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| Chapter 1 - The
Beginning The War was on. It was 1990, and Nintendo, with their mascot, Mario, was pushing forward with their Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The Sega Genesis was right behind it, but had no definitive mascot that people could put with their product. That was when Sega assigned Yuji Naka, a programmer with many succesful games completed, such as Ghouls 'N Ghosts and Phantasy Star, to team up with Naoto Oshima, a character designer, to dream up Sega's new mascot. Originally, Naka and Oshima imagined their new character to be fast, and have enough mobility to pick up objects. They had decided on a rabbit...a rabbit? Can you imagine Sonic the Rabbit? They found that the object picking they wanted the rabbit to do with his ears was too complex, and decided to scrap that idea. They then brought the speed of the character up and designed a spinning attack to defeat enemies, rather than throwing objects at them. After some disputing, the idea of a blue hedgehog with the name Sonic was born. Chapter 2 - The Initial Reaction Yuji Naka and Naoto Oshima believed they had a winner in Sonic the Hedgehog, and the general reaction from Sega was positive, and Sonic went ahead as planned. So, in 1991, Sonic the Hedgehog was released on the Sega Genesis, and the reaction was outstanding. Sonic took the standard for a 16-bit game and pushed it up a notch, with high speed and innovative gameplay. With this game, Sega was again with Nintendo in the gaming war, and their new mascot lead the way. Sonic bred many spin-off games off the main series from the beginning, appearing on the Master System and the Game Gear in the same year. All spin-off Sonic games will be covered in a later section. Chapter 3 - A Sequel already? It may have seemed a bit premature, but by 1992, Sonic the Hedgehog was a huge hit, and players were ready for another dose on Sonic action. So, in 1 year, the sequel, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was released simutaneously around the world. Not only was this more of the Sonic we loved, it was pushed up another notch in the speed department, making it the fastest game yet. Sonic 2 also introduced a new character to fight against Dr. Robotnik with, Tails. A second player could partially control Tails, and added some depth, although he wasn't useful enough until later games. With the addition of the dash technique, Sonic paved his way to glory and further fame in the years to come. Chapter 4 - The Climax Players around the world couldnt get enough of Sonic. With a plethora of games appearing on multiple platforms, every Sega fan could get some dose of Sonic in some way. But, Sega was working on the full meal deal, the climax of the Sonic series, and 2 years after Sonic 2, players would get their high to the max on Sonic. Sega planned two major releases, Sonic 3, and the revolutionary Sonic and Knuckles. Sonic 3 was everything a fan wanted: A new character, Knuckles, huge levels, a save feature, and a fully controllable Tails. Later that year came Sonic and Knuckles, with the new lock-on technology that allowed players to combine S&K with Sonic 3, making a larger game, and enabling Hyper modes of the characters. Not only did Knuckles play through Sonic 3 with the lock-on, he was also playable with Sonic 2, making a whole new experience! Chapter 5 - The Aftermath If you weren't caught up in Sonic fever after the releases of 1994, then you weren't a true fan of everyone's favorite blue hedgehog. The games staying power was proven after their releases, as even more Sonic games appeared, most noteably Sonic 3d Blast, which put Sonic into a 3d world - albeit an isometric view - for the first time. Sonic 3d blast, along with the other releases, were marginally succesful compared to Sonic 3 and S&K. Chapter 6 - Nostalgia Sonic Jam. If anyone knew what the game was about, they would be in Sonic heaven. Unfortunately, the Sega Saturn wasn't a very big hit, so many never saw the game. Sonic Jam was the king of classics, the one game for every Sonic fan. It contained every Genesis Sonic game with lock-on technology for S&K, plus a save feature for Sonic 1 and 2, and a removable time clock. With a huge gallery of pictures and FMV scenes from Sonic CD, this game was a must-buy...if you had a Saturn. Chapter 7 - A Facelift for Sonic Arguably one of the largest platform launches of all time, the Dreamcast signaled the launch into the 128-bit era. At the front of pack of relaease games on 9.9.99, was