Sonic The Hedgehog (1991)

[TheSlender]

Zer0 V.S Sonic The Hedgehog

On a land known as South Island, located around the world of Mobius, there was a blue hedgehog who had the gift of running really fast. One day out on the outskirts of South island, a madman named Dr. "Ivo" Robotnik set out to destroy the world using special gems called the chaos emeralds. It is here where we find out that the blue hedgehog is named Sonic. Sonic sets out to stop Dr. Robotnik and get back the emeralds before something bad happens. After a few blurs past amazing stages and a smash of some idiotic devices made by Dr. Robotnik, Sonic and the doctor meet face-to-face. When Dr. Robotnik is defeated, he is seen to have fled the scene, but Sonic on the other hand continued his journey back to Green Hill Zone, awaiting the next adventure.


Sonc the hedgehog introduces us to the amazing world of Sonic and his signature speed. Sonic can run extremely fast, usually faster than the speed of light. The main goal of the game is to collect the seven chaos emeralds scattered around each special stage. After collecting them, Sonic can turn into Super Sonic the hedgehog, a.k.a his super state. In both forms, Sonic can roll into a ball when running to deflect enemy projectiles and runt hem over, jump off high distances without breaking his legs and run really fast. After completing the 2nd act of a zone, Sonic is faced with Dr. Robotnik in one of his mechanical machines. This is called a boss zone. After defeating the boss, sonic progresses forward to the next stage. It's just run down some stages, smash some badniks and stop Dr. Robotnik in a goofy machine. Just the way I like it folks. Meanwhile, there are also special golden items in the game called rings. Rings are essential for Sonic in many ways. They can help him reach a special stage if he completes and act with 50 of them and they can also save him if he is hit by an enemy. If you have no rings, you're screwed. There is also a blue shield, which, if you get hit, will protect you from losing rings. The last two items are the speed shoes and the invincibility. The speed shoes make Sonic run faster for a short amount of time while the invincibility shield makes Sonic... invincible. Of course, if you're playing as Super Sonic, the invincibility shield will be active but there just won't be any stars around Sonic.


Green Hill Zone: The first ever stage in a Sonic game and the most fan-favorited. Green Hill Zone brings speed and thrill to Sonic, introducing how fast he is. Some areas may cut his speed to a screeching halt but other areas might just be flat land, giving Sonic the advantage of blasting right through.

Marble Zone: Good luck picking up speed in this stage as it is made up entirely of blocks and FIAHHHHHH!

Labyrinth Zone: Another area combining speed ad screeching halts... very interesting.

Starlight Zone: Did somebody say jackpot?

Spring Yard Zone: Springs. Springs. Springs.

Scrap Yard Zone: I always thought the scrapped characters were tossed here... and shredded alive.


The music in the game is all 16-bit awesomeness. I love the Green Hill track like everyone else that I know... this is actually the first Sonic game that I didn't hate any piece of music in. Well, to be honest, the Super Sonic music was a bit annoying after using the state so many times. But again, not hating these tracks.


The only things that could beat you down to a pulp in Sonic the hedgehog are badniks, bosses, spikes and cliffs. To be honest,t here isn't many challenges in this game and I feel it to be perfect that way for a Sonic game. Usually too many challenges ruins a stage. But this has a nice balance in it.


The scoreboard makes its debut here. When you beat up enough badniks, nab enough rings and beat the stage as fast as possible, Sonic's score will total up. Those 3 things will be your goal to a perfect if done correctly.


Sonic the hedgehog was an amazing game. It was just... perfection in 16-bit. The debut of Sonic the hedgehog was truly a site to behold and everything in the game itself was just outstanding. I'll give it a solid 10/10 for everything. Well that's that... next up, i'll be going back to the modern Sonic games. I might also review Metroid and Zelda in a while... nothing new there.

[Hakudamashi]

I hate this game. Sonic moves like a tank, the level design is ass, and that accursed double spike glitch...

[Hakudamashi]

So this game is good? I've been meaning to try it.

No it isn't.

[Hakudamashi]

Oh. Guess I'll just get the 2006 reboot instead.

I certainly had more fun with that game.
At least I beat it. 

[Hakudamashi]

No offence, but that's slightly pathetic.

And this is me not giving a fuck.
hmph!

[Tanassy]

I loved Sonic 1.

I enjoyed almost all of the Zone and level designs, the way the game had a high level of challenge and a comfy speed. The way it encouraged flow and punished wrong moves (By slowing you down with no quick way of speeding back up) led to self-imposed challenges of getting better and better.

It's a simple but relatively immersive platform game. Run, jump, get powerups and rings and beat bad guys while traversing the stage- beat a bunch of bosses that tested certain skills and learn the use of different items and gimmicks. This simplicity was the strong point that kept it competing with Mario, while the main draw to pull it over the line was that speed and flow, and that is what I love in a Sonic game.

People complain that Sonic handles awkwardly in this game, is too slow, or that this game has too many pace breakers. I think not seeing the way this game flows, and the reason why you were limited was to avoid mess-ups that were present in later games due to the way the increased speed cap messed with the flow. And that sense of punishment also dissipated in later games with the addition of the Spin Dash (And completely obliterated in generations)

With that said I would not even nearly give this game a Perfect score.

