Sonic the Hedgehog (8-bit)

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This article is about the 8-bit video game. For other uses, see Sonic the Hedgehog (disambiguation).

Sonic the Hedgehog (ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ, Sonikku za Hejjihoggu^?) is a 2D platforming video game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series developed by Ancient in collaboration with a few Sonic Team members, and released in late 1991 for the Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear consoles. It serves as an 8-bit version of the original Sonic the Hedgehog that had been released on the Sega Mega Drive earlier that year, with a similar setting and other elements in common. The game features several new gameplay elements which would become implemented in later 8-bit handheld titles.

It's Super Sonic!!!

— Tagline, Game Gear version

The game is noticeable for featuring Sega's freelance composer Yuzo Koshiro, who is recognized as one of the finest game music and chiptune composers of the 1980's and 1990's. Koshiro rearranged many of Masato Nakamura's iconic music tracks from the game's 16-bit counterpart while also composing original content for this 8-bit version. Like later Game Gear and Master System games, this game has been re-released on numerous compilation titles and as an unlockable mini-game, including re-releases in the discontinued Virtual Console service for the Wii and Nintendo 3DS.

Plot

File:Sonic-8-Bit-Title-Screen.png

The title screen of the Sega Master System version of Sonic the Hedgehog.

South Island is a tropical paradise blessed with lots of vegetation and is where Sonic the Hedgehog lives with his Animal friends. It also hosts various jewels and ruins, and it is said to be where the six mysterious Chaos Emeralds lay dormant. These gemstones are a super-material that can give energy to all living things, but can also be used to fuel fearsome nuclear and laser-based weapons through science and technology.

Coveting the Chaos Emeralds' power to conquer the world, the infamous mastermind Dr. Ivo Robotnik, also known as "Eggman", invades South Island, traps all the local Animals, puts them in Capsules, and sends his army of Badniks to find the six jewels. After learning of the doctor's actions, Sonic rushes to foil his nasty ambitions while he hunts for the gems.

Eventually, Sonic finds Dr. Eggman in his stronghold, the Scrap Brain. Despite the odds though, the doctor manages to escape his nemesis and reach his blimp in the Sky Base via a platform. However, the hedgehog is able to reach his adversary's vessel via the same platform. Traversing the battleship, he enters a trap-ridden room, where the scientist is waiting for him. Eventually, Sonic destroys the contraption and gets through Eggman's barrier in the room. Defenseless, the doctor escapes to Green Hill through a teleporter. However, Sonic follows him through the same teleporter and lands a decisive hit on him before he is able to escape in his Egg Mobile. From there, the ending of the game will depend on the player's process:

• If the player has not managed to gather all six Chaos Emeralds, they will be taken to a results screen where the game will gather the points obtained by the player before playing the credits.
• If the player has managed to find all six Chaos Emeralds, the Emeralds will fly above South Island, reverting all of Eggman's pollution. From there, the rest of the ending will be the same.

Gameplay

File:Sonic-8-Bit-Green-Hill-Zone.png

Sonic in Green Hill Zone, the first Zone in the game.

Sonic the Hedgehog is a side-scrolling platforming game with a lot of gameplay elements imported from its 16-bit counterpart, where the goal is to reach the end of each Act of a Zone (a level in the game) within ten minutes. The player begins the game with three lives. For the entirety of the game, the player takes control of Sonic, whose basic maneuvers and attacks include the Spin Jump and Super Sonic Spin Attack.

In each Zone, Rings appear everywhere. Like in most Sonic the Hedgehog games, collecting Rings protects Sonic from taking damage, though they cannot protect him from drowning, bottomless pits or Time Overs. When taking damage, Sonic loses all his Rings, which shown as a single Ring being dropped. Getting hit without Rings will cost Sonic a life and makes him restart from either the beginning of the Act or the last Arrow Monitor. Losing all lives either ends the game or provides another chance with a Continue. Collecting Rings also grants points and getting 100 Rings gives a 1-Up while also restarts the Ring counter from zero.

The game features Item Boxes with the same power-ups as its 16-bit counterpart, including Super Rings (grant ten extra Rings), 1-Ups, Shields (protects from one hit), Power Sneakers (increases speed briefly), and Invincible (grants brief invulnerability), though some power-ups are rarer than others. If the player survives an Act with the Shield, they will keep it for the next Act. There is also a single One-Up Video Monitor for each Act, and by collecting them all a last One-Up monitor will be available in the third Act as a bonus. Also, exclusive to this game are Arrow Monitors which save the player's progress in an Act after being broken, similar to Lampposts in the 16-bit version.

