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The original is still the best

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: January 14, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Flashback to 1989. Sega has released the Mega Drive in Japan, and received somewhat dissapointing results. Fearing that the same would happen in the U.S., Sega hired a special team in 1990 to design a character that would carry the Genesis to the top of the gaming world. After 14 months, they reached a solution. Sonic the Hedgehog. A small, blue-spiked hedgehog with red sneakers that could run at the speed of sound. In the U.S., Sonic the Hedgehog was a runaway hit, and Sonic became a gaming icon overnight. A game that had this much success was obviously a great title, right? Exactly. This game (at the time) was everything a gamer could hope for. One with an undoubtedly cool character, awesome graphics, break-neck speed, and enough replay value that would still make you play it years down the road. This was no ordinary game. This was a revolution.

The game itsself is compiled of 6 zones that contained 3 acts each. Each zone, obviously, incresing in difficulty as the game progressed. At the end of the third act in every zone, you must fight against the evil Dr. Robotnik. If you didn't know, Dr. Robotnik is the one who captured all of Sonics' friends and turned them into robots. After you defeat him, he flys off and you then destroy a capsule and save some of your friends from being roboticized.

The real highlight of the game, though, is the special stage. Collect 50 or more rings in an act and jump through the giant gold ring at the end, and you were transported into a 360 degree rotating maze in search for one of the 6 chaos emeralds. The colors in this stage would make a hippie proud, and were unimgainable on the NES or Master system.

Combine these features with an awesome soundtrack and great sound effects, and you've got a game that will turn even the most casual of gamers into a hardcore fanatic. This was an amazing game indeed.

Flash forward to 2002. 11 years after Sonic the Hedgehog was released, the blue-blur is still kicking in his last game, Sonic Adventure 2. This game, however, would not be possible if Sega had not discovered the talents of Yuji Naka and the rest of the to-be Sonic Team back in 1990. Sonic the Hedgehog is still one of the best games in the series, and I'm sure it will stay that way for years to come.

A CLASSIC

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: July 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Sonic The Hedgehog 1 for the Sega Genesis system is one of the greatest video games ever created. For those that don't know, It is getting a 15th anniversary Gameboy Advance Re-release in November, 2006. It will feature 2 new features. The first feature, will be a save feature and the second, Sonic will be able to do the spin-dash thing he was able to in Sonic 2. I'm so excited. I hope that they re-release Sonic 2 (with Knuckles), 3 (with knuckles), and Sonic And Knuckles on GBA on their 15th anniversary.

A simple but wonderful classic.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: January 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I will never forget the snowy Xmas of 1992 when I made the upgrade from the trusty old Commodore 64 to the Sega Genesis. I got about 1 game per week for the Genesis and tried just about everything. My first ever game tho was Sonic the Hedgehog. The gameplay was simple and that's the way I liked it.

The graphics were cute. From bright blue sunshine and tropical landscapes to the cruel mechanical world of Doctor Robotnik (now called the Eggman). The music was great (where are the soundtrack CDs???) and I was never happier.

Sure it was totally easy but I always went back for more. This game had such charm is it any wonder why Sonic is still so popular all these years on?

Buy It!!!! You'll love it!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: July 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Sonic the hedgehog was the first game I had ever played and had found it very fun! I started playing it when I was around 4 because my parents had bought it for my older sister and wanted me to be aloud to play the game too. It was nonstop fun to play that game! Though I thought the 2nd, 3rd, and Sonic & Knuckles, were better, this game was definatly great!!

Who doesn't have this one?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 09, 2001
Author: Amazon User

A classic. Sega's mascot in his first game. Grab rings, get the chaos emeralds, defeat Dr. Robotnic and keep him from enslaving animals for use in his machines!! I could see some hollywood actors in the blue guy's place, but it wouldn't be much fun without the speed!

