#49: Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega, Mega Drive, 1991)

Part I: Gotta Go Fast! (Green Hill Zone)

Let’s start with the loop-the-loop, because it is perhaps the iconic image of Sonic the Hedgehog, and because it so effectively represents, for better and for worse, what the series is all about. It is, first of all, a thoroughly incongruous image. The appearance of the Green Hill Zone is a lush and verdant tropical paradise, a place of natural, unspoilt beauty. With a few great honking loops in its landscape. While our understanding of real-world geography would lead us to assume that such a structure could only be man-made, there’s nothing within the diegetic world of Sonic the Hedgehog that implies that this is anything but a natural rock formation, and plenty to suggest that it is. This is just the way things are here. No need to worry.

The loop does not present anything of a gameplay challenge. The consequence of failure to traverse this obstacle is nothing grave; simply that you must try again. No lives are lost, no rings are shed. All the loop is there for is to look good and demonstrate the technological superiority of the Sega Mega Drive over its Nintendo rival, and to encourage you to go fast. Because of course you gotta go fast. That’s what everybody knows about Sonic. He goes fast. Never mind that the vast majority of this game is actually designed to slow you down; first impressions count for a lot. And the Green Hill Zone encourages speed, and so, for better or worse, speed became a fundamental defining feature of what Sonic is and shall be, forevermore.

It didn’t have to be this way. There were alternate paths Sega could have taken with the future of the franchise that could have de-emphasised Sonic’s speed in favour of other characteristics. There are always alternate paths to be taken; this is one of the characteristics of the game that could have been expanded upon. But instead, Sega went for speed. I’m not sure that there is a single Sonic game that doesn’t kick off with some variation on the Green Hill Zone’s tropical island setting. An endless series of loops, returning to the point of origin as a means of progress.