Genre: Platformer
Year: 1994
Developed by: Sega Technical Institute
Published by: Sega
Platforms: Genesis
#138
Feeling Like: Triple Play
Streets of Rage 2 may be the undisputed king of its trilogy, but it’s murkier for Sonic. Do we even include Sonic Spinball? Or Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine? Or Sonic CD? No wonder Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was on the tail end of influential 90s stuff, with that many releases in three months, it was likely the public suffered from Sonic overload.
No doubt in my mind, however – this is the best of the original 2D Sonic games. Best gameplay, best graphics and the best soundtrack, which is really saying something considering Sonic the Hedgehog has songs like this and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has Chemical Plant Zone.
Hydrocity Zone has 2 separate tracks, both funky and ridiculously smooth.
If you count the Sonic and Knuckles add-on (I do, it’s one of the reasons Sonic 3 is so high on the 500), you get the sublime Lava Reef Zone.
You get the best end boss theme in a Sonic game.
You also get the best end credits theme in a Sonic game…is that Michael Jackson?
But the crowning jewel, the coup de grace, is Ice Cap Zone. You start this level by getting shot out of a cannon at the end of Carnival Night Zone and you’re immediately on a snowboard, cruising down slopes and listening to this absolute banger. It’s jazzy, it’s sweet, it’s hopeful, it’s sad. It’s terrific. There are 21 Ice Cap Zone Remixes alone on Ocremix.org , and for good reason. Because each act has its own musical theme, each new area feels interesting and slightly different than the previous one.
The shields are a welcomed addition. They don’t just give you an extra hit, but they each have their own powers. It made exploration exciting, as treasures weren’t just another series of rings; the fire shield renders you immune to fire and, hitting jump in the air, rockets you across the screen. The water shield lets you breathe forever (oh, thank you Christ!) and bounce on hapless enemies below. The lightning shield looked cool, gave you a double jump and rings gravitated towards you. Sans shield, you can also flash attack which has minimal use, but looks dope. Tails is super useful here, even if you don’t have a buddy to coast alongside you. Everything works together in beautiful synchronicity.
I suppose the main drawback is the length. There are only six Zones and while they’re all good, (except for one part in Carnival Act Zone) it does make the game feel a bit muted by comparison. To me, it’s quality over quantity – the gameplay, power ups and soundtrack are that much better than Sonic 2 that I’m willing to ignore that the stages overall are not quite as memorable or iconic. It’s neck and neck and really if I was forced to switch 2 and 3 on the 500, I wouldn’t cause a fuss.
Actually, I lied – the main drawback was this fucking part.
In retrospect, it’s a very easy little platform puzzle. At the time, I was concerned I’d have to be committed to an asylum with how angry I got. You literally just go on the spinning top and press down, up, down, up, etc. building enough momentum to escape to the next part.
I didn’t know that. At no other part in the game are you taught, or forced to learn this.
So I thought there was something to do with jumping, so I jumped a lot. Each time you jumped, it killed your momentum.
This is the kind of challenge that I doubt developers would consider a huge hurdle, but if I had been a play tester, I’m confident my behavior would have resulted in a lot of note scribbling.
“Does….does this player not understand physics?”
No, I don’t. I didn’t. I forget who finally showed me how to do it, probably Andreas, but even seeing the above screenshot makes me frown in an immature spat. Fuck that part.
However, there was multiplayer, there was competitive multiplayer and you could also attach Sonic 3 to that cartridge to play as Knuckles in Sonic 3. That kind of gimmick normally drives me nuts, but I thought Knuckles was the coolest so I let that transgression slide.
This may have been the last great Sonic game for a very long time. While it was clear there was a solid rivalry between Mario and Sonic in the early to mid 90s, time and the third dimension was not kind to Sonic, Tails and the rest. Their games got only more ridiculous, with incessant load screens and bizarre characters, whereas on the Nintendo side we got Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and eventually the Galaxy games. No contest.
With the final Sonic entry on the 500 complete, it’s easy to see why I enjoyed the trilogy as a whole. They were new, very new to an eight year old with emerging digital tastes and fantastically cool at the time. You got some of the best songs of the era, set-pieces that couldn’t replicated anywhere else and a sense of speed that was unmatched. Sega really was wise to highlight this aspect and even if this is a property best left in two dimensions, Sonic will always have a specific fondness on the 500, and that goes for the Sega Genesis as well. It’s not my most lauded console, but with games like Streets of Rage 2, Gunstar Heroes, Vectorman 2, NBA Jam, a slew of NHL games and Sonic 3, it’s easy to see why there are so many entries on the 500 for a system I didn’t even own. Countless enjoyable hours spent with Andreas, Eric and Graham were thanks to this sleek, shiny console. SE-GA!
The 500 