Sonic History @ Sonic-Club.Com
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This Sonic The Hedgehog History Section has 4 Pages. The link at the bottom on each page will take you to the next one.
Introduction
It's hard to imagine a world without Sonic, Sega's famed blue hedgehog. Before this ultrafast character became the icon for all things Sega, fans of the company had to put up with second-rate mascots, such as Alex Kidd and Michael Jackson, who adorned Sega hardware boxes - hardly what the kids called cool.
In the early '90s, Sega faced the daunting task of wrestling the hearts and minds of avid gamers away from Nintendo, who for all intents and purposes controlled the entire industry at the time. It wasn't enough to have powerful (for the time) 16-bit hardware and lots of advertising money. The company needed a mascot.
Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima were the two artists put in charge of creating Sega's Next Big Thing. The objective was to make a character that was not only instantly likable but also controllable - first-time gamers traditionally stuck to pressing just one button repeatedly. While the original design for Sonic called for him to be able to throw objects at enemies, this turned out to be difficult to implement into a single-button design. His spiky back made for a good weapon, so jumping was combined with attacking to create the famous spin attack. Add a face that looks eerily like Felix The Cat, a good dose of attitude, and enough energy in his system to equal one hundred caffeine addicts, and you have Sonic The Hedgehog. Onward to adventure!
1991
Sonic
1991
Sonic the Hedgehog
System: Sega Genesis
Released: June 1991
The Plot
The once peaceful world of Mobius is thrown into turmoil when Dr.
Kintobor, a kindly scientist who has been researching powerful
Chaos Emeralds, is turned into an angry megalomaniac after a
laboratory accident. All of the cute, fluffy animals on the
planet have been turned into robotic denizens (Badniks) of evil -
except for Sonic the Hedgehog, a friend of Kintobor's who was too
fast to be caught. Now Sonic must find all the Chaos Emeralds,
rescue his friends, and defeat Kintobor before it's too late.
 The special stage. |
The
Gameplay
Sonic runs, literally, from the start to finish throughout six
zones - each with three acts - while collecting golden rings.
These rings let him run into an enemy or even into spikes without
incurring harm, though doing so makes him lose all his rings and
stop dead in his tracks for a few vital seconds. At the end of a
regular act, a giant ring appears if you have 50 or more rings -
walk into it and Sonic is whisked away to the psychedelic bonus
stage. Complete this and you're rewarded with one of six Chaos
Emeralds. Dr Robotnik awaits at the end of each zone in a new
(and easily beatable) egg-shaped death machine, which he escapes
in once you hit it a few times. This simple formula is matched by
the simple control system - any button on the Genesis' control
pad makes him jump and turn into a spiky ball, which busts open
roaming robot creatures.
 Green Hill Zone. |
Special
Notes
The very first Sonic title exceeded sales expectations and did
exactly what Sega had hoped - made the Genesis a real player in
the console market. You knew Sonic was cool from the very moment
he started waving his finger at you on the title screen, and he
hasn't let you down since. After a few days, however, people
started to realize that the game was too easy - with the lack of
challenge and secret areas to search for, there wasn't much to
come back to. Still, the immense potential of the character and
the gameplay shone through, so it was only a matter of time until
the sequels, conversions, and spin-offs arrived. Sega's mission
to make a mascot appeared to have been accomplished.
Sonic the
Hedgehog
System: Sega Master System
Released: November 1991
The Plot
Exactly the same as the Genesis version.
The Gameplay
Imagine the Genesis game without the deep levels of parallax
scrolling, stereo sound, and blistering speed, and you've got a
good idea how the Master System Sonic plays and feels. The vital
difference is that the Chaos Emeralds are found in the main
levels - not the special stages.
 Click here for more shots. |
Special
Notes
While the machine died a quick death in North America, the Master
System was a success in Europe. It was common to see 8-bit
versions of popular 16-bit games hit the shelves. Even though it
was technically deficient, Master System Sonic still played well.
The entirely new special stages, which saw Sonic frantically
trying to grab as many rings as possible within a short time
limit, were immensely fun and for many made the game worth
purchasing even if they already owned the Genesis cartridge. If
that wasn't enough, there was also a map to chart your progress
with - a feature that only Sonic 3D shares.
Sonic the
Hedgehog
System: Game Gear
Released: December 1991
The Plot
Exactly the same as the Genesis version.
The Gameplay
Exactly the same as the Master System version.
