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1991 was the year that Sega finally began to loosen Nintendo’s iron grip on the gaming market, and it all started with a single game. Sonic the Hedgehog would eventually go on to become synonymous with everything Sega, and is still going strong after all this time. Join us as we take a look at the ‘Hog’s long and eventful history in this special edition of our History of series.
June 19, 2005 marked the fourteenth birthday of that mascot of mascots, Sonic The Hedgehog. Sega-16 kicked off a week-long celebration of everything hedgehog with some great content for your enjoyment, including a new “History of” article and a “Sega Stars” feature on Yuji Naka. For starters, enjoy a review of the Genesis’ only Sonic compilation, the Sonic Classics.
Naturally, you can’t talk about Sega without thinking about Sonic. The Sonic the Hedgehog series of games will always be remembered for bringing the Sega Genesis into the spotlight with their fast action and exciting, fun gameplay. Back in 2002 Sega released a compilation disc for the GameCube called Sonic Mega Collection, giving ‘Cube owners the chance to relive Sonic’s Genesis adventures. Now two years later Sega has released a new version of their collection, this time for the PlayStation 2 and X-Box called Sonic Mega Collection Plus. That’s right, Plus, meaning new content not found in the GC collection.
Sonic 3D Blast (also released on the Saturn as a last-second and a comparatively pathetic replacement for the doomed Sonic Xtreme) was the proverbial black sheep of the 16 bit Sonic games. Most gamers view it with downright negativity or, at best, casual indifference. But why? Just look at it… Showy isometric graphics that are full of color and detail, cool stereo tunes and sound effects, and a groundbreaking pre-rendered 3D opening movie! What could be wrong with it?
Sonic & Knuckles represents Sega at its absolute peak, at a time when they defined cool. Sonic was largely responsible for that, wrestling half the video game market away from Nintendo and spawning an unending stream of mascot games. And like any rock star, the time came for the big, epic statement; that definitive work that captures all the themes and summarizes its era, its Sgt. Pepper.