This is the first of many games starring Sega's premier rodent, Sonic. It's a side scrolling platform game with a difference: speed. Sonic rushes through levels with incredible speed, allowing him to traverse loops and jumps with ease. It is developed by Sonic Team and was released in 1991 in North America, Europe, and Japan for the Genesis/Mega Drive.
The plot of the game is simple. The evil Dr. Robotnik has captured many of Sonic's animal friends, and trapped them inside robots. Fortunately, Sonic can free his friends by destroying the robots with his spin attack. Meanwhile, Dr. Robotnik is trying to control the all-powerful chaos emeralds. Sonic must grab them before he does in the 3-d rotating bonus levels.
Sonic the Hedgehog is a significant game because it gave Sega it's first real mascot, began the Sonic legend, and established the Genesis as the video game system with "attitude." After it was released, it eventually supplanted Altered Beast as the bundled game with the console. Sonic 1 had 7 levels consisting of the Green Hill, Marble, Spring Yard, Labyrinth, Starlight, Scrap Brain, and Final Zone.
There was also a version of Sonic the Hedgehog released for the Sega Master System and the Game Gear, which loosely followed the design of the Genesis version, although with some different zones and a level map.
Gameplay:
In the game, Sonic has to prevent Dr. Robotnik from collecting the six Chaos Emeralds in an attempt to rule South Island. The player controls Sonic as he traverse six zones of three acts each. At the end of the third act of each zone, the player faces Dr. Robotnik in one of his vehicles.
The gameplay centers around Sonic's ability to run, jump, and roll at high speeds. Levels include springs, slopes, high falls and loop-de-loops, to allow the player to achieve high speeds. Essential to the gameplay are the signature power rings the player collects, which are regularly placed around the level map. While Sonic possesses at least one power ring, the player will not lose a life when injured. Instead, the rings the player has collected will fly outward from Sonic which can then be retrieved before they disappear. If the player runs into an enemy without possessing any power rings, he will lose a life.
Despite the various types of protection available, neither the shield, power rings, nor invincibility will prevent the player losing a life if Sonic is crushed (by a trap or between a wall and a moving platform), drowned, passes the ten-minute time limit, or falls into a pit.
Progression through the game is made easier for the player by lamp posts that act as checkpoints. When Sonic passes a lamp post, the game will resume from that point when the player loses a life. In the Japanese version, if a checkpoint is activated and a life is lost as a result of running out of time, the time at the checkpoint will reset to 0:00.
Hazards the player experiences include a wide variety of "badniks" - these appear as animals trapped inside mechanical bodies which are released the moment the player hits them. Each badnik takes one hit to destroy, but they vary greatly from Zone to Zone; some will walk in a set path, others will try blasting the player, and some cannot be avoided at all. The player must also avoid rows of sharp spikes, cliffs, and elaborate death traps. There is also the threat of drowning, as the player can only survive approximately 30 seconds underwater (locating air bubbles can extend this).
Legacy:
Sonic the Hedgehog added the element of speed to the standard platform formula and introduced other unique elements as well, such as the loops, springboards, high-speed devices, and the rings now permanently associated with the game series.
The game was both a critical and commercial success. As of November 19, 2007, the game has sold 4 million copies, the second-highest amount for a Genesis game, behind Sonic 2, which has sold 6 million copies.
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5:50 PM Jul 24