It's a classic but the Sonic formula hadn't quite been polished yet so it doesn't hold up as well as the sequels. Not all of the levels really play to Sonic's strengths.
This was one of my first games as a kid and the first game I beat (only thanks to level select, shhh), so I decided to go back and try to beat it legitimately this time. Did it hold up to my childhood memories? Kinda.
The graphics were fantastic for their time, and the art style/aesthetics of each level were great. If I put myself back in the shoes of my kid self in 1991, the game was quite the spectacle to play through.
The core of the gameplay, though, was rather flawed. Every great action game has a certain core mechanic that it builds the game around (as a quick example, Bionic Commando and the character's inability to jump). Sonic's core mechanic is ostensibly its blazing speed, but 'speed' alone is very difficult to build a game around. The issue lies in the challenge. Green Hill Zone is rightly considered one of the most iconic levels in gaming, because of its wide open spaces, multiple paths, loop-de-loops and terrain that allows you to build up speed easily. But of course, if the entire game was Green Hill Zone eight times over it would be braindead easy! So of course some challenge has to be added to the game...but if the challenge isn't implemented just right, then gamers will move slowly and tentatively and the game's core mechanic is no more.
I didn't quite like the implementation of the difficulty; much of the later stages feel like a prototype of a Cat Mario level in which traps are placed exactly where you will jump. Many of the hazards (for example, fans in Starlight Zone that blow you directly into an enemy or torrents in Labyrinth Zone that wash you away while you're waiting for air bubbles) are placed just offscreen so you have no way to react to them, or are plain difficult to see (grey spiked balls swinging against grey backgrounds) so that getting hit by them feels like the game is cheap rather than it being your fault. Hindsight is 20/20 but if could make a change to the game without altering the difficulty I would either make the camera more zoomed out so I would have more time to see and react to hazards, or would make Sonic's controls tighter and less slippery.
Another way the game literally hamstrings itself is by making you wait. Outside of the Green Hill Zone, every stage has a hazard that necessitates waiting - the crushers in the Marble Zone, the slow-moving spiked balls in Scrap Yard, etc. The Labyrinth Zone drops all pretense and just sticks you underwater for half of it slowing down your movements. These wouldn't be out of place in a more deliberate platformer, but not in Sonic.
I enjoyed going on the grand tour of all the different stages, seeing how differently they were designed and experiencing the different gimmicks they had to offer. But rather ironically, the further I got and the more interesting the designs and gimmicks became, the slower I was forced to play and the less it felt like a Sonic game.
The graphics were fantastic for their time, and the art style/aesthetics of each level were great. If I put myself back in the shoes of my kid self in 1991, the game was quite the spectacle to play through.
The core of the gameplay, though, was rather flawed. Every great action game has a certain core mechanic that it builds the game around (as a quick example, Bionic Commando and the character's inability to jump). Sonic's core mechanic is ostensibly its blazing speed, but 'speed' alone is very difficult to build a game around. The issue lies in the challenge. Green Hill Zone is rightly considered one of the most iconic levels in gaming, because of its wide open spaces, multiple paths, loop-de-loops and terrain that allows you to build up speed easily. But of course, if the entire game was Green Hill Zone eight times over it would be braindead easy! So of course some challenge has to be added to the game...but if the challenge isn't implemented just right, then gamers will move slowly and tentatively and the game's core mechanic is no more.
I didn't quite like the implementation of the difficulty; much of the later stages feel like a prototype of a Cat Mario level in which traps are placed exactly where you will jump. Many of the hazards (for example, fans in Starlight Zone that blow you directly into an enemy or torrents in Labyrinth Zone that wash you away while you're waiting for air bubbles) are placed just offscreen so you have no way to react to them, or are plain difficult to see (grey spiked balls swinging against grey backgrounds) so that getting hit by them feels like the game is cheap rather than it being your fault. Hindsight is 20/20 but if could make a change to the game without altering the difficulty I would either make the camera more zoomed out so I would have more time to see and react to hazards, or would make Sonic's controls tighter and less slippery.
Another way the game literally hamstrings itself is by making you wait. Outside of the Green Hill Zone, every stage has a hazard that necessitates waiting - the crushers in the Marble Zone, the slow-moving spiked balls in Scrap Yard, etc. The Labyrinth Zone drops all pretense and just sticks you underwater for half of it slowing down your movements. These wouldn't be out of place in a more deliberate platformer, but not in Sonic.
I enjoyed going on the grand tour of all the different stages, seeing how differently they were designed and experiencing the different gimmicks they had to offer. But rather ironically, the further I got and the more interesting the designs and gimmicks became, the slower I was forced to play and the less it felt like a Sonic game.
this game's awesome. You think it's about always going fast.. but you gotta go slow first.... and then learn HOW to go fast.. Movement has a real weight to it; it's not like Sonic can stop on a dime like in something like super mario. This creates a fun dynamic that encourages you to test the limits of what you can get away with and push for going even faster each time. This especially comes into play when the relative flat safety of green hill zone transitions into the deadly platforming of the later stages. Heck yeah.
I sure do love Green Hill Zone.
eh
Really doesn't hold up well.
If Sonic 1 is so good why isn't there a Sonic 2?
i like the marble zone
i actually played this the most on my ipod nano not on ios, but it didn't show up as an option. i played it in the mega collection anyway so whatever.
honestly not a very fun game but it's a guilty pleasure in the sense that i'm more willing to return to this one than most of the other classic sonics for... whatever reason
honestly not a very fun game but it's a guilty pleasure in the sense that i'm more willing to return to this one than most of the other classic sonics for... whatever reason
- decent in its own right but does not hold up well at all
- Green Hill Zone is unfortunately the best level in the game
- Ironically slow
- Chaos emeralds give you nothing
- Music is fine
- Looks okay but too cold
- Green Hill > Starlight > Spring Yard > Scrap Brain > Marble Garden > Labyrinth
- Green Hill Zone is unfortunately the best level in the game
- Ironically slow
- Chaos emeralds give you nothing
- Music is fine
- Looks okay but too cold
- Green Hill > Starlight > Spring Yard > Scrap Brain > Marble Garden > Labyrinth
Sonic 1 is honestly a rather bizarre experience. When you've played the critically acclaimed sequels like Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic Mania multiple times over, it's hard to go back to the first game with an open mindset because it just lacks so much of the detail that those games would get.
As the first entry in the Sonic series I think it does its job, but at points I find it severely lacking. They try to get you into a comfortable groove with the first three acts of the game in Green Hill Zone, but then immediately thrust you into Marble Zone which is more of a slog than any Mario level could ever dread to be. A whole bunch of waiting and slow moving, and not in the risk/reward sense that the later games would have. Where in those games, speed is a reward for experience, here there is no reward at all as the level design simply doesn't compensate for that.
The worst of it has to be the biggest offender of this game, Labyrinth Zone. A meandering water level filled with multiple instant kill spikes and requiring air bubbles to progress. As a man who has played through Hydrocity Zone, I cannot fathom why they couldn't have done something similar to that. I know it's a future level, but I don't really care. They marketed Sonic as this speed demon, but the levels don't show us that at all.
The process of getting the Chaos Emeralds is meh. For clarification I used Save States specifically for Special Stages, Labyrinth Zone Act 3, and Scrap Brain Zone Act 3 (which is just Labyrinth Zone Act 4), and in regards to the special stages I didn't really need them. I don't think the special stages are good, and in all honesty there's no real reward for getting the Chaos Emeralds other than more flowers in Green Hill Zone during the credits. I like these more than Blue Sphere but that's mostly due to childhood anger than anything else.
