sonic the hedgehog (mega drive) - 9/10
or "how i learned to stop worrying and grind times"
please note: this is a game i have reviewed multiple times! the prior versions of this review will be included below. enjoy!
played it again award. this time, i decided to spice things up - or rather, exclude any spices, i suppose? that is to say, i turned off elemental shields, the spindash, the peelout, the insta-shield and the dropdash, because i have been seeing a great deal of people saying that the game was never intended to have those features, and i thought it raised a fair point, so i wanted to take a moment to play the game as originally intended - or, well, as originally intended, but in a widescreen resolution, at least, hence once again falling on sonic forever for this playthrough. but, i can earnestly say that without all the added bells and whistles... yeah, this game is still fucking awesome. in fact, i'd argue that it gets all the more depth by excluding those things; the lack of the spindash and dropdash incentivize you to be able to create your own speed through simply rolling alone, driving you to familiarize yourself intimately with the level design for repeat playthroughs, or alternately getting good at spotting a slope, or a quarterpipe, or whatever structure you may be faced with, and immediately thinking to yourself "how do i maximise my speed through this obstacle"? its a very interesting thought process that comes infinitely more naturally when you aren't awarded a "simply go fast" button. i feel similarly about the elemental shields and the insta-shield; a highlight of this playthrough was getting through labyrinth zone act 3, taking the shortcut, and getting to trounce eggman in one fell swoop, one continuous perilous execution of good gameplay. on previous runs, where i had elemental shields enabled and the insta-shield turned on, i could quite easily just take advantage of the small gaps to the right of the structure, double jump up through them and make it a piece of piss. that is rewarding in its own right, i hasten to add! there is an inherent satisfaction of knowing your abilities, knowing the shield's abilities, and using the information given to you in order to quickly traverse a stage. but i feel like this experience of having to rely solely and purely on platforming ability, and the execution of decently precise jumps is far more satisfying to me.
that's my main takeaway from this game: sonic the hedgehog is a very intensely satisfying game to go fast in. make no mistake, on your first few runs, and until it clicks that this ain't like the others, it can be pretty hellish. but when you start jamming with the game, when you build that momentum yourself, when you realize that, like, half of the qualms of marble zone can be solved if you just learn how to jump across moving platforms, the same applying if you learn the fucking awesome shortcut in labyrinth zone act 1. its so cool to see these stages that you inevitably will have trouble with at first quickly trickle away into only being 50 seconds long if you play your cards right. its what has me coming back to this game so much, and i feel even more enriched and deeply aware of what this game asks of me, and how rewarding it feels to execute properly on those requests from this playthrough. i'd highly recommend it! its almost a crime to me that the first version you're likely to play these days will probably include these abilities and changes because... damn, its so much easier to intuit this game's vibe without them. at least from where i'm sitting, anyhow. really good time!
played through sonic forever, thrice over, two runs as sonic and one as amy. yeah this game is still shit-talked to high hell and back - seriously, it gets good once you master it and you can zip right on through, and that's the appeal in these games to me. making me have to work for that privilege of speed makes it all the more fruitful to me, which is why this game can still scratch an itch something fierce for me, hell, even labyrinth in this game is a blast to me still. it gets even better with the features of the mobile port being readily accessible to me through this port; playing sonic 1 with the mobile port elemental shield placements, sonic and tails as a tag team, and the seventh emerald and accompanying super sonic is a really damn cool thing to see, and it breathes new life into what are my fourth, fifth and sixth runs of this game inside of this year alone. and hell, knowing me, it'll probably balloon to way more by year's end! i really do hold this game fondly as something good to do with my hands to keep mind demons at bay, and so i get great joy from just popping it on and getting better times again and again. i understand why that's not some people's cup of tea and hence why sonic 1 doesn't get nearly the praise i wish it did but... damn, if it clicks, it'll click.
for full posterity, this sequence of session was visited through sonic origins ultrafix on my linux pc. previously, i would have thought that unthinkable, i would have just stuck to the decomps, but ive shaken my walking stick a fair bit at that old chestnut and thought id give it a go. pleasantly surprised with the collection thus far from the sonic 1 replay!
speaking of the sonic 1 replay, uh. shit, dude, i think i might love it even more?
i just played the game once through as sonic getting only four emeralds, then tails getting them all, and then another quick sonic run in the story mode thingie only grabbing one emerald. oh, and i did all of the missions, with s ranks. in a row from one another, give or take a few ten minute lapses for the bathroom and medicine. and i am mulling over whether or not to do it again.
im pretty comfortable in my enjoyment of this game at this point i think. and im realising why i wasnt getting along with it for so long; i just wasnt taking other paths! the routing and exploration in this game is such an important part of it that i just wasnt being attentive to prior! the fun ive had this go around just slingshotting myself off of shit and into different places and continuing the momentum is wild. never again will i be convinced that speed doesnt exist in sonic 1. truly such a wonderfully fun time. and the special stage hunt with tails was a fun time too! i admittedly chickened out and used him so i could get away with grabbing rings and then flying over the level haha. that said, i had all the emeralds by the end of spring yard, and it felt damn good!
even labyrinth zone this time around, because of the fact that i just... used different paths as was necessary, i cut my time there down so so much compared to what i usually take. and hell, what time was spent there was fine! my groundbreaking strategy was just to really gingerly play. it was as though i was playing the game in water myself haha idk how to describe it properly. but it ruled! it was really nice to finally be able to appreciate something that i would previously actively dread and rue, but now, its a nice little change of pace, if anything - genuine enjoyment was had of labyrinth!
i think the issue that a lot of people, myself included faced with this game is that you have to really work for your speed. this aint just singing for your supper, this is breaking out the whole goddamn 12-piece orchestra at a point. and frankly, on replays, that increased technicality and required precision is just such a charmer to me that im head over heels.
sonic 1 has properly finally clicked with me. i was beaming with a smile under my blanket playing this like i was a kid playing mega collection plus on my ps2 all over again man. this is what its about.
not gonna lie, this game stands up way better than i thought it did! it's not without it's slow moments, nor it's outright imperfections; marble zone is a touch slow, but that is largely avoidable if you take the intentional method of replaying the stages and honing your perfection of them into consideration. labyrinth zone, on the other hand, is an exercise in frustration and the exact way to not design a sonic stage in any capacity, ever, and jump-started this series' horrid relationship with water levels. that being said... yeah, the rest of this game is pretty damn strong, actually. clear to see that a lot of what makes sonic good is prevalent throughout green hill (of course), spring hill and starlight zone, with a challenging, sometimes unfair gauntlet in scrap brain zone, including a reprisal of labyrinth in lieu of an actual third act, presumably because they knew it was so tough and shit that it belonged in the final stage moreso than at the actual point it's at in the damn game.
i will now look on this in a far fonder light than i once did. sonic 1 is a pretty strong start to the burdgeoning career of one of the most iconic mascots of all time.