Exclusive to the game are the Bonus Panels at the end of the first two Acts of a Zone and the Special Stages. Upon being passed, the Bonus Plates will spin and give awards based on the image they show. In Special Stages, Bonus Panels will always have a Eggman bonus when flipped. The rewards are:

Image	Name	Reward
File:Just wait you'll see how messed up Sonic is on next plate XD.png	Question mark (default)	Nothing
File:S18bitsign-Eggman.png	Dr. Eggman	Nothing
File:S18bitsign-Sonic.png	Sonic	1-Up
File:S18bitsign-Ring.png	Ring	10 Rings
File:S18bitsign-emark.png	Exclamation point	Access to the Special Stage

File:Bridge-Zone-Chaos-Emerald.png

A Chaos Emerald hidden in Bridge Zone.

Due to the hardware limitations of the Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear, the game's level design is significantly more straightforward than its 16-bit counterpart. There are no loops or alternative pathways as the game is based around basic side-scrolling platforming, with the only way to gain more momentum being the use of slopes, Springboards, and ramps. Because of this, the game tends to be challenging due to a large number of obstacles and different level gimmicks. Another feature players can find in the levels are the Chaos Emeralds. In one of the two main Acts for every Zone, there is a Chaos Emerald hidden and ready to be collected. Collecting all six affects the game's cinematic ending and grants extra points.

Controls

Button formation	File:Sonic-Icon-Sonic-the-Hedgehog-8-Bit.png Movement
Directional buttons left/right	Walk/Run
Directional buttons up	Look up
Directional buttons down	Look down/Crouch
Template:1 Button (Game Gear)/Template:2 Button (Game Gear)	Spin Jump
Directional buttons left/right + down	Super Sonic Spin Attack
START	Pause

Objects

Items

• Chaos Emerald
• Item Box
  • 1-Up
  • Continue Monitor
  • Invincible
  • Marker
  • Power Sneakers
  • Super Ring
  • Shield
• Ring

Gimmicks and obstacles

• Air bubble
• Capsule
• Bumper
• Bumper Pillar
• Conveyor Belt
• Electrical emitter
• Fireball
• Flipper
• Giant spear
• Goal Plate
• Iron ball
• Seesaw
• Spikes
• Spring
• Switch

Characters

Playable characters

• Sonic the Hedgehog

Non-playable characters

• Dr. Eggman
• Animals
  • Cucky
  • Flicky
  • Pecky
  • Picky
  • Pocky
  • Ricky
  • Rocky

Enemies

Ball Hog Bomb Burrobot Buzz Bomber Caterkiller Chopper Crabmeat Jaws

Moto Bug Newtron Orbinaut Unidasu Uni Uni Spikes

Zones

File:Sonic01.jpg

Map of the Zones across South Island.

Sonic the Hedgehog consists of six Zones with three Acts each. The first two Acts involving standard platforming, while the third is a shorter one followed by a boss battle with Dr. Eggman. The third Act also does not contain any Rings. After beating a boss, the player has to open the Capsule to free Animals inside and move onto the next Zone. Along with familiar Zones from the 16-bit version, this game features multiple original ones as well:

1. Green Hill Zone
2. Bridge Zone
3. Jungle Zone
4. Labyrinth Zone
5. Scrap Brain Zone
6. Sky Base Zone

Special Stages

The Special Stages are extra levels that can be accessed by passing Bonus Panels with at least 50 Rings. Since the Chaos Emeralds are not found here, the Special Stages in this game serve as bonus stages for collecting Rings for extra lives and Continues under a strict time limit. These Stages take place in huge rooms with large amounts of Rings and bouncing gimmicks everywhere, like Bumpers, Springs, and Flippers.

Bosses

1. Green Hill Zone boss (Green Hill Zone)
2. Bridge Zone boss (Bridge Zone)
3. Jungle Zone boss (Jungle Zone)
4. Labyrinth Zone boss (Labyrinth Zone)
5. Sky Base Zone boss (Sky Base Zone)

Development

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Japanese corporation Sega became one of the major companies in the video game industry, gaining modest success with its arcade games. In the mid-to-late 1980s and 1990, it released two 8-bit systems, the Master System home console and the Game Gear handheld respectively. However, these systems failed to achieve a foothold in territories like North America and Japan due to Nintendo's monopoly on the console industry in the world at the time.

