these sections. Sonic accelerates so fast He feels sort of ‘on ice’. I guess that’s part of the challenge, not only do you run fast but you must also master slowing him down. It’s unfortunate that the slower sections take up the majority of the game as I found these to be the most fraustrating.

As I played through, I noticed that every new zone I entered I groaned. “Aw I hate this level”.

I do love this game but I also hate all of the levels…..go figure



I especially dislike the Labryth Zone, forcing you underwater you have to collect air bubbles that appear sporadically across the levels. The bubbles pop out every ten seconds or so, you get about 30 seconds of air before you die so you must get from point to point before you run out. Another inclusion that slows you down. I normally end up waiting around for a bubble in fear of carrying on without enough time. Luckily this Zone isn’t difficult and despite the name suggestion it’s very easy to find you way from start to finish. Get it out of the way! 😡

The first Zone and final two zones are my favourites, and I think playing through the mid game zones to get to these are well worth it. At least once.

As you progress through the levels you collect rings, if you have any number of rings you’re granted with a buffer, this allows you to take one extra hit before you die, coins fly everywhere and it’s actually possible to reclaim each one if you are quick enough. Unfortunately if too many coins fly around the mega drive almost grinds to a halt, not a good look

If your carrying fifty or more rings when you run past one of the many checkpoints you are granted access to the bonus stage.

The bonus stage is sort of like a pinball table that constantly rotates, you have to bounce around to find and collect a Chaos Emrald. Being honest I think these bonus stages are shitty, it costs you all of your rings wether you complete the bonus stage or not. Personally I think the extra buffer the coins provide is the more desired option. Plus if you collect one hundred rings you get an extra life.



All the boss battles are good. You have to take down the evil Doctor Robotnic or Doctor Eggman as he was later called. He’s a fat git with some kind of futuristic mobility scooter that floats around. His evil plan is to capture all the cute animals and turn them into robots….for some reason. Each time you meet him he will attack with a different weapon. These are pretty much just pattern memorisation. Once you figure out how to avoid his attacks and hit him it becomes easy. Still fun though



I’m finding it hard to figure out if I enjoyed playing Sonic this time round, or if it is just nostalgia that’s making me think I enjoyed it. It’s a good game but it made me swear a lot more than smile. Each level past the first is a chore to finish and can get fairly laborious when you have to repeat after cheap death.

I finished it in one sitting and still I keep going back to it for a quick blast. It’s got a hold on me and it won’t let me go.



Good times

Thanks for reading

Love you

Pug