The Sonic the Hedgehog History Thread

[Lee]

Since his appearance in 1991 on the Sega MegaDrive/Genesis, Sonic the Hedgehog has appeared in over forty games, ranging from such consoles as the Sega Master System to the Wii.

As is what I usually do I shall go through each game, tell you about said game and offer my opinion on it (if I've played it) and I invite you guys to join in too. For a game to be in the thread it will need to have appeared in Japan, North America AND Europe. When I say Mega Drive, I refer to the Sega Genesis as it was called the Mega Drive in Europe and Australia.

I shall start this tomorrow with my first game of Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Mega Drive

 

[Lee]

Game type; Platformer

Platform; Sega Mega Drive/PC

Release dates;
NA June 21, 1991
EU June 23, 1991
JP July 26, 1991

Plot
In the game, Sonic has to prevent Dr. Robotnik from collecting six of the Chaos Emeralds in an attempt to rule South Island. He must traverse six "zones", each comprising three stages or "acts", until he confronts Robotnik for the last time in the Final Zone.

Opinion
Not the best in the series, but definitely one of the best of the series. Take the classic platform genre that Nintendo is spearheading and make it 10 times better by adding speed into it? I like it. Sonic is 18 years old, yet you can still go back, pick it up and enjoy it...a true test to a games impact I guess.

 

[a7xoff]

*sigh* Sonic history makes me sad... Primarly for the fact that it was so amazing. Sonic The Hedgehog was a great game in itself, but really set up for Sonic 2 and 3. Fun side scrolling, and not on a time limit. Overall I think the first Sonic is not the best Sonic game, but it was certainly a great start. Also a great game for the emulator and still occupies quite a bit of my free time between classes at school. The zones were great, and continued to pick and chew at Nintendo's Mario worlds where there were typically 4 levels per world... Sonic changed that to Zones and Acts which for that game worked well. I give this one an 8 out of 10

 

[Lee]

The 8 bit incarnations....

Game type; Platformer

Platform; Sega Master System/ Sega Game Gear

Release dates;
October 25th, 1991 was the first release.

Plot
VArious plots in the games all relating to saving the chaos emralds and defeating Robotnik.

Opinion
Now I decided to bunch these all together for two reasons;
1) Some were released in Europe & NA only, others were released in Europe & Japan only.
2) I don't think many people have played the Sonic Master System games.

The weird thing is that thease all received English releases, when usually we're the neglected country. The games were; Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic Chaos/Sonic and Tails (Europe) , Sonic Triple Trouble/Sonic and Tails 2 (Europe), Sonic Drift, Sonic Drift 2, Sonic Labyrinth and Sonic Blast.

They were quite good games and in my opinion the better games of the Master System, as it converted the brilliance of sonic, onto the brilliance of 8 bit! They looked very good for 8 bit graphics, and were quite enjoyable.

Sonic 2 was also the first appearance of Tails, four days before his appearance on the Mega Drive Sonic 2...which is up next!

 

[FoleyIsGod]

Sonic ruled and still does, in fact.

Though do any of you feel dirty when you see Sonic on a nintendo console? Mario & Sonic at tghe Olympics?

Noone wants to play a fat, hairy Italian plumber, I was a spikey blue hedgehog kicking arse AGAINST a fat, balding insane genius

 

[Leeds Guy]

The Sonic games for the megadrive were the best, Sonic, Sonic 2, Sonic 3 And Sonic and Knuckles. Completely Revolutionized 2d Platform games. Id love it if they made another 2D sonic, cos the recent 3d releases havn't been as good.

 

[a7xoff]

Game Gear is unfortunatly one of the few handhelds I do not own. Though I don't own it, I did play my fair share of Sonic games on it. Honestly I found these games to be much harder than their Genesis counterparts, but just as enjoyable. One big thing that I loved about them, and Game Gear in general was the colored screen. I mean they had colored screen way before Nintendo did.... So what if the system was the size of a DVD box... Overall I'll rate the 8 bit games combined an 8.5 out of 10.

 

[Lee]

Sorry guys, been having a mini WZ break, darn tat real life! Now I return with arguably the greatest game in the series; Sonic 2

Game type; Platformer

Platform; Sega Mega Drive/Genesis

Release dates;J
PN November 21, 1992
NA November 24, 1992
EUR November 24, 1992

Plot
Sonic ends up on an Island for some reason, there's something to do with the chaos emeralds and Dr Robotnik!

Opinion

Most people hate Tails,but as a seven year old kid, I quite liked him, yeah he gets in the way at times, but sometimes he actually helps!

The best thing Sonic 2 did was not give us Tails but in fact give us the spin dash, making the game a little easier, add into that the fact that the emerald gem levels are now available at the lamp posts you have an all round good game. My main annoyance though is that they cut from three acts per zone down to two, that doesn't really give you time to give a feel of it in my opinion.

 

[Lee]

No love for Sonic 2? Aww well, next in the series is Sonic CD, not Sonic 3.

