Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis

"Simply Disgraceful"

Circa 1991, we get our first glimpse of the Genesis as well as its new mascot in the first game to make use of "blast processing". That was Sonic the Hedgehog. It has a simple formula; Dr. Eggman is off turning animals into robots and searching for the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic has to stop him by bouncing into his robots with spin jumps and collecting the Emeralds before he does. It became a classic through its catchy soundtrack and simple, but fun gameplay.

Come 2006, we get a GBA port of this timeless classic to give fans a pure, completely unfiltered glimpse at the original Sonic. Sega promised us a direct port with a few small additions such as a spin dash, a save feature and level select. All completely optional so people can choose how they want to experience the game.

And what do we actually get? Well, let's just say this isn't pretty. Far from it. In fact, this port of Sonic the Hedgehog, no...it's better to emphasize that this port of a FIFTEEN YEAR OLD GAME is sloppy, buggy, absolutely disgraceful and poorly utilizes the GBA's power. And that's NOT only because this is a port.

Let me go into more detail.

- Graphics -

An upgrade to the graphics wasn't expected, considering the whole point of the game was to port Sonic the Hedgehog as directly as possible. However, a graphical DOWNGRADE was expected even less. And guess what? That is exactly what we got.

At first glance, the graphics appear to be identical. All sprites are completely intact. Then you start actually moving around with Sonic. Talk about misaligned sprites; his walking animation jerks around like nothing else. The simple act of pressing up will jump Sonic's sprite upward two pixels. None of this occurred in the Genesis version.

The problems only become more apparent as you play. Sonic's spin dash sprites appear to be resized and recolored sprites from another Sonic game, as they're pixellated and have oddly colored spots. Collapsing ground only crumbles on occasion; a lot of times it will actually disappear outright with no animated warning. Same with breaking walls; the walls simply disappear as Sonic blasts through them. And that's only scratching the surface of the problems.

And then comes the slowdown. Dear god, the slowdown. The Sonic Advance games were not only more graphically complex, but had more going on in them at any given time. Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis should not be taxing the GBA this much, this frequently. ESPECIALLY since we've only got a fraction of the screen at any given time. It all makes what should have been a pleasing graphical experience jarring, sloppy and incredibly amateurish.

On the plus side, the new menus are sleek, clean and easy to navigate. It's just too bad that you're not playing the menus :P.

-Sound-

The GBA's sound processor isn't the most amazing thing in the world, but I do know for a fact that it is a HECK of a lot better than the Genesis' could ever hope to be. Why then, does Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis sound like crap? None of the original sound effects were retained; all were replaced with incredibly inferior and downright annoying ones. Heck, not all of them are there to boot. Come on, Sega. If the original sound effects are that hard to make work on the GBA you still have the Sonic Advance ones lying around which emulate them much better. There's just no excuse for this.

The music fared a bit better, thankfully. It sounds marginally better than the Genesis, but only marginally. The good developers at Sega chose the most annoying synth they possibly could to replace that of the Genesis'. Just play through Spring Yard; any of its acts. Tell me how long it takes to make you mute your GBA or DS. That is thankfully the sole worst case scenario, but a LOT better could have been done regardless of whether they were aiming to arrange the soundtrack or to simply emulate the original.

-Gameplay-

The gameplay in Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis tries to emulate the original and does so decently. Zones still consist of three acts. Your action buttons still only spin jump. You still collect rings to serve as a buffer so you lose them when you're hit instead of dying outright. Enemies still take only one spin jump to die save for Eggman, who always takes eight. You still go to the rotating special stages to collect chaos emeralds when you finish acts 1 and 2 of each zone with 50 rings or more. Everything on the surface works as it should.

However, there are many odd things that Sega did to keep along with the amateurish and sloppy theme they have going so far.

For one, the entire physics system is different for whatever reason. Sonic seems to jerk along slopes much faster than he is actually going. Your forward momentum when jumping is also very strange; sometimes you'll suddenly fire forward like a bullet when you jump for no reason whatsoever. Sonic also slides back a bit too much, like he's on ice when he is recovering from a hit. Then you have the special stages, where Sonic is REALLY floaty and doesn't stick to walls nearly as easily as he used to. This wouldn't really be notable if it weren't a downgrade. Unlike the Genesis version, the physics of Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis simply feel very awkward and, I reiterate, sloppy.

Hit detection is now a little more forgiving for poor old Sonic. If you jump quickly enough when he lands on hazardous ground such as lava, you can still jump out without taking damage. Enemies that could damage you on certain sides also have easier to hit weak points.

One thing that is notable is that while all stages and special stages are identical to their Genesis counterparts, there are some minor changes to make them harder. For one, some moving platforms in Marble Zone only go down just far enough for Sonic to make it through the space they open where they used to open farther. In that same zone, the moving lava flow also moves much faster than it did. What probably is a bigger factor in making the zones hard, though, is that the screen is cut to like 1/4 of what you would actually see in the original. And little compensation was made for this. Thankfully, Sonic has few blind jumps to begin with, but that doesn't make this any less unacceptable.

On the bright side, there are some additions that do help the experience a tiny bit. You can spin dash now in Arrange Mode; but that is the only difference Arrange Mode has over Original Mode. That's right, Arrange Mode is the exact same stages but now Sonic can spin dash. Great, huh? You also have a level select for both modes, which is pretty cool but inconsequential to the overall product.

Overall, this emulates the original; but only enough to be passable. The physics problems, the encroached screen, the slowdown and the overall jerky flow of the game just make the experience that much less polished. Sega has no excuse for this as the Sonic Advance games demonstrate the same gameplay but fully polished and flowing very well.

-Story-

This is Sonic the Hedgehog. It didn't have a story then, it does not now. And you still get the better ending by having all of the Chaos Emeralds when you beat the final Eggman, for that matter.

Sega.

Sega Sega Sega.

Is this how you treat your mascot after 15 years? Is this how you want people to view the original Sonic the Hedgehog? As a sloppy, amateurish product with physics issues, slowdown, an encroached screen and poor sound effects and synth? Shame.

As for you, the consumer, I'd suggest putting that money into Sonic Gems Collection or Sonic Mega Collection+ (Even though that port has its unique issues as well) instead for a much truer look at Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis for GBA is simply a poor, sloppy and amateurish port of a fantastic game. And I cannot reiterate that enough. If you want portable Sonic, you have the Sonic Advance games for a much more polished experience.

Even sentimental value can only go so far.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 11/21/06