Top 50 Video Games: Number 29

#29: Sonic the Hedgehog
System: Sega Genesis
Publisher: Sega
Released: 1990
Players: 1


Sonic is saving the little animals, but not looking too pleased about it.


In the late eighties and early nineties, Nintendo was king. The Sega Master system had respectable sales, but the Nintendo Entertainment System was the undisputed champ. So when the time came to release the Super NES, Nintendo wasn't worried about competition from Sega. After all, they had Mario, Zelda and other established franchises. What did Sega have? They had some good arcade ports and a few good games, but they didn't have a recognizable icon like Mario. Then came Sonic the Hedgehog. Sega's advertising campaign for their Genesis system was definitely gutsy - they went right for Nintendo's balls. Rather than avoid direct comparisons like many #2s do, they went about directly comparing the Genesis to the SNES and specifically Sonic to Mario. Sonic was fast, cool and fun. Mario was old, slow and boring. The campaign worked and Sega and Nintendo ran neck and neck for much of the 16-bit console era.

That happened because of Sonic the Hedgehog. It was colorful and fast. To compare Sonic and Super Mario World at a glance made Sonic look fast and fun while Mario World looked well, slow and boring by comparison. Sonic was a platform game with ramps, loop-the-loops and fast, solid gameplay. Sonic collected rings like Mario's coins; when he got hit, he'd lose all of his rings but he wouldn't die as long as he had at least one ring when struck. The level design was quite good as the game's 21 stages played well with the game's fast pace. Boss battles were also fun and well balanced. I don't precisely recall the story, I know Sonic beat up this guy with a funny suit and crazy hair and freed cute little duckies and birdies. Sonic has had many sequels, some of dubious quality. Sonic 2 was probably the best in the series after the first.


Sonic gets his ass kicked and loses his rings.


Sega has since gotten out of the console market, now producing games only. Nintendo's fortunes have also since taken a turn for the worse. Sony has come along and kicked their asses with both the Playstation and PS2. Nintendo's market share is behind both Sony and Microsoft at the moment - not a nice place to be. They still have their exclusive Mario, Zelda and Metroid franchises to carry them, but that may not last forever. Sega is still making Sonic games, but the Sonic franchise is on life support by now. Like a star athlete who refuses to hang it up, it's time for Sonic to leave. The only Sonic game anyone should be buying today is Sonic Mega Collection which gives a hell of a lot of great gameplay for the $19.99 pricetag.