A bit biased since this one was my first game but this one had some really interesting things going for it, the ost is actually really good considering the amount of memory the composer had to create the tracks, the level design was really diverse and the game never felt that was overstaying his welcome, its short enough that you can finish in a few hours and move on. As a personal preference, i enjoy the rings mechanic on this one better than other sonic games, it works as a shield so sonic doesn't die but you cannot recycle them if you get hit, so getting hit is not so trivial as most sonic games.

Alright, on to the next one! For the record, I’m playing the Master System version, not the Game Gear version, because I like having a fuller screen. Makes it feel more like a Serious Video Game.

I think I played this once when I was playing a bunch of the 8-bit games and the Sonic Advance games on an emulator, but I’m not 100% sure. And either way, I don’t have a lot of distinct memories about it so I don’t have a lot to say in this intro, so yeah! Hopefully that just means I’ll have a lot to talk about in my last entry!

One thing I did notice as I started playing this is there are a few times when it feels like the game is laboring when there’s too many things on the screen. Sometimes the framerate drops a ton, other times Sonic sort of blinks in and out of existence, which is a little existentially terrifying for me. I don’t know if that’s an emulation problem or a limitation that existed in the original game, but I suspect the latter. I definitely remember seeing artifacts like that in Mario games when I had an NES.

Also, I like the fact that shields carry over from one act to another! That’s a neat little mechanic. And the sound effects and stuff are pretty good approximations given the limitations of 8-bit systems. They still evoke similar feelings to the 16-bit version despite being drastically different.

Anyway! Yeah. Not as much to say about this one yet, so let’s just get to it.

GREEN HILL ZONE

Hey, this one’s familiar! The 8-bit version of the zone and its music still give me very strong home vibes, even if it’s not quite as striking as the 16-bit version. Having the little underground section in the second act with some water and waterfalls was a clever way to change things up! And you aren’t really underwater for any serious length of time so that’s good. (Don’t worry, I’m not gonna say it this time.)

The Chaos Emeralds are just hidden in the zones themselves this time around, and for this zone it’s hiding in this neat little waterfall area! So that was pretty cool.

The boss for this one is super easy. Robuttnik just sorta shows up in the Egg-O-Matic and flies out of reach until he slowly lowers and then zooms at you. You can actually easily beat him in two passes, four hits each, which is exactly what I did. I don’t expect the entire game to be this easy, but it’s honestly super validating to be this good at a Sonic game I’ve only played once at most!

BRIDGE ZONE

This one’s kinda an extension of Green Hill! So that’s neat. But as its name suggests it’s a lot of bridges over water! Some of those bridges have individual pieces that fall down and drop you into bottomless pits if you stand on them for too long, some are just normal bridges, occasionally with Choppers jumping at you. The second act is an auto-scrolling level, which was honestly kinda weird to see in a Sonic game! I guess it’s a way to keep things interesting given the limitations of 8-bit systems.

Despite the severe limitations of the 8-bit system, the background is lovely! You can see mountains and a forest, and the whole setting seems very serene. I feel like I would love running or flying here. It’s basically just an extension of Green Hill, like I said, so you already know how I feel about it kinfeel wise!

The Chaos Emerald on this one is easier to find, but a little harder to get to! It’s in plain sight, but you have to stand on one of the bridge pieces long enough to let it fall on purpose and then jump up to grab the Emerald before you fall to your doom!

The boss is punishingly difficult compared to the first one! And so far both bosses have been without rings so I’m assuming that’s just gonna be a thing for all of them, which adds quite a bit of difficulty! This one has you jumping between three platforms separated by water which the Egg-O-Matic with a submarine attachment surfaces and shoots at you. Avoiding the projectiles it shoots is super difficult! You pretty much have to time things perfectly so it’s shooting in the opposite direction, which if you get the timing perfect you can do by hitting him twice. I actually ended up using save states, and am going to allow myself to use save states on the bosses going forward, because figuring out the timing was rough!

I ended up finishing up with 4 lives! But that’s a bit deceiving because I actually gained three extra lives, not just one. One from getting 100 rings on the first Act, one from a one-up box also in the first Act, and one from a one-up box at the very beginning of the third Act that you have to run backwards to get. Idk if you can see it in the GameGear version, but it’s just peeking out of the side of the screen in the Master System version. But I also lost two lives! Once by being a dummy and falling in a bottomless pit (I don’t get it, it says right in the name that I shouldn’t be in it!), the other time I got killed by the boss before I started using save states.

