Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)

"This is terrible! Hurry! Sonic the Hedgehog - everyone is waiting for your help!"

- The Japanese Manual for Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog (ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ) is a platform video game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. Featuring the new mascot of Sega, the titular Sonic the Hedgehog, this game served as the launch title for the famous video game franchise known as the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

The game was originally released for the Sega Genesis in North America and Europe on June 23rd, 1991, with a Japanese Mega Drive release following 3 days afterwards on June 26th. Advertising its fast gameplay based around Sonic's extraordinary speed, the concept of a high-speed platform game was unique for its time, and solidified the style of gameplay the series would be best known for. Due to the Mega Drive's Motorola 68000 processor, the power of the console would allow for faster gameplay, dubbed by some as "blast processing", and impressive 16-bit graphics, making it much more powerful than Sega's previous Master System.

The game was well praised by critics and was a massive commercial success, which gave the Genesis, and by extent Sega, a massive boost in popularity, enough so that Sega could directly compete with Nintendo, who soon followed up with the release of their Super Nintendo Entertainment System in what would be the first counterattack in a long company rivalry that lasted throughout the 90s. In recent years, the game has been ported numerous times on many other consoles, with some ports adding newer features to the original game.

Plot
On the lush, tropical paradise of South Island, Sonic the Hedgehog's animal friends begin disappearing one by one. When he discovers that the evil scientist, Dr. Ivo Robotnik, has been kidnapping them and converting them into robotic Badniks as part of a plot to collect all six of the fabled Chaos Emeralds, Sonic decides it's up to him to save them, and embarks on a quest to free his friends and thwart the evil schemes of Robotnik.

As Sonic races through the Zones of the island, he engages in numerous confrontations with the nefarious Robotnik and his deadly machines, and one by one frees the animals from their robotic shells and capsules placed at the end of almost every zone. In their final confrontation, the Doctor prepares his last dastardly contraption to end his adversary, but proves no match for Sonic's awesome might, and his machine is totaled. Fleeing with his tail between his legs, Robotnik abandons his laboratory as it explodes, crumbling to scrap, with Sonic narrowly escaping. Following his escape, Sonic finally returns to the vast Green Hills where his journey began.

In the game's normal ending, Sonic gives the player an annoyed look before posing for the screen, and Robotnik will be shown after the credits juggling any undiscovered Chaos Emeralds the player missed, with a "Try Again" message taunting them.

However, if the player succeeds in collecting the six Emeralds by the end of the game, the player is rewarded with the good ending, where the six Chaos Emeralds react to one another and release a burst of light before disappearing, rejuvenating the wildlife and nature of South Island, leaving Sonic astonished before he jumps up towards the screen and poses. In the post credits scene, Dr. Robotnik is shown humorously stomping on the "End" text in a tantrum fueled attempt to crush it, to no avail.

Better luck next time, "Eggman"!

Gameplay
Sonic the Hedgehog plays identically to other platform games released around the same time, yet its main focus is on fast gameplay and quick reflexes. The titular character can not only run and jump, but he can pick up incredible speed if uninterrupted, and can roll into a ball and spin into enemies and up ramps with enough momentum, allowing him to launch himself high up into the air or through a stream of Badniks.

There are seven zones in total, with each zone, barring the Final Zone, divided into three Acts each. Sonic must reach the end of each Act within 10 minutes, while collecting items and avoiding hazards along the way. Essential to the gameplay are gold Rings scattered throughout each level, a feature which would become one of the defining characteristics of the series. These items are regularly placed around the level map and serve multiple functions. First, the player collects rings to protect Sonic. As long as they have at least one ring, the player will not lose a life when injured. Instead, when hit, up to twenty of the rings the player has collected will fly outward and scatter around the immediate area for some seconds, some of which can then be retrieved before they disappear. If the player runs into an enemy without a single ring, he/she will lose a life. If the player collects a hundred rings they will gain an extra life, and will gain an additional life for every hundred rings after that, provided the rings are not lost.

If the player has at least fifty rings at the end of an act, a giant golden ring will float above the goal sign, which can be jumped through to enter one of the Special Stages (this excludes the final act of a stage, when Sonic will enter a boss fight). At the end of each act, the total number of rings the player has is multiplied by a hundred and added to the player's score. During the score-tallying, the player can also jump through the air to find hidden emblems which can range from a hundred to 10,000 points.

