SegaSonic the Hedgehog

SegaSonic the Hedgehog, known by various names including Sonic Arcade, Sonic the Arcade and SEGASONIC Arcade is an arcade game devolved by Sonic Team and Sega AM3. It was officially released into the Japanese arcades in June 1993 by Sega. Versions of the arcade game appeared in limited quantities in arcades in anglophone countries, such as London's Sega World.

The game was Sonic the Hedgehog's first major arcade outing, and featured Sega's mascot alongside two new characters: Ray the Flying Squirrel and Mighty the Armadillo.

Storyline
In the game, Sonic, Ray and Mighty have been kidnapped by the evil Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik and takes them prisoner on Eggman Island, an island littered with tricks and traps that can be activated with the push of a button by Eggman.

Sonic, Ray and Mighty have to team-up to get out the island, as the trio has to survive the hazards of the island and get to Eggman's Tower, which is the only way to flee the island. As they reach the control room, Eggman had one more card up his sleeve, activating a self-destruction sequence of the island from a single button pressed. The trio manage to leave the island before the explosion, as the doctor also got out at the same time, but suddenly falls into the sea, due to the low gas of the Eggmobile.

Gameplay
The premise of the game is to get to the end of an isometric course without dying. This objective is similar to other Sonic the Hedgehog games, yet different in the sense that, instead of a typical platforming game, the game is entirely centered around running as fast as possible on a linear course from a never-ending barrage of threats, including giant boulders, lava flows, rogue gears, falling stalactites, and other traps. When the player is hit by a dangerous obstacle or hazard, he will lose health from a health bar which can be refilled with various rings found around the arena. Upon completing each level, the game tallies up how many rings were grabbed, and extra points are received if over half of the level's rings were found.

All three characters have identical controls and abilities. The characters were controlled by one action button, allowing the player to perform a jumping spin attack, and a trackball is used to move around. Each of the trackballs and their corresponding action buttons were color-coded (blue for Sonic, red for Mighty and yellow for Ray).

The game only has one boss, who appears midway through the game. At the end of the final level, the player is given 20 seconds to escape from the self-destructing tower. If the player makes it out of the tower, a scene where Sonic, Mighty and Ray escape is shown. Failure results in an instant Game Over.

Characters

 * Sonic the Hedgehog (voiced by Takeshi Kusao)
 * Ray the Flying Squirrel (voiced by Hinako Yoshino)
 * Mighty the Armadillo (voiced by Yūsuke Numata)
 * Dr. Eggman (voiced by Masaharu Satō, non-playable)

Levels
The game is made up of seven stages:
 * 1) Volcanic Vault
 * 2) Icy Isle
 * 3) Desert Dodge
 * 4) Trap Tower
 * 5) Landslide Limbo
 * 6) Wild Water Way
 * 7) Eggman's Tower

Between stages, brief cutscenes show Dr. Robotnik panicking and plotting the player's demise as he tracks the players progress on a map of Eggman Island.

Unused Graphics
Probably meant for the American release due to this sprite looking like Doctor Robotnik from the Sonic SatAM television cartoon.

Music

 * "Sonic Electronic"

Trivia

 * As Mighty the Armadillo is introduced in the game, he before was one of the mascot choices for Sega, which may possible be why he bears an uncanny resemblance to Sonic. After SegaSonic the Hedgehog, Mighty appears few times in the series.
 * The use of the trackball has subsequently led to great difficulty in both official and unofficial emulation efforts; in a recent interview, Yuji Naka stated that the reason it was not included on the recent Sonic Gems Collection was because of this.
 * All three playable characters wear red shoes with a white stripe going through the middle.
 * SegaSonic the Hedgehog is the first Sonic game that contains swearing, as it is only existing at japanese dialogue.
 * It was also the first game in the series to feature an ice/snow-themed level, which would later become a recurring theme in the series starting with IceCap Zone from Sonic 3.
 * Strangely, when you die in Eggman's Tower, the game doesn't allow you to continue.
 * Even though Eggman is the main villain, the game is first in the series where the player doesn't have a final confrontation with him.