The Spirit of '91 (Sonic 1)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Sonic 1
Date:	15/07/04 (203 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun, fast and colourful, Great synthesised music, Loads of replay value

Disadvantages: Not completely original, Levels and enemies are very similar in principle

AD 1991 was perhaps the most influential and enjoyable year of my life, despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that I was six years old. I remember the summer holiday from school, my first of these annual events, being hot and very long while it was also the first time I went on a holiday that I could actually remember. But this isn’t a review of 1991 in general, that would be insane – this was also the year that Sega introduced the first game in the continuing Sonic the Hedgehog franchise to the MegaDrive public.

For some reason, Sonic 1 (as it unofficially became known among those who owned at least one of the sequels, but that Dooyoo seem content to officially name it) captures the spirit of that excellent year and makes it all the better. It’s a shame I didn’t play it until about 1993 but then again, I always was more of an Amigan.


> NOTE: For some reason Dooyoo list this game under ‘Amiga Games’ even though this was only available on the Sega MegaDrive. I don’t know who was responsible for that weird mistake.

PREMISE & GAMEPLAY


Sonic the Hedgehog was based on the fairly standard ‘fast-paced cool animal character platform game’ format and is surely the definitive example of this genre, much better than Crash Bandicoot and all that new rubbish. The player controlled the eponymous hedgehog who was blue and very fast, and who soon developed a cult following and thereby an ‘official’ backstory involving a speedometer explosion mutation. The same accident transformed the friendly and stupidly-named Doctor Ovi Kintobor into the evil, bloated and more appropriately named Doctor Ivo Robotnik. This nasty fat man proceeded to build himself a large mechanical base to produce robotic ‘badniks’ and use the tiny animal populace as living batteries.

This basically means that Sonic travels through a number of fairly random but enjoyably diverse levels to reach the final boss, destroying mechanical enemies along the way. Each level is littered with golden rings that can be picked up and act as an extra ‘hit’ point for the player while also allowing for further bonuses such as extra lives and entry to the Secret Zone. The two-dimensional levels conformed to a general ‘head to the right’ style but some involved large distances up and down that could add extra depth. Not real depth though, they weren’t clever enough to try this out yet.


CONTROLS


Sonic’s movements were fairly limited and controlled by the Sega MegaDrive joypad (or corresponding keyboard keys if you use a modern emulator). The ‘left’ and ‘right’ buttons on the [directional] D-pad move Sonic in those directions, the ‘up’ button looks upward and the ‘down’ makes Sonic duck and look downwards, both of which are largely unnecessary, although pressing down while Sonic was in motion would cause him to spin on the ground in order to kill some enemies or break boxes. The MegaDrive’s A, B and C buttons all performed the same ‘jump’ function, the easiest way to destroy enemies and break the monitor boxes to receive bonuses. Finally, the ‘start’ button paused the game when in play and began the game from the title screen.

The programmers occasionally make the player resort to different techniques by making some enemies invincible from the top side, therefore requiring a less effective ‘spin attack’ to be dispatched, but the gameplay was very straightforward. Heading eastwards, trying to stay as close to the top of level as possible to avoid the pits and knowing when to stop and wait meant that each level could be memorised after a couple of plays. It was still fun though.


THE ZONES


The style and order of levels on this game set the style for the four successors (Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles) in terms of beginning with a green and pleasant land, throwing in an underwater level for good measure and contrasting all of this with industrial techno horror. With the exception of the last areas, each ‘zone’ was divided into three ‘acts’ – acts one and two were of moderate to long length and ended once Sonic passed the spinning sign on the far right, while the third act hosted a brief bit of level leading up to a confrontation with Robotnik in one of his elaborate mechanical devices.

1. GREEN HILL ZONE

An uncomplicated level to begin with, Green Hill’s crab- and insect-based enemies and inexplicably chequered loop-de-loops became the backdrop of choice for virtually all Sonic merchandise thereafter. The waterfalls on this level were a nice touch and it served as an excellent, upbeat introduction that still featured several dangers such as spiked areas and some secrets in the shape of breakable walls.

