So I have a bunch of Wii points sitting around while I wait for Shining Force II to eventually come to Virtual Console, and I figured I would blow 500 of them on a little game staring a blue hedgehog.
… which is funny, considering I already own nearly all of them either via their original cartridges, or the various compilations that have come out over the years (though Andrew’s got me beat with his Japanese Sonic Jam).
That’s right. I picked up Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Master System.
Why did I do this? I don’t really know. I guess I just wanted to play it. Sure, I could have easily just loaded it up via an emulator, but since I legally own the whole rest of the bunch, it made more sense to go this route.
While it’s rather terrible, it’s still mostly enjoyable. Part of that enjoyment is seeing and hearing 8-bit representations of Green Hill Zone that I didn’t even know existed. The music is sparse, the enemies are even more sparse, and the slowdown is horrific… but it’s still Sonic running fast from left to right, and gosh darnit, it’s gotta be better than some of the recent games we’ve seen come out for the franchise.
I only made it as far as the second bridge level (that’s all three areas of Green Hill Zone, bridge 1, bonus level, onto bridge 2). I wasted all my lives on Robotnik/Eggman because I was totally not even paying attention to what I was doing.
It’s a cute little game, but it already shows how ready Sega was to sell out the character by creating half-assed ports and conversions that just wouldn’t cut it. Unless you’ve got absolutely nothing else to play, have extra Wii Points, have a measly 20 blocks to spare, and really enjoy the blue guy (basically, that describes me)… it’s probably good to pass, though you might be entertained, none-the-less.
Also picked up Star Parodier… Haven’t played yet…
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