At the end of it all though, I'm glad this game exists, it birthed one of my favorite franchises and I'm gonna be thankful for that. I don't see myself playing it again for a long time though.
As the first entry in the Sonic series I think it does its job, but at points I find it severely lacking. They try to get you into a comfortable groove with the first three acts of the game in Green Hill Zone, but then immediately thrust you into Marble Zone which is more of a slog than any Mario level could ever dread to be. A whole bunch of waiting and slow moving, and not in the risk/reward sense that the later games would have. Where in those games, speed is a reward for experience, here there is no reward at all as the level design simply doesn't compensate for that.
The worst of it has to be the biggest offender of this game, Labyrinth Zone. A meandering water level filled with multiple instant kill spikes and requiring air bubbles to progress. As a man who has played through Hydrocity Zone, I cannot fathom why they couldn't have done something similar to that. I know it's a future level, but I don't really care. They marketed Sonic as this speed demon, but the levels don't show us that at all.
The process of getting the Chaos Emeralds is meh. For clarification I used Save States specifically for Special Stages, Labyrinth Zone Act 3, and Scrap Brain Zone Act 3 (which is just Labyrinth Zone Act 4), and in regards to the special stages I didn't really need them. I don't think the special stages are good, and in all honesty there's no real reward for getting the Chaos Emeralds other than more flowers in Green Hill Zone during the credits. I like these more than Blue Sphere but that's mostly due to childhood anger than anything else.
At the end of it all though, I'm glad this game exists, it birthed one of my favorite franchises and I'm gonna be thankful for that. I don't see myself playing it again for a long time though.
"Oh man, this is great! There's no way this concept could run out of steam!" - Sega, 1991.
Surprising how well the older Sonic titles as a whole have aged. A very informative experience to see the first game from one of gaming's biggest mascots. You can tell the experience is far from being refined as it is in the next installments though
I hadn’t even been born when this game came out, so it’s safe to say that I missed the golden age of Sonic. Even so, I found the increasing popularity of the “Sonic was never good” sentiment to be surprising, given the series’ prominent place in video game history. The root of this attitude was easy to perceive at the start of the game though, with how weird it feels compared to other platformers. Sonic needs to accelerate for a few seconds before he reaches a comfortable running speed, the maps feel oddly empty, and difficult platforming challenges are unusually scarce for a game that calls itself a platformer. These benchmarks can make it seem like fancy technology was the only reason for its success, but you have to realize that it wasn’t just the tech that was different back in 1991, it was perspective. Nowadays, we tend to think of Mario’s four-step process of introducing and combining mechanics on a per-level basis as the gold standard, but this wasn’t always the case. Sonic instead focuses on pacing that unfolds across an entire group of levels, which isn’t any less valid of an approach. The first stage may be focused on a single mechanic, so the second could ease off the player and introduce unrelated traversal gimmicks, for the third to then combine the two. It makes sense why individual stages would feel barren or erratically paced in comparison to Mario levels, when they aren’t intended to be analyzed in the same sort of contextual vacuum. Sitting down to play Sonic in a long session and paying attention to the ways stages flow into each other, build on each other’s ideas, and cathartically reward players with bursts of speed after sections of careful play, reveals how intelligently designed Sonic actually is. It may feel a little weird at the start, but weird can be a good thing, and if any series needs you to trust in that maxim, god knows it’s Sonic.
Severe depression running at you.
The Sonic series has always been insanely overrated and not the best product delivered by SEGA. Still, this one and the other two are cool. I think their issue is being a product of their time. This series clearly never matured and I'm pretty sure it's fanbase went the same route.
Played on iPod nano which may have been the least pleasant gaming experience of my life. If you wanna look like a jagoff using the ipod touch wheel to control Sonic, be my guest
Another game that I only got to play while visiting my cousins, and I would arrive at their house and disappear upstairs to their "gaming room" (aka a 10" black and white TV that would fuzz out at key moments of gameplay and make Sonic fall to his death).
Green Hill Zone is fun but the rest of this game is kinda hot garbage
Old review I did ages ago:
Green hill zone is a great level but the majority of the game is slow and poorly aged
Updated Review:
After replaying it, I think I've changed my mind on it, the majority of the game is pretty fun. It's more platforming focused, but speed can be earned quite fairly. Most of the levels are pretty fun besides Labyrinth Zone. There are a lot of cheap hits throughout the game, but due to the punishment of getting game overs being low on mobile version (which I played on), its not that bad. Game graphically has aged like wine and the music is sublime too. Worth a play on the mobile version with controller for sure.
Green hill zone is a great level but the majority of the game is slow and poorly aged
Updated Review:
After replaying it, I think I've changed my mind on it, the majority of the game is pretty fun. It's more platforming focused, but speed can be earned quite fairly. Most of the levels are pretty fun besides Labyrinth Zone. There are a lot of cheap hits throughout the game, but due to the punishment of getting game overs being low on mobile version (which I played on), its not that bad. Game graphically has aged like wine and the music is sublime too. Worth a play on the mobile version with controller for sure.
Gonna be real I don't like the western box art
It's way better than some people say.
It's just the most "platformer-based" of the Sonic series.
It's less fast, but still good.
It's just the most "platformer-based" of the Sonic series.
It's less fast, but still good.
Certamente não é o melhor Sonic, como ele é o primeiro da franquia muitas das ideias e level design não são tão bem refinados como nos jogos seguintes, muitas fases chegam até a ser frustantes. Mas ainda assim foi um bom começo pra franquia e os jogos subsequentes acabaram por aperfeiçoar a fórmula apresentada aqui.
Played the PAL version of this for years with no clue that it was waaaay slower than it should be. Mostly we and my cousin taking turns. He'd turn of the Mega Drive sometimes because he was afraid "the music might run out".
The second I heard the trademarked “SEEEEGAAAAA!” opening I knew I was home. I remember how excited I was when I got my Genesis. I distinctly remember what the box looked and felt like, and what the bulky Blockbuster VHS Rental-esque game boxes looked and felt and smelled like. This might sound weird, but shrug.
Sonic 1 has been the mainline Genesis Sonic game I’ve replayed the least (we’re still talking something on the order of at least once a year, though), and my main complaint about it has always been that it “feels lonely.” My hedgehog is all by himself, and that used to just feel... wrong to me. Honestly, though? Now that I’m taking my time and savoring the game I moreso get the feeling that just... he was always a fully-formed hero, and it makes so much sense that the second I saw him I knew I wanted to be like him. Knew that I would follow him anywhere, if he let me.
Sonic is effortlessly easy to root for, and I’m not just saying that because I’m in love with him. His innate goodness just leaps off the screen. I wrote about this regarding the Sonic movie, but the thing that really ties this entire multimedia franchise together, the beating heart at its core, is that Sonic is just... good. He’s heroic in a very believable, accessible way. What makes him a hero isn't just his superpowers, it's that he makes you want to be better, and makes that feel attainable, just by his example.
The stakes of this are incredibly straightforward. You’re an animal superhero fighting a human armed with advanced technology who is transforming animals into robots. I’m allowing myself to really feel the horror of that this time, and I’m finding that I feel obligated to destroy every single badnik I come across to free the animals trapped inside.
