So today marks the birthday of that blue blur who really needs more good games than bad. I mean many have compared him to the red plumber and to be honest, he has much more good games than bad even if many are just rinse and repeats of previous games. But I guess this is what happens when you have a company that at the very least try to appeal to fans, but not always in a good way. Now I have reviewed Sonic games before on this blog and today because I haven't really spoken about the original games in detail, that is the focus of today. So we'll be looking at all the games released on the Genesis/Megadrive which are widely regarded as the most iconic of all Sonic games. Iconic to the point where they are still getting re-releases, so emulation isn't necessary to play them on your favourite platform. So let's take a look:
Sonic the Hedgehog
The first and perhaps the most iconic game in the entire franchise, has us play as Sonic as he goes on a quest to stop Dr. Robotnik (nowadays known as Eggman) from stealing the chaos emeralds and harnessing their power while also saving some critters who the evil Doctor has put inside robotic aggressive robots. The game itself is a 2D side scrolling platform game in which you play as Sonic who can go to high speeds in levels containing springs, slopes, bottomless pits and a few vertical loops too. With loads of hazards and those robots that Sonic has to destroy to save the critters deep within. Sonic uses his spin attack which is usually done by simply jumping in which he spins like a ball which can be used to damage and destroy the animals and also the various bosses controlled personally by Robotnik. As like with all platforming games, Sonic is given a set number of lives which he loses if he gets hit without holding any rings whereas he would simply lose all his rings, but be able to carry on if he was holding rings. He would also lose one if he went into one of those bottomless pits. There is a time limit, but it generally goes up rather than down, but resets whenever Sonic has to start again, whether it be from the beginning of each act or from a checkpoint he had passed previously. As well as rings, there are monitors to break which contain things for Sonic to use such as more rings, increased speed, invincibility and more (sometimes only temporary depending on the power up). The game is composed of six principal zones, which are then followed by a short final zone. Each with its own visual style with a few unique enemies and more (though some of the same enemies can appear in multiple zones). And each zone has a boss at the end. As an option though not necessary to complete the game, if you happen to hold 50 rings at the end of each Act 1 or Act 2, you can enter a special stage to acquire one of the Chaos Emeralds in this maze of sorts where Sonic is always in the Spin Attack pose. So as you may have guessed, the versions I am reviewing of these games are their legally released PC ports on Steam and even though this is not the first nor last platformer I have played, I do like it. One of the problems many gamers would have had back in the 90s when this came out, is that often you would have to start right at the beginning after every game over. But newer releases have fixed this problem and I do like it very much. Its visuals are good, music is catchy (which I expect nothing less from Michael Jackson who scored some of these games himself) and it definitely, at the time, gave Mario a run for his money. 9/10
2
The story is very similar to the first game with Robotnik once again wanting to harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds, only this time to power his space station the Death Egg (yes Star Wars was possibly its main inspiration) and once again, puts critters into aggressive robot beings. Sonic and his sidekick Tails, set out to find the Chaos Emeralds and stop Robotnik in pretty much the same way as before. Only this time with new levels, new visuals and the Spin Dash while much of it is largely the same as the previous game. Got 10 zones this time to explore with the acts within them, being much larger in scale. The special stages are this time a case of running through a half pipe course collecting a certain amount of rings and avoiding obstacles to collect the Chaos Emeralds. With each stage rising in difficulty to make things fresh. There is also a multiplayer mode that uses split screen to have players race across various levels. Re-releases of this game also let you control Knuckles who makes his debut in the next game, but at the time of this game's original release, you would be able to use an adapter to unlock him. So many regard this as one of the greatest games of all time and also an improvement over its predecessor, and I agree. It's a fantastic game that improves upon the previous game in nearly every way. Obviously, the inclusion of Tails has been debatable, but he has his uses. Really find Chemical Plant Zone's music to be very catchy above all else. 9/10
3
So around the development for the third numbered game, Sega had planned to have this and the following game as one combined game. But due to time restraints and other unfortunate things, it ultimately became two games with re-releases being able to combine the two games as originally envisioned. With the Death Egg destroyed, Robotnik comes across Knuckles, the island guardian of the floating Angel Island and the last of an ancient civilization of echidnas. He guards the Master Emerald which gives the island its levitation ability which Robotnik then uses to his advantage and pits him against Sonic and Tails while he goes to repair the Death Egg. Sonic arrives with Tails, only for Knuckles to steal the Chaos Emeralds from them and the pair set out to find the Emeralds and stop Robotnik from his plans. This game grants Tails some abilities, such as continuous flight for a short period of time and swimming (neither of which Sonic can do). Down to six zones this time with their own obstacles, enemies, bosses and so on. New to the series is minibosses and the ability to save your progress at long last. Two special stages exist with one being activated from a star ring at a checkpoint while the other in the usual 50 rings to get the big ring. The latter giving you the Chaos Emerald if you succeed, but both unique and with its difficulty increasing over time. Although clearly not the game that the developers envisioned, they did well and we still have a fine looking game that continues to improve upon things from previous games and some new welcome additions too. In fact I would go on to say that this game kind of justifies Tails as a sidekick character if nothing else. 9/10