Game type; Platformer

Platform; Sega Mega CD/PC

Release dates;J
Japan September 23, 1993
Europe October 1993
United States November 19, 1993
Japan August 9, 1996 (PC)
United States September 26, 1996 (PC)
Europe October 3, 1996 (PC)

Plot
For one month out of every year, a tiny planet appears in the skies above Never Lake. The mysterious "Little Planet" holds seven gems that control the passage of time,bending the barriers between past and future. Intrigued by the unusual power of these stones, Dr. Robotnik descends upon Little Planet and hatches a new scheme to take it over.

Fortunately, Sonic the Hedgehog has caught wind of Robotnik's plot and resolves to beat him to the Time Stones at all costs. However, to complicate matters Dr. Robotnik has kidnapped the young lady hedgehog Amy Rose and uses her to bait Sonic and keep him off his trail. To that end, he deploys his most sophisticated and diabolical machine to date: a robot duplicate of the hedgehog hero, designed to match Sonic's every move and even match his own trademark speed.

Opinion

This game only exists so the Mega CD could sell, and we all know how well that wen

So a few little changes...Zones become rounds and acts become zones, there's a kidnapped girl involved *cough peach cough* and a metal version of Sonic.

I'm sure few people have played this, I have only played the Mega CD version and not the PV version, but I must say it is surprisngly good, it has all the good game play of Sonic 1 & 2 as well as the decent looks of Sonic 3/Sonic & Knuckles. I like how you can travel back in time to different parts, something Zelda stole a few years later. Another advantage is I cannot remember Tails being in it =)

 

[a7xoff]

Well I can honestly say that I haven't played the Sonic for MegaCd, but I have plaed Sonic 2. So I'll talk about that as I just have not had the time to do so until now, which I should probably be studying, but oh well. Sonic 2 is probably my favorite of the series. It is really the sole reason I went out of m way to purchase a Genesis about 2 years ago. I can honestly say that this was the highest point in the series for me. The introduction of tails was for me pretty cool considering I was like 6-7ish when it came out. I also found the two player to be pretty good. The spin dash was such a helpful add on. Now when I go back to Sonic 1 I get annoyed that I can't do it. I think that they should have left it at three acts per zone, two for me just made the zones go by like a blur. Literally I think I've beaten a few of the Zones in under 2 minutes total. Overall though I have literally no complaints about this game other than the Zone thing.

 

[Lee]

Well I can honestly say that I haven't played the Sonic for MegaCd, but I have plaed Sonic 2. So I'll talk about that as I just have not had the time to do so until now, which I should probably be studying, but oh well. Sonic 2 is probably my favorite of the series. It is really the sole reason I went out of m way to purchase a Genesis about 2 years ago. I can honestly say that this was the highest point in the series for me. The introduction of tails was for me pretty cool considering I was like 6-7ish when it came out. I also found the two player to be pretty good. The spin dash was such a helpful add on. Now when I go back to Sonic 1 I get annoyed that I can't do it. I think that they should have left it at three acts per zone, two for me just made the zones go by like a blur. Literally I think I've beaten a few of the Zones in under 2 minutes total. Overall though I have literally no complaints about this game other than the Zone thing.

Whilst replaying Sonic 2 the zone thing really annoyed me too, that was until I got to Metropolis Zone and it had three acts in the zone, which added to the experience and made the last zone that bit more special.

 

[a7xoff]

Yah that is a true story I suppose. It did add a little bit more specialness to the final Zone. My overall favorite Zone was the Casino Zone, I wish that had more than the two Acts in it. Sonic 2 I'm going to have to replay now again to see what else I feel could be a bit better in this game, but I really can't think of anything else that annoyed me. Mabey they could have increased the length of the acts or something, but then again the speed that Sonic can move in that game can end any act in about a minute. As far as the megacd game, I'll have to look into that a bit more and see if I can find an emulator for it.

 

[Ty Burna]

Sonic 2 was the very first Sonic game I owned/played. Still on my top list of favorite games to this day. I guess the zone thing didn't bother me too much, I really didn't pay attention, however I must say if they added more zones and made that game longer, it would have been perfect. I can't tell you how frustrating those last two bosses were the first time I got to them. I was expecting at least a ring or two to help you out but you got nothing. I must mention I was fairly young when I played this game and I felt like they were trying to fuck me over by not giving me any rings. In the end though it made it that much more satisfying when you finally completed the game.

After finally beating Sonic 2, I can honestly say from that point on I became a hardcore gamer and will be for the rest of my life.

Edit: Upon further contemplation, maybe they gave you 3 rings at the beginning of that final stage. I can't remember, but I do know it was none or 3.

 

[Leeds Guy]

Edit: Upon further contemplation, maybe they gave you 3 rings at the beginning of that final stage. I can't remember, but I do know it was none or 3.

It was none. You had to beat Silver Sonic and that robot Robotnik with no rings, it was well solid. Sonic 2 is an amazing game, id have to say my fave level was the airship level, it took me forever to do that. 3 stages would have been better but ya cant complain cos it was still and ace game.

 

[Lee]

Sonic 3 now...

