Cindi Mayweather
Member
When I was a kid I adored Sonic. I had most of the Game Gear games, I had Sonic 1-3 and Knuckles. I even read the comics. Sonic 1 was the game I ever owned and Genesis was the first system I ever owned. It came bundled with the system so for a time, it was the only game I had.
It was the first game I really completed front to back to the point of memorization. I mean, I played and beat other games before it, but not like Sonic. Suffice to say, I was a Sega kid growing up and Sonic was my anchor.
So I caught the Sonic Mania bug and decided to replay the old Genesis Sonic games starting with the first one. I beat it early this week on iPhone because everyone raved about the Whitehead port in light of his Sonic Mania contributions. What I played wasn't something that impressed me. It was the first time I had played it in a long time, and I still knew every in and out, but found the game lacking. Bemused at my reaction, I decided to replay it on Steam via the Sega Classics version with a gamepad. Maybe it was the iPhone's touch controls? Maybe it was the smaller screen? Instead, what I got was stark reality hitting me in the face: Sonic the Hedgehog is a bad game.
I'm convinced most players of the original never got past Spring Yard Zone and that's why its legacy has endured because looking at it with a microscope to analyze its most intimate parts reveals a game filled with curious design choices that isn't very fun.
Labyrinth Zone is where most of the problems start. As a kid, you toughen up. It's the only game you own, so you have to beat that level. But playing it as an adult truly reveals how badly designed it is. The layout is poorly thought out, the gameplay becomes tediously slow. When you try to jump on, say, an Orbinaut, and sometimes you'll be unfortunate enough to get an air bubble, which puts Sonic in his unique air breathing animation which he'll stuck in while you're trying to hit the enemy. You'll get a lot of unnecessary hits due to poorly placed enemies. Then there's the actual boss fight, which is just poor all around. If you die at the boss, there are no rings and only have a barrier to protect from death.
The second half of Sonic The Hedgehog's stages are full of moments where it's easy to ask,"what the hell were they thinking?" And not in an "wow, I'm out of practice" way, but more of a "this is bad" way. Sonic the Hedgehog is typified by numerous trial and error occasions. While a lot of games back then subsisted on trial and error (Mega Man's entire premise is based on this due to the weapon system and boss order for example), none of them operate like Sonic. In other games there's usually a consistent logic, but in Sonic, it's mired by bad design choices. Whether it's Labyrinth Zone's water sections, Scrap Brains small fire pipes. It's a form of trial and error that isn't very fun, and I know every path and every section of this game.
But the more you play the more you realize how flawed the entire concept of the game is, such as the tiered platforming which is a core element in Sonic's stage structure. The stages are inconsistent in that it's sometimes hard to know if a platform takes you to a bottom tier or if it will result in death. I know which ones do, but that doesn't necessarily make it a good design decision. It also makes platforming boring because you have too many options and there's no overall tight experience, which is what 2d platformers operate their best at. A lot of the platforming in Scrap Brain zone isn't fun. You end up on conveyor belts with flames and saws. Fall and you'll end up in the electricity current. But the window is so tight and it feels like nothing more than an annoyance than a legitimate challenge.
On both of my playthroughs I remember getting bored half way through Spring Yard Zone. The game was extremely short and I just didn't find it fulfilling in any way.
Comparing Sonic the Hedgehog 1 to 8-bit platformers such as Super Mario Bros 3, Bionic Commando, Castlevania I, Castlevania III, Ducktales, Batman, and the Mega Man series show just how lacking Sonic The Hedgehog is. I don't even think it compares to games like Adventure Island series, Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu. Comparing it to other Sega platformers it fails to measure up there too. Wonder Boy makes it comparatively feel like a joke and I also prefer Alex Kidd. Comparing it to 16-bit platformers like Yoshi's Island, Rocket Knight Adventures, and Donkey Kong Country 2 isn't fair in any way.
It doesn't feel Sega quality to me. Sonic The Hedgehog feels like a highly successful experiment. It paid big, but playing it now reveals a game that probably never really deserved its reception beyond its aesthetic (soundtrack and graphics) and physics system.