JUNGLE ZONE

Or: “The one where Tails decided, ‘Screw it, this game is baloney, I’m using save states.’”

Act 1 is a pretty straightforward platformer where you go across vines, ground that appears to be growing out of trees??? (idk) and jump across waterfalls with logs and such. There’s even parts where you run across the river on logs, which rules! And also the water seems to resist you more here, which makes sense because rivers have currents! But still, it’s neat. It kinda rules! And the Chaos Emerald can be found by riding a log almost to the bottom of a waterfall and then jumping onto a platform.I wouldn’t have been able to find it without looking it up.

Act 2 is a vertical level, which seemed neat at first as far as doing something different, but the way it’s implemented (you’re probably getting tired of hearing this, but: likely because of the limitations of the 8-bit systems) SUCKS. The camera pans up with you, and if you try to jump back down to a platform that YOU KNOW IS BELOW YOU, you just immediately die instead because since the camera panned up it must not exist anymore. I mean... HECK. I know you’re working with limited resources here, but if that’s the best you can do, maybe just don’t have a vertical level???

Add to that the fact that like 50% of the time if you take any damage you’re gonna die, because Sonic’s recovery in this version SUCKS (you get knocked backwards ridiculously far with no ability to control where you’re going and once that’s over you’re immediately killable at the same point where you can first move, not to mention how often you’ll just fall over ledges in this state) and it’s a recipe for me saying “screw it.” If the game’s gonna be unfair, so am I, and I don’t think there’s any shame in that. So yeah. Not gonna share my stats anymore on this one because I won’t have come by any of them honestly.

The boss is super difficult at first mostly because of that issue I just mentioned with how you recover! The Egg-O-Matic flies overhead and lowers down to drop some rolling bombs that you have to jump out of the way of. Oftentimes there are two of them at a time for you to avoid, while also trying to hit Robotnik eight times. Pretty rough until you figure out the timing! Honestly all the bosses so far except for the first one have been harder than the 16-bit version! So that’s interesting.

Anyway, this zone has some interesting ideas and Act 1 is pretty solid, but Act 2 is just a total dumpster fire due to bad mechanics. It’s a shame.

LABYRINTH ZONE

I. DO NOT. LIKE. MY. HEDGEHOG. BEING. UNDER. WATER!!!!

I like it even less when this game slows him to a crawl when he’s underwater, making it really hard to time anything or judge what jumps you can make, even adjusting for the fact that the controls here are kinda wonky if you’re used to 16-bit.

Basically, this is about as frustrating as I remember Labyrinth Zone being before I was good at it, but for much more genuinely frustrating reasons. Like, I’m sorry to say it just isn’t... good? I know it sounds like I’m just constantly complaining about 8-bit Sonic 1, but I just... it’s really not good, guys! I’m sorry! I’m giving it a chance because these games are hella important to me, but it’s got a lot of issues where it’s difficult in ways that just aren’t fair. But I’m a completionist so... I’m gonna keep trucking along.

The boss was kinda alright! Another one of those toughies until you figure out what to do. But once you do, it’s pretty straightforward. And hey, it’s pretty neat that the submarine Egg-O-Matic comes back!

But, as always. I DO NOT LIKE MY HEDGEHOG BEING UNDERWATER!

SCRAP BRAIN ZONE

Yeah, so. We know this one too, huh? The setting of the entire zone is the outdoor industrial sprawl from Act 1 in the 16-bit version of the game, but the zone itself is drastically different. Act 1 is actually a piece of cake and very straightforward? Like, I genuinely don’t get why it’s so easy? Acts 2 and 3 are basically mazes. And in Act 2 you don’t just have to figure out how to get out, you have to figure out how to get the Chaos Emerald. I guess at least that’s kinda a unique concept for a Sonic game? And unlike the previous zones there’s nothing gamebreaking about it or anything. My major criticism is just that I think it’s a bit too easy.

Weirdly, Act 3 doesn’t even have a boss! I know Scrap Brain Zone Act 3 didn’t have a boss in the 16-bit version of the game, but that seems like a weird thing to carry over here given that the context is completely different? Shrug.

