A history of gaming

Posts in category Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic The Hedgehog – Part Two

Jul08
2011 Written by allg7590

So by 1991, Sega had firmly made its mark on the video games industry and has created a character which defined the brand.  Sonic the Hedgehog was a brightly coloured, high speed ball of energy which appealed to more then one demographic.  The original game was a tribute to production values and marketing.  Here was a fantastically smooth side-scroller which zoomed along at top speed with no lag whatsoever.  It was intelligently marketed and each facet of Sonic was meticulously designed – the body colour, the head size, the shoe size and the characters which complemented and populated Sonic’s world.

Sega’s next task then was to move forward with the franchise, sometimes tweaking and

'Tails'

re-releasing and sometimes reinventing.  A new character was added in 1992 – Tails, an equally cute fox who complemented Sonic’s abilities with unique characteristics of his own.  The first example of reinvention was Sonic Spinball in 1993, a natural evolution one could argue, which used Sonic’s ability to curl up into a ball as the basis for a pinball machine.

 

 

Sonic Spinball Gameplay

The twenty years that have followed the release of Sonic The Hedgehog have seen a total of 30 releases of various Sonic games – the thirtieth being Sonic Generations, available for the Playstation 3, the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo 3DS.  Sega’s console manufacturing business was crushed in the battle between the industry powerhouses of Sony and Microsoft.  It ceased that business in 2001 but continues as games software developer for other console platforms.

So, you may ask, over that twenty year period, which have been the standout Sonic games?  This is never an easy question to answer – younger gamers may have no experience of the original games.  Many older gamers will insist that the first two Sonics (1 & 2) still remain the most playable but that might just be for reasons of nostalgia.  The 3D versions also garnered plenty of fans.  Probably best to dig out that old Megadrive/Genesis and decide for yourself.

In the meantime here’s a quick preview of Sonic Generations….

 



 

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Sonic The Hedeghog – Part One

Jun24
2011 Written by allg7590

The first thing to say is Happy Birthday Sonic!  On 23rd June Sonic the Hedgehog was 20 years old so this is a prescient occasion on which to ponder the origins and history of the blue, spiky haired hedgehog.  Sonic appears not to have aged a day in the past 20 years, increased processing power, more powerful graphics and high definition mean he looks better now than ever. For those of us old enough, here’s a clip of the original gameplay:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZUIqcGFzfw

There’s not too much romance or sentimentality surrounding the creation of the character.  In the late 1980s Nintendo dominated the console market and the Mario Bros. complemented that domination, providing fans with a recognisable character and back-story which would hook them into any future offerings.  As the new entrant into the market Sega needed to compete on this level.  They had tried Alex Kidd with moderate success but realised they needed something more.

A creative team under the management of Naoto Ōshima was formed to design a new character and came up with, among others, Mighty the Armadillo plus several other characters who would go on to feature in various games themselves.  Sonic the Hedgehog of course was the character chosen.  Blue was the colour of the Sega logo and the character was nicknamed Mr. Needlemouse.  As frustrated gamers can testify Sonic could not swim and this was because one of the designers was under the false impression that hedgehogs could not.

We now had a recognisable character but it was refined further for the American market.  Sonic’s fangs were removed and so was his girlfriend, Madonna.  These changes caused some tension between the Japanese designers and their American counterparts but the changes remained and in the long term Ōshima admitted it was probably for the best.

In 1991 the game was released for the Megadrive/Genesis and was a great success.  The high speed gameplay, including supersonic speed boosts was the antithesis of Mario, the slower Nintendo platformer and performed well in Japan, America and Europe.  Sega was now in the game.

Part two follows….

 

 

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