Ten of the Best Features in Sonic the Hedgehog Games

For almost two decades, Sonic the Hedgehog has raced his way into the heart of players everywhere, going on high speed adventures and becoming the beloved Sega mascot he is today. Yes, he has had some missteps along the way, but fans still keep coming back for more. Part of what makes Sonic games-both old and, to a lesser extent, more recent tiles-so appealing is some of the features that Sega includes that actually add to their appeal rather than detract from it. If utilized well, these features will not threaten to make Sonic a laughing stock. If you are wondering which features I consider to be the best in any Sonic game, I shall explain it to you now...

Sonic and Knuckles: Lock-On Technology: The delay of what should have been the second half of Sonic 3 gave Sega the chance to try something new: namely, giving the cartridge lock-on technology. Not only could the game be played by itself, but by locking onto some other cartridges, new features could be unlocked in those games. New stages were added in Sonic 3, Knuckles became playable in Sonic 2, and lots of bonus stages could be played in Sonic 1. The possibilities were numerous, and the sheer variety makes lock-on technology an ideal way to add content to a game long before downloadable content became commonplace.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Super Sonic: This game features the debut of several features that would become common in later games, but one of the best of them was the debut of Super Sonic. By collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds and then grabbing 50 rings, Sonic could change into a golden hedgehog with extra fast speed and invulnerability to enemy attacks. This form was quite cool and useful, so much so that it is a shame that modern Sonic games now only have Super Sonic at the very end. Still, the idea of having Sonic go super is simply wonderful, and was part of what made his second game such a memorable classic.

Sonic Adventure: A More Lenient Grading System: For casual players who simply cannot stand Sega's ultra strict rules for getting A ranks in various Sonic games, they can have a much easier time receiving grades in Sonic's first 3D game. Here, all you have to do is complete the mission to get a grade of C, B, or A, and you do not have to worry about getting a specific score. You may have to be concerned about doing a mission in under a certain amount of time, but at least you are given the chance to practice them until you are good enough. Yes, some of these missions are still hard to beat, but without the criteria that Sega came up with for later games, they are still very much manageable.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3: Level Transitions: In the earlier Sonic games, our hero simply went from one area to another without explanation in most cases. For Sonic 3, Sega fixed that by creating cut scenes that show how Sonic ends up in the next level. For example, he plunges into the Hydrocity Zone after Knuckles presses a switch to destroy a bridge, and lands in the Ice Cap Zone as a result of being shot from a cannon. These explained the level transitions quite clearly instead of leaving it to the players' imaginations. Such cut scenes and other ways of getting to various levels would become common in later games.

Sonic Spinball: Cameos from the Sonic SatAM Cartoon Characters: As flawed as Sonic Spinball was, it still had some things going for it, including special appearances from some of the characters from the Saturday morning animated series and comic books. For the first and only time in any Sonic game, players could see Princess Sally Acorn, Bunnie Rabbot, and Rotor the Walrus while playing the bonus games. Their appearances were merely for show, but it proved that Sega could go the extra mile and, in a way, acknowledge that these characters exist. It is unfortunate that they will probably never be seen in another game, but for fans of the cartoon and comics, their cameos are quite a treat.

Sonic Adventure 2 Battle: Good or Evil: For what ended up being Sonic's final game for the Dreamcast and his first for the Nintendo Gamecube, Sega had players choosing to either save the world as a band of heroes or destroy it as a group of villains. As Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, players could put a stop to Eggman's scheme of collecting all of the Chaos Emeralds and using their power to activate a cannon that would destroy their beloved planet Earth. As Eggman, Shadow, and Rouge, they could take down the heroes of justice and take over under the new Eggman Empire moniker. It is unfortunate that the idea becomes moot due to a final story in which everyone bands together to save Earth. Still, the idea of having to save or destroy the world gives the game plenty of depth and at least adds alternate ways of telling the story.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Multiple Endings: One of the best features of Sonic's debut adventure is the chance of getting one of two different endings depending on how the game was played. If you fail to collect every Chaos Emerald, you are told to try again. If you do obtain every Emerald, you get a better ending. What makes the ideas of having multiple endings especially appealing nowadays is that Sega tends to offer a lot of possible endings to a game, only to make you go through a final story mode with an ending that makes the whole idea of multiple endings feel like a waste. Back in the 1990s, however, players could choose their own endings without having them become moot in such a way that Sega has done over the years, and it was glorious.

Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine: Cameos from the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog Cartoon: Whereas Sonic Spinball had characters taken from Sonic's Saturday morning series, this game was full of characters seen in the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog animated series. Many of them only appeared in the a single episode, but series regulars Coconuts, Grounder, and Scratch were also present. It would be the player's turn to teach these rather foolish robots a lesson, much like Sonic did in the cartoon. Cameos such as these make me wish that, just once, Sega would make a game that took place in either the Adventures or SatAM continuities, as it would surely please many fans of either series.

Sonic CD: Anime Cut Scenes: With CD technology, Sega could begin adding more things to Sonic games that were impossible with cartridges. For Sonic CD, that included opening and closing anime sequences. These cut scenes were of high quality and, in lieu of voice acting, used some rather catchy songs in the background. While they did not do too much as far as storytelling goes, they were still fun to watch and offered a hint of what else Sega could do with CD technology. The cut scenes have evolved to use voice acting and computer animation, but back in 1993, seeing anime in a video game was quite a blast.

Sonic R: Vocalized Soundtrack: If there is one thing that this otherwise awful racing game has going for it, it is the soundtrack. As a sign of things to come, Sega made many of the game's tracks with vocals so that players could hear singing as they raced on the various tracks. The songs themselves were often memorable, and players could even sing along with the lyrics. These days, they do not even need to play the game just to hear the songs, as they can be found in various YouTube videos. Vocalized songs would become commonplace in Sonic games, and this was a neat way for Sega to experiment with the idea, even if the songs ended up in a terrible game.

As you can see, there are plenty of features that can be implemented well in order to add to the game's experience. Unfortunately, Sega appears to have forgotten how to do this, as they tend to add features that can be considered gimmicky and actually detract from the game's appeal. I still have at least a small amount of hope that Sonic 4 will be filled with many great features and far fewer awful features. Since Sega has been known to let us down before, however, I do not have very high expectations that they will have learned their lesson, and will not until the game has been released. Still, there is still much to love about Sonic's games, as the features above prove, and it makes me wish that Sega would use such features a lot more often than they do.