N +

Sonic the Hedgehog is what Sega would call their Mario. Sonic was designed to be Segas' official mascot and was created to convey a sense of speed.

The story begins (Instruction Manual Excerpt):

Dr. Ivo Robotnik, the mad scientist, is snatching innocent animals and turning them into evil robots! Only one tough dude can put an end to the demented scientists' fiendish scheme. It's Sonic, the real cool hedgehog with the spiked haircut and power sneakers to give him super speed.

Help Sonic fight hoards of metal maniacs and do the loop with Super Sonic Spin Attack. Speed down twisting tunnels and swing over dangerous booby traps. Leap across lava pits and dodge burning rocks. Then splash through the chilling waters in an underground cavern. And if your'e lucky, you can warp to the secret zone where you spin around in a floating maze! Youre greatest challenge lurks in a secret lab where you come face to face with Dr. Robotnik himself!

What they didn't tell you was that the animal-driven robots are merely grunts to stand in your way. The real scheme here is that Dr. Robotnik is searching for the 6 (7 in later games) Chaos Emeralds. These emeralds have huge amounts of power that can be unleashed when they come in contact with the rest of the emeralds. Dr. Robotnik want's to use these emeralds to destroy Southern Island, and rule the world!

Sonic does just that as you try to get from start to finish as fast as you can (or under 10 minutes) across each level that feature loop-de-loops and springboards. Watch out though, Dr. Robotnik has deployed a ton of "bad-niks" or robot enemies to stand in your way. The robots can hurl projectiles at you and all have their own way of moving around.

Sonics health acts quasi-similar to Marios in the sense that you have no meter to watch or power up. Instead you collect rings. When Sonic has 1 or more rings and runs into an enemy or hazard, the rings will explode from his pockets(?) and scatter everywhere, leaving you but a few seconds to retrive up to ten of them. When Sonic runs into danger without any rings, he pops off the screen and dies, leaving you at the last checkpoint or level start.

Sonic is a very solid side scroller that plays alot like the orignial mario brothers. Sonic can jup higher and further the faster he is going, although unlike Mario, Sonic is harder to control in the air. Due to Sonics increadible speed he has a hard tim slowing down, and will always come to a screetching halt. If you are traveling downhill or ar traveling at fast speeds, you can also push "down" on the control pad to curl up into a ball and follow the contours of the levels at extreme speeds! this is also one of the ways to kill enemies, and some enemies can only be killed this way. Some enemies are ready for sonic and are armed with either spikes or electricity to shock him if he rolls too close.

Sonic also boasts some of the best music from it's time, offering up some incredible 16-bit audio to accompany the tracks was genious. The music flows very well with the speed of the game, and each levels audio flavor matches it's visual flavor. Sound effects are aptly placed with each spring, blast, jump, and roll found in the game.

Sonic is a game that will never be forgotten by any of the old time players. Alot of the new Sonic games get great reviews unless you are talking to the old fans. The only big complaint after having crappy cameras in the new games is that Sega broke Sonics sense of speed in the games and widened his world too much. Sonic and the Secret Rings for the Wii while a bit clunky on the control side, was a perfect step in the right direction for Sonic. However if you want the real deal you need to get the Genesis trilogy.

N+ 9/10 The game is tops! if you have Wii points floating around, spend them now. The only reason I can't give it a 10/10 is because Sonic & Knuckles (connected to Sonic 3) was absolutely perfect! - Wait for the review on that!

Cost: 800 Wii Points