Game type; Platformer

Platform; Sega Mega Drive/Genesis

Release dates;
NA February 2, 1994
EU February 24, 1994
JP May 27, 1994

Plot
Robotnik crash lands on some island...As Dr. Robotnik begins to repair the ship, he meets up with the Island’s sole inhabitant, Knuckles the Echidna. Knuckles is the last surviving member of an ancient civilization, whose ruins and relics are scattered throughout the island. He is also the guardian of a set of Chaos Emeralds, which grants the island its levitation powers.

Knowing Sonic and Tails will try to track him down, and realizing he can use the Chaos Emeralds to power the ship, Robotnik tricks Knuckles into believing Sonic is trying to steal his Emeralds....

Opinion
Sonic was one cool mo fo, but nothing compares to Knuckles, a true anti hero if ever there was one, trying to stop Sonic from stealing the Emralds, he's a bad guy, yet we love him.

The game itself was pretty decent, I didn't find it as enjoyable as Sonic 2, that is ultimately due to the sheer frustration I felt sometimes playing it! It's one of the last great Sonic games, and I loved how all the zones actually fit together.

 

[a7xoff]

I'll agree with you Lee that at some points this game was very, very frustrating. However that was almost a welcome frustration as many games at that time were really not all that challenging. I mean even Sonic 1 and 2 were not to terribly challenging. Sonic 3 though was, and I feel that that gives it it's own little special touch. Yes there are other challenging Sonic games, but this was the first to really get on my nerves anyway.

Sonic 3 I can say was not my favorite of the series, but was still a pretty solid game. Probably the best add on feature was the legendary save. When the game got too annoying all you had to do was put it down for a while. I also enjoyed the character selection, it was a nice added touch as Sonic and Tails had their own little abilities that made the game that much more interesting.

 

[Leeds Guy]

I loved Sonic 3, i loved the fact that you could jump into Tails' hands and he could fly you to find secrets, i loved the fact that you had 3 types of Shields the Water (Which you could bounce and saved you from drowning underwater), The Fire (Which ment you were immune to fire) , And The Electric (which attracted all the rings to you) which was a powerfull ally when you got all the emeralds and could play as super sonic after you picked up 50 rings.

I enjoyed Knuckles as he was a pain, but you knew deep down that he was just protecting his island and was being tricked by Robotnick. At the end it kinda left some unanswered questions as you didnt really find out about knuckles till the Sonic and Knuckles game.

 

[Lee]

Sonic & Knuckles now...

Game type; Platformer

Platform; Sega Mega Drive/Genesis

Release dates;

18th October 1994 Worldwide.

Plot
The story picks up from the ending of Sonic 3 - Dr. Robotnik's orbital weapon, the Death Egg, has been badly damaged in the climactic battle between himself and Sonic the Hedgehog. As the satellite falls back to Floating Island...dum dum duuum!

As Robotnik begins repairing the Death Egg, he decides that Knuckles has served his purpose, and dispatches an EggRobo, a highly autonomous robot built in his own image, to dispose of Knuckles. He assumes that if EggRobo can't destroy Knuckles, his cover as the real mastermind won't be blown, leaving the possibility that Sonic and Knuckles may fight to the death. EggRobo's first assassination attempt - Dropping a bomb on a half-asleep Knuckles - only serves to enrage the echidna, setting him on a mission to stop both Sonic, and his mystery assailant.

Opinion

Everyone seemed to love this game, I did not. They seemed to have far too many crazy contraptions that just really stopped the flow of the game. I'm just not a fan of it...sorry guys!

This game was really just to be able to use Knuckles in Sonic 2 & 3, which made it cool for different gameplay...as a game in its own right, it sucks!

 

[E7]

That game was hard(sonic 3), remember that part in the casino type thing, where you had to jump high enough on this movable platform? It was the third level or so...and i never could get past it...ugh i wanted to beat that game too i loved it.

 

[E7]

Sonic 2 was the very first Sonic game I owned/played. Still on my top list of favorite games to this day. I guess the zone thing didn't bother me too much, I really didn't pay attention, however I must say if they added more zones and made that game longer, it would have been perfect. I can't tell you how frustrating those last two bosses were the first time I got to them. I was expecting at least a ring or two to help you out but you got nothing. I must mention I was fairly young when I played this game and I felt like they were trying to fuck me over by not giving me any rings. In the end though it made it that much more satisfying when you finally completed the game.

After finally beating Sonic 2, I can honestly say from that point on I became a hardcore gamer and will be for the rest of my life.

Edit: Upon further contemplation, maybe they gave you 3 rings at the beginning of that final stage. I can't remember, but I do know it was none or 3.

I'm pretty sure its three...because at the end, the mechanical sonic follows a pattern that i wrote down, and also i remember losing and regaining a precious few rings...that game was indeed awesome!

 

[Lee]

I'm pretty sure its three...because at the end, the mechanical sonic follows a pattern that i wrote down, and also i remember losing and regaining a precious few rings...that game was indeed awesome!

You start with 0 rings, I've just did the level select cheat and you get zero rings. However there are three before you officially start the boss, so you can fight him with rings, but you should you die, your next attempt has zero rings.