Note: Even though Hellfire Saga is a Sega Genesis game, it is not listed as part of my ongoing 160 Sega Genesis Games challenge.

I was wanting to wait until I was finished with my challenge before delving into more modern Sega Genesis games, but damnit, I couldn't help myself even if I tried. So I decided to give it a playthrough, and it was a hell of a good time.

Now from the cover, what do you think this game is about? Is it an adventure game about a demon hunter venturing into the depths of hell? A shoot em up game where you shoot demons in your wake?

If you're answer was a Sonic the Hedgehog game, you would be correct... I'm not even kidding. If you thought Shadow the Hedgehog's video game was edgy with guns, mild swearing and aliens that resemble demons, you have seen nothing yet. There is blood, explicit demons, and Sonic literally venturing into the depths of hell.

It's a 2D side-scroller in the same vein as the Sonic the Hedgehog games on the Genesis where you jump and spindash, but compared to the other games in the series, it will really test your knowledge of momentum, and you know that Instant Shield you had in Sonic 3 & Knuckles? I hope you've got the timing on it down because you're going to need it to stand a better chance against the obstacles this game throws at you. As hard as the game is, they are generous enough to give you unlimited lives, and you can always save and come back later if need be. Although given how short the game is, it's likely you'll beat it in one sitting, anyway. Another interesting quirk is that the health system works differently from all other Sonic games. Usually, the way it works is that if you take damage, you lose all of your rings although some games will just have you lose a set amount like 20 or so. Here, you have health points and the rings you collect here will replenish it which means that you'll have 5 set hit points maximum compared to the usual 2 (or more depending on your ability to collect rings).

As edgy as it is, I just really love the aesthetic of the game. I have such a odd fascination with the clashing style of dark themes with colorful cartoony characters. It's difficult to explain, but seeing Sonic venture into hell itself is just really cool. Like I never would've imagined wanting to see it, but after seeing the proof of concept a few years back, now I did. Along the way, he sees demons of all kinds, many of which are directly ripped from or based off of games from the 16 bit era notably Castlevania. The only one that I thought was out of place was that guardian transforming into Mickey Mouse for some reason. I'm not really sure what the explanation here was. Maybe something about Disney being evil, modern Disney being driven by greed, or maybe it has to do with that South Park episode involving Mickey.

The boss fights are a highlight, and the advantage of a Sega Genesis game in 2023 is that they already figured out what it means to be engaging while also keeping the challenge. There are three acts with each of them having a mid-boss and another boss at the end and a few of which will have multiple phases. So there are a lot of bosses in the game with about 18 in total, and I wouldn't say that there's a single boss that I found to be dreadful to face. On Hard mode they develop new patterns with their attacks and the final boss goes from being kinda underwhelming to being a challenge. The only problem that I have is that (at least concerning the V2 patch + Hard Mode) the final boss can crash the game when you get close to him for the 4th time which I thought was odd since I was able to clear him once. My first thought was maybe it had something to do with level select, but it turns out that even after playing through the full game once again in one sitting, it still somehow crashes. Upon further investigation (for Hard Mode specifically, not sure about the other difficulties), I have theorized that during the third wave of attacks, he needs to use his missiles before he turns the screen black. If he does not do it, then don't hit him until he performs the attack. Otherwise, it may store data towards the fourth wave that it wasn't supposed to. I don't know how this works since I am not a programmer, but the point is to not hit him too early during the third wave of attacks.

The music is easily the best part of the game. Some of which is remixed from other games, namely Castlevania, but some of them are entirely original and they all really match the fast-paced action of the levels. To say that picking a favorite among them all is no joke would be an understatement. However, I think the miniboss themes, Forest of Decay Act 2, Death's boss theme, all three of Malicious Glance's songs, and the Main Theme are my contenders. In a recent patch, they added a new song for the final boss which I thought was going to be ass, but after listening to it long enough, I think it ended up being one of the best songs in the game, and it really improved the final boss. Too bad it's not uploaded anywhere on Youtube as far as I'm aware. But to give you an idea on what it sounds like, it's a 16 bit remix of the song Follow Your Ghost by Periphery.

The game is technically not any longer than a typical Sega Genesis game, yet it somehow still feels really short. To be fair, there are a lot more bosses in that game than what Sonic 1 and 2 had, and it took the lock-on cartridge technology from Sonic & Knuckles to let Sonic 3 achieve 30+ bosses as well as 12 levels. None of which I recall having the quality that Sonic Hellfire has. When I think about it, Sonic Hellfire might have a chance to dethrone Alien Soldier as my favorite Sega Genesis game. The amount of time and effort put into Sonic Hellfire really overflows, and if nothing else, it may just be my favorite 2D Sonic game whether it'd be official or not.

It's rare we get a Sonic hack that actually manages to get finished, and with 5 years of development, Hellfire Saga definitely delivers. The visuals are definitely stand out in this hack. Obviously the characters clash but it creates a fitting sort of dissonance to me, as Sonic isn't supposed to belong here. I love the level aesthetics, particularly Sin City. The bosses are cool and creative, even though I call BS on how to defeat some of them. In particular, the Final Boss is a bit of a letdown, I found it to drag and the gimmick for it wasn't very fun. Despite that, I say Hellfire Saga is a pretty fun hack for those looking for a challenge.

Actual peak fucking Sonic rom hack.

The visuals are out of this world for the Genesis, the premise is well executed and expanded in a creative way, the music is catchy, the levels are well designed throughout, and the bosses are actually so fucking good oh my god.

Please, PLEASE get a Genesis emulator, and boot this game up. You will not regret it.