Gameplay wise, Sonic handles a lot differently than he does in the other Genesis titles, and that’s a bit disorienting at times. The lack of a spindash is particularly off-putting. But I’ve still played this game so many more times than the average fox, so not to sound braggy, but it’s a piece of cake for me. I don’t remember every detail of every stage or anything, but it’s a very near thing and I definitely remember how to clear every remotely difficult or confusing obstacle you face. Not that there are that many confusing ones. This game is remarkably streamlined.
GREEN HILL ZONE
Green Hill Zone is such a perfect opening level. The difficulty level isn’t very high at all, it’s actually not even a little difficult to get through it without getting damaged a single time. (Then again, keep in mind I’m really good at these games.) But it also gives you a really strong sense of what’s possible and how to do things in the game. And the natural setting is a perfect entrypoint to the aforementioned central conflict of Sonic defending nature and Robotnik terrorizing and exploiting it.
I’m also still struck by just how gorgeous it looks. Little Tails who had only known NES titles the likes of Mario 1’s graphics had his poor little mind blown by the rolling waterfalls and moving clouds. And the colors are just so lovely and vibrant. It holds up extremely well even today.
I ended up clearing Green Hill Zone with five lives (you start with three, so I picked up two). I’m pretty sure I could’ve gotten more, but I wasn’t exploring every nook and cranny of the level. And I also grabbed two Chaos Emeralds out of a possible two. The special stages in Sonic 1 are... well, they’re kinda weird, but they’re also hella easy. Despite giving myself dispensation to use rewinds on Special Stages, I didn’t need to do that at all. And I doubt I’ll have to do it much.
The first boss in the entire franchise is suitably iconic. One of the most iconic bosses in the entire franchise, honestly. Makes sense to put your best foot forward, which is kinda the theme of the entire zone. Also like the zone as a whole, it’s very easy to beat this boss without taking any damage, but that giant swinging ball sure is properly intimidating. It’s exactly the kind of overwrought, overdramatic excess you expect from Robotnik. As his enemy, I hate it. As someone who likes video games, I appreciate how fully-formed his personality and entire deal were in this very first appearance. And you get little mannerisms like him cackling evilly as he deploys the wrecking ball. It’s amazing how much visual storytelling is on display in this very simple game.
This is a damn good start to a game that literally changed my life.
MARBLE ZONE
Green Hill Zone felt like home. This... doesn’t, so much? I’m not sure I’ve ever been here. So I don’t have as much to say about it on that level.
In terms of aesthetics, I continue to be beyond impressed by how much was done with so little in terms of computing resources. There’s a very gothic aesthetic (enhanced by the frequently encountered Batbrains), which rules!
Gameplay-wise, this makes sense as a progression from Green Hill Zone. Green Hill Zone had spikes and crumbling platforms and the occasional swinging platform with spikes on the edge of it, but honestly for the most part it gave you a ton of space to figure out how to play the game while also rewarding you with plenty of things to accomplish. (Badniks to smash, things to jump over or roll through, etc.) Marble Zone is the first time you really discover that oh, ok, the level itself is oftentimes gonna try to kill you.
Toward that end, this level design is mean! And it’s not just all the lava and stuff trying to crush you. I specifically noticed one trap involving a sideways springboard that would send you into a Catekiller if you bypassed it rather than liberating the animal inside. It jumped out at me because it felt uncannily Sonic 2 or 3-esque. You don’t see a lot of those in Sonic 1.
There’s also plenty of very Sonic 1 level design here, though. Like one that jumps immediately to mind is there’s one section where the dilemma you face is that there’s a low ceiling and two Catekillers coming at you. And I found myself instinctively crouching for a spindash, but of course you don’t have that option available to you in Sonic 1. If you don’t want to make a couple very tricky jumps, you can also just run and crouch for a spin attack on each one, but it’s a little awkward whereas a spindash woulda been easier and one fluid motion. This is still very solvable, but a spindash woulda totally trivialized it to the point where it wouldn’t even have slowed you down.
There are also little details of the level design that I just absolutely love. Like, the first of many long stretches where you have to ride a block over lava and a geyser-like blast of lava carries you up to the next section has a little block of shame on the other end in case you don’t realize you’re supposed to jump which carries you over to the other side to start over again. I definitely remember having to use that the first time I ever played this game.
Speaking of blocks of shame (ok not really but it’s still a good segue), I have to come clean and say I broke my self-imposed rule of not using rewinds a couple times. It’s just such a reflex. Part of the problem is I was using the thumbstick rather than the D-pad, which is kind of a habit when you’re using a Switch Pro Controller, but it’s definitely not the best way to play a Genesis game, especially Sonic 1. I think I broke myself of both the habit of using the thumbstick and the habit of using rewinds, but idk, I’ll be sure to publicly shame myself again if I do that again. (I will point out, in my defense, that I still wouldn’t have died a single time, even if I didn’t rewind! So there.)
The third Special Stage is the worst omg. I actually had to use a rewind on it, which I coulda avoided if I were being more careful. It also just took freaking forever to clear. It’s the one that isn’t really a maze, it’s just one giant room, and I just haaaate navigating it. The fourth one was whatever and was a cinch to clear. I ended up finishing Marble Zone with my fourth (out of a possible four) Emerald, and nine lives. Whoa, weird. I’m a fox, not a cat! I also cleared Act 3 (and the boss) with 103 rings and no shield, which I was pretty dang proud about.
The boss isn’t necessarily anything to write home about but it’s well-designed! It fits in well with the aesthetic and theming of the level, and it’s still up there in terms of my favorite Sonic 1 bosses. I rather appreciate bosses that are basically just “the Egg-O-Matic, but with STUFF on it!”
On the whole, this is a pretty solid second level. Second levels in classic Sonic games almost always represent a drastic shift in terms of tone and gameplay, and as the establisher of that trope, this one certainly does the trick.
SPRING YARD ZONE
This might be the most Sonic 1 level? Green Hill Zone is the most iconic, clearly, but I associate it more strongly with Sonic as a whole than I do with just Sonic 1. Spring Yard Zone has a badnik that doesn’t appear in literally any other Sonic game (Roller), one that appears in barely any other games (Spikes), and the level design is just so different from anything you see anywhere else in the franchise. There are so many springboards (wait, is that why it’s called Spring Yard Zone??? I never made that connection), and so many different kinds of moving platforms (sometimes over bottomless pits). A lot of Sonic 1’s level design seems to defy the series’ later affinity for giving you plenty of room to pick up speed, but Spring Yard Zone really takes the cake in that regard.
(It’s also worth noting that you could probably get through it a lot more skillfully than I did if you play a lot of Sonic 1. Again, the controls in Sonic 1 are slightly different than most other classic Sonic games, and it’s the game I replay the least, so it’s entirely possible this is a me thing.)
It’s also one of the zones I’ve replayed the least (because I just really genuinely don’t like it) and never really took the time to master. I actually gave myself a mulligan on the entire zone (which is totally different than using rewinds! I checked!), and did way better the second time.
The zone is pretty, I’ll give it that. But I’ve said that about literally every zone so far so I don’t know what to tell you. I do really dig the mountains and cityscape in the background.
I ended up finishing Spring Hill Zone with 10 lives (I actually picked up three extra lives and lost two of them by being a dummy; legitimately my first deaths in this replay!), and got both of a possible two Chaos Emeralds. Which means, dun dun dun dun!, I got all six Chaos Emeralds! Yeah, there’s only six in Sonic 1, and I think all of the other pre-Sonic 2 games. I dunno man, I just work here.
