Sonic the Hedgehog (8-bit)


 * For other articles of a similar name, see Sonic the Hedgehog (disambiguation).

"It's Super Sonic!!!"

- Tagline for the Game Gear version.

Sonic the Hedgehog (ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ) is a platforming game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series and the 8-bit version of the original Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Mega Drive for the Sega Master System and Game Gear. The game was released in-between October and December 1991 and was developed by Ancient Corp. in collaboration with a few Sonic Team members. Being released on Sega's previous 8-bit console and the first handheld title in the Sonic series, it is a separate game rather than a straight port from its 16-bit counterpart. The game features several new gameplay elements which would become implemented in later 8-bit handheld titles.

The game is noticeable for featuring Sega's freelance composer Yuzo Koshiro, who is recognized as one of the finest game-music and chiptune composers in the 1980s and 1990s. Koshiro rearranged many Masato Nakamura's iconic music tracks from the game's 16-bit counterpart while also composing original content for this 8-bit version. Like later Game Gear and Master System games, this game has been re-released on numerous compilation titles or as unlockable mini games, including re-releases in the Virtual Console for the Wii and Nintendo 3DS.

Plot
The game's storyline is almost the same as the original game on the Sega Genesis for both the Japanese and western releases: Dr. Ivo Robotnik is working to take over South Island and gather Chaos Emeralds, having kidnapped all of the island's animal habitants to turn them into robots called Badniks to do his dirty work. Hearing of Robotnik's plot, Sonic the Hedgehog heads to South Island to save his animal friends. The North American instruction manual also adds that his greatest challenge is lurking in a Robotnik's flying blimp.

Gameplay
Sonic the Hedgehog is a side-scrolling platforming game with lot of gameplay elements imported from its 16-bit counterpart, where the goal is to reach the end of each Act of a Zone (a level in the game) in ten minutes. After the title screen, the player begins the game with three lives. The player takes control of Sonic, who has similar controls from the original 16-bit game. By moving left and right far enough, the player gains maximum running speed, and going in the opposite direction while running makes Sonic screech to a halt. Pressing up and down makes the player look above and crouch. Jumping makes Sonic perform the Spin Jump to attack unprotected Badniks or pass through basic platforming challenges. While running, Sonic can curl into ball to use the Super Sonic Spin Attack to mow down Badniks in the player's path, gain more momentum, and speed through slopes and ramps.

In each Zone, Rings appear everywhere. Like in most Sonic the Hedgehog games, collecting Rings protects the player from taking damage, though they cannot protect from drowning, bottomless pits or Time Overs. When taking damage, Sonic loses all his Rings (which shown as a single Ring being dropped). Getting hit without Rings costs the player a life and make them restart from either the beginning of the Act or the last Arrow Monitor. Losing all lives ends the game or provides another chance with Continues. Collecting Rings also grants points and getting 100 Rings gives an One-Up. However, it also restarts the Ring counter from zero.

The game features Video Monitors with the same power-ups from its 16-bit counterpart, including Super Rings (grant ten extra Rings), One-Ups, Shields (protects Sonic from one hit), Power Sneakers, (increases speed briefly) and Invicible (grants brief invulnerability), though some power-ups are more rare than others. If the player survives an Act with the Shield, they will keep it for the next Act. There is also a single One-Up Video Monitor for each Act. Collecting them all makes the last 1-Up monitor available in the third Act as a bonus. Also, exclusive to this game are Arrow Monitors which save the player's progress in an Act after being broken, similar to Lampposts in the 16-bit version.

Due the hardware limitations of the Master System and Game Gear, the game's level design is significantly more straightforward than its 16-bit version. There are no Shuttle Loops or alternative pathways as the game is based around basic side-scroll platforming, and the only way to gain more momentum is to use slopes, Springboards and ramps. Because of this, the game tends to be challenging due the large amount of obstacles and different level gimmicks. Another exclusive feature for this game are the collectible Chaos Emeralds. In each Act, there is an Emeralds hidden and ready to be collected when found. Collecting all six affects the game's cinematic ending and grants extra points.

Items

 * Rings
 * Video Monitors
 * Super Rings
 * Shields
 * Power Sneakers
 * One-Ups
 * Invicible
 * Arrows
 * Continues (Only in Special Stages)
 * Chaos Emeralds

Bonus Panel rewards
Exclusive to the game are the Bonus Panels at the end of the first two Acts of a Zone and Special Stages which give random awards upon being passed based on the image they show. These mechanics would be reused in later Sonic games for the Master System and Game Gear. In Special Stages, Bonus Panels will always have a Robotnik bonus when flipped. There rewards are:

Characters

 * Sonic the Hedgehog (playable character)
 * Dr. Ivo Robotnik
 * Animals
 * Flicky
 * Pocky
 * Picky
 * Cucky
 * Ricky
 * Rocky
 * Pecky

Zones
Sonic the Hedgehog consists of six Zones with three Acts each. The first two Acts involving standard platforming, while the third is a shorter one followed by a boss battle with Dr. Robotnik. The third Act also does not contain any Rings. After beating a boss, the player has to open the Metal Cage to free Animals inside and move onto the next Zone. Along with familiar Zones from the 16-bit version, this game features new ones too:


 * 1) Green Hill
 * 2) Bridge
 * 3) Jungle
 * 4) Labyrinth
 * 5) Scrap Brain
 * 6) Sky Base

Special Stages
In this game, the Special Stages are accesed by passing Bonus Panels with at least 50 Rings. Since the Chaos Emeralds are not found here, Special Stages in this game serve as bonus stages for collecting Rings for extra lives and Continues under a strict time limit. These Stages take place in huge rooms with large amounts of Rings and bouncing gimmicks everywhere, like Bumpers, Springs, Flippers and pillars.

