Story: Dr. Ivo Robotnik, a mad scientist, has trapped animals and turned them into robots. Now it is up to Sonic the Hedgehog to rescue the animals and stop Robotnik.

Levels: There are six stages:

Green Hill Zone
Marble Zone
Spring Yard Zone
Labyrinth Zone
Star Light Zone
Scrap Brain Zone
Final Zone

Each stage is divided into three acts (with the exception of Final Zone). Act 1 and Act 2 involve exploring the stage, while Act 3 requires some exploring and ends with a boss battle against Robotnik. Final Zone is the final battle with Robotnik and Sonic's chance to stop him once and for all!

Chaos Emeralds: There are six Chaos Emeralds to collect in the game. In order to obtain a Chaos Emerald, Sonic must navigate his way through a 3-D rotating maze. There are objects called blocks that Sonic can hit, and each have a different effect. A spring will bounce Sonic in the opposite direction, an "R" block switches rotation between clockwise and counter-clockwise, "Up" and "Down" blocks change the rotation speed, and diamond-shaped blocks will disappear after Sonic hits them enough times. In order to get the good ending, Sonic must complete all six special stages, thus collecting all six Chaos Emeralds.

Miscellaneous: One unique aspect of the game is the bright colors and clear graphics for a game released in 1991. And with stunning graphics comes loop-de-loops, which Sonic can run through as he completes his quest.

The controls for the game are simple. Buttons A, B, and C make Sonic jump. The directional pad (D-pad) makes Sonic move in the direction that is pressed. Sonic can also turn into a ball while running if the D-pad is pressed down. Note: Sonic cannot perform a spin dash (pressing down on the D-pad and then pressing a button to gain speed). This move was not added until Sonic the Hedgehog 2.