Also scattered throughout each level are video monitors which when broken by the character will reward the player with one of a variety of bonuses. These include a Shield which will protect Sonic from a single hit, a 10-ring bonus, an extra life, temporary invincibility (accompanied with a temporary change in music), and "Power Sneakers", which give the player a temporary speed boost (and increase the tempo of the music for the duration). The item monitors have become another long-lasting feature in the series, though they have been changed to bubble-like containers that can float in later games.

Despite the various types of protection available, neither the shield, rings, nor invincibility will prevent the player losing a life if Sonic is crushed (by a trap or between a wall and a moving platform), drowned, runs out of time (each act has a ten-minute time limit), or falls into a bottomless pit.

Progression through the game is made easier for the player by lamp posts that act as checkpoints. When Sonic passes a lamp post, the spherical top spins around and its color changes from blue to red, and the next time a life is lost, gameplay will restart at that point rather than at the beginning of the act. In the Japanese version, if a checkpoint is activated and a life is lost as a result of running out of time, the time at the checkpoint will reset to 0:00.

Hazards the player experiences include a wide variety of "Badniks" - these appear as Animals trapped inside mechanical bodies which are released the moment the player hits them. Each badnik takes one hit to destroy, but they vary greatly from Zone to Zone; some will walk in a set path, others will try blasting the player, and some cannot be avoided at all. The player must also avoid rows of sharp spikes, cliffs, and elaborate death traps. There is also the threat of drowning (in Labyrinth Zone and the third act of Scrap Brain Zone which contains water), as the player can only survive approximately thirty seconds underwater (locating air bubbles can extend this).

Zones
Sonic the Hedgehog has seven zones (plus the Special Stages). The first six zones contain three full-length acts, and the final one only consists of the final boss machine.
 * 1) Green Hill Zone
 * 2) Marble Zone
 * 3) Spring Yard Zone
 * 4) Labyrinth Zone
 * 5) Star Light Zone
 * 6) Scrap Brain Zone
 * 7) Final Zone

Special Stages
If Sonic finishes the first or second act of any of the first five zones with at least fifty Rings, a large, spinning ring will appear. If he jumps into it, he will warp into a "Special Stage" (called the "Secret Zone" in the manual), which conceals one of the six Chaos Emeralds. In these stages, Sonic, in ball form, falls through a series of rotating mazes.

If he can avoid the "GOAL" signs along parts of the stage's walls (presumably labeled "GOAL" to entice the player into a failed attempt at getting a Chaos Emerald), he will eventually find the Chaos Emerald encased in colored diamonds; touching the diamonds repeatedly will cause them to change color from blue, to green, to yellow, to pink and ultimately disappear, allowing access to the Emerald. The stage will end when Sonic either touches the Emerald or hits a "GOAL" sign. If fifty Rings are collected before Sonic makes contact with a "GOAL" sign or gets the Chaos Emerald, then a 'Continue' will be awarded to the player, indicated by a brief, distinct change in melody. Super Sonic does not appear in Sonic the Hedgehog because the seventh Chaos Emerald was not yet introduced.

There are a total of ten opportunities to get Chaos Emeralds, meaning the player can fail a Special Stage up to four times if all six Emeralds are to be collected before the end of the game. Scrap Brain Zone will not have a large ring at the end of it, even when finishing with fifty rings, despite the acts ending before it. If the player fails a stage, that stage is skipped and is returned to after attempting the sixth and final Special Stage.

It is stated in the North American and European manuals that a 1-Up item can be found in Special Stages, but they are not seen anywhere unless placed in the game's secret Debug Mode. It is possible, however, to earn extra lives by collecting a hundred rings in a single stage, indicated by the same sound used in the main zones.

Bosses
At the end of the third act of each zone (except the Scrap Brain Zone), Sonic faces off against Dr. Robotnik, who is piloting his mobile. For each battle, Robotnik's machine has a different tactic. Sonic must hit each boss eight times to destroy it.


 * 1) Eggmobile-H (Green Hill Zone)
 * 2) Fireball Weapon (Marble Zone)
 * 3) Spike Weapon (Spring Yard Zone)
 * 4) Retreating (Labyrinth Zone)
 * 5) Mine Dropper (Star Light Zone)
 * 6) Final Zone

Achievements
There are a total of twelve achievements, totaling of 200G. Please note that these achievements are only from the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, and cannot be obtained on any other port of the game.