Music
Sega's former freelance composer Yuzo Koshiro composed the original chiptune music of Sonic the Hedgehog, as well as rearranging the variations of Masato Nakamura's original music tracks from the original 16-bit game. Nakamura is credited as the sound producer of this game.

Though it is unknown whatever is accurate, few of Yuzo Koshiro's composed tracks have been sampled for unrelated music singles, such as the background music of Bridge Zone for the 1997 single "Together Again" from Janet Jackson and the Jungle Zone's track for the single "Accidentally Kelly Street" from the Australian folk-pop group Frente! in 1992.

Reception
Like the 16-bit counterpart, the 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog received positive reviews from gaming journalists and magazines during its release. The December 1991 issue of Computer and Video Games give a claim for the game's speed, gameplay and graphical detail, but noting the game for being too easy. Similarly, the December 1991 issue of Mean Machines praised the game for its graphics, the speed and being favorably comparable to the Sega Genesis version. In March 1992 issue of GamePro, the game is praised for its speed and graphics as well.

The 2013 re-release of the game received 8 out of 10 score from NintendoLife, praising its tight controls, a great sense of speed and plenty of personality, while concluding the review by stating the game as "a speedy, smile-inducing classic". Sonic the Hedgehog also received the fourth place on GamesRadar's "Best Sega Game Gear games of all time" list, which stated that "Speed isn’t what it would become in Sonic’s later adventures, but your reflexes will still be tested in later levels; surely a little space to get up to speed is forgivable, after all".

Re-releases
Like many later Master System and Game Gear games, Sonic the Hedgehog has been featured on numerous re-releases and completion titles. The Game Gear version is a mini-game in Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut for the Nintendo GameCube and PC which can be unlocked by completing the first 20 missions or collecting 20 Emblems. In the same year, the Game Gear version was ported into the Palm Tungsten C, Tungsten T, and Zire 71 mobile phones under the Sega Mobile labeled by Sega of America. The Game Gear version was yet again released in 2004 on the compilation game Sonic Mega Collection Plus.

In 2008, the Master System version of Sonic the Hedgehog appeared in the officially licensed Tectoy's plug and play console "Tectoy Master System 3" and was re-released on the Virtual Console for the Wii for the price of 500 points. In 2013, the Game Gear version was re-released on the Virtual Console for the Nintendo 3DS for the price of 300 points.

Master System and Game Gear differences
Both Master System and Game Gear versions of the game are the same with differences related to hardware limitations. Differences include:
 * The Game Gear version uses a Sega screen with a jumping Sonic sprite, as the Master System version lacks a Sega screen. One is provided by the Master System's BIOS.
 * Since the Game Gear has a smaller screen resolution but variable color palette, the game was given a less wider screen. In response to this, Sonic was given a smaller sprite, and his control was made a bit tighter.
 * There are minor graphical changes in Green Hill Zone. One of the totem pole faces was removed from the Game Gear versions, but the flowers look like their 16-bit counterparts and there are warning signs in certain areas due to the narrow screen and game momentum.
 * In the Game Gear version, the Special Stages had a makeover - specifically, all the sprites are now the same color. This is in contrast to the Master System game, where each color indicates a different bouncing height.
 * In the Game Gear version, Jungle Zone Act 2 allowed for vertical descent without losing a life, which made the stage easier. Labyrinth Zone's level design was largely redone, with its Chaos Emerald relocated.
 * Two bosses were heavily modified for the Game Gear game - most notably, the second boss in Bridge Zone appears on a tricky curvy bridge rather than between two level terrains with an island in the middle. The final boss in Sky Base Zone Act 3 also had its defense mechanism changed entirely and does not enter a "panic" mode. In addition, each boss is fought in more compact arenas due to the screen size, resulting in every other boss being lowered.
 * The Master System version of the ending credits differs with the alternative text ("Game Program" and "Sound Produce") and includes extra credit for the original character design.

Staff

 * Original character design: ©Sega
 * Game programmer: Shinobu "Pinbot" Hayashi
 * Graphic designer: Ayano Koshiro, Takefuni Yunoue
 * Sound producer: Masato Nakamura
 * Rearranging and original music: Yuzo Koshiro
 * Special thanks: Yoshio Y, Lunarian SG
 * Presented by: Sega

Trivia

 * The Sonic the Hedgehog (8-bit) is the last game known to be released for the Sega Master System in North America. All later Sonic-themed titles will be released for Game Gear hardware and programmed as ports for Master System only in Europe, South America and South Africa afterwards.
 * Unusual for 2D game installments, water sections in Green Hill Zone Act 2 and Jungle Zone Act 1 occur differently, as the function of water is to slow and slip Sonic, and he is in no actual danger of drowning. However, this is the exception in entire Labyrinth Zone.
 * Despite the box artwork for the Sega Master System version depicting Sonic inside a loop in the Green Hill Zone, there are no loops in this game, something which would be added in the 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
 * This is one of two games along with Sonic Blast in Master System and Game Gear line, where Robotnik appears as boss in each Zone of the game, as since Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit), Robotnik sends off Master Robots or larger Badniks to serve as bosses.
 * What the Chaos Emeralds exactly do in the good endings differ between the 16-bit and 8-bit games. In the 16-bit game, they are just shown circling Sonic in Green Hill Zone, then vanish as new plant life comes into existence. In the 8-bit game, they are more clearly surrounding the entirety of South Island, then ridding it of its pollution as they disappear.
 * Coincidentally, parts of the main melody for the Bridge Zone is known to sound eerily similar what can be heard from the beginning of the "Believe in Myself", Tails' theme song in Sonic Adventure.
 * Similar way, Savannah Citadel, a stage in Sonic Unleashed, has also familiar sounding melody in comparison to the ending credits theme from this game.