The visuals, sound, controls and overall gameplay were very tight and polished, but there were some serious pacing issues in certain acts as well, as well as a few annoying bugs.

I'd maybe personally give it a 75/100. The only thing that sours this game is the amount of different times it's been re-released and compared to newer titles.

It's very difficult to call a game's formula like this good when it's been improved on a vast amount of times since it's origin, but the way this game flows and really feels natural gives it a very good standing even against those titles, and it's certainly not a dated game by any means.



Okay, with my opinion out of the way...
This is your most horrible review yet... so let me point some things out.

1-
It's stated in the instruction manual for Sonic 1 that in fact, it's Sonic's sneakers that give him this "Gift". I don't know if you implied that he had it naturally or not ("..a blue hedgehog who had the gift of running really fast"), but that's what it seemed like to me, and that would be false.

2-
Eggman (Who was renamed to Dr. Robotnik during localisation, but you could say it's faithful to the game either way) never intended to "Destroy the world", in fact the plot of this game in particular never implies that, and in fact says he merely goes about turning creatures into robots to do his work for him. (It could be argued he intended to "Take over" or "Change" the world, or simply cause as much trouble as possible, but never to destroy it)

3-
Reviews are reviews, not stories. You Do Not state anything story-wise beyond what is told before gameplay starts, at least not without a spoiler warning or a break. You just stated the beginning, journey and end of this game without warning. Simple story or not, that's pretty unacceptable.

4-
It is most commonly accepted that Sonic runs at the speed of Sound, not light. Hence the name "Sonic".

son·ic 
/ˈsänik/
Adjective
Relating to or using sound waves

The speed of Light is 299,792,458 m/s. The speed of sound is 343.2m/s.

5-
There is only 6 Chaos emeralds and 6 special stages in this game, and Super Sonic does not exist.

6-
Sonic cannot deflect projectiles by rolling.

7-
The boss is in the 3rd Act of every Zone, not the 2nd.

8-
This may be a nitpick, but the stages section is entirely unnecessary. This is why people play a game, kids, to experience the game, not get told exactly what happens, where you go and when. And even then, there is almost no description to even speak of. I think something like "Springs. Springs. Springs." is implied by the level's god damn title.

9-
WHAT Super Sonic music? :L
And you didn't explain sound effects at all, or if the sound or music fit what was on screen, or if the sound quality itself was any good.

10-
Hazards- the most useless segment I've EVER seen in review.
This is a review, not GameFAQs. If anything, should have been int he gameplay section.

11-
Gimmicks- redundant. Also should have been in the gameplay section.


That's basically it. And on a side note, if you ever review a Zelda or Metroid game I will rip your heart out and force feed it to you. You have no idea how much I'd hate you for ruining those games just like you did this one.

[TheSlender]

Look... I learned my reviews from Johnny, Ted, Ryan, etc. I don't mean to... be a burden, but they never had spoiler alerts. In some games yes, in other games no. This is one of those other games. Sonic was stated once to also be faster than light in the Sonic X series. Yes, even I payed attention to it when bored. I separated gimmicks and such because everything being jammed into one can sometimes get very, very confusing. When it comes to stages, I do exactly what Johnny does... I name them and give my opinion on them. I made an error with the emeralds and stages, along with Super Sonic. I understand that. I would like to really, really, REALLY say... that if you don't like my reviews at this time, don't read them. There's no need to rage when you can simply ignore.

[Hakudamashi]

How can you improve if you deny criticism?

[Ye Olde Swagfag]

If you don't like my reviews at this time, don't read them. There's no need to rage when you can simply ignore.

If nobody reads your reviews, then how are you supposed to learn from your mistakes? The time you spend making your review is as good as garbage if people were to just ignore your bad reviews, not comment and give you constructive criticism and whatnot. You can't away from people's honest opinions.

(Also I have to agree with other members that your review is quite bad...)

[TheSlender]

Well... a reviewer grows better as they move on through doing it over and over... so i guess you're right. My apologies.

[Tanassy]

Johnny does video reviews, which are very different, accompanied by actual video. That's why it is okay to create small and snappy lines about things that are in the footage, and create some descriptions.
Also, he gives his review spoiler earnings, or he goes, "you guys know how I do this, I'm going to go through the whole plot, go here to avoid being spoiled"

And I'm sorry, but those sections just look like a clusterfuck. They're not neat, and they're too short to have their own break. They're part of the Gameplay, so that's what section the belong in.

You want to know why it looks confusing? Because you never space your paragraphs.
And for fucks sake, sonic X's theme song even states that he runs at the speed of sound, never mind his fucking name. But here's my question. What does Sonic X have to do with Sonic 1? There's about a ten goddamn year gap between them.

Lastly, learn to take goddamn criticism.  There is no "Don't read it" here. If you're going to talk about one of my favourite games, do it properly, and not half assed and jacked full of wrong information.
People don't learn from doing things over and over, they learn to refine things, which you've done the opposite of. The way that you truly learn is off of all the people who tell you what you did wrong and gave you fair criticism.

So fix the shit and stop making excuses.

[pizzaman9080]