In 1990, Sega ordered one of its in-house development studios, which would be later named Sonic Team, to develop what would become Sonic the Hedgehog, with its eponymous character replacing Alex Kidd as the corporation's mascot. The game would be released for Sega's new 16-bit console, the Mega Drive, in 1991. Despite the Mega Drive release, Sega thought that the game had potential to succeed in its 8-bit hardware as well. As such, they entrusted freelancer composer Yuzo Koshiro, who had worked with them on the soundtrack of The Revenge of Shinobi (1989), to handle development of an 8-bit version of the original Sonic after Koshiro told them that he could develop games himself. Since Sega could not make contracts with individuals, Koshiro founded a new company, Ancient, with his family to make the game. His sister, Ayano, served as director and graphic designer, and his mother, Tomo, played a "behind the scenes" role. The first person Koshiro hired, Shinobu Hayashi, programmed the game.

Since porting the original game to 8-bit hardware was impossible, Ancient decided to develop the 8-bit Sonic from scratch. The team decided to make this version vastly different from its 16-bit sibling. Three of the most iconic Zones from the 16-bit game - Green Hill Zone, Labyrinth Zone and Scrap Brain Zone - were brought to the 8-bit version, which also featured three new Zones - Bridge Zone, Jungle Zone and Sky Base Zone. Marble Zone, from the 16-bit installment, was planned to be implemented as well, but was ultimately scrapped. Koshiro recalled that developing an 8-bit Sonic was challenging, as he had actually never developed games before, but Sega had faith in him due to his close relationship to the company.

Soundtrack

Koshiro composed the soundtrack, but wanted to maintain the feel of Masato Nakamura's tracks from the 16-bit game. He converted the 16-bit score to a 8-bit programmable sound generator, but ended up using only three of those tracks; the remainder of the music is Koshiro's own work.

Reception

Reception
Review scores
Publication	Score
Beep! MegaDrive	7.25/10 (GG)
Computer and Video Games	90% (SMS) 93% (GG)
Electronic Gaming Monthly	8.75/10 (GG)
GamePro	22/25 (SMS) 24/25 (GG)
IGN	7.5/10 (Wii)
Mean Machines Sega	90% (SMS) 91% (GG)
Nintendo Life	8/10 (3DS)
Sega Power	5/5 starsFile:Star full.svgFile:Star full.svgFile:Star full.svgFile:Star full.svg (SMS) 5/5 starsFile:Star full.svgFile:Star full.svgFile:Star full.svgFile:Star full.svg (GG)
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP)	7.1403/10 (GG)
Awards Entity Award Electronic Gaming Monthly Editors' Choice Gold

Like its 16-bit counterpart, the 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog received positive reviews from gaming journalists and magazines during its release. The December 1991 issue of Computer and Video Games praises the game's speed, gameplay and graphical detail, but notes that the game is too easy. Similarly, Mean Machines Sega praised the game for its graphics, the speed and being favorably comparable to the Sega Mega Drive version. GamePro praised the Master System version of game for its speed and graphics as well.

The 2013 re-release of the game received 8 out of 10 score from Nintendo Life, praising its tight controls, a great sense of speed and plenty of personality, while concluding the review by stating the game as "a speedy, smile-inducing classic". IGN reviewed the Wii Virtual Console re-release of the game, writing that although it was not as visually appealing, fast, or as ambitious as its 16-bit predecessor, the 8-bit Sonic the Hedgehog was still a competent game in its own right with unique level designs that managed to retain the feel of the original. GameSpy, reviewing Sonic Mega Collection Plus, felt the 8-bit Sonic and Sonic Chaos were the series' only Game Gear installments worth playing.

Sonic the Hedgehog also received the fourth place on GamesRadar's "Best Sega Game Gear games of all time" list, which stated that "speed isn’t what it would become in Sonic’s later adventures, but your reflexes will still be tested in later levels; surely a little space to get up to speed is forgivable, after all."

Re-releases

File:SONIC FOR PALM OS.jpg

Sonic the Hedgehog on Sega Mobile.

