At the end of each zone (that's every three acts to everyone else) You have to face a boss in the form of an overweight blimp in a hovercraft, Dr. Robotnik. Robotnik comes in a wide variety of guises at the end of every zone, each one harder than the last. You must overcome the piglet in his machine by figuring out what his pattern is, and then attacking when he is at his weakest. The final act consists of just one mega boss, which you have to give quite a pounding to before he is down.

Yes, this game can be tough at the worst of times, but all is not lost for Sonic. He can achieve extra continues if he completes a level with over 50 rings. Then he must enter a special stage filled with bumpers and rings in order to find the Continue monitor, destroy it, and finish the level as normal. If afterwards Sonic has the misfortunate possibility to reach the pearly gates, you have the chance to use up one of the continues you collected and start the level over again with three lives.

As explained above, to truly complete the game, Sonic must find the special chaos emeralds sneakily hidden within each zone. In either act One or Two of each zone, one of these treasures is to be found. Naturally, the further you progress throughout the levels, the harder it is to find these precious gems. Collect all six within the six levels - Green Hill Zone, Bridge Zone, Jungle Zone, Labyrinth Zone, Scrap Brain Zone and Sky Base and you are treated to a special ending when you complete the game.

Similar as they may be, the Master System version of Sonic the Hedgehog differs vastly from the Game Gear version. Aswell as looking partially different, the levels that Sonic has to encounter are more or less simplified versions of the Master System levels. The boss on the Bridge level, for example, you were situated on three dodgy platforms in the Master System, whereas you were standing between two bridges in the Game Gear counterpart. The second level of Jungle has been shortened on the Game Gear version than on the Master System, where you had to jump between three or four logs approx. to get to the finish. Why Sega did this? No clue. My prediction is that maybe because the Game Gear at the time was eating up batteries faster than the blue blur himself, the game was made shorter to give players a chance to actually complete it (that doesn't mean its any easier, though...).

To play this game is bliss itself, the speed is all correct, and even when you're walking it 'feels' like you're going way over the speed limit. The variations in format also mean variations in game material such as bosses and power ups, so if you have the money to buy both the MS and GG version, you'll be playing into a slightly different experience each format. But not much. ^_^ Finding the Chaos Emeralds is an excellent addition, no fanny-brained special stages here - you gotta use your brain to catch those gems, and the game as a whole is both challenging, rewarding and exciting, all at the same time. I don't know which one's better, but I'm inclined to say that the MS version beats the Mega Drive version hands down, but maybe that's because of my many hours playing it. Neh, whatever, this game is certainly worth every minute speck of your attention.

Sonic Score: 10 out of 10!

Agree? Disagree? Submit your own review!
See other Sonic 1 Sections

<-- GO BACK