Sega's new Sonic Adventure. This high-octane adventure blazed at 60 frames per second with a new 3-D game engine and introduced some new characters, like Big the Cat and E-102. Also notable was the appearance of a seemingly new character, Dr. Eggman. This is actually the good old Dr. Robotnik, with Sega's Japanese name replacing the old with his new DC look. Chapter 8 - Today Sonic has had some more amazing games made in the last while, like Sonic Adventure 2. This next installment adds two new characters to the series, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Rogue the Bat. Adding more depth with unique storylines for Hero and Dark, and a 2-player Battle mode. The game was enhanced and re-released on the Nintendo GameCube, the first time Sega has released a Sonic game on a Nintendo platform. Also released after SA2, was a Gameboy Advance game aptly called Sonic Advance. This great game relives the days of the Genesis with wonderful levels, plus a special connectivity with Sonic Adventure 2: Battle for the Chao Garden, a special place for small creatures that you can raise. After 10 years, Sonic the Hedgehog has spanned over a large library of games on multiple systems, and become one of the biggest game characters ever. Chapter 9 - Spin-off Sonic Due to the popularity of Sonic from his inception, Sega made a large number of games aside from the main series of Sonic games. Some of them were great titles, but a lot of them never saw the popularity that you would expect from a Sonic title. Here are some that you will most likely know, and some that slipped under the radar of most. Sonic the Hedgehog/2 (Game Gear) - Released in conjunction with its Genesis counterpart, it gave a small, handheld version of the games for fans, with changes to the story and levels. Most gamers will recognize Sonic 2 GG for its insane difficulty, usually having trouble beating the first boss! Sonic CD (Sega CD) - Showing the power of the Sega CD, Sonic CD contained a great soundtrack, a altering story based on what you did in the past or future, and the introduction of two new characters, Amy Rose and Metal Sonic. Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (Genesis) - A Sonic version of Puyo Pop, this puzzle game took the Sonic game to a different genre. Sonic Spinball (Genesis) - With everyone loving the Casino Night Zone from Sonic 2, Sega made a game based on the pinball machine-like level, shooting Sonic through various pinbal stages. Sonic Chaos (Game Gear) - Sonic and Tails split up in this adventure and had two seperate storylines to explore in this 8-bit sleeper. Sonic Triple Trouble (Game Gear) - This game highlighted the power of the Game Gear with 16 megs of great graphics and gameplay. Knuckles Chaotix (Sega 32X) - This 32-bit enhancment over the Genesis offered some new twists to Sonic games, with Knuckles tethered to one of six new characters that made up the Chaotix. Sonic Drift/2 (Game Gear) - With the first game in Japan only, Sonic Drift 2 was not a huge hit in North America, with Sega making a try to go against the popular Mario Kart. Sonic Labyrinth (Game Gear) - Trying once again in the puzzle genre, Sonic went in Kirby's-Dream-Course-like levels to find his shoes that were stolen by Robotnik. Tails Adventure (Game Gear) - Tails appeared in an 'adventure' of his own before Sonic in this deep exploration game. Sonic 3d Blast (Sega Saturn) - A remake of the Genesis version, this contained a full 3-D bonus stage and a new soundtrack. Sonic Blast (Game Gear) - The last Sonic GG game had a new rendered game engine for excellent graphics, but only 5 stages to play. Sonic R (Sega Saturn) - Great graphics helped this racer as it pitted Sonic and other friends against each other in foot races. Sonic Pocket Adventure (NeoGeo Pocket Color) - This game took the best of all the Sonic games, improved them, and link compatability on SNK's awesome portable system. Sonic Shuffle (Dreamcast) - Cel-shaded graphics were the highlight of this party game where Sonic and friends were casted in a multiplayer bonanza. Conclusion - Sonic the Hedgehog, Gaming icon. Not only do people think of Sonic when they hear the word hedgehog, he is known all over the world. He has starred in a staggering amount of games, and with Sega's plan to now make games for all systems, even more people will get to know the blue hedgehog. Rivaling Mario and Nintendo isn't an easy thing to do, but Sonic went against the odds, and pulled Sega from impending doom in the gaming war against the Super Nintendo. We love you, Sonic! |