Screenshots from Video Game Museum

Year released: 1991 (Game Gear)

Number of Players: 1

Stop Dr. Robotnik from doing all that evil stuff!

Graphics: The sprites of Sonic aren't too accurate, but they do. When you're playing on such a small screen, the amount of colors used looks beautiful, and not too pixelated, either. Stages are appropriately colorful--think Sonic the Hedgehog for Genesis, if you can.
Oh, yeah, if you're running at top speed, the screen blurs. Ugh!

Play control: Left and right with control pad, button 1 or 2 to jump, press down as moving to go into a spin. When jumping or spinning, most enemies crumble before Sonic's sharp spines. It's a cinch!

Sound: Most of the tunage is quaint. Reminds me of Alex Kidd. The Game Gear instruments don't hurt your ears like they can, either. Definetely road trip music, but don't expect anything deep.

Challenge: Sonic's totally out of place. That is, his engine is meant for movement not encouraged by the environment, and the environment often is not meant for such an engine. While Sonic has realistic momentum and friction, the game calls upon challenges that would fit a Mario-esque engine, something built around jumping. Oh, yeah, and you don't get any rings for boss stages!

Gameplay: 2D platformer. Great work. First of all, you collect rings. Once you get hit, you lose those rings. If you get hit with no rings, you die. If you lose your rings, the only way to get rings again is to find new ones. Perfect translation of the engine from the Genesis version. The increase and decrease of momentum is fluid. Only problem is, Sonic has to dance from one platform to another--something that should be familiar to those acquainted with Super Mario Bros. 3. This momentum engine makes such delicate movements hard. Not bad, just different. Also, instead of hiding emeralds in bonus stages, they're out on the screen with everything else. You have to stick Sonic's little skull over every corner of the stages to find the troublesome gems. When you don't have a save feature nor a stage select feature at your fingertips,... hoo boy! You have to memorize where they are.

Bottom line: Unoriginal take on an original engine--definetely something for a platformer connosiuer (I spelled that wrong, I just know it) to check out, but it might be a bit bland for others. Also a tad short, unless you plan on finding all six Chaos Emeralds--then, woo, good luck!!

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