1990's Games - Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the hedgehog was one of the flagship games for the Sega Genesis released in 1991, the game singlehandedly propelled the video game system to the forerunner of systems at the time. It is the first instalment of a game series that is still continued today, which spans from the first 16bit game to 3D graphics and Xbox Kinect controls, including many spin-offs such as TV Series, Movies and other games including characters from the spin-offs.

The story of Sonic is a key part of the game and the reasons as to why the player is playing the game and the reason as to why Sonic is performing the actions he is. This is very different to earlier games and was one of its key selling points.

Early in the game the player is introduced to the main bad guy, Doctor Robotnik/Eggman who is attempting to capture the Chaos Emeralds and control the islands by enslaving the animal populace and turning them into robotic creatures. Sonic’s job is to stop the evil Eggman and free the creatures he has enslaved.

The player has a multiple of controls at their disposal which is different to the earlier games who offered limited choices. Sonic could move left and right, jump, duck and also spin. The player’s task was to get from one end of a “zone” (level) to the next while collecting as many rings as possible while also in the shortest amount of time. The player has to avoid traps such as spikes and water, along with the robotic creations of Eggman which the player can destroy by jumping on them. At the end of three levels the player would have to face Eggman in a boss type battle, once completed they’d move on to a different area (The first three levels are based around a forest, one set of three levels a technological area and so forth).

The game as a vey clear end game which includes the defeat of Doctor Eggman. While travelling through each of the levels it is possible to collect all the Chaos Emeralds for yourself; upon doing so you unlock super Sonic who is faster and harder to kill. While it is possible to reach the end of the game due to its length is is very hard to do so in one sitting, and due to the nature of the games in their early stages it was impossible to save your progress. It meant that you’d have to play the game for many hours straight to complete it; while hoping you don’t die and have to start all over again. This created a difficult game which pushed the player to do better and better each time they played.

Sonic was the start of one of the biggest and best selling game franchises to date, with over a dozen games, multiple characters and many different video game systems; sonic is a classic that as kept children entertained from the 1990s through to 2011.