Spontaneous Sunday - Sonic The Hedgehog

Welcome to another Spontaneous Sunday. We start with a potentially shocking revelation: I have never played Sonic The Hedgehog. It is sinful, I know, but I finally plan to right that wrong this week, as I picked up the Sega Megadrive Ultimate Collection (released on PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2009). This is a compilation of 48 classic Sega games, including Sonic The Hedgehog (Originally released 1991, Sonic Team, Sega Megadrive).

"Sonic the Hedgehog is a platform video game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis console. The game was first released in 1991. The game features an anthropomorphic hedgehog named Sonic in a quest to defeat Dr. Eggman, a scientist who has imprisoned animals in robots and stolen the magical Chaos Emeralds. Sonic the Hedgehog's gameplay involves collecting rings as a form of health and a simple control scheme, with jumping and attacking controlled by a single button."

- wikipedia on Sonic The Hedgehog

What do I expect from the game?

Though I have never played a Sonic game before, its iconic status means that I am, of course, very familiar with the franchise. I have seen and heard a lot about the games and the character of Sonic, and I have a good idea of what to expect. I expect that the game will be fairly simple in terms of its gameplay and objectives, with solid and fun core platforming mechanics. It was originally a 16-bit game, so I expect the graphics to be simple, but colourful, with 2D sprites and a retro feel.

I expect the levels to be short but interesting and entertaining, with the simple platform objective type of "get from point A to point B by traversing obstacles and enemies" making up the bulk of the gameplay. As a newcomer to the franchise, with no strong opinions one way or the other about the game or the character, I am interested to see if any of Sonic's nostalgic charm is lost on me, or whether my play session will see me taking to the games and the character as much as Sonic fans have.

First Impressions - What do I think of the game in its first few minutes?

Sonic The Hedgehog has a very minimal introduction, consisting of just a title screen that lasts for a few seconds before the first level, Green Hill Zone, begins. I was a bit surprised at the lack of main menu and how the game simply began. There was also no mention of the game's back story. I suppose that the game was created with the assumption that the player will have read the manual before playing. As is often the case when I play old games for Spontaneous Sunday, this made me think of how the prevalence of detailed game manuals has rapidly declined over the past few years.

First view of the game world.

The music and appearance of Green Hill Zone Act 1 were instantly familiar to me, which surely says something about the iconic and ubiquitous nature of the game and the Sonic franchise in general. It is a light-hearted and welcoming-looking level that introduces the player to the core gameplay and mechanics in an accessible setting. This made me realise a trend in platform games: they usually begin in "homely", less threatening areas with lots of greenery. Some other examples of this that I can think of include Crash Bandicoot 2's "Turtle Woods" and Rayman's "Pink Plant Woods". As the games progress, the environments become more foreboding and threatening. Having a pleasant introductory level allows the player to get to grips with the controls without being distracted, while having more threatening environments later in the game also allows the developers to increase the perceived difficulty of the game as it progresses. 

The game's controls are very simple, which was the developer's intention - I have read that the developers set out to have the attack and jump controls assigned to the same button to minimise control complexity. The simple controls allows for a more streamlined experience which in turn gives way to the fast moving gameplay that is central to the game. In terms of gameplay and level design, the first level features a well-balanced number of enemies, collectables and obstacles which makes for an interesting but not overly-challenging introduction.

I was very impressed by the visuals of the first level. I'm not very familiar with 16-bit games as they were before my time, so I found Sonic's graphics interesting and visually appealing. It is a very colourful game, with attractive visuals and backgrounds.

What do I like about the game?

It is clear to see why Sonic The Hedgehog went down so well with consumers when it was released in 1991. Sonic was created as a high-profile title that was intended to be an answer to the Mario character and franchise. This meant that a lot of time, effort and thought went into creating a game and character that would be well received, and I think that this shows when playing the game.

Sonic The Hedgehog's greatest strengths are its charm and character, its colourful 16-bit graphics and the design and unique pace of its gameplay. As it was conceived and created partly to compete with Mario, its safe to assume that a big part of the design and development was spent on the designing Sonic as a mascot and the game's overall aesthetic. Sonic himself is clearly a meticulously designed character. He has a unique and charming look, and his design and abilities are consistent and make sense. The enemies are also charming. The fact that they are robots and killing them releases friendly animals means that there is a minimal sense of violence to the game, which is important to creating universal appeal. Other elements that add to the game's charm include the music and the environments, which are lively and memorable.

