Retro Gaming : Sonic

Being quite the 'tech head', I own a portable gaming device or two, my weapon of choice at the moment being the Nintendo DS (When I can wrestle it from my girlfriend) it is quite simply a bundle of fun and the best device since the Sega Game Gear (I am that retro). The magical thing about the DS is a little device that allows you to play older games and so on. I wont mention it's name for fear of promoting a pro 'pirate' view of gaming but it allows for Snes and Megadrive emulators.

With this discovery my childhood memories have all come back, the simple tune of the opening of Sonic floods me with nostalgia, hours spent trying to get past the second level, trying not to stand on spikes and the explanation for my irrational fear of men with ginger moustaches. It is all here. Sonic quite simply is the platforming bomb.

As a wee youngling I only owned Sega products, the Megadrive, the Game Gear and the Saturn, my family were somewhat Nintendo racist's in many respects, spitting at the sight of that Italian plumber and tutting at that androgynous forest boy. Sonic the Hedgehog was what is was all about to me and my friends, he was cool, he had attitude, he was the type of guy that would answer back, flip the bird and get the girl, he was god.

This is why I find myself, almost twenty years since release of Sonic the Hedgehog, coming back for quick play sessions here and there. Beating a little bit of the game and then going about my day. The game is timeless, this sort of platforming hasn't been surpassed since, Mario and Sonic still rule the hearts of fans are the world. Why is this game so good? Well partially because of the nostalgia factor, everyone likes to think of their formative years with a golden tinted fuzz- unless you were abused of course- and another reason is well, it is great really.

The graphical style although old and battered by time are still nice and pleasant to look at. The game has a clear cut character to it and that is why it is so easy to look past the 16 bit graphics, I think this speaks for Sonic and Mario alike and how they were years ahead of their time as we still praise them nineteen years later.

So playing the game a mere moments ago my heart swelled with praise for this game. That is until the Marble Zone, that evil lava filled hell, I used to have nightmares about this place as a child, bats swoop down at take your life, lava chases you through halls, spikes drop too and throw around you, it is quite simply the scariest game on any platformer, still creeps me out to this day. Getting past this game takes pure and total courage.

Another addition to the game is the weird emerald bonus levels, those LSD style visions, chasing rings, trying to find an emerald and staying within the boundaries, it is very odd indeed especially when the game oozes out dreamy music that could send the most hardened insomniac into slumber. The feeling of elation however when you get that emerald, my god, I don't know what could compare, fatherhood? a promotion? beating my girlfriend at Street Fighter? I'm not sure but it is heaven.

To wrap up this impromptu trip down memory lane, I needn't tell you how Sonic is now as chances are you have an emulated version somewhere ready to play as no one ever really stops playing Sonic, they just pause until they feel they can carry on the task to the end. I am nearly nineteen years of age, I have this game for as long as I can remember, even with many determined sessions I haven't been able to beat this game. Maybe I will when I'm forty, who knows.