This boss is one of my least favorite bosses in Sonic 1. I think maybe Star Light Zone’s is my least favorite since at least you hit Spring Yard Zone’s boss directly. But yeah. Until later games where it can occasionally be done in more creative ways, I’ve just never been a huge fan of the whole “oooh! he’s using your surroundings against you!!” kinds of bosses. Just a matter of personal taste, though. I like my bosses straightforward in classic Sonic games for the most part.
Anyway! I usually sum these up by talking about how I feel about the zone in general but I kinda already did that? I also don’t have any deep lore feelings about it because there just isn’t a lot to go on, and it doesn’t feel connected with me specifically in any way either. (I haven’t really recovered a lot of memories yet but things still give me strong feelings/impressions a lot of times.) Sorry this one is kind of just me whining a bunch! I hope it was entertaining to read anyway.
LABYRINTH ZONE
Yeah sex is great but have you ever grabbed an invincibility box right before a section with a punch of moving spears designed to slow you down? Or killed five Burrobots with one perfectly-timed jump before any of them came close to hitting the ground?
Alright I have some feelings on this one. And those feelings are more or less I DO NOT LIKE MY HEDGEHOG BEING UNDERWATER!!!! I know I’m not really playing the game in a way that’s true to his personality, but my strategy for this has always been and probably always will be grabbing EVERY SINGLE AIR BUBBLE I come across. Just got an air bubble? Get another air bubble. See an air bubble a bit ahead? Get an air bubble. Think you might be about to leave the water entirely? IT’S AIR BUBBLE O’CLOCK, MF’ER. (Except in later games like especially Sonic 3 which I have basically memorized, I’ll sometimes know “eh there’s another one coming up in like two seconds, I’m fine.” It’s always still tempting though. Did I mention I DO NOT LIKE MY HEDGEHOG BEING UNDERWATER? BECAUSE I DO NOT LIKE MY HEDGEHOG BEING UNDERWATER.)
I only heard that damn “you’re about to drown!” warning music three times, once which hardly counts because it was towards the very end of the boss and you’re hard-pressed to make it through that section without hearing it at least once! Other than the boss (which I think brought me down to like two seconds but I was fine, I was right at the surface, just had to wait for the spike to get out of the way) I think the other two I literally grabbed an air bubble with the full five second still left on the timer. There were a few other times when I got the “level music resets because the drowning music was about to start but didn’t” deal, but I didn’t count those. Did I mention I DO NOT LIKE MY HEDGEHOG BEING UNDERWATER?
I’ve never really gotten why Star Light Zone comes between this zone and Scrap Brain Zone? Considering Scrap Brain Zone Act 3 is basically “you fell back into Labyrinth Zone! oh noes!” it would seem to make a lot more sense for it to immediately precede Scrap Brain Zone? Who knows.
This zone feels a lot more “yeah, I’ve been here” to me. Or at least somewhere very similar to it. I don’t have a lot else to go on there, but yeah. It’s a pretty strong feeling. The only other thing I can really tell you is I hate this place. It might have something to do with the fact that, did I mention, I DO NOT LIKE MY HEDGEHOG BEING UNDERWATER.
I finished this zone with 11 lives and I still have all six Chaos Emeralds. You can’t exactly go backwards with those. (Not in the games, anyway. Well, I guess sometimes in cutscenes and stuff. BUT I DIGRESS.) And I found that I had the zone memorized a whole lot more than the immediately preceding zone. It’s like its level of difficulty burned it into my memory or something! I actually don’t find it all that difficult anymore? I remember finding it excruciating when I was first playing through the game, though. And it definitely fits the trope of “the water level” being everyone’s least favorite level of every game. (Though, again, I can’t say that it is or ever has been my least favorite! ... maybe on my first playthrough.)
So, after the way I complained about Spring Yard Zone’s boss you’re probably expecting me to complain about this zone’s boss? But honestly? I dig it! The little maze of moving spears and fire statues you have to navigate is well-designed. I’ve heard it described as “the hardest boss in the game” and... I kinda don’t know about that? I do remember finding it frustrating the first few times, but once you know what to expect it’s not that hard to navigate, it just requires a little patience and discipline and trust in yourself.
Then again... what is the most difficult boss in Sonic 1? None of them are particularly hard, right? Hmm.
So, yeah! I think this is one of the better zones in the game. I get why a lot of people find it frustrating, but with a little practice it’s not hard to master! And I may be a little biased because, while I have strong negative kinfeels about it, I have kinfeels about it! So yeah. Ask me again in a few years when those don’t still always give me euphoria.
STAR LIGHT ZONE
What a breath of fresh air after Labyrinth Zone. Maybe that’s why this one was sandwiched between Labyrinth Zone and Scrap Brain Zone even though that kind of makes no sense storywise? Maybe they just didn’t want the two hardest zones in the game back to back. The more I think about it, the more that makes sense.
It’s hard to get any particular kinfeels from this zone, since it could be pretty much any city. That being said despite being a pretty simple zone it’s gorgeous when you’re up at the top level and all you can see is the stars, and even the level right below that where you can see the city skyline is also a lovely view. When you get lower and start seeing industrial stuff, like, I’m not saying it’s not well-done, just that the stars and the stars/starline are way prettier. And honestly? That kinda rules! It’s like you get rewarded for getting to the higher paths.
Combine that with the fact that the music is lovely (I can’t believe I haven’t talked about the soundtrack much so far??? I’ll do so in my wrap-up entry I think), and you already have a recipe for one of the best zones in the game. (Well, minus the boss, but we’ll get there.) And on top of that, this is also the zone that gives you the most space since Green Hill Zone to really open up and see how fast you can go. And it’s just a genuinely liberating feeling! I can imagine running with my hedgehog somewhere like this, under the stars...
Ahem. Anyway yeah this zone isn’t especially difficult. There are one or two areas that tripped me up because I always used to just kinda blast through them thinking “whatever, I have rings and I don’t need any more Chaos Emeralds,” and I already think I could improve on a replay, but like I said this zone isn’t very difficult to clear as-is. I ended up clearing with 12 lives, picking up that one one-up box at the beginning of Act 1. I didn’t get 100 rings on any act, and I still didn’t figure out how to get that one one-up box that taunts you towards the end of... Act 2, I think? Oh well.
I really don’t love this boss? I do think the fact that you encounter a bunch of those see-saw things throughout Act 3 to kinda teach you how to fight the boss later is pretty smart game design. But I just don’t love that kind of boss. That being said I think this may be the first time I actually used the momentum of the spiky bombs hitting the see-saws to launch Sonic up to strike the Egg-O-Matic directly rather than sending the bombs up to hit him? So that was a little more satisfying. But yeah. Still not my favorite.
It’s a shame, because other than that, this zone totally rules.
SCRAP BRAIN ZONE
This zone is hard! There are dilemmas where as far as I can tell you have basically no choice but to take damage to proceed, there are others where you basically have to have the zone memorized to know to avoid them, and there are a lot that just have extremely rough timing. It’s honestly kind of perfect as a last zone. (Yeah, yeah, technically it’s not the final zone, Final Zone is, but that’s literally just a boss fight.)
Aesthetically, this level is also hella impressive. It has one of the best soundtracks in the game, the visuals are really compelling and effective, and it moves you through three distinct phases. The first is a horrifying industrial sprawl with factories spitting toxic fumes into Mobius’s sky in the background, the second takes place inside of one of the factories, and the third is basically Labyrinth Zone but harder. There are fewer air bubbles, and the water is purple for some reason and I will remind you that I DO NOT LIKE MY HEDGEHOG BEING UNDERWATER, I like it even less when “water” appears to be some kind of weird chemicals.
