Happy Anniversary, Sonic!

With his limitless supply of dopey friends, a bizarre appeal to the freakiest of internet crazies and a facepalm-worthy string of successively worse last and current gen titles, Sonic the Hedgehog has fallen on bad times. But 20 years ago today, the original Sonic the Hedgehog game blasted its way onto the Sega Genesis in North America – and for the first time, Nintendo’s fat plumber had a worthy rival.

On June 23, 1991, Sega’ 16-bit revolution forged one of its brightest stars.

YOU CAN'T CATCH WHAT YOU CAN'T SEE. (No, not chlamydia.)

Created by artist Naoto Oshima, programmer Yuji Naka and designer Hirokazu Yasuhara, Sonic the Hedgehog on Sega Genesis/Mega Drive featured the speed that had been missing from most other platformers of the day. Instead of plodding along looking for secrets and timing jumps with great precision as players were used to doing in titles like Super Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog encouraged gamers to tear though levels at breakneck speed, stopping for a breather only when a boss appeared. Sonic’s adventure spanned six unique zones, including the lush Green Hill, the bouncy Spring Yard, and the ominous Scrap Brain, home of the evil Dr. Robotnik. Yes, his name is technically “Dr. Eggman.” But that sounds dumb. He’s Robotnik, damn it.

Sonic’s popularity boomed as players all over started noticing Sega’s 16-bit powerhouse for the first time. Finally, Sega had the “killer app” they needed to become a threat to the Nintendo juggernaut; and though the Super Nintendo had yet to hit the market in the United States, it could be said that Sonic the Hedgehog was the first victory in the 16-bit wars that characterized the era. Sonic 1 also planted the seed for Sega’s “gaming with an attitude” campaign, which lasted throughout much of the ‘90s and gave birth to the iconic SEGA! scream.



Notably, the original Sonic the Hedgehog is home to what just might be the worst kept secret in gaming history: The level select code. By pressing up, down, left and right at the title screen, then holding the A Button and pressing Start, players were brought to a screen containing every zone in the game, including the special stage. Perhaps because of its ease of use, the code spread through seemingly every playground and schoolyard in America. Players who used the cheat were likely surprised to find that the zone order in the level select menu was not the same as in the game itself, a curiosity that, we would find out later, was evidence of just how quickly the game was rushed to the market.

I'm out of order? YOU'RE out of... no, wait, you're right.



North American cover art

Sonic’s 16-bit career spanned four titles in the main series on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, such as the massively popular Sonic the Hedgehog 2, as well as Sonic and Knuckles, which featured impressive “lock-on technology” wherein players could piggyback S&K with older Sonic titles to create new experiences. Sonic’s other Genesis/Mega Drive offerings included Sonic Spinball, where Sonic was the speedy stand-in for the typical silver sphere in a giant game of pinball; Sonic 3D Blast – aka Flickie’s Island – an isometric experiment in 3D that pushed the limits of Sega’s black box but ultimately provided lukewarm gameplay; and a host of cameo appearances in other Sega titles.

Sonic’s fall was as swift as his rise, beginning with his second Dreamcast appearance. After Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic titles experienced a massive decline in quality. Sega, it seemed, couldn’t recapture the glory of Sonic’s 2D days. Whether Sonic is an outdated hero from a bygone era or if the franchise was handed poorly for the last decade is debatable, but recent Sonic efforts such as Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and Sonic Colors on the Wii were much better received than almost all Sonic games of the mid and late 2000s. Perhaps the upcoming Sonic Generations, for PS3, Xbox 360 and the 3DS, will settle the debate once and for all.

However, this is not the day to think about the future of Sega’s Blue Blur – this is a day to concentrate on his past. Take some time to pick up Sonic’s first crusade against evil today and you’ll see just why a hedgehog of all creatures took the gaming world by storm 20 years ago.

Sonic's so fast, he can run UPSIDE DOWN.

But don’t knock yourself out just yet: The summer of Sega is only just beginning.

PlayStation Store Welcomes Back the Easily Pleased

YOU CAN'T CATCH WHAT YOU CAN'T SEE

Sony says it’s sorry that a bunch of hackin’ hooligans stole my personal information (and 101.9999 million other people’s too) about two months ago, so they’re letting me play Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for free! That’s right; 1991’s badest dude with a ‘tude is back and radder than ever in the much anticipated sequel to the SMASH HIT Sega Genesis game!