Boss: Robotnik flies about in his craft, dangling a huge spinning ball and chain that completely fails to hit the player once they realise they can stand in each bottom corner.

2. MARBLE ZONE

This level is made automatically more dangerous through the addition of flowing lava covering a lot of the ground. These levels mainly take place underground in a mysterious, purple-walled structure and this level also features some of the most annoying enemies in the form of nimble bats and armoured Catterkillers.

Boss: Sonic has to leap between two platforms over some boiling lava to hit Robotnik as he flies about. The Doc also sprays fire on to the platforms sequentially.

3. SPRING YARD ZONE

Without a doubt the most irritating level with all its springs and bumpers bouncing Sonic around and seemingly endless rotating spiked balls to navigate around. The colour scheme of orange and purple is quite nice, but this is mainly a level to get over with quickly.

Boss: The only platforms are squares forming a floor, each of which can be removed by a spike on Robotnik’s flying machine thing. He can be hit when he descends, as long as Sonic doesn’t fall to his death.

4. LABYRINTH ZONE

An underwater level that isn’t based on the David Bowie film of the same name in any way. Large bubbles need to be inhaled every so often to provide oxygen and prevent Sonic from drowning, while there are also plenty of switches and alternate routes to be taken. This is a perilous and very enjoyable level that involves a lot of movement up and down as well as to the right.

Boss: Robotnik doesn’t actually do anything bad, he simply flies upwards. Sonic has to rush up a passage past dangerous obstacles, avoiding the rising water, and the Doc flies off crying at the end. Very hard, if a little disappointing.

5. STARLIGHT ZONE

This relaxing level is based on a cityscape which moves from clearly defined buildings at the lowest points, a suggestion that the player should move upwards away from the pits, to the night sky at the top. Plenty of invincible enemies that either kill themselves or protect themselves far too well, but this isn’t as difficult as the previous level.

Boss: Three see-saws. Robotnik drops spiked balls on each one in turn. Bounce them onto him. Easy.

6. SCRAP BRAIN ZONE

The last proper level and also the hardest, based in Robotnik’s mechanical factory I assume. Rotating circular saws, electric shocks and trapdoors compliment the enemies here in making it even more difficult to survive until the third level, which is based on the style of Labyrinth but with silver platforms and purple water. A set of springs provide an exit to the final showdown…

7. FINAL ZONE

The easiest level on the game and a very disappointing fight with Robotnik, but it’s still the level everyone skipped to once they learned (or guessed) the level select cheat. Four crushing devices press down in turn and are incredibly easy to avoid – occasionally Robotnik will be in one and can be hit. Game over.

SECRET ZONE

If the player collects at least fifty rings when they reach the end of a level with a spinning post (acts 1 and 2 of every zone), they can jump into a large rotating ring and enter the weird Secret Zone. There are six of these and they boast increasing difficulty in reaching the target, the chaos emeralds at the end. The only difference in completing the game with all six emeralds is a different end sequence, although later games would introduce more incentive to catch ‘em all.


VERDICT


I consider this an all-time classic game and I still play it often, both on the Sega MegDrive system and the excellent ‘Gens’ emulator on my computer. This game is fast, happy and fun and contains some excellent music in its 16-bit capabilities, some of which reminds me of guitar solos on Metallica’s classic black album (also released in 1991). The sequels on the MegaDrive were better programmed and more diverse in terms of the number of levels, their size and the option to play as different characters, but this is still my favourite through its simplicity.

Yuji Naka’s creation of the blue hedgehog “with attitude” (a personality trait that doesn’t exactly shine through on this game, except when Sonic is left stationary for a while and begins tapping his foot impatiently) captured the imaginations of many young console owners and provided effective competition to Nintendo’s ‘Super Mario.’ Of course Sega were eventually buried by Sony and Nintendo and the recent games ‘Sonic Heroes’ and ‘Sonic Advance’ have been released on Nintendo’s GameBoy Advance and GameCube respectively. How they long for the glory days of ‘91…

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