In this one go through another maze, collecting rings along the way. (At first I was like, “Am I actually gonna have rings for a boss fight???”) Then you emerge outside and see Eggman waiting for you and he runs away and, in an inexplicable contrivance that will be repeated several other times in the series (but you probably remember it most prominently from Death Egg Zone in Sonic 2), he outruns Sonic??? And makes it onto a platform that carries him up into the sky. And then you follow him by taking the same platform to end the Zone.

SKY BASE ZONE

Now this is podracing! (Look... I'm not sorry.) Sky Base Zone is by far the best zone in this game, thanks to a strong concept buoyed (for once!) by strong execution!

For one thing, it’s the third original zone in the game. To recap, the other two were Bridge Zone (a nice little extension of Green Hill Zone, but nothing much to write home about) and Jungle Zone (a decent concept executed horribly). In this one, after you chase Robotnik all the way to Scrap Brain Zone, his base of operations in both this and the 16-bit version of the game, he escapes to an airship! We’ll see this type of escalation in a lot of other future games, but this is the first incidence of it!

Act 1 sees you go through what I assume is some kind of air base to get to the airship. The main challenges you face are platforms that you have to take over bottomless pits (well, ok, in this case it’s less pits and more just kinda the sky?) and (gulp) lightning generators. I guess Robuttnik thought he was fighting me instead of Sonic despite my not having appeared in the series yet.

It’s also worth noting that Act 1 is gorgeous, which is something I haven’t been able to say much about this game thus far!! It’s simple, of course. But there’s a deep blue sky behind you and everything else is kinda shaded blue as a result, even the rings you collect. And it really sets a particular kind of mood.

Act 2 sees you on the airship proper, and yeah parts of it are for sure blatant ripoffs of Mario 3 but guess who doesn’t care. And while there are parts that you could describe that way the Act as a whole still feels very much like a Sonic level. Also, it’s actually pretty difficult, but in ways that make sense and aren’t just objectively bad game design/hardware limitations!! Heck yeah. They really saved the best zone for last, guys!

Lastly, you have the final boss. He’s not the most punishingly difficult boss of the game by any stretch of the imagination, but he does get pretty difficult to beat after lulling you into a false sense of security with the first few hits and then suddenly drastically changing his pattern! Also, it’s a suitably dramatic final boss! Robotnik is standing inside of protective glass working controls while you get attacked by electricity and projectiles. It makes a heck of a lot more sense than the 16-bit version’s boss, actually! Even though I think I do slightly prefer the 16-bit boss all the same.

But, yeah! This is easily the best zone in the game, and it ranks right up there with a lot of the zones in the 16-bit version! Like, not the same tier as Green Hill or Scrap Brain, but still pretty hecking good!! So, somewhat improbably given that most of the entries about this game had me being a lot whinier than I would prefer, the game ended up finishing up on a high note! And I gotta say, it’s a bit of a relief!

ENDING

The ending of this one is similar to the 16-bit version, but a bit different and pretty satisfying in its own way! After you destroy his protective glass tube, Robotnik flees (once again outrunning you for some reason because why the heck not) and jumps into a teleporter, laughing. You jump in after him, and then we cut to Green Hill Zone! Robotnik is fleeing in the Egg-O-Matic when suddenly you fall from the sky and smash the Egg-O-Matic!

As Robotnik flees in his exploding vehicle, you run to the middle of Green Hill and release the Chaos Emeralds, healing the South Island! And it’s actually a little more clear than it is in the 16-bit version, because the game zooms out to a map of the whole island with visible pollution, which disappears after a bright flash! You did it! The credits roll. The only theme from the rest of the game that recurs in the credits is Green Hill’s theme, so that’s kind of a bummer, but oh well!

So. Clearly I didn’t like this as much as the 16-bit version, and I definitely didn’t get as many kinfeels from it except for secondhand ones that I also got (but better) in the 16-bit version, but I’m still glad I played it! Even a mediocre Sonic game is way past cool, and honestly I’m often going to get more out of them than an objectively better game from a series I care about less.

Anyway! Let’s just make this a tradition, shall we? Time for some arbitrary and highly subjective rankings that you might not care about! Woo!

