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Topic Review (Newest First)
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| 15th March 2010 17:37 | |
| Martin |
The History Of Sonic The Hedgehog  From: www.injournalism.co.uk Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the most recognised video game characters in the entire world. He’s been in countless games since he first blasted into our lives on June 23rd 1991, and will most likely continue to be zooming across our television screens for many years to come. It’s a historic franchise full of more twists and turns than a loop the loop in the Emerald Hill Zone. The original concept of Sonic came from the need for SEGA, Sonic’s creators, to get a new mascot. Its rivals, Nintendo, had their official mascot, the hugely successful Super Mario, and Sega was stuck with Alex the Kidd, who was pretty unremarkable compared to his successful rival. SEGA went to work, making a variety of different character designs including a rabbit with extendable ears, a Theodore Roosevelt lookalike (which would become the basis for the villanious Robotnik’s design) and even an armadillo. Finally they settled on Sonic, whose blue colouring was chosen to match the company’s logo. It was the start of an era, and a gaming icon was born.  They had the character, now SEGA needed a game for him to appear in. Sonic the Hedgehog was released in 1991 and started off the franchise, introducing Sonic’s arch nemesis Robotnik (now renamed Eggman), Sonic’s trademark speed and Chaos Emeralds. It was a smash hit, and Sonic soon became a fierce contender to the Super Mario series. Fans will fondly remember the catchy tunes that played as you ran through the zones, from the upbeat Green Hill Zone to the edgy final music.  SEGA naturally was bound to capitalise upon the success. Even when the original was still being played, they released their second game in 1992, the aptly named Sonic the Hedgehog 2.For this game, Sonic was a little bigger a little faster and had a little more ability, especially the now trademark ‘spin-dash’. Tails also debuted, a two tailed fox and Sonic’s best friend, who followed the player around or could be controlled by using a second controller. It was again a huge commercial success and Sonic kept rising in popularity, with Sonic merchandise becoming available, which flew off global shelves. An animated cartoon series based on Sonic’s world was adapted from the game, as well as a popular comic book named Sonic: The Comic. Sonic CD, only available as a MegaCD add-on to SEGA’s Megadrive console, was only played by a few fans in comparison. The game introduced more characters in the world of Sonic, including his pink, obsessive on/off girlfriend hedgehog, Amy Rose. Robotnik’s most sinister creation yet, Metal Sonic, designed to be an evil version of Sonic, also came into the frame. The game itself introduced the concept of time travel, with the ability to transform levels into their future and past forms as the levels wore on by running past sign posts at great speed. It’s an overall deeply fun experience, and one that a lot of gamers definitely missed out on.  The next installment of Sonic for the hog’s many Megadrive fans was released in 1994, planned as the last in the original trilogy, Sonic 3. It stuck with the formula of success from the older games, instead focusing on improving visuals and, for the first time, giving the game a storyline involving small cut scenes at regular intervals. Sonic 3 was closely followed by another game that very same year entitled Sonic and Knuckles, which had a very unique feature. The cartridge that the game was on had a slot on the top where you could plug in either Sonic 2 or Sonic 3, with the former allowing you to play as Knuckles in that game, and the latter allowing you to play through Sonic 3 and then Sonic and Knuckles straight afterwards, with a host of extra features. This unique and original ‘lock-on’ technology was used because Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles were originally meant to be one game, but due to lack of space on the Megadrive cartridges they had to be split apart into two separate entries. A whole host of other games, mainly spin offs like Sonic Spinball were released during Sonic’s heyday, and saw a varied amount of success. However, it’s the true Sonic games that remain the most interesting, but things were about to get steadily worse for the world’s favorite Hedgehog. |