Sonic the Hedgehog (video game)

***Sonic the Hedgehog*** (also known as ***Sonic 1***) is a platform game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis in 1991. It's the first video game of the *Sonic the Hedgehog* series. It has many sequels and spin-offs. In the same year, Ancient developed the 8-bit version of the game for the Master System and Game Gear.

## Gameplay 
Every level is split into "zones", with three "acts" per zone.

Being a 2D platformer, the player uses the game controller to move Sonic from the left side of an act to the right side. This game's main gimmick is Sonic's speed; the longer the player makes him run, the faster Sonic will go. Pressing the down button, or tilting the joystick downwards if using certain controllers, while running makes Sonic roll. When Sonic rolls, he curls up into a ball (a common trait of hedgehogs) and can destroy enemies called "Badniks", robots built by Dr. Robotnik that are in every zone. Sonic can also curl into a ball by jumping.

The game includes realistic momentum physics; Sonic will go slow when walking up a slope but can go up it quickly if he builds up enough speed, and goes faster when running down a slope.

Rings can be found in levels. When collected, Sonic will not die when getting hit but will instead have all collected rings spill out. Every 100 rings collected gives an extra life. Getting hit without any rings will make him die (lose a life). Losing all lives will result in a game over.

The first two acts of every zone end with a sign which spins and ends the level when Sonic touches it. If the player has at least 50 rings, a big ring that Sonic can enter will appear above the sign. It takes Sonic to a special stage, in which the player must jump through a spinning maze and reach the middle to earn one of six Chaos Emeralds. The third act of every zone ends with a boss battle against Dr. Robotnik in different flying machines designed to kill Sonic. Hitting Robotnik eight times defeats him, allowing Sonic to break open a capsule containing poached animals and run off to the next zone.

## Plot 
In order to steal six Chaos Emeralds, Dr. Robotnik traps animals from South Island into robots. The player controls Sonic, whose goal is to free the animals and retrieve the emeralds. If the player collects them all, the game will have a good ending. If the player does not succeed, the bad ending will show Robotnik keeping the emeralds for himself.

## Development 
In 1989, Sega began development on the Sega Genesis. They needed a video game character to compete with Nintendo's Mario. Sega began a competition for their employees to make a character to rival Mario. Concepts included a man with resemblance to Mario's outfit and Bart Simpson's head, a Japanese ancient warrior, and a jester with a puppet in hand. It came down to 4 concepts by Naoto Ohshima. The man mentioned above, a man in pyjamas with a large mustache and resemblance to Theodore Roosevelt, a hedgehog with arms and legs and conjoined eyes, and a grey rabbit that could grab with his ears. It obviously boiled down to the hedgehog becoming Sonic, and the mustached-man becoming Dr. Ivo Robotnik.

There were more scrapped ideas including a human female love interest for the hedgehog, and Sonic fighting living monster alien creatures instead of the robots we are used to. These concepts were scrapped to strangely avoid resemblance to *Super Mario Bros.* (1985).

At Tokyo Toy Show 1990, a prototype for *Sonic the Hedgehog* was shown. Only magazine photos exist to prove that it's real, since the actual prototype was lost.

## References