Sonic 1… what can I say that hasn’t already been said? The icon, the legend, and my childhood hero made his debut with this game 35 years ago. The original Sonic the Hedgehog was the secret weapon Sega banked its future on, and it threw the established gaming order on its head. Fun fact: did you know Sonic 1 predates the US launch of the Super Nintendo? Yep, Sonic is older here than the SNES by a few months, and although the SNES was created to keep up with the Sega Genesis and TurboGrafx-16, the shattering launch of Sonic forced Nintendo to pull out every stop they had for the next several years. Sonic gave Sega a fighting chance for the 90s, and set them up as best as he possibly could.
Today, Sonic has scores of friends, adversaries, plot lines, and abilities, but in the beginning it was just him, Dr Robotnik (Eggman), and a Zone of Green Hills. Robotnik is kidnapping small animals and using them to power his robots, and it’s up to Sonic to free them and stop the doctor’s dastardly deeds. He’ll go through six zones of three acts each, collecting rings, defeating enemies, and knocking Robotnik out of the sky at the end of each zone. There’s lush forestry, volcanic ruins, flooded temples and shimmering cities to explore, as well as a mysterious realm containing gems of unspeakable power…
It’s a simple, run-to-the-right affair. But never before were gamers blessed with a platformer of such speed, physics, and quality. Platformers before Sonic were rigid, grid-based affairs; but Sonic offered curvature and momentum, complete with a rolling jump that turned him almost into a pinball. He may not have had familiar moves like the spin dash or homing attack yet, but his spin jump and forward rolls gave him utility that allowed players to tackle the game with fluidity, grace, and freedom. Competitors like Super Mario looked downright stodgy in comparison.
Sonic the Hedgehog is renowned for his Special Stages—courses that feature a completely different gameplay style and showcase major technical trickery. The prizes of these stages are the Chaos Emeralds, and no Sonic game is fully beaten without obtaining all of them. This tradition began immediately with his first game with bonus stages dubbed Secret Zones. Finishing an act with over 50 rings places a giant ring at the act’s endpoint to jump inside. Unlike later games which usually featured pseudo-3D, Sonic 1’s stages are top-down 2D mazes that continuously rotate. Sonic is permanently spinning and must jump off walls and obstacles toward the flickering emerald. There are six unique stages of increasing complexity for each color emerald, and although collecting every emerald would open up major perks in later games, in this first game they merely unlock a more festive ending cutscene.
Now how about some story time! I received my Genesis in 1994 with Sonic 2 as the pack-in title, and went on to play and own the further games in the series. Gifts and Blockbuster rentals would be of the hedgehog’s future adventures, but the original Sonic 1 was never to be found. This was back when e-commerce was nonexistent, and you were limited to whatever your local stores stocked. (Catalog and phone orders were also common, but not to my child self.) Sonic 1 was, at the time, out of print and out of reach. I only knew it existed through logic (surely if I have 2 there must be a 1), a one-off quarter on a random MegaPlay machine (Sega’s arcade-ified Genesis that played time-limited cartridges), and a classmate that let me borrow his cartridge for one glorious week. I all but gave up on ever owning the mythical game until one day, Toys R Us happened to stock the ‘Sega Classic’ re-issue of Sonic the Hedgehog! And there was only one copy left!! My mother, who knew how badly I yearned for Sonic 1, was almost as happy to see it as I was… and purchased it for me on the spot. My 6-year-old self was in shock the whole time we brought the last paper tag from its cubby to the counter for purchase. Getting a new game for no reason?! It was something she never did before and would never do again. Finally Sonic 1 joined my modest collection with its distinctive Sega Classic branding setting it apart, and this story of its arrival remains with me as a beloved childhood memory.
For my Mini-Gaming playthrough, it was only fitting for me to do a perfect run with all Chaos Emeralds and no deaths. Though I know the game like the back of my hand, it had still been years since I’ve played the game, much less for a ‘serious’ session. This was my secondary goal in this blog challenge: not just playing new (old) games for the first time but play familiar games in a refreshed context. Sitting down, Genesis controller in hand, to play through every single stage, playing well enough to unlock the Secret Zones, and actually getting the emeralds, hits differently. Sonic 1 has aged like fine wine, and the levels complement Sonic’s limited move set so well that his future abilities aren’t missed.
Speaking of those levels, it’s interesting to realize only half of them focus on speed. The zones alternate between breezy and precise, and although today’s gamers criticize Sonic 1 for this, I disagree. If every stage was speedy, the game would get samey and boring quickly. You need a break from the pace in order to appreciate the freedom when it comes. The slower stages also demonstrate the precision control Sonic offers, remember that platformers at this time rarely allowed the level of finesse seen here. Also back in 1991, the ‘slow stages’ weren’t seen as slow, but standard. Platformers were not a fast-paced genre until now—Sonic’s speedy zones were truly a revolution. I mean think about it, even when you are running in Mario games, how fast are you really going?
Replaying the Secret Zones for the first time in years was also a treat. Even to this day they are disorienting, and there’s palpable tension trying to get Sonic where you want him to go. There’s a downward gravity at play, and each rotation puts Sonic in a new angle you must adjust for. The rotation is jerky but consistent (re-releases of the game would rotate smoothly), but I almost prefer the jerkiness. I found it helped with lining up and timing my jumps, even if half of them would fling me in the wrong direction. An odd bounce would set me right on course with a dreaded level exit, with my thumb crammed away on the D-Pad in a desperate nod to lean away from it, and another jump would set me on a speed-up panel, making the maze spin faster, now I hit a reverse panel and we’re going in the opposite direction… it’s a lot! Almost too much for today’s impatient and inflexible player, but for me a healthy dose of difficulty and excitement. Every emerald felt earned, even for a veteran player such as myself.
It almost felt silly to play Sonic 1 when I have hundreds of other games to explore, but this session felt like meeting up with an old friend. We’ve known each other since childhood, and things around us have changed a lot. But the spark is still there, as we laugh at old stories as if we’ve never heard them before. And we made plans to definitely hang out again, even if it won’t be for several years.
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