& Knuckles
And now onto the second half of what would've been the true
Sonic 3. Players play as either character each with their own story. In Sonic's story, it's a close rinse and repeat of the story from the last game, but with Knuckles starting to be more of an anti-hero. Whereas in Knuckles story, he takes on a few minions of Robotnik, including Mecha Sonic (who would one day became the main villain in the fan crossover series
Super Mario Bros. Z). The game only lets you play as either Sonic or Knuckles with no way of playing as two characters, no multiplayer mode and no save feature. Off to a great start aren't we. Six levels divided into two acts, with minibosses and actual bosses appearing throughout. Sonic can jump higher and can access unique shield abilites while Knuckles can glide and climb on walls. There are also cutscenes too. Special stages are back, with the big rings now being hidden within each level, but basically the same as
Sonic 3. It's pretty clear to me that this was going to be very similar to
Sonic 3 due to it being originally envisioned as part of that game. I am aware that it has been praised despite its similarity, and you know it's still the same old Sonic game we have come to know and love. Just a bit different to what we have had before. 8/10
3D Blast
Yep, this is Sonic's foray into 3D and on the Genesis/Megadrive no less. Boy does it show. So Dr. Robotnik discovers an alternate dimension where birds known as Flickies. He learns they can travel anywhere using large rings and exploits this to find the Chaos Emeralds once again and throws them into his aggressive robots. Sonic being Sonic, he sets out to save them and stop Robotnik before all hell breaks loose. While the game uses gameplay mechanics from the previous games, the game itself is presented from an isometric perspective. Like before, levels are separated into zones, where each zone has three levels. Two standard ones and a boss level. In the standard ones, Sonic is tasked with finding the Flickies. After getting a certain number, he either moves on to the next act or further into the same act. If Sonic or the Flickies get hit, the Flickies (and any rings Sonic has picked up) get scattered, with their behaviours being dependent on their colour (i.e. some may wanna find Sonic while others will go in a random direction). Special levels require Sonic to find any one of his allies hidden within each level, along with 50 rings. The level being similar to
Sonic 2's one, but the same basic concept of finding the Chaos Emeralds. Finding all seven of which will unlock the final boss and good ending of the game. Although very ambitious and innovative for the time it came out, this game is not the fast-paced Sonic game we know and like. Granted that could be because of its shift to 3D and therefore more assets required to work, but still, speed is what makes Sonic great. Apart from that, the level designs are creative, even if it feels like constant fetch quests. I dunno, maybe this could be that one dark horse game in the franchise, but then again it has its charm and all that. 7/10
Spinball
So now we move onto the two games set in the continuity of the first two cartoon shows (this one is based on the second). It's interesting that there was a time when many video games wanted to give pinball a try. Mario, Pokemon, The Simpsons and more recently Star Wars and Marvel. They have all had their pinball video games and here is Sonic's one. Robotnik has built a fortress on top of a volcano to transform the animals of the planet Mobius into robot slaves. Sonic traverses the fortress from the bottom to the top in pinball fashion to stop his nemesis. The game uses traditional pinball mechanics with the goal of each level being to find the Chaos Emeralds to access and defeat the boss of the four big levels the game has. Bonus rounds take place in which Sonic uses a regular pinball machine. Yeah there isn't much more to say about this one. It's pretty fun, but can easily be confused as another main entry in the series instead of being in the world of the second cartoon series. Very similar in visuals, but good fun though. 8/10
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
And so we end this list with a game based on the first cartoon series (yes
that one) and in turn, is a spin-off to the Sonic games as its focused on Robotnik. So many of you will know that the westernised
Super Mario Bros. 2 was actually a game that already existed, but Nintendo slapped on Mario characters to make it "different". Sonic did the same with this game as this is basically
Puyo Puyo but with all things Robotnik slapped on instead. So Robotnik decides he wants to bring terror to the world by going to a place called Beanville and kidnap its citizens. Thereby turning them into robotic slaves and rid the world of fun and joy. To achieve this, he creates the titular "Mean Bean Machine" in order to transform the beans into robot slaves. You play as the hero "Has Bean" who competes against Robotnik in the puzzle based game to stop him from causing any more harm or pain to the world. The game has a few modes, but the basic concept is like Tetris in that you have to match up two or more beans of the same colour and stop yourself from towering too high. It has combos and other things too. Probably the most different of all the Sonic games due to how its basically another game with Sonic characters in the place of the original characters. 7/10
Great start to the franchise, just wish it kept its consistancy. But still, these games were revolutionary for the time and still hold up today even with all these triple A games (well most of them do anyway). 8/10
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