The little cutscene that sends you into Act 3 actually kind of rules! The Final Zone theme plays as you run towards a confrontation with Robotnik, but he laughs (asshole) and hits a switch to send you down to Act 3.
This zone predictably gave me all kinds of kinfeels, because it or something like it has been everything I’ve hated and feared and fought against for most of my life. And, for reasons I’m not especially comfortable getting into, I recently had a personal experience that made the sheer horror of this kind of place hit me way harder, so that’s fun. There’s probably a German or Japanese word for being impressed by and disgusted by and terrified of something all at once? Whatever that is, that’s what I felt here.
I died twice! Once was an Act 1 trap that just had really rough timing, the other was drowning in Act 3. Ugh. And twice I got the scary countdown music and literally got all the way down to 0 seconds left before I finally caught an air bubble. (I DO NOT LIKE MY HEDGEHOG BEING UNDERWATER.) I ended up finishing the hardest zone of the game with 10 lives.
Honestly? Despite my visceral horror at this place, it is one of the most impressive zones of the game, and a really great example of sticking the landing. All of the skills you’ve developed throughout the game are required to get through it. It really does feel like a culmination, something that everything else has been building towards. And even compared to the popularly more hated underwater and trap-happy Labyrinth Zone, it’s hard. It’s also visually impressive and thematically brilliant. The polar opposite of Green Hill Zone. Sonic 1 doesn’t have a lot of tools with which to tell a story, but it does a remarkable job of doing so anyway.
FINAL ZONE
Not properly a zone, basically coulda been tacked on to Scrap Brain Zone Act 3 as its boss, but I guess they wanted the title card so it would be all properly dramatic and whatnot. Shrug. Not having any rings used to make this one hella stressful for me, but it actually doesn’t affect things much at all? The pistons are either gonna crush you or they aren’t, and the little electric balls are super easy to avoid.
Honestly, this is pretty easy for a final boss, but pretty much all of the bosses in this game are easy, so it tracks. I did die once, though, ugh! My attention wandered for a second too long trying to figure out which piston Robotnik was in, and I didn’t notice I was just barely under one of them, and I got crushed. So I finished the game with 9 lives. Again, what the heck! I’m a fox, not a kitty!
Anyway. Get dunked on, Robotnik.
ENDING
“In conclusion...” Whoops, sorry, flashback to writing formulaic essays forever. Not gonna do that to you. Anyway, the ending is simple but great. After escaping Robotnik’s hellish industrial landscape, my hero runs freely in Green Hill surrounded by his animal friends, and then the Chaos Emeralds rejuvenate Green Hill! Again, simple, but it totally rules. And I love how the ending credits have little video clips from every zone, as well as soundtrack clips, though I wish the soundtrack clips always lined up with the video clips! Idk, weird things bother me.
So! This seems like a good time to talk about some final thoughts. I’ve mentioned a few times that I was always hesitant to revisit Sonic 1 because it just doesn’t have the same hold on me that Sonic 2 or Sonic 3 & Knuckles have. But I was pleased to find that it still holds a special place in my heart, all the same. I used to think this was just an extremely important and special franchise to me, but now that I know it’s so much more, the whole thing just has even more stakes for me. (Then again, I kinda always acted like that was the case even when I didn’t know why? I’m very cool.)
Anyway! This is the end of the game so let’s give my very important arbitrary rankings of things! That’s what we do at this part, right?
Zones (I’m not counting Final Zone because it’s just a boss fight)
1. Green Hill Zone (S-Tier)
2. Scrap Brain Zone (A-Tier)
3. Star Light Zone (B-Tier)
4. Labyrinth Zone (B-Tier)
5. Marble Zone (B-Tier)
6. Spring Yard Zone (C-Tier)
Bosses
1. Green Hill Zone (S-Tier)
2. Final Zone (A-Tier)
3. Labyrinth Zone (B-Tier)
4. Marble Zone (B-Tier)
5. Spring Yard Zone (C-Tier)
6. Star Light Zone (C-Tier)
Soundtrack
1. Green Hill Zone (S-Tier)
2. Final Zone (S-Tier)
3. Robotnik (S-Tier)
4. Credits (A-Tier)
5. Scrap Brain Zone (A-Tier)
6. Star Light Zone (A-Tier)
7. Marble Zone (B-Tier)
8. Labyrinth Zone (B-Tier)
9. Spring Yard Zone (B-Tier)
10. Special Stage (C-Tier)
Sonic 1 has been the mainline Genesis Sonic game I’ve replayed the least (we’re still talking something on the order of at least once a year, though), and my main complaint about it has always been that it “feels lonely.” My hedgehog is all by himself, and that used to just feel... wrong to me. Honestly, though? Now that I’m taking my time and savoring the game I moreso get the feeling that just... he was always a fully-formed hero, and it makes so much sense that the second I saw him I knew I wanted to be like him. Knew that I would follow him anywhere, if he let me.
Sonic is effortlessly easy to root for, and I’m not just saying that because I’m in love with him. His innate goodness just leaps off the screen. I wrote about this regarding the Sonic movie, but the thing that really ties this entire multimedia franchise together, the beating heart at its core, is that Sonic is just... good. He’s heroic in a very believable, accessible way. What makes him a hero isn't just his superpowers, it's that he makes you want to be better, and makes that feel attainable, just by his example.
The stakes of this are incredibly straightforward. You’re an animal superhero fighting a human armed with advanced technology who is transforming animals into robots. I’m allowing myself to really feel the horror of that this time, and I’m finding that I feel obligated to destroy every single badnik I come across to free the animals trapped inside.
Gameplay wise, Sonic handles a lot differently than he does in the other Genesis titles, and that’s a bit disorienting at times. The lack of a spindash is particularly off-putting. But I’ve still played this game so many more times than the average fox, so not to sound braggy, but it’s a piece of cake for me. I don’t remember every detail of every stage or anything, but it’s a very near thing and I definitely remember how to clear every remotely difficult or confusing obstacle you face. Not that there are that many confusing ones. This game is remarkably streamlined.
GREEN HILL ZONE
Green Hill Zone is such a perfect opening level. The difficulty level isn’t very high at all, it’s actually not even a little difficult to get through it without getting damaged a single time. (Then again, keep in mind I’m really good at these games.) But it also gives you a really strong sense of what’s possible and how to do things in the game. And the natural setting is a perfect entrypoint to the aforementioned central conflict of Sonic defending nature and Robotnik terrorizing and exploiting it.
I’m also still struck by just how gorgeous it looks. Little Tails who had only known NES titles the likes of Mario 1’s graphics had his poor little mind blown by the rolling waterfalls and moving clouds. And the colors are just so lovely and vibrant. It holds up extremely well even today.
I ended up clearing Green Hill Zone with five lives (you start with three, so I picked up two). I’m pretty sure I could’ve gotten more, but I wasn’t exploring every nook and cranny of the level. And I also grabbed two Chaos Emeralds out of a possible two. The special stages in Sonic 1 are... well, they’re kinda weird, but they’re also hella easy. Despite giving myself dispensation to use rewinds on Special Stages, I didn’t need to do that at all. And I doubt I’ll have to do it much.
The first boss in the entire franchise is suitably iconic. One of the most iconic bosses in the entire franchise, honestly. Makes sense to put your best foot forward, which is kinda the theme of the entire zone. Also like the zone as a whole, it’s very easy to beat this boss without taking any damage, but that giant swinging ball sure is properly intimidating. It’s exactly the kind of overwrought, overdramatic excess you expect from Robotnik. As his enemy, I hate it. As someone who likes video games, I appreciate how fully-formed his personality and entire deal were in this very first appearance. And you get little mannerisms like him cackling evilly as he deploys the wrecking ball. It’s amazing how much visual storytelling is on display in this very simple game.