I'm almost scared to play Sonic 2 and I'm kind of thinking it's best to keep it in my memories.
It was the first game I really completed front to back to the point of memorization. I mean, I played and beat other games before it, but not like Sonic. Suffice to say, I was a Sega kid growing up and Sonic was my anchor.
So I caught the Sonic Mania bug and decided to replay the old Genesis Sonic games starting with the first one. I beat it early this week on iPhone because everyone raved about the Whitehead port in light of his Sonic Mania contributions. What I played wasn't something that impressed me. It was the first time I had played it in a long time, and I still knew every in and out, but found the game lacking. Bemused at my reaction, I decided to replay it on Steam via the Sega Classics version with a gamepad. Maybe it was the iPhone's touch controls? Maybe it was the smaller screen? Instead, what I got was stark reality hitting me in the face: Sonic the Hedgehog is a bad game.
I'm convinced most players of the original never got past Spring Yard Zone and that's why its legacy has endured because looking at it with a microscope to analyze its most intimate parts reveals a game filled with curious design choices that isn't very fun.
Labyrinth Zone is where most of the problems start. As a kid, you toughen up. It's the only game you own, so you have to beat that level. But playing it as an adult truly reveals how badly designed it is. The layout is poorly thought out, the gameplay becomes tediously slow. When you try to jump on, say, an Orbinaut, and sometimes you'll be unfortunate enough to get an air bubble, which puts Sonic in his unique air breathing animation which he'll stuck in while you're trying to hit the enemy. You'll get a lot of unnecessary hits due to poorly placed enemies. Then there's the actual boss fight, which is just poor all around. If you die at the boss, there are no rings and only have a barrier to protect from death.
The second half of Sonic The Hedgehog's stages are full of moments where it's easy to ask,"what the hell were they thinking?" And not in an "wow, I'm out of practice" way, but more of a "this is bad" way. Sonic the Hedgehog is typified by numerous trial and error occasions. While a lot of games back then subsisted on trial and error (Mega Man's entire premise is based on this due to the weapon system and boss order for example), none of them operate like Sonic. In other games there's usually a consistent logic, but in Sonic, it's mired by bad design choices. Whether it's Labyrinth Zone's water sections, Scrap Brains small fire pipes. It's a form of trial and error that isn't very fun, and I know every path and every section of this game.
But the more you play the more you realize how flawed the entire concept of the game is, such as the tiered platforming which is a core element in Sonic's stage structure. The stages are inconsistent in that it's sometimes hard to know if a platform takes you to a bottom tier or if it will result in death. I know which ones do, but that doesn't necessarily make it a good design decision. It also makes platforming boring because you have too many options and there's no overall tight experience, which is what 2d platformers operate their best at. A lot of the platforming in Scrap Brain zone isn't fun. You end up on conveyor belts with flames and saws. Fall and you'll end up in the electricity current. But the window is so tight and it feels like nothing more than an annoyance than a legitimate challenge.
On both of my playthroughs I remember getting bored half way through Spring Yard Zone. The game was extremely short and I just didn't find it fulfilling in any way.
Comparing Sonic the Hedgehog 1 to 8-bit platformers such as Super Mario Bros 3, Bionic Commando, Castlevania I, Castlevania III, Ducktales, Batman, and the Mega Man series show just how lacking Sonic The Hedgehog is. I don't even think it compares to games like Adventure Island series, Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu. Comparing it to other Sega platformers it fails to measure up there too. Wonder Boy makes it comparatively feel like a joke and I also prefer Alex Kidd. Comparing it to 16-bit platformers like Yoshi's Island, Rocket Knight Adventures, and Donkey Kong Country 2 isn't fair in any way.
It doesn't feel Sega quality to me. Sonic The Hedgehog feels like a highly successful experiment. It paid big, but playing it now reveals a game that probably never really deserved its reception beyond its aesthetic (soundtrack and graphics) and physics system.
I'm almost scared to play Sonic 2 and I'm kind of thinking it's best to keep it in my memories.