I am So EXCITED that the true power of the PlayStation 3 will finally be properly unleashed to play this 16-bit gem and I can assure you that I will be comparing the PSN title’s performance to that of the original Genesis cart, the Saturn Sonic Jam disc, the Sonic Mega Collection for Xbox, PS2 and Gamecube, The Genesis Collection for PS2 and Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Xbox 360 and PS3. This is very much worth having my credit card possibly compromised and ultimately canceled due to my own paranoia. I’m sure that my ninth copy of Sonic 2, not including the emulated ones I have on my PC, Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2, will be just as fun as the first. I just won’t be able to access the sound test or enter any cheats this time, because the game is set to automatically bypass that stuff this time around. Yaay!

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 times eight.

I really do enjoy Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but I somehow feel that this and the other shrugworthy games available as part of Sony’s much advertised “Welcome Back!” program are simply not enough to effectively cajole customers into once again suckling complacently from Sony’s blackened teat. As it turns out, the non-PlayStation Plus titles available under the program are all dated. For example, free Little Big Planet is nice, but I could also get the disc-based original with a case and manual for a small but passionate ass-based dance at my local GameStop. I already own and have defeated Infamous, and I’ve never even heard of Dead Nation, but I chose it as my second free game because the others were just as unappealing as the PlayStation Plus content. Oh, and apparently, the PS Plus content will only be available to users for 30 days (or until your subscription to the service ends), so you’d better get playing.

If all this wasn’t disappointing enough, I’m having problems accessing the PlayStation Store. More than once tonight, I’ve received a message that the title I’m trying to download is unavailable because the store is “undergoing maintenance.” Maybe the disturbance is due to so many people logging on at once. Oh well; at least I didn’t lose my second free game, as reported by Mark Hachman of PC Magazine.

In the interest of fairness, it’s full disclosure time: Though I at one point said that I was going to leave the PS3 alone, I - like my comrade Evan Ritchie - cannot find it in myself to stay away from the company that gave me gaming gold like the Tekken series, Metal Gear Solid and a controller that doesn’t suck for fighting games. I’m really not the guy Sony has to impress. But the gaming fate of millions of others hangs in the balance, and I’m not sure this ho-hum peace offering is enough to keep them around.

Sony, you have been warned.

Oh, and for the record: While the “attract mode” demo was playing on my new PSN copy of Sonic 2, for just a second, I felt the same twinge of excitement I used to get in fourth grade when I loaded up the game. Perhaps this Welcome Back program really has given me something worth my trouble after all.

Yeah, not really.

A Cruel Summer in the Ice Cap Zone

I don't even know what to say to this.

A song about summer mashed up with the quintessential Sega Genesis/Mega Drive winter level? I think my brains just melted out of my ears.



Didn't Ace of Base make a cover of this song? No, not Ice Cap Zone, the other song we were just -

You know what? Never mind.

Happy Thanksgaming

Sonic, 1993

On June 23, 1991, Sega unleashed the first video game starring their new mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog. This has little to do with Thanksgiving and much to do with me failing the third grade, but it’s worth noting that Sonic was the first video game character that appeared as a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: the Blue Blur originally sailed over NYC in 1993. Sonic is also the first video game character that appeared as a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to crash into a building and squash several onlookers, but Sega doesn’t like talking about that part very much. At least it was less of a disaster than the 32X.

Not to be outdone by Sega, in 1994 – coinciding with the release of Super Metroid on the SNES – Nintendo introduced a balloon version of a Metroid which drained the energy from thousands of unsuspecting parade goers. The balloon’s fearsome, 100 foot tall teeth and horrendous, insatiable appetite injured 607 and killed 253, mostly children, outdoing the carnage dispensed the year before by Sega’s mascot by nearly 10,000 percent.

Note the screaming gentleman in the lower left corner.

Mario is cooler.