This is a damn good start to a game that literally changed my life.
MARBLE ZONE
Green Hill Zone felt like home. This... doesn’t, so much? I’m not sure I’ve ever been here. So I don’t have as much to say about it on that level.
In terms of aesthetics, I continue to be beyond impressed by how much was done with so little in terms of computing resources. There’s a very gothic aesthetic (enhanced by the frequently encountered Batbrains), which rules!
Gameplay-wise, this makes sense as a progression from Green Hill Zone. Green Hill Zone had spikes and crumbling platforms and the occasional swinging platform with spikes on the edge of it, but honestly for the most part it gave you a ton of space to figure out how to play the game while also rewarding you with plenty of things to accomplish. (Badniks to smash, things to jump over or roll through, etc.) Marble Zone is the first time you really discover that oh, ok, the level itself is oftentimes gonna try to kill you.
Toward that end, this level design is mean! And it’s not just all the lava and stuff trying to crush you. I specifically noticed one trap involving a sideways springboard that would send you into a Catekiller if you bypassed it rather than liberating the animal inside. It jumped out at me because it felt uncannily Sonic 2 or 3-esque. You don’t see a lot of those in Sonic 1.
There’s also plenty of very Sonic 1 level design here, though. Like one that jumps immediately to mind is there’s one section where the dilemma you face is that there’s a low ceiling and two Catekillers coming at you. And I found myself instinctively crouching for a spindash, but of course you don’t have that option available to you in Sonic 1. If you don’t want to make a couple very tricky jumps, you can also just run and crouch for a spin attack on each one, but it’s a little awkward whereas a spindash woulda been easier and one fluid motion. This is still very solvable, but a spindash woulda totally trivialized it to the point where it wouldn’t even have slowed you down.
There are also little details of the level design that I just absolutely love. Like, the first of many long stretches where you have to ride a block over lava and a geyser-like blast of lava carries you up to the next section has a little block of shame on the other end in case you don’t realize you’re supposed to jump which carries you over to the other side to start over again. I definitely remember having to use that the first time I ever played this game.
Speaking of blocks of shame (ok not really but it’s still a good segue), I have to come clean and say I broke my self-imposed rule of not using rewinds a couple times. It’s just such a reflex. Part of the problem is I was using the thumbstick rather than the D-pad, which is kind of a habit when you’re using a Switch Pro Controller, but it’s definitely not the best way to play a Genesis game, especially Sonic 1. I think I broke myself of both the habit of using the thumbstick and the habit of using rewinds, but idk, I’ll be sure to publicly shame myself again if I do that again. (I will point out, in my defense, that I still wouldn’t have died a single time, even if I didn’t rewind! So there.)
The third Special Stage is the worst omg. I actually had to use a rewind on it, which I coulda avoided if I were being more careful. It also just took freaking forever to clear. It’s the one that isn’t really a maze, it’s just one giant room, and I just haaaate navigating it. The fourth one was whatever and was a cinch to clear. I ended up finishing Marble Zone with my fourth (out of a possible four) Emerald, and nine lives. Whoa, weird. I’m a fox, not a cat! I also cleared Act 3 (and the boss) with 103 rings and no shield, which I was pretty dang proud about.
The boss isn’t necessarily anything to write home about but it’s well-designed! It fits in well with the aesthetic and theming of the level, and it’s still up there in terms of my favorite Sonic 1 bosses. I rather appreciate bosses that are basically just “the Egg-O-Matic, but with STUFF on it!”
On the whole, this is a pretty solid second level. Second levels in classic Sonic games almost always represent a drastic shift in terms of tone and gameplay, and as the establisher of that trope, this one certainly does the trick.
SPRING YARD ZONE
This might be the most Sonic 1 level? Green Hill Zone is the most iconic, clearly, but I associate it more strongly with Sonic as a whole than I do with just Sonic 1. Spring Yard Zone has a badnik that doesn’t appear in literally any other Sonic game (Roller), one that appears in barely any other games (Spikes), and the level design is just so different from anything you see anywhere else in the franchise. There are so many springboards (wait, is that why it’s called Spring Yard Zone??? I never made that connection), and so many different kinds of moving platforms (sometimes over bottomless pits). A lot of Sonic 1’s level design seems to defy the series’ later affinity for giving you plenty of room to pick up speed, but Spring Yard Zone really takes the cake in that regard.
(It’s also worth noting that you could probably get through it a lot more skillfully than I did if you play a lot of Sonic 1. Again, the controls in Sonic 1 are slightly different than most other classic Sonic games, and it’s the game I replay the least, so it’s entirely possible this is a me thing.)
It’s also one of the zones I’ve replayed the least (because I just really genuinely don’t like it) and never really took the time to master. I actually gave myself a mulligan on the entire zone (which is totally different than using rewinds! I checked!), and did way better the second time.
The zone is pretty, I’ll give it that. But I’ve said that about literally every zone so far so I don’t know what to tell you. I do really dig the mountains and cityscape in the background.
I ended up finishing Spring Hill Zone with 10 lives (I actually picked up three extra lives and lost two of them by being a dummy; legitimately my first deaths in this replay!), and got both of a possible two Chaos Emeralds. Which means, dun dun dun dun!, I got all six Chaos Emeralds! Yeah, there’s only six in Sonic 1, and I think all of the other pre-Sonic 2 games. I dunno man, I just work here.
This boss is one of my least favorite bosses in Sonic 1. I think maybe Star Light Zone’s is my least favorite since at least you hit Spring Yard Zone’s boss directly. But yeah. Until later games where it can occasionally be done in more creative ways, I’ve just never been a huge fan of the whole “oooh! he’s using your surroundings against you!!” kinds of bosses. Just a matter of personal taste, though. I like my bosses straightforward in classic Sonic games for the most part.
Anyway! I usually sum these up by talking about how I feel about the zone in general but I kinda already did that? I also don’t have any deep lore feelings about it because there just isn’t a lot to go on, and it doesn’t feel connected with me specifically in any way either. (I haven’t really recovered a lot of memories yet but things still give me strong feelings/impressions a lot of times.) Sorry this one is kind of just me whining a bunch! I hope it was entertaining to read anyway.
LABYRINTH ZONE
Yeah sex is great but have you ever grabbed an invincibility box right before a section with a punch of moving spears designed to slow you down? Or killed five Burrobots with one perfectly-timed jump before any of them came close to hitting the ground?
Alright I have some feelings on this one. And those feelings are more or less I DO NOT LIKE MY HEDGEHOG BEING UNDERWATER!!!! I know I’m not really playing the game in a way that’s true to his personality, but my strategy for this has always been and probably always will be grabbing EVERY SINGLE AIR BUBBLE I come across. Just got an air bubble? Get another air bubble. See an air bubble a bit ahead? Get an air bubble. Think you might be about to leave the water entirely? IT’S AIR BUBBLE O’CLOCK, MF’ER. (Except in later games like especially Sonic 3 which I have basically memorized, I’ll sometimes know “eh there’s another one coming up in like two seconds, I’m fine.” It’s always still tempting though. Did I mention I DO NOT LIKE MY HEDGEHOG BEING UNDERWATER? BECAUSE I DO NOT LIKE MY HEDGEHOG BEING UNDERWATER.)
