10 Nov 2006

Retro!: Sonic on Genesis

I'm not that much of a retro gamer myself, but once in a while its just great to reminisce those days.

OK, a little bit about my gaming background.


One of my first gaming experiences (and definitely one of the most memorable) was Sonic the Hedgehog on SEGA Genesis. It was so long ago, I can't even remember how old I was! All that remains in my memory was the late-night games of Sonic and the adrenaline of racing through a stage at break-neck speeds. The simple, yet catchy, music and sound effects on that 16-bit console left a huge impression on me too. How obsessed am I with Sonic? I bought a Panasonic VS6 mobile phone just because it has Sonic The Hedgehog on it (although I don't play it much because of the sucky controls...).

Imagine my dismay when I bought Sonic 3D for the PC when I was older. The developers didn't manage to successfully capture the adrenaline and speed of 2D Sonic. The Blue Hedgehog with an attitude was dead for me. The recent remake of Sonic Genesis on the Gameboy Advance left a sour taste in the mouths of many reviewers. If I'm not wrong, this year marks the 15th anniversary of Sonic, and to celebrate that SEGA has released a new Sonic game for soon-to-be-current-gen consoles. Judging by initial response from the gaming press, this game should be rather good. I'm still waiting for Gamespot or Gamespy to review the Xbox360 title before I say anything more about it though. From what little I've seen from a Wii gameplay video, I have to say I'm not impressed. Sure it's pretty and it's fast, but I just don't like how the game feels stuck between 2D and 3D. I don't think anyone can pull off Sonic in a 3D environment and freedom without taking away the sense of speed. Sonic lives on 2D, not 3D. Perhaps sometime in the future SEGA will prove me wrong, but until then, I'm hoping to get my Sonic fix with the Wii Virtual Console version of the Genesis classic.

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