Sonic the Hedgehog (the game, not necessarily the character) feels like a lost relic from the past.

Sonic games are known for their blistering speed but Sonic 1 only allows players to experience high-speed gameplay in bitesize chunks, sandwiched between slower zones that require more precision platforming and patience. It's an approach later Sonic games would stray away from.

I've played the likes of Marble Zone and Labyrinth Zone enough to have a soft spot for them but I can empathise with younger fans who might visit this first instalment and wonder what all the initial hype was about (this game was, after all, highly acclaimed on release).

Even if we admit that the Sonic formula needed a little refining, this is still a brilliant starting point. Sonic controls so smoothly, the kooky graphics paint a world that's fun to explore and the soundtrack is one of the Mega Drive's best. There's so much to appreciate here if you don't get hung up on the game's slower zones.

Sonic the Hedgehog is a difficult game, yet seriously engaging to play. The soundtrack and visuals are great.

However, I’m at odds with the promise of Sonic, the game is promoted as one you play with incredible speed which is true for Green Hill Zone and Star Light Zone, but then Marble and Labyrinth are very slow and meticulous platforming.

The ring system is cool, but I feel punished for making an ambitious attempt of collecting all of the Chaos Emeralds. It feels attainable, but I’d prefer to move on to Sonic 2 and Mania.

não tenho familiaridade com os jogos do sonic, então terminar isso sem save state foi algo desafiador. já zerei o jogo há alguns anos atrás com save state, e agora zerei sem. na primeira vez que joguei, foi apenas mais um joguinho que terminei em um dia e que teria zero apego no futuro. isso mudou completamente na segunda vez. desta vez, desenvolvi um carinho pelo jogo, pela diversão e pelo prazer de fazer tudo certinho, além do momento em que joguei, que não poderia ter sido melhor e das pessoas q conheci por conta dele. a maior parte da nota vai para minha experiência individual, pelo oq esse jogo representa pra mim. se fosse dar uma nota para o jogo em si, seria 6/10. é um jogo com vários defeitos, principalmente no level design, mas é um bom jogo e um clássico. dito isso, odeio a labirinth zone. odeio o ato 3 da scrap brain zone. elas não deveriam existir.

The first 2D Sonic game I beat (I used save states). I played this on the "Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection" on PS3 just in case it isn't a faithful experience to the original.

It seems like the kind of game I would've probably loved as a kid when new games were few and far between, so I played the same game for months. I played for a casual game to beat, rather than a game where I really wanted to learn the levels to find optimal routes, so that probably lessened my experience a bit. The big levels are cool conceptually because you can explore and have different experiences each time you play, but I prefer more linear levels. Sonic did not feel good to control, he felt slow and clunky. He's surprisingly very vulnerable because he only has hit boxes when he jumps, so that means when he's running, falling, or jumping on a spring he's vulnerable. I wasn't a fan of the enemy designs, I don't think they did a good job at illustrating if and where you are able to damage them. I struggled going through what seemed like scripted sequences like running through loops and jumping off of slides. There were times where I ran faster while I wasn't touching the controller, which was odd to me. Collecting the Chaos Emeralds felt like a slap in the face. The bonus levels are so hard, I still don't understand how the rotating works. In the end, your reward for collecting all of the emeralds is an ending that is extremely similar to the normal ending. For a character that is known for his speed, Sonic doesn't have a lot of options to build up speed in this game.

Even though I didn't like the game, I'm still glad I finished it. I am still looking forward to the later games because I think they will at least address some of the issues I had with this one.

Edit: I forgot to mention that there were odd performance issues where the game was chugging at points. And I usually don't mind underwater levels, but they're atrocious in this game. I think it's because you can't stay underwater indefinitely like you can in Mario. It didn't help that the big air bubbles seem to spawn at random intervals even while you're waiting at their spawn points. Also, these levels were not very memorable. I literally thought I must have failed at one point because the level I was playing was so similar to the level I had just beaten.

Edit 2: The invincibility frames are way too short. Way too easy to get hit with a 1-2 and lose. This issue is even worse when you consider how hard it is to recover your rings.

Very enjoyable and a welcome step down in difficulty from its rival games at the time.

Colours really stand out and it’s very nice to look at. The iconic Sonic soundtrack is brilliant.

I’m going to have to compare it to Super Mario Bros 3 though. Sonic was created to rival Mario after all. Very short due to there not being much challenge and there isn’t much extra content.