What can you say? The original Sonic game remains a classic

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Let's see....I think it was the Christmas of 1992 when I first got the Genesis (when it came with Sonic 1 as a bonus pack deal). Let me tell you...this game brings back memories. The gorgeous level designs, the many diabotical machines from Dr. Robotnik (and to think Labyrinth Zone was the only one where you had to keep from being crushed from the bottom as he just moved up towards the top! Pretty clever.), and the MUSIC! Once I found out about the level code, I would spend hours in the Sound Test area just listening to the music. And I loved the special stages (actually when it was easy to get to just by collecting rings and before it went 3-D). Even though I didn't understand what happened at the end of the game after getting the emeralds (new flowers grow in Green Hill....ok?), I guess that was a way of showing peace was restored, though I wish there was more.

Sega should get into the act of what Nintendo is doing now, re-releasing popular games for the GBA. All of the old Sonic games need a re-vamp. I'd love to play Sonic 1 on the Advance. But we'll see. Along with Mario and Mega Man, Sonic proved how fun the world was when it was in 2-D.

Long live the original Sonic the Hedgehog.

Original Classic!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Man, I don't know how many times I've played this excellent game for the Sega Genesis, but if there's one thing I've got to admit, it's very addicting! This is the ORIGINAL classic that started it all, and while gameplay is pretty limited (You cannot yet do a charged spin attack or become Super Sonic) it's still very fun! In addition, the Chaos Emeralds are fairly hard to collect and you'll need to collect 50 coins or more in order to find and retrieve them in the Bonus levels. There will be times where you may have to go back and get them all, considering that it is rather difficult, but it's a good challenge for anyone who's up to it! With today's game's graphics, some players may not enjoy this but retro fans will definately get a kick (or should I say, SPIN?) out of it!

Also recommended: "Sonic the Hedgehog2", "Sonic the Hedgehog 3", "Sonic and Knuckles", "Sonic Spinball" & "Sonic 3-D Blast"!

Best memories of an old skool entertainment

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 22, 2007
Author: Amazon User

To me sega genesis was kind of a big hit like PS2 back then. I never owned a sega but one of my cousins use to have one and anytime I go to his house I get so addicted to sonic and I would play for hours and my mom would just tell me it's time to go and I would not leave. I had so much fun with sonic the levels were pretty cool and the obstacles like jumping or rolling around were pretty fun too. I never got to the end of this game the levels kept on going. I wan't to get this on GBA for my little sister I think she will enjoy it.

4.5 stars - A classic which will be greatly built upon

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: September 16, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Sonic The Hedgehog(1991). The first official Sonic game on the Genesis.

Most people who have lived around the time that this classic came out remember back in the early 90s when gamers everywhere held tightly onto their NES's and shouted "Mario! Mario!" all over the world... Okay, maybe not, but that's how the one SMB3 commercial went anyway. So it seemed that with the (then)recent release of SMB3, the plumber would always dominate 2D platforming... or would he? The Sega Genesis had been out for a couple of years by this point, and while there were many classics, no mascot was there to stand up to all the koopa troopas and toadstools of the big N. Enter Yugi Naka and crew to come up with the true origin of the battle between the 16-bit giants Nintendo and Sega: the creation of Sonic The Hedgehog.

So what does this new blue hero in red shoes have to offer that a fat mushroom-eating plumber doesn't? Well for one, Sonic is FAST. Not nearly as much as in any of the sequels, but for 1991, this kind of speedy sidescrolling gameplay was unheard of, and drew many crowds. I remember being taken by storm when my cousin first bought a Sega with the original Sonic game. It brings back so many memories of middle childhood. The gameplay is rather basic, with only a run, jump, and spin attack to combat the levels, but really that's all you need here. For new gamers that have just started playing the recent Sonic games, THIS is the game that introduced rings, TV Powerups, loops, animal-freeing, chaos emeralds, instant-death spikes, Dr. Robotnik, underwater drowning, bumpers, catapults, springs, and the Green Hill Zone. Plus, the game is divided into different zones, and within each zone are several acts, which are merely just stages. With all that it has going for it, how does it measure up to its sequels? Let's look at the pros and cons:

PROS:

