Wait a minute
THERE ISN'T A SINGLE CHECKPOINT IN THE MARBLE ZONE ACTS
THE ONLY CHECKPOINT IS BEFORE FIGHTING EGGMAN IN ACT 3
At any rate, some quick impressions THAT i wrote up, which I will use in a RTTP thread for Sonic 1.
Green Hill Zone
The easiest Zone in the game, and the one where speeding through is the primary course to take. One thing I like about GH Zone is how it 'ups the difficulty' somewhat:
In Act 1 there are 3 rings visible that Sonic can pick up safely by jumping
In Act 2, the first set of rings are on bridges with the fish Badnik jumping upwards. To a child this can seem daunting as you risk losing a life so early in the stage.
In Act 3, there are spikes early in the stage, but there is also a hidden Inv. power up on one of the palm trees too
It's a simple design idea but one that I find rather fascinating.
Also I will always forget the proper timing to attack
EggmanRobotnik in this Zone =_=
Marble Zone
Ah now this stage
THIS STAGE
This stage changes it up. This one must be approached more 'Traditional platformer' like. There are traps and moving platforms and much of the stage is spent underground. Rushing through is pointless. You must progress through an area slowly and without rushing. Furhtermore memorizing the patterns and layout of the traps is crucial to avoid taking damage and losing your rings.
While many would dislike this Zone
I rather like it. I like the slow paced nature of it somewhat. Prob. helps that Marble Zone's theme is quite good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXukwNQG0uA
Furthermore, controlling Sonic really shines here, Sonic manages to slow down or halt to a stop rather quickly from what I played.
For the most part and despite actually losing rings a few times the course of playing these Acts, I managed to react as best as possible to oncomming hazards, traps and enemies.
If there is one major issue I have with this Zone, it'd be the fact that THERE ISN'T A SINGLE CHECKPOINT IN ANY OF THE ACTS.
It's like during development, they set the stage up and the hazards and forgot about the checkpoints. This is frustrating for first time players as it means you got to start from the very beginning of the Act.
Non the less, this stage requires the player to simply take is slow and steady, and yet one could still speedrun it just fine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veOsJy7VQMQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBNKhZQTcSQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVsn6jj7M2s
Spring Yard Zone
Much like Marble Zone, this one should be approached with a slow pace as well at least to avoid the hazards, enemies and traps.
Furthermore this stage follows patterns in the sense that certain elements repeat themselves throughout the stage. From the slow moving trio of platforms, to the lower sections of the level where one would see spiked balls, among a few others.
In the case of the spiked balls, their pattern is set: When one spike ball is up, the other will be down.
2 enemies are unique to this level at least: An enemy with a spike on its back meaning you got to spin dash to destroy it or just jump over it to avoid it
The other is an armadillo-like badnik, this one will chase you from behind, but long as you end memorizing where they come from they're easy to deal with.
Act 3 is where the dev team become crafty; the trio of moving platforms can crush you at the final set at the top, furthermore, prior to fighting Robotnik, there are moving platforms over a bottomless pit. This last part isn't that hard to get through long as you don't rush through it and just follow its pace.
Spring Yard Zone has checkpoints thankfully, but memorizing the stage and pattern of the hazards is crucial to being able to beat it as fast as possible.
