My Top 100: #85 – Sonic the Hedgehog

 

Console wars these days are pretty tame.  It’s mostly limited to back-and-forth comments on YouTube videos by people so riled up they forget all sense of proper grammar, while the companies themselves tend to avoid flat-out bashing the other guy.  After all, both current generation consoles (Nintendo’s Wii not included) are pretty much the same.  Both consoles are great, and aside from the PS3’s inclusion of a Blu-Ray player, they’re the same!  Don’t deny it!

Back in the early 90’s, however, it was pretty serious and cut-throat stuff.  Sega Genesis ads in gaming mags called out Nintendo for being behind the graphics curve.  Nintendo went on the attack as well, emphasizing that gameplay on the was more important than how a game looks (which sounds familiar).  Other companies tried to join the system-bashing spree, but it was pretty much just the two heavyweights going at it.

On the playground (is where I spent most of my days), I’d often get into arguments with other kids over which console was better.  I knew Sega had the better-looking games, and I was somewhat jealous of my friends with Genesises (Genesi?).  Deep down, though, I felt the games on NES were more genuinely fun, and I ran with that argument a lot.

 

 

When the Super NES came out, I was thrilled that I finally had Nintendo-quality gaming with the advanced graphics I had been jealous of.  Not only that, but my cousin had a Genesis, and was never willing to trade consoles if all she’d get out of it was a simple old NES.  One summer, she took my Super NES while I got to keep her Genesis for a few weeks.  It was a strange feeling, since I felt like I was cheating on my console.  I had gone over to the dark side, but Sonic the Hedgehog was all mine!

No wonder us Nintendo fans were worried.  Sonic had great platforming and some crazy speed and stunts to go along with it, and I couldn’t help but marvel at all the colours on the screen as they zoomed by.  It was a simple kind of fun that you don’t get a whole lot these days…

For example, when looking at a PS3 exclusive, Xbox 360 owners won’t say “Aw, nothing I have looks or plays like that.”  No, games look great across the board, and gameplay is pretty much as meaningless as it’s ever been.  Even once I had a Super NES, I’d see Genesis exclusives and think they looked like new and completely original experiences.  Today, it just seems like it’s Call of Duty x 1,000,000.

(Bitter, old gamer semi-rant over.)

This was one of the biggest games when I was a kid, so the large amounts of fun I had with it were compressed into very short time frames.  It’s a classic, and if you haven’t played it, do it up!!