Special Notes
 Title screen. |
Sonic's first foray into the handheld market rewrote the books on what could be done on the venerable handheld - it's just a shame that nobody bothered to read it. The impressive Master System game had been carried over almost completely, with only a few changes being made - the primary one being that the camera is positioned a lot closer to the action. This not
 Green Hill Zone. |
only lets you see what the heck is going on - try playing the Master System version on the tiny screen to see how hard it would have been otherwise - but it also ups the speed factor considerably. A couple of tweaks were made to the level designs to make some places a little more accessible and reduce the number of leaps of faith that have to be made. In all, it's a solid handheld rendition of the bigger Genesis game.
Sonic the
Hedgehog 2
System: Game Gear
Released: November 1991
The Plot
With Dr. Robotnik sent back to wherever evil people hang out,
Sonic has plenty of time to make new friends on Mobius. One of
them, a young fox by the name of Miles Prower, idolizes Sonic and
wants to grow up just like him - how sweet! No sooner than he and
Sonic have finished getting to know each other, Miles (known to
you and me as Sonic and Tails. Tails) has been fox-napped by (you
guessed it) the evil Dr. Robotnik! Of course, Sonic wastes no
time in starting the rescue mission, taking down the Death Egg
one section at a time.
The Gameplay
Again, identical to the Master System version barring a few small
discrepancies. The restart points have been removed, making for a
more difficult (and at times more frustrating) game.
 Green Hills Zone. |
Special
Notes
Like its predecessor, Sonic 2 on the Game Gear moves the camera
closer to the action - often leading to further unexpected deaths
at times. Audio fans should take note that the tunes have been
given a slight enhancement over the Master System originals.
Beyond that, what you see is what you get.
1992
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
System: Sega Genesis
Released: November 1992
The Plot
What use is an evil nemesis if he doesn't cause sequel-worthy
trouble? Dr. Ivor Robotnik is back, and he's up to his usual
no-good tricks again! To make the nasty-sounding Death Egg, all
 Metropolis Zone. Note Tails piloting Tornado, his plane. |
the rabbits, birds, and other assorted animals in Mobius have been reenslaved. As you may have guessed, Sonic must save them (and the world) from destruction one more time. Thankfully, he's not alone. A young fox, nicknamed Tails, is more than happy to follow his hero around and maybe even help him out every now and again.
 The special stage. |
The
Gameplay
Sonic 2 took the basic blueprint of the first title and expanded
on it in every imaginable way - unless you imagined a game full
of tap-dancing giraffes, of course. The visuals were deeper in
feel and richer in color, the speed had been boosted
considerably, and the difficulty level was thankfully taken up an
admittedly small notch. Other changes to the standard formula
included the ability to enter the special zones from the middle
of a level rather than the end; the special zones taking the
shape of 3D tunnels; a second player being able to control Tails
while he is onscreen; and the Chaos Emeralds actually doing
something when they're all collected. The power of all seven
emeralds combined to turn Sonic into Super Sonic - a yellow,
superfast, and completely indestructible hedgehog. Unlocking him
doesn't really do anything besides make you look cool for a brief
period of time.
 Sonic vs. Metal Sonic. |
Special
Notes
There are three things to note with Sonic 2. The first is that
Sonic 2 was the first console game to have had a simultaneous
worldwide launch date. Tuesday, November 24, 1992, was dubbed
"Sonic 2's day," and hedgehog fans all around the world
enjoyed the luxury of not having to wait for a local release. Why
can't Sega and, indeed, Sony and Nintendo, do this more often?
Secondly, the two-player split screen mode was much appreciated,
though the interlaced image made everything look squashed. Last
and definitely least is the advent of Blast Processing - a pseudo
programming technique that promised even more speed out of the
humble 16-bit technology. In actuality, all Blast Processing did
was turn off the background scrolling and enemy animation to let
Sonic blaze through each stage. In all, this was everything a
real sequel should have been.
Sonic the
Hedgehog 2
System: Sega Master System
Released: November 1992
The Plot
Exactly the same as the Game Gear version.
The Gameplay
This is not strictly a conversion of the bigger Genesis title,
though many of the game's levels and challenges are clearly based
on the 16-bit release. In many ways this is an expanded version
of the previous
 Emerald Hill Zone. |
Master System game - not a bad thing by any means. In some levels, Sonic can paraglide from place to place - quite a cool idea that has sadly been neglected since. Unlike in the Genesis game, Tails can't be semi-controlled by a second player; in fact, there's no Tails-related fun to be found at all. Once again, the bonus stages have been simplified to work with an 8-bit system - either that or it's a cunning move to get Sonic completists to pay for more games.
 Sonic jumping. |
Special
Notes
Leaving Tails out of the gameplay may seem like a rip-off, but it
allowed the development team to concentrate on improving the
original Master System Sonic engine even further. The scrolling
and animation were both improved considerably - leaving the main
character alone, meaning not moving the controller for a while,
showed off some neat little routines with Sonic tapping his foot,
lying around, etc.