SONIC THE HEDGEHOG (MD)
MEGA DRIVE, 1991
Sonic burst onto the scene with speed and attitude, and the only thing that time has taken from his debut is impact. But even though every gamer is now familiar with the rolling hills and loops of the Green Hill Zone, the experience remains compelling because speed is very much a privilege in this game, and you can see the effects of your improved skills and memorised routes in the form of increasingly smooth runs. Having said that, the game is also marked by some of the slowest classic stages, with the deliberate pace of Marble Zone and Labyrinth Zone contrasting with Sonic’s trademark speed. Success will send you to the game’s impressive rotating special stages, but even when you fail, there’s some fun to be had in recapturing the rings that you dropped in a spectacular shower. Sonic’s first outing is an easy game that lacks some now-standard series features, but it’s unquestionably a landmark in the platform genre.