Like many later Sega Master System and Game Gear games, Sonic the Hedgehog has been featured on numerous re-releases and completion titles. The Game Gear version is a mini-game in Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut for the Nintendo GameCube and PC which can be unlocked by completing the first 20 missions or collecting 20 Emblems. In the same year, the Game Gear version was ported onto Palm OS phones under the Sega Mobile banner. The Game Gear version was yet again released in 2004 on the compilation game Sonic Mega Collection Plus. In 2008, the Master System version of Sonic the Hedgehog appeared in the officially licensed Tectoy's plug and play console, "Tectoy Master System 3," and was also re-released on the Virtual Console for the Wii for the price of 500 points. In 2013, the Game Gear version was re-released on the Virtual Console for the Nintendo 3DS for the price of 300 points.

In 2020, the Game Gear version was included in the black Game Gear Micro.

Image	Title	Platform(s)	Description
	Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut	GameCube PC	Included as an unlockable mini-game.
File:SonicAdventure2-Pack US Cover.jpg	Sonic Adventure 2-Pack	Nintendo GameCube	Featured as an unlockable mini-game in Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut.
File:SONIC FOR PALM OS.jpg	N/A	Palm OS	Released in 2003.
File:SonicMegaCollectionPlus.png	Sonic Mega Collection Plus	PC PlayStation 2 Xbox	Released in 2004.
File:Sonic1 SMS Wii US icon.png		Wii	Released in 2008.
File:VC3DS Sonic1GG.png		Nintendo 3DS	Released in 2013.
File:Game Gear Micro Black JP.jpg	Game Gear Micro (Black)		Released in 2020.
File:Sonic Origins Plus.png	Sonic Origins Plus	Nintendo Switch PC PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 Xbox One Xbox Series X and Series S	Released on June 23, 2023.

Console differences

Both the Sega Master System and Game Gear versions of the game are the same with differences related to hardware limitations. These include:

• The Game Gear version uses a Sega screen with a jumping Sonic sprite, whereas the Master System version lacks this intro screen since one is already provided by the console's BIOS.
• Since the Game Gear has a smaller screen resolution and generally increased color palette, the game was given a narrower screen size. In response to this, Sonic was given a smaller sprite, and his controls were made a bit tighter.
• There are minor graphical changes in Green Hill Zone. One of the totem pole faces was removed from the Game Gear version, but the flowers look like their 16-bit counterparts and there are warning signs in certain areas due to the narrow screen and game momentum.
• In the Game Gear version, the Special Stages received a makeover. Specifically, all the sprites are now the same color. This is in contrast to the Master System version, where each color indicates a different bouncing height.
• In the Game Gear version, Jungle Zone Act 2 allows for vertical descent without losing a life, which makes the Zone easier.
• Labyrinth Zone's level design was largely redone, with its Chaos Emerald relocated.
• Two bosses were heavily modified for the Game Gear version - most notably, the boss of Bridge Zone appears on a tricky curvy bridge rather than between two-level terrains with an island in the middle. The final boss in Sky Base Zone Act 3 also had its defense mechanism changed entirely and does not enter a "panic" mode.
  • In addition, each boss is fought in more compact arenas due to the screen size, resulting in every other boss being lowered.
• The Master System version of the ending credits differs with the alternative text ("Game Program" and "Sound Produce") and includes extra credit for the original character design.

Staff

• Original character design: ©Sega
• Game programmer: Shinobu "Pinbot" Hayashi
• Graphic designer: Ayano Koshiro, Takefuni Yunoue
• Sound producer: Masato Nakamura
• Rearranging and original music: Yuzo Koshiro
• Special thanks: Yoshio Yoshida (Yoshio Y), Kenji Shintani (Lunarian SG)
• Presented by: Sega

Trivia

• Sonic the Hedgehog is the only Sonic game released for the Sega Master System in North America. Later Sonic-themed titles would be released on the Sega Game Gear and programmed as ports for the Master System, which were only released in Europe, South America and South Africa.
• Despite the box artwork for the Sega Master System version depicting Sonic inside a loop in Green Hill, there are no loops in this game, something which would be added in the 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
• While this game's plot is seemingly identical to the 16-bit version, it occurs separately from the 16-bit game as its own adventure.

Videos

North American commercialJapanese commercial

File:Sonic the Hedgehog Game Gear Commercial (1991)

File:SEGA タカハシの旅はゲームギア 92年春CM

See also

• Sonic the Hedgehog (disambiguation)

External links

• Sonic the Hedgehog at the official Wii re-release mini-site (Japanese)
• Sonic the Hedgehog at the official Nintendo 3DS re-release mini-site (Japanese)
• Sonic the Hedgehog (8-bit video game) at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sonic the Hedgehog handheld games

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