I only heard that damn “you’re about to drown!” warning music three times, once which hardly counts because it was towards the very end of the boss and you’re hard-pressed to make it through that section without hearing it at least once! Other than the boss (which I think brought me down to like two seconds but I was fine, I was right at the surface, just had to wait for the spike to get out of the way) I think the other two I literally grabbed an air bubble with the full five second still left on the timer. There were a few other times when I got the “level music resets because the drowning music was about to start but didn’t” deal, but I didn’t count those. Did I mention I DO NOT LIKE MY HEDGEHOG BEING UNDERWATER?
I’ve never really gotten why Star Light Zone comes between this zone and Scrap Brain Zone? Considering Scrap Brain Zone Act 3 is basically “you fell back into Labyrinth Zone! oh noes!” it would seem to make a lot more sense for it to immediately precede Scrap Brain Zone? Who knows.
This zone feels a lot more “yeah, I’ve been here” to me. Or at least somewhere very similar to it. I don’t have a lot else to go on there, but yeah. It’s a pretty strong feeling. The only other thing I can really tell you is I hate this place. It might have something to do with the fact that, did I mention, I DO NOT LIKE MY HEDGEHOG BEING UNDERWATER.
I finished this zone with 11 lives and I still have all six Chaos Emeralds. You can’t exactly go backwards with those. (Not in the games, anyway. Well, I guess sometimes in cutscenes and stuff. BUT I DIGRESS.) And I found that I had the zone memorized a whole lot more than the immediately preceding zone. It’s like its level of difficulty burned it into my memory or something! I actually don’t find it all that difficult anymore? I remember finding it excruciating when I was first playing through the game, though. And it definitely fits the trope of “the water level” being everyone’s least favorite level of every game. (Though, again, I can’t say that it is or ever has been my least favorite! ... maybe on my first playthrough.)
So, after the way I complained about Spring Yard Zone’s boss you’re probably expecting me to complain about this zone’s boss? But honestly? I dig it! The little maze of moving spears and fire statues you have to navigate is well-designed. I’ve heard it described as “the hardest boss in the game” and... I kinda don’t know about that? I do remember finding it frustrating the first few times, but once you know what to expect it’s not that hard to navigate, it just requires a little patience and discipline and trust in yourself.
Then again... what is the most difficult boss in Sonic 1? None of them are particularly hard, right? Hmm.
So, yeah! I think this is one of the better zones in the game. I get why a lot of people find it frustrating, but with a little practice it’s not hard to master! And I may be a little biased because, while I have strong negative kinfeels about it, I have kinfeels about it! So yeah. Ask me again in a few years when those don’t still always give me euphoria.
STAR LIGHT ZONE
What a breath of fresh air after Labyrinth Zone. Maybe that’s why this one was sandwiched between Labyrinth Zone and Scrap Brain Zone even though that kind of makes no sense storywise? Maybe they just didn’t want the two hardest zones in the game back to back. The more I think about it, the more that makes sense.
It’s hard to get any particular kinfeels from this zone, since it could be pretty much any city. That being said despite being a pretty simple zone it’s gorgeous when you’re up at the top level and all you can see is the stars, and even the level right below that where you can see the city skyline is also a lovely view. When you get lower and start seeing industrial stuff, like, I’m not saying it’s not well-done, just that the stars and the stars/starline are way prettier. And honestly? That kinda rules! It’s like you get rewarded for getting to the higher paths.
Combine that with the fact that the music is lovely (I can’t believe I haven’t talked about the soundtrack much so far??? I’ll do so in my wrap-up entry I think), and you already have a recipe for one of the best zones in the game. (Well, minus the boss, but we’ll get there.) And on top of that, this is also the zone that gives you the most space since Green Hill Zone to really open up and see how fast you can go. And it’s just a genuinely liberating feeling! I can imagine running with my hedgehog somewhere like this, under the stars...
Ahem. Anyway yeah this zone isn’t especially difficult. There are one or two areas that tripped me up because I always used to just kinda blast through them thinking “whatever, I have rings and I don’t need any more Chaos Emeralds,” and I already think I could improve on a replay, but like I said this zone isn’t very difficult to clear as-is. I ended up clearing with 12 lives, picking up that one one-up box at the beginning of Act 1. I didn’t get 100 rings on any act, and I still didn’t figure out how to get that one one-up box that taunts you towards the end of... Act 2, I think? Oh well.
I really don’t love this boss? I do think the fact that you encounter a bunch of those see-saw things throughout Act 3 to kinda teach you how to fight the boss later is pretty smart game design. But I just don’t love that kind of boss. That being said I think this may be the first time I actually used the momentum of the spiky bombs hitting the see-saws to launch Sonic up to strike the Egg-O-Matic directly rather than sending the bombs up to hit him? So that was a little more satisfying. But yeah. Still not my favorite.
It’s a shame, because other than that, this zone totally rules.
SCRAP BRAIN ZONE
This zone is hard! There are dilemmas where as far as I can tell you have basically no choice but to take damage to proceed, there are others where you basically have to have the zone memorized to know to avoid them, and there are a lot that just have extremely rough timing. It’s honestly kind of perfect as a last zone. (Yeah, yeah, technically it’s not the final zone, Final Zone is, but that’s literally just a boss fight.)
Aesthetically, this level is also hella impressive. It has one of the best soundtracks in the game, the visuals are really compelling and effective, and it moves you through three distinct phases. The first is a horrifying industrial sprawl with factories spitting toxic fumes into Mobius’s sky in the background, the second takes place inside of one of the factories, and the third is basically Labyrinth Zone but harder. There are fewer air bubbles, and the water is purple for some reason and I will remind you that I DO NOT LIKE MY HEDGEHOG BEING UNDERWATER, I like it even less when “water” appears to be some kind of weird chemicals.
The little cutscene that sends you into Act 3 actually kind of rules! The Final Zone theme plays as you run towards a confrontation with Robotnik, but he laughs (asshole) and hits a switch to send you down to Act 3.
This zone predictably gave me all kinds of kinfeels, because it or something like it has been everything I’ve hated and feared and fought against for most of my life. And, for reasons I’m not especially comfortable getting into, I recently had a personal experience that made the sheer horror of this kind of place hit me way harder, so that’s fun. There’s probably a German or Japanese word for being impressed by and disgusted by and terrified of something all at once? Whatever that is, that’s what I felt here.
I died twice! Once was an Act 1 trap that just had really rough timing, the other was drowning in Act 3. Ugh. And twice I got the scary countdown music and literally got all the way down to 0 seconds left before I finally caught an air bubble. (I DO NOT LIKE MY HEDGEHOG BEING UNDERWATER.) I ended up finishing the hardest zone of the game with 10 lives.
Honestly? Despite my visceral horror at this place, it is one of the most impressive zones of the game, and a really great example of sticking the landing. All of the skills you’ve developed throughout the game are required to get through it. It really does feel like a culmination, something that everything else has been building towards. And even compared to the popularly more hated underwater and trap-happy Labyrinth Zone, it’s hard. It’s also visually impressive and thematically brilliant. The polar opposite of Green Hill Zone. Sonic 1 doesn’t have a lot of tools with which to tell a story, but it does a remarkable job of doing so anyway.
FINAL ZONE
Not properly a zone, basically coulda been tacked on to Scrap Brain Zone Act 3 as its boss, but I guess they wanted the title card so it would be all properly dramatic and whatnot. Shrug. Not having any rings used to make this one hella stressful for me, but it actually doesn’t affect things much at all? The pistons are either gonna crush you or they aren’t, and the little electric balls are super easy to avoid.
