| Sonic History |
| It's hard to imagine a world without Sonic, Sega's famed blue hedgehog. Before this ultrafast character became the icon for all things Sega, fans of the company had to put up with second-rate mascots, such as Alex Kidd and Michael Jackson, who adorned Sega hardware boxes - hardly what the kids called cool. In the early '90s, Sega faced the daunting task of wrestling the hearts and minds of avid gamers away from Nintendo, who for all intents and purposes controlled the entire industry at the time. It wasn't enough to have powerful (for the time) 16-bit hardware and lots of advertising money. The company needed a mascot. Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima were the two artists put in charge of creating Sega's Next Big Thing. The objective was to make a character that was not only instantly likable but also controllable - first-time gamers traditionally stuck to pressing just one button repeatedly. While the original design for Sonic called for him to be able to throw objects at enemies, this turned out to be difficult to implement into a single-button design. His spiky back made for a good weapon, so jumping was combined with attacking to create the famous spin attack. Add a face that looks eerily like Felix The Cat, a good dose of attitude, and enough energy in his system to equal one hundred caffeine addicts, and you have Sonic The Hedgehog. Onward to adventure! The Plot The once peaceful world of Mobius is thrown into turmoil when Dr. Kintobor, a kindly scientist who has been researching powerful Chaos Emeralds, is turned into an angry megalomaniac after a laboratory accident. All of the cute, fluffy animals on the planet have been turned into robotic denizens (Badniks) of evil - except for Sonic the Hedgehog, a friend of Kintobor's who was too fast to be caught. Now Sonic must find all the Chaos Emeralds, rescue his friends, and defeat Kintobor before it's too late. The special stage. The Gameplay Sonic runs, literally, from the start to finish throughout six zones - each with three acts - while collecting golden rings. These rings let him run into an enemy or even into spikes without incurring harm, though doing so makes him lose all his rings and stop dead in his tracks for a few vital seconds. At the end of a regular act, a giant ring appears if you have 50 or more rings - walk into it and Sonic is whisked away to the psychedelic bonus stage. Complete this and you're rewarded with one of six Chaos Emeralds. Dr Robotnik awaits at the end of each zone in a new (and easily beatable) egg-shaped death machine, which he escapes in once you hit it a few times. This simple formula is matched by the simple control system - any button on the Genesis' control pad makes him jump and turn into a spiky ball, which busts open roaming robot creatures. Green Hill Zone. Special Notes The very first Sonic title exceeded sales expectations and did exactly what Sega had hoped - made the Genesis a real player in the console market. You knew Sonic was cool from the very moment he started waving his finger at you on the title screen, and he hasn't let you down since. After a few days, however, people started to realize that the game was too easy - with the lack of challenge and secret areas to search for, there wasn't much to come back to. Still, the immense potential of the character and the gameplay shone through, so it was only a matter of time until the sequels, conversions, and spin-offs arrived. Sega's mission to make a mascot appeared to have been accomplished.The cute and colorful creatures that Sonic frees at the end of each of his 16-bit adventures starred in their own game, well before Sonic's first appearance. The graphics and sound were basic to the embarrassing extreme, but the gameplay shined. You played as Flicky, a blue bird that has to rescue cute little canaries that hover around the dollhouse backgrounds. Click here for more shots. Mean Bean Machine System: Genesis and Game Gear Catchy name, huh? This conversion of Puyo Puyo features characters from the cartoon show The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. The Puyos have undergone a name change (into the "beans" from the game's title), and various Badniks taunt you in between each level. Beyond that, this is the regular (and therefore incredibly addictive) Puyo Puyo game. You should get this even if you're not a huge Sonic fan. Click here for more shots. Fighters Megamix System: Saturn Remember Sonic the Fighters? Well, so did AM2. The company has used the two most unlikable characters from that game - Bark, a polar bear, and Bean, a living stick of dynamite - as hidden characters in this fighter. Hardly the kind of Easter egg that makes Fighters Megamix a must-have purchase, but we thought we should tell you anyway. ck here for more shots. Knuckles Chaotix System: 32X It's ironic that Knuckles Chaotix doesn't have Sonic or Tails in it, considering that this was originally going to be Sonic 4, a game that is detailed further in our next section. The basic side-scrolling gameplay has been modified: The two characters are now continuously connected by a magical rubber band - one character can activate a switch in areas the other cannot reach, for example. The overall effect is for a slower but longer-lasting video game. The gameplay is more explorative in nature, allowing you to find all the rings and Chaos Emeralds at your own pace. The advanced (ahem) 32X hardware is used to present some fantastic graphics, including a 3D bonus screen and levels with both fore- and background parallax scrolling a la Clockwork Knight. Heck, maybe this is worth buying a 32X for maybe. Sonic then continue on sonic saturn with sonic 3d blast his first 3d game. Then on 1999 sega unleash sonic's power in the dreamcast in his 1 real 3d game. 2001 sonic 10th anniversary with the release of Sonic Adventure 2. |
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