Sonic's first game is kind of odd to look back on after all these years and how the series evolved upon this. It's what alot of people think of now about game suffering from First Game Syndrome, with it's odd level design and pacing taking up roughly half the game though it's advertised as a game "all about speed." People often like to dog on Sonic with how he's supposed to be "all about speed" even though you frequently come across platforming and obstacles. However, I personally like to think of Sonic as a series more about being speed-oriented and having a great sense of agility to his overall platforming rather than something that's just always about going fast at all times and nothing more than just going fast. This mindset does apply well here as Sonic 1, while clearly less developed upon like his other titles, is still an overall snappy platformer and a good start for the series. This, however, doesn't quite excuse the notoriously odd aspects of this game that later entries would improve upon, like certain stage designs, the lack of a spin dash, a weaker half of the game, and those really dumb special stages. I swear, it feels like you're at the mercy of the game most of the time in them. And that's really bad for something that you only have 10 opportunities to finish off in the whole game, as you can easily get your opportunities screwed over in the main stages or in the special stages themselves. All you even really get out of getting all the Chaos Emeralds is just a slightly different ending, no Super Sonic or anything, so that's lame. (getting the good ending is basically completing the game here so uuuuuuaaaaaaaaahhhh)

So all in all, Sonic 1 is alright. It's a decent platformer but rather lackluster compared to later Sonic games. But I admire it's influence for getting the blue blur his name known in the gaming industry.