(thing) by Servo5678 Sun Jul 14 2002 at 18:35:31
Sonic debuted on the Sega Master System and Game Gear in an 8-bit conversion of his premiere game. Aside from having scaled down graphics and sounds, this version of the game had fewer levels and easier objectives. The famed Chaos Emeralds, for example, were not hidden away in a bonus stage but where sitting out in the open in the main levels themselves. Sonic's only weapon was his spin jump and rings were plentiful. A skilled player could rack up nine lives before the end of the third zone.

Speaking of zones, each of the following zones is divided into three acts (with the third act being a boss act):

  • Green Hill
  • Bridge
  • Jungle
  • Labryinth
  • Scrap Brain
  • Sky Base

The Game Gear version of this title is readily available at online auctions and used game shops (as well as emulators if you can find the ROM), but the Master System version is harder to come by in terms of overall searching, but it's an easy find if you can track down used Master System cartridges. Even easier is to get the Nintendo GameCube release Sonic Adventure DX which includes the game as a hidden bonus.

When Sonic's first adventure became a rousing success Sega knew their had found their mascot and, in the years to come, released dozens of games featuring Sonic and his friends over a wide variety of systems.
Like Nintendo's Mario, Sonic enjoyed a life of luxury in the world of marketing. The hedgehog was plastered all over almost any product you can imagine, including clothing, toys, coloring books, comic books, and other items.

One Sonic product that always stuck out in my mind, however, was the Segasonic Soda. It was a carbonated fruity drink sold only in Japanese vending machines. The cans were red and blue and had a picture of Sonic on the front in his famous "finger wagging" pose. The editors of the gaming magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly were so mystified by the soda that they sent one of their reporters to Japan back in 1992 to buy as many cases of the stuff as he could and bring them back to the EGM offices for the staff to drink.

I like it! 1 C!