By Brad Cook
Sonic the Hedgehog has run, jumped and spun his way through many videogames since his 1991 debut, and now you can take him with you on your iPod. A faithful recreation of the classic Sega Genesis title, Sonic The Hedgehog features the original game’s 19 levels, including the final showdown against Dr. Robotnik.
As the story opens, Dr. Robotnik — also known as Dr. Eggman — seeks to collect the six Chaos Emeralds that will allow him to rule South Island. He has imprisoned many of the island’s animals inside robots, forcing them to do his evil bidding, but Sonic is determined to stop him. You guide the spiky blue hedgehog through six zones, each containing three acts, as he chases his nemesis, with the ultimate showdown happening in The Final Zone.
Different Means to the End
The game’s zones contain rings that you should grab as often as possible. You earn an extra life for every 100 rings you collect, and finishing the first or second act of each zone with at least 50 produces a final giant ring — jump through it to access a bonus level where you can obtain one of the Chaos Emeralds. Find all six Chaos Emeralds along the way to view the game’s happy ending.
Sonic attacks his enemies by spinning when he jumps or runs fast, freeing the animals from their robotic confines in the process. If he’s not spinning when he hits one of them, he loses all of his rings; if he does so without any rings, you lose a life. Monitors scattered throughout the zones give Sonic power-ups — such as invincibility, bonus rings, or a speed boost — when he breaks them.
Even when Sonic is invincible, however, you can still lose a life if a trap crushes him, he falls into a bottomless pit, he drowns, or you go over the ten-minute gameplay limit for each act. When you lose a life, you start over at the last checkpoint you passed, rather than the beginning of the act.
Difficult to Master
The gameplay may appear simple, but Sonic The Hedgehog challenges you with its frantic pace. Sonic accelerates when he heads downhill, especially if he’s rolling along the ground in a ball, giving him the speed he needs to complete loops and bounce off springs. Sometimes you need to pull off a complex, high-speed maneuver to scoop up otherwise-inaccessible rings and power-ups, so get your fingers limber.
And get ready to slip a classic in your pocket.
The Little Blue Hedgehog That Could
Mario, Nintendo’s plucky Italian plumber, had a ten-year head start on Sonic when he made his debut in the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong. Console games starring him, such as Super Mario Bros., solidified Nintendo’s dominance in the home entertainment arena from the mid-80s through the mid-90s. Sega knew it could only compete with Nintendo by creating a similarly compelling character, and thus Sonic was born.
Sonic The Hedgehog was released during the summer of 1991, eventually selling over four million copies and delivering the break-out hit Sega needed. While Nintendo’s Mario titles couldn’t be knocked off their top-selling perch, Sonic found a niche among gamers who were looking for something different. Sonic The Hedgehog 2 outsold its predecessor, but sales dipped for the third installment before climbing again when Sonic Adventure was released for the Sega Dreamcast in 1999.
Over the years, Sonic, his buddy Knuckles, and related characters have appeared in over two dozen games, including spin-off titles. Sonic and Mario even teamed up for a Nintendo Wii title based on the 2008 Olympics. Sega’s departure from the console hardware business with the discontinuation of the Dreamcast in 2001 made the game a possibility.
iPod Games FAQ
Do you have questions regarding any of the iPod games available from the iTunes Store?
Spinning Through the Air. Keep rolling downhill to build up speed, and watch out for those stalactites.
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- Site: Sonic The Hedgehog
- Publisher: Apple Inc.
- Developer: Sega of America
- Genre: Action
More iPod Games
System Requirements
- Mac OS X version 10.3.9 or Windows 2000
- iPod nano (3rd and 4th generation only), iPod classic, or iPod (5th generation only). Not playable on your computer, other iPod models, iPod touch or iPhone. Please check which iPod model you have.
- iTunes 7.5 or higher required to download (games cannot be played in iTunes)