The game has some really nice graphics and visuals. The levels are colourful, but not distractingly so. Each zone has its own unique identity, featuring its own colour scheme, aesthetic, dangers and enemies. Colour and semiotics are used to help communicate what different elements and features of the level are, such as the green of the walkable surfaces in Green Hill Zone, the red bounce-pads and the yellow jump-pads. This allows the game to communicate things to the player without the use of text. In fact, Sonic The Hedgehog is a game of very few words, only really using text for a few UI elements including stats and score. The environments are more lively and animated than I had expected - they contain moving clouds, water and plants. Sonic's animations are also more detailed and complex than I expected. Sonic will balance on one leg when standing near a ledge, and the player can look up and down, complete with animations from Sonic. The visuals were definitely more advanced than I thought they would be - but I've barely ever played any games from the pre-PS1 era, so I suppose I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of animations.

An example of a puzzle in the game.

The gameplay is another very strong feature. Sonic The Hedgehog plays like no other 2D platformer I have yet played, because the focus is largely on speed. All the essential platformer tropes are present, including such things as platform jumping, defeating enemies, collecting items and avoiding obstacles, but Sonic's speed definitely adds something to how the game is played and the levels navigated. There is also a lot more to the gameplay that simply defeating enemies and platform jumping. There are areas where obstacles are timed in a certain way that means you must time your movements very carefully, or where you need to solve puzzles involving things such as push blocks and pressure plates. There are also special stages that involve bouncing around and collecting rings in some rather bizarre areas, and boss battles at the end of each zone. It is a fast-paced experience that provides consistently varied challenges, even if they can be a little difficult and frustrating at times.  The score system also provides incentive to improve one's performance and replay levels. Sonic is a good example of how good gameplay doesn't get old.

Screenshot from one of the special stages.

The first boss battle, in the Green Hill Zone.

What do I not like?

Sonic The Hedgehog is not without it's downsides. I believe that the game should give the player more information on what it is that Sonic is actually trying to achieve, and why they are doing the things that they are doing in the game. Though the back story and characters were no doubt explained on the box and in the game manual, I don't think a player would be able to grasp the game's story simply by playing the game. Being given such a lack of information in a modern game would probably result in the game being negatively received by the modern gamer, who usually doesn't take the time to learn the game's back story anywhere but inside the game itself. I think that the addition of a few lines of text at the start of the game, explaining the story and introducing the characters, would make for a more complete and well-rounded game.

Special stage completion screen.

I also found issues with the game's difficulty and the parameters and consequences of failure. The game becomes quite punishing quite early on, and its difficulty only increases as it continues. I found losing all of one's rings to be too heavy-handed a punishment for taking damage, and getting "game over" after considerable progress became a little frustrating. Though with that said, I did get the impression that it is very much a "trial and error" sort of game, requiring more practice and perseverance than I was able to give it in the short time that I spent playing it. I'm sure that if I had unlimited time and was playing the game purely for pleasure rather than to review it, I would find more enjoyment in the challenge and the often demanding gameplay. I can certainly see why young gamers in 1991 would have enjoyed this challenge and responded to the need to persevere and get just a little bit further each time.

Final Thoughts

I can now finally say that I have played a Sonic game, and that I found it to be a charming and challenging game, with visually appealing and varied environments and characters. Sonic was of course designed to be an interesting, memorable and marketable character - and the way the franchise has exploded since Sonic first hit the scene in 1991 proves that his designers achieved this goal. The game itself is enjoyable, if a little too punishing at times, and provides a healthy and varied challenge.

I was slightly surprised to see the lack of story and explanation within the game itself, compared to modern games which rely on the game itself to deliver the back story, but I suppose that this is just a sign of how games have developed over the last 25+ years. I found myself slightly frustrated with Sonic at times, nevertheless I can understand why it became such a popular and addictive game, and I am already feeling the urge to return to the game and improve upon my performance and get a little bit further - surely this is a good sign that I enjoyed the challenge really! Overall, this has been another insightful Spontaneous Sunday and has allowed me to fill a big gap in my game IP knowledge.