Honestly, this is pretty easy for a final boss, but pretty much all of the bosses in this game are easy, so it tracks. I did die once, though, ugh! My attention wandered for a second too long trying to figure out which piston Robotnik was in, and I didn’t notice I was just barely under one of them, and I got crushed. So I finished the game with 9 lives. Again, what the heck! I’m a fox, not a kitty!
Anyway. Get dunked on, Robotnik.
ENDING
“In conclusion...” Whoops, sorry, flashback to writing formulaic essays forever. Not gonna do that to you. Anyway, the ending is simple but great. After escaping Robotnik’s hellish industrial landscape, my hero runs freely in Green Hill surrounded by his animal friends, and then the Chaos Emeralds rejuvenate Green Hill! Again, simple, but it totally rules. And I love how the ending credits have little video clips from every zone, as well as soundtrack clips, though I wish the soundtrack clips always lined up with the video clips! Idk, weird things bother me.
So! This seems like a good time to talk about some final thoughts. I’ve mentioned a few times that I was always hesitant to revisit Sonic 1 because it just doesn’t have the same hold on me that Sonic 2 or Sonic 3 & Knuckles have. But I was pleased to find that it still holds a special place in my heart, all the same. I used to think this was just an extremely important and special franchise to me, but now that I know it’s so much more, the whole thing just has even more stakes for me. (Then again, I kinda always acted like that was the case even when I didn’t know why? I’m very cool.)
Anyway! This is the end of the game so let’s give my very important arbitrary rankings of things! That’s what we do at this part, right?
Zones (I’m not counting Final Zone because it’s just a boss fight)
1. Green Hill Zone (S-Tier)
2. Scrap Brain Zone (A-Tier)
3. Star Light Zone (B-Tier)
4. Labyrinth Zone (B-Tier)
5. Marble Zone (B-Tier)
6. Spring Yard Zone (C-Tier)
Bosses
1. Green Hill Zone (S-Tier)
2. Final Zone (A-Tier)
3. Labyrinth Zone (B-Tier)
4. Marble Zone (B-Tier)
5. Spring Yard Zone (C-Tier)
6. Star Light Zone (C-Tier)
Soundtrack
1. Green Hill Zone (S-Tier)
2. Final Zone (S-Tier)
3. Robotnik (S-Tier)
4. Credits (A-Tier)
5. Scrap Brain Zone (A-Tier)
6. Star Light Zone (A-Tier)
7. Marble Zone (B-Tier)
8. Labyrinth Zone (B-Tier)
9. Spring Yard Zone (B-Tier)
10. Special Stage (C-Tier)
Play the Christian whitehead version
With the recent decompiler software release of rubberduckycooly, there is finally a way to play the Christian Whitehead version's of Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 without resorting on emulating an Android system in PC. This is by far the best version as reviewed by many and playing it natively on PC is brand new.
Starting the game shows good improvements from the get go, having the game displayed in widescreen. For a fast moving game, it is easier on the eyes to follow the action. Another improvement is having spindash as seen on later sequels of the game is an improvement but using it carelessly would lead to demise most of the time for me because Sonic 1 level don't seem to optimized with the spindash function in mind.
The game feels more optimized and responsive now, even in underwater levels or places where lag would occur because of too many things happening on the screen.
There is a save function to play this game and would help players to finish the game seamlessly and really did help me play through on Scrap Brain Zone 3, that level is as atrocious as ever.
Finishing the game left a good feeling for me and I think I would be playing this game time to time now as the game has other features like playing as Tails, Knuckles or Sonic and Tails pair.
I could play this on on the phone natively, but playing it on the big screen with a standard controller is really the way to go to keep my attention and interest intact on the game.
I can fairly agree that the Christian Whitehead version of Sonic the Hedgehog is really the definitive version of the game going forward.
2/15
2/16
just went in playing again Scrap Brain Zone 3 is my favorite to lose my collective crap on Time Attack, it prove useful when I went in again on another game run as Tails.
Using Tails is new for this game and again his flight function here proved useful as it helped my run access some areas that cannot be reached normally
2/18
Played through with Knuckles , Knuckles' glide ability and wall climbing is useful but just like the spindash ability levels are not optimized to play with. At times often using it will lead you to your demise sometimes. Positive thing about this is using glide or wall climb underwater, these abilities let you move faster than Sonic or Tails. Negative thing about this is well, using this on some parts of the level are buggy. especially the last floor panel on Brain Scrap Zone 3, I bugged into the walls lmao. Another thing about Knuckles is with platforming is different in ways it's not really apparent at first glance. Knuckles has the lowest jumping ability of them all so if you are used to platforming with Sonic, then Knuckle's will need you to use your wall climbing ability. There are also some level routes prevent you from progressing through, and will suggest you to take the alternate route. Fun thing about Knuckles here is that some animation don't really fit well with him, like sliding at Labyrinth Zone.
I doing a run with Sonic and Tails but it just feels like I'm doing a Sonic run again, nothing really special about this mod
Starting the game shows good improvements from the get go, having the game displayed in widescreen. For a fast moving game, it is easier on the eyes to follow the action. Another improvement is having spindash as seen on later sequels of the game is an improvement but using it carelessly would lead to demise most of the time for me because Sonic 1 level don't seem to optimized with the spindash function in mind.
The game feels more optimized and responsive now, even in underwater levels or places where lag would occur because of too many things happening on the screen.
There is a save function to play this game and would help players to finish the game seamlessly and really did help me play through on Scrap Brain Zone 3, that level is as atrocious as ever.
Finishing the game left a good feeling for me and I think I would be playing this game time to time now as the game has other features like playing as Tails, Knuckles or Sonic and Tails pair.
I could play this on on the phone natively, but playing it on the big screen with a standard controller is really the way to go to keep my attention and interest intact on the game.
I can fairly agree that the Christian Whitehead version of Sonic the Hedgehog is really the definitive version of the game going forward.
2/15
2/16
just went in playing again Scrap Brain Zone 3 is my favorite to lose my collective crap on Time Attack, it prove useful when I went in again on another game run as Tails.
Using Tails is new for this game and again his flight function here proved useful as it helped my run access some areas that cannot be reached normally
2/18
Played through with Knuckles , Knuckles' glide ability and wall climbing is useful but just like the spindash ability levels are not optimized to play with. At times often using it will lead you to your demise sometimes. Positive thing about this is using glide or wall climb underwater, these abilities let you move faster than Sonic or Tails. Negative thing about this is well, using this on some parts of the level are buggy. especially the last floor panel on Brain Scrap Zone 3, I bugged into the walls lmao. Another thing about Knuckles is with platforming is different in ways it's not really apparent at first glance. Knuckles has the lowest jumping ability of them all so if you are used to platforming with Sonic, then Knuckle's will need you to use your wall climbing ability. There are also some level routes prevent you from progressing through, and will suggest you to take the alternate route. Fun thing about Knuckles here is that some animation don't really fit well with him, like sliding at Labyrinth Zone.
I doing a run with Sonic and Tails but it just feels like I'm doing a Sonic run again, nothing really special about this mod
i played this game on a mfing black berry yall need to stop complaining
EL gran inicio de todo, y aun teniendo a Labyrinth Zone, es buen juego, con una gran banda sonora y las 4 estrellas es por la versión de Taxman (Android)
The game that started it all.
Sonic 1 is a wonderful platformer that everyone should play.
Sonic 1 is a wonderful platformer that everyone should play.