Sonic The Hedgehog Master System Review

All the way back in July, I made a blog entry about buying a copy of Sonic The Hedgehog for the Master System off of eBay, wherein I promised to review the game upon it's arrival. Somehow, it slipped my mind, and I'm just now getting to it. So, here goes. Sonic on the Master System.

To talk about the Master System Sonic, I have to compare it to its 16-bit older brother. The biggest comparison I can make (aside from the graphical downgrade) is that the Master System Sonic is more of a traditional platformer than the Genesis version. Yeah, I just said that Sonic isn't a traditional platformer. Sure, it's a defining series in the genre, but it has less emphasis on platforming as it does on "GOTTA GO FAST! FASTER! FASTER! GET THE RINGS! OH CRAP, I HIT SPIKES AND I'M DEAD." That's pretty much the Sonic experience. I'm glossing over the fact that the levels are, for the most part, very well designed around the premise of going fast as hell.

Yeah, except for that one. There are a few levels, such as the infamous Marble Zone (for some reason, it's usually the second set of levels in the game), that grind the games to a screeching halt and make you do some, in my opinion, very tedious platforming in a game that should be about GOING FAST! GOTTA GO FAST LIKE A BLUE COKED UP SPEEDY GONZALES!



I'd like to point out that I really do like the original Sonic games. I just see the flaws in them as well.

That long diatribe had a point. Sonic on the Master System is less about speed, and more about traditional platforming. There's still an element of speed in the game, but the game is less brute force speed and more precision. If you play this like the Genesis Sonic, you're probably not going to do as well as you would if you were playing it with Mario in mind, at least a little bit.

The game's also, surprisingly, not a direct backwards port of the Genesis version, which is a plus. Not because I dislike the Genesis version - in fact, the Genesis version of the original Sonic is one of my favorite games of the 16-bit era. I like this because the Master System version is actually its own game. It has some stages in common with the Genesis version - Green Hill Zone, Labyrinth Zone and Scrap Brain Zone. But it has three original stages as well, Bridge Zone, Jungle Zone and Sky Base Zone.

It's also worth noting that the Green Hill Zone is quite a bit different from the one in its Genesis counterpart in terms of level design.

It's one of the best Sonic games I've ever played, and the first truly great game I've stumbled across for the Master System. Check it out.

If you want to buy your own copy of this game: It's also available on the Wii Virtual Console. I'm not sure if that's the Master System or Game Gear version, but the Game Gear version is apparently more or less the same game with only a few differences. The Game Gear version seems to go for a very low price, and it's probably one of the more common games on the Game Gear. I certainly lucked out getting my complete in box copy for $13 including shipping from England, and it's unlikely that you'd get one for as cheap as that. According to Pricecharting.com the market value is $15 for a loose copy. That's probably not counting international shipping. Occasionally, some idiot buys one for a few hundred, because of the rarity of the American release of the game, but it's not worth nearly that much.

I also want to bring some attention to the game's stellar soundtrack. The Master System wasn't known for it's sound processor to say the least, but they really made the best of it for this game. Here's the theme to the Bridge Zone. It was apparently later sampled by a Janet Jackson song (for some reason) and as Tails's theme in Sonic Adventure. It really is a great piece of 8-bit music.

-update!-

A friend of mine commented on Facebook about the platforming elements being prominent in the original games. I think I might have gone through my opinion on the original games a bit too quickly without really putting a shred of thought into it, which I do sometimes when I'm trying to get something out of the way quickly, which is absolutely what I was doing. I figure I might as well elaborate on what I should have said. To do that, I'm just going to copy and paste most of the response I gave to him, because what I said there is a lot closer to my actual opinion instead of "GOTTA WRITE FAST! GOTTA GET IT DONE SO I CAN TALK ABOUT WHAT I WANTED TO TALK ABOUT! I'M THE SONIC THE HEDGEHOG OF WRITING!"

"In the Green Hill Zone, it's all about speed. Marble Hill Zone is one of the more tedious and slow moving bits of platforming I've seen in a game, and those levels being back to back is really jarring. I just didn't want to spend too much time critiquing the original game. My point was that the Master System Sonic focuses a lot less on speed than the first Sonic game, which was at the time of it's release, the only other Sonic game out there. I also honestly prefer the Master System version, as much as I love the original on the Genesis. Even though I hate Marble Zone with a passion."

Also, to an extent, the Master System Sonic sort of makes the original Genesis Sonic feel a lot more like that entire blue Speedy Gonzales on coke thing I described by comparison.

I Want These Gamecubes

I don't see much reason to own a Gamecube. I like the console. It has a great collection of games, and the controllers are damn near perfect, but the problem I have is that I can play my Gamecube games on my Wii, and plug my Gamecube controllers into my Wii. Because of this, there's really no reason for me to own an actual Gamecube. Sure, there's the Gameboy Advance player, which lets you play Gameboy Advance games on your TV, but with the upcoming Retron 5, that will make the Gamecube just a little less necessary.

That said, there are two Gamecubes that I want. And I want the hell out of these.

First up is the Panasonic Q.

A Japanese exclusive that also plays CD's and DVD's. I'll be honest. The only reason I want it is that it looks really, really cool. I doubt it'll bee of much use to me, since it's probably region locked and can only play Japanese games and DVD's, but in the event that I ever start importing Gamecube games, this, and the next Gamecube I'm going to show you are the ones I really want.

This next one is something I've wanted from the very moment I found out it was an actual thing.

This is the Char Custom Gamecube, based on the character of Char Aznabel from the long running anime franchise, Gundam. I've probably mentioned here before that I'm a Gundam fan, particularly of the original timeline, and Char is one of my favorite characters in any work of fiction. This thing is straight up bad ass. It's four times more badass than the average Gamecube. If you got that reference, then you and I have something in common.

Oh, and there's also a Char Custom Wavebird wireless controller.

HOLY SHIT ON A BISCUIT I WANT THAT.

I want that even more.

If that car existed, I'd want it too. And I don't even drive. And for the record, neither did Char. He could pilot a mobile suit like nobody's business, but he never learned to drive a car, so he wouldn't need a custom car... Which leaves me with two questions. How and why do I know that?

Oh, so it does exist. Japan, stop making me want things I can never have.

Unicorn Shit - Shaq Fu on Game Boy

I recently heard a NintendoAge user (I believe his name was retrokidd89) call a game "Unicorn Shit." In fact, it was a game that I posted about getting for really cheap. The term means a collector's piece that's rare and valuable, but terrible.

The game in question is Shaq Fu on the Game Boy. Here's my hand holding it in front of Char's Zaku, which is a cool collector's piece that's only worth about $15, if I remember right. Shaq Fu on the Game Boy is worth $25.

Why don't I just pay $25 to have someone punch me in the face repeatedly?

The game is terrible. I give the other versions of Shaq Fu a lot of slack for not being as bad as people say, but this version is almost unplayable. And yet, it's worth a decent bit of money.

So, there's one piece of Unicorn Shit from my collection. It's one of the few really rare games I own. And it's Shaq Fu on Game Boy. I need to go out and buy a copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga so I can at least have a rare, valuable game that's awesome, as opposed to this mess.