My Opinion of Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) - A Review

Alright, I'm back! And I'm back to review every classic Sonic game! Let's start with this game.

Sonic 1. It's the game that launched the franchise we all know and love. It was revolutionary! And it put SEGA on the map and challenged what seemed to be the unbeatable Nintendo. But... this game was never something I really wanted to play. It's for two reasons: The absence of the Spindash, and Marble Zone. I was always used to having the Spindash to use whenever I wanted, but now I can enjoy the game more after getting used to going far left and then gaining momentum to go up a hill. Sigh... but I still hate Marble Zone. It's so tedious! And if I'm just playing without saving (what you'd have to do until some later rereleases) it always kills me!

But every other Zone I enjoy. Green Hill and Spring Yard are loads of fun, Star Light and Scrap Brain are challenging while still fun, and Labyrinth is somewhat annoying but I still enjoy it more than Marble. On my most recent playthrough, I got past Marble Zone and I was engaged enough to beat the game in a couple sessions! So yeah, I like this game a lot more than I used to. Another thing about the game is the bosses, which are not fancily designed like in later games, but they're moderately challenging (except for that stupid Labyrinth boss which is so annoying). There's also the Special Stages. These are really hard and annoying... but ultimately other than getting continues these are pretty useless. At the end of each stage you get one of the 6 (7 in later games) Chaos Emeralds, which, if you collect them all, unlock a secret ending that... is barely distiguishable from the bad ending. So yeah. You don't need to do the Special Stages at all. And last, but not least, the soundtrack. Composed by the lead artist of J-pop band DREAMS COME TRUE, this is a great soundtrack! Pretty much all the zone themes are very memorable, from the fun, pleasant Green Hill theme, to the desolate Marble Zone theme, to the bouncy Spring Yard theme, to the Scrap Brain theme that gives off the feeling of a final pursuit. You definitely don't want to mute the sound on this game!

Overall, I like this game, but I don't love it. If you want this game, you can get it on a ton of platforms. There's obviously the original Genesis version, and then there's ports for the Gamecube, Xbox 360, PS3, DS, Steam, etc. But the best one you can get is the iOS/Android remaster. There's a 16:9 screen, can play as Tails or Knuckles in addition to Sonic, there's a multiplayer mode, added Spindash... Just get that if you have a smartphone and $2.99 to spend.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this review! See you soon with my review of Sonic the Hedgehog 2!