Okay, I might have gotten my facts mixed up on that last bit. However, a Nintendo character did eventually join the Blue Blur for everyone’s favorite Turkey Day tradition: Pokémon’s Pikachu first appeared over the heads of the spectators at the 2001 Macy’s Parade. Then in 2006, an upgraded version with light-up cheeks and a pokéball preceded good ol’ Saint Nick. Personally I would have chosen Super Mario, but I guess Pikachu is okay… if you like crappy games.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Note to Vic Tokai, Inc.: Dimwit Duck with Electric Tail ≠ Sonic the Hedgehog

At least the box art isn't
 as bad as Mega Man 1

Socket, known in Japan as Time Dominator 1st, is a shameless, shameless Sonic the Hedgehog clone circa 1993 for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. It's yet another "creature-mascot with a radical 'tude!" platformer, and thanks to Sega's Blue Blur, these kinds of games were so plentiful in the early '90s that players used to fill their swimming pools with them and make like Uncle Scrooge with the breast stroke.

The comically-named "Time Dominator," who turns out to be some a-hole manbat with a monocle and a top hat (kind of like Scrooge McDuck, actually) is out to destroy time or whatever! Only electric boyduck Socket, who was apparently dressed by his uncoordinated five-year-old son, can stop TD from, uh, dominating time! Thankfully/unfortunately, there are no whips and chains in this game.

Not many people recall Socket - or even its parent company, Vic Tokai, for that matter - but those who do wish they could send Arnold Schwarzenegger back in time to incinerate this game with a conveniently misplaced taker full of highly explosive chemicals.

And I honestly have no idea why.

US Title Screen

Socket isn't going to win any awards for things like originality, control, level design, entertainment value or being anything other than a two-hour time sink that's only slightly better than facing your own awful life, but the hate and humiliation heaped on the doofy looking duck with the electric cord tail is entirely disproportionate to his moderate suckage. Socket's got little going for it aside from some awe-inspiring parallaxed backgrounds and sweet vintage Genesis tunes, but that all ends after the first two worlds. By the time the player speeds into world three, the only thing between him and boredom is the reset button. If you've ever played a Sonic the Hedgehog title, you'll find yourself grinding Socket to a halt at least 700 times by pressing down when he's running in an attempt to roll up in a ball, a la the Blue Streak himself. But just like the hedgehog, if Socket isn't going at least the speed of a time-traveling Delorean, he will crawl up the gentlest of inclines like the most despondent of mental patients. Add to that controls occasionally seeped in rubber cement and frustrating "labyrinth" areas and you've got yourself a 4 out of 10 game, only no amount of beer, liquor or bleach could convince anyone to take it home with them for more than three bucks.

Japan's Title Screen

However, there are some good aspects of this clunker, like a semi-interesting "electricity bar" mechanic similar to the fruit/food idea utilized by Adventure Island on NES and a few Gauntlet style action-RPG games like Dungeon Explorer on Sega CD. The only problem is that Socket is a robot or something (yes, someone dressed him like that on purpose), so he loses electric charge - energy - by performing any task, from jumping to kicking to standing completely still. With each world consisting of a "high speed area," an "athletic area" and the accursed "labyrinth" areas before a boss battle, there's a bit of variety to be had, and the kick attack can be performed without losing speed - an appreciated inclusion. With great music and pleasing graphics, the first 15 minutes of the game harken back to the carefree days where the Genesis ruled the video game heap and my only worry was that school, AKA The Horrible Homework Hut, was going to cut into my Street Fighter II Turbo time. Then Socket becomes a boring, ugly mess, but the beginning was good while it lasted.


Here, I took this blurry screen shot for you. Emulators are over-rated.

A game with a rating of 4 out of 10 isn't really worth berating unless you're me, and I can tell you that there's not enough to rip into here without the positive aspects of the experience taking your article from funny to nostalgic. So why then did Stuart Campbell reportedly give this game the lowest score possible in his Sega Zone magazine review, and why does Ashley Davis have her shorts in a similar twist, digging this one up more than 15 years after it was released and promptly rocketed into obscurity? I guess Davis has an excuse - she was writing for Destructoid's "Games that Time Forgot" series of articles, and at least she was fair. But Campbell... the lowest score possible? Really? Socket/Time Dominator 1st's goofy brand of derivative "fun" simply doesn't deserve that kind of punishment. It's like kicking the fat kid after he tries to sit with the cool kids at lunch and is laughed out of the cafeteria.

You know, I bet this game would have been better received if it had been called Socket: Time Dominatrix 1st instead.

Quack for me, slave! Before I run out of energy from standing still!