-While the SNES probably had better graphics, color palettes, and scaling effects, I still have yet to see a SNES game with as smooth of the gameplay framerate as any Genesis Sonic title (I'm talking about normal in-game play that's NOT a special FX chip or anything like that).
-NICE BALANCE OF DIFFICULTY. The first few zones aren't too difficult to get the hang of, though once you reach the Labyrinth Zone, it does jump quite a bit.
-LARGE NON-LINEAR STAGES. Although the sequels get a lot better at this (especially Sonic 3), these zones all have original and varying environmental themes and seem just the right length for the pace that the platforming has set. It lets you speed through most of them in little time, and also lets you explore their depths as well.
-And speaking of stages, this one of the FEW Sonic games with three acts per zone as opposed to two.
-CHAOS EMERALD COLLECTING GIVES THE GAME SOME REPLAY VALUE. In the Mario games, you could collect all the secret powerups in the game, but the ending would never change. Not so with Sonic. If you manage to collect 50 rings and reach the end of a stage, you can jump through a giant ring and tackle a special stage to collect one of six chaos emeralds, which if acquired, enables a better ending.
-GREAT VARIETY OF ENEMIES. A lot of the robots you fight here are classic staples of the series, such as the crab, hornet, and caterpillar. The bosses are rather interesting as well.
-I can't end the pros without mentioning that this game has AN EXCELLENT SOUNDTRACK. The Greenhill Zone, Scrap Brain Zone, and title themes especially WILL get stuck in your head (Thankfully all are memorably good!).

CONS

-The TIMER for each stage can be an annoyance for those who like to explore the levels. It's usually only useful for getting points in beating the levels fast, but you will ALWAYS die whenever the clock hits 10 minutes.
-Since the speed dash ability isn't here yet, the game will seem a bit slower-paced than all the others. Just to warn any newcomers.
-The SPECIAL STAGES ARE TOUGH FOR MOST PEOPLE. I'm not complaining so much because I enjoy a good challenge, but for the sake of beginners it's waaaaay too simple to lose in the special stages. Interestingly enough, it becomes a mini-game in Sonic & Knuckles, a few years down the road.
-THE INSTANT DEATH SPIKES!! I guess the programmers of the original Mega Man game got together with the Sonic team here because what both games have in common is the way their spikes kill the player even while they're flashing.
-NO CHARACTERS AND VERY LITTLE STORY. Tails wouldn't show up til the sequel, Knuckles and Amy Rose were down the road a bit, and everyone else was just a thought. So that leaves just Sonic and Dr. Robotnik. The plot basically boils down to:"The animals have been captured by Dr. Robotnik. Sonic is here to rescue them." That's it. Supposedly, I heard that the Death Egg ship was being built during this game's timeline, but it was never officially mentioned, so I'll consider it separate from the Sonic 2, Sonic 3, and S&K continuous stories.

Other than that, Sonic 1 is a classic Sega staple. Pure and simple. It's a 5 star game in comparison to other platformers, but I'm just giving it 4 stars when standing up to the other games in the series. So if you have an old Genesis, or if you bought the Sonic Mega Collection, and if you happen to be a fan of the games, DON'T SKIP OUT ON THIS ONE! It made the series what it is today, and serves as important history for video games. PLAY IT NOW!

4.5 stars? This easily deserves a 5!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: March 27, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Before I start up this review, this is for the Nintendo fanboys; I think the Mario and Zelda games are the two most overrated game collections ever (I liked the Mario games from the first up to Mario 64, I never liked Zelda), Sonic blows both out of the water. Oh yeah, this is also for the Sony fanboys, Final Fantasy is THE worst game collection ever (very overrated too). I just want to piss some nerds off.

Okay, enough fire fueling. This is the second best game ever created, second only to Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire. When I first played this on Christmas Day of 1991, I couldn't get enough of it, even to this day!! You're a blue hedgehog with super speed named Sonic, you're out to save your planet from the evil clutches of Dr. Robotnik. You go through maze-like environments and attack robotitized animals but in doing so, you free your animal friends. You dodge dangerous obsticles while going really fast and collecting rings for your survival. If you collect 50 rings at the end of a level act, you can jump into a giant ring and go through a trippy rotating maze to collect the chaos emeralds. At the end of each third act in each level, you fight Robuttnik (as what Sonic would call him in the SatAM cartoon series).

If your Sega Genesis is still functional, I suggest you either dust off your current copy or pick one up from a GameStop if you don't have it.

If you're not so crazy about having "the original," you can settle for the Sonic Mega Collection.

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