Zones
Sky Base Zone (B-Tier)
Bridge Zone (C-Tier)
Green Hill Zone (C-Tier)
Scrap Brain Zone (C-Tier)
Labyrinth Zone (D-Tier)
Jungle Zone (D-Tier)

Bosses
Sky Base Zone (B-Tier)
Bridge Zone (B-Tier)
Green Hill Zone (C-Tier)
Labyrinth Zone (C-Tier)
Jungle Zone (C-Tier)

Soundtrack
Green Hill Zone (A-Tier)
Sky Base Zone (B-Tier)
Scrap Brain Zone (B-Tier)
Ending (B-Tier)
(unused) Marble Zone (B-Tier)
Labyrinth Zone (B-Tier)
Boss Theme (C-Tier)
Bridge Zone (C-Tier)
Bonus Zone (C-Tier)
Jungle Zone (C-Tier)

This game is not anything special but it's just nice and stuff. It's a cute handheld iteration of Sonic and while it definitely feels more like a generic platformer than a Sonic game, it honestly has a lot less bullshit than your average Sonic game. Despite the cramped screen space, the level design is never annoying or feels like its going against the game's design concept, which was something the Mega Drive Sonic 1 really suffered from. I commend it for that and I think this game deserves a lot more attention than it gets. Also the soundtrack is cool.

Sonic 1 on the Game Gear is a nice start to what would be a mixed bag of games on the system. It's got some nice fun zones like Jungle zone but it does sadly falter in some areas.

One interesting thing about the game for me is that the platforming feels like a different take on the series, like because it was so early on it felt like Ancient didn't fully know what made Sonic level design the way it is. Like there is even a auto scrolling level that doesn't involve the tornado, I don't think that concept was ever done again until Lost World on Wii U.

One thing to give credit to this version is they did compensate for the smaller screen by giving Sonic a smaller sprite, adding warning signs in the first zone and even different bosses from the SMS version. Though speaking of bosses they are pretty poorly designed especially the first two. The only boss I actually die on is the one in Jungle zone and that's just because I suck.

Chaos emeralds having to be found in stages is also a good idea but sadly I feel like they aren't well placed, one's even in the open in Labyrinth zone. You don't even really get much of an ending for getting them all either. At least you get more points for getting them all. There are still special stages but they basically are just there to help you get more lives or even get continues.

One last thing I was to mention because I doubt most people know about it is 1-up monitors. While they do exactly what they did in the Mega Drive game, there is actually one in every single level. If you happen to get every single one, a 1-up monitor will actually show up before you fight the final boss and I think that's really neat.

Overall, its a good game with flaws of it being so early in the series but it still is very enjoyable and it's definitely one of the better games on this handheld. Play it if you ever get the chance!

can't find the mobile version so whatever

I played the christian whitehead version

still didn't like it, awful special stages, 3 acts per zone sucks. I don't like it.

A respectable simplification. Because of the Master System's limitations, the focus here is on much more simple platforming challenges, as in a Mario game. In fact, the whole thing very much reminds me of SUPER MARIO LAND and how that game related to its big brother. Judging it by that framework, it's competent but not particularly impressive. The controls and physics are good enough (and familiar enough, to players of the Genesis version) that you can pull off some daring jumps, but the level design isn't all that exciting. In fact, it ranges from run-of-the-mill to bad, with autoscrollers (which feel verboten in a Sonic game), janky vertical levels (where you can't fall back down past the screen at all or you instantly die) and, yes, Labyrinth Zone (you would have thought most of the levels being original to this game would have meant they could leave it out!! But no, here it is!! And it's even worse!!) The signature speed does show up from time to time, but mostly you'll be plodding along at a plumber's pace, carefully jumping and dealing with one enemy at at time.

Probably the most impressive thing about this is how much of Sonic's charm they were able to capture in this format. It can't live up to the big boys but they gave it a good shot.

is interesting noticing the efforts in doing sonic 1 on a older and less powerful hardware than the mega drive was: it tries to emulate md's sonic physics utlizing a more slippy gameplay than your usual 8 bits game and its more of a "normal platformer" than sonic 1 is. it does not always works, since some platformers are too small for your butter shoes but c'mon! they tried! the vertical level design while sometimes punishing is very interesting and scrap brain is such a no-sonic level that i cannot imagine being made anywhere else! also if you don't think that "bridge" evoques such child-dreamy vibes and awakens the little boy or gal inside of you as soon as you heard it, you must open your heart more! is just . . . too special for me.