Master System and Game Gear
As the Master System still had high sales in South America (and in limited amounts in the US through retail stores), an 8-bit incarnation of Sonic the Hedgehog was produced for the Master System market. This version had similar zone themes and regular enemies, but entirely different level layouts and bosses. The Master System version was released for the Wii Virtual Console on 4 August 2008. This version was also made available worldwide for the Game Gear, with adjustments due to the smaller screen.

English
The English story prologue found in the original western manuals:


 * ''Crush Dr. Robotnik!

Dr. Ivo Robotnik, the mad scientist, is snatching innocent animals and turning them into evil robots! Only one tough dude can put an end to the demented scientist’s fiendish scheme. It’s Sonic, the real cool hedgehog with the spiked haircut and power sneakers that give him super speed.

Help Sonic fight hordes of metal maniacs and do the loop with the Super Sonic Spin Attack. Speed down twisting tunnels and swing over dangerous booby traps. Leap across lava pits and dodge burning rocks. Then splash through the chilling waters in an underground cavern. And if you’re lucky, you can warp to the secret zone where you spin around in a floating maze! Your greatest challenge lurks in a secret lab where you come face to face with Dr. Robotnik himself!

Spin through space, loop ’til you’re dizzy, save the animals and become the super hero. Be Sonic! Be atomic!''

Gallery

Japanese
A translation of the story prologue from the Japanese manual:

"Sonic…that annoying, impertinent hedgehog. Thanks to him, my great plans are always laid to waste! Oh, but this time, I'm going to rub him out with the power of science! Ha ha ha ha ha…"
 * ''The evil mad scientist Dr. Eggman is up to his old nasty tricks again.

South Island is a treasure trove of gems and ancient ruins. They say that it's the island where the mystical Chaos Emeralds lie. The Chaos Emeralds are a super-material that give energy to all living beings. Also, when applied to scientific purposes, they can be used for nuclear and laser based weaponry. However, nobody knows exactly how to get a hold of these emeralds. At the same time, though, they do say that the reason why South Island is always moving is because the emeralds are somewhere inside the island's hazy depths.

One day, crisis visited upon the island. And who showed up with it but Dr. Eggman and his cronies. "I'll find those emeralds even if I have to dig up the entire island to do it!"

Dr. Eggman set up a fort in one corner of the island, and went about carrying out his plan.

"Eggman, you still haven't had enough?" Sonic hurried as soon as he heard the news. Dr. Eggman never seemed to leave him alone, even though Sonic had beaten him every time so far. It sounded like Dr. Eggman considered Sonic his sworn enemy, but he was never any match for Sonic.

However, this time something is amiss.

"Have you seen it, Sonic? This time is going to be different! Because this time, I've turned all the animals on the island into robots!"

"E...Everybody!?"

"All of them go about in accordance to my orders. In other words, Sonic, everyone on the island is your enemy! Gya— Ha ha ha ha ha ha ^cough^ ^ack^ ^ahem^. This time, the world really will be all mine!"

This is terrible! Hurry! Sonic the Hedgehog - everyone is waiting for your help!''

Videos
US commercial #1 = US commercial #2 = Japanese commercial #1 = Japanese commercial #2 = UK commercial =

Cheat codes
Note : These codes do not work on the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network versions of the game. They also do not work in the game unlockable in the Xbox 360 version of Sonic Generations.
 * Level Select - At the title screen, press UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, then hold A and press start.
 * Debug Mode - At the title screen, press UP, C, DOWN, C, LEFT, C, RIGHT, C (or C, C, UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT), start, then hold A until the game starts.

Glitches
There are six particular glitches in the game that could either help or make things much worse for Sonic.


 * 1) Too fast Sonic in the Green Hill Zone; Result: If going too fast down two tubes in Green Hill, the camera won't respond and Sonic will die at the ledge to the giant ring pattern.
 * 2) Rolling after Labyrinth Zone Act 2's end; Result: An illegal instruction error will proceed if this glitch is triggered, making the player reset the game.
 * 3) Too many hits on the Final Zone's boss; Result: If timed correctly, the player can hit Robotnik two times on the final hit, showing that he would need to be hit 255 more times.
 * 4) Sonic jumps too far away in the Final Zone; Result: Sonic would jump off into the bottomless pit, therefore losing a life.
 * 5) Move through walls in Scrap Brain Zone; Result: On one of the moving platforms, Sonic can duck and go through the wall, showing that he has been placed in another location.
 * 6) "Spike Bug"; Result: Though this is technically intentional, Sonic isn't invulnerable to spike damage immediately after taking a hit. This causes instant death (or an endless loop, if on debug mode). This was fixed in later games and in certain ports.

Reception
The original Sonic the Hedgehog was very well received by critics, scoring 86% from GameRankings. The game was an instant success that allowed Sega to wrap their video game business around and have a platformer to compete with Nintendo's Super Mario franchise. The gameplay, audio and graphics were praised by reviewers.

IGN reviewer Lucas M. Thomas rated Sonic the Hedgehog an 8/10, praising the simple but fast gameplay, the soundtrack and commended that "few people realize how difficult it was to create Sonic's graphics engine, which allowed for the incredible rate of speed the game's known for. The technical achievement impressed back in '91, and still does so today." Gamespot reviewer Greg Kasavin gave the game a 7.3/10, praising the great soundtrack and memorable sound effects, the fast-paced, responsive platformer action and cute, colorful graphics [that] have a good deal of charm and personality although he felt that the later levels can get frustrating tough, requiring meticulous memorization.

Trivia

 * The Japanese release added additional storyline details, as the existing plot was virtually a basic outline. The purpose of the Chaos Emeralds is greatly expanded upon, which is elaborated in later games. It is explained that Dr. Robotnik was specifically searching for them on the island due to their incredible energy according to legend. The manual also states that there has already been some unknown animosity between Sonic and Robotnik in the past (which, on the other hand, is not backed up in later games). It also lists the setting as South Island, which is established in later games as well - in the English manual, the setting was originally unnamed.
 * There are two versions of the game. This revision is common in Japan, but contrary to popular belief it was released worldwide in smaller quantities. This update makes some very minor changes to the game's programming, as well as adds some visual effects such as scrolling clouds in Green Hill Zone or water ripples in Labyrinth Zone. It also corrects the zone order on the level select. This version of the game is used is most subsequent releases. In addition, the scrolling clouds return in most appearances of Green Hill Zone.
 * Rui Sousa holds the high score for Sonic the Hedgehog: 1,559,180. He achieved this on 21 March 2015.
 * There was a sound test that was originally supposed to be in this game but was scrapped. But one character in this sound test appeared in future games (Vector) while the others appear in the Archie Comics as part of Mina Mongoose's band.
 * A variant of this game's Special Stage also appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I.
 * There were only six Chaos Emeralds in this game. A seventh emerald was introduced in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
 * The game's 2013 re-release adds a seventh emerald, making Super Forms possible.
 * In each version of the game's box art, Sonic is making the same pose.
 * Out of the main series classic Sonic games (including Sonic the Hedgehog 4), this is the only game whose final boss doesn't take place in space.
 * Masato Nakamura did say in a interview that when he was composing the music for this game, he thought the game as a film to compose the music.
 * This is one of the games to be represented in Sonic Generations. Green Hill reappears as the first stage of the Classic Era in both the home and portable versions.
 * This game's theme music would later be remixed and used as the theme for Sonic The Hedgehog 2 and Sonic Generations.
 * Also, the opening and ending of this game's ending theme were remixed and used for the opening and ending theme for Sonic Generations.
 * Strangely, the PlayStation Network port of the game was rated E10+ by the ESRB. However, that has been changed to an E rating in 2013.
 * The music of Metallic Madness Past from Sonic the Hedgehog CD was used during the mobile remastered versions' trailer.
 * In the G4 special Top 100 Video Games of All Time, the game was ranked at #50.
 * The game was meant to move at an even faster pace, but that idea was cut from the final version, as Yuji Naka got motion-sickness from it.
 * The game was listed in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die. In addition, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic Adventure were also listed.
 * This is one of the few Sonic games that when it crashes, it has something debug-related happen. In this game's case, sometimes when a crash happens, an error code comes on the screen.